Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Multisite Study Evaluating the Benefits of Early Intervention via Telepractice

This study sought to determine the effectiveness of telepractice as a method of delivering early intervention services to families of infants and toddlers who are deaf or hard of hearing. A comparison group design was applied to ascertain the child, family, and provider outcomes via telepractice compared with traditional in-person home visits. A total of 48 children and their families, along with 15 providers from 5 early intervention programs, across the country participated. Children in the telepractice group received more intervention, although the number of prescribed sessions was equal across groups. Analyses of covariance demonstrated that children in the telepractice group scored statistically significantly higher than children in the in-person group on the PLS-5 Receptive Language subscale and PLS-5 Total Language standard scores, and the groups scored similarly on other language measures. There were no statistically significant differences between groups in regard to family outcomes of support, knowledge, and community involvement. Analysis of video recordings of telepractice versus in-person home visits resulted in higher scores for provider responsiveness and parent engagement. This study supports the effectiveness of telepractice in delivering early intervention services to families of children who are deaf or hard of hearing. Further research involving randomized trials with larger, more diverse populations is warranted.
Distinct Patterns of Neural Modulation during the Processing of Conceptual and Syntactic Anomalies

The aim of this study was to gain further insights into how the brain distinguishes between meaning and syntax during language comprehension. Participants read and made plausibility judgments on sentences that were plausible, morpho-syntactically anomalous, or pragmatically anomalous. In an event-related potential (ERP) experiment, morphosyntactic and pragmatic violations elicited significant P600 and N400 effects, respectively, replicating previous ERP studies that have established qualitative differences in processing conceptually and syntactic anomalies. Our main focus was a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study in which the same subjects read the same sentences presented in the same pseudorandomized sequence while performing the same task as in the ERP experiment. Rapid-presentation event-related fMRI methods allowed us to estimate the hemodynamic response at successive temporal windows as the sentences unfolded word by word, without assumptions about the shape of the underlying response function. Relative to nonviolated sentences, the pragmatic anomalies were associated with an increased hemodynamic response in left temporal and inferior frontal regions and a decreased response in the right medial parietal cortex. Relative to nonviolated sentences, the morphosyntactic anomalies were associated with an increased response in bilateral medial and lateral parietal regions and a decreased response in left temporal and inferior frontal regions. Thus, overlapping neural networks were modulated in opposite directions to the two types of anomaly. These fMRI findings document both qualitative and quantitative differences in how the brain distinguishes between these two types of anomalies. This suggests that morphosyntactic and pragmatic information can be processed in different ways but by the same neural systems.
Price Performance in Emerging African Capital Markets : Empirical Evidence from Nigeria

This study explores the research gap arising from scanty documented studies in empirical findings and theoretical arguments on initial public offerings’ (IPOs) price performance in emerging African capital markets. Employing equally-weighted average and the split-half reliability test, the study finds that equity IPOs are underpriced by 4.9 per cent, and IPO returns concentrate and stabilize within the sixth and tenth trading days in the deregulated Nigerian capital market. Regression analyses show that IPO volumes, offer size, the age of the firm before IPO, issuers’ prospects and underwriters’ reputation are not robust IPOs price determinants, unlike market conditions and syndicate underwriting. There is no significant relationship between initial returns on equity IPOs and long-run price performance of the offers. The study implies that differences in regulatory framework of capital markets define the degree of IPO initial underpricing and long-run price performance; and accentuates that local conditions are critical structuring elements of IPOs’ price performance and predictions.
Journalists, sources, and policy outcomes: Insights from three-plus decades of investigative reporting contest entries

This study of American investigative reporting from 1976 to 2012 examines a random sample (N = 757) of prize contest entry materials created by journalists. This novel data source and methodology allow for analysis of the dynamics of journalistic process rather than relying on assumptions drawn from published news content. The results provide a fuller and more sophisticated explanation of how investigative journalism is related to democratic governance, including fresh insight into journalist/source relationships, story triggers, policy outcomes, and agenda-building relationships among journalists, sources, and policymakers. A model for predicting policy agenda-building in investigative journalism is proposed and tested based on attributes of the reporting process, policy results, and other actions by public officials produced by journalists’ investigations. While the analysis indicates a key role for sources in the origination of investigative news stories, it also reveals a more prominent place for journalistic enterprise than previously acknowledged. At the same time, investigative stories that are initiated by tips from sources and that have a more diverse array of sources are more likely to achieve substantive policy results. Overall, the findings point to a greater degree of interdependence among investigative reporters and policymakers that challenges conceptions of journalists as passive recipients of information but also reveals the limitations of news organizations’ ability to independently spark policy change.
Empathic accuracy: Measurement and potential clinical applications

