Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Media in Public Opinion Research Executive Summary of the Aapor Task Force on Emerging Technologies in Public Opinion Research

Public opinion research is entering a new era, one in which traditional survey research may play a less dominant role. The proliferation of new technologies, such as mobile devices and social-media platforms, is changing the societal landscape across which public opinion researchers operate. As these technologies expand, so does access to users� thoughts, feelings, and actions expressed instantaneously, organically, and often publicly across the platforms they use. The ways in which people both access and share information about opinions, attitudes, and behaviors have gone through a greater transformation in the past decade than perhaps in any previous point in history, and this trend appears likely to continue. The ubiquity of social media and the opinions users express on social media provide researchers with new data-collection tools and alternative sources of qualitative and quantitative information to augment or, in some cases, provide alternatives to more traditional data-collection methods. The reasons to consider social media in public opinion and survey research are no different than those of any alternative method. We are ultimately concerned with answering research questions, and this often requires the collection of data in one form or another. This may involve the analysis of data to obtain qualitative insights or quantitative estimates. The quality of data and the ability to help accurately answer research questions are of paramount concern. Other practical considerations include the cost efficiency of the method and the speed at which the data can be collected, analyzed, and disseminated. If the combination of data quality, cost efficiency, and timeliness required by a study can best be achieved through the use of social media, then there is reason to consider these methods for research. An additional reason to consider social media in public opinion and survey research is its explosion in popularity over the past several years. �
Computer Vision for Reconstructive Plastic Surgery

High energy traumatic impact of the craniofacial skeleton is an inevitable consequence of today’s fast paced society. The work presented in this paper leverages recent advances in computer vision, computer visualization and computer aided design/manufacturing to reduce the fractures and reconstruct the craniofacial skeleton and reduce the fractures in silico. More specifically, the work has two objectives. The first is to design surface matching algorithms to reduce the distances separating the two opposable fracture surfaces both in 2D and 3D when imaged using Computer Tomography (CT). The second is to develop a Graphical User Interface (GUI) that will permit a plastic surgeon to perform the surgery in a virtual environment i.e., in silico before performing it on a physical patient. The resulting software could be potentially used as a tool for ex vivo surgical planning as well as an instructional tool for training surgery residents and students. Index Terms – Surface Matching, Computer Vision, Graphical User Interface, Virtual Surgery.
Production of single-stranded DNA templates by exonuclease digestion following the polymerase chain reaction.

The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) has been widely used to amplify specific segments of DNA without recourse to conventional cloning procedures (1). Recently, Gyllensten and Erlich (2) have described procedures for generating singlestranded DNA for sequence analysis by PCR. Their methods employ unequal molar amounts of the two amplification primers in order to produce an excess of one of the strands of DNA. However, the amount and quality of suitable sequencing template obtained is dependent on the particular primers and/or source DNA in the initial reaction. We have devised a simple method, not dependent on primer ratios, for generating single-stranded DNA from double-stranded PCR products. The basis for this technique is that one of the primers is kinased prior to PCR or synthesized with a 5' terminal phosphate (3). After PCR amplification, the double-stranded product is treated with lambda exonuclease, a 5' to 3' nuclease that specifically attacks double-stranded DNA only if there is a 5' terminal phosphate (4). Therefore, the strand of DNA synthesized from the phosphorylated primer is digested by the exonuclease leaving the complementary strand which can be sequenced by standard methods. The accompanying figure shows a portion of the DNA sequence of the gene encoding GAPDH (glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) from Salmonella typhimurium produced by the following method: 50 pmoles of a 20 basepair oligonucleotide complementary to the 3' end of the gene encoding GAPDH was kinased in the presence of a molar excess of ATP. This primer was collected by ethanol precipitation and centrifugation, and used with A an equal amount of an opposing primer for the amplification of the GAPDH gene by PCR (1). The double-stranded PCR product was extracted with phenol, precipitated with ethanol and treated with 4 units of lambda exonuclease (BRL) in 50 pl of a 67mM glycineNaOH (pH 9.4), 2.5 mM MgCl2 buffer for 15 minutes at 37°C. The sample, now single-stranded, was extracted twice with phenol, precipitated with ethanol and sequenced using Sequenase following . ,% the manufacturer's protocol (USB). The sequencing reaction contained 5 pmoles of the 3' GAPDH primer and 500 ng of template DNA and extended at least 250 basepairs.
Treatment Effects of Fast ForWord® Demonstrated by Magnetoencephalography (MEG) in a Child with Developmental Dyslexia

