Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Regionally Based Teams for the Treatment of Challenging Behaviour: A Three-year Outcome Study

In 1990, 13 regionally based Behaviour Intervention Support Teams (BISTs) were established in Victoria to assist agencies providing support to persons with an intellectual disability who exhibited challenging behaviour. A primary function of the BISTs was to conduct intensive interventions for clients with severe challenging behaviours. The outcomes of the interventions conducted by eight of these teams were monitored over the period from 1991 to 1993. During this time, a total of 134 such interventions were completed by the teams. Many outcome measures were used for each intervention. These included direct observational measures of the challenging behaviours, measures of skill acquisition by the clients, and satisfaction with the results by caregivers. It was concluded that the interventions resulted in a high rate of success (approximately 75%). Additionally, it was concluded that the use of regionally based specialist teams was an effective way of treating severe challenging behaviours that had previously proven difficult to manage.
Network-Level Connectivity Dynamics of Movie Watching in 6-Year-Old Children

Better understanding of the developing brain’s functional mechanisms is critical for improving diagnosis and treatment of different developmental disorders. Particularly, characterizing how the developing brain dynamically reorganizes during different cognitive states may offer novel insight into the neuronal mechanisms of cognitive deficits. Imaging the brain during naturalistic conditions, like movie watching, provides a highly practical way to study young children’s developing functional brain systems. In this study we compared the network-level functional organization of 6-year-old children while they were at rest with their functional connectivity as they watched short video clips. We employed both a data-driven independent component analysis (ICA) approach and a hypothesis-driven seed-based analysis to identify changes in network-level functional interactions during the shift from resting to video watching. Our ICA results showed that naturally watching a movie elicits significant changes in the functional connectivity between the visual system and the dorsal attention network when compared to rest (t(32) = 5.02, p = 0.0001). More interestingly, children showed an immature, but qualitatively adult-like, pattern of reorganization among three of the brain’s higher-order networks (frontal control, default-mode and dorsal attention). For both ICA and seed-based approaches, we observed a decrease in the frontal network’s correlation with the dorsal attention network (ICA: t(32) = −2.46, p = 0.02; Seed-based: t(32) = −1.62, p =0.12) and an increase in its connectivity with the default mode network (ICA: t(32) = 2.84, p = 0.008; Seed-based: t(32) = 2.28, p =0.03), which is highly consistent with the pattern observed in adults. These results offer improved understanding of the developing brain’s dynamic network-level interaction patterns during the transition between different brain states and call for further studies to examine potential alterations to such dynamic patterns in different developmental disorders.
An Integrated Multi-Omics Approach Reveals the Effects of Supplementing Grass or Grass Hay with Vitamin E on the Rumen Microbiome and Its Function

Rumen function is generally suboptimal leading to losses in methane and nitrogen. Analysis of the rumen microbiome is thus important to understanding the underlying microbial activity under different feeding strategies. This study investigated the effect of forage conservation method and vitamin E supplementation on rumen function using a rumen simulation technique. Ryegrass (GRA) or ryegrass hay (HAY) was supplemented with 20% concentrate containing zero or 50 IU/d vitamin E, as α-tocopheryl acetate, according to a 2 × 2 factorial design. The forage conservation method did not substantially change the nutrient composition but had a profound impact on the structure and diversity of the rumen microbiome. HAY diets promoted a more complex bacterial community (+38 OTUs) dominated by Firmicutes. This bacterial adaptation, together with increased rumen protozoa levels and methanogen diversity, was associated with greater fiber disappearance (+12%) in HAY diets, but also with greater rumen true N degradability (+7%) than GRA diets. HAY diets also had a higher metabolic H recovery and methane production (+35%) suggesting more efficient inter-species H transfer between bacteria, protozoa and methanogens. Contrarily, GRA diets promoted more simplified methanogen and bacterial communities, which were dominated by Bacteroidetes and Lactobacillus, thus lactate formation may have acted as an alternative H sink in GRA diets. Moreover the structure of the bacterial community with GRA diets was highly correlated with N utilization, and GRA diets promoted greater bacterial growth and microbial protein synthesis (+16%), as well as a more efficient microbial protein synthesis (+22%). A dose-response experiment using batch cultures revealed that vitamin E supplementation increased rumen fermentation in terms of total VFA and gas production, with protozoal activity higher when supplying α-tocopheryl acetate vs. α-tocopherol. Moreover, α-tocopheryl acetate promoted a small increase in feed degradability (+8%), possibly as a result of its antioxidant properties which led to higher bacterial and protozoal levels. Vitamin E supplementation also modified the levels of some methanogen species indicating that they may be particularly sensitive to oxidative stresses. Our findings suggested that when possible, grass should be fed instead of grass hay, in order to improve rumen function and to decrease the environmental impact of livestock agriculture.
The role of moral cognition and emotions in remitted major depressive disorder

