Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the Use of Fuzzy Regression in Parametric Software Estimation Models: Integrating Imprecision in COCOMO Cost Drivers

: - Parametric software estimation techniques make use of mathematical models elaborated from regression techniques to obtain effort of development estimates. As a matter of fact, the values of the cost drivers that act as variables in these models are inherently vague and uncertain, since they’re in many cases elaborated from human judgments about highly abstract concepts (like ‘required reliability’) or even from collective attitudinal characterizations (like ‘analyst capability’). In this paper, fuzzy regression techniques based on fuzzification of input values are explored as an alternative to conventional regression for obtaining estimating equations. The available COCOMO-81 project database and the Furea fuzzy regression tool are used as a case study, emphasizing more realistic approaches to the expression of widely used cost driver values.
Bradykinin-evoked scratching responses in complete Freund's adjuvant-inflamed skin through activation of B1 receptor

Capsaicin, a potent algogen, induces an itch-related behavior in the presence of inflammation. In this study, we tested whether bradykinin (BK) can evoke a similar response and investigated the potential mechanisms involved in this process. Local inflammation was induced by intradermal injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) into the back of the neck, left hind foot or left cheek of male C57BL/6J mice. BK was then injected intradermally into the same area on indicated days. Four days after CFA inflammation, BK treatment evoked scratching responses in a time- and dose-dependent manner. For BK receptor antagonist treatment, inflamed-mice were either given an intraperitoneal injection of B1 receptor (B1R) or B2 receptor (B2R) antagonist 30 min prior to BK administration, or an intradermal co-injection of antagonist and BK into the inflamed area. Our results indicate that B1R and B2R act in an opposite fashion during this process, as pretreatment with B1R antagonist by intraperitoneal injection significantly reduced BK-induced scratching behavior, whereas B2R antagonist treatment dramatically increased scratching behavior. Moreover, combined injection of BK and B2R antagonist enhanced BK-induced scratching activity in CFA-inflamed mice. In addition, pretreatment or co-injection with B2R antagonist dramatically reduced the pain-related licking behavior induced by BK injection. The data suggest that BK-induced scratching responses in CFA-inflamed mouse skin occur via activation of B1R. Furthermore, B1 and B2 receptors play different roles in modulating BK-induced itch-related behavior in CFA-inflamed mice.
Mammalian bites of children; a problem in accident prevention.

The pet population has been increasing rapidly, and in 1956 there were probably 25,000,000 dogs and 35,000,000 cats in this country. 1 Rabbits, squirrels, hamsters, and rats are also kept in great numbers by children. As pets around the home, only ponies and horses have decreased in number in recent years. The biting of children by pets is a common, although rarely fatal, accident. My associates and I submitted a questionnaire to 300 parents of 617 children coming under our observation for routine pediatric care. Among the 531 children in this survey who were over one year of age, 15.4% had, at some time, been bitten by a mammal, 2.1% of them more than once. Many of the bites were not considered severe enough to be reported to a physician. The mammalian bites sustained by children in our pediatric practice, and reported to us, were investigated in detail over a
Neural networks that learn from fuzzy if-then rules

An architecture for neural networks that can handle fuzzy input vectors is proposed, and learning algorithms that utilize fuzzy if-then rules as well as numerical data in neural network learning for classification problems and for fuzzy control problems are derived. The learning algorithms can be viewed as an extension of the backpropagation algorithm to the case of fuzzy input vectors and fuzzy target outputs. Using the proposed methods, linguistic knowledge from human experts represented by fuzzy if-then rules and numerical data from measuring instruments can be integrated into a single information processing system (classification system or fuzzy control system). It is shown that the scheme works well for simple examples. >
Immunotherapy of Cancer with 4-1BB

