Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Cascade of Champions: A Qualitative Study about the MA-CORD Media Competition Implementation

A media competition was part of the Massachusetts Childhood Obesity Research Demonstration (MA-CORD) Study. Criss et al., previously outlined the development and implementation of the competition, including variation in reach and adoption of the intervention across schools and afterschool programs. In this qualitative study, we examine community, provider, and organizational factors that explain the variation of media competition reach in school and afterschool programs, and describe the awareness of the media competition across other community sectors. Durlak and DuPre’s ecological framework for understanding effective implementation provided the theoretical underpinnings for this study. Fifty-four key informant interviews were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed. Organizational capacity of committed teachers/staff and adaptability of the media competition seemed to be drivers for higher reach within school and afterschool programs. Salient themes that emerged as facilitators of effective implementation were having a cascade of champions and providing opportunity to participate in the media competition outside traditional class time. Clinics and coalitions were identified as additional sectors aware of the media competition. Specifically, our findings offer a new perspective on intervention design and a recommended direction for further study.
Measuring staff turnover in nursing homes.

PURPOSE In this study the levels of staff turnover reported in the nursing home literature (1990-2003) are reviewed, as well as the definitions of turnover used in these prior studies. With the use of primary data collected from 354 facilities, the study addresses the various degrees of bias that result, depending on how staff turnover is defined in nursing homes. DESIGN AND METHODS Data came from a survey mailed to administrators of 526 nursing homes during March 2003. Facilities were located in four states: Missouri, Texas, Connecticut, and New Jersey. Three hundred and fifty-four responses were received, giving a response rate of 67%. RESULTS The 1-year turnover rates identified in these facilities were 119%, 89%, 87%, 57%, and 48%, for nurse aides, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, administrators, and directors of nursing, respectively. However, findings show that the definition of turnover used could influence the relative difference between these reported rates by as much as 47%. IMPLICATIONS As a result of measurement error, turnover rates may be misrepresented in prior studies. On the basis of the results of this investigation, several recommendations are made for future data-collection initiatives that will eliminate some of this measurement error.
A segment-based hidden markov model for real-setting pinyin-to-chinese conversion

Hidden markov model (HMM) is frequently used for Pinyin-to-Chinese conversion. But it only captures the dependency with the preceding character. Higher order markov models can bring higher accuracy, but are computationally unaffordable to average PC settings. We propose a segment-based hidden markov model (SHMM), which has the same magnitude of complexity as first-order HMM, but generates higher decoding accuracy. SHMM tells a word from a bigram connecting two words, and assigns a reasonable probability to words as a whole. It is more powerful than HMM to decode words containing over two characters. We conduct a comprehensive Pinyin-to-Chinese conversion evaluation on Lancaster corpus. The experiment shows the perfect sentence accuracy is improved from 34.7% (HMM) to 43.3% (SHMM). The one-error sentence accuracy is increased from 72.7% to 78.3%. Furthermore, SHMM can seamlessly integrate with pinyin typing correction, acronym pinyin input, user-defined words, and self-adaptive learning all of which are a must for a commercial Pinyin-to-Chinese conversion product in order to improve the efficiency of pinyin input.
Distinct T cell receptor signaling requirements for perforin- or FasL- mediated cytotoxicity

A diverse array of signals are generated in a cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) after the T cell receptor (TCR) engages the class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) peptide complex. These signals result in a multitude of CTL effector functions, including cellular cytotoxicity, cell surface receptor expression, and cytokine secretion. We have examined signaling through the TCR in a wild type CD8+, MHC- restricted, antigen-specific CTL clone, 14-7, and its interleukin 2- dependent variant clone 14-7FD. We report here that 14-7FD is unable to kill via the perforin mechanism of killing, yet is able to kill via the Fas ligand/Fas mechanism and secrete interferon-gamma in an antigen- specific manner. 14-7FD has cytolytic granules that contain perforin and serine esterases, which are secreted after phorbol ester and Ca2+ ionophore treatment. Lastly, to investigate which TCR signaling requirements were operational in 14-7FD, we examined TCR-triggered intracellular Ca2+ mobilization in the two clones. After TCR engagement, 14-7FD failed to mobilize intracellular Ca2+, which may be the cause for its inability to trigger the perforin/granule exocytosis mechanism of killing. These results indicate that the signal transduction events that trigger perforin killing and the signaling requirements to induce FasL expression are distinct. We hypothesize that these two distinct TCR signal transduction requirements allow for separate activation of these two mechanisms of killing relating to their role in eradication of infected cells or regulation of immune responses.
DETECTION OF STRUCTURE IN INFRARED-DARK CLOUDS WITH SPITZER: CHARACTERIZING STAR FORMATION IN THE MOLECULAR RING

