Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Combination of Magnetic Resonance Angiography and Computational Fluid Dynamics May Predict the Risk of Stroke in Patients with Asymptomatic Carotid Plaques

Background Atherosclerosis plaques in the carotid arteries frequently have been found in patients with stroke. However, the pathogenesis of carotid plaque from asymptomatic to cerebrovascular events is a complex process which is still not completely understood. We aimed to investigate the prognosis of asymptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaques by use of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) combined with computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Material/Methods We prospectively studied a cohort of 228 participants (mean age 59.21±8.48) with asymptomatic carotid atherosclerotic plaques; mean follow-up duration was 1147.56±224.84 days. Plaque morphology parameters were obtained by MRA analysis. Lumen area (LA) and total vessel area (TVA) were measured, and wall area (WA=TVA−LA) and normalized wall area index (NWI=WA/TVA) were calculated. CFD analysis was performed to evaluate hemodynamic characteristics, including wall pressure (WP) and wall shear stress (WSS). Independent risk factors for stroke were obtained by Cox regression analysis. The area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operator characteristic (ROC) and Z-statistic test were used to evaluate risk factors. Results Logistics regression analysis showed NWI (OR: 3.472, 95% CI: 2.943–4.096, P=0.11) and WSS (OR: 6.974, 95% CI: 1.070–45.453, P=0.42) were independent risk factors of stroke for patients with asymptomatic carotid plaques. The area under the ROC curve values for WSS, NWI, and WSS+NWI were 0.772, 0.798, and 0.903, respectively. Conclusions The combination of plaque morphology characteristics NWI and hemodynamic parameter WSS may predict the risk of stroke in patients with asymptomatic carotid plaques.
Underemployment and Life Satisfaction: A Study of Internationally Trained Engineers in Canada

This article emerges from a mixed-method study that explored the relationship between underemployment faced by internationally trained engineers and their satisfaction with life in Canada. A survey was conducted with 309 internationally trained engineers. A significantly greater proportion of survey respondents without a job in an engineering field reported being dissatisfied with life in Canada (36% vs. 22%, p < .01); and reported not having plans to settle permanently in Canada (54% vs. 40%, p < .05) compared to those with jobs in the engineering field. The study highlights the human costs and economic costs of underemployment of internationally trained engineers. Qualitative data from 20 in-depth interviews provide insights into the relationship between underemployment and life satisfaction.
Social Norms: Internalization, Persuasion, and History

At issue in the debate over social norms are different conceptions of human nature and the social order, of the ways people behave, and of the ways the law can both modify and be modified by social conduct. Three interpretive frameworks to the discussion of social norms are discussed: (a) whether social norms affect individual behavior merely as environmental/external factors or whether they also shape people's intrinsic predispositions; (b) the specific process by which norms influence people (i.e., whether preferences are considered predetermined or assumed to be modifiable as a result of internalization and persuasion); and (c) the ways social norms themselves are formed (whether merely via rational choice or also through historical transmissions). It is concluded that the discussion of social norms within a legal context is enriched by considering a 'law and socio-economics' model, which combines the law and economics and law and society perspectives into a single discipline.
On the impossibility of obfuscation with auxiliary input

Barak et al. formalized the notion of obfuscation, and showed that there exist (contrived) classes of functions that cannot be obfuscated. In contrast, Canetti and Wee showed how to obfuscate point functions, under various complexity assumptions. Thus, it would seem possible that most programs of interest can be obfuscated even though in principle general purpose obfuscators do not exist. We show that this is unlikely to be the case. In particular; we consider the notion of obfuscation w.r. t. auxiliary input, which corresponds to the setting where the adversary, which is given the obfuscated circuit, may have some additional a priori information. This is essentially the case of interest in any usage of obfuscation we can imagine. We prove that there exist many natural classes of functions that cannot be obfuscated w.r. t. auxiliary input, both when the auxiliary input is dependent of the function being obfuscated and even when the auxiliary input is independent of the function being obfuscated. We also give a positive result. In particular; we show that any obfuscator for the class of point functions is also an obfuscator with independent auxiliary input.
Accurate real-time occlusion for mixed reality

Properly handling occlusion between real and virtual objects is an important property for any mixed reality (MR) system. Existing methods have typically required known geometry of the real objects in the scene, either specified manually, or reconstructed using a dense mapping algorithm. This limits the situations in which they can be applied. Modern RGBD cameras are cheap and widely available, but the depth information they provide is typically too noisy and incomplete to use directly to provide quality results. In this paper, a method is proposed which makes use of both the colour and depth information provided by an RGBD camera to provide improved occlusion. This method, Cost Volume Filtering Occlusion, is capable of running in real time, and can also handle occlusion of virtual objects by dynamic, moving objects - such as the user's hands. The method operates on individual RGBD frames as they arrive, meaning it can function immediately in unknown environments, and respond appropriately to sudden changes. The accuracy of the presented method is quantified using a novel approach capable of comparing the results of algorithms such as this to dense SLAM-based approaches. The proposed approach is shown to be capable of producing superior results to both previous image-based approaches and dense RGBD reconstruction, at lower computational cost.
Effectiveness of long-acting injectable risperidone versus oral antipsychotics in the treatment of recent-onset schizophrenia: a case–control study

