Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do privacy and security regulations need a status update? Perspectives from an intergenerational survey

Background The importance of health privacy protections in the era of the “Facebook Generation” has been called into question. The ease with which younger people share personal information about themselves has led to the assumption that they are less concerned than older generations about the privacy of their information, including health information. We explored whether survey respondents’ views toward health privacy suggest that efforts to strengthen privacy protections as health information is moved online are unnecessary. Methods Using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk), which is well-known for recruitment for survey research, we distributed a 45-item survey to individuals in the U.S. to assess their perspectives toward privacy and security of online and health information, social media behaviors, use of health and fitness devices, and demographic information. Results 1310 participants (mean age: 36 years, 50% female, 78% non-Hispanic white, 54% college graduates or higher) were categorized by generations: Millennials, Generation X, and Baby Boomers. In multivariate regression models, we found that generational cohort was an independent predictor of level of concern about privacy and security of both online and health information. Younger generations were significantly less likely to be concerned than older generations (all P < 0.05). Time spent online and social media use were not predictors of level of concern about privacy or security of online or health information (all P > 0.05). Limitations This study is limited by the non-representativeness of our sample. Conclusions Though Millennials reported lower levels of concern about privacy and security, this was not related to internet or social media behaviors, and majorities within all generations reported concern about both the privacy and security of their health information. Thus, there is no intergenerational imperative to relax privacy and security standards, and it would be advisable to take privacy and security of health information more seriously.
Preoperative intensive inspiratory muscle training to prevent postoperative pulmonary complications in high-risk patients undergoing CABG surgery: a randomized clinical trial.

CONTEXT Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery are a major source of morbidity and mortality, and increase length of hospital stay and resource utilization. The prehospitalization period before CABG surgery may be used to improve a patient's pulmonary condition. The efficacy of preoperative inspiratory muscle training (IMT) in reducing the incidence of PPCs in high-risk patients undergoing CABG surgery has not yet been determined. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the prophylactic efficacy of preoperative IMT on the incidence of PPCs in high-risk patients scheduled for elective CABG surgery. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS A single-blind, randomized clinical trial conducted at the University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands, with enrollment between July 2002 and August 2005. Of 655 patients referred for elective CABG surgery, 299 (45.6%) met criteria for high risk of developing PPCs, of whom 279 were enrolled and followed up until discharge from hospital. INTERVENTION Patients were randomly assigned to receive either preoperative IMT (n = 140) or usual care (n = 139). Both groups received the same postoperative physical therapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Incidence of PPCs, especially pneumonia, and duration of postoperative hospitalization. RESULTS Both groups were comparable at baseline. After CABG surgery, PPCs were present in 25 (18.0%) of 139 patients in the IMT group and 48 (35.0%) of 137 patients in the usual care group (odds ratio [OR], 0.52; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30-0.92). Pneumonia occurred in 9 (6.5%) of 139 patients in the IMT group and in 22 (16.1%) of 137 patients in the usual care group (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.19-0.84). Median duration of postoperative hospitalization was 7 days (range, 5-41 days) in the IMT group vs 8 days (range, 6-70 days) in the usual care group by Mann-Whitney U statistic (z = -2.42; P = .02). CONCLUSION Preoperative IMT reduced the incidence of PPCs and duration of postoperative hospitalization in patients at high risk of developing a pulmonary complication undergoing CABG surgery. TRIAL REGISTRATION isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN17691887.
Selective Activation of a Parietofrontal Circuit during Implicitly Imagined Prehension

It is generally held that motor imagery is the internal simulation of movements involving one's own body in the absence of overt execution. Consistent with this hypothesis, results from numerous functional neuroimaging studies indicate that motor imagery activates a large variety of motor-related brain regions. However, it is unclear precisely which of these areas are involved in motor imagery per se as opposed to other planning processes that do not involve movement simulation. In an attempt to resolve this issue, we employed event-related fMRI to separate activations related to hand preparation-a task component that does not demand imagining movements-from grip selection-a component previously shown to require the internal simulation of reaching movements. Our results show that in contrast to preparation of overt actions, preparation of either hand for covert movement simulation activates a large network of motor-related areas located primarily within the left cerebral and right cerebellar hemispheres. By contrast, imagined grip selection activates a distinct parietofrontal circuit that includes the bilateral dorsal premotor cortex, contralateral intraparietal sulcus, and right superior parietal lobule. Because these areas are highly consistent with the frontoparietal reach circuit identified in monkeys, we conclude that motor imagery involves action-specific motor representations computed in parietofrontal circuits.
Impact of broadband seismology on the understanding of strong motions

