Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Service quality in the legal profession: a review

Research into the management of professional service quality, other than in health care, has been very limited, despite being particularly problematical. This paper focuses on the interactive, highly customized and labour-intensive service offered by solicitors to their commercial and corporate clients. The intangible nature of legal services, the natures of the professionals themselves and the firms within which they operate, and the perceptions of risk brought to the service by the client create additional difficulties in managing the service and measuring client perceptions of it. Yet solicitors must understand the requirements of the group of clients they seek to serve in order to design their service to match those needs. Clients have to assume the technical competence of their solicitor. Moreover, they seek confidence when buying legal services. Our research, therefore, sought to gain an understanding of the process used by commercial and corporate clients when evaluating legal service, and of the factors that are key drivers in the creation of confidence.
PRODUCTION OF A FACTOR, OR FACTORS, SUPPRESSING IL‐2 PRODUCTION AND T CELL PROLIFERATION BY SERTOLI CELL‐ENRICHED PREPARATIONS: A POTENTIAL ROLE FOR ISLET TRANSPLANTATION IN AN IMMUNOLOGICALLY PRIVILEGED SITE

Isolated islet allografts survive indefinitely in the abdominal testis of nonimmunosuppressed diabetic rats. The predominant feature of these testes is that the presence of Sertoli cells, but not Leydig cells, is required for extended survival of the islet allografts. Sertoli cells cultures were therefore established in vitro and we examined the effects of the conditioned media on Con A-stimulated spleen lymphocyte proliferation. These studies revealed that a product(s) secreted by Sertoli cells inhibits Con A—stimulated lymphocyte proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. The synthesis of this product is both temperature-dependent, occurring predominantly at 37°C, and hormone-dependent, requiring the presence of follicle stimulating hormone, in the culture medium. We further examined the mechanism of inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation and showed that Sertoli cell—enriched media inhibit the production of IL-2 in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the finding that the addition of exogenous IL-2 is not able to reverse this inhibition indicates that the Sertoli cell—enriched media inhibit both IL-2 production and IL-2 responsiveness of T lymphocytes.
Efficacy and safety of cholinesterase inhibitors in Alzheimer's disease: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) are the only drugs marketed for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. Despite numerous randomized controlled trials, the efficacy and safety of this group of medications has not been quantified. Our objective was to quantitatively summarize data on the efficacy and safety of ChEIs in Alzheimer's disease in a format useful to clinicians. METHODS We performed a meta-analysis of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trials of currently marketed ChEIs (donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine), used in therapeutic doses for at least 12 weeks, from which a cognitive outcome was reported. Studies were identified through 3 electronic databases searched to May 2002, pharmaceutical companies and journals. We extracted the proportions of subjects who responded, experienced adverse events, discontinued treatment for any reason or discontinued treatment because of adverse events. RESULTS In the 16 identified trials that met the inclusion criteria, 5159 patients were treated with a ChEI and 2795 received a placebo. The pooled mean proportion of global responders to ChEI treatment in excess of that for placebo treatment was 9% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 6%-12%). The rates of adverse events, dropout for any reason and dropout because of adverse events were also higher among the patients receiving ChEI treatment than among those receiving placebo, the excess proportions being 8% (95% CI 5%-11%), 8% (95% CI 5%-11%) and 7% (95% CI 3%-10%), respectively. The numbers needed to treat for 1 additional patient to benefit were 7 (95% CI 6-9) for stabilization or better, 12 (95% CI 9-16) for minimal improvement or better and 42 (95% CI 26-114) for marked improvement; the number needed to treat for 1 additional patient to experience an adverse event was 12 (95% CI 10-18). INTERPRETATION Treatment with ChEIs results in a modest but significant therapeutic effect and modestly but significantly higher rates of adverse events and discontinuation of treatment. The numbers needed to treat to benefit 1 additional patient are small.
Supervising and Controlling Unmanned Systems: A Multi-Phase Study with Subject Matter Experts

Proliferation in the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) in civil and military operations has presented a multitude of human factors challenges; from how to bridge the gap between demand and availability of trained operators, to how to organize and present data in meaningful ways. Utilizing the Design Research Methodology (DRM), a series of closely related studies with subject matter experts (SMEs) demonstrate how the focus of research gradually shifted from “how many systems can a single operator control” to “how to distribute missions among operators and systems in an efficient way”. The first set of studies aimed to explore the modal number, i.e., how many systems can a single operator supervise and control. It was found that an experienced operator can supervise up to 15 UASs efficiently using moderate levels of automation, and control (mission and payload management) up to three systems. Once this limit was reached, a single operator's performance was compared to a team controlling the same number of systems. In general, teams led to better performances. Hence, shifting design efforts toward developing tools that support teamwork environments of multiple operators with multiple UASs (MOMU). In MOMU settings, when the tasks are similar or when areas of interest overlap, one operator seems to have an advantage over a team who needs to collaborate and coordinate. However, in all other cases, a team was advantageous over a single operator. Other findings and implications, as well as future directions for research are discussed.
Personality profiles of women who report and who do not report physical assault or sexual harassment: Comparisons with traumatic brain injury

