Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pressure-based menu selection for mobile devices

Despite many successes in desktop applications, little work has looked at the use of pressure input on mobile devices and the different issues associated with mobile interactions e.g. non-visual feedback. This study examined pressure input on a mobile device using a single Force Sensing Resistor (FSR) with linearised output as a means of target selection within a menu, where target menu items varied in size and location along the z-axis. Comparing visual and audio feedback, results showed that, overall, eyes-free pressure interaction reached a mean level of 74% accuracy. With visual feedback mean accuracy reached 85%. Participants could accurately distinguish up to 10 pressure levels when given adequate feedback indicating a high level of control.
Fiscal Consolidation Strategy: An Update For The Budget Reform Proposal of March 2013

Recently, we evaluated a fiscal consolidation strategy for the United States that would bring the government budget into balance by gradually reducing government spending relative to GDP to the ratio that prevailed prior to the crisis (Cogan et al, JEDC 2013). Specifically, we published an analysis of the macroeconomic consequences of the 2013 Budget Resolution that was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in March 2012. In this note, we provide an update of our research that evaluates this year’s budget reform proposal that is to be discussed and voted on in the House of Representative in March 2013. Contrary to the views voiced by critics of fiscal consolidation, we show that such a reduction in government purchases and transfer payments can increase GDP immediately and permanently relative to a policy without spending restraint. Our research makes use of a modern structural model of the economy that incorporates the long-standing essential features of economics: opportunity costs, efficiency, foresight and incentives. GDP rises because households take into account that spending restraint helps avoid future increases in tax rates. Lower taxes imply less distorted incentives for work, investment and production relative to a scenario without fiscal consolidation and lead to higher growth.
A Phase II Study of Weekly Docetaxel in Combination with Capecitabine in Advanced Gastric and Gastroesophageal Adenocarcinomas

Objective: Docetaxel and capecitabine are active agents in advanced gastric and gastroesophageal (GE) carcinomas. This multi-institutional phase II trial evaluates the combination of docetaxel and capecitabine as first- or second-line treatment in patients with advanced gastric and GE adenocarcinomas. Methods: Patients who had received 1 or no prior chemotherapy regimens were eligible. The chemotherapy regimen consisted of a 21-day cycle with docetaxel 30 mg/m2 administered on days 1 and 8 and capecitabine 825 mg/m2 administered twice daily on days 1–14. The primary end point of the study was overall survival (OS). Results: Forty patients were enrolled in the study; 39 received treatment and were evaluable for response and toxicity. The median patient age was 61 years (range 21–84); 8 patients had received prior chemotherapy in the advanced or metastatic setting. Grade 3/4 adverse events occurred in 15 patients (38%), including diarrhea in 5 patients (13%) and hand-foot syndrome in 5 patients (13%). The overall response rate was 32% [95% confidence interval (CI) 16.7–51.4]. The median time to progression and OS were 3.4 months (95% CI 2.7–5.8) and 10.7 months (95% CI 6.1–12.1), respectively. Conclusions: The regimen of docetaxel and capecitabine is a well-tolerated, easily administered and active outpatient regimen for advanced gastric and GE adenocarcinoma.
Hysteresis, avalanches, and disorder-induced critical scaling: A renormalization-group approach.

Hysteresis loops are often seen in experiments at first-order phase transformations, when the system goes out of equilibrium. They may have a macroscopic jump (roughly as in the supercooling of liquids) or they may be smoothly varying (as seen in most magnets). We have studied the nonequilibrium zero-temperature random-field Ising-model as a model for hysteretic behavior at first-order phase transformations. As disorder is added, one finds a transition where the jump in the magnetization (corresponding to an infinite avalanche) decreases to zero. At this transition we find a diverging length scale, power-law distributions of noise (avalanches), and universal behavior. We expand the critical exponents about mean-field theory in 6{minus}{epsilon} dimensions. Using a mapping to the pure Ising model, we Borel sum the 6{minus}{epsilon} expansion to {ital O}({epsilon}{sup 5}) for the correlation length exponent. We have developed a method for directly calculating avalanche distribution exponents, which we perform to {ital O}({epsilon}). Our analytical predictions agree with numerical exponents in two, three, four, and five dimensions [Perkovi{acute c} {ital et} {ital al}. , Phys. Rev. Lett. {bold 75}, 4528 (1995)]. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society. }
Factor Analysis of the 1985 Revision of Kolb's Learning Style Inventory

