Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Feasibility of Using a Web-Based Nutrition Intervention Among Residents of Multiethnic Working-Class Neighborhoods

Introduction Using the Internet to promote behavior change is becoming more desirable as Internet use continues to increase among diverse audiences. Yet we know very little about whether this medium is useful or about different strategies to encourage Internet use by various populations. This pilot study tested the usefulness of a Web-based intervention designed to deliver nutrition-related information to and increase fruit and vegetable consumption among adults from working-class neighborhoods. Methods Participants (N = 52) had access to the Web site for 6 weeks and received three e-mail reminders encouraging them to eat fruits and vegetables. The Web site provided information about overcoming barriers to healthy eating, accessing social support for healthy eating, setting goals for healthy eating, and maintaining a healthy diet, including recipes. We collected data on participants' use of the Web site, their Internet access and use, and their fruit and vegetable consumption. Results The mean age of the participants was 46 years, 73% were white, 46% did not have a college degree, and 12% had household incomes at or below 185% of the federal poverty index. They reported consuming an average of 3.4 servings of fruits and vegetables per day. More than half of the participants owned a computer, 75% logged onto the Web site at least once, and those who visited the site averaged 3.8 visits and viewed an average of 24.5 pages. The number of log-ons per day declined over the study period; however, reminder e-mails appeared to motivate participants to return to the Web site. Roughly 74% of participants viewed information on goal setting, 72% viewed information on dietary tracking, and 56% searched for main course recipes. Conclusion The results of this pilot study suggest that Internet-based health messages have the potential to reach a large percentage of adults from working-class neighborhoods who have access to the Internet.
Optimal Gaussian Filter for Effective Noise Filtering

In this paper we show that the knowledge of noise statistics contaminating a signal can be effectively used to choose an optimal Gaussian filter to eliminate noise. Very specifically, we show that the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) contaminating a signal can be filtered best by using a Gaussian filter of specific characteristics. The design of the Gaussian filter bears relationship with the noise statistics and also some basic information about the signal. We first derive a relationship between the properties of the Gaussian filter, noise statistics and the signal and later show through experiments that this relationship can be used effectively to identify the optimal Gaussian filter that can effectively filter noise.
Wage Growth Dispersion across the Euro Area Countries: Some Stylised Facts

This study presents some stylised facts on wage growth differentials across the euro area countries in the years before and in the first eight years after the introduction of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) in 1999. The study shows that wage growth dispersion, i.e. the degree of difference in wage growth at a given point in time, has been on a clear downward trend since the early 1980s. However, wage growth dispersion across the euro area countries still appears to be higher than the degree of wage growth dispersion within West Germany, the United States, Italy and Spain. Differences in wage growth rates between individual euro area countries and the euro area in the years before and in the first eight years after the introduction of EMU appear to be positively related to the respective differences between their Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) inflation and average HICP inflation in the euro area. Conversely, relative wage growth differentials across euro area countries have been somewhat unrelated to relative productivity growth differentials. Some countries combine positive wage growth differentials and negative productivity growth differentials vis-a-vis the euro area average over an extended period – and hence positive unit labour cost growth differentials. These countries run the risk of accumulating competitiveness losses and it is therefore a challenge to ensure that the necessary adjustment mechanisms operate fully, in the sense that wage developments are sufficiently flexible and reflect productivity developments. Wage growth persistence within individual euro area countries – largely reflecting inflation persistence and certain institutional factors – might also have contributed somewhat to wage growth differentials across the euro area countries. Moreover, wage level convergence has also played a role in explaining wage growth patterns in the 1980s and the 1990s. However, since 1999, the link between the initial compensation level and the subsequent growth rate of compensation per employee appears barely significant. The study also shows a limited co-movement of wage growth across countries, even in the context of a high degree of business cycle synchronisation seen in the last few years. This suggests that the impact on wage growth of country-specific developments across euro area countries has been larger than the impact of common cyclical developments and external shocks. This could reflect the normal and desirable working of adjustment mechanisms, which – in an optimally functioning currency union with synchronised business cycles – would take place via price and cost and wage developments. On the other hand, structural impediments, for example a relatively low degree of openness in domestically-oriented sectors in some countries, might prevent a stronger link between the degree of synchronisation of wage growth rates and business cycles. JEL Classification: E24, E31, C10.
Live Programming the Lego Mindstorms Johan Fabry

