Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Metastatic Disease of the Spine

&NA; Metastatic spine disease accounts for 10% to 30% of new cancer diagnoses annually. The most frequent presentation is axial pain. A thorough spinal examination includes assessment of local tenderness, deformity, limitation of motion, and signs of nerve root or cord compression. Plain radiographs are obtained routinely; for a suspected or known malignancy, radionuclide studies are essential. Magnetic resonance imaging is more specific than bone scans. Computed tomography‐guided biopsy is considered to be safe and accurate for evaluating spinal lesions. Treatment is multidisciplinary, and virtually all treatment is palliative. Management is guided by three key issues: neurologic compromise, spinal instability, and individual patient factors. Site‐directed radiation, with or without chemotherapy, is the mainstay of treating painful lesions that are not impinging on neural elements. New data documenting the benefit of surgical decompression using improved techniques such as anterior approaches have amplified the role of the spine surgeon in the care of these patients.
Relation of Childhood Home Environment to Cortical Thickness in Late Adolescence: Specificity of Experience and Timing

What are the long-term effects of childhood experience on brain development? Research with animals shows that the quality of environmental stimulation and parental nurturance both play important roles in shaping lifelong brain structure and function. Human research has so far been limited to the effects of abnormal experience and pathological development. Using a unique longitudinal dataset of in-home measures of childhood experience at ages 4 and 8 and MRI acquired in late adolescence, we were able to relate normal variation in childhood experience to later life cortical thickness. Environmental stimulation at age 4 predicted cortical thickness in a set of automatically derived regions in temporal and prefrontal cortex. In contrast, age 8 experience was not predictive. Parental nurturance was not predictive at either age. This work reveals an association between childhood experience and later brain structure that is specific relative to aspects of experience, regions of brain, and timing.
AUVs: In space, air, water, and on the ground

Autonomous unmanned vehicles (AUVs) have generated much interest in recent years due to their great promise for performing repetitive, dangerous, or information-gathering tasks in hazardous or remote environments. The diversity of environments in which these vehicles must operate (space, air, water, ground, and combinations thereof) results in a wide variety of vehicle types. In addition, the requirement for autonomy from direct human interaction places heavy emphasis on reliable control strategies. This special issue presents four articles that focus on control strategies for each of the four types of terrain. Although these articles represent just a tiny sampling of research in the field of AUVs, they should give the reader an understanding of some of the approaches being taken in the design, modeling, and control of these vehicles, as well as the many challenges facing designers. Among these challenges are communications, sensors, materials, locomotion, end-effectors, cooperative control and machine-level control, as well as computational horsepower. Each article addresses several or all of these issues, as well as possible approaches. Other special issues (e.g., [2]-[4]) have also addressed these challenges for specific types of AUVs.
The Geographic Distribution of Liver Cancer in Canada Does Not Associate with Cyanobacterial Toxin Exposure

Background: The incidence of liver cancer has been increasing in Canada over the past decade, as has cyanobacterial contamination of Canadian freshwater lakes and drinking water sources. Cyanotoxins released by cyanobacteria have been implicated in the pathogenesis of liver cancer. Objective: To determine whether a geographic association exists between liver cancer and surrogate markers of cyanobacterial contamination of freshwater lakes in Canada. Methods: A negative binomial regression model was employed based on previously identified risk factors for liver cancer. Results: No association existed between the geographic distribution of liver cancer and surrogate markers of cyanobacterial contamination. As predicted, significant associations existed in areas with a high prevalence of hepatitis B virus infection, large immigrant populations and urban residences. Discussion and Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that cyanobacterial contamination of freshwater lakes does not play an important role in the increasing incidence of liver cancer in Canada.
Formal development of Java based Web parallel applications

The Java object oriented programming language has been the subject of an important involvement from programmers and the industry. Especially for applications related to the Web. The problem of such a rapid penetration of Java programs into commercial products is that software engineers do not have any methodology and have to develop complex parallel applications. We present a formal development methodology based on the stepwise refinement of CO-OPN/2 formal specifications, using a real Web parallel application. Starting from a centralized view, we present the following refinement steps: data distribution, behavior distribution, communication layer, and Java program. During the whole refinement process, we study the evolution and the verification of one specific property.
Accuracy of estimates of cardiac action potential duration from extracellular waveforms simulated by the Bidomain model

