Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effects of Self-Esteem and Aggression on Depression in Scottish Young Adults

19 COPYRIGHT 2012 BY PSI CHI, THE INTERNATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY IN PSYCHOLOGY (VOL. 17, NO. 1/ISSN 2164-8204) *Faculty mentor Depression in children and adolescents has become a topic of great concern in Scotland and the United Kingdom in recent years. According to Scottish Public Health Records in 2009, 17,500 people between the ages of 15 and 24 were treated for depression. By adulthood and midlife, thousands more were being treated. These statistics have brought about concern and a movement for more research and information on mental health in Scotland. There has also been an increase in questions about the roots and causes of depression in adolescents and young adults in Scotland. Many organizations in Scotland, such as the Depression Alliance of Scotland and Action on Depression, have been investigating depression in more depth, and there is a demand for academic research (“Depression Alliance of Scotland,” 2009). Questions are being raised about what risk factors may be involved in the development of depression. Are the risk factors the same for Scottish young adults as they are for Scottish children and adolescents? Research examining depression in Scotland has focused on children and early adolescents (Sweeting et al., 2006). This research project seeks to examine the transition between adolescence and adulthood, examining issues associated with the development of depression in young adulthood. The current study focuses on common risk factors, including low self-esteem and aggression, and examines if these predict depression in Scottish young adults.
Image restoration using self-embedding and inpainting techniques

As digital images are widely used today, many software exist that could easily modify the digital images without any trace. These types of modification can cause social and economic damages to involved people. A number of inpainting techniques capable of recovering the tampered content have been developed. These techniques can restore the image content but cannot determine whether it is close to original or not. This paper proposes a self-embedding and inpainting based image restoration technique in which the region of interest (ROI) of a cover image is embedded into itself as digital watermark. Least significant bit (LSB) replacement technique is used for digital watermarking. The tampered regions are first identified and their original contents are roughly restored using hidden embedded information, after which inpainting techniques are applied for complete restoration process.
Equivalence Rules for UML Class Diagrams

UML is a complex language with many modeling features. Especially the modeling of static structures with class diagrams is supported by a rich set of description primitives. We show how to transfrom UML class diagrams involving cardinality constraints, qualifiers, association classes, aggregations, compositions, and generalizations into equivalent UML class diagrams employing only n-ary associations and OCL constraints. This provides a better understanding of UML features. By explaining more complex features in terms of basic ones, we suggest an easy way users can gradually extend the set of UML elements they commonly apply in the modeling process.
Snapshot of Viral Infections in Wild Carnivores Reveals Ubiquity of Parvovirus and Susceptibility of Egyptian Mongoose to Feline Panleukopenia Virus

The exposure of wild carnivores to viral pathogens, with emphasis on parvovirus (CPV/FPLV), was assessed based on the molecular screening of tissue samples from 128 hunted or accidentally road-killed animals collected in Portugal from 2008 to 2011, including Egyptian mongoose (Herpestes ichneumon, n = 99), red fox (Vulpes vulpes, n = 19), stone marten (Martes foina, n = 3), common genet (Genetta genetta, n = 3) and Eurasian badger (Meles meles, n = 4). A high prevalence of parvovirus DNA (63%) was detected among all surveyed species, particularly in mongooses (58%) and red foxes (79%), along with the presence of CPV/FPLV circulating antibodies that were identified in 90% of a subset of parvovirus-DNA positive samples. Most specimens were extensively autolysed, restricting macro and microscopic investigations for lesion evaluation. Whenever possible to examine, signs of active disease were not present, supporting the hypothesis that the parvovirus vp2 gene fragments detected by real-time PCR possibly correspond to viral DNA reminiscent from previous infections. The molecular characterization of viruses, based on the analysis of the complete or partial sequence of the vp2 gene, allowed typifying three viral strains of mongoose and four red fox’s as feline panleukopenia virus (FPLV) and one stone marten’s as newCPV-2b type. The genetic similarity found between the FPLV viruses from free-ranging and captive wild species originated in Portugal and publicly available comparable sequences, suggests a closer genetic relatedness among FPLV circulating in Portugal. Although the clinical and epidemiological significance of infection could not be established, this study evidences that exposure of sympatric wild carnivores to parvovirus is common and geographically widespread, potentially carrying a risk to susceptible populations at the wildlife-domestic interface and to threatened species, such as the wildcat (Felis silvestris) and the critically endangered Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus).
Sexual compatibility among Iranian couples: a qualitative study