Standardized personality profiles of young, university women who reported they had been either: 1) never assaulted or harassed, 2) sexually harassed or assaulted, or 3) physically assaulted, were compared with each other and with a group of age- and educationally-matched women, who had sustained verified traumatic brain injuries; 49% of the university volunteers reported the experience of either physical or sexual assault. The groups who had reported a history of physical assault or who had sustained brain trauma, displayed significantly higher scores for scales that infer egocentricity and deviations from rule systems, relative to the group who reported no history of assault. The possibility that even mild brain trauma (from physical assault or from injury during a motor vehicle incident) can adversely affect the sense of self is discussed. Language: en
Hybridization and long-distance colonization at different time scales: towards resolution of long-term controversies in the sweet vernal grasses (Anthoxanthum).

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Repeated hybridization and/or polyploidization confound classification and phylogenetic inference, and multiple colonizations at different time scales complicate biogeographical reconstructions. This study investigates whether such processes can explain long-term controversies in Anthoxanthum, and in particular its debated relationship to the genus Hierochloë, the evolution of its conspicuously diverse floral morphology, and the origins of its strikingly disjunct occurrences. A hypothesis for recurrent polyploid formation is proposed. METHODS Three plastid (trnH-psbA, trnT-L and trnL-F) and two nuclear (ITS, ETS) DNA regions were sequenced in 57 accessions of 17 taxa (including 161 ETS clones) and Bayesian phylogenetic analyses were conducted. Divergence times were inferred in *BEAST using a strict molecular clock. KEY RESULTS Anthoxanthum was inferred as monophyletic and sister to one species of Hierochloë based on the plastid data, whereas the nuclear data suggested that one section (Anthoxanthum section Anthoxanthum) is sister to a clade including the other section (Anthoxanthum section Ataxia) as sister to the genus Hierochloë. This could explain the variation in floral morphology; the aberrant characters in Ataxia seem to result from a Miocene hybridization event between one lineage with one fertile and two sterile florets (the Anthoxanthum lineage) and one which probably had three fertile florets as in extant Hierochloë. The distinct diploid A. gracile lineage originated in the Miocene; all other speciation events, many of them involving polyploidy, were dated to the Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene. Africa was apparently colonized twice in the Late Pliocene (from the north to afro-alpine eastern Africa, and from south-east Asia to southern Africa), whereas Macaronesia was colonized much later (Late Pleistocene) by a diploid Mediterranean lineage. The widespread European tetraploid A. odoratum originated at least twice. CONCLUSIONS Many of the controversies in Anthoxanthum can be explained by recurring hybridization and/or polyploidization on time scales ranging from the Miocene to the Late Pleistocene. All but one of the extant species shared most recent common ancestors in the Late Pliocene to the Late Pleistocene. The disjunct occurrences in Africa originated in the Late Pliocene via independent immigrations, whereas Macaronesia was colonized in the Late Pleistocene.
A Systematic Review of Early Intensive Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders

CONTEXT: Early intensive behavioral and developmental interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may enhance developmental outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To systematically review evidence regarding such interventions for children aged 12 and younger with ASDs. METHODS: We searched Medline, PsycINFO, and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) from 2000 to May 2010. Two reviewers independently assessed studies against predetermined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Two reviewers independently extracted data regarding participant and intervention characteristics, assessment techniques, and outcomes and assigned overall quality and strength-of-evidence ratings using predetermined criteria. RESULTS: Thirty-four unique studies met inclusion criteria. Seventeen studies were case series; 2 were randomized controlled trials. We rated 1 study as good quality, 10 as fair quality, and 23 as poor quality. The strength of the evidence overall ranged from insufficient to low. Studies of University of California Los Angeles/Lovaas–based interventions and variants reported clinically significant gains in language and cognitive skills in some children, as did 1 randomized controlled trial of an early intensive developmental intervention approach (the Early Start Denver Model). Specific parent-training approaches yielded gains in short-term language function and some challenging behaviors. Data suggest that subgroups of children displayed more prominent gains across studies, but participant characteristics associated with greater gains are not well understood. CONCLUSIONS: Studies of Lovaas-based approaches and early intensive behavioral intervention variants and the Early Start Denver Model resulted in some improvements in cognitive performance, language skills, and adaptive behavior skills in some young children with ASDs, although the literature is limited by methodologic concerns.
Effect of vasopressin and cyclic AMP on permeability of isolated collecting tubules.

