Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A randomized controlled trial of family therapy and cognitive behavior therapy guided self-care for adolescents with bulimia nervosa and related disorders.

OBJECTIVE To date no trial has focused on the treatment of adolescents with bulimia nervosa. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of family therapy and cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) guided self-care in adolescents with bulimia nervosa or eating disorder not otherwise specified. METHOD Eighty-five adolescents with bulimia nervosa or eating disorder not otherwise specified were recruited from eating disorder services in the United Kingdom. Participants were randomly assigned to family therapy for bulimia nervosa or individual CBT guided self-care supported by a health professional. The primary outcome measures were abstinence from binge-eating and vomiting, as assessed by interview at end of treatment (6 months) and again at 12 months. Secondary outcome measures included other bulimic symptoms and cost of care. RESULTS Of the 85 study participants, 41 were assigned to family therapy and 44 to CBT guided self-care. At 6 months, bingeing had undergone a significantly greater reduction in the guided self-care group than in the family therapy group; however, this difference disappeared at 12 months. There were no other differences between groups in behavioral or attitudinal eating disorder symptoms. The direct cost of treatment was lower for guided self-care than for family therapy. The two treatments did not differ in other cost categories. CONCLUSIONS Compared with family therapy, CBT guided self-care has the slight advantage of offering a more rapid reduction of bingeing, lower cost, and greater acceptability for adolescents with bulimia or eating disorder not otherwise specified.
Requirements Prioritization Based on Benefit and Cost Prediction: An Agenda for Future Research

In early phases of the software cycle, requirements prioritization necessarily relies on the specified requirements and on predictions of benefit and cost of individual requirements. This paper presents results of a systematic review of literature, which investigates how existing methods approach the problem of requirements prioritization based on benefit and cost. From this review, it derives a set of under-researched issues which warrant future efforts and sketches an agenda for future research in this area.
Non-Linear Feature Selection for Classification

This paper addresses the issues associated with performing feature or parameter selection for non-linear classifiers using a basis pursuit regularization framework. New results on representing the feature selection problem as a primal/dual calculation for both hard and soft margin classification problems are derived, and it is shown that optimal feature selection can be posed, in dual form, as a set of 2n linear inequality constraints. While this is efficient, it does limit the technique to non-linear kernels that have a finite expansion, such as polynomials. The issues associated with both efficiently calculating a polynomial basis pursuit classifier are then addressed and the technique is shown to improve discrimination performance on the MNIST digit set.
CORRELATES OF DEATH ANXIETY IN PAKISTAN

To ascertain the effect of gender, age, and religiosity on death anxiety, 132 participants were interviewed using Templer Death Anxiety Scale and Collett-Lester Fear of Death Scale (CLS). Women, older participants, and less religious participants were found to be more scared of their impending death. Gender effect was more pronounced, however, on the CLS. Women and less religious people reported to experience greater anxiety than their respective counterparts about different dimensions of death, for example, the shortness of life, total isolation of death, fear of not being, and disintegration of body after dying. The findings of the current work indicate that the general predictors of death anxiety, gender, age, and religiosity reported in Western, predominantly Christian samples also hold in an Eastern, Muslim sample.
Making Room for Stem Cells: Dissociation and Establishing New Research Objects

When embryonic stem cells in mice were discovered 24 years ago, they were hailed as a potential model for mammalian development. Yet, other models of development in mice and humans were available, all of which were described as stem cells. Researchers employed a series of dissociations to create a “real definition “of stem cell that would displace these other models and enshrine embryonic stem cells as the “true” or “real” stem cells. Critical examination of the scientific literature reveals that dissociation between the “apparent” and the “real” occurs via several dissociations in combination. This study examines scientists' awareness of the “real” as a psycho-social consensus about their world and offers an approach to dissociative real definitions that avoids the problem of naive realism.
Cytosolic Double-Stranded DNA as a Damage-Associated Molecular Pattern Induces the Inflammatory Response in Rat Pancreatic Stellate Cells: A Plausible Mechanism for Tissue Injury-Associated Pancreatitis

Pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease of unknown causes. There are many triggers causing pancreatitis, such as alcohol, common bile duct stone, virus and congenital or acquired stenosis of main pancreatic duct, which often involve tissue injuries. Pancreatitis often occurs in sterile condition, where the dead/dying pancreatic parenchymal cells and the necrotic tissues derived from self-digested-pancreas were observed. However, the causal relationship between tissue injury and pancreatitis and how tissue injury could induce the inflammation of the pancreas were not elucidated fully until now. This study demonstrates that cytosolic double-stranded DNA increases the expression of several inflammatory genes (cytokines, chemokines, type I interferon, and major histocompatibility complex) in rat pancreatic stellate cells. Furthermore, these increase accompanied the multiple signal molecules genes, such as interferon regulatory factors, nuclear factor-kappa B, low-molecular-weight protein 2, and transporter associated with antigen processing 1. We suggest that this phenomenon is a plausible mechanism that might explain how cell damage of the pancreas or tissue injury triggers acute, chronic, and autoimmune pancreatitis; it is potentially relevant to host immune responses induced during alcohol consumption or other causes.
Iterative Detection for OFDMA Uplink with Frequency Offsets

In this work, we propose an iterative algorithm for the detection of transmitted symbols at the uplink of an orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) system. The algorithm allows distinct frequency-offsets (FO)s from each user that cause self- and multiple-access-interference. The proposed algorithm squeezes the interference of subcarrier k into 2D +1 nearby subcarriers by preprocessing the received signal, which yields a banded structure interference matrix. This banded structure is exploited to realize a low complexity iterative soft interference-cancellation minimum mean-squared error (SICMMSE) equalizer that can be used in Turbo equalization. Simulation results show that the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the proposed algorithm outperforms existing detection algorithms and is very much close to the zero-FO frequency domain-equalization (zero-FO-FDE) at low computational cost.
Modeling of Task Establishment and Allocation for Collaborative Virtual Maintenance Training of Complex Equipment

In this study, we propose the maintenance task establishment method based on fault simulation models. Maintenance task allocation model based on Multi-Agent System and High Level Architecture is presented to manage and coordinate the dynamic task allocating process of multi operators and it can make the intelligent decision for their collaborative maintenance operation at each step. Object information template is designed with the Extensible Markup Language to perform interactive communication of the heterogeneous data and information in the different models of collaborative virtual maintenance training system, which ensures the efficient share of the data resource for the collaborative maintenance operations. Finally, the simulation research on a mechanical-electronic-hydraulic integrated subsystem in complex equipment is done and the simulation execution and results show the effectiveness of the proposed methods.
West Africa - A Safe Haven for Frogs? A Sub-Continental Assessment of the Chytrid Fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis)

A putative driver of global amphibian decline is the panzootic chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). While Bd has been documented across continental Africa, its distribution in West Africa remains ambiguous. We tested 793 West African amphibians (one caecilian and 61 anuran species) for the presence of Bd. The samples originated from seven West African countries - Bénin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone - and were collected from a variety of habitats, ranging from lowland rainforests to montane forests, montane grasslands to humid and dry lowland savannahs. The species investigated comprised various life-history strategies, but we focused particularly on aquatic and riparian species. We used diagnostic PCR to screen 656 specimen swabs and histology to analyse 137 specimen toe tips. All samples tested negative for Bd, including a widespread habitat generalist Hoplobatrachus occipitalis which is intensively traded on the West African food market and thus could be a potential dispersal agent for Bd. Continental fine-grained (30 arc seconds) environmental niche models suggest that Bd should have a broad distribution across West Africa that includes most of the regions and habitats that we surveyed. The surprising apparent absence of Bd in West Africa indicates that the Dahomey Gap may have acted as a natural barrier. Herein we highlight the importance of this Bd-free region of the African continent - especially for the long-term conservation of several threatened species depending on fast flowing forest streams (Conraua alleni (“Vulnerable”) and Petropedetes natator (“Near Threatened”)) as well as the “Critically Endangered” viviparous toad endemic to the montane grasslands of Mount Nimba (Nimbaphrynoides occidentalis).
Thermal vs Energy Optimization for DVFS-Enabled Processors in Embedded Systems

In the past, dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS) has been widely used for power and energy optimization in embedded system design. As thermal issues become increasingly prominent, we propose design-time thermal optimization techniques for embedded systems. By carefully planning DVFS at design time, our techniques proactively optimize system thermal profile, prevent run-time thermal emergencies, minimize cooling costs, and optimize system performance. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work addressing embedded system design-time thermal optimization using DVFS. We formulate minimization of application peak temperature in the presence of real-time constraints as a nonlinear programming problem. This provides a powerful framework for system designers to determine a proper thermal solution and provide a lower bound on the minimum temperature achievable by DVFS. Furthermore, we examine the differences between optimal energy solutions and optimal peak temperature solutions. Experimental results indicate that optimizing energy consumption can lead to unnecessarily high temperature. Finally, we propose a thermal-constrained energy optimization procedure to minimize system energy consumption under a constraint on peak temperature
A Coalition Formation Game in Partition Form for Peer-to-Peer File Sharing Networks

