Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Converting Sedentary Games to Exergames: A Case Study with a Car Racing Game

One of the major challenges in designing exercise games (exergames) is maintaining engagement and motivation over time. Previous research has shown that games can increase the motivation exercise. However, these games are typically developed with limited set of specific exercises in mind, which limits genre choices, and potentially long term motivation. To address this critical issue, we are interested in employing any exercise as an interface to common, existing, sedentary games, such as a car racing game. Specifically, in this paper, we aim to take initial steps toward this goal. As a proof of concept, we developed 2 exercised based interfaces for a car racing game - a game genre minimally used for exergames. We present the evaluation of our novel exercise interfaces to the racing game, and offer general guidelines for converting common classes of sedentary games to exergames.
Is It Time to Include CT “Reverse Halo Sign” and qPCR Targeting Mucorales in Serum to EORTC-MSG Criteria for the Diagnosis of Pulmonary Mucormycosis in Leukemia Patients?

In 23 leukemia patients with proven (n = 17) or possible (n = 6) pulmonary mucormycosis (PM), the presence of reversed halo sign on computed tomography was strongly associated with the positivity of quantitative polymerase chain reaction assays targeting Mucorales in the serum, confirming the value of these two tools for the diagnosis of PM in this setting.
Learning, knowledge and authority on site: a case study of safety practice

The ethnographic research reported here reveals patterns of authority and learning on an experimental construction site that are significant for the promotion of a safety culture. It seeks to display the methods of understanding used by site personnel to constitute the construction site as a local work site. In making these explicit, an alternative is offered to recent suggestions that critical studies of situated learning demand recourse to historical or macro resources. Findings confirm insights from previous studies, detailing in addition: the role of trial and error; alternative bodies of knowledge underpinning competing authority structures; and complex and subtle patterns of the informal authority of elite manual workers, its ambiguity and its limitations. The experiential knowledge valued by site personnel forms a basis for the recognition of authority on site that can conflict with that of construction professionals. The conflict between forms of authority and knowledge can inhibit the dissemination of good safety practice: initiatives will meet significant resistance if they contradict the experiential knowledge of site operatives; if they do not make use of this experiential knowledge, they may fail to address hazards fully; methods of site learning, particularly in the development of innovative practice, are inherently hazardous.
Meniscus Induced Cartilaginous Damage and Non-linear Gross Anatomical Progression of Early-stage Osteoarthritis in a Canine Model

Background: The predictable outcome of the anterior cruciate ligament transection (ACLT) canine model, and the similarity to naturally occurring osteoarthritis (OA) in humans, provide a translatable method for studying OA. Still, evidence of direct meniscus-induced cartilaginous damage has not been identified, and gross-anatomical blinded scoring of early-stage OA has not been performed. Objective: A gross anatomical observation and statistical analysis of OA progression to determine meniscus induced cartilaginous damage, to measure the macroscopic progression of OA, and to address matters involving arthroscopic and surgical procedures of the knee. Method: Unblinded assessment and blinded scoring of meniscal, tibial, femoral, and patellar damage were performed for control and at four time points following unilateral ACLT: 3-week (N=4), 8-week (N=4), 12-week (N=5), and 25-week (N=4). Mixed-model statistics illustrates damage (score) progression; Wilcoxon rank-sum tests compared time-point scores; and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests compared ACLT and contralateral scores, and meniscus and tibia scores. Result: Damage was manifest first on the posterior aspect of the medial meniscus and subsequently on the tibia and femur, implying meniscal damage can precede, coincide with, and aggravate cartilage damage. Damage extent varied chronologically and was dependent upon the joint component. Meniscal damage was evident at 3 weeks and progressed through 25-weeks. Meniscal loose bodies corresponded to tibial cartilage damage location and extent through 12 weeks, followed by cartilage repair activity after complete meniscal degeneration. Conclusion: This study provides additional information for understanding OA progression, identifying OA biomarkers, and arthroscopic and meniscectomy procedures.
Private placement and share price reaction: evidence from the Australian biotechnology and health care sector

This paper analyses Private Placements for the Australian biotechnology sector. Private placement is one of the favoured methods of secondary equity offering around the world. However, it is also the least studied corporate financing mechanism. A major issue around private placement is the impact of issuance to a selected group of institutional and/or high net worth sophisticated investors and the high direct costs of doing so. We first employ en event study methodology to separate out the large and small placement effects and short and long run effects. Given Australia’s weaker regulatory environment, we find significant negative cumulative abnormal return following private placements in the short term supporting the price pressure hypothesis with our main sample and with large private placement issues. Consistent with current empirical studies, mixed evidence regarding the directional impact was also observed as small issue exhibited positive price effects. We then hypothesize a model to measure and test the key factors identified in the literature. The model captures and explains strong medium term cumulative abnormal return effects and these effects are quite different between small and large placements.
Linear and Nonlinear Predictability of International Securitized Real Estate Returns: A Reality Check