Most analyses of strong motion attenuation assume simple whole-space type geometrical spreading, namely (1/R) or its modified form e−kR/R. However, broadband data presently becoming available suggests a more complex behavior with substantial crustal effects. Events such as the Sierra Madre event, M = 5.8, triggered the strong motion channels at all of the TERRAscope stations allowing for 0.01-sec sampling of the wavefield. We find that most of the well-defined crustal bodywave arrivals defined and modeled in the 1 to 0.1-hz bandpass also contain high-frequency energy. By comparing the triggered channels with the continuous channels we see that several of the more distant stations triggered on the depth phase sPmP. These phases as well as the depth phase sSmS are obvious in velocity and quite apparent in accelerations. Our best models for Southern California contain a relatively thick low-velocity layer at the surface, roughly 5 km thick with shear velocities below 3 km/sec. This layer or zone, because it appears to vary considerably, controls the wavefield at nearly all frequencies out to about 60 km and yields attenuation decay faster than (1/R). At large ranges the lower crustal triplications dominate and the attenuation curve flattens. Adding random scatters to these layered models adds additional complexity but does not alter the basic flat-layer predictions.
Effects of water droplets on the numerical simulation of a complete gas turbine

Numerical simulation of a complete gas turbine engine working with inlet wet injection has been evaluated using computational fluid dynamic (CFD), the effects of water droplet and injection rate on the compressor operation, engine combustion and the turbine were studied. The results obtained in contrast with dry compression unveil that, with minimum amount of water droplet and high water injection rate (0.5% - 3.0%) their potential influence on the engine performance by boosting the amount of inlet mass flow rate, raises compression and expansion pressure ratio, uplift engine thrust and thermal efficiency through absorption of heat and radiation intensity emission, decreases the relative specific fuel consumption, combustion and turbine outlet temperature and cuts down the amount of NOx production.
Ad hoc wireless networks with noisy links

Models of ad-hoc wireless networks are often based on the geometric disc abstraction: transmission is assumed to be isotropic, and reliable communication channels are assumed to assumed to exist (apart from interference) between nodes closer than a given distance. In reality communication channels are unreliable and communication range is generally not rotationally symmetric. In this paper we examine how these issues affect network connectivity. Using ideas from percolation theory, we compare networks of geometric discs to other simple shapes, including probabilistic connections, and find that when transmission range and node density are normalized across experiments so as to preserve the expected number of connections (ENC) enjoyed by each node, the discs are the "hardest" shape to connect together. In other words, anisotropic radiation patterns and spotty coverage allow an unbounded connected component to appear at lower ENC levels than perfect circular coverage allows. This indicates that connectivity claims made in the literature using the geometric disc abstraction will in general hold also for the more irregular shapes found in practice.
Diaries as research data in a study on family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease: methodological issues.

AIM This paper is a discussion of the use of unstructured diaries and their benefits and limitations as primary research data in a study of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease. BACKGROUND Caregivers' diaries have rarely been used to study family caregivers' subjective knowledge of life with a family member with Alzheimer's disease. METHOD Family caregivers wrote unstructured diaries for 2 weeks during the period 2002-2004, starting within 6 months after the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease in a family member. The family caregivers (n = 83) were voluntary participants in an ongoing intervention study (patients n = 241 and caregivers n = 241). The diaries were analysed using content analysis. FINDINGS The diary data were categorized into the following four different types: meagre, reporting, descriptive and reflective. They described the family caregivers' experiential world and the changes taking place in it. Family caregivers found diary-writing a therapeutic and pleasant experience. The use of written diaries involves some limitations concerning high dependency on writers, and data solely in written form. An effort to confirm the quality of data should be made by personal contacts. CONCLUSION Diaries can be used as a primary method of data collection in nursing research, as they produce subjective knowledge of the experiences, emotions and meanings associated with caregiving. Their use can result in a high level of motivation, and ability to reflect on life promotes successful writing.
Reliability of network simulators and simulation based research

Network simulators have gained an increased importance in the research community to an extent that approximately 11% of the research papers that appeared in the proceedings of leading international conferences used network simulators to test their claims. It is anticipated that due to the several advantages network simulators will become more prevalent in the research community in future. However, with the growing popularity of the network simulators, challenges in the form of consistent revelations about their inaccuracies have started to seriously question the use of such simulators and simulation based research. This paper attempts to answer the questions (1) How can assumptions/simplifications in modeling affect realism of simulations? (2) How credibility of simulation based research be improved? , and (3) What necessary steps must be taken to make network simulators credible? The paper provides deliberated recommendations for improving the authenticity of simulation based experiments. The authors believe that the discussion in this paper will greatly facilitate the repeatability of simulation based research and will help researchers to select the most suitable (credible) simulator.
Effects of spatial aggregation approaches on classified satellite imagery

