Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motives, personal goals, and life satisfaction in old age: First results from the Munich Twin Study (GOLD).

The present study is part of the Munich longitudinal twin study GOLD (Genetic Oriented Life Span Study on Differential Development) and is concerned with motivational determinants of life satisfaction and subjective well-being in old age. Participants were 280 males (n=94) and females (n=186) between 65 and 85 years of age. The main proposition is that life satisfaction in old age is a function of the degree to which a person's motives, goals, and everyday activities are matched. Motives for Achievement, Affiliation and Power were assessed by a projective measure (TAT = "implicit motives") as well as by a questionnaire measure (Personality Research Form, PRF, = "self-attributed motives"). The participants indicated two personal goals most important to them and two activities they prefer to enact during a daily routine. Goals were rated by the participants according to commitment, attainability, and success probability. Additionally, goals and activities were evaluated according to their motive-specific contents by the participants themselves as well as by expert raters. The present report is confined to self-attributed motives and self-report measures. For the assessment of life satisfaction and emotional well-being three self-report inventories were employed. Results can be summarized as follows: (1) There is a considerable coherency between self-attributed motives on the one hand and personal goals and everyday activities on the other hand. The moderate size of correlations, however, evidences that motives are not necessarily in thematic line with goals and activities; there is enough room for other determinants to come into play. (2) Goals are characterized by motivational contents (primarily affiliation) to a higher degree than everyday activities which, to a considerable amount, are leisure-oriented. (3) Life satisfaction and emotional well-being is generally rather positive in our sample and is significantly affected by the attainability and probability of personal goals; an attainability x commitment interaction shows that this holds especially for highly committed participants. (4) Males indicate higher grades of emotional well-being. This can be attributed to their goal setting strategies: males, compared with females, have personal goals that they judge themselves as more attainable and probable. (5) Life satisfaction is, to a considerable extent, also affected by motivation-related recent life events: Primarily events that are negatively related to affiliation and power, that is, the absence of affilia-tion-related events and - for males only - of power-related events, lowered the participants' mood. These results clearly evidence the contribution of motivational determinants in explaining life satisfaction and subjective well-being in old age.
Impact of obesity on the risk for polycystic ovary syndrome.

CONTEXT Although it is well established that adiposity increases the severity of the clinical features of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), the data regarding the prevalence of PCOS in obese women and the change in body weight women presented with PCOS over time are scarce. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to determine whether obesity increases the risk of PCOS and whether the degree of obesity of PCOS patients has increased, paralleling the rise in obesity in the population. DESIGN We analyzed data from two consecutive populational studies assessing the prevalence of PCOS and a database containing all untreated PCOS patients evaluated at a university clinic between 1987 and 2002. SETTING The study was conducted at a tertiary care center. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS Participants included 675 women who participated in prevalence studies and 746 PCOS patients. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Populational prevalence of PCOS according to body mass index (BMI) and change in BMI of PCOS patients over time were measured. RESULTS The prevalence rates of PCOS in underweight, normal-weight, overweight, and obese women were 8.2, 9.8, 9.9, and 9.0%, respectively. Prevalence rates reached 12.4 and 11.5% in women with BMI 35-40 kg/m2 and greater than 40 kg/m2 (P = NS). The mean BMI of PCOS patients diagnosed between 1987 and 2002 rose, beginning in 1997 and reaching 37.3 +/- 9.9 kg/m2 in 2000-2002, paralleling the change in BMI of the surrounding population (10-14% obesity rate in 1987, 15-19% in 1997, and 25% or greater in 2002). CONCLUSION Our results suggest that the risk of PCOS is only minimally increased with obesity, although the degree of obesity of PCOS patients has increased, similar to that observed in the general population. These data indicate that obesity in PCOS reflects environmental factors to a great extent.
An Optimized String Transformation Algorithm for Real-Time Group Editors

Operational transformation (OT) is an optimistic consistency control method for supporting collaboration over high-latency networks. The technique lies in the heart of many recent products such as Google Wave. It replicates the shared data and allows the users to concurrently modify any part of a shared document in a nonblocking manner. Most of the published results only support two characterwise primitives and take $O(|H|^2)$ or even longer time to integrate one remote characterwise operation, where $H$ is the operation history. However, as the history grows long and operations are integrated in batches, the high complexity can make an algorithm easily exceed the 100 ms responsiveness threshold that is critical for interactive applications. This paper proposes a new OT algorithm that supports string primitives and reduces the time complexity to $O(|H|)$. The result can be used in a range of parallel and distributed applications that can be abstracted as realtime group editors.
Web-based knowledge acquisition to solve inverse problems

