Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prevalence of illicit drug use in young Australian women, patterns of use and associated risk factors.

OBJECTIVES To estimate the prevalence of illicit drug use in young Australian women, determine their patterns of drug use and identify associated risk factors. METHODS Data were collected in 2000 as part of the second survey of the youngest cohort in the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health (n = 9512). RESULTS Among women aged 22-27 years, 58% reported having used an illicit drug at some time with most (57%) having used cannabis. Amphetamines (16%), ecstasy/designer drugs (15%) and LSD (14%) were the next three most commonly used drugs. Four different patterns of drug use were identified: past users of cannabis only (39%); current users of cannabis only (17%); past multiple drug users (13%) and current multiple drug users (31%). Living in a de-facto relationship or never being married, living with non-family members, a history of physical abuse, sexual intercourse, smoking and binge drinking were associated significantly with exclusive use of cannabis and with use of multiple drugs compared to never using illicit drugs. Living with a partner, experience of sexual or emotional abuse, pregnancy, diagnosis of depression and taking sleeping medication were associated significantly with being a multiple drug user, but not for exclusive cannabis use. Multiple drug users had, on average, used cannabis 2-3 years before using any other drug. CONCLUSIONS Given the strong association found between smoking, heavy drinking and drug use of varied patterns, public health initiatives targeted at preventing young women from smoking and drinking should additionally target illicit drug use.
A Hybrid Recommender System Using Weighted Ensemble Similarity Metrics and Digital Filters

Recommender Systems aim to predict the rating or preference of a user given to an item and provide suggestions of further resources that are likely to be of interest. The critical part of the recommender algorithm is finding the similarity metrics, which yield predictions with different accuracies and varieties. In the case of high dimensional feature space, the recommender systems using traditional similarity metrics suffer from several problems such as cold-start problem, scalability, over-specialization and data imbalance. In this paper, a recommender system using weighted ensemble hybrid similarity metric model is proposed by combining two or more traditional similarity metrics such as Pearson correlation, log-likelihood and Tanimoto coefficient. The digital filter is extended and adapted in order to handle the posterior intractability and spatial smoothing of high dimensional recommender space. The proposed recommender system is implemented using Apache Mahout. The evaluation of the model has been done using three large MovieLens datasets consist of 100 thousand ratings, 1 Million ratings and 10 Million ratings. We provide a quantitative and a qualitative evaluation. Interesting conclusions were extracted from the real-time execution of the proposed system on the above-mentioned data sets. The comparison with the results obtained from the traditional recommender systems shows that the proposed system achieved significant improvement in the accuracy for large data sets.
The Efficacy of Somatic Symptoms in Assessing Depression in Older Primary Care Patients

Abstract This investigation tested the hypothesis that somatic symptoms such as reduced energy, loss of interest, and sleep disturbance are accurate indices of depression in older medical patients. The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form General Health Survey (SF-20) were administered to 90 primary care older patients of a large HMO. Exploratory factor analysis of the BDI-II identified three factors (Cognitive/Distress, Depressed Mood, and Somatic). A second-order factor analysis confirmed that all somatic items contributed to the second-order factor of depression. Item analyses also supported the consistency, severity discrimination, and classification efficiency of somatic items. These findings suggest that somatic symptoms, including fatigue, anhedonia, loss of interest, sleep disturbance, and concentration problems should be included when assessing older primary care patients for depression. Although these symptoms may be signs of physical decline, presentation of these symptoms warrants a more complete evaluation of depression in elderly medical patients.
Tomasa’s Traumatic Memories in La voz dormida

Abstract This study aims to give the reader of Dulce Chacón’s novel La voz dormida a foundational understanding of trauma memory theories developed by Shoshana Felman, Dori Laub, Cathy Caruth, and Dominick LaCapra. This knowledge provides the basis for a framework that will allow us to comprehend how Chacón develops Tomasa’s struggle to engage with her traumatic recollections as a literary figuration of the very real pain and suffering many republican women experienced during the Francoist regime. The characterization of Tomasa not only gives the novel a great narrative force, but also offers the reader the possibility to share the experience of thousands of victims of Francoism. Abstract Este estudio busca poner al alcance del lector de la novela de Dulce Chacón un conocimiento fundamental de las teorías sobre la memoria traumática desarrolladas por Shoshana Felman, Dori Laub, Cathy Caruth y Dominick LaCapra. Este marco teórico servirá como base de una clave de lectura que permitirá comprender cómo Chacón desarrolla el personaje de Tomasa en su lucha para enfrentarse a sus recuerdos traumáticos, figuración literaria del dolor y del sufrimiento real que muchas mujeres republicanas experimentaron durante el régimen franquista. La caracterización de Tomasa no sólo da a la novela una gran fuerza narrativa sino que también ofrece al lector la posibilidad de compartir la experiencia de miles de víctimas del franquismo.
Training in Self-Explanation and Self-Regulation Strategies: Investigating the Effects of Knowledge Acquisition Activities on Problem Solving