Long-acting injectable antipsychotics may offer a relevant improvement in treatment adherence in recent-onset psychosis, leading to a decreased rate of hospital readmission, a better rate of clinical remission and improved psychosocial adjustment. The aim of the study was to compare the clinical remission rates, number of hospital readmissions and personal and social functioning after 2 years between patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (<2 years) in treatment with risperidone long-acting injectable (RLAI) and patients with recent-onset schizophrenia receiving oral antipsychotics. This is a case–control study comparing patients with recent-onset schizophrenia who initiated RLAI treatment between 2004 and 2008 (n=26) with a control group matched for age and sex, diagnosed with recent-onset schizophrenia and treated with oral antipsychotics (n=26). Study assessments included sociodemographic variables, the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, the Personal and Social Functioning Scale, the number of hospital readmissions and the Andreasen remission criteria. To assess the effect of treatment on each dependent variable, separate generalized estimating equations models were constructed. After 2 years of treatment, and adjusting for educational level, the RLAI group showed a greater reduction in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale total scale [mean (SD)=47.7 (12.0) vs. 66.2 (18.5); mean difference =−17.56; 95% confidence interval (CI)=−27.11 to −8.00; P<0.001], as well as in the negative [mean (SD) 14.3 (6.1) vs. 19.4 (6.4); mean difference=−5.02; 95% CI=−8.28 to −1.77; P=0.002] and general psychopathology [mean (SD)=23.4 (6.3) vs. 32.7 (8.1); mean difference=−9.16; 95% CI=−13.3 to −5.03; P<0.001] subscales compared with the oral antipsychotic group. Personal and Social Functioning Scale scores were also higher in the RLAI group [mean (SD)=72.4 (14.8) vs. 59.7 (13.5); mean difference=13.41; 95% CI=5.65–21.18; P<0.001]. Although not statistically significant, there were fewer readmissions (adjusted odds ratio 0.28; 95% CI=0.06–1.35; P=0.114) and more illness remissions (adjusted odds ratio 3.24; 95% CI=0.20–11.93; P=0.077) in the RLAI group. Treatment with RLAI instead of oral antipsychotics in recent-onset schizophrenia might improve clinical symptoms and social functioning. The efficacy of RLAI treatment on remission and readmission rates should be researched further.
`Suitable Enemies'

In 1989, for the ®rst time in history, the majority of the population consigned to prisons in the United States was black. As a result of the decade-long `War on Drugs' waged by the federal government as part of a broad `law and order' policy, the incarceration rate of African-Americans doubled in a short 10 years, rising from 3544 inmates per 100,000 adults in 1985 to 6926 per 100,000 in 1995, which is nearly seven times the rate of their white compatriots (919 per 100,000) and over 20 times the rates posted by France, England, or Italy. If persons sentenced to probation or released on parole are taken into account, it turns out that more than one of every three young black men (and close to two in three in the big cities of the Rust Belt) ®nd themselves under the supervision of the criminal justice system. This makes prison and its extensions the public service to which they have readiest access, well ahead of higher education or unemployment bene®ts. Based on the ®gures for 1991, the statisticians of the Department of Justice have computed that, over a lifetime, the cumulative probability that a black American has of being sent to prison (i.e. being sentenced to over a year of detention) exceeds 28 percent, compared to 16 percent for a Latino and 4.4 percent for a white man (Bonczar and Beck, 1997: 1). If blacks have become the foremost `clients' of the penitentiary system of the United States, it is not on account of some special propensity that this community would have for crime and deviance. It is because it stands at the point of intersection of three systems of forces that, together, determine and feed the unprecedented regime of carceral hyperin ̄ation that America has experienced for the past quarter century following the denunciation of the Fordist±Keynesian social compact and the contestation of the caste regime by the Civil Rights Movement. These three forces are:
The path of influence of e-WOM on consumer purchase intention- based on electronic commerce in China

Through Web-based consumer opinion platforms, the I nternet enables customers to share their opinions o n, and experiences with, goods and services with a multitu de of other consumers; that is, to engage in electr onic word ofmouth (e-WOM) communication. We think that e-WOM ca n be decomposed into four factors: the communicator (sender), the stimulus (message), the receiver, and the response. The role of the four key elements pa th constitutes the difference of e-WOM and WOM. This effect path i s different according to the different e-commerce m ode: Share Comments Model, Opinion Leaders Model, Group-buying Model. Completely Free of Charge, Promotion Strategies, Cooperation with Banks, and the three sis the key factor of the e-WOM. Credit ra ting of Taobao solves the problem of quality and sufficiency of th e information. They have feedback mechanism to let buyers evaluate the e-WOM after reading it.
Intramuscular Rocuronium in Infants and Children: Dose‐ranging and Tracheal Intubating Conditions

