Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing the Design Process: Exploiting Opportunistic Thoughts

This study shows that top-down decomposition is problematic in the early stages of design. Instead, an opportunistic decomposition is better suited to handle the ill-structuredness of design problems. Designers are observed interleaving decisions at various levels of abstraction in the solution decomposition. The verbal protocols of three professionals designing a software system of realistic complexity are analyzed to determine the frequency and causes of opportunistic decompositions. The sudden discovery of new requirements and partial solutions triggered by data-driven rules and associations, the immediate development of solutions for newly discovered requirements, and drifting through partial solutions are shown to be important causes of opportunistic design. A top-down decomposition appears to be a special case for well-structured problems when the designer already knows the correct decomposition. Two cognitive models are briefly discussed in relation to opportunistic design. Finally, implications for training, methods, and computational environments to support the early stages of design are outlined.
Factors that prevent offending in a cohort of children identified as potential offenders

The outcome for children who become involved in criminal behaviour can be bleak, and gaining a criminal record can have effects on all aspects of their lives; including mental health, relationships and employment. Supporting children not to become involved in the Youth Justice System is the best way to protect against these outcomes. There are a variety of risk factors which are known to place children at risk of becoming involved in offending behaviour. However, whilst many children with these risk factors do not go on to offend or gain criminal records, few studies have examined the factors that are protective influences. This study employed a qualitative approach; using thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with 5 children who were referred to a Youth Offending Team preventative programme, and who did not go on to offend. Nine themes were identified in the children? s answers. These were: having had enough of antisocial behaviour, awareness of consequences, goals and aspirations, identity, strategies, understanding the need for authority, support, positive relationships outside immediate circle, alternative activitiesFrom these themes, seventeen key factors were identified as being important in these children? s resistance to offending. These factors were found to be both within the child and within their environment, and were that the children: showed an understanding of the possible consequences of future negative behaviour on themselves, showed an understanding of the need for authority, had a goal in life, viewed themselves positively, distanced themselves from their past behaviour, had strategies to manage negative friends, showed that they have ? had enough? of antisocial behaviour, showed an understanding of the possible consequences of future negative behaviour on their family, distanced themselves from others who offend, had opportunities to be a good role model, had strategies to avoid even minor antisocial behaviour, had strategies to avoid trouble spots, had support from family, had co-ordinated support from professionals, had access to alternative activities, had positive peers and had a positive relationship with an adult outside their immediate circleThe seventeen factors were developed into a theoretical model, which was used to produce a framework for intervention for Educational Psychologists (EPs). The validity of this model was discussed by considering its fit with the previous literature around both desistance from, and resistance to, offending behaviour. A role for EPs using this model and a framework for working within Youth Offending Teams is discussed along with future research directions.
Selective protection against cis-diamminedichloroplatinum(II)-induced toxicity in kidney, gut, and bone marrow by diethyldithiocarbamate.

