Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Atrial Fibrillation Is an Independent Risk Factor for Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia

Background Patients who were hospitalized for community-based pneumonia frequently had pre-existing atrial fibrillation (AF) and had subsequent cardiovascular complications. Whether patients who had AF would be susceptible to the development of hospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is a serious concern but this has not been investigated. In our clinics, we have made empirical observation of such susceptibility. Objectives To investigate the association between newly developed HAP and pre-existing AF, and to identify whether AF is an independent risk factor for HAP. Methods Hospital data from 8657 sequentially admitted inpatients [1059 patients with AF and 7598 without AF (NAF)] were collected from the Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Shantou University Medical College, Shantou, China, from January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2011. Exclusion criteria were: having previous or current pneumonia, pacemakers, sick sinus syndrome and repeated hospitalization. The incidence of HAP (within 48 hours after hospitalization) was identified among all the patients. Results Among the AF patients, 274 had HAP (adjusted rate 25.64%) which was significantly higher than the 276 NAF patients who had HAP (adjusted rate 3.66%; P<0.001). The increased risk was also associated with high blood pressure, heart failure and age, but not with gender, smoking, coronary heart disease, diabetes, congenital heart disease. In addition, our multiple regression analysis indicates that AF is an independent risk factor for HAP. Conclusion We have identified, for the first time, that AF is an important risk factor for HAP. Although additional clinical confirmation is needed, our data provide valuable evidence for use in prevention of HAP which is the most common cause of death from nosocomial infection.
The unheralded power of cloudlet computing in the vicinity of mobile devices

With the popularity of smartphones and explosion of mobile applications, mobile devices are becoming the prevalent computing platform for convenient communication and rich entertainment. Because mobile devices still have limited processor power, computing-intensive applications need to be offloaded to either remote clouds or nearby cloudlets for processing. But, remote cloud computing is hindered by the long latency and expensive roaming charges of cellular radio access. Therefore, cloudlet computing becomes appealing to provide instant and low-cost service through resource-rich devices (e.g., desktops) in the vicinity of mobile devices. It is evident that cloudlet computing is challenged by the intermittent connection between cloudlets and mobile devices due to user mobility. The question is how to evaluate the impact of user mobility on cloudlet computing performance. In this paper, we examine the cloudlet access probability, task success rate, and task execution speed to measure the impact of mobility. We discover that the cloudlet access probability is μTc /(μT1 + μTc) determined by mean connection time μTc and mean inter-connection time μT1 between the mobile device and the cloudlet. Furthermore, we find that the task success rate and execution speed depend on not only task computation demand and cloudlet computing speed but also cloudlet access probability. Our findings reveal that the ratio μTc /(μT1 + μT c) quantifies the impact of node mobility on both cloudlet access probability and cloudlet computing performance.
RNA-Seq Analysis of a Soybean Near-Isogenic Line Carrying Bacterial Leaf Pustule-Resistant and -Susceptible Alleles

Bacterial leaf pustule (BLP) disease is caused by Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. glycines (Xag). To investigate the plant basal defence mechanisms induced in response to Xag, differential gene expression in near-isogenic lines (NILs) of BLP-susceptible and BLP-resistant soybean was analysed by RNA-Seq. Of a total of 46 367 genes that were mapped to soybean genome reference sequences, 1978 and 783 genes were found to be up- and down-regulated, respectively, in the BLP-resistant NIL relative to the BLP-susceptible NIL at 0, 6, and 12h after inoculation (hai). Clustering analysis revealed that these genes could be grouped into 10 clusters with different expression patterns. Functional annotation based on gene ontology (GO) categories was carried out. Among the putative soybean defence response genes identified (GO:0006952), 134 exhibited significant differences in expression between the BLP-resistant and -susceptible NILs. In particular, pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP) and damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) receptors and the genes induced by these receptors were highly expressed at 0 hai in the BLP-resistant NIL. Additionally, pathogenesis-related (PR)-1 and -14 were highly expressed at 0 hai, and PR-3, -6, and -12 were highly expressed at 12 hai. There were also significant differences in the expression of the core JA-signalling components MYC2 and JASMONATE ZIM-motif. These results indicate that powerful basal defence mechanisms involved in the recognition of PAMPs or DAMPs and a high level of accumulation of defence-related gene products may contribute to BLP resistance in soybean.
Invariant Texture Classification Using Group Averaging with Relational Kernel Functions

