Predictors of compulsive cyberporn use: A machine learning analysis.

Compulsive cyberporn use (CCU) has previously been reported among people who use cyberporn. However, most of the previous studies included convenience samples of students or samples of the general adult population. Research examining the factors that predict or are associated with CCU are still scarce.In this study, we aimed to (a) assess compulsive cyberporn consumption in a broad sample of people who had used cyberporn and (b) determine, among a diverse range of predictor variables, which are most important in CCU scores, as assessed with the eight-item Compulsive Internet Use Scale adapted for cyberporn. Overall, 1584 adult English speakers (age: 18-75 years, M = 33.18; sex: 63.1 % male, 35.2 % female, 1.7 % nonbinary) who used cyberporn during the last 6 months responded to an online questionnaire that assessed sociodemographic, sexual, psychological, and psychosocial variables. Their responses were subjected to correlation analysis, analysis of variance, and machine learning analysis. Among the participants, 21.96% (in the higher quartile) presented CCU symptoms in accordance with their CCU scores. The five most important predictors of CCU scores were related to the users' strength of craving for pornography experiences, suppression of negative emotions porn use motive, frequency of cyberporn use over the past year, acceptance of rape myths, and anxious attachment style. From a large and diverse pool of variables, we determined the most important predictors of CCU scores. The findings contribute to a better understanding of problematic pornography use and could enrich compulsive cyberporn treatment and prevention

New fast arctangent approximation algorithm for generic real-time embedded applications

Fast and accurate arctangent approximations are used in several contemporary applications, including embedded systems, signal processing, radar, and power systems. Three main approximation techniques are well-established in the literature, varying in their accuracy and resource utilization levels. Those are the iterative coordinate rotational digital computer (CORDIC), the lookup tables (LUTs)-based, and the rational formulae techniques. This paper presents a novel technique that combines the advantages of both rational formulae and LUT approximation methods. The new algorithm exploits the pseudo-linear region around the tangent function zero point to estimate a reduced input arctangent through a modified rational approximation before referring this estimate to its original value using miniature LUTs. A new 2nd order rational approximation formula is introduced for the first time in this work and benchmarked against existing alternatives as it improves the new algorithm performance. The eZDSP-F28335 platform has been used for practical implementation and results validation of the proposed technique. The contributions of this work are summarized as follows: (1) introducing a new approximation algorithm with high precision and application-based flexibility; (2) introducing a new rational approximation formula that outperforms literature alternatives with the algorithm at higher accuracy requirement; and (3) presenting a practical evaluation index for rational approximations in the literature. - 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: The publication of this article was funded by the Qatar National Library.Scopu

Elevation of serum soluble E-selectin and VCAM-1 in severe asthma.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the significance of circulating adhesion molecules associated with leucocyte-endothelial cell interactions in asthma, serum levels of soluble E (sE)-selectin, soluble P (sP)-selectin, soluble L (sL)-selectin, and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) were measured in mild, moderate and severe asthma. METHOD: Serum levels of sE-selectin, sP-selectin, sL-selectin, and sVCAM-1 were measured in 32 women with asthma and 30 healthy donors using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Twenty patients were suffering from severe asthma, and 12 from mild/moderate asthma. RESULTS: Serum sE-selectin and sVCAM-1 levels from patients with asthma were significantly higher than those observed in healthy donors (p < 0.01). The levels of sP-selectin were the same as those of controls. The level of sE-selectin exhibited an important increase in the severe asthmatic patients compared with mild/moderate asthma (p < 0.01). The sVCAM-1 level was increased in severe asthma when compared with healthy controls. There was no correlation between the levels of soluble selectins and the age of the patients. A significant correlation was found between sE-selectin and sVCAM-1 levels. CONCLUSION: These data indicate that circulating soluble forms of the selectins may have different kinetics during the clinical course of asthma, suggesting that they may reflect different inflammatory pathways in severe asthma. Both sVCAM-1 and sE-selectin may be useful immunological markers for monitoring disease activity in asthma

Strength of Pornography Craving Experience (PCE-S): psychometric properties of a new measure based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire

International audienceIntroduction: Pornography use is a common sexual activity with potentially addictive use in some people. Even though craving is being recognized as an important characteristic of addictive behaviors, there is a lack of a specific validated instrument measuring the pornography craving experience. The present study aimed at adapting and validating an instrument measuring the users' strength of pornography craving experience (PCE-S) based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire.Methods: Items from the "strength" form of the Craving Experience Questionnaire (CEQ) were adapted to pornography use and used to create the PCE-S. The PCE-S was then administered online to 1584 English-speaking cyberporn users aged 18-75 years old (M = 33.18; SD = 10.84]; 63.1 % male, 35.2 % female, and 1.7 % non-binary). All participants completed an assessment of compulsive cyberporn use (CIUS adapted for cyberporn). Confirmatory factorial analysis (CFA) was used to examine the construct structure validity; Cronbach alpha coefficient, corrected item-total correlation, regression, and discriminant analysis were used to assess the instrument's psychometric properties.Results: After using the modification indices to improve the initial model, a relatively good fit for the three-factor model was confirmed. Concurrent validity with the compulsive cyberporn use (CCU) measure was demonstrated. The PCE-S discriminated between participants with high CCU and those with low CCU scores.Conclusions: A specific pornography craving experience instrument scale, based on the Elaborated Intrusion theory of desire seems to capture key constructs of the theory and correlate with measures of compulsive cyberporn use

