Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preferences of patients for emergency services available during usual GP surgery hours: a discrete choice experiment.

OBJECTIVE A study was undertaken to investigate patients' strength of preferences for attributes or characteristics associated with delivery of emergency primary care services available during usual GP surgery hours and to investigate the trade-offs between attributes. METHODS A discrete choice experiment was used to quantify patients' strength of preferences for several key attributes of usual-hours emergency primary care. The attributes were chosen to reflect the findings of previous research, current policy initiatives and discussions with local key stakeholders. A self-complete questionnaire was administered to NHS Direct callers and adult attenders at Accident and Emergency, GP services and the NHS Walk-in Centre in the locality. Regression analysis was used to estimate the relative importance to patients of the different attributes. RESULTS An overall response of 71% (n=432) was achieved. All but one of the attributes was a statistically significant predictor of preference. The attribute 'being kept informed about waiting time' was the most important. This was followed by 'quality of the consultation', 'having a consultation with a nurse', 'having a consultation with a doctor' and 'contacting the service in person'. Respondents were prepared to wait an extra 68 min to have a consultation with a doctor, but an extra 2 h 9 min for information about expected waiting time. There were no measurable preference differences between patients surveyed at different NHS entry points. Respondents younger than 45 years held strong preferences with respect to how they wanted to make contact with the system, whereas older respondents appeared not to hold strong preferences, seemingly indifferent between the alternatives. There was weak evidence which showed the younger group more strongly preferred accessing services via an integrated telephone system than making contact in person. CONCLUSIONS This study showed that local solutions for reforming emergency primary care during hours when the GP surgery is open should take account of the strength of patient preferences. The discrete choice method was acceptable, and the results directly informed the development of a local service framework for such care.
I Can Stand Learning: A Controlled Pilot Intervention Study on the Effects of Increased Standing Time on Cognitive Function in Primary School Children

Sedentarism is considered an independent cardiovascular risk factor. Thus, the present study investigated the effects of employing standing desks in classrooms on cognitive function. The intervention class (IG; n = 19) was supplied with standing desks and balance pads for 11 weeks. The control class (CG; n = 19) received lessons as usual. Standing time was assessed objectively (accelerometers) and subjectively (self-report sheets, external classroom observers). The impact of standing on the digit span task and Eriksen flanker task was analysed. The standing time of the IG was higher during the school day in comparison to the CG (lesson: p = 0.004; break: p = 0.003). The intra-class correlation coefficient between self-reports and external observation was high (ICC = 0.94). The IG improved slightly on the Digit Span Task compared to CG. Employing standing desks for at least 1 h per school day serves as a feasible and effective opportunity to improve cognitive function.
Adaptive neural network control for strict-feedback nonlinear systems using backstepping design

This paper focuses on the adaptive control problem of strict-feedback nonlinear systems using multilayer neural networks (MNNs). By introducing a modified Lyapunov function, a smooth and singularity-free adaptive controller is first designed for a first-order plant. Then, an extension is made to high-order nonlinear systems using backstepping design. The control scheme developed guarantees the uniform ultimate boundedness of the closed-loop adaptive systems. The relationship between the transient performance and the design parameters is given to guide the tuning of the controller.
Time-lagged effects of weather on plant demography: drought and Astragalus scaphoides.

Temperature and precipitation determine the conditions where plant species can occur. Despite their significance, to date, surprisingly few demographic field studies have considered the effects of abiotic drivers. This is problematic because anticipating the effect of global climate change on plant population viability requires understanding how weather variables affect population dynamics. One possible reason for omitting the effect of weather variables in demographic studies is the difficulty in detecting tight associations between vital rates and environmental drivers. In this paper, we applied Functional Linear Models (FLMs) to long-term demographic data of the perennial wildflower, Astragalus scaphoides, and explored sensitivity of the results to reduced amounts of data. We compared models of the effect of average temperature, total precipitation, or an integrated measure of drought intensity (standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index, SPEI), on plant vital rates. We found that transitions to flowering and recruitment in year t were highest if winter/spring of year t was wet (positive effect of SPEI). Counterintuitively, if the preceding spring of year t - 1 was wet, flowering probabilities were decreased (negative effect of SPEI). Survival of vegetative plants from t - 1 to t was also negatively affected by wet weather in the spring of year t - 1 and, for large plants, even wet weather in the spring of t - 2 had a negative effect. We assessed the integrated effect of all vital rates on life history performance by fitting FLMs to the asymptotic growth rate, log(λt). Log(λt) was highest if dry conditions in year t - 1 were followed by wet conditions in the year t. Overall, the positive effects of wet years exceeded their negative effects, suggesting that increasing frequency of drought conditions would reduce population viability of A. scaphoides. The drought signal weakened when reducing the number of monitoring years. Substituting space for time did not recover the weather signal, probably because the weather variables varied little between sites. We detected the SPEI signal when the analysis included data from two sites monitored over 20 yr (2 × 20 observations), but not when analyzing data from four sites monitored over 10 yr (4 × 10 observations).
A Probabilistic Framework for Structural Analysis and Community Detection in Directed Networks

