Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of workers' compensation on the diagnosis and surgical treatment of patients with hand and wrist disorders.

BACKGROUND Workers' Compensation differs from standard insurance, and it is unclear how or if Workers' Compensation insurance influences the diagnosis and treatment of hand and wrist disorders. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnosis and course of treatment of hand disorders between patients with Workers' Compensation insurance and patients with standard insurance. METHODS The complete medical records of patients who visited an academic orthopaedic hand clinic between January 2005 and January 2007 were reviewed, and information on patient history, utilization of diagnostic tests, diagnosis, surgery, and wait-time to surgery was collected. Patients with Workers' Compensation insurance and those with other, third-party coverage were analyzed and compared. Patients without insurance were excluded from this study. RESULTS 1413 patients (representing 2121 diagnoses) were included in the study. One hundred and sixteen patients (8%) had Workers' Compensation insurance and 1297 patients (92%) had standard insurance. Patients with Workers' Compensation insurance were younger than patients with standard insurance (mean age, forty-three years compared with fifty years, respectively; p < 0.05) and were also more likely to be male (50% compared with 40%, respectively; p = 0.04). Generally, Workers' Compensation patients more often had neurological conditions (p < 0.01), but there was no significant difference in the most common diagnoses between the two groups. Patients with Workers' Compensation underwent surgery slightly more often than did patients with standard insurance (44% compared with 35%, respectively; p = 0.07) and had a higher average number of visits before undergoing surgery (2.3 visits compared with 1.2 visits, respectively; p < 0.05). Twenty-three (45%) of the fifty-one patients with Workers' Compensation insurance who received a diagnosis indicating the need for surgery underwent surgery after the first visit, compared with 316 (69%) of 458 patients with standard insurance (p < 0.05). Patients with Workers' Compensation insurance were more likely than patients with standard insurance to undergo electrodiagnostic testing (26% compared with 15%, respectively; p < 0.01) or magnetic resonance imaging (16% compared with 9%, respectively; p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Compared with patients receiving standard insurance, patients receiving Workers' Compensation insurance have a greater number of clinic visits before undergoing surgery and receive more diagnostic testing. More research is needed to explore these differences and their potential clinical and economic consequences.
Quantification of context effects in speech perception: Influence of prosody

Speech recognition requires that the auditory system incorporate both acoustic and contextual cues from the signal for adequate comprehension. A number of contextual effects in speech have been shown to improve recognition ability, among these are intonational/prosodic cues and syntactic and semantic congruency. The relationship between the processing of prosodic cues and the processing of syntactic and semantic information, however, is uncertain. The present investigation mathematically quantified the contribution of linguistic factors to speech perception, with an emphasis on relating how prosody affects the processing of syntactic and semantic information. Subjects listened to and repeated sentences having normal and abnormal prosodic contours, which contained three levels of syntactic and semantic constraint. Results revealed that prosody does affect listeners' ability to utilize syntactic and semantic information, suggesting that the presence of prosody serves to alter how an individual utilizes cont.
SPLicing TABASCO: Custom-Tailored Software Product Line Variants from Taxonomy-Based Toolkits

Taxonomy-Based Software Construction (TABASCO) applies extensive domain analyses to create conceptual hierarchies of algorithmic domains. Those are used as basis for the implementation of software toolkits. The monolithic structure of TABASCO-based toolkits restricts their adoption on resource-constrained or special-purpose devices. In this paper, we address this problem by applying Software Product Line (SPL) techniques to TABASCO-based toolkits: We use software taxonomies as input to creating a conceptual representation of variability as feature models of an SPL. We apply the variability realization mechanism delta modeling to transform realization artifacts, such as source code, to only contain elements for a particular selection of features. Our method is suitable for proactive, reactive and extractive SPL development so that it supports a seamless adoption and evolution of an SPL approach for TABASCO-based toolkits. We demonstrate the feasibility of the method with three case studies by proactively, reactively and extractively transforming TABASCO-based toolkits to SPLs, which allow derivation of variants with custom-tailored functionality.
Designing Deep Learning Architecture for Latent Fingerprint Matching

Image recognition using partial information is one of the significant problems in current computer vision research. Computer vision has an important role in medical, robotics, economics, and crime-related subjects. Complete fingerprint or face is usually not available at a crime scene or camera image. The full image or partial image of crime is common in most of the crime data. The crime branch identifies the related match of criminal’s data with the help of collected image or partial image data. In this research, we introduce the fingerprint background, classification, and deep learning artificial neural network model to identify the closest match image (fingerprint) for a given partial image (latent fingerprint) data.
Behavioral and Emotional Problems Among Italian Children and Adolescents Aged 4 to 18 Years as Reported by Parents and Teachers

