Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Motion in Maternal Bimodal Naming to Preverbal Infants

The present study is an analysis of maternal use of object motion during naming to infants (n=24). Mothers of preverbal 6to 8-month-old infants used forward or downward translations and shaking motions most frequently in the presence of temporal synchrony between the motions and word utterances. They used upward or backward translations less frequently in the presence of temporal synchrony between the motions and word utterances. Thus, forward, downward, and shaking motions in conjunction with temporal synchrony may highlight word-object relations for young infants, and likely facilitate learning of word-object relations by infants.
On the Approximability of Budgeted Allocations and Improved Lower Bounds for Submodular Welfare Maximization and GAP

In this paper we consider the following maximum budgeted allocation (MBA) problem: Given a set of m indivisible items and n agents; each agent i willing to pay bij on item j and with a maximum budget of Bi, the goal is to allocate items to agents to maximize revenue. The problem naturally arises as auctioneer revenue maximization in budget-constrained auctions and as winner determination problem in combinatorial auctions when utilities of agents are budgeted-additive.We give a 3/4-approximation algorithm for MBA improving upon the previous best of sime0.632[2, 10]. Our techniques are based on a natural LP relaxation of MBA and our factor is optimal in the sense that it matches the integrality gap of the LP.We prove it is NP-hard to approximate MBA to any factor better than 15/16, previously only NP-hardness was known [21, 17]. Our result also implies NP- hardness of approximating maximum submodular welfare with demand oracle to a factor better than 15/16, improving upon the best known hardness of 275/276[10]. Our hardness techniques can be modified to prove that it is NP-hard to approximate the Generalized Assignment Problem (GAP) to any factor better than 10/11. This improves upon the 422/423 hardness of [7, 9]. We use iterative rounding on a natural LP relaxation of MBA to obtain the 3/4-approximation. We also give a (3/4 - epsiv) -factor algorithm based on the primal-dual schema which runs in O(nm) time, for any constant epsiv > 0.
Application of Multilabel Learning Using the Relevant Feature for Each Label in Chronic Gastritis Syndrome Diagnosis

Background. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), most of the algorithms are used to solve problems of syndrome diagnosis that only focus on one syndrome, that is, single label learning. However, in clinical practice, patients may simultaneously have more than one syndrome, which has its own symptoms (signs). Methods. We employed a multilabel learning using the relevant feature for each label (REAL) algorithm to construct a syndrome diagnostic model for chronic gastritis (CG) in TCM. REAL combines feature selection methods to select the significant symptoms (signs) of CG. The method was tested on 919 patients using the standard scale. Results. The highest prediction accuracy was achieved when 20 features were selected. The features selected with the information gain were more consistent with the TCM theory. The lowest average accuracy was 54% using multi-label neural networks (BP-MLL), whereas the highest was 82% using REAL for constructing the diagnostic model. For coverage, hamming loss, and ranking loss, the values obtained using the REAL algorithm were the lowest at 0.160, 0.142, and 0.177, respectively. Conclusion. REAL extracts the relevant symptoms (signs) for each syndrome and improves its recognition accuracy. Moreover, the studies will provide a reference for constructing syndrome diagnostic models and guide clinical practice.
Modeling Time-Variant User Mobility in Wireless Mobile Networks

Realistic mobility models are important to understand the performance of routing protocols in wireless ad hoc networks, especially when mobility-assisted routing schemes are employed, which is the case, for example, in delay-tolerant networks (DTNs). In mobility-assisted routing, messages are stored in mobile nodes and carried across the network with nodal mobility. Hence, the delay involved in message delivery is tightly coupled with the properties of nodal mobility. Currently, commonly used mobility models are simplistic random i.i. d. model that do not reflect realistic mobility characteristics. In this paper we propose a novel time-variant community mobility model. In this model, we define communities that are visited often by the nodes to capture skewed location visiting preferences, and use time periods with different mobility parameters to create periodical re-appearance of nodes at the same location. We have clearly observed these two properties based on analysis of empirical WLAN traces. In addition to the proposal of a realistic mobility model, we derive analytical expressions to highlight the impact on the hitting time and meeting times if these mobility characteristics are incorporated. These quantities in turn determine the packet delivery delay in mobility-assisted routing settings. Simulation studies show our expressions have error always under 20%, and in 80% of studied cases under 10%.
MobiPlay: A Remote Execution Based Record-and-Replay Tool for Mobile Applications

