Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining early child development in low-income countries : a toolkit for the assessment of children in the first five years of life

The primary purpose of this toolkit is to provide a resource for researchers from various disciplines interested in planning and evaluating programs or interventions aimed at improving the health and development of infants and young children. The toolkit aims to: provide an overview of issues affecting early development and its measurement; discuss the types of tests typically used with children under five years; provide guidelines for selecting and adapting tests for use in developing countries, and make recommendations for planning successful assessment strategies. The toolkit focuses on children who have not yet entered school, and are thus under six years old. The primary reason we are focusing on this age group is that during the first five years of life, children's language, early understanding of mathematics and reading, and self-control emerge. The extent to which children master these skills during this critical period has implications for success in school (Lerner, 1998), and thus we wanted to focus on children in this pre-school period. The toolkit is essential at this time for the following reasons: children in developing countries are growing up at a disadvantage; assessments of children must expand to include a wider range of outcomes; and no such toolkit exists as present.
Judgment of information quality and cognitive authority in the Web

In the Web, making judgments of information quality and authority is a difficult task for most users because overall, there is no quality control mechanism. This study examines the problem of the judgment of information quality and cognitive authority by observing people's searching behavior in the Web. Its purpose is to understand the various factors that influence people's judgment of quality and authority in the Web, and the effects of those judgments on selection behaviors. Fifteen scholars from diverse disciplines participated, and data were collected combining verbal protocols during the searches, search logs, and postsearch interviews. It was found that the subjects made two distinct kinds of judgment: predictive judgment, and evaluative judgment. The factors influencing each judgment of quality and authority were identified in terms of characteristics of information objects, characteristics of sources, knowledge, situation, ranking in search output, and general assumption. Implications for Web design that will effectively support people's judgments of quality and authority are also discussed.
Smartphone App Usage Prediction Using Points of Interest

In this paper we present the first population-level, city-scale analysis of application usage on smartphones. Using deep packet inspection at the network operator level, we obtained a geo-tagged dataset with more than 6 million unique devices that launched more than 10,000 unique applications across the city of Shanghai over one week. We develop a technique that leverages transfer learning to predict which applications are most popular and estimate the whole usage distribution based on the Point of Interest (POI) information of that particular location. We demonstrate that our technique has an 83.0% hitrate in successfully identifying the top five popular applications, and a 0.15 RMSE when estimating usage with just 10% sampled sparse data. It outperforms by about 25.7% over the existing state-of-the-art approaches. Our findings pave the way for predicting which apps are relevant to a user given their current location, and which applications are popular where. The implications of our findings are broad: it enables a range of systems to benefit from such timely predictions, including operating systems, network operators, appstores, advertisers, and service providers.
Specifics of freezing of Lennard-Jones fluid confined to molecularly thin layers

Freezing of a Lennard-Jones fluid between solid surfaces was studied using grand canonical Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulations. We explored the formation of frozen phases of hexagonal and orthorhombic symmetry in mono-, bi-, and tri-layer structures. The freezing transition, the type of lattice, and translational and orientational ordering were identified on the basis of orientational order parameters, in-plane two-body and three-body translational correlation functions, orientational correlation functions, and analysis of molecular mobilities. We have found that the freezing temperature is a nonmonotonous function of the pore width: orthorhombic bi-layer freezes at lower temperatures than hexagonal monolayer and hexagonal bi-layer. As the pore width increases, the transition from a hexagonal monolayer to an orthorhombic bi-layer occurred via disordered liquidlike and quasi-long-range four-fold ordered bi-layers. The latter, “quadratic” structure is characterized by an algebraically decaying fo.
Peter Matthiessen and Ecological Imagination