Spatial aggregations of raster data based on the majority rule have been typically used in landscape ecological studies. It is generally acknowledged that (1) dominant classes increase in abundance while minor classes decrease in abundance or even disappear through aggregation processes; and (2) spatial patterns also change with aggregations. In this paper, we examined an alternative, random rule-based aggregation and its effects on cover type abundance and landscape patterns, in comparison with the majority rule-based aggregation. We aggregated a classified TM imagery (about 1.5 million ha) from 30m (4231 × 3717 pixels) incrementally to 990m resolution (132 pixels × 116 pixels). Cover type proportion, mean patch size ratio, aggregation index (AI), and fractal dimension (FD) were used to assess the effects of aggregation. To compare landscapes under different resolutions, we assumed that the landscapes were least distorted if (1) the cover type proportions and mean patch size ratios among classes were maintained, and (2) all cover types responded in the same way for a given index as aggregation levels increased. For example, distortion is introduced by aggregation if some cover types increase their AI values with increasing aggregation levels while other cover types decrease. Our study indicated that the two spatial aggregation techniques led to different results in cover type proportions and they altered spatial pattern in opposite ways. The majority rule-based aggregations caused distortions of cover type proportions and spatial patterns. Generally, the majority rule-based aggregation filtered out minor classes and produced clumped landscapes. Such landscape representations are relatively easy for interpreting and, therefore, are suitable for land managers to conceptualize spatial patterns of a study region. By contrast, the random rule-based aggregations maintained cover type proportions accurately, but tended to make spatial patterns change toward disaggregation. Overall, the measurements of landscape indices used in this study indicated that
A Posteriori Error Estimates Including Algebraic Error and Stopping Criteria for Iterative Solvers

For the finite volume discretization of a second-order elliptic model problem, we derive a posteriori error estimates which take into account an inexact solution of the associated linear algebraic system. We show that the algebraic error can be bounded by constructing an equilibrated Raviart-Thomas-Nedelec discrete vector field whose divergence is given by a proper weighting of the residual vector. Next, claiming that the discretization error and the algebraic one should be in balance, we construct stopping criteria for iterative algebraic solvers. An attention is paid, in particular, to the conjugate gradient method which minimizes the energy norm of the algebraic error. Using this convenient balance, we also prove the efficiency of our a posteriori estimates; i.e., we show that they also represent a lower bound, up to a generic constant, for the overall energy error. A local version of this result is also stated. This makes our approach suitable for adaptive mesh refinement which also takes into account the algebraic error. Numerical experiments illustrate the proposed estimates and construction of efficient stopping criteria for algebraic iterative solvers.
Conduction deficits of callosal fibres in early multiple sclerosis

OBJECTIVE To study the diagnostic usefulness of transcallosal inhibition (TI) elicited by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in detecting central conduction deficits in early multiple sclerosis. Corticospinally mediated excitatory responses evoked by TMS are accepted as a sensitive diagnostic tool in multiple sclerosis. Recently, TI evoked by TMS has been introduced as a new paradigm to test the function of callosal fibres interconnecting both hand associated motor cortices. METHODS Focal TMS of the motor cortex was performed in 50 patients with early relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Corticospinally mediated (central motor latencies, amplitudes) and transcallosally mediated (onset latency and duration of TI) stimulation effects were investigated. RESULTS TMS disclosed abnormalities of corticospinally mediated responses in 62% and of TI in 80% of the patients. CONCLUSION The assessment of TI allows the discovery of lesions within the periventricular white matter that were not accessible by neurophysiological techniques before. This new paradigm increases the sensitivity of TMS with which to detect central conduction deficits in early multiple sclerosis.
Sitting height, fat-free mass and body fat as reference variables for lung function in healthy British children: comparison with stature.

