Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Six-Item Screener to Identify Cognitive Impairment Among Potential Subjects for Clinical Research

Objective. To design a brief cognitive screener with acceptable sensitivity and specificity for identifying subjects with cognitive impairment Design. Cohort one is assembled from a community-based survey coupled with a second-stage diagnostic evaluation using formal diagnostic criteria for dementia. Cohort two is assembled from referrals to a specialty clinic for dementing disorders that completed the same diagnostic evaluation. Setting. Urban neighborhoods in Indianapolis, Indiana and the Indiana Alzheimer Disease Center. Patients. Cohort one consists of 344 community-dwelling black persons identified from a random sample of 2212 black persons aged 65 and older residing in Indianapolis; cohort two consists of 651 subject referrals to the Alzheimer Disease Center. Measurements. Formal diagnostic clinical assessments for dementia including scores on the Mini-mental state examination (MMSE), a six-item screener derived from the MMSE, the Blessed Dementia Rating Scale (BDRS), and the Word List Recall. Based on clinical evaluations, subjects were categorized as no cognitive impairment, cognitive impairment-not demented, or demented. Results. The mean age of the community-based sample was 74.4 years, 59.4% of the sample were women, and the mean years of education was 10.1. The prevalence of dementia in this sample was 4.3% and the prevalence of cognitive impairment was 24.6%. Using a cut-off of three or more errors, the sensitivity and specificity of the six-item screener for a diagnosis of dementia was 88.7 and 88.0, respectively. In the same sample, the corresponding sensitivity and specificity for the MMSE using a cut-off score of 23 was 95.2 and 86.7. The performance of the two scales was comparable across the two populations studied and using either cognitive impairment or dementia as the gold standard. An increasing number of errors on the six-item screener is highly correlated with poorer scores on longer measures of cognitive impairment. Conclusions. The six-item screener is a brief and reliable instrument for identifying subjects with cognitive impairment and its diagnostic properties are comparable to the full MMSE. It can be administered by telephone or face-to-face interview and is easily scored by a simple summation of errors.
Enhancements to the Cumulant Method for Probabilistic Optimal Power Flow Studies

This paper introduces two extenstions to the cumulant method (CM) for probabilistic optimal power flow (P-OPF) studies; the first is an enhancement to provide improved handling of limits within the P-OPF problems and the second is a way to include correlated variables. The first enhancement is termed the Limit corrected cumulant method (LCCM) which specifically addresses errors in the existing CM when limits, away from the mean solution, are encountered while solving a P-OPF problem. The LCCM approach relies on the CM to produce multiple probability density functions (PDFs) and then combines these PDFs together to generate final PDFs. The second enhancement for incorporating correlated variables into P-OPF problems is based on the composition of correlated variables from several independent ones. The proposed approaches are verified against Monte Carlo simulations (MCS) consisting of 10 000 samples and demonstrate significant improvements when compared with traditional CM results.
The 5' flanking region of miR-378 is hypomethylated in acute myeloid leukemia.

BACKGROUND Aberrant expression of miR-378 has been observed in various malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, the mechanism regulating of miR-378 expression remains unknown. This study was aimed to investigate miR-378 methylation and to explore its clinical significance in AML. METHODS Methylation status of miR-378 5'-flanking region was investigated by real-time quantitative methylation-specific PCR (RQ-MSP) and bisulfite-sequencing PCR (BSP). The expression of miR-378 was evaluated by real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR). The correlation between expression of miR-378 and 5'-flanking region methylation was analyzed using 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (5-aza-dC) treatment. RESULTS miR-378 5'-flanking region was significantly hypomethylated in AML patients compared to controls (median 0.109 vs. 0.058) (P=0.048). miR-378 expression was correlated with miR-378 5'-flanking region in leukemic cell line treated with 5-aza-dC, but not in AML patients. The level of miR-378 hypomethylation significantly increased in M2 subtype compared to other subtypes. Moreover, patients with t(8;21) harbored the highest level of miR-378 hypomethylation. However, there was no significant difference in overall survival between patients with high and low miR-378 hypomethylation. The association of miR-378 expression with methylation was not observed in AML patients, but miR-378 expression in THP-1 line was increased while methylation status of miR-378 5-flanking region was decreased after 5-aza-dC treatment. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that miR-378 is reactivated by demethylation after 5-aza-dC treatment. 5'-flanking region of miR-378 is hypomethylated in AML especially in those with t(8;21).
Extension and Evaluation of PGA in ScanSAR Mode using Full-Aperture Approach