Diethyldithiocarbamate (DDTC) has been shown to inhibit nephrotoxicity induced by cis-platinum (DDP) without inhibition of tumor response in the rat. We report here that DDTC at doses of 25-300 mg/kg inhibits DDP-induced nephrotoxicity and bone marrow toxicity in C57BL/6 X DBA/2F1 (hereafter called B6D2F1) mice, F344 rats, and beagle dogs and is also antiemetic in the dog. DDTC doses which afford excellent protection do not decrease median survival time following DDP treatment in L1210 and P388 leukemias, B16 melanoma, and Lewis lung and colon 26 carcinomas in B6D2F1 mice when DDTC is given 2 h after DDP. Preliminary experiments indicate that DDTC does not alter median survival time after treatment of P388 leukemia with the platinum analogues diammine(1,1-cyclobutanedicarboxylato)platinum(II) and cis-diisopropylamine-cis-dichloro-trans-dihydroxyplatinum(IV ). Maximum blood urea nitrogen levels after DDP treatment are reduced significantly by DDTC in all species; blood urea nitrogen elevation, total kidney platinum, weight loss, and leukopenia correlate with DDP-DDTC interval in the rat and indicate optimum protection at 2 h, the shortest interval examined. Bone marrow toxicity was assessed by peripheral white blood cell counts in all species and by marrow cellularity in the mouse. White blood cell nadirs were higher and bone marrow recovered more rapidly after DDTC compared with DDP given alone. DDP reduced marrow cellularity 50-60% in the mouse; administration of DDTC 2 h after DDP afforded no protection to the lymphocytes in the marrow but maintained the granulocyte + precursor population near control levels. DDTC plasma pharmacokinetic values have been determined after s.c. , i.p., and i.v. administration in the mouse, rat, and dog. Peak plasma levels of 0.3-1.2 mM are observed after a 250-mg/kg dose, with a plasma half-life of 10-20 min. Our data indicate that DDTC may provide protection against most clinically significant toxicities arising from cis-platinum at doses which do not inhibit tumor response.
Evaluation of sexually abused and nonabused young girls for intravaginal human papillomavirus infection.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of intravaginal human papillomavirus-associated disease in two groups of girls to develop information regarding the means of transmission of anal-genital human papillomavirus disease. DESIGN A pair of parallel studies of prevalence of human papillomavirus infections in two populations of prospectively enrolled girls. PATIENTS Index patients consisted of 15 consecutive girls aged 11 years or younger who were confirmed to have been sexually abused, had signs or symptoms of vaginal disease, and required generalized anesthesia for evaluation. Selection of nonabused control patients was based on negative findings from screening evaluations and physical examinations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Prevalences of cervical-vaginal human papillomavirus infections in the two populations were compared. Vaginal wash samples from index and control patients were assayed for human papillomavirus 1, 2, 4, 6, 11, and 16 by reverse-blot and Southern transfer hybridization methods. Papanicolaou smears were examined from index patients. RESULTS Vaginal wash samples from five (33%) of 15 index patients were positive for human papillomavirus 6, 11, or 16, compared with none of 17 controls. The presence or absence of external anal-genital warts was not correlated with results from the assay of intravaginal samples. Blinded readings of vaginal exfoliative cytologic findings of the index patients showed koilocytosis, atypia, or inflammatory reactions in four of five human papillomavirus-positive girls, and normal cytologic findings in one human papillomavirus-positive girl. CONCLUSION These findings support other studies that indicate that sexual contact is a major route in the transmission of anal-genital human papillomavirus-related disease in children. Evaluation of intravaginal specimens was required to identify human papillomavirus-infected girls since the results of the wash samples were not correlated with the presence or absence of external anal-genital warts.
UNIFIED MODEL – THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Basic Model

Presented in this paper is an approach to fault diagnosis based on a unifying review of linear Gaussian models. The unifying review draws together different algorithms such as PCA, factor analysis, hidden Markov models, Gaussian mixture models and linear dynamical systems as simple variations of a single linear Gaussian model. The focus in this work is on PCA, factor analysis and linear dynamical systems in order to compare static and dynamic data models. One of the advantages of using a unified framework for these already well known models is the quantification of uncertainty, and the ability to evaluate the probability of a dataset given a model. To highlight the applicability of such an approach to a fault diagnosis application and to establish in some way its robustness to environmental variability, a set of data collected from the suspension system of a ground vehicle is used.
Genetic variants of GSK3B are associated with biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease and cognitive function.

