Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Longitudinal Study of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms and Its Relationship with Coping Skill and Locus of Control in Adolescents after an Earthquake in China

Background/Objectives Post-traumatic stress disorder is a common psychological maladaptation among adolescents after undergoing an earthquake. Knowledge about the prevalence and maintenance of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms and the changes of its predictors over time can help medical providers assist adolescent survivors with mitigating long-term impacts. This study examined the changes in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms and its relationship with coping skill and locus of control among adolescent earthquake survivors in China. Methodology/Findings The study used an observational longitudinal design. A total of 1420 adolescents were evaluated twice after the earthquake by using the Post-traumatic stress disorder Checklist-Civilian Version, The Internality, Powerful others and Chance scale and the Coping Styles Scale. The results indicated that the mean scores of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms were decreased significantly and the positive rates of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms also declined remarkably at 17 months compared to the 3 months post-earthquake. Internality locus of control and problem solving coping skill were effective resilient factors for the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, while chance locus of control was a powerful risk factor of posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms as well as being female, being injured and property loss. Conclusions/Significance Continuous screening is recommended to identify adolescent earthquake survivors with posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. More attention should be paid to adolescent survivors who are prone to adopt passive coping strategies responding to trauma events and who own external causal attribution.
The Routing Continuum from Shortest-Path to All-Path: A Unifying Theory

Routing is a critical operation in networks. In the context of data and sensor networks, routing strategies such as shortest-path, multi-path and potential-based ("all-path") routing have been developed. Based on the connection between routing and flow optimization in a network, in this paper we develop a unifying theoretical framework by considering flow optimization with mixed (weighted) L1/L2-norms. We obtain a surprising result: as we vary the trade-off parameter, the routing graphs induced by the optimal flow solutions span from shortest-path to multi-path to all-path routing - this entire sequence of routing graphs is referred to as the routing continuum. Our theory subsumes the earlier results showing the shortest path and all-path routing can be obtained from L1 and L2 flow optimization, respectively. We also develop an efficient iterative algorithm for computing the entire routing continuum. Several generalizations are also considered, with applications to traffic engineering and wireless sensor networks.
Initiating Trust in a Hostile Environment : A Case Study of Leaders Forging a New Transnational Partnership in Iraq

Transnational or global partnerships and intercultural strategic alliances require organizational leaders who will proactively engage risk and establish initial trust at the earliest stage of the emerging new relationship, especially where the prospective partnership must overcome a hostile external environment in which risk is high. Recent models of trust have emphasized the importance of trusting behavior that occurs early in the relationship. The model proposed by Jarvenpaa, Knoll, and Leidner (1998) refers to such early behavior as trusting action. Trusting action resembles a form of emergent trust or trust ex ante, similar to swift trust. This case study considers a new transnational partnership between two faith-based nonprofit charitable organizations—one in Iraq and the other in the United States. The study reports how risk-taking behavior and trusting action by leaders overcame a hostile, low-trust environment to create the intercultural relationship of trust essential to forming a strategic alliance. The findings support Jarvenpaa et al.’s proposition that initial trusting action functions both directly as a nontraditional antecedent of trust and indirectly by enhancing other antecedents. A need remains for additional case studies on how leadership initiatives can strategically employ mechanisms and interactions of early trusting behaviors to expedite such partnerships and alliances.
Politización del malestar, movilización social y transformación ideológica: el caso "Chile 2011"

Entre 1990 y 2011 se constituyo una subjetividad que tolero un incremento significativo de malestar sin mayores expresiones politicas del mismo. Una sociedad despolitizada privatizo los problemas publicos y los asumio a nivel individual. En ese marco, el disenso de los ciudadanos con el orden politico al cual debian responder, no solo no tuvo nunca representacion institucional, sino que mas bien fue la institucionalidad su principal obstaculo. Las instituciones funcionaron como dique de contencion del malestar y protegieron asi a la clase politica. La latencia del malestar tuvo su final, o al menos una suspension significativa, durante 2011, a partir de un proceso de movilizacion social de gran envergadura que anclo la energia del malestar en los problemas de la educacion chilena. La ilegitimidad anterior de la protesta publica invirtio su signo y el acto de protesta paso a ser parte fundamental del modo en que las demandas ciudadanas lograron, legitimamente, escalar hacia las autoridades, mientras estas reducian su ya menguada aprobacion. El presente articulo expone el caracter transformador de la mera posibilidad de procesar politizadamente el malestar, constituyendose este hecho en condicion suficiente para incrementar el grado de deliberacion social sobre los problemas publicos, reconfigurando la textura del espacio publico e incluso modificando radicalmente las condiciones hegemonicas imperantes.
Deep Learning with Convolutional Neural Networks Applied to Electromyography Data: A Resource for the Classification of Movements for Prosthetic Hands

