Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cyberbullying: Predicting Victimisation and Perpetration

The double-edged nature of modern technology, continuously balancing between risks and opportunities, manifests itself clearly in an emerging societal problem known as cyberbullying. To analyse the extent and nature of the issue in Belgium, 1318 adolescents were questioned explicitly about their involvement in cyberbullying, as well as implicitly about their experience with specific types of cyberbullying-related behaviour. This alternate questioning revealed higher victimisation and perpetration rates. The study also provides better insight into predictors associated with victimisation or perpetration in cyberbullying. Especially past involvement in cyberbullying and engaging in online risk behaviour increase the likelihood of victimisation; non-rejection of cyberbullying and online identity experimentation augment the likelihood of perpetration. Girls are more likely to become victims of cyberbullying, whereas boys are more inclined to engage in electronic bullying. Moreover, the incidence of cyberbullying increases slightly with age. Finally, teens spending much time on the Internet, reporting higher ICT expertise and owning a computer with privileged online access share an increased likelihood of online bullying behaviour. � 2009 The Author(s). Children & Society � 2009 National Children’s Bureau and Blackwell Publishing Limited.
Huffman tree based metric derivation for a low-complexity sequential soft VLC decoding

This paper considers VLC decoding algorithms based on MAP sequence estimation techniques, using residual source redundancy to provide channel error correction. These algorithms rely on soft values available at the entrance of the VLC decoder. We present a new soft VLC decoding algorithm based on a sequential decoding technique that is very efficient in terms of decoding complexity. The application of the considered soft decoding algorithms to practical decoding of MPEG-4 texture information packets under the assumption of an unequal protection scheme is investigated. The algorithm performance is evaluated on the well-known "Foreman" video sequence. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm provides approximately the same performance as all existing soft decoding algorithms while exhibiting a significantly lower complexity.
Switching Human Telomerase On and Off with hPOT1 Protein in Vitro*

POT1 (protection of telomeres 1) protein binds the G-rich single-stranded telomeric DNA at the ends of chromosomes. In human cells hPOT1 is involved in telomere length regulation, but the mechanism of this regulation remains unknown. Examination of the high-resolution crystal structure of the hPOT1-TTAGGGTTAG complex suggested that it would not be extended by telomerase, a hypothesis that we confirm by in vitro assays with recombinant telomerase. On the other hand, when hPOT1 is bound at a position one telomeric repeat before the 3′-end, leaving an 8-nucleotide 3′-tail, the complex is extended with improved activity and processivity. Thus, depending on its location relative to the DNA 3′-end, hPOT1 can either inhibit telomerase action or form a preferred substrate for telomerase. We propose that another factor catalyzes the interconversion of these states in vivo.
Behavioral Versus Pharmacological Treatments of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

The goal of the study was to provide a quantitative analysis of the relative efficacy of all five currently available serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) and behavior therapy [exposure and response prevention (ERP)] for obsessive compulsive disorder. The relationship between effect size and methodological characteristics was also empirically examined. A search was conducted of several computerized databases covering the dates from 1973 to 1997. Seventy-seven studies were identified, yielding 106 treatment comparisons involving 4,641 patients. Effect sizes were analyzed between individual interventions and between intervention class [SRI, ERP or the combined treatment of an SRI with ERP (ERP/SRI)]. Data were analyzed both before and after controlling for methodological variables. The effect size for clomipramine (CMI) was significantly greater than the other SRIs, with the exception of fluoxetine (FLX). CMI was not significantly greater than ERP or ERP/SRI. As a class, ERP was significantly greater than S.
Expression of tissue factor pathway inhibitor by cultured endothelial cells in response to inflammatory mediators.

