Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
PandemCap: Decision support tool for epidemic management

Pandemics or high impact epidemics are one of the biggest threats facing humanity today. While a complete elimination of the occurrence of such threats is improbable, it is possible to contain their impact by efficient management which in turn depends on effective decision-making. In the event of a pandemic the data flows are enormous and pose severe cognitive overload to the public health decision-makers. In this context, this paper presents PandemCap, an innovative decision support tool that can be used by the public health officials for making better and well informed decisions in the event of pandemics or high impact epidemics. PandemCap provides an interactive, flexible platform to public health decision-makers by making extensive use of techniques from the domains of visual analytics and epidemic modeling. In addition, the tool also allows for the study of the impact of various interventions or control measures such as the use of vaccines, anti-virals, hospital beds, and ventilators.
Energy scheduling of residential community equipped with smart appliances and rooftop solar

Demand side management (DSM) has been always a topic of interest among researcher. Residential energy management is also a part of DSM. In this paper, the appliances used at home have been modelled and an energy model for residential area has been designed. This energy model has been used for energy scheduling at the home. A common energy scheduler has been used for scheduling purpose. Time of Use (TOU) tariff has been used during the solution of the problem. A renewable energy source has been also included in form of rooftop PV panels. Finally, formulated energy model has been solved using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) technique with the help of CPLEX solver of GAMS software.
Stochastic Model-Predictive Control for Lane Change Decision of Automated Driving Vehicles

This paper describes lane change motion planning with a combination of probabilistic and deterministic prediction for automated driving under complex driving circumstances. The autonomous lane change should arrive safely at the destination. The subject vehicle needs to perceive and predict the behaviors of other vehicles with sensors. From the information of other vehicles, a collision probability is defined using a reachable set of uncertainty propagation. In addition, the lane change risk is monitored using predicted time-to-collision and safety distance to guarantee safety in lane change behavior. A safe driving envelope is defined as constraints based on the combinatorial prediction (probabilistic and deterministic) of the behavior of surrounding vehicles. To obtain the desired steering angle and longitudinal acceleration to maintain the automated driving vehicle under constraints, a stochastic model-predictive control problem is formulated. The proposed model has been evaluated by performing lane change simulations in MATLAB/Simulink, while considering the effect of combination prediction. Also, the proposed algorithm has been implemented on a test vehicle. The simulation and test results show that the proposed algorithm can handle complicated lane change scenarios, while guaranteeing safety.
The effects of intravenous dextrose 5%, Ringer’s solution, and oral intake on the duration of labor stages in nulliparous women: a double-blind, randomized, controlled trial

Abstract Background and objectives: Childbirth consists of a three-stage period beginning with uterine contractions and ending in the expulsion of the placenta. The present study was conducted to compare the effects of Ringer’s solution, dextrose solution 5%, and oral intake on the duration of total labor and labor stages (primary outcome) and the frequency of oxytocin administration and prolonged labor (secondary outcome) in nulliparous women with spontaneous vaginal delivery. Materials and methods: The present randomized clinical trial was conducted on 201 nulliparous women in labor assigned with a randomized block design to three groups, each receiving either Ringer’s solution plus oral fluids, dextrose solution 5% solution plus oral fluids or oral fluids alone. The solutions were intravenously administered at a rate of 125 ml/h in the groups receiving the solutions and the subjects in the oral fluids group could consume liquids of their choice (water, orange juice, and apple juice). The duration of total labor and labor stages (the active stage, the second, and third stages of labor) were recorded by the researcher in minutes. Furthermore, the frequency of oxytocin administration and prolonged labor were recorded by the researcher by using a checklist. Data were analyzed using the Kruskal–Wallis test, Mann–Whitney’s U-test, chi- square test and Fisher exact test. Results: The mean (±SD) duration of total labor was 301.2 (±50.0) minutes in the Ringer group, 171.9 (±36.4) in the dextrose 5% group, and 524.8 (±103.4) in the oral fluids group, suggesting a statistically significant intergroup difference (p < .001). The mean (±SD) duration of the active stage of labor was 276.7 (±91.3) minutes in the Ringer group, 150.6 (±78.5) in the dextrose 5% group, and 302.4 (±136.8) in the oral fluids group, suggesting a statistically significant intergroup difference (p < .001). A significant difference was also observed between the three groups in terms of the duration of the third stage of labor (p < .001); however, no significant differences were observed in terms of the duration of the second stage of labor (p = .058). Furthermore, a significant difference was observed between the three groups in terms of the need for oxytocin administration (p ≤ .001) and the frequency of prolonged labor (p = .001). Conclusion: The results suggest that the consumption of dextrose solution by nulliparous women reduces the duration of labor, the need for oxytocin administration and the frequency of prolonged labor compared to when Ringer’s solution and oral fluids are used.
Dynamic Capacitance Model of a Pinned Photodiode in CMOS Image Sensors