Background Rocuronium's rapid onset and intermediate duration of action with intravenous administration suggests that intramuscular administration might facilitate tracheal intubation without producing prolonged paralysis. Accordingly, in infants and children, the authors measured onset at the adductor pollicis and respiratory muscles to determine the optimal dose (phase I), then gave this optimal dose to determine the optimal time for tracheal intubation (phase II). Methods The authors studied 45 unpremedicated patients aged 3 months to 5 yr. In phase I, 25 patients were anesthetized with nitrous oxide and halothane and breathed spontaneously; twitch tension and minute ventilation were measured. Rocuronium (800–2,400 micro gram/kg) was injected into the quadriceps or deltoid muscle; doses varied, using an “up‐down” technique, the goal being to bracket the dose depressing twitch 75–90% within 5 min. In phase II, deltoid injections of the optimal dose from phase I (infants: 1,000 micro gram/kg; children: 1,800 micro gram/kg) were given to 20 patients anesthetized with 0.82–1.0% halothane. Tracheal intubation was attempted 1.5–3.0 min later; time to tracheal intubation was varied, using an “up‐down” technique. Results In phase I, 5 of 7 patients given quadriceps injections (1,200–2,200 micro gram/kg) had slow onset of twitch and ventilatory depression. With deltoid injections (800–2,400 micro gram/kg), all patients developed complete twitch depression; median time to 50% depression of minute ventilation was 3.2 min in infants and 2.8 min in children. In phase II, intubating conditions were consistently adequate or good‐excellent at 2.5 min in infants and 3.0 min in children. Initial twitch recovery was at 57+/‐13 min (mean+/‐SD) in infants and 70+/‐23 min in children. Conclusions Deltoid injections of rocuronium, 1,000 micro gram/kg in infants and 1,800 micro gram/kg in children, rapidly permit tracheal intubation in infants and children, despite a light plane of anesthesia. Duration of action of these large doses might limit clinical utility.
Potential Consequences of Accessing Child Pornography Over the Internet and Who is Accessing It

It is important that children be protected from the exploitation that is intrinsic to the production of child pornography. It is likewise important that Internet users of all ages be made aware of the extremely dire consequences that they can face should they become involved in accessing it. This brief commentary presents a number of short vignettes documenting the tragic disruption in the lives of 5 men and their families (men who had otherwise been law-abiding decent individuals), as a consequence of having accessed child pornography. Some of those who had done so seemed to have been experiencing compulsive urges to act in such a fashion. Finally, this commentary addresses the question of whether the current extremely severe penalties associated with accessing child pornography over the Internet should, at least in some instances, be reconsidered—especially in light of research data suggesting that many of those who have acted in such a fashion may pose little actual risk to the community.
The Role of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy in Bipolar Disorder

There is increasing support for the use of systematic psychological interventions in combination with pharmacotherapy in the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). A “manualised” approach, such as cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), can be used to facilitate adjustment to the disorder, increase the acceptability of prescribed medications and reduce morbidity. This paper outlines psychosocial issues of relevance to individuals with BD and a model to engage individuals in therapy is described. A brief overview is given of some of the interventions that may help sufferers identify and control the acute symptoms of BD, reduce the risk of relapse and improve how they cope with the disorder and its treatment. The available outcome data on the use of CBT and the need for research are also noted.
DEVELOPING A MEASURE OF SOCIOCULTURAL COMPETENCE: THE CASE OF APOLOGY1

For a number of years, there has been interest in measuring sociocultural competence (Ervin-Tripp 1972, Hymes 1974, Canale and Swain 1980). This study focuses on one important aspect of such competence: the ability to use the appropriate sociocultural rules of speaking, by reacting in a culturally acceptable way in context and by choosing stylistically appropriate forms for that context. We chose to look at productive performance in sociocultural aspects of speaking, focusing on the speech act of “apology. ” The research question that prompted this study was, “Can a rating scale be developed for assessing sociocultural competence? ” The subjects were 32 native Hebrew speakers, 20 of whom served as informants for apologies in English LZ and 12 as informants in Hebrew LI, and 12 Americans who served as informants in English LI. These subjects were asked to role-play their responses in eight situations in which an apology was expected. The findings show that it is possible to identify culturally and stylistically inappropriate L2 utterances in apology situations. The authors feel, however, that the results so far provide at best a crude measure of sociocultural competence and that further work with this speech act and with others is called for.
Active inhibition of task-irrelevant sounds and its neural basis in patients with attention deficits after traumatic brain injury

