Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perceptions of Alleged Criminals as a Function of Target Race, Media Presentation, and Prejudice Level

News reports of criminals often provide sympathetic descriptions of White criminals, while demonizing Black criminals; this discrepancy has been found to result in viewers holding racialized beliefs about crime. The purpose of the current study was to examine the potential implications of media portrayals by examining whether the perceptions of an alleged criminal would vary based on the target’s race and whether he was described in a sympathetic or neutral manner. Participants read either sympathetic or neutral descriptions of a violent crime where the alleged criminal was either White or Black, and then answered questions about their perceptions of that criminal. Results indicated that while low-prejudiced participants’ perceptions were not affected by the manipulations, high-prejudiced participants viewed the Black criminal more positively when he was described in a sympathetic manner than when described neutrally; the manipulations did not affect high-prejudiced participants’ perceptions of the White criminal. The results also suggest that the relationship between individual levels of prejudice and ratings of the criminal become non-significant for Black and White targets when a sympathetic depiction of the event is given. The implications for prejudice theories and practical applications are discussed.
The performance of checkpointing and replication schemes for fault tolerant mobile agent systems

We evaluate the performance of checkpointing and replication schemes for the fault tolerant mobile agent system. For the quantitative comparison, we have implemented an experimental system on top of the Mole mobile agent system and also built a simulation system to include various failure cases. Our experiment aims to have the insight into the behavior of agents under two schemes and provide a guideline for the fault tolerant system design. The experimental results show that the checkpointing scheme shows a very stable performance; and for the replication scheme, some controllable system parameter values should be chosen carefully to achieve the desirable performance.
The technical analysis on translation templates

There have been many researches on translation templates. Translation templates are the generalization of the bilingual aligned examples, and are bilingual translation pair in which the corresponding words stems, morphemes, words, strings of words, or phrases may be replaced by variables. This work reviews the various research efforts about translation templates, brings forward three methods of templates acquisition, introduces the main process of template-based machine translation, analyzes the related techniques that need to effectively solved, sums up the research actuality of translation templates, analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of templates technology, and deduces future enhancements for translation templates.
Impact of pancreatic gland volume on fistula formation after pancreatic tail resection.

CONTEXT Resection of the body and tail of the pancreas (distal pancreatectomy) is associated with high postoperative morbidity, most of which is due to leakage from the pancreatic transection surface. OBJECTIVE The aim of the current study was to analyze factors which may affect the risk of pancreatic fistula formation. PATIENTS All consecutive distal pancreatectomies prospectively registered in our hospital database from 1999 to 2007 were included. Clinically relevant pancreatic fistula grades B and C, defined according to the International Study Group on Pancreatic Fistula (ISGPF) definition were assessed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The impact of patient, tumor, surgery, and radiology-related factors on the risk of pancreatic fistula formation were assessed by univariate and multivariate analyses. RESULTS A distal pancreatectomy was performed in 51 patients (median age: 59 years; range: 26-76 years), 22 of whom had malignant and 29 benign or premalignant disease. Pancreatic fistulas were diagnosed in 17 (33.3%) of the patients. An additional three patients had a local abscess without apparent but assumed pancreatic leakage. Multivariate analysis showed that pancreatic fistulas occurred more frequently after hand suturing of the transection area versus the use of a stapler (69.2% vs. 21.1%; OR: 40.4, 95% CI: 3.36-486; P=0.004) and a large volume of the pancreatic remnant (greater, or equal to, 34 cm3) increased the subsequent risk of pancreatic fistula (57.1% vs. 20.8%; OR: 6.14, 95% CI: 1.14-39.0; P=0.035). CONCLUSIONS Development of pancreatic fistula after distal pancreatectomy remains a challenge. The volume of the remaining pancreas and the technique of closure of the transected pancreas were found to affect this risk, thus allowing future preventive measures to be explored and evaluated in clinical trials.
Effect of Cyclosporine in Nonshockable Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: The CYRUS Randomized Clinical Trial.