The record-and-replay approach for software testing is important and valuable for developers in designing mobile applications. However, the existing solutions for recording and replaying Android applications are far from perfect. When considering the richness of mobile phones' input capabilities including touch screen, sensors, GPS, etc., existing approaches either fall short of covering all these different input types, or require elevated privileges that are not easily attained and can be dangerous. In this paper, we present a novel system, called MobiPlay, which aims to improve record-and-replay testing. By collaborating between a mobile phone and a server, we are the first to capture all possible inputs by doing so at the application layer, instead of at the Android framework layer or the Linux kernel layer, which would be infeasible without a server. MobiPlay runs the to-be-tested application on the server under exactly the same environment as the mobile phone, and displays the GUI of the application in real time on a thin client application installed on the mobile phone. From the perspective of the mobile phone user, the application appears to be local. We have implemented our system and evaluated it with tens of popular mobile applications showing that MobiPlay is efficient, flexible, and comprehensive. It can record all input data, including all sensor data, all touchscreen gestures, and GPS. It is able to record and replay on both the mobile phone and the server. Furthermore, it is suitable for both white-box and black-box testing.
Chromosome 8q23.3 and 11q23.1 variants modify colorectal cancer risk in Lynch syndrome.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Recent genome-wide association studies have identified common low-risk variants for colorectal cancer (CRC). To assess whether these influence CRC risk in the Lynch syndrome, we genotyped these variants in a large series of proven mutation carriers. METHODS We studied 675 individuals from 127 different families from the Dutch Lynch syndrome Registry whose mutation carrier status was known. We genotyped 8q24.21, 8q23.3, 10p14, 11q23.1, 15q13.3, and 18q21.1 variants in carriers of a mismatch repair gene mutation. Univariate and multivariate analysis was used to analyse the association between the presence of a risk variant and CRC risk. RESULTS A significant association was found between CRC risk and rs16892766 (8q23.3) and rs3802842 (11q23.1). For rs16892766, possession of the C-allele was associated with an elevated risk of CRC in a dose-dependent fashion, with homozygosity for CC being associated with a 2.16-fold increased risk. For rs3802842, the increased risk of CRC associated with the C-allele was only found among female carriers, while CRC risk was substantially higher among homozygous (hazard ratio [HR] 3.08) than among heterozygous carriers of the C-allele (HR 1.49). In an additive model of both variants, the risk was significantly associated with the number of risk alleles (HR 1.60 for carriers of 2 or more risk alleles). The effects were stronger in female carriers than in male carriers. CONCLUSION We have identified 2 loci that are significantly associated with CRC risk in Lynch syndrome families. These modifiers may be helpful in identifying high-risk individuals who require more intensive surveillance.
Adherence improvement in Dutch glaucoma patients: a randomized controlled trial

Purpose: To study the effect of patient education and the TravAlert®‐Eyot® drop guider on intraocular pressure (IOP) and adherence in patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) or ocular hypertension (OHT) monitored with the TravAlert® dosing aid.
Maintenance of thyroid hormone production during exercise-induced weight loss.

