Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The use of actigraphy in the monitoring of methylphenidate versus placebo in ADHD: a meta-analysis

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is the most common neurobehavioral disorder of child- hood. There is an increasing need to find objective mea- sures and markers of the disorder in order to assess the efficacy of the therapy and to improve follow-up strategies. Actigraphy is an objective method for recording motor activity and sleep parameters using small, computerized, watch-like devices worn on the body, and it has been used in many clinical trials to assess methylphenidate efficacy and adverse effects in ADHD. Our article aim is to sys- tematically review and perform a meta-analysis of the current evidence on the role of actigraphy in both the detection of changes in activity and in sleep patterns in randomized clinical trials that compared methylphenidate against placebo in the treatment of ADHD. A compre- hensive literature search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINHAL and PsycINFO databases was carried out to find randomized clinical trials comparing methylphenidate versus placebo in children with ADHD, using actigraphic measures as an outcome. No start date limit was used and the search was updated until June 2013. The primary outcome measures were 'total sleep time' and daytime 'activity mean'. As secondary outcomes, we analyzed 'sleep onset latency', 'sleep effi- ciency' and 'wake after sleep onset'. Eight articles com- prising 393 patients were included in the analysis. Children with ADHD using MPH compared to placebo have a sig- nificant difference of a large effect with a diminishing value in the activity mean. For the total sleep time, we found a significant and large effect in the decrease in sleep in MPH group. This study shows that MPH may effectively reduce mean activity in ADHD children, but it may neg- atively affect total sleep time.
Satisfaction of patients suffering from type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension with care offered in family medicine clinics in Mexico.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the satisfaction and the factors related to dissatisfaction in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension with care offered in family medicine clinics. MATERIAL AND METHOD A secondary data analysis was conducted. Main outcome measures were two indices of satisfaction: family doctor-patient relationship (FDPR) and clinic organizational arrangements (OA). RESULTS Approximately half of patients (n=1 323) were satisfied with care. In the FDPR index the items 'kindness of the family doctor' (FD) scored high, while the lowest score was for the items: 'the FD allows the patient to give an opinion about his/her treatment,' 'the patient understands the information' and 'the FD spends enough time on the consultation. ' As for satisfaction with OA, the items 'cleanliness of the clinic' and 'ease of administrative procedures' obtained the lowest scores. In the logistic regression analysis the covariate 'negative self-rated health' and 'type of institution' were associated with dissatisfaction. CONCLUSIONS There are aspects of the FDPR and OA that reveal dissatisfaction of patients with chronic conditions.
Z_SPACE - DIGITAL PHOTOGRAMMETRIC SYSTEM FOR RUSSIAN TK-350 IMAGES

Several years ago Russian images TK-350 and KVR-1000 appeared on the international market. Taken in combination, this imagery makes it possible to perform terrain mapping with 1:50000 scale and smaller. Special software was developed to process this specific type of data: Z_Space for TK-350 stereopairs processing and Orthospace for creation orthophoto from panoramic high resolution imagery KVR-1000. Digital photogrammetric system Z_Space was mainly designed for rapid automatic generation of Digital Terrain Models (DTM) on the base of stereopairs of spaceborn or airborne images, for interactive 2D and stereo feature extraction, as well as for generation of perspective scenes including DTM and vector features. The system works on IBM PC under Windows 95, 98 or NT. For modern digital photogrammetric systems the list of their basic functions is quite determined, therefore common items in given paper are listed in brief and only the specific features of Z_Space are considered in more details. Most of these features are due to the fact that originally the system was developed for TK-350 and MK-4. This infer taking into account complex radiometric characteristics, processing of large amounts of data with high speed and practically complete absence on images of artificial objects such as houses, bridges, road etc. Accuracy of DTM generated from TK-350 by digital photogrammertic system Z_Space is 7-10 m (RMS) in height and 15-20 m (RMS) in plane, for GPS measured ground control points 5-7 m and 10-15 respectively. Matching speed for large DTMs (more than 1000000 points) on Pentium-200 is 700 disparity map points per second, speed of regular DTM matrix generation is 300 points per second, on Pentium-III-500 these are 3900 and 1300 points per second respectively. Another kinds of data processing are also available in the system and presented in the paper. Some possible applications of Z_Space are outlined in a short conclusion.
Essential Oils from Fructus A. zerumbet Protect Human Aortic Endothelial Cells from Apoptosis Induced by Ox-LDL In Vitro