Introduction Empathic inference is the ‘everyday mind reading’ that people do whenever they attempt to infer other people's thoughts and feelings. Empathic accuracy is the extent to which such everyday mind reading attempts are successful (Ickes, 1997, 2003). To put it simply, empathically accurate perceivers are those who are good at ‘reading’ other people's thoughts and feelings. Empathic accuracy is a quintessential (indeed, perhaps the quintessential) aspect of emotional intelligence (Goleman, 1995; Ickes, 1997, 2003; Salovey & Mayer, 1989). The ability to accurately ‘read’ other people's thoughts and feelings is a fundamental skill that affects people's social adjustment in many different domains of their lives (Goleman, 1995). For example, Crosby (2002) found that mothers who were more accurate in inferring their own child's thoughts and feelings had children with more positive self-concepts as family members. And with regard to people's dating and marriage relationships, Simpson et al. (2001) found evidence that accurately ‘reading’ your partner in order to anticipate a need, avert a conflict, or keep a small problem from escalating into a large one is likely to be healthy and adaptive (Ickes et al., 2005; Simpson et al., 2001, 2003). Empathic accuracy is a subarea of interpersonal perception research – a field of study that has a long tradition in psychology (Heider, 1944; Taft, 1955). In the early days of its study, researchers tended to focus on bias, error and inaccurate person perception rather than on accuracy.
East Asian Currency Union

This paper analyzes the feasibility of various types of currency unions, such as a dollar bloc, Euro bloc, Yen bloc, and basket currency bloc in East Asia, and empirically estimates welfare effects of a currency union for East Asian economies. Judging from optimum currency area (OCA) criteria, including the symmetry of output and price shocks across countries, commitment to price stability, and trade and financial integration, East Asia does not appear to have very favorable economic conditions for a currency union, particularly when compared to the euro area. The low political proximity between Japan and other East Asian economies restricts Japan’s leadership in the creation of an East Asian currency union. Calibrations of a representative agent model suggest that, for most countries in East Asia, a currency union involving a broad group of economies would generate net welfare gain. However, if the increased volatility due to the loss of monetary policy independence incurs a significantly negative effect on growth, the larger East Asian economies such as China, Indonesia, Japan, and Korea may suffer from net welfare loss. A substantial welfare gain from joining an East Asian currency union would occur if a currency union lowers the probability and size of disasters such as wars and financial crises in East Asia. * We are grateful to Jeffrey Frankel, Ross Garnaut, Yunjong Wang, and seminar participants at the 2006 American Economic Association annual meeting and the Australian National University for helpful comments, and Jong Suk Han and Joo Hyun Pyun for able research assistance.
Elevated cortisol levels in Norwegian toddlers in childcare

ABSTRACT Meta-analytic evidence suggests that children have higher cortisol levels in childcare than at home. In the present study change of morning to mid-afternoon levels of cortisol was explored at home and in childcare in a Norwegian sample of toddlers. Further, analyses of associations between change of cortisol levels in childcare and child-, family-, and childcare factors were conducted. One hundred and twelve children attending 85 childcare centres were included in the present study. Saliva samples and observations in childcare were conducted 5–6 months after the children entered childcare. Linear mixed-model analyses revealed a statistical significant difference in change of cortisol levels during the day in childcare as compared at home. An increase in cortisol levels during the day was found among Norwegian toddlers in childcare, in particular for children with long hours in childcare, but not at home. Implications for practice are discussed.
Design of Ferrite-Assisted Synchronous Reluctance Machines Robust Toward Demagnetization

The design of ferrite-assisted synchronous reluctance machines is investigated, with particular attention to the pivotal aspect of avoiding irreversible demagnetization. Geometric rules for obtaining a robust design are proposed and described analytically. The safe operating area is quantified in terms of the corresponding maximum electrical loading. Such demagnetization limit is dependent on the operating temperature and the machine size. Furthermore, the comparison between the continuous load and demagnetization conditions shows that small- and medium-sized machines can be stiffer against demagnetization, with respect to larger machines, and have room for transient overload. The analysis is validated by finite elements, and a design example is given, namely, a 12-pole direct-drive machine, rated 910 N · m at 200 r/min.
Neural network studies, 1. Comparison of overfitting and overtraining

