Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
TERMA Framework for Biomedical Signal Analysis: An Economic-Inspired Approach

Biomedical signals contain features that represent physiological events, and each of these events has peaks. The analysis of biomedical signals for monitoring or diagnosing diseases requires the detection of these peaks, making event detection a crucial step in biomedical signal processing. Many researchers have difficulty detecting these peaks to investigate, interpret and analyze their corresponding events. To date, there is no generic framework that captures these events in a robust, efficient and consistent manner. A new method referred to for the first time as two event-related moving averages (“TERMA”) involves event-related moving averages and detects events in biomedical signals. The TERMA framework is flexible and universal and consists of six independent LEGO building bricks to achieve high accuracy detection of biomedical events. Results recommend that the window sizes for the two moving averages (W1 and W2) have to follow the inequality (8×W1)≥W2≥(2×W1). Moreover, TERMA is a simple yet efficient event detector that is suitable for wearable devices, point-of-care devices, fitness trackers and smart watches, compared to more complex machine learning solutions.
Experiences of Australian Siblings of an Individual With an Autism Spectrum Disorder

The experiences of 75 non-Autism Spectrum Disorder (NASD) children and adolescents who had a sibling with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) were investigated. Differences were found according to age and gender for issues such as amount of time spent with their sibling and access to parents. Having a younger sibling with an ASD was associated with a lower level of confidence in being to live their lives as they wished. Female NASD participants commented that their lives were more influenced than male NASD participants. About half of all NASD participants reported inconsistencies in family rule adherences and parental expectation.
El suicidio en Nariño: una mirada desde los observatorios del delito en cinco municipios del Departamento

Suicide in Colombia is not considered to be of great consequence when compared with the world average. In the past decade a slight increase in the number of cases has been observed, mainly in some regions, such as the department of Narino. To analyze the phenomena a descriptive study was performed with the data from the crime observatory from Pasto, Ipiales, Tumaco, Tuquerres and La Union, from 2002 to 2007; these cities reported 393 suicides for this period. Of the total number of cases reported, 67.6% of the cases were men (the man: woman ratio was 2:1); the average age
The survival of the Democratic Party outside the South

Partisan change outside of the South has not been studied as extensively as in the 11 states of the Old Confederacy. Given the partisan advantage that the Democratic Party enjoys outside of the South, understanding the dynamics of party support among non-southerners appears to be important to study in its own right – not just as a point of contrast to that of the South. The goal of this article is to update and expand on one of the few pieces of scholarship to probe the reasons for the survival of the Democratic Party outside of the South. Using data from the American National Election Studies, the article concurs with these findings, that the Democratic Party has been successful in maintaining support among low income whites outside the South. However, a class-based explanation offers a partial explanation for the Democratic advantage in party identification. Ideological realignment has also expanded the Democratic base among middle and high income liberals and moderates. Overall, the findings of the article suggest that the electoral prospects of the Democratic Party outside of the South should be favourable for some time to come. The Democratic Party has not just survived outside of the South, it has prospered, and this provides a decided advantage for the party in national elections.
A novel method of virtual network embedding based on topology convergence-degree

Network virtualization provides an effective way to solve the ossification of current Internet. A challenging problem in network virtualization is virtual network embedding. Previous work does not consider whether virtual nodes connecting directly to each other in a virtual network are adjacent when mapped onto the substrate network. The paper proposes a new algorithm based on maximum convergence-degree, which considers the degree of convergence when mapping a virtual network onto the substrate network. We choose the maximum convergence-degree to ensure that the topology of a virtual network gathers together, when it is mapped onto the substrate network. The simulation results show that our algorithm largely enhances the network utilization efficiency, and decreases the complexity of the embedding problem. Moreover, we define the equilibrium rate of link load to reflect the load balancing of substrate links. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm achieves better load balancing than previous methods.
Transitions from Nonliving to Living Matter

Researchers interested in the origins of life on Earth have long pondered what constitutes the transition from nonliving to living matter. In this meeting report, Rasmussen and colleagues discuss two recent workshops that were convened to describe the systems needed to synthesize simple life forms--called artificial cells or protocells--both in the laboratory and as simulations.
Infant food refusal and parental social support

The purpose of this study was to examine the relations between various aspects of social support and maternal and infant outcome variables in a group of families having infants showing food refusal compared to a control group. In the case of early food refusal, the results indicated that access to emotional support and satisfaction with support were related to maternal psychosomatic health. The relationships were interpreted as showing that social support has moderating effects on negative outcomes of food refusal.
Joint link scheduling and brightness control for greening VLC-based indoor access networks

