Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Magnitude and Nature of Risk Selection in Employer-Sponsored Health Plans

OBJECTIVE To determine whether health maintenance organizations (HMOs) attract enrollees who use relatively few medical resources and whether a simple risk-adjustment system could mitigate or eliminate the inefficiency associated with risk selection. DATA SOURCES The first and second rounds of the Community Tracking Study Household Survey (CTSHS), a national panel data set of households in 60 different markets in the United States. STUDY DESIGN We use regression analysis to examine medical expenditures in the first round of the survey between enrollees who switched plan types (i.e., from a non-HMO plan to an HMO plan, or vice versa) between the first and second rounds of the survey versus enrollees who remained in their original plan. The dependent variable is an enrollee's medical resource use, measured in dollars, and the independent variables include gender, age, self-reported health status, and other demographic variables. DATA COLLECTION METHODS We restrict our analysis to the 6,235 non-elderly persons who were surveyed in both rounds of the CTSHS, received health insurance from their employer or the employer of a household member in both years of the survey, and were offered a choice of an HMO and a non-HMO plan in both years. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We find that people who switched from a non-HMO to an HMO plan used 11 percent fewer medical services in the period prior to switching than people who remained in a non-HMO plan, and that this relatively low use persisted once they enrolled in an HMO. Furthermore, people who switched from an HMO to a non-HMO plan used 18 percent more medical services in the period prior to switching than those who remained in an HMO plan. CONCLUSIONS HMOs are experiencing favorable risk selection and would most likely continue to do so even if employers adjusted health plan payments based on enrollees' gender and age because the selection is based on enrollee characteristics that are difficult to observe, such as preferences for medical care and health status.
Core Loss Calculation Based on Finite-Element Method With Jiles–Atherton Dynamic Hysteresis Model

For accurate computation of core losses, the Jiles–Atherton (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$J$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) dynamic hysteresis model accounting for hysteresis, eddy current and excess losses is incorporated into the finite-element method (FEM). The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$J$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A$ </tex-math></inline-formula> dynamic hysteresis model is constructed by combining the traditional <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$J$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A$ </tex-math></inline-formula> hysteresis model with the models of instantaneous eddy current and excess losses. The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$J$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A$ </tex-math></inline-formula> model parameters and dynamic loss coefficients are determined by fitting the models to the measurement data of a single sheet tester (SST 500) and Epstein frame tester. To find the robust best fit, the particle swarm optimization algorithm is employed. By using the proposed <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$J$ </tex-math></inline-formula>–<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$A$ </tex-math></inline-formula> dynamic hysteresis model and FEM, the magnetic characteristics of a magnetic core is simulated and the core loss distribution within the core obtained. The calculated and measured results are compared to show the accuracy and effectiveness of the proposed model.
What Can Gestures Tell?: Detecting Motor Impairment in Early Parkinson's from Common Touch Gestural Interactions

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a chronic neurological disorder causing progressive disability that severely affects patients' quality of life. Although early interventions can provide significant benefits, PD diagnosis is often delayed due to both the mildness of early signs and the high requirements imposed by traditional screening and diagnosis methods. In this paper, we explore the feasibility and accuracy of detecting motor impairment in early PD via sensing and analyzing users' common touch gestural interactions on smartphones. We investigate four types of common gestures, including flick, drag, pinch, and handwriting gestures, and propose a set of features to capture PD motor signs. Through a 102-subject (35 early PD subjects and 67 age-matched controls) study, our approach achieved an AUC of 0.95 and 0.89/0.88 sensitivity/specificity in discriminating early PD subjects from healthy controls. Our work constitutes an important step towards unobtrusive, implicit, and convenient early PD detection from routine smartphone interactions.
2015 Ieee International Conference on Big Data (big Data) Cluster-based Aggregate Forecasting for Residential Electricity Demand Using Smart Meter Data

—While electricity demand forecasting literature has focused on large, industrial, and national demand, this paper focuses on short-term (1 and 24 hour ahead) electricity demand forecasting for residential customers at the individual and aggregate level. Since electricity consumption behavior may vary between households, we first build a feature universe, and then apply Correlation-based Feature Selection to select features relevant to each household. Additionally, smart meter data can be used to obtain aggregate forecasts with higher accuracy using the so-called Cluster-based Aggregate Forecasting (CBAF) strategy, i.e., by first clustering the households, forecasting the clusters' energy consumption separately, and finally aggregating the forecasts. We found that the improvement provided by CBAF depends not only on the number of clusters, but also more importantly on the size of the customer base.
171Yb+ single-ion optical frequency standard at 688 THz

