Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Introduction: individual differences in the biobehavioral etiology of drug abuse.

Research into substance abuse tends to be divided into two general conceptual approaches to understanding the etiology and nature of drug abuse. One major direction focuses on psychological/behavioral and social/environmental variables and their interactions leading to the abuse of psychoactive substances. The second approach focuses on the neurobiological mechanisms affecting, or affected by, the chemical action of drugs. Studies following the psychological/environmental approach are commonly descriptive, have a strong behavioral orientation, and typically attempt to understand individual behaviors or the behavior of specified subgroups. Individuals are compared and contrasted on such characteristics as psychopathology, self-esteem, and attitudes in order to explicate the nature and development of drug abuse in terms of the individual differences in these variables. In a variation of this approach, culturally, ethnically, and often demographically defined groups are assumed to be homogenous and studied in terms of their experiences within differing family environments, peer group interactions, cultural influences, and community settings. More sophisticated versions of this psychological/environmental approach embed the study of intra-individual characteristics within the context of extra-individual influences. For example, personality and attitudes are assessed in relation to peer group influences and cultural standards. The most comprehensive and successful studies have incorporated a longitudinal or developmental strategy that allows for more powerful causal inferences. These trajectory models are not only becoming more widely accepted, but also produce valuable data as the quality of the assessment and sophistication of the studies increase (see Glantz and Pickens 1992 for a comprehensive review).
Plasmodium falciparum: higher incidence of molecular resistance markers for sulphadoxine than for pyrimethamine in Kasangati, Uganda

In November of 2000, Uganda changed its anti‐malarial policy to replace chloroquine (CQ) with a combination of CQ and sulphadoxine–pyrimethamine (SP) as the first line agents. Information was limited on the efficacy of either drug. The present study was designed to provide baseline information on the efficacy of SP and the prevalence of molecular markers that are associated with SP resistance. Blood samples were collected on filter paper from 169 consenting patients who were diagnosed with malaria. Patients were treated with SP and followed for 14 days using the WHO clinical guidelines. The samples were analysed for molecular resistance markers and correlation of the molecular markers with clinical findings was assessed. SP monotherapy was efficacious for 140 of 163 (85.9%) treated patients. We found a high level of mutations in alleles which have previously been reported to be associated with SP resistance, but there was no correlation between clinical outcomes and molecular markers. With the exception of codon S108 in dhfr (dhfr S108N was at 94.9%), frequencies of dihydropteroate synthase (dhps) mutant and mixed alleles combined (A437G 89% and K540E 83.9%) were higher than those of dihydrofolate reductase (dhfr) (N51I 58.4%, C59R 31.3%).
Assessment of Three Mitochondrial Genes (16S, Cytb, CO1) for Identifying Species in the Praomyini Tribe (Rodentia: Muridae)

The Praomyini tribe is one of the most diverse and abundant groups of Old World rodents. Several species are known to be involved in crop damage and in the epidemiology of several human and cattle diseases. Due to the existence of sibling species their identification is often problematic. Thus an easy, fast and accurate species identification tool is needed for non-systematicians to correctly identify Praomyini species. In this study we compare the usefulness of three genes (16S, Cytb, CO1) for identifying species of this tribe. A total of 426 specimens representing 40 species (sampled across their geographical range) were sequenced for the three genes. Nearly all of the species included in our study are monophyletic in the neighbour joining trees. The degree of intra-specific variability tends to be lower than the divergence between species, but no barcoding gap is detected. The success rate of the statistical methods of species identification is excellent (up to 99% or 100% for statistical supervised classification methods as the k-Nearest Neighbour or Random Forest). The 16S gene is 2.5 less variable than the Cytb and CO1 genes. As a result its discriminatory power is smaller. To sum up, our results suggest that using DNA markers for identifying species in the Praomyini tribe is a largely valid approach, and that the CO1 and Cytb genes are better DNA markers than the 16S gene. Our results confirm the usefulness of statistical methods such as the Random Forest and the 1-NN methods to assign a sequence to a species, even when the number of species is relatively large. Based on our NJ trees and the distribution of all intraspecific and interspecific pairwise nucleotide distances, we highlight the presence of several potentially new species within the Praomyini tribe that should be subject to corroboration assessments.
Risk Factors for Incident Peripheral Arterial Disease in Type 2 Diabetes: Results From the Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation in Type 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) Trial

