Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Age-Adjusted Anthropometric Index of Overweight Optimized for Ages Ranging from 6 to 14 Years

To determine the best fit model of age adjustment for overweight in children, we analyzed the anthropometric data for school children, ages ranging from 6 to 14 years. We referred to the height, body weight and age of 4196 boys and 3901 girls in elementary and junior high schools in Yamanashi Prefecture. From these data, randomized samples for 2250 boys and 2247 girls were subjected to statistical analysis. To obtain the index of overweight that was minimally affected by the ages of the subjects, body weight (Bw; kg) / Height (Ht; m) power (BMIP) was calculated for each subject, and the power of the height was adjusted so that the calculated value showed the least correlation with age. The BMIP was least correlated with age when the power was set to 2.6927 in boys, and to 2.8472 in girls. The optimized BMIP values in 3 different age and height groups were similar in boys, but somewhat different in girls. However, the variability of the mean values was around 2% in girls. These results suggest that BMIP optimized for age in each sex is a better alternative to the standard body weight for Japanese children than body mass index.
Alcohol use amongst older adults: Knowledge and beliefs of occupational therapists working in physical health care settings

Introduction There is little discussion in the United Kingdom occupational therapy literature surrounding the topic of older people and alcohol, despite the growing prevalence of alcohol-related health problems in older adults resulting from an ageing population and changing patterns of consumption. Occupational therapists in physical health care settings are likely to work with older people whose drinking pattern may not be alcohol dependent, but may put their physical or psychological health at risk. Method A survey methodology was employed using open and closed questions, recruiting occupational therapists (band 5 to 9) (n = 122) working with older people (65+ years) in physical health care settings across all, except one, National Health Service Regional Health Boards in Scotland. Results Responses highlight gaps in occupational therapists’ knowledge around alternative ‘safe limits’ of alcohol intake for older people. Belief in professional role was evident, but the perception was that this was not supported by undergraduate education. Occupation focused theory and assessment were not prioritized when considering alcohol in the older adult. Conclusion This study has highlighted a need to develop pre- and post-qualification education for occupational therapists, to enhance understanding of theory, assessment and knowledge of alcohol with older adults in physical health care settings.
Traffic-incident detection-algorithm based on nonparametric regression

This paper proposes an improved nonparametric regression (INPR) algorithm for forecasting traffic flows and its application in automatic detection of traffic incidents. The INPRA is constructed based on the searching method of nearest neighbors for a traffic-state vector and its main advantage lies in forecasting through possible trends of traffic flows, instead of just current traffic states, as commonly used in previous forecasting algorithms. Various simulation results have indicated the viability and effectiveness of the proposed new algorithm. Several performance tests have been conducted using actual traffic data sets and results demonstrate that INPRs average absolute forecast errors, average relative forecast errors, and average computing times are the smallest comparing with other forecasting algorithms.
A novel architecture for multilane-free-flow electronic-toll-collection systems in the millimeter-wave range

An architecture for simultaneously performing multitarget tracking and multidata communication suitable for millimeter-wave multilane-free-flow electronic-toll-collection (ETC) systems is presented. This architecture combines the idea of frequency multiplexing in communication systems and the technique of target tracking in the pulse-Doppler radar. For target tracking, we make use of pulse ranging by the aid of pulse compression and fine target-direction determination by amplitude comparison to obtain high resolution in the radial direction (downrange), as well as both lateral directions (cross ranges). This architecture can be utilized for both active and passive onboard-unit (OBU) systems. Another important advantage of this architecture is that it can easily identify the passing vehicles not equipped with an OBU. This will activate some subsequent enforcement activities against the violation vehicles.
Brain, Mind, and Behavior

The Brain, by Richard M. Restak, 371 pp, with illus, $24.95, New York, Bantam Books Inc, 1984. The eight-part series, The Brain , on public television (rebroadcast this fall is planned) left its viewers with strong images—a hair-twiddling psychotic, endless perfect dives—but with little solid scientific information. Two companion books have not changed that: Brain, Mind and Behavior , a component of a collegeequivalent course, includes an instructor's manual and study guide. The neuroscientists who wrote it have dedicated their textbook to the reassuring assumption that all functions of the brain, normal and abnormal, are "ultimately explainable in terms of [its] basic structural components. " The Brain was written by a neurologist, Richard Restak, who doubts that assumption. He concludes that "anatomical connections between nerve cells fail to provide a sufficient explanation for how the brain works. " Neither book should be expected to prove its hypothesis and neither tries very hard to do
Gender Ratio Imbalance Effects on HIV Risk Behaviors in African American Women