11 Declaration . 12 Copyright Statement . 12 Acknowledgments . 13 Introduction . 15 1.1. Preface . 15 1.2. Depression and Depression Vulnerability . 17 1.2.1. Clinical Presentation and Diagnosis . 17 1.2.2. Neuropsychological Impairments in Current MDD . 17 1.2.3. Vulnerability to Major Depressive Disorder . 18 1.3. Moral Cognition and Emotions . 20 1.3. 1. The Evolution of Morality . 20 1.3. 2. Philosophical and Psychological Accounts of Morality . 22 1.3. 3. The Dual-Process Model of Moral Judgment . 23 1.3. 4. Event-Feature-Emotion Complex Model of Moral Cognition . 25 1.3. 5. Methodological Considerations . 30 1.4. Moral Emotions and Cognition, MDD, and their Neurobiological Basis . 31 1.4. 1. Moral Emotions in MDD. 31 1.4. 2. MDD and Performance on Neuroeconomic Paradigms . 32 1.4. 3. Neural Correlates of MDD, Moral Cognition and Emotions: Intersections . 33 1.4. 4. Resting-State fMRI and the Subgenual Cingulate in MDD . 35 1.5. Design of Studies . 40 1.6. Aims . 42 Subgenual cingulate-amygdala functional disconnection and vulnerability to melancholic depression . 45 2.1. ABSTRACT . 46 2.2. INTRODUCTION . 47 2.3. MATERIALS and METHODS . 49 2.3. 1. Participants . 49
Pre-Analytical and Analytical Critical Factors Influencing the High Variability of the Concentrations Levels of Alzheimer Disease Biomarkers in Cerebral Spinal Fluid

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by a progressive neuronal death and loss of cognitive functions. AD is the most common type of dementia and its incidence rise to 10% in people aged over 90 [1]. Due to Increased longevity, it has been estimated that the number of people suffering from this neurodegenerative disorder will rise from 26.6 million cases in 2006 to 106,8 million worldwide in 2050 [2].
Channel Allocation for Fairness in Opportunistic Spectrum Access Networks

In this paper, we investigate the fairness between two secondary user (SU) groups in an opportunistic spectrum access networks (OSA). First, for a given number of allocated channels the throughput of each SU group is analyzed in terms of its forced termination and blocking probabilities using continuous time Markov model. Based on these calculations, the fairness between two SU groups is discussed for different traffic conditions. The results show that for given datarate and relatively higher service durations of two SU groups, the OSA network is highly unfair in complete spectrum sharing scenario. The channel allocation achieve fairness at a cost of decrease in aggregate throughput. However, the computation of a channel allocation vector is a complex process as it require the knowledge of the termination and blocking probabilities of both SU groups. To overcome this drawback, we propose a suboptimal approach by approximating the behaviour of these probabilities. Numerical results show that the proposed method follows the optimal closely. Simulation results are also provided to support the findings.
Medial and Lateral Networks in Anterior Prefrontal Cortex Support Metacognitive Ability for Memory and Perception

Convergent evidence indicates that frontopolar Brodmann area 10, and more generally the anterior prefrontal cortex (aPFC), supports the human capacity to monitor and reflect on cognition and experience. An important unanswered question, however, is whether aPFC is a homogeneous region that supports a general-purpose metacognitive ability or whether there could be regional specialization within aPFC with respect to specific types of metacognitive processes. Previous studies suggest that the lateral and medial subdivisions within aPFC may support metacognitive judgments of moment-to-moment perceptual processes and assessments of information from memory stored over longer time scales, respectively. Here we directly compared intraindividual variability in metacognitive capacity for perceptual decisions and memorial judgments and used resting-state functional connectivity (rs-fcMRI) to relate this variability to the connectivity of the medial and lateral regions of aPFC. We found a behavioral dissociation in metacognitive ability for perceptual and memorial judgments. Furthermore, functional connectivity analysis revealed distinct patterns of connectivity that correlated with individual differences in each domain. Metacognitive ability for perceptual decisions was associated with greater connectivity between lateral regions of aPFC and right dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, bilateral putamen, right caudate, and thalamus, whereas metacognitive ability for memory retrieval predicted greater connectivity between medial aPFC and the right central precuneus and intraparietal sulcus/inferior parietal lobule. Together, these results suggest that an individual's capacity for accurate introspection in the domains of perception and memory is related to the functional integrity of unique neural networks anchored in the medial and lateral regions of the aPFC.
Constraints on supersymmetric models from catalytic primordial nucleosynthesis of beryllium

