Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Artificial Neural Networks: Comparison of Two Programs for Modeling a Process of Nanoparticle Preparation

ABSTRACT Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) were used to predict nanoparticle size and micropore surface area of polylactic acid nanoparticles, prepared by a double emulsion method. Different batches were prepared while varying polymer and surfactant concentration, as well as homogenization pressure. Two commercial ANNs programs were evaluated: Neuroshell® Predictor, a black-box software adopting both neural and genetic strategies, and Neurosolutions®, allowing a step-by-step building of the network. Results were compared to those obtained by statistical method. Predictions from ANNs were more accurate than those calculated using non-linear regression. Neuroshell® Predictor allowed quantification of the relative importance of the inputs. Furthermore, by varying the network topology and parameters using Neurosolutions®, it was possible to obtain output values which were closer to experimental values. Therefore, ANNs represent a promising tool for the analysis of processes involving preparation of polymeric carriers and for prediction of their physical properties.
Age Distribution of Patients Presenting with Uveitis

Background: Endogenous uveitis has long been considered to be uncommon in elderly patients. Recently, population-based studies have shown an increase in the incidence of uveitis with inreasing age. It was the aim of this study to analyse the age distribution of patients presenting with endogenous uveitis in the setting of an eye centre. Methods: Retrospective cohort analysis. Results: 278 patients with endogenous uveitis showed the following age distribution: 0 - 15: 9, 15 - 30: 28, 30 - 45: 73, 45 - 60: 78, >60: 90 (age group: number of patients). Localization of uveitis was 82,4% anterior, 9,4% intermedia, 12,9% posterior. Two patients >60y were diagnosed with a masquerade syndrome. Conclusions: A large number of patients presenting with endogenous uveitis is in the elderly age group. An early and appropriate diagnostic work-up for uveitis is recommended for the elderly.
Cost-Benefit Analysis Under Uncertainty

In what follows we provide a conceptually correct procedure for determining whether a risky project passes the "potential Pareto improvement" welfare criterion which forms the normative basis of cost-benefit analysis. In this approach the role of secondary markets in providing opportunities for redistributing risk is made transparent and the modifications necessary when such markets do not exist are suggested.
Spectroscopic Confirmation of an Extreme Starburst at Redshift 4.547

We report the spectroscopic confirmation of a submillimeter galaxy (SMG) at z = 4.547 with an estimated LIR = (0.5-2.0) × 1013 L☉. The spectra, mid-IR, and X-ray properties indicate the bolometric luminosity is dominated by star formation at a rate of >1000 M☉ yr−1. Multiple, spatially separated components are visible in the Lyα line with an observed velocity difference of up to 380 km s−1 and the object morphology indicates a merger. The best-fit spectral energy distribution and spectral line indicators suggest the object is 2-8 Myr old and contains >1010 M☉ of stellar mass. This object is a likely progenitor for the massive early-type systems seen at z ∼ 2.
Tanreqing Injection Attenuates Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Airway Inflammation through MAPK/NF-κB Signaling Pathways in Rats Model

