Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A meta-regression analysis on the effects of parenting programs for children with disabilities in Korea

This study was conducted to analyze the eﬀects of parenting programs for children with disabilities through meta-regression analysis of experimental studies published in Korea. Twenty-two studies with a randomized or non-randomized control group pre-post test design were included in the analysis. Parenting programs had a signiﬁcant ef-fect on parenting stress ( ES = -1.08, p < .001, I 2 =67.4%), parenting eﬃcacy ( ES =0.72, p < .001, I 2 =58.0%) and self-esteem ( ES =0.58, p =.016, I 2 =0). The meta-regression analysis showed that research designs and therapy providers had diﬀerent eﬀects on dependent variables. Results support that parenting programs are helpful for parents of children with disabilities in reducing parenting stress and improving parenting eﬃcacy, and self-esteem.
Recursive filtering and smoothing for reciprocal Gaussian processes with Dirichlet boundary conditions

The minimum mean square error (MMSE) estimation problem for a discrete-index reciprocal Gaussian process impaired by additive white Gaussian noise is completely solved in the general case of noisily observed Dirichlet random boundary conditions. Finite sets of recursive equations are obtained for the computation of the filtered sequence and of the fixed-point, fixed-interval, and fixed-lag smoothed sequences. Recursive expressions are also given for the MMSE performance of the presented estimators. Simulation results confirm the validity of the performance analysis.
Correlates of Human Herpesvirus-8 DNA detection among adults in Italy without Kaposi sarcoma.

BACKGROUND The presence of Human Herpesvirus-8 (HHV8) DNA is predictive of Kaposi sarcoma (KS) among patients with HIV-associated or iatrogenic immunosuppression. However, correlates of HHV8-DNA detection in the general population remain undefined. METHODS We assessed correlates of HHV8-DNA detection among Italian adults without KS who had antibodies against HHV8-latent nuclear antigen by immunofluorescence assay. HHV8-K6 DNA sequences were detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells using TaqMan PCR. RESULTS Of the 158 subjects 26 (16.5%) had detectable HHV8-DNA [median copies/million cells, 53; (13-2128)]. Adjusted for age, sex, and laboratory, HHV8-DNA was detected more frequently in participants with >7 total residents in the childhood home [OR = 3.7 (1.5-9.1)], >2 younger siblings [OR = 2.6 (1.1-6.5)], and current cardiovascular [OR = 3.6 (1.3-9.7)] or renal [OR = 3.1 (1.2-8.0)] disease. Excluding the participants using immune modulating drugs, HHV8-DNA was more frequent among those with low red blood cells (RBC) [<4.5 10(6)/microl; OR = 5.3 (1.7-16.2)], slightly elevated mean corpuscular volume [>92 microm3/red cell; OR = 2.8 (1.0-7.8)], and mild thrombocytopenia [<151 K/microl; OR = 5.6 (1.9-16.3)]. CONCLUSIONS Presence of HHV8-DNA in elderly Italians is associated with childhood crowding, low RBCs, and platelets, perhaps indicating roles for early infection and chronic inflammation. These risk factors are the first to be reported for non-immunosuppressed HHV8-seropositive adults.
Developing tourism products in line with Islamic beliefs: some insights from Nabeul–Hammamet

ABSTRACT In recent years, the interest of both the tourism industry and the academic world in Muslims as consumers with specific requirements has grown remarkably. Attracting Muslim tourists is considered a good business opportunity in an increasing number of Muslim and non-Muslim countries. Tunisia is one of the most important destinations for international tourism in the Middle East and North Africa. Despite being a Muslim-majority country, no significant effort has been made as yet to reach the growing demand for tourism products in line with Islamic beliefs. This study investigates the opinions of a group of 19 key informants in Nabeul–Hammamet concerning the possibility of developing such products. This research shows that tourism operators are becoming progressively more familiar with the global opening up to products designed for Muslim consumers. Opportunities offered by this segment have been recognised, and clear signs are emerging of a proactive attitude towards Muslim-oriented tourism as a differentiation tool.
Examining Paraprofessional Interventions to Increase Social Communication for Young Children With ASD

Social communication skills are considered a core deficit in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Evidence-based practices that have emerged to address these critical skills in children with ASD have largely been implemented by researchers, teachers, and parents. Only recently have researchers studied paraprofessionals as implementers of these interventions. The following review examines studies in which paraprofessionals were taught to implement social communication interventions with young children with ASD. The seven articles that met inclusion criteria were evaluated with respect to (a) type of social communication intervention, (b) evidence of effectiveness, (c) training methods and components, (d) child outcomes. The primary intervention studies included pivotal response training (PRT), natural language paradigm (NLP), and incidental teaching strategies as well as mand training and general antecedent/consequent interventions. All studies reported improvements in paraprofessional implementation fidelity for the chosen intervention, five of which also reported corresponding improvements in child outcomes. Four studies provided definitive evidence of effectiveness for paraprofessional training. Feedback was the only training component used in all seven studies, in conjunction with at least one other component.
Neuromuscular fatigue and recovery in elite female soccer: effects of active recovery.

