Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved Activation Detection via Rice-Distributed fMRI Time Series Modeling

Two developments in fMRI magnitude time series modeling, namely, the incorporation of temporal dependence and the Ricean distribution, have been separated by a distributional “mismatch”: such time series modeling is largely based upon Gaussian-distributional-based extensions to the general linear model, which precludes its use under Ricean modeling. We bridge this gap by applying AR(p) errors to the latent, Gaussian-distributed real and imaginary components from which the Riceandistributed magnitudes are computed by augmenting the observed magnitude data by missing phase data in an EM algorithm framework. We use the EM algorithm for parameter estimation and extend it to compute approximate standard errors and test statistics for activation and AR order detection. When compared to the standard Gaussian AR(p) model, this “AR(p) Ricean model” produces lessbiased parameter estimates and similar performance on a real fMRI dataset.
Drug resistance mutations in HIV-1.

pressure), resistant strains may be present at levels below the limit of detection of the test; analyzing stored samples (collected under selection pressure) could be useful in this setting; and (3) recognizing that virologic failure of the first regimen typically involves HIV-1 isolates with resistance to only 1 or 2 of the drugs in the regimen; in this setting, resistance most commonly develops to lamivudine or the nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. 1-5
The Tennessee Department of Health WORKshops on Use of Secondary Data for Community Health Assessment, 2012

Community health assessment is a core function of public health departments, a standard for accreditation of public health departments, and a core competency for public health professionals. The Tennessee Department of Health developed a statewide initiative to improve the processes for engaging county health departments in assessing their community’s health status through the collection and analysis of secondary data. One aim of the Tennessee Department of Health was to position county public health departments as trusted leaders in providing population data and engaging community stakeholders in assessments. The Tennessee Department of Health’s Division of Policy, Planning, and Assessment conducted regional 2-day training workshops to explain and guide completion of computer spreadsheets on 12 health topics. Participants from 93 counties extracted data from multiple and diverse sources to quantify county demographics, health status, and resources and wrote problem statements based on the data examined. The workshops included additional staff development through integration of short lessons on data analysis, epidemiology, and social-behavior theory. Participants reported in post-workshop surveys higher degrees of comfort in interpreting data and writing about their findings on county health issues, and they shared their findings with health, hospital, school, and government leaders (including county health council members) in their counties. Completion of the assessments enabled counties and the Tennessee Department of Health to address performance-improvement goals and assist counties in preparing to meet public health accreditation prerequisites. The methods developed for using secondary data for community health assessment are Tennessee’s first-phase response to counties’ request for a statewide structure for conducting such assessments.
The development of the child interpersonal relationship and attitudes assessment for child centered play therapy

The purpose of this study was to develop a parent report form instrument congruent with the philosophy of child-centered play therapy. The study sought to develop an instrument with acceptable levels of construct validity, reliability, sensitivity to clinical attitudes and relationships, and responsiveness to intervention. The Child Interpersonal Relationships and Attitudes Assessment (CIRAA) and the Child Behavior Checklist (CBC) and the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) were administered to 136 parents of children aged 3 to 10. The children of the parents sample consisted of 90 males and 46 females. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted for construct validity. Parallel analysis was conducted to determine the number of factors to retain. The factor solution explained 53.86% of the variance, which is an acceptable amount of the variance. Cronbach's alpha was conducted for total scale and all subscales. Reliability scores for the total score and subscales were acceptable, with an overall reliability coefficient of . 93. A Pearson's r was conducted for concurrent validity between the instrument, the CBC, and the PSI, with Pearsons' r of . 75 and . 74 respectively. Paired-sample t-tests using the pretest and posttest scores of the instrument in development examined the responsiveness of the instrument to play therapy intervention at the same level as the CBC and PSI. ROC curve analysis, indicated acceptable discrimination of clinical scores and adaptive scores, with a clinical score being generated from the analysis. It is the first parent-report form developed for child-centered play therapy, and provides an efficient and philosophically consistent instrument for child centered play therapists to use in clinical and research settings.
Re-evaluating eradication of nuisance species: invasion of the tunicate, Ciona intestinalis.