"Peter Matthiessen and Ecological Imagination" offers an ecocritical reading of the "Watson Trilogy" - "Killing Mister Watson" (1990), "Lost Man's River" (1997), and "Bone By Bone" (1999) - which draws together themes Matthiessen has been exploring both in his fiction and nonfiction. While this study argues that his ecological imagination comes from his unique experience as a novelist, naturalist, environmentalist, social activist, and a student of Zen, it also illustrates that for Matthiessen, economic, political, social, racial, psychological, epistemological, and ecological issues are all inseparably interconnected. Set in the Everglades frontier in the formative era of American industrial capitalism, Matthiessen's novels are his grand attempt to reexamine the root causes of ecological disaster in the region and the costs to the people and the land that accompanied the conquering of the frontier.
Sedentary Behavior Is Not Associated with Cardiometabolic Risk in Adults with Abdominal Obesity

Objective The primary aim of this study was to determine whether time spent in sedentary behaviors (SED) was associated with 2-hour glucose and insulin resistance in adults with abdominal obesity. We also examined the association between light physical activity (LPA) and sporadic (accumulated in bouts <10 minutes in duration) moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with glucose metabolism. Methods Participants were 135 inactive, abdominally obese adults recruited from Kingston, Canada. SED and physical activity were determined by accelerometry over 7 days and summarized as SED (accelerometer counts/min <100), LPA (counts/min 100–1951), and MVPA (counts/min ≥1952). A 75 g oral glucose tolerance test was used to ascertain 2-hour glucose; the homeostasis model of assessment was used to determine insulin resistance (HOMA-IR); lipid, lipoproteins and blood pressure were determined using standard protocols. Secondary analyses considered the association between SED and physical activity with other cardiometabolic risk factors. Results Participants spent 627.2±82.9 min/d in SED, 289.0±91.7 min/d in LPA and 19.2±13.5 min/d in MVPA. Neither SED nor the physical activity variables were associated with 2-hour glucose or HOMA-IR (p>0.05). In secondary analyses, SED was not associated with any cardiometabolic risk factor (p>0.1); with the exception of blood pressure (p<0.05), LPA was not associated with any cardiometabolic risk factor (p>0.1); and MVPA was independently associated with total cholesterol and triglycerides (p<0.05). Conclusions Objectively measured SED was not associated with 2-hr glucose or HOMA-IR. Our findings also suggest that the accumulation of LPA and sporadic MVPA is not associated with glucose metabolism in adults with abdominal obesity.
Semi‐Regular Triangle Remeshing: A Comprehensive Study

Semi‐regular triangle remeshing algorithms convert irregular surface meshes into semi‐regular ones. Especially in the field of computer graphics, semi‐regularity is an interesting property because it makes meshes highly suitable for multi‐resolution analysis. In this paper, we survey the numerous remeshing algorithms that have been developed over the past two decades. We propose different classifications to give new and comprehensible insights into both existing methods and issues. We describe how considerable obstacles have already been overcome, and discuss promising perspectives.
A randomised controlled trial evaluating the impact of targeted vitamin D supplementation on endothelial function in type 2 diabetes mellitus: The DIMENSION trial

We sought to determine if vitamin D supplementation, to target 25(OH)D concentrations of 30–40 ng/mL, improves endothelial function in Singapore’s multi-ethnic type 2 diabetes mellitus population. We randomised 64 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients with hypovitaminosis D to cholecalciferol 4000 International Unit/matching placebo [baseline 25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL] or cholecalciferol 2000 International Unit/matching placebo [baseline 25(OH)D: 20–30 ng/mL] daily for 16 weeks with a down titration at 8 weeks if 25(OH)D > 30 ng/mL. Endothelial function was assessed by peripheral tonometry (reactive hyperaemia index–endothelial peripheral arterial tonometry) and vascular biomarkers: E-selectin, von-Willebrand factor and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. We compared the change from baseline parameters in the two groups using Student’s t-test or Kruskal–Wallis test. A log-normal multivariate regression analysis was used to adjust for relevant baseline variables. The median reactive hyperaemia index in the vitamin D group increased from 0.65 (interquartile range: 0.42) to 0.73 (interquartile range: 0.36), whereas it decreased from 0.73 (interquartile range: 0.65) to 0.65 (interquartile range: 0.38) (p = 0.02) in the placebo group. After adjustment for baseline variables, the change was not statistically significant for reactive hyperaemia index (p = 0.07) and for other vascular biomarkers (p > 0.05). Targeted vitamin D supplementation for 16 weeks resulted in a small but non-significant improvement in endothelial function in a type 2 diabetes mellitus cohort.
Nursing-home-acquired pneumonia in Germany: an 8-year prospective multicentre study

