Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cardiac Vagal Control in Nonmedicated Depressed Women and Nondepressed Controls: Impact of Depression Status, Lifetime Trauma History, and Respiratory Factors

Objective: To evaluate the impact of acute stress and relationship-focused imagery on cardiac vagal control, as indicated by levels of respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), in depressed and nondepressed women. Impairment in cardiac parasympathetic (vagal) control may confer risk for cardiac mortality in depressed populations. Methods: Electrocardiogram and respiratory rate were evaluated in 15 nonmedicated depressed women and 15 matched controls during two laboratory conditions: 1) a relationship-focused imagery designed to elicit vagal activation; and 2) a speech stressor designed to evoke vagal withdrawal. Results: As expected, the relationship-focused imagery increased RSA (F(3,66) = 3.79, p = . 02) and the speech stressor decreased RSA (F(3,66) = 4.36, p = . 02) across women. Depressed women exhibited lower RSA during the relationship-focused imagery, and this effect remained after control for respiratory rate and trauma history (F(1,21) = 5.65, p = . 027). Depressed women with a trauma history exhibited the lowest RSA during the stress condition (F(1,22) = 9.61, p = . 05). However, after controlling for respiratory rate, Trauma History × Task Order (p = .02) but not Trauma History × Depression Group (p = .12) accounted for RSA variation during the stress condition. Conclusion: Depression in women is associated with lower RSA, particularly when women reflect on a close love relationship, a context expected to elicit vagal activation and hence increase RSA. In contrast, depression-related variation in stressor-evoked vagal activity seems to covary with women's trauma history. Associations between vagal activity and depression are complex and should be considered in view of the experimental conditions under which vagal control is assessed, as well as physiological and behavioral factors that may affect vagal function.MDD = major depressive disorder; RSA = respiratory sinus arrhythmia; ECG = electrocardiogram; HRSD = Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression; GAD = generalized anxiety disorder; PTSD = posttraumatic stress disorder
Openness to Attitude Change as a Function of Temporal Perspective

Three studies investigated the impact of temporal perspective on people's dominant social goals and explored the implications of these goals for openness to attitude change. Participants who perceived time as limited expressed social preferences in accordance with emotion-regulation goals (Study 1), were more prone to modify their attitude to bring it into line with the attitude of an anticipated social partner (Study 2), and were more likely to go along with peer consensus opinion on a campus issue (Study 3) than were participants who perceived time as expansive. These studies demonstrate that perception of time plays a vital role in motivating social goals within the persuasion context.
Reader Anti-collision in dense RFID networks with mobile tags

In a Radio-Frequency IDentification network, while several readers are placed close together to improve coverage and consequently read rate, reader-reader collision problems happen frequently and inevitably. High probability of collision not only impairs the benefit of multi-reader deployment, but also results in misreadings in moving RFID tags. In order to eliminate or reduce reader collisions, we propose an Adaptive Color based Reader Anti-collision Scheduling algorithm (ACoRAS) for 13.56 MHz RFID technology where every reader is assigned a set of colors that allows it to read tags during a specific time slot within a time frame. Only the reader holding a color (token) can read at a time. Due to application constraints, the number of available colors should be limited, a perfect coloring scheme is not always feasible. ACoRAS tries to assign colors in such a way that overlapping areas at a given time are reduced. To the best of our knowledge ACoRAS is the first reader anti-collision algorithm which considers, within its design, both application and hardware requirements in reading tags. We show, through extensive simulations, that ACoRAS outperforms several anti-collision methods and detects more than 99% of mobile tags while fitting application requirements.
Level-triggered control of a scalar linear system

In networked control systems, because of limits on communication rates, control waveforms are frequently piece-wise constant with limits on rates at which they can switch levels. It is, therefore, natural to expect event-triggered control switchings to perform more efficiently than time-triggered ones. This article verifies the validity of this supposition. A method for designing good level-triggered control schemes is obtained by reducing the continuous time problem to one in discrete time. Then, by numerical procedures, the performance of the level-triggered scheme is computed for comparison with that of the periodically switched control scheme.
Gender and the negotiation between older people and their carers in the prevention of falls

Little is known about how negotiation between older people and their carers varies according to gender. This paper reports a study of older men and women who have had multiple falls and the actions of their key family members to prevent multiple falls. In-depth interviews were conducted with 35 older people who had had recurrent falls, and separately with the identified key family member. The actions taken by the relatives to prevent future falls were classified as protective, coercive, negotiating, engaging and ‘reflective of mutual respect’. It was found that sons caring for older mothers took only ‘protective’ and ‘coercive’ actions, resulting in mothers having passive and submissive roles. In contrast, the daughters who were caring for their fathers undertook most often ‘engaging’ and some ‘negotiating’ actions, which empowered the fathers in their decision making. Daughters had a ‘peer-like’ relationship with the mothers that they supported and cared for, and undertook primarily ‘negotiating’ as well as ‘engaging’ actions. The two men who cared for older men took no specific actions but maintained mutual respect for each other. The findings demonstrate several ways in which the gender of the dyad members influences the nature of the negotiation between close relatives, and throws light on the factors that influence the autonomy and dependence of older people.
A Research on the Relationship between Leadership Orientations and the Innovativeness of Owner-Managers in Turkish Businesses