We recently proposed that endothelium may represent the primary physiologic site of synthesis of the tissue factor pathway inhibitor (TFPI). In support of this conclusion, we have now found that the poly(A)+ RNAs obtained from rabbit and bovine lung tissues contain abundant amounts of TFPI messenger RNAs (mRNAs), whereas the poly(A)+ RNAs obtained from the liver of these animals contain less than 5% of that found in the lung tissues. Because inflammatory mediators are known to upregulate tissue factor (TF) expression by the endothelium, we have examined the effect of these agents on the TFPI expression by the cultured endothelial cells. When cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells were stimulated (in 10% fetal bovine serum) with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), endotoxin, interleukin-1, or tumor necrosis factor-alpha, the TF mRNA increased approximately 7- to 10-fold within 2 to 4 hours. Unstimulated cells constitutively expressed TFPI mRNA and its levels either did not change or increased slightly (up to 1.5-fold) upon stimulation with these inflammatory agents. TF mRNA abruptly declined to a negligible level and the TFPI mRNA returned essentially to the basal level at approximately 24 hours. The membrane-bound TF clotting activity of induced cells peaked between 4 and 8 hours, and finally declined. The cumulative TFPI activity secreted into the media was either unchanged or slightly higher in the induced cell cultures as compared with that present in the noninduced cultures. Endothelial cells were also cultured in 10% heat-inactivated human serum derived from plasma or whole blood. TFPI secreted into the media containing whole blood serum was consistently higher (approximately 1.5-fold at 8 hours) than that secreted into the media supplemented with serum obtained from plasma lacking the formed elements; these cells also expressed similarly increased levels of TFPI mRNA. Moreover, PMA-stimulated cells cultured in whole blood serum expressed modestly increased levels of TFPI mRNA (approximately 1.5-fold); supernatants from these cells also contained similarly increased TFPI activity. Cumulatively, our data indicate that, unlike thrombomodulin and fibrinolytic enzymes synthesized by the endothelial cells, TFPI synthesis is not downregulated and may be slightly upregulated during an inflammatory response. Inspection of the 5' flanking region of the TFPI gene showed a conserved GATA-binding motif located approximately 400 bp upstream of the proposed transcription initiation site(s). This motif by binding to the GATA-2 transcriptional factor may keep the endothelium in an 'on' state for constitutive expression of TFPI. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
International Conference on Obesity and Weight Loss Cortisol and Folate and their Roles in Alzheimer’s Disease, Diabetes

I previous articles[1-2,4], I studied the role of Cortisol, the “stress hormone”, produced to promote transfusion of sugar to the bloodstream in stressful situations, as the cause for Alzheimer’s Disease, based on the deteriorating effect it has on alpha, beta and gamma secretase, enzymes in charge of the peptide of amyloid beta. [1] I hypothesized that one way to downplay Cortisol secretion is by elevating blood glucose levels in nutrition [1], but this was challenged by Alzheimer’s occurrence in Type2 Diabetes Patients[2]. In this 2nd article I hypothesized that Insulin treatment could be the reason for this malice. This based on the logic that the body could be responding to Insulin infusion the hormone in charge of sugar transfusion from the bloodstream to the body with elevated Cortisol secretion, because it has impact similar to glucagon, the hormone opposite to Insulin. This proved to possibly be true [3]. I also brought evidence that Glucagon having Cortisol like effect thus possibly be making it redundant could be why GLP1 (Glucagon Like Peptide) has been researched with very good results as AD treatment[2] and that diabetics on noninsulin diabetes medications were shown to be having lower AD occurrence. [2]. In the following paper [4] I argued that Diabetes type 2 should not be treated with Insulin or at all, but that Diabetes’ hallmark of sugar in the urine, is the body’s natural way of treating the disease. I concluded the paper by suggesting that medical intervention to diabetes should only be done by advocating Sports or Diet [4]. I later pondered a conclusion that diabetes could be in some ways a behavioral reaction to high Cortisol levels, for the same logic of answering Cortisol secretion with Glucosic nutrition[1] which also proved to possibly have some merit[5]. And when I tried to think what could cure high Cortisol Levels, not by duplication of its role, but by itself, I thought of Folic Acid, for the soothing effect of leaves. [6] and indeed, Several studies show low folate levels and not just high cortisol levels as correlated with Alzheimer’s. [6-10] This, by the way, could also be true for Cushing Syndrome [11] and Schizophrenia [12], where high cortisol levels and low folate levels are evidenced. And could also be true for Diabetics if high Cortisol levels are indeed related to the development of Diabetes [5, 13, 14}
Effects of Periodic and/or a Single Exposure to an Enriched Environment on Neural C-fos Expression in Adolescent Rats