The ventilatory capacity, total lung capacity and transfer factor with their respective subdivisions have been measured on 254 healthy British boy and girl twins aged 8-16 yrs. The logarithmic regression relationships of lung function on stature have been compared with those on sitting height and on stature plus indices of body muscle and fat. The regressions on stature and on sitting height describe the results with similar precision, but stature is marginally better; either index may be used as the reference variable. For the description of inspiratory capacity and of all indices which include this volume (e.g. vital capacity, total lung capacity and transfer factor), additional precision is secured by adding to the regression equation on stature a term for fat-free mass or body mass divided by the square of the stature; for the description of functional residual capacity, the inclusion of a term for % body fat similarly reduces the variance about the regression equation. The difference in lung function between boys and girls is smaller when the function is related to stature than to sitting height. It is further reduced when fat-free mass/sature and % body fat are also included in the prediction equations. The equations may be used to obtain reference values for indices of lung function in similar subjects.
The springboard: multiple modes in one spring-loaded control

Modes allow a few inputs to invoke many operations, yet if a user misclassifies or forgets the state of a system, modes can result in errors. Spring-loaded modes (quasimodes) maintain a mode while the user holds a control such as a button or key. The Springboard is an interaction technique for tablet computers that extends quasimodes to encompass multiple tool modes in a single spring-loaded control. The Springboard allows the user to continue holding down a nonpreferred-hand command button after selecting a tool from a menu as a way to repeatedly apply the same tool. We find the Springboard improves performance for both a local marking menu and for a non-local marking menu ("lagoon") at the lower left corner of the screen. Despite the round-trip costs incurred to move the pen to a tool lagoon, a keystroke-level analysis of the true cost of each technique reveals the local marking menu is not significantly faster.
HGA: A Hardware-Based Genetic Algorithm

A genetic algorithm (GA) is a robust problem-solving method based on natural selection. Hardware's speed advantage and its ability to parallelize offer great rewards to genetic algorithms. Speedups of 1-3 orders of magnitude have been observed when frequently used software routines were implemented in hardware by way of reprogrammable field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). Reprogrammability is essential in a general-purpose GA engine because certain GA modules require changeability (e.g. the function to be optimized by the GA). Thus a hardware-based GA is both feasible and desirable. A fully functional hardware-based genetic algorithm (the HGA) is presented here as a proof-of-concept system. It was designed using VHDL to allow for easy scalability. It is designed to act as a coprocessor with the CPU of a PC. The user programs the FPGAs which implement the function to be optimized. Other GA parameters may also be specified by the user. Simulation results and performance analyses of the HGA are presented. A prototype HGA is described and compared to a similar GA implemented in software. In the simple tests, the prototype took about 6% as many clock cycles to run as the software-based GA. Further suggested improvements could realistically make the HGA 2-3 orders of magnitude faster than the software-based GA.
Work rhythms: analyzing visualizations of awareness histories of distributed groups

We examined records of minute-by-minute computer activity coupled with information about the location of the activity, online calendar appointments, and e-mail activity. We present a number of visualizations of the data that exhibit meaningful patterns in users' activities. We demonstrate how the patterns vary between individuals and within individuals according to time of day, location, and day of the week. Some patterns augment the schedule information found in people's online calendars. We discuss applications for group coordination (especially across time zones) plus opportunities for future research. In light of the popularity of instant messaging, this research identifies some of the benefits and privacy risks associated with the uses of online presence and awareness information.
The PI‐PLC inhibitor U‐73122 is a potent inhibitor of the SERCA pump in smooth muscle

In this issue MacMillan and McCarron in 2010 demonstrated that the phospholipase C (PLC) inhibitor U‐73122 can potently inhibit Ca2+ release from isolated smooth muscle cells independent of its effect on PLC. Their data suggest that the PLC inhibitor can block the sarcoplasmic/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase pump in smooth muscle and cast doubt on the reliability of U‐73122 as the main pharmacological tool to assess the role of the phosphotidyl inositol‐PLC pathway in cellular signalling.
Design of channel optimized vector quantizers in the presence of channel mismatch

We propose algorithms to design channel-optimized vector quantizers in the presence of channel mismatch. We consider two cases: (i) no information about the statistics of the channel bit error rate is available and (ii) the probability density function of the channel bit error rate is known. We also consider the use of an estimate of the channel signal-to-noise ratio to improve the performance. Simulation results demonstrate the advantages of new design algorithms.
Understanding the Heat Shock Response in the Sea Cucumber Apostichopus japonicus, Using iTRAQ-Based Proteomics

The sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus is exploited as a commercial species owing to their high nutritive and medicinal value. Recent high summer temperatures have caused high mortality rates in A. japonicus. In this study, we applied the isobaric tag for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ) technique to investigate the global protein expression profile under an acute short-term (48 h) heat stress. In total, 3432 proteins were identified, and 127 proteins showed significant heat stress responses, with 61 upregulated proteins and 66 downregulated proteins. Our results suggest that heat stress influenced the expression of proteins involved in various biological processes, such as tissue protection and detoxification, lipid and amino acid metabolism, energy production and usage, transcription and translation, cell apoptosis, and cell proliferation. These findings provide a better understanding about the response and thermo-tolerance mechanisms of A. japonicus under heat stress.