The application of feed forward back propagation artificial neural networks with one hidden layer (ANN) to perform the equivalent of multiple linear regression (MLR) has been examined using artificial structured data sets and real literature data. The predictive ability of the networks has been estimated using a training/ test set protocol. The results have shown advantages of ANN over MLR analysis. The ANNs do not require high order terms or indicator variables to establish complex structure-activity relationships. Overfitting does not have any influence on network prediction ability when overtraining is avoided by cross-validation. Application of ANN ensembles has allowed the avoidance of chance correlations and satisfactory predictions of new data have been obtained for a wide range of numbers of neurons in the hidden layer.
Effect of augmented auditory feedback on pitch production accuracy in singing

The effect of augmented (accompanying) auditory feedback on pitch production accuracy during singing is controversial. Yet, the lack of control of vocal range as well as the different criteria of grouping participants into poor and normal pitch singers might have contributed to the contradictory findings reported in the literature. In the present study, 7 poor pitch singers as well as 11 controls who had no formal training of singing were recruited to perform in both a single-note pitch-matching task and a song-singing task. All participants are native speakers of a tonal language. Absolute and relative pitch accuracy were compared between speaker groups for the two tasks. Acoustic analysis was carried out using PRAAT and the stimuli were generated using a music notation software (MUSESCORE) to better control the tempo of presenting the stimuli and the accompaniment. The objective of the current study is to investigate the effect of augmented auditory feedback on pitch accuracy for both poor and good pitch singers and to compare the effect between two types of tasks. Data collection is still in progress, however, available data show that the effect of augmented feedback is positive for the moderately poor pitch singers but not the severely poor ones in the pitch-matching task, but its influence on the performance in the song-singing task is negative.
The Relationship between Depression and Cognitive Impairment with Falls Leading to Fractures in Elderly

Background and Objectives: Fall is a major health problem among the elderly.This study has been done to investigate association between depression and cognitive impairment with falls in elderly referred to the selected hospitals in Tehran. Materials and Methods: This was a hospital-based case-control study that carried out in Tehran, 2014. In this study, 225 elder adults (81 men and 144 women), including 75 cases (27 men and 48 women) and 150 controls (54 men and 96 women) referred to the 5 hospitals in the North, south, East, west and center of Tehran were assessed and compared. Minimal Mental Status Examination questionnaire (MMSE) and Geriatric Depression Scale were used to measure the cognitive status and depression, respectively. Chi-square test, Mann-Whitney, correlation and logistic regression model were used to data analysis in STATA version 12 software. Results: Results showed that odds ratio (OR) of fall in depressed elder people was 8.2 times higher than the elder people without depression. Also, OR of fall in elderly with cognitive impairment was 6.7 times higher than the elderly without cognitive impairment. The co-occurrence of depression and cognitive impairment is higher risk of fall than from each condition alone. Conclusion: There is a significant positive relationship between depression and cognitive impairment with fall in elder people. It is recommended to health policy makers to provide appropriate educational programs for families in order to prevent these risk factors in elderly. How to cite this article: Davoodi F, Etemad K, Taheri Tanjani P, Khodakarim S. The Relationship between Depression and Cognitive Impairment with Falls Leading to Fractures in Elderly. J Saf Promot Inj Prev. 2016; 4(2): 75-82.
Generating All Sets With Bounded Unions

We consider the problem of minimizing the size of a family of sets such that every subset of {1,. , n} can be written as a disjoint union of at most k members of , where k and n are given numbers. This problem originates in a real-world application aiming at the diversity of industrial production. At the same time, the question of finding the minimum of || so that every subset of {1,. , n} is the union of two sets in was asked by Erdős and studied recently by Füredi and Katona without requiring the disjointness of the sets. A simple construction providing a feasible solution is conjectured to be optimal for this problem for all values of n and k and regardless of the disjointness requirement; we prove this conjecture in special cases including all (n, k) for which n≤3k holds, and some individual values of n and k.
Means based adaptive persuasive systems

Large differences in individual responses to persuasive strategies suggest the need for systems that rely on persuasion profiles: estimates of an individual user's susceptibility to different persuasive strategies. Establishing an empirical ground supporting decisions regarding user involvement can provide valuable guidelines for the design of such systems. We describe two studies examining the effects of choice, disclosure, and multiple strategy usage on user compliance to persuasive attempts. We show that involving users in the selection of a specific influence strategy can increase compliance, while disclosing the persuasive intent can reduce compliance. Furthermore, we demonstrate that it is not only feasible, but optimal to choose the single correct influence strategy for a given context; even more so than implementing multiple relevant and congruent influence attempts.
Digitally tunable microfluidic optical fiber devices

