Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Existential Distress Among Parents of Children with Cancer or Chronic Illness: Screening and a Meaning-Based Intervention

Parents of children with cancer or a chronic illness not only face practical challenges in the management of their child’s condition, but also experience intense psychological and existential distress in the period after diagnosis that can have detrimental effects in the long run if left undetected. To date, neither the option of using an ultra-short screening tool for measuring parents’ distress, nor a meaning-based intervention to reduce parents’ distress, have been investigated. The current research comprised two studies. Study 1 aimed to evaluate the accuracy of an adaptation of Mitchell et al.’s (2010) Emotional and Help Thermometers in detecting the level of distress. Mitchell et al.’s instrument consisted of four emotion thermometers – Distress, Anxiety, Depression, Anger – and a Need Help thermometer. Our adaptation added the “Crushed Universe” thermometer designed to measure existential distress. All six thermometers were compared against a battery of assessment tools that measure depression, anxiety (Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 items), loss of meaning (Sense of Coherence-13 items), and post-traumatic stress (Impact of Events Scale-Revised). Participants were main caregivers whose children were diagnosed with cancer or chronic illness (n = 172). The thermometers had good diagnostic accuracy in predicting various forms of distress, and the Crushed Universe Thermometer was able to predict parents’ sense of meaningfulness and post-traumatic stress symptoms. The Crushed Universe Thermometer was also the optimal thermometer in predicting depression, anxiety, and stress. Study 2 aimed to evaluate the applicability and efficacy of a meaning-based intervention in reducing parents’ distress in relation to the context, particularly meaning-related distress. Participants were two mothers, one with a child with cancer, the other with a chronic illness. In both cases, contextual stressors influenced participants’ distress more than the child’s illness. Together, the results suggest that existential distress is a significant component of psychological distress for parents of chronically-ill children.
Avaliação subjetiva da função do joelho da sensibilidade proprioceptiva antes e após a reconstrução do ligamento cruzado anterior.

Several studies have shown the important role of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in the knee proprioception. However, there are still few studies that had evaluate the characteristics of proprioception acuity in the early period of rehabilitation after the ACL-reconstructed surgery, over all when it was associated to functional outcomes. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate knee proprioception and subjective knee function in subjects who had an ACL injury, before and after (3 months) the reconstruction surgery with the middle third of patellar tendon autograft; and in control subjects. Ten volunteers who had unilateral ACL injury (26.9±6.8 years) – reconstructed group and fifteen health volunteers (22.1±3.0 years) – control group – performed a proprioceptive evaluation (joint position sense JPS – during active and passive movements, threshold for detection of passive movement – TDPM) on a Biodex Multi-Joint System III Pro isokinetic dynamometer, at 2o/s and at two target-angles (30o and 60o of knee flexion). The variables analyzed were the mean of angular displacement (TDPM) and the mean of absolute error (JPS) in relation to each target-angle. The subjective knee function was evaluated by Lysholm scale. The analyses of variance showed subjective functional deficit in involved limb, compared to the uninvolved limb, as well as in relation to the control group, in both test moments (p<0.01). Although no significant, the results showed a tendency for higher TDPM in the reconstructed group (p=0.06). There was no significant difference in the mean of absolute error between the groups (p>0.05), for any modality of JPS, target-angles or test moments. The TDPM showed strong correlation with the subjective knee functional score (just in the involved limb). Under the experimental conditions utilized, the subjects who had an anterior cruciate ligament injury didn’t show proprioceptive deficits in relation to the control group, although of the subjective functional limitations presented. Key-words: anterior cruciate ligament, proprioception, functional outcome measures, isokinetics.
The International Competitiveness of Polish Agriculture

This article considers the international competitiveness of agricultural production in Poland. Competitiveness was measured in terms of domestic resource cost (DRC) ratios for three farm sizes and eight commodities. The results highlight that for the period 1996 to 1998 Polish crop production was more internationally competitive than livestock farming. The most internationally competitive crops of those analysed were rapeseed and potatoes. During the period, however, international competitiveness worsened as international commodity prices fell. There is an inverse relationship between DRCs and farm size. This is an important result as Polish production is relatively fragmented and the degree of structural change has been slow.
Angrier Birds: Bayesian reinforcement learning

We train a reinforcement learner to play a simplified version of the game Angry Birds. The learner is provided with a game state in a manner similar to the output that could be produced by computer vision algorithms. We improve on the efficiency of regular {\epsilon}-greedy Q-Learning with linear function approximation through more systematic exploration in Randomized Least Squares Value Iteration (RLSVI), an algorithm that samples its policy from a posterior distribution on optimal policies. With larger state-action spaces, efficient exploration becomes increasingly important, as evidenced by the faster learning in RLSVI.
Compete or Cooperate ? Firms ’ Interactive Investment Decisions