Environmental enrichment of laboratory animals consists of cognitive, social and physical enhancement of the subjects’ life experiences. Enrichment produces improved performance on memory tasks. In the present study, 16 Long-Evans rats (8 male and 8 female) were randomly assigned to one of four experimental groups on postnatal day 34 (n = 4 for each group). Animals were given periodic exposures to the enriched environment through adolescence, an acute expose just before sacrifice, both periodic and acute enrichment, or no enrichment. Rats were sacrificed on post-natal day 77-79, and 72 sagittal sections (50 µm) were taken from each brain, then processed for visualization of the c-fos protein. There were more c-fos positive neurons in the CA1 region, entorhinal cortex and subiculum of rats that received an acute enriching experience only, compared to controls. Additionally, more c-fos positive neurons were observed within these three structures in rats that only received an acute enriching experience compared to rats that received periodic enrichment and acute enrichment. These findings suggest that, in the mammalian brain, diversity of experience during adolescence produces changes in neural circuitry that may foster improved mental acuity in adulthood.
Diet and Exercise Interventions among Overweight and Obese Lactating Women: Randomized Trial of Effects on Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Objective To examine the effects of Diet (D) and Exercise (E) interventions on cardiovascular fitness, waist circumference, blood lipids, glucose metabolism, inflammation markers, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and blood pressure in overweight and obese lactating women. Methods At 10–14 wk postpartum, 68 Swedish women with a self-reported pre-pregnancy BMI of 25–35 kg/m2 were randomized to a 12-wk behavior modification treatment with D, E, both or control using a 2×2 factorial design. The goal of D treatment was to reduce body weight by 0.5 kg/wk, accomplished by decreasing energy intake by 500 kcal/d and monitoring weight loss through self-weighing. The goal of E treatment was to perform 4 45-min walks per wk at 60–70% of max heart-rate using a heart-rate monitor. Effects were measured 12 wk and 1 y after randomization. General Linear Modeling was used to study main and interaction effects adjusted for baseline values of dependent variable. Results There was a significant main effect of the D treatment, decreasing waist circumference (P = 0.001), total cholesterol (P = 0.007), LDL-cholesterol (P = 0.003) and fasting insulin (P = 0.042), at the end of the 12-wk treatment. The decreased waist circumference (P<0.001) and insulin (P = 0.024) was sustained and HDL-cholesterol increased (P = 0.005) at the 1-y follow-up. No effects from the E treatment or any interaction effects were observed. Conclusions Dietary behavior modification that produced sustained weight loss among overweight and obese lactating women also improved risk factors for cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. This intervention may not only reduce weight-related risks with future pregnancies but also long-term risk for metabolic disease. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01343238
Implicit and explicit risk perception, affect, and trust : an investigation of food "traffic lights"

Obesity is a health problem in many developed countries and is a growing problem worldwide. In an effort to improve food choices the "traffic lights" nutritional labelling system has been developed. This system informs consumers of the relative (low, medium, high) levels of fat, saturated fats, sugar, and salt, along with energy information. There is debate over what type of thought processing drives perceptions of affect (or emotion) and risk regarding food products. These are System 1 (quick, intuitive) processing and System 2 (slower, deliberative) processing. In order to capture data on both types of processing, we used explicit and implicit measures (we developed an implicit measure of risk for this study). We also investigated the relationships of risk with affect, and trust. The results showed the presence of food "traffic lights" sometimes influenced both risk and affect perceptions but this was more pronounced for explicit measures. We also found that high risk was associated with negative affect, and low risk with positive affect, with larger effects when the “traffic lights” were present. We concluded that "traffic lights" can influence risk perception at both explicit and implicit levels but the influence was stronger if either the risk information was clear or the person was consciously evaluating the risk. Future research was discussed.
Fast Estimation of Closeness Centrality Ranking