Natural control methods based on surface electromyography (sEMG) and pattern recognition are promising for hand prosthetics. However, the control robustness offered by scientific research is still not sufficient for many real life applications, and commercial prostheses are capable of offering natural control for only a few movements. In recent years deep learning revolutionized several fields of machine learning, including computer vision and speech recognition. Our objective is to test its methods for natural control of robotic hands via sEMG using a large number of intact subjects and amputees. We tested convolutional networks for the classification of an average of 50 hand movements in 67 intact subjects and 11 transradial amputees. The simple architecture of the neural network allowed to make several tests in order to evaluate the effect of pre-processing, layer architecture, data augmentation and optimization. The classification results are compared with a set of classical classification methods applied on the same datasets. The classification accuracy obtained with convolutional neural networks using the proposed architecture is higher than the average results obtained with the classical classification methods, but lower than the results obtained with the best reference methods in our tests. The results show that convolutional neural networks with a very simple architecture can produce accurate results comparable to the average classical classification methods. They show that several factors (including pre-processing, the architecture of the net and the optimization parameters) can be fundamental for the analysis of sEMG data. Larger networks can achieve higher accuracy on computer vision and object recognition tasks. This fact suggests that it may be interesting to evaluate if larger networks can increase sEMG classification accuracy too.
Ratio of von Willebrand Factor Propeptide to ADAMTS13 Is Associated With Severity of Sepsis

ABSTRACT Von Willebrand factor (VWF)–cleaving protease (ADAMTS13) cleaves ultralarge VWF (ULVWF) secreted from endothelium and by which is regulating its physiologic function. An imbalance between ULVWF secretion and ADAMTS13 level occurs in sepsis and may cause multiple organ dysfunction. We evaluated the association between the VWF-propeptide (VWF-pp)/ADAMTS13 ratio and disease severity in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. In 27 patients with severe sepsis or septic shock and platelet count less than 120 000/&mgr;L, we measured plasma VWF, VWF-pp, and ADAMTS13 levels on hospital days 1, 3, 5, and 7. The VWF-pp/ADAMTS13 ratio was increased greater than 12-fold in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock on day 1 and remained markedly high on days 3, 5, and 7 compared with normal control subjects. The VWF-pp/ADAMTS13 ratio significantly correlated with Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score on days 1 and 5; Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment score on days 1, 3, and 5; maximum Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment score and tumor necrosis factor &agr; level on days 1, 3, 5, and 7; and creatinine level on days 1, 5, and 7. Patients with greater than stage 1 acute kidney injury had significantly higher VWF-pp/ADAMTS13 ratio than patients without acute kidney injury. In summary, the VWF-pp/ADAMTS13 ratio was associated with disease severity in patients with severe sepsis or septic shock and may help identify patients at risk for multiple organ dysfunction by detecting severe imbalance between ULVWF secretion and ADAMTS13 level.
BRAIN CONCENTRATIONS OF BIOGENIC AMINE METABOLITES IN ACUTELY TREATED AND ETHANOL‐DEPENDENT RATS

1 Mass fragmentography was used to measure whole brain concentrations of some of the major metabolites of tyramine, octopamine, dopamine and noradrenaline in acutely treated and in ethanoldependent rats. 2 Treatments with ethanol, either acutely or chronically, failed to alter significantly brain concentration of p‐hydroxyphenylacetic and p‐hydroxymandelic acid (metabolites derived from tyramine and octopamine respectively). The effect on catecholamine metabolites was marked and therefore suggests that ethanol is selective in its effect on central metabolism of biogenic amines. 3 Acute ethanol treatment significantly increased brain concentration of homovanillic acid (HVA), 3,4‐dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) and 3‐methoxy‐4‐hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG). Vanilmandelic acid (VMA) was not affected. All four metabolites (HVA, DOPAC, MHPG and VMA) were increased in the brains of rats rendered dependent on ethanol while still intoxicated (blood ethanol levels above 200 mg/dl). In ethanol‐dependent rats undergoing ethanol withdrawal syndrome (no ethanol present in blood), the brain concentrations of HVA and DOPAC were normal while those of MHPG and VMA continued to be elevated. 4 From the decline in the concentrations of HVA and DOPAC after 50 mg pargyline/kg in control rats and rats acutely treated with ethanol, it was concluded that ethanol has no effect on the transport of phenolic acids across the blood brain barrier. 5 No reversal in the metabolism of catecholamines from an oxidative to a reductive pathway, analogous to that produced by ethanol in the periphery, could be established in the brain. 6 The increase in catecholamine metabolite concentrations after ethanol treatment, either acute or chronic, were interpreted as manifestations of increases catecholamine turnover.
Learning Shaping Rewards in Model-based Reinforcement Learning

