Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hope and Recovery From Substance Abuse for Female Drug Offenders in Taiwan

This study was designed to fulfill a twofold purpose. First, based on the hope theory framework and previous research, a 16-session hope-based substance abuse treatment program to help female drug abusers achieve a better recovery was developed. Second, ANCOVA was used to test the effectiveness of this treatment model. The participants were 40 female drug offenders who were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The 20 experimental group participants received 16 sessions of hope-based substance abuse treatment whereas the 20 control group members were put on the waiting list for another term of treatment. The results indicated that the members of the two groups had significant differences in their posttest scores for recovery goal setting and pursuing, pathway controlling, adequate energy, knowledge of the changing process, ability to cope, adequate cognition, emotion regulation, and self-esteem.
Monthly runoff forecasting by means of artificial neural networks (ANNs)

Over the last decade or so, artificial neural networks (ANNs) have become one of the most promising tools for modelling hydrological processes such as rainfall runoff processes. However, the employment of a single model does not seem to be an appropriate approach for modelling such a complex, nonlinear, and discontinuous process that varies in space and time. For this reason, this study aims at decomposing the process into different clusters based on self-organizing map (SOM) ANN approach, and thereafter modelling different clusters into outputs using separate feed-forward multilayer perceptron (MLP) and supervised self-organizing map (SSOM) ANN models. Specifically, three different SOM models have been employed in order to cluster the input patterns into two, three, and four clusters respectively so that each cluster in each model corresponds to certain physics of the process under investigation and thereafter modelling of the input patterns in each cluster into corresponding outputs using feedforward MLP and SSOM ANN models. The employed models were developed on two different watersheds, Iranian and Canadian. It was found that although the idea of decomposition based on SOM is highly persuasive, our results indicate that there is a need for more principled procedure in order to decompose the process. Moreover, according to the modelling results the SSOM can be considered as an alternative approach to the feed-forward MLP.
Why evidence for the fetal origins of adult disease might be a statistical artifact: the "reversal paradox" for the relation between birth weight and blood pressure in later life.

Some researchers have recently questioned the validity of associations between birth weight and health in later life. They argue that these associations might be due in part to inappropriate statistical adjustment for variables on the causal pathway (such as current body size), which creates an artifactual statistical effect known as the "reversal paradox. " Computer simulations were conducted for three hypothetical relations between birth weight and adult blood pressure. The authors examined the effect of statistically adjusting for different correlations between current weight and birth weight and between current weight and adult blood pressure to assess their impact on associations between birth weight and blood pressure. When there was no genuine relation between birth weight and blood pressure, adjustment for current weight created an inverse association whose size depended on the magnitude of the positive correlations between current weight and birth weight and between current weight and blood pressure. When there was a genuine inverse relation between birth weight and blood pressure, the association was exaggerated following adjustment for current weight, whereas a positive relation between birth weight and blood pressure could be reversed after adjusting for current weight. Thus, researchers must consider the reversal paradox when adjusting for variables that lie within causal pathways.
Blood-Brain Barrier Dysfunction Precedes Cognitive Decline and Neurodegeneration in Diabetic Insulin Resistant Mouse Model: An Implication for Causal Link

Diabetic insulin resistance and pro-diabetic diet are reported to increase dementia risk through unknown mechanisms. Emerging evidence suggests that the integrity of blood-brain barrier (BBB) is central to the onset and progression of neurodegeneration and cognitive impairment. Therefore, the current study investigated the effect of pro-diabetic diets on cognitive dysfunction in association to BBB integrity and its putative mechanisms. In C57BL/6J mice chronically ingested with a diet enriched in fat and fructose (HFF), Morris Water Maze (MWM) test indicated no significant cognitive decline after 4 weeks of HFF feeding compared to low-fat (LF) fed control. However, at this stage, BBB dysfunction accompanied by heightened neuroinflammation in cortex and hippocampal regions was already evident. After 24 weeks, HFF fed mice showed significantly deteriorated cognitive function concomitant with substantial neurodegeneration, which both showed significant associations with increased BBB permeability. In addition, the data indicated that the loss of BBB tight junctions was significantly associated with heightened inflammation and leukocyte infiltration. The data collectively suggest that in mice maintained on pro-diabetic diet, the dysfunctional BBB associated to inflammation and leukocyte recruitment precedes the neurodegeneration and cognitive decline, possibly indicating causal association.
Sport Participation Influences Perceptions of Mate Characteristics