The aims of this study were the Italian standardization of the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL/4-18) and the Teacher's Report Form (TRF), the analysis of the internal consistency of the two instruments, and the evaluation of the agreement between parents' and teachers' ratings. A group of 1423 parents and 1464 teachers of children and adolescents aged 4 to 18 years, from three different provinces of Northern Italy, were randomly recruited. Boys scored higher than girls on the Externalizing scales on both CBCL and TRF, while there were no significant differences between the two sexes on the Internalizing scales. In general, internalizing problems increased with age, whereas externalizing behaviors decreased, mainly through a reduction of aggressive problems in older subjects. For most scales, low socioeconomic status was associated with high problem scores. Most scales of the CBCL and the TRF showed a satisfactory internal consistency, with higher α coefficients for overt behaviors. A low - to - moderate pa.
The effect of exposure to community violence on levels of aggression: Evidence from a sample of Jamaican children

Scholars agree that aggression among children can lead to a host of delinquency issues that can last into adulthood. Research has found that exposure to violence is one of the strongest predictors of aggressive behaviour and the use of violence. Utilizing a mix of qualitative and quantitative methodologies, the article seeks to determine the effect of exposure to community violence on levels of aggression among children in Kingston, Jamaica. Using data obtained from a sample of preparatory and primary school children, the article finds that unlike studies done in larger countries, there was no significant difference in aggression among the children. With levels of aggression similar across the sample, the article argues that the widespread nature of violence in Kingston means that no one is immune to the effects. Exposure occurs in a number of ways and the direct witnessing of community violence is only one of a variety of risk factors for increased aggression.
Customized Acoustic Transform Functions and Their Accuracy at Predicting Real‐Ear Hearing Aid Performance

Objective: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the validity of predicting the real‐ear aided response by adding customized acoustic transform functions to the performance of a hearing aid in a 2‐cc coupler. Design: The real‐ear hearing aid response, the realear‐to‐coupler difference (RECD/HA2), and field to behind‐the‐ear microphone transfer functions were measured in both ears of 24 normally hearing subjects using probe‐tube microphone equipment. The RECD/HA2 transform function was obtained using both insert earphones and with the hearing aid/pressure comparison method. An RECD/HA2 transfer function was also obtained with a customized earmold, ER‐3A foam tip, and an oto‐admittance tip. Results: Validity estimates were calculated as the difference between the derived and measured realear response. The derived response was generally within 5 dB of the measured real‐ear response when it incorporated an RECD/HA2 transform function obtained with a customized earmold for the specific ear in question. Discrepancies increased when the RECD/HA2 transfer function was obtained from the same subject but the opposite ear. There were significant differences between the RECD/HA2 transform function obtained with customized and temporary earmolds. As a result, the derived response incorporating these transforms differed significantly from the measured real‐ear response obtained with the customized earmold. The insert earphone and the hearing aid RECD/HA2 transfer function were equally valid. Conclusions: The derived response may be used as a substitute for in situ hearing aid response procedures when it incorporates acoustic transform functions obtained with a customized earmold from the specific ear in question.
How to aid non-experts

Aiding functions may be added to a computer system, so that users with insufficient knowledge can perform their tasks. The aiding should be integrated into the task execution of such users. Empirical knowledge is lacking about the conditions for successful aiding. We evaluated the on-line help system of the statistical software package SPSS/PC. It appears that the addition of help facilities to the system worsens the task performance and learning of novices substantially. In our view, the addition of help is harmful, because communication with the system is more complex as a result, whereas the help hardly provides the task support that novices need. De Greef et al. [5] provide two design principles that result in consistent communication and aiding in correspondence with users' needs: (i) the design of aiding functions is an integrated part of interface design and (ii) aiding is based upon an expert model of the users' task. We evaluated an interface for the statistical program HOMALS, which was designed according to these principles. As a consequence of the addition of aiding functions, non-expert users perform their tasks better and learn more.
Parking lot occupancy determination from lamp-post camera images

In recent years, detection of parking space availability has become of great importance worldwide due to its high correlation with fuel consumption and traffic congestion. We propose a novel framework for the automatic detection of vacant parking spaces from a lamp-post camera view of a parking lot. Our method models the 3-D volume parking spaces based on the parking lot geometry. The occupancy of the parking lot is determined based on a vehicle detector and the inferred volume of each space. We evaluate our method on three different datasets and show that its accuracy is close to 80% on a wide variety of test images.
Oestrogen deficiency in men: where are we today?