This paper examines short-horizon return predictability of ten largest international securitized real estate markets, with special attention paid to exploring possible nonlinearity-in-mean as well as nonlinearity-in-variance predictability. Although international securitized real estate returns are generally not predictable based on commonly used statistical criteria, there is much evidence for the predictability based on economic criteria (i.e., direction of price changes and trading rule profitability), which is more often due to nonlinearity-in-mean. The forecast combinations for various models appear to improve the forecasting performance, while the allowance of data-snooping bias using Whiteâ€™s Reality Check substantially mitigates spurious out-of-sample forecasting performance and weakens otherwise overwhelmingly strong predictability. Overall, there is robust evidence for the predictability in many international securitized real estate markets.
Legitimacy in the modern state

This analysis of the concept of authority in Western society constitutes a central work in political sociology and a fundamental critique of the process of modernization. Schaar proposes that legitimate authority is declining in the modern state. Law and order, in a very real sense, is the basic political issue of our time -- one that conservatives have understood with greater clarity than their liberal adversaries. Schaar sees what were once authoritative institutions and ideas yielding to technological and bureaucratic orders. The later brings physical comfort and a sense of collective power, but does not provide political liberty or moral autonomy. As a result, he argues, all modern states exhibiting this transformation of authority into technology are well advanced along the path of a crisis of legitimacy.
Ten Million New Turkish Voters in 2011: Where they Come From? How They Voted? What It Means For The Future?

Between 2007 and 2011 the number of registered voters in Turkey increased by more than ten million, partially due to population increase but mainly due to a change in the voter registration system. Together with nearly three million DP and GP supporters who deserted their parties, the new voters constituted about a quarter of the electorate who participated in the 2011 election. Through descriptive statistics at national, regional and provincial levels, the geographical, demographic, socio-economic and political characteristics of these voters are explored. Then through systems of party vote equations, estimated separately for different regions of the country, how they voted is investigated. The BDP was the main beneficiary of the rise in the registered voters, which were disproportionately located in the Central-east and South-east. This occurred at the expense of the ruling AKP. The DP and GP votes, which were concentrated in the western and central parts of the country, and the new voters in these regions moved mainly to the AKP and CHP. In central provinces, the MHP captured a slice of the new voters and former DP supporters too, but it lost a portion of its own supporters to the CHP in the West.
Robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy learning curve for experienced laparoscopic surgeons: does it really exist?

ABSTRACT Background Robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RALP) is a minimally invasive procedure that could have a reduced learning curve for unfamiliar laparoscopic surgeon. However, there are no consensuses regarding the impact of previous laparoscopic experience on the learning curve of RALP. We report on a functional and perioperative outcome comparison between our initial 60 cases of RALP and last 60 cases of laparoscopic radical prostatectomy (LRP), performed by three experienced laparoscopic surgeons with a 200+LRP cases experience. Materials and Methods Between January 2010 and September 2013, a total of 60 consecutive patients who have undergone RALP were prospectively evaluated and compared to the last 60 cases of LRP. Data included demographic data, operative duration, blood loss, transfusion rate, positive surgical margins, hospital stay, complications and potency and continence rates. Results The mean operative time and blood loss were higher in RALP (236 versus 153 minutes, p<0.001 and 245.6 versus 202ml p<0.001). Potency rates at 6 months were higher in RALP (70% versus 50% p=0.02). Positive surgical margins were also higher in RALP (31.6% versus 12.5%, p=0.01). Continence rates at 6 months were similar (93.3% versus 89.3% p=0.43). Patient’s age, complication rates and length of hospital stay were similar for both groups. Conclusions Experienced laparoscopic surgeons (ELS) present a learning curve for RALP only demonstrated by longer operative time and clinically insignificant blood loss. Our initial results demonstrated similar perioperative and functional outcomes for both approaches. ELS were able to achieve satisfactory oncological and functional results during the learning curve period for RALP.
Effects of blood-processing protocols on fetal and total DNA quantification in maternal plasma.