Objective To determine differences in aetiologies, initial antimicrobial treatment choices and outcomes in patients with nursing-home-acquired pneumonia (NHAP) compared with patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), which is a controversial issue. Methods Data from the prospective multicentre Competence Network for Community-acquired pneumonia (CAPNETZ) database were analysed for hospitalised patients aged ≥65 years with CAP or NHAP. Potential differences in baseline characteristics, comorbidities, physical examination findings, severity at presentation, initial laboratory investigations, blood gases, microbial investigations, aetiologies, antimicrobial treatment and outcomes were determined between the two groups. Results Patients with NHAP presented with more severe pneumonia as assessed by CRB-65 (confusion, respiratory rate, blood pressure, 65 years and older) score than patients with CAP but received the same frequency of mechanical ventilation and less antimicrobial combination treatment. There were no clinically relevant differences in aetiology, with Streptococcus pneumoniae the most important pathogen in both groups, and potential multidrug-resistant pathogens were very rare (<5%). Only Staphylococcus aureus was more frequent in the NHAP group (n=12, 2.3% of the total population, 3.1% of those with microbial sampling compared with 0.7% and 0.8% in the CAP group, respectively). Short-term and long-term mortality in the NHAP group was higher than in the CAP group for patients aged ≥65 years (26.6% vs 7.2% and 43.8% vs 14.6%, respectively). However, there was no association between excess mortality and potential multidrug-resistant pathogens. Conclusions Excess mortality in patients with NHAP cannot be attributed to a different microbial pattern but appears to result from increased comorbidities, and consequently, pneumonia is frequently considered and managed as a terminal event.
Privacy-Preserving Decentralized Key Policy Attribute-Based Encryption

In Attribute-based Encryption (ABE) scheme, attributes play a crucial role. Attributes have been utilized to generate a public key for encrypting data and have been used as an access policy to control users' access. The access policy can be divided as either key-policy or cipher text-policy. The key-policy is the access structure on the user's private key, and the cipher text-policy is the access structure on the cipher text. And the access structure can also be further divided as either monotonic or non-monotonic one. Using ABE schemes one can have the advantages: (1) to reduce the communication overhead of the Internet, and (2) to provide fine-grained access control. Keywords— ABE; Decentralized ABE scheme; privacypreserving; GID.
Exploration des mécanismes sous-tendant les attentes négatives concernant le futur personnel dans l'anxiété sociale

L’objectif de cette etude est de montrer qu’en modifiant l’accessibilite d’informations concernant une situation sociale, il est possible d’attenuer les attentes negatives futures observees chez des personnes avec des symptomes d’anxiete sociale. Nonante-deux sujets tout-venants ont du imaginer deux (facilement accessible) ou dix (difficilement accessible) raisons justifiant l’apparition d’une situation sociale et non-sociale negatives. Ils ont ensuite du juger la probabilite d’apparition, l’intensite et la duree de la reaction engendree par cette situation ainsi que la difficulte a imaginer cette situation. Le FNE et le SDHS ont ete administres. Deux groupes ont ete crees sur la base des scores au FNE, les haut AS et les bas AS (anxiete sociale). Les haut AS jugent l’impact de la situation de facon superieure au bas AS pour la situation sociale. La manipulation n’a pas montre de maniere specifique une diminution des attentes negatives pour la situation sociale dans le groupe haut AS.
Quantitative Analysis of EEG Changes during Hypothermia

