Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Evolution in Primates: The Role of Ecological Factors and Male Behaviour

In order to explain the variation in primate social systems, socio-ecology has focussed on the role of ecological factors to explain female associations and relationship and on the spatio-temporal distribution of mating opportunities to explain male associations and relationships. While this apporach has been quite successful, it ignores male-female associations and relationships and ignores the possibility that male behaviour modifies other aspects of the social system. In this paper, the ecological approach is complemented by consideration of a social factor found to limit fitness, namely infanticide by males. Infanticide risk is proposed to have selected for male-female associations and relationships and to have modified female-female relationships in some cases. It is also hypothetized to have selected for the unusual male bonding by species such as chimpanzees. Finally, its possible impact on between-group relations is examined. The findings suggest that infanticide is of equal importance to ecological factors, with which it may interact in sometimes complex way, in shaping primate social systems
Closed Freyd-and -categories

We give two classes of sound and complete models for the computational-calculus, or c-calculus. For the rst, we generalise the notion of cartesian closed category to that of closed Freyd-category. For the second, we generalise simple indexed categories. The former gives a direct semantics for the computational-calculus. The latter corresponds to an idealisation of stack-based intermediate languages used in some approaches to compiling.
Ouderen, zorg en technologie : kans, knelpunt of combinatie? : een onderzoek naar de factoren die de intentie voor het gebruik van eHealth door ouderen voorspellen.

Background: The number of older people in the world increases. So it is necessary to find ways to care for the quantity of older people. The use of so called eHealth technologies offers an opportunity for the health care to work cost-effective and as a matter of routine to handle the quantity of older people. Video calling is one example of an eHealth technology which can fulfill the needs and desires for independency of the elderly. However, research showing which factors influence whether older people use those technologies is missing. The current study tries to discover the determinants of the intention of elderly to use video calling with the general practitioner. Several determinants were found in the literature that affect the intention of the elderly to use technology. The relationship between these determinants and the intention was investigated in the present study. Methods: The target group consisted of a group of Germans aged 70 en older (M=77.13, SD=4.20). A quantitative questionnaire was developed based on existing questionnaires from the literature. The current questionnaire was designed to get to know more about the relationship between the various determinants and the intention of the elderly to use video calls with the general practitioner. Statistical analysis were used to investigate the relationship between the different determinants and the intention of the elderly. Results: The analysis showed that the attitude of the elderly had an important influence on the intention to use video calls. However, it became clear that there is a difference between the influence of the affective component of attitude and the cognitive component. It also revealed that the perceived subjective norm explains some part of variance in the intention to use video calls. When it comes to Perceived Usefulness and Perceived Ease of use, the analysis showed that the Perceived Usefulness can explain a larger part of the variance in intention than the Perceived Ease of Use. Finally, a significant influence was found and it showed that the General Computer Self-Efficacy can explain some part of the variance in the intention to use video calls. Recommendations: 32 respondents participated in the present study. In order to achieve valid conclusions it would be necessary to continue with this study to ask more respondents. Especially when it comes to the determinant “Experience” it is important to ask respondents who already made use of video calling. It is also important to consider the influence of different distal determinants when it comes to the intention to use video calling.
A History of Perimetry and Visual Field Testing

Perimetry and visual field testing have been used as clinical ophthalmic diagnostic tools for many years, and this manuscript will provide a brief historical overview of these procedures and the individuals who developed them. Today, we have many different forms of perimetry that are designed to evaluate different locations within the visual pathways and various mechanisms and subsets of mechanisms within the visual system. However, the most widely used method of performing perimetry and visual field testing has not substantially changed for more than 150 years, consisting of detecting a small target superimposed on a uniform background at different locations within the field of view. Although the basic test procedure has remained similar throughout the ages, there have been many advances in test administration, standardization, statistical evaluation, clinical analysis, interpretation, and prediction of outcome based on visual field findings.
Supporting carer–child relationships through play: a model for teaching carers how to use play skills to strengthen attachment relationships

This article presents a rationale for delivering training in play skills to groups of foster carers and adopters, and others who work with children and young people in the care system. The aim is to emphasise the relevance of play for facilitating emotional growth and regulation, and to demonstrate how ‘playing in relationship’ can support children who have experienced abuse or trauma in their primary relationships. The article includes a number of suggestions for activities that can be incorporated into training and discussion of how a playful approach to adult learning can enhance the experience. Evaluation comments by participants are also included and possibilities for future carer training programmes are considered.
Ontology Enabled Graphical Database Query Tool for End-Users

