Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Burden of Obesity on US Adults

Abstract Obesity has become a major public health problem in America. Nearly two-thirds of adults are either overweight or obese. This problem is large enough to begin to rival health problems associated with cigarette smoking. Epidemiological evidence suggests that obesity is associated with heart disease, diabetes, and other diseases that can lead to morbidity and even premature death. This paper examines the magnitude of the problem and then suggests several solutions from societal and social work perspectives.
A New Understanding of ADHD in Children and Adults: Executive Function Impairments

Introduction. 35 Myths about ADHD and Why They are Wrong. A New Paradigm for an Old Disorder: ADHD as Impaired Executive Functions. What Research Reveals about the Causes and Unfolding Nature of ADHD. How the New Model Changes Assessment in Children and Adults. How Treatments for ADHD Affect the Brain and Improve Executive Functions. Why Many Learning and Psychiatric Disorders so often Co-Occur with ADHD.
Comparative efficacy of Glubran and polyvinyl-alcohol particles in the embolization of meningiomas

Purpose: Preoperative embolization of meningiomas decreases intraoperative bleeding and shortens operation time. However, in meningiomas predominantly vascularized by the internal carotid artery (ICA) or vertebral artery (VA) branches, embolization of external carotid artery feeder branches may lead to a hemodynamic increase in blood supply from the ICA or VA, whereas embolization of ICA or VA feeder branches with particle embolic agents may be associated with complications. This study investigated the safety and efficacy of Glubran, a liquid embolic agent, for the embolization of this type of meningioma compared with polyvinyl-alcohol (PVA) particles. Materials and methods: From January 2006 to June 2015, 157 consecutive patients (98 females; mean age = 48.3 years) who suffered from meningiomas and were preoperatively referred for embolization were retrospectively analyzed. Glubran (n = 40) and PVA (n = 55) were used to devascularize tumors. Sixty-two patients were not embolized because of dangerous anastomosis or other tumor characteristics. Intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative time, degree of angiographic devascularization and embolization-related complications were analyzed. Results: The intraoperative blood loss and operative time were significantly lower in the Glubran-embolized versus non-embolized group. Furthermore, Glubran embolization significantly reduced intraoperative blood loss and operative time for meningiomas that received their primary blood supply from the ICA and/or VA compared with PVA embolization. Conclusions: Preoperative meningioma embolization with Glubran decreases intraoperative blood loss and operative time. Furthermore, embolization with Glubran produces more effective devascularization compared with PVA for meningiomas supplied by the ICA and/or VA. Thus, Glubran may represent a better embolic agent for this meningioma subtype.
Atrial natriuretic peptide attenuates inflammatory responses on oleic acid-induced acute lung injury model in rats.

BACKGROUND An inflammatory response leading to organ dysfunction and failure continues to be a major problem after injury in many clinical conditions such as sepsis, severe burns, and trauma. It is increasingly recognized that atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) possesses a broad range of biological activities, including effects on endothelial function and inflammation. A recent study has revealed that ANP exerts anti-inflammatory effects. In this study we tested the effects of human ANP (hANP) on lung injury in a model of oleic acid (OA)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in rats. METHODS Rats were randomly assigned to three groups (n = 6 in each group). Rats in the control group received a 0.9% solution of NaCl (1 ml × kg(-1) × h(-1)) by continuous intravenous infusion, after 30 minutes a 0.9% solution of NaCl (1 ml/kg) was injected intravenously, and then the 0.9% NaCl infusion was restarted. Rats in the ALI group received a 0.9% NaCl solution (1 ml × kg(-1) × h(-1)) intravenous infusion, after 30 minutes OA was injected intravenously (0.1 ml/kg), and then the 0.9% NaCl infusion was restarted. Rats in the hANP-treated ALI group received a hANP (0.1 µg × kg(-1) × min(-1)) infusion, after 30 minutes OA was injected intravenously (0.1 ml/kg), and then the hANP infusion was restarted. The anti-inflammation effects of hANP were evaluated by histological examination and determination of serum cytokine levels. RESULTS Serum interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-10 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF) α were increased in the ALI group at six hours. The levels of all factors were significantly lower in the hANP treated rats (P < 0.005). Similarly, levels of IL-1β, IL-6, IL-10 and TNF-α were higher in the lung tissue in the ALI group at six hours. hANP treatment significantly reduced the levels of these factors in the lungs (P < 0.005). Histological examination revealed marked reduction in interstitial congestion, edema, and inflammation. CONCLUSION hANP can attenuate inflammation in an OA-induced lung injury in rat model.
An unsupervised framework for extracting and normalizing product attributes from multiple web sites