Sport provides a context in which mate choice can be facilitated by the display of athletic prowess. Previous work has shown that, for females, team sport athletes are more desirable as mates than individual sport athletes and non-participants. In the present study, the perceptions of males and females were examined regarding potential mates based on sport participation. It was predicted that team sport athletes would be more positively perceived than individual sport athletes and non-participants by both males and females. A questionnaire, a photograph, and manipulated descriptions were used to gauge perceptual differences with respect to team sport athletes, individual sport athletes, and extracurricular club participants for 125 females and 119 males from a Canadian university. Both team and individual sport athletes were perceived as being less lazy, more competitive, and healthier than non-participants by both males and females. Interestingly, females perceived male athletes as more promiscuous than non-athletes, which upholds predictions based on previous research indicating (a) athletes have more sexual partners than non-athletes, and (b) females find athletes more desirable as partners than non-participants. Surprisingly, only males perceived female team sport athletes as more dependable than non-participants, and both team and individual sport athletes as more ambitious. This raises questions regarding the initial hypothesis that male team athletes would be perceived positively by females because of qualities such as the ability to cooperate, likeability, and the acceptance of responsibilities necessary for group functioning. Future studies should examine similar questions with a larger sample size that encompasses multiple contexts, taking into account the role of the social profile of sport in relation to mate choice and perception.
Regional Probabilistic Fertility Forecasting by Modeling Between-Country Correlations.

BACKGROUND The United Nations (UN) Population Division produces probabilistic projections for the total fertility rate (TFR) using the Bayesian hierarchical model of Alkema et al. (2011), which produces predictive distributions of the TFR for individual countries. The UN is interested in publishing probabilistic projections for aggregates of countries, such as regions and trading blocs. This requires joint probabilistic projections of future country-specific TFRs, taking account of the correlations between them. OBJECTIVE We propose an extension of the Bayesian hierarchical model that allows for probabilistic projection of aggregate TFR for any set of countries. METHODS We model the correlation between country forecast errors as a linear function of time invariant covariates, namely whether the countries are contiguous, whether they had a common colonizer after 1945, and whether they are in the same UN region. The resulting correlation model is incorporated into the Bayesian hierarchical model's error distribution. RESULTS We produce predictive distributions of TFR for 1990-2010 for each of the UN's primary regions. We find that the proportions of the observed values that fall within the prediction intervals from our method are closer to their nominal levels than those produced by the current model. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggest that a substantial proportion of the correlation between forecast errors for TFR in different countries is due to countries' geographic proximity to one another, and that if this correlation is accounted for, the quality of probabilitistic projections of TFR for regions and other aggregates is improved.
Analysis of deaths occurring within the Nottingham trial of faecal occult blood screening for colorectal cancer

Objective To report the causes of, and ages at, death of subjects in an English colorectal cancer screening trial. Design and setting Analysis of 78 708 deaths occurring between 1981 and 2008, within the Nottingham randomised controlled trial of biennial faecal occult blood testing. Main outcome measures Cause of death, age at death by sex and by cause. Results Significantly more subjects died from verified colorectal cancer in the trial's control group than in the intervention group (3.2% vs 2.9%). For no other major cause of death was the difference in proportion across the two groups statistically significant. Age at death was lower for cancer than for other principal causes, except for ischaemic heart disease among women. However, mean age at death was higher for colorectal cancer than for other cancers, except for prostate cancer among men. Increasing levels of material deprivation significantly lowered the expected ages at death, independently of cause. For both men and women, the mean age at death from all causes for screening participants was higher than that of controls and non-participants. Mean deprivation was lowest among participants. Of those participating in screening, and dying from colorectal cancer, subjects receiving negative test results lived significantly longer than those who received positive test results. However, if dying from other causes, they died at an earlier age. Conclusions The age at death from colorectal cancer is higher than that of most other cancers. Those accepting a screening invitation live longer than non-participants. In part, this difference is explained by relative deprivation. Among screening participants, the receipt of a positive, as opposed to a negative, test result is associated with a later age at death.
Expression of Zif268 in the granule cell layer of the adult mouse olfactory bulb is modulated by experience