In this paper we propose a novel method for the construction of textural features which are invariant with respect to 2D Euclidean motion and strictly increasing grey scale transformations. Our approach is based on a group averaging technique with relational kernel functions. In order to allow for comparison the evaluation of our approach was done on two image data sets taken from the Brodatz album. When used for texture classification our technique compares favourably with existing techniques: error rates are better. The experimental results reveal that the combination of both invariance properties leads to highly discriminative and robust textural features. Keywords— invariant textural features, texture classification, group averaging, relational kernel functions, grey scale invariance, rotation invariance
Towards an ‘ordinary’ cosmopolitanism in everyday academic practice in higher education

ABSTRACT In this article, we explore what cosmopolitanism looks like in particular institutional contexts in higher education and the sorts of conditions and pedagogic practices which nurture and sustain this within the overall running and administration of the institution. Cosmopolitanism is sometimes popularly assumed to refer to the global and the culturally diverse, rather as if encounters with different cultures and ethnicities from different geographical locations could add up to a cosmopolitan perspective. Our view of cosmopolitanism and our concern start from local and everyday occurrences or ‘ordinary cosmopolitanism’ in the context of higher education. We develop an understanding of cosmopolitanism as embedded practice in the particularities of local institutional contexts and administration and what cosmopolitanism means in the ‘local’. Small illustrative sketches are drawn on to exemplify aspects of ‘ordinary cosmopolitanism’ – what it is, why it is important and its enactment in everyday academic practice in higher education.
Structure of a heparan sulphate oligosaccharide that binds to basic fibroblast growth factor.

Binding of basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) to the extracellular matrix of cultured bovine aorta smooth muscle cells is likely to be mediated via heparan sulphate, since not only exogenous addition of heparan sulphate to the culture medium but also pretreatment of the cells with heparitinase (but not chondroitinase ABC) resulted in loss of binding. Comparison of the affinity of bFGF to various glycosaminoglycan-conjugated gels showed a direct and specific binding of bFGF to heparan sulphate. Heparan sulphate also bound to a bFGF affinity gel. However, the proportion of heparan sulphate bound varied depending on the source of the HS (more than 90% and 45% with pig aorta heparan sulphate and mouse EHS tumour heparan sulphate respectively). The bound heparan sulphate had the ability to protect bFGF from proteolytic digestion, but the unbound heparan sulphate did not. The results suggest the presence in the bound heparan sulphate of a specific structure involved in binding. Limited digestion with heparitinase I of porcine aorta heparan sulphate yielded 13% oligosaccharides bound to the gel, of which the smallest were octasaccharides. Analysis of a hexadecasaccharide fraction which was obtained at the highest yield among the bound oligosaccharides was performed by h.p.l.c. of the deamination products obtained with nitrous acid and the unsaturated disaccharide products formed by heparitinase digestion. Comparison of the disaccharide unit compositions exhibited a marked difference in IdoA(2SO4)GlcNSO3 and IdoA(2SO4)GlcNSO3(6SO4) units between the bound and unbound hexadecasaccharides. The amounts measured were 3 mol and 1 mol per mol of the former and 0.4 mol and 0.6 mol per mol of the latter. It is likely that the binding of bFGF to heparan sulphate may require the domain structure of the heparan sulphate to be composed of clustering IdoA(2SO4)-GlcNSO3 units.
Achievable SNR and rate regions for OFDM-based asynchronous two-way relay networks