Two <sup>171</sup>Yb<sup>+</sup> single-ion optical frequency standards operating at 688 THz (436 nm) are compared in order to investigate systematic frequency shifts in the sub-Hertz range. In the absence of externally applied perturbations, a mean relative frequency difference of 3.8middot10<sup>-16</sup> is observed. This agreement is comparable to that of the most accurate comparisons between cesium fountain clocks. Using a femtosecond frequency comb generator based on a Er<sup>3+</sup>-doped fiber laser, the frequency of the <sup>171</sup>Yb <sup>+</sup> standard is measured with a relative systematic uncertainty of 3.1times10<sup>-15</sup> and a statistical uncertainty of 0.6times10<sup>times15</sup>
A COMPARISON OF SUBJECTIVE AND HISTORICAL CROP YIELD PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS

yields. Eisgruber and Schuman discuss the Forecast distributions based on historical yields problems associated with such aggregate data and subjective expectations for 1987 expected crop for risk applications. Nevertheless, the availyields were compared for 90 Western Kentucky ability of county yield series continues to engrain farms. Different subjective probability elicitacouragetheiruse in manyresearch anddecision tion techniques were also compared. In many indisupport efforts. vidual cases, results indicate large differences 2. Yield Series from Agronomic Experiments. between subjective and empirical moments. OverSome experiment stations have maintained all, farmer expectations for 1987 corn yields were regular historical records of crop yields. Day below those predicted from their past yields, while provides the first extensive analysis of yield soybean expectations were above the historical foredistributions for corn, cotton, and oats, using cast. Geographical location plays a larger role than Mississippi Experiment Station data. Distribucrop in comparisons of relative variability of yield. tions constructed from such yield series have Neither elicitation technique nor manager characbeen used to calibrate plant growth models and teristics have significant effects on the comparisons thus to represent farm level yield variability. of the forecasts. These distributions, however, tend to reflect unrepresentative management practices and are
Diabetes in tropical Africa: a prospective study, 1981-7. II. Course and prognosis.

OBJECTIVE--To determine the clinical course of diabetes mellitus in tropical Africa. DESIGN--Continuing care and follow up until 31 March 1989 of all newly diagnosed diabetic patients registered at one hospital between 1 June 1981 and 31 May 1987. SETTING--Muhimbili Medical Centre, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. SUBJECTS--1250 Newly diagnosed diabetic patients seen over a six year period. 272 (21.8%) Had diabetes requiring insulin, 825 (66.0%) diabetes not requiring insulin, and 153 (12.2%) diabetes of uncertain type. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES--Survival rates during each year of follow up. RESULTS--205 (16.4%) Patients were known to have died, 126 (61.5%) in hospital and 79 (38.5%) in the community. At least a further 71 patients were likely to have died. The five year survival rates (95% confidence intervals) for patients with diabetes requiring and not requiring insulin were 71% (62% to 80%) and 84% (80% to 89%) respectively for known deaths and 60% (51% to 69%) and 82% (77% to 86%) respectively for known plus probable deaths. 49 (3.9%) Patients died at the time of presentation. Severe diabetic ketoacidosis and infection were responsible for most deaths in patients with diabetes requiring insulin. Infection was responsible for 24% of deaths in patients with diabetes not requiring insulin and was the main cause of death in the group with uncertain type of diabetes. Cardiovascular and renal causes were responsible for 24% of hospital deaths of patients with diabetes not requiring insulin. Diabetes requiring insulin, young age, and ketonuria at presentation were associated with a significantly worse five year survival on multivariate analysis. On univariate analysis underweight, female sex, low educational background, and manual occupations were additional factors with a worse prognosis. CONCLUSION--Diabetes in sub-Saharan Africa is, in many patients, a serious disease with a poor prognosis. Most deaths, however, are due to preventable causes. More effort is therefore required to increase public awareness of diabetes and to improve patient detection, management, and follow up.
Review Essay: Human Security: The Dog That Didn't Bark

THE HISTORY OF THE RADICAL CHALLENGE of ‘human security’– from the first usage of the term in the United Nations Development Programme’s 1994 Human Development Report until the present time – is often written in terms that pose the centrality of the struggle between traditional, state-based, interest-based approaches and new, deterritorialized, values-based approaches that focus on individual human needs. For some authors, the struggle is at the heart of how we conceive of international relations and questions of security, and one that, after 9/11 and with the ongoing disaster of Iraq, is more important than ever. This struggle for the heart and soul of global policymaking is often posed as one between two different ‘paradigms’, two entirely different outlooks on the world, one paradigm reproducing current power relations and inequalities and insecurities, the other challenging such a view, recognizing the interconnectedness, interdependence and mutual vulnerabilities of security threats and the need for collective, collaborative, human-centred responses. This review article suggests that 14 years after human security was first taken up by the United Nations, its integration into the policymaking and policy practices of leading Western states and international institutions has revealed that talk of two different ‘paradigms’ – the radical counter-position of ‘individual’ and ‘state-based’ approaches, or between ‘critical theory’ and Review Essay
Simple parallel and distributed algorithms for spectral graph sparsification

We describe a simple algorithm for spectral graph sparsification, based on iterative computations of weighted spanners and uniform sampling. Leveraging the algorithms of Baswana and Sen for computing spanners, we obtain the first distributed spectral sparsification algorithm. We also obtain a parallel algorithm with improved work and time guarantees. Combining this algorithm with the parallel framework of Peng and Spielman for solving symmetric diagonally dominant linear systems, we get a parallel solver which is much closer to being practical and significantly more efficient in terms of the total work.
Further studies on acquired resistance to murine cryptococcosis: enhancing effect of Bordetella pertussis.

