Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Networks and Workouts: Treatment Size and Status Specific Peer Effects in a Randomized Field Experiment

This paper estimates treatment size and status specific peer effects that are not detected by widely-used approaches to the estimation of spillovers. In a field experiment using university students, we find that subjects who have been incentivized to exercise increase gym usage more if they have more treated friends. However, control subjects are not influenced by their peers. Findings demonstrate that fraction treated has a large influence on outcomes in this environment, and spillovers vary greatly by treatment status. Results highlight subtle effects of randomization and document a low-cost method for improving the generalizability of controlled interventions in networked environments.
Obstructive sleep apnoea and metabolic syndrome: put CPAP efficacy in a more realistic perspective

Non-communicable Diseases, mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases, are responsible for two-thirds of the 57 million annual deaths worldwide.1 Obesity and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) are among the key players involved in non-communicable diseases. Several studies have reported an independent association of OSA with the different components of the metabolic syndrome, particularly hypertension, insulin resistance and abnormal lipid metabolism.2 Both OSA and metabolic syndrome are associated with an increase risk in cardiovascular disease. Hence, rapidly accumulating data from both epidemiological and clinical studies3 have suggested that OSA is independently associated with alterations in glucose metabolism and with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Indeed, recent reports have indicated that more than 50% of patients with type 2 diabetes have OSA. Multiple mechanistic pathways contribute to the deteriorated plasma glucose/insulin homeostasis in OSA, the number one being sympathetic over activity,4 due to sleep fragmentation and intermittent hypoxia (figure 1). Independently of autonomic nervous system activation, in animal models intermittent hypoxia contributes to decreased glucose utilisation in oxidative muscle fibres.5 Intermittent hypoxia also seems to be responsible for increased beta-cell proliferation and cell death, the latter being due to oxidative stress.6 In fat tissue, chronic intermittent hypoxia (CIH) the hallmark of OSA exacerbate adipose tissue inflammation and lead to a dysregulated production of adipocytokines which may contribute to insulin resistance and could trigger non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (figure 1). We have demonstrated in morbid obesity that CIH is strongly associated with higher systemic inflammation (IL-6) and more severe fibrotic or inflammatory liver injuries.7 Visceral fat releases free fatty acids in the portal vein leading to accumulation of hepatic fat and development of hepatic insulin resistance. Regarding lipid abnormalities, intermittent hypoxia leads to an increase in serum cholesterol, to an up-regulation …
Optic disc morphometry in simple optic nerve atrophy

Abstract. This study was undertaken to evaluate the optic disc changes in eyes with non‐glaucomatous optic nerve damage. The intra‐ and parapapillary region was evaluated morphometrically in 106 eyes of 56 patients with simple optic nerve atrophy (SONA) and in 107 normal eyes of 57 subjects. Colour stereo optic disc diapositives were used. Only one randomly chosen eye per subject and patient was taken for statistical analysis. Characteristics of SONA were: decreased visibility of the parapapillary retinal nerve fibers, diminished retinal vessel diameter, and area with pallor larger than area with cupping. Size and form of the optic disc, neuroretinal rim, peripapillary scleral ring, and zone Alpha and Beta of the parapillary chorioretinal atrophy were not significantly different. Also, distinctness of a tesselated fundus, frequency of optic disc haemorrhages and frequency of bared circumlinear or bared cilioretinal vessels did not differ significantly. These morphologic features are helpful in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of SONA.
The Mysterious Life of the Body: A New Look at Psychosomatics

The aim of this study is to critically examine traditional psychosomatic theories, paying special attention to certain philosophical issues such as the mind-body problem and efficacious mechanisms of interaction between meaning, understood as psychosocial factors, and that which is traditionally called "body" (the material, objectified body). Afterwards, an alternative psychosomatic theory is worked out, drawing inspiration from the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The first part of the dissertation examines the following schools of thought (orientations) concerning psychosomatic theory: 1) psychodynamic theory, 2) psychosomatic medicine, 3) stress theory as well as neuroimmunology and neuroendocrinology, and 4) the work of the psychobiologist Herbert Weiner. The phenomenological alternative worked out in part II of the dissertation breaks up dualistic and materialistic-reductionistic thinking by starting with the "lived body" rather than the objective body studied by natural science. The question then becomes, how is the mind-body unity lived, and what categories of understanding open up when the person-world field becomes the focus for psychosomatic theory.
CCR4 is a glucose-regulated transcription factor whose leucine-rich repeat binds several proteins important for placing CCR4 in its proper promoter context