In order to enable a testbed for spaceborne scanning synthetic aperture radar (ScanSAR) mode, in this letter, a ScanSAR autofocusing approach for airborne platforms has been developed. Autofocusing algorithms, such as the phase gradient autofocus (PGA) algorithm, prove to be a useful postprocessing technique to get refocused synthetic aperture radar images. However, conventional stripmap PGA does not work in ScanSAR mode when the full-aperture approach is used, due to the periodic data gaps in each subswath. To solve this problem, we extend the stripmap PGA to ScanSAR with some modifications, mainly in the subaperture segmentation and phase error estimation steps. The performance of extended stripmap PGA is evaluated by an airborne ScanSAR data set containing different types of terrain, with a high spatial resolution up to 3.5 m in azimuth.
Reduction of Dutch Sentences for Automatic Subtitling

We compare machine learning approaches for sentence length reduction for automatic generation of subtitles for deaf and hearing-impaired people with a method which relies on hand-crafted deletion rules. We describe building the necessary resources for this task: a parallel corpus of examples of news broadcasts of the Flemish VRT broadcasting corporation, and a Dutch shallow parser based on the material of the Spoken Dutch Corpus (CGN). We evaluate the sentence simplifiers and discuss their performance
Limits of life in hostile environments: no barriers to biosphere function?

Environments that are hostile to life are characterized by reduced microbial activity which results in poor soil- and plant-health, low biomass and biodiversity, and feeble ecosystem development. Whereas the functional biosphere may primarily be constrained by water activity (aw) the mechanism(s) by which this occurs have not been fully elucidated. Remarkably we found that, for diverse species of xerophilic fungi at aw values of ≤ 0.72, water activity per se did not limit cellular function. We provide evidence that chaotropic activity determined their biotic window, and obtained mycelial growth at water activities as low as 0.647 (below that recorded for any microbial species) by addition of compounds that reduced the net chaotropicity. Unexpectedly we found that some fungi grew optimally under chaotropic conditions, providing evidence for a previously uncharacterized class of extremophilic microbes. Further studies to elucidate the way in which solute activities interact to determine the limits of life may lead to enhanced biotechnological processes, and increased productivity of agricultural and natural ecosystems in arid and semiarid regions.
Sortko: Learning Sorting Algorithms with Mobile Devices

In this paper we present a semester-long study on using smart phone devices in computer science engineering education. We developed Sortko, an Android smart phone application, which helps students in learning sorting algorithms, an important undergraduate computer science topic. The application consists of four main components - the module for interactive sorting, the scaffolding module, the motivational module and the graphical user interface module, each with a distinct role of helping students in learning sorting algorithms. Our research methodology included data collection in which we administered two surveys, collected exam and usage results. Analysis of the collected data shows our approach is an effective way of learning sorting algorithms.
Images in clinical medicine. Internal carotid artery in the middle ear.

A 6-year-old girl presented with a 1-year history of pulsatile tinnitus in her right ear. Otoscopy showed a whitish pulsatile mass behind the tympanic membrane in the middle-ear cavity, shown in a video. Subsequent CT confirmed an aberrant internal carotid artery.
A Note on the Linear Transformation Method for Systolic Array Design

The use of the linear transformation method to systolize the Warshall algorithm for computing the transitive closure of a graph on a mesh-connected array (without wraparound connections) is discussed. The technique is extended to design linear systolic arrays. The advantage of this approach is easy verification of correctness, as well as synthesis of a family of arrays with tradeoffs between I/O bandwidth, number of processing elements, and local storage. The technique can be further refined to cope with problems that entail nonconstant dependency vectors. >
Logic Programs with Contextually Scoped Negation

The Semantic Web community is currently dominated by knowledge represen- tation formalisms adhering to a strict open world assumption. Nonmonotonic reasoning formalisms are viewed with partial scepticism and it is often argued that nonmonotonic rea- soning techniques which adopt a closed world assumption are invalid in an open environment such as the Web where knowledge is notoriously incomplete. Nonetheless, in the ongoing discussion about rule extensions for Semantic Web Languages like RDF(S) or OWL several proposals have been made to partly break with this view and to allow a restricted form of negation as failure. Recently, the term \scoped negation" emerged in discussions around this topic, yet a clear denition about the meaning of \scope" and \scoped negation" and a formal semantics are still missing. In this paper we provide preliminary results towards these missing denitions and dene two possible semantics for logic programs with contextually scoped negation, which we propose as an extension of RDFS.
What Good Schools can Do About Bullying