We have conducted a survey of a sample of infrared-dark clouds (IRDCs) with the Spitzer Space Telescope in order to explore their mass distribution. We present a method for tracing mass using dust absorption against the bright Galactic background at 8 μm. The IRDCs in this sample are comprised of tens of clumps, ranging in sizes from 0.02 to 0.3 pc in diameter and masses from 0.5 to a few 103M☉, the broadest dynamic range in any clump mass spectrum study to date. Structure with this range in scales confirms that IRDCs are the precursors to stellar clusters in an early phase of fragmentation. Young stars are distributed in the vicinity of the IRDCs, but the clumps are typically not associated with stars and appear prestellar in nature. We find an IRDC clump mass spectrum with a slope of α = 1.76 ± 0.05 for masses from 30 M☉ to 3000 M☉. This slope is consistent with numerous studies, culled from a variety of observational techniques, of massive star formation regions and is close to the mass function of Galactic stellar clusters and star clusters in other galaxies. We assert that the shape of the mass function is an intrinsic and universal feature of massive star formation regions that are the birth sites of stellar clusters. As these clouds evolve and their constituent clumps fragment, the mass spectrum will steepen and eventually assume the form of the core mass function that is observed locally.
Investigating Information Security Awareness: Research and Practice Gaps

ABSTRACT The aim of this survey is largely exploratory, namely, to discover patterns and trends in the way that practitioners and academics alike tackle the security awareness issue and to have a better understanding of the reasons why security awareness practice remains an unsolved problem. Open coding analysis was performed on numerous publications (articles, surveys, standards, reports and books). A classification scheme of six categories of concern has emerged from the content analysis (e.g., terminology ambiguity), and the chosen publications were classified based on it. The paper identifies ambiguous aspects of current security awareness approaches and the proposed classification provides a guide to identify the range of options available to researchers and practitioners when they design their research and practice on information security awareness.
Predator Abundance in Alfalfa Fields in Relation to Aphids, Within-Field Vegetation, and Landscape Matrix

Abstract We used multiple regression modeling to investigate the numerical response by the predatory insects Hippodamia convergens Guérin-Méneville, H. parenthesis (Say), and C. septempunctata L. (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae), Chrysoperla plorabunda (Fitch) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae), and Nabis americoferus Carayon (Hemiptera: Nabidae) to aphids during 5 yr in three geographically separated alfalfa fields in eastern South Dakota. Regression models for abundance of adults of all species were significant. Regression models for immature H. convergens, H. parenthesis, and C. septempunctata were significant, but regression models for immature C. plorabunda and N. americoferus were not significant. Regression parameters differed among the three fields for most predator species, indicating that the numerical response was dependent on geographical location. To obtain insight into why the numerical response by predators differed among fields we determined how the abundance of predators in alfalfa fields was influenced by the landscape surrounding a field and the vegetation in it. Variables describing the complexity of the landscape surrounding alfalfa fields and the plant community in the fields entered into regression models for predator abundance and explained a greater proportion of the variance in predator abundance than aphid abundance did. We conclude that the structure of the landscape matrix plays an important role in determining the abundance of aphid predators in alfalfa fields, as does the plant community in a field. These effects can sometimes overshadow the direct numerical response by predators to aphids.
Psilocybin-assisted treatment for alcohol dependence: A proof-of-concept study

Several lines of evidence suggest that classic (5HT2A agonist) hallucinogens have clinically relevant effects in alcohol and drug addiction. Although recent studies have investigated the effects of psilocybin in various populations, there have been no studies on the efficacy of psilocybin for alcohol dependence. We conducted a single-group proof-of-concept study to quantify acute effects of psilocybin in alcohol-dependent participants and to provide preliminary outcome and safety data. Ten volunteers with DSM-IV alcohol dependence received orally administered psilocybin in one or two supervised sessions in addition to Motivational Enhancement Therapy and therapy sessions devoted to preparation for and debriefing from the psilocybin sessions. Participants’ responses to psilocybin were qualitatively similar to those described in other populations. Abstinence did not increase significantly in the first 4 weeks of treatment (when participants had not yet received psilocybin), but increased significantly following psilocybin administration (p < 0.05). Gains were largely maintained at follow-up to 36 weeks. The intensity of effects in the first psilocybin session (at week 4) strongly predicted change in drinking during weeks 5–8 (r = 0.76 to r = 0.89) and also predicted decreases in craving and increases in abstinence self-efficacy during week 5. There were no significant treatment-related adverse events. These preliminary findings provide a strong rationale for controlled trials with larger samples to investigate efficacy and mechanisms. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02061293
HABITAT USE BY WESTERN POND TURTLES IN THE TRINITY RIVER, CALIFORNIA