The goal of the present work is to provide an extensive quantitative analysis of the accuracy of activation - recovery intervals (ARIs) derived from unipolar electrograms (EGs) and hybrid monophasic action potentials (HMAPs) under normal and ischemic conditions. ARIs are compared with the gold standard action potential durations (APDs) based on the transmembrane action potential (TAP). This study is based on large scale parallel 3D numerical simulations of the action potential propagation modeled by the anisotropic Bidomain system coupled with the Luo-Rudy I membrane model. The results show a very good overall accuracy of ARI estimates of APD, with quite low mean discrepancies and standard deviations. The correlation coefficients between ARI and APDs are not as good as the ones of the associated repolarization time (RT) markers, but are always greater than 0.90 except for some homogeneous and ischemic slabs. While highly reliable repolarization sequences can be derived from extracellular RT markers, ARI spatial distributions are not always locally accurate and well correlated estimates of the associated APD spatial distributions. In particular, EG-based ARIs can fail near the borders of the ischemic region (e.g. in presence of linear ST ramp or in absence of a T wave), and in such cases HMAP-based ARIs may offer reliable alternatives for estimating APDs.
The Close: A Young Woman's First Year At Seminary

An intimate and inspiring chronicle of a young woman entering a vocation that for centuries has been the exclusive dominion of men. Set in the context of the Church Year, The Close is an enthralling account of one young woman's spiritual journey. It is both a personal meditation on faith, in the spirit of Kathleen Norris's Cloister Walk, and a fascinating behind-the-scenes story of a graduate student's first year, in the mode of Scott Turow's One L. Raised in a liberal, interfaith home, Breyer, responding to an inner call to a spiritual vocation, began her training at New York's General Theological Seminary in 1997. She describes her intense immersion in daily prayer, the rigors and rewards of the academic program, and the challenging tension between secular and spiritual that marks her training, including working as a chaplain at Bellevue Hospital. She probes the day-to-day meanings of such profound issues as exaltation, enlightenment, and redemption, illuminating the unique experience of a young person of faith preparing to live and hoping to thrive in a secular modern world.
Cognitive Therapy for Chronic and Persistent Depression

About the Authors. Preface. Acknowledgements. Introduction The Challenge of Persistent Depression. Chapter 1 The Cognitive Model of Persistent Depression. Chapter 2 The Foundations of Therapy: Therapeutic Relationship, Style and Structure. Chapter 3 Initial Assessment and Formulation. Chapter 4 Initiating Therapy: Socialisation and Setting Goals. Chapter 5 Using Standard Behavioural Techniques. Chapter 6 Working With Automatic Thoughts. Chapter 7 Recognising Underlying Beliefs and Their Effects. Chapter 8 Modifying Underlying Beliefs. Chapter 9 Working With Some Typical Themes in Persistent Depression. Chapter 10 Beyond Therapy: Preventing Relapse and Furthering Progress. Chapter 11 Delivering Treatment. Chapter 12 Outcomes and Processes of Therapy. Appendix 1: Meet the Patients. Appendix 2: Handouts for Patients. References.
Las ciudades mexicanas no siguen la ley de Zipf

En esta nota se examina la hipotesis de que las ciudades mexicanas siguen la ley de Zipf, la cual establece que si se ordenan las ciudades de un pais (o region) de acuerdo con su tamano poblacional, entonces el rango de cada ciudad multiplicado por su tamano produce siempre la misma constante. En este trabajo se afirma que tal ley no es aplicable al caso mexicano, y tambien se arguye que muchos estudios que pretenden mostrar que tal ley se aplica para otros paises carecen de fundamentos estadisticos solidos.
Formalizing Automata

Is it possible to create formal proofs of interesting mathematical theorems which are me chanically checked in every detail and yet are readable and even faithful to the best expositions of those results in the literature This paper answers that question positively for theorems about decidable properties of nite automata The exposition is from Hopcroft and Ullman s classic textbook Formal Languages and Their Relation to Automata This paper describes a successful formalization which is faithful to that book The requirement of being faithful to the book has unexpected consequences namely that the underlying formal theory must include primitive notions of computability This requirement makes a constructive formalization especially suitable It also opens the possibility of using the formal proofs to decide properties of automata The paper shows how to do this
Simultaneous Identification of DNA and RNA Viruses Present in Pig Faeces Using Process-Controlled Deep Sequencing