IMPORTANCE Experimental evidence suggests that cyclosporine prevents postcardiac arrest syndrome by attenuating the systemic ischemia reperfusion response. OBJECTIVE To determine whether early administration of cyclosporine at the time of resuscitation in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) would prevent multiple organ failure. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A multicenter, single-blind, randomized clinical trial was conducted from June 22, 2010, to March 13, 2013 (Cyclosporine A in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Resuscitation [CYRUS]). Sixteen intensive care units in 7 university-affiliated hospitals and 9 general hospitals in France participated. A total of 6758 patients who experienced nonshockable OHCA (ie, asystole or pulseless electrical activity) were assessed for eligibility. Analyses were performed according to the intention-to-treat analysis. INTERVENTIONS Patients received an intravenous bolus injection of cyclosporine, 2.5 mg/kg, at the onset of advanced cardiovascular life support (cyclosporine group) or no additional intervention (control group). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary end point was the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, assessed 24 hours after hospital admission, which ranges from 0 to 24 (with higher scores indicating more severe organ failure). Secondary end points included survival at 24 hours, hospital discharge, and favorable neurologic outcome at discharge. RESULTS Of the 6758 patients screened, 794 were included in intention-to-treat analysis (cyclosporine, 400; control, 394). The median (interquartile range [IQR]) ages were 63.0 (54.0-71.8) years for the cyclosporine group and 66.0 (57.0-74.0) years for the control group. The cohorts included 293 men (73.3%) in the treatment group and 288 men (73.1%) in the control group. At 24 hours after hospital admission, the SOFA score was not significantly different between the cyclosporine (median, 10.0; IQR, 7.0-13.0) and the control (median, 11.0; IQR, 7.0-15.0) groups. Survival was not significantly different between the 98 (24.5%) cyclosporine vs 101 (25.6%) control patients at hospital admission (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.94; 95% CI, 0.66-1.34), at 24 hours for 67 (16.8%) vs 62 (15.7%) patients (aOR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.71-1.63), and at hospital discharge for 10 (2.5%) vs 5 (1.3%) patients (aOR, 2.00; 95% CI, 0.61-6.52). Favorable neurologic outcome at discharge was comparable between the cyclosporine and control groups: 7 (1.8%) vs 5 (1.3%) patients (aOR, 1.39; 95% CI, 0.39-4.91). CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE In patients presenting with nonshockable cardiac rhythm after OHCA, cyclosporine does not prevent early multiple organ failure. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01595958; EudraCT Identifier: 2009-015725-37.
Genetic hitchhiking.

Selection on one or more genes inevitably perturbs other genes, even when those genes have no direct effect on fitness. This article reviews the theory of such genetic hitchhiking, concentrating on effects on neutral loci. Maynard Smith and Haigh introduced the classical case where the perturbation is due to a single favourable mutation. This is contrasted with the apparently distinct effects of inherited variation in fitness due to loosely linked loci. A model of fluctuating selection is analysed which bridges these alternative treatments. When alleles sweep between extreme frequencies at a rate lambda, the rate of drift is increased by a factor (1 + E[1/pq]lambda/(2(2lambda + r))), where the recombination rate r is much smaller than the strength of selection. In spatially structured populations, the effects of any one substitution are weaker, and only cause a local increase in the frequency of a neutral allele. This increase depends primarily on the rate of recombination relative to selection (r/s), and more weakly, on the neighbourhood size, Nb = 4(pi rho sigma)2. Spatial subdivision may allow local selective sweeps to occur more frequently than is indicated by the overall rate of molecular evolution. However, it seems unlikely that such sweeps can be sufficiently frequent to increase significantly the drift of neutral alleles.
The Metabolic Effects of Oats Intake in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The present study aimed to comprehensively assess if oats intake is beneficial for diabetic patients. The literature search was conducted in PubMed database up to 23 August 2015. Fourteen controlled trials and two uncontrolled observational studies were included. Compared with the controls, oats intake significantly reduced the concentrations of glycosylated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (MD, −0.42%; 95% CI, −0.61% to −0.23%), fasting blood glucose (FBG) (MD, −0.39 mmol/L; 95% CI, −0.58 to −0.19 mmol/L), total cholesterol (TC) (MD, −0.49 mmol/L; 95% CI, −0.86 to −0.12 mmol/L), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (MD, −0.29 mmol/L; 95% CI, −0.48 to −0.09 mmol/L). Oatmeal significantly reduced the acute postprandial glucose and insulin responses compared with the control meal. The present study has revealed a beneficial effect of oats intake on glucose control and lipid profiles in type 2 diabetic patients. Further investigations of oats intake in patients with type 1 diabetes and the safety of oats consumption are required.
Development of Pharmaceutical Gel Base Containing Sodium Carboxymethyl Mungbean Starch