Closeness centrality is one way of measuring how central a node is in the given network. The closeness centrality measure assigns a centrality value to each node based on its accessibility to the whole network. In real life applications, we are mainly interested in ranking nodes based on their centrality values. The classical method to compute the rank of a node first computes the closeness centrality of all nodes and then compares them to get its rank. Its time complexity is O(n•m+n), where n represents total number of nodes, and m represents total number of edges in the network. In the present work, we propose a heuristic method to fast estimate the closeness rank of a node in O(α • m) time complexity, where α = 3. We also propose an extended improved method using uniform sampling technique. This method better estimates the rank and it has the time complexity O(α•m), where α ≈ 10−100. This is an excellent improvement over the classical centrality ranking method. The efficiency of the proposed methods is verified on real world scalefree social networks using absolute and weighted error functions.
South Asian Ethnicity Is Related to the Highest Risk of Vitamin B12 Deficiency in Pregnant Canadian Women

Vitamin B12 (B12) adequacy during pregnancy is crucial for maternal health and optimal fetal development; however, suboptimal B12 status has been reported in pregnant Canadian women. Methylmalonic acid (MMA) is a sensitive indicator of B12 status. Since few studies have measured MMA during pregnancy in Canadian women, the objective of this study was to evaluate B12 status in pregnant women living in Metro Vancouver, using both plasma total B12 and MMA. We recruited a convenience sample of 320 pregnant women between 20 and 35 gestational weeks from local healthcare facilities. Plasma total B12 concentrations indicative of deficiency (<148 pmol/L) and suboptimal B12 status (148–220 pmol/L) were found in 18% and 33% of the women, respectively. Normal plasma MMA concentration (<210 nmol/L) was observed in 82% of all women. Gestational age was a strong predictor of plasma total B12 and MMA concentration, and South Asian ethnicity of B-12 deficiency and MMA concentrations. Overall, there was a high discrepancy between the prevalence of B12 inadequacy depending on the biomarker used. Independently, however, South Asian women were at particular risk for B12 deficiency, likely due to lower animal source food intake. Further study of this vulnerable group and performance testing of B12 biomarkers is warranted.
A Humanoid Robot based on Machine Learning with Incorporation of Vision and Speech Recognition

This paper describes the progress in our project “building a humanoid” robot. There are several approaches by groups that experimented with humanoid robots. Basically, they used common algorithms, which have been known for many years, and very well designed mechanics for sophisticated animation. However, this approach uses rather simple mechanics. The focus is on software development for computer vision, speech recognition and machine learning. For years Multi Value Decomposition has been successfully developed for circuit optimization. Showing that these algorithms can also be adapted to machine learning, the goal will be to demonstrate relational decomposition as a new general purpose machine learning method. Finally, we hope to contribute a new way of thinking to the classical learning methods such as Neuronal Networks and Reinforcement Learning.
Materials and applications for large area electronics: solution-based approaches.

2.3. Medical Devices and Sensors 9 2.4. Radio Frequency Applications 10 3. Materials 12 3.1. Organic Electronics Materials 12 3.2. Semiconducting Polymer Design 13 3.3. Poly(3-alkylthiophenes) 14 3.4. Poly(thieno(3,2-b)thiophenes 15 3.5. Benchmark Polymer Semiconductors 15 3.6. High Performance Polymer Semiconductors 15 4. Device Stability 16 4.1. Bias Stress in Organic Transistors 17 4.1. 1. Bias Stress Characterization 17 4.1. 2. Bias Stress Mechanism 18 4.2. Short Channel Effects in Organic Transistors 19 5. Materials Patterning and Integration 20 6. Conclusions 22 7. Acknowledgments 22 8. References 22
Pre‐clinical systematic review