4-1BB (CD137), a member of the TNF receptor superfamily, is an activation-induced T-cell costimulatory molecule. Signaling via 4-1BB upregulates survival genes, enhances cell division, induces cytokine production, and prevents activation-induced cell death in T cells. The importance of the 4-1BB pathway has been underscored in a number of diseases, including cancer. Growing evidence indicates that anti-4-1BB monoclonal antibodies possess strong antitumor properties, which in turn are the result of their powerful CD8+ T-cell activating, IFN-γ producing, and cytolytic marker–inducing capabilities. In addition, combination therapy of anti-4-1BB with other anticancer agents, such as radiation, has robust tumor-regressing abilities against nonimmunogenic or poorly immunogenic tumors. Furthermore, the adoptive transfer of ex vivo anti-4-1BB–activated CD8+ T cells from previously tumor-treated animals efficiently inhibits progression of tumors in recipient mice that have been inoculated with fresh tumors. In addition, targeting of tumors with variants of 4-1BBL directed against 4-1BB also have potent antitumor effects. Currently, a humanized anti-4-1BB is in clinical trials in patients with solid tumors, including melanoma, renal carcinoma, and ovarian cancer, and so far seems to have a favorable toxicity profile. In this review, we discuss the basis of the therapeutic potential of targeting the 4-1BB–4-1BBL pathway in cancer treatment. Mol Cancer Ther; 11(5); 1062–70. ©2012 AACR.
The effect of family structure on decision making, parenting styles and healthy lifestyle behaviour of adolescents in rural South Africa

The aim of the study was to compare perceived parenting styles, decision making styles and healthy lifestyle behaviours of adolescents from single and two-parent families within a rural setting in South Africa. The study employed a quantitative methodology with a cross-sectional comparative group design. The sample consisted of 457 Grade 9 learners from four randomly selected secondary schools in the Overberg Education District, Western Cape, South Africa. The data was collected using the Parental Style and Dimension Questionnaire, Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire and the Health-Promoting Lifestyle Profile II as well as a short biographical questionnaire. The data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics (MANOVA). The results suggest that maternal and paternal authoritative parenting, vigilant decision making and often engagement in healthy lifestyle behaviours were prevalent for adolescents in rural South Africa. The results furthermore suggest that there were no significant main effects of family structure on perceived parenting styles, decision making styles and healthy lifestyle behaviours. The findings also serve as a recommendation for future research to do an urban-rural comparison, as the applicability of urban findings are often questioned in rural studies.
Vaccination or Immunization? The Impact of Search Terms on the Internet

ABSTRACT With steadily rising use of the Internet as a source of health information, public health authorities have expressed concern about the increasing visibility of unscientific information promulgated on the Internet by opponents of childhood vaccination. Searches were made on the four most popular Internet search engines using different combinations of the terms, “vaccination,” “immunization,” “immunisation,” “immunize,” “immunise,” “vaccine,” and “shots. ” Thirty results were tabulated for each search engine. Searching with the keyword “vaccination” resulted in a significantly higher percentage of antivaccination websites as compared with searches with all other keywords. Of all child-related websites retrieved, the single keyword “vaccination” yielded 40% provaccination sites and 60% antivaccination sites. By contrast, the single keyword “immunization” yielded 98% provaccination sites and 2% antivaccination sites. Using a combination of the words “vaccination” and “immunization” produced results between these two extremes. Thus, any use of the term “vaccination” during an Internet search is likely to expose a parent to a significant amount of antivaccination information. Recommendations are discussed for future research and methods to reduce the impact of misinformation on health consumers using the Internet.
Bounds on the sum of L1 influences

Let f : {−1, 1} n → [−1, 1] have degree d as a multilinear polynomial. It is well-known that the total influence of f is at most d. Aaronson and Ambainis asked whether the total L1 influence of f can also be bounded as a function of d. Bačkurs and Bavarian answered this question in the affirmative, providing a bound of O(d 3) for general functions and O(d 2) for homogeneous functions. We improve on their results by providing a bound of d 2 for general functions and O(d log d) for homogeneous functions.
Empirical and Sensor Knowledge-extraction for Fuzzy Logic Motor Control Design