A high-viscosity sodium carboxymethyl mungbean starch (SCMMS), prepared by a carboxymethylation reaction with monochloroacetic acid in an alkaline condition, using methanol as a solvent, was investigated for the potential use as a pharmaceutical gelling agent. Gel bases were originally prepared from four commercial polymers, including carbopol (CP), hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC), methylcellulose (MC) and sodium carboxymethylcellulose (SCMC) to yield starting gel bases at different concentrations. The appropriate concentrations of gelling agents in gel bases were found to be 1.5% w/w for Carbopol 941, 4% w/w for HPMC and MC and 2%w/w for SCMC. SCMMS was then used to partially substitute the commercial gelling agents at the commercial polymer to SCMMS ratio of 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3. Six mixed-gelling agent formulations with good appearances and viscosity were selected and, along with the four starting formulations, were subjected to the satisfaction evaluation in 34 volunteers. The results showed that the formulations containing CP-SCMMS at ratio of 1:1 and 1:3, HPMC-SCMMS at ratio of 1:1 and MC-SCMMS at ratio of 3:1 yielded gel bases with higher scores of satisfaction, compared to their starting sole gelling agent formulations. Statistical analysis revealed that the satisfaction was influenced significantly by the spreadability (p = 0.001) and the ease of rubbing (p = 0.009). The incorporation of ibuprofen into the selected gel base formulations showed no evidence of separation and resulted in only slight decrease of viscosity, while the clarity and stability remained unchanged. These results exhibited the potential of SCMMS, which can be produced domestically, either as a partial substitute to the commercial gelling polymers or, with more intensive study, as a new, effective, sole gelling agent for topical gel preparation.
Singing for Lung Health: a qualitative assessment of a British Lung Foundation programme for group leaders

Introduction Singing for Lung Health (SLH) groups are an increasingly popular intervention for people with respiratory disease. There are limited data as to how these groups should be developed and run. We aimed to evaluate the experience of singing leaders both to assess the training provided by the British Lung Foundation (BLF) and to provide information to guide future development of programmes. Methods A convenience sample of 15 leaders who had received BLF SLH training participated in the BLF service evaluation. Fifteen singing groups were observed, and singing leader interviews and questionnaires were collected. Inductive themes from the qualitative data were the primary outcome. The content of observed singing groups was also rated against the training leaders had received. Results Singing leaders valued the BLF training but felt that a significant level of expertise is required before joining. Singing leaders often found setting up groups challenging and some found clinician support beneficial. There were important technical aspects of running a lung health group including issues around content, for example, choice of repertoire to suit breathing pattern, and delivery, for example, pace, rhythm and management of group dynamics. Leaders said that group participants reported physical health improvements such as reduced breathlessness on activity. The content and delivery of singing classes observed displayed a good level of fidelity, suggesting that SLH training is effective. Conclusion The experience of the leaders highlights the requirements, support and technical skills needed to run SLH groups, which have features distinct from generic community singing groups.
Thermal Modeling for a HVAC Controlled Real-Life Auditorium

The largest source of energy consumption in buildings is heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). For an HVAC system to provide comfort and minimize energy consumption, it is crucial to understand the spatiotemporal thermal dynamics, especially in large open spaces. To optimize HVAC control, it is important to establish accurate dynamic thermal models. For this purpose, we constructed a real-world test bed by instrumenting an HVAC-controller auditorium using multiple types of sensors. Based on the dataset, we develop and evaluate a novel data-driven approach to model the complex thermal dynamics in a large space through a combination of data clustering and system identification techniques. Real-world data shows that our approach achieves low estimation errors. Our modeling approach therefore provides a practical foundation for HVAC control and optimization for large open spaces.
Stability, stasis and change: The longue durée of intensification

Intensification is prone to invention and renewal, rendering it ideal for delving into mechanisms of variation and change. Recycling (via lexical replacement) is a putative longitudinal constant, yet grammatical change (via grammaticalization) is regularly invoked in the literature. It is not clear how these complement each other. To probe this issue, this paper operationalizes variationist methods to examine intensification in the Origins of New Zealand English Corpus (ONZE; Gordon et al. 2007). The analysis draws on nearly 13,000 tokens across the longue duree (Braudel 1958, 1980), tracing intensification over 130 years of vernacular speech. The picture that emerges extends beyond the distributional waxing and waning of forms. There is evidence for lexical change, but the longitudinal trajectory is not always continuous. Replacement entails reorganization followed by leveling, and grammatical correlates shift across time. Nonetheless, the inherent form/function asymmetry that characterizes the sector also supports periods of ‘fevered’ change.
Dynamic QT/RR Coupling in Patients with Pacemakers

The dynamic coupling between heart rate intervals (RR) and ventricular repolarization (QT) is analyzed. The analysis is based on measurements of 11 patients with pacemaker. In each measurement, there are at least 4 abrupt changes of RR preset by the pacemaker. With such a protocol, RR changes are important and well defined while disturbing factors and noise sources (such as those related with motion of patient) are minimized. The QT/RR coupling was described by 3 parameters (a1, b2, b3) transfer function (TRF) selected on the basis of a statistical analysis of performances of different TRF models. We found that our model is by far the best in its class: with more parameters (higher order models) the residuals remain almost the same while the extra parameters display variability much larger than that of our parameters. For all measurements, our TRF model describes more than 70 % of QT variability. Within the patient set, we found interesting differences concerning dynamic non-linearity (response times longer with decreasing RR intervals than with increasing RR).
Optimal Control Applied to Cell-Cycle-Specific Cancer Chemotherapy