Relevant literature notes that leadership in business contexts inspires innovativeness. This study considers this insight as a starting point but moves beyond the existing literature by focusing only on leaders to understand how leadership inspires a leaderi¯s own innovativeness. The author chose the people who own and manage a business (owner-managers) and used the perceptions of workers in businesses to evaluate the existence of leadership as well as leadership orientations of owner-managers. The key objectives of this study ¨C namely, evaluating how perceived leadership and leadership orientations of owner-managers affect their own innovativeness ¨C reveal remarkable results. There are two leadership orientations, one focusing on the work and the other that focuses on people. There are many factors related to owner-manager innovativeness. The perceived leadership of owner-managers moderately affects their innovativeness in a positive direction. The factors related to people-oriented leadership can also affect their innovativeness positively at a moderate level.
Daily diaries reveal influence of pessimism and anxiety on pain prediction patterns

The match/mismatch model of pain prediction was tested with a group of rheumatoid arthritis patients (N = 227) in a natural setting. Daily diary measures of pain prediction and pain experience were obtained over 30 days. Results revealed a greater number of underpredictors (N = 147) than over predictors (N = 58) in our sample, with a minority (N = 22) overpredicting and underpredicting with equal frequency. Further, people modified their predictions to a greater degree after an over prediction than they did after an under prediction. As expected, anxious participants were less accurate and more prone to over predicting their pain than their less anxious counterparts. In contrast, participants who reported low levels of daily pessimism were more likely than their more pessimistic counterparts to under predict their pain. The findings suggest that people continued to under predict their pain despite repeated disconfirmations and that low levels of pessimism may have accounted for this pattern.
Differential Fertility and the Distribution of Traits: The Case of IQ

A recurrent fear during the past century is that the mean IQ level of populations will decline because persons with lower IQ scores have above-average fertility. Most microlevel data demonstrate such fertility differentials, but population IQ levels have risen rather than fallen. In this article, a simple two-sex model shows that negative fertility differentials are consistent with falling, rising, or constant IQ distributions. Under a wide variety of conditions, a constant pattern of fertility differentials will produce an unchanging, equilibrium distribution of IQ scores in the population. What matters for IQ trends is how the IQ distribution in one generation relates to the equilibrium distribution implied by that generation's fertility differentials. Intuition fails in this important area because it does not account for the macro structure within which micro results must be interpreted.
Trust-region interior-point method for large sparse l 1 optimization

In this article, we propose an interior-point method for large sparse l 1 optimization. After a short introduction, the complete algorithm is introduced and some implementation details are given. We prove that this algorithm is globally convergent under standard mild assumptions. Thus, relatively difficult l 1 optimization problems can be solved successfully. The results of computational experiments given in this article confirm efficiency and robustness of the proposed method.
. Adaptive intra block update for robust transmission of H.263

An adaptive block based intra refresh algorithm for increasing error robustness in an interframe coding system is described. The goal of this algorithm is to allow the intra update rates for different image regions to vary according to various channel conditions and image characteristics. The update scheme is based on an "error-sensitivity metric," accumulated at the encoder, representing the vulnerability of each coded block to channel errors. As each new frame is encoded, the accumulated metric for each block is examined, and those blocks deemed to have an unacceptably high metric are sent using intra coding as opposed to inter coding. This approach requires no feedback channel and is fully compatible with H.263. It involves a negligible increase in encoder complexity and no change in the decoder complexity. Simulations performed using an H.263 bitstream corrupted by channel errors demonstrate a significant improvement in terms of error recovery time over nonadaptive intra update strategies.
Impulsive delayed reward discounting as a genetically-influenced target for drug abuse prevention: a critical evaluation

This review evaluates the viability of delayed reward discounting (DRD), an index of how much an individual devalues a future reward based on its delay in time, for genetically-informed drug abuse prevention. A review of the literature suggests that impulsive DRD is robustly associated with drug addiction and meets most of the criteria for being an endophenotype, albeit with mixed findings for specific molecular genetic influences. Several modes of experimental manipulation have been demonstrated to reduce DRD acutely. These include behavioral strategies, such as mindfulness, reward bundling, and episodic future thinking; pharmacological interventions, including noradrenergic agonists, adrenergic agonists, and multiple monoamine agonists; and neuromodulatory interventions, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation. However, the generalization of these interventions to positive clinical outcomes remains unclear and no studies to date have examined interventions on DRD in the context of prevention. Collectively, these findings suggest it would be premature to target DRD for genetically-informed prevention. Indeed, given the evidence of environmental contributions to impulsive DRD, whether genetically-informed secondary prevention would ever be warranted is debatable. Progress in identifying polymorphisms associated with DRD profiles could further clarify the underlying biological systems for pharmacological and neuromodulatory interventions, and, as a qualitatively different risk factor from existing prevention programs, impulsive DRD is worthy of investigation at a more general level as a novel and promising drug abuse prevention target.
The Effect of Using Hierarchical Classifiers in Text Categorization

