Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Energy Prediction Based on Resident's Activity

smart home environment research, little attentio n has been given to monitoring, analyzing, and predicting ener gy usage, despite the fact that electricity consumption in ho mes has grown dramatically in the last few decades. We envision t hat a potential application of this smart environment technology is predicting the energy would be used to support specific daily acti vities. The purpose of this paper is thus to validate our hypot hesis that energy usage can be predicted based on sensor data that ca n be collected and generated by the residents in a smart home envi ronment, including recognized activities, resident movement in the space, and frequency of classes of sensor. In this paper, we extract useful features from sensor data collected in a smart home environment and utilize several machine learning algorithms to predict energy usage given these features. To validate these algor ithms, we use real sensor data collected in our CASAS smart apart ment testbed. We also compare the performance between different learning algorithms and analyze the prediction results for t wo different experiments performed in the smart home. embedded into the smart floor in strategic location s. This sensor system can be used for tracking inhabitant and iden tifying user's location. The Neural Network House (3) designs an ACHE system, which provides an Adaptive Control of Home Environment, in which the home is proactive to program itself with the lifestyle and desires of the inhabitant. The smart hospital p roject (4) develops a robust approach for recognizing user's a ctivities and estimating hospital-staff activities using a hidden Markov model with contextual information in the smart hospital e nvironment. MIT researchers (5) recognize user' s activities by using a set of small and simple state-change sensors, which are ea sy and quick to install in the home environment. Unlike one resi dent system, this system is employed in multiple inhabitant envi ronments and can be used to recognize Activities of Daily Living (ADL). CASAS Smart Home Project (6) builds probabilistic models of activities and used them to recognize activities in complex situations where multiple residents are performing activities in parallel in the same environment. Based on a recent report (7), buildings are respons ible for at
Metric properties of the appropriateness evaluation protocol and predictors of inappropriate hospital use in Germany: an approach using longitudinal patient data.

BACKGROUND The German health care system, renowned for its unrestricted access, high quality care, and comprehensive coverage, is challenged by increasing health care costs. This has been attributed partly to inefficiencies in the in-patient sector, but has been studied little. Attempts at quality improvement need to relate costs to outcomes. Until now, there has been no standardized methodology to evaluate the appropriateness of hospital care. OBJECTIVE To develop and evaluate the metric properties of a method to assess inappropriate hospital care in Germany based on a widely used measure, the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP). METHODS The original AEP was translated and adapted to reflect differences in the provision of health care in Germany. Psychometric testing was performed in a stratified sample of all patients admitted to the Departments of Medicine and Surgery of a 400-bed teaching hospital during 1 year. Three board-certified physicians participated in each department to evaluate intra-rater reliability, while two additional independent physicians judged inter-rater reliability. RESULTS Inter-rater agreement for the evaluation of hospital days among surgical patients was 84% (80-87%), with an average kappa value of 0.58 (0.48-0.68). Corresponding figures for patients in medicine were 76% (73-80%) with a K value of 0.42 (0.34-0.42). Inter-rater agreement for hospital admissions and K was 74% (62-86%) and 0.44 (0.21-0.67) in surgery, and 92% (85-100%) and 0.31 (0-0.80) in medicine, respectively. Thirty-three per cent of all admissions and 28% of consecutive hospital days were judged inappropriate in surgery; among medicine patients, reviewers found 6% of admissions and 33% of hospital days inappropriate. Time since admission was the strongest predictor of inappropriate hospital use adjusted for length of stay, comorbidity, age, and gender.
Sociolinguistics in a languagised world: Introduction

Abstract The idea that there exist separate, enumerable languages has in the last decades been widely criticised, and it has led scholars to propose various new terms and concepts such as ‘polylingualism’, ‘metrolingualism’, and ‘translanguaging’, among others. As these terms are attracting considerable acclaim within the academy, this paper argues it is time to reflect on their occurrence, provenance and pertinence for future research and theorisation. We devote particular attention to the risk of confusion if newly proposed terms interchangeably serve descriptive, ontological, pedagogical and political purposes; to the continuing relevance of language separation outside as well as inside the academy; and to the purported transformative and critical potential of fluid language practices in education and beyond. We suggest a close consideration of each of these concerns is central to a sociolinguistics of rather than for particular linguistic practices.
Occlusion Length Is a Crucial Determinant of Efficiency and Complication Rate in Thrombectomy for Acute Ischemic Stroke

