Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New-onset angina preceding acute myocardial infarction is associated with improved contractile recovery after thrombolysis.

BACKGROUND Ischaemic preconditioning reduces myocardial infarct size in animal models. Clinical data suggest that episodes of angina immediately before acute myocardial infarction may be associated with smaller infarct size in man. However, it is unclear whether ischaemic episodes preceding acute myocardial infarction also affect contractile recovery in patients. OBJECTIVE In this study we investigated the recovery of regional myocardial function after thrombolysis in two groups of patients at their first Q-wave acute myocardial infarction; in one group (n = 42) myocardial infarction occurred unheralded, whereas patients of the second group (n = 48) had experienced new-onset angina in the 48 h that preceded infarction. Echocardiographic analysis of myocardial regional function in the infarct area was done at 2, 24 and 72 h after thrombolysis, and at 1 week, and 1 and 3 months follow-up. RESULTS Peak level of MB-creatine kinase was significantly lower in patients with new-onset angina (96 +/- 47 as compared with 221 +/- 108 IU.l-1, P < 0.01), as was the area under the MB-creatine kinase curve (1321 +/- 876 as compared to 3879 +/- 1555 U.l-1/36 h, P < 0.01). Hypokinetic segments were fewer in patients with pre-infarction angina. Similarly, wall motion score improved significantly earlier in patients who had new-onset angina before acute myocardial infarction. Thus, contractile recovery was more rapid in patients with previous angina than in those in whom infarction occurred unheralded. Complications during the in-hospital outcome and other variables considered during the 4-week follow-up were similar between groups. CONCLUSIONS Patients who experienced new-onset angina before acute myocardial infarction showed better recovery of regional function after thrombolysis. Our study supports the hypothesis that brief periods of ischaemia immediately before myocardial infarction may precondition the human heart, thus improving contractile recovery.
A learning theory approach to noninteractive database privacy

In this article, we demonstrate that, ignoring computational constraints, it is possible to release synthetic databases that are useful for accurately answering large classes of queries while preserving differential privacy. Specifically, we give a mechanism that privately releases synthetic data useful for answering a class of queries over a discrete domain with error that grows as a function of the size of the smallest net approximately representing the answers to that class of queries. We show that this in particular implies a mechanism for counting queries that gives error guarantees that grow only with the VC-dimension of the class of queries, which itself grows at most logarithmically with the size of the query class. We also show that it is not possible to release even simple classes of queries (such as intervals and their generalizations) over continuous domains with worst-case utility guarantees while preserving differential privacy. In response to this, we consider a relaxation of the utility guarantee and give a privacy preserving polynomial time algorithm that for any halfspace query will provide an answer that is accurate for some small perturbation of the query. This algorithm does not release synthetic data, but instead another data structure capable of representing an answer for each query. We also give an efficient algorithm for releasing synthetic data for the class of interval queries and axis-aligned rectangles of constant dimension over discrete domains.
Sex Differences in HIV Prevalence Persist over Time: Evidence from 18 Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Objective The aim of this study was to examine changes over time in the female: male HIV prevalence ratio in 18 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, overall and when stratified by area of residence, educational attainment and marital status. Methodology We used data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, which are nationally representative household surveys. By using data from 18 countries with at least two survey rounds with HIV testing, and dividing the countries into three regions (Western/Central, Eastern and Southern) we were able to examine cross-country and regional changes in the female: male HIV prevalence ratio over time. Logistic regression was used to estimate female: male HIV prevalence ratios in urban versus rural areas and for different categories of education and marital status. To assess changes over time, we compared the confidence intervals of the prevalence ratios. Results The female: male HIV prevalence ratio was above one in all countries in at least one survey round for both ages 15–24 years and 25–49 years. In 13 out of 18 countries the prevalence ratio was higher for the younger age group compared to the age group 25–49 years (3 significant) and this difference in prevalence ratios between the age groups did not change over time. Overall, there was a higher frequency of increasing than decreasing prevalence ratios. The gender disparity was greater among those who were married/living together than among the never-married, and over time, the ratio was more stable among the married/living together. The study found no clear differential changes by education. Conclusion Women continue to carry the greater burden of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa and there is no clear pattern of change in the gap between men and women as the direction and magnitude of change in the prevalence ratios varied greatly.
P³ & Beyond: Move Making Algorithms for Solving Higher Order Functions

