Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus: Description of Persistence in Individual Pigs upon Experimental Infection

ABSTRACT We studied the persistence of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) in individual experimentally infected pigs, during a period of up to 150 days postinfection (dpi). The results of this study suggest that the persistence of PRRSV involves continuous viral replication but that it is not a true steady-state persistent infection. The virus eventually clears the body and seems to do it in most of the animals by 150 dpi or shortly thereafter. High genetic stability was seen for several regions of the persistent PRRSV's genome, although some consistent mutations in the genes of envelope glycoproteins and M protein were also observed.
Resource optimization of spatial TDMA in ad hoc radio networks: a column generation approach

Wireless communications using ad hoc networks are receiving an increasing interest. The most attractive feature of ad hoc networks is the flexibility. The network is set up by a number of units in an ad hoc manner, without the need of any fixed infrastructure. Communication links are established between two units if the signal strength is sufficiently high. As not all pairs of nodes can establish direct links, the traffic between two units may have to be relayed through other units. This is known as the multihop functionality. Design of ad hoc networks is a challenging task. In this paper we study the problem of resource allocation with spatial TDMA (STDMA) as the access control scheme. Previous work for this problem has mainly focused on heuristics, whose performance is difficult to analyze when optimal solutions are not known. We develop, for both node-oriented and link-oriented allocation strategies, mathematical programming formulations for resource optimization. We further present a column generation approach, which, in our numerical experiments, constantly yields optimal or near-optimal solutions. Our results provide important benchmarks when evaluating heuristic on-line algorithms for resource optimization using STDMA.
7 billion home telescopes: observing social machines through personal data stores

Web Observatories aim to develop techniques and methods to allow researchers to interrogate and answer questions about society through the multitudes of digital traces people now create. In this paper, we propose that a possible path towards surmounting the inevitable obstacle of personal privacy towards such a goal, is to keep data with individuals, under their own control, while enabling them to participate in Web Observatory-style analyses in situ. We discuss the kinds of applications such a global, distributed, linked network of Personal Web Observatories might have, a few of the many challenges that must be resolved towards realising such an architecture in practice, and finally, our work towards a fundamental reference building block of such a network.
Spectrum of cancer risk among US solid organ transplant recipients.

CONTEXT Solid organ transplant recipients have elevated cancer risk due to immunosuppression and oncogenic viral infections. Because most prior research has concerned kidney recipients, large studies that include recipients of differing organs can inform cancer etiology. OBJECTIVE To describe the overall pattern of cancer following solid organ transplantation. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Cohort study using linked data on solid organ transplant recipients from the US Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (1987-2008) and 13 state and regional cancer registries. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) and excess absolute risks (EARs) assessing relative and absolute cancer risk in transplant recipients compared with the general population. RESULTS The registry linkages yielded data on 175,732 solid organ transplants (58.4% for kidney, 21.6% for liver, 10.0% for heart, and 4.0% for lung). The overall cancer risk was elevated with 10,656 cases and an incidence of 1375 per 100,000 person-years (SIR, 2.10 [95% CI, 2.06-2.14]; EAR, 719.3 [95% CI, 693.3-745.6] per 100,000 person-years). Risk was increased for 32 different malignancies, some related to known infections (eg, anal cancer, Kaposi sarcoma) and others unrelated (eg, melanoma, thyroid and lip cancers). The most common malignancies with elevated risk were non-Hodgkin lymphoma (n = 1504; incidence: 194.0 per 100,000 person-years; SIR, 7.54 [95% CI, 7.17-7.93]; EAR, 168.3 [95% CI, 158.6-178.4] per 100,000 person-years) and cancers of the lung (n = 1344; incidence: 173.4 per 100,000 person-years; SIR, 1.97 [95% CI, 1.86-2.08]; EAR, 85.3 [95% CI, 76.2-94.8] per 100,000 person-years), liver (n = 930; incidence: 120.0 per 100,000 person-years; SIR, 11.56 [95% CI, 10.83-12.33]; EAR, 109.6 [95% CI, 102.0-117.6] per 100,000 person-years), and kidney (n = 752; incidence: 97.0 per 100,000 person-years; SIR, 4.65 [95% CI, 4.32-4.99]; EAR, 76.1 [95% CI, 69.3-83.3] per 100,000 person-years). Lung cancer risk was most elevated in lung recipients (SIR, 6.13 [95% CI, 5.18-7.21]) but also increased among other recipients (kidney: SIR, 1.46 [95% CI, 1.34-1.59]; liver: SIR, 1.95 [95% CI, 1.74-2.19]; and heart: SIR, 2.67 [95% CI, 2.40-2.95]). Liver cancer risk was elevated only among liver recipients (SIR, 43.83 [95% CI, 40.90-46.91]), who manifested exceptional risk in the first 6 months (SIR, 508.97 [95% CI, 474.16-545.66]) and a 2-fold excess risk for 10 to 15 years thereafter (SIR, 2.22 [95% CI, 1.57-3.04]). Among kidney recipients, kidney cancer risk was elevated (SIR, 6.66 [95% CI, 6.12-7.23]) and bimodal in onset time. Kidney cancer risk also was increased in liver recipients (SIR, 1.80 [95% CI, 1.40-2.29]) and heart recipients (SIR, 2.90 [95% CI, 2.32-3.59]). CONCLUSION Compared with the general population, recipients of a kidney, liver, heart, or lung transplant have an increased risk for diverse infection-related and unrelated cancers.
Political candidates in infotainment programmes and their emotional effects on Twitter: an analysis of the 2015 Spanish general elections pre-campaign season