Abstract. In this paper we show how semantic web technologies are used in a real application in the domain of national medical databases where an important technological gap between the legacy relation databases and OWL ontologies is bridged by the recently standardized UML profile for OWL. After data has been exported from multiple relational databases into a single shared RDF database structured according to an integrated OWL ontology there emerges a need for a convenient end-user query tools. We describe a fully graphical access to the exported data through the graphical front-end tool (named “DEMO” tool) based on the UML profile for OWL and SPARQL query language. Keywords . semantic web, ontologies, information system design, database design, RDF data stores, modeling languages, data semantics Introduction Semantic web technologies such as RDF and OWL are lately starting to find promising and somewhat unexpected applications also in the field of information system engineering which traditionally has been based on the SQL driven relational databases [1, 2]. Despite relative inefficiency of RDF databases and SPARQL [3] query language (compared to the more mature relational databases) the flexibility of RDF to directly integrate data with its conceptual model (OWL domain ontology) removes a historic barrier from the databases – the end-users now can query data from the database themselves by knowing the OWL ontology only, rather than rely on the “man in the middle” (a programmer, who creates the application-specific user interface for the database) to reformulate the end-user queries into the SQL statements over the hidden, implementation-specific normalized relational database schema. The problem is that in the legacy relational databases the initial conceptual model of the domain (often modeled as UML class diagram or ER-diagram) tends to disappear during conversion into the normalized database schema thus leading to database being inaccessible for direct query by domain experts familiar only with the conceptual model. Additional benefit added by RDF and OWL is the hierarchical scalable URI namespace, which eases the integration of previously separate databases. Such integration is aided also by the rich and yet strictly formal semantics of OWL DL. The richness of OWL DL provides means for modular abstraction levels over narrower domain ontologies during the database integration such as
Decision trees for heterogeneous dose-response signal analysis

We propose a novel decision tree algorithm for modeling function-valued responses. This algorithm partitions the feature space into homogeneous subpopulations with common dose-response signals using a splitting criterion based on Nadaraya-Watson kernel regression and the Cramér-von Mises statistical test. We formulate an important business problem of sales team composition within the dose-response framework. Experimental results on generated and real-world sales data show the efficacy of the approach.
The Election Protocol for Reconfigurable Distributed Systems

The Election paradigm can be used as a building block in many practical problems such as group communication, atomic commit and replicated data management where a protocol coordinator might be useful. The problem has been widely studied in the research community since one reason for this wide interest is that many distributed protocols need an election protocol. However, despite its usefulness, to our knowledge there is no work that has been devoted to this problem in a mobile computing environment. Mobile systems are more prone to failures than conventional distributed systems. Solving election in such an environment requires from a set of mobile hosts to choose a mobile host or a fixed host based on the their priority despite failures of both mobile computing and/or fixed hosts. In this paper, we describe a solution to the election problem from mobile computing systems. This solution is based on the Garcia Molina’s Bully algorithm. Key-words: Synchronous Distributed Systems, Leader Election, Fault Tolerance, Mobile Environment.
Modifiable environmental obesity risk factors among elementary school children in a Mexico-us border city.

BACKGROUND The increasing overweight (OW) and obesity (OB) prevalence in Mexican children warrant the assessment of the environmental risk factors. OBJECTIVE To assess whether there is an association between food availability in children's environments and their food consumption with BMI z-score and waist circumference (WC). METHODS Six hundred and eighty four children, 264 parents, 22 teachers and cafeteria staff in the schools and street vendors participated in the study. Weight, height, and WC of 5(th) grade children were assessed. Food frequency, physical activity (PA) and eating habits questionnaires were applied to parents, children and teachers. A food inventory questionnaire was applied to parents, cafeteria staff in the schools, street vendors and stores near the schools. RESULTS The children's mean age was 10.5. Twenty eight per cent of the children were overweight, 26% obese and 25% had abdominal obesity. A positive correlation was found between energy-dense foods (EDF), fruit and vegetable availability at home and their weekly consumption. Also a correlation between consumption of soft drinks and other EDF was found. The largest contributors to food consumption were the availability at home and at school (R2 = 0.11, p = 0.0001). Children's TV viewing was positively correlated with parents TV viewing time. For each hour of increase (from cero to seven) in daily TV viewing children were more likely to be overweight or obese (OR=1.22 95% CI 1.02-1.45, p=0.026). CONCLUSION EDF, fruit and vegetable availability in and near home and school along with hours of TV viewing were positively associated with obesity.
Suppression of Microglial Activation Is Neuroprotective in a Mouse Model of Human Retinitis Pigmentosa

Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a photoreceptor-degenerative disease caused by various mutations and is characterized by death of rod photoreceptor cell followed by gradual death of cone photoreceptors. The molecular mechanisms that lead to rod and cone death are not yet fully understood. Neuroinflammation contributes to the progression of many chronic neurodegenerative disorders. However, it remains to be determined how microglia contribute to photoreceptor disruption in RP. In this study, we explored the role of microglia as a contributor to photoreceptor degeneration in the rd10 mouse model of RP. First, we demonstrated that microglia activation was an early alteration in RP retinas. Inhibition of microglia activation by minocycline reduced photoreceptor apoptosis and significantly improved retinal structure and function and visual behavior in rd10 mice. Second, we identified that minocycline exerted its neuroprotective effects through both anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic mechanisms. Third, we found that Cx3cr1 deficiency dysregulated microglia activation and subsequently resulted in increased photoreceptor vulnerability in rd10 mice, suggesting that the Cx3cl1/Cx3cr1 signaling pathway might protect against microglia neurotoxicity. We concluded that suppression of neuroinflammatory responses could be a potential treatment strategy aimed at improving photoreceptor survival in human RP.
Deletion of autospecific T cells in T cell receptor (TCR) transgenic mice spares cells with normal TCR levels and low levels of CD8 molecules

Transgenic mice that carry on a large fraction of their T cells an alpha/beta T cell receptor that recognizes the male antigen in the context of H-2Db molecules were constructed. An mAb specific for the transgenic receptor was developed and used to analyze T cell subsets in male transgenic H-2b mice. The vast majority of immature CD4+8+ T cells that express the transgenic TCR were deleted in the male transgenic mouse. Nevertheless, the majority of T cells spared by this deletion process expressed a high level of the transgenic TCR. These T cells, however, had an abnormal CD4/CD8 phenotype in that they expressed either no CD8 molecules or only low levels.
New Fast and Robust Stochastic Algorithm of Two Stage Vector Quantization for Joint Source-Channel Speech Coding for Any Transmission Channel

A new algorithm of two stage vector quantization for joint source-channel speech coding for any transmission channels is presented. The computational complexity is only slightly higher than the most widely used multi stage vector quantization algorithm (MSVQ). This new algorithm improves the characteristics and the results of a sequential quantizer of two stages. The base of this algorithm is the modification of the well-known GS-RGSKAepsiv algorithm (reduced complexity generalized stochastic K-means algorithm of great speed) for a non-stationary channel. This new algorithm is optimal for the joint construction of two stages. The main features of the proposed algorithm are as follows: 1) Due to its stochastic nature it avoids being trapped in poor local minimums. 2) Initial codebooks are not needed; the codevectors move away from the gravity center of the training vectors towards their final position. 3) Source coding and channel coding are jointly optimized to obtain robust codebooks for different levels of noise in transmission channels. 4) The reduction of calculation time is based on geometric considerations and memory management. This algorithm allows to design the codebook orderly due to its advantageous convergence properties. The results showed that the algorithm needs only 8 to 16% of the number of mathematical operations in comparison with the operations required by others propositions for full search of MSQV, either stationary or non-stationary channels
Cryptographic key management methods for mission-critical wireless networks

When a large scale disaster strikes, it demands an efficient communication and coordination among first responders to save life and other community resources. Normally, the traditional communication infrastructures such as landline phone or cellular networks are damaged and dont provide adequate communication services to first responders for exchanging emergency related information. Wireless mesh networks is the promising alternatives in such type of situations. The security requirements for emergency response communications include privacy, data integrity, authentication, access control and availability. To build a secure communication system, usually the first attempt is to employ cryptographic keys. In critical-mission wireless mesh networks, a mesh router needs to maintain secure data communication with its neighboring mesh routers. The effective designs on fast pairwise key generation and rekeying for mesh routers are critical for emergency response and are essential to protect unicast traffic. In this paper, we present a security-enhanced session key generation and rekeying protocols EHPFS (enhanced 4-way handshake with PFS support). It eliminate the DoS attack problem of the 4-way handshake in 802.11s. EHPFS provides additional support for perfect forward secrecy (PFS). Even in case a Primary Master Key (PMK) is exposed, the session key PTK will not be compromised. The performance and security analysis show that EHPFS is efficient.
Probabilistic assessment factors for human health risk assessment. A practical guide