Habitat associations of western pond turtles (Clemmys marmorata) were examined in a dammed and undammed tributary of the Trinity River in northwestern California to clarify the relations between habitat use and damming. The dammed tributary had more sedimentation, decreased water temperatures, increased canopy cover, and higher water velocities, all of which are potentially relevant to western pond turtles. The overall heterogeneity of aquatic habitats also was lower, possibly because of the dam. At both dammed and undammed sites, western pond turtles appeared to select for deep water with low velocities and the presence of underwater refugia. On the dammed tributary, western pond turtles were associated with basking structures, which may be particularly important because of the low water temperatures. On the undammed tributary, western pond turtles tended to be in slower-flowing portions of the river with denser canopy cover and higher water temperatures. Given the alterations of channel morphology and flow regimes associated with damming, the implications are that habitat suitability for western pond turtles is decreased. While damming may increase the amount of deep water along shores and promote formation of undercut banks, it eliminates low-velocity areas preferred by western pond turtles and lowers water temperatures. Habitat enhancement efforts should focus on restoring natural structural and hydrological features.
Picture Password: A Visual Login Technique for Mobile Devices

Adequate user authentication is a persistent problem, particularly with handheld devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), which tend to be highly personal and at the fringes of an organization's influence. Yet, these devices are being used increasingly in corporate settings where they pose a security risk, not only by containing sensitive information, but also by providing the means to access such information over wireless network interfaces. User authentication is the first line of defense for a lost or stolen PDA. However, motivating users to enable simple PIN or password mechanisms and periodically update their authentication information is a constant struggle. This paper describes a general-purpose mechanism for authenticating a user to a PDA using a visual login technique called Picture Password. The underlying rationale is that image recall is an easy and natural way for users to authenticate, removing a serious barrier to compliance with organizational policy. Features of Picture Password include style dependent image selection, password reuse, and embedded salting, which overcome a number of problems with knowledge-based authentication for handheld devices. Though designed specifically for handheld devices, Picture Password is also suitable for notebooks, workstations, and other computational devices.
Exploring Empowerment as a Basis for Quantifying Sustainability

Empowerment quantifies the choice available to an agent as the actuation channel capacity. However, not all such choices are sustainable: After some choices, the agent may not be able to return to its original state, or returning there may be costly. In this paper we explore whether empowerment can be adapted to obtain a measure of sustainability. As a straightforward modification, the agent's options is restricted to actions that are reversible within a given time horizon. We furthermore investigate the lengths of return paths and discuss their potential to indicate sustainability.
Research Paper: A Reliability Study for Evaluating Information Extraction from Radiology Reports

GOAL To assess the reliability of a reference standard for an information extraction task. SETTING Twenty-four physician raters from two sites and two specialties judged whether clinical conditions were present based on reading chest radiograph reports. METHODS Variance components, generalizability (reliability) coefficients, and the number of expert raters needed to generate a reliable reference standard were estimated. RESULTS Per-rater reliability averaged across conditions was 0.80 (95% CI, 0.79-0.81). Reliability for the nine individual conditions varied from 0.67 to 0.97, with central line presence and pneumothorax the most reliable, and pleural effusion (excluding CHF) and pneumonia the least reliable. One to two raters were needed to achieve a reliability of 0.70, and six raters, on average, were required to achieve a reliability of 0.95. This was far more reliable than a previously published per-rater reliability of 0.19 for a more complex task. Differences between sites were attributable to changes to the condition definitions. CONCLUSION In these evaluations, physician raters were able to judge very reliably the presence of clinical conditions based on text reports. Once the reliability of a specific rater is confirmed, it would be possible for that rater to create a reference standard reliable enough to assess aggregate measures on a system. Six raters would be needed to create a reference standard sufficient to assess a system on a case-by-case basis. These results should help evaluators design future information extraction studies for natural language processors and other knowledge-based systems.
Developmental Testicular Expression, Cloning, and Characterization of Rat HDAC6 In Silico