Treatment effects of Fast ForWord®, hypothesized to ameliorate temporal processing deficits, were demonstrated by magnetoencephalography in a child with dyslexia using four paradigms: Word/Non-word Reading (NW), Grapheme-to-Phoneme Matching (GP), Verbal, and Spatial Working Memory (VWM, SWM). Shifts in brain activation from right inferior frontal and temporal to left frontal, bilateral supramarginal, and transverse temporal regions occurred during GP. During NW, shifts progressed from (1) right or bilateral anterior and superior to (2) left, inferior frontal, to (3) left, superior posterior temporoparietal, to (4) left, inferior, posterior temporooccipital regions. Reading and written language improvements were noted in passage comprehension and spelling.
SAT-Based Consistency Checking of Automotive Electronic Product Data

Complex products such as motor vehicles or computers need to be configured as part of the sales process [3, 8]. If the sale is electronic, then the configuration and some validity checking of the order must be done electronically as part of an electronic product data management system (EPDMS). The EPDMS typically maintains a data base of sales options and parts together with a set of logical constraints expressing valid combinations of sales options and their transformation into manufacturable products. Due to the complexity of these constraints, creation and maintenance of the configuration data base is a nontrivial task and error-prone. We present our system BIS which is commercially used to check global consistency assertions about the product data base used by the EPDMS of a major car and truck manufacturer. The EPDMS uses Boolean logic to encode the constraints, and BIS translates the consistency assertions into problems which it solves using a propositional satisfiability checker. We expect our approach to be especially suited for rapidly changing complex products as they increasingly appear in electronic commerce.
Testing a path model for antecedents of accountability

Purpose – The purpose of this research paper was to examine the construct of accountability and its impact leadership development initiative in an upward feedback framework. Previous research has suggested that accountability may be an important moderator of the relationship between upward feedback and self‐development. However, there has been little research examining the construct of accountability and this study sought to modify that.Design/methodology/approach – Within the context of upward feedback the present study examined the impact of two contextual antecedents of accountability (LMX and feedback environment) and self‐development initiative as an outcome of accountability in a path model framework. Survey methodology was used to assess the constructs of interest and the results were analyzed with regression‐based path modeling.Findings – The results indicate the path model was partially supported by the data: the feedback environment and LMX were related to accountability and accountability was r.
Knowledge producers or knowledge consumers? Argumentation and decision making about environmental management

This paper describes a case study involving decision making and argumentation, in the context of wetland environmental management, by 11th-grade students (16-17 years old). The purpose was to study the components of knowledge and skills needed to reach a decision in socio-scientific contexts and to identify them in classroom discourse. The following dimensions of decision making were explored: the use of relevant knowledge to understand and make decisions about the problem; and the critical processing of sources of information and authority and the development of criteria for evaluating possible solutions to the problem. Students' conversations were recorded and analysed using Toulmin's (1958) and Walton's (1996) argument schemes. The students' arguments and warrants were compared with the argument of an external 'official' expert. Issues such as expert status, that is, who can be considered as a source of knowledge and authority and the participation of citizens in scientific practice are also discussed.
Line detection and segmentation in historical church registers

For being able to automatically acquire the information recorded in church registers and other historical scriptures, the writing on these documents has to be recognized. This paper describes algorithms for transforming the paper documents into a representation of text apt to be used as input for an automatic text recognizer. The automatic recognition of old handwritten scriptures is difficult for two main reasons. Lines of text in general are not straight and ascenders and descenders of adjacent lines interfere. The algorithms described in this paper provide ways to reconstruct the path of the lines of text using an approach of gradually constructing line segments until a unique line of text is formed. In addition, the single lines are segmented and an output in form of a raster image is provided. The method was applied to church registers. They were written between the 17th and 19th Century. Line segmentation was found to be successful in 97% of all samples.
AAP updates policy statement on athletic participation by children and adolescents with systemic hypertension.

The most common cardiovascular condition in competitive athletes is hypertension. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) updated its policy statement using new recommendations made in the 2005 36th Bethesda Conference guidelines; the 2004 Fourth Report on the Diagnosis, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure in Children and Adolescents; and the 2003 Seventh Report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure.
Accepted for Publication in Ieee Transactions on Signal Processing 1 Robust Qos-constrained Optimization of Downlink Multiuser Miso Systems

—The knowledge of the channel at the transmit side of a communication system can be exploited by using precoding techniques, from which the overall transmission quality might benefit significantly. However, in practical wireless systems, the channel state information is prone to errors, which sometimes deteriorates the performance drastically. In this paper, we address the problem of robust transceiver design in a downlink multiuser system, with respect to the erroneous channel knowledge at the transmitter. The base station is equipped with an antenna array, while users have single antennas. The transceiver optimization is performed under a set of predefined users' quality-of-service constraints , defined as maximum mean square errors, or minimum signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios, which must be satisfied for all disturbances that belong to given, bounded uncertainty sets. Efficient numerical solutions are obtained using semidefinite programming methods from convex optimization theory. The proposed algorithms are found to outperform related approaches in the literature in terms of the achieved performance, while maintaining low computational complexity. The studied uncertainty models are applicable in mitigating typical errors that emerge as a result of quantization or channel estimation.
Putative Novel Genotype of Avian Hepatitis E Virus, Hungary, 2010

