Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Masking Level Differences – A Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Functional MRI Study

In our previous study we investigated Masking Level Differences (MLD) using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), but were unable to confirm neural correlations for the MLD within the auditory cortex and inferior colliculus. Here we have duplicated conditions from our previous study, but have included more participants and changed the study site to a new location with a newer scanner and presentation system. Additionally, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is included to allow investigation of fiber tracts that may be involved with MLDs. Twenty participants were included and underwent audiometric testing and MRI scanning. The current study revealed regions of increased and decreased activity within the auditory cortex when comparing the combined noise and signal of the dichotic MLD stimuli (N0Sπ and NπS0) with N0S0. Furthermore, we found evidence of inferior colliculus involvement. Our DTI findings show strong correlations between DTI measures within the brainstem and signal detection threshold levels. Patterns of correlation when the signal was presented only to the right ear showed an extensive network in the left hemisphere; however, the opposite was not true for the signal presented only to the left ear. Our current study was able to confirm what we had previously hypothesized using fMRI, while extending our investigation of MLDs to include the characteristics of connecting neural pathways.
The Cardiovascular Fitness of Disabled Patients Attending Occupational Therapy

The purpose of this study was to assess the cardiorespiratory fitness of patients disabled by amputation, stroke, or low back pain who attended occupational therapy. Subjects performed a graded exercise test to their voluntary maximum level of exertion on either an arm crank ergometer or a bicycle ergometer. Measurements were made of heart rate, electrocardiogram, oxygen uptake, blood pressure, and blood lactate. All four patient groups, but particularly the older amputee and stroke patients, were found to tolerate lower maximum workloads and had lower maximal oxygen uptake values than would be anticipated for healthy, able-bodied subjects. Implications of these findings for occupational therapists are discussed.
Beyond friendships and followers: The Wikipedia social network

Most traditional social networks rely on explicitly given relations between users, their friends and followers. In this paper, we go beyond well structured data repositories and create a person-centric network from unstructured text - the Wikipedia Social Network. To identify persons in Wikipedia, we make use of interwiki links, Wikipedia categories and person related information available in Wikidata. From the co-occurrences of persons on a Wikipedia page we construct a large-scale person-centric network and provide a weighting scheme for the relationship of two persons based on the distances of their mentions within the text. We extract key characteristics of the network such as centrality, clustering coefficient and component sizes for which we find values that are typical for social networks. Using state-of-the-art algorithms for community detection in massive networks, we identify interesting communities and evaluate them against Wikipedia categories. The Wikipedia social network developed this way provides an important source for future social analysis tasks.
Is the sufficiency of discharge instructions related to children's postoperative pain at home after day surgery?

BACKGROUND Parents are expected to alleviate their children's pain at home after day surgery, and the methods of pain alleviation should be taught to the parents by the hospital staff. However, the lack of information related to children's pain alleviation has been pointed out in several studies. AIM To describe the relationship between the parent-rated sufficiency of discharge instructions and the postoperative pain behaviours of 1- to 6-year-old children at home after day surgery. METHOD Questionnaires were handed out to mothers (n = 201) and fathers (n = 114) whose child had undergone minor day surgery in 10 Finnish central hospitals. Percentages and cross-tabulation with chi-square test were used in data analysis. ETHICAL ISSUES The ethical board in each hospital accepted the study. Parental participation was voluntary. RESULTS The parents considered the discharge instructions to be fairly sufficient, but criticized their content, method of providing and timing. Insufficiency of the instructions was related to children's postoperative pain behaviours at home. STUDY LIMITATIONS The fairly low response rate of this study prevents generalization of the findings to all Finnish parents. CONCLUSIONS Both the content, the methods of providing and the timing of discharge instruction need to be developed in children's day surgery. Special attention should be paid to written instructions, which should be given to the parents prior to the day of the child's surgery. Further research is needed to explore the skills of hospital staff in advising the parents and other factors explaining children's postoperative pain at home.
Internal vs. External Imagery as a Mental Preparation When Applied by Intermediate League Bowlers

Mental preparation is an important component in athletic performance. Mental preparation often involves imagery of the actual execution of the physical act. Imagery may be either "external" or "internal. " External imagery occurs when people view themselves performing an act from the perspective of an external observer. Internal imagery requires that the person feel those sensations that are involved while participating in a physical act. The assumption that internal imagery will be more likely to improve athletic performance was tested using intermediate league bowlers for a period of ten weeks.
Resource Management and Inter-Cell-Interference Coordination in LTE Uplink System Using Random Neural Network and Optimization