Potential-based reward shaping has been shown to be a powerful method to improve the convergence rate of reinforcement learning agents. It is a ∞exible technique to incorporate background knowledge into temporal-difierence learning in a principled way. However, the question remains how to compute the potential which is used to shape the reward that is given to the learning agent. In this paper, we show how, in the absence of knowledge to deflne potential manually, the potential function can be learned online in parallel with the actual reinforcement learning process. The approach for the prototypical model-based R-max algorithm is proposed. It learns the potential function using the free space assumption about the transitions in the environment. The novel algorithm is presented and evaluated empirically and theoretically. Speciflcally, the proposed algorithm is shown to learn an admissible potential which is required by the R-max algorithm with potential-based reward shaping.
Democratic Consequences of Hostile Media Perceptions

In this article, the authors examine the consequences of the hostile-media phenomenon and advance the argument that people's perceptions of hostile coverage shape their trust in mainstream media institutions.Media trust in turn affects trust in democracy and willingness to accept democratic decisions. These ideas are tested on a sample of Jewish Settlers in the Gaza Strip,in theweeks before a Likud Party vote on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to pull out of the Gaza Strip and evacuate settlers from their homes. Findings show that hostile media perceptions were negatively related to settlers' trust in media and that trust in media was positively related to trust in democracy, which, in turn, affected settlers' intentions to forcefully resist Sharon's evacuation plan. No direct association was found between hostile media perceptions and intentions to forcefully resist evacuation.
A Tale of Two Generations: Creativity Growth and Gender Differences Over a Period of Education and Curriculum Reforms

The Wallach–Kogan Creativity Tests were translated into Chinese and later fully computerized for research in Hong Kong. The normative data of two cohorts (1994 and 2002) of school children were employed to test the hypothesis that growth in creative thinking occurs in a society or culture during a period of education and curriculum reforms that emphasize creative thinking. Results of multivariate analysis of variance and subsequent univariate analysis of variance supported the hypothesis. Moreover, some interesting gender differences in creativity growth were observed, underlining the fact that boys and girls should be treated differentially to obtain a desirable creativity growth for them.
Unsupervised discovery and training of maximally dissimilar cluster models

One of the difficult problems of acoustic modeling for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) is how to adequately model the wide variety of acoustic conditions which may be present in the data. The problem is especially acute for tasks such as Google Search by Voice, where the amount of speech available per transaction is small, and adaptation techniques start showing their limitations. As training data from a very large user population is available however, it is possible to identify and jointly model subsets of the data with similar acoustic qualities. We describe a technique which allows us to perform this modeling at scale on large amounts of data by learning a treestructured partition of the acoustic space, and we demonstrate that we can significantly improve recognition accuracy in various conditions through unsupervised Maximum Mutual Information (MMI) training. Being fully unsupervised, this technique scales easily to increasing numbers of conditions.
Reconciliation in Conflict-Affected Societies: Multilevel Modeling of Individual and Contextual Factors in the North Caucasus of Russia

Over the past two decades, there has been a growing interest in reconciliation in societies emerging from conflict. The North Caucasus region of Russia has experienced multiple and diverse conflicts since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and violence continues, although at a lower level than a decade ago. We examine willingness to forgive members of other ethnic groups for violence that they have perpetuated as an indicator of the potential for reconciliation in the region. Using data from a large representative survey conducted in five ethnic republics of the North Caucasus in December 2005, we analyze responses to the forgiveness question in relation to social–psychological models of reconciliation, and we add a key geographic measure, distance to violent events, to the usual theories. Using the survey data (N = 2,000) and aggregate data for the eighty-two sampling points, we use a multilevel modeling approach to separate out the effects of individual and contextual factors. We find little support for the social identity theory expectations as ethnic hostility is not an important factor, except for in the case of the Ossetians, a mostly Orthodox minority disproportionately affected by multiple conflicts and the Beslan school killings. Instead, personal experiences of violence and terrorism, the impacts of military actions against communities, differences in general trust of others, and the extent to which the respondent's life has been changed by violence negatively influence the willingness to forgive. Conversely, respondents in ethnic Russian communities and those relatively close to violence are more willing to engage in postconflict reconciliation.
Problematising Practicum Relationships: Questioning the ‘Taken for Granted’