Demands for broadband wireless access services are expected to outstrip the spectrum capacity in the near-term "spectrum crunch. " Deploying additional femtocells to address this challenge is cost-inefficient due to the backhaul challenge and the exorbitant system maintenance. According to an Alcatel-Lucent report, most mobile Internet access traffic happens indoors. Leveraging power line communication and the available indoor infrastructure, visible light communication (VLC) can be utilized with a small one-time cost. VLC also facilitates the great advantage of being able to jointly perform illumination and communications, and little extra power beyond illumination is required to empower communications, thus rendering wireless access with small power consumption. In this study, we investigate the problem of minimizing total power consumption of a general multiuser VLC indoor network while satisfying users' traffic demands and maintaining an acceptable level of illumination. We utilize the column-generation method to obtain an ε-bounded solution. Several practical implementation issues are integrated with the proposed algorithm, including different configurations of light source and ways of resolving the interference among VLC links. Through extensive simulations, we show that our approach reduces the power consumption of the state-of-the-art VLC-based scheduling algorithms by more than 60% while maintaining the required illumination.
‘It’s a small world’: mental health policy under welfare capitalism since 1945

Much sociological theorising about community care in mental health universalises from Anglo-American contexts. So do assessments of policy shifts towards deinstitutionalisation, whose tendency towards negativity largely reflects the downsized mental health care systems that have emerged in welfare regimes, strongly influenced by neoliberal political ideology. Drawing on the framework of Esping-Anderson (1990), the article seeks to theorise from a wider range of welfare regimes, including Sweden and Italy, where political influences on policy provide more support for a degree of optimism. It also seeks to demonstrate in outline the advantages of analysing global influences on mental health policy under welfare capitalism, as key factors shaping policy throughout the whole post-1945 period.
Usability framework for the design and evaluation of multimodal interaction

The design and evaluation of multimodal interaction is difficult. For designers in industry, developing multimodal interaction systems is a big challenge. Although past researches have presented various methodologies, they have addressed only specific cases of multimodality and failed to generalise their methodologies to a range of applications. In this paper, we present a usability framework for the design and evaluation of multimodal interaction. First, in the early phase of multimodality design, elementary multimodal commands are elicited using traditional usability techniques. Second, based on the CARE (Complementarity, Assignment, Redundancy, and Equivalence) properties and the FSM (Finite State Machine) formalism, the original set of elementary commands is automatically expanded to form a more comprehensive set of multimodal commands. Third, this new set of multimodal commands is evaluated in two ways: user-testing and error-robustness evaluation. This framework acts as a structured and general methodology both for designing and evaluating multimodal interaction. We expect that it will help designers to produce more usable multimodal systems.
UV Differentially Induces Oxidative Stress, DNA Damage and Apoptosis in BCR-ABL1-Positive Cells Sensitive and Resistant to Imatinib

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) cells express the active BCR-ABL1 protein, which has been targeted by imatinib in CML therapy, but resistance to this drug is an emerging problem. BCR-ABL1 induces endogenous oxidative stress promoting genomic instability and imatinib resistance. In the present work, we investigated the extent of oxidative stress, DNA damage, apoptosis and expression of apoptosis-related genes in BCR-ABL1 cells sensitive and resistant to imatinib. The resistance resulted either from the Y253H mutation in the BCR-ABL1 gene or incubation in increasing concentrations of imatinib (AR). UV irradiation at a dose rate of 0.12 J/(m2·s) induced more DNA damage detected by the T4 pyrimidine dimers glycosylase and hOGG1, recognizing oxidative modifications to DNA bases in imatinib-resistant than -sensitive cells. The resistant cells displayed also higher susceptibility to UV-induced apoptosis. These cells had lower native mitochondrial membrane potential than imatinib-sensitive cells, but UV-irradiation reversed that relationship. We observed a significant lowering of the expression of the succinate dehydrogenase (SDHB) gene, encoding a component of the complex II of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, which is involved in apoptosis sensing. Although detailed mechanism of imatinib resistance in AR cells in unknown, we detected the presence of the Y253H mutation in a fraction of these cells. In conclusion, imatinib-resistant cells may display a different extent of genome instability than their imatinib-sensitive counterparts, which may follow their different reactions to both endogenous and exogenous DNA-damaging factors, including DNA repair and apoptosis.
Random Sequences for Choosing Base States and Rotations in Quantum Cryptography

This paper investigates the effect of permutations on blocks of a prime reciprocal sequence on its randomness. A relationship between the number of permutations used and the improvement of performance is presented. This can be used as a method for increasing the cryptographic strength of pseudorandom sequences. Keywordsquantum cryptography; autocorrelation functions; d-sequences; randomness
A utilidade do wisc na detecção de problemas de atenção em escolares

