Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Associations of Cannabis and Cigarette Use with Depression and Anxiety at Age 18: Findings from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children

Introduction Substance use is associated with common mental health disorders, but the causal effect of specific substances is uncertain. We investigate whether adolescent cannabis and cigarette use is associated with incident depression and anxiety, while attempting to account for confounding and reverse causation. Methods We used data from ALSPAC, a UK birth cohort study, to investigate associations between cannabis or cigarettes (measured at age 16) and depression or anxiety (measured at age 18), before and after adjustment for pre-birth, childhood and adolescent confounders. Our imputed sample size was 4561 participants. Results Both cannabis (unadjusted OR 1.50, 95% CI 1.26, 1.80) and cigarette use (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.16, 1.61) increased the odds of developing depression. Adjustment for pre-birth and childhood confounders partly attenuated these relationships though strong evidence of association persisted for cannabis use. There was weak evidence of association for cannabis (fully adjusted OR 1.30, 95% CI 0.98, 1.72) and insufficient evidence for association for cigarette use (fully adjusted OR = 0.97, 95% CI 0.75, 1.24) after mutually adjusting for each other, or for alcohol or other substance use. Neither cannabis nor cigarette use were associated with anxiety after adjustment for pre-birth and childhood confounders. Conclusions Whilst evidence of association between cannabis use and depression persisted after adjusting for pre-term and childhood confounders, our results highlight the difficulties in trying to estimate and interpret independent effects of cannabis and tobacco on psychopathology. Complementary methods are required to robustly examine effects of cannabis and tobacco on psychopathology.
Optimal Link Weights for IP-Based Networks Supporting Hose-Model VPNs

From traffic engineering point of view, hose-model VPNs are much easier to use for customers than pipe-model VPNs. In this paper we explore the optimal weight setting to support hose-model VPN traffic in an IP-based hop-by-hop routing network. We try to answer the following questions: (1) What is the maximum amount of hose-model VPN traffic with bandwidth guarantees that can be admitted to an IP-based hop-by-hop routing network (as opposed to an MPLS-based network), and (2) what is the optimal link weight setting that can achieve that? We first present a mixed-integer programming formulation to compute the optimal link weights that can maximize the ingress and egress VPN traffic admissible to a hop-by-hop routing network. We also present a heuristic algorithm for solving the link weight searching problem for large networks. We show simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the search algorithm.
Power constrained preemptive TAM scheduling

We integrate scan-chain partitioning and preemptive test access mechanism (TAM) scheduling for core-based systems under power constraint. We also outline a flexible power conscious test wrapper to increase the flexibility in the scheduling process by (1) allowing several different bandwidths at cores and (2) controlling the cores test power consumption, which makes it possible to increase the test clock. We model the scheduling problem as a bin-packing problem and discuss the transformations: (1) TAM-time and (2) power-time and the possibilities of achieving an optimal solution and the limitations. We have implemented our proposed preemptive TAM scheduling algorithm and through experiments we demonstrate its efficiency.
Integrated MicroRNA and mRNA Signatures Associated with Survival in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a heterogeneous disease at the molecular, pathologic and clinical levels. To stratify TNBCs, we determined microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles, as well as expression profiles of a cancer-focused mRNA panel, in tumor, adjacent non-tumor (normal) and lymph node metastatic lesion (mets) tissues, from 173 women with TNBCs; we linked specific miRNA signatures to patient survival and used miRNA/mRNA anti-correlations to identify clinically and genetically different TNBC subclasses. We also assessed miRNA signatures as potential regulators of TNBC subclass-specific gene expression networks defined by expression of canonical signal pathways. Tissue specific miRNAs and mRNAs were identified for normal vs tumor vs mets comparisons. miRNA signatures correlated with prognosis were identified and predicted anti-correlated targets within the mRNA profile were defined. Two miRNA signatures (miR-16, 155, 125b, 374a and miR-16, 125b, 374a, 374b, 421, 655, 497) predictive of overall survival (P = 0.05) and distant-disease free survival (P = 0.009), respectively, were identified for patients 50 yrs of age or younger. By multivariate analysis the risk signatures were independent predictors for overall survival and distant-disease free survival. mRNA expression profiling, using the cancer-focused mRNA panel, resulted in clustering of TNBCs into 4 molecular subclasses with different expression signatures anti-correlated with the prognostic miRNAs. Our findings suggest that miRNAs play a key role in triple negative breast cancer through their ability to regulate fundamental pathways such as: cellular growth and proliferation, cellular movement and migration, Extra Cellular Matrix degradation. The results define miRNA expression signatures that characterize and contribute to the phenotypic diversity of TNBC and its metastasis.
Hardware-accelerated edge detection for polarimetric synthetic aperture radar data