There is growing interest in structural analysis of directed networks. Two major points that need to be addressed are: 1) a formal and precise definition of the graph clustering and community detection problem in directed networks and 2) algorithm design and evaluation of community detection algorithms in directed networks. Motivated by these, we develop a probabilistic framework for structural analysis and community detection in directed networks based on our previous work in undirected networks. By relaxing the assumption from symmetric bivariate distributions in our previous work to bivariate distributions that have the same marginal distributions in this paper, we can still formally define various notions for structural analysis in directed networks, including centrality, relative centrality, community, and modularity. We also extend three commonly used community detection algorithms in undirected networks to directed networks: the hierarchical agglomerative algorithm, the partitional algorithm, and the fast unfolding algorithm. These are made possible by two modularity preserving and sparsity preserving transformations. In conjunction with the probabilistic framework, we show these three algorithms converge in a finite number of steps. In particular, we show that the partitional algorithm is a linear time algorithm for large sparse graphs. Moreover, the outputs of the hierarchical agglomerative algorithm and the fast unfolding algorithm are guaranteed to be communities. These three algorithms can also be extended to general bivariate distributions with some minor modifications. We also conduct various experiments by using two sampling methods in directed networks: 1) PageRank and 2) random walks with self-loops and backward jumps.
Chinese expert consensus on multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma with portal vein tumor thrombus: 2016 edition

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related morbidity and mortality in China. Portal vein tumor thrombus (PVTT) is common and it worsens prognosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). There is no internationally accepted consensus or guideline for diagnosis and treatment of HCC with PVTT. Based on existing evidences and common current practices, Chinese Experts on Multidisciplinary Diagnosis and Treatment of HCC with portal vein tumor thrombus met to develop a national consensus on diagnosis and treatment of HCC with PVTT. The meeting concluded with the First Edition (version 2016) of consensus statements with grades of evidence given as grades Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, III and IV, and ranking as Classes A, B, C, D and I for quality of evidence and strength of recommendation by the United State Preventive Service Task Force, respectively. The consensus suggests recommended treatment to be based on patients PVTT type and ECOG functional status; surgery being the preferred treatment for Child-Pugh A, PVTT type I/II, and ECOG PS 0-1; transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) for non-resectable PVTT I/II and Child-Pugh A; and radiotherapy for non-resectable PVTT I/II/III and Child-Pugh A. Symptomatic treatment is recommended for Child-Pugh C, with massive ascites or gastrointestinal bleeding. By updating clinicians with treatment options for HCC with PVTT, the consensus statement aimed to prolong overall survival and to improve quality of life of patients with minimal treatment complication. Future treatment strategies for HCC with PVTT in China would depend on new evidences from more future clinical trials, especially studies defining the role of traditional Chinese medicine and clarifying molecular aspects of HCC.
Strong Solidity of free Araki-Woods factors

abstract:We show that Shlyakhtenko's free Araki-Woods factors are strongly solid, meaning that for any diffuse amenable von Neumann subalgebra that is the range of a normal conditional expectation, the normalizer remains amenable. This provides the first class of nonamenable strongly solid type III factors.
A method for decentralized formation building for unicycle-like mobile robots

The paper presents a method for decentralized flocking and global formation building for a network of unicycles described by the standard kinematics equations with hard constraints on the vehicles linear and angular velocities. We propose decentralized motion coordination control algorithms for the robots so that they collectively move in a desired geometric pattern from any initial position. There are no predefined leaders in the group and only local information is required for the control. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithms is illustrated via computer simulations.
The Imbalanced Luce Model ∗

We develop a random choice model in which a decision maker divides the alternatives she faces into two groups, where one group is favored and thus she is more likely to choose alternatives in that group relative to alternatives in the non-favored group. We show that this seemingly specific decision making procedure in fact generalizes the Luce (1959) model (multinomial logit) and naturally captures limited consideration, reference-dependent choice, salience theory, and rational inattention. The model can be characterized by two simple weakenings of independence from irrelevant alternatives (IIA). We also characterize the generalization to K groups, which provides an axiomatic foundation for the nested logit model.
Numerical Modelling and Measurement of Spatial Coherence in a Lithographic System

