Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preventing HIV transmission to children: Quality of counselling of mothers in South Africa

Aim: To assess the quality of counselling provided to mothers through the programme to prevent mother‐to‐child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV in South Africa. Methods: Structured observations of consultations and exit interviews with 60 mothers attending clinics at three purposively selected PMTCT sites across South Africa were conducted. Results: Twenty‐two counsellors were observed. The general quality of communication skills was very good, and 73% of HIV‐negative mothers were informed of the advantages of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF). However, only one of 34 HIV‐positive mothers was informed about the possible side effects of nevirapine, and none was told what to do when it occurred. Only two HIV‐positive mothers were asked about essential conditions for safe formula feeding before a decision about an infant feeding option was made. None of the 12 mothers choosing to breastfeed was shown how to position the baby correctly on the breast or asked whether they thought EBF was feasible. Fewer than a quarter of mothers expressed confidence in performing the actions required, and 85% could not define the term EBF.
Fine-grained event learning of human-object interaction with LSTM-CRF

Event learning is one of the most important problems in AI. However, notwithstanding significant research efforts, it is still a very complex task, especially when the events involve the interaction of humans or agents with other objects, as it requires modeling human kinematics and object movements. This study proposes a methodology for learning complex human-object interaction (HOI) events, involving the recording, annotation and classification of event interactions. For annotation, we allow multiple interpretations of a motion capture by slicing over its temporal span, for classification, we use Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) sequential models with Conditional Randon Field (CRF) for constraints of outputs. Using a setup involving captures of human-object interaction as three dimensional inputs, we argue that this approach could be used for event types involving complex spatio-temporal dynamics.
Argument Repertoire as a Reliable and Valid Measure of Opinion Quality: Electronic Dialogue During Campaign 2000

A new measure of opinion quality that we name "argument repertoire" (AR) is introduced and evaluated. AR refers to the relevant reasons that one has for one's own opinions and the relevant reasons that others with opposite opinions might have. The measure is shown to be reliable and to have construct validity. Those with elevated AR also were more likely to attend on-line deliberative groups during the presidential election and to contribute to those conversations. Those who participated in online deliberations tended to have higher AR scores on particular issues that were discussed. The role of AR in deliberative political groups is explored.
Critical friends: a tool for quality improvement in universities

Quality programmes in higher education in Spain consist of a review to be conducted by a panel composed of external and internal members. These activities may contribute towards an improvement in teaching. However, we can use a number of complementary methods in order to evaluate teachers. The aim of this paper is to discuss the aspects that must be considered in order to succeed in the implementation of the critical friends technique to improve teaching, based on the experience of a group of six lecturers in a Spanish university.
Emotional pictures predominate in binocular rivalry

This study used binocular rivalry to examine whether emotionally relevant pictures are processed preferentially in the visual system. Binocular rivalry occurs when two incompatible pictures are presented to both eyes. If the pictures cannot be merged to a single unambiguous percept, binocular rivalry results in an alternation of the two percepts. However, it has been controversial whether emotional picture content can influence a picture's relative predominance. Twenty pairs of emotional and neutral pictures from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS) were presented to 45 healthy participants. As hypothesised, emotional pictures significantly predominated over neutral pictures, both with respect to the first percept and the total viewing time across each trial. We conclude that the relative predominance of emotional pictures in binocular rivalry provides further support for the preferential processing of emotional stimuli in the visual system.
Navigation system for the visually impaired individuals with the kinect and vibrotactile belt

This paper presents an efficient navigation system which presents the navigation information to the visually impaired via Kinect and vibrotactile belt. The system consists of three parts. The first part is Kinect, which is used for obstacles detection. The second part is a laptop, the laptop processes the depth data of the context acquired by the Kinect, and then translates safe guidance hint into vibration information. The system also combines the function of GPS utilizing the speech recognition module and Google Maps. The third part is the vibrotactile belt which is fixed on the waist. Once wearing the belt, the visually impaired can accurately “feel” the direction prompt with the 8×2 vibration motors array. The laptop, Kinect and other elements are mounted on a walking aid. The visually impaired can walk independently with the support of the walker. Two experiments are conducted to test the performance of the system. The results show that the system is able to identify the obstacles in front and give the visually impaired corresponding prompt. It could make the visually impaired walking in a larger range independently and more safely.
Dependency networks for relational data