ABSTRACT The infotainment format offers candidates an informal setting to show a more personal side of themselves to the electorate, opening themselves up to potential voters. An example of media hybridisation, social networks users can immediately comment on infotainment television programmes, a process known as second screening. These second screeners tend to be especially active in politics. This paper analyses the immediate emotional reaction of these users as they watch infotainment programmes that air during the campaign or pre-campaign seasons and feature political candidates as guests. We have confirmed that second screeners react more emotionally towards the candidate when his or her party is mentioned, and less emotionally when the host displays an aggressive attitude through his or her non-verbal communication. When issues related to the candidate’s personal lives are discussed, users’ emotional reactions improve slightly. The relevance of this research stems from the fact that we are witnessing the consolidation of a politics that increasingly strays from ideological questions, and instead focuses on more emotional and personal issues.
Relation of Serum α- and γ-Tocopherol Levels to Cardiovascular Disease-Related Mortality Among Japanese Men and Women

Background There is limited evidence regarding the relationship between serum tocopherol levels and cardiovascular disease. Methods We conducted a nested case-control study as part of the Japan Collaborative Cohort Study for evaluation of cancer risk (JACC Study). Baseline serum samples were collected from 39 242 participants (age range, 40–79 years) between 1988 and 1990. During the 13-year follow-up, there were 530 stroke deaths (302 ischemic strokes and 210 hemorrhagic strokes) and 211 deaths from coronary heart disease. Controls were matched for sex, age, and area of residence. Results Serum α-tocopherol level was not associated with any type of cardiovascular death in men; however, in women, it was inversely associated with total stroke mortality and hemorrhagic stroke mortality. The multivariate odds ratio (95% CI) for the highest versus the lowest quintile of serum α-tocopherol levels among women was 0.35 (0.16–0.77; P for trend = 0.009) for total stroke and 0.26 (0.07–0.97; P for trend = 0.048) for hemorrhagic stroke. Serum γ-tocopherol was inversely associated with ischemic stroke mortality in men but positively associated with hemorrhagic stroke mortality in women. The respective multivariate odds ratios (95% CI) for the highest versus the lowest quintile and for a 1-standard deviation increment in γ-tocopherol level were 0.48 (0.22–1.06; P for trend = 0.07) and 0.77 (0.58–1.02), respectively, for ischemic stroke in men and 3.10 (0.95–10.12; P for trend = 0.052) and 1.49 (1.04–2.13) for hemorrhagic stroke in women. Conclusions Among women, hemorrhagic stroke mortality was inversely associated with serum α-tocopherol and positively associated with serum γ-tocopherol. These findings are due in part to the antioxidative and antithrombotic activities of these tocopherols.
Making reasonable adjustments for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities: pre-service teachers' perceptions of an online support resource