Previous research has found positive correlations between particular strategies students use while studying to explain instructional materials to themselves and student performance on associated problem-solving tasks (Chi, Bassok, Lewis, Reimann, & Glaser, 1989; Pirolli & Bielaczyc, 1989; Pirolli & Recker, 1994). In the study reported here, we investigate the causal nature of this relation. This was accomplished by identifying a set of self-explanation and self-regulation strategies used by high-performance students in our earlier studies. We used strategy training to manipulate students' application of these strategies and examined the impact of their use on student explanations and performance. Twenty-four university students with no prior programming experience worked through a sequence of programming lessons. Following introductory lessons, participants received interventions involving explicit training in the strategies (instructional group) or received a similar set of interventions but no explicit .
USH2A Mutation analysis in 70 Dutch families with Usher syndrome type II

Usher syndrome type II (USH2) is characterised by moderate to severe high‐frequency hearing impairment, progressive visual loss due to retinitis pigmentosa and intact vestibular responses. Three loci are known for USH2, however, only the gene for USH2a (USH2A) has been identified. Mutation analysis of USH2A was performed in 70 Dutch USH2 families. Ten mutations in USH2A were detected, of which three are novel, c.949C>A, c.2242C>T (p.Gln748X) and c.4405C>T (p.Gln1468X). Including 9 previously published Dutch USH2a families, estimates of the prevalence of USH2a in the Dutch USH2 population were made. Mutations were identified in 62% of the families. In 28% both mutated alleles were identified, whereas in 34% the mutation in only one allele was found. It is estimated that about 28% of the Dutch USH2 families have a different causative gene. Analysis of deduced haplotypes suggests that c.1256G>T (p.Cys419Phe) is a Dutch ancestral mutation, occurring in 16% of the alleles. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Knockout of αA-crystallin inhibits ocular neovascularization.

PURPOSE The present study aimed to investigate the effects of αA-crystallin on pathologic ocular neovascularization. METHODS Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were used for the in vitro study, and αA-crystallin-knockout (CRYAA[-/-]) mice were used for the in vivo study. αA-crystallin was knocked down in HUVECs by using a specific small interfering RNA (siRNA), and the effects of αA-crystallin knockdown on proliferation, migration, tube formation, and apoptosis were evaluated. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays were performed to investigate extracellular concentrations of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). In vivo mouse models of oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) and laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV) were generated by using CRYAA(-/-) mice. The nonperfused area in the OIR model was measured in flat-mounted retinas, and angiogenesis resulting in CNV was evaluated in retinal sections. Western blot analysis was performed to investigate the phosphorylation status of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2 (VEGFR2, high affinity receptor for VEGF), AKT, PLCγ1, FAK, Src, p42/p44MAPK, p38MAPK, caspase-3, and caspase-9 in cultured HUVECs, as well as in the OIR and CNV models. RESULTS The CRYAA siRNA not only induced HUVEC apoptosis but also inhibited exogenous and endogenous VEGF-induced cell activities, including proliferation, migration, and tube formation. Pathologic neovascularization was attenuated in the CRYAA(-/-) murine OIR and CNV models. Both in vitro and in vivo, the inhibition of angiogenesis was mediated by the suppression of VEGF secretion and the inhibition of the VEGFR2 signaling pathway; VEGFR2, AKT, PLCγ1, FAK, Src, p42/p44 MAPK, and p38 MAPK all showed reduced phosphorylation levels. In addition, CRYAA knockout led to increased levels of cleaved caspase-9 and caspase-3. CONCLUSIONS Knockout of αA-crystallin inhibited pathologic neovascularization through the VEGF and VEGFR2 signaling pathways both in vitro and in vivo. These results suggest that αA-crystallin could be a novel pharmaceutical target for the prevention of ocular neovascularization.
Social Networks and Participation in Social Activities at a New Senior Center: Reaching Out to Older Adults Who Could Benefit the Most

ABSTRACT This study examined social network characteristics associated with older adults' intentions to participate and actual participation in social activities at a new senior center. Face-to-face interviews (N = 126) were conducted prior to the opening of a senior center in the participants' community. Measures included social network characteristics, social support, social connectedness, and demographic characteristics. Actual participation was assessed approximately 14 months after the senior center's opening. Smaller proportions of network members living in close proximity, having 10% or more network members be children, higher perceived availability of social support, and lower perceived levels of social connectedness were associated with higher intentions to participate in social activities. Levels of intention did not significantly predict actual participation. Older adults with little social support may not perceive senior centers as places to gain desired support. However, individuals who lack companionship may perceive them as a resource for boosting their social engagement.
5 Source Characterization of Mendocino Offshore Earthquakes for Improvements in Monitoring Active Deformation and Estimates of Earthquake Potential in the Mendocino Triple Junction Region