The catalysis of nuclear reactions by negatively charged relics leads to increased outputs of primordial 6Li and 9Be. In combination with observational constraints on the primordial fractions of 6Li and 9Be, this imposes strong restrictions on the primordial abundance and the lifetime of charged relics. We analyze the constraints from the catalysis of 9Be on supersymmetric models in which the gravitino is the lightest supersymmetric particle and a charged slepton—such as the lighter stau—the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP). Barring the special cases in which the primordial fraction of the slepton NLSP is significantly depleted, we find that the 9Be data require a slepton NLSP lifetime of less than 6 × 103 s. We also address the issue of the catalytic destruction of 6Li and 9Be by late-forming bound states of protons with negatively charged relics, finding that it does not lead to any significant modification of the limit on the slepton lifetime.
Two Cases of Lower Body Contouring with a Spiral and Vertical Medial Thigh Lift

Massive weight loss results in skin excess, leading to an unsatisfying body contour. Various thigh lift procedures can correct flabby skin in the lower leg. We present a lower body contouring technique with a report on two patients. The procedure is determined by the body contour of the patient. As the skin excess in the thigh area tended to appear mostly on the medial side, a vertical medial thigh lift was considered. Moreover, for patients with a pear/guitar-shaped body contour, we added the spiral thigh lift for skin excess in the buttocks and the lateral thigh area. The extent of tissue to excise was determined by pinching the patient in a standing position. The inferior skin flap was fixed to non-movable tissue, which was helpful for lifting the tissue and preventing the widening of the scar. After the operation, a drain was kept for 3 to 4 days. A compressive garment was used after removing the drain. There were no complications. The patients were discharged 6 to 8 days after the operation. In conclusion, skin excess, especially in the lower body, can be corrected by a thigh lift combining several procedures, varying from person to person.
Black female college athletes’ perception of power in sport and society

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to examine Black female college athletes’ perception of power within the context of a “safe cultural space”. Scholars note the ability to discern the notion of power and its dynamics is a key factor towards empowerment. For marginalized populations, addressing topics such as power is best within a safe cultural space, or an environment that is free from surveillance and allows students to freely express themselves (Collins, P. (2000). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge. ). Employing Black feminist thought, eleven (N = 11) Black female collegiate athletes that participated in a culturally relevant program within a historically White institution of higher education were examined utilizing qualitative methods. Findings revealed the women's understanding of power was as a possessive attribute; and, the words and symbols they attributed to power reflected hegemonic examples of power. Hegemonic ideologies pervade college athletics, thus, the creation of “safe cultural spaces” allowed the Black female college athletes to acknowledge their marginalization amongst peers and discern how power dynamics affects their development in sport and society.
Diversity as a Source of Metaphor-Simile Distinction

In this paper, we argue that the metaphor form of a comparison (i.e., a topic-vehicle pair) is preferred over, and more comprehensible than, the simile form when the interpretive diversity for that comparison is high. Interpretive diversity refers to the richness of the figurative meaning of a comparison; it is high to the extent that more features or properties are related to the figurative meaning and their values of salience are more uniformly distributed. We tested this claim through three experiments. Experiment 1 examined preference for the metaphor form and found that, as the interpretive diversity of the features shared by the topic and the vehicle increased, the metaphor preference increased as well. Furthermore, interpretive diversity was found to have a greater effect on metaphor preference than topic-vehicle similarity, which Chiappe and Kennedy (2001) claimed was a source of metaphor preference. Experiment 2 assessed familiarity of topic-vehicle pairs and demonstrated that interpretive diversity was more important in determining the metaphor preference of less familiar pairs than that of familiar pairs. Experiment 3 addressed comprehension of metaphors and similes and found that metaphors were comprehended more easily than similes when the interpretive diversity of the figurative meaning is high. These findings provide empirical evidence in favor of our argument and suggest that metaphor-simile distinction is better explained by interpretive diversity.
ANALYSIS IN QUANTIFIED INTERVAL CONSTRAINT SATISFACTION PROBLEMS

Interval is an alternative to probability distribution in quantifying epistemic uncertainty for reliability analysis when there is a lack of data to fit a distribution with good confidence. It only requires the information of lower and upper bounds. The propagation of uncertainty is analyzed by solving intervalvalued constraint satisfaction problems (CSPs). By introducing logic quantifiers, quantified constraint satisfaction problems (QCSPs) can capture more semantics and engineering intent than CSPs. Sensitivity analysis (SA) takes into account of variations associated with the structure and parameters of interval constraints to study to which extent they affect the output. In this paper, a global SA method is developed for QCSPs, where the effects of quantifiers and interval ranges on the constraints are analyzed based on several proposed metrics, which indicate the levels of indeterminacy for inputs and outputs as well as unsatisfiability of constraints. Two vehicle design problems are used to demonstrate the proposed approach.
Conservative Signed/Unsigned Type Inference for Binaries using Minimum Cut