This paper presents a methodology for human and sensor data knowledge-extraction to assist in the design of a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) when no parameterized model of the motor is available, thus it relays mainly on linguistic motor throughput description as its main data source. Proposed design methodology achieves acceptable control objective with two design stages; first, human empirical knowledge is used to specify FLC architecture and its initial parameters, employing experts' linguistic descriptions to construct controller rule base and knowledge base in accordance with cognitive map theory; Mamdani Fuzzy Inference Engine model (FIE) enables the designer to directly use empirical knowledge to create appropriate FLC by using linguistic terms to specify FLC structures. On second design stage, sensor data is use to fine-tune FLC parameters, as FLC parameters to motor control throughput relations is known by observation. The main objective of this paper is to develop a strategy of a FLC implementation capable of self-tuning, based on cognitive map theory and linguistic descriptions.
The myelin-associated glycoproteins: membrane disposition, evidence of a novel disulfide linkage between immunoglobulin-like domains, and posttranslational palmitylation

The myelin-associated glycoproteins (MAG) are members of the immunoglobulin gene superfamily that function in the cell interactions of myelinating glial cells with axons. In this paper, we have characterized the structural features of these proteins. The disposition of MAG in the bilayer as a type 1 integral membrane protein (with an extracellularly disposed amino terminus, single transmembrane segment, and cytoplasmic carboxy terminus) was demonstrated in protease protection studies of MAG cotranslationally inserted into microsomes in vitro and in immunofluorescent studies with site specific antibodies. A genetically engineered MAG cDNA, which lacks the putative membrane spanning segment, was constructed and shown to encode a secreted protein. These results confirm the identify of this hydrophobic sequence as the transmembrane segment. Sequencing of the secreted protein demonstrated the presence of a cleaved signal sequence and the site of signal peptidase cleavage. To characterize the disulfide linkage pattern of the ectodomain, we cleaved MAG with cyanogen bromide and used a panel of antibodies to coprecipitate specific fragments under nonreducing conditions. These studies provide support for a novel disulfide linkage between two of the immunoglobulin domains of the extracellular segment. Finally, we report that MAG is posttranslationally palmitylated via an intramembranous thioester linkage. Based on these studies, we propose a model for the conformation of MAG, including its RGD sequence, which is considered with regard to its function as a cell adhesion molecule.
q-Ary Chain-Containing Quantum Synchronizable Codes

We propose a general design of quantum synchronizable codes from classical q-ary cyclic codes. With the aid of classical super/subcodes, the proposed method exploits the idea of chain-containing q-ary cyclic codes when designing quantum synchronizable codes. The distance bound of the resulting quantum synchronizable codes of Calderbank-Shor-Steane (CSS) structure is derived using the representation of Mattson-Solomon polynomial.
Rapid Short MRI Sequence Useful in Eliminating Stroke Mimics Among Acute Stroke Patients Considered for Intravenous Thrombolysis.

BACKGROUND Acute stroke teams are challenged by IV-tPA decision making in patients with acute neurological symptoms when the diagnosis is unclear. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of the rapid Brain Attack Team (BAT) MRI in selecting patients for IV-tPA administration who present acutely to the emergency room with stroke-like symptoms and an unclear diagnosis. METHODS Consecutive patients were identified who presented within 4.5 hours of onset of stroke-like symptoms and considered for treatment with IV-tPA. When the diagnosis was not clear, a 9-minute BAT MRI was obtained. Stroke risk factors and NIH stroke scale obtained on presentation were compared between patients in whom BAT MRI was obtained and those in whom BAT MRI was not obtained. Similarly, comparisons were made between patients in whom BAT MRI detected abnormalities and those in whom BAT MRI did not detect abnormalities. BAT MRIs were analyzed to determine if radiological findings impacted clinical management and discharge diagnosis. RESULTS In a 30-month period, 432 patients presenting with acute stroke-like symptoms were identified. Of these patients, 82 received BAT MRI. Patients receiving BAT MRI were younger, more likely to be smokers, and less likely to be selected for IV-tPA administration compared to those in whom a more definitive diagnosis of stroke precluded a BAT MRI. Of the 82 BAT MRIs, 25 were read as positive for acute ischemia. The patients with acute ischemia on BAT MRI were older, more likely to be males, have a history of hypercholesterolemia and atrial fibrillation, and more likely to be selected for IV-tPA administration compared to those with a negative BAT MRI. Of the 57 BAT MRIs read as negative for acute ischemia or hemorrhage, discharge diagnoses included TIA, MRI negative stroke, conversion/functional disorder, and multiple other illnesses. CONCLUSION In patients with acute stroke-like symptoms, BAT MRI may be used to confirm acute ischemic stroke, exclude stroke mimics, and assess candidacy for IV-tPA.
Design of low-voltage high performance CMOS-Current feedback amplifier using indirect feedback compensated Op-Amp