Kolb's earlier (1976) Learning Style Inventory (LSI) has been criticized for its poor reliability and validity. Even after revisions (1985) were made and a new instrument was developed, the test-retest reliability remained low. Although construct validity of the original instrument has been often investigated, little work has been done on the revised version. In this study, the responses of 317 subjects who completed the LSI-1985 were factor analyzed. Both a two- and a four-factor solution were examined to assess the adequacy of Kolb's four category description of learning style outcomes. The results afforded support for only two of the individual ability dimensions and little support for Kolb's two bipolar dimensions. Evidence is offered that bipolar dimensions orthogonal to those proposed by Kolb appear to offer a better description of the Learning Style Inventory. The effects of an ipsative scale on determining the factor structure of the LSI are also discussed.
A novel and rapid assay for the detection of neutralizing antibodies against interferon-beta

There is evidence that neutralizing antibodies (NA B) have a negative influence on the clinical and magnetic resonance imaging effects of interferon-beta (IFNb) in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. The current methods for NA B detectio n are restricted to specialized laboratories because they require a cell culture and sometimes a viral culture. Results are typically obtained after several weeks. Therefore, the development of a simple and rapid assay for the detectio n of NA B was sought. Whole blood samples from 28 NAB-positive patients and 110 NAB-negative patients (52 with IFNb and 58 without IFNb therapy) were incubated with IFNb 976 IU/mL for 24 hours. MxA protein levels-a specific marker of class 1 IFN bioactivity-were measured in paired samples with and without IFNb incubatio n and the difference in MxA levels was calculated. The mean increase of MxA levels after stimulation with IFNb in the NAB-positive group was 8 ng/mL (range 0-44 ng/mL) and in the NA B-negative group was 84 ng/mL (range 0-302 ng/mL). Using an increase of 22.5 ng/mL as cut-off, the specificity of the MxA stimulation assay was 81.2% and the sensitivity was 96.4%. The whole blood MxA stimulation assay is virtually as sensitive as the conventional NA B assay but somewhat less specific. However, this is outweighed by the procedural advantage of the assay, which is simpler, quicker and much less expensive.
Cost-effectiveness of pergolide compared to bromocriptine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease: a decision-analytic model.

OBJECTIVE To develop a decision-analytic model to assess the cost-effectiveness of pergolide versus bromocriptine in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). METHODS A Markov decision-analytic model is used to examine cost-effectiveness. The model ran for 20 cycles of 6 months' duration, and the patients progress through six stages: Hoehn-Yahr stages 1-5 and death. The transitional probabilities for each stage are derived from a 12-year longitudinal study of patients with PD. The costs in the model are derived from an expert panel containing six Australian neurologists. A review of the randomized controlled trials comparing the efficacy and safety of pergolide versus bromocriptine was undertaken. Five studies were identified, with four showing that pergolide offers superior efficacy when compared to bromocriptine. The Mizuno et al. (1995) study was the largest of the controlled trials and also measured patient Hoehn-Yahr status before and after treatment. This was identified as the most appropriate source of relative efficacy data for the model. The model examined various scenarios based on alternate durations of superior clinical benefit with pergolide compared to bromocriptine. The main analysis assumed that patients in each arm of the model would have identical Hoehn-Yahr status by the fifth year. Sensitivity analysis was used to determine cost-effectiveness in the case where the therapeutic benefit was of a shorter duration. RESULTS The Mizuno study indicates that an additional 19.09% of patients improved by at least one stage on pergolide over bromocriptine, with an odds ratio of 2.26 (p < .01). The total health care cost per patient over the 10-year period was $46,323 in the pergolide treatment arm and $47,351 in the bromocriptine treatment arm, an incremental saving of $1028. Patients also spent extra time in Hoehn-Yahr stages 1, 2, and 3. In sensitivity analyses, when the benefit from pergolide expired between 6 months and 5 years after treatment cessation, cost savings ranged from $68 to $2535. CONCLUSION Pergolide is cost saving and more efficacious than bromocriptine, and is therefore cost-effective.
Critical ethnography and the invocation of voice: From the field/in the field - single exposure, double standard?

This paper examines how ethnographers weave/separate "academic" voices from those of their participants in the field. Engaging some of the critical understandings in qualitative research regarding issues of representation and legitimization, authorship and authority, this paper questions where and with which of our ethnographic participants those understandings tend to be em/de/ployed, where and with whom are they still currently absent as ethnographers read and write their world. Exploring the problematics in, and the implications of, differently treating- invoking and textualizing- voices ethnographers conjure while in the field (There) and those they assemble from the academy (Here), this paper examines how a two-tiered system is created whereby the former are problematized, the latter are not. In spite of the poststructural, postcolonial understandings guiding much of the critical work in ethnography, such a twotiered system, this paper argues, induces Othering as well as creates a "There" which subsequently becomes epistemologically and ontologically detached from the "Here" of academe. Very much embedded in the practices it questions and critiques, this paper is not intended to provide solutions for practice but, rather, to broaden the conversation about practice. As such, it strives to promote ways of thinking critically about what critical ethnographers currently do and do not do rather than to further paralyze their inclination or ability to do.
Toward a life cycle theory of board evolution: Considering firm legitimacy