Power spectrum analysis of 4-channel EEGs was performed during cooling and rewarming using cardiopulmonary bypass. During rewarming, linear correlations of temperature with the total power and with peak power frequency of the high-frequency band were observed in a significant number of cases (85%, P < 0.0001 and 76%, P < 0.002, respectively). The magnitude of these changes were 1,215 μV2/°C (±150 [SEM]) and 0.39 Hz/°C (± 0.04 [SEM]). Two other descriptors of the EEG power spectrum (the spectral edge and average frequencies) did not correlate with the temperature changes in a significant number of cases. Changes during cooling followed a similar trend but were more variable, presumbaly because of other physiologic changes associated with the start of bypass. Knowledge of the relationship of the EEG to temperature should permit distinguishing EEG changes secondary to hypothermia from those caused by acute hypoxia.
Exploiting Ontology Structures and Unlabeled Data for Learning

We present and analyze a theoretical model designed to understand and explain the effectiveness of ontologies for learning multiple related tasks from primarily unlabeled data. We present both information-theoretic results as well as efficient algorithms. We show in this model that an ontology, which specifies the relationships between multiple outputs, in some cases is sufficient to completely learn a classification using a large unlabeled data source.
Adhesion Functions in Cell Sorting by Mechanically Coupling the Cortices of Adhering Cells

Embryonic Cell Sorting and Movement Differential cell adhesion has long been thought to drive cell sorting. Maître et al. (p. 253, published online 23 August) show that cell sorting in zebrafish gastrulation is triggered by differences in the ability of cells to modulate cortex tension at cell-cell contacts, thereby controlling contact expansion. Cell adhesion functions in this process by mechanically coupling the cortices of adhering cells at their contacts, allowing cortex tension to control contact expansion. In zebrafish epiboly the enveloping cell layer (EVL)—a surface epithelium formed at the animal pole of the gastrula—gradually spreads over the entire yolk cell to engulf it at the end of gastrulation. Behrndt et al. (p. 257) show that an actomyosin ring connected to the epithelial margin triggers EVL spreading both by contracting around its circumference and by generating a pulling force through resistance against retrograde actomyosin flow. Cell adhesion provides a mechanical scaffold for cell cortex tension to drive cell sorting during zebrafish gastrulation. Differential cell adhesion and cortex tension are thought to drive cell sorting by controlling cell-cell contact formation. Here, we show that cell adhesion and cortex tension have different mechanical functions in controlling progenitor cell-cell contact formation and sorting during zebrafish gastrulation. Cortex tension controls cell-cell contact expansion by modulating interfacial tension at the contact. By contrast, adhesion has little direct function in contact expansion, but instead is needed to mechanically couple the cortices of adhering cells at their contacts, allowing cortex tension to control contact expansion. The coupling function of adhesion is mediated by E-cadherin and limited by the mechanical anchoring of E-cadherin to the cortex. Thus, cell adhesion provides the mechanical scaffold for cell cortex tension to drive cell sorting during gastrulation.
Kaizen: a method of process improvement in the emergency department.

INTRODUCTION Recent position statements from health care organizations have placed a strong emphasis on continuous quality improvement (CQI). CQI finds many of its roots in kaizen, which emphasizes small, low-cost, low-risk improvements. Based on the successful Kaizen Programs at organizations such as Toyota, the authors thought the emergency department (ED) would be an ideal environment to benefit from such a program. OBJECTIVES The authors sought to create a CQI program using a suggestion-based model that did not require a large time commitment, was easy to implement, and had the potential to empower all physicians in the department. It would not take the place of other improvement efforts, but instead augment them. The hypothesis was that such a program would foster sustainable engagement of emergency physicians in system improvement efforts and lead to a continuous stream of low-cost implementable system improvement interventions. METHODS A CQI program was created for the physician staff of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, focusing on a suggestion-based model using kaizen philosophy. Lectures teaching kaizen philosophy were presented. Over the past 4 years, a methodology was developed utilizing a Web-based application, the Kaizen Tracker, which aids in the submission and implementation of suggestions that are called kaizen initiatives (KIs). The characteristics of the KIs submitted, details regarding resident and faculty participation, and the effectiveness of the Kaizen Tracker were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS There were 169, 105, and 101 KIs placed in the postimplementation calendar years 2006, 2007, and 2008, respectively. Seventy-six percent of KIs submitted thus far have identified a "process problem. " Fifty-three percent of KIs submitted have led to operational changes within the ED. Ninety-three percent of the resident physicians entered at least one KI, and 73% of these residents submitted more than one KI. Sixty-nine percent of the attendings entered at least one KI, and 89% of these attendings submitted more than one KI. CONCLUSIONS Over the past 4 years, the Kaizen Program at Vanderbilt has been widely and frequently used within the ED. It has resulted in over 400 changes in our adult ED system and has met the challenge of using CQI to drive ED improvements. There are limitations to this study, including the fact that its impact on patient outcomes remains unknown. However, this Kaizen Program may be an excellent tool for other departments to assist with quality improvement and should be studied with a multicenter prospective approach.
Synergistic malaria vaccine combinations identified by systematic antigen screening

