Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factor structure and predictive validity of the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale.

BACKGROUND The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) is a 14-item, self-report instrument developed to measure obsessive thoughts about alcohol use and compulsive behaviors toward drinking. The objective of this study was to ascertain the factor structure underlying responses to the OCDS, and to further assess whether subscale scores derived from this structure were distinctive, internally consistent, predictive of future drinking, and able to differentiate between patients receiving naltrexone versus placebo in a controlled alcoholism treatment trial. METHODS OCDS data were collected from a total of 132 alcohol-dependent subjects at up to 15 assessment points during the study. Interitem correlations were pooled across assessment periods, and an iterated principal axis factor analysis with oblique promax rotation was performed. The factor analysis suggested that three primary factors could parsimoniously account for the common variance in item responses. Subscale scores were formed by summing responses to the most salient items on each factor. RESULTS The three common factors were interpreted as "resistance/control impairment," "obsession," and "interference. " The subscale scores corresponding to these three factors were internally consistent, and their correlation with other baseline measures of alcohol use and severity suggested that they were distinct. Scores on each subscale reliably distinguished between subjects who remained abstinent, exhibited "slip" drinking, or relapsed to heavy drinking during the 12 weeks of active treatment. Additionally, scores on the resistance/control impairment subscale distinguished between those patients receiving treatment with naltrexone or placebo. Scores from each subscale also were able to predict the hazard for heavy drinking in the following week of treatment. CONCLUSIONS The three OCDS factors are easily estimated with the summated scoring approach, and the resulting subscales appear to be internally consistent and distinctive. Moreover, the group differentiation capability and predictive utility of the subscale scores suggest that they might be useful as either predictor or outcome variables in alcoholism treatment trials. The duration of time for which a given OCDS assessment maintains its predictive utility awaits further confirmation.
Multi-modal convergence maps: from body schema and self-representation to mental imagery

Understanding the world involves extracting the regularities that define the interaction of the behaving organism within this world, and computing the statistical structure characterizing these regularities. This can be based on contingencies of phenomena at various scales ranging from correlations between sensory signals (e.g., motor-proprioceptive loops) to high-level conceptual links (e.g., vocabulary grounding). Multiple cortical areas contain neurons whose receptive fields are tuned for signals co-occurring in multiple modalities. Moreover, the hierarchical organization of the cortex, described within the Convergence Divergence Zone framework, defines an ideal architecture to extract and make use of contingency at increasing levels of complexity. We present an artificial neural network model of the early cortical amodal computations, which we have demonstrated on the humanoid robot iCub. This model explains and predicts findings in neurophysiology and neuropsychology along with being an efficient tool to control the robot. In particular, through exploratory use of the body, the system learns a form of body schema in terms of specific modalities (e.g., arm proprioception, gaze proprioception, vision) and their multimodal contingencies. Once multimodal contingencies have been learned, the system is capable of generating and exploiting internal representations or mental images based on inputs in one of these multiple dimensions. The system thus provides insight on a possible neural substrate for mental imagery within the context of multimodal convergence.
Effects of Stress on Fricatives: Evidence from Standard Modern Greek

This study investigates the effects of stress on the spectral properties of fricative noise in Standard Modern Greek (SMG). Twenty female speakers of SMG participated in the study. Fricatives were produced in stressed and unstressed positions in two vowel place positions: back and front vowels. Acoustic measurements were taken and the temporal and spectral properties of fricatives—using spectral moments—were calculated. Stressed fricatives are produced with increased duration, center of gravity, standard deviation, and normalized intensity. The machine learning and classification algorithm C5.0 has been employed to estimate the contribution of the temporal and spectral parameters for the classification of fricatives. Overall, duration and center of gravity contribute the most to the classification of stressed vs. unstressed fricatives.
Robots will dominate the use of our language

Robots are able to influence the usage of human language even after the interaction between the human and robot has ended. Humans influence each other in the usage of words, and hence, the robots they program indirectly affect the development of our society’s vocabulary. Most human–robot interaction studies focus on one robot interacting with one human. Studying the dynamic development of language in a group of humans and robots is difficult and requires considerable resource. We therefore conducted a social simulation of a human–robot communication network based on a real-world human–human network, allowing us to study how the centrality of the robots’ owners influences the propagation of words in the network and what influence the number of robots in the network has on achieving a fixation state. Our results show that robots owned by highly connected people have less effect on the dynamics of language than robots owned by less connected people. Highly connected people interact with many others and therefore are more strongly influenced by a greater number of people and their robots. We have found that 11% of the humans owning a robot is sufficient for the robots to dominate the development of the language resulting in 95% of the humans using or adopting their words.
Resectable adenocarcinoma of the rectosigmoid and rectum. II. The influence of blood vessel invasion

