Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Kidney Evaluation and Awareness Program in Sheffield (KEAPS): A Community-Based Screening for Microalbuminuria in a British Population

Background/Objectives: Microalbuminuria (MA) detects subjects at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) among diabetics, hypertensives and the general population. There is still a paucity of data on prevalence and risk factors for MA in the UK. We examined in a cross-sectional study, the prevalence and risk factors for MA in the general population of Sheffield, UK. Methods: The study was conducted among participants of the Kidney Evaluation and Awareness Program in Sheffield (KEAPS), a population-based screening program for MA. The screening tools included a questionnaire collating information on demographics, lifestyle, medical and family history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and CKD. MA measurements were obtained by immunonephelometry, and MA thresholds were defined using the albumin-creatinine ratio. Results: The prevalence of MA was 7.1% in a random sample of a Sheffield-based population screened only once. The prevalence was 6.2% in the non-diabetic and non-hypertensive subjects. The prevalence of MA was only 1.3% in the subjects without any known risk factor, such as old age, diabetes, hypertension, obesity or CVD. The prevalence of MA could be overestimated as it was based on a single albumin-creatinine ratio testing. The independent predictor variables associated with the presence of MA in a mutually adjusted logistic regression model were: age (OR = 1.012, 95% CI: 1.00–1.02), diabetes (OR = 3.25, 95% CI: 1.30–8.13), obesity (OR = 4.09, 95% CI: 1.71–9.80) and family history of hypertension (OR = 1.87, 95% CI: 1.00–3.47). Conclusions: The main determinants of MA were increased age, diabetes, obesity and family history of hypertension. On the population level, obesity as a risk factor for MA is less well documented; in this study obesity had greater odds for MA than diabetes and hypertension.
Insurgency and Long-Run Development : Lessons from the Mexican Revolution ∗

This study exploits within-state variation in drought severity to identify how insurgency during the Mexican Revolution, a major early 20th century armed conflict, impacted subsequent government policies and long-run economic development. Using a novel municipal-level dataset on revolutionary insurgency, the study documents that municipalities experiencing severe drought just prior to the Revolution were substantially more likely to have insurgent activity than municipalities where drought was less severe. Many insurgents demanded land reform, and following the Revolution, Mexico redistributed over half of its surface area in the form of ejidos : farms comprised of individual and communal plots that were granted to a group of petitioners. Rights to ejido plots were non-transferable, renting plots was prohibited, and many decisions about the use of ejido lands had to be countersigned by politicians. Instrumental variables estimates show that municipalities with revolutionary insurgency had 22 percentage points more of their surface area redistributed as ejidos. Today, insurgent municipalities are 20 percentage points more agricultural and 6 percentage points less industrial. Incomes in insurgent municipalities are lower and alternations between political parties for the mayorship have been substantially less common. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that land reform, while successful at placating insurgent regions, stymied long-run economic development.
Encouraging Spontaneous Synchronisation with D-Jogger, an Adaptive Music Player That Aligns Movement and Music

In this study we explore how music can entrain human walkers to synchronise to the musical beat without being instructed to do so. For this, we use an interactive music player, called D-Jogger, that senses the user's walking tempo and phase. D-Jogger aligns the music by manipulating the timing difference between beats and footfalls. Experiments are reported that led to the development and optimisation of four alignment strategies. The first strategy matched the music's tempo continuously to the runner's pace. The second strategy matched the music's tempo at the beginning of a song to the runner's pace, keeping the tempo constant for the remainder of the song. The third alignment starts a song in perfect phase synchrony and continues to adjust the tempo to match the runner's pace. The fourth and last strategy additionally adjusts the phase of the music so each beat matches a footfall. The first two strategies resulted in a minor increase of steps in phase synchrony with the main beat when compared to a random playlist, the last two strategies resulted in a strong increase in synchronised steps. These results may be explained in terms of phase-error correction mechanisms and motor prediction schemes. Finding the phase-lock is difficult due to fluctuations in the interaction, whereas strategies that automatically align the phase between movement and music solve the problem of finding the phase-locking. Moreover, the data show that once the phase-lock is found, alignment can be easily maintained, suggesting that less entrainment effort is needed to keep the phase-lock, than to find the phase-lock. The different alignment strategies of D-Jogger can be applied in different domains such as sports, physical rehabilitation and assistive technologies for movement performance.
SARS: clinical virology and pathogenesis

Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by a novel coronavirus, called the SARS coronavirus (SARS‐CoV). Over 95% of well characterized cohorts of SARS have evidence of recent SARS‐CoV infection. The genome of SARS‐CoV has been sequenced and it is not related to any of the previously known human or animal coronaviruses. It is probable that SARS‐CoV was an animal virus that adapted to human‐human transmission in the recent past. The virus can be found in nasopharyngeal aspirate, urine and stools of SARS patients. Second generation reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays are able to detect SARS‐CoV in nasopharyngeal aspirates of approximately 80% of patients with SARS within the first 3 days of illness. Seroconversion for SARS‐CoV using immunofluorescence on infected cells is an excellent method of confirming the diagnosis, but antibody responses only appear around day 10 of the illness. Within the first 10 days the histological picture is that of acute phase diffuse alveolar damage (DAD) with a mixture of inflammatory infiltrate, oedema and hyaline membrane formation. Desquamation of pneumocytes is prominent and consistent. After 10 days of illness the picture changes to one of organizing DAD with increased fibrosis, squamous metaplasia and multinucleated giant cells. The role of cytokines in the pathogenesis of SARS is still unclear.
The use of intonation for turn anticipation in observed conversations without visual signals as source of information

The anticipation of a speaker’s next turn is a key element of successful conversation. This can be achieved using a multitude of cues. In natural conversation, the most important cue for adults to anticipate the end of a turn (and therefore the beginning of the next turn) is the semantic and syntactic content. In addition, prosodic cues, such as intonation, or visual signals that occur before a speaker starts speaking (e.g., opening the mouth) help to identify the beginning and the end of a speaker’s turn. Early in life, prosodic cues seem to be more important than in adulthood. For example, it was previously shown that 3-year-old children anticipated more turns in observed conversations when intonation was available compared with when not, and this beneficial effect was present neither in younger children nor in adults (Keitel et al., 2013). In the present study, we investigated this effect in greater detail. Videos of conversations between puppets with either normal or flattened intonation were presented to children (1-year-olds and 3-year-olds) and adults. The use of puppets allowed the control of visual signals: the verbal signals (speech) started exactly at the same time as the visual signals (mouth opening). With respect to the children, our findings replicate the results of the previous study: 3-year-olds anticipated more turns with normal intonation than with flattened intonation, whereas 1-year-olds did not show this effect. In contrast to our previous findings, the adults showed the same intonation effect as the 3-year-olds. This suggests that adults’ cue use varies depending on the characteristics of a conversation. Our results further support the notion that the cues used to anticipate conversational turns differ in development.
Controlling transferrin receptor trafficking with GPI-valence in bloodstream stage African trypanosomes