Alpinia zerumbet is a miao folk medicinal plant widely used in the Guizhou Province of southwest China that contains several bioactive constituents and possesses protective effects against cardiovascular diseases. In the present study, we evaluated the protective effect of essential oils derived from Fructus Alpiniae zerumbet (EOFAZ) on oxidized lowdensity-lipoprotein- (ox-LDL-) induced apoptosis in human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs). Following exposure to ox-LDL, HAECs presented with classical characteristics of apoptosis. However, EOFAZ ameliorated these morphological alterations and also inhibited the decrease in cell viability. In addition, EOFAZ abrogated the number of TUNEL or Hoechst 33258 stained positive cells observed after ox-LDL challenge. Investigation into the mechanisms of this inhibition revealed that EOFAZ treatment resulted in a downregulation of Bax and Caspase-3 at both the protein and mRNA expression levels. Moreover, EOFAZ was found to upregulate Bcl-2 protein and mRNA levels and to attenuate ox-LDL-induced HAECs injury caused by apoptosis, revealing both its therapeutic potential for endothelial cell injury protection and its clinical application for atherosclerosis.
Wideband VGA in 0.13-µm CMOS with phase reversal for 360° vector-sum phase shifters

A wideband phase-reversible variable gain amplifier (VGA) for application in full-360° vector-sum phase shifters is presented. The proposed VGA exhibits a continuously tunable gain with reversible phase, while only requiring a single-ended input. To realize the fully single-ended topology, a differential-to-single-ended converter with common-mode suppression at the output port is proposed. A modified three-stage Cherry-Hooper amplifier with inductive peaking is also adopted for gain flattening and output matching. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that the phase-reversible concept is proposed and realized in VGAs. As an example, a CMOS prototype exhibiting a phase-reversible and linear-in-magnitude controlled gain range of 18 dB, is demonstrated with only one control voltage. The measured 5-dB gain bandwidth is from 0.6 to 6.8 GHz, together with the input return loss better than 10 dB. Operating at 1.2 V, the chip consumes 12 mW and occupies 0.83 mm2, including test pads.
A Study of Domain Adaptation Classifiers Derived From Logistic Regression for the Task of Splice Site Prediction

Supervised classifiers are highly dependent on abundant labeled training data. Alternatives for addressing the lack of labeled data include: labeling data (but this is costly and time consuming); training classifiers with abundant data from another domain (however, the classification accuracy usually decreases as the distance between domains increases); or complementing the limited labeled data with abundant unlabeled data from the same domain and learning semi-supervised classifiers (but the unlabeled data can mislead the classifier). A better alternative is to use both the abundant labeled data from a source domain, the limited labeled data and optionally the unlabeled data from the target domain to train classifiers in a domain adaptation setting. We propose two such classifiers, based on logistic regression, and evaluate them for the task of splice site prediction - a difficult and essential step in gene prediction. Our classifiers achieved high accuracy, with highest areas under the precision-recall curve between 50.83% and 82.61%.
Inflationary Cosmology as a Probe of Primordial Quantum Mechanics

