Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Family-Centred Functional Therapy for Children with Cerebral Palsy

In this paper we describe the development and initial evaluation of a family-centred functional approach to therapy for young children with cerebral palsy. The family-centred functional therapy approach is based on theoretical concepts from family-centred service and a systems approach to motor development. Principles of this approach include an emphasis on functional performance, and providing therapy when movement behaviors are amenable to change. Therapy focuses on identifying and changing performance constraints in the task, the child or the environment. Four initial studies were completed to develop and evaluate the feasibility of the family-centred functional therapy approach. Results indicate that children receiving this approach improve in functional performance over the course of intervention. Development of the therapy approach needs to continue to enable therapists to develop methods to identify a broader range of factors that enable or constrain task performance. Further development of specifi.
Gender Dictates the Nuclear Receptor-Mediated Regulation of CYP3A44

The CYP3As are broad-spectrum drug-metabolizing enzymes that are collectively responsible for more than 50% of xenobiotic metabolism. Unlike other CYP3As, murine CYP3A44 is expressed predominantly in the female liver, with much lower levels in male livers and no detectable expression in brain or kidney in either gender. In this study, we examined the role of nuclear hormone receptors in the regulation of Cyp3a44 gene expression. Interestingly, we observed differential effects of pregnane X receptor (PXR) and constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) -mediated activation of Cyp3a44 gene expression, which was gender-specific. For example, activation of PXR by pregnenolone-16α-carbonitrile (PCN) and dexamethasone (DEX) induced CYP3A44 mRNA levels in a PXR-dependent fashion in male mice, whereas no induction was detected in female mice. In contrast, PCN and DEX down-regulated CYP3A44 expression in female PXR null animals. Similar to PXR, CAR activation also showed a male-specific induction with no effect on CYP3A44 levels in females. When PXR knockout mice were challenged with the CAR activator phenobarbital, a significant up-regulation of male CYP3A44 levels was observed, whereas levels in females remained unchanged. We conclude that gender has a critical impact on PXR- and CAR-mediated effects of CYP3A44 expression.
Factors associated with age of untreated recovery from alcohol dependence

Einflussfaktoren von Ausstiegsprozessen ohne formelle Hilfen bei Alkoholabhangigkeit in Abhangigkeit vom Remissionsalter Fragestellung: Weisen ohne formelle Hilfe remittierte Alkoholabhangige in Abhangigkeit vom Remissionsalter ein unterschiedliches Bedingungsgefuge von Ausstiegsprozessen auf? Methode: 178 durch Presseaufrufe rekrutierte ohne formelle Hilfe remittierte Alkoholabhangige wurden nach ihrem Alter zum Zeitpunkt der Remission unterschieden in Junge Remittierer (YR, n=55) und Spate Remittierer (LR, n=123) hinsichtlich auslosender und aufrechterhaltender Faktoren der Remission miteinander verglichen. Ergebnisse: YR wiesen gegenuber LR eine kurzere Abhangigkeitsdauer und eine langere Abstinenzdauer, eine hohere Problemschwere, geringere Ressourcen, sowie ausgepragtere Coping-Anstrengungen auf. Schlussfolgerungen: Ohne formelle Hilfe remittierte Alkoholabhangige unterscheiden sich in Abhangigkeit vom Alter zum Remissionszeitpunkt hinsichtlich auslosender und aufrechterhalten.
Using the Science Writing Heuristic to Improve Undergraduate Writing in Biology

Our objective was to investigate the impact of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) on undergraduates’ ability to express logical conclusions and include appropriate evidence in formal writing assignments. Students in three laboratory sections were randomly allocated to the SWH treatment (n = 51 students) with another three sections serving as a control (n = 47 students). All sections received an identical formal writing assignment to report results of laboratory activities. Four blinded raters used a 6-point rating scheme to evaluate the quality of students’ writing performance. Raters’ independent scoring agreement was evaluated using Cronbach's α. Paper scores were compared using a t-test, then papers were combined into low-scoring (3.5 of 6 points) or high-scoring (>3.5 of 6 points) sets and SWH and control cohorts were compared using Pearson's chi-square test. Papers from the SWH cohort were significantly (P = 0.02) more likely to receive a high score than those from the control cohort. Overall scores of SWH cohort papers tended to be higher (P = 0.07) than those from the control cohort. Gains in student conceptual understanding elicited by the SWH approach improved student ability to express logical conclusions about their data and include appropriate evidence to support those conclusions in formal research reports. Extending the writing tasks of the SWH to formal writing assignments can improve the ability of undergraduates to argue effectively for their research findings.
Consumer Behavior in Shopping Center Choice