Although literature suggests that African American women are no more likely to engage in risky sex than their White counterparts, they are more likely to have sex partners with higher HIV risk. Thus, it is not solely an individual’s behavior that determines their risk, but also the behavior of their partner and their position within a sexual network. For this reason, it is important to consider the dynamics of heterosexual relationships in the African American community. An important area of concern regarding African American heterosexual relationships is that of partner availability. A shortage of available African American men for potential partnerships exists and is reportedly due to poorer health and higher mortality rates. Some have argued that gender-ratio imbalance may be responsible for increased HIV vulnerability for African American women. This article reviews the literature on gender ratio imbalance and HIV risk in the African American community, and presents implications and suggestions for future research and intervention.
Training Partnership Dyads for Community-Based Participatory Research

This article describes the development, implementation, evaluation framework, and initial outcomes of a unique campus–community training initiative for community-based participatory research (CBPR). The South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research Center for Community Health Partnerships, which functions as the institution’s Clinical Translational and Science Award Community Engagement Program, leads the training initiative known as the Community Engaged Scholars Program (CES-P). The CES-P provides simultaneous training to CBPR teams, with each team consisting of at least one community partner and one academic partner. Program elements include 12 months of monthly interactive group sessions, mentorship with apprenticeship opportunities, and funding for a CBPR pilot project. A modified RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, Maintenance) framework guides the process, impact, and outcome evaluation plan. Lessons learned include challenges of group instruction with varying levels of readiness among the CBPR partners, navigating the institutional review board process with community co-investigators, and finding appropriate academic investigators to match community research interests. Future directions are recommended for this promising and unique dyadic training of academic and community partners.
An IEEE 802.11p-Based Multichannel MAC Scheme With Channel Coordination for Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

In recent years, governments, standardization bodies, automobile manufacturers, and academia are working together to develop vehicular ad hoc network (VANET)-based communication technologies. VANETs apply multiple channels, i.e., control channel (CCH) and service channels (SCHs), to provide open public road safety services and the improve comfort and efficiency of driving. Based on the latest standard draft IEEE 802.11p and IEEE 1609.4, this paper proposes a variable CCH interval (VCI) multichannel medium access control (MAC) scheme, which can dynamically adjust the length ratio between CCH and SCHs. The scheme also introduces a multichannel coordination mechanism to provide contention-free access of SCHs. Markov modeling is conducted to optimize the intervals based on the traffic condition. Theoretical analysis and simulation results show that the proposed scheme is able to help IEEE 1609.4 MAC significantly enhance the saturated throughput of SCHs and reduce the transmission delay of service packets while maintaining the prioritized transmission of critical safety information on CCH.
Journal of Interprofessional Care Bud Baldwin Award Winner 2011

The Baldwin Prize, in honor of Bud Baldwin’s sustained contribution to the interprofessional field, was first awarded in 2009 for the best article published in 2008 in the Journal of Interprofessional Care. Each year since, a panel of judges recruited from the Journal’s editorial board reviews all the articles published in a single volume and decides upon the winner based upon a number of key criteria for quality. Following the process established over the past few years, the following five criteria were used to select the best article:
Can Donated Media Placements Reach Intended Audiences?

Donated media placements for public service announcements (PSAs) can be difficult to secure, and may not always reach intended audiences. Strategies used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Screen for Life: National Colorectal Cancer Action Campaign (SFL) to obtain donated media placements include producing a diverse mix of high-quality PSAs, co-branding with state and tribal health agencies, securing celebrity involvement, monitoring media trends to identify new distribution opportunities, and strategically timing the release of PSAs. To investigate open-ended recall of PSAs promoting colorectal cancer screening, CDC conducted 12 focus groups in three U.S. cities with men and women either nearing age 50 years, when screening is recommended to begin, or aged 50-75 years who were not in compliance with screening guidelines. In most focus groups, multiple participants recalled exposure to PSAs promoting colorectal cancer screening, and most of these individuals reported having seen SFL PSAs on television, in transit stations, or on the sides of public buses. Some participants reported exposure to SFL PSAs without prompting from the moderator, as they explained how they learned about the disease. Several participants reported learning key campaign messages from PSAs, including that colorectal cancer screening should begin at age 50 years and screening can find polyps so they can be removed before becoming cancerous. Donated media placements can reach and educate mass audiences, including millions of U.S. adults who have not been screened appropriately for colorectal cancer.
Public Health Training Center Evaluation