In current peer-to-peer file sharing networks, a large number of peers with heterogeneous connections simultaneously seek to download resources, e.g., files or file fragments, from a common seed at the time these resources become available, which incurs high download delays on the different peers. Unlike existing literature which mainly focused on cooperative strategies for data exchange between different peers after all the peers have already acquired their resources, in this paper, we study the cooperation possibilities among a number of peers seeking to download, concurrently, a number of resources at the time the availability of the resources is initially announced at a common seed. We model the problem as a coalitional game in partition form and we propose an algorithm for coalition formation among the peers. The proposed algorithm enables the peers to take autonomous decisions to join or leave a coalition while minimizing their average download delay. We show that, by using the proposed algorithm, a Nash-stable partition composed of coalitions of peers is formed. Within every coalition, the peers distribute their download requests between the seed and the cooperating partners in a way to minimize the total average delay incurred on the coalition. Analytically, we study the 2-peer scenario and derive the optimal download request distribution policies. Simulation results show that, using the proposed coalition formation game, the peers can improve their average download delay per peer of up to 99.6% compared to the non-cooperative approach for the case with N = 15 peers.
Fast and Robust Training of Recurrent Neural Networks for Offline Handwriting Recognition

In this paper we demonstrate a modified topology for long short-term memory recurrent neural networks that controls the shape of the squashing functions in gating units. We further propose an efficient training framework based on a mini-batch training on sequence level combined with a sequence chunking approach. The framework is evaluated on publicly available data sets containing English and French handwriting by utilizing a GPU based implementation. Speedups of more than 3x are achieved in training recurrent neural network models which outperform state of the art recognition results.
Clinical assessment of relative potency of progestagens.

In order to find an accurate means of clinical assessment of progestagen activity in man the postponement of menstruation assay and the postcoital test were used in women to compare the relative potency of different progestagens. Animal studies with synthetic progestagens have failed to provide adequate clinical data and comparison of progestagens is difficult because each compound has unique characteristics in comparison with natural progesterone that vary independently of each other from compound to compound. 98 women were administered the progestagen norgestrel in dosages from . 125 mg to 4 mg daily with and without . 1 mg mestranol. Postponement of menstruation in at least 50% of the cases was induced with the lowest dose--. 125 mg norgestrel with 0.1 mg mestranol--indicating that this progestagen is 10 times more potent than the 2 next most active synthetic substances megestrol acetate and ethynodiol diacetate. A postcoital test for progestagens effect on cervical mucus spermatozoa penetration and sperm activity was conducted with 53 women using different doses of chlormadinone acetate megestrol acetate and norgestrel. All of the progestagens strongly affected the mucus and sperm action but norgestrel achieved these effects at only 1/10 the dosage of the other compounds (.025 mg daily). Norgestrel appears to be a much more poten synthetic progestagen than any other compound clinically tested.
Prescriptive Treatment Optimization Using a Genetic Algorithm: A Tool for Forest Management

This paper describes research on the use of a multiobjective genetic algorithm (GA) to optimize prescriptive treatment plans for forest management. The algorithm is novel, in that (1) the plans generated by the algorithm are highly specific, stating precisely when and where treatments are to be applied; and (2) logical rules and inference engines developed for a decision support system are used to evaluate the fitness of each plan. Fitness is based upon satisfaction of varied and often incompatible goals. The current (generational) GA has been compared in experiments to hill-climbing and simulated annealing algorithms, as well as to a steady-state GA. In a separate experiment, a plan generated by the GA is compared to one produced by a human expert. In these experiments, the GA has faired well.
Immuno-Electron Microscopy of Primary Cell Cultures from Genetically Modified Animals in Liquid by Atmospheric Scanning Electron Microscopy

Abstract High-throughput immuno-electron microscopy is required to capture the protein–protein interactions realizing physiological functions. Atmospheric scanning electron microscopy (ASEM) allows in situ correlative light and electron microscopy of samples in liquid in an open atmospheric environment. Cells are cultured in a few milliliters of medium directly in the ASEM dish, which can be coated and transferred to an incubator as required. Here, cells were imaged by optical or fluorescence microscopy, and at high resolution by gold-labeled immuno-ASEM, sometimes with additional metal staining. Axonal partitioning of neurons was correlated with specific cytoskeletal structures, including microtubules, using primary-culture neurons from wild type Drosophila, and the involvement of ankyrin in the formation of the intra-axonal segmentation boundary was studied using neurons from an ankyrin-deficient mutant. Rubella virus replication producing anti-double-stranded RNA was captured at the host cell’s plasma membrane. Fas receptosome formation was associated with clathrin internalization near the surface of primitive endoderm cells. Positively charged Nanogold clearly revealed the cell outlines of primitive endoderm cells, and the cell division of lactic acid bacteria. Based on these experiments, ASEM promises to allow the study of protein interactions in various complexes in a natural environment of aqueous liquid in the near future.
Understanding the Dynamics of Industrial Networks Using Kauffman Boolean Networks