Eradication is an important concept in the management of biological invasions, but it is rarely considered in practice. This may be because managers commonly work with incomplete data and little or no practical guidance. Past eradication frameworks provide some useful criteria, but do not provide quantitative guidelines. Here, we argue that eradication is not always adequately considered, and we develop a framework for rapid assessment of its feasibility, despite limited data. This quantitative model offers criteria to rapidly assess the potential for eradication and provide estimates of the necessary effort and timing, and of the size of the target area. This framework is applied to a recent tunicate (Ciona intestinalis) invasion around Prince Edward Island, Canada, which is causing considerable economic damage to harvesters of blue mussels (Mytilus edulis). Our framework suggests that eradication may be feasible and, based on a cost–benefit analysis, could require only a ≥ 16% chance of success to const.
The necessities for building a model to evaluate Business Intelligence projects- Literature Review

In recent years Business Intelligence (BI) systems have consistently been rated as one of the highest priorities of Information Systems (IS) and business leaders. BI allows firms to apply information for supporting their processes and decisions by combining its capabilities in both of organizational and technical issues. Many of companies are being spent a significant portion of its IT budgets on business intelligence and related technology. Evaluation of BI readiness is vital because it serves two important goals. First, it shows gaps areas where company is not ready to proceed with its BI efforts. By identifying BI readiness gaps, we can avoid wasting time and resources. Second, the evaluation guides us what we need to close the gaps and implement BI with a high probability of success. This paper proposes to present an overview of BI and necessities for evaluation of readiness. Key words: Business intelligence, Evaluation, Success, Readiness
Aortic Stiffness Is an Independent Predictor of All-Cause and Cardiovascular Mortality in Hypertensive Patients

Abstract—Although various studies reported that pulse pressure, an indirect index of arterial stiffening, was an independent risk factor for mortality, a direct relationship between arterial stiffness and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality remained to be established in patients with essential hypertension. A cohort of 1980 essential hypertensive patients who attended the outpatient hypertension clinic of Broussais Hospital between 1980 and 1996 and who had a measurement of arterial stiffness was studied. At entry, aortic stiffness was assessed from the measurement of carotid-femoral pulse-wave velocity (PWV). A logistic regression model was used to estimate the relative risk of all-cause and cardiovascular deaths. Selection of classic risk factors for adjustment of PWV was based on their influence on mortality in this cohort in univariate analysis. Mean age at entry was 50±13 years (mean±SD). During an average follow-up of 112±53 months, 107 fatal events occurred. Among them, 46 were of cardiovascular origin. PWV was significantly associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a univariate model of logistic regression analysis (odds ratio for 5 m/s PWV was 2.14 [95% confidence interval, 1.71 to 2.67, P <0.0001] and 2.35 [95% confidence interval, 1.76 to 3.14, P <0.0001], respectively). In multivariate models of logistic regression analysis, PWV was significantly associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, independent of previous cardiovascular diseases, age, and diabetes. By contrast, pulse pressure was not significantly and independently associated to mortality. This study provides the first direct evidence that aortic stiffness is an independent predictor of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients with essential hypertension.
Black-hole entropy from quantum geometry

Quantum geometry (the modern loop quantum gravity involving graphs and spin-networks instead of the loops) provides microscopic degrees of freedom that account for black-hole entropy. However, the procedure for state counting used in the literature contains an error and the number of the relevant horizon states is underestimated. In our paper a correct method of counting is presented. Our results lead to a revision of the literature of the subject. It turns out that the contribution of spins greater than 1/2 to the entropy is not negligible. Hence, the value of the Barbero–Immirzi parameter involved in the spectra of all the geometric and physical operators in this theory is different than previously derived. Also, the conjectured relation between quantum geometry and the black-hole quasi-normal modes should be understood again.
Marriage and Relationship Education: What Works and How to Provide It

Grounded in extensive research and clinical experience, this indispensable book addresses the "whats," "whys," and "how-tos" of conducting effective marriage and relationship education. Leading authority W. Kim Halford reviews a range of contemporary models and provides an in-depth description of his own approach, Couple CARE. Session-by-session guidelines for therapists show how to help groups or individual couples—including those facing major life changes or stressors—foster closeness and communication, manage conflicts, and prevent common relationship problems. The book also explains how to use commercially available online assessment tools to help each couple develop their own relationship goals. [Book summary from publisher]
Competitive Exclusion of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis by Lactobacillus crispatus and Clostridium lactatifermentans in a Sequencing Fed-Batch Culture

ABSTRACT Competitive exclusion of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis by a mixed culture of Lactobacillus crispatus and Clostridium lactatifermentans was studied in a sequencing fed-batch reactor mimicking the cecal ecophysiology of broiler chickens. Growth of serovar Enteritidis was inhibited by a mixed culture of L. crispatus and C. lactatifermentans at pH 5.8 but not by a monoculture of L. crispatus at the same pH. Moreover, experiments performed at pH 7.0 did not show growth inhibition of serovar Enteritidis. L. crispatus fermented lactose to lactate, and C. lactatifermentans fermented the lactate to acetate and propionate in a mixed culture of L. crispatus and C. lactatifermentans growing on lactose. In contrast, only lactate was produced from lactose by a monoculture of L. crispatus. At pH 5.8 considerable concentrations of acetate and propionate were present as undissociated acids, whereas only trace levels of undissociated lactate were present at pH 5.8 due to the low pKa of lactate. At pH 7.0 all three acids were present in their dissociated forms. We conclude that a mixed culture of L. crispatus and C. lactatifermentans inhibits growth of serovar Enteritidis under cecal growth conditions. The undissociated forms of acetate and propionate produced in the mixed culture inhibited the growth of serovar Enteritidis.
Microarrays, Empirical Bayes and the Two-Groups Model. Rejoinder.