The Equality Act called on British schools to ‘avoid as far as possible by reasonable means, the disadvantage which a disabled pupil experiences’. Teachers, therefore, must be creative and flexible in order to meet the needs and optimise the capabilities of all pupils. Using focus group interviews, this article explores the influence of an online resource on pre-service teachers’ perceptions of making reasonable adjustments for children with special educational needs and disabilities. Pre-service teachers appeared committed to making reasonable adjustments, with reports of the online resource being particularly influential on their planning and assessing progress. The influence of the resource was less significant on those pre-service teachers with previous experience of making reasonable adjustments.
Fitness versus Fatness and Insulin Resistance in U.S. Adolescents

Background. The present study examined the relationship between insulin resistance and both waist circumference and cardiorespiratory fitness in U.S. adolescents. Methods. NHANES assessed a nationally representative sample of U.S. adolescents (12–18 yrs) between 1999–2002. Abdominal adiposity was estimated by waist circumference, overall adiposity by BMI, and cardiorespiratory fitness (maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) from a treadmill exercise test). Insulin resistance was estimated from fasting insulin and glucose using the homeostatic model assessment method (i.e., HOMA) and was log-transformed. Results. 1078 adolescents were included in the study. Positive correlations existed between lnHOMA and waist circumference (r = 0.59; r = 0.54) for boys and girls, respectively. lnHOMA and VO2max were inversely related in boys (r = −0.29) but not girls (r = −0.06). Gender-specific analyses by BMI category showed that the significant inverse relationship in lnHOMA and VO2max was primarily present in obese boys. Conclusion. Among adolescents, important gender and BMI differences exist in the relationship between insulin resistance and fitness. While waist circumference and BMI are important predictors in all children, fitness appears especially important in obese boys. These findings may have important implications for gender-specific interventions to prevent adult obesity and diabetes mellitus.
Sustainable development and hospitality education: employers’ perspectives on the relevance for graduate employability

ABSTRACT This paper examines hospitality employers’ perspectives of sustainable development (SD) and the implications for hospitality education, particularly graduate employability. An exploratory approach is used in this research where semi-structured interviews were conducted with employers of hospitality graduates. The results established that respondents had mixed understandings of the meaning and relevance of SD. These employers are, however, gradually recognising the value of sustainability for their business. Though it is not currently a priority in terms of a critical employability skill specifically for the hotel sector, related industries seem more mindful of the implications of sustainability credentials. Thus, hospitality educators need to take appropriate actions in subject-specific areas where SD is critical to employment opportunities, creating more industry-ready graduates who are also globally aware citizens.
Analyzing the potential of Future-Internet-based logistics control tower solutions in warehouses

Lacking available information and missing integration of existing IT solutions between the planning level and the execution level are major reasons for many enterprises from the transportation and logistics failing to realize an optimal setup of process executions. Future-Internet-based logistics control towers promise a viable solution to such problems. With the help of such control towers, the problem is to be addressed. Using a real-world example of a process in a company's warehouse, the present paper presents the potential facilitated by Future-Internet-based logistics control towers by evaluating the usefulness of the solution with regard to the potential of a more resource-efficient configuration of business processes.
Large-Eddy Simulation of PBL Stratocumulus: Comparison of Multi-Dimensional and IPA Longwave Radiative Forcing

D. B. Mechem and Y. L. Kogan Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies University of Oklahoma Norman, Oklahoma M. Ovtchinnikov Pacific Northwest National Laboratory A. B. Davis Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos, New Mexico R. R. Cahalan National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, Maryland E. E. Takara and R. G. Ellingson Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida
Describing bilinguals: A systematic review of labels and descriptions used in the literature between 2005–2015

