Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Integration of Intention and Outcome for Moral Judgment in Frontotemporal Dementia: Brain Structural Signatures

Background: Moral judgment has been proposed to rely on a distributed brain network. This function is impaired in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), a condition involving damage to some regions of this network. However, no studies have investigated moral judgment in bvFTD via structural neuroimaging. Methods: We compared the performance of 21 bvFTD patients and 19 controls on a moral judgment task involving scenarios that discriminate between the contributions of intentions and outcomes. Voxel-based morphometry was used to assess (a) the atrophy pattern in bvFTD patients, (b) associations between gray matter (GM) volume and moral judgments, and (c) structural differences between bvFTD subgroups (patients with relatively preserved moral judgment and patients with severer moral judgment impairments). Results: Patients judged attempted harm as more permissible and accidental harm as less permissible than controls. The groups' performance on accidental harm was associated with GM volume in the precuneus. In controls, it was al- so associated with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). Also, both groups' performance on attempted harm was associated with GM volume in the temporoparietal junction. Patients exhibiting worse performance displayed smaller GM volumes in the precuneus and temporal pole. Conclusions: Results suggest that moral judgment abnormalities in bvFTD are associated with impaired integration of intentions and outcomes, which depends on an extended brain network. In bvFTD, moral judgment seems to critically depend on areas beyond the VMPFC.
Integrating Early Results on Ventral Striatal Gamma Oscillations in the Rat

A vast literature implicates the ventral striatum in the processing of reward-related information and in mediating the impact of such information on behavior. It is characterized by heterogeneity at the local circuit, connectivity, and functional levels. A tool for dissecting this complex structure that has received relatively little attention until recently is the analysis of ventral striatal local field potential oscillations, which are more prominent in the gamma band compared to the dorsal striatum. Here we review recent results on gamma oscillations recorded from freely moving rats. Ventral striatal gamma separates into distinct frequency bands (gamma-50 and gamma-80) with distinct behavioral correlates, relationships to different inputs, and separate populations of phase-locked putative fast-spiking interneurons. Fast switching between gamma-50 and gamma-80 occurs spontaneously but is influenced by reward delivery as well as the application of dopaminergic drugs. These results provide novel insights into ventral striatal processing and highlight the importance of considering fast-timescale dynamics of ventral striatal activity.
Frequency of Bevacizumab and Ranibizumab Injections for Diabetic Macular Edema in Medicare Beneficiaries.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE To describe the frequency and variation of intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin; Genentech, South San Francisco, CA) and ranibizumab (Lucentis; Genentech, South San Francisco, CA) use for diabetic macular edema (DME) in the United States. PATIENTS AND METHODS The authors obtained a 5% sample of Medicare beneficiaries from the Medicare Part B claims files from 2010 to 2013 and identified beneficiaries with DME using the ICD-9-CM code (362.07). Geographic variation was examined by comparing injection frequencies of bevacizumab and ranibizumab across U.S. census divisions using Chi-squared analysis. RESULTS The sample included 5,290 Medicare beneficiaries with DME. Overall, there was greater bevacizumab use (86.4%) compared to ranibizumab use (13.6%). Frequency of bevacizumab use was highest in the Mountain division (92.2%) and lowest in the Mid-Atlantic (76.0%). The total number of bevacizumab and ranibizumab injections for DME varied significantly between U.S. census divisions (P < .0001). CONCLUSION Bevacizumab is used more frequently than ranibizumab for the treatment of DME among Medicare beneficiaries, with significant geographic variation. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2018;49:241-244. ].
Calculating dislocation displacements on the surface of a volume

In this paper we propose a new method for calculating the displacement field produced by an arbitrary dislocation structure on the surface of a finite convex volume. The algorithm is designed for use in 3D nodal based discrete dislocation dynamics codes, when coupling with the finite element method using the superposition principle. Starting from Barnett’s solution for the displacement field generated by a triangular dislocation loop, we outline a method for evaluating the displacement field of an arbitrary dislocation structure. The algorithm can handle both internal and exited segments and does not require storing any history information. The displacement field is evaluated segment wise, in an analogous way to the stress field, allowing for easy parallelisation.
Poly(vinyl Chloride) Photostabilization in the Presence of Schiff Bases Containing a Thiadiazole Moiety

Five Schiff bases containing a thiadiazole moiety have been used as poly(vinyl chloride) photostabilizers at low concentrations. The efficiency of Schiff bases as photostabilizers was investigated using various techniques, for example, the changes in poly(vinyl chloride) infrared spectra, molecular weight, chain scission quantum yield, and surface morphology were monitored upon irradiation with an ultraviolet light. Evidently, all the additives used inhibited poly(vinyl chloride) photodegradation at a significant level. The most efficient Schiff base exhibited a high level of aromaticity and contained a hydroxyl group. It seems possible that such photostabilization could be due to the direct absorption of ultraviolet radiation by the additives. In addition, Schiff bases could act as radical scavengers and proton transfer facilitators to stabilize the polymeric materials.
Behavior-Driven Requirements Traceability via Automated Acceptance Tests

