Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Robust Skeletonization through Exact Euclidean Distance Transform and its Application to Neuromorphometry

This paper presents how robust 1-pixel-wide and 8-connected skeletons can be obtained simultaneously with exact distance transform calculation. The proposed approach is based on the new concept of exact dilation. Two alternative algorithms for exact Euclidean distance transform calculation allowing exact dilation are described: a simpler approach based on the SEDR (sorted exact distance representation) data structure, which allows exact distance transform calculation; and a more effective strategy based on border propagation. In both techniques the distances are assigned strictly according to sequences of increasing exact distances in the orthogonal lattice. Because of the high accuracy allowed by such procedures, progressive dilations, high quality and accurate 1-pixel-wide and 8-connected skeletons can be obtained corresponding to the frontiers between previously labelled distinct connected objects. Although this method can be useful for determining generalized Dirichlet tessellations, which is also illustrated in this article, its full potential is harnessed by previously segmenting the contours of connected objects by removing their points corresponding to curvature peaks, which are obtained by using an effective multi-scale curvature estimation technique. In such a way, not only high-quality 1-pixel-wide and 8-connected skeletons are obtained for any shape, but also the whole approach becomes considerably robust to small distortions in the object contours, thus avoiding one of the great shortcomings in traditional skeletonization methods. The application of such methods to an important problem in computational neuroscience and neuromorphometry, namely the automated extraction of tapered dendrograms, is described and illustrated. Considerations regarding distances in orthogonal lattices, typical problems in skeletonization, and the practical implementation of the proposed techniques are also included.
An Automated Internet Behavioral Weight-Loss Program by Physician Referral: A Randomized Controlled Trial

OBJECTIVE To evaluate 3- and 6-month weight-loss outcomes achieved when physicians refer overweight/obese patients to an automated 3-month Internet-based behavioral weight-loss intervention. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 154 patients age 18–70 years with a BMI between 25 and 45 kg/m2 and access to a personal computer and the Internet were randomly assigned to 3 months of Internet behavioral intervention (IBI; n = 77) with 12 weekly videos teaching behavioral weight-loss skills, a platform for submitting self-monitored data, and automated feedback or an education-only Internet-delivered eating and activity control group (IDEA; n = 77). Outcome measures were weight loss after 3 months (primary outcome) and 6 months and changes in weight-control behaviors (secondary outcomes). RESULTS In intent-to-treat analyses with baseline weight carried forward for missing data, IBI produced significantly larger mean (SD) weight losses than IDEA at 3 months (5.5 kg [4.4] vs. 1.3 kg [2.1]) and 6 months (5.4 kg [5.6] vs. 1.3 kg [4.1]) (P < 0.001). Participants in IBI compared with IDEA were also more likely to achieve a clinically significant weight loss of 5% of initial body weight at 3 months (53.3 vs. 9.1%) and 6 months (48.1 vs. 15.6%) (P < 0.001) and reported more frequent use of weight control–related strategies. CONCLUSIONS Physician referral to an Internet-based behavioral weight-loss intervention produced clinically significant weight loss for over half of the patients studied. Further research is needed to determine the effectiveness of implementing this intervention more broadly within diverse health care settings.
Eliciting usable gestures for multi-display environments

Multi-display environments (MDEs) have advanced rapidly in recent years, incorporating multi-touch tabletops, tablets, wall displays and even position tracking systems. Designers have proposed a variety of interesting gestures for use in an MDE, some of which involve a user moving their hands, arms, body or even a device itself. These gestures are often used as part of interactions to move data between the various components of an MDE, which is a longstanding research problem. But designers, not users, have created most of these gestures and concerns over implementation issues such as recognition may have influenced their design. We performed a user study to elicit these gestures directly from users, but found a low level of convergence among the gestures produced. This lack of agreement is important and we discuss its possible causes and the implication it has for designers. To assist designers, we present the most prevalent gestures and some of the underlying conceptual themes behind them. We also provide analysis of how certain factors such as distance and device type impact the choice of gestures and discuss how to apply them to real-world systems.
Examining playfulness in adults: Testing its correlates with personality, positive psychological functioning, goal aspirations, and multi-methodically assessed ingenuity

The prime aim of this set of studies was to test the disposition to play (playfulness) in adults in its relation with various measures of personality but also ability (self-estimated but also psychometrically measured ingenuity). Study 1 (n = 180) shows that adults playfulness relates primarily to extraversion, lower conscientiousness, and higher endorsements of culture; joy of being laughed at (gelotophilia) and agreeableness were also predictive in a regression analysis; Study 2 (n = 264) shows that playfulness relates primarily to a high expectation of intrinsic and a low expectation of extrinsic goals as well as greater intrinsic and lower extrinsic importance of goals (for expressive and fun-variants of playfulness); Study 3 (n = 212) shows that playfulness relates to greater selfperception of one’s degree of ingenuity and psychometric ingenuity correlated primarily with greater spontaneous and creative variants of playfulness (in about the same range for origence and fluidity of the productions). Overall, the findings were in line with the expectations and could stimulate further studies of playfulness in adults.
Deformations of accreting neutron star crusts and gravitational wave emission