ABSTRACT Sexual compatibility increases the stability of marriage and partners’ relationships and decreases sexually transmitted diseases. This qualitative study using a content analysis approach was conducted with 36 married men and women. Interviews were conducted for data collection. As the main theme of this study, “couple's sexual companionship” emerged as the main theme of sexual compatibility, that means couples’ participation for fulfilling each other sexual needs and solving problems arising from sexual discrepancies based on sexual understandings, sexual agreements and interests for continuing the sexual relationship with the aim of mutual sexual satisfaction. Sexual compatibility did not necessarily mean similarities, as during the marital life sexual discrepancies were inevitable. However, compatible couples encountered such a situation based on understandings, agreement and love. Active participation in sexual relationships, forgiveness and consideration, no huffing, mutual respect, flexibility and an occasional use of non-penetrative sexual relationships, sexual conversation with spouses, patience and development of the sexual relationship were the prominent feature of sexually compatible couples.
Optimization in Mental Configuration Space: The Case of Pointing Behavior

INTRODUCTION Gärdenfors (2004) proposes a geometric mode of mental representation complementary to the more prominent approaches of the symbolic (Newell, 1990) and the connectionist (Rumelhart & McClelland, 1986) mode of representations in cognitive science. He suggests that the representation of vector spaces is more satisfactory than symbolic and connectionist representations for modeling concept formation, semantics and reasoning. For representing sensory stimuli such as spectral composition of light, intensity of sound, velocity of self-rotation and so on, Gallistel (1990) indicates that vector space representation is organism's natural means of internalizing the environment. Though promising, this geometric line of investigation has not grown outside the realm of cognitive science to influence user interface research and design. This chapter attempts to bring readers' attention to this line of inquiry, and uses a case study to illustrate the potential viability of the geometric approach. ABSTRACT This chapter describes a geometric approach to human cognition centering on the concept of mental configuration space. As a case study of the approach, this work details a study that derives performance models for an important class of motor behavior—pointing in the two dimensional space. The five derived models and three existing models in the literature are compared using an experimental study. It is found that the models developed on the basis of mental configuration space fit the empirical data better than other models. It is argued that the mental configuration space concept points to a potentially fruitful direction of research. Finally, the chapter discusses the implications of such an approach for user interface research and development. The case study centers on extending Fitts' law (Fitts, 1954) to give a more detailed account of user performance in a variety of situations. As one of the best well known contributions of psychology to the field of user interface research (Card, et al., 1983), Fitts' law is generally used as a tool for evaluating user interfaces or devices (Soukoreff & MacKenzie, 2004), and has helped launching some important input devices, including the ubiquitous mouse (Card, et al., 1978). Despite its usefulness, a lack of consensus in its fundamental nature limits its applicability and hinders the development of similarly predictive laws. This work attempts to alleviate this kind of conceptual deficiency by extending the law from the perspective of mental configuration space. In the following sections, several lines of research on mental configuration space are first briefly reviewed. The possible optimization principles …
A new scalable image sharing scheme based on compressed sensing

This paper presents a novel image sharing method. The proposed method is based on emerging theory of compressed sensing. We have exploited intrinsic features of compressed sensing theory to come up with a new image sharing scheme which provides scalable recovery and generates smaller shadow images (share images). The other potential application of our method is in distributed data storage systems, where instead of security, robust data recovery is needed. Our method does not follow the common practice of secret sharing schemes and is merely based on recovery procedure of compressed sensing theory but it produces comparable results in terms of scalability, shadow sizes and quality. Experimental results show applicability of our method through comparison with similar works and demonstrate this method has smaller shadow sizes without compromising much on the quality of recovered image.
Measuring effectiveness in community randomized trials of HIV prevention.

BACKGROUND Complicated HIV transmission dynamics make it unclear how to design and interpret results from community-randomized controlled trials (CRCT) of interventions to prevent infection. METHODS Mathematical modelling was used to investigate the effectiveness of interventions to prevent HIV transmission aimed at high-risk groups and factors related to the chance of recording a statistically significant result. RESULTS Behaviour change by high-risk groups can substantially reduce HIV incidence in the whole population, although its effect is sensitive to the structure of the sexual network and the phase of the epidemic. There is a delay between the behaviour change happening and its full effect being realized in the low-risk group and this can pull the measured incidence rate ratio towards one and reduce the chance of recording a statistically significant result in a CRCT. Our simulations suggest that only with unrealistically favourable study conditions would a statistically significant result be likely with 5 years follow-up or less. Small differences in the epidemiological parameters between communities can lead to misleading incidence rate ratios. Behaviour change independent of the intervention can increase the epidemiological impact of the intervention and the chance of recording a statistically significant result. CONCLUSIONS HIV prevention interventions, especially those targeted at high-risk groups may take longer to work at the population level and need more follow-up time in a CRCT to generate statistically significant results. Mathematical modelling can be used in the design and analysis of CRCTs to understand how the impact of the intervention could develop and the implications this has for statistical power.
Antiulcer and Anti-inflammatory Activity of Aerial Parts Enicostemma littorale Blume