This paper analyzes the optimal capital investment scale and timing in the context of real options, cooperative bargaining and network effects. Firms in the same industry often have related and interacting investment opportunities, such as the construction of a shared production facility. Each firm has a real option to delay investment, driven by price and quantity uncertainty. Accelerating investment is a first mover advantage arising from the ability of the first mover to customize the common facility to its own specification. Mitigating the desire to move first is the desire to capture network effects arising from the ability to spread the industry’s public costs over a larger user base. The first mover (the leader) has to decide on the scale and timing of construction, as well as the optimal economic rent to charge the second mover for use of the common facility. The second mover (the follower) has to decide whether to use the first mover’s facility or build its own facility, and if it decides to build its own, the optimal scale and timing of construction. The analysis demonstrate that (i) the leader can improve its enterprise value by being cooperative, i.e., building excess production capacity and allowing joint usage. (ii) there is a non-monotonic concave relationship between each firms’ reservation lease rate and the commodity price. This provides testable implications for understanding firms investment behavior under competition.
Medical Students' Attitudinal Changes Towards Cadaver Dissection: A Longitudinal Study

Background Recently, not only the medical school curriculum but also medical students' attitude towards cadaver-based learning of anatomy has changed. This investigation is therefore designed to analyse students' attitudes towards human cadaveric dissection before and after exposure to dissection. Methods A longitudinal survey was conducted among second year medical students in 2010 at the college of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Gondar. All second year medical students (n=147) were included in the study where their attitudes were surveyed at three time points (one week prior to dissection session, a week after the initiation of dissection and eight weeks after the second survey). Three standardized and pretested questionnaires prepared in English were used to collected relevant data from the subjects. Results Out of the 147 students 85.7% were males. The subjects' age ranged between 18 and 23 with a mean and standard deviation of 19.5±1 years. This study has revealed that among majority of the students fear and nausea have decreased while their interest and excitement has increased on subsequent exposure to dissection (P<0.05). About 75% of students considered the dissection room as slightly or highly stressful. Smell of the cadaver and eye irritation as a result of the chemicals in it were the major aspects identified as making the dissecting room stressful. The result also showed that almost all (99%) considered cadaver dissection had very important educational value for anatomy learning. Conclusion In the majority of the students fear and nausea had decreased while interest and excitement had increased on subsequent exposure to dissection. It also showed that chemical odour and eye irritations were the leading factors which create discomfort in the dissection room even though anatomical dissection by itself was not considered as a stressor. Thus, instructors are recommended to adequately prepare students mentally and emotionally before the commencement of the dissection session for an exciting and stress free anatomy learning though dissection.
Initiation and termination of intraseasonal oscillations in nonlinear Laplacian spectral analysis-based indices

Abstract We present a statistical analysis of the initiation and termination of boreal winter and boreal summer intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs). This study uses purely convection (infrared brightness temperature) data over a 23-year time interval from 1984–2006. The indices are constructed via the nonlinear Laplacian spectral analysis (NLSA) method and display high intermittency and non-Gaussian statistics. We first define primary, terminal, and full events in the NLSA-based indices, and then examine their statistics through the associated two-dimensional phase space representations. Roughly one full event per year was detected for the Madden-Julian oscillation (MJO), and 1.3 full events per year for the boreal summer ISO.We also find that 91%of the recovered full MJO events are circumnavigating and exhibit very little to no retrograde (westward) propagation. The Indian Ocean emerges as the most active region in terms of both the onset and decay of events, however relevant activity occurs over all phases, consistent with previous work.
THE MIRROR-NEURON SYSTEM IN MONKEYS F 5

A category of stimuli of great importance for primates, humans in particular, is that formed by actions done by other individuals. If we want to survive, we must understand the actions of others. Furthermore, without action understanding, social organization is impossible. In the case of humans, there is another faculty that depends on the observation of others’ actions: imitation learning. Unlike most species, we are able to learn by imitation, and this faculty is at the basis of human culture. In this review we present data on a neurophysiological mechanism—the mirror-neuron mechanism—that appears to play a fundamental role in both action understanding and imitation. We describe first the functional properties of mirror neurons in monkeys. We review next the characteristics of the mirror-neuron system in humans. We stress, in particular, those properties specific to the human mirror-neuron system that might explain the human capacity to learn by imitation. We conclude by discussing the relationship between the mirror-neuron system and language.
Prosody in speech as a source of referential information