This communication introduces a digital design for tunable microfluidic optical fiber devices. In these systems, multiple, independently controlled microfluidic plugs are pumped into or out of overlap with a fiber structure to modulate its transmission characteristics. The devices described here use eight plugs, eight electrowetting pumps and a corresponding set of molded planar recirculating microchannels to control the depth of the narrowband loss feature associated with a long period fiber grating. Optical measurements illustrate the digital and relatively fast operation of this type of microfluidic fiber device.
The Pepper CaOSR1 Protein Regulates the Osmotic Stress Response via Abscisic Acid Signaling

Plants are sessile organisms, and their growth and development is detrimentally affected by environmental stresses such as drought and high salinity. Defense mechanisms are tightly regulated and complex processes, which respond to changing environmental conditions; however, the precise mechanisms that function under adverse conditions remain unclear. Here, we report the identification and functional characterization of the CaOSR1 gene, which functions in the adaptive response to abiotic stress. We found that CaOSR1 gene expression in pepper leaves was up-regulated after exposure to abscisic acid (ABA), drought, and high salinity. In addition, we demonstrated that the fusion protein of CaOSR1 with green fluorescent protein (GFP) is localized in the nucleus. We used CaOSR1-silenced pepper plants and CaOSR1-OX-overexpressing (OX) transgenic Arabidopsis plants to show that the CaOSR1 protein regulates the osmotic stress response. CaOSR1-silenced pepper plants showed increased drought susceptibility, and this was accompanied by a high transpiration rate. CaOSR1-OX plants displayed phenotypes that were hypersensitive to ABA and hyposensitive to osmotic stress, during the seed germination and seedling growth stages; furthermore, these plants exhibited enhanced drought tolerance at the adult stage, and this was characterized by higher leaf temperatures and smaller stomatal apertures because of ABA hypersensitivity. Taken together, our data indicate that CaOSR1 positively regulates osmotic stress tolerance via ABA-mediated cell signaling. These findings suggest an involvement of a novel protein in ABA and osmotic stress signalings in plants.
Diurnal variation of peak expiratory flow rate in healthy young adults: A gender-based study

Background: Peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR) variability follows a diurnal rhythmic pattern in healthy people as well as in asthmatics. A number of studies are there on diurnal variation of PEFR in asthmatics. However, there are fewer studies on diurnal variation in PEFR in young adult male and female in Indian population. Objective: To find out diurnal PEFR variability in young male and female separately in Indian population. Materials and Methods: Sixty-three male and 40 female medical students of age 18–24 years were recruited for this study as the participants. After proper training, PEFR recording of the participants was taken at 6–7 am, 9–10 am, 1–2 pm, 5–6 pm, and 10–11 pm by Mini-Wright peak flow meter. Recording was done by students themselves in guidance of principal investigator. Data analysis was done by unpaired t-test and one-way ANOVA. Diurnal variation of each participant was calculated by two indices, i.e., amplitude percent mean (A%M) and standard deviation percent mean (SD%M). Results: There was a significant difference in PEFR at different time periods in both male and female (P = 0.000) which shows lowest at morning followed by progressive rise in day, highest at evening, and again fall at bedtime. A%M between male and female was found significant (P = 0.019), but SD%M between male and female was not significant (P = 0.105). Conclusion: Our study provides the reference data of diurnal variation of PEFR in male and female which further will be helpful in diagnosis and monitoring of bronchial asthma patients.
The effects of negative emotions on sensory perception: fear but not anger decreases tactile sensitivity

Emotions and sensory perceptions are closely intertwined. Of the five senses, sight has been by far the most extensively studied sense in emotion research. Relatively less is known about how emotions influence the other four senses. Touch is essential for nonverbal communication in both humans and other animals. The current investigation tested competing hypotheses about the effect of fear on tactile perception. One hypothesis based on evolutionary considerations predicts that fear enhances sensory perception, including tactile sensitivity. A competing hypothesis based on research on peripheral psychophysiology predicts that fear should decrease tactile sensitivity. Two experiments that induced negative emotional states and measured two-point discrimination ability at the fingertip found that fear reduces tactile sensitivity relative to anger or a neutral control condition (Studies 1 and 2). These findings did not appear to be driven by participants’ naïve beliefs about the influence of emotions on touch (Study 3). The results represent the first evidence of the causal impact of emotional states on tactile sensitivity, are consistent with prior evidence for the peripheral physiological effects of fear, and offer novel empirical grounds for developing and advancing theories of emotional influences on sensory perception.