This study was designed to research factors which consumers consider when choosing a shopping center and to develop a suggestion model for shopping center choice. First a questionnaire about choosing a shopping center was formed. Then the questionnaire was given to 300 randomly chosen consumers and collected on the next day. Two hundred and sixty-two fully filled out questionnaires were analyzed. Besides demographic questions, effective factors determining people's shopping center choice were asked for 17 items. Four models related to latent variables assumed to affect choice of a shopping center were tested by using the LISREL computer program with Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). Features of materials sold and geographical location of shopping center play very important roles in choice of a shopping center.
GalR2-positive allosteric modulator exhibits anticonvulsant effects in animal models

Galanin receptors type 1 (GalR1) and/or type 2 (GalR2) represent unique pharmacological targets for treatment of seizures and epilepsy. Previous studies have shown that the endogenous peptide ligand galanin exerts powerful anticonvulsant effect through activation of these two G protein-coupled receptors, which are highly expressed in the temporal lobe of rodent brain. Here we report the characterization of a putative GalR2-positive allosteric modulator CYM2503. CYM2503 potentiated the galanin-stimulated IP1 accumulation in HEK293 cells stably expressing GalR2 receptor, whereas it exhibited no detectable affinity for the 125I galanin–binding site of GalR2 receptor, an effect consistent with that of a positive allosteric modulator. In the rat Li-pilocarpine status epilepticus model, CYM2503, injected intraperitoneally, increased the latency to first electrographic seizure and the latency to first stage 3 behavioral seizure, decreased the latency to the establishment of status epilepticus, and dramatically decreased the mortality. In a Li-pilocarpine seizure model in mice, CYM2503 increased the latency to first electrographic seizure and decreased the total time in seizure. CYM2503 also attenuated electroshock-induced seizures in mice. Thus, CYM2503 provides a starting point for the development of anticonvulsant therapy using the galanin R2 receptor as target.
Suicide and suicide attempt after a cancer diagnosis among young individuals.

BACKGROUND Data are scarce on the potential change in suicidal behavior among adolescents and young adults after receiving a cancer diagnosis. PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a population-based cohort study including 7 860 629 Swedes at the age of ≥15 during 1987-2009. Among the cohort participants, 12 669 received a first diagnosis of primary cancer between the age of 15 and 30. We measured the relative risks (RRs) of suicidal behavior (defined as completed suicides or suicide attempts) after cancer diagnosis. We also carried out a case-crossover study nested within the cohort to adjust for unmeasured confounders. RESULTS Twenty-two completed suicides (versus 14 expected) and 136 suicide attempts (versus 80 expected) were identified among the cancer patients. The RR of suicidal behavior was 1.6 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.4-1.9] after a cancer diagnosis, compared with cancer-free individuals. Risk increase was greatest immediately after diagnosis; the RR was 2.5 (95% CI 1.7-3.5) during the first year after diagnosis and was 1.5 (95% CI 1.2-1.8) thereafter. This pattern was similar for completed suicide and suicide attempts. The elevated risks were evident for majority of the main cancer types, except for cancer in thyroid, testis and melanoma. The case-crossover analysis of suicidal behavior during the first year after cancer diagnosis revealed similar results. CONCLUSIONS Adolescents and young adults receiving a cancer diagnosis are at substantially increased risk of suicidal behavior, particularly during the first year after diagnosis. Although the absolute excess risk is modest, these findings emphasize the need to support and carefully monitor this vulnerable population.
Global Tree Optimization: A Non-greedy Decision Tree Algorithm

A non-greedy approach for constructing globally optimal multivariate decision trees with xed structure is proposed. Previous greedy tree construction algorithms are locally optimal in that they optimize some splitting criterion at each decision node, typically one node at a time. In contrast, global tree optimization explicitly considers all decisions in the tree concurrently. An iterative linear programming algorithm is used to minimize the classii-cation error of the entire tree. Global tree optimization can be used both to construct decision trees initially and to update existing decision trees. Encouraging computational experience is reported.
Web-based visualization of virtual archaeological sites

We present a web-based visualization tool for archaeological sites that has been developed within the 3D Murale project. The problem of structuring the scene prior to visualization is addressed by an extension to the 3D modeling and animation package MayaTM which enables communication with the common data pool of 3D Murale. Texture data is prepared for visualization by encoding it using the JPEG 2000 standard, which is based on wavelet technology and allows easy access to encoded images at different resolutions. Finally, we provide an ActiveX plugin for the Microsoft Internet Explorer to enable convenient exploration of the archaeological scene in a web environment. Our approaches are demonstrated using a model of a frieze of dancing girls (Sagalassos, southwest Turkey). The discussion of our methods is supported by performance data and screen shots.
When is an Integrate-and-fire Neuron like a Poisson Neuron?