The antiulcer and in vitro anti-inflammatory activities of the aerial parts of Enicostemma littorale against aspirin, ethanol, and pyloric ligation-induced ulcers in rats and bovine serum albumin denaturation were studied. The extract (200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg po) was administered to the overnight fasted rats, one hour prior to aspirin / alcohol / pyloric ligation challenge. The ulcer index, tissue GSH levels, and lipid peroxidation levels were estimated in all the models of ulcers and the volume of gastric secretion, acidity, and pH, were estimated in the pyloric ligation model of ulcers. Pretreatment with the extract showed a dose-dependent decrease in the ulcer index (Against Aspirin, ethanol challenge, and pyloric ligation. The prior administration of the extract also reduced the total acidity, free acidity, and volume of gastric secretion, and elevated the gastric pH. In addition, it was also observed that the extract inhibited the serum albumin denaturation in a dose-dependent manner. It may be concluded that the methanolic extract possesses antiulcer activity, and the anti-inflammatory activity of the extract may be attributed to the antioxidant potential, as reported earlier.
Vertical-cavity amplifying modulator at 1.3 μm

The modulation/switching properties of a vertical-cavity semiconductor optical amplifier operating at 1.3 /spl mu/m wavelength are investigated. The device was optically pumped and operated in reflection mode. A 150-mV (100 mA) modulation of the drive to the pump source produced a 7-dB modulation of the pump power, which produced a 35-dB modulation in the output signal. The maximum extinction ratio was 35 dB, and limited by device heating. Frequency response measurements revealed a modulation bandwidth of 1.8 GHz when the amplifier was saturated. This enabled 2.5-Gb/s modulation of a -10 dBm input signal with 5.5-dB fiber-to-fiber gain.
Linear-quadratic-Gaussian torque control: Application to a flexible joint of a rehabilitation exoskeleton

A linear-quadratic-Gaussian regulator is proposed for the torque control of flexible robotic joints with built-in torque sensor. The regulator requires the joint-torque sensor information only and features: 1) a Kalman filter that, beside reducing the noise and evaluating the derivative of the torque sensor measure, is able to estimate all the external and internal torques acting on the joint; 2) a controller that optimizes system stability, responsiveness, accuracy and effort. The regulator is implemented on a flexible joint of a rehabilitation exoskeleton. Simulation and experimental results are provided which demonstrate regulator performance and efficacy.
Aging, Executive Function, Fronto-Parietal Network Cortical Thickness: Insights from Cognitive Reserve

AGING, EXECUTIVE FUNCTION, FRONTO-PARIETAL NETWORK CORTICAL THICKNESS: INSIGHTS FROM COGNITIVE RESERVE Katherine Reiter, B.A., M.S. Marquette University, 2017 Cognitive reserve (CR) indexes the nonlinear relationship between neurological insult and behavioral change. CR is manifested in both static factors (e.g., childhood environment, education) and modifiable lifestyle factors, (e.g., leisure activities). Detailed investigation of the influence of CR on cortical thickness, which indexes neuropathology, and cognitive functioning could be particularly important in understanding the heterogeneity of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). While memory decline is the hallmark of AD, executive functioning (EF) decline often predates memory changes, making EF an important target for investigating CR influences. The current study examines the relationship of CR and genetic risk for AD (ε4) on EF as it relates to fronto-parietal neural network cortical thickness, and memory performance as it relates to medial temporal lobe thickness and hippocampal volume. This study addresses the heterogeneity of CR measurement by examining three different CR factors (CR1=IQ; CR2=IQ, Activities, CR3=IQ, Activities, Health) in 35 healthy elders age 51-84 (19 ε4+/16 ε4-). High CR was associated with better cognition. CR2 was associated with memory and CR3 was predictive of EF. High CR was also associated with greater cortical thickness: CR1 with cingulate; CR2 with inferior and superior parietal; and CR3 with insula, inferior and superior parietal. Across all CR measures, the interaction of ε4 and CR was associated with insula, inferior and superior parietal thickness. CR2 and CR3 further revealed interactions within frontal regions: CR1 and CR2 were associated with right parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), CR2 with left hippocampus, and CR3 with left PHG. Some regions showed an ‘Additive Benefit’, where high CR was particularly beneficial to ε4 carriers, while others showed an ‘Additive Detriment’, where low CR was particularly detrimental to ε4 carriers. This study also demonstrated that different CR measures yield disparate results. Nevertheless, CR was beneficial to both cognitive functioning and cortical thickness, particularly in ε4 carriers. Results are clinically translatable to identify mechanisms to delay the onset of AD.
Development of Strand-Specific Real-Time RT-PCR to Distinguish Viral RNAs during Newcastle Disease Virus Infection