Bloodstream-form African trypanosomes encode two structurally related glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins that are critical virulence factors, variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) for antigenic variation and transferrin receptor (TfR) for iron acquisition. Both are transcribed from the active telomeric expression site. VSG is a GPI2 homodimer; TfR is a GPI1 heterodimer of GPI-anchored ESAG6 and ESAG7. GPI-valence correlates with secretory progression and fate in bloodstream trypanosomes: VSG (GPI2) is a surface protein; truncated VSG (GPI0) is degraded in the lysosome; and native TfR (GPI1) localizes in the flagellar pocket. Tf:Fe starvation results in up-regulation and redistribution of TfR to the plasma membrane suggesting a saturable mechanism for flagellar pocket retention. However, because such surface TfR is non-functional for ligand binding we proposed that it represents GPI2 ESAG6 homodimers that are unable to bind transferrin—thereby mimicking native VSG. We now exploit a novel RNAi system for simultaneous lethal silencing of all native TfR subunits and exclusive in-situ expression of RNAi-resistant TfR variants with valences of GPI0–2. Our results conform to the valence model: GPI0 ESAG7 homodimers traffick to the lysosome and GPI2 ESAG6 homodimers to the cell surface. However, when expressed alone ESAG6 is up-regulated ~7-fold, leaving the issue of saturable retention in the flagellar pocket in question. Therefore, we created an RNAi-resistant GPI2 TfR heterodimer by fusing the C-terminal domain of ESAG6 to ESAG7. Co-expression with ESAG6 generates a functional heterodimeric GPI2 TfR that restores Tf uptake and cell viability, and localizes to the cell surface, without overexpression. These results resolve the longstanding issue of TfR trafficking under over-expression and confirm GPI valence as a critical determinant of intracellular sorting in trypanosomes.
The Newspaper Market in Flanders : Willingness to Pay and Price Sensitivity of Multichannel

This study explores the newspaper market of the Belgian region of Flanders. The relevance of this study lies in the need for updated data on the region insofar as willingness to pay for newspapers is concerned. Based on relevant literature, our research questions ask whether significant interrelations exist between the willingness to pay for news content on the one hand and demographics, news consumption habits and newspaper reading behaviour of news readers on the other. By means of an online survey to more than a thousand respondents, this study focuses on 265 participants categorised as “multichannel news readers” (regular news users on at least three different platforms, offline and online). Our results show high rates of unwillingness to pay for online and mobile news across multiplatform readers. No significant interdependence was found for the demographic characteristics of respondents and their willingness to pay for such content. However, significant positive correlations were found between the frequent use of print newspapers (as well as news consumption through news apps, social media and news fora) and the propensity to pay for digital newspapers. We also inquire about the price sensitivity and the potential adoption of respondents of two newspaper bundles (a premium and a digital subscription). The “Price Sensitivity Meter” and the “Product Specific Adoption Potential” allowed us to conclude that in Flanders there is not a mass market potential for such bundles. Furthermore, the current study has a purposive objective as some predictions and recommendations are made to Flemish managerial publishers.
The Emergence of the Thick Disk in a CDM Universe. II. Colors and Abundance Patterns

The recently emerging conviction that thick disks are prevalent in disk galaxies, and their seemingly ubiquitous old ages, means that the formation of the thick disk, perhaps more than any other component, holds the key to unravelling the evolution of the Milky Way, and indeed all disk galaxies. In Paper I, we proposed that the thick disk was formed in an epoch of gas-rich mergers at high redshift. This hypothesis was based on comparing N-body SPH simulations to a variety of Galactic and extragalactic observations, including stellar kinematics, ages, and chemical properties. Here we examine our thick-disk formation scenario in light of the most recent observations of extragalactic thick disks. In agreement, our simulated thick disks are old and relatively metal rich, with V - I colors that do not vary significantly with distance from the plane. Furthermore, we show that our proposal results in an enhancement of α-elements in thick-disk stars as compared with thin-disk stars, consistent with observations of the relevant populations of the Milky Way. We also find that our scenario naturally leads to the formation of an old, metal-weak, stellar halo population with high α-element abundances.
From nominal reference to the acquisition of personal pronouns in a Mandarin-English bilingual child

