Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Affect-focused psychodynamic psychotherapy for depression and anxiety through the Internet: a randomized controlled trial

Background. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a psychological treatment approach that has a growing empirical base. Research has indicated an association between therapist-facilitated affective experience and outcome in psychodynamic therapy. Affect-phobia therapy (APT), as outlined by McCullough et al., is a psychodynamic treatment that emphasizes a strong focus on expression and experience of affect. This model has neither been evaluated for depression nor anxiety disorders in a randomized controlled trial. While Internet-delivered psychodynamic treatments for depression and generalized anxiety disorder exist, they have not been based on APT. The aim of this randomized controlled trial was to investigate the efficacy of an Internet-based, psychodynamic, guided self-help treatment based on APT for depression and anxiety disorders. Methods. One hundred participants with diagnoses of mood and anxiety disorders participated in a randomized (1:1 ratio) controlled trial of an active group versus a control condition. The treatment group received a 10-week, psychodynamic, guided self-help treatment based on APT that was delivered through the Internet. The treatment consisted of eight text-based treatment modules and included therapist contact (9.5 min per client and week, on average) in a secure online environment. Participants in the control group also received online therapist support and clinical monitoring of symptoms, but received no treatment modules. Outcome measures were the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale (PHQ-9) and the 7-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7). Process measures were also included. All measures were administered weekly during the treatment period and at a 7-month follow-up. Results. Mixed models analyses using the full intention-to-treat sample revealed significant interaction effects of group and time on all outcome measures, when comparing treatment to the control group. A large between-group effect size of Cohen’s d = 0.77 (95% CI: 0.37–1.18) was found on the PHQ-9 and a moderately large between-group effect size d = 0.48 (95% CI: 0.08–0.87) was found on the GAD-7. The number of patients who recovered (had no diagnoses of depression and anxiety, and had less than 10 on both the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7) were at post-treatment 52% in the treatment group and 24% in the control group. This difference was significant, χ2(N = 100, d f = 1) = 8.3, p < . 01. From post-treatment to follow-up, treatment gains were maintained on the PHQ-9, and significant improvements were seen on the GAD-7. Conclusion. This study provides initial support for the efficacy of Internet-delivered psychodynamic therapy based on the affect-phobia model in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders. The results support the conclusion that psychodynamic treatment approaches may be transferred to the guided self-help format and delivered via the Internet.
Wide-Baseline Foreground Object Interpolation Using Silhouette Shape Prior

We consider the synthesis of intermediate views of an object captured by two widely spaced and calibrated cameras. This problem is challenging because foreshortening effects and occlusions induce significant differences between the reference images when the cameras are far apart. That makes the association or disappearance/appearance of their pixels difficult to estimate. Our main contribution lies in disambiguating this ill-posed problem by making the interpolated views consistent with a plausible transformation of the object silhouette between the reference views. This plausible transformation is derived from an object-specific prior that consists of a nonlinear shape manifold learned from multiple previous observations of this object by the two reference cameras. The prior is used to estimate the evolution of the epipolar silhouette segments between the reference views. This information directly supports the definition of epipolar silhouette segments in the intermediate views, as well as the synthesis of textures in those segments. It permits to reconstruct the epipolar plane images (EPIs) and the continuum of views associated with the EPI volume, obtained by aggregating the EPIs. Experiments on synthetic and natural images show that our method preserves the object topology in intermediate views and deals effectively with the self-occluded regions and the severe foreshortening effect associated with wide-baseline camera configurations.
The ICT system description for IWSLT 2008.

This paper presents a description for the ICT systems involved in the IWSLT 2008 evaluation campaign. This year, we participated in Chinese-English and English-Chinese translation directions. Four statistical machine translation systems were used: one linguistically syntax-based, two formally syntax-based, and one phrase-based. The outputs of the four SMT systems were fed to a sentence-level system combiner, which was expected to produce better translations than single systems. We will report the results of the four single systems and the combiner on both the development and test sets.
Ascorbate prophylaxis for corneal haze after photorefractive keratectomy.