In orthogonal frequency division multiple access systems, inter-cell interference (ICI) can be considered as a collision between resource blocks (RBs), which can be reduced by employing a power control strategy at colliding RBs. This paper presents a random neural network (RNN) and a genetic algorithm-based hybrid cognitive engine (CE) architecture to reduce the ICI and achieve the coverage and capacity optimization in a long-term evolution uplink system. The embedded CE within eNodeB learns from the local environment about the effect of ICI on the reliability of communications. Consequently, the CE dynamically selects the optimal transmission power for serving users based on an experienced signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and an ICI on a scheduled RB in the subsequent transmission time intervals. The CE also suggests acceptable transmit power to users operating on the same scheduled RB in adjacent cells through the X2 interface (a communication interface between eNodeBs). The RNN features help the CE to acquire long-term learning, fast decision making, and less computational complexity, which are essential for the development and practical deployment of any real-time cognitive communication system. In six different test cases, the simulation results have shown improvements up to 87% in long-term learning and a quick convergence of the RNN as compared with artificial neural network models. Moreover, the gains of 7% in average cell capacity and 118% in system coverage have been achieved as compared with a fractional power control method.
User Perceptions of Sharing, Advertising, and Tracking

Extending earlier work, we conducted an online user study to investigate users’ understanding of online behavioral advertising (OBA) and tracking prevention tools (TPT), and whether users’ willingness to share data with advertising companies varied depending on the type of first party website. We presented results of 368 participant responses across four types of websites an online banking site, an online shopping site, a search engine and a social networking site. In general, we identified that participants had positive responses for OBA and that they demonstrated clear preferences for which classes of information they would like to disclose online. Our results generalize over a variety of website categories containing data with different levels of sensitivity, as opposed to only the medical context as was shown in previous work by Leon et al. In our study, participants’ privacy attitudes significantly dominated their sharing willingness. Interestingly, participants appreciated the idea of user-customized targeted ads and some would be more willing to share data if given prior control mechanisms for tracking protection tools.
The Role of Intermediaries in Multi-Channel Service Delivery Strategies

The advent of e-government and the use of the Internet to connect governments to citizens and businesses have resulted into direct contact between government agencies and their customers. This development confirms the prediction of the transaction cost theory, which predicts a more direct interaction and the resulting bypassing of intermediaries. In this article, the authors explore intermediation theory and analyze two case studies which counter the argument of the bypassing of intermediaries. It is possible to adopt a reintermediation strategy in which intermediaries are used as a value-adding service delivery channel. The case studies show that intermediaries can be employed to reduce cost and improve information quality, while at the same time make government more demand-driven by employing channels that are closer to the natural interaction patterns of their customers than direct interaction. For governments, this implies that only adopting a disintermediation strategy, which is often motivated by a desire to reduce transaction costs, is too narrow an approach and needs to be complimented by a reintermediation strategy in order to advance towards a demand-driven government.
The Non-Cognitive Attributes of First-Year At-Risk Students Who Are Academically Successful and Retained at Old Dominion University

The Non-Cognitive Attributes of First-Year At-Risk Students Who are Academically Successful and Retained at Old Dominion University Tisha M. Paredes Old Dominion University, 2008 Chair: Dr. Gwendolyn Lee-Thomas With a decrease in state and federal funding, higher educational institutions need to focus on retaining students. However, student retention is a multifaceted problem that requires varied solutions. Traditional measures, or cognitive measures, of student success, such as pre-college knowledge (SAT and high school grade point average) have not explained how higher education institutions retained students, especially students who are considered at-risk. Since the nature of student retention is idiosyncratic, research needs to focus on other measures, such as students' non-cognitive factors. Tinto has outlined non-cognitive factors, such as pre-college characteristics, goals and commitments, and institutional experiences, which influence students' academic success and retention to the institution. Using Tinto's model as a framework for this study, the purpose of this research was to examine the non-cognitive characteristics of at-risk first-year students to determine if there were differences between students who were academically successful and academically unsuccessful students and students who were retained and not retained to the institution. For the purposes of this study, at-risk students were identified by utilizing the Transition to College Inventory (TCI), which measures Tinto's pre-college characteristics and goals and commitments. Additionally, first-year students' institutional experiences were examined using the Freshmen Experience Survey. This study's sample included all first-year students who were identified as medium or
Differences of the Anterior Segment Parameters in Children with Down Syndrome

