Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tragedy and Salvation in the Floating World: Chikamatsu's Double Suicide Drama as Millenarian Discourse

A distinctive feature of japanese society is its apparent eagerness to embrace various forms of voluntary death or suicide as legitimate, even positive, behavior with a potentially redemptive value. These forms include the samurai's ritualistic disembowelment (seppuku or harakiri), remonstration suicide (kanshi) in protest against a corrupt superior, and suicide out of devotion to a lord or superior (junsbi), all of which are surrounded by “a heroic, romantic, aesthetic, and moral aura” (Lebra 1976:190). Suicide is, of course, an extraordinary act in Japan as elsewhere in the world (Lifton 1979:24). Though it is not common, it is widely revered by Japanese if committed on the basis of authentic moral intentions in relation to societal pressure—that is, to exorcise shame (haji) and to highlight honor, dignity, and integrity. In a culture that esteems the tragic hero who embodies the “nobility of failure” (Morris 1975), and which regards voluntary death as an experiential transcendence for participants and observers alike, perhaps the most extreme and intriguing example of taking one's own life is the double suicide or love suicide (shinjū).
Dynamic recursive subimage histogram equalization algorithm for image contrast enhancement

Contrast enhancement plays a fundamental role in image processing. Histogram equalization is a well-known and effective technique for enhancing the contrast of the input image, however it fails to preserve the brightness of the image. In order to preserve natural appearance and brightness of enhanced images, we propose a new dynamic recursive sub-image histogram equalization method for contrast enhancement. Experimental results show that, for the variety of test images, the proposed method enhances contrast effectively, while preserving brightness and natural appearance.
The effects of an abusive primary partner on the condom use and sexual negotiation practices of African-American women.

OBJECTIVES This study examined the consequences of having a physically abusive primary partner on the condom use and sexual negotiation practices of young African-American women. METHODS Interviews were conducted with 165 sexually active African-American women aged 18 through 29 in San Francisco, Calif. RESULTS Women in abusive relationships were less likely than others to use condoms and were more likely to experience verbal abuse, emotional abuse, or threats of physical abuse when they discussed condoms. They were more fearful of asking their partners to use condoms, worried more about acquiring the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and felt more isolated than did women not in abusive relationships. CONCLUSIONS HIV prevention programs for women should address domestic violence prevention strategies.
“How Deeply Hypnotized Did I Get?” Predicting Self-Reported Hypnotic Depth from a Phenomenological Assessment Instrument

Abstract Procedures for estimating hypnotic depth have been used for more than 70 years. This study predicted self-reported hypnotic depth from the phenomenological and behavioral variables of the Phenomenology of Consciousness Inventory-Hypnotic Assessment Procedure (PCI-HAP). Participants were divided into 2 groups; 1 was used to generate regression equations, and the other group was used for cross-validation. Both imagery vividness during hypnosis (imagoic suggestibility) and the PCI pHGS measure of hypnotic depth (hypnoidal state) accounted for most of the variance in self-reported hypnotic depth. The above results, further supported by correlational and 3-D visual analyses, are consistent with other researchers’ observations that ratings of hypnotic depth are a function of: (a) alterations in subjective experience, and (b) the perception of responsiveness to suggestions. The findings are also congruent with J. Holroyd’s hypothesis that suggestibility and altered-state effects interact to produce hypnotic effects. 3This research is based on a $50,000 grant received from the Veterans Administration Stars and Stripes (VISN4) Healthcare Network. The authors wish to thank Dr. Jean Holroyd for reviewing two earlier versions of this manuscript, the staff of wards 39A and 39B for their support in doing this research, and the reviewers who helped to further refine this paper with their suggestions.
Lack of prenatal care in a traditional society. Is it an obstetric hazard?

