Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Health Care for the Elderly: How Much? Who Will Pay for it?

Health care expenditures on the elderly tend to grow about 4 percent per year more rapidly than the gross domestic product (GDP). This could plunge the nation into a severe economic and social crisis within two decades. This paper describes recent growth in age/sex-specific health care utilization by the elderly and discusses the important role of technology in that growth. It also explores the potential for the elderly to pay for additional care through increases in work and savings. Efforts to "save Medicare" will prove to be "too little, too late" unless they are embedded in broader policy initiatives that slow the rate of growth of health care spending and/or increase the income of the elderly.
Normal renal sonogram identifies renal colic patients at low risk for urologic intervention: a prospective cohort study.

INTRODUCTION Determining which patients with ureterolithiasis are likely to require urologic intervention is a common challenge in the emergency department (ED). The objective was to determine if normal renal sonogram could identify low-risk renal colic patients, who were defined as not requiring urologic intervention within 90 days of their initial ED visit and can be managed conservatively. METHODS This was a prospective cohort study involving adult patients presenting to the EDs of a tertiary care centre with suspected renal colic over a 20-month period. Renal ultrasonography (US) was performed in the diagnostic imaging department by trained ultrasonographers, and the results were categorized into four mutually exclusive groups: normal, suggestive of ureterolithiasis, visualized ureteric stone, or findings unrelated to urolithiasis. Electronic medical records were reviewed to determine if patients received urologic intervention within 90 days of their ED visit. RESULTS Of 610 patients enrolled, 341 (55.9%) had US for suspected renal colic. Of those, 105 (30.8%) were classified as normal; none of these patients underwent urologic intervention within 90 days of their ED visit. Ninety (26.4%) US results were classified as suggestive, and nine (10%) patients received urologic intervention. A total of 139 (40.8%) US results were classified as visualized ureteric stone, and 34 (24.5%) patients had urologic intervention. Seven (2.1%) US results were classified as findings unrelated to urolithiasis, and none of these patients required urologic intervention. The rate of urologic intervention was significantly lower in those with normal US results (p<0.001) than in those with abnormal findings. CONCLUSION A normal renal sonogram predicts a low likelihood for urologic intervention within 90 days for adult ED patients with suspected renal colic.
The polyhedral nature of LINERs: An XMM-Newton view of LINERs in radio galaxies

Aims. We investigate the origin of X-rays and the nature of accretion flow in 4 low-ionization nuclear emission-line regions (LINERs) hosted by radio galaxies, namely NGC 1692, PKS 0625–35, 3C 88, 3C 444, recently observed with XMM-Newton. Methods. We combine the results from the time-averaged spectral analysis with model-independent information from X-ray temporal and spectral variability analyses, and with additional broadband information (specifically from the UV band, covered by the Optical Monitor aboard XMM-Newton, and from archival radio data). Results. The values of the Eddington ratios Lbol/LEdd of our sample span 2 orders of magnitude ranging between ∼1 × 10 −5 and 1 × 10 −3 . The 4 AGN are adequately fitted by the same continuum model that comprises at least one thermal component (kT ∼ 0.65– 1.45 keV) and a partially absorbed power law, whose relative contribution and photon index vary substantially from source to source. NGC 1692 and PKS 0625–35 have fairly steep power-law components (Γ ∼ 2.5–2.9), perhaps indicative of synchrotron emission from the base of a jet. Conversely, the flat photon index derived for 3C 88 (Γ ∼ 1.1) may be indicative of a heavily absorbed object. Finally, the time-averaged spectral properties of 3C 444 (Γ ∼ 1.9 and an apparent line-like excess around 6.7 keV) are more in line with Seyfert-like objects. The temporal analysis reveals that PKS 0625–35 and 3C 88 are significantly variable in the soft (0.2–1 keV) energy band. PKS 0625–35 also shows suggestive evidence of spectral variability on timescales of months, with a spectral softening associated with the source brightening. NGC 1692 is only marginally variable in the soft band, whereas 3C 444 does not show significant variability on short timescales. The main findings from the broadband analysis can be summarized as follows: 1) 3C 444, PKS 0625–35, and NGC 1692 have αOX values consistent with the αOX −lUV correlation found by Steffen et al. (2006, AJ, 131, 2826) for Seyfert-like objects. 2) No positive correlation is found between LX and the inclination angle, suggesting that the X-ray emission is not beamed. 3) The values of the radio-loudness are inversely proportional to the Eddington ratio and locate our objects in between the “radio-loud” and “radio-quiet” branches in the R − lUV plane proposed by Maoz (2007, MNRAS, 377, 1696).
Maximizing the concurrent transmissions in cognitive radio ad hoc networks

