Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Child Maltreatment in Turkey: Comparison of Parent and Child Reports.

BACKGROUND AND AIM Child maltreatment, i.e. abuse and neglect, is a significant problem worldwide and can cause impaired physical and mental health throughout life. The true extent still remains unknown in all countries, including Turkey. The aim of this study was to apply the two versions of the International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) Child Abuse Screening Tool of ICAST-C and ICAST-P, which are used to assess child and parent feedback and to compare reports given by children and those given by parents. This is the first study of its kind conducted in Turkey. METHODS First, ICAST was translated into Turkish by bilingual experts. Students and their parents were asked to complete ICAST-C and ICAST-P respectively, with the help of trained researchers. In total, data from 2,608 matched reports (2,608 children and 2,608 parents) was obtained. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate demographical variables, and chi-square tests were employed to investigate the statistical significance of comparisons. RESULTS The present study demonstrated that Turkish parents consider rebukes, insults and corporal punishment effective ways of disciplining children. According to parents' reports, the use of psychological abuse was most prevalent against boys aged 16, while the use of physical abuse was most prevalent against boys aged 13. A statistically significant relationship was found between parents' economic conditions and child abuse (p<0.01). No significant relationship was detected between maternal educational levels and child abuse (p>0.05). However, the relationship between paternal educational background and psychological abuse was observed to be significant (p<0.05). A comparison of children's and parents' reports shows that parents tended to under-report child maltreatment. CONCLUSIONS The results show that there is a significant healthcare problem in Turkey, since child maltreatment is prevalent, but parents are not generally aware of its extent. Possible approaches to changing this situation include efforts to increase education levels, promoting public awareness, and strengthening political commitments.
Energy Stores Are Not Altered by Long-Term Partial Sleep Deprivation in Drosophila melanogaster

Recent human studies reveal a widespread association between short sleep and obesity. Two hypotheses, which are not mutually exclusive, might explain this association. First, genetic factors that reduce endogenous sleep times might also impact energy stores, an assertion that we confirmed in a previous study. Second, metabolism may be altered by chronic partial sleep deprivation. Here we address the second assertion by measuring the impact of long-term partial sleep deprivation on energy stores using Drosophila as a model. We subjected flies to long-term partial sleep deprivation via two different methods: a mechanical stimulus and a light stimulus. We then measured whole-body triglycerides and glycogen, two important sources of energy for the fly, and compared them to un-stimulated controls. We also measured changes in energy stores in response to a random circadian clock shift. Sex and line-dependent alterations in glycogen and/or triglyceride levels occurred in response to the circadian clock shift and in flies subjected to a single night of sleep deprivation using light. Thus, consistent with previous studies, our findings suggest that acute sleep loss and changes to the circadian clock can alter metabolism. Significant changes in energy stores were also observed when flies were subjected to chronic sleep loss via the mechanical stimulus, although not the light stimulus. Interestingly, mechanical stimulation resulted in the same change in energy stores even when it was not associated with sleep deprivation, suggesting that the changes are caused by stress rather than sleep loss. These findings emphasize the importance of taking stress into account when evaluating the relationship between sleep loss and metabolism.
Identifying Domain-General and Domain-Specific Predictors of Low Mathematics Performance: A Classification and Regression Tree Analysis

Many children struggle to successfully acquire early mathematics skills. Theoretical and empirical evidence has pointed to deficits in domain-specific skills (e.g., non-symbolic mathematics skills) or domain-general skills (e.g., executive functioning and language) as underlying low mathematical performance. In the current study, we assessed a sample of 113 three- to five-year old preschool children on a battery of domain-specific and domain-general factors in the fall and spring of their preschool year to identify Time 1 (fall) factors associated with low performance in mathematics knowledge at Time 2 (spring). We used the exploratory approach of classification and regression tree analyses, a strategy that uses step-wise partitioning to create subgroups from a larger sample using multiple predictors, to identify the factors that were the strongest classifiers of low performance for younger and older preschool children. Results indicated that the most consistent classifier of low mathematics performance at Time 2 was children’s Time 1 mathematical language skills. Further, other distinct classifiers of low performance emerged for younger and older children. These findings suggest that risk classification for low mathematics performance may differ depending on children’s age.
Adaptive power delivery system management for many-core processors with on/off-chip voltage regulators

The power delivery system (PDS) plays a crucial role of guaranteeing the proper functionality of many-core processors. However, as PDS is usually optimized to provide power to the target chip at its best performance level, its energy efficiency can be seriously degraded under highly dynamic workloads, making it a major source of system power losses. On-chip voltage regulators (VR), which are able to achieve fast and fine-grained power control, have been popular choices for PDS implementation and provided design opportunities for improving system energy efficiency. In this paper, we propose the adaptive Quantized Power Management (QPM) scheme to dynamically adjust the PDS with both on-chip and off-chip VRs based on run-time workloads. Experimental results on different applications show that QPM applied on a hybrid PDS with both on/off-chip voltage regulators (VR) achieves 74.1% average overall energy efficiency, 12.3% higher than the conventional PDS with single off-chip VR.
Clinical Insight Into Latent Variables of Psychiatric Questionnaires for Mood Symptom Self-Assessment