Although information retrieval advances significantly improved automated traceability tools, their accuracy is still far from 100% and therefore they still need human intervention. Furthermore, despite the demonstrated benefits of traceability, many practitioners find the overhead for its creation and maintenance too high. We propose the Behavior Driven Traceability Method (BDT) that takes a different standpoint on automated traceability: we establish ubiquitous traceability between user story requirements and source code by taking advantage of the automated acceptance tests that are created as part of the Behavior Driven Development process.
Synthetic data generation for Indic handwritten text recognition

This paper presents a novel approach to generate synthetic dataset for handwritten word recognition systems. It is difficult to recognize handwritten scripts for which sufficient training data is not readily available or it may be expensive to collect such data. Hence, it becomes hard to train recognition systems owing to lack of proper dataset. To overcome such problems, synthetic data could be used to create or expand the existing training dataset to improve recognition performance. Any available digital data from online newspaper and such sources can be used to generate synthetic data. In this paper, we propose to add distortion/deformation to digital data in such a way that the underlying pattern is preserved, so that the image so produced bears a close similarity to actual handwritten samples. The images thus produced can be used independently to train the system or be combined with natural handwritten data to augment the original dataset and improve the recognition system. We experimented using synthetic data to improve the recognition accuracy of isolated characters and words. The framework is tested on 2 Indic scripts - Devanagari (Hindi) and Bengali (Bangla), for numeral, character and word recognition. We have obtained encouraging results from the experiment. Finally, the experiment with Latin text verifies the utility of the approach.
Performance in the Link between Aggression and Depressive Symptoms : A Longitudinal Examination of Alternative Developmental Pathways By

Background: The failure model posits that peer rejection and poor academic performance may account for the longitudinal association between children’s aggressive behavior and subsequent depressive symptoms. However, the theory is unclear and evidence is mixed regarding the temporal sequence, relative magnitude, and possible interaction of these two mediators. Incorporating the functions of aggressive behavior may shed further light on these developmental pathways given that reactive, but not proactive, aggression is particularly associated with depressive symptoms and poor social and academic functioning. The present study investigated alternative pathways from early reactive aggression to subsequent peer rejection, academic performance, and depressive symptoms. Method: A school sample of children (N = 963; ages 6-12; 49% female) was assessed annually by their primary classroom teachers over three years. Ratings of proactive and reactive aggression, peer rejection, academic performance, and depressive symptoms were collected. Following an accelerated design, path models were estimated to examine peer rejection and academic performance as developmental pathways from aggression subtypes in first grade to depressive symptoms in fifth grade. Developmental cascade sequences, interactions, and gender differences were also examined. Results: Reactive aggression in first grade predicted peer rejection and poor academic performance in third grade, whereas proactive aggression predicted better academic performance. For girls, proactive aggression predicted lower peer rejection, and the path from reactive aggression to peer rejection was stronger than it was for boys. From third to fifth grade, peer rejection predicted subsequent depressive symptoms for boys only. The direct and moderated academic pathways to depressive symptoms were nonsignificant.
On the use of spectro-temporal modulation in assisting adaptive feedback cancellation for hearing aid applications

Acoustic feedback cancellation in modern hearing aids is often performed using adaptive filters, in which the convergence rate has typically to be limited in order to maintain satisfactory steady-state performance. This can lead to slow feedback cancellation upon rapid feedback path changes, e.g., when a phone is moved towards the user's ear. In this work, we introduce a novel method by using spectro-temporal modulation in combination with an adaptive filter. We demonstrate through simulation experiments that when the traditional adaptive filter method has an insufficient convergence rate and thereby fails to cancel feedback upon rapid feedback path changes, the proposed system removes feedback immediately.
Why Psychologists Should Reject Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Science-Based Perspective

Professional psychology is in apparent conflict about its relationship to “complementary” and “alternative” medicine (CAM)—some scholars envision a harmonious partnership, whereas others perceive irreconcilable differences. We propose that the field’s ambivalence stems at least partly from the fact that inquiring psychologists can readily point to peer-reviewed empirical evidence (e.g., published reports of randomized controlled trials) to either substantiate or refute claims for the efficacy of most CAM modalities. Thankfully, recent intellectual developments in the fields of medicine and scientific psychology—developments which we refer to collectively as the science-based perspective—have led to the identification of several principles that may be used to judge the relative validity of conflicting health intervention research findings, including the need to consider (a) the prior scientific plausibility of a treatment’s putative mechanism-of-action; and, commensurately, (b) the degree of equivalence between treatment and control groups—except for the single active element of the treatment believed to cause a specific change, all else between the 2 groups should be identical. To illustrate the potential of this approach to resolve psychology’s CAM controversy, we conducted a rereview of the research cited by Barnett and Shale (2012) regarding the efficacy of 11 types of CAM that psychologists might endorse. Fewer than 15% of the studies we reviewed (N 240) employed research designs capable of ruling out nonspecific effects, and those that did tended to produce negative results. From a science-based perspective, psychologists should reject CAM in principle and practice.
CytoCtrlAnalyser: a Cytoscape app for biomolecular network controllability analysis