Abstract Purpose: The study was undertaken to investigate whether anterior segment findings are different in children with Down syndrome (DS) to normal children and to focus on its clinical significance. Methods: A cross-sectional case control study was conducted in a total of 38 children with DS and 42 healthy children. This is the first report in the literature stating that. All subjects underwent ophthalmologic examination including slit-lamp biomicroscopy, cycloplegic refraction, intraocular pressure measurement and Scheimpflug imaging measurement. Customized software for Pentacam was used to analyze structural indices of anterior segment parameters. The mean anterior segment values of right eyes were compared between the groups. Results: The mean anterior chamber parameters of patients with DS and controls were measured respectively: Corneal thickness was 502.31 ± 40.5 and 541.8 ± 37.42 mm (p < 0.001), corneal volume was 56.63 ± 4.5 and 61.02 ± 4.3 mm3 (p < 0.001), corneal radius curvature was 7.41 ± 0.29 and 7.67 ± 0.34 mm (p < 0.001), iridocorneal angle was 39.7 ± 6.2 and 39.5 ± 6.4° (p = 0.944), anterior chamber volume was 181.65 ± 27.38 and 185.77 ± 32.53 mm3 (p = 0.528), anterior chamber depth was 3.08 ± 0.24 and 3.02 ± 0.31 mm (p = 447), pupil size was 2.95 ± 0.48 and 3.29 ± 0.45 mm (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The majority of the anterior segment parameters were found to be different in children with Down syndrome. While pupil size, corneal thickness, corneal volume and corneal curvature in DS were less than normal, iridocorneal angle, anterior chamber depth and anterior chamber volume were close to controls. The most important parametric differences in children with DS were seen on the cornea.
Imported Malaria in HIV-Infected Patients Enrolled in the ANRS CO4 FHDH Study

Background:To describe episodes of imported malaria in human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected patients and to study the risk factors for severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Methods:Patients enrolled in the French Hospital Database on HIV who were diagnosed with a first episode of malaria between 1996 and 2003 were included. The severity of P. falciparum imported malaria was graded with World Health Organization criteria. Geographic areas were classified according to P. falciparum chemoresistance. Risk factors for severe malaria were identified with logistic regression. Results:We studied 190 patients infected by P. falciparum in 178 cases. All but four of the patients were infected in sub-Saharan Africa, and half were returning from a country with a high P. falciparum chloroquine resistance. Their median age was 37.5 years, and 57% came from a country endemic with malaria. The median CD4 cell count was 299/mm3, and the median plasma human immunodeficiency virus type 1 RNA load was 4.5 log10 copies/mL. Sixty-five (36.5%) episodes of P. falciparum malaria were severe. Severe imported malaria was associated with CD4 cells/mm3 <350 (odds ratio = 2.58; 95% confidence interval: 1.19 to 5.57). The risk of severe malaria was lower in patients returning from a country with a high prevalence of chemoresistance (odds ratio = 0.50; 95% confidence interval: 0.25 to 0.99). Conclusions:Severe imported malaria in human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected patients is associated with decreased CD4 cell count. The risk seems lower when P. falciparum infection was acquired in areas of high prevalence of chemoresistance.
Reliability and Validity of the Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment for 5-6 Years of Children

School adjustment is a multi-dimentional concept related to social effect, social behaviour and school achievement. School adjustment is has been conceptualized as the degree to which children are interested, comfortable and successful in the school environment. Peers, parents and teachers have been important effects on school adjustment. It is know that there was a relation between positive teacher-child interaction and school adjustment and competence in preschool stage. Also teacher had more effects than relations with peers on school adjustment. Pre-School Education Programme, which prepared by Ministry of National Education in 2006, has been stressed upon especially the active participation of the children in training settings. The measurement of school adjustment levels of children can be important in making regulations for children to participate actively to training settings. First of all there is a need to have a scale to assess school adjustment of young chilren. There is not any scale to assess school adjustment of preschool children in Turkey. Due to this idea, the aim of the present study was to adapt the Teacher Rating Scale of School Adjustment, for 5-6 years-old children to Turkish. The original scale was developed by G. W. Ladd, B. Kochenfender and C. Coleman (1996) and it aimed to evalute the children’s school adjustment on the basis of teachers observations. The Turkish version of the scale was administered to the teachers of 269 preschool children of 5-6 years-old and the validity and reliability of the scale were tested. The results indicated that the Turkish version of the scale had acceptable reliability and validity.
Trust, Perceived Risk, and Trusting Behavior in Internet Banking