Dit rapport is een practische gids voor de toepassing van probabilistische verdelingen van default assessment factoren in risicobeoordelingen voor de mens. RIVM en TNO ontwikkelden het gebruik van probabilistische assessment factoren als eerste stap naar nationale en internaitonale harmonisatie. Er was overeenstemming over de aard van de verdelingen van verschillende humane assessment factoren. De voorgestelde verdelingen zullen worden toegepast in RIVM- en TNO-risicobeoordelingen van nieuwe en bestaande stoffen en bestrijdingsmiddelen. Een voorbeeld van een dergelijke analyse is toegevoegd.
Self-Management Support Interventions for Stroke Survivors: A Systematic Meta-Review

Background There is considerable policy interest in promoting self-management in patients with long-term conditions, but it remains uncertain whether these interventions are effective in stroke patients. Design Systematic meta-review of the evidence for self-management support interventions with stroke survivors to inform provision of healthcare services. Methods We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsychINFO, AMED, BNI, Database of Abstracts of Reviews for Effectiveness, and Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for systematic reviews of self-management support interventions for stroke survivors. Quality was assessed using the R-AMSTAR tool, and data extracted using a customised data extraction form. We undertook a narrative synthesis of the reviews' findings. Results From 12,400 titles we selected 13 systematic reviews (published 2003-2012) representing 101 individual trials. Although the term ‘self-management’ was rarely used, key elements of self-management support such as goal setting, action planning, and problem solving were core components of therapy rehabilitation interventions. We found high quality evidence that supported self-management in the context of therapy rehabilitation delivered soon after the stroke event resulted in short-term (< 1 year) improvements in basic and extended activities of daily living, and a reduction in poor outcomes (dependence/death). There is some evidence that rehabilitation and problem solving interventions facilitated reintegration into the community. Conclusions Self-management terminology is rarely used in the context of stroke. However, therapy rehabilitation currently successfully delivers elements of self-management support to stroke survivors and their caregivers with improved outcomes. Future research should focus on managing the emotional, medical and social tasks of long-term survivorship.
Teaching Basic Programming Concepts to Young Primary School Students Using Tablets: Results of a Pilot Project

The study presents the results of a project in which tablets and a ready-made application were used for teaching basic programming concepts to young primary school students (ages 7-9). A total of 135 students participated in the study, attending primary schools in Athens, Greece, divided into three groups. The first was taught conventionally. The second was taught using a board game, while the third was taught using tablets and an application. Students' performance was assessed using evaluation sheets. Data analyses revealed that students in the tablets/application group outperformed students in the other two groups in three out of four tests. No age differences were noted. Students' views regarding the application were highly positive. The learning outcomes can be attributed to the combination of the application's game-like features and to the tablets' ease of use. On the basis of the results, educators, as well as policy makers, can consider the use of tablets and mobile applications for teaching basic programming concepts to young primary school students.
The Relationship of Omental and Subcutaneous Adipocyte Size to Metabolic Disease in Severe Obesity

Objective Several studies have reported the existence of a subgroup of obese individuals with normal metabolic profiles. It remains unclear what factors are responsible for this phenomenon. We proposed that adipocyte size might be a key factor in the protection of metabolically healthy obese (MHO) individuals from the adverse effects of obesity. Subjects Thirty-five patients undergoing bariatric surgery were classified as MHO (n = 15) or metabolically unhealthy obese (MUO, n = 20) according to cut-off points adapted from the International Diabetes Federation definition of the metabolic syndrome. Median body mass index (BMI) was 48 (range 40–71). Results There was a moderate correlation between omental adipocyte size and subcutaneous adipocyte size (r = 0.59, p<0.05). The MHO group had significantly lower mean omental adipocyte size (80.9±10.9 µm) when compared with metabolically unhealthy patients (100.0±7.6 µm, p<0.0001). Mean subcutaneous adipocyte size was similar between the two groups (104.1±8.5 µm versus 107.9±7.1 µm). Omental, but not subcutaneous adipocyte size, correlated with the degree of insulin resistance as measured by HOMA-IR (r = 0.73, p<0.0005), as well as other metabolic parameters including triglyceride/HDL-cholesterol ratio and HbA1c. Twenty-eight patients consented to liver biopsy. Of these, 46% had steatohepatitis and fibrosis. Fifty percent (including all the MHO patients) had steatosis only. Both omental and subcutaneous adipocyte size were significantly associated with the degree of steatosis (r = 0.66, p<0.0001 and r = 0.63, p<0.005 respectively). However, only omental adipocyte size was an independent predictor of the presence or absence of fibrosis. Conclusion Metabolically healthy individuals are a distinct subgroup of the severely obese. Both subcutaneous and omental adipocyte size correlated positively with the degree of fatty liver, but only omental adipocyte size was related to metabolic health, and possibly progression from hepatic steatosis to fibrosis.