Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Tasks in Multiple Sclerosis: Development of an Instrument to Identify the Focus of Patients' Coping Efforts

Objective : Adaptive tasks, referring to the subjective evaluation of disease-related stressors in relation to personal concerns, have been neglected in the extensive literature on coping with chronic disease. In this study, the development of an instrument for measuring adaptive tasks is described: the Questionnaire Adaptive Tasks in Multiple Sclerosis (QuAT-MS). Method : The QuAT-MS is based on a bottom-up categorization of patients' statements on the losses, threats, and challenges brought about by their disease, and employs 10 scales to measure the importance attached to particular disease-related stressors. Validity and reliability of this bottom-up categorization were established in a sample of MS patients ( N = 259) by examining their associations with related concepts relevant in adaptation to disease, such as coping (CISS), coping resources (LOT, self-efficacy), and quality of life (SIP). We also investigated whether patients' backgrounds and disease characteristics were related to adaptive tasks. Results : Adaptive tasks are more closely related with concepts relevant for adaptation (coping and coping resources) than with physical functioning (SIP) and disease-related characteristics (illness duration). Adaptive tasks are also associated with gender and level of education. Conclusion : It is concluded that adaptive tasks can be distinguished from related concepts like coping and quality of life. Furthermore, the QuAT-MS offers a reliable and patient-centred instrument for measuring the tasks which MS patients identify in their adaptation process.
Lattice Modeling and Calibration with Turn-by-Turn Orbit Data

A new method that explores turn-by-turn BPM data to calibrate lattice models of accelerators is proposed. The turn-by-turn phase space coordinates at one location of the ring are first established using data from two BPMs separated by a simple section with a known transfer matrix, such as a drift space. The phase space coordinates are then tracked with the model to predict positions at other BPMs, which can be compared to measurements. The model is adjusted to minimize the difference between the measured and predicted orbit data. BPM gains and rolls are included as fitting variables. This technique can be applied to either the entire or a section of the ring. We have tested the method experimentally on a part of the SPEAR3 ring.
Investment decisions : New descriptive models of bank customers ’ behaviour

This paper reports new experimental and survey data collected from bank customers at several Italian banks. These data aim to uncover the decision processes used by investors, including their investment goals, the information sets they consider, and the number of factors that actually influence high-stakes financial decisions. Most subjects use a strict subset of the information available to them, ignoring variables that standard economic models typically assume drive investors’ behaviour. Rather than random trembling which would predict that omitted variables are dropped at random, fast and information-frugal heuristics appear to explain the information search and decision behaviour of many subjects observed in this study, reflecting a lexicographic hierarchy of risk, time horizon and cost, in that order. A simple combination of a fast and frugal tree and a tallying rule predicts more than 80% of investors’ decisions.
Feedback-based error control for mobile video transmission

We review feedback-based low bit-rate video coding techniques for robust transmission in mobile multimedia networks. For error control on the source coding level, each decoder has to make provisions for error detection, resynchronization, and error concealment, and we review techniques suitable for that purpose. Further, techniques are discussed for intelligent processing of acknowledgment information by the coding control to adapt the source coder to the channel. We review and compare error tracking, error confinement, and reference picture selection techniques for channel-adaptive source coding. For comparison of these techniques, a system for transmitting low bit-rate video over a wireless channel is presented and the performance is evaluated for a range of transmission conditions. We also show how feedback-based source coding can be employed in conjunction with precompressed video stored on a media server. The techniques discussed are applicable to a wide variety of interframe video schemes, including various video coding standards. Several of the techniques have been incorporated into the H.263 video compression standard, and this standard is used as an example throughout.
Commutability of the CRM 470 C-Reactive Protein Value in the Dade Behring N High Sensitivity CRP Assay

Abstract Certified Reference Material 470 (CRM 470) demonstrates commutability with both the manufacturer's calibrator and with dilutions of serum pools in the Dade Behring N High Sensitivity assay for C-reactive protein (CRP). Both regression and back calibration show similar nonlinearity for all materials, largely due to the method of calibration curve fitting used in this assay. Significant differences in values among the currently available commercial assays can be largely overcome by using appropriate calibration curve fitting and the recommended value transfer protocol, which includes a minimum of two assay runs on each of at least 3 separate days, with weight correction of all reconstitutions and dilutions. An initial weight-corrected dilution should be made each day because of the relatively high level of CRP in CRM 470. In our opinion, the degree of nonlinearity, imprecision, and differences in values in currently available assays renders the use of fixed clinical decision cut-points questionable for high-sensitivity CRP. An alternative approach is suggested.
Refining sentence similarity with discourse information in dialog system

