Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling the Chronic Loss of Optic Nerve Axons and the Effects on the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Structure in Primary Disorder of Myelin

Purpose We determined whether the chronic lack of optic nerve myelination and subsequent axon loss is associated with optical coherence tomography (OCT) changes in the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and whether this models what occurs in multiple sclerosis (MS) and confers its use as a surrogate marker for axon degeneration. Methods Using an animal model of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (shp) bilateral longitudinal measurements of the peripapillary RNFL (spectral-domain OCT), electroretinograms (ERG), and visual evoked potentials (VEP) were performed in affected and control animals from 5 months to 2 years and in individual animals at single time points. Light and electron microscopy of the optic nerve and retina and histomorphometric measurements of the RNFL were compared to OCT data. Results Of the shp animals, 17% had an average reduction of OCT RNFL thickness on the superior retinal quadrant compared to controls (P < 0.05). Electroretinograms showed normal photopic A- and B-waves but flash VEPs were disorganized in shp animals. Morphologically, the shp retinas and optic nerves revealed significant RNFL thinning (P < 0.001) without retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss, decrease total and relative retinal axonal area, and loss of optic nerve axons. There was strong positive correlation between OCT and morphometric RNFL thickness measurements (r = 0.878, P = 0.004). Conclusion The loss of optic nerve axons demonstrated in the shp model resulted in moderate thinning of the RNFL confirmed by OCT and histology. These results indicate that OCT-derived RNFL measurement can be a useful surrogate biomarker of optic nerve axon loss and potentially disease progression in demyelinating diseases.
Development of nanoparticles sizing method based on fluorescence polarization

We suggest a novel nanoparticle sizing method based on fluorescence polarization analysis. Particle size evaluation can be achieved by measuring the rotational diffusion coefficient, which is sensitive to the particle size. We develop a rotational diffusion coefficient measurement system and a fluorescent probe, which is labelled to particle. In order to verify the feasibility of the proposed method, fundamental experiments are performed. We measure the rotational diffusion coefficients of gold nanoparticles, whose diameters are 5 nm, 10 nm and 15 nm, using the developed system. The measured rotational diffusion coefficients decrease with increasing the particle size. It indicates that nanoparticle size, which is below 15 nm, can be measured with at least 5 nm resolution.
Assessing a dysphoric arousal model of acute stress disorder symptoms in a clinical sample of rape and bank robbery victims

Background Since the introduction of Acute Stress Disorder (ASD) into the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) research has focused on the ability of ASD to predict PTSD rather than focusing on addressing ASD's underlying latent structure. The few existing confirmatory factor analytic (CFA) studies of ASD have failed to reach a clear consensus regarding ASD's underlying dimensionality. Although, the discrepancy in the results may be due to varying ASD prevalence rates, it remains possible that the model capturing the latent structure of ASD has not yet been put forward. One such model may be a replication of a new five-factor model of PTSD, which separates the arousal symptom cluster into Dysphoric and Anxious Arousal. Given the pending DSM-5, uncovering ASD's latent structure is more pertinent than ever. Objective Using CFA, four different models of the latent structure of ASD were specified and tested: the proposed DSM-5 model, the DSM-IV model, a three factor model, and a five factor model separating the arousal symptom cluster. Method The analyses were based on a combined sample of rape and bank robbery victims, who all met the diagnostic criteria for ASD (N = 404) using the Acute Stress Disorder Scale. Results The results showed that the five factor model provided the best fit to the data. Conclusions The results of the present study suggest that the dimensionality of ASD may be best characterized as a five factor structure which separates dysphoric and anxious arousal items into two separate factors, akin to recent research on PTSD's latent structure. Thus, the current study adds to the debate about how ASD should be conceptualized in the pending DSM-5.
A new approach to proving local cause bisimulation axiomatically

The local cause bisimulation is the behavior equivalence between processes enriched with local cause information. This paper proposes a full abstraction between observation theories of the local cause S and π-calculus. And based on the full abstraction, a new, alternative approach, which does not depend on auxiliary operators, to proving axiomatically the local cause bisimulation on finite processes of the local cause S is deduced. Although it is not possible to finitely axiomatize the local cause congruence without the help of extra operators.
The Competing Demands of Paid Work and Parent Care