Action against bullying in schools has been quite extensive over the last decade. The article reports a survey of 2308 pupils aged 10-14 years, from 19 schools across England. Frequencies of being bullied and of bullying others suggest some decline from earlier findings, which may reflect positive results achieved by schools concerned about the issue. Victims report a variety of coping strategies, varying with age. Bullies report often feeling that the victim deserved it, a response especially marked in older boys. A `culture of silence' still persists in that 30 percent of victims had told no one of the bullying. However, for those who had told, the outcome was usually seen as positive, although there was a small risk of things getting worse especially when teachers were told. Findings are discussed in terms of the opportunities and challenges facing schools as they work to develop effective anti-bullying policies and strategies.
Examining Markets, Marketing, Consumers, and Society through Documentary Films

Documentary film is over 100 years old and includes subgenres such as ethnography, historical film, docu-drama, propaganda, and advocacy videos. With numerous film archives, film festivals, special DVD issues of journals, inexpensive video recording and editing equipment, Internet distribution, and the phenomenal growth of archival Internet sites such as YouTube and Vimeo, there are now hundreds of millions of documentary films and videos available to the interested researcher. The author argues that the macromarketing field has greatly underutilized this vast resource and suggests examples of sources and uses for such material. The author also suggests some aids for acquiring critical visual literacy skills to inform such analyses. Just as we rely on our libraries and online access for books and print journals, we can readily do the same with documentary films. Such analytical projects can be presented as either video documentaries themselves, as text-based articles and books, or as multimedia combinations. Film, video, Internet, and television images arguably do more to influence public perceptions of marketing, consumption, and life than any other medium. There is thus a great opportunity to understand society through this window on the world.
Functional level of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome reporting use of alternative vs. traditional treatments

Background: Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is common among patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), but whether it is viewed as more or less effective than traditional medicine is unclear. Purpose: To explore patients' level of functioning based on their reports of current treatments used (i.e. traditional-only, CAM-only, or a combination of both). Methods: Participants were recruited from physician referrals and media sources (newspaper, support groups), and 97 participants were retained for this analysis. Based on self-report, individuals were divided into three groups: using CAM-only (N = 27), traditional-medicine-only (N = 22), or a combination of both treatments (N = 58). Results: Social functioning was significant (p < .01), with post-hoc analyses indicating significantly better social functioning for individuals taking CAM-only in comparison to patients using traditional-only or a combination of traditional and CAM treatments. Significantly fewer participants (p < .01) using CAM-only had a current psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusions: These findings suggest using CAM-only treatments in CFS is associated with higher social functioning and fewer current psychiatric diagnoses. The results support the need for research to fully evaluate how CAM may affect functioning among individuals with CFS.
Creating Distraction after Destruction: Representations of the Military in Greek Film

This article discussses representations of the military,viewed by some historians as the major force in twentieth-century Greek politics, in mainstream Greek film from 1952 to 1963. Based on a wide sample of films, it challenges the accepted view that Greek mainstream film of the post-Civil War years did not interact with questions of immediate political interest. Genre film, it is argued, followed generic formulas but still included comments on contemporary events. For example, when read in the context of the well-known Aviators' Trial, The Skies are Ours (1953) acquires a historical specificity otherwise missed. Representations of German officers of the occupation forces during the Second World War are discussed in a comparative framework to demonstrate the degree of acceptance of the armed forces and military values in this time period, as for example in the films Barefoot Batallion (1954) and The Island of the Brave (1959).
Promoting emotional well-being through the use of humour

Humour skills programmes are believed to assist in improving emotional well-being by increasing self-efficacy, positive thinking, optimism and perceptions of control, while decreasing negative thinking, perceptions of stress, depression, anxiety and stress. The study aims to evaluate a programme investigating this possibility. Volunteers from the community (37 females and 18 males, aged M = 38 years) were randomly assigned to a humour group, a social group or a non-intervention control group. The programme, consisting of a manual and a booklet of measures assessing indices of well-being, was administered over an 8-week period. Data were collected at baseline, post programme and at 3-month follow-up. Results revealed that unlike the control and social groups, the humour group demonstrated a significant increase in several indices of emotional well-being. Specifically, increases occurred with self-efficacy, positive affect, optimism and perceptions of control, while decreases were found in perceived stress, depression, anxiety and stress levels.
Folate Intake, Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase Polymorphisms, and Breast Cancer Risk in Women from the Malmö Diet and Cancer Cohort