Background Animal faeces comprise a community of many different microorganisms including bacteria and viruses. Only scarce information is available about the diversity of viruses present in the faeces of pigs. Here we describe a protocol, which was optimized for the purification of the total fraction of viral particles from pig faeces. The genomes of the purified DNA and RNA viruses were simultaneously amplified by PCR and subjected to deep sequencing followed by bioinformatic analyses. The efficiency of the method was monitored using a process control consisting of three bacteriophages (T4, M13 and MS2) with different morphology and genome types. Defined amounts of the bacteriophages were added to the sample and their abundance was assessed by quantitative PCR during the preparation procedure. Results The procedure was applied to a pooled faecal sample of five pigs. From this sample, 69,613 sequence reads were generated. All of the added bacteriophages were identified by sequence analysis of the reads. In total, 7.7% of the reads showed significant sequence identities with published viral sequences. They mainly originated from bacteriophages (73.9%) and mammalian viruses (23.9%); 0.8% of the sequences showed identities to plant viruses. The most abundant detected porcine viruses were kobuvirus, rotavirus C, astrovirus, enterovirus B, sapovirus and picobirnavirus. In addition, sequences with identities to the chimpanzee stool-associated circular ssDNA virus were identified. Whole genome analysis indicates that this virus, tentatively designated as pig stool-associated circular ssDNA virus (PigSCV), represents a novel pig virus. Conclusion The established protocol enables the simultaneous detection of DNA and RNA viruses in pig faeces including the identification of so far unknown viruses. It may be applied in studies investigating aetiology, epidemiology and ecology of diseases. The implemented process control serves as quality control, ensures comparability of the method and may be used for further method optimization.
Developmental Expression of the TTX-Resistant Voltage-Gated Sodium Channels Nav1.8 (SNS) and Nav1.9 (SNS2) in Primary Sensory Neurons

The development of neuronal excitability involves the coordinated expression of different voltage-gated ion channels. We have characterized the expression of two sensory neuron-specific tetrodotoxin-resistant sodium channel α subunits, Nav1. (SNS/PN3) and Nav1.9 (SNS2/NaN), in developing rat lumbar dorsal root ganglia (DRGs). Expression of both Nav1.8 and Nav1.9 increases with age, beginning at embryonic day (E) 15 and E17, respectively, and reaching adult levels by postnatal day 7. Their distribution is restricted mainly to those subpopulations of primary sensory neurons in developing and adult DRGs that give rise to unmyelinated C-fibers (neurofilament 200 negative). Nav1.8 is expressed in a higher proportion of neuronal profiles than Nav1.9 at all stages during development, as in the adult. At E17, almost all Nav1.8-expressing neurons also express the high-affinity NGF receptor TrkA, and only a small proportion bind to IB4, a marker for c-ret-expressing (glial-derived neurotrophic factor-responsive) neurons. Because IB4 binding neurons differentiate from TrkA neurons in the postnatal period, the proportion of Nav1.8 cells that bind to IB4 increases, in parallel with a decrease in the proportion of Nav1.8–TrkA co-expressing cells. In contrast, an equal number of Nav1.9 cells bind IB4 and TrkA in embryonic life. The differential expression of Nav1.8 and Nav1.9 in late embryonic development, with their distinctive kinetic properties, may contribute to the development of spontaneous and stimulus-evoked excitability in small diameter primary sensory neurons in the perinatal period and the activity-dependent changes in differentiation they produce.
Lexical Chains meet Word Embeddings in Document-level Statistical Machine Translation

Currently under review for EMNLP 2017 The phrase-based Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) approach deals with sentences in isolation, making it difficult to consider discourse context in translation. This poses a challenge for ambiguous words that need discourse knowledge to be correctly translated. We propose a method that benefits from the semantic similarity in lexical chains to improve SMT output by integrating it in a document-level decoder. We focus on word embeddings to deal with the lexical chains, contrary to the traditional approach that uses lexical resources. Experimental results on German-to-English show that our method produces correct translations in up to 88% of the changes, improving the translation in 36%-48% of them over the baseline.
An Excitable Cortex and Memory Model Successfully Predicts New Pseudopod Dynamics

Motile eukaryotic cells migrate with directional persistence by alternating left and right turns, even in the absence of external cues. For example, Dictyostelium discoideum cells crawl by extending distinct pseudopods in an alternating right-left pattern. The mechanisms underlying this zig-zag behavior, however, remain unknown. Here we propose a new Excitable Cortex and Memory (EC&M) model for understanding the alternating, zig-zag extension of pseudopods. Incorporating elements of previous models, we consider the cell cortex as an excitable system and include global inhibition of new pseudopods while a pseudopod is active. With the novel hypothesis that pseudopod activity makes the local cortex temporarily more excitable – thus creating a memory of previous pseudopod locations – the model reproduces experimentally observed zig-zag behavior. Furthermore, the EC&M model makes four new predictions concerning pseudopod dynamics. To test these predictions we develop an algorithm that detects pseudopods via hierarchical clustering of individual membrane extensions. Data from cell-tracking experiments agrees with all four predictions of the model, revealing that pseudopod placement is a non-Markovian process affected by the dynamics of previous pseudopods. The model is also compatible with known limits of chemotactic sensitivity. In addition to providing a predictive approach to studying eukaryotic cell motion, the EC&M model provides a general framework for future models, and suggests directions for new research regarding the molecular mechanisms underlying directional persistence.
On Uncalibrated Motion-Based Inspection for Conveyor-Belt Systems