The nation’s 37 public health training centers (PHTCs) provide competency-based trainings and practice-based opportunities to advance the current and future public health workforces. The Emory PHTC, based in Atlanta, Georgia, has developed a comprehensive evaluation plan to address the many evaluation-related questions that must be answered to inform decisions that improve practice. This plan, based on the center’s logic model, includes formative assessment, outcome evaluation, process evaluation, and programmatic evaluation. Rigorous evaluation has been used to (a) assess what is working, what is not working, and why; (b) guide decision making about program improvement; and (c) ensure efficient use of resources, such as time and money. This article describes how the Emory PHTC uses its logic model to guide development of a comprehensive evaluation plan and to create specific data collection tools. It also explains the process used to analyze data and make decisions to maximize effectiveness and ensure the best use of resources. Simply conducting trainings and providing opportunities for real-world application are not enough; it is critical to assess whether or not these educational opportunities are, in fact, educating.
The Cross-Species Mycobacterial Growth Inhibition Assay (MGIA) Project, 2010–2014

ABSTRACT The development of a functional biomarker assay in the tuberculosis (TB) field would be widely recognized as a major advance in efforts to develop and to test novel TB vaccine candidates efficiently. We present preliminary studies using mycobacterial growth inhibition assays (MGIAs) to detect Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine responses across species, and we extend this work to determine whether a standardized MGIA can be applied in characterizing new TB vaccines. The comparative MGIA studies reviewed here aimed to evaluate robustness, reproducibility, and ability to reflect in vivo responses. In doing so, they have laid the foundation for the development of a MGIA that can be standardized and potentially qualified. A major challenge ahead lies in better understanding the relationships between in vivo protection, in vitro growth inhibition, and the immune mechanisms involved. The final outcome would be a MGIA that could be used with confidence in TB vaccine trials. We summarize data arising from this project, present a strategy to meet the goals of developing a functional assay for TB vaccine testing, and describe some of the challenges encountered in performing and transferring such assays.
Ieee Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems 1 Autonomous Visual Navigation and Laser-based Moving Obstacle Avoidance

—Moving obstacle avoidance is a fundamental requirement for any robot operating in real environments, where pedestrians, bicycles and cars are present. In this paper, we propose and validate a framework for avoiding moving obstacles during visual navigation with a wheeled mobile robot. Visual navigation consists of following a path, represented as an ordered set of key images, which have been acquired by an on-board camera in a teaching phase. While following such path, our robot is able to avoid static as well as moving obstacles, which were not present during teaching, and which are sensed by an on-board lidar. The proposed approach takes explicitly into account obstacle velocities, estimated using an appropriate Kalman-based observer. The velocities are then used to predict the obstacle positions within a tentacle-based approach. Finally, our approach is validated in a series of real outdoor experiments, showing that when the obstacle velocities are considered, the robot behaviour is safer, smoother, and faster than when it is not.
The CDC Clear Communication Index Is a New Evidence-Based Tool to Prepare and Review Health Information

This article presents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Clear Communication Index (the Index), a tool that emphasizes the primary audience’s needs and provides a set of evidence-based criteria to develop and assess public communication products for diverse audiences. The Index consists of four open-ended introductory questions and 20 scored items that affect information clarity and audience comprehension, according to the scientific literature. A research team fielded an online survey to test the Index’s validity. Respondents answered 10 questions about either an original health material or one redesigned with the Index. For 9 out of 10 questions, the materials revised using the Index were rated higher than the original materials. Regardless of education level, respondents rated the revised materials more favorably than the original ones. The results indicate that the Index performed as intended and made it more likely that audiences could correctly identify the intended main message and understand the words and numbers in the materials. The results also support the widely held view that audiences are more positive about clearly designed materials. The Index shows that an evidence-based scoring rubric can assess and improve the clarity of health materials.
Attenuated embedding estimators for speech signals

In an earlier paper we utilized techniques from the theory of nonlinear dynamical systems to define a notion of embedding threshold estimators. These estimators were based on the analysis of delay-coordinates embeddings of sets of coefficients of the measured signal in some chosen frame. One of the motivations behind the method was the desire of building an estimator that would perform equally well regardless of the type of white noise contamination. In this paper we explicitly write the structure of one particular algorithm, the attenuated embedding threshold estimator, and we show the performance of the algorithm when different types of white noise are added to speech time series.
Identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Antigens of High Serodiagnostic Value