ABSTRACT Although prosody has primarily been assumed to convey information regarding linguistic structure and speakers’ emotional state, increasing evidence suggests that prosody also conveys referential details. We examined the extent to which language users produce and infer information from prosodic correlates to perceptual details in the visual modality, specifically colour brightness. In Experiments 1 and 2, speakers labelled colours that varied in brightness with either familiar colour names (e.g. red; Exp. 1) or novel words (e.g. blicket; Exp. 2). Speakers used higher pitch, shorter duration, and higher amplitude for novel words, but not for familiar colour names, when labelling brighter versus darker shades. Listeners in Experiment 3 reliably inferred the intended target colour referent from the recorded utterances obtained in Experiment 2. Findings suggest that prosody reflects cross-modal correspondences between auditory and visual domains and, like a type of vocal gesture, provides an additional channel of information that resolves referential ambiguity.
Homophily and assimilation among sportactive adolescent substance users

We analyse the co-evolution of social networks and substance use behaviour of adolescents and address the problem of separating the effects of homophily and assimilation. Adolescents who prefer friends with the same substance-use behaviour exhibit the homophily principle. Adolescents who adapt their substance use behaviour to match that of their friends display the assimilation principle. We use the Siena software to illustrate the co-evolution of friendship networks, smoking, cannabis use and drinking among sport-active teenagers. Results indicate strong network selection effects occurring with a preference for same sex reciprocated relationships in closed networks. Assimilation occurs among cannabis and alcohol but not tobacco users. Homophily prevails among tobacco and alcohol users. Cannabis use influences smoking behavior positively (i.e., increasing cannabis increases smoking). Weaker effects include drinkers smoking more and cannabis users drinking more. Homophily and assimilation are not significant mechanisms with regard to sporting activity for any substance. There is, however, a significant reduction of sporting activity among smokers. Also, girls engaged in less sport than boys. Some recommendations for health promotion programmes are made.
Remote Sensing of Snow Cover for Climate Monitoring in the Canadian Subarctic: A Comparison Between SMMR-SSM/I and NOAA-AVHRR Sensors

By considering the advantages and disadvantages of each remote sensing observation method, the most favourable solution for studying snow cover currently remains the synergistic use of multi-sensor satellite data. Using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) applied to SMMR and SSM/I time series over a 23-year period (1978–2001), we were able to evaluate the sensitivity of passive microwave sensor data in identifying the seasonal cycles and the interannual variability of snow cover conditions in the Canadian Subarctic (northern Manitoba). We also demonstrated that the Nimbus-7 SMMR Pathfinder Daily EASE-Grid Brightness Temperatures are biased, especially in vertical polarisation. Dates characterising the beginning of snow accumulation on the ground and snow cover disappearance were obtained from the PCA and then compared to both snow cover information derived from optical satellite imagery (NOAA/NESDIS weekly snow charts) and conventional snow cover measurements recorded at the Churchill and Gillam airport weather stations. It appears that passive microwave radiometers meet some difficulties in estimating accurately the date of the first snow on the ground, especially under warm and dry winter conditions. Indeed, the difference can sometime exceed 4 weeks (e.g. winters 92–93 and 98–99) between passive microwave estimates and in situ observations. Consequently, the results clearly indicate the need to improve snow cover duration estimates derived from passive microwave data by adding information from optical sensors. However, SMMR and SSM/I data efficiently compensate for the deficiencies of optical imagery, especially when cloud cover remains over a study area for long periods due to the presence of large atmospheric disturbances. In addition, passive microwave data also allow to monitor intra- and inter-annual variations in snow depth.
The Effects of Magnesium Ions on the Enzymatic Synthesis of Ligand-Bearing Artificial DNA by Template-Independent Polymerase

A metal-mediated base pair, composed of two ligand-bearing nucleotides and a bridging metal ion, is one of the most promising components for developing DNA-based functional molecules. We have recently reported an enzymatic method to synthesize hydroxypyridone (H)-type ligand-bearing artificial DNA strands. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase (TdT), a template-independent DNA polymerase, was found to oligomerize H nucleotides to afford ligand-bearing DNAs, which were subsequently hybridized through copper-mediated base pairing (H–CuII–H). In this study, we investigated the effects of a metal cofactor, MgII ion, on the TdT-catalyzed polymerization of H nucleotides. At a high MgII concentration (10 mM), the reaction was halted after several H nucleotides were appended. In contrast, at lower MgII concentrations, H nucleotides were further appended to the H-tailed product to afford longer ligand-bearing DNA strands. An electrophoresis mobility shift assay revealed that the binding affinity of TdT to the H-tailed DNAs depends on the MgII concentration. In the presence of excess MgII ions, TdT did not bind to the H-tailed strands; thus, further elongation was impeded. This is possibly because the interaction with MgII ions caused folding of the H-tailed strands into unfavorable secondary structures. This finding provides an insight into the enzymatic synthesis of longer ligand-bearing DNA strands.
Automatic trailer generation