Instance independence is a critical assumption of traditional machine learning methods contradicted by many relational datasets. For example, in scientific literature datasets, there are dependencies among the references of a paper. Recent work on graphical models for relational data has demonstrated significant performance gains for models that exploit the dependencies among instances. In this paper, we present relational dependency networks (RDNs), a new form of graphical model capable of reasoning with such dependencies in a relational setting. We describe the details of RDN models and outline their strengths, most notably the ability to learn and reason with cyclic relational dependencies. We present RDN models learned on a number of real-world datasets, and evaluate the models in a classification context, showing significant performance improvements. In addition, we use synthetic data to evaluate the quality of model learning and inference procedures.
Signature Random Fields for Accommodating Illumination Variability

In this paper, we document an extension to traditional pattern-theoretic object templates to jointly accommodate variations in object pose and in the radiant appearance of the object surface. We first review classical object templates accommodating pose variation. We then develop an efficient subspace representation for the object radiance indexed on the surface of the three dimensional object template. We integrate the low-dimensional representation for the object radiance, or signature, into the pattern-theoretic template, and present the results of orientation estimation experiments. The experiments demonstrate both estimation performance fluctuations under varying illumination conditions and performance degradations associated with unknown scene illumination. We also present a Bayesian approach for estimation accommodating illumination variability.
On the Topological Changes of Brain Functional Networks under Priming and Ambiguity

The relationship between different brain areas is characterized by functional networks through correlations of time series obtained from neuroimaging experiments. Due to its high spatial resolution, functional MRI data is commonly used for generating functional networks of the entire brain. These networks are comprised of the measurement points/channels as nodes and links are established if there is a correlation in the measured time series of these nodes. However, since the evaluation of correlation becomes more accurate with the length of the underlying time series, we construct in this paper functional networks from MEG data, which has a much higher time resolution than fMRI. We study in particular how the network topologies change in an experiment on ambiguity of words, where the subject first receives a priming word before being presented with an ambiguous or unambiguous target word. key words: brain functional networks, MEG, complex networks, network topology
Extracellular Matrix‐Based Biohybrid Materials for Engineering Compliant, Matrix‐Dense Tissues

An ideal tissue engineering scaffold should not only promote, but take an active role in, constructive remodeling and formation of site appropriate tissue. Extracellular matrix (ECM)‐derived proteins provide unmatched cellular recognition, and therefore influence cellular response towards predicted remodeling behaviors. Materials built with only these proteins, however, can degrade rapidly or begin too weak to substitute for compliant, matrix‐dense tissues. The focus of this Progress Report is on biohybrid materials that incorporate polymer components with ECM‐derived proteins, to produce a substrate with desired mechanical and degradation properties, as well as actively guide tissue remodeling. Materials are described through four fabrication methods: 1) polymer and ECM‐protein fibers woven together, 2) polymer and ECM proteins combined in a bilayer, 3) cell‐built ECM on polymer scaffold, and 4) ECM proteins and polymers combined in a single hydrogel. Scaffolds from each fabrication method can achieve characteristics suitable for different types of tissue. In vivo testing has shown progressive remodeling in injury models, and suggests ECM‐based biohybrid materials promote a prohealing immune response over single component alternatives. The prohealing immune response is associated with lasting success and long term host maintenance of the implant.
Efficient LALRED for Congestion Avoidance Using Automata-Like Solution

For ELALRED algorithm the concept of a Learning Automata-Like (LAL) mechanism devised for congestion avoidance in wired networks. The algorithm, named as Efficient LAL Random Early Detection (ELALRED), is founded on the principles of the operations of existing RED congestion-avoidance mechanisms, augmented with an LAL philosophy. The primary objective of ELALRED is to optimize the value of the average size of the queue used for congestion avoidance and to consequently reduce the total loss of packets at the queue. We attempt to achieve this by stationing a LAL algorithm at the gateways and by discretizing the probabilities of the corresponding actions of the congestion-avoidance algorithm. At every time instant, the LAL scheme, in turn, chooses the action that possesses the maximal ratio between the number of times the chosen action is rewarded and the number of times that it has been chosen. In ELALRED, we simultaneously increase the likelihood of the scheme converging to the action, which minimizes the number of packet drops at the gateway. ELALRED approach helps to improve the performance of congestion avoidance by adaptively minimizing the queue-loss rate and the average queue size. Simulation results obtained using NS2 establish the improved performance of ELALRED over the LALRED and traditional RED methods which were chosen as the benchmarks for performance comparison purposes.
The Collision of Trans-Experience and the Politics of Women's Ice Hockey