Several series have examined the influence of blood vessel invasion (BVI) by tumor on survival of patients with colorectal cancer; however, little data are available regarding its influence on patterns of failure. In an effort to determine the influence of BVI on the patterns of failure and survival in rectosigmoid and rectal cancer, a retrospective review of 168 patients who underwent potentially curative surgery at the New England Deaconess Hospital was performed. In patients who had tumors with extramural BVI, there was a significant decrease in five‐year actuarial survival compared with patients who had tumors with intramural BVI or were BVI‐negative (BVI‐). When the intramural and extramural types of BVI were combined, no significant impact was noted on the patterns of failure or survival in patients with BVI+ versus those with BVI‐ tumors. In contrast, the presence of lymphatic vessel invasion was found to significantly decrease survival. By using a proportional hazards analysis, it was found that BVI was not an independent prognostic variable. Therefore, the use of BVI alone is not recommended for selecting patients with rectosigmoid and rectal cancer who may benefit from adjuvant therapy.
Identification of Cis-regulatory Elements of Butyrophilin Gene of the Mammary Gland

Butyrophilin subfamily 1 member A1 is a highly expressed gene in mammary gland of all mammals during lactation. It is found to be the major integral protein in the milk fat globule membrane. Its interactions with other membrane elements and soluble proteins of the mammary epithelial cells regulate the secretion of milk fat. In order to reveal any shared cis-acting elements, the human butyrophilin subfamily 1member A1 5’-flanking genomic sequence was analyzed and compared with four mammals comprising of a rodent and three primates, v iz. , Mus musculus , and Pan troglodytes , Pongo obelli , and Macaca mulata , and three other mammary specific human milk genes using publicly available bioinformatics tools. Prior to a multiple sequence analysis, low complexity DNA sequences were masked using CENSOR. The multiple sequence analysis revealed nine highly conserved regions of similarities in the 5’- flanking region of butyrophilin genes across species. Consensus putative transcription factor binding sites were identified using MatInspector and compared with SiteGA results. They were subsequently examined for the expression in the mammary gland as well as for their occurrence in the previously identified region of homology. Finally, CCCTCbinding factor (CTCF) and nuclear receptor subfamily 2 - factor (NR2F) were identified at a similar distance from the transcription start site in the 5’- flanking region of butyrophilin gene across the species. However, the exact interaction of these transcription factors with the butyrophilin gene is not known, which needs further investigation.
A novel compact leaky wave antenna incorporating the dual-periodical loading

This paper presents a novel leaky wave antenna (LWA) loaded by periodical open stubs and holes. The complex propagation constants of the first higher order mode of the periodically loaded microstrip, so-called the EH1 mode, are extracted by the field eigenvalue approach, leading to control the radiation characteristics by changing the loading conditions. By doubling the length of open stub, the operating frequency of the LWA can be shifted 8.9% toward to the lower frequency. The comparison of the dispersion curves between the loaded and conventional microstrips shows 20% width reduction on synthesizing the EH1 mode. Two 9GHz and 10GHz practical prototypes are designed based on the proposed methodology and fabricated by using the multilayer printed circuit board (PCB) technology. The measured return-losses of two LWA prototypes are lower than 10 dB. The measured antenna gains of two LWA are 5.37 dBi and 6.89 dBi. The maximum gains are 6.05 dBi and 7.43 dBi at 9.2 and 10.1GHz. The beam scanning angles are 7 degrees and 4 degrees when the frequency is increased 0.2GHz.
Phase II study of cenersen, an antisense inhibitor of p53, in combination with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab for high-risk chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Abstract Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with deletion or mutation of TP53 have exceedingly poor clinical outcomes. Cenersen, an oligonucleotide targeting TP53, has been shown to abrogate the activity of TP53 gain-of-function mutants and to increase sensitivity of lymphoma cells to cytotoxic chemotherapy in vitro. We combined cenersen with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) as treatment for patients with high-risk CLL. The purpose of this phase II study was to determine the overall response rate, response duration and toxicity of cenersen administered in combination with FCR. Twenty patients with relapsed or high-risk CLL were evaluated. Nineteen patients were previously treated. The complete response rate was 18%; the overall response rate was 53%. Median progression-free and overall survival was 5.3 and 10.6 months, respectively. The most common serious adverse events were neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. In this single arm phase II study, cenersen combined with FCR yielded clinical responses with acceptable toxicity in patients with high-risk CLL.
A bag of words description scheme based on SSIM for image quality assessment

