Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urine Albumin Excretion and Subclinical Cardiovascular Disease

We examined the association between urine albumin excretion (UAE) and common and internal carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT), end-diastolic left ventricular (LV) mass, and coronary artery calcification (CAC) scores using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA), a population-based study of 6814 adults aged 45 to 85 years without clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD). The mean age of the MESA participants was 62.7 years, 47% were male, and 15% had diabetes mellitus (DM). Sex-specific spot urine albumin/creatinine ratios were used to define 4 UAE categories: normal, high normal, microalbuminuria, and macroalbuminuria. CAC scores were log-transformed after adding 1 to all scores. Mean values of subclinical CVD measures were computed by level of UAE after adjustment for blood pressure, DM, and other covariates. After adjustment for all covariates, geometric mean CAC scores were higher among participants with high normal UAE (8.8; P=0.07), microalbuminuria (9.9; P=0.002), and macroalbuminuria (13.1; P=0.02) compared with normal UAE (7.4), but only microalbuminuria reached statistical significance. Mean LV mass (g/m2.7) was significantly higher in participants with high normal UAE (37.0; P=0.001), microalbuminuria (38.3; P≤0.0001), and macroalbuminuria (42.3; P≤0.0001) compared with normal UAE (36.0) after adjustment for all covariates. No significant difference in mean carotid IMT was found after adjustment for all covariates. Similar results were noted in MESA participants with and without DM. In conclusion, higher UAE, including levels below microalbuminuria, may reflect the presence of subclinical CVD among adults without established CVD.
Healthy Sexual Development: A Multidisciplinary Framework for Research

ABSTRACT A group of Australian researchers from a range of disciplines involved in studying children's sexual development developed a framework for researching healthy sexual development that was acceptable to all disciplines involved. The 15 domains identified were: freedom from unwanted activity; an understanding of consent; education about biological aspects; understanding of safety; relationship skills; agency; lifelong learning; resilience; open communication; sexual development should not be “aggressive, coercive or joyless;” self-acceptance; awareness and acceptance that sex is pleasurable; understanding of parental and societal values; awareness of public/private boundaries; and being competent in mediated sexuality.
Robust Detection of 3D Scene Horizontal and Vertical Lines in Conical Catadioptric Sensors

Recent research in omnidirectional vision is focusing on the extraction of primitives from omnidirectional images, mainly for detecting straight horizontal and vertical edges of the environment where the vision system is located. The aim of this work is to pursue this research direction by proposing two fast algorithms for 3D straight horizontal and vertical edges reconstruction from a single 2D omnidirectional image. The proposed algorithms have been successfully applied to real images providing real-time and robust performance.
Power reserve following ramp-incremental cycling to exhaustion: implications for muscle fatigue and function.

In ramp-incremental cycling exercise, some individuals are capable of producing power output (PO) in excess of that produced at their limit of tolerance (LoT) whereas others cannot. This study sought to describe the 1) prevalence of a "power reserve" within a group of young men ( n = 21; mean ± SD: age 25 ± 4 yr; V̇o2max 45 ± 8 ml·kg-1·min-1); and 2) muscle fatigue characteristics of those with and without a power reserve. "Power reserve" (ΔPReserve) was determined as the difference between peak PO achieved during a ramp-incremental test to exhaustion and maximal, single-leg isokinetic dynamometer power determined within 45 s of completing the ramp-incremental test. Between-group differences in pre- vs. postexercise changes in voluntary and electrically stimulated single-leg muscle force production measures (maximal voluntary contraction torque, voluntary activation, maximal isotonic velocity and isokinetic power; 1-, 10-, 50-Hz torque; and 10/50-Hz ratio), V̇o2max, and constant-PO cycling time-to-exhaustion also were assessed. Frequency distribution analysis revealed a dichotomy in the prevalence of a power reserve within the sample resulting in two groups: 1) "No Reserve" (NRES: power reserve <5%; n = 10) and 2) "Reserve" (RES: power reserve >15%; n = 11). At the LoT, all participants had achieved V̇o2max. Muscle fatigue was evident in both groups, although the NRES group had greater reductions ( P < 0.05) in 10-Hz peak torque (PT), 10/50 Hz ratio, and maximal velocity. Time to the LoT during the constant PO test was 22 ± 16% greater ( P < 0.05) in RES (116 ± 19 s; PO = 317 ± 52 W) than in NRES (90 ± 23 s; PO = 337 ± 71 W), despite similar ramp-incremental exercise durations and V̇o2max between groups. Compared with the RES group, the NRES group accrued greater peripheral muscle fatigue at the LoT, suggesting that the mechanisms contributing to exhaustion in a ramp-incremental protocol are not uniform. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This study demonstrates that the mechanisms associated with the limit of tolerance during ramp-incremental cycling exercise differ between those who are capable of generating power output in excess of that at exercise termination vs. those who are not. Those without a "power reserve" exhibit greater peripheral muscle fatigue and reduced muscle endurance, supporting the hypothesis that exhaustion occurs at a specific level of neuromuscular fatigue. In contrast, those with a power reserve likely are limited by other mechanisms.
Enhanced Distributed Storage on the Cloud