We position teaching as a complex, creative profession and have an expectation that practicum should support the reflexive, possibility-thinking and risk-taking creative endeavours of the beginning teacher. This paper reports on a series of studies that explored shared understandings and effectiveness of relationships and roles of practicum partners. Although we found there is considerable good intent within the practicum, the situation has been shown to be less than ideal for all members of the partnership. Rather than providing solutions to this situation, we raise issues for teacher educators to consider carefully in relation to practicum relationships.
Blacks and Women Must Try Harder

Previous research has shown that differential causal attributions are made for identical successful performance of male or female stimulus persons. It has been suggested (Deaux, 1976) that expectations derived from stereotypical assumptions about men and women might also hold for other stereotyped groups. A study was conducted to test this assumption by examining causal attributions for a successful banking career based on both the sex and race (black or white) of the target persom It was found that both male and female subjects attributed significantly greater ability, less effort, and less luck to the white male than to the other three groups (white female, black male, or black female)for whom attributions did not differ. Thus, race and sex act similarly as stimulus variables for attribution.
Sucrose Concentration as Reinforcement for Lever Pressing by Monkeys

3 rhesus monkeys were given various concentrations of sucrose for lever pressing on a variable interval schedule of reinforcement. 7 sucrose concentrations were studied at 2 levels of food deprivation. The response rates accelerated rapidly with increasing concentrations, and then declined after reaching a maximum, generally between 15 and 30% sucrose concentration. The decline was attributed to a satiation effect. The higher level of food deprivation tended to increase the response rate at all but the extreme high and low concentrations.
The de novo DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A in development and cancer

DNA methylation, one of the best-characterized epigenetic modifications, plays essential roles in development, aging and diseases. The de novo DNA methyltransferase DNMT3A is responsible for the establishment of de novo genomic DNA methylation patterns and, as such, involved in normal development as well as in many diseases including cancer. In recent years, our understanding of this important protein has made significant progress, which was facilitated by stunning development in the analysis of the DNA methylome of multiple organs and cell types. In this review, recent developments in the characterization of DNMT3A were discussed with special emphasis on the roles of DNMT3A in development and cancer.
Loss of ‘Small-World’ Networks in Alzheimer's Disease: Graph Analysis of fMRI Resting-State Functional Connectivity

Background Local network connectivity disruptions in Alzheimer's disease patients have been found using graph analysis in BOLD fMRI. Other studies using MEG and cortical thickness measures, however, show more global long distance connectivity changes, both in functional and structural imaging data. The form and role of functional connectivity changes thus remains ambiguous. The current study shows more conclusive data on connectivity changes in early AD using graph analysis on resting-state condition fMRI data. Methodology/Principal Findings 18 mild AD patients and 21 healthy age-matched control subjects without memory complaints were investigated in resting-state condition with MRI at 1.5 Tesla. Functional coupling between brain regions was calculated on the basis of pair-wise synchronizations between regional time-series. Local (cluster coefficient) and global (path length) network measures were quantitatively defined. Compared to controls, the characteristic path length of AD functional networks is closer to the theoretical values of random networks, while no significant differences were found in cluster coefficient. The whole-brain average synchronization does not differ between Alzheimer and healthy control groups. Post-hoc analysis of the regional synchronization reveals increased AD synchronization involving the frontal cortices and generalized decreases located at the parietal and occipital regions. This effectively translates in a global reduction of functional long-distance links between frontal and caudal brain regions. Conclusions/Significance We present evidence of AD-induced changes in global brain functional connectivity specifically affecting long-distance connectivity. This finding is highly relevant for it supports the anterior-posterior disconnection theory and its role in AD. Our results can be interpreted as reflecting the randomization of the brain functional networks in AD, further suggesting a loss of global information integration in disease.
Managed Health Care and Provider Integration: a Theory of Bilateral Market Power

Recent empirical studies point to the need for a model of bilateral market power between health plans and provider organizations. We develop such a model and use it to analyze the impact on cost and access of alternative contractual relationships between plans and providers. The plans differentiate themselves through distinct, albeit overlapping, provider networks of specialized, complementary inputs (physician groups and hospitals). We analyze subgame perfect strategic pricing equilibria for a range of possible contractual relationships between the upstream providers and the downstream insurers, including different internal organizational structures of vertically integrated health plans, such as group- and staff-model HMOs and PPOs. The model suggests that forms of provider integration that help to overcome pricing coordination failures can have efficiency benefits above and beyond those associated with economies of scope in outpatient and inpatient delivery.