Development of software that determines the behavior of robots is typically done in a language that is far from dynamic. Programs are written, compiled, and then deployed on a simulator, or the robot, for testing. This long development cycle causes a cognitive dissociation between writing the code for the robot and observing the robot in action. As a result, writing robot behaviors is much more difficult than it should be. In contrast, live programming proposes an extraordinary tightening of the development cycle, yielding an immediate connection between the program and the resulting behavior. To achieve live programming for robot behaviors, we designed and implemented the LRP language. In this paper we show how LRP interfaces with the Lego Mindstorms EV3, report on experiences programming Lego robots, and discuss how salient features of the language were made possible thanks to its implementation in Pharo Smalltalk.
Inducibility of Paroxysmal Atrial Fibrillation by Isoproterenol and its Relation to the Mode of Onset of Atrial Fibrillation

Background: Isoproterenol has been used to assess inducibility during catheter ablation for paroxysmal PAF. However, no studies have determined the sensitivity and specificity of isoproterenol for the induction of AF. It also is not clear whether isoproterenol is equally effective in inducing AF in the clinical subtypes of vagotonic, adrenergic, and random AF.
Alcohol industry influence on UK alcohol policy: A new research agenda for public health

The British government has been criticised for according industry interests too much weight in alcohol policy-making. Consequently, it has been argued that alcohol strategy in the UK is built around policies for which the evidence base is weak. This has clear implications for public health. The purpose of this commentary is to map recent developments in UK alcohol policy and related debates within the alcohol policy literature, thus laying the foundations for a systematic examination of the influence of the alcohol industry on alcohol policy. It highlights the changing structure of the industry and summarises what is known about the positions and strategies of industry actors towards alcohol policy. In so doing, it aims to contribute not just to debates about alcohol policy, but to a broader understanding of health policy processes and the relationships between government and other stakeholders. It advances a new research agenda focused on the role of corporate actors in the field of alcohol policy and public health more broadly.
Mitonuclear coevolution as the genesis of speciation and the mitochondrial DNA barcode gap

Abstract Mitochondrial genes are widely used in taxonomy and systematics because high mutation rates lead to rapid sequence divergence and because such changes have long been assumed to be neutral with respect to function. In particular, the nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 has been established as a highly effective DNA barcode for diagnosing the species boundaries of animals. Rarely considered in discussions of mitochondrial evolution in the context of systematics, speciation, or DNA barcodes, however, is the genomic architecture of the eukaryotes: Mitochondrial and nuclear genes must function in tight coordination to produce the complexes of the electron transport chain and enable cellular respiration. Coadaptation of these interacting gene products is essential for organism function. I extend the hypothesis that mitonuclear interactions are integral to the process of speciation. To maintain mitonuclear coadaptation, nuclear genes, which code for proteins in mitochondria that cofunction with the products of mitochondrial genes, must coevolve with rapidly changing mitochondrial genes. Mitonuclear coevolution in isolated populations leads to speciation because population‐specific mitonuclear coadaptations create between‐population mitonuclear incompatibilities and hence barriers to gene flow between populations. In addition, selection for adaptive divergence of products of mitochondrial genes, particularly in response to climate or altitude, can lead to rapid fixation of novel mitochondrial genotypes between populations and consequently to disruption in gene flow between populations as the initiating step in animal speciation. By this model, the defining characteristic of a metazoan species is a coadapted mitonuclear genotype that is incompatible with the coadapted mitochondrial and nuclear genotype of any other population.
Probabilistic relational scene representation and decision making under incomplete information for robotic manipulation tasks

In this paper, we propose an approach for robotic manipulation systems to autonomously reason about their environments under incomplete information. The target application is to automate the task of unloading the content of shipping containers. Our goal is to capture possible support relations between objects in partially known static configurations. We employ support vector machines (SVM) to estimate the probability of a support relation between pairs of detected objects using features extracted from their geometrical properties and 3D sampled points of the scene. The set of probabilistic support relations is then used for reasoning about optimally selecting an object to be unloaded first. The proposed approach has been extensively tested and verified on data sets generated in simulation and from real world configurations.
Multi-resolution analysis using curvelet and wavelet transforms for medical imaging

Curvelet transform is a new extension of wavelet transform which aims to deal with interesting phenomena occurring along curves. Curvelet transform is particularly a challenging task to classify human organs in CT scans using gray-level information. An efficient implementation of curvelet transform for medical image segmentation and denoising has been presented in this paper. A comparison study has been carried out in this paper between different transforms which reveals that curvelet transform exhibits optimal representation of the region of interest (ROI) with better accuracy and less noise.
Spleen Stiffness Is Superior to Liver Stiffness for Predicting Esophageal Varices in Chronic Liver Disease: A Meta-Analysis