Ionization degree of the electron-hole plasma in semiconductor quantum wells

The degree of ionization of a nondegenerate two-dimensional electron-hole plasma is calculated using the modified law of mass action, which takes into account all bound and unbound states in a screened Coulomb potential. Application of the variable phase method to this potential allows us to treat scattering and bound states on the same footing. Inclusion of the scattering states leads to a strong deviation from the standard law of mass action. A qualitative difference between mid- and wide-gap semiconductors is demonstrated. For wide-gap semiconductors at room temperature, when the bare exciton binding energy is of the order of T, the equilibrium consists of an almost equal mixture of correlated electron-hole pairs and uncorrelated free carriers.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure

Adaptivni estimator brzine za bezsenzorsko vektorsko upravljanje asinkronim motorom zasnovan na umjetnoj neuronskoj mreži

This paper presents an adaptive speed observer for an induction motor using an artificial neural network with a direct field-oriented control drive. The speed and rotor flux are estimated with the only assumption that from stator voltages and currents are measurable. The estimation algorithm uses a state observer combined with an intelligent adaptive mechanism based on a recurrent neural network (RNN) to estimate rotor speed. The stator and rotor resistances are estimated by a simple Proportional-Integrator (PI) controller, which reduces sensitivity to variations, due essentially to the influence of temperature. The proposed sensorless control scheme is tested for various operating conditions of the induction motor drive. Experimental results demonstrate a good robustness against load torque disturbances, the estimated fluxes and rotor speed converge to their true values, which guarantees that a precise trajectory tracking with the prescribed dynamics.Ovaj članak opisuje adaptivni estimator brzine temeljen na umjetnoj neuronskoj mreži, koji se primijenjuje na asinkroni motor pogonjen izravnim vektorskim upravljanjem. Brzina i magnetski tok rotora estimiraju se uz pretpostavku dostupnosti mjerenja napona i struja statora. Algoritam koristi estimator stanja u kombinaciji s inteligentnim adaptivnim mehanizmom temeljenim na povratnoj neuronskoj mreži (RNN) kako bi se estimirala brzina rotora. Otpori statora i rotora estimiraju se jednostavnim Proporcionalno-Integralnim (PI) regulatorom, čime se smanjuje osjetljivost na varijacije uzrokovane utjecajem temperature. Predložena bezsenzorska upravljačka shema testirana je za različite radne uvjete asinkronog motora. Eksperimentalni rezultati pokazuju visoki stupanj robusnosti s obzirom na poremećaj momenta tereta, a estimirani tokovi i brzina rotora konvergiraju prema stvarnim vrijednostima što garantira precizno praćenje trajektorija uz zahtijevanu dinamiku

Characterizing the morbid genome of ciliopathies

Background Ciliopathies are clinically diverse disorders of the primary cilium. Remarkable progress has been made in understanding the molecular basis of these genetically heterogeneous conditions; however, our knowledge of their morbid genome, pleiotropy, and variable expressivity remains incomplete. Results We applied genomic approaches on a large patient cohort of 371 affected individuals from 265 families, with phenotypes that span the entire ciliopathy spectrum. Likely causal mutations in previously described ciliopathy genes were identified in 85% (225/265) of the families, adding 32 novel alleles. Consistent with a fully penetrant model for these genes, we found no significant difference in their “mutation load” beyond the causal variants between our ciliopathy cohort and a control non-ciliopathy cohort. Genomic analysis of our cohort further identified mutations in a novel morbid gene TXNDC15, encoding a thiol isomerase, based on independent loss of function mutations in individuals with a consistent ciliopathy phenotype (Meckel-Gruber syndrome) and a functional effect of its deficiency on ciliary signaling. Our study also highlighted seven novel candidate genes (TRAPPC3, EXOC3L2, FAM98C, C17orf61, LRRCC1, NEK4, and CELSR2) some of which have established links to ciliogenesis. Finally, we show that the morbid genome of ciliopathies encompasses many founder mutations, the combined carrier frequency of which accounts for a high disease burden in the study population. Conclusions Our study increases our understanding of the morbid genome of ciliopathies. We also provide the strongest evidence, to date, in support of the classical Mendelian inheritance of Bardet-Biedl syndrome and other ciliopathies