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Although mechanical thrombectomy (MT) has an encouragingly high recanalization rate in treating stroke, it is associated with severe complications of which the underlying factors have yet to be identified. Because MT is a mechanical approach, the mechanical properties of the thrombus might be crucial for its success. The present study assesses the effect of thrombus length on the in vivo effectiveness and complication rate of MT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Angiography and embolization of 21 cranial vessels with radiopaque whole-blood thrombi 10, 20, and 40 mm in length (7 occlusions each) were performed in 7 swine. MT was carried out using a distal snarelike device (BCR Roadsaver) with proximal balloon occlusion. A total of 61 retrievals were attempted. RESULTS: In the group of 10-mm occlusions, 77.8% of the attempts achieved complete recanalisation. For longer occlusions, the success rates decreased significantly to 20% of attempts for 20-mm occlusions (odds ratio [OR], 14; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.2–89.2) and 11.1% for 40-mm occlusions (OR, 28; 95% CI, 3.9–202.2; P < .005). The low success rates were largely due to complications associated with thrombus compaction during retrieval. Similarly, the rate of thromboembolic events increased from 0% in 10-mm occlusions to 14.8% in 40-mm occlusions. CONCLUSIONS: MT using a distal device proved to be a fast, effective, and safe procedure for recanalizing short (10-mm) occlusions in the animal model. However, occlusion length emerged as a crucial determinant for MT with a significant decrease in recanalization success per attempt and increased complication rates. These findings suggest limitations of MT in the clinical application.
Integrative neuroimaging in mood disorders

Purpose of review Neuroimaging has become a central technique of biological psychiatry and is uniquely suited to assess functional and structural brain changes in psychiatric patients in vivo. In this review, we highlight several recent developments that may enable the transition of psychiatric neuroimaging from laboratory to clinic. Recent findings We describe recent trends in refining imaging techniques for brain microstructure (diffusion imaging) and neurochemistry (magnetic resonance spectroscopy of neurotransmitters and metabolites) and their application to patients with mood disorders and individuals at risk, such as first-degree relatives. We also survey recent progress in imaging-guided deep brain stimulation (DBS), imaging-based (neurofeedback) therapies and studies looking at their convergent anatomical targets. These new interventional techniques, which aim to modulate brain circuits of emotion and motivation highlighted by functional imaging studies, have shown promising effects in several small studies. Summary The mapping of brain patterns associated with risk to develop mood disorders may pave the way for diagnostic/prognostic applications of neuroimaging. The neuromodulation techniques of DBS and neurofeedback, which target dysfunctional or compensatory circuits identified by functional imaging, may take neuroimaging into a new, therapeutic domain.
Tech Report : Acquiring Targets in the Velocity Domain : Toward Predictive Modeling of Virtual Tossing

Tossing, throwing, or flicking objects in a user interface or virtual environment can be used as a faster, lower-precision alternative to traditional pointing, however there is currently no predictive model of user performance with tossing. We report experimental measurements of performance in a 1D tossing task from which a predictive model is derived. We consider a simplified form of tossing where a virtual object on a horizontal surface is accelerated and released, and then decelerates under friction, coming to rest at some final position. The distance traveled after release is determined by the release velocity as well as by the friction model used. To abstract away the details of the friction model, our experiment measures the ability of users to accelerate and release a virtual object in 1D (using a mouse) with a given target velocity, with target velocities varying from 6.25 cm/s to 1 m/s. Results indicate that there is a linear relationship between the target release velocity and the standard deviation of the release velocity achieved by the user. We also propose an automatic release technique (instead of requiring the user to manually release using a mouse button) that significantly improves precision. The model derived from our experiment predicts that a user should be able to toss at three different target speeds (effectively tossing toward target locations at three different distances) with an error rate under 4%. We also predict that having four or more targets in the same direction would cause the error rate to rise above 10%. Design implications for integrating tossing into graphical user interfaces are discussed.
Toward a Psychological Atlas of the World With Mixture Modeling

This article presents findings based on the outcomes of research conducted with 8,883 participants from 33 countries. It employs mixture modeling (latent profile analysis) to classify countries into latent classes. The country-level analyses are based on three social attitudes factor scores of Nastiness, Religiosity, and Morality. The results indicate that the main sources of cross-cultural differences are with respect to a broadly defined Conservatism/Liberalism. Three groups of societies—that is, “psychological continents”—appear to exist in the world today. They are as follows: (a) liberal European countries plus Canada and Australia; (b) conservative countries from South and South-East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America; and (c) all other countries, including the United States, Russia, and China, that are in between liberal and conservative groups. In addition, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, cognitive test performance, and governance indicators were found to be low in the most conservative group and high in the most liberal group.
Novel selenium-doped hydroxyapatite coatings for biomedical applications.

