Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differences Between Non-Parental Male and Female Responses to Infant Crying

The purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference between how non-parental males and females between the ages of 20 and 24 respond physiologically to an audio recording of a crying infant. Based on previous research that investigated differences in physiological response of mothers and fathers to auditory stimuli of infants in distress, the difference between non-parental male and female physiological responses was studied. It was hypothesized that females would have a greater response in all three physiological variables studied. Within the experiment there were a total of 30 participants; 15 male and 15 female. While participants listened to a 30 second recording of an infant crying, measurements of brain activity, heart rate, and electrodermal activity were taken. Since a large number of studies measuring responses to infant stimuli were conducted using parents as subjects, the present experiment adds a new angle to a widely discussed topic. No significant difference was seen between males and females in any of the physiological variables that were measured.
Automatic Upright Adjustment of Photographs With Robust Camera Calibration

Man-made structures often appear to be distorted in photos captured by casual photographers, as the scene layout often conflicts with how it is expected by human perception. In this paper, we propose an automatic approach for straightening up slanted man-made structures in an input image to improve its perceptual quality. We call this type of correction upright adjustment. We propose a set of criteria for upright adjustment based on human perception studies, and develop an optimization framework which yields an optimal homography for adjustment. We also develop a new optimization-based camera calibration method that performs favorably to previous methods and allows the proposed system to work reliably for a wide range of images. The effectiveness of our system is demonstrated by both quantitative comparisons and qualitative user study.
Impact and evaluation in the UK third sector: reviewing literature and exploring ideas

The topic of impact and evaluation of the third sector refers to a wide range of issues, which engages several groups of stakeholders. This paper reviews material presented by TSOs, funders, and academics with the aim of outlining the way evaluation is practiced, experienced and discussed. The paper identifies ways of understanding the complexities involved in negotiating frameworks of evaluation. Recent studies reveal that third sector organisations and funders experience a great deal of frustration and tension due to a mismatch of expectations and poor communication. Some of this relates to manageable problems, which can be remedied by increasing the capacity of organisations to manage evaluations and improving communication between stakeholders. Some problems can be addressed by enhanced knowledge of methodological challenges, particularly related to the assessment of normative goals. However, the developments of new frameworks and tools for evaluation are not primarily underlined by managerial and methodological advancement, but is characterised by negotiations over contested ideas. This relational challenge refers to stakeholder interactions. Appreciating how power, politics and disputes characterise these relations becomes essential in order to understand actions and interactions within the evaluation arena of the third sector today. Concepts such as accountability, legitimacy, trust, and integrity can help us to unpick the meaning of this relational challenge. They can also help us to understand some of the implications that formal evaluation frameworks might have on third sector organisations.
A Case Study of Oncological Aphasia: Clinical Profile and Response to Integrated Language Treatment

Purpose: A large body of research addresses the best methods and practices to treat individuals with aphasia. Much of this research focuses on individuals who have aphasia secondary to stroke. While the most common cause of aphasia is stroke, aphasia can also result from other brain diseases or injury. Relatively little research has focused on oncological aphasia resulting from brain cancer. This research examined aphasia treatment efficacy in an individual with aphasia following removal of a brain tumor. Methods: Standardized testing was used to evaluate the clinical profile of an individual with oncological aphasia. An integrated language treatment approach was implemented with one participant with fluent aphasia using a multiple baseline across behaviors design. CIUs/utterances and percentage of CIUs produced were compared across baseline, treatment and post-treatment phases with four different conversational partners. Treatment effect size was calculated with each conversational partner. Standardized assessments were also administered before and after treatment. Results: Small treatment effect sizes were found with three of the four conversational partners. The participant showed generalization of skills acquired on standardized motor speech, spoken language, memory, and functional communication measures. Discussion: Findings add to evidence in support of integrated treatment approaches and add to the knowledge of the baseline performance of individuals with aphasia due to brain tumor removal. Findings suggest that effects of integrated treatment extend to functional
General purpose technologies and economic growth