OBJECTIVE To examine the association between lack of prenatal care (fewer than three visits at any prenatal care facility) and perinatal complications in the Bedouin parturient population where lack of prenatal care is not associated with absence of prenatal services, substance abuse or marital status. STUDY DESIGN The study population consisted of all Bedouin women lacking prenatal care (n = 7,601) who gave birth between the years 1990-1997 in the Soroka University Medical Center. The analysis consisted of a comparison of labor and delivery outcomes in women without prenatal care to outcomes in women who had some prenatal care. RESULTS During the years 1990-1997 there were 36,281 singleton deliveries to Bedouin women at our institution. Of those, 20.9% did not receive prenatal care. Mothers in the no-prenatal-care group tended to be in the extremes of their reproductive cycles (< 18 years, > 35 years) and were of higher parity (P < .001) than those receiving prenatal care. There were more deliveries prior to 32 weeks of gestation in the no-prenatal-care group (2.8%) in comparison to the prenatal care group (1.5%, P < .001) and fewer postterm deliveries (> 42 weeks, P < .01). The incidence of low birth weight (< 2,500 g) in the no-prenatal-care group was higher than in the prenatal-care group (11.2% vs. 8.4%, P < .001). Women who did not receive adequate prenatal care had statistically significantly higher rates of antepartum fetal death (OR = 1.8, 95% CI 1.4-2.3, P < .001), intrapartum fetal death (OR = 2.38, 95% CI 1.2-4.5, P < .03) and postpartum fetal death (OR = 1.60, 95% CI 1.2-2.1, P < .001). Multiple logistic regression models were used to analyze the independent contribution of lack of prenatal care to perinatal mortality and to very-low-birth-weight newborns. In both models lack of prenatal care was an independent contributing factor. CONCLUSION Lack of prenatal care is an independent contributor to perinatal mortality and low birth weight in a traditional society. In light of the high percentage of lack of prenatal care in Bedouin society, special attempts should be made to encourage women to use the available prenatal services.
Go and the computer

It seems that a disproportionately large number of mathematicians and computer engineers are members of the Go playing population in Western countries, and there is a sound reason for this. The development of Game Theory received its first great boost with the successful analysis of Poker and the demonstration that Poker principles can be observed in human situations on a very wide scale. The investigators then turned their attention to other games of skill and intelligence such as Bridge and Chess and finally to Go. In order to understand the principles of these games attempts were made to program computers to play them (at least the board game variety). We now have computers that play many games but their prowess varies in inverse proportion to the complexity of the game. For instance a computer is one of the top five 'tic tac toe' (Noughts and Crosses) players in the U.S. However, When it comes to chess the best performance so far attained is evaluated at around 1,700 points while in Go no one has yet produced a program which will Go beyond 10 kyu, the first level achieved by every beginner.
Design of servo positioning control system for graphite spraying machine

Graphite spraying is the important process of engine piston machining. Friction between piston and steel sleeve is reduced, parts life is extended and efficiency is increased. In view of technological requirements for accuracy and environmental protection, efficient and reliable operation of equipment is realized by applying PLC. High sensitivity transmission system is designed according to characteristics of linear stepper motor. Flexible impact of worktable is avoided by the use of appropriate acceleration and deceleration curves. Transmission scheme of step linear feed is adopted in the designed servo table system to realize exact positioning and graphite uniformity on piston surface. The results show that efficiency is improved, danger of producing process and rejection rate of products are reduced.
Extent of resection and overall survival for patients with atypical and malignant meningioma