We have developed an unsupervised framework for simultaneously extracting and normalizing attributes of products from multiple Web pages originated from different sites. Our framework is designed based on a probabilistic graphical model that can model the page-independent content information and the page-dependent layout information of the text fragments in Web pages. One characteristic of our framework is that previously unseen attributes can be discovered from the clue contained in the layout format of the text fragments. Our framework tackles both extraction and normalization tasks by jointly considering the relationship between the content and layout information. Dirichlet process prior is employed leading to another advantage that the number of discovered product attributes is unlimited. An unsupervised inference algorithm based on variational method is presented. The semantics of the normalized attributes can be visualized by examining the term weights in the model. Our framework can be applied to a wide range of Web mining applications such as product matching and retrieval. We have conducted extensive experiments from four different domains consisting of over 300 Web pages from over 150 different Web sites, demonstrating the robustness and effectiveness of our framework.
Interprocedural data flow analysis in the presence of pointers, procedure variables, and label variables

Interprocedural data flow analysis is complicated by the use of procedure and label variables in programs and by the presence of aliasing among variables. In this paper we present an algorithm for computing possible values for procedure and label variables, thus providing a call graph and a control flow graph. The algorithm also computes the possible aliasing relationships in the program being analyzed.We assume that control flow information is not available to the algorithm; hence, this type of analysis may be termed "flow-free analysis. " Given this assumption, we demonstrate the correctness of the algorithm, in the sense that the information it produces is conservative, and show that it is as precise as possible in certain cases. We also show that the problem of determining possible values for procedure variables is P-space hard. This fact indicates that any algorithm which is precise in all cases must also run very slowly for some programs.
International Student Migration: Mapping the Field and New Research Agendas

Despite rapid growth in the student component of global migration flows, the study of international student migration/mobility (ISM) is a relatively neglected field in migration research. This special issue helps to address this lacuna. This introductory paper highlights the contradictions between international students as ‘desired’ because of their internationalism and fee contributions, and as ‘unwanted’ because of the politics of migration control especially in the context of the securitisation of study in the post 9/11 scenario. It argues that interrogating the terms ‘international’ and ‘students’ is critical to addressing the slipperiness that underlies these contradictions. Focusing on students per se ignores their multiple roles, as family members, actual or potential workers, or perhaps refugees and asylum-seekers, while definitions of international students ignore the diversity of study that students undertake. After summarising the papers that follow, this paper concludes with an agenda for future research on ISM: greater theoretical insight drawing on the cognate field of mobility studies; more in-depth ethnographic research on mobile students who recognise their multiple roles in knowledge diffusion and social reproduction; further research on ISM datasets and quantitative surveys, which employs statistical analysis; more attention paid to gender and race as they relate to ISM; and a stronger link to pedagogy and systems of higher education and knowledge production.
Life interrupted and life regained? Coping with stroke at a young age

Stroke is a leading cause of disability across the developed world, affecting an increasing number of younger people. In this article, we seek to understand the experience of stroke as a disabling life situation among young people and the strategies that they use to recover and cope. Directed content analysis was conducted from interviews with 17 community-dwelling stroke survivors aged 55 years and younger across the United Kingdom. The sample was drawn from a larger maximum variation sample of stroke survivors. Using the sociological concepts of biographical disruption and biographical repair as a guide, excerpts from the interviews pertaining to aspects of the patients’ life that were interrupted, in addition to how they coped with the changes, were selected and analysed. All individuals described an “altered sense of self,” a theme that included loss of identity, family disruption, and/or loss of valued activities. Individuals sought to adapt their sense of self by seeking external support, by restoring normality, and/or through positive reflection. Despite the adapted self that emerged, most individuals continued to experience impairments. While young stroke survivors adapt to their illness over time, they continue to experience impairments and disruptions in their personal and work lives. A holistic model of rehabilitation that helps individuals regain the capacity for everyday activities related to work, family life, and leisure can begin to address the emotional ramifications of diseases such as stroke, restore wellness, and work towards minimizing the burden felt by family caregivers and children.
Social Habitus of Domestic Workers’ Family: The Influence of Remittance to Domestic Workers’ Family

Teori klasik tentang migrasi secara umum menunjukkan bahwa faktor migrasi yang paling utama adalah alasan ekonomi. Kemiskinan, kurangnya sumber daya manusia dan alam, dan tingkat pendidikan adalah alasan yang membuat orang memutuskan untuk meninggalkan desa untuk bermigrasi ke kota. Teori tentang push-pull menunjukkan bahwa pedesaan kurang menarik, berlawanan dengan perkotaan yang memiliki fasilitas dan peluang jaringan yang terbuka secara luas. Di sisi lain, faktor pendorong migrasi perkotaan tidak hanya dipicu oleh faktor-faktor ekonomi. Faktor nonekonomi, seperti ide-ide, nilai, dan habitus yang diperkenalkan oleh pendatang telah membuat keputusan bermigrasi, sebagai kesempatan untuk mendapatkan kehidupan yang lebih baik, telah meningkat di kalangan penduduk pedesaan.
Looking Back: My life as a Disabled Combat Vietnam Veteran