Traditionally, economists have considered the accumulation of conventional inputs such as labor and capital to be the primary force behind economic growth. Now, however, many macroeconomists place technological progress at the center of the growth process. This shift is due to new theoretical developments that allow researchers to link microeconomic aspects of the innovation process with macroeconomic outcomes.Most economists have viewed technological progress as an incremental process. A few have focused on the role of drastic innovations--those that introduce a discontinuity. The contributors to this volume are concerned with the type of drastic innovation called general purpose technologies (GPTs). A GPT has the potential to affect the entire economic system and can lead to far-reaching changes in such social factors as working hours and constraints on family life. Examples of GPTs are the steam engine, electricity, and the computer.The study of GPTs is relatively new. A universal theoretical framework for dealing with GPTs does not yet exist. The essays in this book both further our understanding of GPT-driven economic growth and lay the foundation for further developments of the available frameworks.Contributors : Philippe Aghion, Ciff Bekar, Timothy Bresnahan, Kenneth Carlaw, Alfonso Gambardella, Richard G. Harris, Elhanan Helpman, Peter Howitt, Richard G. Lipsey, Kevin M. Murphy, Craig Riddell, Paul Romer, Nathan Rosenberg, Manuel Trajtenberg.
Effectiveness of study counseling and desensitization in alleviating test anxiety: a two-year follow-up.

Participants in a program comparing study counseling and desensitization for reducing test anxiety evaluated the effects of each procedure two years after termination of treatment. Respondents who had been assigned to active psychotherapeutic conditions (including a placebo) maintained positive attitudes toward their respective treatments. A significantly larger proportion of subjects in the treatment groups showed individually significant improvement in grades during the first follow-up semester. Subjects in both the treatment and control conditions achieved significantly better grades and reduced selfreported anxiety by semester of graduation, obscuring treatment effects reported originally. These results suggest that the deleterious effects of test anxiety may be alleviated by entry into courses which minimize formal test evaluations and the easing of general grading standards which has occurred over the past several years.
Polyadenylate polymerase modulations in human epithelioid cervix and breast cancer cell lines, treated with etoposide or cordycepin, follow cell cycle rather than apoptosis induction

Abstract Cancer results from an imbalance between cell cycle progression and apoptosis. Therefore, most anticancer drugs exert their antiproliferative and cytotoxic activity via cell cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis, a controlled form of cell death that is dysregulated in cancer. Many polyadenylation trans-acting factors, including polyadenylate polymerase (PAP), are increasingly found to be involved in cell cycle, apoptosis and cancer prognosis. The objective of the present study was to identify PAP modulations in the response of two epithelial cancer cell lines (HeLa and MCF-7) to apoptosis induction by the anticancer drugs etoposide and cordycepin. Cells were assessed for PAP activity and isoforms by the highly sensitive PAP activity assay and Western blotting, respectively. Induction of apoptosis was determined by endonucleosomal DNA cleavage, 4′6-diamidino-2-phenylindol (DAPI) staining and caspase-6 activity assay, whereas cytotoxicity and cell cycle status were assessed by trypan blue staining, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and flow cytometry. Our results indicate that PAP changes very early in response to either etoposide or cordycepin treatment, even prior to the hallmarks of apoptosis (chromatin condensation and cleavage), in both cell lines tested, but in a different mode. Our results suggest, for the first time, that in the epithelial cancer cell lines used, PAP modulations follow cell cycle progression rather than the course of apoptosis.
Multi‐component apparent diffusion coefficients in human brain †