Background We recently described a new questionnaire to monitor mood called mood zoom (MZ). MZ comprises 6 items assessing mood symptoms on a 7-point Likert scale; we had previously used standard principal component analysis (PCA) to tentatively understand its properties, but the presence of multiple nonzero loadings obstructed the interpretation of its latent variables. Objective The aim of this study was to rigorously investigate the internal properties and latent variables of MZ using an algorithmic approach which may lead to more interpretable results than PCA. Additionally, we explored three other widely used psychiatric questionnaires to investigate latent variable structure similarities with MZ: (1) Altman self-rating mania scale (ASRM), assessing mania; (2) quick inventory of depressive symptomatology (QIDS) self-report, assessing depression; and (3) generalized anxiety disorder (7-item) (GAD-7), assessing anxiety. Methods We elicited responses from 131 participants: 48 bipolar disorder (BD), 32 borderline personality disorder (BPD), and 51 healthy controls (HC), collected longitudinally (median [interquartile range, IQR]: 363 [276] days). Participants were requested to complete ASRM, QIDS, and GAD-7 weekly (all 3 questionnaires were completed on the Web) and MZ daily (using a custom-based smartphone app). We applied sparse PCA (SPCA) to determine the latent variables for the four questionnaires, where a small subset of the original items contributes toward each latent variable. Results We found that MZ had great consistency across the three cohorts studied. Three main principal components were derived using SPCA, which can be tentatively interpreted as (1) anxiety and sadness, (2) positive affect, and (3) irritability. The MZ principal component comprising anxiety and sadness explains most of the variance in BD and BPD, whereas the positive affect of MZ explains most of the variance in HC. The latent variables in ASRM were identical for the patient groups but different for HC; nevertheless, the latent variables shared common items across both the patient group and HC. On the contrary, QIDS had overall very different principal components across groups; sleep was a key element in HC and BD but was absent in BPD. In GAD-7, nervousness was the principal component explaining most of the variance in BD and HC. Conclusions This study has important implications for understanding self-reported mood. MZ has a consistent, intuitively interpretable latent variable structure and hence may be a good instrument for generic mood assessment. Irritability appears to be the key distinguishing latent variable between BD and BPD and might be useful for differential diagnosis. Anxiety and sadness are closely interlinked, a finding that might inform treatment effects to jointly address these covarying symptoms. Anxiety and nervousness appear to be amongst the cardinal latent variable symptoms in BD and merit close attention in clinical practice.
Point-wise Extremum Seeking Control Scheme Under Repeatable Control Environment

In this paper, a point-wise extremum seeking control scheme is proposed to seek an optimal trajectory of a time-varying static map under a repeatable control environment. At each time instant, the extremum seeking scheme seeks an optimal value in the optimal trajectory. Under some conditions, it is shown that by tuning the controller parameters properly, the output of the system semi-globally practically uniformly converges to an arbitrarily small neighborhood of the optimal trajectory from an arbitrary initial trajectory. It also shows when a weaker assumption is used, the point-wise extremum seeking controller still ensures that the output converges to the neighborhood of the optimal trajectory when the initial trajectory is sufficiently close to the optimal one.
Acarbose treatment and the risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension in patients with impaired glucose tolerance: the STOP-NIDDM trial.

CONTEXT The worldwide explosive increase in type 2 diabetes mellitus and its cardiovascular morbidity are becoming major health concerns. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of decreasing postprandial hyperglycemia with acarbose, an alpha-glucosidase inhibitor, on the risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension in patients with impaired glucose tolerance (IGT). DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS International, multicenter double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial, undertaken in hospitals in Canada, Germany, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Israel, and Spain from July 1998 through August 2001. A total of 1429 patients with IGT were randomized with 61 patients (4%) excluded because they did not have IGT or had no postrandomization data, leaving 1368 patients for a modified intent-to-treat analysis. Both men (49%) and women (51%) participated with a mean (SD) age of 54.5 (7.9) years and body mass index of 30.9 (4.2). These patients were followed up for a mean (SD) of 3.3 (1.2) years. INTERVENTION Patients with IGT were randomized to receive either placebo (n = 715) or 100 mg of acarbose 3 times a day (n = 714). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The development of major cardiovascular events (coronary heart disease, cardiovascular death, congestive heart failure, cerebrovascular event, and peripheral vascular disease) and hypertension (> or =140/90 mm Hg). RESULTS Three hundred forty-one patients (24%) discontinued their participation prematurely, 211 in the acarbose-treated group and 130 in the placebo group; these patients were also followed up for outcome parameters. Decreasing postprandial hyperglycemia with acarbose was associated with a 49% relative risk reduction in the development of cardiovascular events (hazard ratio [HR], 0.51; 95% confidence interval [CI]; 0.28-0.95; P =.03) and a 2.5% absolute risk reduction. Among cardiovascular events, the major reduction was in the risk of myocardial infarction (HR, 0.09; 95% CI, 0.01-0.72; P =.02). Acarbose was also associated with a 34% relative risk reduction in the incidence of new cases of hypertension (HR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.49-0.89; P =.006) and a 5.3% absolute risk reduction. Even after adjusting for major risk factors, the reduction in the risk of cardiovascular events (HR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.24-0.90; P =.02) and hypertension (HR, 0.62; 95% CI, 0.45-0.86; P =.004) associated with acarbose treatment was still statistically significant. CONCLUSION This study suggests that treating IGT patients with acarbose is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease and hypertension.
Dynamics and Control for Nonholonomic Mobile Modular Manipulators