For the last five decades, optical lithography has been used universally for the manufacture of integrated circuits. The drive towards smaller circuit feature size, and the resulting increase in resolution of lithography systems, has been achieved by changing the source type. The original 300− 400 nm discharge lamps have been replaced with more powerful and monochromatic excimer lasers, operating at user-selectable Ultra-Violet (UV) wavelengths from 157 − 351 nm. The success of UV lithography is due, in part, to the development of industrialized, line narrowed excimer lasers. However, the line narrowing process, along with the intrinsic coherence properties of the laser, results in a source with a considerable amount of spatial coherence. These partially coherent sources are complicated to model. Partially coherent image formation with two-dimensional intensity fields requires evaluating four-dimensional integrals. Thus calculations are complex, slow to process and place demands on system memory. The motivation behind this thesis is an improved understanding of the effects of spatial coherence in optical lithography, including beam homogenization in wafer-stepper systems. In this thesis, we expand the Elementary Function Method, a process similar to coherent mode decomposition, to develop a numerical model of a partially spatially coherent source. We design an experiment to measure the spatial coherence of a partially coherent laser source and present our results. The numerical model is tested on a theoretical Gaussian Schell-model source, and then applied to the excimer source. We examine the traditional method for beam conditioning, the imaging homogenizer, and develop a model of the physical process involved in beam homogenization. Our results show that the imaging homogenizer is designed for use with spatially incoherent sources, where it performs well. However, if the source incident on the homogenizer has any degree of spatial coherence, the intensity output is highly non-uniform.
m-AAA Complexes Are Not Crucial for the Survival of Arabidopsis Under Optimal Growth Conditions Despite Their Importance for Mitochondrial Translation

For optimal mitochondrial activity, the mitochondrial proteome must be properly maintained or altered in response to developmental and environmental stimuli. Based on studies of yeast and humans, one of the key players in this control are m-AAA proteases, mitochondrial inner membrane-bound ATP-dependent metalloenzymes. This study focuses on the importance of m-AAA proteases in plant mitochondria, providing their first experimentally proven physiological substrate. We found that the Arabidopsis m- AAA complexes composed of AtFTSH3 and/or AtFTSH10 are involved in the proteolytic maturation of ribosomal subunit L32. Consequently, in the double Arabidopsis ftsh3/10 mutant, mitoribosome biogenesis, mitochondrial translation and functionality of OXPHOS (oxidative phosphorylation) complexes are impaired. However, in contrast to their mammalian or yeast counterparts, plant m-AAA complexes are not critical for the survival of Arabidopsis under optimal conditions; ftsh3/10 plants are only slightly smaller in size at the early developmental stage compared with plants containing m-AAA complexes. Our data suggest that a lack of significant visible morphological alterations under optimal growth conditions involves mechanisms which rely on existing functional redundancy and induced functional compensation in Arabidopsis mitochondria.
Synthesis of variable gain robust controllers based on point memory LQ regulator for a class of uncertain time-delay systems

This paper proposes a design method of a variable gain robust controller based on point memory feedback for a class of uncertain time-delay systems. The proposed variable gain robust controller consists of a fixed gain controller derived by using the nominal time-delay system and a variable gain one, and the fixed gain controller is a point memory LQ regulator. In this paper, we show that sufficient conditions for the existence of the proposed variable gain robust controller are given in terms of LMIs. Finally, a simple numerical example is included to show the effectiveness of the proposed robust control system.
Behaviour of massive reinforced concrete sections in seawater

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Identification of Bombyx atonal and functional comparison with the Drosophila atonal proneural factor in the developing fly eye