The distributed shared resource system owned by an organization forms a Cloud. These shared resources are accessed through network. Security, reliability and efficient resource utilization are the major challenges. This paper proposes a more secure, reliable and space efficient model for Cloud services, particularly, Infrastructure as a Service. A protocol is designed to split a file into multiple sub files and to store them on different virtual machines belonging to either different clouds (Inter cloud operation) or different clusters belonging to the same cloud or to the same cluster of same cloud. Such distribution is expected to increase security, space utilization and to some extend reliability as the data is not on single cloud or on the same cluster.
The Λ-Fleming-Viot Process and a Connection with Wright-Fisher Diffusion

The d-dimensional Λ-Fleming-Viot generator acting on functions g( x ), with x being a vector of d allele frequencies, can be written as a Wright-Fisher generator acting on functions g with a modified random linear argument of x induced by partitioning occurring in the Λ-Fleming-Viot process. The eigenvalues and right polynomial eigenvectors are easy to see from this representation. The two-dimensional process, which has a one-dimensional generator, is considered in detail. A nonlinear equation is found for the Green's function. In a model with genic selection a proof is given that there is a critical selection value such that if the selection coefficient is greater than or equal to the critical value then fixation, when the boundary 1 is hit, has probability 1 beginning from any nonzero frequency. This is an analytic proof different from the proofs of Der, Epstein and Plotkin (2011) and Foucart (2013). An application in the infinitely-many-alleles Λ-Fleming-Viot process is finding an interesting identity for the frequency spectrum of alleles that is based on size biasing. The moment dual process in the Fleming-Viot process is the usual Λ-coalescent tree back in time. The Wright-Fisher representation using a different set of polynomials g n (x) as test functions produces a dual death process which has a similarity to the Kingman coalescent and decreases by units of one. The eigenvalues of the process are analogous to the Jacobi polynomials when expressed in terms of g n (x), playing the role of x n . Under the stationary distribution when there is mutation, is analogous to the nth moment in a beta distribution. There is a d-dimensional version g n ( X ), and even an intriguing Ewens' sampling formula analogy when d → ∞.
Estimation of pulsatile ocular blood flow from intraocular pressure

Abstract A relationship has been derived between intraocular pressure and pulsatile blood flow in the eye. Measurements of intraocular pressure show a time variation that is associated with the pulsatile component of arterial pressure. Experimental results provide a means of transforming intraocular pressure changes into ocular volume changes. The eye is represented by a chamber with elastic walls, a pulsatile incoming flow of incompressible fluid (blood), and a steady outgoing flow of blood. Under these conditions, the rate of pulsatile blood flow through the eye can be approximated from the instantaneous intraocular pressure measurements. Data from a healthy human eye are used to illustrate the analysis.
Analogy versus explicit learning of a modified basketball shooting task: Performance and kinematic outcomes

Abstract The effects of differential instructional sets on motor skill acquisition were investigated using performance outcome and kinematic measures. Participants were provided with a single analogical instruction (analogy learning), a set of eight explicit (technical) instructions (explicit learning), or were not instructed (control). During a learning phase, participants (n = 9 for each condition) performed a modified basketball shooting task over 3 days (160 trials per day). On the fourth day, participants performed a test phase consisting of two 40-trial retention tests, separated by a 40-trial secondary task transfer test, and completed a verbal protocol describing in detail the techniques that they had used to perform the task. No performance differences were found during the two retention tests, indicating similar amounts of learning for all groups. During the transfer test, performance deteriorated for both the explicit and control conditions, but not for the analogy condition. Participants in the analogy condition reported significantly fewer technical rules. Although no group differences were reported for kinematic variables, identification of movement components supported the claim that explicit learners exert conscious control over their movements, whereas analogy learners use a more implicit (unconscious or automatic) mode of movement control.
Designing a Scalable Processor Array for Recurrent Computations