This longitudinal study aims to trace the developmental route from nominal to pronominal reference to person in a bilingual first language acquirer of two typologically distinct languages: Mandarin and English. It examines the development of the NP system in the child's early word learning and the emergence of personal pronouns in his production of both languages. The form-function relations obtaining in the child’s development of self-referring expressions leading to his acquisition of personal pronouns is described within the setting of the child's general syntactic development, from age 1;7 to 4;0, and is compared to monolingual development. The study reveals that experiencing different types of input influences the speed and smoothness by which personal pronouns are learned in language production. Meanwhile different learning contexts provide an opportunity for the bilingual child to utilise his language processing strategies to reach the target form-function mapping of pronouns in his two languages. Further, this study provides some exploration into the role of the weaker language in bilingual language development as well as the nature and extent of the early separation and interaction of two linguistic systems in a language environment which is fundamentally unlike the oneparent-one-language setting. The data-set of the current study consists of over 65 tape-recorded sessions of naturalistic speech collected over 30 months in contextbased language use in either Mandarin or English, where Mandarin is the home (and minority) language spoken by both parents and other family members while English is the (dominant) language of all other environments.
From Independence to Expansion and Back Again

We consider the following fundamental problems: Constructing k-independent hash functions with a space-time tradeoff close to Siegel's lower bound. Constructing representations of unbalanced expander graphs having small size and allowing fast computation of the neighbor function. It is not hard to show that these problems are intimately connected in the sense that a good solution to one of them leads to a good solution to the other one. In this paper we exploit this connection to present efficient, recursive constructions of k-independent hash functions (and hence expanders with a small representation). While the previously most efficient construction (Thorup, FOCS 2013) needed time quasipolynomial in Siegel's lower bound, our time bound is just a logarithmic factor from the lower bound.
Dietary values of astaxanthin and canthaxanthin in Penaeus monodon in the presence and absence of cholesterol supplementation: effect on growth, nutrient digestibility and tissue carotenoid composition

Penaeus monodon (mean initial wet weight 1·19 (se 0·01) g) were fed seven diets in triplicate: a control diet (D1) without carotenoids; three diets formulated to supply 0·1 % astaxanthin alone (D2), 0·2 % astaxanthin alone (D3), and a combination of 0·1 % astaxanthin and 1 % cholesterol (D4); three diets with 0·07 % canthaxanthin alone (D5), 0·13 % canthaxanthin alone (D6), and a combination of 0·07 % canthaxanthin and 1 % cholesterol (D7). Weight gain (WG, %), specific growth rate (SGR, %/d) and survival were chosen as parameters of shrimp growth performance. Total antioxidant status (TAS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were chosen as indices of shrimp plasma antioxidant capacity. Meanwhile, digestibility, retention efficiency and tissue carotenoids were also investigated to determine the additive effect of cholesterol on the efficiency of astaxanthin and canthaxanthin. After 74 d rearing, WG and SGR of shrimp fed D2–D4 and D7 were higher than those of shrimp fed D1 (P < 0·05). Shrimp fed D4 had the highest survival. The apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of astaxanthin in D2–D4 were higher than those of canthaxanthin in D5–D7 (P < 0·05). Although ADC of astaxanthin were quite high (>98 %) in D2–D4 and no differences were found among them (P>0·05), the carotenoid retention efficiencies in the whole body, muscle and shell (D2–D3 treatments) were considerably low; however, cholesterol supplementation significantly improved the carotenoid retention efficiencies in the whole body, muscle and shell (D4 treatment). Accordingly, the addition of cholesterol also significantly enhanced the carotenoid contents of tissues. Shrimp fed supplemented carotenoid diets (D2–D7) had higher TAS and lower SOD, ALT and AST than shrimp fed D1 (P < 0·05). A low dissolved oxygen stress test was conducted for 7 d after the rearing trial and shrimp survival was also compared among the treatments. The survival of shrimp fed the diets supplemented with astaxanthin or canthaxanthin was higher than that of shrimp fed D1 during the stress test (P < 0·05). In conclusion, all data suggested that astaxanthin was better than canthaxanthin as the dietary carotenoid source in the commercial diet of P. monodon, and the supplement of cholesterol could positively enhance the efficiency of astaxanthin and canthaxanthin.
An Approach to Formally Validate and Verify the Compliance of Low Level Access Control Policies