difficulty for even the most resolute to remain current and to readily assimilate topics outside one’s expertise. Narrative scientific reviews are, therefore, invaluable resources and the Journal is pleased to continue to publish these popular and discerning compilations on a regular basis. By nature, and given the compiler’s particular expertise and viewpoint, narrative reviews highlight and interpret subsets of the literature. In contrast, systematic review and meta-analysis are powerful analytical tools typically used to analyze the effects of a drug or treatment, and offer the most objective evidence regarding efficacy. Such reviews are more familiar in the analysis of clinical data, serving to point out voids and weaknesses in current knowledge and helping to shape further trials. By comparison, such reviews of pre-clinical animal data appear only infrequently and yet these could inform the planning and improve the likelihood of success of future clinical trials, and are clearly an integral part of the drug development process. Pre-clinical systematic reviews also identify where there is a need for further ‘basic’ research, preclude unnecessary study replication, and can contribute to both ‘reduction’ and ‘refinement’ in animal experimentation. Hopefully, the systematic reviews of pre-clinical data in this issue exemplify these benefits and will encourage their future submission to the Journal. It was our intent that the subjects be wide-ranging: addressing the use of insulinsensitizing thiazolidinediones in experimental stroke, evaluating whether the re-purposing of histone deacetylase inhibitors represents therapy for acute brain injury in animals, analyzing whether proposed multiple sclerosis therapies have been validated in a pre-clinical model, and determining how well animal models mimic the progressive vascular cognitive impairment observed in humans. As subtext, the reviews highlight the variation in quality of published pre-clinical studies, examine whether critical pieces of data are required to progress to the planning stage of a clinical trial, and include commentary on the appropriateness of the species/age/sex studied and the particular outcome measures selected. We intend that the periodic inclusion of systematic reviews of animal data in future issues of the Journal of Neurochemistry will appeal to the regular readership, and to clinicians, clinical trials specialists, and those involved in drug development. Sean P. Murphy and Anne N. Murphy E-mails: seanm6@u.washington. edu; anmurphy@ucsd.edu JOURNAL OF NEUROCHEMISTRY | 2010 | 115 | 805 doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2010. 06998.x
Molecular factors that determine Curie spin relaxation in dysprosium complexes †

Dysprosium complexes can serve as transverse relaxation (T2) agents for water protons through chemical exchange and the Curie spin relaxation mechanism. Using a pair of matched dysprosium(III) complexes, Dy‐L1 (contains one inner‐sphere water) and Dy‐L2 (no inner‐sphere water), it is shown that the transverse relaxation of bulk water is predominantly an inner‐sphere effect. The kinetics of water exchange at Dy‐L1 were determined by 17O NMR. Proton transverse relaxation by Dy‐L1 at high fields is governed primarily through a large chemical shift difference between free and bound water. Dy‐L1 forms a noncovalent adduct with human serum albumin which dramatically lengthens the rotational correlation time, τR, causing the dipole–dipole component of the Curie spin mechanism to become significant and transverse relaxivity to increase by 3–8 times that of the unbound chelate. These findings aid in the design of new molecular species as efficient r2 agents. Magn Reson Med 46:917–922, 2001. Published 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Análise do PCA Assimétrico para Detecção de Objetos em Imagens

Resumo—Este trabalho investiga o papel da análise de componentes principais e da análise de discriminante na classificação de padrões e expora seus problemas com classes assimétricas e/ou dados de treinamento desbalanceados, descrevendo o PCA assimétrico. Para avaliar o comportamento da abordagem assimétrica, emprega-se a tarefa de detecção de objetos em imagens com duas bases distintas (faces e olhos), comparando o desempenho da técnica em cada uma e verificando em que casos o uso do PCA Assimétrico é vantajoso.
Electrospinning of chitosan solutions in acetic acid with poly(ethylene oxide)

Electrospinning of chitosan solutions with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) in an aqueous solution of 2 wt% acetic acid was studied. The properties of the chitosan/PEO solutions, including conductivity, surface tension and viscosity, were measured. Morphology of the electrospun chitosan/PEO was observed by using scanning electron micrographs. Results showed that the ultrafine fibers could be generated after addition of PEO in 2:1 or 1:1 mass ratios of chitosan to PEO from 4-6 wt% chitosan/PEO solutions at 15 kV voltage, 20 cm capillary-collector distance and flow rate 0.1 ml/h. During electrospinning of the chitosan/PEO solutions, ultrafine fibers with diameters from 80 nm to 180 nm were obtained, while microfibers with visually thicker diameters could be formed as well. Results of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimeter exhibited the larger electrospun microfibers were almost entirely made from PEO, while the electrospun ultrafine fibers mainly contained chitosan.