Machine learning is the science of building predictors from data randomly sampled from an assumed probability distribution while accounting for the computational complexity of the learning algorithm and the predictor’s performance on future data. Much of the work in machine learning is empirical and prone to errors because what the machine learns depends on the adequacy and trust-worthiness of the training data. Automated web-based knowledge acquisition can play a useful role in developing systematic methods for solving a class of machine learning problems in which there is insuﬃcient or untrust-worthy data. Such problems can be solved by using a regularization procedure - a mathematical strategy that seeks to supply the ”missing data. ” There are several ways of reg-ularizing a problem. Statistical methods, for example, can ﬁll in a few data items. But these methods rely on using the available, and possibly unreliable, data to calculate the missing values. Besides, they perform poorly if the percentage of missing values exceeds a threshold. An alternative is to ﬁll in the missing data by an automated knowledge discovery process via mining the WWW. This novel procedure is applied by ﬁrst restoring missing information and next learning the structure and parameters of the unknown system from the restored data. Using a Bayesian network as a possible model for the unknown system, the parameters, i.e., the probabilities associated with the causal relationships in the network, are deduced using the knowledge mined from the WWW in conjunction with the data available on hand. The method, when tested against heart disease data sets from the UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository [UCI], gave satisfactory results. Preliminary results of our approach, using the Naive Bayes as the system model, are then compared with the performance of the EM algorithm, a well-understood statistical method. Work is currently in progress to assess the performance of this method in data-poor domains.
Alternative perspectives on psychodynamic psychotherapy of borderline personality disorder: the case of "Ellen".

This report describes an intensive psychodynamic psychotherapy that the author conducted with a patient with borderline personality disorder named "Ellen. " Dr. Bateman, one of the founders of mentalization-based treatment (1), and Dr. Kernberg, the founder of transference-based psychotherapy (2), comment on the treatment, emphasizing the overlapping and distinctive aspects of the two forms of therapy. Each was asked to comment independently and then asked again to offer additional comments on issues that the other had brought up. As such, Ellen's case illustrates alternative perspectives about psychotherapy with patients with borderline personality disorder. This report offers vignettes derived from six time points in Ellen's therapy: the time of referral, 3 months later, 11 months later, 4 . years later (when the therapy effectively ended), and from follow-up at year 7.
Towards secure route discovery protocol in MANET

Wireless Mobile ad hoc network (MANET) has become an exciting and important technology in recent years because of a rapid proliferation of wireless devices. MANET is a self-organizing network of wireless links connecting mobile nodes. MANET's technology offers both new challenges and opportunities for many applications. One of the major challenges for ad hoc technology is routing security, due essentially to MANET features (e.g., open medium, lack of centralized management, nodes mobility). In this paper, we propose ASRP, an efficient secure routing protocol to ensure the routing security in ad hoc networks. ASRP provides powerful security extensions to the reactive AODV protocol, based on modified secure remote password protocol and Diffie-Hellman (DH) algorithms. The simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed ASRP protocol, and its cost towards both the users and the network.
Matrix Factorization for Package Recommendations

Research in recommendation systems has to date focused on recommending individual items to users. However there are contexts in which combinations of items need to be recommended, and there has been less research to date on how collaborative methods such as matrix factorization can be applied to such tasks. The research contributions of this paper are threefold. First, we formalize the collaborative package recommendation task as an extension of the standard collaborative recommendation task. Second, we describe and make available a novel package recommendation dataset in the clothes domain, where a combination of a “top” (e.g. a shirt, t-shirt or top) and “bottom” (e.g. trousers, shorts or skirts) needs to be recommended. Finally, we describe several extensions of matrix factorization to predict user ratings on packages, and report RMSE improvements over the standard matrix factorization approach for recommending combinations of tops and bottoms.
Relieving the wireless infrastructure: When opportunistic networks meet guaranteed delays

Major wireless operators are nowadays facing network capacity issues in striving to meet the growing demands of mobile users. At the same time, 3G-enabled devices increasingly benefit from ad hoc radio connectivity (e.g., Wi-Fi). In this context of hybrid connectivity, we propose Push-and-track, a content dissemination framework that harnesses ad hoc communication opportunities to minimize the load on the wireless infrastructure while guaranteeing tight delivery delays. It achieves this through a control loop that collects user-sent acknowledgements to determine if new copies need to be reinjected into the network through the 3G interface. Push-and-Track includes multiple strategies to determine how many copies of the content should be injected, when, and to whom. The short delay-tolerance of common content, such as news or road traffic updates, make them suitable for such a system. Based on a realistic large-scale vehicular dataset from the city of Bologna composed of more than 10,000 vehicles, we demonstrate that Push-and-Track consistently meets its delivery objectives while reducing the use of the 3G network by over 90%.
Prevention of naphthalene‐induced pulmonary toxicity by glutathione prodrugs: Roles for glutathione depletion in adduct formation and cell injury