PURPOSE To investigate the time course of recovery from neuromuscular fatigue and some biochemical changes between two female soccer matches separated by an active or passive recovery regime. METHODS Countermovement jump (CMJ), sprint performance, maximal isokinetic knee flexion and extension, creatine kinase (CK), urea, uric acid, and perceived muscle soreness were measured in 17 elite female soccer players before, immediately after, 5, 21, 45, 51, and 69 h after a first match, and immediately after a second match. Eight players performed active recovery (submaximal cycling at 60% of HRpeak and low-intensity resistance training at < 50% 1RM) 22 and 46 h after the first match. RESULTS In response to the first match, a significant decrease in sprint performance (-3.0 +/- 0.5%), CMJ (-4.4 +/- 0.8%), peak torque in knee extension (-7.1 +/- 1.9%) and flexion (-9.4 +/- 1.8%), and an increase in CK (+ 152 +/- 28%), urea (15 +/- 2), uric acid (+ 11 +/- 2%), and muscle soreness occurred. Sprint ability was first to return to baseline (5 h) followed by urea and uric acid (21 h), isokinetic knee extension (27 h) and flexion (51 h), CK, and muscle soreness (69 h), whereas CMJ was still reduced at the beginning of the second match. There were no significant differences in the recovery pattern between the active and passive recovery groups. The magnitude of the neuromuscular and biochemical changes after the second match was similar to that observed after the first match. CONCLUSION The present study reveals differences in the recovery pattern of the various neuromuscular and biochemical parameters in response to a female soccer match. The active recovery had no effects on the recovery pattern of the four neuromuscular and three biochemical parameters.
A Phenomenological Investigation of Elementary Educators' On-the-Job Experiences After Self-Selected Professional Development

The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study is to describe elementary educators’ onthe-job experiences after completing a self-selected professional development (PD). This study was guided by the overall question: How do elementary educators describe on-the-job experiences after completing self-selected professional development? To provide further direction of the vast experiences three sub questions were utilized. (a) To what extent, if at all, have practices from the professional development been implemented? (b) What factors are perceived to positively impact implementation of the professional development? (c) What factors are perceived to negatively impact implementation of the professional development? Albert Bandura’s social cognitive theory, as it relates to social learning and teacher efficacy, and Malcolm Knowles’ adult learning theory, as it focuses on the needs of adult learners, both set foundations and provided structure for this study. Semi-structured interviews, experience writings, artifact collections, and focus groups or follow-up clarification – all strive to capture the educators’ experiences regarding PD. A poetic rendition is presented based upon the participant’s individual experiences. Then, through several stages of coding the transcribed interviews and other data sources, as well as the researcher’s reflective journal, 10 themes emerged as a descriptive account and insight on effective PD practices through these experiences. Implications are discussed, recommendations provided, along with suggestions for future PD research.
Effect of liver cirrhosis on metastasis in colorectal cancer patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to evaluate the liver metastasis risk among colorectal cancer patients with liver cirrhosis. METHODS This was a nationwide population-based cohort study of 2973 newly diagnosed colorectal cancer patients with liver cirrhosis and 11 892 age-sex matched controls enrolled in Taiwan between 2000 and 2010. The cumulative risk by Kaplan-Meier method, hazard ratio by the multivariate Cox proportional model and the incidence density were evaluated. RESULTS The median time interval from the colorectal cancer diagnosis to the liver metastasis event was 7.42 months for liver cirrhosis group and 7.67 months for non-liver cirrhosis group. The incidence density of liver metastasis was higher in the liver cirrhosis group (61.92/1000 person-years) than in the non-liver cirrhosis group (47.48/1000 person-years), with a significantly adjusted hazard ratio of 1.15 (95% CI = 1.04-1.28, P = 0.007). The 10-year cumulative risk of liver metastasis for the liver cirrhosis and the non-liver cirrhosis group was 27.1 and 23.6%, respectively (P = 0.006). For early cancer stage with locoregional disease patients receiving surgery alone without adjuvant anti-cancer treatments, patients with liver cirrhosis (10-year cumulative risk 23.9 vs. 15.7%, P < 0.001) or cirrhotic symptoms (10-year cumulative risk 25.6 vs. 16.6%, P = 0.009) both still had higher liver metastasis risk compared with their counterparts. For etiologies of liver cirrhosis, the 10-year cumulative risk for hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus, hepatitis B virus, hepatitis C virus, other causes and non-liver cirrhosis were 29.5, 28.9, 27.5, 26.7 and 23.4%, respectively, (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS Our study found that liver metastasis risk was underestimated and even higher in colorectal cancer patients with liver cirrhosis.
Learning resets of neural working memory

