Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
"I Miss My Country, but My World is with My Children": Examining the Family and Social Lives of Older Indian Immigrants in the United States

Within the context of ongoing social and demographic transformation, including the trend towards globalization, changing patterns of longevity and increasing ethnic diversity, this thesis examines the lives older Asian-Indian immigrants in the United States. To date, much of what little research exists on this group of elders focuses on acculturation and related stress, but there is limited research on the daily life experiences of these older adults, particularly as they pertain to family life, the practice of filial piety, and informal support exchange within their households, as well as their social lives more generally. Informed by two theoretical approaches, Life Course and Symbolic Interactionism, this research examines older immigrants’ social and family lives. The study employs a qualitative approach and involves in-depth semi-structured interviews with 10 older Asian-Indians living in the Atlanta area. To varying degrees, their lives are family-centered. Traditional Indian practices such as filial piety are individualized according to the intersection of American and Indian cultures and family (e.g., structure and history) and personal (e.g., personal resources) influences. Similar influences operate to shape their family and social lives more generally. These findings enhance existing understandings of older immigrants’ lives and illustrate similarities and differences. In doing so, the research provides valuable information that can promote cultural competence for those working with and designing policies and programs for adults in a rapidly aging and increasingly diverse society. INDEX WORDS: Social support, Filial piety (seva), Formal services, Community gettogether, Ethnic elements, Intergenerational relations, Traditions “I MISS MY COUNTRY, BUT MY WORLD IS WITH MY CHILDREN”: EXAMINING THE FAMILY AND SOCIAL LIVES OF OLDER INDIAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE UNITED STATES
Assessment in Child Psychotherapy

This book describes an approach to children and young people who might be helped by child psychotherapy. Attention is paid to factors within the child's personality, to strengths and impediments in the developmental process, and to the family and wider school and community context. Individual chapters address both clinical methods and a variety of clinical problems, including work with very young children and their parents, severe deprivation and family breakdown, developmental delay, and the more serious psychological illnesses of childhood.Assessment in Child Psychotherapy is a significant contribution to all mental health professionals who need to be able to identify the precise nature of a child, adolescent or family's problems and to offer the most appropriate help. Such a book is long overdue. It spans a range of thinking about how best to reach those whose emotional and behavioural difficulties pose challenging questions as to the most suitable forms of treatment. Through vivid and detailed clinical examples the book shows how the assessment procedure itself can constitute a helpful piece of work, as well as an exploration, which leads to a variety of treatment possibilities. Expert knowledge is made accessible and an elusive process is brought alive.This book will be of great help to child and adolescent mental health professionals and to a wider public interested in the development of children and in how help can be provided when things go wrong.Contributors: Anne Alvarez, Robin Anderson, Beta Copley, Jeanne Magagna, Lisa Miller, Emanuela Quagliata, Maria Rhode, Margaret Rustin, Judith Trowell and Margot Waddell.
Lower energy Gait Pattern Generation in 5-Link Biped Robot Using Image Processing

(cid:3) Abstract — The purpose of this study is to find natural gait of biped robot such as human being by analyzing the COG (Center Of Gravity) trajectory of human being's gait. It is discovered that human beings gait naturally maintain the stability and use the minimum energy. This paper intends to find the natural gait pattern of biped robot using the minimum energy as well as maintaining the stability by analyzing the human's gait pattern that is measured from gait image on the sagittal plane and COG trajectory on the frontal plane. It is not possible to apply the torques of human's articulation to those of biped robot's because they have different degrees of freedom. Nonetheless, human and 5-link biped robots are similar in kinematics. For this, we generate gait pattern of the 5-link biped robot by using the GA algorithm of adaptation gait pattern which utilize the human's ZMP (Zero Moment Point) and torque of all articulation that are measured from human's gait pattern. The algorithm proposed creates biped robot's fluent gait pattern as that of human being's and to minimize energy consumption because the gait pattern of the 5-link biped robot model is modeled after consideration about the torque of human's each articulation on the sagittal plane and ZMP trajectory on the frontal plane. This paper demonstrate that the algorithm proposed is superior by evaluating 2 kinds of the 5-link biped robot applied to each gait patterns generated both in the general way using inverse kinematics and in the special way in which by considering visuality and efficiency.
Cryotherapy and Laser Therapy Do Not Interfere in the Response to Eccentric Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage : A Randomized Clinical Trial