The charge holding capacity of a pinned photodiode (PPD) in CMOS image sensors (CISs) is determined by the capacitance of the photodiode. A PPD with a higher full-well capacity (FWC) is desirable for a higher dynamic range and image contrast thereby improving the image quality. The dependence of FWC of a PPD on light intensity and integration time is reported in the literature. However, there is no generalized method to estimate the PPD capacitance. The reported models assume the PPD capacitance to be constant and independent of operating conditions. This paper presents an improved model to accurately estimate the dynamic behavior of the PPD capacitance at low and high light intensity levels and varying temperature in CISs. It is observed that the logarithmic increase in light intensity and integration time increases the photodiode capacitance linearly. The model shows good agreement with the simulated and measured values of photodiode capacitance.
Word count: 3,867 Tables: 2 Figures: 0 Associations between state-level policies regarding alcohol use among pregnant women, adverse birth outcomes, and prenatal care utilization: Results from 1972-2013 Vital Statistics

Background: Policies regarding alcohol use during pregnancy continue to be enacted and debated in the United States. However, no study to date has examined whether these policies are related to birth outcomes, the outcomes they ultimately aim to improve. Here we assessed whether state-level policies targeting alcohol use during pregnancy are related to birth outcomes, which has not been done comprehensively before. Methods: Secondary analyses of birth certificate data from N=148,048,208 United States singleton births between 1972-2013. Exposures were indicators of whether the following eight policies were in effect during gestation: Mandatory Warning Signs (MWS), Priority Treatment for Pregnant Women, Priority Treatment for Pregnant Women/Women with Children, Reporting Requirements for Data and Treatment Purposes, Prohibitions on Criminal Prosecution, Civil Commitment, Reporting Requirements for Child Protective Services Purposes, and Child Abuse/Child Neglect. Outcomes were low birthweight (< 2500 g), premature birth (< 37 weeks), any prenatal care utilization (PCU), late PCU, inadequate PCU, and normal (≥ 7) APGAR score. Multivariable fixed effect logistic regressions controlling for both maternaland statelevel covariates were used for statistical analyses. Results: Of the eight policies, six were significantly related to worse outcomes and two were not significantly related to any outcomes. The policy requiring MWS was related to the most outcomes: specifically, living in a state with MWS was related to 7% higher odds of low birthweight (P < 0.001); 4% higher odds of premature birth (P < 0.004); 18% lower odds of any PCU (P < 0.001); 12% higher odds of late PCU (P < 0.002); and 10% lower odds of a normal APGAR score (P < 0.001) compared to living in a state without MWS. Conclusions:
Susceptibility to Alcohol Hangovers: The Association with Self-Reported Immune Status

Increasing evidence points at a role for the immune system in the genesis of the alcohol hangover. This study investigated the association between self-reported immune function and experiencing hangovers. Dutch students aged 18 to 30 years old were invited to complete an online survey. Eighteen items on immune-related complaints were completed to assess self-reported immune function. Alcohol consumption in the past month (with respect to usual consumption and the occasion of heaviest drinking) was also recorded. Subjects with an estimated blood alcohol concentration (eBAC) of 0.18% or higher on their heaviest drinking occasion in the prior month were included in the analyses. Self-reported immune function was compared between drinkers with a hangover and those who claimed to be hangover resistant. In total, of 481 subjects (79.2% women) with a mean (SD) age of 21.1 (1.9) years old were included in the analysis. Of these, 83.3% (n = 400) reported having hangovers and 16.8% (n = 81) claimed to be hangover resistant. Drinkers with hangovers had significantly higher self-reported overall immune function scores when compared to hangover-resistant drinkers (mean ± SD = 10.5 ± 3.6 versus 13.1 ± 4.9, p = 0.0001), indicating a poorer immune status. In conclusion, experiencing alcohol hangovers is associated with significantly poorer self-reported immune function.
Low-energy electron transmission for the analysis of the interface barrier formation and the density of the unoccupied electronic states in the ultra-thin layers of fluorinated copper-phthalocyanine