Background: Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of the folate-metabolizing enzyme methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) may modify associations between folate intake and breast cancer. We examined if the association between tertiles of dietary folate equivalents (DFE) and breast cancer was different in subgroups according to genotypes of the MTHFR 677 C>T (rs1801133) and 1298A>C (rs1801131) SNPs and if the polymorphisms per se were associated with breast cancer. Methods: This nested case-control study included 544 incident cases with invasive breast cancer and 1,088 controls matched on age and blood sampling date from the population-based Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort. Genotyping of the MTHFR SNPs was done with PCR-based matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Odds ratios (OR) were obtained by unconditional logistic regression. Results: DFE was positively associated with breast cancer in MTHFR 677CT/TT−1298AA women (P for trend = 0.01) but inversely associated in compound heterozygous women (P for trend = 0.01). Interaction was observed between DFE and the 1298C allele (P = 0.03). The 677T allele was associated with increased breast cancer risk in women above 55 years [multivariate adjusted OR, 1.34; 95% confidence interval (95% CI), 1.01-1.76] and an interaction was observed between the T allele and age (P = 0.03). Homozygosis for the 1298C allele was associated with increased risk in women between 45 and 55 years (multivariate adjusted OR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.09-3.29). Conclusion: In conclusion, a positive association between DFE and breast cancer was observed in MTHFR 677CT/TT−1298AA women but an inverse association was observed in 677CT−1298AC women. The 677T allele was associated with higher breast cancer risk in women above 55 years of age. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(4):1101–10)
Holistic design and analysis for the human-friendly robotic co-worker

In this overview paper we present current work on safety analysis for physical Human-Robot Interaction (pHRI) and motion control methods for robotic co-workers. In particular, we introduce the analysis tools for investigating the potential injury a human would suffer during robot-human impacts. Furthermore, we outline our concept for establishing a procedure towards standardized crash testing in robotics with automobile crash-test dummies. Since it is only possible to investigate blunt impacts with these devices, we developed a drop testing setup for analyzing soft-tissue injury in robotics from a biomechanics perspective. In the second part of the paper, some of our methods for task preserving and task relaxing motion schemes are described, which enable collision avoidance in real-time. The algorithms are well suited to work in an integrated fashion with the soft robotics control developed for the DLR Lightweight Robot III (LWR-III). In addition, it is shown how the torque sensing capabilities of the robot can be used to support reactive motion schemes. Finally, an overview of our human-friendly control architecture for the LWR-III is given, which unifies the rich bundle of developed methods for this manipulator
Searching Simplexes in Quasi-triangulation

Given a quasi-triangulation of a molecule, searching the simplexes of a particular bounding state for the spherical probe of a given radius occurs frequently. While such simplexes can be found by linearly scanning all simplexes in the quasi-triangulation, it is desirable to do the search faster. This paper presents an algorithm for searching simplexes quickly using the $kd$-tree data structure. The approach is based on the transformation of the simplex search problem in the $\mathbb{R}^3$ space to the orthogonal range search problem of points in another $\mathbb{R}^3$ space.
Cell Adhesion and Shape Regulate TGF-Beta1-Induced Epithelial-Myofibroblast Transition via MRTF-A Signaling

Myofibroblasts, specialized cells that play important roles in wound healing and fibrosis, can develop from epithelial cells through an epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). During EMT, epithelial cells detach from neighboring cells and acquire an elongated, mesenchymal-like morphology. These phenotypic changes are accompanied by changes in gene expression patterns including upregulation of a variety of cytoskeletal associated proteins which contribute to the ability of myofibroblasts to exert large contractile forces. Here, the relationship between cell shape and cytoskeletal tension and the expression of cytoskeletal proteins in transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1-induced EMT is determined. We find that culturing cells in conditions which permit cell spreading and increased contractility promotes the increased expression of myofibroblast markers and cytoskeletal associated proteins. In contrast, blocking cell spreading prevents transdifferentiation to the myofibroblast phenotype. Furthermore, we find that cell shape regulates the expression of cytoskeletal proteins by controlling the subcellular localization of myocardin related transcription factor (MRTF)-A. Pharmacological inhibition of cytoskeletal tension or MRTF-A signaling blocks the acquisition of a myofibroblast phenotype in spread cells while overexpression of MRTF-A promotes the expression of cytoskeletal proteins for all cell shapes. These data suggest that cell shape is a critical determinant of myofibroblast development from epithelial cells.
An Efficient Method to Estimate the Suboptimality of Affine Controllers

We consider robust feedback control of time-varying, linear discrete-time systems operating over a finite horizon. For such systems, we consider the problem of designing robust causal controllers that minimize the expected value of a convex quadratic cost function, subject to mixed linear state and input constraints. Determination of an optimal control policy for such problems is generally computationally intractable, but suboptimal policies can be computed by restricting the class of admissible policies to be affine on the observation. By using a suitable re-parameterization and robust optimization techniques, these approximations can be solved efficiently as convex optimization problems. We investigate the loss of optimality due to the use of such affine policies. Using duality arguments and by imposing an affine structure on the dual variables, we provide an efficient method to estimate a lower bound on the value of the optimal cost function for any causal policy, by solving a cone program whose size is a polynomial function of the problem data. This lower bound can then be used to quantify the loss of optimality incurred by the affine policy.