GRANTHAM, JARED J., AND MAURICE B. BURG. Effect ofuasopressin and cyclic AMP on permeability of isolated collecting tubules. Am. J. Physiol. 21 I (I) : 255-259. rg66. -The effect of vasopressin and cyclic 3’,5’-AMP on the permeability to water and urea of the isolated perfused rabbit collecting tubule was measured. When added to the solution bathing the outside of the tubule, these agents regularly increased both net water absorption along an osmotic gradient and the diffusional permeability to water as measured with THO in the absence of an osmotic gradient. When added only to the solution bathing the luminal border of the cells, vasopressin was ineffective. Urea permeability was not significantly altered by either vasopressin or cyclic 3’) $-AMP despite simultaneous increases in water permeability.
Comparison of plasma microRNA-1 and cardiac troponin T in early diagnosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction.

BACKGROUND Early reperfusion can effectively treat acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and reduce the mortality significantly. This study aimed to compare the role of plasma microRNA-1 (miR-1) and cardiac troponin T (cTnT) in early diagnosis of AMI patients. METHODS From May 2011 to May 2012, plasma samples were collected from 56 AMI patients and 28 non-AMI controls. The expression of plasma miR-1 was measured by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), and the level of plasma cTnT was measured using electrochemiluminescence-based methods on an Elecsys 2010 Immunoassay Analyzer. SPSS 16.0 was used for the statistical analysis of the results. Data were expressed as mean±standard deviation unless otherwise described. The differences about clinical characteristics between the AMI patients and controls were tested using Student's t test or Fisher's exact test. The Mann-Whitney U test was conducted to compare the expression of microRNAs between the AMI patients and controls. MicroRNAs expression between different intervals of the AMI patients was compared using Wilcoxon's signed-rank test. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was established to discriminate the AMI patients from the controls. RESULTS In the present study, the expression of plasma miR-1 was significantly increased in the AMI patients compared with the healthy controls (P<0.01). The plasma miR-1 in the AMI patients decreased to the normal level at 14 days (P>0.05). The expression of plasma miR-1 was not related to the clinical characteristics of the study population (P>0.05). ROC curve analyses demonstrated that miR-1 was specific and sensitive for the early diagnosis of AMI, but not superior to cTnT. CONCLUSION Plasma miR-1 could be used in the early diagnosis of AMI, but it is similar to cTnT.
SVM and Dimensionality Reduction in Cognitive Radio with Experimental Validation

There is a trend of applying machine learning algorithms to cognitive radio. One fundamental open problem is to determine how and where these algorithms are useful in a cognitive radio network. In radar and sensing signal processing, the control of degrees of freedom (DOF)---or dimensionality---is the first step, called pre-processing. In this paper, the combination of dimensionality reduction with SVM is proposed apart from only applying SVM for classification in cognitive radio. Measured Wi-Fi signals with high signal to noise ratio (SNR) are employed to the experiments. The DOF of Wi-Fi signals is extracted by dimensionality reduction techniques. Experimental results show that with dimensionality reduction, the performance of classification is much better with fewer features than that of without dimensionality reduction. The error rates of classification with only one feature of the proposed algorithm can match the error rates of 13 features of the original data. The proposed method will be further tested in our cognitive radio network testbed.
Electromagnetic fields and health outcomes.

Over the past two decades, there has been increasing interest in the biological effects and possible health outcomes of weak, low-frequency electric and magnetic fields. Epidemiological studies on magnetic fields and cancer, reproduction and neurobehavioural reactions have been presented. More recently, neurological, degenerative and heart diseases have also been reported to be related to such electromagnetic fields. Furthermore, the increased use of mobile phones worldwide has focussed interest on the possible effects of radiofrequency fields of higher frequencies. In this paper, a summary is given on electromagnetic fields and health outcomes and what policy is appropriate--"no restriction to exposure", "prudent avoidance" or "expensive interventions"? The results of research studies have not been unambiguous; studies indicating these fields as being a health hazard have been published and so were studies indicating no risk at all. In "positive" studies, different types of effects have been reported despite the use of the same study design, e.g., in epidemiological cancer studies. There are uncertainties as to exposure characteristics, e.g., magnetic field frequency and exposure intermittence, and not much is known about possible confounding or effect-modifying factors. The few animal cancer studies reported have not given much help in risk assessment; and in spite of a large number of experimental cell studies, no plausible and understandable mechanisms have been presented by which a carcinogenic effect could be explained. Exposure to electromagnetic fields occurs everywhere: in the home, at work, in school, etc. Wherever there are electric wires, electric motors and electronic equipment, electromagnetic fields are created. This is one of the reasons why exposure assessment is difficult. For epidemiologists, the problems is not on the effect side as registers of diseases exist in many countries today. The problem is that epidemiologists do not know the relevant exposure characteristics to be used in their studies. In international guidelines, limits for restrictions of field exposure are several orders of magnitude above what can be measured from overhead power lines and found in "electrical" occupations. These guidelines emphasize that the state of scientific knowledge today does not warrant limiting exposure levels for the public and the work force, and that further data are required to confirm whether health hazards are present. In some countries, however, the "principle of caution" or "prudent avoidance" has been adopted; meaning the low-cost avoidance of unnecessary exposure as long as there is scientific uncertainty about its health effects.
Hormonal predictors of postnatal depression at 6 months in breastfeeding women