Background. Tanreqing injection (TRQ) is a commonly used herbal patent medicine for treating inflammatory airway diseases in view of its outstanding anti-inflammatory properties. In this study, we explored the signaling pathways involved in contributions of TRQ to LPS-induced airway inflammation in rats. Methods/Design. Adult male Sprague Dawley (SD) rats randomly divided into different groups received intratracheal instillation of LPS and/or intraperitoneal injection of TRQ. Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid (BALF) and lung samples were collected at 24 h, 48 h, and 96 h after TRQ administration. Protein and mRNA levels of tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) α, Interleukin- (IL-) 1β, IL-6, and IL-8 in BALF and lung homogenate were observed by ELISA and real-time PCR, respectively. Lung sections were stained for p38 MAPK and NF-κB detection by immunohistochemistry. Phospho-p38 MAPK, phosphor-extracellular signal-regulated kinases ERK1/2, phospho-SAPK/JNK, phospho-NF-κB p65, phospho-IKKα/β, and phospho-IκB-α were measured by western blot analysis. Results. The results showed that TRQ significantly counteracted LPS-stimulated release of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8, attenuated cells influx in BALF, mitigated mucus hypersecretion, suppressed phosphorylation of NF-κB p65, IκB-α, ΙKKα/β, ERK1/2, JNK, and p38 MAPK, and inhibited p38 MAPK and NF-κB p65 expression in rat lungs. Conclusions. Results of the current research indicate that TRQ possesses potent exhibitory effects in LPS-induced airway inflammation by, at least partially, suppressing the MAPKs and NF-κB signaling pathways, in a general dose-dependent manner.
A comparison of gait patterns between the offspring of people with medial tibiofemoral osteoarthritis and normal controls.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to explore the contribution of biomechanical factors to the development and progression of knee osteoarthritis (OA) by investigating whether the offspring of subjects with medial tibiomfemoral OA demonstrate gait abnormalities in the absence of OA. METHODS Three-dimensional gait analyses were performed on 9 offspring of people with medial tibiofemoral OA and 9 age, gender and Body Mass Index (BMI) matched individuals with no parental history of knee OA. External knee adduction, extension and flexion moments, as well as the magnitude of foot rotation during early stance were compared between the groups. RESULTS The offspring of people with medial tibiofemoral OA walked with less external rotation at the foot than control subjects during early stance (4.5 degrees versus 13.5 degrees, p < 0.01). There were no significant differences between groups for the peak knee adduction moments (dominant leg, p = 0.49; non-dominant leg, p = 0.70) or peak knee extension moments (dominant leg, p = 0.46; non-dominant leg, p = 0.48). Moreover, there was no difference between groups for the knee flexion moment occurring when the force adducting the knee was greatest (dominant leg, p = 0.35; non-dominant leg, p = 0.33). CONCLUSIONS Although the offspring of people with medial tibiofemoral OA walked with less external foot rotation than the control subjects during early stance, whether this increases their risk of developing knee OA is yet to be determined.
E-Commerce and Ethical Web Design: Applying the BBBOnline Guidelines on Malaysian Websites

The aim of this study is to find out to what extent Malaysian companies incorporate trustworthy elements on their websites. The study provides a detail website evaluation based on the principles for ethical online business provided by the BBBOnline guidelines. The five principles used as an evaluation instrument are: (1) Truthful and accurate communication, (2) Disclosure, (3) Information practices and security, (4) Customer satisfaction, and (5) Protecting children. The study selected ten Malaysian-based companies which adopt e-commerce as part of their business. The finding of the study indicate that some principles are well-adhered to, while others need more attention.
Improving the accuracy of a fall detection algorithm using free fall characteristics

The number of elderly who live on their own is increasing. Falls in the elderly are a major problem which has a long term effect. If the elderly can get help immediately after a fall, the severity of the injury, and the cost could be reduced. This paper presents a fall detection algorithm utilizing two thresholds for the resultant acceleration in 1.5-s window segments. Data was acquired using a tri-axial accelerometer mounted on the user's trunk, and two types of experiments were investigated. In Type A), ten young subjects performed falls and typical Activity of Daily Living (ADL) tasks. In Type B), ten young subjects performed falls, where ten elderly subjects performed ADL tasks. There were four categories of fall: forward fall, backward fall, left and right side fall, and six categories of ADL: sit-stand, stand-sit, sit-lie, lie-sit, bend down, and walking 2 m. The results, tested on 300 sequences for each type, show that falls can be distinguished from ADL with 100% sensitivity and 93.33% specificity for Type A, and 100% sensitivity and specificity for Type B. Improval performance of the algorithm was possible by comparing with a threshold obtained from the maximum peak resultant acceleration. Moreover, this algorithm has low computational complexity, which allows for its real-time implementation on a microcontroller.
Mortality attributable to 9 common infections: significant effect of influenza A, respiratory syncytial virus, influenza B, norovirus, and parainfluenza in elderly persons.