Calorie restriction reduces thyroxine (T4) and 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) production, but the effects of exercise-induced weight loss on thyroid hormone metabolism in rodents are unclear. We studied the effects of chronic exercise on T4 and T3 metabolism comparing exercising (exercise) rats pair fed to sedentary (control) rodents and to weight-matched underfed sedentary animals (underfed; caloric intake 75% of ad libitum-fed controls). The exercise group utilized voluntary running wheels (28 days), and thyroid hormone metabolism was assessed using a three-compartment kinetics model. The exercise and underfed groups were equivalent in weight, but protein mass was greater in the exercise vs. underfed groups (30.4 +/- 0.5 vs. 27.9 +/- 0.5 g; P less than 0.05). During exercise, the T4 plasma clearance rate (PCR) was decreased (-39.2%; P less than 0.01) and the T4 concentration in serum was increased (48.6%; P less than 0.01), resulting in an unchanged T4 plasma appearance rate (PAR) vs. the control group. The decrease in T4 PCR in the exercise group was associated with a lower transport rate of T4 out of the slow pool (P less than 0.01). In the underfed group there was a reduction in both T4 serum concentration and PAR (-36%; P less than 0.01) compared with the control group, which was associated with a decrease in the volume of distribution (-25%; P less than 0.01). T3 PAR decreased 38.7% (P less than 0.01) during underfeeding but only 16.9% (P = not significant) during exercise vs. the control group. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Toll-Like Receptor Activation by Generalized Modules for Membrane Antigens from Lipid A Mutants of Salmonella enterica Serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis

ABSTRACT Invasive nontyphoidal Salmonella (iNTS) disease is a neglected disease with high mortality in children and HIV-positive individuals in sub-Saharan Africa, caused primarily by Africa-specific strains of Salmonella enterica serovars Typhimurium and Enteritidis. A vaccine using GMMA (generalized modules for membrane antigens) from S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis containing lipid A modifications to reduce potential in vivo reactogenicity is under development. GMMA with penta-acylated lipid A showed the greatest reduction in the level of cytokine release from human peripheral blood monocytes from that for GMMA with wild-type lipid A. Deletion of the lipid A modification genes msbB and pagP was required to achieve pure penta-acylation. Interestingly, ΔmsbB ΔpagP GMMA from S. Enteritidis had a slightly higher stimulatory potential than those from S. Typhimurium, a finding consistent with the higher lipopolysaccharide (LPS) content and Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) stimulatory potential of the former. Also, TLR5 ligand flagellin was found in Salmonella GMMA. No relevant contribution to the stimulatory potential of GMMA was detected even when the flagellin protein FliC from S. Typhimurium was added at a concentration as high as 10% of total protein, suggesting that flagellin impurities are not a major factor for GMMA-mediated immune stimulation. Overall, the stimulatory potential of S. Typhimurium and S. Enteritidis ΔmsbB ΔpagP GMMA was close to that of Shigella sonnei GMMA, which are currently in phase I clinical trials.
Investigating the effects of fine-grain three-dimensional integration on microarchitecture design

In this article we propose techniques that enable efficient exploration of the 3D design space, where each logical block can span more than one silicon layer. Fine-grain 3D integration provides reduced intrablock wire delay as well as improved power consumption. However, the corresponding power and performance advantage is usually underutilized, since various implementations of multilayer blocks require novel physical design and microarchitecture infrastructure to explore 3D microarchitecture design space. We develop a cubic packing engine which can simultaneously optimize physical and architectural design for efficient vertical integration. This technique selects the individual unit designs from a set of single-layer or multilayer implementations to get the best microarchitectural design in terms of performance, temperature, or both. Our experimental results using a design driver of a high-performance superscalar processor show a 36% performance improvement over traditional 2D for 2--4 layers and 14% over 3D with single-layer unit implementations. Since thermal characteristics of 3D integrated circuits are among the main challenges, thermal-aware floorplanning and thermal via insertion techniques are employed to keep the peak temperatures below threshold.
ε-mdps: learning in varying environments

In this paper e-MDP-models are introduced and convergence theorems are proven using the generalized MDP framework of Szepesvari and Littman. Using this model family, we show that Q-learning is capable of finding near-optimal policies in varying environments. The potential of this new family of MDP models is illustrated via a reinforcement learning algorithm called event-learning which separates the optimization of decision making from the controller. We show that event-learning augmented by a particular controller, which gives rise to an e-MDP, enables near optimal performance even if considerable and sudden changes may occur in the environment. Illustrations are provided on the two-segment pendulum problem.
Prevalence and genotype distribution of cervical human papillomavirus infection in Macao

