Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perinatal factors and umbilical cord characteristics in determining handedness: results from the Belgian East Flanders prospective twin survey

Aims: The objective was to determine if perinatal factors and umbilical cord characteristics showed any association with left-handedness in a set of twin subjects. Subjects: Twins born from 1977 to 1991 and registered in the ongoing East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey (EFPTS) were studied. Methods: Handedness as the outcome measure was assessed by the Strien (Preference score) questionnaire and the Bishop’s card-reaching test (Performance score). Perinatal and umbilical cord characteristics were compared in left and right-handed subjects, adjusting for twin clustering in the data. Random effects logistic modelling was used to predict the odds of being left-handed. Findings: Out of the 15 factors tested, only 2 had statistically significant relationships with left-handedness when assessed by Strien questionnaire. Left-handedness was less common in older fathers (odds ratio (OR) per year increase in age=0.95 (0.91-1.00) and in non-primiparous births (OR=0.68 (0.48-0.97)) Left-handedness was also less common in subjects with undefined and mixed umbilical cord windings (OR= 0.61 (0.37-1.00) when compared to clockwise windings), though the factor as a whole was not significant (p=0.13). Bishop’s test did not confirm these findings. Conclusion: Perinatal factors studied were not found to be significantly associated with left-handedness.
Women Entrapment and Flight in Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

This paper attempts to yield a critical reading of “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892), which is one of the pioneering feminist works of American literature. Attempts have been made at finding affinities between the specific characterization of the story and the stereotypical male and female figures as defined by patriarchy and in terms of traditional gender roles. The paper tries to draw on Lacan’s conceptions of language, Cixous’ ideas about ecriture feminine, and Freud’s misconception about women’s conditions. Drawing critical attention to this information, the paper focuses on the main unnamed female character and the fact that her anonymity helps the readers, specifically female readers, to identify themselves with her.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Historical and Biopsychosocial Perspective

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a relatively common, disabling, autoimmune disease that is characterized by progressive joint disorder, significant pain and functional disability. Its prevalence is estimated at 0.5 1.0 percent of adults worldwide (Kvein, 2004), and the disease continues to cause significant morbidity and premature mortality. Symmetric highly inflammatory polyarthritis of peripheral joints is the hallmark of the disease. The condition is also systemic in that it often affects many extra-articular tissues throughout the body, including skin, blood vessels, heart, lungs, and muscles. The gradual involvement of multiple joints into pathophysiological process eventually results in articular destruction, ensuing instability, deformity and collateral pain. As the pathology progresses, chronic pain and functional disability dominates one’s life and lessens everyday enjoyment and comforts. Physical in nature, the disease also exacts an emotional toll that often leads to unfortunate psychiatric sequelae. It is not at all surprising that in addition to joint deformity, disability, dolour, and excess mortality, on average one in five patients with rheumatoid arthritis will experience depression. Many new insights into epidemiology, pathogenesis, outcomes measurement, and pharmacologic treatment of rheumatoid arthritis have occurred in recent years. Applications of historical analyses to the development of a cogent etiologic theory of rheumatoid arthritis have been limited to date (Entezami et al, 2011). In this chapter, the author presents the major points of evidence and conclusions that have been drawn from historical, clinical and research material in the study of rheumatic diseases.
Typical synoptic types of spring effective precipitation in Inner Mongolia, China

Spring (March to May) is a crucial season for crop seeding and grass growth in Inner Mongolia (IM), China. Yearly harvests of agriculture, and animal husbandry, are controlled partially by spring precipitation. Based on the observations at 104 stations in IM, the spring precipitation during 1961–2010 was investigated and analysed. The results show that the amount of spring precipitation displays a trend associated with an increasing frequency of effective spring precipitation events (ESPE, with more than 10 stations among all observatories with over 10 mm daily precipitation). In addition, the synoptic conditions of the 141 ESPEs were studied through analysis of the sea level pressure (SLP), and 850, 700 and 500 hPa charts. They were classified into five types and named for the source positions of the frontal cyclones over the Eurasian continent on the SLP chart. Most of the Hetao, Mongolian and Huanghe cyclones in spring time, in general, bring strong wind, decreasing temperature or dust storms to IM. Sometimes they may also cause effective precipitation when the moisture transportation is favourable along the cyclone paths. The Northeast China cyclone mainly influences Northeast China and can lead to rainfall with adequate moisture supplies. In most cases, cold air from Siberia forms a frontal cyclone or a trough around Lake Baikal, and then heads eastward or southeastward, producing precipitation over large areas in IM in spring. Typical features of the synoptic evolutions of those five types are summarized and presented through analysis of representative ESPEs. Copyright © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society
Object-Orientation in Requirements, Specifications and Models

