Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Population-Based Analysis of Quality Indicators in CKD.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Awareness of CKD remains low in comparison with other chronic diseases, such as diabetes, leading to low use of preventive medications and appropriate testing. The objective of this study was to evaluate the quality of care provided to people with and at risk of CKD. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS We conducted a population-based analysis of all Albertans with eGFR=15-59 ml/min per 1.73 m2 between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012 as well as patients with diabetes (as of March 31, 2012). We assessed multiple quality indicators in people with eGFR=15-59 ml/min per 1.73 m2, including appropriate risk stratification with albuminuria testing and preventive medication use and screened people with diabetes using urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio and serum creatinine measurements. RESULTS Among 96,480 adults with eGFR=15-59 ml/min per 1.73 m2, we found that 17.0% of those without diabetes were appropriately risk stratified with a measure of albuminuria compared with 64.2% of those with diabetes (P<0.001). Of those with eGFR=15-59 ml/min per 1.73 m2 and moderate or severe albuminuria, 63.2% of those without diabetes received an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker compared with 82.1% in those with diabetes (P<0.001). Statin use was also significantly lower in patients with eGFR=15-59 ml/min per 1.73 m2 without diabetes (39.2%) compared with those with diabetes (64.6%; P<0.001). Among 235,649 adults with diabetes, only 41.8% received a urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio and 73.2% received a serum creatinine measurement over 1 year. CONCLUSIONS We identified large gaps in care, especially in those with CKD but no diabetes. The largest gap was in the prescription of guideline-concordant medication in those with CKD as well as appropriate screening for albuminuria in those with diabetes. Our work illustrates the importance of measuring health system performance as the first step in a quality improvement process to improve care and outcomes in CKD.
Spectrum sensing for cognitive radio based on convolution neural network

The problem in the process of spectrum sensing that the detection rate of the the primary user (PU) signal is low in the environment of low signal-to-noise (SNR) is present, a novel spectrum sensing algorithm based on convolution neural network (CNN) is proposed. The CNN is widely used in image recognition and speech recognition, and has good classification performance. Therefore, the CNN is employed to solve spectrum sensing which can be viewed as a binary hypothesis-testing problem. Firstly, the feature of the presence of the PU signal and the presence of only the noise signal are extracted, including cyclostationary feature and energy feature. And then, the extracted features should be pre-processed, which are used as the training input of the CNN model. Finally, the test data is fed into the trained CNN model, which is aiming to detect the presence of the PU. Experiment results show that a reasonable CNN model is built and the proposed algorithm has higher detection probability than cyclostationary feature detection (CFD) about 0.5 in −20dB.
Positivity effect specific to older adults with subclinical memory impairment

Numerous studies have suggested that older adults preferentially remember positive information (“positivity effect”), however others have reported mixed results. One potential source of conflict is that aging is not a unitary phenomenon and individual differences exist. We modified a standard neuropsychological test to vary emotional content and tested memory at three time points (immediate/20 min/1 wk). Cognitively normal older adults were stratified into those with and without subclinical memory impairment. We found that the positivity effect was limited to those with subclinical memory impairment, suggesting that consideration of subclinical memory impairment is necessary for understanding age-related emotional memory alterations.
From Monolith to Microservices: A Dataflow-Driven Approach

Emerging from the agile practitioner communities, the microservice-oriented architecture emphasizes implementing and employing multiple small-scale and independently deployable microservices, rather than encapsulating all function capabilities into one monolithic application. Correspondingly, microservice-oriented decomposition, which has been identified to be an extremely challenging and complex task, plays a crucial and prerequisite role in developing microservice-based software systems. To address this challenge and reduce the complexity, we proposed a top-down analysis approach and developed a dataflow-driven decomposition algorithm. In brief, a three-step process is defined: first, engineers together with users conduct business requirement analysis and construct a purified while detailed dataflow diagram of the business logic; then, our algorithm combines the same operations with the same type of output data into a virtual abstract dataflow; finally, the algorithm extracts individual modules of "operation and its output data" from the virtual abstract dataflow to represent the identified microservice candidates. We have employed two use cases to demonstrate our microservice identification mechanism, as well as making comparisons with an existing microservice identification tool. The comparison and evaluation show that, our dataflow-driven identification mechanism is able to deliver more rational, objective, understandable and consistent microservice candidates, through a more rigorous and practical implementation procedure.
Evaluating the Role of Trust in Consumer Adoption of Mobile Payment Systems: An Empirical Analysis