Abstract The interfacial structure made from the thermally deposited 5 – 7 nm thick layers of hexadecafluoro copper phthalocyanine (F16-CuPc) and of the unsubstituted copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) was subjected to the studies. The surface work function and the density of the unoccupied electron states (DOUS) located 5- 20 eV above the Fermi level (EF) were investigated during the CuPc/F16-CuPc interface formation using the very low energy electron diffraction (VLEED) method and the total current spectroscopy (TCS) measurement scheme. The DOUS peak structure of the organic films studied obtained from the TCS results showed a good correspondence to the main π* and σ* DOUS bands obtained from the density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The interfacial barrier was characterized by the negative charge transfer from the CuPc overlayer to the F16-CuPc underlayer occurred within the 5 nm thick interfacial region in the CuPc overlayer which was accompanied by the decrease of the surface work function from 4.9±0.1 eV to 4.3±0.1 eV. The stabilization of the π* DOUS bands, as well as restructuring of the low lying σ* bands was observed in the in the case of the fluorinated film (F16- CuPc) compared to the case of the unsubstituted CuPc film.
Next Day Subjective and Objective Recovery Indices Following Acute Low and High Training Loads in Academy Rugby Union Players

The aim of this study was to determine the sensitivity of selected subjective and objective monitoring assessments in detecting changes in group and individual responses to low and high load bouts of high intensity intermittent exercise. In a counterbalanced crossover design, Thirteen Academy Rugby Union players (mean ± SD: age: 18 ± 1 years) performed a low load (15 min) and a high load (90 min) bout of high intensity intermittent exercise (Loughborough Intermittent Shuttle Test) one week apart. Monitoring assessments were performed immediately prior to and 20 h following each trial. Subjective self-report Well-being Questionnaire (WQ) items showed small to large deteriorations following the high load compared to low load (d = 0.4–1.5, p = 0.03–0.57). A very large increase in resting HR (HRrest) (d = 2.1, p = 0.02), moderate decrease in heart rate variability (HRV) indices (d = 0.7, p = 0.04 and d = 0.7, p = 0.01 for the natural logarithm of the standard deviation of R-R intervals (ln SDNN) and the root square of the mean squared differences of successive R-R intervals (rMSSD), respectively) and no change in countermovement jump (d = 0.0, p = 0.97) were evident following the high load compared to low load. Individual WQ responses revealed 7/9, 7/9, 6/9, 6/9, 5/9, 3/9 and 1/9 participants reported deteriorations in recovery, sleep quality, motivation, muscle soreness, fatigue, stress and appetite, respectively, following the high load compared to low load. Individual analysis indicated a negative response following the high load compared to low load in HRrest, ln SDNN and ln rMSSD for 4/6, 2/6 and 1/6 participants, respectively. Selected WQ items detected group and individual responses to high load and low load highlighting their potential utility. However, objective assessments lacked the sensitivity to detect small individual changes.
Distinct Roles for the Cerebellum, Angular Gyrus, and Middle Temporal Gyrus in Action–Feedback Monitoring