The proneural genes are fundamental regulators of neuronal development in all metazoans. A critical role of the fly proneural factor Atonal (AtoDm) is to induce photoreceptor neuron formation in Drosophila, whereas its murine homolog, Atonal7Mm (aka Ath5) is essential for the development of the ganglion cells of the vertebrate eye. Here, we identify the Bombyx mori ato homolog (atoBm). In a pattern strikingly reminiscent of atoDm, the atoBm mRNA is expressed as a stripe in the silkworm eye disc. Its DNA‐binding and protein‐protein interaction domain is highly homologous to the AtoDm bHLH. Targeted expression of AtoBm in the endogenous atoDm pattern rescues the eyeless phenotype of the fly ato1 mutant and its ectopic expression induces similar gain‐of‐function phenotypes as AtoDm. Rescue experiments with chimeric proteins show that the non‐bHLH portion of AtoBm (N‐region) can effectively substitute for the corresponding region of the fly transcription factor, even though no apparent conservation can be found at the amino acid level. On the contrary, the highly similar bHLH domain of AtoBm cannot similarly substitute for the corresponding region of AtoDm. Thus, the bHLHBm domain requires the AtoBm N‐region to function effectively, whereas the bHLHDm domain can operate well with either N‐region. These findings suggest a role for the non‐bHLH portion of Ato proteins in modulating the function of the bHLH domain in eye neurogenesis and implicate specific aa residues of the bHLH in this process. genesis 50:393–403, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Postantibiotic effect and postantibiotic sub‐MIC effect of LTX‐109 and mupirocin on Staphylococcus aureus blood isolates

The development of new synthetic antimicrobial peptides like LTX‐109 provides a new class of drugs for the treatment of Staphylococcus aureus infections. We evaluated LTX‐109 and mupirocin for pharmacodynamic parameters against 10 methicillin‐resistant S. aureus isolates. The postantibiotic effect (PAE) is defined as the length of time that bacterial growth is suppressed following a brief exposure to an antibiotic. We also determined the sub‐MIC effect (SME) which measures the direct effect of subinhibitory levels on strains that have not previously been exposed to antibiotics. The postantibiotic sub‐MIC effect (PA‐SME) is a combination of the PAE and SME. LTX‐109 had an average PAE of 5·51 h vs 1·04 h for mupirocin. The PA‐SME of LTX‐109 ranged from 2·51 to 9·33 h as the concentration increased from 0·2 to 0·4 times the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC). The PA‐SME range for mupirocin was 0·93–2·58 h. LTX‐109, as compared to mupirocin, demonstrated prolonged time of effect for these pharmacodynamic parameters, which supports persistent activity for several hours after the drug is no longer present or is below the MIC. The pharmacodynamic parameters studied here suggest that LTX–109 is less likely than mupirocin to generate resistance to S. aureus.
CMS-ToPSS: Efficient Dissemination of RSS Documents

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of unconventional publishing tools on the Internet. Tools such as wikis, blogs, discussion forums, and web-based content management systems have experienced tremendous rise in popularity and use; primarily because they provide something traditional tools do not: easy of use for non computer-oriented users and they are based on the idea of "collaboration. " It is estimated, by pewinternet.org, that 32 million people in the US read blogs (which represents 27% of the estimated 120 million US Internet users) while 8 million people have said that they have created blogs.
A Phase II Study of Antofloxacin Hydrochloride, a Novel Fluoroquinolone, for the Treatment of Acute Bacterial Infections

Aims: To evaluate the clinical and bacterial efficacies and the safety of antofloxacin hydrochloride tablets in the treatment of acute exacerbations of chronic bronchitis (AECB) and acute pyelonephritis (AP). Patients and Methods: A randomized, controlled, multicenter, double-blind, double-dummy clinical trial was conducted at 6 hospitals in China. The patients in the investigational group took an oral 400-mg loading dose of antofloxacin on the first day followed by 200 mg daily. Control group patients took 200 mg of levofloxacin orally twice daily for 7–14 days. Results: A total of 284 patients were enrolled into the study, including 140 cases of AECB and 144 cases of AP; 141 patients were in the antofloxacin group and 143 patients were in the levofloxacin group. Two hundred fifty-four patients completed the entire treatment and follow-up and comprised the per-protocol analysis data set; 30 patients were excluded because of informed consent withdrawal, loss to follow-up, protocol violations, or adverse drug events. Treatment was ceased in 3 patients in the antofloxacin group and in 1 patient in the levofloxacin group because of skin rashes, dizziness, or adverse gastrointestinal effects. At the end of the 2-regimen treatment, the observed effectiveness rates for AECB were 90.3 and 87.7% for the treatment and control groups, respectively, and 96.9 and 92.1% for AP. The overall bacterial eradication rates were 95.9 and 92.4%, and drug-related adverse events were observed in 13.1 and 10.1% of patients, respectively. There were no severe adverse effects. No statistical differences in drug efficacy and safety were detected between the 2 treatment groups (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Antofloxacin hydrochloride is an effective and well-tolerated new fluoroquinolone that demonstrates clinical and bacteriological efficacies similar to levofloxacin for the treatment of AECB and AP.