Object-oriented requirements and specifications seem desirable for object-oriented design and implementation. However, in this paper we demonstrate that this is not necessarily the case. When we compare the conventionally desired attributes of requirements (e.g., easily modifiable, expressed in the customer? s terms, and individual requirements which are separable) with some of the conventional properties of object-orientation (e.g., taxonomic organization), we see that in some ways they are incompatible with each other. While a specification may be expressed as an object-oriented model, there are disadvantages to doing so that have not been adequately considered in this context. We illustrate these distinctions with examples from the Kaiserslautern Light Control Problem and offer strategies to assist practitioners as they address these issues.
Mentoring as a Drug Prevention Strategy: An Evaluation of Across Ages

This article presents results of a three-year evaluation of Across Ages, an intergenerational approach to drug and alcohol prevention. The program consists of three major elements: 1) a mentoring program in which youths are matched with older adults who provide ongoing support and encouragement in weekly interactions; 2) community service activities designed to promote involvement with and better understanding of the frail elderly; and 3) a school-based like skills curriculum. Approximately 400 6th grade students in Springfield, Massachusetts, an ethnically diverse community with a large proportion of public school students living in low income families, took part in the evaluation over a three year period. Students' classes were randomly assigned to one of three experimental conditions: the mentor condition, in which students received the life skills curriculum, communitiy service activities, and were assigned an elderly mentor; the curriculum condition, in which students received only the life skills curriculum and community service activities; and the control condition, in which students received no intervention. Youths involved in the study completed questionnaires on three occasions: prior to the initiation of program activities, at the conclusion of the program, and again six months following the cessation of the program activities. Results indicate that mentoring is associated with significantly lower levels of problem behavior and substance abuse and significantly higher levels of self-confidence, self-control, cooperation, and attachment to both the school and the family. Moreover, students receiving mentoring report significantly lower levels of alcohol use. In contrast, few positive effects of the life skills curriculum or community service activities are observed. (Abstract Adapted from Source: Adolescent & Family Health, 2000. Copyright © 2000 by the Institute for Youth Development) For more information on Across Ages, a Safe Communities ~ Safe Schools Favorable Program, see VioPro record number 2907. Juvenile Substance Use Child Substance Use Substance Use Prevention Drug Use Prevention Late Childhood Elementary School Student Grade 6 Elementary School Student Mentoring Prevention Program Program Evaluation Community Services Elder Adult Mentor Child Development Social Skills Development Prosocial Skills Youth Development Curriculum Child Self-Esteem Self-Esteem Development Child Behavior Child Problem Behavior Behavior Prevention SCSS Favorable Reference 04-02
Object segmentation based on multi-resolution texture analysis

Image recognition is one of important technologies in recent applications including image retrieval systems, surveillance systems, medical systems, etc. In the recognition procedure, the object is segmented from the input image and suitable features of the object are detected to classify the object. In the object segmentation, there are two approaches; the detection of similar grey/color area and of similar texture area. The former is based on the thresholding of the image [1] or the detection of object contours [2], while the latter is on the direct analysis of object textures [3]. These methods are sometimes followed by the processing such as religion-growing. The method proposed in this paper belongs to the latter approach which can be widely applied to objects having their own textures. Known difficulties in the texture analysis is how to realize robustness against a variety of 1) texture kinds, 2) texture sizes, and 3) backgrounds to be discriminated. In this paper, we firstly proposed a pre-/postprocessing to cope with the issue 2) and examined two simple texture analysis methods to cope with 1) and 3), and then experiments show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Clustering numerical weather forecasts to obtain statistical prediction intervals