From the literature review, there are two constant false alarm rate detectors for detecting edges in multi-look fully polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (POLSAR) imagery, namely the likelihood ratio edge detector [1] and the Roy's largest eigenvalue-based edge detector [2]. In the latter approach, one major restriction is the computation complexity, i.e. in the context of the chosen C language-based implementation. Thus, in this paper, a novel hardware-based architecture is presented to improve the processing time for the Roy's largest eigenvalue-based edge detection. The algorithm was implemented in a field-programmable gate array (FPGA) with an accelerated solution targeting data rates of up to 1 Gb/s. Its performance was examined using nine-look NASA/JPL C-band data and evaluated in terms of processing speed and accuracy as compared to the C language-based implementation on a personal computer (PC) with a CoreTM 2 Duo processor clocked at 2.2 GHz.
Fay-like identities of the Toda Lattice Hierarchy and its dispersionless limit

In this paper, we derive the Fay-like identities of tau function for the Toda lattice hierarchy from the bilinear identity. We prove that the Fay-like identities are equivalent to the hierarchy. We also show that the dispersionless limit of the Fay-like identities are the dispersionless Hirota equations of the dispersionless Toda hierarchy.
Ammonia Production by Ruminal Microorganisms and Enumeration, Isolation, and Characterization of Bacteria Capable of Growth on Peptides and Amino Acids from the Sheep Rumen

ABSTRACT Excessive NH3 production in the rumen is a major nutritional inefficiency in ruminant animals. Experiments were undertaken to compare the rates of NH3 production from different substrates in ruminal fluid in vitro and to assess the role of asaccharolytic bacteria in NH3 production. Ruminal fluid was taken from four rumen-fistulated sheep receiving a mixed hay-concentrate diet. The calculated rate of NH3 production from Trypticase varied from 1.8 to 19.7 nmol mg of protein−1 min−1 depending on the substrate, its concentration, and the method used. Monensin (5 μM) inhibited NH3 production from proteins, peptides, and amino acids by an average of 28% with substrate at 2 mg/ml, compared to 48% with substrate at 20 mg/ml (P = 0.011). Of the total bacterial population, 1.4% grew on Trypticase alone, of which 93% was eliminated by 5 μM monensin. Many fewer bacteria (0.002% of the total) grew on amino acids alone. Nineteen isolates capable of growth on Trypticase were obtained from four sheep. 16S ribosomal DNA and traditional identification methods indicated the bacteria fell into six groups. All were sensitive to monensin, and all except one group (group III, similar to Atopobium minutum), produced NH3 at >250 nmol min−1 mg of protein−1, depending on the medium, as determined by a batch culture method. All isolates had exopeptidase activity, but only group III had an apparent dipeptidyl peptidase I activity. Groups I, II, and IV were most closely related to asaccharolytic ruminal and oral Clostridium and Eubacterium spp. Group V comprised one isolate, similar to Desulfomonas piger (formerly Desulfovibrio pigra). Group VI was 95% similar to Acidaminococcus fermentans. Growth of the Atopobium- and Desulfomonas-like isolates was enhanced by sugars, while growth of groups I, II, and V was significantly depressed by sugars. This study therefore demonstrates that different methodologies and different substrate concentrations provide an explanation for different apparent rates of ruminal NH3 production reported in different studies and identifies a diverse range of hyper-ammonia-producing bacteria in the rumen of sheep.
Study of image-based expression recognition techniques on three recent spontaneous databases

Recent work in the recognition of naturalistic expressions, which is also known as spontaneous facial expressions recognition, has attracted researchers' attention due to its importance in different behavioural and clinical applications. The main design challenges in the area of emotion computing for automatic recognition of spontaneous facial expression are the face pose, capture distance, illumination variation, head rotation, and occlusion. Therefore, designing a robust system to mitigate these challenges is essential for real-time applications. In this paper, we present a comparison of the performance of image-based expression recognition in three types of recent spontaneous databases by using principles of sparse representation theory. The three spontaneous databases are the Video Database of Moving Faces and People (VDMFP), MMI Facial Expression Database and Belfast Induced Natural Emotion Database each having different challenges and the study aims to show which types of spontaneous conditions are more challenging in terms of system accuracy. We demonstrate through the straightforward analysis of results in terms of the error rates which aforesaid spontaneous database is more challenging. Then, we compare the use of difference images, in order for the creation of the decomposition of expressive images. The difference images emphasize the expressive areas in the face while eliminating the irrelevant parts; in this way, the identity of the facial image is removed and the identity-independent expression recognition problem is addressed.
Contraception coverage and methods used among women in South Africa: A national household survey.