In this paper, we extend the class of energy functions for which the optimal alpha-expansion and alphabeta-swap moves can be computed in polynomial time. Specifically, we introduce a novel family of higher order clique potentials, and show that the expansion and swap moves for any energy function composed of these potentials can be found by minimizing a submodular function. We also show that for a subset of these potentials, the optimal move can be found by solving an st-mincut problem. We refer to this subset as the Pn Potts model. Our results enable the use of powerful alpha-expansion and alphabeta-swap move making algorithms for minimization of energy functions involving higher order cliques. Such functions have the capability of modeling the rich statistics of natural scenes and can be used for many applications in Computer Vision. We demonstrate their use in one such application, i.e., the texture-based image or video-segmentation problem.
Optimization of antitachycardia pacing protocols applied to atrial fibrillation: Insights from a biophysical model

We present a model-based systematic study of antitachycardia pacing protocols applied to atrial fibrillation, focusing on the ability to achieve and maintain capture during pacing, as a function of both pacing site and period. We observed that pacing sites located away from anatomical obstacles led to faster and more robust capture. Moreover, after comparing burst and ramp pacing, our results indicate that in order to get capture it is necessary to pace at a fixed optimal period over a sufficient long time.
Perceptions of presidential candidates' personalities in twitter

Political sentiment analysis using social media, especially Twitter, has attracted wide interest in recent years. In such research, opinions about politicians are typically divided into positive, negative, or neutral. In our research, the goal is to mine political opinion from social media at a higher resolution by assessing statements of opinion related to the personality traits of politicians; this is an angle that has not yet been considered in social media research. A second goal is to contribute a novel retrieval‐based approach for tracking public perception of personality using Gough and Heilbrun's Adjective Check List (ACL) of 110 terms describing key traits. This is in contrast to the typical lexical and machine‐learning approaches used in sentiment analysis. High‐precision search templates developed from the ACL were run on an 18‐month span of Twitter posts mentioning Obama and Romney and these retrieved more than half a million tweets. For example, the results indicated that Romney was perceived as more of an achiever and Obama was perceived as somewhat more friendly. The traits were also aggregated into 14 broad personality dimensions. For example, Obama rated far higher than Romney on the Moderation dimension and lower on the Machiavellianism dimension. The temporal variability of such perceptions was explored.
Sand and concrete interface behaviour of particulate rubber-sand-fly ash mixture

ABSTRACT Recycled rubber tire mixed with sand has been examined as embankment material, retaining wall backfill and buried pipes backfill. Applications of these mixtures in the field would experience two kinds of interfaces, one is between the structure and the mixture and the other is between the mixture and the existing ground. Therefore the present study examines the interface behaviours of pure rubber, sand-rubber mixture and fly ash-rubber mixture with concrete and sand interface. In the present study, the concrete and the sand interface behaviour of the material and mixtures are examined. The test results show that the interface friction angle of sand-particulate materials is higher than that of concrete-particulate materials. In addition, fly ash-rubber mixture possesses higher interface shear strength than that of the sand-rubber mixture. Further, the interface coefficient is observed to vary from 0.85 to 1 for sand-rubber mixture and fly ash-rubber mixture with concrete and sand interfaces.
Reduction of affine systems on polytopes

Consider an affine system with a polytope as state set. State trajectories are terminated when they reach a facet of the polytope and attempt to exit. The realization problem is considered based on the behavior of the system, i.e. the set of input-output trajectories on time-intervals of either finite or infinite length. The state set can be affinely reduced due to non-observability if and only if a subspace of the classical unobservable subspace, characterized using the normal vectors of the exit facets, is nontrivial.
Visible light communication: opportunities, challenges and the path to market

Visible light communication is a potentially disruptive form of wireless communication that can supplement radio frequency communication and also uniquely enable novel mobile wireless device use cases. High data rate downlink communication in homes and offices and high accuracy indoor positioning in retail stores are two of the most compelling use cases of this promising new technology. Large-scale commercialization of visible light communication devices will depend on both the development of robust and efficient engineering solutions, and the execution of incremental commercialization strategies.
Disentangling the Effects of CEO Turnover and Succession on Organizational Capabilities: A Social Network Perspective

Prior reviews of the CEO turnover and succession literature suggest that empirical findings on organizational implications continue to be equivocal. In this paper, we develop a conceptual framework for examining the impact of CEO turnover and succession on organizational capabilities. Using the social network perspective as a theoretical lens, we identify conditions in which CEO turnover is expected to influence organizational exploration and exploitation capabilities. We also identify contingencies under which CEO succession will moderate the impact of CEO turnover on organizational capabilities. Our framework provides a useful lens through which to view the consequences of CEO turnover and succession and sheds some light on the equivocal findings to date.
Mercury accumulation in different tissues of fish from Ulhas River Estuary and Thane Creek and the pattern of fish consumption among fish-eaters