Action-feedback monitoring is essential to ensure meaningful interactions with the external world. This process involves generating efference copy-based sensory predictions and comparing these with the actual action-feedback. As neural correlates of comparator processes, previous fMRI studies have provided heterogeneous results, including the cerebellum, angular and middle temporal gyrus. However, these studies usually comprised only self-generated actions. Therefore, they might have induced not only action-based prediction errors, but also general sensory mismatch errors. Here, we aimed to disentangle these processes using a custom-made fMRI-compatible movement device, generating active and passive hand movements with identical sensory feedback. Online visual feedback of the hand was presented with a variable delay. Participants had to judge whether the feedback was delayed. Activity in the right cerebellum correlated more positively with delay in active than in passive trials. Interestingly, we also observed activation in the angular and middle temporal gyri, but across both active and passive conditions. This suggests that the cerebellum is a comparator area specific to voluntary action, whereas angular and middle temporal gyri seem to detect more general intersensory conflict. Correlations with behavior and cerebellar activity nevertheless suggest involvement of these temporoparietal areas in processing and awareness of temporal discrepancies in action-feedback monitoring.
Clinical activity of ceftazidime/avibactam against MDR Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa: pooled data from the ceftazidime/avibactam Phase III clinical trial programme

Objectives This analysis evaluated the clinical activity of ceftazidime/avibactam against MDR Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates pooled from the adult Phase III clinical trials in patients with complicated intra-abdominal infection (cIAI), complicated urinary tract infection (cUTI) or nosocomial pneumonia (NP) including ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Methods Baseline isolates from five Phase III randomized controlled trials of ceftazidime/avibactam versus predominantly carbapenem comparators in patients with cIAI (RECLAIM 1 and 2; NCT01499290 and RECLAIM 3; NCT01726023), cUTI (RECAPTURE 1 and 2; NCT01595438 and NCT01599806), NP including VAP (REPROVE; NCT01808092) and cIAI or cUTI caused by ceftazidime-non-susceptible Gram-negative pathogens (REPRISE; NCT01644643) were tested for MDR status and susceptibility to ceftazidime/avibactam and carbapenem-based comparators using CLSI broth microdilution methodology. Microbiological and clinical responses for patients with ≥1 MDR Enterobacteriaceae or P. aeruginosa isolate were assessed at the test-of-cure (TOC) visit. Results In the pooled microbiologically modified ITT population, 1051 patients with MDR Enterobacteriaceae and 95 patients with MDR P. aeruginosa isolates were identified. Favourable microbiological response rates at TOC for all MDR Enterobacteriaceae and MDR P. aeruginosa were 78.4% and 57.1%, respectively, for ceftazidime/avibactam and 71.6% and 53.8%, respectively, for comparators. The proportions of patients with ≥1 MDR isolate who were clinically cured at TOC were similar in the ceftazidime/avibactam (85.4%) and comparator (87.9%) arms. Conclusions Ceftazidime/avibactam demonstrated similar clinical efficacy to predominantly carbapenem comparators against MDR Enterobacteriaceae and P. aeruginosa, and may be a suitable alternative to carbapenem-based therapies for cIAI, cUTI and NP/VAP caused by MDR Gram-negative pathogens.
SERS: Social-Aware Energy-Efficient Relay Selection in D2D Communications

The explosion of mobile applications and phenomenal adoption of mobile connectivity by end users have generated increasing amounts of mobile data traffic. Recognizing the need of increasing network capacity, cooperative device-to-device (D2D) communications and efficient power allocation have been proposed to address the imperative problem. Existing works mainly focus on relay selection and power control at physical layer. The social connections between mobile users, however, are omitted in consideration of improving the cooperative D2D communication quality. Leveraging social trust, we propose an innovative social-aware energy-efficient relay selection (SERS) mechanism that considers the hidden social ties among mobile users to ensure that more users are willing to participate in the cooperative communications. The proposed SERS takes both social and physical constraints into account to determine the best choice of relay devices. In SERS, we further develop an optimization problem based on game theory, aiming at reducing energy consumption and interference. In the game, social distance is treated as a penalty coefficient and performs distributed control of the transmission power for D2D communications. Simulations based on real-world social network data traces show that SERS achieves a significant performance gain, compared with other relay selection approaches.
Prefrontal oxygenation during executive tasks in children with developmental coordination disorder

iii Chapter 1 – Introduction.1 Chapter 2 – Review of Literature.5 Chapter 3 Prefrontal Activation during Executive Tasks in Children with Developmental Coordination Disorder: A NIRS Study.24 Introduction. 24 Methods.29 Results. 36 Discussion.41 References.43 Acknowledgements.49
The polyadenosine RNA-binding protein ZC3H14 interacts with the THO complex and coordinately regulates the processing of neuronal transcripts