Significance Malaria still kills hundreds of thousands of children each year. Malaria vaccine development is complicated by high levels of parasite genetic diversity, which makes single target vaccines vulnerable to the development of variant-specific immunity. To overcome this hurdle, we systematically screened a panel of 29 blood-stage antigens from the most deadly human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. We identified several targets that were able to inhibit erythrocyte invasion in two genetically diverse strains. Testing these targets in combination identified several pairs that blocked invasion more effectively in combination than in isolation. Video microscopy and studies of natural immune responses to malaria in patients suggest that targeting multiple steps in invasion is more likely to produce a synergistic vaccine response. A highly effective vaccine would be a valuable weapon in the drive toward malaria elimination. No such vaccine currently exists, and only a handful of the hundreds of potential candidates in the parasite genome have been evaluated. In this study, we systematically evaluated 29 antigens likely to be involved in erythrocyte invasion, an essential developmental stage during which the malaria parasite is vulnerable to antibody-mediated inhibition. Testing antigens alone and in combination identified several strain-transcending targets that had synergistic combinatorial effects in vitro, while studies in an endemic population revealed that combinations of the same antigens were associated with protection from febrile malaria. Video microscopy established that the most effective combinations targeted multiple discrete stages of invasion, suggesting a mechanistic explanation for synergy. Overall, this study both identifies specific antigen combinations for high-priority clinical testing and establishes a generalizable approach that is more likely to produce effective vaccines.
GROWTH PATTERNS IN THE DEVELOPING HUMAN BRAIN DETECTED USING CONTINUUM-MECHANICAL TENSOR MAPPING

We report the first, spatially-complex, 4-dimensional quantitative maps of growth patterns in the developing human brain, detected with a tensor mapping strategy that provides growth pattern information with greater spatial detail and sensitivity than previously obtainable in brain imaging studies. By repeatedly scanning children (age: 3-15 yrs.) across multi-year time intervals (up to 4 years), a rostro-caudal wave of growth was detected at the corpus callosum, a fiber system that relays information between brain hemispheres. Children aged 6-15 consistently displayed a localized peak of rapid growth at the callosal isthmus, which innervates temporo-parietal cortices that primarily support associative thinking and language function. Growth rates at the isthmus were attenuated after puberty. An opposite dynamic pattern was found between ages 3 and 6, with most rapid growth in frontal and pre-frontal callosal networks that regulate the planning and organization of new actions. Rates and profiles of tissue growth, elimination, shearing and dilation are visualized in 3 dimensions, revealing the magnitudes, gradients and principal directions of growth throughout the dynamically changing brain. Focal growth of the callosal isthmus and its temporo-parietal projection fields contrasted sharply with a rapid, spatially-localized loss of gray matter in subcortical systems. Dynamic brain maps therefore offer a powerful new means to (1) map growth patterns in an individual child, and (2) gain insight into the complex dynamic processes that affect regional anatomy in the healthy and diseased brain.