Postnatal depression occurs in 10-15% of postpartum women. Studies have shown associations with endogenous hormone levels (oestrogen, progesterone, cortisol and thyroxin) and with autoimmune thyroid dysfunction. Breastfeeding has not been shown to increase the risk of developing postpartum depression. A prospective study involving 54 breastfeeding mothers of mixed parity and similar socio-economic status and education used bivariate analysis to look for associations between hormone levels and postnatal depression. Total oestradiol, total progesterone, prolactin and thyrotropin (TSH) levels were determined at four time points (ante- and postnatally) from finger-prick blood spots by fluoro-immunoassay. EPDS and life event check lists were completed at 6 months postpartum. Ten women were screened positive for sub-clinical depression (score≥10). Bivariate analysis showed that antenatal prolactin and postpartum progesterone levels were significantly associated with postnatal depression at 6 months (p=0.03). Only the result for progesterone persisted in a multiple logistic regression, which controlled for life events. Women with lower progesterone levels in the immediate postnatal period were more likely to be depressed at 6 months.
On probabilistic completeness and expected complexity for probabilistic path planning

The probabilistic path planner (PPP) is a general planning scheme that yields fast robot path planners for a wide variety of problems, involving, e.g., high degree of freedom articulated robots, nonholonomic robots, and multiple robots. In this paper we go into theoretical aspects regarding the behaviour of PPP. We formulate general properties that guarantee probabilistic completeness of PPP, and we show how these apply to various robot types. Furthermore, we present results which, under certain assumptions on the free con guration space, give estimates of the expected running times. For example, under one such assumption, we show that the expected running time of PPP grows only logarithmically with the complexity of the problem that it solves.
Increasing Willingness to Pay through Encouraging Social Participation - a Web Experiment

Content websites have been experimenting in recent years with charging users for their content offerings. However, reported conversion rates of around 1-5% of total unique website users make this strategy feasible only for websites that cater to millions of users. How, then, can a website raise conversion rates without significantly enlarging its user base? Content websites have begun to incorporate social features, providing platforms for community formation. Users' engagement with a website's social features has been shown to increase their willingness to pay. This research investigates the effect of acts of initiated participation—"calls to action" made by website owners—on users' willingness to pay in content websites. We designed an experiment in which users explore a content website and are required to respond to requests for participatory acts. We show that users who are given the calls to action in increasing order of effort level are willing to pay more for a monthly subscription or in a one-time donation, compared with users who are not exposed to such prompts. Interestingly, we show that the order of activities is crucial; when the tasks are not initiated according to increasing order of effort, the results do not hold.
A Brief History of Pin-Making

Abstract Reduced to journalistic cliché in our own time, Adam Smith's writing made up an important part of the cultural competence of a late eighteenth or early nineteenth-century intellectual. The article follows the most important of the illustrations Smith used. It studies the variants of the pin factory, the key image of mass production, from Chamber's Cyclopaedia (1728) to its definitive incarnation in The Wealth of Nations and then as it saturates nineteenth-century representations of labour, in Godwin, Hegel, de Tocqueville, Robert Owen, Charles Babbage, and Charlotte Tonna, amongst others. It suggests that the fine variations in the image (for instance, the number of operations it is supposed to require to manufacture a pin) correspond with, and reveal, each author's specific polemical and historical contexts. Moreover, it argues that the revisions of the image in the hands of so many readers of Smith constitute a process of ideological self-reflection through which the meanings of modernity were comprehended.
Limits on the production of massive stable charged particles.

We present improved limits on the production of massive stable charged particles in {ital {bar p}p} collisions using the Collider Detector at Fermilab based on an integrated luminosity of 3.54 pb{sup {minus}1}. Both unit and fractionally charged particles are considered. Cross-section upper limits are determined for masses from 50 to 500 GeV/{ital c}{sup 2}. Theoretical cross sections are used to set bounds on the mass of fermionic color triplets, sextets, octets, and decuplets as well as scalar triplets.