BACKGROUND Globally, family planning services are being strengthened and the range of contraceptive choices expanded. Data on contraceptive coverage and service gaps could help to shape these initiatives. OBJECTIVE To assess contraception coverage in South Africa (SA) and identify underserved populations and aspects of programming that require strengthening. METHODS Data from a 2012 SA household survey assessed contraception coverage among 6 296 women aged 15 - 49 years and identified underserved populations. RESULTS Two-thirds had an unintended pregnancy in the past 5 years, a quarter of which were contraceptive failures. Most knew of injectable (92.0%) and oral contraception (89.9%), but fewer of intrauterine devices (56.1%) and emergency contraception (47.3%). Contraceptive prevalence was 49.1%, and 41.8% women used modern non-barrier methods. About half had ever used injectable contraception. Contraception was lower in black Africans and younger women, who used a limited range of methods. CONCLUSION Contraception coverage is higher than many previous estimates. Rates of unintended pregnancy, contraceptive failure and knowledge gaps, however, demonstrate high levels of unmet need, especially among black Africans and young women.
DOG : Efficient Information Flow Tracing and Program Monitoring with Dynamic Binary Rewriting

In this paper, we present DOG (Dynamic Observant Guard), an efficient information flow tracing and program monitoring system. Our system is based on dynamic binary rewriting. We proposed a number of novel techniques such as memory mapping to reduce overhead in tracing of data and monitoring of program execution. We have demonstrated that our system is effective in protecting against various kinds of exploits. We also evaluated our system performance with SPEC2000 INT [5] benchmark. Our system achieved an average slowdown of 5.5 times compared against the native execution, offering significant improvements over similar tools.
Differentiation of Dementia with Lewy Bodies from Alzheimer’s Disease Using Brain SPECT

We compared regional cerebral blood flow (CBF) patterns in patients with dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and investigated the diagnostic utility of SPECT study in differentiating between DLB and AD. SPECT data on 20 patients with DLB and 75 patients with AD were analyzed using three-dimensional stereotactic surface projections. Regional CBF reduction was determined by quantitative analysis using stereotactic extraction estimation method. The DLB group showed a significant CBF reduction in the temporoparietal, frontal lobe and posterior cingulate, similar to the CBF pattern in the AD group, but regional CBF in the medial and lateral occipital lobes decreased significantly in patients with DLB compared with patients with AD. Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that regional CBF measurement of the medial occipital lobe, including the cuneus and lingual gyrus, yielded a sensitivity of 85% and a specificity of 85% in discriminating DLB from AD. Objective and quantitative CBF measurement in the medial occipital lobe may be useful in the clinical differentiation of DLB and AD.
Insm 1 cooperates with Neurod 1 and Foxa 2 to maintain mature pancreatic b-cell function

Key transcription factors control the gene expression program in mature pancreatic b-cells, but their integration into regulatory networks is little understood. Here, we show that Insm1, Neurod1 and Foxa2 directly interact and together bind regulatory sequences in the genome of mature pancreatic b-cells. We used Insm1 ablation in mature b-cells in mice and found pronounced deficits in insulin secretion and gene expression. Insm1-dependent genes identified previously in developing b-cells markedly differ from the ones identified in the adult. In particular, adult mutant b-cells resemble immature b-cells of newborn mice in gene expression and functional properties. We defined Insm1, Neurod1 and Foxa2 binding sites associated with genes deregulated in Insm1 mutant b-cells. Remarkably, combinatorial binding of Insm1, Neurod1 and Foxa2 but not binding of Insm1 alone explained a significant fraction of gene expression changes. Human genomic sequences corresponding to the murine sites occupied by Insm1/Neurod1/Foxa2 were enriched in single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with glycolytic traits. Thus, our data explain part of the mechanisms by which b-cells maintain maturity: Combinatorial Insm1/Neurod1/Foxa2 binding identifies regulatory sequences that maintain the mature gene expression program in b-cells, and disruption of this network results in functional failure.
Toward a Unifying Framework for Exploring Fit and Flexibility in Strategic Human Resource Management

This paper presents a framework for studying the concepts of fit and flexibility in the field of Strategic Human Resource Management (Strategic HRM) focusing on HRM practices, employee skills, and employee behaviors and reviews past conceptual and empirical work within that framework. A model of Strategic HRM is presented and this model is used to explore the concepts of fit and flexibility as they apply to Strategic HRM. The concepts of resource and coordination flexibility are applied to Strategic HRM, and the implications of the framework for both the practice of and research on Strategic HRM are discussed.
Towards an infrastructure for temporal databases: report of an invitational ARPA/NSF workshop

the discussion. Specifically, an initial glossary of temporal database concepts and a. test suite of temporal queries were distributed before the workshop. Both of these document*s were amended based on the analysis and critique of the workshop. A language design committee was constituted after the workshop to develop a consensus temporal query la,nguage extension to SQL-92; this design also benefited from the discussion at the workshop. This report documents the discussions and consensus reached at the workshop. The report. reflects the conclusions rea.ched at the workshop in June, 1993 and further discussions amongst the group participants through electronic mail. In preparing this report, each group coordinator assembled ideas and prepared an initial draft, which was then reviewed by a.11 the workshop participants. The record of the deliberations of these four groups, in the following four sections, forms t.he bulk of this report. Each of these sections begins with the group’s charter and a brief snapshot of the status of the field and ends with a list of follow-on efforts. The last, section identifies the workshop pa.rticipants. The full report’ provides more discussion and many additional references t,o the literature.
Secure and Efficient LCMQ Entity Authentication Protocol