The ability to accurately judge the similarity between sentences is important for dialog system development in various areas such as utterance veriﬁcation, context reasoning, utterance clustering. However, standard text similarity measures fail when directly applied to dialog sentences which are usually very short and have many ungrammatical omissions and inversions. This paper presents a method for sentence similarity reﬁning method using discourse similarity of dialog sentences. First, we pro-pose a novel discourse similarity based on the dialog act taxonomy. Given discourse similarity, we then present a novel way of rescoring original sentence score by explicitly adding discourse score to it. Experiments on test data sets demonstrate that the proposed measure signiﬁcantly outperforms traditional similarity scoring measures.
Design and Development of a Low-Cost Test-Bed for Undergraduate Education in UAVs

This article describes the efforts undertaken at the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology for the development of a low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) test-bed for educational purposes. The objective of this test-bed is to provide an avenue for the involvement of undergraduate students (primarily) and graduate students (secondarily) in UAV research. The complete design and development of all hardware interfaces of the UAV platform including the on-board autopilot is presented. Based on flight test data a linear model has been developed for the lateral and longitudinal dynamics.
Characterization of a rat model of Maternal Immune Activation with relevance to schizophrenia in terms of maternal and foetal cytokine responses, adult behavioural outcome and chronic brain inflammation

1 Samenvatting . 2 List of abbreviations . 3 Introduction . 4 1 Schizophrenia . 4 2 Prenatal and perinatal environmental risk factors. 4 3 Common mediating pathways . 5 3.1 General . 5 3.2 Cytokine-mediated effects of prenatal infection . 6 3.3 Additional mechanisms of prenatal infection . 7 4 Animal models of MIA with relevance to schizophrenia . 7 4.1 General . 7 4.2 Poly I:C model of MIA . 8 5 Hypotheses and aims of the study . 11 5.1 Hypotheses . 11 5.2 Aims . 12 5.3 Study design . 12 Materials and Methods . 13 1 Animal ethics . 13 2 Poly I:C dose-response study . 13 2.1 Timed mating and MIA induction . 13 2.2 Sample collection . 13 2.3 Sample processing and cytokine analysis . 14 3 LPS time-course and dose-response study . 16 3.1 Treatment of animals . 16 3.2 Brain collection . 16 3.3 Histology . 16 3.4 Histological analysis . 17 4 Behavioural and histopathological study of poly I:C and control offspring . 18 4.1 Timed mating, MIA induction and follow-up of MIA response . 18 4.2 Behavioural assessment . 18 4.3 Histopathological analysis . 20 5 Statistics . 20 Results . 21 1 Poly I:C dose-response study . 21 1.1 Maternal compartment . 21 1.2 Foetal compartment . 22 2 LPS time-course and dose-response study . 24 2.1 Behavioural findings . 24 2.2 Histological findings . 27 2.3 Correlation of behavioural and histological findings . 30 3 Behavioural and histopathological study of poly I:C and control offspring . 31 3.1 Follow-up of MIA induction . 31 3.2 Behavioural findings . 32 3.3 Histological findings . 38 Discussion . 39 1 Poly I:C dose-response study . 39 1.1 Maternal compartment . 39 1.2 Foetal compartment . 39 1.3 Link between maternal and foetal responses . 41 1.4 Choice of dose and time point of induction . 41 2 LPS time-course and dose-response study . 42 2.1 Sickness behaviour and depression-like behaviour . 42 2.2 Taste avoidance . 43 2.3 Microglia activation . 43 2.4 Link between LPS-induced microglia activation and anhedonia . 44 3 Behavioural and histopathological study of poly I:C and control offspring . 44 3.1 Maternal body weight change following MIA induction . 44 3.2 Behavioural findings . 45 3.3 Histological findings . 48 4 Future perspectives. 49 5 Conclusion . 49 Acknowledgements . 51 References . 51 Appendix . 58
Complete Genome Sequence of the Highly Virulent Aeromonas schubertii Strain WL1483, Isolated from Diseased Snakehead Fish (Channa argus) in China

ABSTRACT We sequenced the complete genome of the highly virulent Aeromonas schubertii strain WL1483, which was isolated from diseased snakehead fish (Channa argus) in China. The full genome sequence of A. schubertii WL1483 is 4,400,034 bp, which encodes 4,376 proteins and contains 195 predicted RNA genes.
The Developmental Psychopathology of Personality Disorders