The numerical weather prediction (NWP) model outputs are point deterministic values arranged on a three‐dimensional grid. However, there is always some level of uncertainty in the prediction. Many applications would benefit from provision of relevant uncertainty information along with the forecast. A common means of formulating and communicating forecast uncertainty are prediction intervals (PI). In this study, various methods for modelling the uncertainty of NWP forecasts are investigated and PIs provided for predictions accordingly. In particular, the interest is in analysing the historical performance of the system as a valuable source of information for uncertainty analysis. Various clustering algorithms are employed to group the performance records as the first step of the PI determination process. In the second step, a range of methods are used to fit appropriate probability distributions to errors of each cluster. As a result, PIs can be computed dynamically depending on the forecast context. The clustering algorithms are applied over different feature sets and derived and generated features. All presented PI computation methods are empirically evaluated using a comprehensive verification framework in a set of experiments involving two real‐world data sets of NWP forecasts and observations. The proposed evaluation provides a considerably fairer and more reliable judgement compared to existing methods. Results show that incorporating trained uncertainty model outputs into the NWP point predictions provides PI forecasts with higher reliability and skill. This can lead to improvement of decision processes for many applications that rely on these forecasts. Copyright © 2013 Royal Meteorological Society
THE ROMAN FAMILY: RECENT INTERPRETATIONS La familia romana: recientes interpretaciones

Epigraphy has become an important methodological tool in the recent dialogue over the structural and functional aspects of the Roman family. The traditional view of the multigenerational family has been eclipsed by the model of the nuclear family, as represented in funerary inscriptions. Such inscrip­ tions also show that husbands were, on average, a decade older than their wives. A high rate of child morta­ lity, while numerically underrepresented on epitaphs, is reflected in the fact that more parents commemorate dead children than vice-versa. Moreover, in contrast to the conventional image of the strict father, inscrip­ tions reveal a genuine affection between parents and children.
Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems

Highsmith, Addison-Wesley, 2013, 0133489485, 9780133489484, 392 pages. This is the digital version of the printed book (Copyright Ð’Â© 2000). Ð’Â Winner of the 2001 Software Development Jolt Product Excellence Award Ð’Â This innovative textÐ’Â offers a practical, realistic approach to managing high-speed, high-change software development projects. Consultant James A. Highsmith shows readers how to increase collaboration and adapt to uncertainty. Ð’Â Many organizations start high-speed, high-change projects without knowing how to do themÐ2Ð‚â€œand even worse, without knowing they donÐ2Ð‚â„¢t know. Successful completion of these projects is often at the expense of the project team. Ð’Â Adaptive Software Development emphasizes an adaptive, collaborative approach to software development. The concepts allow developers to Ð2Ð‚Nsscale-upÐ2Ð‚Nœ rapid application development and extreme programming approaches for use on larger, more complex projects. Ð’Â The four goals of the book are toÐ’Â support an adaptive culture or mindset, in which change and uncertainty are assumed to be the natural stateÐ2Ð‚â€œnot a false expectation of order introduce frameworks to guide the iterative process of managing change institute collaboration, the interaction of people on three levels: interpersonal, cultural, and structural add rigor and discipline to the RAD approach, making it scalable to the uncertainty and complexity of real-life undertakings Ð’Â .
Fast design of Gabor filters [medical image processing application]

The Gabor expansion and its associated Gabor filter design are important in image processing and image coding. An important application recently is in medical image analysis combined with neural network techniques. Hence, seeking fast algorithms for the design of Gabor filters is particularly useful in these applications. Here, the authors present existence conditions for Gabor filters, and a fast algorithm to compute a pair of analysis and synthesis Gabor filters based on this condition and the Gram determinant. One of the main contributions of this work is that a pair of analysis and synthesis Gabor filters generate a frame and dual frame pair that do not require the computation of frame bounds.
Improved slicing algorithm for greater utility in privacy preserving data publishing

Several algorithms and techniques have been proposed in recent years for the publication of sensitive microdata. However, there is a trade-off to be considered between the level of privacy offered and the usefulness of the published data. Recently, slicing was proposed as a novel technique for increasing the utility of an anonymized published dataset by partitioning the dataset vertically and horizontally. This work proposes a novel technique to increase the utility of a sliced dataset even further by allowing overlapped clustering while maintaining the prevention of membership disclosure. It is further shown that using an alternative algorithm to Mondrian increases the efficiency of slicing. This paper shows though workload experiments that these improvements help preserve data utility better than traditional slicing
Pattern of refractive errors and presbyopia seen in a private eye clinic in Port Harcourt, Nigeria.