PURPOSE To evaluate whether prophylactic systemic ascorbic acid influences the average level of haze and the incidence of late onset corneal haze after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK). METHODS Two consecutive groups of eyes treated with PRK for myopia with or without astigmatism were retrospectively compared. The patients had been treated similarly, with the exception that systemic ascorbate had been supplied orally in one of the groups. Haze intensity was quantified on a scale from 0 (clear cornea) to 4 (anterior chamber not visible). The diagnostic criterion for late onset corneal haze was a haze grade 2 or higher, occurring 4 to 12 months after surgery. RESULTS One week, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery, the group without ascorbate (314 eyes) showed haze of average levels 0.61, 0.51, 0.50, 0.32, 0.10, respectively, and the group with ascorbate (201 eyes) showed haze of average levels 0.38, 0.18, 0.16, 0.09, 0.06, respectively. Comparison of the respective values showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups (P<.01) at 1 week, 1, 3, and 6 months. Late onset corneal haze was observed in 11 eyes in the group without ascorbate, and none was observed in the group with ascorbate (P<.02). CONCLUSION This retrospective nonrandomized clinical study suggests that oral ascorbic acid supplementation may have a prophylactic effect against haze development after PRK. However, routine prophylactic use of ascorbate can be recommended only after a randomized, prospective clinical trial substantiates its efficacy.
Atrioventricular depolarization differences identify coronary artery anomalies in Kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease (KD) is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children. Signal average electrocardiogram changes in patients during the acute phase of KD with coronary artery anomalies (CAA) include depolarization changes. We set out to determine if 12‐lead–derived atrioventricular depolarization differences can identify CAA in patients with KD.
Improving Scientific Conferences by Enhancing Conference Management Systems with Information Mining Capabilities

In this paper we identify tasks in the field of conference management where methods from the domain of information retrieval, information management and information organization can assist the organizer, the program committee member and the participants. In particular, we focus on tasks, where (1) the quality of the conference can be increased by assisting in the creation of an improved review process by better matching the reviewers expertise with the paper topics, (2) the conference participants profit by allowing them better access to the wealth of information accumulated throughout a conference series and at the same time (3) reducing the workload of conference organizer by partially automating tedious tasks, such as review assignment and the creation of review plans. We report on case studies from a medium-sized (around 400 participants) as well as a large (more than 700 participants) conference in computer science as well as in medical domains.
Random spot urine protein/creatinine ratio: a reliable method for monitoring lupus nephritis?

Background Lupus nephritis (LN) is a common and severe manifestation of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that can lead to end-stage renal disease. According to the Kidney Disease Outcomes Global Improving clinical Guidelines for Glomerulonephritis, spot urine protein/creatinine (P/C) ratio should be used for monitoring LN. However, some reports write that the random spot urine P/C ratio is unreliable in monitoring proteinuria in SLE glomerulonephritis patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the agreement of these two assay methods. Methods The prospective observational study was performed. Fifty-three paired (total 106) spot and 24-h urine collections were evaluated. Statistical analysis: SPSS 20.0. Results Paired samples t-test did not reveal significant differences between the two-paired assay methods (spot P/C ratio versus 24-h proteinuria and 24-h P/C ratio) and a statistically significant correlation was observed between them: Pearson's coefficient of 0.847 (P < 0.001) and 0.863 (P < 0.001), respectively. However, after stratifying by degrees of proteinuria, a poor correlation was found in the range of <500 mg/day and only 26.6% of 24-h P/C ratio was explained by the spot P/C ratio. Adding to this, for proteinuria range between 500 and 1000 mg/day, there was no correlation (Pearson's −0.098; P > 0.05). In fact, only 1% of 24-h measurements could be explained by the spot P/C ratio. Conclusions Our study demonstrated a good correlation between 24-h proteinuria and random P/C ratio among patients with LN. However, this correlation was poor for proteinuria under 500 mg/day and did not exist in a range between 500 and 1000 mg/day. This finding is of greater importance because this range is quite common in patients with LN remission. Until further clarification, to the best of our knowledge, we maintain reluctant to completely substitute the 24-h collection by the P/C ratio especially when a renal flare is suspected, or before any change in therapy.
Potassium channels as multi-ion single-file pores