Our research works are in the context of the integrity verification and optimization of access control policies in relational database management systems (RDBMSs). Indeed, resources in charge of administrating access control policies, like DBMSs, can easily permit the following malfunctions. (1) The record of illegal updates leading to a non-compliance of the policy regarding its original specification. This can occur after an intrusion attempt or an illegal delegation of rights. (2) The implementation of more than a unique access control model such as RBAC, DAC, etc. This situation can lead to redundancy, inconsistency or contradiction in the expression of the policy. (3) The exposure of the database to inner threats relative to illegal updates or access paradoxically made by authorized users. These vulnerabilities joined with challenges in the management of the policy, related to the evolution of access control models to fine grained access control, can easily corrupt the compliance of the policy. Hence, an important aspect is to help security architects verifying the correspondence and establishing the equivalence between the security planning and its real implementation. In this paper, we introduce our approach to address this problem. We transform the high level and the low level policies in a logic-like formalism that offers a solid environment to verify and validate properties of access control policies.
Short‐term adverse effects of early subclinical allograft inflammation in kidney transplant recipients with a rapid steroid withdrawal protocol

The impact of subclinical inflammation (SCI) noted on early kidney allograft biopsies remains unclear. This study evaluated the outcome of SCI noted on 3‐month biopsy. A total of 273/363 (75%) kidney transplant recipients with a functioning kidney underwent allograft biopsies 3‐months posttransplant. Among those with stable allograft function at 3 months, 200 biopsies that did not meet the Banff criteria for acute rejection were identified. These were Group I: No Inflammation (NI, n = 71) and Group II: Subclinical Inflammation (SCI, n = 129). We evaluated differences in kidney function at 24‐months and allograft histology score at 12‐month biopsy. SCI patients had a higher serum creatinine (1.6 ± 0.7 vs 1.38 ± 0.45; P = .02) at 24‐months posttransplant, and at last follow‐up at a mean of 42.5 months (1.69 ± 0.9 vs 1.46 ± 0.5 mg/dL; P = .027). The allograft chronicity score (ci + ct + cg + cv) at 12‐months posttransplant was higher in the SCI group (2.4 ± 1.35 vs 1.9 ± 1.2; P = .02). The incidence of subsequent rejections within the first year in SCI and NI groups was 24% vs 10%, respectively (P = .015). De novo donor‐specific antibody within 12 months was more prevalent in the SCI group (12/129 vs 1/71, P = .03). SCI is likely not a benign finding and may have long‐term implications for kidney allograft function.
The evaluation of Project SCORE: A life skills program for an inner city high school.

Project SCORE: Life Skills for Future Success, is a structured, 20-lesson curriculum, designed to help students develop academic and life skills, as well as self-responsibility, commitment, optimism, respect, and excellence. The curriculum was presented during 36, 90-minute class periods over the fall semester of the students' freshmen year. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of Project SCORE at improving grades, learning strategies, self esteem and coping skills with freshmen students at an inner-city high school. In order to evaluate the program, students completed paper-pencil surveys at the beginning and end of the semester in which they were enrolled in the Project SCORE class. In addition, teachers completed evaluations on their perceptions of each student's peer relationships, classroom behavior, mood, and activity level. All teachers and students involved in the course were asked to complete an evaluation to determine their level of satisfaction with the course and areas in need of improvement. Lastly, information pertaining to grades, discipline and standardized test scores were used to determine the impact of SCORE. Participants were 333 9th grade students at a large 4A high school in Texas. Findings suggest that SCORE had a positive effect on coping resources, study skills and grades during the semester students were enrolled in the course. Specifically, students reported significantly higher levels of school self concept and improved coping resources at the end of the semester long course. Lastly, students and teachers believed SCORE to be helpful in easing the transition into high school and at teaching the various life and study skills.