This article investigates the potentially competitive relationship between paid work and parent care provided by daughters and daughters-in-law. In line with the scarcity hypothesis of role theory, four subhypotheses were formulated and tested empirically. In a population-based probability sample of middle-aged women (n = 581), only partial empirical support was found for the scarcity or role conflict hypothesis. It appeared that employment significantly reduces the chances of becoming a caregiver. However, parent care and employment are not conflicting in time as the amount of care provided to parents was not affected by out-of-home employment. Parent care has only a small impact on work decisions, and employed caregivers do not experience more caregiver role strain. It was hypothesized that employed women not yet providing care anticipate a role conflict when a parent becomes frail and needs help. Consequently, a self-selection process takes place whereby the nearest living daughter with the least competing demands is most likely to accept the caregiver role. Once the caregiver role is accepted, both role strain and the time spent on parent care are determined by factors other than employment status or work hours.
Therapie-Evaluation einer stationären Gruppe «Traumabewältigung» innerhalb der psychosomatischen Behandlung und Rehabilitation von Patientinnen mit chronischer PTB

Given the high rates of both traumatic events and of resulting posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) it is imperative to develop and to evaluate efficacious and cost-effective treatment for these individuals. The clinic for behavioral medicine St. Franziska Stift in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, offers group treatment for traumatized inpatients who suffer from chronic PTSD. The group-therapy is based on cognitive processing therapy (CPT) originally developed by Resick and Schnicke (1993). This approach has been modified according to the demands of an inpatient treatment program and is conducted in a manualized approach by trained clinicians. The format and the therapeutic goals of that group are described. The treatment undergoes evaluation at the moment. 55 inpatients have been treated in the group so far. All but one patient have been severely sexually traumatized either in childhood, adulthood or at several stages in life. All patients suffer from PTB and a high comorbidity of mental disorder. The severity of PTB is assessed before, after group treatment and in a 3-month follow up. Dysfunctional beliefs that are affected by traumatization according to CPT are assessed before and after treatment. Results of 52 patients (pre and post assessment) and 42 patients (katamnestic data) are presented. Results indicate that PTSD declines significantly, furthermore dysfunctional beliefs that are targeted in the treatment change to more functional beliefs. Critical issues that occur in the treatment and difficulties in implementing inpatient treatment for multiple assault victims are discussed.
The “what”, “why” and “how” of spirituality in the workplace

While the attention to workplace spirituality is growing, there is debate as to what exactly this term “spirituality” means. There seems to be multiple views of workplace spirituality. It could be argued that there are different definitions for the meaning of “spirituality” due to the very strong personal nature of the word itself. We argue that this multiple view of spirituality is a positive thing for organizations if managers attempt to understand differing spiritual views and also encourage all views within an organization. In this paper, we summarize the different perspectives of spirituality, discuss the benefits of encouraging spirituality within organizations, and examine different perspectives of implementing a spirituality‐based culture within firms.
Clustering web pages to facilitate revisitation on mobile devices

Due to small screens, inaccuracy of input and other limitations of mobile devices, revisitation of Web pages in mobile browsers takes more time than that in desktop browsers. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to facilitate revisitation. We designed AutoWeb, a system that clusters opened Web pages into different topics based on their contents. Users can quickly find a desired opened Web page by narrowing down the searching scope to a group of Web pages that share the same topic. Clustering accuracy is evaluated to be 92.4% and computing resource consumption was proved to be acceptable. A user study was conducted to explore user experience and how much AutoWeb facilitates revisitation. Results showed that AutoWeb could save up a significant time for revisitation and participants rated the system highly.
Context based food image analysis

We are developing a dietary assessment system that records daily food intake through the use of food images. Recognizing food in an image is difficult due to large visual variance with respect to eating or preparation conditions. This task becomes even more challenging when different foods have similar visual appearance. In this paper we propose to incorporate two types of contextual dietary information, food co-occurrence patterns and personalized learning models, in food image analysis to reduce ambiguity in food visual appearance and improve food recognition accuracy. We evaluate our model on 1453 food images acquired by 45 participants in natural eating conditions. The result shows that incorporating contextual dietary information improves the food categorization accuracy by about 10%.
Intérêt, rationalité et culture [A propos d'un récent débat sur la théorie de l'action]