Refractive errors and presbyopia pose a challenge in the developing world in spite of the priority it attracts in vision 2020 programme. It can negatively affect the socio-economic life of an individual. Ignorance and poor mobilization of refractive services are the major contributors to this problem. The aim of this study is to determine the pattern of refractive errors and presbyopia in patients attending a private eye clinic in Port Harcourt as this will help to improve their management and education.The case files of patients with refractive error and presbyopia who presented at DDS Eye Centre and Surgery, Port Harcourt over a period of 6 years were studied. Their bio data and relevant medical and ocular history were reviewed. Their visual acuity and complete clinic evaluation were also reviewed including objective and subjective refractions done with appropriate techniques. A total of 700 patients with refractive errors and presbyopia were seen during the study period. Three hundred and sixty-eight (52.6%)weremales and three hundred and thirty-two (47.4%)were females giving aM: F=1.1:1. Eighty-eight (12.6%)were children 18 years old or less. Sixty six subjects (9.4%) of the study population hadmyopia, 35 (5%) had hypermetropia, 156 (22.3%) had astigmatismwhile 443 (63.3%) had presbyopia.Among the children, astigmatism was the highest form of refractive error (64.8%), while myopia constituted 27.3% and hypermetropia 7.9%. Astigmatism was the leading refractive error among children attending DDS Eye Centre and Surgery, Port Harcourt and it should be addressed by prescribing glasses and educating parents on the importance of acceptance and compliance with spectacle use to prevent amblyopia. The establishment of a vision screening programme for children of school age will also be of great benefit. Adults presented more with presbyopia than with refractive errors in the study. This should be treated so that it does not interfere with the daily activities of those affected.
How Can Customized IT System Support Qualitative Methods in Website Validation: Application for Visual Content Analysis

Data gathering phase of qualitative research method in visual communication studies on website is extremely complex and time consuming. At the same time researcher should have a visual access to the web page that is being reviewed and a possibility to quantify data for given attributes. Multiple screens or split windows are possible practical solutions at hand. Although there are tools for managing data in quantitative research, none of them is suitable for visual content analysis of websites. The aim of this paper is to present a customized system providing IT support in the process of quantitative data gathering. Main research question: How can customized IT support system enhance data integrity and reduce total research time, especially in data gathering phase? The form of the proposed IT support is a web application built using agile software development method on LAMP stack and is available online. For the specific research project the application offers three main sections: a list of websites to evaluate, a visual representation of loaded website and a list of attributes grouped by categories for quantifying the data. Proposed customized IT tool allows data export to widely accepted MS Excel format for further data analysis. Main conclusions of the research are that the use of customized IT support in visual content analysis reduces time necessary for data gathering and increases data credibility. Keywords : customized web application, qualitative research, website validation, visual content analysis
SADT: structured analysis and design technique

I Diagrammatic notation for constructing a sketch for an application. I Offers boxes to represent entities and activities. I Offers a variety of arrows to relate boxes. I Boxes and arrows have an associated (informal) semantics; users are aided by box and arrow labels, other informal documentation. I Has inspired many other commercial tools. I Has been in use since the mid-seventies [Ross77]. I SADT is available as a commercial CASE tool under the name IDEF0.
Automating Reasoning in an Implementation of Constructive Type Theory

The starting point for this thesis is the Nuprl proof development system. Nuprl is an environment for the development of formal computational mathematics that has as a logical basis a rich constructive type theory. The work presented in this thesis concerns the automation of reasoning in Nuprl, and consists of three contributions. The first is a collection of basic tactics that can aid formal reasoning in a variety of domains. These tactics are simple enough that their function can be readily understood, yet powerful enough to permit the development of significant formal mathematics. The second contribution is the use of Nuprl to solve an open problem in the theory of programming languages. The set of basic tactics together with various tools provided by Nuprl played a crucial role in the solution, and it seems that this problem is not tractable without computer assistance. The third contribution is the construction in Nuprl of a kind of reflection mechanism that allows the use of Nuprl's type theory as a language for tactic programming. The main part of this work consists of a formal development within Nuprl of what may be regarded as the beginning of a new kind of book. It is a computerized development and explanation of a useful partial reflection of Nuprl within itself. Developments of formal mathematics that have this library as a base will be able to incorporate facts that are usually considered metamathematical, such as theorems about the correctness of algorithms for establishing mathematical facts. Such theorems allow subsequent uses of the corresponding algorithms. As an application, a formally verified term-rewriting system is constructed.