Motivated by the remarkably narrow range of measured spin frequencies of ∼20 accreting (and weakly magnetic) neutron stars in the Galaxy, Bildsten conjectured that their spin-up had been halted by the emission of gravitational waves. If so, then the brightest persistent X-ray source on the sky, Scorpius X-1, should be detected by gravitational wave interferometers within 10 years. Bildsten pointed out that small non-axisymmetric temperature variations in the accreted crust will lead to ‘wavy’ electron capture layers, and the resulting horizontal density variations near e− capture layers create a mass quadrupole moment. Neglecting the elastic response of the crust, Bildsten estimated that even e− capture layers in the thin outer crust can develop the quadrupole necessary to balance accretion torque with gravitational waves, for accretion rates We present a full calculation of the crust's elastic adjustment to the density perturbations induced by the temperature-sensitive e− capture reactions. We find that, due to the tendency of the denser material to sink rather than spread sideways, neglecting the elastic response of the crust overestimates, by a factor of 20–50, the Q22 that results from a wavy capture layer in the thin outer crust. However, we find that this basic picture, when applied to capture layers in the deep inner crust, can still generate Q22 in the necessary range, as long as there are ≲5 per cent lateral temperature variations at densities in excess of 1012 g cm−3, and as long as the crustal breaking strain is high enough. By calculating the thermal flow throughout the core and the crust, we find that temperature gradients this large are easily maintained by asymmetric heat sources or lateral composition gradients in the crust. If the composition or heating asymmetries are independent of the accretion rate, then for the induced quadrupole moments have approximately the same scaling, ∝M1/2, as that necessary to balance the accretion torque at the same spin frequency for all M. Temperature gradients in the deep crust lead to a modulation in the thermal emission from the surface of the star that is correlated with Q22. In addition, a ∼0.5 per cent lateral variation in the nuclear charge-to-mass ratio in the crust will also result in a Q22 sufficient to halt spin-up from accretion even in the absence of a lateral temperature gradient. We also derive a general relation between the stresses and strains in the crust and the maximum quadrupole moment they can generate. We show, under quite general conditions, that maintaining a Q22 of the magnitude necessary to balance the accretion torque requires a dimensionless strain at near-Eddington accretion rates, of order the breaking strain of conventional materials. This leads us to speculate that accreting neutron stars reach the same equilibrium spin because they all are driven to the maximum Q22 that the crust can sustain.
MAKING CONNECTIONS: TEACHERS’ USE OF CHILDREN'S PRIOR KNOWLEDGE IN WHOLE CLASS DISCOURSE

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates teachers’ use of prior knowledge in whole class teaching contexts and draws on data from an ESRC-funded study. The paper explores how teachers conceptualise prior knowledge, principally as that which has been taught in school. It demonstrates strong teacher awareness of how the teaching under consideration fits with learning previously undertaken by the class, but less awareness of how the learning might build on prior learning outside school. The paper considers how teachers make connections between new learning and prior learning, and how those connections can variously support or confound children's acquisition of new knowledge and understanding.
Single group, pre- and post-test research designs: Some methodological concerns

This article provides two illustrations of some of the factors that can influence findings from pre- and post-test research designs in evaluation studies, including regression to the mean (RTM), maturation, history and test effects. The first illustration involves a re-analysis of data from a study by Marsden (2004), in which pre-test scores are plotted against gain scores to demonstrate RTM effects. The second illustration is a methodological review of single group, pre- and post-test research designs (pre-experiments) that evaluate causal relationships between intervention and outcome. Re-analysis of Marsden’s prior data shows that learners with higher baseline scores consistently made smaller gains than those with lower baseline scores, demonstrating that RTM is clearly observable in single group, pre-post test designs. Our review found that 13% of the sample of 490 articles were evaluation studies. Of these evaluation studies, about half used an experimental design. However, a quarter used a single group, pre-post test design, and researchers using these designs did not mention possible RTM effects in their explanations, although other explanatory factors were mentioned. We conclude by describing how using experimental or quasi-experimental designs would have enabled researchers to explain their findings more accurately, and to draw more useful implications for pedagogy.
The structure and correlates of a measure of prosocial moral reasoning in adolescents from Spain