Working memory is a key component of intelligence that the brain implements as persistent neural activations. How do persistent neurons learn to store information, and how can they be made to forget this information once it is no longer relevant? When animals learn episodic tasks, neurons in prefrontal cortex learn to represent task ends. We show that a biologically plausible neural network model equipped with persistent memory and a 'reset' action can learn to store and forget information at task ends by reinforcement learning. The new model has competitive performance compared to a variety of (biologically implausible) models.
Machine Learning for Market Microstructure and High Frequency Trading

In this chapter, we overview the uses of machine learning for high frequency trading and market microstructure data and problems. Machine learning is a vibrant subfield of computer science that draws on models and methods from statistics, algorithms, computational complexity, artificial intelligence, control theory, and a variety of other disciplines. Its primary focus is on computationally and informationally efficient algorithms for inferring good predictive models from large data sets, and thus is a natural candidate for application to problems arising in HFT, both for trade execution and the generation of alpha. The inference of predictive models from historical data is obviously not new in quantitative finance; ubiquitous examples include coefficient estimation for the CAPM, Fama and French factors [5], and related approaches. The special challenges for machine learning presented by HFT generally arise from the very fine granularity of the data — often microstructure data at the resolution of individual orders, (partial) executions, hidden liquidity, and cancellations — and a lack of understanding of how such low-level data relates to actionable circumstances (such as profitably buying or selling shares, optimally executing a large order, etc.). In the language of machine learning, whereas models such as CAPM and its variants already prescribe what the relevant variables or “features” are for prediction or modeling (excess returns, book-to-market ratios, etc.), in many HFT problems one may have no prior intuitions about how (say) the distribution of liquidity in the order book relates to future price movements, if at all. Thus feature selection or feature engineering becomes an important process in machine learning for HFT, and is one of our central themes. Since HFT itself is a relatively recent phenomenon, there are few published works on the application of machine learning to HFT. For this reason, we structure the chapter around a few case studies from our own work [6, 14]. In each case study, we focus on a specific trading problem we would like to solve or optimize; the (microstructure) data from which we hope to solve this problem; the variables or features derived from the data as inputs to a machine learning process; and the machine learning algorithm applied to these features. The cases studies we will examine are:
M1/M2 macrophages and associated mechanisms in congenital bicuspid aortic valve stenosis

The aim of this study was to observe macrophage infiltration in congenital bicuspid aortic valve (CBAV) stenosis. M1/M2 macrophage distribution, inflammatory cytokine expression and the role of M1 macrophages during CBAV stenosis were also explored. The experimental and control groups comprised 30 severely stenotic CBAVs and 30 severely stenotic tricuspid aortic valves (TAVs), respectively. Histological and morphological changes were assessed using hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and mRNA levels of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were examined using the quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Nonspecific, M1 and M2 macrophages were monitored using cluster of differentiation (CD)68, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and CD163 staining, respectively. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), interleukin (IL)-10, arginase (Arg)-1 and macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) were also examined using immunohistochemical staining. Of note, HE staining revealed a higher cell density and neovascularization was more common in CBAVs than TAVs. At the mRNA level, VEGF expression was two-fold higher in CBAVs relative to that in TAVs (P=0.02). Furthermore, CD68 and iNOS were significantly higher in CBAVs compared with TAVs (P=0.029 and 0.021, respectively), while CD163 expression was lower in CBAVs (P=0.033). In addition, eNOS expression was higher and Arg-1, IL-10 and M-CSF expression were lower in CBAVs compared with TAVs (all P<0.0001). The present study suggested that CBAVs are associated with a higher total and M1 macrophage density and a lower M2 macrophage density than TAVs, and that M1 macrophage infiltration may contribute to calcification of CBAVs.
Clustering Information Retrieval Search Outputs

Users are known to experience difficulties in dealing with information retrieval search outputs, especially if those outputs are above a certain size. It has been argued by several researchers that search output clustering can help users in their interaction with IR systems in some retrieval situations, providing them with an overview of their results by exploiting the topicality information that resides in the output but has not been used at the retrieval stage. This overview might enable them to find relevant documents more easily by focusing on the most promising clusters, or to use the clusters as a starting-point for query refinement or expansion. In this paper, the results of experiments carried out to assess the viability of clustering as a search output presentation method are reported and discussed.
The α/β hydrolase fold

