Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of nutritional intake, body composition, bone mineral density, and isokinetic strength in collegiate female dancers

This study compared nutritional intake, body composition, bone mineral density, and isokinetic strength by dance type in collegiate female dancers. The study subjects included Korean dancers (n=12), ballet dancers (n=13), contemporary dancers (n=8), and controls (n=12). Nutritional intake was estimated using the Computer Aided Nutritional Analysis Program. Body composition and bone mineral density were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Isokinetic knee joint strength was measured by Cybex 770-NORM. All statistical analyses were performed by SAS 9.2. Means and standard deviations were calculated using descriptive statistics. One-way analysis of variance was applied to evaluate nutritional intake, body composition, bone mineral density, and isokinetic strength differences. Duncan multiple range test was used for post hoc testing. A level of significance was set at P<0.05. The study results indicated no significant differences in nutritional in-take among dancer types. Despite no significant differences in body composition among dancer types, contemporary and ballet dancers had lower body fat percentages than controls (P<0.05). No significant differences were seen in bone mineral density and bone mineral contents among dancer types. No significant differences were found in isokinetic strength in right or left knee flexion and extension at 60°/sec (P<0.05). There were significant differences in body composition and isokinetic strength between dancer groups and the control group. Further studies of different professional dance type and more scientific methods of dance training are needed.
Ordinal measures in authorship identification

The goal of this paper is to compare a set of distance/similarity measures, regarding theirs ability to reflect stylistic similarity between authors and texts. To assess the ability of these distance/similarity functions to capture stylistic similarity between texts, we tested them in one of the most frequently employed multivariate statistical analysis settings: cluster analysis. The experiments are done on a corpus of 30 English books written by British, American and Australian writers.
O uso dos Sistemas de Informações e as diferenças entre os Níveis Hierárquicos: uma aplicação do Modelo TAM-TTF

A aplicacao dos Sistemas de Informacoes (SI) como ferramenta de auxilio a realizacao das atividades das empresas tem aumentando significativamente. Com base nisto, este estudo analisa o uso dos SI atraves da integracao dos modelos TAM (Modelo de Aceitacao da Tecnologia) e TTF (Modelo Ajuste entre a Tarefa e a Tecnologia). Entretanto, sabe-se que existem diferencas entre os niveis hierarquicos quanto as tarefas executadas e acredita-se que estas possam influenciar o uso dos SI. Desta forma, o objetivo desta pesquisa foi de identificar os fatores que levam os individuos dos diferentes niveis hierarquicos a utilizarem os SI, analisando sob o ponto de vista do comportamento e atitude dos individuos, o ajuste que esta tecnologia tem com as tarefas que executa e o nivel hierarquico em que se encontra. O questionario foi aplicado a 474 funcionarios de duas organizacoes do Rio Grande do Sul. Os resultados apontam que o nivel hierarquico influencia no uso dos SI, a facilidade de uso percebida e o ajuste tarefa-tecnologia. O uso, tambem, e influenciado pela intencao de uso, sendo que esta e determinada pela percepcao do ajuste, da utilidade e da facilidade da tecnologia.
Getting it on(line)

This article explores the role of sociology in understanding the phenomenon of online dating. Based on an examination of our qualitative study of 23 online daters, combined with the findings of the small number of other empirical studies available, we argue that further sociological consideration of the online dating phenomenon is required to: illuminate the social conditions informing these activities; enhance knowledge of if, and how, online technologies mediate intimate connections; and advance a critically informed understanding of the nature of intimacy in a global era.
Noise Induced Sleep Disturbance in Adult Population: Cross Sectional Study in Skopje Urban Centre

