Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pulmonary hypertension in hemodialysis patients without arteriovenous fistula: the effect of dialyzer composition

Pulmonary hypertension (PHT) increases mortality rate in hemodialysis (HD) patients. Numerous clinical, hemodynamic, and metabolic abnormalities have been suggested to be associated with the development of PHT in HD patients. We aimed to investigate the acute effects of two different dialyzer membranes on pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) throughout a HD session in maintenance HD patients. Seventy-four HD patients dialyzed through permanent tunneled jugular central venous catheter were enrolled. A first-use cellulose acetate and high-flux polysulfone dialysis membrane were tested using a crossover design. For each membrane, pre- and post-dialysis pulmonary artery pressures were measured echocardiographically. Elevated pulmonary artery pressure was observed in 68.8% of patients (n = 51), whereas mild PHT was observed in 28.3% of patients (n = 21) and moderate PHT in 40.5% (n = 30). Decrease in pulmonary artery pressure following HD procedure performed using high-flux polysulfone membrane was significantly higher than the decrease observed following HD procedure performed using cellulose acetate membrane (p < 0.05). Significant decrease in pulmonary artery pressures was observed only after HD procedures performed using high-flux polysulfone membrane (p < 0.05). Ultrafiltered volume was only significantly correlated with the decrease in pulmonary artery pressure observed after HD procedure performed through high-flux polysulfone membrane (β = 0.411, p < 0.05). PHT seems to be prevalent among HD patients even in the absence of AV fistula and abnormal cardiac functions. Membrane composition seems to be important, which may overwhelm the improving effects of ultrafiltration.
Fine-Grained Linguistic Soft Constraints on Statistical Natural Language Processing Models

Abstract : This dissertation focuses on effective combination of data-driven natural language processing (NLP) approaches with linguistic knowledge sources that are based on manual text annotation or word grouping according to semantic commonalities. I gainfully apply fine-grained linguistic soft constraints - of syntactic or semantic nature - on statistical NLP models, evaluated in end-to-end state-of-the-art statistical machine translation (SMT) systems. The introduction of semantic soft constraints involves intrinsic evaluation on word-pair similarity ranking tasks, extension from words to phrases, application in a novel distributional paraphrase generation technique and an introduction of a generalized framework of which these soft semantic and syntactic constraints can be viewed as instances, and in which they can be potentially combined. Fine granularity is key in the successful combination of these soft constraints in many cases. I show how to softly constrain SMT models by adding fine-grained weighted features, each preferring translation of only a specific syntactic constituent. Previous attempts using coarse-grained features yielded negative results. I also show how to softly constrain corpus-based semantic models of words (distributional profiles) to effectively create word-sense-aware models, by using semantic word grouping information found in a manually compiled thesaurus. Previous attempts using hard constraints and resulting in aggregated, coarse-grained models, yielded lower gains. A novel paraphrase generation technique incorporating these soft semantic constraints is then also evaluated in a SMT system. This paraphrasing technique is based on the Distributional Hypothesis. The main advantage of this novel technique over current pivoting techniques for paraphrasing is the independence from parallel texts, which are a limited resource.
Journal of Neuroengineering and Rehabilitation Open Access Vision Based Interface System for Hands Free Control of an Intelligent Wheelchair

Background: Due to the shift of the age structure in today's populations, the necessities for developing the devices or technologies to support them have been increasing. Traditionally, the wheelchair, including powered and manual ones, is the most popular and important rehabilitation/ assistive device for the disabled and the elderly. However, it is still highly restricted especially for severely disabled. As a solution to this, the Intelligent Wheelchairs (IWs) have received considerable attention as mobility aids. The purpose of this work is to develop the IW interface for providing more convenient and efficient interface to the people the disability in their limbs.
A collaborative, interdisciplinary initiative for a smart cities innovation network

A smart city is characterized by its ability to integrate people, technology and information to create a sustainable and resilient infrastructure that provides high quality services for residents. Transforming a city into a smart city requires collaborative efforts between government, industry, practitioners, residents and researchers. This paper describes how researchers in a recently formed consortium of three universities are developing a smart cities innovation network, with an emphasis on smart mobility, smart buildings, and smart bridges. The consortium is applying a semantic-based approach to address the initial challenge of building an effective interdisciplinary network of university researchers located in different parts of the world, in three cities with different sizes and stages of economic development.
Effect on respiratory function of pressure support ventilation versus synchronised intermittent mandatory ventilation in preterm infants