ABSTRACT Transgender identified athletes have competed at all levels in sports, though most remain hidden and silenced. In the Spring of 2003, USA Hockey banned a transsexual male-to-female (MTF) athlete from participating in the Women's National Ice Hockey Tournament. By deeming her ineligible, USA Hockey demonstrated how tightly they aim to control sex and gender in women's sport. A series of four open-ended interviews were conducted with a trans-identified hockey player who was banned from competition. The reading of sex and gender through a feminist lens is employed to further view the subjectivity of transgender bodies in sport. Through the voice of one transgender athlete, we confront ideas of body policing, identity marking, and identity self-maintenance within ice hockey in the United States.
Understanding advanced theory of mind and empathy in high-functioning adults with autism spectrum disorder

It has been argued that higher functioning individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have specific deficits in advanced but not simple theory of mind (ToM), yet the questionable ecological validity of some tasks reduces the strength of this assumption. The present study employed The Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT), which uses video vignettes to assess comprehension of subtle conversational inferences (sarcasm, lies/deception). Given the proposed relationships between advanced ToM and cognitive and affective empathy, these associations were also investigated. As expected, the high-functioning adults with ASDs demonstrated specific deficits in comprehending the beliefs, intentions, and meaning of nonliteral expressions. They also had significantly lower cognitive and affective empathy. Cognitive empathy was related to ToM and group membership whereas affective empathy was only related to group membership.
Evolution evolves: physiology returns to centre stage

Denis Noble, Eva Jablonka, Michael J. Joyner, Gerd B. Muller and Stig W. Omholt University of Oxford, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, Oxford, UK Tel Aviv University, Cohn Institute for the History andPhilosophyof Science and Ideas, Ramat Aviv, Israel Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA University of Vienna, Department of Theoretical Biology, Vienna, Austria Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Trondheim, Norway
The Role of Polyphosphates in the Transport Mechanism of Glucose in Yeast Cells

Several cations inhibit anaerobic fermentation of glucose by intact yeast cells. Some ions (e.g. Hg++) penetrate into the cytoplasm and cause an irreversible inhibition of fermentation. Other ions (e.g. UO2 ++, Ni++, and Co++) are reversibly bound to a substance at the outside of the yeast cell identified as polyphosphate. Although the cations are bound to exactly the same extent, their influences on fermentation differ greatly. Thorium ions are bound not only to the polyphosphates, but in addition, to phosphatides in the cell membrane. Under circumstances in which glucose is transported into the cell, the amount of polyphosphate in the outer face of the membrane decreases considerably. If yeast is poisoned with monoiodoacetate, the number of glucose molecules that can still be taken up equals the original number of cation-binding sites at the outer surface of the membrane. These data suggest that one molecule of glucose is taken up in connection with the disappearance of one polyphosphate monomer. The hypothesis is framed that the uptake of glucose into the yeast cell is associated with an enzymic phosphorylation (possibly of the carrier), with polyphosphate as phosphate donor. The inhibition of glucose uptake caused by certain metal ions may be the consequence of induced changes in the spatial arrangement of polyphosphate chains; the greater the change in configuration, the larger is the inhibition.
The talent enigma

The talent enigma juxtaposes the discourses of ‘talent’ as an inherent individual quality to be sought out and recruited as against talent as inherent in organizations which grow their own. This article explores this issue in the context of an international ‘crisis’ of school leadership, examining how that crisis is constructed and how it impacts in differing contexts. Included here is discussion of the implicit assumptions of leadership qualities that schools require and, in other cases, explicit discussion of competencies deemed to be in short supply. In countries where no such shortages existed, the focus was less on the problems of recruitment and greater emphasis on growing and nurturing talent of prospective leaders and of school leaders already in situ. Recruitment issues and the debate over talent also served to bring into sharper focus the importance of succession and sustainability and leadership as distributed across the school community. This article examines these issues in light of the notion of the ‘war for talent’, reviewing the nature of the obstacles to recruitment, some of the proposed solutions, and taking issue with some of the assumptions on which the ‘crisis’ rests.
Splanchnic and leg exchange of glucose, amino acids, and free fatty acids during exercise in diabetes mellitus.