In this article, we build on recent attempts to theorize about the evolution of boards of directors by juxtaposing firmsâ€™ strategies to gain, maintain, and repair legitimacy onto their life cycle to examine how board characteristics change â€“ both symbolically and substantively â€“ to reflect their firmâ€™s evolving legitimating strategy. In doing so, we develop insights contributing to our understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the evolving structure and composition of boards of directors. We suggest that boards fulfill an important role ingrained in the firmâ€™s legitimacy in addition to, and intertwined with, their substantive contribution to the firmâ€™s performance at each life cycle stage. We also address firmsâ€™ real ability to effect change in their board as a function of the factors that pertain to each stage of life cycle. We conclude by expounding the implications of this novel framework for future research and managerial practice.
Antipsychotic therapy and short-term serious events in older adults with dementia.

BACKGROUND Antipsychotic therapy is widely used to treat behavioral problems in older adults with dementia. Cohort studies evaluating the safety of antipsychotic therapy generally focus on a single adverse event. We compared the rate of developing any serious event, a composite outcome defined as an event serious enough to lead to an acute care hospital admission or death within 30 days of initiating antipsychotic therapy, to better estimate the overall burden of short-term harm associated with these agents. METHODS In this population-based, retrospective cohort study, we identified 20 682 matched older adults with dementia living in the community and 20 559 matched individuals living in a nursing home between April 1, 1997, and March 31, 2004. Propensity-based matching was used to balance differences between the drug exposure groups in each setting. To examine the effects of antipsychotic drug use on the composite outcome of any serious event we used a conditional logistic regression model. We also estimated adjusted odds ratios using models that included all covariates with a standard difference greater than 0.10. RESULTS Relative to those who received no antipsychotic therapy, community-dwelling older adults newly dispensed an atypical antipsychotic therapy were 3.2 times more likely (95% confidence interval, 2.77-3.68) and those who received conventional antipsychotic therapy were 3.8 times more likely (95% confidence interval, 3.31-4.39) to develop any serious event during the 30 days of follow-up. The pattern of serious events was similar but less pronounced among older adults living in a nursing home. CONCLUSIONS Serious events, as indicated by a hospital admission or death, are frequent following the short-term use of antipsychotic drugs in older adults with dementia. Antipsychotic drugs should be used with caution even when short-term therapy is being prescribed.
Online generation of collision-free trajectories for quadrotor flight in unknown cluttered environments

We present an online method for generating collision-free trajectories for autonomous quadrotor flight through cluttered environments. We consider the real-world scenario that the quadrotor aerial robot is equipped with limited sensing and operates in initially unknown environments. During flight, an octree-based environment representation is incrementally built using onboard sensors. Utilizing efficient operations in the octree data structure, we are able to generate free-space flight corridors consisting of large overlapping 3-D grids in an online fashion. A novel optimization-based method then generates smooth trajectories that both are bounded entirely within the safe flight corridor and satisfy higher order dynamical constraints. Our method computes valid trajectories within fractions of a second on a moderately fast computer, thus permitting online re-generation of trajectories for reaction to new obstacles. We build a complete quadrotor testbed with onboard sensing, state estimation, mapping, and control, and integrate the proposed method to show online navigation through complex unknown environments.
Professional Development for K–12 Math and Science Teachers: What Do We Really Know?

Abstract As investments in K–12 math and science professional development programs expanded over the past decade, researchers and policymakers have questioned whether and how such programs work to improve student learning. This article summarizes the current knowledge-base and offers a theoretical framework researchers can use to design studies that explore mechanisms through which professional development programs influence teacher knowledge, teacher practices, and ultimately student achievement. We quantitatively pool the most rigorous evaluation research available to determine whether currently held beliefs in the field are supported by the evidence. Although this study does find some support for the guidance propounded by experts, it cautions policymakers and practitioners that the current evidence base is thin. We urge researchers to build on what we have learned through theory and practice to increase the rigor of evaluations on this important topic by incorporating valid and reliable measures of professional development components as well as valid measures of teacher knowledge and practices.
Rebuilding After War: Micro-Level Determinants of Poverty Reduction in Mozambique