In this paper, we develop an algorithm to characterize the achievable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and rate regions for an asynchronous bi-directional multi-carrier relay network. The network we consider is composed of two single-antenna transceivers and multiple single-antenna relays, thereby creating a multipath communication between the two transceivers. Each subcarrier is used to enable a bidirectional communication between two outer transceivers. In our data model, we assume that different relaying paths have different propagation delays. We aim to find the achievable rate region of such a network through optimal distributed beamforming at the relays and subcarrier power control at two transceivers. To do so, we introduce our optimization framework, analyze its structure, and show how it can be tackled.
Identifying Depression on Twitter

Social media has recently emerged as a premier method to disseminate information online. Through these online networks, tens of millions of individuals communicate their thoughts, personal experiences, and social ideals. We therefore explore the potential of social media to predict, even prior to onset, Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in online personas. We employ a crowdsourced method to compile a list of Twitter users who profess to being diagnosed with depression. Using up to a year of prior social media postings, we utilize a Bag of Words approach to quantify each tweet. Lastly, we leverage several statistical classifiers to provide estimates to the risk of depression. Our work posits a new methodology for constructing our classifier by treating social as a text-classification problem, rather than a behavioral one on social media platforms. By using a corpus of 2.5M tweets, we achieved an 81% accuracy rate in classification, with a precision score of . 86. We believe that this method may be helpful in developing tools that estimate the risk of an individual being depressed, can be employed by physicians, concerned individuals, and healthcare agencies to aid in diagnosis, even possibly enabling those suffering from depression to be more proactive about recovering from their mental health.
Previous Exposure to Amphetamine Enhances the Subsequent Locomotor Response to a D1 Dopamine Receptor Agonist When Glutamate Reuptake Is Inhibited

The role of nucleus accumbens (NAcc) glutamate (GLU) and D(1) dopamine (DA) receptor activation in the expression of locomotor sensitization to amphetamine (AMPH) was investigated in rats. Rats were preexposed to either AMPH or saline, and 2 weeks later their locomotion was assessed after a microinjection into the NAcc of the selective glutamate reuptake blocker l-trans-pyrrolidine-2,4-dicarboxylic acid (PDC) (10 nmol per side), the D(1)-like DA receptor agonists SKF82958 (2.4 nmol per side) and SKF38393 (3.1 nmol per side), the D(2)-like DA receptor agonist quinelorane (3.1 nmol per side), or AMPH (6.8 nmol per side). All compounds other than quinelorane increased locomotion when infused into the NAcc. Only AMPH, however, produced enhanced locomotion in AMPH relative to saline-preexposed rats. When additional rats were tested after NAcc infusions of PDC together with either SKF82958 or quinelorane, enhanced locomotion was observed in AMPH relative to saline-preexposed rats after NAcc PDC + SKF82958. These results suggest that in the NAcc, increased GLU neurotransmission and activation of D(1) DA receptors, neither of which is by itself sufficient, together contribute to the expression of locomotor sensitization by AMPH. They stress, with other findings, the importance of GLU-DA interactions in the NAcc not only in the generation of acute stimulant drug effects but in sensitized responding to these drugs as well.
Determinants of Multiple Semantic Priming: A Meta-analysis and Spike Frequency Adaptive Model of a Cortical Network

Recall and language comprehension while processing sequences of words involves multiple semantic priming between several related and/or unrelated words. Accounting for multiple and interacting priming effects in terms of underlying neuronal structure and dynamics is a challenge for current models of semantic priming. Further elaboration of current models requires a quantifiable and reliable account of the simplest case of multiple priming resulting from two primes on a target. The meta-analytic approach offers a better understanding of the experimental data from studies on multiple priming regarding the additivity pattern of priming. The meta-analysis points to the effects of prime–target stimuli onset asynchronies on the pattern of underadditivity, overadditivity, or strict additivity of converging activation from multiple primes. The modeling approach is then constrained by results of the meta-analysis. We propose a model of a cortical network embedding spike frequency adaptation, which allows frequency and time-dependent modulation of neural activity. Model results give a comprehensive understanding of the meta-analysis results in terms of dynamics of neuron populations. They also give predictions regarding how stimuli intensities, association strength, and spike frequency adaptation influence multiple priming effects.
Synchronization method based on a new constant envelop preamble for OFDM systems