In the Poisson neuron model, the output is a rate-modulated Poisson process (Snyder and Miller, 1991); the time varying rate parameter r(t) is an instantaneous function G[. ] of the stimulus, r(t) = G[s(t)]. In a Poisson neuron, then, r(t) gives the instantaneous firing rate--the instantaneous probability of firing at any instant t--and the output is a stochastic function of the input. In part because of its great simplicity, this model is widely used (usually with the addition of a refractory period), especially in in vivo single unit electrophysiological studies, where s(t) is usually taken to be the value of some sensory stimulus. In the integrate-and-fire neuron model, by contrast, the output is a filtered and thresholded function of the input: the input is passed through a low-pass filter (determined by the membrane time constant τ) and integrated until the membrane potential v(t) reaches threshold θ, at which point v(t) is reset to its initial value. By contrast with the Poisson model, in the integrate-and-fire model the ouput is a deterministic function of the input. Although the integrate-and-fire model is a caricature of real neural dynamics, it captures many of the qualitative features, and is often used as a starting point for conceptualizing the biophysical behavior of single neurons. Here we show how a slightly modified Poisson model can be derived from the integrate-and-fire model with noisy inputs y(t) = s(t) + n(t). In the modified model, the transfer function G[. ] is a sigmoid (erf) whose shape is determined by the noise variance σn2. Understanding the equivalence between the dominant in vivo and in vitro simple neuron models may help forge links between the two levels.
Polynomial Approximation of Blinn-Phong Model

The Phong model has been one of the oldest and the most popular reflection models in Computer Graphics. It can be used to model specular highlights of various materials. In this paper, we consider a polynomial model and obtain a linear approximation of the Blinn-Phong model. Approximation errors were obtained for the proposed model and empirical comparisons were made using a measured BRDF data set. Based on the empirical results, it is shown that proposed model provides visually convincing representation of BRDF and performs well for modeling the surface reflectance.
Migration differentials by education and occupation: Trends and variations

The effects of education on current migration propensities in the United States are examined for each age group, and an estimate is made of how these age-specific differentials cumulate over a lifetime in determining the number of times that individuals at different educational levels can expect to move over the course of their lives. The independent effects of age, education, and occupation are also examined. Two other sections investigate trends in educational selectivity of migration in the United States and international comparisons of occupational differences in migration.
Combining Multiresolution Shape Descriptors for 3D Model Retrieval

In this paper, we propose and evaluate a systematic approach for improving performance of 3D model retrieval by combining multiple shape descriptors. We explored two approaches for generating multiple, mutually independent, shape descriptors; (1) application of a (single-resolution) shape descriptor on a set of multiresolution shape models generated from a query 3D shape model, and (2) application of multiple, heterogeneous shape descriptors on the query 3D shape model. The shape descriptors are integrated via the linear combination of the distance values they produce, using either fixed or adaptive weights. Our experiment showed that both multiresolution and heterogeneous sets of shape descriptors are effective in improving retrieval performance. For example, by using the multiresolution approach, the R-precision of the SPRH shape descriptor by Wahl, et al, improved by 8%, from 29% to 37%. A combination of three heterogeneous shape descriptors achieved the R-precision of about 42%; this figure is about 5% better than the R-precision of 38% achieved by the Light Field Descriptor by Chen, et al., which is arguably the best single shape descriptor reported to date.
A Non-Blocking Reference Listing Algorithm for Mobile Active Object Garbage Collection

Automatic garbage collection (GC) gives abstraction to distributed application development, promoting code quality and improving resource management. Unreachability of active objects or actors from the root set is not a sufficient condition to collect actor garbage, making passive object GC algorithms unsafe when directly used on actor systems. In practical actor languages, all actors have references to the root set since they can interact with users, e.g., through standard input or output streams. This feature makes every unblocked actor live, and thus we call it the live unblocked actor principle. Following this idea, we introduce pseudo-roots: a dynamic set of actors that can be viewed as the root set. Pseudo-roots use protected (undeletable) references to ensure that no actors are erroneously collected even with messages in transit. The pseudoroot approach simplifies distributed actor garbage collection by representing in-transit messages in the actor reference graph even if both application and system messages are unordered (nonFIFO) and communication is asynchronous. Our algorithm also supports systems not following the live unblocked actor principle and therefore, is applicable to more traditional actor garbage collection. We formalize the computing model of the pseudo-root approach and provide proofs of correctness. Furthermore, we summarize empirical results on the performance and scalability of distributed GC using a particle physics maximum likelihood evaluation fitter on a 72-processor cluster environment.
Response-Shift Bias

Evaluations of experimental interventions which employ self-report measures are subject to an instrumentation-related source of contamination known as response-shift bias. The difficulty arises when the experimental intervention changes the subject's evaluation standard with regard to the dimension measured with the self-report instrument. In such cases even the true experimental designs (Designs 4, 5, and 6; Campbell and Stanlev, 1963) can provide internally invalid results. Retrospective pretest ratings are recommended as one way in which response-shift bias might be attenuated. Research demonstrating re sponse-shift effects and the superiority of retrospective ratings over tradittonal self-report pretest ratings in providing a measure of change is reviewed. Finally, the current status of retrospection in psychological research is reviewed, and issues are considered for future research needed to identify the unique strengths and limitations of retrospective approaches.
On defining groups efficiently without using inverses