In this paper, we study the design of a coprocessor (CoP) to execute efficiently recursive algorithms with uniform dependencies. Our design is based on two objectives: 1) fixed bandwidth to main memory (MM) and 2) scalability to higher performance without increasing MM bandwidth. Our CoP has an access unit (AU) organized as multiple queues, a processor array (PA) with regularly connected processing elements (PEs), and input/output networks for data routing. Our design is unique because it addresses input/output bottleneck and scalability, two of the most important issues in integrating processor arrays in current systems. To allow processor arrays to be widely usable, they must be scalable to high performance with little or no impact on the supporting memory system. The use of multiple queues in AU also eliminates the use of explicit data addresses, thereby simplifying the design of the control program. We present a mapping algorithm that partitions a data dependence graph (DG) of an application into regular blocks, sequences the blocks through AU, and schedules the execution of the blocks, one at a time, on PA. We show that our mapping procedure minimizes the amount of communication between blocks in the partitioned DG, and sequences the blocks through AU to reduce the communication between AU and MM. Using the matrix-product and transitive-closure applications, we study design trade-offs involving 1) division of a fixed chip area between PA and AU, and 2) improvements in speedup with respect to increases in chip area. Our results show, for a fixed chip area, 1) that there is little degradation in throughput in using a linear PA as compared to a PA organized as a square mesh, and 2) that the design is not sensitive to the division of chip area between PA and AU. We further show that, for a fixed throughput, there is an inverse square root relationship between speedup and total chip area. Our study demonstrates the feasibility of a low-cost, memory bandwidth-limited, and scalable coprocessor system for evaluating recurrent algorithms with uniform dependencies.
THE BEST L 2 NORM ERROR ESTIMATE OF LOWER ORDER FINITE ELEMENT METHODS FOR THE FOURTH ORDER PROBLEM *

In the paper, we analyze the L norm error estimate of lower order finite element methods for the fourth order problem. We prove that the best error estimate in the L norm of the finite element solution is of second order, which can not be improved generally. The main ingredients are the saturation condition established for these elements and an identity for the error in the energy norm of the finite element solution. The result holds for most of the popular lower order finite element methods in the literature including: the Powell-Sabin C1−P2 macro element, the nonconforming Morley element, the C 1 −Q2 macro element, the nonconforming rectangle Morley element, and the nonconforming incomplete biquadratic element. In addition, the result actually applies to the nonconforming Adini element, the nonconforming Fraeijs de Veubeke elements, and the nonconforming WangXu element and the Wang-Shi-Xu element provided that the saturation condition holds for them. This result solves one long standing problem in the literature: can the L norm error estimate of lower order finite element methods of the fourth order problem be two order higher than the error estimate in the energy norm?
Interganglionic dendrites constitute an output pathway from the procerebrum of the sanil Achatina fulica

The procerebrum is an olfactory processing region that occupies approximately one‐third of the total brain area in pulmonate gastropod molluscs. It has many unusual features, including a development separate from the rest of the brain and the absence of axons belonging to its intrinsic neurons. We have investigated the input and output pathways of the procerebrum in the terrestrial snail Achatina fulica by using hexamminecobalt chloride as a selective label. Both the tentacle nerve and the cerebropedal connective nerve contribute to a fine neural plexus that is distributed throughout the neuropile region of the procerebrum. The fibers from the tentacle nerve are predominantly presynaptic, whereas those from the cerebropedal connective are predominantly postsynaptic. The postsynaptic fibers (dendrites) were traced to two groups of nerve cells (total number, 20–25) near the ventral surface of the ipsilateral pedal ganglion. No evidence was obtained for any other numerically significant output pathway from the procerebrum. Since locomotion is known to be controlled by the pedal ganglion, these results provide an anatomical substrate for the strong influence of olfaction on locomotor behavior in snails. The pathway is unusual in that the dendrites are interganglionic and can be as long as 5 mm.
Context data in geo-referenced digital photo collections

Given time and location information about digital photographs we can automatically generate an abundance of related contextual metadata, using off-the-shelf and Web-based data sources. Among these are the local daylight status and weather conditions at the time and place a photo was taken. This metadata has the potential of serving as memory cues and filters when browsing photo collections, especially as these collections grow into the tens of thousands and span dozens of years. We describe the contextual metadata that we automatically assemble for a photograph, given time and location, as well as a browser interface that utilizes that metadata. We then present the results of a user study and a survey that together expose which categories of contextual metadata are most useful for recalling and finding photographs. We identify among still unavailable metadata categories those that are most promising to develop next.
Socialization Communication, Organizational Citizenship Behaviors, and Sales in a Multilevel Marketing Organization