The synchronization method using the available constant envelop preamble is analyzed, and a new preamble weighted by pseudo-noise sequence is proposed, with which a novel timing and frequency offset estimation method is presented for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems in this paper. By the proposed method, the accuracy of the timing offset estimator is significantly improved, and the estimate range of the frequency offset estimator is greatly enlarged with no loss in accuracy. The performance of the proposed method is demonstrated by simulations.
The gain spiral of resources and work engagement: Sustaining a positive worklife

People try to acquire resources at work which they value such as autonomy, social relationships, and feedback about their performance. These job resources are functional in achieving work goals and may stimulate personal growth, learning, and development. As such, job resources initiate a motivational process that may lead to work engagement and positive organizational outcomes, including enhanced performance (Bakker & Demerouti, 2008; Schaufeli & Bakker, 2004). This premise is consistent with traditional motivational approaches such as job characteristics theory (Hackman & Oldham, 1980) and self-determination theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). According to the former approach, particular job characteristics such as skill variety, autonomy, and feedback have motivating potential and indirectly predict positive outcomes like intrinsic motivation (a concept closely related to work engagement), through the activation of positive psychological states. In a somewhat similar vein, self-determination theory posits that job resources are motivating because they fulfill basic human needs, such as the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Consequently, work contexts that provide resources such as job control (autonomy), feedback (competence), and social support (relatedness) would enhance well-being and increase intrinsic satisfaction at work (Ryan & Frederick, 1997).
The Effect of Milking Management on Microbial Quality

Take Home Message  Microbial quality of milk is an important measure and is associated with a number of farm management practices  Microbial quality is measured using standard plate counts and investigation of problems with microbial quality requires the use of a variety of diagnostic bacterial counts such as laboratory pasteurized counts and coliform counts  Several milking practices such as use of manual detachers, defecation in the milking parlor and the failure to use a complete milking routine are associated with increased bacterial counts in milk
Inquiry-Based Stress Reduction: Another approach for questioning stressful thoughts and improving psychological well-being

Psychological well-being was found to be an important factor in health promotion. Various therapeutic models consider dysfunctional cognitions and beliefs as a source of mental distress. They propose a rational and objective process of questioning the stress-evoking thoughts in order to achieve therapeutic change and psychological well-being. Inquiry-Based Stress Reduction (IBSR, 'The Work') meditation technique offers a different approach for questioning stressful thoughts by including emotional and authentic insight. It consists of two stages: a systematic and comprehensive identification of stressful thoughts followed by questioning of these thoughts by a fixed set of questions and turnarounds. The aim of the current article is to review the IBSR technique, its unique format and therapeutic process. It summarizes the clinical evidence regarding its efficacy as a tool of improving various psychological parameters. Despite several limitations of the technique, the findings demonstrated its effectiveness as a tool for enhancing psychological well-being and promoting mental health. Randomized controlled trials are warranted in order to further examine the technique's potential contribution to psychological well-being.
Recent Trends in Insured and Uninsured Unemployment: is There an Explanation?