Background and Aims Liver stiffness (LS) and spleen stiffness (SS) are two most widely accessible non-invasive parameters for predicting esophageal varices (EV), but the reported accuracy of the two predictors have been inconsistent across studies. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the diagnostic performance of LS and SS measurement for detecting EV in patients with chronic liver disease (CLD), and compare their accuracy. Methods Pubmed/Medline, Embase, Cochrane Library and Ovid were searched for all studies assessing SS and LS simultaneously in EV diagnosis. A total of 16 studies including 1892 patients were included in this meta-analysis, and the pooled statistical parameters were calculated using the bivariate mixed effects models. Results In detection of any EV, for LS measurement, the summary sensitivity was 0.83 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.78–0.87), and the specificity was 0.66 (95% CI: 0.60–0.72). While for SS measurement, the pooled sensitivity and specificity was 0.88 (95% CI: 0.83–0.92) and 0.78 (95% CI: 0.73–0.83). The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve values of LS and SS were 0.81 (95% CI: 0.77–0.84) and 0.88 (95% CI: 0.85–0.91) respectively, and the results had statistical significance (P<0.01). The diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) of SS (25.73) was significantly higher than that of LS (9.54), with the relative DOR value was 2.48 (95%CI: 1.10–5.60), P<0.05. Conclusions Under current techniques, SS is significantly superior to LS for identifying the presence of EV in patients with CLD. SS measurement may help to select patients for endoscopic screening.
The Influence of International Stock Markets and Macroeconomic Variables on the Thai Stock Market

The paper examines the impact of several stock market price indices and macroeconomic variables on the Thai stock market, using a GARCH-M model and monthly data (1988M1-2004M12). We find that (a) changes in returns in Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia before the 1997 crisis, and changes in Singapore, the Philippines and Korea after 1997 instantaneously influenced returns in the Thai stock market; (b) changes in oil prices negatively impacted on it only prior to 1997; (c) volatility clustering and a GARCH-M model were present only before 1997; and (d) markets outside the region had no immediate impact on the Thai market.
Relationship Between Blood Lactate and Oxidative Stress Biomarkers Following Acute Exercise

We measured blood lactate, protein carbonyls (PC), and malondialdehyde (MDA) before and immediately after exercise (graded exercise treadmill test (GXT), Wingate cycle sprint, barbell squat, and barbell bench press) in active men. Data were analyzed using a 4 (exercise mode) x 2 (time) ANOVA with Tukey post hoc testing, and pairwise correlations were made. An interaction was noted for lactate (p = 0.009), with values increasing for all modes, and higher post exercise for bench press compared to Wingate and squat (p 0.05). However, a time effect was noted for PC (p = 0.02), with values increasing from pre to post exercise. A positive correlation was noted between PC and MDA (r = 0.30; p = 0.0004), however no significant correlations were noted between PC and lactate (r = 0.06; p = 0.51) or between MDA and lactate (r = 0.10; p = 0.22). Blood lactate measured during the immediate post exercise period was not significantly correlated to biomarkers of oxidative stress in active men.
Wagner's Law in Malaysia: A New Empirical Evidence

Despite the availability of extensive research on Wagner s Law, a systematic empirical testing of the hypothesis in the context of developing countries, especially South-East Asian nations, is still lacking. Thus, the current paper attempts to reduce this gap and chooses Malaysia as a case study to test the existence of Wagner s Law. The Malaysian Government has been playing an increasingly important role in the country s industrialization process as Malaysia is pursuing the target of becoming a fully-industrialized nation by the year 2020. This suggests that Malaysia could be an example of a developing nation where government expenditure grows as the country becomes wealthier. The first to notice such a tendency was a German economist, Adolph Wagner, the author of the so-called Wagner s Law . The most important empirical finding of the present study is that there exists a long-run cointegrating relationship and a short-run but not long-run causality between economic development and government expenditure in Malaysia. This provides an additional empirical evidence to support the existence of Wagner's Law in the context of an Asian developing country, such as Malaysia.
Impact of the interaction between self-efficacy, symptoms and catastrophising on disability, quality of life and health in with chronic pain patients