Recent years have seen a surge in research comparing bilinguals to monolinguals, yet synthesizing this literature is complicated by the diversity of language and social backgrounds behind these dichotomous labels. The current study examines the labels and descriptions reported in 186 studies comparing bilinguals and monolinguals published between 2005–2015 in order to understand how bilingualism has been operationalized and to describe the degree to which different facets of bilingual experience are reported. Proficiency and usage were the most frequently reported features (77% and 79%), followed by language history (67%) and the language of schooling (60%). However, less than half of the studies measured proficiency objectively or reported proportional usage, and even less – 30% – described the sociolinguistic context from which the sample was drawn. Given the increase in language contact due to globalization, more transparent and comprehensive reporting of participant characteristics is critical to building our understanding of how bilingualism affects experience.
Adolescent Mothers’ Implementation of Strategies to Enhance Their Children’s Early Language and Emergent Literacy Skills

Research regarding specific strategies adolescent mothers (AMs) may utilize to facilitate early language and emergent literacy skills in their children is lacking. This exploratory study investigated AMs’ perceived use of preselected common language and emergent literacy strategies and correlated their use of these strategies to their children’s language skills. In total, 12 AMs enrolled in an alternative school program were surveyed using the Self-Assessment of Language and Literacy Implementation (SALLI) and also completed a self-report of their child’s language development using the norm-referenced MacArthur-Bates Communication Development Inventories (CDI). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Spearman’s Rank Correlation to determine the significance and relationship between variables. AMs scored low on the SALLI, with the lowest scores specifically in the areas of Directiveness and Home Environment. Results on the CDI indicated that the children had below average receptive and expressive language skills.
Expectations and received knowledge by surgical patients.

OBJECTIVE Here, the aim is to compare surgical patients' knowledge expectations at admission with the knowledge they received during their hospital stay. DESIGN The study used a descriptive and comparative design. SETTING The study was conducted on surgical wards at one randomly selected university hospital in Finland. PARTICIPANTS The sample (n = 237) consisted of surgical patients (traumatological, gastroenterological, urological and heart and thorax surgery) admitted to hospital during a 2-month period in 2003. METHODS The data were collected by two specially developed, parallel questionnaires: Hospital Patients' Knowledge Expectations and Hospital Patients' Received Knowledge. These 40-item instruments used a four-tier response scale and made a distinction between the bio-physiological, functional, experiential, ethical, social and financial dimensions of knowledge. The data were analysed statistically. RESULTS Surgical patients received less knowledge than they felt they expected on the bio-physiological, functional, experiential, ethical, social and financial dimensions. Their knowledge expectations and the knowledge they received were related to age, gender and level of basic education. CONCLUSIONS The results highlighted the need for improved patient education. Surgical patients expect to receive more knowledge than they actually receive on all dimensions. The most problematic areas in the education of surgical patients are the experiential, ethical, social and financial dimensions of knowledge. In particular, younger patients, female patients and patients with a higher level of education require more attention.
Computer-Aided Bleeding Detection in WCE Video

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) can directly take digital images in the gastrointestinal tract of a patient. It has opened a new chapter in small intestine examination. However, a major problem associated with this technology is that too many images need to be manually examined by clinicians. Currently, there is no standard for capsule endoscopy image interpretation and classification. Most state-of-the-art CAD methods often suffer from poor performance, high computational cost, or multiple empirical thresholds. In this paper, a new method for rapid bleeding detection in the WCE video is proposed. We group pixels through superpixel segmentation to reduce the computational complexity while maintaining high diagnostic accuracy. Feature of each superpixel is extracted using the red ratio in RGB space and fed into support vector machine for classification. Also, the influence of edge pixels has been removed in this paper. Comparative experiments show that our algorithm is superior to the existing methods in terms of sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.
Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce an Examination of Individual's Perceived Security and Privacy of the Internet in Malaysia and the Influence of This on Their Intention to Use E-commerce: Using an Extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

