Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Auditory processing disorders: Itʼs not just kids who have them

It certainly can. As a matter of fact, the first recognized cases of APD were probably adults, even if they weren’t labeled that at the time. Virtually all our sensitivity and specificity data for tests of central auditory function (when available) were obtained from adults with known lesions of the central auditory nervous system (CANS). That’s how we learned which types of patterns on central auditory tests correlate with dysfunction in specific brain regions. Moreover, for decades we’ve been dealing with adults who come to the clinic complaining of decreasing ability to hear or understand speech, especially in noisy environments, yet exhibit completely normal peripheral hearing sensitivity. Even when we scratched our heads and said, “Gee, I don’t know. ” we still knew something wasn’t quite right. However, at the time, audiologists weren’t trained to evaluate the entire hearing system, from ear to brain. Instead, we tended to focus on the peripheral system alone. You’ll find references in the literature to adults with “obscure auditory dysfunction” (OAD), a term that really meant “folks who have distinct auditory symptoms and complaints that don’t show up on our standard audiologic testing. ” We didn’t start identifying the condition in adults as APD until after the term was being applied to children.
Local Self-Government : Yet Another Attempt at Reform

6 English translation © 2004 M.E. Sharpe, Inc., from the Russian text © 2003 “Svobodnaia mysl’-XXI. ” “Mestnoe samoupravlenie: eshche odna popytka reformy,” Svobodnaia mysl’-XXI, 2003, no. 6, pp. 16–28. Nataliia Mikhailovna Velikaia, Candidate of Sociology, is an associate professor (dotsent) at the Russian State Humanities University. Vladimir Vladimirovich Shishkin, Candidate of History, is an associate professor at the Northwest Civil Service Academy in St. Petersburg. Russian Politics and Law, vol. 42, no. 6, November–December 2004, pp. 6–23. © 2004 M.E. Sharpe, Inc. All rights reserved. ISSN 1061–1940/2004 $9.50 + 0.00.
Postoperative dendritic cell vaccine plus activated T-cell transfer improves the survival of patients with invasive hepatocellular carcinoma

The recurrence rate after surgery in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is very high, while prognosis is quite poor. However, there is no standard treatment to prevent recurrence of HCC after a curative operation. In this study, we investigated the clinical utilization of an autologous tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell vaccine plus ex vivo activated T cell transfer (ATVAC) in an adjuvant setting for postoperative HCC as a non-randomized controlled trial. Ninety-four patients with invasive HCC received informed consent information regarding the study, and 42 opted to have the ATVAC after surgery. Their recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were measured after 5 years and compared with those of 52 patients who selected to have the curative operation alone. The median RFS and OS were 24.5 months and 97.7 months in the patients receiving adjuvant ATVAC and 12.6 months and 41.0 months in the group receiving surgery alone (P = 0.011 and 0.029). In the treated group, patients with positive delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) had a better prognosis (RFS P = 0.019, OS P = 0.025). No adverse events of grade 3 or more were observed. A postoperative dendritic cell vaccine plus activated T cell transfer would be a feasible and effective treatment for preventing recurrence in HCC patients and achieving long-term survival especially in DTH positive patients.
Numerical Investigation of Instability of Complex Spatial Structures

Abstract: Consistent Imperfection Mode Method (CIMM) is a widely-used and effective numerical method to study the buckling capacity of spatial structure. CIMM used an “artificial” deformation instead of “artificial” load eccentricity to imitate the initial disturbance/imperfection for calculation of buckling load, and the basic mode obtained from linear buckling analysis could be used to simulate the distribution of imperfection. But in linear buckling analysis of certain complex spatial structures, the basic and first few modes usually reflect the local buckling of certain slim elements, and stability of complex structure depends on none of these local modes. Based on mode energy discrimination criterion, the improved CIMM is introduced. Improved CIMM includes following steps. 1) Normalization of all buckling modes. 2) Summarization of each mode of strain energy. 3) Discrimination of global modes with peak strain energy. 4) Based on first few global modes, CIMM could be used to calculate buckling loads respectively. 5) Choose the smallest buckling load as the buckling capacity of structure.
Serious leisure: the sport of target shooting and leisure satisfaction

Abstract This study is designed to identify the underlying satisfaction dimensions gained through engagement in target shooting as a serious leisure pastime. The instrument design was based on the Leisure Satisfaction Scale. A total of 5502 useable surveys were collected through the Internet and a website related to target shooting and gun ownership. The results revealed eight dimensions: self-actualization, social interaction, location aesthetic, respite, physical benefit, connection and hedonic pleasure, which supplied the primary satisfiers of engaging in target shooting as a serious leisure activity. The demographic profile and dimensions of satisfaction may serve to dispel commonly held stereotypes of shooting hobbyists and those involved in gun ownership. The findings have important implications for leisure researchers and practitioners, to industry, both leisure and firearm related, and the target shooting community at large. This study adds to the literature of both target shooting and serious leisure.
Investment Competence and Advice Seeking