OBJECTIVE The aim of this article was to define risk factors for incidence of peripheral arterial disease (PAD) in a large cohort of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), overall and within the context of differing glycemic control strategies. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The Bypass Angioplasty Revascularization Investigation in Type 2 Diabetes (BARI 2D) randomized controlled trial assigned participants to insulin-sensitizing (IS) therapy versus insulin-providing (IP) therapy. A total of 1,479 participants with normal ankle-brachial index (ABI) at study entry were eligible for analysis. PAD outcomes included new ABI ≤0.9 with decrease at least 0.1 from baseline, lower extremity revascularization, or lower extremity amputation. Baseline risk factors within the overall cohort and time-varying risk factors within each assigned glycemic control arm were assessed using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS During an average 4.6 years of follow-up, 303 participants (20.5%) experienced an incident case of PAD. Age, sex, race, and baseline smoking status were all significantly associated with incident PAD in the BARI 2D cohort. Additional baseline risk factors included pulse pressure, HbA1c, and albumin-to-creatinine ratio (P < 0.05 for each). In stratified analyses of time-varying covariates, changes in BMI, LDL, HDL, systolic blood pressure, and pulse pressure were most predictive among IS patients, while change in HbA1c was most predictive among IP patients. CONCLUSIONS Among patients with T2DM, traditional cardiovascular risk factors were the main predictors of incident PAD cases. Stratified analyses showed different risk factors were predictive for patients treated with IS medications versus those treated with IP medications.
Factors affecting colostrum quality in Australian pasture‐based dairy herds

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify factors affecting colostrum quality in dairy cattle. METHODS Colostrum samples were collected from lactating dairy cows (n = 990) from nine commercial dairy herds in south-west Victoria. Colostrum quality was measured using an optical Brix refractometer. Cow-level factors thought to influence colostrum quality included season of calving, dam breed and age, volume of first-milking colostrum produced and whether the dam leaked colostrum prior to calving. Multivariable logistic regression was used to quantify the association between each cow-level factor and whether or not colostrum was assessed to be of poor quality. RESULTS Cows older than 5 years of age were less likely to have poor-quality colostrum compared with primiparous heifers (odds ratio (OR) 0.62, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.11-0.89, P = 0.009). The odds of having poor-quality colostrum was increased in cows and primiparous heifers that leaked colostrum prior to calving (OR 2.06, 95% CI, 1.33-3.17, P = 0.001). Cows and primiparous heifers that produced ≥ 8.5 L of colostrum were 1.76 times as likely to have poor-quality colostrum as individuals that produced < 8.5 L (95% CI, 1.10-2.82, P = 0.018). Visual assessment of colostrum by the herd manager was moderately correlated with colostrum quality, with 69% of poor-quality samples being correctly classified. CONCLUSION Although this study identified factors that increase the risk of poor-quality colostrum, we concluded that objective assessment using a Brix refractometer is a more reliable means of assessing colostrum quality.
Aligning Predicate Argument Structures in Monolingual Comparable Texts: A New Corpus for a New Task

Discourse coherence is an important aspect of natural language that is still understudied in computational linguistics. Our aim is to learn factors that constitute coherent discourse from data, with a focus on how to realize predicate-argument structures (PAS) in a model that exceeds the sentence level. In particular, we aim to study the case of non-realized arguments as a coherence inducing factor. This task can be broken down into two subtasks. The first aligns predicates across comparable texts, admitting partial argument structure correspondence. The resulting alignments and their contexts can then be used for developing a coherence model for argument realization. This paper introduces a large corpus of comparable monolingual texts as a prerequisite for approaching this task, including an evaluation set with manual predicate alignments. We illustrate the potential of this new resource for the empirical investigation of discourse coherence phenomena. Initial experiments on the task of predicting predicate alignments across text pairs show promising results. Our findings establish that manual and automatic predicate alignments across texts are feasible and that our data set holds potential for empirical research into a variety of discourse-related tasks.
Analysis of cycling skill : a cognitive approach

Riding a bicycle can be considered as a combination of perceptual-motor and cognitive tasks. The task is divided into three functional levels: control, manoeuvring and strategic. Relevant (cognitive) abilities at the first two levels must be acquired and automatized through extensive experience. The processes which are not yet automatized may claim attention and will, therefore, interfere with other processes demanding attention. In this experiment, subjects of various ages and bicycling experience participated. The hypothesis was verified that novice cyclists cannot accomplish traffic-relevant cognitive tasks while they ride a bicycle; possible countermeasures were discussed.
An audit highlighting a lack of awareness of the UK national guidelines for HIV testing, 2008

Following the publication of the UK national guidelines for HIV testing 2008, we carried out a local audit to determine the level of awareness of these guidelines among doctors working in Sunderland Royal Hospital, Sunderland, UK. An email questionnaire was distributed. Over two-thirds of respondents were unaware of the publication of the guidelines. Only 36% of respondents felt comfortable in offering a patient testing for HIV. The majority of doctors who responded lacked knowledge and confidence in issues surrounding HIV management and diagnosis, suggesting that better dissemination of information and training is still needed.
Serum uric acid concentrations in type 2 diabetes: its significant relationship to serum 1,5-anhydroglucitol concentrations.