BACKGROUND Because there may be substantial hidden mortality caused by common seasonal pathogens, we estimated the number of deaths in elderly persons attributable to viruses and bacteria for which robust weekly laboratory surveillance data were available. METHODS On weekly time series (1999-2007) we used regression models to associate total death counts in individuals aged 65-74, 75-84, and ≥85 years (a population of 2.5 million) with pathogen circulation-influenza A (season-specific), influenza B, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), parainfluenza, enterovirus, rotavirus, norovirus, Campylobacter, and Salmonella-adjusted for extreme outdoor temperatures. RESULTS Influenza A and RSV were significantly (P < .05) associated with mortality in all studied age groups; influenza B and parainfluenza were additionally associated in those aged ≥75 years, and norovirus was additionally associated in those aged ≥85 years. The proportions of deaths attributable to seasonal viruses were 6.8% (≥85 years), 4.4% (75-84 years), and 1.4% (65-74 years), but with great variations between years. Influenza occasionally showed lower impact than some of the other viruses. CONCLUSIONS The number of different pathogens associated with mortality in the older population increases with increasing age. Besides influenza A and RSV, influenza B, parainfluenza and norovirus may also contribute substantially to elderly mortality.
The Origins of Developmentalist Theory

Abstract Celso Furtado, a creator of Latin American structuralist political economy, was riveted on the construction of a viable national development project for Brazil. As a sophisticated advocate for structural change, he represented forward-looking reformism based in a pragmatic analysis of underdevelopment—“the” underlying condition of peripheral nations. The objective of this article is to offer both a synthesis and an evaluation of his contributions to the political economy of development economics. The hypothesis of this article is that Furtado’s methodological/analytical stance—in particular, (1) his dynamic, historically contextualized, approach and (2) his tendency to center development on technological capacity—merits broader acceptance and greater acclaim. An ancillary hypothesis maintains that, whereas Furtado’s work paralleled that of early U.S. institutionalism (particularly that of Veblen), he and his followers have thus far missed an important opportunity to explore the complementarities and synergies that might have been forged to renovate the Furtadian developmentalist perspective.
Synthesis of C2-Symmetric Benzimidazolium Salts and Their Application in Palladium-Catalyzed Enantioselective Intramolecular α-Arylation of Amides

A series of C2-symmetric chiral benzimidazolium salts, the precursor of N-heterocyclic carbene ligands, were designed and synthesized from 1,2-dibromobenzene. In situ prepared corresponding carbenes were tested in the asymmetric palladium-catalyzed intramolecular α-arylation of amides, affording chiral diarylmethanols with high yields and moderate enantioselectivities.
Cloning and Sequencing of Bovine Apolipoprotein A-I cDNA and Molecular Evolution of Apolipoproteins A-I and B-loo 1 Calm 0 ‘ h Uigin , * Lawrence Chart , * pt and

We have cloned and sequenced bovine apoA-I cDNA. Comparison with the apoAI sequences of six other vertebrates shows the bovine gene to be most similar to that of the dog. Estimates of substitution rates show that apoA-I evolves -25% faster than an average gene in mammalian lineages. All portions of the coding region evolve at roughly similar rates, suggesting that global conformation is conserved. However, a region of the rat protein has evolved rapidly both relative to other portions of the rat sequence and relative to homologous regions in other mammals. To extend our analysis to other apolipoproteins, we compared four vertebrate apoB100 sequences. Conserved regions were found to include two putative LDL receptor binding domains, in addition to several other regions of unidentified function. Comparison of the apoA-I sequences and the apoB100 sequences indicates that the latter evolve -40% faster than the former and at twice the average rate for mammalian proteins.
Information Architecture and Electronic Market Performance in Multidimensional Auctions