Nowadays there is a short-term need of investigating in orthopedic implants with a greater functionality, including an improved osseointegration and also antibacterial properties. The coating of metallic implants with hydroxyapatite (HA) remains to be the main proposal, but superior quality HA coatings with compositions closer to natural bone apatites, including carbonates, trace elements are required. Selenium is an essential nutrient in biological tissues and, at the same time, it also presents antibacterial properties. A pioneering study on the fabrication of selenium-doped carbonated hydroxyapatite (iHA:Se) coatings by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) is presented. Different proportions of selenium were incorporated to obtain the iHA:Se coatings. Their physicochemical characterization, performed by SEM/EDS, FTIR, FT-Raman, Interferometric Profilometry and XPS, revealed typical columnar growth of HA in globular aggregates and the efficient incorporation of selenium into the HA coatings by the, most probably, substitution of SeO(3)(2-) groups in the CO(3)(2-) sites. Biological evaluation illustrated the absence of cytotoxicity when an amount of 0.6 at. % of Se was added to the iHA:Se coatings and excellent proliferation of the MC3T3-E1 preosteoblasts. Antibacterial properties were also proved with the inhibition of P. aeruginosa and S. aureus from establishing bacterial biofilms.
Creating and Sustaining Workplace Cultures Supportive of LGBT Employees in College Athletics

The purpose of this study was to understand (a) how participants conceptualized lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) inclusiveness in their athletic departments, (b) the antecedents of such workplace environments, and (c) the outcomes associated with inclusion. To do so, the author conducted a collective case study of two college athletic departments located in the U.S. Northeast. Data sources included individual interviews with coaches and administrators (n = 17), a reflexive journal, websites, university materials, and external publications. Participants described the athletic departments as characterized by community and cohesion, respect and inclusion, and success oriented. Various antecedents contributed to these workplace environments, including those at the individual level, leader behaviors, inclusive organizational policies, and macro-level influences. Finally, while some negative outcomes were identified, LGBT inclusion was predominantly associated with a host of positive outcomes for .
The Sabah Biodiversity Experiment: a long-term test of the role of tree diversity in restoring tropical forest structure and functioning

Relatively, little is known about the relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in forests, especially in the tropics. We describe the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment: a large-scale, long-term field study on the island of Borneo. The project aims at understanding the relationship between tree species diversity and the functioning of lowland dipterocarp rainforest during restoration following selective logging. The experiment is planned to run for several decades (from seed to adult tree), so here we focus on introducing the project and its experimental design and on assessing initial conditions and the potential for restoration of the structure and functioning of the study system, the Malua Forest Reserve. We estimate residual impacts 22 years after selective logging by comparison with an appropriate neighbouring area of primary forest in Danum Valley of similar conditions. There was no difference in the alpha or beta species diversity of transect plots in the two forest types, probably owing to the selective nature of the logging and potential effects of competitive release. However, despite equal total stem density, forest structure differed as expected with a deficit of large trees and a surfeit of saplings in selectively logged areas. These impacts on structure have the potential to influence ecosystem functioning. In particular, above-ground biomass and carbon pools in selectively logged areas were only 60 per cent of those in the primary forest even after 22 years of recovery. Our results establish the initial conditions for the Sabah Biodiversity Experiment and confirm the potential to accelerate restoration by using enrichment planting of dipterocarps to overcome recruitment limitation. What role dipterocarp diversity plays in restoration only will become clear with long-term results.
The British Dance Music Industry: A Case Study of Independent Cultural Production

This article analyses the British dance music industry and assesses claims that it offers a powerful alternative to the 'mainstream' music business. Two unusual features of the sector are identified. Whereas the recording industry as a whole is marked by concentration and centralization, the UK dance music industry is relatively decentralized and is made up of large numbers of 'independent' companies. Reasons for the success of small, local companies are offered, in particular the emphasis amongst dance audiences on genre, rather than on performer identity; and the low promotional costs enabled by negative press coverage of 'acid house' in the late 1980s. But the article argues that a number of features of the British dance music industry work against a view of the sector as a radical challenge to prevailing cultural-industry practices. These are as follows : firstly, the reliance of dance music companies on crossover hits and compilation albums; secondly, close ties between the independents and corporate partners; and thirdly, the pressures placed upon small companies to follow the standard ways of dealing with risk in the recording industry - in particular, the development of a star system
Comparative analysis of volumetric-modulated arc therapy and intensity-modulated radiotherapy for base of tongue cancer