Summary Studying the controllability of biomolecular networks can result in profound knowledge about molecular biological systems. However, there is no comprehensive and easy-to-use platform for analyzing controllability of biomolecular networks although various algorithms for analyzing complex network controllability have been proposed recently. In this application note, we develop the CytoCtrlAnalyser which is a Cytoscape app to provide a comprehensive platform for analyzing controllability of biomolecular networks. Nine algorithms have been integrated in CytoCtrlAnalyser. With network topologies and customized control settings imported into CytoCtrlAnalyser, users can identify the steering nodes which should be actuated by input control signals for achieving different control objectives as well as investigate the importance of nodes from different perspectives in the controllability of networks. CytoCtrlAnalyser offers a tool for many promising applications, such as identification of potential drug targets or biologically important nodes in biomolecular networks. Availability and implementation Freely available for downloading at http://apps.cytoscape. org/apps/cytoctrlanalyser. Contact faw341@mail.usask. ca. Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
BDS: a centralized near-optimal overlay network for inter-datacenter data replication

Many important cloud services require replicating massive data from one datacenter (DC) to multiple DCs. While the performance of pair-wise inter-DC data transfers has been much improved, prior solutions are insufficient to optimize bulk-data multicast, as they fail to explore the capability of servers to store-and-forward data, as well as the rich inter-DC overlay paths that exist in geo-distributed DCs. To take advantage of these opportunities, we present BDS, an application-level multicast overlay network for large-scale inter-DC data replication. At the core of BDS is a fully centralized architecture, allowing a central controller to maintain an up-to-date global view of data delivery status of intermediate servers, in order to fully utilize the available overlay paths. To quickly react to network dynamics and workload churns, BDS speeds up the control algorithm by decoupling it into selection of overlay paths and scheduling of data transfers, each can be optimized efficiently. This enables BDS to update overlay routing decisions in near realtime (e.g., every other second) at the scale of multicasting hundreds of TB data over tens of thousands of overlay paths. A pilot deployment in one of the largest online service providers shows that BDS can achieve 3-5 x speedup over the provider's existing system and several well-known overlay routing baselines.
A geovisual analytics approach for analyzing event-based geospatial anomalies within movement data

Comparing data collected on the movement of an entity to data on the location where the entity was reported to have been can be useful in monitoring and enforcement situations. Anomalies between these datasets may be indicative of illegal activity, systematic reporting errors, data entry errors, or equipment failure. While finding obvious anomalies may be a simple task, the discovery of more subtle inconsistencies can be challenging when there is a mismatch in the temporal granularity between the datasets, or when they cover large temporal and geographic ranges. We have developed a geovisual analytics approach called Visual Exploration of Movement-Event Anomalies (VEMEA) that automatically extracts potential anomalies from the data, visually encodes these on a map, and provides interactive filtering and exploration tools to allow expert analysts to investigate and evaluate the anomalies. Using two case studies from the fisheries enforcement domain, the value of VEMEA is illustrated for both confirmatory and exploratory data analysis tasks. Field trial evaluations conducted with expert fisheries data analysts further support the benefits of the approach.
Evaluating the role of zoos and ex situ conservation in global amphibian recovery

Ambitious global conservation targets have been set to manage increasing threats to amphibians. Ex situ institutions (broadly, "zoos") are playing an expanding role in meeting these targets. Here, we examine the extent to which zoos house species representing the greatest overall conservation priority by testing how eight variables relating to extinction risk IUCN status, habitat specialization, obligate stream-breeding, geographic range size, body size, and island, high-altitude and tropical endemism vary between amphibian species held in zoos and their close relatives not held in zoos. Based on 253 species found in zoos that could be confidently paired with close relatives not in zoos, and in contrast to reported patterns for birds and mammals, we find that amphibians currently held in zoos are equally as threatened as their close relatives not found in zoos. This result is entirely driven by the inclusion of data on species holdings from Amphibian Ark (AArk), an organization that helps to coordinate conservation activities in many 'non-traditional' institutions, as well as in ‘traditional’ commercial zoos. Such networks of small non-traditional institutions thus make meaningful contributions to ex situ conservation, and the establishment of other taxa-specific organisations modelled on AArk might be considered. That said, our results indicate that the ex situ network is still not prioritizing range-restricted habitat specialists, species that possess greater overall extinction risk in the near future. We strongly encourage zoos to continue increasing their holdings of amphibian species, but to pay greater attention to these species of particular conservation concern.
Continuous detection of design flaws in evolving object-oriented programs using incremental multi-pattern matching