Information and communication technologies (ICT) can be used to automate existing market processes, but they also offer opportunities to design new, innovative market mechanisms. In this paper we investigate one such mechanism, the multidimensional auction, in which bidders bid not just on price, but also on the underlying value drivers such as quality and delivery time. We experimentally investigate how two design parameters affect the performance of the electronic multidimensional auction: the length of the auction and the information architecture. The information architecture of the market describes what type of information is available to whom, or when and how it becomes available to whom during the market process. Electronic market performance is measured in terms of winner efficiency and Pareto optimality. Increasing either the number of auction rounds or revealing more information about the state of competition and the bid taker’s preferences improves electronic market performance, but there is an unexpected interaction effect, as combination of the two did not yield significant performance improvements. This suggests that there may be a phenomenon of information saturation at work: beyond a certain point, more information does not improve market performance any further.
Mass Accretion Rates in Self-Regulated Disks of T Tauri Stars

We have studied numerically the evolution of protostellar disks around intermediate- and upper-mass T Tauri stars (0.25 M☉ < M* < 3.0 M☉) that have formed self-consistently from the collapse of molecular cloud cores. In the T Tauri phase, disks settle into a self-regulated state, with low-amplitude nonaxisymmetric density perturbations persisting for at least several million years. Our main finding is that the global effect of gravitational torques due to these perturbations is to produce disk accretion rates that are of the correct magnitude to explain observed accretion onto T Tauri stars. Our models yield a correlation between accretion rate Ṁ and stellar mass M* that has a best fit Ṁ ∝ M*1.7, in good agreement with recent observations. We also predict a near-linear correlation between the disk accretion rate and the disk mass.
Task planning under uncertainty using a spreading activation network

As robotics and automation applications extend to the service sector, researchers have to increasingly deal with performing robotic actions in uncertain and unstructured environments. A traditional solution to this problem models uncertainty about the effects of actions by probabilities conditioned on the state of the environment, making it possible to select plans that have the highest probability of success in a given situation. Reactive systems use another approach to handling uncertainty, by employing a set of predefined situation-response rules that make it possible to move toward the goal from any situation, whether expected or unexpected. This paper describes a planner that combines the two approaches. A proactive component generates plans that are biased toward picking the most reliable action in a given situation, and a reactive component can alter the selected actions based on unexpected situations that may arise in uncertain environments. Action selection is driven by a spreading activation mechanism on a probabilistic network that encodes the domain knowledge. A decision-theoretic framework incorporates quantitative goal utilities and action costs into the action selection mechanism. Experiments conducted demonstrate the ability of the planner to plan with hard and soft domain constraints and action costs, modify plans as a reaction to unexpected changes in the environment or goal utilities, and plan in situations with multiple conflicting goals.
A Discriminative Voting Scheme for Object Detection using Hough Forests

Variations of the Implicit Shape Models (ISM) have been extensively used for partbased object detection. Such methods model the information object parts provide about the location of the center and the size of the object in question. Recent object detection techniques employ the generalized Hough transform using random forests, constructing the trees using existing generic criteria for this purpose. In this work, we propose a discriminative criterion for the tree construction, that aims explicitly at maximizing the response at the true object locations in the Hough space while suppressing it at all other locations. To do so, we exploit the knowledge of the object locations in the training images. During training, the Hough images are computed at each node for every training image using the votes from the corresponding training patches. This enables us to utilize a new criterion that discriminates the object locations from the background in the actual Hough space in comparison to the methods that employ classical tree construction criteria. The proposed algorithm results in Hough images with high responses at the object locations and fewer false positives. We present results on several publicly available datasets to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm.
Fiscal Policy in General Equilibrium

This paper studies four classic fiscal-policy experiments within a quantitatively restricted neoclassical model. The authors' main findings are as follows: (1) permanent changes in government purchases can lead to short-run and long-run output multipliers that exceed one; (2) permanent changes in government purchases induce larger effects than temporary changes; (3) the financing decision is quantitatively more important than the resource cost of changes in government purchases; and (4) public investment has dramatic effects on private output and investment. These findings stem from important dynamic interactions of capital and labor absent in earlier equilibrium analyses of fiscal policy. Copyright 1993 by American Economic Association.
Clustering based active learning for biomedical Named Entity Recognition