Consumer adoption of mobile payment (m-payment) solutions is low compared to the acceptance of traditional forms of payments. Motivated by this fact, we propose and test a "trust-theoretic model for consumer adoption of m-payment systems. " The model, grounded in literature on "technology adoption" and "trust," not only theorizes the role of consumer trust in m-payment adoption, but also identifies the facilitators for consumer trust in m-payment systems. It proposes two broad dimensions of trust facilitators: "mobile service provider characteristics" and "mobile technology environment characteristics. " The model is empirically validated via a sample of potential adopters in Singapore. In contrast to other contexts, results suggest the overarching importance of "consumer trust in m-payment systems" as compared to other technology adoption factors. Further, differential importance of the theorized trust facilitators of "perceived reputation" and "perceived opportunism" of the mobile service provider, and "perceived environmental risk" and "perceived structural assurance" of the mobile technology, are also highlighted. A series of post-hoc analyses establish the robustness of the theorized configuration of constructs. Subsequent, sub-group analyses highlight the differential significance of trust facilitators for different user sub-groups. Implications for research and practice emerging out of this study are also discussed.
Child Supervision and Burn Outcome among Admitted Patients at Major Trauma Hospitals in the Gambia

Burn-related injuries are a significant burden in children, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where more than 90% of burn-related pediatric deaths occur. Lack of adult supervision of children is a major risk for pediatric burn injuries. The goal of this paper was to examine the general characteristics of burns and identify burn injury outcomes among adult-supervised children compared to those who were not supervised. The study examined burn injury and clinical characteristics among all burn patients admitted to two trauma hospitals in The Gambia, West Africa. At intake in the emergency room, the treating physician or nurse determined the need for admission based on body surface area burned (BSAB), depth of burn, and other clinical considerations such as co-occurring injuries and co-morbidities. During the study period of 1 April 2014 through 31 October 2016, 105 burn patients were admitted and data were collected by the treating physician for all of them. Information about supervision was only asked for children aged five years or less. More than half (51%) of the burn patients were children under 18 years, and 22% were under 5 years. Among children under five, most (86.4%) were supervised by an adult at the time of burn event. Of the 19 supervised children, 16 (84.2%) had body area surface burned (BSAB) of less than 20%. Two of the three children without adult supervision at the time of burn event had BSAB ≥ 20%. Overall, 59% of the patients had 20% + BSAB. Females (aOR = 1.25; 95% CI = 0.43–3.62), those burned in rural towns and villages (aOR = 2.29; 95% CI = 0.69–7.57), or burned by fire or flames (aOR = 1.47; 95% CI = 0.51–4.23) had increased odds of having a BSAB ≥ 20%, although these differences were not statistically significant. Children 0–5 years or 5–18 years (aOR = 0.04, 95% CI = 0.01–0.17; aOR = 0.07, 95% CI = 0.02–0.23, respectively) were less likely to have BSAB ≥ 20% than adults. Those burned in a rural location (aOR = 9.23, 95% CI = 2.30–37.12) or by fire or flames (aOR = 6.09, 95% CI = 1.55–23.97) were more likely to die. Children 0–5 years or 5–18 years (aOR = 0.2, 95% CI = 0.03–1.18; aOR = 0.38; 95% CI = 0.11–1.570, respectively) were less likely to die. Children constitute a significant proportion of admitted burn patients, and most of them were supervised at the time of the burn event. Supervised children (compared to unsupervised children) had less severe burns. Programs that focus on burn prevention at all levels including child supervision could increase awareness and reduce burns or their severity. Programs need to be designed and evaluated with focus on the child development stage and the leading causes of burns by age group.
Affective creativity meets classic creativity in the scanner

The investigation of neurocognitive processes underlying more real‐life creative behavior is among the greatest challenges in creativity research. In this fMRI study, we addressed this issue by investigating functional patterns of brain activity while participants were required to be creative in an affective context. Affective creativity was assessed in terms of individual's inventiveness in generating alternative appraisals for anger‐evoking events, which has recently emerged as a new ability concept in cognitive reappraisal research. In addition, a classic divergent thinking task was administered. Both creativity tasks yielded strong activation in left prefrontal regions, indicating their shared cognitive processing demands like the inhibition of prepotent responses, shifting between different perspectives and controlled memory retrieval. Regarding task‐specific differences, classic creative ideation activated a characteristic divergent thinking network comprising the left supramarginal, inferior temporal, and inferior frontal gyri. Affective creativity on the other hand specifically recruited the right superior frontal gyrus, presumably involved in the postretrieval monitoring of reappraisal success, and core hubs of the default‐mode network, which are also implicated in social cognition. As a whole, by taking creativity research to the realm of emotion, this study advances our understanding of how more real‐life creativity is rooted in the brain. Hum Brain Mapp 39:393–406, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Genome-Wide Identification and Characterization of Long Non-Coding RNA in Wheat Roots in Response to Ca2+ Channel Blocker