Abstract The polyadenosine RNA-binding protein ZC3H14 is important in RNA processing. Although ZC3H14 is ubiquitously expressed, mutation of the ZC3H14 gene causes a non-syndromic form of intellectual disability. Here, we examine the function of ZC3H14 in the brain by identifying ZC3H14-interacting proteins using unbiased mass spectrometry. Through this analysis, we identified physical interactions between ZC3H14 and multiple RNA processing factors. Notably, proteins that comprise the THO complex were amongst the most enriched proteins. We demonstrate that ZC3H14 physically interacts with THO components and that these proteins are required for proper RNA processing, as loss of ZC3H14 or THO components leads to extended bulk poly(A) tail length. Furthermore, we identified the transcripts Atp5g1 and Psd95 as shared RNA targets of ZC3H14 and the THO complex. Our data suggest that ZC3H14 and the THO complex are important for proper processing of Atp5g1 and Psd95 RNA, as depletion of ZC3H14 or THO components leads to decreased steady-state levels of each mature transcript accompanied by accumulation of Atp5g1 and Psd95 pre-mRNA in the cytoplasm. Taken together, this work provides the first unbiased identification of nuclear ZC3H14-interacting proteins from the brain and links the functions of ZC3H14 and the THO complex in the processing of RNA.
Design and Baseline Characteristics of the HELP Study: An Extended and Long-Term Observation of Pathological Myopia in Caucasians

Purpose: To assess the natural disease progression of high myopia in Caucasians considered at risk for the development of myopic choroidal neovascularization (mCNV). Methods: Subjects were recruited in 25 clinical sites between June 2014 and June 2016. Main inclusion criteria included axial length of ≥26 mm, best-corrected visual acuity ≥0.05 decimal equivalent and presence of at least one out of five predefined morphological disease risk criteria. These were (1) subfoveal choroidal thinning < 50 µm, (2) enhanced choroidal curvature length > 6,300 µm, (3) lacquer cracks, (4) patchy atrophy > 5 mm2 and (5) preexisting mCNV in the fellow eye (German Clinical Trial Register DRKS00007761). Results: A total of 150 participants (66% females) with a mean age of 57.2 (±12.7) years (range 21.9–86.2 years) were included. The disease criteria most frequently encountered were choroidal thinning (33.3%) and lacquer cracks (32.7%). Enhanced choroidal curvature length was detected in only 8 subjects and always occurred in combination with other disease criteria. Presence of patchy atrophy was found to be more common in older subjects (p = 0.0012) and also associated with a more severe disease manifestation. Conclusion: The baseline data of this study indicate that enhanced choroidal curvature might be less common in Caucasians than in Asian populations. Further, disease severity in patients with high myopia is relatively high in the presence of patchy atrophy.
Slow but Steady: Cap-Based Client-Network Interaction for Improved Streaming Experience

Due to widespread popularity of streaming services, many streaming clients typically compete over bottleneck links for their own bandwidth share. However, in such environments, the rate adaptation algorithms used by modern streaming clients often result in instability and unfairness, which negatively affects the playback experience. In addition, mobile clients often waste bandwidth by trying to stream excessively high video bitrates. We present and evaluate a cap-based framework in which the network and clients cooperate to improve the overall Quality of Experience (QoE). First, to motivate the framework, we conduct a comprehensive study using the lab setup showing that a fixed rate cap comes with both benefits (e.g., data savings, improved stability and fairness) and drawbacks (e.g., higher startup times and slower recovery after stalls). To address the drawbacks while keeping the benefits, we then introduce and evaluate a framework that includes (i) buffer-aware rate caps in which the network temporarily boosts the rate cap of clients during video startup and under low buffer conditions, and (ii) boost-aware client-side adaptation algorithms that optimize the bitrate selection during the boost periods. Combined with information sharing between the network and clients, these mechanisms are shown to improve QoE, while reducing wasted bandwidth.