Naphthalene is metabolized in the lung and liver to reactive intermediates by cytochrome P450 enzymes. These reactive species deplete glutathione, covalently bind to proteins, and cause necrosis in Clara cells of the lung. The importance of glutathione loss in naphthalene toxicity was investigated by using the glutathione prodrugs (glutathione monoethylester or cysteine–glutathione mixed disulfide) to maintain glutathione pools during naphthalene exposure. Mice given a single intraperitoneal injection of naphthalene (1.5 mmol/kg) were treated with either prodrug (2.5 mmol/kg) 30 min later. Both compounds effectively maintained glutathione levels and decreased naphthalene–protein adducts in the lung and liver. However, cysteine–glutathione mixed disulfide was more effective at preventing Clara cell injury. To study the prodrugs in Clara cells without the influence of hepatic naphthalene metabolism and circulating glutathione, dose‐response and time‐course studies were conducted with intrapulmonary airway explant cultures. Only the ester of glutathione raised GSH in vitro; however, both compounds limited protein adducts and cell necrosis. In vitro protection was not associated with decreased naphthalene metabolism. We conclude that (1) glutathione prodrugs can prevent naphthalene toxicity in Clara cells, (2) the prodrugs effectively prevent glutathione loss in vivo, and (3) cysteine–glutathione mixed disulfide prevents naphthalene injury in vitro without raising glutathione levels. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biochem Mol Toxicol 19:42–41, 2005; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/jbt.20052
Prevalence of antimicrobial-resistant Escherichia coli in dogs in a cross-sectional, community-based study

The prevalence of carriage of antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) and extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Escherichia coli was determined in 183 healthy dogs from a semi-rural community in Cheshire. Isolates were tested against a panel of antimicrobials and by PCR to detect resistance genes. In the suspected ESBL-producing isolates, the presence of blaSHV, blaTEM, blaCTX-M and blaAmpC genes was determined by PCR and sequencing. A total of 53 (29 per cent, 95 per cent confidence interval [CI] 22.4 to 35.5 per cent) dogs carried at least one AMR E coli isolate. Twenty-four per cent (95 per cent CI 17.9 to 30.2 per cent) of dogs carried isolates resistant to ampicillin, 19.7 per cent (95 per cent CI 13.9 to 25.4 per cent) to tetracycline and 16.9 per cent (95 per cent CI 11.5 to 22.4 per cent) to trimethoprim. A blaTEM gene was detected in 39 of 54 ampicillin-resistant isolates, a tet(B) gene in 12 of 45 tetracycline-resistant isolates, and a dfr gene in 22 of 33 trimethoprim-resistant isolates. Multidrug-resistant isolates were demonstrated in 15 per cent (28 of 183; 95 per cent CI 10.1 to 20.5 per cent) of dogs. Nine suspected ESBL-producing E coli were isolated, of which only one was confirmed by double disc diffusion testing. Two of these isolates carried the blaTEM-1 gene and seven carried the blaCMY-2 gene.
What Happens Before Chemotherapy?! Neuro-anatomical and -functional MRI Investigations of the Pre-chemotherapy Breast Cancer Brain.

Modern medical cancer interventions are allowing for greater survival rates. A chemotherapy side-effect, where patients report difficulty during performance of familiar cognitive tasks, is named chemo fog or chemobrain. Traditional neuropsychological assessments may not be sensitive enough to detect these subtle chemotherapy-related cognitive impairments (or CRCI). The advent of MRI and fMRI tools, as well as other imaging techniques, has helped uncover a neural basis for these reported cognitive impairments. This paper offers a review of neuroimaging investigations in chemotherapytreated human cancer patients, with a particular focus on breast cancer patients. Additionally, despite the assumption given by the chemo fog or chemobrain label, chemotherapy is not the only causative agent of these reported deficits, and other factors will be considered. Throughout the paper, suggestions are made on how to more systematically and comprehensively study cognitive changes in chemotherapy-treated cancer patients. Together these suggestions may yield better long-term quality of life outcomes as they could lend support to patients‘ self-reports, as well as reveal target brain regions being affected by chemotherapy.
The effect of factors related to prior schooling on student persistence in higher education