This paper presents an analytical study and several practical results for computing stable reconstructions with uncalibrated, motion-based inspection and conveyor-belt installations. We achieve metric reconstruction with a simple, efficient algorithm and two nonlinear constraints expressing knowledge readily accessible in a real setup. We analyse the stability and accuracy of reconstruction with respect to the system’s mathematical structure, pixelisation, image noise, and constraint values. Extensive experiments with simulated and real data have confirmed our analysis in full, and one example is illustrated here.
Essays in Sports Economics

Using data from German 1st Bundesliga seasons 1993/94 through 2007/08, we examine whether referees in football have a signi cant individual in uence on match results or other outcomes such as goals, penalties, yellow and red cards. We show that not only does a signi cant individual referee e ect exist, but referees moreover have di erent referee styles and there are di erences in their behavior for home and away teams. Further, we use referee characteristics like age, experience and a referee's profession to explain these individual e ects.
Single-phase semi-bridge five-level flying-capacitor rectifier

For unity power factor applications such as grid-connected rectifiers, semi-bridge converters offer significant advantages over their full-bridge counterparts because of their reduced active switch count and shoot-through-free phase leg structure. However, semi-bridge rectifiers have intrinsic operating limits which require a trade-off between current distortion and switching ripple. This paper presents a new single-phase semi-bridge flying-capacitor rectifier that significantly improves these limits, with an effective doubling in switching frequency because of the multilevel topology, and the capability to rectify higher input voltages with lower voltage rated, more efficient, devices. For rectifier applications, the new topology offers a better balance between cost and performance than either a diode rectified single phase leg boost PFC, or a full-bridge single-phase five-level flying-capacitor rectifier. Matching simulation and experimental results are presented to fully validate the new converter structure.
PLAY Project Home Consultation Intervention Program for Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the Play and Language for Autistic Youngsters (PLAY) Project Home Consultation model, in combination with usual community services (CS), to improve parent-child interaction, child development, and autism symptomatology in young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) compared with CS only. Methods: Children (N = 128) with autism or PDD-NOS (DSM-4 criteria) aged 2 years 8 months to 5 years 11 months and recruited from 5 disability agencies in 4 US states were randomized in two 1-year cohorts. Using videotape and written feedback within a developmental framework, PLAY consultants coached caregivers monthly for 12 months to improve caregiver-child interaction. CS included speech/language and occupational therapy and public education services. Primary outcomes included change in parent-child interactions, language and development, and autism-related diagnostic category/symptoms. Secondary outcomes included parent stress and depression and home consultant fidelity. Data were collected pre- and post-intervention. Results: Using intent-to-treat analysis (ITT), large treatment effects were evident for parent and child interactional behaviors on the Maternal and Child Behavior Rating Scales. Child language and developmental quotient did not differ over time by group, although functional development improved significantly. PLAY children improved in diagnostic categories on the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). PLAY caregivers' stress did not increase, and depressive symptomatology decreased. Home consultants administered the intervention with fidelity. Conclusions: PLAY intervention demonstrated substantial changes in parent-child interaction without increasing parents' stress/depression. ADOS findings must be interpreted cautiously because results do not align with clinical experience. PLAY offers communities a relatively inexpensive effective intervention for children with ASD and their parents.
Review: Andrea M McDonnell, Reading Celebrity Gossip Magazines

Bhroin) shows a less predictable aspect of innovation usage. Whether minorities are motivated by the intent to enhance their language skills online or facilitate communication between other individuals with similar life experience, Chapter 14 provides a unique case study of emerging social impact and usage of MI among special interest groups. The book successfully brings in important elements that relate to MI in its current form. The organization of the text in terms of conceptualization, organization, and usage provide an intellectual framework that facilitates understanding these concepts. The case studies (from a myriad of media industries) are fascinating, albeit limited to a single geographic space. Important parallels among other sectors that have implemented – or are in the process of implementing – these changes would have made the argument more compelling. In addition, there are few chapters that employ quantitative analysis to substantiate their main argument. Each discipline has its own rhetoric and method – from the analysis of sale trends to theoretical underpinnings to complex modeling. Juxtaposing different methods of communicating the main thesis, although fascinating, situates individual works as idiosyncratic pieces rather than as a part of an overall argument. Given the confluence of expert scholarly perspectives from a transdisciplinary perspective and an elaborate examination of several types of media conduits, an analytical bridge (beyond that provided in the introduction) would have been useful (for instance, brief author commentaries at the beginning of each chapter explaining how the piece contributes to the discussion). Media Innovations, irrespective of its wide scope, does not qualify as a ‘user-friendly’ comprehensive commentary on the subject. However, it is a convenient resource of up-to-date information on the applications, usages, and nuances of the concept in a contemporary context.