The prognosis for patients with atypical and malignant meningioma is guarded; whether the extent of resection is associated with survival‐based outcomes in this population remains poorly defined. This study investigated the association between gross total resection (GTR) and all‐cause mortality in patients with atypical and malignant meningioma.
Antepartum Fetal Surveillance in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Pregnancy in patients with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with increased perinatal morbidity. Whether the perinatal mortality rate, particularly the fetal death rate, is greater in these patients remains controversial. The present study was undertaken to review the role of antepartum fetal monitoring in 69 patients with GDM controlled by diet only (class A) and 28 women requiring insulin therapy (class AB). Hypertension complicated 21.6% of these pregnancies. Antepartum fetal surveillance included outpatient nonstress testing, urinary estriol assays, maternal assessment of fetal activity, and clinical estimation of fetal weight. All insulin-requiring patients as well as fourteen class A patients with identifiable risk factors underwent testing. No perinatal deaths occurred. Only six patients required intervention for suspected fetal jeopardy and four of these women had hypertension. Macrosomia was correctly identified in only 6 of 16 infants weighing 4000 g or more. This study suggests that, in GDM, an outpatient program of fetal testing, using primarily the nonstress test and maternal assessment of fetal activity, can be employed in patients requiring insulin as well as class A patients with identifiable risk factors. This protocol resulted in a low rate of unnecessary intervention and good perinatal outcome. The risks for abnormal antepartum testing results appear increased in GDM with hypertension and prolonged pregnancy.
Schmidt number dependence of derivative moments for quasi-static straining motion

Bounds on high-order derivative moments of a passive scalar are obtained for large values of the Schmidt number, $Sc$. The procedure is based on the approach pioneered by Batchelor for the viscous–convective range. The upper bounds for derivative moments of order $n$ are shown to grow as $Sc^{n/2}$ for very large Schmidt numbers. The results are consistent with direct numerical simulations of a passive scalar, with $Sc$ from 1/4 to 64, mixed by homogeneous isotropic turbulence. Although the analysis does not provide proper bounds for normalized moments, the combination of analysis and numerical data suggests that they decay with $Sc$, at least for odd orders.
Activation of σ1 and σ2 receptors by afobazole increases glial cell survival and prevents glial cell activation and nitrosative stress after ischemic stroke

Activation of sigma receptors at delayed time points has been shown to decrease injury following ischemic stroke. The mixed σ1/σ2 receptor agonist, 5‐ethoxy‐2‐[2‐(morpholino)‐ethylthio]benzimidazole (afobazole), provides superior long‐term outcomes compared to other σ ligands in the rat middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) stroke model. Experiments using the MCAO model were carried out to determine the molecular mechanism involved in the beneficial effects of afobazole. Administration of afobazole (3 mg/kg) at delayed time points post‐stroke significantly increased the number of microglia and astrocytes detected in the ipsilateral hemisphere at 96 h post‐surgery. Morphological analysis of the microglia indicated that a greater number of these cells were found in the ramified resting state in MCAO animals treated with afobazole relative to MCAO vehicle controls. Similarly, fewer reactive astrocytes were detected in the injured hemisphere of afobazole‐treated animals. Both the enhanced survival and reduced activation of glial cells were abolished by co‐application of either a σ1 (BD‐1063) or a σ2 (SM‐21) receptor antagonist with afobazole. To gain further insight into the mechanisms by which afobazole lessens stroke injury, we probed the brain sections for markers of neuroinflammation (tumor necrosis factor α) and nitrosative stress (S‐nitrosocysteine). Data show that afobazole significantly reduces S‐nitrosocysteine levels, but does not alter tumor necrosis factor α expression 96 h after an ischemic stroke. Taken together our data indicate that afobazole acting via both σ1 and σ2 receptors decreases stroke injury by enhancing glial cell survival, blocking ischemia‐induced glial cell activation, and decreasing nitrosative stress.
When to start antiretroviral therapy.