A literature review reveals many lines of evidence that both delayed rectifier and inward rectifier potassium channels are multi-ion pores. These include unidirectional flux ratios given by the 2--2.5 power of the electrochemical activity ratio, very steeply voltage-dependent block with monovalent blocking ions, relief of block by permeant ions added to the side opposite from the blocking ion, rectification depending on E--EK, and a minimum in the reversal potential or conductance as external K+ ions are replaced by an equivalent concentration of T1+ ions. We consider a channel with a linear sequence of energy barriers and binding sites. The channel can be occupied by more than one ion at a time, and ions hop in single file into vacant sites with rate constants that depend on barrier heights, membrane potential, and interionic repulsion. Such multi-ion models reproduce qualitatively the special flux properties of potassium channels when the barriers for hopping out of the pore are larger than for hopping between sites within the pore and when there is repulsion between ions. These conditions also produce multiple maxima in the conductance-ion activity relationship. In agreement with Armstrong's hypothesis (1969. J. Gen. Physiol. 54:553--575), inward rectification may be understood in terms of block by an internal blocking cation. Potassium channels must have at least three sites and often contain at least two ions at a time.
As‐molded shrinkage measurements on polystyrene injection molded products

An experimental study of shrinkage in injection molded products is presented in this paper and documented with all information needed for any further analysis. In particular, the effect of holding pressure, holding time and mold geometry on product shrinkage was investigated for amorphous polystyrene. It turned out with increasing holding pressure the in-plane shrinkages varied from 0.6% to 0.1%, while the product thickness increased from about 1% to 10%. The holding time only affected product shrinkage for settings less than gate freeze-off time. Shrinkage usually increases along the flow path unless back flow sets in at the end of the holding stage. It was also found that if a constraint prevents in-mold shrinkage to take place, final shrinkage may decrease if holding pressure and time are small. The effects of all the variables analyzed were described by a thermomechanical model recently proposed.
Leveraging Knowledge Bases for Contextual Entity Exploration

Users today are constantly switching back and forth from applications where they consume or create content (such as e-books and productivity suites like Microsoft Office and Google Docs) to search engines where they satisfy their information needs. Unfortunately, though, this leads to a suboptimal user experience as the search engine lacks any knowledge about the content that the user is authoring or consuming in the application. As a result, productivity suites are starting to incorporate features that let the user "explore while they work". Existing work in the literature that can be applied to this problem takes a standard bag-of-words information retrieval approach, which consists of automatically creating a query that includes not only the target phrase or entity chosen by the user but also relevant terms from the context. While these approaches have been successful, they are inherently limited to returning results (documents) that have a syntactic match with the keywords in the query. We argue that the limitations of these approaches can be overcome by leveraging semantic signals from a knowledge graph built from knowledge bases such as Wikipedia. We present a system called Lewis for retrieving contextually relevant entity results leveraging a knowledge graph, and perform a large scale crowdsourcing experiment in the context of an e-reader scenario, which shows that Lewis can outperform the state-of-the-art contextual entity recommendation systems by more than 20% in terms of the MAP score.
Adaptive coordination of second-order multi-agent systems with instinct nonlinear dynamics under a directed graph

In this paper, we study the distributed coordination for second-order multi-agent systems with intrinsic nonlinear dynamics and heterogeneous control gains under a general directed graph. Unlike the existing consensus algorithm for second-order multi-agent systems under a directed graph where all agents share common control gains, here we allow the control gains are heterogeneous for each agent. We propose fully distributed consensus algorithms for both the leaderless consensus problem and the coordinated tracking problem with a dynamic leader. Novel integral-type Lyapunov functions are proposed to study the consensus and tracking convergence. The control gains are varying and updated by distributed adaptive laws. As a result, the proposed algorithms require no global information and thus can be implemented in a fully distributed manner.
A memory yield improvement scheme combining built-in self-repair and error correction codes