The precise role of oestrogen in mammals is poorly understood. Actually, the importance of oestrogen for the normal postnatal female physiology is well known, but uncertainty regarding the mechanisms and sites of action in health and disease within a variety of target tissues both in males and females does exist. Oestrogens exert a wide range of biological effects on a large variety of cell types, for example they regulate cell growth and apoptosis, being major regulators of many physiological functions in the adult, especially those associated with reproduction. Furthermore, oestrogens are involved in the organization and differentiation of the developing organism, notably of the endocrine system, nervous system and peripheral reproductive structures. Remarkably, oestrogen receptors (ERs) were found at very early stages of embryonic development and it seemed obvious that oestrogen insensitivity would be a lethal condition as a consequence of the defective implantation of the blastocyst (1). Indeed, until recently no condition of oestrogen insensitivity had been reported, unlike well-documented inactivating mutations of other members of the steroid/ thyroid/retinoid receptor gene superfamily, such as androgen (2), thyroid hormone (3, 4) and glucocorticoid hormone receptors (5). Thus, the general acceptance that oestrogens are essential for life worked until the beginning of this decade, when sporadic cases of congenital oestrogen deficiency in humans were reported (6–11) and a viable line of mutant mice lacking functional ERs was created (12, 13). Since then, the idea of a pivotal role of oestrogen for survival has begun to look thin in the light of these new findings, which undoubtedly raise many questions in turn. Here we will discuss recent breakthroughs in our understanding of the consequences of congenital oestrogen deficiency, which vary widely within the target tissues, from the skeletal to the reproductive tract. In particular, this review addresses many aspects of congenital oestrogen deficiency in the male, including recent developments in molecular studies and treatment options. Until now, two different conditions have been identified as possible underlying causes of congenital oestrogen deficiency in humans: (a) oestrogen resistance caused by disruptive mutations of the ER gene (11); and (b) aromatase deficiency due to mutations of the gene encoding aromatase cytochrome P450 (P450arom) (6–10, 14–17), the enzyme responsible for aromatization of the A ring of androgens to form the A ring characteristic of oestrogens. Whatever the mechanism, all the tissueand organ-specific physiological responses triggered by oestrogens are lacking.
The Internet - A New Source of Data on Suicide, Depression and Anxiety: A Preliminary Study

On the world wide web, self-help newsgroups of suicidal, depressive and anxious people were investigated in a 3-month period. After analyzing the content of the letters (966 letters collected, 222 analyzed) and comparing the suicide ideator group with all other groups, the author tried to find characteristic differences among them and to understand the underlying psychological mechanisms better. The modified version of the Weintraub technique was used in the content analysis. The negatives and dichotomous structures were found to be the strongest differentiating verbal categories among the groups in both sexes, which may reflect the important role of denial and dichotomous thinking among suicidal people. Helpers have to find new ways to approach this Internet-user high risk population.
MUSCULAR COORDINATION EXPERIMENTALLY STUDIED IN ITS RELATION TO THE CEREBELLUM

Muscular coordination, especially in its bearing on vertebrate motion, has provided a rich field for speculation and research. It continues to invite extensive investigation, because its salient problem is still unsolved. This problem may be concisely stated in the following question: How do the skeletal muscles cooperate to produce smooth and effective motion? The main emphasis in this question should fall on the manner as well as on the mechanism of this muscular cooperation, i. e. , how the great masses of muscles in the body carry on their complex contractile function without confusion in interaction. If for no other reason, this problem is of importance because of its clinical signficance. A number of motor disturbances which develop in the course of disease are due to disharmonies in muscular interaction. Frequently ataxia and asynergia are preeminently the result of pathologic changes which affect the correlating portions of the nervous system responsible
Decisional Processes with Boolean Neural Network: the Emergence of Mental Schemes

Human decisional processes result from the employment of selected quantities of relevant information, generally synthesized from environmental incoming data and stored memories. Their main goal is the production of an appropriate and adaptive response to a cognitive or behavioral task. Different strategies of response production can be adopted, among which haphazard trials, formation of mental schemes and heuristics. In this paper, we propose a model of Boolean neural network that incorporates these strategies by recurring to global optimization strategies during the learning session. The model characterizes as well the passage from an unstructured/chaotic attractor neural network typical of data-driven processes to a faster one, forward-only and representative of schema-driven processes. Moreover, a simplified version of the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is introduced in order to test the model. Our results match with experimental data and point out some relevant knowledge coming from psychological domain.
Structured Duplicate Detection in External-Memory Graph Search