We propose a mathematical model for the growth of cell-cycle-specific dose limiting bone marrow. In an attempt to determine effective methods of treatment without overdestruction of the bone marrow we implement optimal control theory. We design the control functional to maximize both the bone marrow mass and the dose over the treatment interval. Next we show that an optimal control exists for this problem, and then we characterize our optimal control in terms of the solutions to the optimality system, which is the state system coupled with the adjoint system. We show that the optimality system is unique for suitably small time intervals. Finally, we analyze the optimal control and the optimality system using numerical techniques. This allows us to suggest optimal methods of treatment that prevent excessive destruction of the bone marrow based on the specific weights in our objective functional.
Prediction of In Vivo Hepatic Clearance and Half-Life of Drug Candidates in Human Using Chimeric Mice with Humanized Liver

Accurate prediction of pharmacokinetics (PK) parameters in humans from animal data is difficult for various reasons, including species differences. However, chimeric mice with humanized liver (PXB mice; urokinase-type plasminogen activator/severe combined immunodeficiency mice repopulated with approximately 80% human hepatocytes) have been developed. The expression levels and metabolic activities of cytochrome P450 (P450) and non-P450 enzymes in the livers of PXB mice are similar to those in humans. In this study, we examined the predictability for human PK parameters from data obtained in PXB mice. Elimination of selected drugs involves multiple metabolic pathways mediated not only by P450 but also by non-P450 enzymes, such as UDP-glucuronosyltransferase, sulfotransferase, and aldehyde oxidase in liver. Direct comparison between in vitro intrinsic clearance (CLint,in vitro) in PXB mice hepatocytes and in vivo intrinsic clearance (CLint,in vivo) in humans, calculated based on a well stirred model, showed a moderate correlation (r2 = 0.475, p = 0.009). However, when CLint,in vivo values in humans and PXB mice were compared similarly, there was a good correlation (r2 = 0.754, p = 1.174 × 10−4). Elimination half-life (t1/2) after intravenous administration also showed a good correlation (r2 = 0.886, p = 1.506 × 10−4) between humans and PXB mice. The rank order of CL and t1/2 in human could be predicted at least, although it may not be possible to predict absolute values due to rather large prediction errors. Our results indicate that in vitro and in vivo experiments with PXB mice should be useful at least for semiquantitative prediction of the PK characteristics of candidate drugs in humans.
Is Abdominal Fetal Electrocardiography an Alternative to Doppler Ultrasound for FHR Variability Evaluation?

Great expectations are connected with application of indirect fetal electrocardiography (FECG), especially for home telemonitoring of pregnancy. Evaluation of fetal heart rate (FHR) variability, when determined from FECG, uses the same criteria as for FHR signal acquired classically—through ultrasound Doppler method (US). Therefore, the equivalence of those two methods has to be confirmed, both in terms of recognizing classical FHR patterns: baseline, accelerations/decelerations (A/D), long-term variability (LTV), as well as evaluating the FHR variability with beat-to-beat accuracy—short-term variability (STV). The research material consisted of recordings collected from 60 patients in physiological and complicated pregnancy. The FHR signals of at least 30 min duration were acquired dually, using two systems for fetal and maternal monitoring, based on US and FECG methods. Recordings were retrospectively divided into normal (41) and abnormal (19) fetal outcome. The complex process of data synchronization and validation was performed. Obtained low level of the signal loss (4.5% for US and 1.8% for FECG method) enabled to perform both direct comparison of FHR signals, as well as indirect one—by using clinically relevant parameters. Direct comparison showed that there is no measurement bias between the acquisition methods, whereas the mean absolute difference, important for both visual and computer-aided signal analysis, was equal to 1.2 bpm. Such low differences do not affect the visual assessment of the FHR signal. However, in the indirect comparison the inconsistencies of several percent were noted. This mainly affects the acceleration (7.8%) and particularly deceleration (54%) patterns. In the signals acquired using the electrocardiography the obtained STV and LTV indices have shown significant overestimation by 10 and 50% respectively. It also turned out, that ability of clinical parameters to distinguish between normal and abnormal groups do not depend on the acquisition method. The obtained results prove that the abdominal FECG, considered as an alternative to the ultrasound approach, does not change the interpretation of the FHR signal, which was confirmed during both visual assessment and automated analysis.