Interesse, Rationalitat und Kultur. Am Beispiel der jungsten Debatte zwischen James Coleman und William H. Sewell, Jr., im American Journal of Sociology wird die Auseinandersetzung nachgezeichnet, in der zwei aufsteigende Stromungen innerhalb des amerikanischen Feldes der Soziologie begriffen sind : rationale Handlungstheorie und historische Kultursoziologie. Denn hinter den beiden Autoren stehen zwei kontrare epistemologische Pole und divergierende Konzeptionen von Handeln und Sozialwissenschaft. Auf der einen Seite hat die Offensive des homo oeconomicus, an der Coleman teilnimmt, einen gunstigen Boden im Wiederaufleben der Mikrosoziologie und -theorie (einschlieslich der Debatte um Mikro- vs. Makrotheorie), der Verbreitung okonomischer Modelle in den Sozialwissenschaften sowie in der Entdeckung des analytischen Marxismus gefun-den. Auf der anderen Seite hat im Gefolge des wissenschaftlichen und politischen Miskredits, in den die Modernisierungstheorie und die funktionalistische Evolutionstheorie in den 60er Jahren geraten sind, die vergleichende und historisch orientierte Soziologie wieder Auftrieb bekommen. Nach Aufweis der Aporien, in die beide Ansatze sich letztlich verstricken, wird gezeigt, das die Theorie des rationalen Handelns in einer unhistorischen und geschlechtslosen Konzeption des Individuums und einer atomistischen Sozialontologie gefangen bleibt und das sie nicht in der Lage war, eindeutige und universelle Rationalitatskriterien zu entwickeln. Ihren Erfolg innerhalb der amerikanischen Wissenschaftsgemeinschaft verdankt sie im wesentlichen ihrer Wahlverwandtschaft mit der herrschenden Anschauung der Sozialordnung als bloikr Aggregation frei getroffener individueller Entscheidungen und ihrer Funktion der Entwirklichung und Beschworung des Gespenstes des kollectiven Ilandelns.
A gaze-based learning analytics model: in-video visual feedback to improve learner's attention in MOOCs

In the context of MOOCs, "With-me-ness" refers to the extent to which the learner succeeds in following the teacher, specifically in terms of looking at the area in the video that the teacher is explaining. In our previous works, we employed eye-tracking methods to quantify learners' With-me-ness and showed that it is positively correlated with their learning gains. In this contribution, we describe a tool that is designed to improve With-me-ness by providing a visual-aid superimposed on the video. The position of the visual-aid is suggested by the teachers' dialogue and deixis, and it is displayed when the learner's With-me-ness is under the average value, which is computed from the other students' gaze behavior. We report on a user-study that examines the effectiveness of the proposed tool. The results show that it significantly improves the learning gain and it significantly increases the extent to which the students follow the teacher. Finally, we demonstrate how With-me-ness can create a complete theoretical framework for conducting gaze-based learning analytics in the context of MOOCs.
Genome duplication, subfunction partitioning, and lineage divergence: Sox9 in stickleback and zebrafish

Teleosts are the most species‐rich group of vertebrates, and a genome duplication (tetraploidization) event in ray‐fin fish appears to have preceded this remarkable explosion of biodiversity. What is the relationship of the ray‐fin genome duplication to the teleost radiation? Genome duplication may have facilitated lineage divergence by partitioning different ancestral gene subfunctions among co‐orthologs of tetrapod genes in different teleost lineages. To test this hypothesis, we investigated gene expression patterns for Sox9 gene duplicates in stickleback and zebrafish, teleosts whose lineages diverged early in Euteleost evolution. Most expression domains appear to have been partitioned between Sox9a and Sox9b before the divergence of stickleback and zebrafish lineages, but some ancestral expression domains were distributed differentially in each lineage. We conclude that some gene subfunctions, as represented by lineage‐specific expression domains, may have assorted differently in separate lineages and that these may have contributed to lineage diversification during teleost evolution. Developmental Dynamics, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Rhinitis as an independent risk factor for adult-onset asthma.

BACKGROUND For many years, the association between asthma and rhinitis has primarily been attributed to a common allergic background. Recently, it has been suggested that asthma and rhinitis are associated in the absence of atopy. The nature of this association is not well known. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study, which was performed in a large, longitudinal community population, was to determine the extent to which rhinitis is an independent risk factor for adult-onset asthma. METHODS We carried out a nested case-control study from the longitudinal cohort of the Tucson Epidemiologic Study of Obstructive Lung Diseases. One hundred seventy-three incident patients with physician-confirmed asthma were compared with 2177 subjects who reported no asthma or shortness of breath with wheezing. Potential risk factors, including the presence of rhinitis, were assessed before the onset of asthma (patients) or before the last completed survey (control subjects). RESULTS Rhinitis was a significant risk factor for asthma (crude odds ratio, 4.13; 95% confidence interval, 2.88-5.92). After adjustment for years of follow-up, age, sex, atopic status, smoking status, and presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the magnitude of the association was reduced but still highly significant (adjusted odds ratio, 3.21; 95% confidence interval, 2.19-4.71). After stratification, rhinitis increased the risk of development of asthma by about 3 times both among atopic and nonatopic patients and by more than 5 times among patients in the highest IgE tertile. Patients with rhinitis with persistent and severe nasal symptoms and a personal history of physician-confirmed sinusitis had an additional increased risk of asthma development. CONCLUSION We conclude that rhinitis is a significant risk factor for adult-onset asthma in both atopic and nonatopic subjects. The nature of the association between rhinitis and asthma is open to interpretation.
The Sex Composition of Selective Colleges and Gender Differences in Career Aspirations.