In this paper low-voltage high performance CMOS Current Feedback Amplifier is designed using indirect feedback compensated operational amplifier and the results are compared with the existing topology. The Operational-Amplifier used has the open loop gain of 101.8 dB with 25ns settling time, unity gain bandwidth 169.8 MHz, phase margin 70° with rail to rail output swing. The CMOS-Current Feedback Amplifier designed using this Operational-Amplifier has nearly gain independent bandwidth with settling time observed as 44 ns and slew rate increment up to 20V/µs. The circuit is designed at 0. 18µm Digital CMOS process with supply voltage 1.8 volt.
SUPERVISORY STYLES, SUPERVISION OUTCOME AND COUNSELOR SELF-EFFICACY OF ADDICTION TREATMENT PROFESSIONALS

Title of dissertation: SUPERVISORY STYLES, SUPERVISION OUTCOME AND COUNSELOR SELF-EFFICACY OF ADDICTION TREATMENT PROFESSIONALS Gisela P. Berger, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Cheryl Holcomb-McCoy, Chair Counselor Education Program Due to the paucity of research in the addictions treatment field regarding supervision, this research study sought to examine the style, type and outcome of supervision of addictions treatment professionals and how it relates to supervisee selfefficacy. Thus, the primary purpose of this study is to quantify the addictions treatment professional‟s supervision outcome in relation to other variables including supervisory style, supervisory type, and demographic variables. The research questions of the present study are as follows: 1. What do addictions treatment counselors perceive as the overall supervisory style of their clinical supervisors? 2. Does the supervisory style of clinical supervisors of addictions treatment counselors predict the outcome of supervision? 3. What type of delivery style of supervision do addictions treatment counselors receive? 4. Is there a significant relationship between supervision outcome and specific demographic characteristics of addictions treatment professionals (e.g., age, years of experience, recovery status, gender, formal education)? 5. What is the relationship between perceived addictions treatment counselor self-efficacy and perceptions of supervision outcome? 6.
A compact 190 /spl mu/W PLL for clock control and distribution in ultra-large scale ICs

A compact low-power PLL is implemented in 0.18 mum CMOS for clock management and distribution. Like digital PLLs, it is composed of standard-cells, can be mixed with regular logic, and is digitally placed & routed, but it does not suffer from quantization jitter. At most 0.008 mm2 (650 `gates'), as times32 clock multiplier it consumes only 190 mu;W @ 128 MHz. It can perform efficient clock distribution, cleansing a noisy low-frequency reference and synchronizing outputs with jitter below 46pspk - pk. With lock-range between 60-172 MHz, adjustable loop dynamics and partial state-memory it is less than 1/5th the size and 1/15th the power of PLLs at similar frequencies
DIMENSIONALITY REDUCTION FOR CLASSIFICATION WITH HIGH-DIMENSIONAL DATA