Spectrum utilization in cognitive radio ad hoc network is a critical task due to the fluctuation of spectrum availability temporally and spatially. Reusing the same channel spatially can effectively improve the spectrum utilization as well as reduce the delay in switching and coordination in different channels. In this paper, a dynamic spectrum sharing method is proposed which allows multiple secondary users to reside in the same channel and use the channel concurrently to maximize the spectrum utilization exploiting variable transmission power and location information, while guaranteeing acceptable level of interference protection to the primary users. Results show that the proposed method successfully outperforms the existing method in maximizing the number of concurrent transmissions as well as the spectrum utilization.
Efficient Incremental Smart Grid Data Analytics

Analytical computations over energy data are gaining popularity thanks to the growing adoption of smart electricity meters. Computations in this context range from seemingly straightforward tasks such as calculating monthly bills based on time-of-use pricing, to elaborate model building for predictions and recommendations in an eort to reduce peak demand. While research in this promising area is progressing steadily, published algorithms and prototypes have largely avoided the important practical question of how to deal eciently with the incremental nature of energy data, for example per-hour readings produced by smart electricity meters. As a stepping stone towards a comprehensive solution to this problem, we investigate incremental techniques for disaggregating dierent categories of energy consumption, such as base load versus activity load, from hourly smart meter data using the popular \three-line model" of Birt et al. Our software prototype, called Insparq, exhibits speedups in excess of 2x for data sets up to tens of GB in size, compared to a naive implementation on top of a conventional scalable batch processing framework.
Investigating the Effects of a Parent-Mediated Intervention on Latino Parent-Child Verbal Interaction and Children's Receptive Vocabulary

INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF A PARENT-MEDIATED INTERVENTION ON LATINO PARENT-CHILD VERBAL INTERACTION AND CHILDREN’S RECEPTIVE VOCABULARY By Patricia Giuffra Onorato, Ph.D. A Dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University Virginia Commonwealth University, 2016 Director: Yaoying Xu, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Counseling and Special Education This study aimed to investigate parent-child verbal interactions in Spanish in a group of Latino preschoolers growing up in the United States through a parent-mediated program at home, and the effects of the program on their receptive vocabulary in Spanish. A single subject multiple baseline across participants design was used in the study. The participants were 3 Latino mothers and their sons, with low family income, living in the United States. The intervention taught the mothers strategies to enhance their children’s language through a sharing-book activity. The study lasted for 6 weeks during which baseline and intervention conditions data were collected through videotapes of the Dyads’ mealtimes. The results of the study showed that their verbal interactions were functional, brief, and typically not extended to children’s activities. The number of verbal interactions increased for 2 of the 3 Dyads from baseline to intervention condition and decreased for 1 of them. The children’s receptive vocabulary and school readiness skills increased after the intervention as showed by pre and post intervention assessments. The social validity survey suggested that Latina mothers found the project beneficial since, it not only increased their children’s interest in books, but also their own motivation to share books with them. Research and practical implications were discussed.
Where and When to Pay Attention: The Neural Systems for Directing Attention to Spatial Locations and to Time Intervals as Revealed by Both PET and fMRI

Although attention is distributed across time as well as space, the temporal allocation of attention has been less well researched than its spatial counterpart. A temporal analog of the covert spatial orientation task [Posner MI, Snyder CRR, Davidson BJ (1980) Attention and the detection of signals. J Exp Psychol Gen 109:160–174] was developed to compare the neural systems involved in directing attention to spatial locations versus time intervals. We asked whether there exists a general system for allocating attentional resources, independent of stimulus dimension, or whether functionally specialized brain regions are recruited for directing attention toward spatial versus temporal aspects of the environment. We measured brain activity in seven healthy volunteers by using positron emission tomography (PET) and in eight healthy volunteers by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The task manipulated cued attention to spatial locations (S) and temporal intervals (T) in a factorial design. Symbolic central cues oriented subjects toward S only (left or right), toward T only (300 msec or 1500 msec), toward both S and T simultaneously, or provided no information regarding S or T. Subjects also were scanned during a resting baseline condition. Behavioral data showed benefits and costs for performance during temporal attention similar to those established for spatial attention. Brain-imaging data revealed a partial overlap between neural systems involved in the performance of spatial versus temporal orientation of attention tasks. Additionally, hemispheric asymmetries revealed preferential right and left parietal activation for spatial and temporal attention, respectively. Parietal cortex was activated bilaterally by attending to both dimensions simultaneously. This is the first direct comparison of the neural correlates of attending to spatial versus temporal cues.
Going Public : Why ? ... and When ? Evidence from UK