The development of a robot requires that it be able to adopt as many configurations as possible using limited modules, so as to allow the construction of new types of robots without redesign and remanufacturing. Traditionally, modular manipulators are mounted on a fixed base whose mobility is constrained. However, with the development of industry and technology, such modular manipulators as mounted on fixed bases can not meet some practical requirements any more. An intelligent and autonomous mobile manipulator, which can fulfil some operations without human interference, has become an active research topic recently since it has many potential applications such as in modern factories for transporting materials, in dangerous fields for dismantling bombs or moving nuclear infected objects, in modern families for doing housework, as well as in the public places for city maintenance. In this chapter, a nonholonomic mobile platform is attached to the modular manipulator in order to increase workspace of the entire robot. Building up the dynamic model for a nonholonomic mobile modular manipulator is a challenging task due to the interactive motions between the modular manipulator and the mobile platform, as well as the nonholonomic constraints of the mobile platform. Also a trajectory following task becomes even more complex and difficult to achieve. Such conventional control strategies as computed-torque control require precise apriori knowledge of the dynamic parameters for the controlled system. However, in practical applications, it is almost impossible to obtain exact dynamic parameters for a mobile modular manipulator because of such uncertainties as complex nonlinear frictions, flexibilities of the joints and links, payload variations, and terrain irregularities. Robust control techniques provide a natural rejection to external disturbances, which are provided by a high-frequency commuted control action that constrains the error trajectories to stay on the sliding surface. Classical sliding mode control law adopts sign functions and the caused chattering may do harm to the robots. Adaptive control technique does not rely on precise apriori knowledge of dynamic parameters and it can suppress such errors as caused by parameter uncertainties by online adjusting dynamic parameters. Furthermore, adaptive control can counteract the negative influence of highfrequency switching caused by robust control because its action has naturally smooth time behaviour.
Stress‐induced cellular adaptive strategies: Ancient evolutionarily conserved programs as new anticancer therapeutic targets

Despite the remarkable achievements of novel targeted anti‐cancer drugs, most therapies only produce remission for a limited time, resistance to treatment, and relapse, often being the ultimate outcome. Drug resistance is due to highly efficient adaptive strategies utilized by cancer cells. Exogenous and endogenous stress stimuli are known to induce first‐line responses, capable of re‐establishing cellular homeostasis and determining cell fate decisions. Cancer cells may also mount second‐line adaptive strategies, such as the mutator response. Hypermutable subpopulations of cells may expand under severe selective stress, thereby accelerating the emergence of adapted clones. As with first‐line protective responses, these strategies appear highly conserved, and are found in yeasts and bacteria. We hypothesize that evolutionarily conserved programs rheostatically regulate mutability in fluctuating environments, and contribute to drug resistance in cancer cells. Elucidating the conserved genetic and molecular mechanisms may present novel opportunities to increase the effectiveness of cancer therapies.
The consequences of poaching and anthropogenic change for forest elephants

Poaching has devastated forest elephant populations (Loxodonta cyclotis), and their habitat is dramatically changing. The long‐term effects of poaching and other anthropogenic threats have been well studied in savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana), but the impacts of these changes for Central Africa's forest elephants have not been discussed. We examined potential repercussions of these threats and the related consequences for forest elephants in Central Africa by summarizing the lessons learned from savannah elephants and small forest elephant populations in West Africa. Forest elephant social organization is less known than the social organization of savannah elephants, but the close evolutionary history of these species suggests that they will respond to anthropogenic threats in broadly similar ways. The loss of older, experienced individuals in an elephant population disrupts ecological, social, and population parameters. Severe reduction of elephant abundance within Central Africa's forests can alter plant communities and ecosystem functions. Poaching, habitat alterations, and human population increase are probably compressing forest elephants into protected areas and increasing human–elephant conflict, which negatively affects their conservation. We encourage conservationists to look beyond documenting forest elephant population decline and address the causes of these declines when developing conversation strategies. We suggest assessing the effectiveness of the existing protected‐area networks for landscape connectivity in light of current industrial and infrastructure development. Longitudinal assessments of the effects of landscape changes on forest elephant sociality and behavior are also needed. Finally, lessons learned from West African elephant population loss and habitat fragmentation should be used to inform strategies for land‐use planning and managing human–elephant interactions.
DBF: A general framework for anomaly detection in RFID systems