We show that inflationary cosmology may be used to test the statistical predictions of quantum theory at very short distances and at very early times. Hidden-variables theories, such as the pilot-wave theory of de Broglie and Bohm, allow the existence of vacuum states with nonstandard field fluctuations ("quantum nonequilibrium"). We show that inflationary expansion can transfer microscopic nonequilibrium to macroscopic scales, resulting in anomalous power spectra for the cosmic microwave background. The conclusions depend only weakly on the details of the de Broglie-Bohm dynamics. We discuss, in particular, the nonequilibrium breaking of scale invariance for the primordial (scalar) power spectrum. We also show how nonequilibrium can generate primordial perturbations with nonrandom phases and intermode correlations (primordial non-Gaussianity). We address the possibility of a low-power anomaly at large angular scales, and show how it might arise from a nonequilibrium suppression of quantum noise. Recent observations are used to set an approximate bound on violations of quantum theory in the early Universe.
EFFECTS OF GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE ON POST-ACQUISITION RESOURCE REDEPLOYMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Research in the strategy and international business literatures shows that firms often undertake acquisitions to exchange firm-specific resources. The core arguments arise from theories of market failures, where market failures can stem from potential opportunism or from coordination difficulties. However, empirical research on cross-border acquisitions has not been able to reach a consensus regarding their level of performance relative to domestic acquisitions. We show that the post-acquisition performance of an acquisition varies with the extent of postacquisition redeployment, which in turn depends on two factors, including the degree of asymmetry in the resource profiles of the firms and the extent of context-specificity of these resources. We reinterpret previous results that suggest differences between domestic and crossborder acquisitions by showing a similar relationship between resource redeployment and performance, as well as a similar relationship between resource redeployment and its antecedents. In our framework, differences between cross-border and domestic acquisitions arise due to greater differences between the resource endowments and competitive environments in the cross-border case. We discuss differences in research emphases that have traditionally marked research concerning acquisitions in international business literature, which has emphasized crossborder acquisitions, and the strategy literature, which has focused on domestic acquisitions, and then identify opportunities for conceptual cross-fertilization between the literatures. The data draw from a detailed multinational survey with 251 acquisitions during the 1988-1992 period. The results generally support our predictions for domestic and cross-border acquisitions.
Cognitive vulnerability-stress models of depression in a self-regulatory and psychobiological context.

Two developments at the University of Pennsylvania in the late 1960s and early 1970s galvanized this cognitive approach to depression. Coming from a clinical perspective, Aaron Beck (1967), a psychiatrist, had abandoned the psychoanalytic account of depression and had begun to develop a cognitive theory that emphasized the negative "automatic thoughts" that seemed to trigger depressive symptoms among his patients. At the same time, Martin Seligman (1975), an experimental psychologist, had begun to formulate his theory of learned helplessness and depression, based on laboratory research about the deleterious effects of uncontrollable, aversive events. Similar to Beck, Seligman emphasized that maladaptive cognitions such as pervasive expectancies of no control over events could precipitate depressive symptoms. These two cognitive theories ignited a veritable explosion o research on depression. Although it is difficult to reconstruct the forces that fueled cognitive approaches to depression, Dykman and Abramson (1990) listed a few whose impact appears likely. First, th rise of information-processing approaches in general (e.g., Neisser, 1967) and the study o social cognition in particular (e.g., Nisbett & Ross, 1980) provided a basic science foundation for a cognitive approach to depression. Second, basic researchers (e.g., Lazarus, 1966 demonstrated that cognitive processes mediate emotional reactions, with the specific con
Attitude tracking control of aircraft subjected to unsteady aerodynamic disturbance

In this paper, a robust adaptive tracking control scheme is proposed for the lateral attitude dynamic of an aircraft in the presence of unmeasured unsteady aerodynamic disturbance, external disturbance, system uncertainty, and input saturation at high angle of attack (AOA). To improve the robust control performance, the unknown system uncertainty is estimated using the adaptive radial basis function neural network (RBFNN). Meanwhile, the nonlinear disturbance observer (NDO) is developed to estimate the compounded disturbance, which consists of the unmeasured unsteady aerodynamic disturbance, the external disturbance and the unknown neural network approximation error. Furthermore, considering the actuator saturation problem, an auxiliary system is designed to weaken the input saturation. Then, based on the comprehensive design of the RBFNN, the NDO and the auxiliary system, a robust adaptive attitude tracking control law for the lateral attitude dynamic of an aircraft is developed. Meanwhile, the dynamic surface technique is employed to avoid the tedious differential computations for the virtual control law. The strict Lyapunov analysis proves that the signals of the closed-loop system are bounded. Finally, simulation results are shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed robust adaptive attitude tracking control scheme.
Evaluation and Identification of Protein Blood Biomarkers for Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review and Integrative Analysis