We have identified a new protein fold--the alpha/beta hydrolase fold--that is common to several hydrolytic enzymes of widely differing phylogenetic origin and catalytic function. The core of each enzyme is similar: an alpha/beta sheet, not barrel, of eight beta-sheets connected by alpha-helices. These enzymes have diverged from a common ancestor so as to preserve the arrangement of the catalytic residues, not the binding site. They all have a catalytic triad, the elements of which are borne on loops which are the best-conserved structural features in the fold. Only the histidine in the nucleophile-histidine-acid catalytic triad is completely conserved, with the nucleophile and acid loops accommodating more than one type of amino acid. The unique topological and sequence arrangement of the triad residues produces a catalytic triad which is, in a sense, a mirror-image of the serine protease catalytic triad. There are now four groups of enzymes which contain catalytic triads and which are related by convergent evolution towards a stable, useful active site: the eukaryotic serine proteases, the cysteine proteases, subtilisins and the alpha/beta hydrolase fold enzymes.
Evaluating Private Prisons: Comparisons, Competition and Cross-fertilization*

Following the opening of the first privately managed prison in the UK, Wolds Remand Prison, the authors were commissioned to conduct a comparative evaluation. Studies in the USA and Australia suggest that, compared with similar prisons in the public sector, privately managed prisons appear to operate at lower cost, without any significant reduction in the quality of provision. However, regimes of equal quality are to be found in the public sector, showing that privately managed prisons have no monopoly on innovation or good practice. Reviewing the argument of Harding (1997) that privatization is intended to have a ‘cross fertilization’ effect on the whole prison system, it is difficult to disentangle the effects of other changes on prison conditions and regime delivery. It seems more likely that it is the new competitive ethos and the introduction of managerialist techniques that have impelled prison managers to economise, innovate and often match the achievements of the private sector.
Review: A critical evaluation of arguments opposing male circumcision for HIV prevention in developed countries

Abstract A potential impediment to evidence-based policy development on medical male circumcision (MC) for HIV prevention in all countries worldwide is the uncritical acceptance by some of arguments used by opponents of this procedure. Here we evaluate recent opinion-pieces of 13 individuals opposed to MC. We find that these statements misrepresent good studies, selectively cite references, some containing fallacious information, and draw erroneous conclusions. In marked contrast, the scientific evidence shows MC to be a simple, low-risk procedure with very little or no adverse long-term effect on sexual function, sensitivity, sensation during arousal or overall satisfaction. Unscientific arguments have been recently used to drive ballot measures aimed at banning MC of minors in the USA, eliminate insurance coverage for medical MC for low-income families, and threaten large fines and incarceration for health care providers. Medical MC is a preventative health measure akin to immunisation, given its protective effect against HIV infection, genital cancers and various other conditions. Protection afforded by neonatal MC against a diversity of common medical conditions starts in infancy with urinary tract infections and extends throughout life. Besides protection in adulthood against acquiring HIV, MC also reduces morbidity and mortality from multiple other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and genital cancers in men and their female sexual partners. It is estimated that over their lifetime one-third of uncircumcised males will suffer at least one foreskin-related medical condition. The scientific evidence indicates that medical MC is safe and effective. Its favourable risk/benefit ratio and cost/benefit support the advantages of medical MC.
Is the Hippocampus a Kalman Filter? Is the Hippocampus a Kalman Filter?

A modiied (in form, but not in content) version of the paper submitted to the Complexity and Information Theoretic Approaches to Biology session of Paciic Symposium on Biocomputing'98. Abstract Growing evidence suggests that the hippocampal formation functions as a relational (or episodic) memory, and on tasks of a spatial nature, it serves as a place learning and recognition system. In this paper we develop a computational characterization of the hippocampal formation pertaining to spatial learning and localization, and show that the information processing posited for this structure closely matches an engineering tool for probabilistic spatial localization of robots: the Kalman lter. Based on this parallel, we derive expressions for information integration, propagation of covariances, and near-optimal update rules for the localization performed by our computational model.
Seasonal incidence of caprine gastrointestinal nematodosis.

A total of 157 goats, irrespective of sex, breed and age from an organized farm were screened for gastrointestinal nematode infection for a period of one year i.e. from February 2006 to January 2007. Occurances of G.I. nematodes in different age group were also studied. The goats below 1 year were found to carry significantly higher nematode burden than the goats of 1-3 years and above 3 years of age. In strongyle groups, the parasites were recorded as Haemonchus, Oesophegastomum, Trichostrongylus, Strongyloides, Bunostomum and Cooperia. Prevalence of Strongyle infection was higher in monsoon season in goats below one year of age. Non-occurrence of Trichuris spp in winter season was also recorded. Ivermectin @ 10 mg/30 kg. Body weight orally as single dose was found to be most effective for treatment of gastrointestinal nematodosis.