Population‐specific epidemiological data on human papillomavirus (HPV) infection are essential for formulating strategies to prevent cervical cancer. The age‐specific prevalence of HPV infection was determined among 1,600 women enrolled for cervical screening in Macao. A U‐shaped age‐specific prevalence curve with a first peak (prevalence rate, 10%) at 20–25 years and a second peak (13%) at 51–55 years was observed. Co‐infections with multiple types were detected in 32.5% of HPV‐positive subjects and without significant variation among different age groups (P = 0.318). The majority (84.6%) of the positive samples harbored high‐ or probable high‐risk HPV types, and these types also exhibited a similar U‐shaped age‐specific prevalence curve. In contrast, low and unknown‐risk HPV types remained at a low prevalence (1.5–2.5%) throughout the age groups between 20 and 50 years, and with a small peak (4.5%) at 51–55 years. HPV 52 was the most common type found in 26.8% of positive samples, followed by HPV 16 (15.5%), HPV 68 (11.4%), HPV 18 and HPV 58 (8.9% each), HPV 54 (8.1%), HPV 53 (7.3%), HPV 39 (6.5%), HPV 33 and HPV 66 (5.7% each). In conclusion, because of the early peak of infection, vaccination and educational campaigns in Macao should start early and target at teenagers. The presence of a second peak containing mainly high‐risk HPV types in older women indicates the need to evaluate the cover of the cervical screening programme for older women. Further study to determine the contribution of HPV 52 in high‐grade cervical neoplasia and invasive cancers in Macao is warranted. J. Med. Virol. 82:1724–1729, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Novel approaches to the treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections in cystic fibrosis

Pseudomonas aeruginosa chronically infects patients with cystic fibrosis and is associated with greater morbidity. There has been limited progress on the clinical development of new antibiotics with novel modes of action. This review addresses some of the latest research developments on the exploitation of candidate adjuvant therapeutic agents that may act alongside conventional antibiotics as an alternative therapeutic strategy. After considering key mechanisms this opportunistic pathogen employs to control virulence, the progress of various strategies including the inhibition of quorum sensing, efflux pumps and lectins, and the use of iron chelators, bacteriophages, immunisation and immunotherapy is reviewed. Both therapeutic approaches in early development and clinical phase are discussed.
EEG-based recognition of attention state using wavelet and support vector machine

Recognition of attention level is required to the evaluation of student learning process and employee development. This research proposed a recognition of attention state using wavelet filter and Support Vector Machine (SVM). It was divided by two states, that attention and inattention. EEG signal was extracted using Wavelet that filtered in the frequency range of 5–30 Hz. It is relevant with information of EEG signal against attention, that theta, alpha and beta waves. Therefore, using wavelet filter increased accuracy from 44–58% into 69–83%. Using SVM is simpler than using Neural Networks therefore could lead to convergence and shorter training time. Therefore, the system can be developed with a large training data. The classification system trained with four subjects to obtain the separation coefficient of linear hyperplane of SVM. It took less than one minute. Testing of four subjects gave an accuracy of 77–83%. The system that has been implemented into a software.
Modulation of N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) induced oxidative stress by vitamin E in rat erythrocytes