This paper presents a content-based movie trailer generation method, named Vid2Trailer (V2T). Since trailers are intended to advertise movies, they must show specific symbols such as the title logo and the main theme music. Moreover, it is expected to attract viewers by its visual and audio content. V2T satisfies these two requirements when creating a trailer from the original movie content. First, the title logo and the main theme music are extracted. Second, impressive speech and video segments are extracted by using an affective content analysis technique. Third, all of the extracted components are concatenated into the form of a trailer; to realize this, we propose a method that estimates the affective impact of shot sequences, and introduce an algorithm that arranges a set of shots so as to maximize the affective impact of the sequence. Experiments show that our V2T is more appropriate to trailer generation than conventional techniques.
One Hidden Object, Two Spatial Codes: Young Children's Use of Relational and Vector Coding

An important characteristic of mature spatial cognition is the ability to encode spatial locations in terms of relations among landmarks as well as in terms of vectors that include distance and direction. In this study, we examined children's use of the relation middle to code the location of a hidden toy, using a procedure adapted from prior work on spatial cognition in gerbils (Collett, Cartwright, & Smith, 1986). Children of 4 and 5 years searched for a hidden toy in a large-scale environment. They were trained to find the toy with either 2 or 1 landmark present. On subsequent trials we altered the number and locations of the landmarks to determine how children represented the location of the toy. With 2 landmarks present during the initial training trial, the children coded both the middle location and the distance and direction from the toy to the landmarks. With 1 landmark present during the training trial, the children coded the location in terms of distance and direction to the single landmark. Our results shed light on seemingly inconsistent prior findings in both human and nonhuman species and indicate that both relational and vector coding are present in young children.
Dopamine Is a Regulator of Arousal in the Fruit Fly

Sleep and arousal are known to be regulated by both homeostatic and circadian processes, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are not well understood. It has been reported that the Drosophila rest/activity cycle has features in common with the mammalian sleep/wake cycle, and it is expected that use of the fly genetic model will facilitate a molecular understanding of sleep and arousal. Here, we report the phenotypic characterization of a Drosophila rest/activity mutant known as fumin (fmn). We show that fmn mutants have abnormally high levels of activity and reduced rest (sleep); genetic mapping, molecular analyses, and phenotypic rescue experiments demonstrate that these phenotypes result from mutation of the Drosophila dopamine transporter gene. Consistent with the rest phenotype, fmn mutants show enhanced sensitivity to mechanical stimuli and a prolonged arousal once active, indicating a decreased arousal threshold. Strikingly,fmn mutants do not show significant rebound in response to rest deprivation as is typical for wild-type flies, nor do they show decreased life span. These results provide direct evidence that dopaminergic signaling has a critical function in the regulation of insect arousal.
Effects of chronic renal failure and hemodialysis on the monoethylglycinexylidide liver function test.

Monoethylglycinexylidide (MEGX), the primary metabolite of lidocaine, is produced via oxidative N-deethylation catalyzed by cytochrome P450 (CYP) 3A4 (1). The MEGX test, a new dynamic test of liver function that assesses the rate of MEGX formation after a standard intravenous dose of lidocaine, is a highly sensitive indicator of hepatic dysfunction and has gained the widest acceptance among dynamic liver function tests, especially in the field of liver transplantation (2). Although various observations have provided evidence of impaired drug metabolism in patients with renal insufficiency (3), the effect of renal function on MEGX formation rate has received limited attention. The only study comparing uremic patients with healthy subjects found no statistically significant differences in MEGX values between the two study groups (4). However, in this investigation, only patients with moderate kidney dysfunction were examined and MEGX was measured only 15 min after lidocaine injection. Although this was the sampling time originally suggested by Oellerich et al. (5), these authors later observed a lesser variability in MEGX concentrations at 30 min and proposed that blood be sampled at this time for MEGX determination (6). We have shown that the intersubject variability in MEGX decreases up to 1 h in both healthy individuals and cirrhotic patients; consequently, the efficiency of the test becomes maximal when blood is sampled 60 min after lidocaine injection (7). This result was confirmed in subsequent studies (8)(9)(10). The aim of the present study was to reassess the effect of chronic renal failure on the results of the MEGX test. We studied 48 Caucasian men with informed written consent. The study protocol was approved by the local Ethics Committee. The subjects were divided into four groups on the basis of creatinine clearance (CLCR) values: Group 1, with CLCR >80 mL/min per 1.73 …