Industrial networks offer a prime example of the tension between system stability and change. Change is necessary as a response to environmental variation, whereas stability provides the underpinning for long-term investment and the exploitation of efficiencies. Whilst one of the key themes in industrial network research has been the dynamics of change, relatively little work, empirical or theoretical, has been devoted to the dynamics of stability. This paper presents a new approach to this problem by using Boolean networks, which were originally devised by Stuart Kauffman as an abstract model of genetic networks. The elements in the model are connected by rules of Boolean logic, and a novel aspect of this research is that the elements represent the industrial network exchanges rather than stock entities (the organizations). The model structure consists of interactions between the exchanges, and the results represent the pattern of exchange episodes. A total of 42 networks were modeled and the dynamics analyzed in detail, and five of these cases are presented in this paper. The models produced realistic behavior and provided some insights into the reasons for stability in industrial networks.
A New Model of Temporary Focal Neocortical Ischemia in the Rat

We describe a new rat model of temporary focal ischemia that produces neocortical ischemia without the need for prolonged anesthesia. Methods Temporary focal cerebral ischemia was initiated during halothane anesthesia, maintained for varying periods without anesthesia, and reversed by clip removal requiring brief anesthesia. Tandem carotid and middle cerebral artery occlusion for 1−4 hours and permanent occlusion were used to determine the duration and extent of ischemia necessary to produce predictable volumes of neocortical infarction in Wistar and spontaneously hypertensive rats. Results In Wistar rats, occlusion of the right middle cerebral and both common carotid arteries resulted in cerebral blood flow reductions to approximately 8% of baseline. One hour of transient ischemia with 23 hours of reperfusion did not result in infarction. Three hours of ischemia followed by 21 hours of reperfusion resulted in infarction comparable to that caused by 24 hours of permanent ischemia. In spontaneously hypertensive rats, unilateral right middle cerebral and common carotid artery occlusion reduced cerebral blood flow to approximately 11% of baseline. Minimal damage was seen with 1 hour of reversible ischemia, but intervals of 2 and subsequently 3 hours followed by 22–21 hours of reperfusion produced progressively larger infarcts. Damage indistinguishable from that seen with 24 hours of permanent ischemia was seen with 3 or 4 hours of transient ischemia followed by 21 or 20 hours of reperfusion. Conclusions For unanesthetized normothermic rats, cerebral blood flow reductions to 10–20% of baseline resulted in maximal infarction once ischemic durations exceeded 2–3 hours. To be effective, experimental therapies aimed at lessening infarct size or restoring blood flow must be initiated within this critical time interval.
Accelerating Allreduce Operation: A Switch-Based Solution

Collective operations, such as all reduce, are widely treated as the critical limiting factors in achieving high performance in massively parallel applications. Conventional host-based implementations, which introduce a large amount of point-to-point communications, are less efficient in large-scale systems. To address this issue, we propose a design of switch chip to accelerate collective operations, especially the allreduce operation. The major advantage of the proposed solution is the high scalability since expensive point-to-point communications are avoided. Two kinds of allreduce operations, namely block-allreduce and burst-allreduce, are implemented for short and long messages, respectively. We evaluated the proposed design with both a cycle-accurate simulator and a FPGA prototype system. The experimental results prove that switch-based allreduce implementation is quite efficient and scalable, especially in large-scale systems. In the prototype, our switch-based implementation significantly outperforms the host-based one, with a 16 times improvement in MPI time on 16 nodes. Furthermore, the simulation shows that, upon scaling from 2 to 4096 nodes, the switch-based allreduce latency only increases slightly by less than 2 us.
A Large-Scale Study of MySpace: Observations and Implications for Online Social Networks

We study the characteristics of large online social networks through an extensive analysis of over 1.9 million MySpace profiles in an effort to understand who is using these networks and how they are being used. We study MySpace through a comparative study over three different, but related, facets: (i) the sociability of users in MySpace based on relationship, messaging, and group participation; (ii) the demographic characteristics of MySpace users in terms of age, gender, and location, and a study of how these factors correlate with their privacy preferences; and (iii) the text artifacts of MySpace users, which can be used to construct language models that distinguish MySpace users not just by who they say they are but also by the language model they employ. We find a number of surprising results and conjecture several potential research directions based on our observations