ABSTRACT Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with several million new cases detected each year. Current methods of diagnosis are time-consuming and/or expensive or have a low level of accuracy. Therefore, new diagnostics are urgently needed to address the global tuberculosis burden and to improve control programs. Serological assays remain attractive for use in resource-limited settings because they are simple, rapid, and inexpensive and offer the possibility of detecting cases often missed by routine sputum smear microscopy. The aim of this study was to identify M. tuberculosis seroreactive antigens from a panel of 103 recombinant proteins selected as diagnostic candidates. Initial library screening by protein array analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) identified 42 antigens with serodiagnostic potential. Among these, 25 were novel proteins. The reactive antigens demonstrated various individual sensitivities, ranging from 12% to 78% (specificities, 76 to 100%). When the antigens were analyzed in combinations, up to 93% of antibody responders could be identified among the TB patients. Selected seroreactive proteins were used to design 3 new polyepitope fusion proteins. Characterization of these antigens by multiantigen print immunoassay (MAPIA) revealed that the vast majority of the TB patients (90%) produced antibody responses. The results confirmed that due to the remarkable variation in immune recognition patterns, an optimal multiantigen cocktail should be designed to cover the heterogeneity of antibody responses and thus achieve the highest possible test sensitivity.
Addressing Language Barriers in Client-Centered Health Promotion

The growing population of nonnative English speakers in the United States challenges program planners to offer services that will effectively reach limited English proficiency (LEP) audiences. This article presents findings from evaluation research conducted with the Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) to identify best practices and areas of concern for working with LEP clients. Data were collected through online surveys of 338 WIC teaching staff in 2010 and 65 WIC local agency directors in 2011 as part of an implementation evaluation of client-centered nutrition education. Data identified current practices, facilitating factors, and challenges in working with LEP clients. Facilitating factors included cultural competency, material and translation resources, linguistic competency, professional development opportunities, and rapport with clients. Challenges cited included linguistic challenges, lack of cultural competencies, issues related to the client–staff interaction, and insufficient time, materials, and staffing. Best practices inferred from the data relate to developing linguistic standards for bilingual staff, considerations for translating written materials, interpretation services, cultural competency, and staff training. Findings may help inform the development of this and other linguistically and culturally appropriate health promotion programs.
New Schur-type-based PCI algorithms for reverberation suppression in active sonar

This paper presents two fast kinds of principal component inverse (PCI) algorithms using Schur-type subspace estimation methods for reverberation, especially for bottom reverberation suppression in active sonar. These algorithms apply Schur-type method into estimating and deleting the bottom reverberation echoes with a low rank. And the computational structure and complexity of Schur-type method are similar to that of LQ-decomposition except for the fact that plane and hyperbolic rotations are used. Compared with SVD-based PCI algorithm, these Schur-type-based algorithms have a similar estimation and separation for the reverberation subspace, but are more computationally efficient. In addition, because two Schur-type-based algorithms work column-wise, these are easy to be implemented in a real-time parallel DSP system.
Emitter number detection based on clustering and the application of information theoretic criteria

An approach for determining the number of emitters for array processing is proposed based on the asymptotic distribution of eigenvalues of a sample covariance. Instead of using the set of the smallest eigenvalues, different eigenvalue groupings are used as the competing models. An information theoretic criterion is used for determining the optimal grouping. The approach is able to solve the eigenvalue correspondence problem associated with most emitter number detection algorithms and demonstrates an improved detection performance under certain circumstances. The approach is computationally more efficient than order statistics based approaches. Computer simulations are used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed approach.
Advocacy, Efficacy, and Engagement in an Online Network for Latino Childhood Obesity Prevention

Salud America! is a national network created to engage Latino researchers, health professionals and community leaders in actions to reduce Latino childhood obesity. An online survey of 148 Salud America! network members investigated relationships between (1) their levels of engagement with the network, (2) self- and collective-efficacy, and (3) behavioral intentions to engage in advocacy for policies that can help reduce Latino childhood obesity. Analyses of these data found that higher levels of Salud America! engagement was associated with collective-advocacy efficacy—greater confidence in organized group advocacy as a way of advancing policies to reduce Latino childhood obesity. A multiple regression analysis found that this sense of collective-efficacy moderately predicted intentions to engage in advocacy behaviors. Salud America! engagement levels were less strongly associated with members’ confidence in their personal ability to be an effective advocate, yet this sense of self-efficacy was a very strong predictor of a behavioral intention to advocate. Based on these findings, new online applications aimed at increasing self- and collective-efficacy through peer modeling are being developed for Salud America! in order to help individuals interested in Latino childhood obesity prevention to connect with each other and with opportunities for concerted local actions in their communities.