We had previously reported presence of histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) in sperm and demonstrated its tubulin deacetylase activity and role in sperm motility in rat. In the present study we report its abundant expression in testis, epididymis, accessory sex organs, brain, and adrenal. In the testis, HDAC6 transcript and protein were observed throughout development. We therefore cloned the gene from rat testis using primers for hdac6 (accession number XM_228753.8) in order to determine the role of acetylation/deacetylation in spermatogenesis. The cloned rat hdac6 gene is ~3.5 kb with 28 exons and 1152 amino acids. We noted 4 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on exons 2 (G/A), 5 (A/G), 7 (T/C), and 26 (G/T), respectively, in this sequence when compared to XM_228753. 8. These were further validated at both cDNA and gene level. These SNPs resulted in 2 amino acids changes, namely, glycine → arginine and valine → phenylalanine at protein level. Cloned hdac6 overexpressed in HEK293T cells demonstrated significant overexpression by IIF. Alpha-tubulin acetylation analysis of the overexpressed cell lysate demonstrated that the protein was bioactive. This is the first study showing the ontogenic expression in the testis and reporting experimentally validated sequence of rat HDAC6 and its structural and functional annotation in silico. This sequence has been submitted to GenBank (Accession number Rattus KY009929.1).
Motivating Stroke Rehabilitation Through Music: A Feasibility Study Using Digital Musical Instruments in the Home

Digital approaches to physical rehabilitation are becoming increasingly common and embedding these new technologies within a musical framework may be particularly motivating. The current feasibility study aimed to test if digital musical instruments (DMIs) could aid in the self-management of stroke rehabilitation in the home, focusing on seated forward reach movements of the upper limb. Participants (n=3), all at least 11 months post stroke, participated in 15 researcher-led music making sessions over a 5 week intervention period. The sessions involved them 'drumming' to the beat of self-chosen tunes using bespoke digital drum pads that were synced wirelessly to an iPad App and triggered percussion sounds as feedback. They were encouraged to continue these exercises when the researcher was not present. The results showed significant levels of self-management and significant increases in functional measures with some evidence for transfer into tasks of daily living.
The average transmission overhead for broadcast encryption

We consider broadcast encryption schemes wherein a center needs to broadcast a secret message to a privileged set of receivers. We prescribe a probability distribution P on the privileged set. In this setting, the transmission overhead can be viewed as a random variable over P and we define its expected value as the average transmission overhead (or ATO). Given P, the Shannon's entropy function H(.) provides a lower bound on the average number of bits required to identify every privileged set. This implies a natural lower bound for the ATO in terms of H(P). For session key distribution, we consider the subset cover framework and bound the ATO in terms of the size of the cover. We further specialize our bound to accommodate storage constraints at receivers. We consider two families of distributions for P that occur naturally in broadcast networks. 1. Each receiver independently joins the privileged set with probability p. 2. The privileged set is selected uniformly from a collection of subsets of receivers. We evaluate the ATO of some practical schemes such as the subset difference method, the LSD scheme and the Partition-and-Power scheme under these distributions. Our investigations lead us to conclude that each scheme is inherently tailored to perform optimally for specific distributions.
Modulation of human B lymphocyte differentiation by therapeutic immunoglobulins: from protein to mRNA levels

Several groups are investigating the mechanisms of action of therapeutic immunoglobulins (IVIg) in order to improve their use. In vitro models such as CD40-CD154 interaction are necessary to study the physiological response of human B lymphocytes to IVIg. Human B lymphocytes treated with IVIg triggers a rapid phospho-rylation (<1 h) of extracellular-regulated kinases 1 and 2 (ERK1/2), which subsequently results in increased differentiation and decreased pro-liferation. However, the modulation of human lymphocyte physiology by IVIg is a gradual and cumulative process and requires long-term experimentation. Differentiation of human B lymphocytes into Ig-secreting cells can be evaluated both at the transcription and translation levels. The secretion of immunoglobulins can be assessed using ELISA or ELISPOTS whereas expression of immunoglobulin genes can be measured using semi-quantitative or quantitative PCR methods. We hereby report a comparison of these methods to explain how contradictory observations towards IVIg effects could result from their use. Our results indicate that ELISA and ELISPOTS will provide consistent observations by opposition to real-time PCR quantification. Besides, the reliability of each of these me-thods remained dependent on the stimulation period as well as the preparation of cellular extracts or cell samples following IVIg-treatment.
A Study of Polysemy and Sense Proximity in the Senseval-2 Test Suite

We report on an empirical study of sense relations in the Senseval-2 test suite. We apply and extend the method described in (Resnik and Yarowsky, 1999), estimating proximity of sense pairs from the evidence collected from native-speaker translations of 508 contexts across 4 Indoeuropean languages representing 3 language families. A control set composed of 65 contexts has also been annotated in 12 languages (including 2 non-Indoeuropean languages) in order to estimate the correlation between parallel polysemy and language family distance. A new parameter, sense stability, is introduced to assess the homogeneity of each individual sense definition. Finally, we combine the sense proximity estimation with a classification of semantic relations between senses.