Our objective was to compare the effects of pressure support ventilation and synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation on respiratory function in preterm babies. Twenty preterm infants (mean gestational age, 29 weeks; mean weight at study, 1,354 g) were evaluated. Patients received two repeated cycles of synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation, alternated with pressure support ventilation, for a total of four alternated phases, each phase lasting 4 hr. Spontaneous respiratory rate, tidal volume, minute volume, and mean airway pressure were recorded hourly. The tidal volume released by the ventilator was limited to 6 ml/kg. During the two pressure support ventilation phases, a statistically significant reduction of respiratory rate and a significant increase of tidal and minute volume were noted, as compared to the two synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation periods. Mean airway pressure significantly increased only after the first shift from synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation to pressure support ventilation. The changes of minute volume and respiratory rate observed during pressure support ventilation did not persist after the return to synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation. In conclusion, pressure support ventilation, as compared to synchronized intermittent mandatory ventilation, seemed to improve respiratory function in preterm infants. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2003; 35:364–367. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Enhanced Performance in Cu(In,Ga)Se$_{\bf 2}$ Solar Cells Fabricated by the Two-Step Selenization Process With a Potassium Fluoride Postdeposition Treatment

Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) solar cells fabricated with twostep selenization processes commonly suffer from low open-circuit voltage (Voc). We found that the Voc of solar cells made from selenized Cu/Ga/In stacked metal precursors can be increased by employing a potassium fluoride (KF) postdeposition treatment (PDT). This study presents a comparison of films and resulting devices with and without the KF PDT. By including the KF PDT, an 18.6%-efficient CIGS device with a Voc of 0.709 V was fabricated using a two-step selenization process.
Just-in-time evidence-based e-mail "reminders" in home health care: impact on patient outcomes.

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of two information-based provider reminder interventions designed to improve self-care management and outcomes of heart failure (HF) patients. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING Interview and agency administrative data on 628 home care patients with a primary diagnosis of HF. STUDY DESIGN Patients were treated by nurses randomly assigned to usual care or one of two intervention groups. The basic intervention was an e-mail to the patient's nurse highlighting six HF-specific clinical recommendations. The augmented intervention supplemented the initial nurse reminder with additional clinician and patient resources. DATA COLLECTION Patient interviews were conducted 45 days post admission to measure self-management behaviors, HF-specific outcomes (Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-KCCQ), health-related quality of life (EuroQoL), and service use. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Both interventions improved the mean KCCQ summary score (15.3 and 12.9 percent, respectively) relative to usual care (p< or =.05). The basic intervention also yielded a higher EuroQoL score relative to usual care (p< or =.05). In addition, the interventions had a positive impact on medication knowledge, diet, and weight monitoring. The basic intervention was more cost-effective than the augmented intervention in improving clinical outcomes. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates the positive impact of targeting evidence-based computer reminders to home health nurses to improve patient self-care behaviors, knowledge, and clinical outcomes. It also advances the field's limited understanding of the cost-effectiveness of selected strategies for translating research into practice.
Likelihood Consensus and Its Application to Distributed Particle Filtering

We consider distributed state estimation in a wireless sensor network without a fusion center. Each sensor performs a global estimation task-based on the past and current measurements of all sensors-using only local processing and local communications with its neighbors. In this estimation task, the joint (all-sensors) likelihood function (JLF) plays a central role as it epitomizes the measurements of all sensors. We propose a distributed method for computing, at each sensor, an approximation of the JLF by means of consensus algorithms. This “likelihood consensus” method is applicable if the local likelihood functions of the various sensors (viewed as conditional probability density functions of the local measurements) belong to the exponential family of distributions. We then use the likelihood consensus method to implement a distributed particle filter and a distributed Gaussian particle filter. Each sensor runs a local particle filter, or a local Gaussian particle filter, that computes a global state estimate. The weight update in each local (Gaussian) particle filter employs the JLF, which is obtained through the likelihood consensus scheme. For the distributed Gaussian particle filter, the number of particles can be significantly reduced by means of an additional consensus scheme. Simulation results are presented to assess the performance of the proposed distributed particle filters for a multiple target tracking problem.
Analysis of Jellyfish Reorder Attack on ZRP

MANETs are more susceptible to attacks than a wired network. High mobility, lack of central administration, etc. are some of the main causes. One of the DOS attacks known as Jellyfish Attack is difficult to analyze as well as to detect in MANETs as Jellyfisher nodes follow all the protocol rules. There are mainly three classes of jellyfish attacks named as a Jellyfish Reorder Attack, Jellyfish Periodic Dropping Attack and Jellyfish Delay Variance Attack. Jellyfish Reorder Attack is the most devastating attack amongst the three. The attacker node reorders the packet, and reduces the Goodput of destination to a certain level and increases the average End-toEnd Delay. ZRP is the hybrid protocol in which each node forms its own zone. This paper is focused on analyzing the impact of the jellyfish reorder attack on the ZRP protocol by using NS2 as a simulator. The metrics used during the simulation are Goodput and End-to-End Delay.
The effects of social identity threat and social identity affirmation on laypersons’ perception of scientists