RFID technologies are making their way into numerous applications, including inventory management, supply chain, product tracking, transportation, logistics, etc. One important application is to automatically detect anomalies in RFID systems, such as missing tags, unknown tags, or cloned tags due to theft, management error, or targeted attacks. Existing solutions are all designed to detect a certain type of RFID anomalies, but lack a general functionality for detecting different types of anomalies. This paper attempts to propose a general framework for anomaly detection in RFID systems, thereby reducing the complexity for readers and tags to implement different anomaly-detection protocols. We introduce a new concept of differential Bloom filter (DBF), which turns physical-layer signal data into a segmented Bloom filter that encodes the IDs of abnormal tags. As a case study, we propose a protocol that builds DBF for identifying all missing tags in an efficient way. We implement a prototype for missing-tag identification using USRP and WISP tags to verify the effectiveness our protocol, and use large-scale simulations for performance evaluation. The results show that our solution can significantly improve time efficiency, when comparing with the best existing work.
Analysis of Erythemal UVB Dose Received Inside a Car in Valencia, Spain

Continuous exposures to ultraviolet radiation can lead to harmful effects on human skin. Professional drivers may spend more than 8 h per day inside a vehicle. This study describes an analysis of the UVER (erythemal ultraviolet radiation) received by a driver and passenger inside a vehicle. A three‐door Peugeot 206 was used for the study. VioSpor Blue Line dosimeters (with a response profile close to that of human skin) were used to measure the erythematic dose of UV radiation (able to produce erythema on human skin). Four dosimeters were placed in the driver's position and another four in the passenger's position. Daily irradiance was analyzed for a day in April using PMA radiometers. The measurements were obtained on relatively clear days from February to December 2009 between 9:30 A.M. and 3 P.M. Additionally, a prediction was made of the time required to produce an erythema on the driver's skin. UVER exposure, in some of the driver's positions, exceeds the Exposure Limits given by the International Commission on Non‐Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP). Skin protection measures should be taken into account by professional drivers to prevent the harmful effects of UVER radiation.
The role of biology in the formation, stabilization and degradation of soil structure

Oades, J.M. , 1993. The role of biology in the formation, stabilization and degradation of soil structure. In: L. Brussaard and M.J. Kooistra (Editors), Int. Workshop on Methods of Research on Soil Structure/Soil Biota Interrelationships. Geoderma, 56: 377-400. Soil structure is defined as the arrangement of particles and associated pores in soils across the size range from nanometres to centimetres. Biologic influences can be demonstrated in the formation and stabilization of aggregates but it is necessary to distinguish clearly between those forces or agencies which create aggregations of particles and those which stabilize or degrade such aggregations. The formation of soil structure involves the physical forces of shrinking and swelling created by changes in water status of soils, freezing and thawing, tillage, or by movement of the larger biota in soils. Expansive properties of soils are controlled by the clay content. Thus changes of structural organisation are minimal in sands and maximal in clays. Plant roots, earthworms and other macrofauna large enough to move soil particles create pores recognisable by cylindrical shapes and smooth curved surfaces. Various visual and microscopic techniques aided by dyes are available to demonstrate the extent ofbiovoids in soils. Biology plays a major role in stabilization of soil structure. The major factors vary depending on the scale of soil structure. At larger scales plant roots and associated hyphae can be seen to enmesh soil particles by acting as a "sticky string bag": At the microscale the influence of mucilages from roots, hyphae, bacteria and fauna such as earthworms can be shown by a range of microscopic techniques to be involved in stabilizing smaller aggregates and the linings of biopores. Techniques include optical and fluorescence microscopy, scanning electron microscopy including EDAX, transmission electron microscopy using heavy metals or other electron dense staining techniques for specific chemical compounds, and computer aided tomography. The microscopic techniques can be used on individual aggregates, stabilized soils, sections or separates of soils. Both microflora and fauna are involved in the degradation of stabilizing agents. Fauna may comminute roots and hyphae which stabilized larger aggregates and microorganisms utilize mucilaginous stabilizing agents as an energy source resulting in a slow breakdown of structural stability. Such effects can be established by combinations of studies of aggregation including microscopy. Further destruction of structure is caused by tillage and compaction by vehicles and animals.