This work is a part of a major study which aims at comparing the neurological and psychological aspects of schoolchildren as well as verifying the possibility of the use of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) in order to identify attention problems and through the Attention Investigation Route (AIR). The subjects were 29 schoolchildren attending the first grade of a government school of elementary education. The information obtained through AIR made possible the definition of two groups of subjects: the first which showed 10 subjects presenting signs of attention problems, and the second group with 19 subjects without any indication of attention problems. The results obtained through statistic analysis indicated the existence of a significant difference concerning Verbal and Total IQ dimensions, which were classified low in the groups which showed signs of attention problems. The average mark in the three WISC subtests revealed a significant difference regarding Arithmetic and Digits, and the group of subjects with signs attention problems presented low average marks, but showed different results as far as the Code subtest evaluation is concerned.
Do Citizens Apply Gender Stereotypes to Infer Candidates' Ideological Orientations?

This research examines whether citizens utilize gender stereotypes to infer candidates' ideological orientations. Analysis of data from the 1988-1990-1992 Pooled Senate Election Study reveals that even after candidates' individuating ideological orientations are taken into account, candidate gender still exerts substantial effects on citizens' perceptions of candidates' ideological orientations. The consequences of gender stereotypes for vote choice are important but differ for Democrats and Republicans. For Democratic female candidates, gender ideological stereotypes increase the distance between female candidates and voters, increasing the likelihood citizens will vote for the Republican opponent, ceteris paribus. For Republican female candidates, gender stereotypes for ideology reduce the distance between them and most voters, thereby increasing their electoral prospects.
Generation of phenotypically aged phosphatidylserine-expressing erythrocytes by dilauroylphosphatidylcholine-induced vesiculation.

In vitro stored red blood cells (RBC) and RBC artificially induced to vesiculate by incubation with dilauroylphosphatidyl-choline were monitored for age- and vesiculation-dependent changes in cell density, membrane lipid asymmetry, and their ability to be recognized and cleared by reticuloendothelial cells. RBC demonstrated a progressive increase in density on self-forming Percoll gradients upon vesiculation and in vitro "aging. " Uptake of vesiculated RBC by in vitro cultivated macrophages was increased threefold over non-vesiculated control RBC. The clearance rate of dense vesiculated RBC was biphasic and contained a rapid component and a slower second component consistent with the clearance rates of normal control populations. Determination of phosphatidylserine (PS) in the outer leaflet of RBC by the PS-dependent prothrombinase assay revealed that PS redistributed to the cell's outer leaflet upon in vitro storage and vesiculation. Inhibition of PS movement by oxidation of membrane sulfhydryls with pyridyldithioethylamine resulted in higher prothrombinase levels and enhanced clearance of vesiculated RBC. These experiments suggest that vesiculation contributes to alterations in membrane lipid asymmetry and cell density characteristic of the aged RBC phenotype.
Distribution of Serotypes, Vaccine Coverage, and Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern of Streptococcus Pneumoniae in Children Living in SAARC Countries: A Systematic Review

Introduction Each SAARC nation falls in the zone of high incidence of pneumococcal disease but there is a paucity of literature estimating the burden of pneumococcal disease in this region. Objective To identify the prevalent serotypes causing invasive pneumococcal disease in children of SAARC countries, to determine the coverage of these serotypes by the available vaccines, and to determine the antibiotic resistance pattern of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Methods We searched major electronic databases using a comprehensive search strategy, and additionally searched the bibliography of the included studies and retrieved articles till July 2014. Both community and hospital based observational studies which included children aged ≤12 years as/or part of the studied population in SAARC countries were included. Results A total of 17 studies were included in the final analysis. The period of surveillance varied from 12–96 months (median, 24 months). The most common serotypes country-wise were as follows: serotype 1 in Nepal; serotype 14 in Bangladesh and India; serotype 19F in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. PCV-10 was found to be suitable for countries like India, Nepal, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, whereas PCV-13 may be more suitable for Pakistan. An increasing trend of non-susceptibility to antibiotics was noted for co-trimoxazole, erythromycin and chloramphenicol, whereas an increasing trend of susceptibility was noted for penicillin. Conclusion Due to paucity of recent data in majority of the SAARC countries, urgent large size prospective studies are needed to formulate recommendations for specific pneumococcal vaccine introduction and usage of antimicrobial agents in these regions.
Cervical lymph node biopsy—a study of its morbidity

Biopsier une masse ganglionnaire cervicale metastatique au lieu de rechercher et d'evaluer completement une source neoplasique primitive est un principe faux. Tout au plus, les informations qu'elle peut donner est la cellule d'origine et son degre de differenciation; au minimum elle peut reveler une lesion anaplasique. Dans l'un et l'autre cas elle n'indique pas le siege et/ou l'extension de la tumeur primitive. Cette serie montre que l'incidence de l'infection des plaies et de la phagedenisation de la tumeur a travers la peau du cou est plus elevee chez les patients soumis a une biopsie
Psychiatric Disorders in Adolescence and Early Adulthood and Risk for Child-Rearing Difficulties During Middle Adulthood