The Mendocino Triple Junction (MTJ), a fault-faulttrench junction, is one of the most seismogenic regions of California. The MTJ region has experienced a number of different fault slips (Figure 2.9), such as aseismic slip events (Szeliga et al., 2004), non-volcanic tremors (Boyarko and Brudzinski, 2010), slow/low-stress-drop earthquakes (Guilhem et al., 2007), deep low-frequency earthquakes (Boyarko and Brudzinski, 2010), and characteristically repeating microearthquakes (Waldhauser and Schaff, 2008). Apparently, the small-magnitude ambient seismicity (regular and characteristically repeating microearthquakes) is spatially anticorrelated with the distribution of non-volcanic tremor sources and lowfrequency events (Boyarko and Brudzinski, 2010). However, the locations of those fault slips are not well constrained because of greater distances between the offshore fault slips and the available land seismic stations. Subsequently, the nature of interactions between seismic and aseismic deformation processes remains unclear. We seek to integrate secondary phase arrivals with a local three-dimensional structure (Hole et al., 2000) for improving the locations of fault slips, especially characteristically repeating earthquakes whose locations would delineate regions of locked fault zones. Additionally, repeating earthquake systematics (frequency and magnitude) can be used to estimate deep fault creep rates. Here we show an example of results from our frequencywavenumber analysis and the preliminary result for the identification of characteristically repeating earthquakes.
Bag-of-words classification of miniature illustrations

In this paper a system for illuminated manuscripts images analysis is presented. In particular the bag-of-keypoints strategy, commonly adopted for object recognition, image classification and scene recognition, is applied to the classification of automatically extracted miniatures. Pictures are characterized by SURF descriptors, and a classification procedure is performed, comparing the results of Naïve Bayes and histogram intersection distance measures.
Anechoic phase estimation from reverberant signals

Most dereverberation methods aim to reconstruct the anechoic magnitude spectrogram, given a reverberant signal. Regardless of the method, the dereverberated signal is systematically synthesized with the reverberant phase. This corrupted phase reintroduces reverberation and distortion in the signal. This is why we intend to also reconstruct the anechoic phase, given a reverberant signal. Before processing speech signals, we propose in this paper a method for estimating the anechoic phase of reverberant chirp signals. Our method presents an accurate estimation of the instantaneous phase and improves objective measures of dereverberation.
Use of Web 2.0 tools in teaching

Using information and communication technology (ICT) is unavoidable in today's learning and teaching process at all levels of education, and the use of Web 2.0 tools is the evidence of it. What makes Web 2.0 tools very appropriate for this purpose is its availability on any computer with an Internet connection, simplicity of use, ease of communication and participant's interaction in education. The ease of communication drives students to use the tools even in their free time stimulating teamwork and creativity. Additionally, the tools are free of charge and may need only user registration and, in many cases, single computer per classroom is enough. To find out to what extent these tools are used in our educational institutions the research was conducted among teachers in the Republic of Croatia (RH) through an online survey. The research results show that majority of teachers use ICT in teaching, but mainly as Power Point presentations. The teachers use Web 2.0 tools several times a week, primarily for exchanging audio and video learning materials. In future, a lot of them plan to use Web 2.0 tools with the aim of encouraging students to increase their participation in educational process through interaction and exchange of educational materials.
Putting the child first how one student teacher negotiated the moral landscape of teaching

Abstract One student teacher's moral development process is uncovered, using a case study approach to capture the participant's internal processes and the constructed social context. The participant was in the first eight‐week placement of her semester‐long student teaching assignment, a kindergarten classroom in a rural public elementary school with a diverse student body. The participant believed that her professional moral responsibility was to “put the child first. ” She believed this included protecting the child's dignity and autonomy, creating a close classroom community, establishing trust between teacher and child, fostering productive communication among all adults in the child's life, and safeguarding the child's health and safety. The participant maintained these priorities in her daily teaching practice and used them in her decision‐making process. However, the decisions that she was required to make during her early weeks of student teaching led to a modified understanding of her values. Democratic discourse and professional autonomy were associated with the process of moral development in this case. Theoretical and practical implications are described.
Feasibility study for an EEG-based semantic tagging game

Semantic tagging of images has a broad spectrum of applications, of both scientific and commercial interest. Experience has indicated that designing t he interaction with human taggers in the form of a web game can be a very effective way to collect val uable tagged data. So far, implementations of such games have depended on explicit, deliberate input b y the users. A novel alternative is presented that doesn’t only use signals from mouse and keyboard, b ut also utilizes brain activity data in the form of electroencephalography (EEG) scans. Brain response data from an earlier experiment [1] is analyzed in an attempt to find and evaluate a measure of sim ilarity between responses of two subjects, suitable for use in a game. From the perspective of the test subjects, depending on the characteristics of the proposed game and the target audience, such a game could spark their interest in a computational approach to cognitive science.
Discrimination of stable isotopes in fin whale tissues and application to diet assessment in cetaceans.