Newcastle disease virus (NDV) causes large losses in the global fowl industry. To better understand NDV replication and transcription cycle, quantitative detection methods for distinguishing NDV genomic RNA (gRNA), antigenomic RNA (cRNA), and messenger RNA (mRNA) in NDV-infected cells are indispensible. Three reverse transcription primers were designed to specifically target the nucleoprotein (NP) region of gRNA, cRNA, and NP mRNA, and a corresponding real-time RT-PCR assay was developed to simultaneously quantify the three types of RNAs in NDV-infected cells. This method showed very good specificity, sensitivity, and reproducibility. The detection range of the assay was between 5.5 × 102 and 1.1 × 109 copies/μL of the target gene. These methods were applied to investigate the dynamics of the gRNA, cRNA, and mRNA synthesis in NDV La Sota infected DF-1 cells. The results showed that the copy numbers of viral gRNA, cRNA, and NP mRNA all exponentially increased in the beginning. The viral RNA copy number then plateaued at 10'h postinfection and gradually decreased from 16 h postinfection. No synthesis priority was observed between replication (gRNA and cRNA amounts) and transcription (mRNA amounts) during NDV infection. However, the cRNA accumulated more rapidly than gRNA, as the cRNA copy number was three- to tenfold higher than gRNA starting from 2 h postinfection. Conclusion. A real-time RT-PCR for absolute quantitation of specific viral RNA fragments in NDV-infected cells was developed for the first time. The development of this assay will be helpful for further studies on the pathogenesis and control strategies of NDV.
On Motifs and Functional Blocks in Complex Networks

This article addresses the presence and size of basic functional modules (motifs) in complex systems. The current view of motifs is that they are small modules of 3-4 “nodes”, which occur significantly more frequently in real-world networks than expected by chance alone. We show that standard functional blocks used to build real-world circuits where a node is interpreted as a primitive component, such as a primitive logic gate (AND, NAND, OR, NOR and NOT etc.), are much larger than the proposed 3-4 node motifs. In fact, these functional blocks themselves are typically comprised of a collections of several 3-4 node motifs. Further, we show that random-graph models currently cannot generate sub-graphs with the topology of functional blocks, implying that these functional blocks cannot be defined using the notions of statistical over-representation used for motifs. We argue that, for this domain, the statistical over-representation of 3-4 node motifs is due to functional blocks consisting of motif-clusters, and not that motifs, in and of themselves, play a significant functional role in a circuit.
Investigation of the electrical properties of agarose gel: characterization of concentration using nyquist plot phase angle and the implications of a more comprehensive in vitro model of the brain

Background The electrical properties of agarose gel, namely impedance and capacitance, are relatively unexplored. Agarose gels are used as in vitro models in studies across numerous disciplines, including imaging, radiotherapy, infusion, and neurosurgery. Purpose In this study, we seek to characterize the impedance response of low concentration agarose gels by relating the gel concentrations to Nyquist Plot phase in order to establish a baseline with which to modify the response of the gel to simulate that of in vivo brain tissue. This information is relevant to areas such as deep brain stimulation, and could have a significant impact on in vitro model design for such studies in the future. Methods Ten agarose gels spanning four different concentrations were subjected to impedance spectroscopy using a Model 3387 DBS electrode. Phase angles were calculated and Cartesian Nyquist plots generated from the data. Results Results suggest that an inverse relationship exists between agarose gel concentration and phase angle. In addition, the results indicate that agarose gel reasonably emulates a constant phase element, which portrays the electrode-electrolyte interface impedance of some equivalent circuit models of brain tissue. Conclusion The data shows that agarose gel is a suitable substrate for a deep brain stimulation in vitro model, but requires modification. In the future, we plan to utilize this data to determine the modifications necessary in the current agarose gel model to make it scientifically applicable to studies of both deep brain stimulation and infusion due to their overlapping variables.
A method of infrared/visible image matching based on edge extraction

Infrared/visible image matching is a hot issue and challenge in the state-of-the-art research on image matching. A matching method of infrared/visible image is proposed based on edge extraction by applying a novel detector and descriptor with high performance, coined SURF (Speeded Up Robust Features), in view of the features that there is a large difference, even contrast inversion and consistent contour between infrared and visible image in image details. The method can solve the problem that infrared/visible image matching could not be completed by using SURF directly. It achieves good results with high speed according to the experimental results.