"Rather than looking at the association between poverty and various household and individual characteristics on a one-to-one basis (bivariate analysis), which often oversimplifies complex relationships and can lead to erroneous conclusions, this report uses multiple regression to analyze poverty and living standards econometrically. As methodological choices can have a strong influence on the results,much of the report is given over to a detailed discussion of the methodology used to conduct the analysis and sensitivity analysis to assess the robustness of the findings to alternative methodological choices. These include the construction of region-specific poverty linesand the empirical model of poverty determinants used. Estimates of poverty levels and the results of the model are presented, followed by simulations that indicate the impact on poverty of specific policy interventions. " from Text of Abstract
Antecedents and consequences of self-congruity

Purpose – This study aims to propose and test a parsimonious framework for self-congruity, albeit in the context of luxury branding. This paper is the first to propose an integrated model focusing on the drivers and consequences of self-congruity. The model is further applied to explain how self-congruity may motivate future experiences with the luxury brand, mainly by influencing self-perception. Although a substantive marketing literature on self-congruity currently exists, there is a lack of an integrated framework, a gap that the current work addresses. Design/methodology/approach – A paper and pencil survey was conducted among female subjects only, and structural path relationships were tested using AMOS. Findings – Consumers’ self-congruity with a luxury brand (non-luxury brand) is positively (negatively) influenced by its antecedents: social desirability, need for uniqueness and status consumption. Self-congruity with a luxury (non-luxury) brand is found to enhance (undermine) consumers’ self-perce.
Direct Detection of Alternative Open Reading Frames Translation Products in Human Significantly Expands the Proteome

A fully mature mRNA is usually associated to a reference open reading frame encoding a single protein. Yet, mature mRNAs contain unconventional alternative open reading frames (AltORFs) located in untranslated regions (UTRs) or overlapping the reference ORFs (RefORFs) in non-canonical +2 and +3 reading frames. Although recent ribosome profiling and footprinting approaches have suggested the significant use of unconventional translation initiation sites in mammals, direct evidence of large-scale alternative protein expression at the proteome level is still lacking. To determine the contribution of alternative proteins to the human proteome, we generated a database of predicted human AltORFs revealing a new proteome mainly composed of small proteins with a median length of 57 amino acids, compared to 344 amino acids for the reference proteome. We experimentally detected a total of 1,259 alternative proteins by mass spectrometry analyses of human cell lines, tissues and fluids. In plasma and serum, alternative proteins represent up to 55% of the proteome and may be a potential unsuspected new source for biomarkers. We observed constitutive co-expression of RefORFs and AltORFs from endogenous genes and from transfected cDNAs, including tumor suppressor p53, and provide evidence that out-of-frame clones representing AltORFs are mistakenly rejected as false positive in cDNAs screening assays. Functional importance of alternative proteins is strongly supported by significant evolutionary conservation in vertebrates, invertebrates, and yeast. Our results imply that coding of multiple proteins in a single gene by the use of AltORFs may be a common feature in eukaryotes, and confirm that translation of unconventional ORFs generates an as yet unexplored proteome.
Tracking Typological Traits of Uralic Languages in Distributed Language Representations

Although linguistic typology has a long history, computational approaches have only recently gained popularity. The use of distributed representations in computational linguistics has also become increasingly popular. A recent development is to learn distributed representations of language, such that typologically similar languages are spatially close to one another. Although empirical successes have been shown for such language representations, they have not been subjected to much typological probing. In this paper, we first look at whether this type of language representations are empirically useful for model transfer between Uralic languages in deep neural networks. We then investigate which typological features are encoded in these representations by attempting to predict features in the World Atlas of Language Structures, at various stages of fine-tuning of the representations. We focus on Uralic languages, and find that some typological traits can be automatically inferred with accuracies well above a strong baseline.
Dissecans Lesions Magnetic Resonance Imaging Staging to Evaluate the Stability of Capitellar Osteochondritis

http://ajs.sagepub. com/content/early/2014/05/08/0363546514532604 The online version of this article can be found at: DOI: 10.1177/0363546514532604 published online May 9, 2014 Am J Sports Med and Hiroyuki Kato Toshiro Itsubo, Narumichi Murakami, Kazutaka Uemura, Koichi Nakamura, Masanori Hayashi, Shigeharu Uchiyama Dissecans Lesions Magnetic Resonance Imaging Staging to Evaluate the Stability of Capitellar Osteochondritis
E. coli O104:H4: Social media and the characterization of an emerging pathogen

The 2011 German E. coli O104:H4 outbreak resulted in thousands of cases of enterohaemorrhagic illness, with approximately 25% of these progressing to develop haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS). This high rate of progression to HUS was the first indicator that the bacterial cause of illness was not a typical enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) strain. Collaborative bioinformatic analysis while the outbreak was still in progress indicated that the O104:H4 strain was in fact an enteroaggregative E. coli (EAEC) strain which had acquired genes for the production of Shiga – like toxin.