Noise Induced Sleep Disturbance in Adult Population: Cross Sectional Study in Skopje Urban Centre Aim. To evaluate sleep disturbance caused by environmental noise in residents of Skopje urban centre and to quantify the probability for sleep disturbance related to night-time noise exposure. Methods. Cross sectional study with noise measurements for determination of noise exposure indicator Lnight. A randomised sample was selected from adult population and directly interviewed with questionnaire for assessment of sleep disturbance. Results. 510 questionnaires were collected and the response rate was 72%, 8% of the population sample reported a high level of sleep disturbance and 18% reported a moderate level of sleep disturbance. The most frequent sources of noise were neighbourhood and road traffic. The most disturbed age group were individuals 51-65 years old, who were significantly more disturbed (p=0.010) than the age group of 41-50 years old. Differences in sleep disturbance were significant only for the group exposed to Lnight ≥ 56 dBA (Wald = 4.31; p = 0.04). Exposure to Lnight above 56 dBA had OR = 2.2 (95% CI 1.1 - 4.7) or double significant increase probability for sleep disturbance, compared with control group of subjects exposed to Lnight ≤ 45 dBA. Conclusion. Night time noise exposure above the established limit values significantly increased the risk for sleep disturbance. These findings induce necessity for reducing noise exposure, especially during night-time and for taking preventive measures.
Interrelations of Justice, Rejection, Provocation, and Moral Disgust Sensitivity and Their Links with the Hostile Attribution Bias, Trait Anger, and Aggression

Several personality dispositions with common features capturing sensitivities to negative social cues have recently been introduced into psychological research. To date, however, little is known about their interrelations, their conjoint effects on behavior, or their interplay with other risk factors. We asked N = 349 adults from Germany to rate their justice, rejection, moral disgust, and provocation sensitivity, hostile attribution bias, trait anger, and forms and functions of aggression. The sensitivity measures were mostly positively correlated; particularly those with an egoistic focus, such as victim justice, rejection, and provocation sensitivity, hostile attributions and trait anger as well as those with an altruistic focus, such as observer justice, perpetrator justice, and moral disgust sensitivity. The sensitivity measures had independent and differential effects on forms and functions of aggression when considered simultaneously and when controlling for hostile attributions and anger. They could not be integrated into a single factor of interpersonal sensitivity or reduced to other well-known risk factors for aggression. The sensitivity measures, therefore, require consideration in predicting and preventing aggression.
Galvanic skin response-derived bookmarking of an audio stream

We demonstrate a novel interaction paradigm driven by implicit, low-attention user control, accomplished by monitoring a user's physiological state. We have designed and prototyped this interaction for a first use case of bookmarking an audio stream, to holistically explore the implicit interaction concept. A listener's galvanic skin conductance (GSR) is monitored for orienting responses (ORs) to external interruptions; our research prototype then automatically bookmarks the media such that the user can attend to the interruption, then resume listening from the point heshe is interrupted.
160 Color Texture Classification under Different Illuminations Using Rank Correlation Matrices

Color has been shown to be useful in the context of texture classification. However, since under different illuminations color is not stable, color invariant descriptors should be defined when the illumination of the query is unknown. In this paper, we propose to characterize color textures by analyzing the rank correlation of color planes between pixels locally close to each other. Thus, considering one distance and one direction in the image space, we obtain a correlation measure which i) is related to the colors of the pixels, ii) is illumination invariant, iii) represents the spatial interactions between different color components of neighbored pixels. Furthermore, we show how this measure can be very fast extracted from co-occurrence matrices. The discriminative power of this descriptor is assessed on a public color texture database. INTRODUCTION: In this paper, we specifically address the problem of color texture classification across illumination changes. For this purpose, we consider images of color textures acquired with the same viewpoint and the same scale factor but under three different illuminations [33]. In this context, there exist different approaches for color texture For example, the structural approach consists in analyzing the relative positions of features extracted from the image [12]. One other approach tries to model the spatial repartition of the colors in the image. In this aim, one can use Markov Random Fields [30, 27] or Local Binary Pattern [32, 31].
Competitive k-server algorithms