Error correction code (ECC) and built-in self-repair (BISR) schemes have been wildly used for improving the yield and reliability of memories. Many built-in redundancy-analysis (BIRA) algorithms and ECC schemes have been reported before. However, most of them focus on either BIRA algorithms or ECC schemes. In this paper, we propose an ECC-Enhanced Memory Repair (EEMR) scheme for yield improvement. Many modern memories are equipped with ECC in addition to BISR. We evaluate the back-end flow that combines both ECC and BIRA to determine whether yield can be improved by proper sequencing of the two steps. We also collect and identify important failure patterns and their distributions from over 100,000 sample memory instances, which are used to enhance the EEMR scheme that incorporates ECC. As ECC is failure pattern sensitive, careful evaluation from realistic failure bitmaps is necessary. We also verify the feasibility of implementing the proposed EEMR scheme by real test data. Experimental results from industrial 4Mb memory instances show that the proposed EEMR scheme gains over 2% instance yield on average, as compared with the traditional scheme. We also investigate the reliability of the EEMR scheme with different ECC specifications and BIRA algorithms.
Segmentation for path analysis based on OTSU and immune genetic algoritnm

In this paper, we firstly introduce the path analysis of tracking robot, and then introduce the advantages of immune genetic algorithm (IGA). Thirdly, we combine immune genetic algorithm and OTSU threshold method to segment path of tracking robot. Because of the nonlinear solving process of immune genetic algorithm, for each chromosome, the solution of fitness function is separated. And the genetic algorithm is independent of each other, which is suitable for parallel computing and satisfy real time requirements. So OTSU combined with immune genetic algorithm not only improve the segmentation performance, but also enhance the computing speed of the algorithm. At last, the experiment results demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.
The role of constitutive nitric oxide synthase in pathogenesis of secondary lesion after spinal cord injury. Preliminary results.

BACKGROUND Secondary lesion (SL) is an early phenomenon of cellular death following spinal cord injury (SCI). Nitric oxide (NO) could be involved in its pathogenesis. NO is a gaseous metabolite produced by 2 constitutive isoforms of NO synthase (cNOS), constantly active, and by 1 inducible isoform (iNOS), synthesized during inflammation and able to produce large amount of NO. High concentrated NO is toxic for cells; therefore, NO concentration is strictly and finely regulated. We suppose that major inhibitory effect on the iNOS expression is represented by the same physiological concentration of NO, synthesized by cNOS. The aim of this study is to assess the role of the 2 cNOS in pathogenesis of SL after SCI in rat. METHODS A dorsal SCI has been performed on rats (n=5) by a vascular clip (50 g/mm(2) for 15"). Fifteen minutes after trauma, activity of nNOS and eNOS has been measured (U/mg) in the cervical, dorsal and lumbar segments of spinal cord. Uninjured rats (n=5) served as control group. m-RNA for iNOS in untreated rats (n=2) has been also investigated by Northern blotting. RESULTS In injured rats nNOS activity has shown a reduction in dorsal and lumbar segments, compared to the control group. eNOS activity, highly variable in the control group, has not been detectable in injured spinal cord. i-NOS mRNA has not been found in spinal cord of uninjured rats. CONCLUSIONS These results would be in line with our hypothesis and provide the bases for other investigations. New therapeutic strategies for SL prevention, based on the modulation of cNOS, will be evaluated.
Subtissue-Specific Evaluation of Promoter Efficiency by Quantitative Fluorometric Assay in Laser Microdissected Tissues of Rapeseed[W]