Nitrosamines, such as N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), induced oxidative stress due to the generation of reactive oxygen species, which are capable of initiating peroxidative damage to the cell. The present study was designed to establish whether pre-treatment with vitamin E (40 mg/kg body wt, intraperitoneally (ip), twice a week for 4 weeks) to NDEA induced rats provides protection against oxidative stress caused by NDEA. A single necrogenic dose of NDEA (200 mg/kg body wt) was administered intraperitoneally (ip) to the rats with or without vitamin E pre-treatment and the animals were sacrificed on Day 7, 14 or 21 after NDEA administration. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) and the activities of antioxidant enzymes were determined in erythrocytes as indices of oxidative damage. The result showed elevated levels of LPO in erythrocytes with NDEA treatment, however, vitamin E pre-treated rats administered NDEA showed decreased LPO (Day 14 and 21). Superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activity and the glutathione (GSH) content increased with NDEA treatment and remained high in vitamin E pre-treated group. Catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GSH-R) and glutathione-S-transferase (GST) enzyme activities declined with NDEA treatment; however, vitamin E pre-treated rats administered NDEA, showed elevation in the enzyme activities. Glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activity increased in erythrocytes in vitamin E pre-treated rats administered NDEA, while SeGSH-Px activity was not affected significantly. This study demonstrates that the pre-treatment with vitamin E prior to the administration of NDEA was effective in counteracting and modulating oxidative stress in rat erythrocytes in a time-dependent manner.
International Comparisons in Health Economics: Evidence from Aging Studies

We provide an overview of the growing literature that uses microlevel data from multiple countries to investigate health outcomes, and their link to socioeconomic factors, at older ages. Because the data are at a comparatively young stage, much of the analysis is at an early stage and limited to a handful of countries, with analysis for the United States and England being the most common. What is immediately apparent as we get better measures is that, between countries, health differences amongst those at older ages are real and large. Countries are ranked differently according to whether one considers life expectancy, prevalence, or the incidence of a specific condition. Moreover, the magnitude of international disparities may vary according to whether measures utilize doctor-diagnosed conditions or biomarker-based indicators of disease and poor health. But one key finding emerges—the United States ranks poorly on all indicators, with the exception of self-reported subjective health status.
Nurses' reported influence on the prescription and use of medication.

AIM To identify the activities senior nurses report undertaking that may influence the prescription and use of medicines. BACKGROUND While much attention has focused on the role of nurse prescribing, little is known about the extent to which non-prescribing nurses influence medication decision making. The pharmaceutical industry recognizes this influence in its marketing strategies, and courts nurses by provision of promotional material and sponsorship of nursing professional development. METHODS We undertook parallel web- and paper-based surveys of 100 senior registered nurses employed by government-funded health boards in two distinct New Zealand regions. FINDINGS Only 2/96 (2%) of nurses had prescribing rights, yet 74/94 (79%) reported recommending treatments to the prescribing doctor, 74/95 (79%) stated they provided advice to patients about over-the-counter medications and 71/92 (77%) participated in the development of guidelines or policies that include the use of medications. All nurses in this sample reported influencing the prescription of medicines in one way or another. DISCUSSION From actually writing prescriptions to providing feedback on treatment outcomes, there are many opportunities for nurses to influence the decision making of medical and other prescribers, which open nurses to exploitation from commercial forces. Policy and education regarding prescriber relationships with the pharmaceutical industry should also recognize the role of non-prescribing nurses.
Interdisciplinary Program Assessment

Abstract : Interdisciplinary studies programs and the assessment movement are two parallel edu-cational paradigms, both of which are maturing at a pace that is noticeably deliberate. Idealisticin inception, they are simple in concept, nuanced in practice, and focused on student learningrather than on professorial teaching. Idealism and subtle complexities in interdisciplinary think-ing contribute to a belief that assessment is too simplistic to court interdisciplinary studies andhas little business here. This paper questions the veracity of that belief and offers some research-based assessment approaches that may sanction an acceptable, if not lusty, marriage of the twoparadigms. Introduction S THE ASSESSMENT MOVEMENT in the United States enters its fourthdecade, countless hours and numerous pages continue to champion the as yetunfulfilled promise of improving teaching and learning through assessment.Although the vigorous adoption of an assessment ethic by regional accredit-ing agencies and governing boards has certainly reified the process, educa-tional organizations can still pay obedient lip service to assessment and getaway with that and precious little else. A survey by the National Center forPostsecondary Improvement (1999) of 1300+ chief academic officers revealeda consistent opinion that the assessment movement has had little impact onimproving student learning. When assessment data of any character did ex-ist, very little use has been made of the data for teaching and curriculum