The classic frequentist theory of hypothesis testing developed by Neyman, Pearson, and Fisher has a claim to being the Twentieth Century’s most influential piece of applied mathematics. Something new is happening in the Twenty-First Century: high throughput devices, such as microarrays, routinely require simultaneous hypothesis tests for thousands of individual cases, not at all what the classical theory had in mind. In these situations empirical Bayes information begins to force itself upon frequentists and Bayesians alike. The two-groups model is a simple Bayesian construction that facilitates empirical Bayes analysis. This article concerns the interplay of Bayesian and frequentist ideas in the two-groups setting, with particular attention focussed on Benjamini and Hochberg’s False Discovery Rate method. Topics include the choice and meaning of the null hypothesis in large-scale testing situations, power considerations, the limitations of permutation methods, significance testing for groups of cases (such as pathways in microarray studies), correlation effects, multiple confidence intervals, and Bayesian competitors to the two-groups model.
The Influence of Prostate Volume on Prostate-Specific Antigen Performance: Implications for the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial Outcomes

Purpose: Although showing a 25% reduction in the biopsy prevalence of cancer compared with placebo in the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial, finasteride was associated with a higher prevalence of high-grade disease. This observation was driven by “for-cause” biopsies. We sought to understand how volume-dependent changes in prostate-specific antigen test performance characteristics may have contributed. Experimental Design: A retrospective review was done on 1,304 men referred for initial biopsy with a prostate-specific antigen between 4 and 10 ng/mL or an abnormal digital rectal examination. Receiver-operator curves and positive predictive values were ascertained for prostate-specific antigen stratified by diagnosis and prostate volume. Results: The performance of prostate-specific antigen changed for any and high-grade (Gleason, ≥3 + 4) cancer in a volume-specific manner. For any cancer, the area under the curve (AUC) decreased from 0.758 to 0.629 to 0.520 as prostate volume increased (<30, 30-50, >50 cm3, respectively). For high-grade cancer, a similar trend was shown (AUC, 0.712, 0.639, and 0.497, respectively). The positive predictive value of a prostate-specific antigen of ≥4 ng/mL was also affected by prostate volume. Trends for Gleason ≤ 6 decreased as prostate volume increased (positive predictive value for <30 cm3, 25.0%; positive predictive value for 30-50 cm3, 23.8%; and positive predictive value for >50 cm3, 17.3%). A more significant trend was seen for high-grade cancer (positive predictive value for <30 cm3, 39.0%; positive predictive value for 30-50 cm3, 22.3%; and positive predictive value for >50 cm3, 10.7%). Conclusion: Decreases in prostate volume over time and the resultant change in prostate-specific antigen performance characteristics may have contributed a bias toward the detection of high-grade disease in the finasteride arm of the Prostate Cancer Prevention Trial.
The Stability of Two-Station Multitype Fluid Networks

This paper studies the fluid models of two-station multiclass queueing networks with deterministic routing. A fluid model is globally stable if the fluid network eventually empties under each nonidling dispatch policy. We explicitly characterize the global stability region in terms of the arrival and service rates. We show that the global stability region is defined by the nominal workload conditions and the "virtual workload conditions," and we introduce two intuitively appealing phenomena--virtual stations and push starts--that explain the virtual workload conditions. When any of the workload conditions is violated, we construct a fluid solution that cycles to infinity, showing that the fluid network is unstable. When all the workload conditions are satisfied, we solve a network flow problem to find the coefficients of a piecewise linear Lyapunov function. The Lyapunov function decreases to zero, proving that the fluid level eventually reaches zero under any nonidling dispatch policy. Under certain assumptions on the inter arrival and service time distributions, a queueing network is stable or positive Harris recurrent if the corresponding fluid network is stable. Thus, the workload conditions are sufficient to ensure the global stability of two-station multiclass queueing networks with deterministic routing.
Towards a theory of bias and equivalence