Deterministic competitive k-server algorithms are given for all k and all metric spaces. This settles the k-server conjecture of M.S. Manasse et al. (1988) up to the competitive ratio. The best previous result for general metric spaces was a three-server randomized competitive algorithm and a nonconstructive proof that a deterministic three-server competitive algorithm exists. The competitive ratio the present authors can prove is exponential in the number of servers. Thus, the question of the minimal competitive ratio for arbitrary metric spaces is still open. The methods set forth here also give competitive algorithms for a natural generalization of the k-server problem, called the k-taxicab problem. <<ETX>>
Duration of untreated prodromal symptoms in a Chinese sample at a high risk for psychosis: demographic, clinical, and outcome

Abstract Background The duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) has been widely studied. However, for individuals with attenuated psychosis syndrome (APS), it is unclear whether the duration of untreated prodromal symptoms (DUPrS) also has a negative effect on the progression of psychosis. Our aim was to identify demographic and clinical factors contributing to the DUPrS in a large sample of individuals with APS, and to evaluate the association between DUPrS and the conversion to psychosis. Method A sample of 391 individuals with APS, who were identified through a structured interview for prodromal syndromes, were included in this study, of whom a total of 334 patients had completed at least a 1-year clinical follow-up. A total of 57 individuals had converted to psychosis. Results The average DUPrS was 4.8 months for the whole sample. Individuals with a longer DUPrS were likely to be men, non-local residents, with abnormal thought symptoms, a higher severity level of negative symptoms, the lower severity level of general symptoms, and lower level of general function before the onset of attenuated positive symptoms. A DUPrS of less than 2 months, or more than 6 months, lowered the risk for conversion to psychosis. Conclusions Our data suggested that the association between the DUPrS and outcome in individuals with APS were likely to be different, which is either long or short DUPrS was not related to future psychosis onset. Individuals with APS were more likely to have a group of features associated with a longer DUPrS.
Interactive comment on “ Characterization of HILDCAA events using Recurrence Quantification Analysis ”

This paper opens an interesting possibility to apply the RQA to analyze dynamic properties of auroral activity in HILDCAA or in response to different heliospheric drivers. Unfortunately, the paper does not provide physical interpretation of the results. Specifically, physical meaning of information presented in Figures 5 and 6 is not discussed. I have a problem with the claim that dynamic properties of HILDCAA-driven activity are "unique". There are distinct differences with the quiet-time study, but uniqueness can be shown only in comparison with other non-HILDCAA driven auroral activity. For instance, analysis of CIR/HSS storms without HILDCAA could be helpful. I encourage the authors to continue and extend the study with the focus on understanding physical processes behind different types of auroral activity.
Generalized epidermolytic hyperkeratosis in a child born to a parent with systematized epidermolytic linear epidermal nevus

A 5‐month‐old girl was born with generalized erythematous skin covered with fine scales. Two days after she was born blisters started appearing over several places on the skin, resulting in multiple denudations. Later, over a period of 2–3 weeks, her skin started becoming rough, thickened, and covered with verrucous scales. The patient is the product of a full‐term normal delivery, is born to nonconsanguinous parents, and had normal developmental milestones. None of her family members had had similar episodes, although her father had had verrucous linear epidermal nevus since his childhood.
Reversal of glomerulosclerosis after high-dose enalapril treatment in subtotally nephrectomized rats.