Multilevel marketing organizations (MLMs) are a rapidly growing but often controversial marketing organizational type boasting nearly 10 million members and over $20 billion in annual sales. The success of the MLM business model rests largely on forming cooperative social networks of member distributors. Socialization of new members to the norms and values of the MLM plays a key role in eliciting that cooperative behavior. However, the member cooperation that produces successful networks may inhibit the financial performance of individual distributors. Drawing upon social identity theory, this study investigates whether communication of the MLM’s behavioral norms during the socialization of members affects the degree to which members cooperate with each other and how that cooperation affects the sales performance of individual distributorships. The results of a survey of MLM members suggest that both effects occur. Socialization communication positively affects member cooperation, which produces direct and indirect effects on sales. Cooperation, measured by several organizational citizenship behaviors, exerts a positive direct effect on sales, but a negative indirect effect when the relationship is mediated by group cohesion.
Pulling strings from a tangle: visualizing a personal music listening history

The history of songs, to which a person has listened, is a very personal piece of information. It is a rich data set that comes as a byproduct of the use of digital music players and can be obtained without interfering with the user. In this paper, we present three visualizations for this data set and a mechanism for generating new playlists from the user's own listening history, based on a navigation metaphor. First, temporal proximity is interpreted as a simple similarity measure to lay out the entire history on a two-dimensional plane. Closed listening sessions are then used to make chronological relations visible. The generated playlists mimic the user's previous listening behavior, and the visualizations make the automatic choices understandable, as they share visual properties with the history. In this sense, our visualizations provide a visual vocabulary for listening behaviors and bring scrutability to automatic playlist generation.
Ambulance Chasing: A Case Study of Deviation and Control Within the Legal Profession

with guild-like associations, held together by ties of mechanical solidarity.2 Although few contributors to this model of the professions would fail to realize that professionals are licensed by the State, State control over the professions was not emphasized. Instead, the professions were thought to have an implied mandate from the public granting them extensive authority to control the work life of their member-
Risk-taker, role model, muse, and ‘charlatan’: stories of Ellen – an atypical giant

This narrative essay weaves personal recollections of my encounters with Ellen Brantlinger and a sampling of her works that continue to exert a profound influence on my own thinking and writing within Disability Studies in Education. I begin by describing how, as a first-year doctoral student, I encountered the scholarly work of Ellen and consequently never saw the world in the same way again. Second, I share coming to know Ellen as a generous person who took an active interest in my fledgling scholarship and subsequent budding academic career. Third, narrating the decade in which our professional paths criss-crossed, I reveal how coming to know Ellen on a personal level shaped my view of her as – among many other things – a risk-taker, a role model, and a muse. Fourth, I discuss the impact Ellen has had on a wide group of scholars through fearless critiques of special education, resulting in her being branded as a ‘charlatan’ by some of the field's most powerful figures. In closing, I offer thoughts on the influence of Ellen as an atypical giant.
Schoolteacher: A Sociological Study

Upon its initial publication, many reviewers dubbed Dan C. Lortie's Schoolteacher the best social portrait of the profession since Willard Waller's The Sociology of Teaching. This new printing of Lortie's classic - including a new preface bringing the author's observations up to date - is an essential view into the world and culture of a vitally important profession.
Constructing a Joint Story-Writing Space: The Dynamics of Young Children's Collaboration at Computers

This study explored kindergartners' and first graders' collaborative processes to understand the nature of peer collaboration and the learning opportunities afforded by peer discourse. Data were drawn from 6 dyads who participated in a computer writing project for 2 school semesters. Children's videotaped interactions were analyzed with the focus on understanding how children's collaborative roles and patterns changed over time. Examination of video data and children's computer products revealed that (a) children's interaction patterns changed from a more independent style toward a more integrative style, as shown in their distribution of control over mouse and keyboard and in the written outcomes of their collaboration; (b) a shift in role patterns emerged across repeated instances of peer collaboration so that children began alternating the roles of leader and observer, and less competent children began carrying out more important tasks; and (c) the computer served as an object of reference for children to sustain their interaction and stay on task.
Introduction to Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena

This is a paperback edition of a distinguished book, originally published by Clarendon Press in 1971. It was then the first text on critical phenomena, a field that has enjoyed great activity for the past twenty years and that still continues to attract much attention. The book is at the level at which a graduate student who has studied condensed matter physics can begin to comprehend the nature of phase transitions, which involve the transformation of one state of matter into another. (A simple example is the melting of a solid to become a liquid.) Such a transformation is termed 'critical' when, after a certain amount of the substance changes phase, the entire bulk virtually instantaneously also makes the transition. A second, updated edition is planned for future publication, but in the mean time this paperback reissue will be useful in teaching the fundamental principles of this extremely interesting subject.