Bias refers to the presence of nuisance factors in cross-cultural research. Three types of bias are distinguished, depending on whether the nuisance factor is located at the level of the construct (construct bias), the measurement instrument as a whole (method bias) or the items (item bias or differential item functioning). Equivalence refers to the measurement level characteristics that apply to cross-cultural score comparisons; three types of equivalence are defined: construct (identity of constructs across cultures), measurement unit (identity of measurement unit), and scalar equivalence (identity of measurement unit and scale origin). Bias often jeopardizes equivalence. Implications of the occurrence of bias on equivalence are described. Examples of how equivalence can be enhanced in multilingual studies are given.
Care Coordination: A Priority for Health Reform

Care coordination is one of the priorities to transform the health care system (Institute of Medicine). Nurses have taken on the central role in care coordination for decades, and are now being recognized for expertise in care coordination. Attention has focused on nursing models that use care coordination and report outcomes. Nursing care coordination models emphasize patient education, engagement of patients and families in prevention, self-care, and adoption of health information technology to improve access to information. Policy recommendations needed to enhance care coordination include the following: (a) facilitate better information transfer with wider use of information technology, (b) include Nurse Practitioners (NPs) as equal practitioners in reimbursement, (c) create incentives to improve coordination of care, (d) reward the use of evidence-based practices, and (e) advocate for better care coordination models that include interdisciplinary teams and greater health system integration.
Automated bone editing algorithm for CT angiography: preliminary results.

Helical (spinal) CT has been shown to have a wide range of clinical advantages over dynamic CT in standard applications in the chest, liven, and pancreas [1-3]. These advantages have led to the exploration of its potential as a primary vascuIan imaging study. Recent reports have noted its possible role in vascular zones ranging from the circle of Willis and carotid arteries to the pulmonary arteries and thonacic aorta to the abdominal aorta, renal arteries, and portal venous system [411]. One of the prerequisite steps in CT angiognaphy, regardless of the three-dimensional imaging technique used, is removal of data not pertinent to the creation of the vascular image. In imaging of the abdomen this typically means removal of the nibs and spine. Although editing tools have been available for many years, they have often been cumbersome and inadequate when fine editing is needed. Quoted times for editing have varied but are typically noted to be anywhere from 1 5 mm to 2 hr. If CT angiognaphy is to be a routine examination, the editing task must be simplified and automated if possible. No general automated editing tool applicable in various parts of the body is available to our knowledge. Therefore, we have developed organ-specific segmentation methods for head and neck [1 2], chest [13], and abdomen [14]. Our abdomen segmentation technique is designed to automatically remove the spine and nibs so that the aorta, its major branching vessels, and the venous system can be viewed without obstructions in the edited data set. The purpose of this study was to determine the success of the editing tool. Materials and Methods
A two‐stage continuous culture system to study the effect of supplemental α‐lactalbumin and glycomacropeptide on mixed cultures of human gut bacteria challenged with enteropathogenic Escherichia coli and Salmonella serotype Typhimurium

Aims: Certain milk factors may promote the growth of a gastrointestinal microflora predominated by bifidobacteria and may aid in overcoming enteric infections. This may explain why breast‐fed infants experience fewer intestinal infections than their formula‐fed counterparts. The effect of formula supplementation with two such factors was investigated in this study.
Historic Food Production Shocks: Quantifying the Extremes

Understanding global food production trends is vital for ensuring food security and to allow the world to develop appropriate policies to manage the food system. Over the past few years, there has been an increasing attention on the global food system, particularly after the extreme shocks seen in food prices after 2007. Several papers and working groups have explored the links between food production and various societal impacts however they often categorise production shocks in different ways even to the extent of identifying different levels, countries and timings for shocks. In this paper we present a simple method to quantify and categorise cereal production shocks at a country level. This method can be used as a baseline for other studies that examine the impact of these production shocks on the global food system.
Explaining Team Performance Through Conflict Patterns Over Time

This study aims to analyze the development patterns of intragroup conflict over time (task conflict, relationship conflict and process conflict) and to investigate whether these different patterns influence team overall performance. It was expected that high performance team have, over time, a distinct pattern of intragroup conflict from average and low performance teams. The participants of this study consisted of 101 teams who participated in a management competition for five weeks. The participants answered two different surveys during the competition. Results revealed that with regard to relationship conflict and process conflict, high performance teams were significantly different from low performance teams. For task conflict, there were no significant differences between teams. Moreover, ANOVA with repeated measures revealed the existence of a stable pattern of intragroup conflict over time, regardless teams’ final performance. In our view, these results suggest the importance that the first moments of interaction have to team overall performance. Planning activities to guide team accomplishment and planning the way team will work together seem to be crucial to future successful performance of team work.