It remains unclear whether plant lncRNAs are responsive to Ca2+-channel blocking. When using the Ca2+-channel blocker, LaCl3, to treat germinated wheat seeds for 24 h, we found that both root length and mitosis were inhibited in the LaCl3-treated groups. The effect of the Ca2+-channel blocker was verified in three ways: a [Ca2+]cyt decrease detected using Fluo-3/AM staining, a decrease in the Ca content measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and an inhibition of Ca2+ influx detected using Non-invasive Micro-test Technology. Genome-wide high throughput RNA-seq and bioinformatical methods were used to identify lncRNAs, and found 177 differentially expressed lncRNAs that might be in responsive to Ca2+-channel blocking. Among these, 108 were up-regulated and 69 were down-regulated. The validity of identified lncRNAs data from RNA-seq was verified using qPCR. GO and KEGG analysis indicated that a number of lncRNAs might be involved in diverse biological processes upon Ca2+-channel blocking. Further GO analysis showed that 23 lncRNAs might play roles as transcription factor (TF); Moreover, eight lncRNAs might participate in cell cycle regulation, and their relative expressions were detected using qPCR. This study also provides diverse data on wheat lncRNAs that can deepen our understanding of the function and regulatory mechanism of Ca2+-channel blocking in plants.
ScienceDirect Information Technology and Quantitative Management ( ITQM 2016 ) Fuzzy TOPSIS : A General View

The aim of this survey paper is to offer a general view of the developments of fuzzy TOPSIS methods. We begin with a literature review an we explore different fuzzy models that have been applied to the decision making field. Finally, we present some applications of fuzzy TOPSIS. c © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of ITQM2016.
Bending Time: The Role of Affective Appraisal in Time Perception

Affective states are known to distort time perception, but it remains unclear why and how they do so. To test whether appraisal processes involved in affect may play a role in temporal distortions, we investigated bisection behavior during experimental events with varying appraisal values along three dimensions: goal relevance (high vs. low), goal type (approach vs. avoid), and goal congruence (conducive vs. obstructive). Forty female participants performed an incentive-compatible gambling task attempting to accumulate wins and avoid losses of small amounts of chocolate. On each trial, a prechoice stimulus first announced whether a win, a loss, or no change was available. Participants then made a choice that ostensibly determined the outcome of the trial, which was communicated by a postchoice stimulus. Participants also made temporal bisection decisions indicating whether the presentation durations of pre- and postchoice stimuli (which varied between 200, 320, 440, 560, 680, and 800 ms) were closer to a previously learned short (200 ms) or long (800 ms) standard. We analyzed appraisal effects on psychometric bisection point, response speed, and drift diffusion parameter variance using custom regression contrasts. Subjective durations were found to be lengthened by high goal relevance, conducive goal congruence, and approach goal type. Analysis of diffusion parameters suggested that these results reflected appraisal-related shifts in duration perception rather than in subsequent decision-making. These findings encourage further research into the possibility that temporal distortions are among the cognitive changes triggered by appraisal processes during affective states.
Massively Parallel Analog Computing: Ariadne’s Thread Was Made of Memristors

This paper explores memristive grids where emergent computation arises through collective device interactions. Computing efficiency of the grids is studied in several scenarios and new composite memristive structures are utilized in shortest path and maze-solving computations. The dependence of the computing medium behavior on the symmetry of both the underlying geometry and the employed devices, is validated through SPICE-level circuit simulations, which highlight important computing inefficiencies. Particular circuit-models of memristive connections enable precise mapping of the target application on the computing medium. Extraordinary functionalities emerge when novel memristive computing components, comprising different electrical characteristics from their structural elements, are introduced in the grid. Applying assisted-computation, by incorporating the concept of Ariadne’s thread, leaded to better computing results, which could find application in routing and path computing problems.
Optimal load shedding for voltage collapse prevention using improved harmony search algorithm

Electric power systems became suffers from many problems, this may lead to voltage instability, collapses, black outs. Generally, system congestion or system overloading can be reduced by some control strategy such as a generation-rescheduling or dropping load to restore equilibrium state, hence, load shedding is an emergency control operation. However, optimum load shedding strategy during contingency situation is considered important issues in power system security and stability analysis. This paper proposes an implementation of optimization technique known improved harmony search algorithm (IHSA) for solving optimal load shedding problem. To show the effectiveness and capability of the developed approach in minimizing load shedding, enhance power system security, improving voltage stability for voltage collapse prevention, standard IEEE 30-bus test system is used for considering (N − 1) contingency with different multi-objective functions. The optimal results are compared with the other reported method. The results obtained provide the efficiency of the algorithm in terms of speed of convergence and high quality solution.
BENEFITS OF COMPOSITE PAVEMENTS