Background: Alzheimer’s disease (AD) accounts for 80% of all dementia, but current treatment cannot provide definite cure. For this reason, researchers seek highly accurate preclinical biomarkers for minimal cognitive impairment. This study aimed to evaluate sporadically reported protein blood biomarkers (BBs) of AD and suggest new protein BB candidates for AD. Methods: A systematic PubMed review was performed on articles published between 1989 and March 2013, and several articles and protein BBs of AD were screened based on eligibility criteria and quality. An integrative analysis was conducted to evaluate reported protein BBs and identify new protein BB candidates. Results: In total, 67 articles were included; 95 protein BBs were evaluated through a meta-scoring system based on five criteria. The highest meta-scored protein BB was Serpin A3 (meta-score: 36) followed by tumor necrosis factor-α(meta-score: 35). An integrative analysis using a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network revealed that 67 proteins are linked via 97 edges. In an extended PPI network, 105 proteins were connected via 240 edges and 63 linker molecules were discovered as new protein BB candidates. Conclusion: This study showed a total of 95 meta-scored protein BBs and identified 63 new biomarker candidates of AD.
Additive Utility with Intransitive Indifference and Without Independence: A Homogeneous Case

In the homogeneous case of one type of goods or objects, we prove the existence of an additive utility function without assuming transitivity of indifference and independence. The representation reveals a positive factor smaller than 1 that infuences rational choice beyond the utility function and explains departures from these standard axioms of utility theory (factor equals to 1).
Analysis of students' performance evaluation using classification techniques

Educational Data Mining is one of the emerging disciplines which includes the process of analyzing the students' details using different attributes. The attributes such as students' name, roll number, previous semester marks, attendance, assignment, seminar performance, lab work and gender are used to evaluate the students' performance (Pass / Reappear). In this paper, classification techniques are described and used for educational data mining. The classification process is based on C5.0 algorithm with good classification accuracy. The system is helpful to the learners as well as to the teachers for the academic performance evaluation. It is a warning system for the students' to improve their study performance.
Recurrence due to Relapse or Reinfection With Mycobacterium tuberculosis: A Whole-Genome Sequencing Approach in a Large, Population-Based Cohort With a High HIV Infection Prevalence and Active Follow-up

Background. Recurrent tuberculosis is a major health burden and may be due to relapse with the original strain or reinfection with a new strain. Methods. In a population-based study in northern Malawi, patients with tuberculosis diagnosed from 1996 to 2010 were actively followed after the end of treatment. Whole-genome sequencing with approximately 100-fold coverage was performed on all available cultures. Results of IS6110 restriction fragment-length polymorphism analyses were available for cultures performed up to 2008. Results. Based on our data, a difference of ≤10 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) was used to define relapse, and a difference of >100 SNPs was used to define reinfection. There was no evidence of mixed infections among those classified as reinfections. Of 1471 patients, 139 had laboratory-confirmed recurrences: 55 had relapse, and 20 had reinfection; for 64 type of recurrence was unclassified. Almost all relapses occurred in the first 2 years. Human immunodeficiency virus infection was associated with reinfection but not relapse. Relapses were associated with isoniazid resistance, treatment before 2007, and lineage-3 strains. We identified several gene variants associated with relapse. Lineage-2 (Beijing) was overrepresented and lineage-1 underrepresented among the reinfecting strains (P = .004). Conclusions. While some of the factors determining recurrence depend on the patient and their treatment, differences in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome appear to have a role in both relapse and reinfection.
Histogram of oriented gradients front end processing: An FPGA based processor approach

The Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) implementation of the commonly used Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) algorithm is explored. The HOG algorithm is employed to extract features for object detection. A key focus has been to explore the use of a new FPGA-based processor which has been targeted at image processing. The paper gives details of the mapping and scheduling factors that influence the performance and the stages that were undertaken to allow the algorithm to be deployed on FPGA hardware, whilst taking into account the specific IPPro architecture features. We show that multi-core IPPro performance can exceed that of against state-of-the-art FPGA designs by up to 3.2 times with reduced design and implementation effort and increased flexibility all on a low cost, Zynq programmable system.
Glowing tags

Tagging physical objects to get a link from the physical world into some kind of technology has been done for a long time. The most commonly known is probably the barcodes that is used in five billion scans every day. During a project at Xerox Research Centre Europe in Cambridge, we came across the concept of Glow Tags. It is partly an expansion of the more traditional tags by, from a user perspective, making them more active. In many ways it is a logical next step in the development of tags. This paper will present the original conception of Glow Tags and illustrate what implications it could have for users. Further different forms of interaction styles such as playful, purposeful, and supportive will be considered in relation to the use of Glow Tags.
Easy access to the freebase dataset

We demonstrate a system for fast and intuitive exploration of the Freebase dataset. This required solving several non-trivial problems, including: entity scores for proper ranking and name disambiguation, a unique meaningful name for every entity and every type, extraction of canonical binary relations from multi-way relations (which in Freebase are modeled via so-called mediator objects), computing the transitive hull of selected relations, and identifying and merging duplicates. Our contribution is two-fold. First, we provide for download an up-to-date version of the Freebase data, enriched and simplified as just sketched. Second, we offer a user interface for exploring and searching this data set. The data set, the user interface and a demo video are available from http://freebase-easy.cs. uni-freiburg.de.
Getting Closer to the Action: Using the Virtual Enactment Method to Understand Burglary

ABSTRACT In this article we describe a new method, the Virtual Enactment Method (VEM), to enhance offender recall and motivation to disclose information by having burglars reflect on their experience while committing a crime in a simulated virtual environment. Participants, a sample of 61 incarcerated burglars, ‘thought aloud’ whilst undertaking a virtual burglary. Following the ‘virtual’ burglary, emerging themes were expanded upon in an interview. We show that the simulated environment effectively reinstates the criminogenic event, increases engagement, enhances recall, and encourages participants to talk more openly about their experiences, skills and knowledge.
Direct ophthalmoscopy on YouTube: analysis of instructional YouTube videos’ content and approach to visualization

Background Direct ophthalmoscopy is well-suited for video-based instruction, particularly if the videos enable the student to see what the examiner sees when performing direct ophthalmoscopy. We evaluated the pedagogical effectiveness of instructional YouTube videos on direct ophthalmoscopy by evaluating their content and approach to visualization. Methods In order to synthesize main themes and points for direct ophthalmoscopy, we formed a broad panel consisting of a medical student, junior and senior physicians, and took into consideration book chapters targeting medical students and physicians in general. We then systematically searched YouTube. Two authors reviewed eligible videos to assess eligibility and extract data on video statistics, content, and approach to visualization. Correlations between video statistics and contents were investigated using two-tailed Spearman’s correlation. Results We screened 7,640 videos, of which 27 were found eligible for this study. Overall, a median of 12 out of 18 points (interquartile range: 8–14 key points) were covered; no videos covered all of the 18 points assessed. We found the most difficulties in the approach to visualization of how to approach the patient and how to examine the fundus. Time spent on fundus examination correlated with the number of views per week (Spearman’s ρ=0.53; P=0.029). Conclusion Videos may help overcome the pedagogical issues in teaching direct ophthalmoscopy; however, the few available videos on YouTube fail to address this particular issue adequately. There is a need for high-quality videos that include relevant points, provide realistic visualization of the examiner’s view, and give particular emphasis on fundus examination.