The yeast CCR4 protein is required for the expression of a number of genes involved in nonfermentative growth, including glucose-repressible ADH2, and is the only known suppressor of mutations in the SPT6 and SPT10 genes, two genes which are believed to be involved in chromatin maintenance. We show here that although CCR4 did not bind DNA under the conditions tested, it was able to activate transcription when fused to a heterologous DNA-binding domain. The transcriptional activation ability of CCR4, in contrast to that of many other activators, was glucose regulated. Two activation domains one of which was glucose responsive and encompassed a glutamine-proline-rich region similar to that found in other eukaryotic transcriptional factors were identified. The two transactivation regions, when separated from the leucine-rich repeat and the C terminus of CCR4, were unable to complement a defective ccr4 allele, suggesting that the leucine-rich repeat and the C terminus make contacts that link the activation regions to the proper gene context. Native immunoprecipitation of CCR4 revealed that CCR4 was complexed with at least four other proteins. The leucine-rich repeat of CCR4 was both necessary and sufficient for interaction with at least two of these factors. We propose that the leucine-rich repeat links CCR4 through its associated factors to its promoter context at ADH2 and other loci where it is required for proper transcriptional regulation.
Adaptive Knowledge-Based Visualization for Accessing Educational Examples

A number of research teams are working to organize personalized access to the modern repositories of educational resources. The goal of personalized access is to help students locate resources that match their individual goals, interests, and current knowledge. The project presented in this paper is focused on the least explored way of personalized access - adaptive visualization. Here, we present the NavEx ADVISE visualization system, which provides personalized access to a repository of educational examples. The system combines spatial, similarity-based visualization with adaptive annotations of resources. The spatial layout and the adaptive annotations are generated using a knowledge-based indexing of examples with domain concepts
Understanding the Semantic Structures of Tables with a Hybrid Deep Neural Network Architecture

We propose a new deep neural network architecture, TabNet, for table type classification. Table type is essential information for exploring the power of Web tables, and it is important to understand the semantic structures of tables in order to classify them correctly. A table is a matrix of texts, analogous to an image, which is a matrix of pixels, and each text consists of a sequence of tokens. Our hybrid architecture mirrors the structure of tables: its recurrent neural network (RNN) encodes a sequence of tokens for each cell to create a 3d table volume like image data, and its convolutional neural network (CNN) captures semantic features, e.g., the existence of rows describing properties, to classify tables. Experiments using Web tables with various structures and topics demonstrated that TabNet achieved considerable improvements over state-of-the-art methods specialized for table classification and other deep neural network architectures.
Happiness at work: are job satisfaction, job self-efficacy and trait emotional intelligence related?

This thesis explores and describes the relationship between emotional intelligence, job satisfaction and job self-efficacy. The sample was collected between 2007 and 2010 and consists of 1336 South Africans within the workplace. Trait emotional intelligence was assessed using the Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire (TEIQue), while job satisfaction and job self-efficacy were assessed from the biographical questions asked during the TEIQue assessment process. The first hypothesis investigated whether there is a statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction and trait emotional intelligence. A relationship was found that is statistically, but not practically, significant. The second hypothesis centred on the relationship between job self-efficacy and emotional intelligence, with statistically significant results (p<0.001), and a weaker relationship than the one found between job satisfaction and scores on the TEIQue. The third hypothesis, investigating a possible interaction effect between job satisfaction and job self-efficacy, was rejected. In addition to the study’s three hypotheses, exploratory IRT analysis was conducted on a section of the TEIQue items in order to further explore the functioning of the test within the South African context. Findings suggest that there is a relationship between the constructs within the study, but that this relationship is more complex than first assumed, being affected by issues such as social desirability and central tendency bias. Key terms Emotional intelligence, trait emotional intelligence, job satisfaction, job self-efficacy, Trait Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire, item response theory, general (graded) response model, analysis of variance, workplace, self-efficacy
On some properties of cost allocation rules in minimum cost spanning tree problems

We consider four cost allocation rules in minimum cost spanning tree problems. These rules were introduced by Bird (1976), Dutta and Kar (2004), Kar (2002), and Feltkamp, Tijs and Muto (1994), respectively. We give a list of desirable properties and we study which properties are satisfied by these rules.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) of Depressive Disorders

Depressive disorders belong to the most frequent psychiatric disorders in Western Europe and the U.S.A. and are associated with high recurrence rates, high resistance to therapy, morbidity and mortality [1-4]. Currently, depressions have a share of 6.1% in total DALYs (DALY = Disability-Adjusted Life Year = as measure for disease burden), and thus are ranked at the 4th place in worldwide causes of disease [4]. It is expected that unipolar de‐ pression will become the main health-related cause of death in developed countries by 2020 [5,6]. In the E.U. alone, 18.5 million people have been diagnosed with major depression [7].
State of Existence A Minor Field Study on Liminality and Enforcement of Existence in Jordan