In many countries, the traditional heavy-duty pavement type is thick asphaltic concrete (AC) on unbound aggregate and granular subbase courses. This type of flexible pavement structure relies principally on the AC for stiffness, and traffic loading tends to generate high tensile strains in the AC. Consequently, this type of pavement carries a relatively high risk of flexural fatigue in the AC, especially if vehicle overloading is prevalent. The design methods generally used for this type of pavement do not involve the modeling of flexural fatigue. When a mechanistic model is used in design, with horizontal tensile strain criteria for flexural fatigue, the benefits of a stiffer subbase become apparent. This approach favors the use of a cement stabilized or lean-mix concrete subbase to support the AC. This composite type of pavement, also called semi-rigid, may be constructed like a flexible pavement without joints, and with compaction by rollers. A composite pavement structure tends to have more reliable performance than a pavement of AC on unbound layers. The high degree of support provided to the AC by the stiffer subbase means that the subbase becomes the main structural layer in the pavement. Flexural fatigue of the subbase then governs the design, rather than fatigue of the AC. However, the thickness of AC must be sufficient to prevent "reflection" to the surface of shrinkage cracks in the stabilized subbase. For this purpose, the AC needs to be 150-180mm thick, depending on the climate and the degree of shrinkage. While this is still a thick layer of AC, it is thinner than would be required over an unbound subbase. Preferably, a composite pavement structure should also be founded on a working platform of stabilized material, which being insensitive to moisture would protect the subgrade to a high degree. The related issues of moisture control, pavement drainage and stripping in AC are also discussed in the paper. The paper illustrates the above design principles with examples using the Austroads (Australian) pavement design method, based on the elastic layered model CIRCLY. In support of the design principles, reference is made to actual pavement performance. Construction principles and risks are also discussed.
Evaluation of a comprehensive AIDS education curriculum in Hungary--the role of good educators.

The aim of this research was to evaluate a school-based AIDS education programme in Eastern Europe. Four evaluation segments were undertaken: process and outcome evaluations of the training of AIDS educators and of the educational activities for students. While most AIDS education curricula focus on the content of the education, our findings demonstrate that other aspects--including the characteristics of those educators who appear to be most effective, the way in which education is affected by teachers' attitudes, and the cultural implications of transferring programmes from one country to another--also need to be considered, especially in international environments.
Secondary metabolites from endemic species Iris adriatica Trinajstić ex Mitić (Iridaceae)

Abstract This manuscript describes the first detailed chemical investigation of endemic species Iris adriatica, including isolation and structure elucidation. Chemical analyses of the rhizome CH2Cl2/MeOH (2:1) extract revealed fourteen secondary metabolites, mainly isoflavonoids. Among isoflavonoids, two groups have been found: nigricin-type and tectorigenin-type. Dominant group of the isolated compounds has been nigricin-type isoflavones: nigricin, nigricin-4′-(1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside) and nigricin-4′-(1-O-β-D-glucopyranosyl (1–6)-β-D-glucopyranoside) with 2.5, 10 and 1% of the total extract, respectively. Irisxanthone – xanthone C-glucoside, β-sitosterol, benzophenone and one of its derivatives have also been found. Nigricin-type isoflavonoids and irisxanthone can be considered as possible chemotaxonomic markers for I. adriatica. 5,3′,5′-Trimethoxy-6,7-methylenedioxyisoflavone-4′-(1-O-β-D-glucopyranoside) and benzophenone have been isolated from Iris species for the first time. Left-hand image of Iris adriatica (Adriatic potato) with redditsh purple flowers © Miroslav Mitić. All Rights Reserved.
Evaluation of Lenticulostriate Arteries Changes by 7 T Magnetic Resonance Angiography in Type 2 Diabetes

Aim: Progress in neuroimaging techniques allows us to investigate the microvasculature characteristics including lenticulostriate arteries (LSA), which are closely associated with lacunar infarction. Because ischemic stroke is a more critical health problem in East Asian than in other populations, in order to clarify pathological changes underlying cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), we projected an imaging analysis of LSA using high-resolution brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in middle-aged Japanese subjects with type 2 diabetes. Methods: Twenty-five subjects with type 2 diabetes and 25 non-diabetic control subjects underwent 7 Tesla (7 T) brain MRI. The prevalences of SVD and LSA structural changes were determined in each group. Results: SVD prevalence did not differ significantly between the type 2 diabetes and control groups. The average numbers of stems, as well as numbers of branches, of LSA were significantly smaller in diabetic subjects than non-diabetic control subjects. The signal intensity of LSA was markedly decreased, indicating reduced blood flow in type 2 diabetes. Conclusion: In spite of the prevalence of SVD being similar, structural changes and decreased signal intensity of LSA were highly detected in diabetic subjects compared with non-diabetic controls, suggesting that 7 T MRA enables us to determine LSA impairment prior to the development of SVD. Early detection of LSA impairment allows us earlier interventions aimed at the prevention of atherosclerotic events.