This study evaluates individuals’ abilities to avoid investment mistakes driven by behavioral biases and analyzes the relationship between investment competence and the propensity to seek or rely on professional advice. We use novel survey data collected from a representative sample of Swiss households. We find that–even after controlling for socio-economic and demographic characteristics–investment competence is positively related to demand for financial advice. It appears that investors who are at the highest risk of making investment mistakes are those who are the least likely to seek help from professional advisors. Therefore, supply-side solutions imposed by regulators to protect financial customers may not benefit those who need them most.
Justice-based Service Recovery Expectations: Measurement and Antecedents

This study attempts to empirically test an alternative conceptualization that directly integrates perceived justice within the expectancy-disconfirmation framework. While the model acknowledges injustice as an important psychological motivator of redress seeking after service failures, the study hypothesizes that different components of injustice, namely distributive, procedural, and interactional justice, can be meaningfully integrated within the expectancy-disconfirmation model. It is found that consumers form normative recovery expectations distinctly in terms of distributive justice and procedural/interactional justice. These justice-based recovery expectations are also negatively related to recovery disconfirmation as hypothesized. The study also explored potential antecedents to consumer recovery expectations and found that each of the two justice components draws from distinct antecedents. All three tested antecedents - magnitude of service failure, switching cost, and length of the customer-organization relationship - are found to have either a direct or an interactive effect on expectations of distributive justice and procedural/interactional justice.
RFID Technology Based Attendance Management System

RFID is a nascent technology, deeply rooted by its early developments in using radar 1 as a harbinger of adversary planes during World War II. A plethora of industries have leveraged the benefits of RFID technology for enhancements in sectors like military, sports, security, airline, animal farms, healthcare and other areas. Industry specific key applications of this technology include vehicle tracking, automated inventory management, animal monitoring, secure store checkouts, supply chain management, automatic payment, sport timing technologies, etc. This paper introduces the distinctive components of RFID technology and focuses on its core competencies: scalability and security. It will be then supplemented by a detailed synopsis of an investigation conducted to test the feasibility and practicality of RFID technology.
Code Tracking Algorithms for Mitigating Multipath Effects in Fading Channels for Satellite-Based Positioning

The ever-increasing public interest in location and positioning services has originated a demand for higher performance global navigation satellite systems (GNSSs). In order to achieve this incremental performance, the estimation of line-of-sight (LOS) delay with high accuracy is a prerequisite for all GNSSs. The delay lock loops (DLLs) and their enhanced variants (i.e., feedback code tracking loops) are the structures of choice for the commercial GNSS receivers, but their performance in severe multipath scenarios is still rather limited. In addition, the new satellite positioning system proposals specify the use of a new modulation, the binary offset carrier (BOC) modulation, which triggers a new challenge in the code tracking stage. Therefore, in order to meet this emerging challenge and to improve the accuracy of the delay estimation in severe multipath scenarios, this paper analyzes feedback as well as feedforward code tracking algorithms and proposes the peak tracking (PT) methods, which are combinations of both feedback and feedforward structures and utilize the inherent advantages of both structures. We propose and analyze here two variants of PT algorithm: PT with second-order differentiation (Diff2), and PT with Teager Kaiser (TK) operator, which will be denoted herein as PT(Diff2) and PT(TK), respectively. In addition to the proposal of the PT methods, the authors propose also an improved early-late-slope (IELS) multipath elimination technique which is shown to provide very good mean-time-to-lose-lock (MTLL) performance. An implementation of a noncoherent multipath estimating delay locked loop (MEDLL) structure is also presented. We also incorporate here an extensive review of the existing feedback and feedforward delay estimation algorithms for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) signals in satellite fading channels, by taking into account the impact of binary phase shift keying (BPSK) as well as the newly proposed BOC modulation, more specifically, sine-BOC(1,1) (SinBOC(1,1)), selected for Galileo open service (OS) signal. The state-of-art algorithms are compared, via simulations, with the proposed algorithms. The main focus in the performance comparison of the algorithms is on the closely spaced multipath scenario, since this situation is the most challenging for estimating LOS component with high accuracy in positioning applications.
Against the motion: Lasers are superfluous for the surgical management of benign prostatic hyperplasia in the developing world