Interventions to block the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) halt the progression of renal lesions in renal damage models. It has recently also been reported that established glomerulosclerosis can be reversed by pharmacologic blockade of the RAS. It was the aim of this study to confirm that high doses of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors reverse established glomerulosclerosis and to extend the findings by providing quantitative information on glomerular geometry, podocytes and other glomerular cells, renal vessels and tubulointerstitial tissue. Male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to subtotal surgical renal ablation (SNX) (n = 27) or sham operation (n = 31) and fed using a pair-feeding protocol. Eight weeks after surgery, rats were either sacrificed or allocated to two arms: enalapril treatment (48 mg/kg body wt per day administered in the drinking fluid for 4 wk) or no treatment. Renal morphology was evaluated after 8 or 12 wk, respectively, by stereology in tissue fixed by pressure-controlled perfusion. Both systolic BP and albumin excretion rate were significantly higher in SNX compared with sham-operated controls. They were significantly reduced in SNX after delayed enalapril treatment. The glomerulosclerosis (GSI), tubulointerstitial (TII), and vascular (VI) damage indices were significantly higher in all SNX groups than in sham-operated controls. At the end of the experiment (12 wk after SNX) GSI, TII, and VI were significantly lower in SNX with delayed enalapril treatment (0.77 +/- 0.18, 0.63 +/- 0.19 and 0.43 +/- 0.16, respectively) compared with untreated SNX (1.64 +/- 0.14, 1.16 +/- 0.34 and 0.67 +/- 0.29, respectively). GSI, TII, and VI were also significantly lower in SNX with delayed enalapril treatment compared with SNX sacrificed without treatment 8 wk after SNX. The same was true for glomerular volume. The number of podocytes was not affected by SNX, but podocyte volume was increased. Both indices remained unaffected by treatment. The numbers of cells within the mesangium and endothelial cells per glomerulus were significantly lower in SNX after delayed enalapril treatment compared with untreated SNX. These results strongly suggest regression of preexisting lesions, i.e., glomerular, tubular, and vascular remodeling as well as reversal of glomerular hypertrophy by ACE inhibitor treatment. The study confirms that high-dose ACE inhibitor treatment causes partial reversal of glomerular as well as interstitial lesions in subtotally nephrectomized rats.
TLR9 Signaling in B Cells Determines Class Switch Recombination to IgG2a

Although IgG2a is the most potent Ab isotype in the host response to viral and bacterial infections, the regulation of class switch recombination to IgG2a in vivo is not yet well understood. Recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns by dendritic cells expressing TLRs, like TLR7, recognizing ssRNA, or TLR9, recognizing DNA rich in nonmethylated CG motifs (CpG), favors induction of Th1 responses. It is generally assumed that these Th1 responses are responsible for the TLR-mediated induction of IgG2a. Using virus-like particles loaded with CpGs, we show here that TLR9 ligands can directly stimulate B cells to undergo isotype switching to IgG2a. Unexpectedly, TLR9 expression in non-B cells did not affect isotype switching in the Ab response against virus-like particles. Thus, TLR9 can regulate isotype switching to IgG2a directly by interacting with B cells rather than indirectly by inducing Th1 responses.
Introduction to IIASA: Applying systems analysis in an international setting†

IIASA is not only an institution, it is an idea -- the idea that despite differences in economic, political, and social systems, scientists from East and West can work together to help resolve the problems that face all mankind. In the six years of its existence, the Institute has demonstrated that this once "unrealistic" idea can become a reality. In the years ahead, it must strive, in collaboration with the scientific communities, governments, and industry throughout the world, to bring that idea to its fullest realization.
Visibility Restoration of Single Hazy Images Captured in Real-World Weather Conditions

The visibility of outdoor images captured in inclement weather is often degraded due to the presence of haze, fog, sandstorms, and so on. Poor visibility caused by atmospheric phenomena in turn causes failure in computer vision applications, such as outdoor object recognition systems, obstacle detection systems, video surveillance systems, and intelligent transportation systems. In order to solve this problem, visibility restoration (VR) techniques have been developed and play an important role in many computer vision applications that operate in various weather conditions. However, removing haze from a single image with a complex structure and color distortion is a difficult task for VR techniques. This paper proposes a novel VR method that uses a combination of three major modules: 1) a depth estimation (DE) module; 2) a color analysis (CA) module; and 3) a VR module. The proposed DE module takes advantage of the median filter technique and adopts our adaptive gamma correction technique. By doing so, halo effects can be avoided in images with complex structures, and effective transmission map estimation can be achieved. The proposed CA module is based on the gray world assumption and analyzes the color characteristics of the input hazy image. Subsequently, the VR module uses the adjusted transmission map and the color-correlated information to repair the color distortion in variable scenes captured during inclement weather conditions. The experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method provides superior haze removal in comparison with the previous state-of-the-art method through qualitative and quantitative evaluations of different scenes captured during various weather conditions.
2003 Midwest Research to Practice Conference in Adult, Continuing, and Community Education Role of Social Presence, Choice of Online or Face-to-Face Group Format, and Satisfaction with Perceived Knowledge Gained in a Distance Learning Environment