The study was designed to examine the structure and correlates of a measure of prosocial moral reasoning in a sample of young and middle-aged adolescents. Participants were 1,556 students (53% male, M age = 13.12 years, SD = 0.87) from Valencia, Spain, who completed paper-and-pencil measures of prosocial moral reasoning (PROM), empathy, prosocial behaviours, and aggression. As expected, a series of confirmatory factor and structural equation modelling analyses revealed a four-factor solution of the PROM to have the best fit (as compared to alternative models) among Spanish youth (across gender and grade). Moreover, higher level and other-oriented forms of prosocial moral reasoning were generally positively related to empathy and prosocial behaviours, and negatively related to aggression. In contrast, generally, lower level and self-focused modes of prosocial moral reasoning were negatively related to such prosocial tendencies, and positively related to aggression. Discussion focuses on the usefulness of the PROM, its relations to theoretically relevant correlates, and its usefulness to study the development and universality of prosocial moral development.
Immediate Effects of a 16-Week Life Skills Education Program on the Mental Health of Adult Psychiatric Patients

ABSTRACT A total of 206 (105 men, 101 women) adult psychiatric patients participated in life skills programming 5 half days per week for 16 weeks. Psychosocial adjustment was assessed pre- and post-treatment with the three primary scales of the Holden Psychological Screening Inventory (HPSI). A multivariate pre- versus post-treatment analysis resulted in a nonsignificant effect for the covariate age (p= .136) but significant effects for time (p<.0005), gender (p<.0005), and the time by gender interaction (p= .003). Depression Symptomatology improved significantly for both men and women, whereas on the other two HPSI scales (Psychiatric and Social Symptomatology) statistically significant improvements were only obtained for women. The Social Symptomatology effect size for women (.25) was small and of the same order of magnitude as a treatment as usual psychiatric patient control sample and is therefore primarily a retesting effect. The effect sizes for Depression Symptomatology for men and women (.77 and .87, respectively) and Psychiatric Symptomatology for women (.57) were large and at least four times larger than the control sample. Improvement in Depression Symptomatology has considerable support in the literature but improvement in Psychiatric Symptomatology does not and will therefore require replication.
A 75µW, 16-channel neural spike-sorting processor with unsupervised clustering

We describe a neural spike-sorting processor that provides unsupervised clustering simultaneously for 16 channels. The use of a two-stage clustering algorithm, noise-tolerant distance metric, and selectively clocked high-VT register arrays makes online clustering feasible for implementation. The spike-sorting processor has a power consumption of 75µW at 270mV and an area of 2.45mm2 in a 65nm CMOS.
Correlations among Brain Gray Matter Volumes, Age, Gender, and Hemisphere in Healthy Individuals

To determine the relationship between age and gray matter structure and how interactions between gender and hemisphere impact this relationship, we examined correlations between global or regional gray matter volume and age, including interactions of gender and hemisphere, using a general linear model with voxel-based and region-of-interest analyses. Brain magnetic resonance images were collected from 1460 healthy individuals aged 20–69 years; the images were linearly normalized and segmented and restored to native space for analysis of global gray matter volume. Linearly normalized images were then non-linearly normalized and smoothed for analysis of regional gray matter volume. Analysis of global gray matter volume revealed a significant negative correlation between gray matter ratio (gray matter volume divided by intracranial volume) and age in both genders, and a significant interaction effect of age × gender on the gray matter ratio. In analyzing regional gray matter volume, the gray matter volume of all regions showed significant main effects of age, and most regions, with the exception of several including the inferior parietal lobule, showed a significant age × gender interaction. Additionally, the inferior temporal gyrus showed a significant age × gender × hemisphere interaction. No regional volumes showed significant age × hemisphere interactions. Our study may contribute to clarifying the mechanism(s) of normal brain aging in each brain region.
Training Social Work Graduate Students in the Evidence-Based Practice Process

Objective: This study tested the effects of integrating evidence-based practice (EBP) process material into a research curriculum for master of social work (MSW) students. Methods: A quasi-experimental design (N = 152) was used across 12 sections of a required program evaluation course, with half integrating EBP process material and half using the traditional curriculum. A version of the Evidence-based Practice Process Assessment scale (EBPPAS) was administered at the beginning and end of the course. Analyses examined changes from pre- to posttest on EBPPAS subscales and assessed group differences. Results: At posttest, the EBP group had significantly higher ratings than the comparison group on the familiarity subscale. Both groups’ scores significantly increased at posttest on the familiarity with and engagement in the EBP process subscales. Conclusions: MSW students’ participation in a traditional program evaluation course is associated with increased EBP self-efficacy, and intentional introduction of EBP process material may further these outcomes.
The outcome of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty in herpes simplex virus-related corneal scarring, complications and graft survival