To explore the genetic diversity of avian hepatitis E virus strains, we characterized the near-complete genome of a strain detected in 2010 in Hungary, uncovering moderate genome sequence similarity with reference strains. Public health implications related to consumption of eggs or meat contaminated by avian hepatitis E virus, or to poultry handling, require thorough investigation.
Change management lessons learned for Lean IT implementations

Lean Management is a standard production mode that has been familiar to production organizations for several decades. To date, however, academic literature has presented surprisingly little information about the application of Lean Management in Information Technology (IT) organizations, or what is called Lean IT. Drawing upon an empirical qualitative case study of the IT departments of two multinational companies, in this paper we identify change management lessons learned for Lean IT implementations, as well as seven characteristics of a corresponding change management approach. As an extension of our work, researchers should validate and expand our initial findings, preferably in a quantitative setting.
Neuroprotection with delayed calpain inhibition after transient forebrain ischemia

Objective:Delayed neurodegeneration after transient global brain ischemia offers a therapeutic window for inhibiting molecular injury mechanisms. One such mechanism is calpain-mediated proteolysis, which peaks 24 to 48 hrs after transient forebrain ischemia in rats. This study tests the hypothesis that delayed calpain inhibitor therapy can reduce brain calpain activity and neurodegeneration after transient forebrain ischemia. Design:Prospective randomized placebo-controlled animal trial. Setting:University research laboratory. Subjects:Adult male Long-Evans rats. Interventions:Rats subjected to 10-min transient forebrain ischemia were randomized to intravenous infusion of calpain inhibitor CEP-3453 or vehicle beginning 22 hrs after injury. Measurements and Main Results:In a dose-response study, a 60 mg/kg bolus followed by 30 mg/kg infusion was required to reduce postischemic brain calpain activity measured by Western blot of hippocampal homogenates at 48 hrs after injury. The same dosing protocol decreased degeneration of CA1 pyramidal neurons measured at 72 hrs after injury. Conclusions:These results suggest a causal role for calpains in delayed postischemic neurodegeneration, and demonstrate a broad therapeutic window for calpain inhibition in this model.
Improvement in the Relationship between Flow to Ischemic Myocardium and the Extent of Necrosis with Glycolytic Intermediates that Decrease Blood Oxygen Affinity in Dogs

Reducing blood oxygen affinity may enhance myoc-ardial oxygen delivery during ischemia. We evaluated this hypothesis in awake, previously instrumented dogs that received a 20 ml/kg infusion of a solution of dihydroxyacetone, phosphate, and pyruvate after acute occlusion of either the left anterior descending or circumflex coronary artery. This infusion reduced blood oxygen affinity (BOA) alter 2 hours; the PM increased from 29.9 ± 0.7 torr (mean ± SD) to 32.1 ± 0.6 torr; P < 0.01 (↓BOA group). Four dogs received 20 ml/kg of phosphate and pyruvate solution to assess volume effects (V group), and five dogs were controls (C group). The 2-hour PM values in V and C were unchanged. Regional flow (15-fim spheres) reduction 2 hours postocclusion was compared to the percent tissue infarcted determined by histology 7–9 days after occlusion for multiple samples from the endocardial layer of the left ventricle. When flow was less than 40% of normal, V and C had 55% infarction while J, BOA had 37% (P < 0.05); at flow less than 20% of normal, V and C had 79% infarction while tBOA had 38% (P < 0.001); and at less than 10% of normal, V and C had 87% and 94% infarction, respectively, while I BOA had 58% (P < 0.001). Reducing blood oxygen affinity after coronary artery occlusion significantly decreased the extent of myocardial necrosis for the same degree of ischemia. Reducing BOA may increase oxygen delivery to ischemic myocardium when flow is restricted.
Towards multi-modal intention interfaces for human-robot co-manipulation

This paper presents a novel approach for human-robot cooperation in tasks with dynamic uncertainties. The essential element of the proposed method is a multi-modal interface that provides the robot with the feedback about the human motor behaviour in real-time. The human muscle activity measurements and the arm force manipulability properties encode the information about the motion and impedance, and the intended configuration of the task frame, respectively. Through this human-in-the-loop framework, the developed hybrid controller of the robot can adapt its actions to provide the desired motion and impedance regulation in different phases of the cooperative task. We experimentally evaluate the proposed approach in a two-person sawing task that requires an appropriate complementary behaviour from the two agents.
Net Power Control Based on Linear Matrix Inequality for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell System