BACKGROUND Glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3B) is the major kinase phosphorylating tau protein. Hyperphosphorylated tau is one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite extensive research, the role of GSK3B in AD pathogenesis is not fully understood. OBJECTIVE To evaluate possible associations between gene variants of GSK3B and risk of AD. METHODS Twelve GSK3B tag single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), together with the previously AD-associated rs334558, were analyzed in 583 AD patients and 673 controls. Analyses on single marker and haplotype levels were done to relate to risk of AD, Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarker levels of total tau (T-tau), hyperphosphorylated tau (P-tau181), and amyloid-β (Aβ42). RESULTS After correction for multiple testing, we found a number of associations of gene variants with CSF biomarker levels and cognitive function in the AD patients. Firstly, rs334558 was associated with elevated T-tau levels (pc = 0.04). Next, rs1154597 showed association with reduced Aβ42 levels (pc = 0.007). Lastly, rs3107669 was associated with lower MMSE scores (pc = 0.03). In addition, one more SNP was nominally significantly associated with reduced Aβ42 levels and another was associated with reduced MMSE. CONCLUSION We found GSK3B gene variants associated with cognitive function and CSF biomarkers T-tau and Aβ42. To our knowledge, this is the first time GSK3B has been associated with cognitive function or CSF biomarkers reflecting neuronal degeneration (T-tau) and brain amyloid load (Aβ42). The regulation of GSK3B needs to be investigated further, to fully understand how these GSK3B gene variants are involved in AD pathogenesis.
MMSE-optimal enhancement of complex speech coefficients with uncertain prior knowledge of the clean speech phase

In most STFT-based speech enhancement algorithms only the STFT amplitude of speech is processed, while the STFT phase of the noisy signal is neither modified nor employed to improve amplitude estimation. This is also, because modifying the spectral phase often yields undesired artifacts and unnatural sounding speech. In this paper, we first obtain a clean speech phase estimate using a recent phase reconstruction algorithm. Then, we propose to treat this reconstructed phase as uncertain a priori knowledge when deriving a joint MMSE estimate of the clean speech amplitude and phase. The resulting MMSE-estimator yields a compromise between the phase of the noisy signal and the prior phase estimate. Instrumental measures and informal listening show that the proposed estimator reduces un-desired artifacts and results in an improved speech quality.
Long-Term Renal Transplant Function in Recipient of Simultaneous Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Maintained With Two Prednisone-Free Maintenance Immunosuppressive Combinations: Tacrolimus/Mycophenolate Mofetil Versus Tacrolimus/Sirolimus

Background. It is not known how different steroid-free immunosuppressive combinations affect long-term kidney transplant function in recipients of simultaneous kidney and pancreas transplant (SPK). Here, we sought to evaluate, in SPK recipients, the impact on long-term renal allograft function of two Tac-based prednisone-free maintenance immunosuppressive protocols: tacrolimus (Tac)/mycophonelate mofetil (MMF) versus Tac/ sirolimus (SRL). Methods. In this single-center, retrospective, sequential study, we analyzed 59 SPK transplant patients with at median follow up of 5 years. All patients received induction therapy with thymoglobulin and maintenance immunosuppression with Tac/MMF (n=22) or Tac/SRL (n=37). There were no differences between the two groups in regards to age, gender, race, panel reactive antibodies, degree of mismatch, donor age, incidence of delay graft function, and Tac trough levels at different time points after transplantation. Results. Kaplan−Meier patient survival at 6 years after transplantation was not statistically different between the two groups. Rate of ACR was similar. Kidney survival, even if not statistically significant, was better in the Tac/MMF group than in the Tac/SRL (90.7% vs. 70.7%, P=0.09). The slope of glomerular filtration rate decline per month at 5 years after transplantation was not statistically different between the two groups. Both groups had the same decline over time in glomerular filtration rate of 0.40±0.06 mL/min/1.732/month. Pancreas survival at 6 years after transplantation was 100% in both treatment groups. Conclusions. Our data suggest that, in SPK recipients, long-term kidney allograft survival and function are not statistically different. A trend toward an increased rate of renal allograft loss was found in the Tac/SRL-treated group.
Bayesian regularization of non-homogeneous dynamic Bayesian networks by globally coupling interaction parameters

To relax the homogeneity assumption of classical dynamic Bayesian networks (DBNs), various recent studies have combined DBNs with multiple changepoint processes. The underlying assumption is that the parameters associated with time series segments delimited by multiple changepoints are a priori independent. Under weak regularity conditions, the parameters can be integrated out in the likelihood, leading to a closed-form expression of the marginal likelihood. However, the assumption of prior independence is unrealistic in many real-world applications, where the segment-specific regulatory relationships among the interdependent quantities tend to undergo gradual evolutionary adaptations. We therefore propose a Bayesian coupling scheme to introduce systematic information sharing among the segment-specific interaction parameters. We investigate the effect this model improvement has on the network reconstruction accuracy in a reverse engineering context, where the objective is to learn the structure of a gene regulatory network from temporal gene expression profiles.
Hierarchical classification of HEP-2 cell images using class-specific features