The influence of exercise on leg and splanchnic exchange of substrates was examined in eight insulin-dependent diabetics 24 h after withdrawal of insulin and in eight healthy controls studied at rest and after 40 min of bicycle ergometer exercise at 55-60% of maximal capacity. In four of the diabetic subjects, basal arterial ketone acid levels were 3-4 mmol/ liter (ketotic diabetics) and in the remainder, below 1 mmol/liter (nonketotic diabetics). ,ree fatty acid (FFA) turnover and regional exchange were evaluated with 14-C- labeled oleic acid. Leg uptake of blood glucose rose 13-18 fold during exercise in both the diabetics and controls and accounted for a similar proportion of the total oxygen uptake by leg muscles (25-28%) in the two groups. In contrast, leg uptake of FFA corresponded to 39% of leg oxygen consumption in the diabetic group but only 27% in controls. Systemic turnover of oleic acid was similar in the two groups. Splanchnic glucose output increased during exercise 3-4 fold above resting levels in both groups. In the diabetics, splanchnic uptake of lactate, pyruvate, glycerol, and glycogenic amino acids rose more than twofold above resting levels and was fourfold greater than in exercising controls. Total precursor uptake could account for 30% of the splanchnic glucose output in the diabetic group. In contrast, in the controls, total splanchnic uptake of glucose precursors was no greater during exercise than in the resting state and could account for no more than 11% of splanchnic glucose output. The augmented precursor uptake during exercise in the diabetics was a consequence of increased splanchnic fractional extraction as well as increased peripheral production of gluconeogenic substrates. The arterial glucagon concentration was unchanged by exercise in both groups, but was higher in the diabetics. In the diabetic subjects with ketosis in the resting state, exercise elicited a rise in arterial glucose and FFA, an augmented splanchnic uptake of FFA, and a 2-3 fold increase in splanchnic output of 3-hydroxybutyrate. Uptake of 3-hydroxybutyrate by the exercising leg rose more rapidly than splanchnic production, resulting in a fall in arterial levels of 3-hydroxybutyrate. It is concluded that (a) glucose uptake by exercising muscle in hyperglycemic diabetics is no different from that of controls; (b) splanchnic glucose output rises during exercise to a similar extent in diabetics and controls, while uptake of gluconeogenic substrates is markedly higher in diabetics and accounts for a greater proportion of total splanchnic glucose output; (c) exercise in diabetic patients with mild ketosis is associated with a rise in blood glucose and FFA levels as well as augmented splanchnic production and peripheral uptake of ketone bodies.
Effect of metabolic acidosis on insulin action and secretion in uremia.

BACKGROUND Metabolic acidosis affects both vitamin D and insulin metabolism. Vitamin D is important in modulation of both insulin secretion and insulin sensitivity in uremia. The present study examines the effect of correction of metabolic acidosis on insulin action and secretion as well as 1,25 vitamin D3 concentrations in uremic patients. METHODS Eight patients (age 18 +/- 1 year) on maintenance hemodialysis with metabolic acidosis were studied before and after two weeks of oral sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3) treatment to correct the acidosis. To control for the effect of additional sodium, they were also studied after two weeks of an equivalent amount of oral sodium chloride (NaCl). Controls consisted of 7 healthy controls (age 19 +/- 1 year). Insulin sensitivity was measured by the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp technique. Insulin secretion was measured by the hyperglycemic clamp technique. RESULTS Oral NaHCO3 treatment led to significant increases in venous pH and serum bicarbonate concentrations but no significant change in intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentrations. Circulating 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin [(OH)2] D3 were significantly lower than control values initially and increased significantly after treatment. Oral NaCl did not change any of the biochemical parameters. Before treatment of acidosis, uremic patients had lower insulin sensitivity (insulin resistance) during constant hyperinsulinemia and lower insulin secretion during constant hyperglycemia compared with controls. Following two weeks of NaHCO3 treatment there were significant increases in insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion, although the values did not normalize. There were no changes in insulin sensitivity or insulin secretion following two weeks of NaCl. CONCLUSION Treatment of metabolic acidosis increased both insulin sensitivity and insulin secretion in patients with uremia. This was accompanied by an increase in the circulating levels of 1,25(OH)2D3 but no change in those of parathyroid hormone.
GROWTH TO DEATH IN LIZARDS

Abstract Negative relationships between growth rate and survival have been demonstrated in many organisms, often reflecting risks associated with increased foraging rates. More puzzling, however, are recent reports that rapid growth early in life may lower survival rates much later in life, presumably because fast-growing animals allocate resources among different body components in ways that later compromise their survival. If widespread, such delayed effects may modify our interpretation of the evolution of life histories and phenotypic plasticity. Previous reports of this phenomenon are derived mostly from laboratory studies, generally on rodents or humans. We provide the first evidence from an experimental study in the field: neonatal lizards were exposed to different thermal conditions in seminatural enclosures at two different elevations (within their natural thermal regime). This arrangement allowed relatively higher and lower levels of food intake, which modified the neonates' growth rates (because lizards at more benign thermal conditions could forage more frequently). When later released into the wild, the individuals that grew more rapidly as neonates experienced much higher mortality than did slower-growing conspecifics, regardless of the elevation at which they had been kept.