Macedo LB, Borges DT, Lins CAA, Brasileiro JS. Cryotherapy and Laser Therapy Do Not Interfere in the Response to Eccentric Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JEPonline 2015;18(5):59-68. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of cryotherapy and laser therapy in response to eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage on the biceps brachii muscle. This is a randomized clinical trial with random allocation, composed of 60 active women. All subjects underwent an eccentric exercise protocol (2x10 maximum eccentric contractions of nondominant elbow flexors at 60°·sec-1) and three assessments (pre, post, and 48 hrs after the intervention) of pain sensation (measured by algometry), peak torque normalized for body weight and power (measured by isokinetic dynamometry), and muscle activation (measured by surface electromyography). No intergroup statistical differences were observed for algometry (P=0.15), peak torque normalized for body weight (P=0.77), power (P=0.70), and RMS (P=0.76). Thus, the findings indicate that cryotherapy and low-level laser therapy are not sufficient to stimulate and treat the eccentric exercise-induced muscle damage.
A Virtual Blind Cane Using a Line Laser-Based Vision System and an Inertial Measurement Unit

A virtual blind cane system for indoor application, including a camera, a line laser and an inertial measurement unit (IMU), is proposed in this paper. Working as a blind cane, the proposed system helps a blind person find the type of obstacle and the distance to it. The distance from the user to the obstacle is estimated by extracting the laser coordinate points on the obstacle, as well as tracking the system pointing angle. The paper provides a simple method to classify the obstacle’s type by analyzing the laser intersection histogram. Real experimental results are presented to show the validity and accuracy of the proposed system.
The Role of District Supervisors in the Implementation of Peer Coaching.

Why do teachers not share information with one another? Why are they apparently given to norms of isolationism and defensiveness' instead of the more desirable norms of collegiality and experimentation? 2 Do teachers shrink from the hallmark of professional behavior because they have nothing to say? Or are teachers mired in an unrewarding, denigrating workplace? Dombart's practitioner's view from the inside does not equivocate on these questions:
Periodic economic model predictive control with nonlinear-constraint relaxation for water distribution networks

In this paper, a periodic economic model predictive control (EMPC) strategy with nonlinear algebraic constraint relaxations for water distribution networks (WDNs) is presented. A WDN is usually modeled by a series of differential-algebraic equations. When the hydraulic pressure/head and flow relations in the interconnected pipes are considered, the nonlinear algebraic equations will appear in the control-oriented model of WDNs. Specifically, two types of nonlinear algebraic equations are studied in terms of unidirectional and bidirectional flows in pipes. These nonlinear algebraic constraints are iteratively relaxed by a series of linear constraints. Therefore, the proposed EMPC strategy can be implemented by solving an optimization problem using the linear programming technique. Finally, the EMPC strategy with nonlinear algebraic constraint relaxations is verified in the Richmond water network. The comparison results of applying nonlinear EMPC strategy are also provided. The proposed nonlinear-constraint relaxation technique turns out to be much faster than the one obtained by a standard nonlinear optimization solver.
Inverse modeling in magnetic source imaging: Comparison of MUSIC, SAM(g2), and sLORETA to interictal intracranial EEG