Recovering variable types or other structural information from binaries is useful for reverse engineering in security, and to facilitate other kinds of analysis on binaries. However such reverse engineering tasks often lack precise problem definitions; some information is lost during compilation, and existing tools can exhibit a variety of errors. As a step in the direction of more principled reverse engineering algorithms, we isolate a sub-task of type inference, namely determining whether each integer variable is declared as signed or unsigned. The difficulty of this task arises from the fact that signedness information in a binary, when present at all, is associated with operations rather than with data locations. We propose a graphbased algorithm in which variables represent nodes and edges connect variables with the same signedness. In a program without casts or conversions, signed and unsigned variables would form distinct connected components, but when casts are present, signed and unsigned variables will be connected. Reasoning that developers prefer source code without casts, we compute a minimum cut between signed and unsigned variables, which corresponds to a minimal set of casts required for a legal typing. We evaluate this algorithm by erasing signedness information from debugging symbols, and testing how well our tool can recover it. Applying an intra-procedural version of the algorithm to the GNU Coreutils, we we observe that many variables are unconstrained as to signedness, but that it almost all cases our tool recovers either the type from the original source, or a type that yields the same program behavior.
Language lateralisation after Melodic Intonation Therapy: an fMRI study in subacute and chronic aphasia

ABSTRACT Background: There is an ongoing debate whether the effect of Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) in patients with severe non-fluent aphasia depends on recruitment of right hemisphere (RH) structures for language functioning or on re-recruitment of left hemisphere (LH) language structures. So far, neuroimaging studies have produced conflicting evidence. Aims: To investigate whether a shift in language lateralisation occurs after intensive treatment in subacute (<3 months post onset) and chronic (>1 year post onset) stroke patients with aphasia. Method & Procedures: In a multiple case pilot study with pre-post-design 5 subacute and 4 chronic stroke patients received intensive MIT (6 weeks, 30 sessions). Pre- and post-treatment they underwent functional MRI scanning with a passive listening task to determine language lateralisation indices (LIs). Outcomes & Results: No consistent shift of language activation was found either to the LH or to the RH. With one exception, subacute patients showed symmetrical or right-lateralised language activation pretreatment, which tended to become more right lateralised after treatment. Language activation in chronic patients was left lateralised in two of the four participants, with a tendency towards stronger left lateralised activation after treatment. Conclusions: Data for the subacute patients provide some support for the classical notion that MIT promotes recruitment of RH structures for language processing. However, the contrasting activation patterns in chronic participants before as well as after treatment suggest that reorganisation of language after MIT occurs in interaction with a dynamic recovery process after stroke. Time post onset should be addressed systematically in studies of treatment-induced language recovery.
Long-Term Weight Loss From Lifestyle Intervention Benefits Blood Pressure?: A Systematic Review

Weight gain may increase blood pressure. Weight loss may reduce this. Reviews have considered the long-term effects of weight loss but are related mainly to more obese participants often on obesity medication and/or undergoing obesity surgery. This systematic review, based on lifestyle interventions for adults (18 to 65 years) with mean baseline BMI of <35 kg/m2, links weight change to blood pressure difference. A systematic review of studies reporting weight differences and blood pressure outcomes, published between 1990 and 2008 with follow-up of ≥2 years identified 8 clinical trials or controlled before and after studies (represented by 9 articles) and 8 cohort studies. Differences ranged from −11 to +4kg for weight, −7 to +2.2 mm Hg for diastolic blood pressure and −13 to +6.1 mm Hg for systolic blood pressure. For this population group, no quantifiable relationship between weight and diastolic blood pressure difference was found, possibly because of small weight losses, differing weight status responses, or because pharmacologically controlled hypertension masked weight loss influences. Systolic differences were in line with previous reviews of 1 kg:1 mm Hg relationship, but only for follow-up periods of 2 to 3 years, possibly reflecting the fact that regardless of maintained weight loss, blood pressure often reverts back to higher levels. Lifestyle interventions for weight and blood pressure are limited in this target group, and there has been no exploration of successful intervention components. An individual patient data analysis may uncover baseline and medication effects, explore differences between weight groups, and may identify successful components. Such an analysis would enable effective development of preventative interventions for both hypertension and obesity.
The political meaning of dining out: testing the link between lifestyle and political choice in Italy

The debate that has arisen around the weakening of the traditional cleavages’ heuristic power in explaining vote suggests considering the role of lifestyles in designing politically meaningful social aggregates. We investigated the relationship between lifestyle and voting behavior, establishing the degree to which this relationship traces the effect of the socio-structural categories (e.g. social class) or is, at least in part, independent of them. Through a k-means clustering, we individuated a typology of four Italian lifestyles; we showed its relation to socio-demographic features and its ability to discriminate participants’ political attitudes. The subscription to each lifestyle was significantly associated with voting behavior, net of the variance accounted for by the traditional cleavages. The theoretical implication and further direction of research are discussed.