This mixed-methods study examined factors that contributed to satisfaction with perceived knowledge gained in a distance learning environment where collaboration represents a major portion of the course structure. Giving learners authority over the physical learning environment and offering different formats for collaboration, either online or in person, contributed to the learners' overall satisfaction with the course. Results indicate that social presence may not have played a role in choice of distance learning format.
High incidence of scintigraphic myocardial uptake defects at rest and during exercise in male elite runners.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the usefulness of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MIBI-SPECT) as a diagnostic tool in well trained men. DESIGN: The study was prospective, involving 2 d stress-rest myocardial scintigraphy (MIBI-SPECT), polar map reconstruction with and without uniform attenuation correction, and comparison with a healthy male group (local Swedish) and with a commonly used reference group (American, Emory University Hospital). SETTING: University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. SUBJECTS: 16 healthy, male elite runners (mean (SD) age 26.1 (3.1) years). Peak oxygen uptake 73 (4) ml O2/kg/min. RESULTS: Uptake defects on polar maps were found in the majority of the runners compared with both reference groups (local Swedish 13/16, American 10/16). Most defects (91%) were fixed. Defects were located in the anterior, lateral, and posterior regions of the left ventricle. Application of a uniform attenuation correction algorithm enhanced rather than reduced perfusion defect size, probably because this correction method is imperfect in SPECT studies of the thoracic cavity. CONCLUSIONS: If myocardial perfusion scintigraphy is used for evaluating well trained men, existing normal reference files for semiquantitative evaluation appear to be inadequate.
Steroid Hormone Signaling Is Essential to Regulate Innate Immune Cells and Fight Bacterial Infection in Drosophila

Coupling immunity and development is essential to ensure survival despite changing internal conditions in the organism. Drosophila metamorphosis represents a striking example of drastic and systemic physiological changes that need to be integrated with the innate immune system. However, nothing is known about the mechanisms that coordinate development and immune cell activity in the transition from larva to adult. Here, we reveal that regulation of macrophage-like cells (hemocytes) by the steroid hormone ecdysone is essential for an effective innate immune response over metamorphosis. Although it is generally accepted that steroid hormones impact immunity in mammals, their action on monocytes (e.g. macrophages and neutrophils) is still not well understood. Here in a simpler model system, we used an approach that allows in vivo, cell autonomous analysis of hormonal regulation of innate immune cells, by combining genetic manipulation with flow cytometry, high-resolution time-lapse imaging and tissue-specific transcriptomic analysis. We show that in response to ecdysone, hemocytes rapidly upregulate actin dynamics, motility and phagocytosis of apoptotic corpses, and acquire the ability to chemotax to damaged epithelia. Most importantly, individuals lacking ecdysone-activated hemocytes are defective in bacterial phagocytosis and are fatally susceptible to infection by bacteria ingested at larval stages, despite the normal systemic and local production of antimicrobial peptides. This decrease in survival is comparable to the one observed in pupae lacking immune cells altogether, indicating that ecdysone-regulation is essential for hemocyte immune functions and survival after infection. Microarray analysis of hemocytes revealed a large set of genes regulated at metamorphosis by EcR signaling, among which many are known to function in cell motility, cell shape or phagocytosis. This study demonstrates an important role for steroid hormone regulation of immunity in vivo in Drosophila, and paves the way for genetic dissection of the mechanisms at work behind steroid regulation of innate immune cells.