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is used in the presurgical work‐up of patients with focal epilepsy. In particular, localization of MEG interictal spikes may guide or replace invasive electroencephalography monitoring that is required in difficult cases. From literature, it is not clear which MEG source localization method performs best in this clinical setting. Therefore, we applied three source localization methods to the same data from a large patient group for which a gold standard, interictal spikes as identified in electrocorticography (ECoG), was available. The methods used were multiple signal classification (MUSIC), Synthetic Aperture Magnetometry kurtosis [SAM(g2)], and standardized low‐resolution electromagnetic tomography. MEG and ECoG data from 38 patients with refractory focal epilepsy were obtained. Results of the three source localization methods applied to the interictal MEG data were assigned to predefined anatomical regions. Interictal spikes as identified in ECoG were also assigned to these regions. Identified regions by each MEG method were compared to ECoG. Sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of each MEG method were calculated. All three MEG methods showed a similar overall correlate with ECoG spikes, but the methods differ in which regions they detect. The choice of the inverse model thus has an unexpected influence on the results of magnetic source imaging. Combining inverse methods and seeking consensus can be used to improve specificity at the cost of some sensitivity. Combining MUSIC with SAM(g2) gives the best results (sensitivity = 38% and PPV = 82%). Hum Brain Mapp 34:2032–2044, 2013. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Evaluation of an Enzyme Immunoassay for Detection of Histoplasma capsulatum Antigen from Urine Specimens

ABSTRACT Detection of Histoplasma capsulatum urinary antigen (UAg) is important for the initial diagnosis of infection and for monitoring of patient responses to antifungal therapy. This study evaluated an analyte-specific reagent (ASR) enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the detection of H. capsulatum UAg from Immuno Mycologics, Inc. (IMMY) (Norman, OK) in comparison with routine testing with the MiraVista (MVista) H. capsulatum quantitative EIA (MiraVista Diagnostics, Indianapolis, IN). Using prospectively collected urine specimens (n = 1,003), we observed an overall percent agreement between the two assays of 97.6% (979/1,003 samples). Compared with the MVista EIA, the sensitivity and specificity of the IMMY ASR EIA were 64.5% (40/62 samples) and 99.8% (939/941 samples), respectively, using a cutoff value of 0.5 ng/ml. Based on available clinical histories for 23/24 discordant samples, 5 IMMY assay-negative/MVista assay-positive samples were considered falsely positive. Furthermore, 10/23 discordant samples were positive by the MVista EIA but were below the limit of quantitation (<0.4 ng/ml). The clinical significance of these low positive results in the MVista EIA is unclear. In addition to the prospective study, we tested 11 urine specimens collected from patients with culture-confirmed Histoplasma infections, and 100% (11/11 samples) were positive by the IMMY ASR EIA. In conclusion, the IMMY ASR EIA may offer an alternative approach for the detection of Histoplasma UAg. Additional prospective studies are needed to better characterize the performance of the IMMY ASR EIA in conjunction with clinical and laboratory findings.
Electrolyte and mineral disturbances in septic acute kidney injury patients undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy

AbstractElectrolyte and mineral disturbances remain a major concern in patients undergoing continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT); however, it is not clear whether those imbalances are associated with adverse outcomes in patients with septic acute kidney injury (AKI) undergoing CRRT. We conducted a post-hoc analysis of data from a prospective randomized controlled trial. A total of 210 patients with a mean age of 62.2 years (136 [64.8%] males) in 2 hospitals were enrolled. Levels of sodium, potassium, calcium, and phosphate measured before (0 hour) and 24 hours after CRRT initiation. Before starting CRRT, at least 1 deficiency and excess in electrolytes or minerals were observed in 126 (60.0%) and 188 (67.6%) patients, respectively. The excess in these parameters was greatly improved, whereas hypokalemia and hypophosphatemia became more prevalent at 24 hours after CRRT. However, 1 and 2 or more deficiencies in those parameters at the 2 time points were not associated with mortality. However, during 28 days, 89 (71.2%) deaths occurred in patients with phosphate levels at 0 hour of ≥4.5 mg/dL as compared with 49 (57.6%) in patients with phosphate levels <4.5 mg/dL. The 90-day mortality was also significantly higher in patients with hyperphosphatemia. Similarly, in 184 patients who survived at 24 hours after CRRT, hyperphosphatemia conferred a 2.2-fold and 2.6-fold increased risk of 28- and 90-day mortality, respectively. The results remained unaltered when the serum phosphate level was analyzed as a continuous variable. Electrolyte and mineral disturbances are common, and hyperphosphatemia may predict poor prognosis in septic AKI patients undergoing CRRT.
Exploring the nature of air quality over southwestern Ontario: main findings from the Border Air Quality and Meteorology Study