Lasers have arrived in a big way for the management of benign prostatic hyperplasia. The most common ones in use are holmium, potassium titanyl phosphate (KTP) and thulium. They remove the prostatic adenoma either by way of enucleation or ablation. Backed by numerous studies that prove their safety, efficacy and durability, lasers score over TURP in several ways. Their use is associated with less blood loss, shorter catheter time and decreased hospital stay. The fluid absorption during laser prostatectomy is negligible and thus makes it safer for use in cardiac patients. Also there is no chance of a transurethral resection syndrome, the incidence of which is approximately 2% with TURP. Due to superior hemostatic capabilities and non interference lasers can be used in patients on anti coagulants, cardiac pacemaker. Another advantage of laser over TURP is its ability to deal with prostates that are larger in size especially holmium laser which has been used to enucleate glands more than 300 g in size thus completely avoiding the need for open prostatectomy. The amount of tissue removed with enucleation is more thus retreatment rates are less than that of TURP. The initial cost of laser is higher but its capability to treat stones, its use in high risk situations, less morbidity, short hospital stay, and durable results make it an attractive option to treat BPH even in the developing world.
Depression and anxiety in people with inflammatory bowel disease

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine whether depression or anxiety co-occurs with ulcerative colitis (UC) or Crohn's disease (CD) more often than expected by chance, and, if so, whether the mental disorders generally precede or follow the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). DESIGN Nested case-control studies using a database of linked hospital record abstracts. SETTING Southern England. MAIN RESULTS Both depression and anxiety preceded UC significantly more often than would be predicted from the control population's experience. The associations were strongest when the mental conditions were diagnosed shortly before UC, although the association between depression and UC was also significant when depression preceded UC by five or more years. Neither depression nor anxiety occurred before CD more often than expected by chance. However, depression and anxiety were significantly more common after CD; the associations were strongest in the year after the initial record of CD. UC was followed by anxiety, but not by depression, more often than expected by chance and, again, the association was strongest within one year of diagnosis with UC. CONCLUSIONS The concentration of risk of depression or anxiety one year or less before diagnosis with UC suggests that the two psychiatric disorders might be a consequence of early symptoms of the as yet undiagnosed gastrointestinal condition. The data are also, however, compatible with the hypothesis that the psychiatric disorders could be aetiological factors in some patients with UC. Most of the excess anxiety or depression diagnosed subsequent to diagnosis of IBD occurs during the year after IBD is diagnosed and the probable explanation is that the mental disorders are sequelae of IBD.
Share2Quit: Web-Based Peer-Driven Referrals for Smoking Cessation

Background Smoking is the number one preventable cause of death in the United States. Effective Web-assisted tobacco interventions are often underutilized and require new and innovative engagement approaches. Web-based peer-driven chain referrals successfully used outside health care have the potential for increasing the reach of Internet interventions. Objective The objective of our study was to describe the protocol for the development and testing of proactive Web-based chain-referral tools for increasing the access to Decide2Quit.org, a Web-assisted tobacco intervention system. Methods We will build and refine proactive chain-referral tools, including email and Facebook referrals. In addition, we will implement respondent-driven sampling (RDS), a controlled chain-referral sampling technique designed to remove inherent biases in chain referrals and obtain a representative sample. We will begin our chain referrals with an initial recruitment of former and current smokers as seeds (initial participants) who will be trained to refer current smokers from their social network using the developed tools. In turn, these newly referred smokers will also be provided the tools to refer other smokers from their social networks. We will model predictors of referral success using sample weights from the RDS to estimate the success of the system in the targeted population. Results This protocol describes the evaluation of proactive Web-based chain-referral tools, which can be used in tobacco interventions to increase the access to hard-to-reach populations, for promoting smoking cessation. Conclusions Share2Quit represents an innovative advancement by capitalizing on naturally occurring technology trends to recruit smokers to Web-assisted tobacco interventions.
Development of neuroauthenticator: Feasibility of an EEG-based authentication

We have been developing a cognitive type of brain- machine interface (BMI) system "Neurocommunicator," an EEG-based communication aid for people with severe motor disabilities. The system analyzes an event-related potential (ERP) to the sequentially flashed pictograms to indicate a desired message, and predicts the user's choice (target) in the brain. In this study, we focused on the individual differences of the waveform of ERP to the target, and we compared the pattern recognition model for the detection of the ERP among many subjects. The results showed that the user's own model was bestfitted to the data, indicating feasibility of an EEG-based authentication system "Neuroauthenticator".
Metric-Based Network Exploration and Multiscale Scatterplot