Abstract Primary objective: To examine active inhibition of irrelevant stimuli and evaluate its neural basis using functional near infrared spectroscopy in patients with attention deficits after traumatic brain injury (TBI). Research design: Case control study. Methods and procedures: Ten patients with TBI and 10 healthy control subjects participated in this study. The Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test (PASAT) was performed with (distracting PASAT) and without (PASAT) distracting Japanese kana phonetic characters presented between each number. A block design was used. Subjects alternately performed each task three times. Main outcomes and results: Healthy controls performed better than patients with TBI on both the tasks. When performing the PASAT, healthy controls showed significant activity in every region of interest except the right lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC), but patients with TBI showed significant activity only in the left anterior PFC and left lateral PFC. When performing the distracting PASAT, the right lateral PFC was active in healthy controls, but not in patients with TBI. Conclusion: These results confirm that patients with moderate-to-severe TBI were affected by distractors that influenced order processing. It is suggested that the working memory of patients with TBI was affected by distracting stimuli, whereas that of healthy individuals was not.
Predicting and Explaining Intentions and Behavior: How Well Are We Doing?

Meta-analyses of research using the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the theory of planned behavior (TPB) show that these models explain on average between 40% and 50% of the variance in intention, and between 19% and 38% of the variance in behavior. This paper evaluates the performance of these models in predicting and explaining intentions and behavior. It discusses the distinction between prediction and explanation, the different standards of comparison against which predictive performance can be judged, the use of percentage of variance explained as a measure of effect size, and presents 9 reasons why the models do not always predict as well as we would like them to do.
Tsunami early warning using earthquake rupture duration

Effective tsunami early warning for coastlines near a tsunamigenic earthquake requires notification within 5–15 minutes. We have shown recently that tsunamigenic earthquakes have an apparent rupture duration, T0, greater than about 50 s. Here we show that T0 gives more information on tsunami importance than moment magnitude, Mw, and we introduce a procedure using seismograms recorded near an earthquake to rapidly determine if T0 is likely to exceed T = 50 or 100 s. We show that this “duration‐exceedance” procedure can be completed within 3–10 min after the earthquake occurs, depending on station density, and that it correctly identifies most recent earthquakes which produced large or devastating tsunamis. This identification forms a complement to initial estimates of the location, depth and magnitude of an earthquake to improve the reliability of tsunami early warning, and, in some cases, may make possible such warning.
Motivation and Learning Environment Differences between Resilient and Nonresilient Latino Middle School Students

This study tries to address the problems of Latino students by drawing on two distinct and emerging theoretical frameworks: (a) educationally resilient students and (b) classroom learning environments. The authors compared the motivation and learning environment of 60 resilient and 60 nonresilient Latino middle school students from a multiethnic metropolitan city located in the south central region of the United States. The multivariate analysis and univariate post hoc tests revealed that resilient students had significantly higherperceptions of involvement, satisfaction, academic self-concept, and achievement motivation than nonresilient students. The discriminantfunction analysis revealed that the variables of academic aspirations, involvement, academic self-concept, expectations for high school graduation, not being held back in school, and satisfaction were related most highly to the overall discriminant function. Results are discussed in relation to previous work on educational resilience and to implications for improving the education of students at risk of failure.
When expectations work: race and socioeconomic differences in school performance

Why are expectations for future performance realized more often by some people than by others, and why are such differences in the efficacy of performance expectations socially patterned? We hypothesize that differences in attentiveness to performance feedback may be relevant, reasoning that follow-through behaviors will be less well conceived when expectations are formed without regard to evaluation of previous performance. Using data from Baltimore fourth-grade students and their parents, we find that expectations anticipate marks more accurately when recall of prior marks is correct than when it is incorrect. Because errors of recall (mostly on the high side) are more common among lower-SES and minority children and their parents, their school performance is affected most strongly. Research on school attainment processes from a motivational perspective must give more attention to the additional resources that facilitate successful goal attainment, given high expectations. Our perspective focuses on resources internal to the individual, but external constraints also are important. The discussion stresses the need for further work in both areas
Negotiating shared meanings of the management process: A discourse in two voices

Abstract Some of the difficulties involved in the development of Western perspectives on the market economy in the Eastern European post-command economies are examined by means of a dialogue between two selves engaged in the development of a shared understanding of three types of processes that, it is asserted, have characteristics in common. The processes are (a) those in which managers engage as they enact the role of leader; (b) those in which teachers engage when they seek to create a “community of enquiry in the classroom” (Novak, 1990); and (c) those in which organizational development consultants engage when they seek to catalyze organizational change. The dangers of slot-rattling as a strategy for understanding people operating in a culture different from one's own are exemplified, and the need for sociality as a tactic in the cultural change endeavor is asserted.