Abstract. This paper serves as an overview and discusses the main findings from the Border Air Quality and Meteorology Study (BAQS-Met) in southwestern Ontario in 2007. This region is dominated by the Great Lakes, shares borders with the United States and consistently experiences the highest ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter concentrations in Canada. The purpose of BAQS-Met was to improve our understanding of how lake-driven meteorology impacts air quality in the region, and to improve models used for forecasting and policy scenarios. Results show that lake breeze occurrence frequencies and inland penetration distances were significantly greater than realized in the past. Due to their effect on local meteorology, the lakes were found to enhance secondary O3 and aerosol formation such that local anthropogenic emissions have their impact closer to the populated source areas than would otherwise occur in the absence of the lakes. Substantial spatial heterogeneity in O3 was observed with local peaks typically 30 ppb above the regional values. Sulfate and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) enhancements were also linked to local emissions being transported in the lake breeze circulations. This study included the first detailed evaluation of regional applications of a high-resolution (2.5 km grid) air quality model in the Great Lakes region. The model showed that maxima in secondary pollutants occur in areas of convergence, in localized updrafts and in distinct pockets over the lake surfaces. These effects are caused by lake circulations interacting with the synoptic flow, with each other or with circulations induced by urban heat islands. Biogenic and anthropogenic emissions were both shown to play a role in the formation of SOA in the region. Detailed particle measurements and multivariate receptor models reveal that while individual particles are internally mixed, they often exist within more complex external mixtures. This makes it difficult to predict aerosol optical properties and further highlights the challenges facing aerosol modelling. The BAQS-Met study has led to a better understanding of the value of high-resolution (2.5 km) modelling for air quality and meteorological predictions and has led to several model improvements.
A New Fast Intra Prediction Mode Decision Algorithm for H.264/AVC Encoders

The H.264/AVC video coding standard contains a number of advanced features. Ones of the new features introduced in this standard is the multiple intra-mode prediction. Its function exploits directional spatial correlation with adjacent block for intra prediction. With this new features, intra coding of H.264/AVC offers a considerably higher improvement in coding efficiency compared to other compression standard, but computational complexity is increased significantly when brut force rate distortion optimization (RDO) algorithm is used. In this paper, we propose a new fast intra prediction mode decision method for the complexity reduction of H.264 video coding. for luma intra prediction, the proposed method consists of two step: in the first step, we make the RDO for four mode of intra 4x4 block, based the distribution of RDO cost of those modes and the idea that the fort correlation with adjacent mode, we select the best mode of intra 4x4 block. In the second step, we based the fact that the dominating direction of a smaller block is similar to that of bigger block, the candidate modes of 8x8 blocks and 16x16 macroblocks are determined. So, in case of chroma intra prediction, the variance of the chroma pixel values is much smaller than that of luma ones, since our proposed uses only the mode DC. Experimental results show that the new fast intra mode decision algorithm increases the speed of intra coding significantly with negligible loss of PSNR. Keywords—Intra prediction, H264/AVC, video coding, encoder complexity.
Cascading Spatio-temporal Pattern Discovery: A Summary of Results