The signal decay with increasing b‐factor at fixed echo time from brain tissue in vivo has been measured using a line scan Stejskal–Tanner spin echo diffusion approach in eight healthy adult volunteers. The use of a 175 ms echo time and maximum gradient strengths of 10 mT/m allowed 64 b‐factors to be sampled, ranging from 5 to 6000 s/mm2, a maximum some three times larger than that typically used for diffusion imaging. The signal decay with b‐factor over this extended range showed a decidedly non‐exponential behavior well‐suited to biexponential modeling. Statistical analyses of the fitted biexponential parameters from over 125 brain voxels (15 × 15 × 1 mm3 volume) per volunteer yielded a mean volume fraction of 0.74 which decayed with a typical apparent diffusion coefficient around 1.4 µm2/ms. The remaining fraction had an apparent diffusion coefficient of approximately 0.25 µm2/ms. Simple models which might explain the non‐exponential behavior, such as intra‐ and extracellular water compartmentation with slow exchange, appear inadequate for a complete description. For typical diffusion imaging with b‐factors below 2000 s/mm2, the standard model of monoexponential signal decay with b‐factor, apparent diffusion coefficient values around 0.7 µm2/ms, and a sensitivity to diffusion gradient direction may appear appropriate. Over a more extended but readily accessible b‐factor range, however, the complexity of brain signal decay with b‐factor increases, offering a greater parametrization of the water diffusion process for tissue characterization. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Towards a Global Agreement: the Persistent Graph

This paper investigates the role which the persistent links play for a network to reach a global agreement under discrete-time or continuous-time consensus dynamics. Each (directed) arc in the underlying communication graph is assumed to be associated with a timedependent weight function which describes the strength of the information flow between the from one node to another. Then an arc is said to be persistent if its weight function has infinite L1 or l1 norm, and the subgraph which contains all persistent arcs is called the persistent graph. A series of sufficient and necessary conditions on global agreement or ǫ-agreement are established, by which we clearly address that the persistent graph fully determines the convergence to a collective agreement. Convergence rates are given explicitly relying on the diameter of the persistent graph. The results conclude that towards a global agreement, the links which last in a long period contribute fundamentally while the links which are only significant for a short time do not.
Investigation of the efficacy of transobturator tape (TOT) surgery in stress urinary incontinence

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of transobturator vaginal tape (TOT) in the management women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and to analyze functional results and subjective cure rates at follow- up visits. METHODS: Eighty-three consecutive women with SUI underwent TOT procedure. Data related to operative time, pre- and post-operative complications were collected. Subjective cure was defined as the absence of any urine loss on physical activity. RESULTS: Mean age of the patients was 53.2 years, and 66.3% of the patients had pure SUI. The mean operative time was 24.96 min in cases of isolated SUI treatment. The mean hospital stay was 1.53±0.68 days. At a mean follow-up of 32.8 months, the median subjective cure rate was 68.7 percent. Bladder injury (8.4%) was the only short and long term complication of this procedure. CONCLUSION: TOT is a safe and effective procedure for SUI with a low rate of long- term complications. The short -term complication like bladder perforation may develop based on the experience of the surgeons or concomitant pelvic surgery.
A Computational Model of Collaboration on Reference in Direction-Giving Dialogues

In a conversation, a speaker sometimes has to refer to an object that is not previously known to the hearer. This type of reference occurs frequently in dialogues where the speaker is giving directions to a particular place. To make a reference, the speaker attempts to build a description of the object that will allow the hearer to identify it when she later reaches it. This thesis presents a computational model of how an agent collaborates on reference in direction-giving dialogues. Viewing language as goal-oriented behaviour, we encode route descriptions, referring expressions, and discourse actions in the planning paradigm. This allows an agent to construct plans that achieve communicative goals by means of surface speech actions, and to infer plans and goals from these actions. The basis is that a referring expression plan is acceptable to an agent if she is con dent that the plan is adequate as an executable identi cation plan. By considering the salience of the features used in a referring expression plan, an agent can evaluate her con dence in its adequacy. Driven by the implicit intention of making plans mutually acceptable, the conversants collaborate until the hearer is con dent in the adequacy of the current referring expression plan. In doing so, the conversants use suggestion and elaboration discourse actions that operate on the current plan. While collaborating, an agent is in a mental state that includes the intention to achieve the goal of having the direction recipient understand the directions, the plan the agents are currently considering, and a focus of attention into the plan. This collaborative state governs the discourse by sanctioning both the adoption of goals, and the mutual acceptance of plans. Re ecting the inherent symmetry in collaborative dialogue, the model can act as both speaker and hearer, and can play the roles of both the direction-giver and the recipient. ii Acknowledgements I thank my supervisor Graeme Hirst for his expert guidance and assistance. I also thank Je rey Siskind, my second reader, for providing many helpful comments. I am grateful to Peter Heeman for the discussions that we had, for they helped in getting everything into perspective. Finally, I thank my family and friends for bearing with me, and especially Lynne for her seemingly endless love and support. iii
The Enzymatic Function of Tafazzin*