The paper proposes a class-specific feature assisted automatic classification approach of microscopic HEp-2 cell images. Unlike traditional methods our method highlights two important aspects: (1) the visual characteristics of classes to formulate class-specific image features and (2) the classification task is treated as hierarchical verification sub-tasks. Thus, the overall classification problem is modeled as a verification of each class, using its class-specific features. We have demonstrated that the proposed method yields a high classification rate utilizing simple and efficient features with only (20%) of the data for training. Additionally, we also experimentally analyze the crucial aspects, such as comparison with a traditional non-hierarchical framework and performance evaluation on low contrast images which is useful for early disease detection.
Race and Genre in the Use of Sexual Objectification in Female Artists' Music Videos

The present study examines the use of sexual objectification by popular female music artists in their music videos. To obtain a current assessment of sexual objectification within pop, country, and hip hop music videos, a content analysis was performed. Our primary purposes were to examine (a) differences by race (in particular, differences between White and Black artists) and (b) by genre (i.e., pop, hip hop/R&B, and country). Results revealed only 1 race difference. In that case, Black artists were nearly twice as likely to wear sexually provocative attire. The results yielded consistent genre differences in which country artists were less likely to engage in sexual objectification, probably because of the socially conservative nature of the genre. However, in the main, there were few differences in sexual objectification between pop and R&B/hip artists. Findings are discussed in relation to objectification theory (B. L. Fredrickson & T. A. Roberts, 1998) and the framework of post-feminism (e.g., Gill, 2007; McRobbie, 2004).
Efficacy of a novel endotoxin adsorber polyvinylidene fluoride fiber immobilized with L-serine ligand on septic pigs

A novel adsorber, polyvinylidene fluoride matrix immobilized with L-serine ligand (PVDF-Ser), was developed in the present study to evaluate its safety and therapeutic efficacy in septic pigs by extracorporeal hemoperfusion. Endotoxin adsorption efficiency (EAE) of the adsorber was firstly measured in vitro. The biocompatibility and hemodynamic changes during extracorporeal circulation were then evaluated. One half of 16 pigs receiving lipopolysaccharide (Escherichia coli O111:B4, 5 μg/kg) intravenously in 1 h were consecutively treated by hemoperfusion with the new adsorber for 2 h. The changes of circulating endotoxin and certain cytokines and respiratory function were analyzed. The 72 h-survival rate was assessed eventually. EAE reached 46.3% (100 EU/ml in 80 ml calf serum) after 2 h- circulation. No deleterious effect was observed within the process. The plasma endotoxin, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels were decreased during the hemoperfusion. Arterial oxygenation was also improved during and after the process. Furthermore, the survival time was significantly extended (>72 h vs. 47.5 h for median survival time). The novel product PVDF-Ser could adsorb endotoxin with high safety and efficacy. Early use of extracorporeal hemoperfusion with the new adsorber could reduce the levels of circulating endotoxin, IL-6, and TNF-α, besides improve respiratory function and consequent 72 h-survival rate of the septic pigs. Endotoxin removal strategy with blood purification using the new adsorber renders a potential promising future in sepsis therapy.
Phenotypic Analysis of Temperature-sensitive Yeast Actin Mutants

The consequences of two different mutations in the single essential actin structural gene of yeast (Sac-charomyces cerevisiae) were studied. Both conditional lethal actin mutants exhibit six phenotypes at the restrictive temperature: disruption of the asymmetric staining pattern of actin assembly; delocalized depo-sition of chitin on the cell surface; partial inhibition of secretion of the periplasmic protein, invertase; an in-tracellular accumulation of secretory vesicles; death of cells in the budded portion of the cell cycle upon prolonged incubation at the restrictive condition; and osmotic sensitivity. These results implicate actin in the organization and polarized growth of the yeast cell surface.
Growing Concerns over Moral and Ethical Issues i Research