One way to generate useful information, for both the schooling sector and higher education institutions, about students who continue their studies after school is to assess students' perceptions of themselves. Once reliable profiles of these students have been established and related to student performance, analyses may assist to predict factors associated with the persistence of first-year students and retention rates in higher education. First-year student perceptions were measured at one South African university, using the Alpha Baseline Questionnaire. Applying Tinto's Student Integration Model, the potential effect of first-year students' perceptions of their academic, general and social competence on their academic persistence potential was then determined. It was found, inter alia, that entry-level university students seem to underestimate time requirements of out-of-class work. Students at a lower level of school performance proved to be over-optimistic about their potential to persist and seemed to be over-confident about their academic self-image compared to school leavers who performed at higher academic levels at school. In areas of general and social self-image this pattern continued. The results of the study are important for school counsellors, teachers in both schooling and higher education, and for academic developers in higher education. Findings indicated the need to prepare school leavers to have more realistic expectations of higher education programmes and to support lower level school achievers more effectively for improved retention rates in higher education. South African Journal of Education Vol.24(2) 2004: 119-125
An Integrated Agent for Playing Real-Time Strategy Games

We present a real-time strategy (RTS) game AI agent that integrates multiple specialist components to play a complete game. Based on an analysis of how skilled human players conceptualize RTS gameplay, we partition the problem space into domains of competence seen in expert human play. This partitioning helps us to manage and take advantage of the large amount of sophisticated domain knowledge developed by human players. We present results showing that incorporating expert high-level strategic knowledge allows our agent to consistently defeat established scripted AI players. In addition, this work lays the foundation to incorporate tactics and unit micromanagement techniques developed by both man and machine.
Reactive algorithms for 2 and 3 finger grasping

8 allows the algorithm to operate on the same type of objects as the previous algorithm. More speciically, boundary following is achieved by keeping the distance detected by the closest sensor small, and the additional requirement of axis normality is satissed by keeping equal the distance indicated by the two sensors placed at the jaws ends. It remains to be seen how these algorithms perform in practice. We are currently developping a reactive gripper, that will accomodate the implementation of several of these algorithms. Also many variations are possible. For example, we can replace the proximity and angle sensors by force sensors, but we lose the nondisturbing quality. It would be interesting to nd algorithms that require less sensory information, for example require only the sign of the angles at the ngers instead of the exact angle for the three nger case. This would make the algorithm more robust and simplify the sensors. Generalization of these algorithms to non convex objects would be desirable. Finally, these techniques can be extended to three dimensional objects and four ngers, and this will be discussed in a future paper. A design modiication for the parallel-jaw gripper that improves grasp stability for polyhedral parts. 7 3 2 1 1 f 0 f Figure 3: A few steps of the two nger algorithm. There must exist a pair of points on the boundary of the object such that the normal lines at both points are in fact the same line. This can be seen by considering the pair of supporting lines, one on each side of the object, and rotating this pair until it reaches a local minimum. Then the contact points satisfy the above requirement. We nd such a pair of points as follows (refer to gure 3.) We assume that initially the object is somewhere between the two ngers. The ngers close until one of the sensors indicate proximity. Call this nger f 0 , the other f 1. Then the gripper is rotated until the nger normal of f 0 is normal to the object. Such a rotation will in absolute value be by less than 90 degrees. If during this rotation f 1 becomes close to B, then it starts to track the boundary of B in the direction away from f 0. Otherwise, close the ngers along their axis (translating the center if necessary) until f 1 becomes close to …
Novel Marmoset (Callithrix jacchus) Model of Human Herpesvirus 6A and 6B Infections: Immunologic, Virologic and Radiologic Characterization

Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is a ubiquitous virus with an estimated seroprevalence of 95% in the adult population. HHV-6 is associated with several neurologic disorders, including multiple sclerosis, an inflammatory demyelinating disease affecting the CNS. Animal models of HHV-6 infection would help clarify its role in human disease but have been slow to develop because rodents lack CD46, the receptor for cellular entry. Therefore, we investigated the effects of HHV-6 infections in a non-human primate, the common marmoset Callithrix jacchus. We inoculated a total of 12 marmosets with HHV-6A and HHV-6B intravenously and HHV-6A intranasally. Animals were monitored for 25 weeks post-inoculation clinically, immunologically and by MRI. Marmosets inoculated with HHV-6A intravenously exhibited neurologic symptoms and generated virus-specific antibody responses, while those inoculated intravenously with HHV-6B were asymptomatic and generated comparatively lower antibody responses. Viral DNA was detected at a low frequency in paraffin-embedded CNS tissue of a subset of marmosets inoculated with HHV-6A and HHV-6B intravenously. When different routes of HHV-6A inoculation were compared, intravenous inoculation resulted in virus-specific antibody responses and infrequent detection of viral DNA in the periphery, while intranasal inoculation resulted in negligible virus-specific antibody responses and frequent detection of viral DNA in the periphery. Moreover, marmosets inoculated with HHV-6A intravenously exhibited neurologic symptoms, while marmosets inoculated with HHV-6A intranasally were asymptomatic. We demonstrate that a marmoset model of HHV-6 infection can serve to further define the contribution of this ubiquitous virus to human neurologic disorders.