The recognition and extraction of biomedical names is an essential task for the biomedical information extraction. However, the preparation of large annotated corpora hinders the training of the Named Entity Recognition (NER) systems. Active learning is reducing the needed manual annotation work in supervised learning task. In this work, we propose a novel clustering based active learning method for the biomedical NER task. We show that the underlying NER system using the proposed method outperforms those with other state of the art active learning methods, including density, Gibbs error and entropy based approaches, as well as the random selection. We compare variations of our proposed method and find the optimal design of the active learning method, which is to use the vector representation of named entities, and to select documents that are `representative' and `informative', as well as to use the Shared Nearest Neighbor (SNN) clustering approach. In particular, the optimal variant of the proposed method achieves a deficiency gain of 36.3% over the random selection.
Vein diameter after intraoperative dilatation with vessel probes as a predictor of success of hemodialysis arteriovenous fistulas

Background Vascular access is “the life line” for patients on chronic hemodialysis. The autogenous arteriovenous fistula provides the best access to the circulation because of low complication rate, long-term use, and lower cost, compared to arteriovenous graft and central venous catheter. The primary objective of this prospective study was to investigate the predictive value of vein diameter after intraoperative dilatation with vessel probes on hemodialysis fistula maturation. Material/Methods Ninety-three fistulas were performed by a single surgeon from February 1, 2006 to January 31, 2009. Intraoperative vein dilatation with vessel probes was attempted in all fistulas. Measurements of the feeding artery diameter, vein diameter and the increased vein diameter after intraoperative dilatation were performed and immediate failure, early patency, early failure, primary patency, and fistula survival outcomes were recorded during 48-month follow-up. Results Early failure occurred in 20% of fistulas and 70% matured sufficiently for cannulation. Variables with significant impact on the failure to mature by univariate analysis were: body-mass index (P=0.041), artery diameter (P<0.001), vein diameter (P=0.004), and vein diameter after dilatation (P=0.002). However, multivariate analysis showed that only body-mass index (P=0.038), artery diameter (P=0.001), and the diameter of the vein after dilatation (P=0.018) significantly affected maturation. In a group of 56 (60%) patients with vein diameter before dilatation ≤2 mm, among vessel characteristics found by multivariate analysis, only vein diameter after dilatation (P=0.004) significantly affected function. Conclusions Artery diameter and vein diameter after intraoperative dilatation with vessel probes were the main predictors of fistula function.
A peek into the future: predicting the evolution of popularity in user generated content

Content popularity prediction finds application in many areas, including media advertising, content caching, movie revenue estimation, traffic management and macro-economic trends forecasting, to name a few. However, predicting this popularity is difficult due to, among others, the effects of external phenomena, the influence of context such as locality and relevance to users,and the difficulty of forecasting information cascades. In this paper we identify patterns of temporal evolution that are generalisable to distinct types of data, and show that we can (1) accurately classify content based on the evolution of its popularity over time and (2) predict the value of the content's future popularity. We verify the generality of our method by testing it on YouTube, Digg and Vimeo data sets and find our results to outperform the K-Means baseline when classifying the behaviour of content and the linear regression baseline when predicting its popularity.
Hedges and Trees: Incorporating Fire Risk into Optimal Decisions in Forestry Using a No-Arbitrage Approach

This paper investigates the impact of including the risk of fire in an optimal tree harvesting model at the stand level, assuming timber prices follow a mean-reverting stochastic process. The relevant partial differential equation is derived under different assumptions about hedging the risk of fire. The assumption that fire risk is fully diversifiable is contrasted with the assumption that it can be hedged with another asset. It is conjectured that the risk-neutral probability of fire exceeds the historical probability of fire, which will affect forest land valuation. An empirical example is presented for two different silvicultural regimes.