Survey of fish-eating populations in five villages along Ulhas river estuary and Thane creek indicated inter-village differences in parts of fish consumed. Differential tissue analysis indicated higher Hg levels in gills, kidney and skin (0.895-1.118 µg/g), moderate levels in liver, bones and muscles (0.21-0.37 µg/g) and low levels in eyes and brain (0.04-0.093 µg/g). Skin and kidneys having elevated levels of Hg are commonly consumed by all. Pattern of fish consumption among villagers revealed that populations of Alimgarh and Diwe-Kewni villages consuming whole fish are exposed to high Hg concentration whereas populations of Vittawa and Airoli consuming only muscles are exposed to lower concentrations of Hg. In Wehele, a mixed population is observed as far as parts of fish consumed are concerned and therefore are exposed to Hg in moderate levels.
Exploiting Half-Wits: Smarter Storage for Low-Power Devices

This work analyzes the stochastic behavior of writing to embedded flash memory at voltages lower than recommended by a microcontroller's specifications to reduce energy consumption. Flash memory integrated within a microcontroller typically requires the entire chip to operate on common supply voltage almost double what the CPU portion requires. Our approach tolerates a lower supply voltage so that the CPU may operate in a more energy efficient manner. Energy efficient coding algorithms then cope with flash memory that behaves unpredictably. Our software-only coding algorithms (in-place writes, multiple-place writes, RS-Berger codes) enable reliable storage at low voltages on unmodified hardware by exploiting the electrically cumulative nature of half-written data in write-once bits. For a sensor monitoring application using the MSP430, coding with in-place writes reduces the overall energy consumption by 34%. In-place writes are competitive when the time spent on computation is at least four times greater than the time spent on writes to flash memory. Our evaluation shows that tightly maintaining the digital abstraction for storage in embedded flash memory comes at a significant cost to energy consumption with minimal gain in reliability.
Development of a 5′ Fluorogenic Nuclease-Based Real-Time PCR Assay for Quantitative Detection of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis

ABSTRACT A 5′ nuclease TaqMan PCR was developed for the quantitative detection of the periodontopathic bacteria Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans and Porphyromonas gingivalis. The relative numbers of bacteria were measured by the comparative threshold cycle method. This simplified method is a way of obtaining the relative quantities of these organisms from specimens and of monitoring the effect of therapy.
Pulmonary Rehabilitation After Acute Exacerbation of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in Patients Who Previously Completed a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program

PURPOSE Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) impair health-related quality of life (HRQL). We evaluated the effect of an abbreviated repeat pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program on HRQL after an AECOPD. METHODS Patients who had completed PR were followed for up to 12 months to identify an AECOPD and then placed in randomized groups to receive a 3-week repeat-PR intervention or usual care. Measures of HRQL (Chronic Respiratory Disease Questionnaire, CRQ) and functional exercise capacity (6-minute walk distance, 6MWD) were collected at 2 (T1), 5 (T2), and 12 weeks (T3) post-AECOPD. The repeat-PR program was undertaken between T1 and T2. Between-group differences were examined using repeated- measures analysis of variance or covariance. RESULTS Of the 60 patients (30 men, age 69±8 years, forced expiratory volume in 1 second 0.86±0.40 L, 6MWD 367±99 m) followed, 41 experienced an AECOPD 14 ± 11 weeks after completion of the initial PR program and 33 completed the study. Of these, 16 and 17 were randomized to the intervention and control groups, respectively. No between-group differences were demonstrated at T2 or T3. With the exclusion of 5 subjects who experienced a second AECOPD between T1 and T3, the participants in the intervention group demonstrated greater reduction in dyspnea when compared to those in the control group at T3 (0.8±1.6 vs −0.4±1.3 points per item, P = .04). CONCLUSIONS The reduction in dyspnea in those who did not experience a second AECOPD provides preliminary evidence for the role of repeat programs. The application of repeat PR should be refined in larger trials.
Fuel efficiency at the Lufthansa Group – Cutting costs and protecting the environment

The aviation industry has taken on a big job in terms of climate protection and set itself ambitious goals. It plans to improve average fuel efficiency by 1.5 percent per year up to 2020 and thus to slow down the increase in CO2 emissions accordingly. From 2020, CO2-neutral growth should then be achieved. In the long term, aviation’s net CO2 emissions are to be reduced by half by 2050, compared with 2005. The basis for realizing climate-neutral growth by 2020 is the industry’s established four-pillar strategy, which interlinks an array of diverse environmental measures (see illustration on page 71). Its scope comprises technical progress, improved infrastructure, operational measures and economic measures. Project “Fuel Efficiency” – Progress and activities 2011 In October 2009, Lufthansa German Airlines launched the project “Fuel Efficiency” in an effort to reduce kerosene consumption in flight operations and thus to lower costs sustainably in times of continuously increasing fuel prices. “Fuel efficiency is a very important part of our strategy,” emphasizes Jürgen Starck, Project Manager Fuel Efficiency at Deutsche Lufthansa AG until the end of March 2012. The ratio “specific fuel consumption” was the first non-monetary variable to be included in the process of operating Group planning, a fact that underlines the importance of fuel efficiency as an issue.
Design and reliability analysis of multiple valued logic gates using carbon nanotube FETs