Behavioral and physiological evidence indicates that odor processing in the main olfactory bulb is influenced by olfactory experience. At the cellular level, changes in inhibitory influence exerted by granular interneurons may contribute to restructuring odor representations. To assess experience‐dependent modulation in the responsiveness of granule cells, we measured the level and spatial distribution of odor‐induced expression of the immediate–early gene Zif268 in the granule cell layer of adult mice submitted or not to olfactory discrimination conditioning. We first show that stimulation by the reinforced odorant in conditioned animals did not induce any increase in Zif268 expression in contrast to stimulation with an unfamiliar odorant which induced an odor‐specific three‐fold increase in Zif268 expression. The same lack of Zif268 induction was observed in animals exposed to odorants without learning, indicating that familiarity to the odorant with or without conditioning similarly reduced responsiveness of granule cells to odorant stimulation. Second, conditioning induced a spatial reorganization of Zif268‐positive cells leading to higher contrast and significant enlargement of their distribution pattern. The latter effect was also present in animals exposed to the odorants without conditioning but was significantly weaker. Taken together, these data indicate that distinct populations of granule cells are solicited by odorant processing, depending on its familiarity or behavioral significance. Finally, we report that the expression pattern of Zif268 in the granule cell layer is constrained by anteroposterior and dorsolateral gradients in cell density, pointing to anatomical and possibly functional disparity within the layer.
Permanent central synaptic disconnection of proprioceptors after nerve injury and regeneration. II. Loss of functional connectivity with motoneurons.

Regeneration of a cut muscle nerve fails to restore the stretch reflex, and the companion paper to this article [Alvarez FJ, Titus-Mitchell HE, Bullinger KL, Kraszpulski M, Nardelli P, Cope TC. J Neurophysiol (August 10, 2011). doi:10.1152/jn.01095. 2010] suggests an important central contribution from substantial and persistent disassembly of synapses between regenerated primary afferents and motoneurons. In the present study we tested for physiological correlates of synaptic disruption. Anesthetized adult rats were studied 6 mo or more after a muscle nerve was severed and surgically rejoined. We recorded action potentials (spikes) from individual muscle afferents classified as IA like (*IA) by several criteria and tested for their capacity to produce excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) in homonymous motoneurons, using spike-triggered averaging (STA). Nearly every paired recording from a *IA afferent and homonymous motoneuron (93%) produced a STA EPSP in normal rats, but that percentage was only 17% in rats with regenerated nerves. In addition, the number of motoneurons that produced aggregate excitatory stretch synaptic potentials (eSSPs) in response to stretch of the reinnervated muscle was reduced from 100% normally to 60% after nerve regeneration. The decline in functional connectivity was not attributable to synaptic depression, which returned to its normally low level after regeneration. From these findings and those in the companion paper, we put forward a model in which synaptic excitation of motoneurons by muscle stretch is reduced not only by misguided axon regeneration that reconnects afferents to the wrong receptor type but also by retraction of synapses with motoneurons by spindle afferents that successfully reconnect with spindle receptors in the periphery.
A Mixture Gamma Distribution to Model the SNR of Wireless Channels

Composite fading (i.e., multipath fading and shadowing together) has increasingly been analyzed by means of the K channel and related models. Nevertheless, these models do have computational and analytical difficulties. Motivated by this context, we propose a mixture gamma (MG) distribution for the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of wireless channels. Not only is it a more accurate model for composite fading, but is also a versatile approximation for any fading SNR. As this distribution consists of N (≥ 1) component gamma distributions, we show how its parameters can be determined by using probability density function (PDF) or moment generating function (MGF) matching. We demonstrate the accuracy of the MG model by computing the mean square error (MSE) or the Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence or by comparing the moments. With this model, performance metrics such as the average channel capacity, the outage probability, the symbol error rate (SER), and the detection capability of an energy detector are readily derived.
Atmosphere-Ocean Interaction on Weekly Timescales in the North Atlantic and Pacific.

Abstract Large-scale atmosphere–ocean interaction over the North Atlantic and North Pacific during winter using a 14-yr record of weekly sea surface temperature and atmospheric circulation fields is examined. Singular Value Decomposition is used to quantify objectively the degree of coupling between the sea surface temperature and 500-mb geopotential height fields as a function of time lag, from −4 weeks to +4 weeks. The authors show that the air–sea coupling is strongest when 500-mb height leads sea surface temperature by 2–3 weeks—twice as strong as the simultaneous covariability and nearly four times as large as when sea surface temperature leads 500-mb height by a few weeks. The authors believe the 2–3-week timescale may be a reflection of high-frequency stochastic forcing by the atmosphere on the ocean mixed layer, in line with the theoretical model of Frankignoul and Hasselmann. Sensible and latent energy fluxes at the sea surface are shown to be an important component of the atmospheric forcing. Th.
SW Sextantis stars: the dominant population of cataclysmic variables with orbital periods between 3 and 4 h