This study comprises a three month fieldwork and 25 interviews conducted in Jordan on community based rehabilitation of persons with intellectual disability. The analytic procedure was conducted in an explicit and systematic manner much inspired by Grounded Theory. Interviewing social workers engaged in introducing community based rehabilitation in Jordan the study came to unveil their struggle with acquiring social positions for their previously liminal clients. This process took place closely interconnected with, and in opposition to, the social workers perceptions of resistance. Reception from the community initially consisted of resistance and consists of a denial of social existence of persons with intellectual disability. Denial of social existence was tightly bound to denial of existence in public space and the denial of visibility and exposure in the community. The study follows the work of creating and enforcing social existence for persons who were recurrently denied such. Hidden, avoided and feared the social worker places the child with intellectual disabilities in the midst of the community, most often within public schools.
Lonely Children and Adolescents: Self-Perceptions, Social Exclusion, and Hope

Loneliness Conceptualization. - Abilities, Difficulties and Developmental Perspectives. - Loneliness in the Family. - School is a Lonely Place. - Peer Relations and Loneliness Within Different Cultures. - Loneliness and Virtual Connections. - Children's and Parents' Coping. - Prevention and Intervention Approaches. - Risks, Resilience, Empowerment and Hope: Summary and Future Directions.
Escitalopram in clinical practice: Results of an open‐label trial in a naturalistic setting

Results from randomized, placebo‐controlled clinical trials have demonstrated that escitalopram is effective and well tolerated in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. Such trials typically employ stringent inclusion criteria that may limit the generalizability of findings to the broader population of patients treated in psychiatric and primary care practices. The objective of the current trial was to assess the effect of escitalopram treatment on depressed outpatients in naturalistic settings. This 8‐week open‐label trial enrolled 5,453 outpatients aged ≥18 years with nonpsychotic major depressive disorder from primary care (n=2,591), psychiatric (n=2,289), and other specialty (n=573) practices. Escitalopram was initiated at 10 mg/day, and dose could be increased to a maximum of 20 mg/day. Efficacy measures included the Clinical Global Impressions of Improvement (CGI‐I) scale, Patient Global Evaluation (PGE) scale, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Sheehan Disability Scale, and 12‐Item Short Form Health Survey. Overall, 76% of patients completed 8 weeks of treatment. The mean dose of escitalopram was 11.6 mg/day. At endpoint, response rates (defined as a score ≤2 on the CGI‐I or PGE) were 68% on the clinician‐assessed CGI‐I and 66% on the PGE. Improvement was not related to age or response to prior antidepressant treatment. Overall, 9% of patients discontinued due to adverse events. Escitalopram treatment was well tolerated and associated with robust response rates in a broadly representative population of depressed outpatients. Depression and Anxiety 00:000–000, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Developmental Psychopathology and Childhood Obesity: A Developmental Cascade Model

Childhood obesity is a growing concern for practitioners and researchers. In addition to obesity being a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, children classified as obese are more likely to demonstrate other risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, children classified as obese are more likely to be victims of bullying and discrimination. This dissertation tested a dynamic cascade model of the development of childhood obesity. It was hypothesized that externalizing behaviors and internalizing problems would lead to increased body mass index. This model was tested in Mplus v7 (Muthen & Muthen, 1998) using data from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care. This dissertation used parent report of externalizing behaviors and internalizing behaviors, teacher report of externalizing behaviors, and body mass index to examine several different ways in which developmental psychopathology related to childhood obesity. The results suggested that body mass index predicts the development of internalizing problems in late childhood. However, externalizing behaviors were not directly or indirectly associated with body mass index. These findings suggested that the assessment of children with internalizing problems should include an assessment of their weight and weight related concerns.
FPGA Implementation of Metastability-Based True Random Number Generator

SUMMARY True random number generators (TRNGs) are important as a basis for computer security. Though there are some TRNGs composed of analog circuit, the use of digital circuits is desired for the application of TRNGs to logic LSIs. Some of the digital TRNGs utilize jitter in freerunning ring oscillators as a source of entropy, which consume large power. Another type of TRNG exploits the metastability of a latch to generate entropy. Although this kind of TRNG has been mostly implemented with fullcustom LSI technology, this study presents an implementation based on common FPGA technology. Our TRNG is comprised of logic gates only, and can be integrated in any kind of logic LSI. The RS latch in our TRNG is implemented as a hard-macro to guarantee the quality of randomness by minimizing the signal skew and load imbalance of internal nodes. To improve the quality and throughput, the output of 64–256 latches are XOR’ed. The derived design was verified on a Xilinx Virtex-4 FPGA (XC4VFX20), and passed NIST statistical test suite without post-processing. Our TRNG with 256 latches occupies 580 slices, while achieving 12.5Mbps through
Computational Study of Thermal Rectification From Nanostructured Interfaces