Tafazzin is a putative enzyme that is involved in cardiolipin metabolism, it may carry mutations responsible for Barth syndrome. To identify the biochemical reaction catalyzed by tafazzin, we expressed the full-length isoform of Drosophila melanogaster tafazzin in a baculovirus-Sf9 insect cell system. Tafazzin expression induced a new enzymatic function in Sf9 cell mitochondria, namely 1-palmitoyl-2-[14C]linoleoyl-phosphatidylcholine:monolysocardiolipin linoleoyltransferase. We also found evidence for the reverse reaction, because tafazzin expression caused transfer of acyl groups from phospholipids to 1-[14C]palmitoyl-2-lyso-phosphatidylcholine. An affinity-purified tafazzin construct, tagged with the maltose-binding protein, catalyzed both forward and reverse transacylations between cardiolipin and phosphatidylcholine, but was unable to utilize CoA or acyl-CoA as substrates. Whereas tafazzin supported transacylations between various phospholipid-lysophospholipid pairs, it showed the highest rate for the phosphatidylcholine-cardiolipin transacylation. Transacylation activities were about 10-fold higher for linoleoyl groups than for oleoyl groups, and they were negligible for arachidonoyl groups. The data show that Drosophila tafazzin is a CoA-independent, acyl-specific phospholipid transacylase with substrate preference for cardiolipin and phosphatidylcholine.
Abnormal Sensorimotor Integrative Function of the Larynx in Congenital Laryngomalacia: A New Theory of Etiology

Objectives/Hypothesis: Laryngomalacia is an enigmatic disease in which laryngeal tone is weak, resulting in dynamic prolapse of tissue into the larynx. Sensorimotor integrative function of the brainstem and peripheral reflexes are responsible for laryngeal tone and airway patency. The goal of this study was to elucidate the etiology of decreased laryngeal tone through evaluating the sensorimotor integrative function of the larynx. The secondary goal was to evaluate factors and medical comorbidities that contribute to the wide spectrum of symptoms and outcomes.
Follow‐up of Card Agglutination Trypanosomiasis Test (CATT) positive but apparently aparasitaemic individuals in Côte d'Ivoire: evidence for a complex and heterogeneous population

Summary The aetiological diagnosis of human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is based on the detection of the parasite, but currently available parasitological tests have low sensitivity and are hampered by fluctuating parasitaemia. The identification of seropositive individuals on whom to focus parasitological examination is based on antibody detection by means of the Card Agglutination Trypanosomiasis Test (CATT/T.b.gambiense). A complicating phenomenon is the occurrence of serologically positive but parasitologically unconfirmed results (isolated CATT positivity). This work presents a two‐year longitudinal serological, parasitological and molecular follow‐up of CATT‐positive individuals including repeated examinations of each individual, to study the evolution over time of seropositivity at both the population and the individual levels. At the population level, the rate of seropositivity decreased during the first months of the survey, and afterwards showed remarkable stability. At the individual level, the results reveal the extreme heterogeneity of this population, with subjects showing fluctuating results, others with a short transient CATT positivity, and subjects that maintain their seropositivity over time. The stability of seropositivity and the pattern of results obtained with both immunological and parasitological examinations support the view that individual factors, such as immune response to infection, might be involved in the isolated CATT positivity phenomenon.
ROSIGLITAZONE, AN AGONIST OF PEROXISOME PROLIFERATOR‐ACTIVATED RECEPTOR‐GAMMA, PREVENTS CONTRALATERAL TESTICULAR ISCHAEMIA–REPERFUSION INJURY IN PREPUBERTAL RATS