This study explores the impact of perceived security and privacy on the intention to use Internet banking. An extended version of the technology acceptance model (TAM) is used to examine the above perception. A survey was distributed, the 187 responses mainly from the urban cities in Malaysia, have generally agreed that security and privacy are still the main concerns while using Internet banking. The research model explains over half of the variance of the intention to use Internet banking [R 2 = 0.532 (adjusted)], the unexplained 47 percent of variance suggests that the model may have excluded other possible factors influencing the acceptance of Internet banking. Interaction in the local language (Bahasa Malaysia) did not have an impact on the ease of use of Internet banking. Internet security, Internet banking regulations and customers' privacy would remain future challenges of Internet banking acceptance. The value of this study may provide an updated literature in the field of Internet banking acceptance in Malaysia.
A whole brain fMRI atlas generated via spatially constrained spectral clustering

Connectivity analyses and computational modeling of human brain function from fMRI data frequently require the specification of regions of interests (ROIs). Several analyses have relied on atlases derived from anatomical or cyto‐architectonic boundaries to specify these ROIs, yet the suitability of atlases for resting state functional connectivity (FC) studies has yet to be established. This article introduces a data‐driven method for generating an ROI atlas by parcellating whole brain resting‐state fMRI data into spatially coherent regions of homogeneous FC. Several clustering statistics are used to compare methodological trade‐offs as well as determine an adequate number of clusters. Additionally, we evaluate the suitability of the parcellation atlas against four ROI atlases (Talairach and Tournoux, Harvard‐Oxford, Eickoff‐Zilles, and Automatic Anatomical Labeling) and a random parcellation approach. The evaluated anatomical atlases exhibit poor ROI homogeneity and do not accurately reproduce FC patterns present at the voxel scale. In general, the proposed functional and random parcellations perform equivalently for most of the metrics evaluated. ROI size and hence the number of ROIs in a parcellation had the greatest impact on their suitability for FC analysis. With 200 or fewer ROIs, the resulting parcellations consist of ROIs with anatomic homology, and thus offer increased interpretability. Parcellation results containing higher numbers of ROIs (600 or 1,000) most accurately represent FC patterns present at the voxel scale and are preferable when interpretability can be sacrificed for accuracy. The resulting atlases and clustering software have been made publicly available at: http://www.nitrc. org/projects/cluster_roi/. Hum Brain Mapp, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc
A Reduced-Space Algorithm for Minimizing ℓ1-Regularized Convex Functions

We present a new method for minimizing the sum of a differentiable convex function and an $\ell_1$-norm regularizer. The main features of the new method include: $(i)$ an evolving set of indices corresponding to variables that are predicted to be nonzero at a solution (i.e., the support); $(ii)$ a reduced-space subproblem defined in terms of the predicted support; $(iii)$ conditions that determine how accurately each subproblem must be solved, which allow for Newton, Newton-CG, and coordinate-descent techniques to be employed; $(iv)$ a computationally practical condition that determines when the predicted support should be updated; and $(v)$ a reduced proximal gradient step that ensures sufficient decrease in the objective function when it is decided that variables should be added to the predicted support. We prove a convergence guarantee for our method and demonstrate its efficiency on a large set of model prediction problems.
Gait Dynamics for Recognition and Classification

This paper describes a representation of the dynamics of human walking action for the purpose of person identification and classification by gait appearance. Our gait representation is based on simple features such as moments extracted from video silhouettes of human walking motion. We claim that our gait dynamics representation is rich enough for the task of recognition and classification. The use of our feature representation is demonstrated in the task of person recognition from video sequences of orthogonal views of people walking. We demonstrate the accuracy of recognition on gait video sequences collected over different days and times, and under varying lighting environments. In addition, preliminary results are shown on gender classification using our gait dynamics features. 1 1Research Support: This research is supported in part by DARPA under contract N00014-00-1-0907.