The question of when to initiate antiretroviral therapy has been a central controversy in HIV management for more than 15 years, yet there are limited data from randomized controlled trials addressing it. A major obstacle to performing such a study is the need for large numbers of asymptomatic, antiretroviral therapy-naive individuals observed over many years beginning from when their CD4+ cell counts are above 500/mm3. Observational cohort studies with substantial person-years of follow-up have informed this debate in the absence of randomized trials. Emerging evidence regarding the damage caused by untreated HIV infection-related inflammation and immune activation at all stages of disease, and the benefits of modern antiretroviral therapy in preventing both AIDS- and non-AIDS-related morbidity and mortality has supported a return to starting treatment early. The NA-ACCORD (North American AIDS Cohort Collaboration on Research and Design) study compared long-term outcomes of immediate versus deferred therapy at 2 CD4+ cell count thresholds. Results showed a 94% increased risk of all-cause mortality when antiretroviral therapy was deferred at CD4+ cell counts greater than 500/mm3. This article summarizes presentations made by Mari M. Kitahata, MD, MPH, at the International AIDS Society-USA continuing medical education programs held in November 2009 in New York City and May 2010 in San Francisco. The original presentations are available as Webcasts at www.iasusa. org.
A Pilot Randomized Control Cross over Study Evaluating the Effectiveness and Safety of Mechanical Percussor Compared with Conventional Chest Physiotherapy in Adults with Productive Cough.

INTRODUCTION Conventional Chest Physiotherapy (CCPT) remains the mainstay of treatment for sputum mobilization in patients with productive cough such as bronchiectasis and "Chronic Obstructive Airway Disease" (COPD). However CCPT is time consuming requires the assistance of a physiotherapist and limits the independence of the patient. Mechanical percussors which are electrical devices used to provide percussion to the external chest wall might provide autonomy and greater compliance. We compared safety and efficacy of a mechanical chest percusser devised by Formedic Technology with conventional chest percussion. METHODS Twenty patients (mean age 64years) were randomly assigned to receive either CCPT or mechanical percussor on the first day and crossed over by "Latin square randomisation" to alternative treatment for 6 consecutive days and the amount of sputum expectorated was compared by dry and wet weight. Adverse events and willingness to use was assessed by a home diary and a questionnaire. RESULTS There were 13 males and 7 females, eight diagnosed as bronchiectasis and 12 COPD. The mean dry weight of sputum induced by CCPT (0.54g ± 0.32) was significantly more compared with MP (0.40g + 0.11); p-value = 0.002. The mean wet weight of sputum with CCPT (10.71g ± 8.70) was also significantly more compared with MP (5.99g ± 4.5); p-value < 0.001. There were no significant difference in adverse events and majority of patients were willing to use the device by themselves. CONCLUSION The mechanical percussor although produces less sputum is well tolerated and can be a useful adjunct to CCPT.
Les transitions visuelles différenciées: principes et applications

In order to support animation design in graphics interfaces, we introduce the concept of visual transition. We then use this descriptive model to introduce a new animation technique: differentiated visual transitions, which allow conveying information by varying visual transitions. This technique is illustrated on concrete cases with a professional animator. We also introduce some properties of differential visual transitions and address design questions.
Optimized Surface Code Communication in Superconducting Quantum Computers

Quantum computing (QC) is at the cusp of a revolution. Machines with 100 quantum bits (qubits) are anticipated to be operational by 2020 [30, 73], and several-hundred-qubit machines are around the corner. Machines of this scale have the capacity to demonstrate quantum supremacy, the tipping point where QC is faster than the fastest classical alternative for a particular problem. Because error correction techniques will be central to QC and will be the most expensive component of quantum computation, choosing the lowest-overhead error correction scheme is critical to overall QC success. This paper evaluates two established quantum error correction codes-planar and double-defect surface codes-using a set of compilation, scheduling and network simulation tools. In considering scalable methods for optimizing both codes, we do so in the context of a full microarchitectural and compiler analysis. Contrary to previous predictions, we find that the simpler planar codes are sometimes more favorable for implementation on superconducting quantum computers, especially under conditions of high communication congestion.CCS CONCEPTS• Hardware $\rightarrow$ Quantum computation; Quantum error correction and fault tolerance;
Reducing the input test data volume under transparent scan