RATIONALE In stable isotope research, the use of accurate, species-specific diet-tissue discrimination factors (i.e., Δ(13)C and Δ(15)N) is central to the estimation of trophic position relative to primary consumers and to the identification of the dietary sources of an individual. Previous research suggested that the diet of fin whales from the waters off northwestern Spain is overwhelmingly based on krill, thus permitting reliable calculation of discrimination values in this wild population. METHODS After confirming that the stable isotope ratios (δ(13)C and δ(15)N values) in muscle from 65 aged fin whales remained constant through age classes (4-65 years), the signatures were determined in muscle, bone protein, skin, liver, kidney, baleen plates and brain, as well as food (krill), from a subset of individuals to calculate discrimination factors. Signatures were determined by means of elemental analysis isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA-IRMS) using a ThermoFinnigan Flash 1112. RESULTS The isotopic values remained constant regardless of age. The mean Δ(15)N values between krill and whale tissues ranged from 2.04 in bone protein to 4.27‰ in brain, and those of Δ(13)C ranged from 1.28 in skin to 3.11‰ in bone protein. This variation was consistent with that found in other groups of mammals, and is attributed to variation in tissue composition and physiology. CONCLUSIONS Because discrimination factors are relatively constant between taxonomically close species, the results here obtained may be reliably extrapolated to other cetaceans to improve dietary reconstructions. The skin discrimination factors are of particular relevance to monitoring diet through biopsies or other non-destructive sampling methods. The large difference in bone protein discrimination factors from those of other tissues should be taken into consideration when bone collagen is used to determine trophic level or to assess diet in paleodietary isotopic reconstructions.
Non‐Isomerized C‐Telopeptide Fragments Are Highly Sensitive Markers for Monitoring Disease Activity and Treatment Efficacy in Paget's Disease of Bone

A new resorption assay measuring non‐isomerized collagen type I C‐telopeptide fragments (α‐α CTX) was evaluated in a cohort comprising 32 Pagetic patients and 48 healthy controls. α‐α CTX was found to be a sensitive marker for assessing disease activity and monitoring treatment efficacy in Paget's disease of bone compared with isomerized CTX (β‐β CTX) and a number of other established bone turnover markers.
Dissociation, Depression and Trauma in Psychiatric Inpatients in Puerto Rico

ABSTRACT This study investigated the frequency of self-reported childhood abuse experiences of psychiatric inpatients, and the presence of dissociative and depressive symptoms. A total of 100 Puerto Rican in-patients who were hospitalized during a two month period were included in the study. The participants' dissociative and depressive symptoms were assessed using the Dissociative Experiences Scale and a subset of its items (DES-Taxon), the Questionnaire of Experiences in Dissociation and the Beck Depression Inventory. We also used a self-report instrument to assess the frequency and severity of a variety of abusive experiences. Seventy-eight percent (78%) of the participants reported some type of abusive experiences, 38% reported extreme and frequent abuse, and 40% reported being sexually abused during childhood. The findings showed a correlation between greater frequency of the abusive experiences and higher levels of dissociative and depressive symptoms. When the variable of child sexual abuse was used, only the Dissociative Experiences Scale was able to detect differences between those patients who reported such abusive experiences and those who reported none. We conclude that the level of abusive experiences reported by psychiatric in-patients in Puerto Rico is very similar to the rate in other investigations in the international literature. The data demonstrate that the participants who report frequent and intense abuse endorse a wide variety of dissociative experiences, and, to a lesser extent, depressive symptoms. As more than 95% of our inpatients had never been screened or assessed for the possibility of a dissociative disorder, we suggest that clinicians in psychiatric units in Latin America should be more sensitive and attentive to the presence of such disorders.
Un co rre cte d Pr oo f RT for Object Categorization Is Predicted by Representational Distance

■ How does the brain translate an internal representation of an object into a decision about the objectʼs category? Recent studies have uncovered the structure of object representations in inferior temporal cortex (IT) using multivariate pattern analysis methods. These studies have shown that representations of individual object exemplars in IT occupy distinct locations in a high-dimensional activation space, with object exemplar representations clustering into distinguishable regions based on category (e.g., animate vs. inanimate objects). In this study, we hypothesized that a representational boundary between category representations in this activation space also constitutes a decision boundary for categorization. We show that behavioral RTs for categorizing objects are well described by our activation space hypothesis. Interpreted in terms of classical and contemporary models of decision-making, our results suggest that the process of settling on an internal representation of a stimulus is itself partially constitutive of decisionmaking for object categorization. ■