The adjuvant effects of Bordetella pertussis and Freund's adjuvant were compared in mice vaccinated with killed cryptococcus cells. B. pertussis greatly enhanced the immune response, causing the survival rate to increase from the 65 to 70% observed in mice immunized with cryptococcus cells alone to 95 to 100% in animals treated with both cryptococcus and pertussis vaccines. In contrast, Freund's complete adjuvant actually decreased the response to cryptococcus vaccine. Tests for antibodies in pooled sera collected at intervals following immunization with cryptococcus plus pertussis vaccine or with cryptococcus cells alone were uniformly negative. Actively immunized mice with no demonstrable humoral antibodies inhibited fungal cell multiplication in their tissues more successfully than passively immunized mice with measureable amounts of serum agglutinins. These findings suggest that the protective mechanism in mice actively immunized by these procedures exists primarily at the cellular level.
Gender differences in parenting, adolescent functioning, and the relation between parenting and adolescent functioning in urban Mainland Chinese families

Title of Dissertation: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PARENTING, ADOLESCENT FUNCTIONING, AND THE RELATION BETWEEN PARENTING AND ADOLESCENT FUNCTIONING IN URBAN MAINLAND CHINESE FAMILIES Andrew Sieunguyen Quach, Doctor of Philosophy, 2008 Dissertation directed by: Professor Norman Epstein Department of Family Science Adolescents living in Mainland China generally experience high levels of demands from their parents to perform well in school, and this may negatively impact Chinese adolescents’ psychological functioning (Siu & Watkins, 1997). Secondary data from 997 urban Mainland Chinese high school students from four Beijing schools were used to examine relations of parental warmth and parental control with adolescent academic achievement, depression, and anxiety. The present study also examined whether adolescent functioning and associations between parental behaviors and adolescent functioning differed by gender of the parent and child. Independent t-tests, correlations, and multiple regression analyses found no significant gender differences in adolescent academic achievement, depression, and anxiety. Overall, father’s and mother’s warmth were positively associated with academic achievement and negatively associated with depression and anxiety, whereas parental control was negatively associated with academic achievement and positively associated with depression and anxiety. Paternal and maternal warmth moderated the association between paternal and maternal control and boys’ and girls’ depression and anxiety. There were minimal gender differences in the associations between parental behaviors and adolescent functioning. Only maternal and paternal pressure had a stronger association with boys’ depression than with girls’ depression. Results suggest the importance of using warmth in the parentchild dyad, especially regarding academic expectations for boys, and not basing behaviors on preconceived notions of gender roles. GENDER DIFFERENCES IN PARENTING, ADOLESCENT FUNCTIONING, AND THE RELATION BETWEEN PARENTING AND ADOLESCENT FUNCTIONING IN URBAN MAINLAND CHINESE FAMILIES by Andrew Sieunguyen Quach Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2008 Advisory Committee: Professor Norman Epstein, Chair Associate Professor Leigh Leslie Professor Elaine Anderson Associate Professor Jinhee Kim Associate Professor Jing Lin ©Copyright by Andrew Sieunguyen Quach 2008
Analysis of hydraulic tomography using temporal moments of drawdown recovery data

Transient hydraulic tomography (THT) is a potentially cost‐effective and high‐resolution technique for mapping spatial distributions of the hydraulic conductivity and specific storage in aquifers. Interpretation of abundant well hydrographs of a THT survey, however, is a computational challenge. We take on this challenge by developing an estimation approach that utilizes the zeroth and first temporal moments of well hydrographs, instead of drawdown itself. The governing equations for the temporal moments are Poisson's equations. These equations demand less computational resources as opposed to the parabolic equation that governs drawdown evolution. Likewise, the adjoint equations for evaluating sensitivities of the moments for parameter estimation also take the same forms. Therefore a temporal moment approach is expected to expedite the interpretation of THT surveys. On the basis of this premise we extend our sequential successive linear estimator to use the zeroth moment and characteristic time of the drawdown‐recovery data generated by THT surveys. We subsequently investigate computational efficiency and accuracy of the moment approach. Results of the investigation show that the temporal moment approach yields results similar to those from the approach that uses transient heads but at significantly less computational costs. Limitations using temporal moments are discussed subsequently.
IT Capabilities, Process-Oriented Dynamic Capabilities, and Firm Financial Performance