With emerging nanometric technologies, multiple valued logic (MVL) circuits have attracted significant attention due to advantages in information density and operating speed. In this paper, a pseudo complementary MVL design is initially proposed for implementations using carbon nanotube field effect transistors (CNTFETs). This design utilizes no resistors in its operation. To account for the properties and fabrication non-idealities of CNTFETs, a transistor-level reliability analysis is proposed to accurately estimate the error rates of MVL gates. This approach considers gate structures and their operation, so it yields a more realistic framework than a logic-level analysis of reliability. To achieve scalability, stochastic computational models are developed to accurately and efficiently analyze MVL gates; the extension of these models to circuits is briefly discussed.
Physical soil characterization on stable and failed slopes of the Ranau-Tambunan Road, Sabah, Malaysia

In this study, an initiative has been taken to characterize soil physical properties of stable and failed soil slopes along the Ranau-Tambunan road in Sabah. A total of 26 samples consisting of 10 samples from stable slopes and another 16 samples from failed soil slopes were collected. Basic physical soil tests that were performed were particle size distribution, liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index. The Mann-Whitney test was used to determine the association between landslides and the physical properties of both slope groups. In addition, mean rank of physical properties for both slope groups were also computed. Based on the test, the particle size distribution, liquid and plasticity index for both groups were indicated as significantly associated with landslides with p values of 0.0305, 0.009 and 0.040 respectively. The plastic limit (p=0.667), however, did not show significant association with landslide occurrences. In terms of mean rank, failed slopes have higher value than stable slopes for fine grain materials comprising of silt and clay (15.94 vs 9.60), liquid limit (16.50 vs 8.70), plastic limit (14.03 vs 12.65) and plasticity index (16.69 vs 8.40).
A 1/4-inch 8Mpixel back-illuminated stacked CMOS image sensor

In recent years, cellphone cameras have come to require much more diversification and increased functionalities, due to the strong growth of the smartphone market. In addition to the image quality, speed, and pixel counts that conventional image sensors require, there is high demand for new functions that can respond to various photo-taking scenes. We developed a stacked CMOS image sensor (CIS), composed of conventional back-illuminated (BI) image-sensor technology and 65nm standard logic technology.
Asymmetric Information, Portfolio Managers and Home Bias

We propose a model of delegated asset management that can explain the following empirical regularities in international markets: the presence of home bias, the lower proportion of mutual funds investing domestically, and the higher market value of mutual funds investing domestically. In the model, fund managers choose whether to specialize in domestic or foreign assets. Individual investors are uncertain about managers' abilities, and they are more informed about domestic markets. This makes domestic investments less risky and generates home bias. Home bias is magnified because higher-ability managers specialize in domestic assets, making them even more attractive to the investors. The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Society for Financial Studies. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com. , Oxford University Press.
Synchronous occurrence of gastrointestinal stromal tumors and other digestive tract malignancies in the elderly

Background/Aims Elderly patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) synchronous with other digestive tract malignancies have been rarely reported. In this study, clinicopathological characteristics were evaluated among elderly patients with GISTs with or without coexisting digestive tract malignancies. Methods A total of 161 patients (≥65 years) were retrospectively reviewed at the West China Hospital, Sichuan University from January 2009 to June 2014. Results Sixty-one patients were diagnosed with synchronous digestive tract malignancies (synchronous group), whereas 100 patients were diagnosed with no synchronous condition (no-synchronous group). The synchronous group exhibited a higher percentage of males (70.49% vs. 53.00%, P = 0.028) and poorer Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status than the no-synchronous group (P = 0.029). The three-year overall survival (OS) rate was significantly lower among patients with synchronous digestive tract malignancies than that among patients without synchronous condition (64.5% vs. 84.0%, P = 0.003). Multivariate analysis showed that the presence of synchronous digestive tract malignancies (P = 0.002), co-morbidity (P = 0.004), and mitotic count ≥10 mitoses/50 high power fields (P = 0.012) were associated with poor OS. Conclusions A synchronous condition with other digestive tract malignancies is common in elderly patients with GISTs. OS primarily depends on synchronous digestive tract malignancies, mitotic count, and co-morbidity.