Public debates about socio-scientific issues (e.g. climate change or violent video games) are often accompanied by attacks on the reputation of the involved scientists. Drawing on the social identity approach, we report a minimal group experiment investigating the conditions under which scientists are perceived as non-prototypical, non-reputable, and incompetent. Results show that in-group affirming and threatening scientific findings (compared to a control condition) both alter laypersons’ evaluations of the study: in-group affirming findings lead to more positive and in-group threatening findings to more negative evaluations. However, only in-group threatening findings alter laypersons’ perceptions of the scientists who published the study: scientists were perceived as less prototypical, less reputable, and less competent when their research results imply a threat to participants’ social identity compared to a non-threat condition. Our findings add to the literature on science reception research and have implications for understanding the public engagement with science.
Singular Trajectories of Control-Affine Systems

When applying methods of optimal control to motion planning or stabilization problems, we see that some theoretical or numerical difficulties may arise, due to the presence of specific trajectories, namely, minimizing singular trajectories of the underlying optimal control problem. In this article, we provide characterizations for singular trajectories of control-affine systems. We prove that, under generic assumptions, such trajectories share nice properties, related to computational aspects; more precisely, we show that, for a generic system—with respect to the Whitney topology—all nontrivial singular trajectories are of minimal order and of corank one. These results, established both for driftless and for control-affine systems, extend results of [Y. Chitour, F. Jean, and E. Trelat, Comptes Rendus Math., 337 (2003), pp. 49-52 (in French); Y. Chitour, F. Jean, and E. Trelat, J. Differential Geom. , 73 (2006), pp. 45-73]. As a consequence, for generic control-affine systems (with or without drift) defined by more than two vector fields, and for a fixed cost, there do not exist minimizing singular trajectories. Besides, we prove that, given a control-affine system satisfying the Lie algebra rank condition (LARC), singular trajectories are strictly abnormal, generically with respect to the cost. We then show how these results can be used to derive regularity results for the value function and in the theory of Hamilton-Jacobi equations, which in turn have applications for stabilization and motion planning, from both theoretical and implementational points of view.
Correlation between peripapillary macular fiber layer thickness and visual acuity in patients with open-angle glaucoma

Purpose: To determine whether the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) is significantly correlated with the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) in the different peripapillary areas in eyes with open-angle glaucoma (OAG). Patients and methods: Two hundred twenty-nine eyes of 159 patients with OAG were studied. The overall RNFLT and the RNFLT in the superior (S), temporal (T), inferior (I), and nasal (N) quadrants were measured by Stratus optical coherence tomography (OCT). In addition, the temporal RNFLT was measured for three 30° sectors with the mid-temporal (mT) sector at the three or nine o’clock position. The Spearman coefficient of correlation was calculated to determine whether a significant correlation existed between the RNFLT and the BCVA. Eyes with a BCVA <20/20 were classified as having decreased BCVA. Results: There were significant correlations between the BCVA and the overall RNFLT, and also between the BCVA and the RNFLT in the T, I, and S quadrants. The coefficient correlation between the BCVA and RNFLT was the highest in the mT sector (r = −0.40, P < 0.0001). Forty-eight eyes (21.1%) were classified as having decreased BCVA. The cut-off value of the mT sector for eyes with decreased VA was 39.0 μm. Conclusion: The highest correlation between the BCVA and the RNFLT in the mT sector was most likely due to the location of the maculopapillary bundle in this region of the optic disc. Our findings indicate that when the RNFLT in the mT sector is reduced to 40 μm, glaucoma treatment should be reconsidered.
Semantic mechanisms may be responsible for developing synesthesia

Currently, little is known about how synesthesia develops and which aspects of synesthesia can be acquired through a learning process. We review the increasing evidence for the role of semantic representations in the induction of synesthesia, and argue for the thesis that synesthetic abilities are developed and modified by semantic mechanisms. That is, in certain people semantic mechanisms associate concepts with perception-like experiences—and this association occurs in an extraordinary way. This phenomenon can be referred to as “higher” synesthesia or ideasthesia. The present analysis suggests that synesthesia develops during childhood and is being enriched further throughout the synesthetes’ lifetime; for example, the already existing concurrents may be adopted by novel inducers or new concurrents may be formed. For a deeper understanding of the origin and nature of synesthesia we propose to focus future research on two aspects: (i) the similarities between synesthesia and ordinary phenomenal experiences based on concepts; and (ii) the tight entanglement of perception, cognition and the conceptualization of the world. Importantly, an explanation of how biological systems get to generate experiences, synesthetic or not, may have to involve an explanation of how semantic networks are formed in general and what their role is in the ability to be aware of the surrounding world.
MIMO broadcast channels with finite rate feedback