Research Article Gimun Kim Konyang University gmkim@konyang.ac. kr Bongsik Shin San Diego State University bshin@mail.sdsu. edu Kyung Kyu Kim Yonsei University kyu.kim@yonsei.ac. kr Ho Geun Lee Yonsei University h.lee@yonsei.ac. kr More and more publications are highlighting the value of IT in affecting business processes. Recognizing firmlevel dynamic capabilities as key to improved firm performance, our work examines and empirically tests the influencing relationships among IT capabilities (IT personnel expertise, IT infrastructure flexibility, and IT management capabilities), process-oriented dynamic capabilities, and financial performance. Processoriented dynamic capabilities are defined as a firm’s ability to change (improve, adapt, or reconfigure) a business process better than the competition in terms of integrating activities, reducing cost, and capitalizing on business intelligence/learning. They encompass a broad category of changes in the firm’s processes, ranging from continual adjustments and improvements to radical one-time alterations. Although the majority of changes may be incremental, a firm’s capacity for timely changes also implies its readiness to execute radical alterations when the need arises. Grounded on the theoretical position, we propose a research model and gather a survey data set through a rigorous process that retains research validity. From the analysis of the survey data, we find an important route of causality, as follows: IT personnel expertise  IT management capabilities  IT infrastructure flexibility  process-oriented dynamic capabilities  financial performance. Based on this finding, we discuss the main contributions of our study in terms of the strategic role of IT in enhancing firm performance.
Predicting relapse prior to transplantation in chronic myeloid leukemia by integrating expert knowledge and expression data

MOTIVATION Selecting a small number of signature genes for accurate classification of samples is essential for the development of diagnostic tests. However, many genes are highly correlated in gene expression data, and hence, many possible sets of genes are potential classifiers. Because treatment outcomes are poor in advanced chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), we hypothesized that expression of classifiers of advanced phase CML when detected in early CML [chronic phase (CP) CML], correlates with subsequent poorer therapeutic outcome. RESULTS We developed a method that integrates gene expression data with expert knowledge and predicted functional relationships using iterative Bayesian model averaging. Applying our integrated method to CML, we identified small sets of signature genes that are highly predictive of disease phases and that are more robust and stable than using expression data alone. The accuracy of our algorithm was evaluated using cross-validation on the gene expression data. We then tested the hypothesis that gene sets associated with advanced phase CML would predict relapse after allogeneic transplantation in 176 independent CP CML cases. Our gene signatures of advanced phase CML are predictive of relapse even after adjustment for known risk factors associated with transplant outcomes.
Beyond Window Sharing Hacks: Support for First-Class Window Sharing

Over the past 8 years there have been numerous attempts to develop add-ons to the X Window System that enable basic sharing of arbitrary X applications. These systems have never been much more than interesting and marginally useful incremental improvements to the capabilities of X. It is our thesis that there are as-yet-unexplored opportunities for the development of new window systems that provide integral, full-featured support for collaborative work and retain substantial backward-compatibility with X. In this paper we present our design for such a window system.
Efficacy of oral iron therapy in improving the developmental outcome of pre-school children with non-anaemic iron deficiency: a systematic review

Abstract Objective To systematically review the efficacy and safety of oral Fe therapy in pre-school children (1–5 years) with non-anaemic Fe deficiency, determined by children's developmental and haematological status and the incidence of reported side-effects. Design A random-effects model was used to show mean differences with 95 % confidence intervals of developmental and haematological scores between Fe-treated and non-treated groups. Setting MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane library and bibliographies of identified articles were searched up to September 2011. Randomized and observational studies were assessed by two reviewers independently. Quality of the trials was assessed on the basis of concealment of allocation, method of randomization, masking of outcome assessment and completeness of follow-up. Subjects From the titles of 743 articles, full text review was completed on forty-six and two randomized trials of acceptable quality met the inclusion criteria. The two trials included a total of sixty-nine children. Results One study showed a statistically significant difference in the post-treatment Mental Developmental Index score among children who received oral Fe therapy v. no therapy (mean difference = 6·3, 95 % CI 1·5, 11·0, P value not provided). Both studies showed significant improvement in serum ferritin level (μg/l: mean difference = 51·1, 95 % CI 33·6, 68·6, P < 0·01 and mean difference = 17·1, 95 % CI 7·5, 26·6, P value not provided, respectively) in children who received Fe therapy. Conclusions Evidence is insufficient to recommend oral Fe therapy to children with non-anaemic Fe deficiency. There is urgent need of conducting adequately powered, randomized trials examining the efficacy of oral Fe therapy in pre-school children with non-anaemic Fe deficiency.