Data from a community-based longitudinal study were used to investigate the associations of parental psychiatric disorders evident by early adulthood with child-rearing behavior during middle adulthood. A series of psychiatric assessments was conducted during the adolescence (mean ages 14 and 16) and early adulthood (mean age 22) of 153 males and 224 females. Child-rearing behavior was assessed at mean parental age 33 and mean offspring age 8. Parental anxiety, depressive, disruptive, substance use, and personality disorders evident by mean age 22 were each associated with more than one type of problematic child-rearing behavior at mean age 33, after parental and offspring age and sex and co-occurring parental disorders were controlled statistically. Antisocial, borderline, dependent, paranoid, and passive—aggressive personality disorder symptoms during adolescence and early adulthood were independently associated with the overall level of problematic child-rearing behavior at mean age 33.
Please Scroll down for Article Language and Cognitive Processes Effects of Different Types of Hand Gestures in Persuasive Speech on Receivers' Evaluations Effects of Different Types of Hand Gestures in Persuasive Speech on Receivers' Evaluations

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Hand gestures have a close link with speech and with social perception and persuasion processes, however to date no one has experimentally investigated the role of hand gestures alone in persuasive speech. An experiment with undergraduates was conducted using 5 video-messages in which only hand gestures of the speaker were manipulated along five types. ANOVAs reveal effect of gesture type on receivers' evaluation of message persuasiveness, speaker communication style effectiveness, and speaker's composure and competence. A control study (Experiment 2) confirms that these effects are due to visible gestures. Speech accompanying gestures appear to play a causal role in social perception.
Identification and Characterization of a Novel Family of Cysteine-Rich Peptides (MgCRP-I) from Mytilus galloprovincialis

We report the identification of a novel gene family (named MgCRP-I) encoding short secreted cysteine-rich peptides in the Mediterranean mussel Mytilus galloprovincialis. These peptides display a highly conserved pre-pro region and a hypervariable mature peptide comprising six invariant cysteine residues arranged in three intramolecular disulfide bridges. Although their cysteine pattern is similar to cysteines-rich neurotoxic peptides of distantly related protostomes such as cone snails and arachnids, the different organization of the disulfide bridges observed in synthetic peptides and phylogenetic analyses revealed MgCRP-I as a novel protein family. Genome- and transcriptome-wide searches for orthologous sequences in other bivalve species indicated the unique presence of this gene family in Mytilus spp. Like many antimicrobial peptides and neurotoxins, MgCRP-I peptides are produced as pre-propeptides, usually have a net positive charge and likely derive from similar evolutionary mechanisms, that is, gene duplication and positive selection within the mature peptide region; however, synthetic MgCRP-I peptides did not display significant toxicity in cultured mammalian cells, insecticidal, antimicrobial, or antifungal activities. The functional role of MgCRP-I peptides in mussel physiology still remains puzzling.
Regression toward the Mean Effect: No Statistical Background Required

A new classroom demonstration of the regression toward the mean effect is proposed. The demonstration is highly concrete and strictly psychological in nature. It may be used in both small and large classes. It does not assume any statistical background. Although some assumptions about the nature of the measurement process are explictly made, these assumptions are highly intuitive and are easily accepted even by students who are not familiar with measurement theory.
Study of Receptor-Mediated Neurotoxins Released by HIV-1-Infected Mononuclear Phagocytes Found in Human Brain

Although there is growing evidence that neurotoxic molecules produced by HIV-1-infected mononuclear phagocytes damage neurons, the precise mechanisms of neuronal attack remain uncertain. One class of cytotoxin involves neuronal injury mediated via the NMDA receptor. We examined blood monocytes and brain mononuclear cells isolated at autopsy from HIV-1-infected individuals for the ability to release NMDA-like neuron-killing factors. We found that a neurotoxic amine, NTox, was produced by blood monocytes and by brain mononuclear phagocytes infected with retrovirus. In vivo injections of minute quantities of NTox produced selective damage to hippocampal pyramidal neurons. NTox can be extracted directly from brain tissues infected with HIV-1 and showed structural features similar to wasp and spider venoms. In contrast to NTox, HIV-1 infection did not increase the release of the NMDA excitotoxin quinolinic acid (QUIN) from mononuclear cells. Although we found modest elevations of QUIN in the CSF of HIV-1-infected individuals, the increases were likely attributable to entry through damaged blood–brain barrier. Taken together, our data pinpoint NTox, rather than QUIN, as a major NMDA receptor-directed toxin associated with neuro-AIDS.