Given a set of categories, with or without a preexisting hierarchy among them, we consider the problem of assigning documents to one or more of these categories from the point of view of a hierarchy with more or less depth. We can choose to make use of none, part or all of the hierarchical structure to improve the categorization effectiveness and efficiency. It is possible to create additional hierarchy among the categories. We describe a procedure for generating a hierarchy of classifiers that models the hierarchy structure. We report on computational experience using this procedure. We show that judicious use of a hierarchy can significantly improve both the speed and effectiveness of the categorization process. Using the Reuters-21578 corpus, we obtain an improvement in running time of over a factor of three and a 5% improvement in F-measure.
Multiplierless multiple constant multiplication

A variable can be multiplied by a given set of fixed-point constants using a multiplier block that consists exclusively of additions, subtractions, and shifts. The generation of a multiplier block from the set of constants is known as the multiple constant multiplication (MCM) problem. Finding the optimal solution, namely, the one with the fewest number of additions and subtractions, is known to be NP-complete. We propose a new algorithm for the MCM problem, which produces solutions that require up to 20% less additions and subtractions than the best previously known algorithm. At the same time our algorithm, in contrast to the closest competing algorithm, is not limited by the constant bitwidths. We present our algorithm using a unifying formal framework for the best, graph-based MCM algorithms and provide a detailed runtime analysis and experimental evaluation. We show that our algorithm can handle problem sizes as large as 100 32-bit constants in a time acceptable for most applications. The implementation of the new algorithm is available at www.spiral. net.
Joint Circuit-System Design Space Exploration of Multiplier Unit Structure for Energy-Efficient Vector Processors

Although touted as a power and energy-efficient solution for workloads that exhibit data-level parallelism, vector processors were not explored sufficiently from a low power perspective in the past. Therefore, there is a need for explorations of vector computational units from a low power angle. Multimedia workloads that are suitable for vector processing (such as image processing) typically have the multiplication as a fundamental operation. In this paper, we perform a joint circuit-architecture design space exploration of the vector multiplier unit (VMU). For this exploration, we use various circuit- and architecture-level parameters (e.g. Multiplier family and maximum vector length), tools and simulators for a 40nm low power technology and the San Diego Vision Benchmark suite. We examine advantages and side effects of using multiple vector lanes and show how it performs across the frequency spectrum to achieve an energy-and thermal-efficient speed-up. As the final results of our exploration, we derive Pareto optimal VMU design points. Among other findings, our exploration reveals that Wallace VMU with 4 vector lanes and 2 pipeline stages is an optimal choice for fast and low power mobile vector processors, while single lane Carry-Save Array VMU is efficient for very low power and frequency requirements.
Genetic analysis of the contribution of LTBP-3 to thoracic aneurysm in Marfan syndrome

Significance Marfan syndrome (MFS) is a connective tissue disorder caused by mutations of fibrillin-1 (FBN1), the main component of extracellular matrix microfibrils. FBN1 mutations predispose to thoracic aortic aneurysm and rupture and are associated with increased TGFβ signaling. TGFβ is secreted from cells complexed with latent TGFβ binding protein (LTBP), a protein that targets TGFβ to the ECM through interaction with fibrillin-1. One hypothesis proposes that aortic disease in MFS is due to the release of LTBP/TGFβ complexes in the aortic wall. We suppressed the expression of Ltbp3 in an MFS mouse model and observed essentially no aortic aneurysm and rupture in these compound mice. Our data suggest a key role for LTBP-3 in MFS aortic disease and provide a potential therapeutic point for intervention. Marfan syndrome (MFS) is an autosomal dominant disorder of connective tissue, caused by mutations of the microfibrillar protein fibrillin-1, that predisposes affected individuals to aortic aneurysm and rupture and is associated with increased TGFβ signaling. TGFβ is secreted from cells as a latent complex consisting of TGFβ, the TGFβ propeptide, and a molecule of latent TGFβ binding protein (LTBP). Improper extracellular localization of the latent complex can alter active TGFβ levels, and has been hypothesized as an explanation for enhanced TGFβ signaling observed in MFS. We previously reported the absence of LTBP-3 in matrices lacking fibrillin-1, suggesting that perturbed TGFβ signaling in MFS might be due to defective interaction of latent TGFβ complexes containing LTBP-3 with mutant fibrillin-1 microfibrils. To test this hypothesis, we genetically suppressed Ltbp3 expression in a mouse model of progressively severe MFS. Here, we present evidence that MFS mice lacking LTBP-3 have improved survival, essentially no aneurysms, reduced disruption and fragmentation of medial elastic fibers, and decreased Smad2/3 and Erk1/2 activation in their aortas. These data suggest that, in MFS, improper localization of latent TGFβ complexes composed of LTBP-3 and TGFβ contributes to aortic disease progression.
The United Nations and East Timor: from self-determination to state-building