Let G be a group, and let 〈A[mid ]R〉 be a finite group presentation for G with [mid ]R[mid ][ges ][mid ]A[mid ]. Then there exists a finite semigroup presentation 〈B[mid ]Q〉 for G such that [mid ]Q[mid ]- [mid ]B[mid ] = [mid ]R[mid ]- [mid ]A[mid ]. Moreover, B is either the same generating set or else it contains one additional generator.
Proximity-based document representation for named entity retrieval

One aspect in which retrieving named entities is different from retrieving documents is that the items to be retrieved - persons, locations, organizations - are only indirectly described by documents throughout the collection. Much work has been dedicated to finding references to named entities, in particular to the problems of named entity extraction and disambiguation. However, just as important for retrieval performance is how these snippets of text are combined to build named entity representations. We focus on the TREC expert search task where the goal is to identify people who are knowledgeable on a specific topic. Existing language modeling techniques for expert finding assume that terms and person entities are conditionally independent given a document. We present theoretical and experimental evidence that this simplifying assumption ignores information on how named entities relate to document content. To address this issue, we propose a new document representation which emphasizes text in proximity to entities and thus incorporates sequential information implicit in text. Our experiments demonstrate that the proposed model significantly improves retrieval performance. The main contribution of this work is an effective formal method for explicitly modeling the dependency between the named entities and terms which appear in a document.
Measuring the Quality of Life of Women with Fibromyalgia: A Hebrew Version of the Quality of Life Scale

Objectives: To validate a translated version of the Quality of Life Scale [QOLS] to be used by Hebrew speaking populations.Methods: The QOLS was translated into Hebrew and Its reliability and validity were studied. The Hebrew version [QOLS-H] was administered to 100 women with Fibromyalgia [FM] along with the Hebrew version Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire [FIQ-H]. All the subjects were asked about the presence and severity [Visual Analog Scale [VAS]] of FM symptoms [pains fatigue, anxiety, etc.]; a count of 18 tender points was conducted by thumb palpation and tenderness thresholds were assessed by dolorimetry. Test-retest reliability was assessed using Pearson correlations. Internal consistency was evaluated by Cronbach's alpha coefficient of reliability. Construct validity was tested by correlating the QOLS-H items with measures of FM symptom severity, count of tender points, tenderness threshold and items of FIQ.Results: The test-retest reliability was R = 0.95, and the Cronbach's alpha was 0.92 at t.
Recommending without short head

We discuss a comprehensive study exploring the impact of recommender systems when recommendations are forced to omit popular items (short head) and to use niche products only (long tail). This is an interesting issue in domains, such as e-tourism, where product availability is constrained, "best sellers" most popular items are the first ones to be consumed, and the short head may eventually become unavailable for recommendation purposes. Our work provides evidence that the effects resulting from item consumption may increase the utility of personalized recommendations.
On Quadratic Permutation Polynomials, Turbo Codes, and Butterfly Networks

The use of quadratic permutation polynomials as interleavers for turbo codes is justified, among other things, by the fact that the quadratic permutation polynomials provide turbo codes of very good performance and simultaneously they support a specific conflict-free parallel access to extrinsic values in two different access orders. It is rather easy to write and read in parallel to and from multiple memories by one access order. Nevertheless, turbo decoders have to access the multiple memories at least by two different access orders. Then, parallel writes and reads lead to conflicts in accessing the multiple memories. Having only one conflict-free parallel access method for quadratic permutation polynomials restricts to design efficient flexible (multistandard) decoders for turbo codes at high data rates. We show that quadratic permutation polynomials with butterfly networks as interconnection networks between decoder units and memories support many kinds of flexible and variant conflict-free parallel access methods for turbo codes that are not known today. This result extends possibilities to implement high speed turbo decoders not only by application specific circuits but also by (general purpose) graphics processor units for (multistandard) modems.
Optimizing dynamically-dispatched calls with run-time type feedback

Abstrach Object-oriented programs are difficult to optimize because they execute many dynamically-dispatched calls. These calls cannot easily be eliminated because the compiler does not know which callee will be invoked at runtime. We have developed a simple technique that feeds back type information from the runtime system to the compiler. With this type feedback, the compiler can inline any dynamically-dispatched call. Our compiler drastically reduces the calI frequency of a suite of large SELF applications (by a factor of 3.6) and improves performance by a factor of 1.7. We believe that type feedback could significantly reduce call frequencies and improve performance for most other objectoriented languages (statically-typed or not) as well as for languages with type-dependent operations such as generic arithmetic.