This is my personal account and perspective as a disabled Vietnam combat veteran. My intent is to provide insights into how I handled the unique challenges of (1) coming home to an unaccepting welcome of antiwar protests and marches, (2) fighting in a war with no ideological basis and no final resolution of conflict and (3) left with little to no support in coping with the facilitators of post-traumatic stress disorders including isolation, rage, survival guilt, sleep disturbances, nightmares, and “flashbacks”.
Mining known attack patterns from security-related events

Managed Security Services (MSS) have become an essential asset for companies to have in order to protect their infrastructure from hacking attempts such as unauthorized behaviour, denial of service (DoS), malware propagation, and anomalies. A proliferation of attacks has determined the need for installing more network probes and collecting more security-related events in order to assure the best coverage, necessary for generating incident responses. The increase in volume of data to analyse has created a demand for specific tools that automatically correlate events and gather them in pre-defined scenarios of attacks. Motivated by Above Security, a specialized company in the sector, and by National Research Council Canada (NRC), we propose a new data mining system that employs text mining techniques to dynamically relate security-related events in order to reduce analysis time, increase the quality of the reports, and automatically build correlated scenarios.
Understanding Twitter as an e-WOM

Purpose – This paper aims to research as to how Twitter is influential as an electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) communication tool and thereby affecting movie market. In present days, social media is playing an important role in connecting people around the globe. The technology has provided a platform in the social media space for people to share their experiences through text, photos and videos. Twitter is one such online social networking media that enables its users to send and read text-based messages of up to 140 characters, known as “tweets”. Twitter has nearly 200 million users and billions of such tweets are generated by users every other day. Social media micro-blogging broadcasting networks such as Twitter are transforming the way e-WOM is disseminated and consumed in the digital world. Twitter social behaviour for the Hollywood movies has been assessed across seven countries to validate the two basic blocks of the honeycomb model – sharing and conversation. Twitter behaviour was studied for 27 m.
The Role of Leadership Responsibility and Social Identity on Intra- and Intergroup Leadership Favorability Ratings

Building on recent work using Social Identity Theory as a conceptual framework for analyzing leadership dynamics (Hogg, 2001; van Knippenberg & van Knippenberg, 2003; Haslam & Platow, 2001; Lord & Hall, 2003; Kramer, 2003), we conducted two studies to examine how information about leaders’ responsibility for a negative world event and group members’ social identification affect leader favorability ratings. In contrast to traditional leadership research, which often focuses on intragroup leadership, we adopted an intergroup leadership dynamics perspective – which studies leadership in a multi-group context (Pittinsky, 2004) – and examined favorability ratings for both domestic and foreign leaders. In Study 1, conducted in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China, we hypothesized that participants would be more favorable toward their own leadership when another nation’s leaders were largely responsible for a negative event. Data did not support this hypothesis, likely due to contextual political factors. A second hypothesis – that outgroup leaders would be rated significantly less favorably when responsible for the negative event – was supported. Study 2 replicated the first study in the United States, but this time strength of participants’ national identification was measured. Study 2 found that participants who strongly identify with their nation feel significantly more favorable towards their leaders when another nation’s leadership is responsible for a negative event. Participants who weakly identify do not show this effect. As predicted, regardless of strength of identification, participants view outgroup leadership more negatively when it is responsible for the negative event. Implications of these findings for leadership studies through the lens of self and identity are discussed.
Natural Scene Retrieval Based on Non-negative Sparse Coding

Semantic understanding of images remains an important research challenge for the image and video retrieval community. A novel natural scene retrieval method based on non-negative sparse coding is proposed in this paper. It firstly combines non-negative sparse coding with spatial pyramid matching for feature extraction and representation. Then, based on sparse coding, it ranks the Euclidean distances from the query image to each of the K-nearest neighbors in database. With the help of SIFT flow and label transfer, we finally realize the segmentation and recognition for the query images. The experimental results show that the proposed method has higher relevant relationship between the query image and each of the K-nearest neighbors in database than the scene retrieval method based on GIST. And the good performances of our method will be greatly helpful for the following image understanding.
The effect of profiling report on antibiotic prescription for upper respiratory tract infection.