It is widely recognized among clinicians, researchers, and theorists that interpersonal experiences during childhood, adolescence, and to a lesser extent during adulthood play an important role in personality development. Because every aspect of human existence is profoundly affected by social interaction, and because our lives are defined and structured by our relationships with other people, personality itself is widely viewed as being determined or shaped by these relationships. Personality development is generally understood to take place predominantly during childhood and adolescence, and personality disorders (PDs) accordingly tend to become evident by adolescence or early adulthood (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1968, 1980, 1987, 2000). Epidemiological studies have indicated that personality disorders are fairly prevalent. To a substantial degree, maladaptive personality traits and PDs are likely to result, in part, from disturbances in interpersonal relationships that take place during the formative years of childhood and adolescence. PD prevalence estimates, based on the diagnostic criteria from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th edition, text revision (DSM-IV-TR; APA, 2000), have ranged from approximately 7% to 15% of the adult population and from 6% to 17% of the adolescent population, depending on the diagnostic procedure and the range of PDs assessed (Grant et al., 2004; Johnson, Bromley, Bornstein, & Sneed, in press; Samuels et al., 2002; Torgersen, Kringlen, & Cramer, 2001). There are 10 official DSM-IV PDs (antisocial, avoidant, borderline, dependent, histrionic, narcissistic, paranoid, obsessive-compulsive, schizoid, and schizotypal), and 2 additional PD diagnostic criteria sets included for further study (depressive PD and passive-aggressive or negativistic PD). Each of these PDs has been found in most studies to affect 0.5% to 3% of the adults in the general population, C H A P T E R
A conditional allele of Rspo3 reveals redundant function of R‐spondins during mouse limb development

Summary: R‐spondins are secreted ligands that bind cell surface receptors and activate Wnt/β‐catenin signaling. Human mutations and gene inactivation studies in mice have revealed a role for these four proteins (RSPO1‐4) in diverse developmental processes ranging from sex determination to limb development. Among the genes coding for R‐spondins, only inactivation of Rspo3 shows early embryonic lethality (E10.5 in mice). Therefore, a conditional allele of this gene is necessary to understand the function of R‐spondins throughout murine development. To address this need, we have produced an allele in which loxP sites flank exons 2–4 of Rspo3, allowing tissue‐specific deletion of these exons in the presence of Cre recombinase. We used these mice to investigate the role of Rspo3 during limb development and found that limbs ultimately developed normally in the absence of Rspo3 function. However, severe hindlimb truncations resulted when Rspo3 and Rspo2 mutations were combined, demonstrating redundant function of these genes. genesis 50:741–749, 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
PYTHIA: a knowledge-based system to select scientific algorithms

Problem-solving environments (PSEs) interact with theuser in a language “natural” to the associated discipline,and they provide a high-level abstraction of the underlying,computationally complex model. The knowledge-based system PYTHIAaddresses the problem of (parameter, algorithm) pair selection within ascientific computing domain assuming some minimum user-specifiedcomputational objectives and some characteristics of the given problem.PYTHIA's framework and methodology are general and applicable to anyclass of scientific problems and solvers. PYTHIA is applied in thecontext of Parallel ELLPACK where there are many alternatives for thenumerical solution of elliptic partial differential equations (PDEs). PYTHIA matches the characteristics of the given problem with those ofPDEs in an existing problem population and then uses performanceprofiles of the various solvers to select the appropriate method givenuser-specified error and solution time bounds. The profiles areautomatically generated for each solver of the Parallel ELLPACKlibrary. —Authors' Abstract
Novel SVPWM-based predictive current controller for three-phase grid-connected inverters

Space vector pulse-width modulation (SVPWM) is widely used in the current control of three-phase voltage-source inverters (VSI). However, in grid-connected distributed generation (DG) systems, SVPWM also brings drawbacks to current controllers, such as the compromised output current due to the grid harmonic disturbance and nonlinearity of the system, the lack of inherent over-current protection, etc. In this paper, a novel SVPWM-based predictive current control strategy is proposed for three-phase grid-connected VSI and verified by simulation using PSIM simulation package. The simulation results prove that the proposed current controller offers a high performance even under the influence of the grid harmonics. At the same time, the employed dual-timer sampling scheme not only minimizes the system control delay but also offers an improved response for over-current protection to the system
Dual-Mode Multiple-Band Digital Controller for High-Frequency DC–DC Converter

An integrated digital controller design for dc-dc converter is proposed in this paper. The proposal presents a multiple- band dual-stage (MBDS) delay line A/D converter (ADC) for wide dynamic range of operation with reduced ripple, chip area, and power consumption. This proposal also introduces a novel folding logic for digital error calculation and dual-mode error control PID for improving transient response. A complete closed-loop experimental prototype is demonstrated on a field-programmable-gate- array-based setup. The feasibility and functionality of the proposed digital controller is verified with a closed-loop synchronous buck converter prototype that switches at 1 MHz and regulates over a wide output voltage range of 1.6-3.3 V. The proposed MBDS delay line ADC is fabricated with discrete logic gates and flip-flops. The integrated digital controller is also implemented using standard cell-based design methodology in 0.5-mum CMOS technology. The design reduces 33 % on-chip area compared to an equivalent of 64 tap delay line ADC. The complete digital controller chip takes less than 0.7 mm2 of silicon area and consumes an average current of 92 muA at 1-MHz switching frequency. The voltage-mode digital loop achieves tracking time of less than 10 mus for 1-V step change of the reference voltage and settling time of 20 mus. Post layout simulation and experimental results are demonstrated.
Caregiver burnout among intimate partners of patients with a severe illness: An equity perspective