Aims To determine the visual outcome, graft survival and complications after deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) in patients with herpes simplex virus (HSV)-related corneal scarring. Methods A retrospective analysis of the patients who had DALK for HSV-related corneal scarring between January 2004 and February 2007 was performed. Mean follow-up was 30 months (range 16–48 months). The statistical significance of host corneal vascularisation was determined using Fisher's exact test. Results There were 18 eyes from 18 patients and the mean age was 57 years. Preoperative visual acuity ranged from hand movements (HM) to 6/12. Fifty per cent of the eyes achieved visual acuity of 6/12 or better postoperatively. Six eyes (33%) had recurrence of HSV-related inflammation, eight eyes (including four eyes with recurrence of HSV-related inflammation) developed graft rejection and four eyes (including two eyes with recurrence of HSV-related inflammation) had bacterial keratitis. The graft survival rate was 83%. Three eyes developed glaucoma and one eye required trabeculectomy. Immunohistochemistry revealed that HSV was focally positive or equivocal in four recipient corneal buttons, and transmission electron microscopy showed intracellular HSV virions in two of them. Conclusions This is the largest series of DALK for herpetic corneal scarring that shows a comparable visual outcome and better graft survival rate than penetrating keratoplasty. There is significant risk of recurrence of HSV-related inflammation and graft rejection that requires timely recognition and adequate management.
Peak aerobic power and paddling efficiency in recreational and competitive junior male surfers

Abstract The purpose of the present study was to measure and compare peak oxygen uptake and paddling efficiency in recreational and competitive junior male surfers. Eight male recreational surfers (mean age 18 years, s=2; mass 66.8 kg, s=13.0; height 1.75 m, s=0.10) and eight male competitive surfers (mean age 18 years, s=1; mass 68.0 kg, s=11.7; height 1.72 m, s=0.10) performed an incremental paddling test consisting of four 3-min constant load work stages followed by a ramp increase in power output of 20 W · 30 s−1 until exhaustion. The oxygen uptake–power output relationship of the four constant load work stages and peak values obtained during the incremental paddling test were used to calculate paddling efficiency. No differences (P>0.05) were observed between the recreational and competitive surfers for peak oxygen uptake (recreational: 2.52 litres · min−1, s=0.5; competitive: 2.66 litres · min−1, s=0.35) or efficiency (recreational: 24%, s=3; competitive: 21%, s=4). Blood lactate concentration was significantly greater in recreational (2.4 mmol · l−1, s=0.9) than competitive surfers (1.6 mmol · l−1, s=0.5) during submaximal paddling. There were no differences in peak oxygen uptake or paddling efficiency between recreational and competitive surfers suggesting that peak oxygen uptake and efficiency are not sensitive to differences in surfing ability. The increase in blood lactate concentration during submaximal paddling in recreational compared with competitive surfers suggests that other determinants of paddling endurance, such as blood lactate threshold, might be better at distinguishing surfers of differing ability.
ANN-based sediment yield models for Vamsadhara river basin (India)

Most universally accepted feed-forward error back-propagation artificial neural network models, supported by batch- and pattern-learning, daily, weekly, ten-daily and monthly sediment yield were developed for the Vamsadhara River basin of India. The fast gradient descent optimisation technique improved with variable learning rate (α) and momentum term (β) was used for optimisation. In the process of optimisation and updating of weights, criteria adopted to terminate the process of learning was selected as a per-decided high number of iteration and the other is the generalisation of model through crossvalidation. In all cases of model formulation, the data were normalised with the maximum value of the variable of the series individually. The pattern-learned models were found superior to batch-learned models. High numbers of iterations adopted for model development were found to reduce the value of the objective function, but with model’s over-learning and that is reflected? Unclear what is meant by an increase and decrease of the performance in calibration and cross-validation, respectively. The generalised pattern- learned models for different time scales were compared with linear transfer function models and it was found that the pattern-learned models developed with generalisation through cross-validation were superior in general, except weekly for the study area.
Decreased levels of circulating regulatory NK cells in patients with head and neck cancer throughout all tumor stages.

BACKGROUND Natural killer (NK) cells play a crucial role in innate immunity as effectors against tumor cells and pathogen-infected cells. Human NK cells can be subdivided into two functional subsets, the immunoregulatory CD56(bright) NK cells and the cytotoxic CD56(dim) NK cells. NK-mediated host defence against tumor cells is strongly impaired in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). MATERIALS AND METHODS NK cells were isolated from peripheral blood of 70 HNSCC patients and 22 healthy donors by magnetic bead separation and subsequently analyzed using flow cytometric as well as immunohistochemical methods. RESULTS In this work we demonstrate that the population of circulating immunoregulatory CD56(bright) NK cells is lower in the peripheral blood of patients with HNSCC as compared with that in healthy donors, regardless of the individual tumor stage or tumor type. CONCLUSION These data underline the complex network of HNSCC-mediated immunomodulation as part of the immune escape mechanisms of malignant head and neck tumors.