We describe an exploratory technique based on the direct interaction with a 2D modified scatterplot computed from two different metrics calculated over the elements of a network. The scatterplot is transformed into an image by applying standard image processing techniques resulting into blurring effects. Segmentation of the image allow to easily select patches on the image as a way to extract subnetworks. We were inspired by the work of Wattenberg and Fisher [M. Wattenberg et al. (2003)] showing that the blurring process builds into a multiscale perceptual scheme, making this type of interaction intuitive to the user. We explain how the exploration of the network can be guided by the visual analysis of the blurred scatterplot and by its possible interpretations
Consumption of ultra-processed foods and their impact on the diet of young adults

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the consumption of ultra-processed foods, its associated factors, and its influence on nutrient intake in young adults. METHODS In 2004-2005, the individuals belonging to the Pelotas birth cohort of 1982 were identified for a home interview. A total of 4,297 individuals were interviewed and 4,202 individuals were included in the study (follow-up rate of 77.4%). Diet was assessed using a questionnaire on dietary intake and the percentage of daily caloric intake attributed to ultra-processed foods as well as the intake of macro- and micronutrients were estimated. The association between cohort characteristics and the consumption of ultra-processed foods was assessed using linear regression. Analysis of variance and Pearson’s Chi-square test were used to evaluate the association between the quintiles of the consumption of ultra-processed food, nutrient intake and adequacy of nutrient intake, respectively. RESULTS The consumption of ultra-processed foods corresponded to 51.2% of the total caloric intake. The consumption of ultra-processed foods was higher among women, individuals with higher education, and individuals who were never poor and eutrophic. The increased consumption of ultra-processed foods was positively correlated with the consumption of fat, cholesterol, sodium, iron, calcium, and calories (p < 0.001) and was negatively correlated with the consumption of carbohydrates, protein, and dietary fiber (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS The high consumption of ultra-processed foods and its positive correlation with the intake of sodium, cholesterol, and fats underscores the need to perform interventions aimed at decreasing the intake of this food group.
Self-refreshing memory in artificial neural networks: learning temporal sequences without catastrophic forgetting

While humans forget gradually, highly distributed connectionist networks forget catastrophically: newly learned information often completely erases previously learned information. This is not just implausible cognitively, but disastrous practically. However, it is not easy in connectionist cognitive modelling to keep away from highly distributed neural networks, if only because of their ability to generalize. A realistic and effective system that solves the problem of catastrophic interference in sequential learning of ‘static’ (i.e. non-temporally ordered) patterns has been proposed recently (Robins 1995, Connection Science, 7: 123–146, 1996, Connection Science, 8: 259–275, Ans and Rousset 1997, CR Académie des Sciences Paris, Life Sciences, 320: 989–997, French 1997, Connection Science, 9: 353–379, 1999, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 3: 128–135, Ans and Rousset 2000, Connection Science, 12: 1–19). The basic principle is to learn new external patterns interleaved with internally generated ‘pseudopatterns’ (generated from random activation) that reflect the previously learned information. However, to be credible, this self-refreshing mechanism for static learning has to encompass our human ability to learn serially many temporal sequences of patterns without catastrophic forgetting. Temporal sequence learning is arguably more important than static pattern learning in the real world. In this paper, we develop a dual-network architecture in which self-generated pseudopatterns reflect (non-temporally) all the sequences of temporally ordered items previously learned. Using these pseudopatterns, several self-refreshing mechanisms that eliminate catastrophic forgetting in sequence learning are described and their efficiency is demonstrated through simulations. Finally, an experiment is presented that evidences a close similarity between human and simulated behaviour.
Scalable Embeddings for Kernel Clustering on MapReduce

There is an increasing demand from businesses and industries to make the best use of their data. Clustering is a powerful tool for discovering natural groupings in data. The k-means algorithm is the most commonly-used data clustering method, having gained popularity for its effectiveness on various data sets and ease of implementation on different computing architectures. It assumes, however, that data are available in an attribute-value format, and that each data instance can be represented as a vector in a feature space where the algorithm can be applied. These assumptions are impractical for real data, and they hinder the use of complex data structures in real-world clustering applications. The kernel k-means is an effective method for data clustering which extends the k-means algorithm to work on a similarity matrix over complex data structures. The kernel k-means algorithm is however computationally very complex as it requires the complete data matrix to be calculated and stored. Further, the kernelized nature of the kernel k-means algorithm hinders the parallelization of its computations on modern infrastructures for distributed computing. This thesis defines a family of kernel-based low-dimensional embeddings that allows for scaling kernel k-means on MapReduce via an efficient and unified parallelization strategy. Then, three practical methods for low-dimensional embedding that adhere to our definition of the embedding family are proposed. Combining the proposed parallelization strategy with any of the three embedding methods constitutes a complete scalable and efficient MapReduce algorithm for kernel k-means. The efficiency and the scalability of the presented algorithms are demonstrated analytically and empirically.