1 Rosiglitazone plays a positive role in the reparation of ischaemia–reperfusion (I/R) injury in different tissues. Thus, we examined its biochemical and histological effects on the contralateral testes to determine whether exogenous rosiglitazone affords any protection against testicular damage. 2 Forty‐eight prepubertal male Wistar‐Albino rats were divided into six groups. Testicular torsion was created by rotating the right testis 720° in a clockwise direction for 5 h in all groups except group I, which was the sham‐control group. In group II, bilateral orchiectomy was performed following the torsion period. After detorsion both testes were removed in the fifth hour in group III and on the seventh day in group IV. In group V, one‐shot rosiglitazone (4 mg/kg) was administered 40 min before detorsion and both testes were removed following the torsion period. In group VI, rosiglitazone was administered (4 mg/kg) 40 min before detorsion and for 7 days, and then both testes were harvested. The tissue levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured and mean testicular biopsy score (MTBS) and mean seminiferous tubule diameter (MSTD) were examined. Immunoexpression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) in testes tissues was investigated by immunohistochemical studies. 3 In the contralateral testis, the MTBS and MSTD values of group VI were significantly higher than those in group IV. Immunohistochemically, mild eNOS immunostaining was present in the germ cells of the contralateral testes in group IV after I/R. In group VI, intense eNOS immunoreactivity was seen in the contralateral testes. 4 Rosiglitazone reduces contralateral testicular damage formed after unilateral testicular torsion and alleviates the oxidative events.
Declining Migration within the US: The Role of the Labor Market

Interstate migration has decreased steadily since the 1980s. We show that this trend is not primarily related to demographic and socioeconomic factors, but instead appears to be connected to a concurrent secular decline in labor market transitions. We explore a number of reasons for the declines in geographic and labor market transitions, and find the strongest support for explanations related to a decrease in the net benefit to changing employers. Our preferred interpretation is that the distribution of relevant outside offers has shifted in a way that has made labor market transitions, and thus geographic transitions, less desirable to workers.
Australian football players’ Achilles tendons respond to game loads within 2 days: an ultrasound tissue characterisation (UTC) study

Background/aim The Achilles tendon is a tissue that responds to mechanical loads at a molecular and cellular level. In vitro and in vivo studies have shown that the expression of anabolic and/or catabolic proteins can change within hours of loading and return to baseline levels within 72 h. These biochemical changes have not been correlated with changes in whole tendon structure on imaging. We examined the nature and temporal sequence of changes in Achilles tendon structure in response to competitive game loads in elite Australian football players. Methods Elite male Australian football players with no history of Achilles tendinopathy were recruited. Achilles tendon structure was quantified using ultrasound tissue characterisation (UTC) imaging, a valid and reliable measure of intratendinous structure, the day prior to the match (day 0), and then reimaged on days 1, 2 and 4 postgame. Results Of the 18 participants eligible for this study, 12 had no history of tendinopathy (NORM) and 6 had a history of patellar or hamstring tendinopathy (TEN). Differences in baseline UTC echopattern were observed between the NORM and TEN groups, with the Achilles of the TEN group exhibiting altered UTC echopattern, consistent with a slightly disorganised tendon structure. In the NORM group, a significant reduction in echo-type I (normal tendon structure) was seen on day 2 (p=0.012) that returned to baseline on day 4. Summary There was a transient change in UTC echopattern in the Achilles tendon as a result of an Australian football game in individuals without a history of lower limb tendinopathy.