This thesis addresses dimensionality reduction problems in classification for both high-dimensional multivariate and functional data. High-dimensional data refers to data with a large number of variables, often larger than the number of observations. High-dimensional data are encountered in a wide range of areas such as engineering, biometrics, psychometrics, and neuroimaging. Classifying these data is a difficult problem because the enormous number of variables poses challenges to conventional classification methods and renders many classical techniques impractical. A natural solution is to add a dimensionality reduction step before a classification technique is applied. In order to deal with multivariate data, two approaches are proposed. One is a simulated annealing (SA) based method and the other is a multivariate adaptive stochastic search (MASS) method. They both utilize stochastic search algorithms to select a handful of optimal transformation directions from a large number of random directions in each iteration. One advantage of the proposed methods is that they can accurately project the data onto very low-dimensional non-linear, as well as linear, spaces. These methods are designed to mimic variable selection type methods, such as the Lasso, or variable combination methods, such as PCA, or a method that combines the two approaches. Particularly, MASS can adaptively adjust the model complexity level, and hence performs well in situations where variable selection or variable combination x methods fail. We demonstrate the strengths of SA and MASS on an extensive range of simulation and real studies by comparing them to many classical and modern classification methods. Classification problems associated with functional data are also addressed. We propose a functional adaptive classification (FAC) approach which takes the functional response into consideration and produces highly accurate and interpretable results. FAC is also based on a stochastic search procedure guided by the evaluation of model complexity. This often results in a simple relationship between functional covariates and the reduced data and makes the model interpretable. Simulation studies and an fMRI time course study are also provided to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Efficiency of the technology acceptance model to explain pre‐service teachers' intention to use technology: A Turkish study

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to assess the efficiency of the technology acceptance model (TAM) to explain pre‐service teachers' intention to use technology in Turkey.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 197 pre‐service teachers from a Turkish university completed a survey questionnaire measuring their responses to four constructs which explain their intention to use technology: attitude towards computer use, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was employed for modeling and data analysis.Findings – Results revealed that the TAM is an efficient model to explain the intention to use technology of Turkish pre‐service teachers. The proportion of variance explained in pre‐service teachers' intention to use technology by its antecedents was 51 percent. In addition, four out of five hypotheses were supported in this study. Overall, the data in this study provided support that the TAM is a fairly efficient model with a potential to help in un.
Outcome of intracerebral haemorrhage patients pre‐treated with statins

Background: Statins treatment may have potential clinical impact in vascular disease beyond cholesterol lowering. Its benefits have been documented in cerebral ischaemia and in subarachnoid haemorrhage. In intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH), experimental models in statin‐treated animals have better outcome than non‐treated ones, but in humans the relationship is unclear. We investigated whether patients treated with statins before the onset of intracerebral haemorrhage have a better outcome at 3 months than patients without statins pre‐treatment.
EFFECTIVENESS OF ORTHOSES IN CONTROLLING REARFOOT MOTION IN A GROUP OF SUB.IECTS WITH REARFOOT VARUS

This study examined the effectiveness of orthoses and triplanar wedges in controlling rearfoot motion compared to barefoot and shod conditions. Five male subjects were videotaped running on a treadmill at 3.8 m.s-1 under the four conditions (barefoot, shod, orthoses and wedge). A three-dimensional analysis was performed using the Peak Motus Analysis system. Both anti-pronation devices (orthoses and wedge) reduced motion compared to the barefoot condition, but this is not as relevant to everyday living as little activity takes place when barefoot. Neither device significantly controlled any variables compared to the shod condition although the orthoses did significantly increase the eversion angle at heel strike. It was concluded that while the devices are not effective prior to contact, they is a tendency towards a reducing effect on motion during stance
A Bayesian Meta-analysis Method for Estimating Risk Difference of Rare Events

ABSTRACT Bayesian meta-analysis has been more frequently utilized for synthesizing safety and efficacy information to support landmark decision-making due to its flexibility of incorporating prior information and availability of computing software. However, when the outcome is binary and the events are rare, where event counts can be zero, conventional meta-analysis methods including Bayesian methods may not work well. Several methods have been proposed to tackle this issue but the prior knowledge of event rate was not utilized to increase precision of risk difference estimates. To better estimate risk differences, we propose a new Bayesian method, Beta prior BInomial model for Risk Differences (B-BIRD), which takes into account the prior information of rare events. B-BIRD is illustrated using a real data set of 48 clinical trials about a type 2 diabetes drug. In simulation studies, it performs well in low event rate settings.