We present time-series optical photometry of five new cataclysmic variables (CVs) identified by the Hamburg Quasar Survey (HQS). The deep eclipses observed in HS 0129+2933 (= TT Tri), HS 0220+0603 and HS 0455+8315 provided very accurate orbital periods of 3.35129827(65), 3.58098501(34) and 3.56937674(26) h, respectively. HS 0805+3822 shows grazing eclipses and has a likely orbital period of 3.2169(2) h. Time-resolved optical spectroscopy of the new CVs (with the exception of HS 0805+3822) is also presented. Radial velocity studies of the Balmer emission lines provided an orbital period of 3.55 h for HS 1813+6122, which allowed us to identify the observed photometric signal at 3.39 h as a negative superhump wave. The spectroscopic behaviour exhibited by all the systems clearly identifies them as new SW Sextantis (SW Sex) stars. HS 0220+0603 shows unusual N ii and Si ii emission lines suggesting that the donor star may have experienced nuclear evolution via the CNO cycle. These five new additions to the class increase the number of known SW Sex stars to 35. Almost 40 per cent of the total SW Sex population do not show eclipses, invalidating the requirement of eclipses as a defining characteristic of the class and the models based on a high orbital inclination geometry alone. On the other hand, as more SW Sex stars are identified, the predominance of orbital periods in the narrow 3–4.5 h range is becoming more pronounced. In fact, almost half the CVs which populate the 3–4.5 h period interval are definite members of the class. The dominance of SW Sex stars is even stronger in the 2–3 h period gap, where they make up 55 per cent of all known gap CVs. These statistics are confirmed by our results from the HQS CVs. Remarkably, 54 per cent of the Hamburg nova-like variables have been identified as SW Sex stars with orbital periods in the 3–4.5 h range. The observation of this pile-up of systems close to the upper boundary of the period gap is difficult to reconcile with the standard theory of CV evolution, as the SW Sex stars are believed to have the highest mass-transfer rates among CVs. Finally, we review the full range of common properties that the SW Sex stars exhibit. Only a comprehensive study of this rich phenomenology will prompt to a full understanding of the phenomenon and its impact on the evolution of CVs and the accretion processes in compact binaries in general.
Evaluating automatically estimated chord sequences

In this paper, we perform an in-depth evaluation of a large number of algorithms for chord estimation that have been submitted to the MIREX competitions in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Therefore we first present a rigorous scheme to describe evaluation methods in a sound, unambiguous way that extends previous work specifically to take into account the large variance in chord estimation vocabularies and to perform evaluations on select sets of chords. Then we take a look at the evaluation metrics used so far and propose some alternative ones. Finally, we use these different methods to get a deeper insight into the strengths of each of the competing algorithms and show that the choice of evaluation measure greatly influences the ranking.
A Structural Mechanism for MscS Gating in Lipid Bilayers

The mechanosensitive channel of small conductance (MscS) is a key determinant in the prokaryotic response to osmotic challenges. We determined the structural rearrangements associated with MscS activation in membranes, using functorial measurements, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, and computational analyses. MscS was trapped in its open conformation after the transbilayer pressure profile was modified through the asymmetric incorporation of lysophospholipids. The transition from the closed to the open state is accompanied by the downward tilting of the transmembrane TM1-TM2 hairpin and by the expansion, tilt, and rotation of the TM3 helices. These movements expand the permeation pathway, leading to an increase in accessibility to water around TM3. Our open MscS model is compatible with single-channel conductance measurements and supports the notion that helix tilting is associated with efficient pore widening in mechanosensitive channels.
In-class laptop use and its e V ects on student learning

Recently, a debate has begun over whether in-class laptops aid or hinder learning. While some research demonstrates that laptops can be an important learning tool, anecdotal evidence suggests more and more faculty are banning laptops from their classrooms because of perceptions that they distract students and detract from learning. The current research examines the nature of in-class laptop use in a large lecture course and how that use is related to student learning. Students completed weekly surveys of attendance, laptop use, and aspects of the classroom environment. Results showed that students who used laptops in class spent considerable time multitasking and that the laptop use posed a signi W cant distraction to both users and fellow students. Most importantly, the level of laptop use was negatively related to several measures of student learning, including self-reported understanding of course material and overall course performance. The practical implications of these W ndings are discussed.