We consider how to use external memory, such as disk storage, to improve the scalability of heuristic search in state-space graphs. To limit the number of slow disk I/O operations, we develop a new approach to duplicate detection in graph search that localizes memory references by partitioning the search graph based on an abstraction of the state space, and expanding the frontier nodes of the graph in an order that respects this partition. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach both analytically and empirically.
Post‐welfarism and the reconstruction of teachers’ work in the UK

A key rationale for the UK education reforms of the 1980s and 1990s was a desire on the part of agents within the state to control more directly the work of teachers. In a variety of ways, the reforms were designed to contribute to a reconstruction of the work of teaching. The first part of this paper considers the roots of this intended reconstruction. The second part explores the impact of the reforms on the culture of teachers’ work, focusing on three kinds of consequences ‐ emotional, social and pedagogical. The paper draws on loosely‐structured interviews with secondary school teachers, carried out as part of a study of the culture and values of schooling in the light of the shift from wel‐farist to post‐welfarist policies in education.
Squeezing via feedback.

We present the quantum theory of optical cavity feedback mediated by homodyne detection, with an arbitrary time delay. We apply this theory to a system with nonclassical dynamics, a sub-Poissonian pumped laser. By using the feedback to phase lock the laser it is possible to produce output light which exhibits perfect quadrature squeezing on resonance, rather than just sub-Poissonian intensity statistics. However, we also show that feedback mediated by homodyne detection (or any other extracavity measurement) cannot produce nonclassical light unless the cavity dynamics can do so without feedback. Furthermore, in systems which already exhibit squeezing, such feedback can only degrade the squeezing in the output. With feedback mediated by an intracavity measurement, these theorems do not apply. We show that an (admittedly unrealistic) intracavity quantum nondemolition quadrature measurement allows arbitrary squeezing to be produced by controlling the amplitude of a coherent driving field.
In‐channel atom‐transfer radical polymerization of thermoset polyester microfluidic devices for bioanalytical applications

A new technique for polymer microchannel surface modification, called in‐channel atom‐transfer radical polymerization, has been developed and applied in the surface derivatization of thermoset polyester (TPE) microdevices with poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG). X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, electroosmotic flow (EOF), and contact angle measurements indicate that PEG has been grafted on the TPE surface. Moreover, PEG‐modified microchannels have much lower and more pH‐stable EOF, more hydrophilic surfaces and reduced nonspecific protein adsorption. Capillary electrophoresis separation of amino acid and peptide mixtures in these PEG‐modified TPE microchips had good reproducibility. Phosducin‐like protein and phosphorylated phosducin‐like protein were also separated to measure the phosphorylation efficiency. Our results indicate that PEG‐grafted TPE microchips have broad potential application in biomolecular analysis.
A gossip or a good yack? Reconceptualizing parent support in New Zealand early childhood centre based programmes 1

Parental support has been an increasingly essential part of New Zealand early childhood (EC) education services over the last 20 years. This support has taken many shapes and forms over this time period, and has depended on the differing philosophies of the EC education services. What this support ‘looks like’ and how it is delivered is directly connected to the goals and aims of these services. This paper will discuss the results from a small qualitative study that looked at how three New Zealand EC centres—two kindergartens and one child care centre—supported family resilience; that is, the ability of an individual and family to ‘cope’ with and ‘recover’ from significant adversity or stress, in ways that are not only effective but may result in increased ability to ‘respond’ to and ‘protect’ their families from future adversity. From semi‐structured interviews with teachers, parents, and family support services associated with each of the three centres, the concept of planned parent education programmes, as meaningful support, is re‐examined in the light of the ideas of a ‘gossip’ or a ‘good yack’. This research was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Social Development.
Engineering Approaches Toward Biological Information Integration at the Systems Level

Our understanding of biological systems has improved dramatically due to decades of exploration. This process has been accelerated even further during the past ten years, mainly due to the genome projects, new technologies such as microarray, and developments in proteomics. These advances have generated huge amounts of data describing biological systems from different aspects. Still, integrating this knowledge to reconstruct a biological system in silico has been a significant challenge for biologists, computer scientists, engineers, mathematicians and statisticians. Engineering approaches toward integrating biological information can provide many advantages and capture both the static and dynamic information of a biological system. Methodologies, documentation and project management from the engineering field can be applied. This paper discusses the process, knowledge representation and project management involved in engineering approaches used for biological information integration, mainly using software engineering as an example. Developing efficient courses to educate students to meet the demands of this interdisciplinary approach will also