Concerns over moral and ethical behaviour among researchers (both academicians and practitioners) have generated a lot of public discussions in Ghana. In examining these concerns the author adopted a case study approach by discussing the works of a seasoned investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas together with other empirical evidences from the work of other researchers under the following headings as identified from the literature on ethics and moral behaviour in research; Informed consent, research fraud, confidentiality, anonymity, deception, right to privacy and protection from harm. The discussions were done under two main schools of thought-Deontology and Teleology.These schools of thought notwithstanding, the role of ethics cannot be over- emphasized as the subject thrives on human involvement, trust and business referrals to arrive at reliable conclusions. Besides, any deviation from ethical standards, therefore, needs to be thought through and justified extremely carefully.
The Hesitant Hand: Taming Self-Interest in the History of Economic Ideas

Acknowledgments xi Prologue 1 Chapter One: Adam Smith and His Ancestors 5 Chapter Two: Harnessing Self-Interest: Mill, Sidgwick, and the Evolution of the Theory of Market Failure 26 Chapter Three: Marginalizing the Market: Marshall, Pigou, and the Pigovian Tradition 54 Chapter Four: Marginalizing Government I: From La Scienza delle Finanze to Wicksell 77 Chapter Five: Coase's Challenge 101 Chapter Six: Marginalizing Government II: The Rise of Public Choice Analysis 125 Chapter Seven: Legal Fiction: The Coase Theorem and the Evolution of Law and Economics 160 Epilogue: Everywhere, Self-Interest? 197 References 201 Index 225
Design Space Exploration for Wireless NoCs Incorporating Irregular Network Routing

The millimeter-wave small-world wireless network-on-chip (mSWNoC) is an enabling interconnect architecture to design high-performance and low-power multicore chips. As the mSWNoC has an overall irregular topology, it is essential to design and optimize suitable deadlock-free routing mechanisms for it. In this paper, we quantify the latency, energy dissipation, and thermal profiles of mSWNoC architectures by incorporating irregular network routing strategies. We demonstrate that the latency, energy dissipation, and thermal profile are affected by the adopted routing methodologies. The overall system performance and thermal profile are governed by the traffic-dependent optimization of the routing methods. Our aim is to establish the energy-thermal-performance trade-offs for the mSWNoC depending on the exact routing strategy and the characteristics of the benchmarks considered.
Cross‐species amplification of 92 microsatellites of Medicago truncatula

Medicago species are important genetic sources for forage crops and nitrogen sources for various ecosystems. The ongoing genome sequencing of the model legume, Medicago truncatula, provides a wealth of genetic markers potentially useful for characterizing the population genetic structure and evolutionary history, and the potential of the wild Medicago species. Here we tested the PCR amplification of 92 microsatellites developed from M. truncatula in six other Medicago species, and found that the cross‐species transferability, ranging from 53.26% to 61.96%, is comparable with those reported in other angiosperm genera. This article thus reports a number of microsatellites that are potentially useful for large‐scale ecological and evolutionary genetic studies of wild Medicago species.
Your Defiant Child: Eight Steps to Better Behavior

Introduction. Part I: Getting to Know Your Defiant Child. Is Something Wrong with My Child? Why Is This Happening to My Family? What Should I Do about It? Words to Live By: The Foundation of Better Behavior. Part II: Getting Along with Your Defiant Child. Step 1: Pay Attention! Step 2: Start Earning Peace and Cooperation with Praise. Step 3: When Praise Is Not Enough, Offer Rewards. Step 4: Use Mild Discipline--Time-Out and More. Step 5: Use Time-Out with Other Misbehavior. Step 6: Think Aloud and Think Ahead - What to Do in Public. Step 7: Help the Teacher Help Your Child. Step 8: Moving toward a Brighter Future. Appendix: Does Your Child Have Conduct Disorder? Resources.