This paper addresses the need to use the knowledge about the human perceived quality, adding machine learning models to the objective quality estimation. A new technique is proposed based on the division of images into several cells where the mean of the SSIM metric is computed. A sliding window over a grid of cells that divide the image will define a set of image descriptors that are aggregated using a bag of words. This model is able to improve the typical values provided by SSIM and defines a new path for the application of machine learning to image quality evaluation.
Optimal/PID formulation for control of robotic manipulators

An optimal control formulation for robotic manipulators is proposed in this paper. The Computed Torque Control, Resolved Acceleration Control, and a PID End Point Control are derived as special cases of this formulation. Torque and acceleration feedback are adopted to eliminate the on-line calculations of feed forward components in the above control algorithms, and to increase robustness of the control system. This controller can be implemented approximately without torque sensors and accelerometers. The resulting control system is proved to be bounded input bounded state stable. Simulation results on both the Scheinman MIT and PUMA 600 arms are presented.
Image Interpolation Using Edge-Directed Smoothness Measure Filter

This paper proposes a novel adaptive image interpolation method using an edge-directed smoothness filter. Adaptive image interpolation methods tend to create higher visual quality images than traditional interpolation methods such as bicubic interpolation. These methods, however, often suffer from high computational costs and production of inadequate interpolated pixels. We propose a novel method to overcome these problems. Our approach is to estimate the enlarged image from the original image based on an observation model. Obtaining an image with edge-directed smoothness, we constrain the estimated image to have many edge-directed smooth pixels which are measured by using the edge-directed smoothness filter introduced in this paper. Additionally, we also propose a simplification of our algorithm to run with lower computational complexity and smaller memory. Simulation results show that the proposal method produces images with high visual quality and performs well on PSNR and computational times.
A System Supporting the Analysis of Motorway Traffic Accidents

This work presents a business intelligence tool for monitoring traffic accidents on motorways and supporting decisions relevant to road safety. The system manages information on road characteristics, traffic accidents and traffic volumes and produces reports for monitoring the evolution of key performance indicators for road safety supporting decisions on actions for risk mitigation and safety improvements for road users. The paper illustrates the different types of analyses performed by the system. Pattern based analysis is used to evaluate safety performance indicators for the road sections matching defined patterns. Two different road segmentation algorithms, used to identify the most critical road sections according to various severity indicators, are presented and discussed. Differential analysis compares the value of selected severity indicators before and after the implementation of an intervention on a road. Finally, a graphical user interface allows the accident locations to be visualized and accidents with specific characteristics to be highlighted. The system was evaluated on the data collected between 2009 and 2011 for the A15 motorway in Italy, connecting Parma to La Spezia.
Design and Experimental Evaluation of a Fast Torque-Controlled Hydraulic Humanoid Robot

This paper reports the design and control of a fast torque-controlled hydraulic humanoid robot, TaeMu. The robot has 15 active joints that are all driven by hydraulic servocylinders with an external hydraulic power supply. The 1377-mm tall robot has a three-axis active torso used for static and dynamic balancing. It weighs 72.3 kg including a dummy weight stand for the arms. Its lightweight design with carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic allows the legs to have a similar mass distribution to that of human legs. We present the details of the hardware design including the hydraulic actuator selection, mechanism, and control systems, as well as the passivity-based controller design for joint torque control and whole-body motion control. We present experimentally obtained results, such as speed testing, basic torque control testing, full-body compliant balancing with attitude regulation/tracking, and balanced full-squat motions. The experimentally obtained results and estimated joint specification imply the high potential of the robot to perform human-like motions if the researchers can invent proper control algorithms.
Cytokine‐activated human vascular smooth muscle delays apoptosis of neutrophils: Relevance of interactions between cyclo‐oxygenase‐2 and colony stimulating factors