Design flaws in object-oriented programs may seriously corrupt code quality thus increasing the risk for introducing subtle errors during software maintenance and evolution. Most recent approaches identify design flaws in an ad-hoc manner, either focusing on software metrics, locally restricted code smells, or on coarse-grained architectural anti-patterns. In this paper, we utilize an abstract program model capturing high-level object-oriented code entities, further augmented with qualitative and quantitative design-related information such as coupling/cohesion. Based on this model, we propose a comprehensive methodology for specifying object-oriented design flaws by means of compound rules integrating code metrics, code smells and anti-patterns in a modular way. This approach allows for efficient, automated design-flaw detection through incremental multi-pattern matching, by facilitating systematic information reuse among multiple detection rules as well as between subsequent detection runs on continuously evolving programs. Our tool implementation comprises well-known anti-patterns for Java programs. The results of our experimental evaluation show high detection precision, scalability to real-size programs, as well as a remarkable gain in efficiency due to information reuse.
Internet-based outpatient telerehabilitation for patients following total knee arthroplasty: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND total knee arthroplasty is an effective means for relieving the symptoms associated with degenerative arthritis of the knee. Rehabilitation is a necessary adjunct to surgery and is important in regaining optimum function. Access to high-quality rehabilitation services is not always possible, especially for those who live in rural or remote areas. The aim of this study was to evaluate the equivalence of an Internet-based telerehabilitation program compared with conventional outpatient physical therapy for patients who have had a total knee arthroplasty. METHODS this investigation was a single-blinded, prospective, randomized, controlled noninferiority trial. Sixty-five participants were randomized to receive a six-week program of outpatient physical therapy either in the conventional manner or by means of an Internet-based telerehabilitation program. The primary outcome measure was the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) measured at baseline and six weeks by a blinded independent assessor. Secondary outcomes included the Patient-Specific Functional Scale, the timed up-and-go test, pain intensity, knee flexion and extension, quadriceps muscle strength, limb girth measurements, and an assessment of gait. Noninferiority was assessed through the comparison of group differences with a noninferiority margin and with linear mixed model statistics. RESULTS baseline characteristics between groups were similar, and all participants had significant improvement on all outcome measures with the intervention (p < 0.01 for all). After the six-week intervention, participants in the telerehabilitation group achieved outcomes comparable to those of the conventional rehabilitation group with regard to flexion and extension range of motion, muscle strength, limb girth, pain, timed up-and-go test, quality of life, and clinical gait and WOMAC scores. Better outcomes for the Patient-Specific Functional Scale and the stiffness subscale of the WOMAC were found in the telerehabilitation group (p < 0.05). The telerehabilitation intervention was well received by participants, who reported a high level of satisfaction with this novel technology. CONCLUSIONS the outcomes achieved via telerehabilitation at six weeks following total knee arthroplasty were comparable with those after conventional rehabilitation. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE therapeutic Level I. See Instructions to Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Disposition of tris(4-chlorophenyl)methanol and tris(4-chlorophenyl)methane in male and female Harlan Sprague Dawley rats and B6C3F1/N mice following oral and intravenous administration

Abstract Tris(4-chlorophenyl)methane (TCPME) and tris(4-chlorophenyl)methanol (TCPMOH) have been detected in various biota and human tissues. The current studies were undertaken to investigate the disposition and metabolism of TCPME and TCPMOH in rats and mice. [14C]TCPME was well absorbed (≥66%) in male rats and mice following a single oral administration of 1, 10, or 100 mg/kg. The excretion of [14C]TCPME-derived radioactivity in urine (≤2.5%) and feces (≤18%) was low. The administered dose was retained in tissues (≥ 64%) with adipose containing the highest concentrations. The metabolism of TCPME was minimal. The disposition and metabolism of [14C]TCPME in females was similar to males. The time to reach maximum concentration was ≤7 h, the plasma elimination half-life was ≥31 h, and the bioavailability was ≥82% following a 10 mg/kg oral dose of [14C]TCPME in male rats and mice. The disposition of [14C]TCPMOH was similar to that of [14C]TCPME. Following an intravenous administration of [14C]TCPME or [14C]TCPMOH in male rats and mice, the pattern of disposition was similar to that of oral administration. In conclusion, both TCPME and TCPMOH are readily absorbed and highly bioavailable following a single oral administration pointing to importance of assessing the toxicity of these chemicals.