The aim of this study was to compare the various dosimetric parameters of dynamic multileaf collimator (MLC) intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) plans with volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) plans for base of tongue cases. All plans were done in Monaco planning system for Elekta synergy linear accelerator with 80 MLC. IMRT plans were planned with nine stationary beams, and VMAT plans were done for 360° arc with single arc or dual arc. The dose to the planning target volumes (PTV) for 70, 63, and 56 Gy was compared. The dose to 95, 98, and 50% volume of PTV were analyzed. The homogeneity index (HI) and the conformity index (CI) of the PTV70 were also analyzed. IMRT and VMAT plan showed similar dose coverage, HI, and CI. Maximum dose and dose to 1-cc volume of spinal cord, planning risk volume (PRV) cord, and brain stem were compared. IMRT plan and VMAT plan showed similar results except for the 1 cc of PRV cord that received slightly higher dose in VMAT plan. Mean dose and dose to 50% volume of right and left parotid glands were analyzed. VMAT plan gave better sparing of parotid glands than IMRT. In normal tissue dose analyses VMAT was better than IMRT. The number of monitor units (MU) required for delivering the good quality of the plan and the time required to deliver the plan for IMRT and VMAT were compared. The number of MUs for VMAT was higher than that of IMRT plans. However, the delivery time was reduced by a factor of two for VMAT compared with IMRT. VMAT plans yielded good quality of the plan compared with IMRT, resulting in reduced treatment time and improved efficiency for base of tongue cases.
Student and Instructor Use of the Teacher Behavior Checklist

Despite the demonstrated reliability and validity of the Teacher Behavior Checklist (TBC) as a tool for evaluating postsecondary instructors, research has yet to consider the impact of student, instructor, and course factors on TBC ratings. Additionally, it is unknown whether different evaluation sources converge when the TBC is used. This study examined self- and student ratings of 35 instructors. The same characteristics that affect student ratings using other instrumentation impact student evaluation via the TBC. Further, several course and instructor variables impacted instructor self-evaluations. Instructor self-ratings did not correlate significantly with the ratings provided by the students. The implications of the findings for using the TBC for formative and summative assessment are discussed.
Learning Rules that Classify E-Mail

Two methods for learning text classifiers are compared on classification problems that might arise in filtering and filing personM e-mail messages: a "traxiitionM IR" method based on TF-IDF weighting, and a new method for learning sets of "keyword-spotting rules" based on the RIPPER rule learning algorithm. It is demonstrated that both methods obtain significant generalizations from a small number of examples; that both methods are comparable in generalization performance on problems of this type; and that both methods axe reasonably efficient, even with fairly large training sets. However, the greater comprehensibility of the rules may be advantageous in a system that allows users to extend or otherwise modify a learned classifier.
Sex and Economics: The Paradox of Student Gender in China

Motivated by a widely observed phenomenon in China that female college students outperform male students in economics and most of social science subjects, this paper examines gender differences in student performance in the intermediate microeconomics course in China. In stark contrast to what has been documented in the existing literature, which primarily focuses on developed countries and the U.S. in particular, I find that holding constant observed student characteristics, female students on average appear to earn higher scores than male students in China. I find that this is not because of female students’ ability, family background and other unobservable student characteristics. Instead, it is simply a result of female students exerting more effort than male students. I further explore a wide range of possible explanations for the gender difference in diligence, but find little support for any of the explanations. Despite this, my results indicate that there is no systematic discrimination against female students in the Chinese college education system.
The REACT study: randomised evaluation of assertive community treatment in north London

Abstract Objective To compare outcomes of care from assertive community treatment teams with care by community mental health teams for people with serious mental illnesses. Design Non-blind randomised controlled trial. Setting Two inner London boroughs. Participants 251 men and women under the care of adult secondary mental health services with recent high use of inpatient care and difficulties engaging with community services. Interventions Treatment from assertive community treatment team (127 participants) or continuation of care from community mental health team (124 participants). Main outcome measures Primary outcome was inpatient bed use 18 months after randomisation. Secondary outcomes included symptoms, social function, client satisfaction, and engagement with services. Results No significant differences were found in inpatient bed use (median difference 1, 95% confidence interval −16 to 38) or in clinical or social outcomes for the two treatment groups. Clients who received care from the assertive community treatment team seemed better engaged (adapted homeless engagement acceptance schedule: difference in means 1.1, 1.0 to 1.9), and those who agreed to be interviewed were more satisfied with services (adapted client satisfaction questionnaire: difference in means 7.14, 0.9 to 13.4). Conclusions Community mental health teams are able to support people with serious mental illnesses as effectively as assertive community treatment teams, but assertive community treatment may be better at engaging clients and may lead to greater satisfaction with services.