Under an approach to test compaction called transparent scan, a scan circuit is considered as a sequential circuit where the scan-chain inputs and scan-select input are included in the set of inputs of the circuit. This provides the flexibility to interleave functional and scan clock cycles in arbitrary ways, and enhances the ability of transparent-scan sequences to detect target faults. These features are used in this study for reducing the input test data volume by using the same scan-chain input sequences with different scan-select sequences to define transparent-scan sequences. The circuits under consideration have a scan chain that includes their state variables, primary inputs and primary outputs. Scan-chain input sequences are computed based on a given conventional scan-based test set that includes compacted single-cycle and two-cycle test sets for single stuck-at and transition faults, respectively. The set of scan-select sequences is fixed. Using the same scan-chain input sequences for defining several transparent-scan sequences, with different scan-select sequences, allows more faults to be detected with the same set of scan-chain input sequences. This allows the number of scan-chain input sequences to be reduced compared with the number of tests in the conventional scan-based test set.
Reducing the technical complexity and business risk of major systems projects

Shared IT infrastructure achieves returns to scale and facilitates co-ordination. Determining the optimal investment is difficult because demand is derived from business projects that can "free-ride" once the infrastructure is established. Organisations control infrastructure investments by justifying them in business projects that are net present value (NPV) positive, such as business process re-engineering projects. This increases the technical complexity of the business project and misleadingly couples the project's business goals with shared infrastructure goals. Field research uncovered an alternative "deviant" model where a flexible, or agile, infrastructure is installed and justified ahead of the business needs. Those needs were then satisfied with multiple small business application projects, as each became NPV positive. The managers' intuition was that this gave them valuable options to capture benefits from uncertain future business scenarios. This paper draws on these insights to uncouple infrastructure projects from business projects while still aligning the two. Real options theory is applied both to control the costs and to specify the infrastructure flexibility. The assumption is that uncoupling would reduce technical complexity and lower business risk. The paper then shows how to improve business performance by using infrastructure flexibility either to suppress the cost variance of the IT projects or to amplify their business benefit variance, as called for by McGrath (1997) and Sambamurthy et al. (2003).
Deep Reinforcement Learning for Advanced Energy Management of Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Machine Learning seizes a substantial role in the development of future low-emission automobiles, as manufacturers are increasingly reaching limits with traditional engineering methods. Apart from autonomous driving, recent advances in reinforcement learning also offer great benefit for solving complex parameterization tasks. In this paper, deep reinforcement learning is used for the derivation of efficient operating strategies for hybrid electric vehicles. There, for achieving fuel efficient solutions, a wide range of potential driving and traffic scenarios have to be anticipated where intelligent and adaptive processes could bring significant improvements. The underlying research proves the ability of a reinforcement learning agent to learn nearlyoptimal operating strategies without any prior route-information and offers great potential for the inclusion of further variables into the optimization process.
Spatio-temporal rate allocation for hybrid video coding

State-of-the-art video coders feature a high level of adaptivity to meet the properties of their input signals. Video signal statistics are apt to sometimes discontinuously vary in all three dimensions: spatially and temporally. Consequently for video compression, different coding tools are employed at different coordinates of the signal to adaptively and maximally reduce redundancy. Since the decision for a certain tool and for the apropriate parameters is highly signal-dependent, a video coder forms a non-linear system and optimization is not trivial to perform. Lagrange Rate/Distortion-Optimization (RDO) has become an important tool for video encoding. It has achieved high gains in coding efficiency when applied to the independent encoding of macroblocks (MBs). For a chosen quantizer, bit rate is allocated to each MB's coefficients and prediction parameters subject to minimization of a Lagrange cost function of rate and distortion. In effect, the cheaper option is chosen to either use a more precise prediction, i.e. motion vectors and block tiling, or to spend more bit rate on the coefficients. Often, the video coding objective is that of constant quality. This is approximately achieved by a constant quantizer for all MBs and RDO within each MB. Due to the recursive structure of hybrid video coders though, MBs are dependent on each other, demanding for dependent RDO. This has early been formulated, but is hardly solvable due to the high dimensionality of this problem. In the following, possible simplified ways to take dependencies into account are explored. The variations in all three dimensions of the signal properties are differentiated and simplified models used for a dependent optimization.