An analysis for net power characterization of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system is developed with Ballard 1.2-kW Nexa power module. A net power control (NPC) strategy based on the linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach is proposed to achieve optimal oxygen excess ratio (OER). The H∞ suboptimal control problem is solved by LMI and the simulations are carried out under different conditional tests. The results verify that the proposed strategy can track the optimal OER trajectory and reduce the parasitic power as the running process of electrical vehicle is simulated. The comparisons testify that the NPC has better robust performance and less settling time in the presence of large disturbances and environmental noises. Therefore, the proposed strategy will provide a novel approach to increase the net power for the PEMFC system.
MIXED MNL MODELS FOR DISCRETE RESPONSE

This paper considers mixed, or random coefficients, multinomial logit (MMNL) models for discrete response, and establishes the following results. Under mild regularity conditions, any discrete choice model derived from random utility maximization has choice probabilities that can be approximated as closely as one pleases by a MMNL model. Practical estimation of a parametric mixing family can be carried out by Maximum Simulated Likelihood Estimation or Method of Simulated Moments, and easily computed instruments are provided that make the latter procedure fairly efficient. The adequacy of a mixing specification can be tested simply as an omitted variable test with appropriately defined artificial variables. An application to a problem of demand for alternative vehicles shows that MMNL provides a flexible and computationally practical approach to discrete response analysis. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Novel echocardiographic indicator for potential cardioembolic stroke

In many cardioembolic strokes (CSs), the specific embolic source is uncertain. Despite the high mortality of CS, not enough attention is paid to its potential source. Although atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common source of embolism, more complex and dynamic multiplicities may influence CS. The aim of this study was to evaluate novel indicators of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) that have additional value for detecting CS.
A short questionnaire for measuring the quality of patient visits to family practices.

OBJECTIVE To describe a short questionnaire for measuring the quality of patient visits to family physician practices, and to assess the questionnaire's validity and reliability. DESIGN Multi-stage research was carried out in three phases: Phase I--qualitative research based on 36 in-depth interviews; Phase II--quantitative research using a questionnaire to survey 360 respondents; and Phase III--quantitative research using a shortened version of the questionnaire to survey 1330 respondents. The reliability of the questionnaire was measured by using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. SETTING Family physician practices in Poland. PARTICIPANTS Adult patients of family physicians. INTERVENTION None. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The patient-doctor relationship and primary health care availability. RESULTS A final questionnaire was produced with 16 items in three components: (1) patient-doctor relationship and consultation outcome; (2) barriers and difficulties; and (3) accessibility of care. For each component, the Cronbach's alpha values were 0.92, 0.82 and 0.64, respectively. The overall reliability for all 16 items was 0.92. CONCLUSIONS The Quality of Visit to Family Physician questionnaire is a reliable tool that can be used by family physicians to obtain feedback from patients about patient-doctor relationships and visit outcomes, barriers and difficulties experienced by patients in seeking family physician care, and the availability of care.
Uterine Epithelial Cells Specifically Induce Interferon-Stimulated Genes in Response to Polyinosinic-Polycytidylic Acid Independently of Estradiol

Interferon β (IFNβ) is an antiviral cytokine secreted in response to pathogenic exposure that creates a restrictive intracellular environment through the action of downstream interferon-stimulated genes (ISG). The objective of this study was to examine the expression of IFNβ and ISG in both human uterine epithelial cells (UEC) and the ECC-1 uterine epithelial cell line and determine if expression changes with TLR stimulation and hormone exposure. Stimulation of primary uterine epithelial cells and ECC-1 cells with the TLR3 agonist poly (I∶C) induced the mRNA expression of IFNβ, MxA, OAS2 and PKR. Other TLR agonists including imiquimod and CpG had no effect on either IFNβ or ISG expression. In contrast to ECC-1 cell responses which were slower, maximal IFNβ upregulation in UEC occurred 3 hours post-stimulation and preceded the ISG response which peaked approximately 12 hours after poly (I∶C) exposure. Unexpectedly, estradiol, either alone or prior to treatment with poly (I∶C), had no effect on IFNβ or ISG expression. Blockade of the IFN receptor abrogated the upregulation of MxA, OAS2 and PKR. Furthermore, neutralizing antibodies against IFNβ partially inhibited the upregulation of all three ISG. Estradiol, directly and in the presence of poly (I∶C) had no effect on IFNβ and ISG expression. These results indicate that uterine epithelial cells are important sentinels of the innate immune system and demonstrate that uterine epithelial cells are capable of mounting a rapid IFN-mediated antiviral response that is independent of estradiol and is therefore potentially sustained throughout the menstrual cycle to aid in the defense of the uterus against potential pathogens.