Using a sample of 204 UK initial public offerings (IPOs), we empirically analyze the motive for and the timing of IPO decision by examining the determinants of IPO structure. Linked to IPO structure, the determinants of underpricing and the pattern of seasoned equity offerings (SEOs) are also investigated. The data reveal that younger and smaller firms tend to go public primarily for financing purpose, acquisition financing and carve-out being important reasons. Older and larger firms, in particular ICT firms are likely to go public both for financing and for their existing shareholders to cash out. The most established firms seem to utilise the IPOs only as an exit mechanism, although this is very rare in UK. Firms purely driven by financing needs time the market to offer when the market return is relatively lower, which is associated with lower underpricing costs. For either of the two types of IPO motives: raising funds for investment, or divesting and exit, corporate governance is an important consideration behind the IPO decisions – the firms tend to avoid putting the management’s control rights at risk. In the after-market, larger firms and firms belong to ICT industry are more likely to carry out seasoned equity offerings (SEOs), where they benefit from better offer prices; besides, they tend to time the market for their SEOs to exploit windows opportunities. Overall, the UK IPOs during the sample period are particularly associated with financing motives, and they distinctly differ from some other European IPOs. JEL classification: G32; G24
0 Can Early Intervention Policies Improve Well-being ? Evidence from a randomized controlled trial

Scheme. We would also like to thank the Northside Partnership for funding the main evaluation of the Preparing for Life programme through the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and The Atlantic Philanthropies. Funding support was also made available through a European Research Council (ERC) for the Advanced Investigator Award to James J. Heckman. We would like to thank all those who supported this research including the participating families, the PFL intervention staff, Judy Lovett as project coordinator, Catherine O'Melia for her assistance with data collection, and the Maternity Hospital Ethics Committee granted ethical approval for this study. Helpful comments from participants at " Measurement and Determinants of Well-being " workshop at the University of Stirling and the " Society for Research in Child Developmental Methodology, San Diego " conference are gratefully acknowledged. Abstract Many authors have proposed incorporating measures of well-being into evaluations of public policy. Yet few evaluations use experimental design or examine multiple aspects of well-being, thus the causal impact of public policies on well-being is largely unknown. In this paper we examine the effect of an intensive early intervention program on maternal well-being in a targeted disadvantaged community. Using a randomized controlled trial design we estimate and compare treatment effects on global well-being using measures of life satisfaction, experienced well-being using both the Day Reconstruction Method (DRM) and a measure of mood yesterday, and also a standardized measure of parenting stress. The intervention has no significant impact on negative measures of well-being, such as experienced negative affect as measured by the DRM and global measures of well-being such as life satisfaction or a global measure of parenting stress. Significant treatment effects are observed on experienced measures of positive affect using the DRM, and a measure of mood yesterday. The DRM treatment effects are primarily concentrated during times spent without the target child which may reflect the increased effort and burden associated with additional parental investment. Our findings suggest that a maternal-focused intervention may produce meaningful improvements in experienced well-being. Incorporating measures of experienced affect may thus alter cost-benefit calculations for public policies.
Performance evaluation and comparison of routing protocols in MANETs

A Mobile ad hoc network is a collection of mobile nodes connected through wireless links forming an temporary network without fixed topology, centralized access point, infrastructure. In such a network, each node can act as a router and host simultaneously, it can move out or join in the network freely as required. Various routing protocols have been discussed so far in this paper a brief comparison of two reactive protocols DSR and AODV along with proactive protocol DSDV will be done. Detail study of the network performance such as throughput, overhead, delay, pause time is done when position-based routing is used. As the node performance gets affected due to mobility and position error, the variation in performance are analyzed by use of varying simulation time. The simulations are carried out using NS-2 simulator. The results presented specify the importance in careful evaluation and implementation of routing protocols in an ad hoc environment.
Physiological ER Stress Mediates the Differentiation of Fibroblasts

Recently, accumulating reports have suggested the importance of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress signaling in the differentiation of several tissues and cells, including myoblasts and osteoblasts. Secretory cells are easily subjected to ER stress during maturation of their secreted proteins. Skin fibroblasts produce and release several proteins, such as collagens, matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), the tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMPs) and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), and the production of these proteins is increased at wound sites. Differentiation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts is one of the key factors for wound healing and that TGF-β can induce fibroblast differentiation into myofibroblasts, which express α-smooth muscle actin. Well-differentiated myofibroblasts show increased production of collagen and TGF-β, and bring about wound healing. In this study, we examined the effects of ER stress signaling on the differentiation of fibroblasts, which is required for wound healing, using constitutively ER stress-activated primary cultured fibroblasts. The cells expressed positive α-smooth muscle actin signals without TGF-β stimulation compared with control fibroblasts. Gel-contraction assays suggested that ER stress-treated primary fibroblasts caused stronger shrinkage of collagen gels than control cells. These results suggest that ER stress signaling could accelerate the differentiation of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts at injured sites. The present findings may provide important insights for developing therapies to improve wound healing.
Shrimp Alpha-2-Macroglobulin Prevents the Bacterial Escape by Inhibiting Fibrinolysis of Blood Clots