BACKGROUND Recently, apoptotic cells have been found in plasma obtained by centrifugation of blood from pregnant women, raising the question of what constitutes plasma and whether plasma is truly cell free. We compared the effects of different blood-processing protocols on the quantification, DNA composition, and day-to-day fluctuation of fetal and total DNA in maternal plasma. METHODS Blood samples were collected from healthy pregnant women. The blood sample from each individual was simultaneously processed by different means, including the following: Percoll separation, centrifugation, microcentrifugation, and filtration. The resulting plasma aliquots were subjected to real-time quantitative amplification of the beta-globin (for total DNA) and SRY (for fetal DNA) genes. The differences in the beta-globin and SRY DNA concentrations and the degree of variation between the various plasma aliquots were assessed statistically. RESULTS Different protocols of blood processing significantly affected the quantification and the day-to-day fluctuation of total (P <0.001), but not fetal (quantification, P = 0.336; fluctuation, P = 0.206), DNA in maternal plasma. The quantitative difference could be attributed to the fact that efficacies of different protocols for generating cell-free plasma vary. Processing blood samples by centrifugation followed by filtration or microcentrifugation is effective in producing cell-free plasma. CONCLUSIONS Standardization in plasma-processing protocols is needed for maternal plasma DNA analysis, especially for quantification of total DNA in maternal plasma. Such preanalytic factors may also affect other applications of plasma DNA analysis.
Snapshot fecal survey of domestic animals in rural Ghana for Mycobacterium ulcerans

Identifying the source reservoirs of Mycobacterium ulcerans is key to understanding the mode of transmission of this pathogen and controlling the spread of Buruli ulcer (BU). In Australia, the native possum can harbor M. ulcerans in its gastrointestinal tract and shed high concentrations of the bacteria in its feces. To date, an analogous animal reservoir in Africa has not been identified. Here we tested the hypothesis that common domestic animals in BU endemic villages of Ghana are reservoir species analogous to the Australian possum. Using linear-transects at 10-meter intervals, we performed systematic fecal surveys across four BU endemic villages and one non-endemic village in the Asante Akim North District of Ghana. One hundred and eighty fecal specimens from a single survey event were collected and analyzed by qPCR for the M. ulcerans diagnostic DNA targets IS2404 and KR-B. Positive and negative controls performed as expected but all 180 test samples were negative. This structured snapshot survey suggests that common domestic animals living in and around humans do not shed M. ulcerans in their feces. We conclude that, unlike the Australian native possum, domestic animals in rural Ghana are unlikely to be major reservoirs of M. ulcerans.
Poverty, Income Distribution and Labour Market Issues in Sub-saharan Africa Stabilization Policies, Poverty and the Labour Market: Analytical Issues and Empirical Evidence

This paper discusses the various channels through which stabilization policies affect poverty in developing countries. It begins by reviewing someof the recent evidence on poverty rates, then provides ataxonomic review of the various channels through which macroeconomicpolicies affect the poor, with a particular emphasis on the role of thelabour market. The analytical framework capturessome of the main features of the urban labour market in developing countriesand studies the effects of fiscal adjustment on wages, employment andpoverty. It uses cross-country regressions linkingmacroeconomic variables and poverty rates. Although the results should betreated with care given the relatively short sample size, they suggest thatinflation has an adverse effect on poverty. The share of subsidies and othertransfers in proportion of government expenditure is significantlycorrelated with poverty only in sub-Saharan Africa. The last part discussesvarious research perspectives.
Learning at the boundaries

This paper reports on a project that aims to foster interdisciplinary collaboration between mathematicians and mathematics educators in pre-service teacher education. The project involves 23 investigators from six universities. Interviews were conducted with selected project participants to identify conditions that enable or hinder collaboration, and to identify learning mechanisms at the boundaries between disciplinary communities. A hybrid narrative constructed from the interviews is used to illustrate transformation as a learning mechanism that leads to new practices.
Cytogenetics of Premature Ovarian Failure: An Investigation on 269 Affected Women

The importance of X chromosome in the aetiology of premature ovarian failure (POF) is well-known but in many cases POF still remains idiopathic. Chromosome aneuploidy increase is a physiological phenomenon related to aging, but the role of low-level sex chromosome mosaicism in ovarian function is still undiscovered. Standard cytogenetic analysis was carried out in a total of 269 patients affected by POF: 27 chromosomal abnormalities were identified, including X chromosome and autosomal structural and numerical abnormalities. In 47 patients with 46,XX karyotype we performed interphase FISH using X alpha-satellite probe in order to identify X chromosome mosaicism rate. Aneuploidy rate in the patient group was significantly higher than the general population group. These findings underline the importance of X chromosome in the aetiology of POF and highlight the potential role of low-level sex chromosome mosaicism in ovarian aging that may lead to a premature onset of menopause.
Quarterly Progress and Status Report Some studies of the relationship between speech acoustics , articulation and phonetic structure