Multiple transmit antennas in a downlink channel can provide tremendous capacity (i.e. multiplexing) gains, even when receivers have only single antennas. However, receiver and transmitter channel state information is generally required. In this paper, a system where the receiver has perfect channel knowledge, but the transmitter only receives quantized information regarding the channel instantiation is analyzed. Simple expressions for the capacity degradation due to finite rate feedback as well as the required increases in feedback load per mobile as a function of the number of access point antennas and the system SNR are provided.
Hypersensitivity Pneumonitis: Challenges in Diagnosis and Management, Avoiding Surgical Lung Biopsy

Abstract This review presents an update of the currently available information related to hypersensitivity pneumonitis, with a particular focus on the contribution of several techniques in the diagnosis of this condition. The methods discussed include proper elaboration of a complete medical history, targeted auscultation, detection of specific immunoglobulin G antibodies against the most common antigens causing this disease, skin tests, antigen-specific lymphocyte activation assays, bronchoalveolar lavage, and cryobiopsy. Special emphasis is placed on the relevant contribution of specific inhalation challenge (bronchial challenge test). Surgical lung biopsy is presented as the ultimate recourse, to be used when the diagnosis cannot be reached through the other methods covered.
Surviving the Information Explosion: How People Find Their Electronic Information

© 2 0 0 3 m a s s a c h u s e t t s i n s t i t u t e o f t e c h n o l o g y, c a m b r i d g e , m a 0 2 1 3 9 u s a — w w w. a i. m i t. e d u m a s s a c h u s e t t s i n s t i t u t e o f t e c h n o l o g y — a r t i f i c i a l i n t e l l i g e n c e l a b o r a t o r y @ MIT Abstract: We report on a study of how people look for information within email, files, and the Web. When locating a document or searching for a specific answer, people relied on their contextual knowledge of their information target to help them find it, often associating the target with a specific document. They appeared to prefer to use this contextual information as a guide in navigating locally in small steps to the desired document rather than directly jumping to their target. We found this behavior was especially true for people with unstructured information organization. We discuss the implications of our findings for the design of personal information management tools.
National Centre of Competence in Research Financial Valuation and Risk Management Working Paper No . 514 Information Percolation with Equilibrium Search Dynamics

We solve for the equilibrium dynamics of information sharing in a large population. Each agent is endowed with signals regarding the likely outcome of a random variable of common concern. Individuals choose the effort with which they search for others from whom they can gather additional information. When two agents meet, they share their information. The information gathered is further shared at subsequent meetings, and so on. Equilibria exist in which agents search maximally until they acquire sufficient information precision, and then minimally. A tax whose proceeds are used to subsidize the costs of search improves information sharing and can in some cases increase welfare. On the other hand, endowing agents with public signals reduces information sharing and can in some cases decrease welfare. ∗Duffie is at the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University, a member of NBER, and acknowledges support while visiting the Swiss Finance Institute at The University of Lausanne. Malamud is at the Department of Mathematics, ETH Zurich and a member of the Swiss Finance Institute. Manso is at the Sloan School of Business, MIT. We are grateful for a conversation with Alain-Sol Sznitman. Malamud gratefully acknowledges financial support by the National Centre of Competence in Research ”Financial Valuation and Risk Management” (NCCR FINRISK).
Sparse partitions

A collection of clustering and decomposition techniques that make possible the construction of sparse and locality-preserving representations for arbitrary networks is presented. The representation method considered is based on breaking the network G(V,E) into connected regions, or clusters, thus obtaining a cover for the network, i.e. a collection of clusters that covers the entire set of vertices V. Several other graph-theoretic structures that are strongly related to covers are discussed. These include sparse spanners, tree covers of graphs and the concepts of regional matchings and diameter-based separators. All of these structures can be constructed by means of one of the clustering algorithms given, and each has proved a convenient representation for handling certain network applications. <<ETX>>
Localization of an experimental hypothalamic and midbrain syndrome simulating sleep

The origin and significance of sleep have been a source of speculation throughout the centuries, and the problem of abnormal sleep as a disease entity has long aroused the curiosity of medical men. It was only half a century ago, however, that Mauthner (lS90), after studying clinical cases of Nona and Wernicke’s disease, postulated a specific locality in the brain as a critical source for sleep regulation. This center he designated the area of transition between the midbrain and the diencephalon. More recently, von Economo (’29, ’30, ’31), from his study of encephalitis lethargica during the Vienna epidemic of 1916-17 and 1920-21, came to conclusions similar to those of Mauthner and proposed certain rostro-caudal boundaries to delimit the center : the most caudal limit being immediately rostra1 to the oculomotor iiucleus and the frontal limit reaching as far as the region of the striatum.