The simple, computationally efficient HB-like entity authentication protocols based on the learning parity with noise (LPN) problem have attracted a great deal of attention in the past few years due to the broad application prospect in low-cost RFID tags. However, all previous protocols are vulnerable to a man-in-the-middle attack discovered by Ouafi, Overbeck, and Vaudenay. In this paper, we propose a lightweight authentication protocol named LCMQ and prove it secure in a general man-in-the-middle model. The technical core in our proposal is a special type of circulant matrix, for which we prove the linear independence of matrix vectors, present efficient algorithms on matrix operations, and describe a secure encryption against ciphertext-only attack. By combining all of those with LPN and related to the multivariate quadratic problem, the LCMQ protocol not only is provably secure against all probabilistic polynomial-time adversaries, but also transcends HB-like protocols in terms of tag's computation overhead, storage expense, and communication cost.
Object detection from partial view street data

Recognition from partial views is a practical need for autonomous vehicles. Acquiring enough detailed information is not always possible. For avoiding obstacles we need partial recognition from a distance, before we have a full scanning in a dangerously close position. However, there are very few applicable results, especially in case of 3D. In this paper validation tests are presented for a method developed for partial recognition from 3D. For the real-life tests urban scenes of Mobile Laser Scanning data was selected. On the noisy LIDAR data, the excellent applicability of the method is proved. This paper shows the efficiency of the proposed method in real-life street scenery.
Cerebrospinal Fluid Concentrations of Substance P and (Met)Enkephalin‐ARG6‐PHE7 during Surgery and Patient‐controlled Analgesia

The possible role of two neuropeptides (substance P and (Met)enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7) in nociception were studied in 14 surgical patients. Lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of the putative excitatory afferent transmitter substance P and the μ and δ receptor agonist (Met)enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 were measured during general anesthesia for abdominal surgery and during the postoperative period when patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) was used for control of pain. The CSF ions sampled through an intrathecal catheter. Seven of the patients were randomly assigned to receive neurolept anesthesia; the rest were given isoflurane anesthesia without narcotics. No statistically significant changes occurred in substance P concentrations in CSF during surgery or postoperative PCA, nor were there significant differences between the two groups. There was, however, a significant correlation between CSF substance P concentrations before the start of PCA and pain assessment on a visual analogue scale. The individual changes in substance P concentrations during PCA was also inversely correlated to the consumption of medicine. The CSF (Met)enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 concentrations were below the level of detection in seven of the patients before anesthesia. A large interindividual variability in both substance P and (Met)enkephalin-Arg6-Phe7 concentrations was evident. The absence of major changes in CSF neuro-peptide concentrations urns unexpected. Apparently inter-individual variations in neuropeptide output are considerable.
A Beginning Teacher's Journey toward Culturally Responsive Practice

Few studies have explored the work of successful beginning teachers in diverse settings. This investigation follows one promising young, white elementary teacher through her student teaching in the inner city of Washington, D.C. and into her first year of teaching in a suburban, diverse Virginia school. Seven themes articulate her journey into more culturally responsive teaching. These themes may help teacher education candidates consider their own attitudes and actions towards diverse others.
CogniServe: Heterogeneous Server Architecture for Large-Scale Recognition

As smart mobile devices become pervasive, vendors are offering rich features supported by cloud-based servers to enhance the user experience. Such servers implement large-scale computing environments, where target data is compared to a massive preloaded database. CogniServe is a highly efficient recognition server for large-scale recognition that employs a heterogeneous architecture to provide low-power, high-throughput cores, along with application-specific accelerators.
Constant envelope multiple trellis-coded MSK for phase coded waveforms in complementary sequences sensor pulse compression

Complementary coded pulse compression waveforms implementation is introduced in many publications based on using the quadrature phase shift keying modulation (QPSK). The abrupt phase changes in QPSK can lead to fluctuations in the signal waveform amplitude and make it susceptible to system nonlinearities. This can lead to sidelobes non-cancellation because of imbalance correlation in compressing the two coded pulses. This paper proposed complementary sequences pulse compression waveforms based on using multiple trellis-coding with minimum shift keying (MSK) modulation for each sequence. A special design of trellis encoders is proposed to maintain a constant envelope waveform to be robust to nonlinearities and getting a high error rate performance in detecting the complementary sequences in noise effect. Therefore, results explored a perfect zero sidelobe levels in pulse compression.