INTRODUCTION Upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) is a common encounter in primary care and mostly viral in origin. Despite frequent reminders to primary care providers on judicious use of antibiotics for URTI, the practice is still rampant. METHODS As part of quality improvement initiative, an intervention was designed by distributing a profiling report on individual prescriber's performance in comparison to colleagues on usage of antibiotic for URTI. The data were generated from electronic health record in three public primary care clinics in Malaysia and emailing monthly throughout 2011 to all providers. RESULTS There were 22,328 consultations for URTI in 2010 and 22,756 in 2011 with the incidence rates of URTI among overall consultations of 15.7% and 15.9% respectively. 60 doctors and medical assistants had performed consultations during the 2 year period. Following the intervention in 2011, the prescription rate of antibiotic for URTI is significantly reduced from 33.5% in 2010 to 23.3 % in 2011. Before intervention, individual prescription rate varies from 9.7% to 88.9% and reduced to 4.3% to 50.5% after intervention. CONCLUSION Profiling report is a potential method of changing antibiotic prescribing habit among public primary care providers in Malaysia especially if the baseline adherence was poor and higher variation of prescribing rate.
Retinal Redox Stress and Remodeling in Cardiometabolic Syndrome and Diabetes

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a significant cause of global blindness; a major cause of blindness in the United States in people aged between 20–74. There is emerging evidence that retinopathy is initiated and propagated by multiple metabolic toxicities associated with excess production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). The four traditional metabolic pathways involved in the development of DR include: increased polyol pathway flux, advanced glycation end-product formation, activation of protein kinase Cisoforms and hexosamine pathway flux. These pathways individually and synergisticallycontribute to redox stress with excess ROS resulting in retinal tissue injury resulting in significant microvascular blood retinal barrier remodeling. The toxicity of hyperinsulinemia, hyperglycemia, hypertension, dyslipidemia, increased cytokines and growth factors, in conjunction with redox stress, contribute to the development and progression of DR. Redox stress contributes to the development and progression of abnormalities of endothelial cells and pericytes in DR. This review focuses on the ultrastructural observations of the blood retinal barrier including the relationship between the endothelial cell and pericyte remodeling in young nine week old Zucker obese (fa/ fa) rat model of obesity; cardiometabolic syndrome, and the 20 week old alloxan induced diabetic porcine model. Preventing or delaying the blindness associated with these intersecting abnormal metabolic pathways may be approached through strategies targeted to reduction of tissue inflammation and oxidative—redox stress. Understanding these abnormal metabolic pathways and the accompanying redox stress and remodeling mayprovide both the clinician and researcher a new concept of approaching this complicated disease process
Mobile Transit Trip Planning with Real-Time Data

In this article, we describe the development of atransit trip planner(TTP) for mobile devicescalled Transitr, and evaluate its performance. The system predicts the shortest paths betweenany two points in the transit network using real-time information provided by a third party busarrival prediction system, relying on GPS equipped transit vehicles. Users submit their originand destination through a map-based iPhone application, or through a JavaScript enabled webbrowser. A server implementing a dynamic K-shortest paths algorithm with predicted linktravel times returns personalized route directions for the user, displayed on a map. To assessthe optimality and accuracy of the predicted shortest paths, an a posteriori comparison witha schedule-based transit trip planner and the GPS traces of the transit vehicles is performedon six-hundred origin destination pairs in San Francisco. The results show that routing usingthe predicted bus arrivals marginally increases the accuracy of the total travel time and theoptimality of the route. Suggestions to improve the accuracy and optimality using real-timeinformation are proposed.
049011: Algorithms for Large Data Sets

In a variety of data sets, each data point is represented as a high dimensional vector. This trend is likely to accelerate in the future, as more massive automatic data is collected and many measurements obtained systematically. For example, when dealing with a collection of images, each of which has a size of m-by-n pixels, each image can be represented as an m-byn vector (for gray scale images) or m-by-n-by-3 images (for RGB images). Other examples of collections of data points which are high dimensional data can be found in the fields of audio, video, genome sequences, and even the VSM representation of text documents, as we studied earlier in this course. This phenomenon results in enormously large volumes of data. These massive quantities require the data to be compressed (prior to archiving, for example).
La reforma política: ¿Asignatura pendiente de Brasil después de Lula?

A un ano de distancia de la salida de la presidencia de la republica de Lula, este articulo vuelve sobre su balance a la luz de los multiples escandalos por corrupcion que estallaron a posteriori. Estos acontecimientos mostraron que a pesar de la celebracion casi unanime de su balance, el gobierno de Lula deja una gran tarea pendiente: la reforma politica. Bandera del Partido de los Trabajadores durante los anos 1980 y 1990, y objeto de muchos estudios en el mundo academico, el tema paso al segundo plano en los anos 2000, como si el acceso del eterno opositor Lula al poder arreglaba por si solo los problemas de representacion politica que habian sido diagnosticados en el periodo anterior. El articulo hace un balance de los estudios previos sobre el tema y defiende la necesidad de volver a examinarlo a la luz de los acontecimientos actuales, y en una perspectiva teorica mas amplia que la de la ingenieria institucional que prevalecio anteriormente