Following an overview of the historical context, this essay analyses the four peace operations mandated by the Security Council in East Timor between 1999 and 2004, and the role of regional actors in these processes. The essay contends that the record of the overall performance of the UN is mixed, and discusses three lessons to be learned from the operations in East Timor: the planning capacities of the UN Secretariat should be strengthened; the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO) needs to develop its expertise in peacebuilding; and peacebuilding missions would benefit from greater involvement of regional experts.
Simultaneous Interpretation :-Multilingual access for information systems

With the rapid growth of the global information society, the concept of library has evolved to embrace all kinds of information collections, on all kinds of storage media, and using many different access methods. The users of today’s information networks and digital libraries, no longer restricted by geographic or spatial boundaries, want to be able to find, retrieve and understand relevant information wherever and in whatever language it may have been stored. For this reason, much attention has been given over the past few years to the study and development of tools and technologies for multilingual information access (MLIA). The tutorial will provide participants with an overview of the main issues of interest in this sector. Topics covered will include: character encoding, specific requirements of particular languages and scripts, localization and presentation issues, techniques for cross-language retrieval, the importance of resources.
Identification of fuzzy models

The objective of this work is to describe a numerical technique to identify parameters of a fuzzy model. When this model and the membership functions of the input variables are continuously differentiable, we show that the estimation of parameters can be performed with a two-levels hierarchical algorithm, comprising the estimation of the model parameters and the estimation of the membership functions parameters. The proposed algorithm is then applied to an example describing a non-linear system
REVIEW OF SCREENING INSTRUMENTS AND PROCEDURES FOR EVALUATING DWI [DRIVING WHILE INTOXICATED/IMPAIRED] OFFENDERS

This report presents a literature review of driving while intoxicated or impaired screening instruments and procedures for assessing drunk drivers. It also provides a list of instruments and procedures that state court systems report they currently utilize. The review aims to identify studies that look at whether screening procedures in and of themselves are effective deterrents for future drunk driving. The report also presents an in-depth evaluation of instruments used to screen DWI drivers and defines the depth and breadth of the field's knowledge of their effectiveness and practical considerations for when and how they are used.
The Dual Effect of Cannabinoid Receptor-1 Deficiency on the Murine Postoperative Ileus

Introduction Intestinal inflammatory responses play a critical role in the pathogenesis of postoperative ileus (POI). As cannabinoid receptor-1 (CB1) is involved in inhibiting gastrointestinal (GI) motility and anti-inflammation, we aimed to explore its contribution to POI. Methods Experimental POI was induced in adult female CB1-deficient (CB1–/–) mice and wild-type littermates (C57BL/6N) by standardized small bowel manipulation. Twenty-four hours after surgery, GI transit was assessed by charcoal transport. FITC avidin, F4/80, and myeloperoxidase immunohistochemistry techniques were used to evaluate the inflammatory response in the muscularis of ileum and colon. Expressions of p38MAPK and its phosphorylated form (pp38) in the intestine were determined. Plasma levels of proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines were measured by ELISA as well. Results POI was characterized by decreased GI transit (p<0.01) and accompanied by a marked intestinal and systematic inflammatory response in wild-type and CB1–/– mice. Increased numbers of inflammatory cells, including macrophages, neutrophils, and mast cells were observed in the muscularis of ileum and colon (p<0.01, or p<0.05). Plasma levels of interleukin-6 (IL-6), cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (CINC-1/KC), and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) were elevated (p<0.01, or p<0.05). Expression of p38 and pp38 increased in the intestine (p<0.01, or p<0.05). CB1–/– mice showed an increased inflammatory response during POI, especially the systemic inflammatory markers, such as IL-6, KC, CINC1, and pp38 expression were increased as compared to those in WT mice (p<0.05). Conclusions Intestinal motility was inhibited during POI. In this condition, inhibition of motility did not seem to be altered by the absence of CB1 receptors, however, an increased inflammatory response was observed in CB1–/– mice. Hence, CB1 receptor activation rather than inhibition may reduce the inflammatory response in POI, which has a remote potential to relate into reduced inhibition of intestinal motility during POI.