This paper presents new evidence on the reasons for the recent decline in the fraction of unemployed workers who receive unemployment insurance benefits. Using samples of unemployed workers from the March Current Population Survey, we estimate the fraction of unemployed workers who are potentially eligible for benefits in each year and compare this to the fraction who actually receive unemployment compensation. Perhaps surprisingly, we find that the decline in the fraction of insured unemployment is due to a decline in the takeup rate for benefits . Our estimates indicate that takeup rates declined abruptly between 1980 and 1982, leading to a 6 percentage point decline in the fraction of the unemployed who receive benefits. We go on to analyze the determinants of the takeup rate for unemployment benefits, using both aggregated state-level data and micro-data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. Changes in the regional distribution of unemployment account for roughly one-half of the decline in average takeup rates. The remainder of the change is largely unexplained.
Testing a Model of Overall Activity in Older Adults

The purpose of this study was to test a model of overall activity in older adults. It was hypothesized that (a) mental and physical health directly influence sell-efficacy expectations; (b) mental and physical health, age, and self-efficacy expectations influence outcome expectations; and (c) all of these variables directly or indirectly influence overall activity. The sample included 175 older adults living in a continuing care retirement community, and a one-time interview was conducted. The mean age of the participants was 86 ± 5.7 years, and the majority were Caucasian (n = 173, 99%), women (n = 136, 78%), and unmarried (widowed or single; n = 137, 78%). Seven of the 10 hypothesized paths were significant. The variables physical health, self-efficacy expectations. and outcome expectations directly influenced activity, and age and mental health indirectly influenced activity through self-efficacy and outcome expectations. The data fit the model, and combined, these variables accounted for 29% of the va.
Is Feminism Yet a Theory of the Kind That Marxism Is

On Catharine MacKinnon's view, feminism aspires to be a theory of the kind that Marxism is: a theory of the organisation of the social world as sex hierarchy, just as Marxism is a theory of the organisation of the social world as class hierarchy. In 1982, MacKinnon observed that feminism was not yet such a theory, and set out to make it one. She did this by developing a theory of sexuality as to feminism what work is to Marxism. If one shares MacKinnon's view that feminism aspires to be a theory of the kind that Marxism is, then one sees MacKinnon as, with her theory of sexuality, creating, albeit in beginning form, a feminist theory. One thus considers MacKinnon's theory of sexuality a definitive moment in the history of feminist theory. Yet, for all its importance, no one, neither critics nor proponents, has analysed this theory on its own terms. It is therefore not clear whether MacKinnon's theory of sexuality succeeds, and so whether feminism is yet a theory of the kind that Marxism is. In the spirit of progressing MacKinnon's project, in this paper, I return to her theory and consider whether it succeeds.
Some Families of Componentwise Linear Monomial Ideals

Abstract Let R = k[x1,…,xn ] be a polynomial ring over a field k. Let J = {j1,…,jt } be a subset of {1,…, n}, and let m J ⊂ R denote the ideal (xj1,…,xjt ). Given subsets J1,…,Js of {1,…, n} and positive integers a1,…,as , we study ideals of the form These ideals arise naturally, for example, in the study of fat points, tetrahedral curves, and Alexander duality of squarefree monomial ideals. Our main focus is determining when ideals of this form are componentwise linear. Using polymatroidality, we prove that I is always componentwise linear when s ≤ 3 or when Ji ∪ Jj = [n] for all i ≠ j. When s ≥ 4, we give examples to show that I may or may not be componentwise linear. We apply these results to ideals of small sets of general fat points in multiprojective space, and we extend work of Fatabbi, Lorenzini, Valla, and the first author by computing the graded Betti numbers in the s = 2 case. Since componentwise linear ideals satisfy the Multiplicity Conjecture of Herzog, Huneke, and Srinivasan when char(k) = 0, our work also yields new cases in which this conjecture holds.
Elevating job performance through job characteristics and work involvement

The primary objective of this study is to assess the predicting role of job characteristics on job performance.Dimensions in the job characteristics construct are skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback.Further, work involvement is tested as a mediator in the hypothesized link.A total of 151 public servants reported on their job characteristics and work involvement while supervisory-ratings were used to assess their level of job performance in terms of task performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). SPSS version 14 and Smart PLS 2.0 were used for statistical analyses of the data.The findings revealed that feedback significantly and indirectly influence job performance and the relationships were mediated by work involvement.Overall, this study has managed to substantiate a marginal support for the Job Characteristics Theory.