OBJECTIVE Serum uric acid concentrations in diabetics are well known to be significantly lower than those in non-diabetic subjects, due to increased its urinary clearance. Serum 1,5-anhydroglucitol concentrations are also specifically decreased in diabetics through the increased urinary excretion. To gain an insight into the idea that a common mechanism might be possible to work in reducing these serum substances, this study was conducted. METHODS A total of 121 type 2 diabetic patients, 76 males and 45 females, were studied. Multiple regression analysis was performed to determine the independent association between potential predictor variables (mean blood pressure, body mass index, fasting plasma glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin A1c, serum fructosamine, serum 1,5-anhydroglucitol, serum creatinine, serum total cholesterol, and serum triglycerides) and serum uric acid concentrations as the dependent variable. RESULTS In the male subjects, serum 1,5-anhydroglucitol, serum creatinine and body mass index were the variables independently related to serum uric acid concentrations. In the female subjects, serum 1,5-anhydroglucitol and serum creatinine were the variables independently related to serum uric acid concentrations. CONCLUSION Considering the glucosuria-related urinary excretion of 1,5-anhydroglucitol, a close positive association between serum uric acid and 1,5-anhydroglucitol concentrations strongly supports the idea that the reduction in serum uric acid concentrations is mediated by urinary glucose excretion in diabetics.
[Difference in brain surface area between first-episode familial and sporadic schizophrenia and its association with COMT gene polymorphisms].

OBJECTIVE To assess the association of impairment of surface area of first-episode schizophrenia(SZ) with polymorphisms of COMT gene, and the difference in the impaired patterns between familial patients with schizophrenia(FPS) and sporadic patients with schizophrenia(SPS). METHODS Ninety-eight patients with first-episode SZ(FPS=40, SPS=58) and 78 healthy controls were recruited. COMT gene was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Participants were scanned for 3.0T magnetic resonance images. Freesurfer software was used to analyze the difference in brain surface area between SZ and controls, its association with COMT genotypes, and the difference between SPS, FPS and control groups. Multiple tests were corrected using a Monte Carlo simulation at P<0.05. RESULTS Compared with controls, SZ showed decreased surface area in right occipital cortex and left prefrontal cortex. No association was found between COMT polymorphisms and whole brain area difference. Among the three subgroups, SPS showed smaller left prefrontal area compared with both FPS and control groups. Patients with SPS also showed significant area reduction in right occipital lobe compared with controls. CONCLUSION Surface area impairment can be found in those with first-episode SZ, but without association with COMT gene polymorphisms. The SPS have more severe area impairment than FPS, indicating that SPS and FPS may be attributed to different etiological mechanisms.
Confessions and Criminal Case Disposition in China

This research examines confessions and criminal case disposition in China. It describes how wider economic reforms in China and subsequent changes in its legal system may have affected the nature and consequence of criminal confessions. Bivariate and multivariate analyses of a sample of 1,009 criminal court cases reveal that the majority of offenders confessed to their crime and that confession is associated with less severe punishments (e.g., lower risks for imprisonment, shorter sentences). Changes in the nature of confession and its impact on criminal court practices are also examined before and after legal reforms in the mid-1990s. These context-specific findings are then discussed in terms of their implications for understanding the interrelationships between legal structure, legal culture, and case disposition in communitarian-based societies.
Transient behavior of the kink effect in partially-depleted SOI MOSFET's

The behavior of transients in the drain current of partially-depleted (PD) SOI MOSFET's down to L/sub eff/=0.2 /spl mu/m is examined as a function of drain bias, gate pulses of varying magnitude (V/sub GS/), pulse duration, and pulse frequency. At fixed V/sub DS/, the gate is pulsed to values ranging from 0.1 V above V/sub T/ to V/sub GS/=V/sub DS/. A slow transient is seen when the drain is biased at a V/sub DS/ where the current kink is observable. This slow transient can be on the order of microseconds depending on the relative magnitude of the impact ionization rate. For short times after the pulse edge or for very short pulses at low frequencies, it is shown that the subthreshold drain current value can be very different from the corresponding DC, and that the kink characteristic of PD MOSFET's disappears. However, the kink values can be approached when the pulse frequency and/or duration applied to the gate is increased, due to the latent charge maintained in the floating body at higher frequencies. No transient current effects were observed in fully-depleted SOI MOSFET's. <<ETX>>
Social Media and Local Government: Citizenship, Consumption and Democracy