In information systems, "trust" and "risk" have been explored by a few trust-related research studies before, but as two separate issues. The way in which these studies have been designed, however, does not help clarify the relationship between trust and risk since they are studied as unconnected determinants of trusting behavior in electronic commerce. As such, this research attempt s to examine and specify the relationships among the core constructs surrounding the issue of trust such as risk and trusting behavior. The context of Internet banking adoption is used to develop a conceptual model that incorporates the direct effects of trust and perceived risk on trusting behavior as well as the mediation of the relationship between trust and trusting behavior by perceived risk. The findings show that perceived risk mediates the relationship between trust and trusting behavior. Specifically, trust in the Internet as a banking medium significantly influences the adoption of Internet banking both directly and indirectly through perceived risk of Internet banking. Trust that the bank will not take advantage of consumers significantly influences the trusting behavior through perceived risk of Internet banking. This study, thus, extends research on trust in e-commerce by si multaneously examining the influence of trust and perceived risk on e-commerce adoption.
Learning Implicitly: Effects of Task and Severity After Stroke

Background. Disparate results have been reported on the implicit learning ability of adults with stroke. Objective. This study aimed to elucidate the relationships between stroke severity and the task employed to test implicit motor learning. Methods. Twenty-eight patients with chronic stroke were divided according to stroke severity using the Orpington prognostic score into those with mild (n = 16, score < 3.2) or moderate stroke (n = 12, score 3.2-5.0). Seventeen healthy individuals served as matched controls (HC). All participants practiced 2 implicit learning tasks, the Serial Reaction Time (SRT) and Serial Hand Movement (SHM). Results. A group-bytask-by-block interaction (P = .000) demonstrated differences across the experimental factors. Post hoc analyses revealed differences between groups and tasks. Greater change in the speed of responding was exhibited for the SHM than the SRT task by the HC and mild groups; however, the moderate group did not demonstrate a between-task difference. Conclusion. Both stroke severity and motor task influenced the magnitude of implicit learning across acquisition, which suggests for the first time that different tasks may yield disparate implicit learning outcomes in the same population. Additionally, the impact of stroke severity may be important when assessing residual implicit motor learning capability. The combination of these 2 factors helps explain previously reported contradictory findings and may inform future studies.
Synapsin‐dependent reserveo pool of synaptic vesicles supports replenishment of the readily releasable pool under intense synaptic transmission

Synapsins are abundant synaptic vesicle (SV)‐associated proteins thought to mediate synaptic vesicle mobility and clustering at most synapses. We used synapsin triple knock‐out (TKO) mice to examine the morphological and functional consequences of deleting all synapsin isoforms at the calyx of Held, a giant glutamatergic synapse located in the auditory brain stem. Quantitative three‐dimensional (3D) immunohistochemistry of entire calyces showed lower amounts of the synaptic vesicle protein vGluT1 while the level of the active zone marker bassoon was unchanged in TKO terminals. Examination of brain lysates by ELISA revealed a strong reduction in abundance of several synaptic vesicle proteins, while proteins of the active zone cytomatrix or postsynaptic density were unaffected. Serial section scanning electron microscopy of large 3D‐reconstructed segments confirmed a decrease in the number of SVs to approximately 50% in TKO calyces. Short‐term depression tested at stimulus frequencies ranging from 10 to 300 Hz was accelerated only at frequencies above 100 Hz and the time course of recovery from depression was slowed in calyces lacking synapsins. These results reveal that in wild‐type synapses, the synapsin‐dependent reserve pool contributes to the replenishment of the readily releasable pool (RRP), although accounting only for a small fraction of the SVs that enter the RRP. In conclusion, our results suggest that synapsins may be required for normal synaptic vesicle biogenesis, trafficking and immobilization of synaptic vesicles, yet they are not essential for sustained high‐frequency synaptic transmission at the calyx terminal.
Measures of Political Talk Frequency: Assessing Reliability and Meaning

ABSTRACT Although many insights about political conversation have been gleaned from survey data, researchers have yet to engage in serious and intense scrutiny of the measures used to assess political discussion habits. Analyzing three types of data (two three-wave panel studies, social network data from 25 intact groups, and a cognitive interview), this paper examines the reliability of (and meaning ascribed to) self-reported political discussion frequency measures. Results of Study 1 and Study 2 suggest that self-report measures of political discussion exhibit strong internal consistency at a given time point, but substandard reliability within individuals over time and between members of a dyad. Study 3 demonstrates substantial variability in survey respondents’ definitions of political discussion, with more expansive definitions of politics related to higher reports of political discussion frequency. Directions for future research to enhance understanding and improve the reliability of political discussion measures are addressed.
Fiscal Multipliers and Financial Crises

I study the effects of the US fiscal policy response to the Great Recession, accounting both for standard tools and financial sector interventions. A nonlinear model calibrated to the US allows me to study the state-dependent effects of different fiscal policies. I combine the model with data on the fiscal policy response to find that the fall in consumption would have been one-third larger in the absence of that response, for a cumulative loss of 7.18%. Transfers and bank recapitalizations yielded the largest fiscal multipliers through new transmission channels that arise from linkages between household and bank balance sheets.