In the past decade a substantial number of selective residential single-sex colleges including such male bastions as Amherst, Dartmouth, Princeton, Williams, Yale, and the service academies and such female sanctuaries as Bennington, Sarah Lawrence, and Vassar have converted to coeducation. During the same interval Bryn Mawr, Mount Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Washington and Lee, and Wabash reaffirmed their traditional admissions policies or introduced relatively minor departures from their established practices.1 The decision by these and similar colleges to endorse or forsake the status quo usually reflected an institutional choice between rival strategies rather than competing ideologies, for all in varying measure shared egalitarian approaches to conventional social prescriptions governing sex-appropriate behavior, particularly in the occupational domain. American males and females have been traditionally subject to so-
On Electron Attachment and Detachment Processes in Dry Air at Low and Moderate Constant Electric Field

Results of theoretical research on ionization of dry air at different low and moderate values of constant electric field are described. Ionization processes at subthreshold, near-threshold, and suprathreshold values of electric field have been considered. Special attention to the processes of electron attachment to oxygen molecules and electron detachment from negative ions has been paid. New data on the detachment of electrons from oxygen molecular negative ions are taken into account. Plasma ionization during thermal instability has been considered.
Peromyscus populations and their Cuterebra parasites display congruent phylogeographical structure

The relationships between populations of the Deer Mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) and the White-footed Mouse (P. leucopus) and their respective Cuterebra parasites were examined. Population genetic structure of hosts and parasites was inferred using cytochrome oxidase mitochondrial sequences of specimens from 7 populations. Genetic analyses revealed that isolation-by-distance applies for P. maniculatus and its associated parasite (C. grisea). A significant correlation was also observed between the genetic distances of these host and parasite species. Furthermore, populations of P. maniculatus and C. grisea from the North and South shores of the St Lawrence River were found to be significantly different. This structure may be explained by the St Lawrence River being a dispersal barrier for both species. A robust analysis of the other species pair (P. leucopus and C. fontinella) could not be performed because of limited sample sizes.
Age-Friendliness and Life Satisfaction of Young-Old and Old-Old in Hong Kong

Age-friendliness, promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to enable and support individuals in different aspects of life for fostering life satisfaction and personal well-being as they age. We identified specific aspect(s) of age-friendliness associated with life satisfaction and examined similarities and differences in age-friendliness and life satisfaction in young-old and old-old adults. Six hundred and eighty-two ageing adults were asked to complete a survey questionnaire consisting of the Age-friendly City Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and sociodemographic variables. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to examine the effects of various domains of age-friendliness on life satisfaction among the young-old adults (aged 65 to 74, n = 351) and the old-old adults (aged 75 to 97, n = 331). Common domains associated with life satisfaction in both young-old and old-old groups were transportation and social participation. Community and health services were associated with life satisfaction for the young-old group only. On the other hand, civic participation and employment was significantly associated with the old-old group only. Social participation is important for the young-old and the old-old. Ageing older adults can be a resource to the society. Implications for promoting and implementing age-friendliness were discussed in the context of successful and productive ageing and the need for a more refined taxonomy of social activities.
Lysis of dengue virus-infected cells by natural cell-mediated cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from humans without antibodies to dengue 2 virus lysed dengue 2 virus-infected Raji cells to a significantly greater degree than uninfected Raji cells. The addition of mouse anti-dengue antibody increased the lysis of dengue-infected Raji cells by PBMC. Dengue 2 immune human sera also increased lysis of dengue-infected Raji cells by PBMC. These results indicate that both PBMC-mediated cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) can cause significant lysis of dengue-infected Raji cells. The lysis of infected Raji cells in the ADCC assay correlated with the dilution of dengue-specific antibody which was added, indicating the dengue virus specificity of the lysis of dengue virus-infected Raji cells. Alpha interferon (IFN alpha) was detected in the culture supernatant of PBMC and dengue-infected Raji cells. However, enhanced lysis of dengue-infected Raji cells by PBMC may not be due to the IFN produced, because neutralization of all IFN activity with anti-IFN alpha antibody did not decrease the lysis of dengue-infected cells, and effector cells pretreated with exogenous IFN alpha also lysed dengue-infected cells to a greater degree than uninfected cells. The effector cells responsible for lysis of dengue virus-infected Raji cells in the natural killer and ADCC assays were analyzed. Nonadherent PBMC caused more lysis than did adherent cells. Characterization of nonadherent cells with monoclonal antibodies showed that the predominant responsible effector cells were contained in OKM1+ and OKT3- fraction in the natural killer and ADCC assays.