Purpose. To investigate the interactions between self-efficacy – including subcomponents – and symptoms (pain, depression and anxiety), catastrophising, disability, quality of life and health in a population of patients with chronic pain. Method. The study used 433 patients with chronic pain including 47 patients with spinal cord injury-related pain, 150 patients with chronic whiplash-associated disorders and 236 patients with fibromyalgia. The participants answered a postal questionnaire that provided background data, pain intensity and duration and psychological- and health-related variables. Results. In the multivariate context, depression, anxiety, catastrophising and disability were intercorrelated. Self-efficacy correlated positively with variables of quality of life and general health. These two groups of variables were negatively correlated. The pain variables – duration of pain, pain intensity and spreading of pain – formed a third group of variables. Self-efficacy function was negatively correlated to these three pain variables. When regressing disability, quality of life and health, we found that self-efficacy had a positive impact whereas symptoms, catastrophising and pain had a negative influence on these aspects. Different patterns of influencing variables were discerned for the three different analyses, and specific patterns of the subscales of self-efficacy corresponded to specific patterns of negative factors for the outcome of disability, quality of life and health. Conclusion. There is a complex interaction of psychological factors and symptoms and their positive and negative influence on disability, quality of life and health. The results indicate that it might be important to assess and influence both enhancing and detoriating factors to ensure an effective pain management programme.
Direct torque control of induction motor based on self-adaptive PI controller

The role of proportional-integral (PI) controller as a speed controller for a induction Motor (IM) in high performance drive system is still vital although new control techniques such as direct torque control that is more effective -but complex- is available. However, PI controller is slow in adapting to speed changes, load disturbances and parameters variations without continuous tuning of its gains. Conventional approach to these issues is to tune the gains manually by observing the output of the system. The tuning must be made on-line and automatic in order to avoid tedious task in manual control. Hence, an on-line self-tuning scheme using fuzzy logic controller (FLC) is proposed in this paper. The performance of the developed proposed controller is tested through a wide range of speeds as well as with load and parameters variations through simulation using MATLAB/SIMULINK. The simulation results show that the developed controller can well adapt to speed changes as well as sudden speed reduction besides fast recovery from load torque and parameters variation and these show remarkable improvement compared to conventional PI controller.
Strategic curriculum change : global trends in universities

1. The Networked Curriculum 2. Achieving curriculum coherence: Curriculum design and delivery as social practice 3. A tradition of reform: The curriculum at Brown University 4. Curriculum Organisation and Outcomes 5. Transforming Student Learning: Undergraduate curriculum reform at The University of Hong Kong 6. Shaping the curriculum: a characteristics approach 7. Assessment in curriculum change 8. Enabling change: processes and resources 9. People and change: Academic work and leadership 10. The whole-of-institution curriculum renewal undertaken by the University of Melbourne, 2005-2011 11. Supporting change through development and evaluation 12. The physical and virtual environment for learning 13. Curriculum structure as a key variable affecting performance in higher education: The case of South Africa 14. Towards more successful curriculum change
Molecular Cytogenetic Diagnosis and Somatic Genome Variations

Human molecular cytogenetics integrates the knowledge on chromosome and genome organization at the molecular and cellular levels in health and disease. Molecular cytogenetic diagnosis is an integral part of current genomic medicine and is the standard of care in medical genetics and cytogenetics, reproductive medicine, pediatrics, neuropsychiatry and oncology. Regardless numerous advances in this field made throughout the last two decades, researchers and practitioners who apply molecular cytogenetic techniques may encounter several problems that are extremely difficult to solve. One of them is undoubtedly the occurrence of somatic genome and chromosome variations, leading to genomic and chromosomal mosaicism, which are related but not limited to technological and evaluative limitations as well as multiplicity of interpretations. More dramatically, current biomedical literature almost lacks descriptions, guidelines or solutions of these problems. The present article overviews all these problems and gathers those exclusive data acquired from studies of genome and chromosome instability that is relevant to identification and interpretations of this fairly common cause of somatic genomic variations and chromosomal mosaicism. Although the way to define pathogenic value of all the intercellular variations of the human genome is far from being completely understood, it is possible to propose recommendations on molecular cytogenetic diagnosis and management of somatic genome variations in clinical population.
A framework for detecting anomalies in HTTP traffic using instance-based learning and k-nearest neighbor classification

Attacks against web applications and web-based services that use HTTP as a communication protocol pose a serious threat to today's information technology infrastructures. A common countermeasure is to apply misuse detection and prevention systems that compare the contents of HTTP traffic against signatures of known attacks, as it is for example done by web application firewalls. A serious drawback of these systems is the fact that the used signatures often are not tailored for the individual web applications to be protected. Furthermore, signatures can often be circumvented by rewriting attacks into different forms, resulting in successful exploitation and circumvention of a misuse detection or prevention system. This paper presents the design and implementation of an anomaly detection framework for HTTP traffic that operates without signatures of known attacks. It rather learns normal usage patterns of web-based applications by inspecting full HTTP request and response contents. The results are then used for anomaly detection. The framework automatically adjusts to the applications to be monitored, derives normal usage patterns and compares subsequent HTTP traffic to the built knowledge base.