Proteomic analysis of the hemocytic proteins of Penaeus monodon (Pm) has previously shown that alpha-2-macroglobulin (A2M) was among the proteins that showed substantially altered expression levels upon Vibrio harveyi infection. Therefore, in this study its potentially important role in the response of shrimp to bacterial infection was further characterized. The yeast two-hybrid system revealed that the receptor binding domain of PmA2M interacted with the carboxyl-terminus of one or both of the transglutaminase type II isoforms, which are key enzymes involved in the shrimp clotting system. In accord with this, PmA2M was found to be localized on the extracellular blood clots and to colocalize with clottable proteins. RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated knockdown of A2M transcript levels reduced the PmA2M transcript levels (∼94%) and significantly reduced the bacterial seizing ability of the clotting system, resulting in an up to 3.3-fold higher number of V. harveyi that systemically disseminated into the circulatory system at 5 min post-infection before subsequent clearance by the immune system. Furthermore, an appearance of PmA2M depleted clots in the presence of V. harveyi strikingly demonstrated fibrinolysis zones surrounding the bacteria. This study provides the first evidence of the vital role of PmA2M in enhancing bacterial sequestration by protecting blood clots against fibrinolysis.
Self-licensing : When and why people give in to temptation

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Can working memory work for university students? the relationship between working memory and academic success.

Declaration I hereby declare that this research report is my own independent work, has not been presented for any other degree at any other academic institution, or published in any form. Acknowledgements In relation to the following study, the following people are thanked for their invaluable contributions. To Professor Kate Cockcroft, my supervisor and mentor, thank you so much for taking the time and having the patience to help me produce this body of research. Your knowledge truly is astounding and your interest in Cognition, ever curious nature and great sense of humour have made the process of conducting this research with you as fun as it has been interesting. Thank you so much! To my brothers Randall and Dylan, thank you for your ongoing support and excellent camaraderie over the years. Without either of you I would not have gotten this far in my studies, and life. Takk! To my family – Gran, Dad, Chris and Lizzy – thank you for putting up with me over the years and helping me to get to this point. To all my friends (especially Mandy) thank you for helping me to stay sane this year. Thanks to Juliana, Claire and Cara for your academic support in the M. Ed group. thank you for your wealth of statistical knowledge, consultations and general advice. To the great staff and students of the University of the Witwatersrand, thank you for being there for me over the last 5 years, my time with you has been great. opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and therefore the NRF does not accept any liability in regard thereto. Abstract This study examined performance on the Memory Quotient Tester (MQT) and the Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) in relation to academic performance in a sample of 51 Psychology students. The relationship between working memory (MQT), non-verbal intelligence (RAPM), demographic factors and academic success were determined. Results indicated no significant relationship between working memory and academic success in undergraduate Psychology courses, whereas the first set of the RAPM revealed some significance in relation to both academic success and the variables of race and language. This indicates the possible role of eductive reasoning in tertiary level academic success.
Double Checking for Two Error Types

Auditing a large population of recorded values is usually done by means of sampling.Based on the number of incorrect records that is detected in the sample, a point estimate and a confidence limit for the population fraction of incorrect values can be determined.In general it is (implicitly) assumed that the auditor does not make mistakes while judging the correctness of the values. However, in practice this assumption does not necessarily hold: auditors are human and can make errors.To take this possibility into account, a subsample of the audited records is checked once more by a second auditor who is assumed never to make mistakes.The information obtained from these two samples should be combined to derive an estimate for the error rate in the population.The starting point for this type of double checking was Moors et al.(2000). Only one possible error type was considered: auditors could only miss (fail to detect) existing errors.For the case of random sampling, the maximum likelihood estimator as well as an upper confidence limit for the error rate were derived.The present paper gives extensions in two directions.Firstly, a second error type is introduced: the auditor may consider a correct value as an error.Again, the sample information of both auditor and infallible expert is combined to give point and interval estimates for the fraction of errors in the population.Secondly, a Bayesian analysis is presented for both the model with one error type and the extended model.