β-Glucuronidase (GUS) is a useful reporter for the evaluation of promoter characteristics in transgenic plants. Here, we introduce an original technique to quantify the strength of promoters at subtissue resolution of cell clusters. The method combines cryotomy, laser microdissection, and improved fluorometric analysis of GUS activity using 6-chloro-4-methylumbelliferyl-β-d-glucuronide as an efficient fluorogenic substrate for kinetic studies in plants. The laser microdissection/6-chloro-4-methylumbelliferyl-β-d-glucuronide method is robust and reliable in a wide range of GUS expression levels and requires extremely low (few cells) tissue amounts. Suitability of the assay was demonstrated on rapeseed (Brassica napus) plants transformed with a P35S2::GUS construct. GUS expression patterns were visualized and quantified in approximately 30 tissues of vegetative and generative organs. Considerable differences in promoter activity within the tissues are discussed in relation to the cell type and developmental state.
BICM-ID Using Extended Mapping and Repetition Code with Irregular Node Degree Allocation

Performances of BICM-ID systems strongly depend on the matching between mapping rule and code structure. This paper proposes a combined use of extended mapping (EM) and simple repetition code. Even with such a simple structure, turbo cliff happens at a value range of signal-to-noise power ratio (SNR) 1~2 dB to the Shannon limit. This paper then introduces check node as well as irregular node degree allocation to the proposed structure described above, so that we can flexibly change the shape of the decoder EXIT curve. It is shown that EXIT analysis and chain simulation results exactly match each other.
Multimodal learning of words : A study on the use of speech synthesis to reinforce written text in L 2 language learning

Past research has shown that the use of multimedia, such as pictures, audio narration, and video, can be benefi cial in computer aided instruction. We propose that spoken words generated by speech synthesis can be used to reinfo rce written text during L2 language instruction, and can lead t o a more robust learning experience than providing written l a guage input alone. Two in-vivo studies were conducted wit h ESL (English as a second language) students to investig ate the effect of providing spoken language produced by spe ech synthesis during different instructional events in REAP, a computer based vocabulary tutor. Our results show t hat students benefit from spoken language input, partic ularly when they are strongly encouraged to listen to word s. Furthermore, our studies seem to suggest that on de mand English text-to-speech synthesis may be good enough to provide added value during computer based L2 langua ge instruction.
Effects of a Brief, Intense Infrared Radiation Treatment on the Nutritional Quality of Maize, Rice, Sorghum, and Beans

Maize, sorghum, rice, and beans were subjected to a temperature of 22,000°C for 0.5 minute in an infrared radiator 3 m long. The uncharred grains exited the radiator at a temperature of 140° C and were cooled to room temperature. The moisture content dropped to 3% to 7%, thus affecting the proximate composition of the grain components. The digestibility of cereal starch remained high and unchanged (71%-84%), whereas protein digestibility was reduced by 7%, 21%, and 25% in rice, sorghum, and maize, respectively. The caloric values of the cereals remained unaltered. Anti-trypsin factor in beans and haemagglutinins in both beans and sorghum were inactivated. Tannin in sorghum was reduced extensively. The traces of aflatoxin in sorghum and maize were completely destroyed. It was concluded that since there is always some loss of protein quality in thermal food preservation processes, the slight decline in protein digestibility did not have practical significance in comparison with the benefit of radiation as a brief, high-temperature preservation technique that could be adopted as a pre-processing treatment to destroy anti-nutrients and dehydrate food to the very low water activity desirable for long shelf life.
A 0.5V power and area efficient Laplacian Pyramid processing engine using FIFO with adaptive data compression

This paper proposes a power and area efficient Laplacian Pyramid processing engine (LPPE) for multi-resolution image representation in image/video processing. In the proposed LPPE, a novel FIFO architecture with adaptive data compression is proposed to reduce the power and area consumption of LPPE. A new filtering extension method is also proposed to reduce the output errors. In circuit level, near-threshold design is adopted to further reduce the power consumption by supply voltage scaling. The proposed LPPE fabricated in a 0.18 μm CMOS process technology can process 112 frames per second at 3.68 MHz and 0.5 V while consuming only 452 μW.