This article seeks to assess and understand the role played by new forms of internet-based communication in UK local governance. Drawing on a survey of all English local authorities the article examines the utilisation of social media before going on to ask what potential these media might hold for the enhancement of local participation. Amidst contemporary debates about the nature of local governance, not least those prompted by the recent preoccupation with the Big Society, Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook and Twitter afford new opportunities for online interaction that could contribute to the reinvigoration of the local public sphere. In particular these platforms could encourage forms of participation that would bridge the divide that has emerged in recent years between residents as consumers of local services and residents as citizens, or local democratic actors.
Dhalion: Self-Regulating Stream Processing in Heron

In recent years, there has been an explosion of large-scale real-time analytics needs and a plethora of streaming systems have been developed to support such applications. These systems are able to continue stream processing even when faced with hardware and software failures. However, these systems do not address some crucial challenges facing their operators: the manual, time-consuming and error-prone tasks of tuning various conﬁgu-ration knobs to achieve service level objectives (SLO) as well as the maintenance of SLOs in the face of sudden, unpredictable load variation and hardware or software performance degradation. In this paper, we introduce the notion of self-regulating streaming systems and the key properties that they must satisfy. We then present the design and evaluation of Dhalion, a system that provides self-regulation capabilities to underlying streaming systems. We describe our implementation of the Dhalion framework on top of Twitter Heron, as well as a number of policies that automatically reconﬁgure Heron topologies to meet throughput SLOs, scaling resource consumption up and down as needed. We experimentally evaluate our Dhalion policies in a cloud environment and demonstrate their effectiveness. We are in the process of open-sourcing our Dhalion policies as part of the Heron project.
Analysis of performance and convergence issues for circuit simulation

With the increasing complexity of VLSI designs and the high costs of incorrect fabrication runs, circuit designs must still be verified adequately before fabrication. While higher-level simulators are being used more often today than in the past, detailed, low-level circuit simulation remains an important part of the circuit designer's toolkit. SPICE3 is a circuit simulator which provides the major features of the popular SPIN program but is designed to be far more flexible to act as a framework for further development of algorithms for circuit simulation and of device models. The results of performance measurements and the resulting improvements to the algorithms which improve significantly the overall performance of the program within this framework are presented. Additional research results are described which modify or supplement the existing algorithms of SPIN to improve the convergence properties and robustness of the program. Finally, the effectiveness of the new algorithms and changes made to the program are examined by comparison with other simulators. Details of the structure of SPICE3 and the operation of the program are included as appendices.
Parallel FDTD Simulation of Photonic Crystals and Thin-Film Solar Cells

Finite difference time domain (FDTD) method is a robust and accurate algorithm which is widely used in computational electromagnetic field and the simulation of optical phenomenon. In this paper, parallel FDTD based on overlapped domain decomposition is used to simulate the band gap of photonic crystals and the quantum efficiency of thin film solar cells. The light-trapping effect is also analyzed by parallel FDTD, it's very important to improve light absorption. Numerical result demonstrates that the accuracy and the speedup of parallel FDTD are very high for large scale problem.
The PALS parenting support programme: lessons learned from the evaluation of processes and outcomes

Although there has recently been a rise in parenting support programmes within the UK, only a minority of these programmes have benefited from evaluation of either outcomes or processes. This paper describes the development of the PALS programme (Parents Altogether Lending Support), reporting both on its effectiveness in improving parents' interactions with their children and on the lessons that were learned about embedding such a programme within the local community. Over the 18-month period of the programme, a total of 17 courses were run, with 75 parents and carers (primarily mothers) participating in the programme overall. Evaluation results indicated that participants enjoyed the course and found it beneficial, particularly in terms of altering their own actions in specific ways that were able to promote better behaviour on the part of their children. Participants also valued the opportunity to share their experiences with other parents. The key lesson identified in regard to the development of parenting programmes concerned the need for the community to feel a sense of ownership for the initiative. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ensemble Methods in Machine Learning

Ensemble methods are learning algorithms that construct a set of classiiers and then classify new data points by taking a (weighted) vote of their predictions. The original ensemble method is Bayesian averaging , but more recent algorithms include error-correcting output coding, Bagging, and boosting. This paper reviews these methods and explains why ensembles can often perform better than any single classiier. Some previous studies comparing ensemble methods are reviewed, and some new experiments are presented to uncover the reasons that Adaboost does not overrt rapidly.