This paper is the introductory part of a compilation of papers discussing analyses of acoustic and articulatory variability and the relation between acoustics, articulation and phonetic structure. The first paper addresses problems concerning vocal tract geometry and intersubject and gender related articulatory and acoustic variability. Midsagittal X-ray and acoustic vowel data were analysed for two French subjects, one male and one female. Area functions of the vocal tract were inferred from the midsagittal data. The result of the analysis indicated that the female subject used more extreme articulations for /a/ and /if than the male subject. Large inter-subject differences were observed in area functions pertaining to /ce/, /&I and /8/, that is, the three most central vowels in the set. These findings indicate that the subjects used different articulation strategies. Papers two and three concern the relation between acoustics and articulation. Artificial neural networks (ANN) were used to map acoustic features on the corresponding vocal tract area functions generated by vocal tract models. ANNs were trained and tested on data generated by different vocal tract models. In particular, a modular net configuration was tested that consisted of a number of parallel ANNs. This design improved the results when tested on speech from both a male and a female subject. The two last papers describe analysis of segmental acoustic quality depending on phonetic structure where data driven methods are shown to be useful. A regression tree approach and a normalisation technique were used to derive predictions for Fl and F2 of Swedish front vowels. The data base used in these two papers contains some 3000 front vowels in read speech of one male speaker. All vowels were pooled to represent a generic front vowel as a starting point for the analysis. The results of both papers indicate that more than 50% of the standard deviation of F l and F2 (mel) can be explained by the phonetic factors used.
Sensorless control of PMSM drives using a combination of voltage model and HF signal injection

This paper presents a method for the rotor speed and position estimation of permanent magnet synchronous motors in a wide speed range including standstill. The proposed method is based on a modified voltage model at high speeds, and combines the modified voltage model with a high-frequency signal injection technique at low speeds. The fast dynamic response of the voltage model is thus augmented with the steady-state accuracy of the high-frequency signal injection technique. The stability and robustness of the combined observer are confirmed by simulations and experiments.
Decrease in thalamic volumes of pediatric patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder who are taking paroxetine.

BACKGROUND Thalamic dysfunction has been implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). While OCD frequently has its onset during childhood, to our knowledge, no prior study has measured neuroanatomical changes in the thalamus of patients with OCD near the onset of illness, and before and after treatment. METHODS Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies were conducted in 21 psychotropic drug-naive children, aged 8 to 17 years, with OCD and 21 case-matched healthy comparison subjects. Magnetic resonance imaging studies were also conducted in 10 of the 21 patients with OCD after 12 weeks of monotherapy with the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, paroxetine hydrochloride. RESULTS Thalamic volumes were significantly greater in treatment-naive patients with OCD than in controls but declined significantly after paroxetine monotherapy to levels comparable with those of controls. Decrease in thalamic volume in patients with OCD was associated with reduction in OCD symptom severity. CONCLUSIONS Our findings provide new evidence of thalamic abnormalities in pediatric OCD and further suggest that paroxetine treatment may be paralleled by a reduction in thalamic volume. These reductions may, however, not be specific to paroxetine treatment and could be due to a more general treatment response, and/or spontaneous improvement in symptoms. Our findings are preliminary given the small sample size and our inability to measure discrete thalamic nuclei.
Self-esteem and styles of coping with stress versus strategies of planning in people with psychopathic personality disorders

Summary Background Psychopathy is a notion that has been difficult to define. The operational definition of psychopathy by Hare is one of the most commonly used in psychology and it is usually identified with the scale used to measure this type of personality, which is the Psychopathy Checklist - Revision (PCL-R). PCL-R is composed of two factors: Factor 1 describes a constellation of psychopathic traits considered by many clinicians to be basic for this type of personality, and Factor 2 describes types of behaviour indicating impulsiveness, lack of stability and antisocial lifestyle. The aim of the research was to verify a hypothesis that people with psychopathic personality disorders are characterised by high self-esteem, unconstructive strategies of planning actions and non-adaptive styles of coping with stress. Material/Methods The group of participants included 30 people at the age of 22–36 convicted with a legally binding sentence. Methods were: 1. The Psychopathy Checklist-Revision (PCL-R); 2. Antisocial Personality Questionnaire (APQ); 3. Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS); 4. Generalised Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES). Results The participants were diagnosed as psychopaths (PCL-R), and more specifically – as primary psychopaths (APQ). They revealed a grandiose sense of self-worth, increased self-control, impulsive style of functioning, perceived high self-efficacy (which might be considered as a defence mechanism). Psychopaths prefer a coping style focused on emotions and avoidance. Conclusions The hypothesis was confirmed, that people with psychopathic personality disorders are characterised by high self-esteem, unconstructive strategies of planning actions and non-adaptive styles of coping with stress.