Thermal rectification is a phenomenon in which transport is p referred in one direction over the opposite. Though observations of thermal rectification have been elusive, it could be useful in many applications such as thermal management of electronics and improvement of thermoelectr ic devices. The current work explores the possibility of thermally rectifying devices with the use of nanostru ctured interfaces. Interfaces can theoretically result in thermally rectifying behavior because of the difference in phonon frequency content between two dissimilar materials. The current work shows an effective rectification of g reater than 25% in a device composed of two different materials divided equally by a single planar interface.
Banking Crises and Financial Integration

This paper explores whether the level of financial integration of banks in a country increases the incidence of systemic banking crises. The paper uses a de facto proxy for financial integration based on network statistics of banks participating in the global market of interbank syndicated loans. Specifically, the network statistics degree and betweenness are used to proxy for the de facto integration of the average bank in a country. The paper fits a count data model in the cross-section for the period 1980- 2007 and finds that the level of integration of the average bank is a robust determinant of the incidence of banking crises. An increased level of de facto integration as mea- sured by borrowing by banks is positively associated with the incidence of crises. A higher level of de jure integration (capital account openness) is also associated with a higher incidence of crises. However, the results also indicate that prudential banking regulation (supervision) plays a crucial and much larger role in reducing the incidence of crises. Interestingly, the results also show that the level of integration as measured by betweenness of the average bank has a negative effect on the incidence of crises. That is, the more important the average bank of a country is to the global bank network, the fewer the number of crises the country endures.
Expression of a herpes simplex virus 1 open reading frame antisense to the gamma(1)34.5 gene and transcribed by an RNA 3' coterminal with the unspliced latency-associated transcript

Sensory neurons harboring latent herpes simplex virus 1 express viral RNAs derived from one or more transcriptional units contained in the inverted repeats which flank the long unique sequence but which terminate in the inverted repeats flanking the small unique sequences of viral DNA. These transcripts are also made in productively infected cells. We have identified 16 potential open reading frames (ORFs) predicted to encode 50 or more codons within the domain of the largest reported unspliced transcript and examined 5 ORFs by in-frame insertion of a sequence encoding an epitope reacting with a monoclonal antibody against a human cytomegalovirus protein. One ORF (ORF P), coincident with but antisense to the gamma(1)34.5 gene, was expressed but only under conditions in which ICP4 was not functional. To ensure the authenticity of the expression, a second degenerate sequence encoding the same epitope was inserted into a distant site of the same ORF. The protein expressed by the ORF P with two insertions migrated more slowly than the one carrying one insertion only, indicating that ORF P is expressed.
The effects of the REAP reading comprehension technique on students’ success

In this study written materials such as school textbooks were used to find out if the Read, Encode, Annotate, and Ponder (REAP) technique can create a significant difference in learning success compared to the classical method. A pretest-posttest equivalent control group research model was used. The study sample was composed of 59 students enrolled in an elementary school teacher-training program in 2008-2009 fall term. Data were obtained qualitatively. According to findings, students’ learning success levels were significantly higher in the group in which REAP techniques were used, compared to the classical method group.
Thought Experiments in Einstein's Work

Preface: This volume originated in a conference on "The Place of Thought Experiments in Science and Philosophy" which was organized by us and held at the Center for Philosophy of Science at the University of Pittsburgh, April 18-20, 1986. The idea behind this conference was to encourage philosophers and scientists to talk to each other about the role of thought experiments in their various disciplines. These papers were either written for the conference, or were written after it by commentators and other participants. We hope that this volume will be of use to other philosophers and scientists who are interested in thought experiments, as well as inspire more work in this area.
A Comprehensive Analysis of Plasmodium Circumsporozoite Protein Binding to Hepatocytes

Circumsporozoite protein (CSP) is the dominant protein on the surface of Plasmodium sporozoites and plays a critical role in the invasion by sporozoites of hepatocytes. Contacts between CSP and heparin sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) lead to the attachment of sporozoites to hepatocytes and trigger signaling events in the parasite that promote invasion of hepatocytes. The precise sequence elements in CSP that bind HSPGs have not been identified. We performed a systematic in vitro analysis to dissect the association between Plasmodium falciparum CSP (PfCSP) and hepatocytes. We demonstrate that interactions between PfCSP and heparin or a cultured hepatoma cell line, HepG2, are mediated primarily by a lysine-rich site in the amino terminus of PfCSP. Importantly, the carboxyl terminus of PfCSP facilitates heparin-binding by the amino-terminus but does not interact directly with heparin. These findings provide insights into how CSP recognizes hepatocytes and useful information for further functional studies of CSP.