Leukocytes undergo programmed cell death (apoptosis) as part of the normal course of inflammatory responses. The colony stimulating factors (CSF) are important inhibitors of neutrophil apoptosis. We have recently shown that cytokines stimulate human vascular smooth muscle cells (HVSMCs) to release granulocyte macrophage‐CSF (GM‐CSF) and granulocyte‐CSF (G‐CSF)‐like immunoreactivity, and that the inflammatory form of cyclo‐oxygenase (COX‐2) differentially modulates their release. However, the biological relevance of these observations is not known. Here we have measured human neutrophil apoptosis as a bioassay for the activity of authentic GM‐CSF and G‐CSF, as well as products released by cytokine‐stimulated HVSMCs. Furthermore, we have assessed the biological relevance of COX‐2 in the production of survival‐promoting factors by HVSMCs. We demonstrate that (i) GM‐CSF is more potent than G‐CSF as an inhibitor of neutrophil apoptosis; (ii) of the two CSFs, the activity of G‐CSF released by HVSMCs predominates when cells are stimulated with cytokines; and (iii), this situation is reversed when COX activity is blocked such that GM‐CSF becomes the predominant active CSF produced by cells. These observations identify HVSMCs as important modulators of inflammatory and immune responses and identify a setting where COX‐2 activity regulates neutrophil survival indirectly via the production of CSFs.
In vitro propagation of Zingiber petiolatum (Holttum)

SummaryWe describe an in vitro propagation protocol for Zingiber petiolatum (Holttum), I. Theilade, a rare species from the southern part of Thailand. Fruits were surface-sterilized and seeds germinated on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS) medium supplemented with 3% sucrose. Three-month-old seedlings were used as initial plant material for in vitro propagation. Terminal buds of the plants were inoculated on MS medium containing 6-benzylaminopurine (BA; 2.2–35.5 μM) alone or in combination with 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (0.5 μM). Eight weeks after inoculation, the cultures were transferred to MS medium without plant growth regulators for 4wk. The cultures transferred from MS medium with 17.8 μM BA revealed the highest shoot induction rate of 6.1±0.7 shoots per explant. Rooting was spontaneously achieved in MS medium without plant growth regulators. Rooted plants were successfully transplanted to soil.
Network meta‐analysis for indirect treatment comparisons

I present methods for assessing the relative effectiveness of two treatments when they have not been compared directly in a randomized trial but have each been compared to other treatments. These network meta‐analysis techniques allow estimation of both heterogeneity in the effect of any given treatment and inconsistency (‘incoherence’) in the evidence from different pairs of treatments. A simple estimation procedure using linear mixed models is given and used in a meta‐analysis of treatments for acute myocardial infarction. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Two-sensor-based H&#8734;control for nanopositioning in probe storage

The ultra-high storage density in probe-storage devices makes positioning a significant challenge. The probes have to be positioned over the storage medium with nanoscale accuracy. A feedback-control scheme based on a high-precision global-positioning sensor can provide the required accuracy. However, drift and low frequency noise affect the performance over long periods of operation. A novel control architecture based on the H∞control framework is presented which addresses this problem by using medium-derived positional information along with the global-positioning sensor. This controller has a multiple-input single-output (MISO) structure and uses the best measurement in different frequency regions. Experimental results on a probe-storage device prototype demonstrate the efficacy of this approach.
Test-Driven Development

Test-driven development (TDD) is a software development approach using a growing scaffold of tests that guide and support the production of code. This entry describes TDD, explains the underlying dynamics, provides a small worked example, and offers a theory of how and why it works. It relates TDD to other approaches that employ a similar style of development and presents a summary of the empirical results about TDD’s effectiveness. The entry also raises some of the known concerns and challenges about this development practice and provides pointers to solutions. TDD is a practice that has widespread impact on the software development lifecycle. Adopting it takes a great amount of discipline. However, we cannot say whether TDD is right for everyone and for all types of software: this entry should help the reader decide whether to explore further.
Hazards of Hospitalization for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions among Older Women: Evidence of Greater Risks for African Americans and Hispanics

Hospitalization for Ambulatory Care Sensitive conditions (ACSH) has been widely accepted as an indicator of the accessibility and overall performance of primary health care. Previous studies have found conflicting evidence about ACSH disparities associated with race or ethnicity for older persons. This study estimates discrete-time ACSH hazards for women aged 69 or older, using longitudinal data with multivariate controls. Data are from the 1984 to 1990 Longitudinal Study of Aging, linked with Medicare claims. The multivariate results are adjusted for age, education, insurance and marital status, and other factors associated with health status and primary care access, and also for important indicators of need that include self-rated health, comorbidities, physical impairments, and previous hospitalizations. Many of these factors are permitted to vary across time for each individual, thus limiting measurement error. Results suggest that older African American and Hispanic women have markedly higher ACSH risks than older non-Hispanic white women.