In the present study, caregiver burnout among the intimate partners of 106 cancer patients and 88 patients with multiple sclerosis was assessed. This study examined how burnout is related to marital quality and perceptions of inequity in the relationship. LISREL analyses showed that higher perceptions of inequity are strongly associated with higher emotional exhaustion and depersonalization, and lower feelings of personal accomplishment. Intimate partners of both cancer patients and patients with multiple sclerosis are relatively likely to experience burnout when they feel that they do not invest or benefit enough in the exchange with their ill partner. The relationship between inequity and burnout held when general marital quality, gender, the duration of the illness, the physical and psychological condition of the ill partner, and support from other persons were controlled for. This study shows that perceptions of equity or balance in the relationship between patients and their intimate partners are important for preventing caregiver burnout and for enhancing positive caregiver experiences.
Binary Plankton Image Classification

In marine biology study, it is important to investigate the distribution of plankton organisms. Because of the overwhelming data size, automatic processing of the large amount of image data collected by underwater image recorders becomes inevitable. However, due to the fragmentation and the large within-class variations of binary plankton images, it is difficult to extract reliable shape features. In this paper, we propose several new shape descriptors and use a normalized multilevel dominant eigenvector estimation method to select a best feature set for binary plankton image classification. We achieve more than 91% classification accuracy in experiments on more than 3000 images
Cross-Country Generalizability of the Role of Metacognitive Knowledge in Students’ Strategy Use and Reading Competence

Background/Context Because metacognitive knowledge includes knowledge about adequate learning strategies, and because an effective use of learning strategies is associated with higher levels of performance, substantial relationships can be assumed between metacognitive knowledge, strategic behavior, and performance. However, such a pattern of results is rarely found in the research literature. In part, this may be due to inadequate indicators of strategy use. Purpose of study Prior research showed that high scores on self-reported strategy use were only mirrored in high levels of performance when students had sufficient metacognitive knowledge. To test the cross-country generalizability of the relationship between metacognitive knowledge, strategy use, and reading competence, we analyzed data from the PISA 2009-study, in which similar measures of metacognitive knowledge as well as of students’ strategy use were used. Research Design The study uses a cross-sectional correlational design. It draws on representative samples of fifteen-year-old students from 34 OECD countries taking part in the PISA 2009 study. The relations between students’ reading competence scores, their metacognitive knowledge as well as their self-reported use of learning strategies were analyzed. We used correlations, mediation, as well as moderator regression analyses to predict students’ reading competence. Findings/Results Results showed consistently moderate to high correlations between meta-cognitive knowledge and reading competence. There were also lower, but still significant, relationships between strategy use and both reading competence and metacognitive knowledge. Testing a “mediator model” with strategy use as a mediator resulted in small but significant effects of strategy use as mediator. Assuming that metacognitive knowledge might be a necessary precondition for effective strategy use, the study tested whether it served as a moderator. Results confirmed this moderator effect for many but not all countries. However, across all countries, there was a consistently high effect of metacognitive knowledge on reading competence, independent of the level of self-reported use of strategies. Conclusions/Recommendations The results are very similar across countries. Taken together, the findings suggest that metacognitive knowledge as measured by a test tapping declarative, conditional and relational strategy knowledge is an important predictor of students’ reading competence, and contributes significantly to our understanding of what helps students to become better readers. Metacognitive knowledge captures the prerequisite of adaptive strategic processing of texts. Increasing students’ knowledge in this domain is a promising approach when it comes to fostering self-regulated reading.
Building Next Generation Service-Oriented Architectures using Argumentation Agents

Motivated by the increased bioinformatics service-based offering on the Grid, we envisage a new model for programming the Grid at a semantic, knowledge-based level of abstraction through the use of argumentative agent technology. In this setting, agents are associated with roles of service requestors, service providers and brokers. This new model provides an enhanced service composition model for grid applications, whereby service requestors, providers and brokers can profit from the dynamic composition of Grid resources and services into executable workflows. This model would thus have considerable impact on existing business practices, by enhancing the role of Grid in current business applications. Within this model, argumentative agents are equipped with methods for negotiation with other agents. Agents act on behalf of their owners, be it in the consumer, provider or broker roles, or a combination thereof. With the support of argumentation processes, they decide how to fulfill the demands of their owners by creating, managing and joining virtual organisations, understood as societies of agents, while pursuing their own goals.