Abstract : Given a collection of Boolean spatio-temporal(ST) event types, the cascading spatio-temporal pattern (CSTP) discovery process finds partially ordered subsets of event-types whose instances are located together and occur in stages. For example, analysis of crime datasets may reveal frequent occurrence of misdemeanors and drunk driving after bar closings on weekends and after large gatherings such as football games. Discovering CSTPs from ST datasets is important for application domains such as public safety (e.g. crime attractors and generators) and natural disaster planning (e.g. hurricanes). However, CSTP discovery is challenging for several reasons, including both the lack of computationally efficient, statistically meaningful metrics to quantify interestingness, and the large cardinality of candidate pattern sets that are exponential in the number of event types. Existing literature for ST data mining focuses on mining totally ordered sequences or unordered subsets. In contrast, this paper models CSTPs as partially ordered subsets of Boolean ST event types. We propose a new CSTP interest measure (the Cascade Participation Index) that is computationally cheap(O(n2) vs. exponential, where n is the dataset size) as well as statistically meaningful. We propose a novel algorithm exploiting the ST nature of datasets and evaluate filtering strategies to quickly prune uninteresting candidates. We present a case study to find CSTPs from real crime reports and provide a statistical explanation. Experimental results indicate that the proposed multiresolution spatio-temporal(MST) filtering strategy leads to significant savings in computational costs.
Safety and immunological effects of mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in patients with multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the feasibility, safety, and immunological effects of intrathecal and intravenous administration of autologous mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) (also called mesenchymal stromal cells) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). DESIGN A phase 1/2 open-safety clinical trial. Patients Fifteen patients with MS (mean [SD] Expanded Disability Status Scale [EDSS] score, 6.7 [1.0]) and 19 with ALS (mean [SD] Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Functional Rating Scale [ALSFRS] score, 20.8 [8.0]) were enrolled. Intervention After culture, a mean (SD) of 63.2 × 10(6) (2.5 × 10(6)) MSCs was injected intrathecally (n = 34) and intravenously (n = 14). In 9 cases, MSCs were magnetically labeled with the superparamagnetic iron oxide ferumoxides (Feridex). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The main outcome measure was the recording of side effects. Follow-up (≤25 months) included adverse events evaluation, neurological disability assessment by means of the EDSS, magnetic resonance imaging to exclude unexpected pathologies and track the labeled stem cells, and immunological tests to assess the short-term immunomodulatory effects of MSC transplantation. RESULTS Twenty-one patients had injection-related adverse effects consisting of transient fever, and 15 reported headache. No major adverse effects were reported during follow-up. The mean ALSFRS score remained stable during the first 6 months of observation, whereas the mean (SD) EDSS score improved from 6.7 (1.0) to 5.9 (1.6). Magnetic resonance imaging visualized the MSCs in the occipital horns of the ventricles, indicating the possible migration of ferumoxides-labeled cells in the meninges, subarachnoid space, and spinal cord. Immunological analysis revealed an increase in the proportion of CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cells, a decrease in the proliferative responses of lymphocytes, and the expression of CD40(+), CD83(+), CD86(+), and HLA-DR on myeloid dendritic cells at 24 hours after MSC transplantation. CONCLUSION Transplantation of MSCs in patients with MS and ALS is a clinically feasible and relatively safe procedure and induces immediate immunomodulatory effects. Trial Registration clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00781872.
Inhibitory effect of novel pyrazole carboxamide derivatives on human carbonic anhydrase enzyme

The synthesis, characterization and biological evaluation of novel pyrazole carboxamide derivatives (2–9) are presented. 1H and 13C NMR have been used for the structure description, possible tautomeric structures determination and hydrogen bonding observation. FT-IR results have confirmed the synthesis of the pyrazole derivatives while thermal gravimetric analysis has confirmed thermal stability up to 300°C. The melting temperatures are strongly dependent on their crystal structure as confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction measurements. Impacts of 2–9 as possible antiglaucoma agents were investigated on carbonic anhydrase I and II (CA-I and II) isozymes purified from human erythrocytes in vitro. Compounds 3 and 9 had the highest inhibitory effect while compounds 6 and 8 showed the lowest inhibition.