Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Tradeoff Approach for Optimal Event-Triggered Fault Detection

In this paper, an optimal fault detection scheme is presented for a closed-loop control system, where an event-triggering mechanism is utilized for the transmission of output measurements, addressing the design of residual generation and evaluation, while considering the effects associated with unknown disturbances and faults in the system and event-triggered transmission errors on the generated residual. The triggering parameter-dependent residual generation is designed to achieve a best tradeoff between robustness against unknown disturbances and sensitivity to faults, and the residual evaluation is designed to deliver a time-varying threshold that accounts for the effects of disturbances and event-triggered transmission errors on the generated residual. The results are general and simplify to those developed for optimal fault detection in time-triggered systems. In addition, a vehicle lateral dynamic system is adopted to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed optimal fault detection scheme as well as its advantages over an existing widely used event-triggered fault detection scheme.
BioSigKit: A Matlab Toolbox and Interface for Analysis of BioSignals

BioSigKit is a set of Matlab (The MathWorks Inc., Natick, USA) tools for analysis and visualization of bio-signals. Matlab is a widely used programming language among researchers thanks to its simple and flexible syntax. Biomedical signal processing is one of the main areas that has been benefiting from Matlab for research and rapid prototyping. BioSigKit is a collection of signal processing tools for analysis of ECG, EEG, EMG and 3 Channel Accelerometer recordings. While there are already tools such as ECG-Kit (Demski & Soria, 2016) that offer specialized algorithms for ECG processing, BioSigKit is a more general purpose biosignal analysis toolbox that allows processing various biological signals. Many of the subroutines in BioSigKit are already being actively used in research such as (H Sedghamiz, 2014, H Sedghamiz (2013)). BioSigKit gathers these popular signal processing algorithms under one roof. For the ECG processing, BioSigKit offers several popular algorthims that, with the exception of (Pan & Tompkins, 1985), are only available in C language. BioSigKit offers the Matlab implementation of (Afonso, Tompkins, Nguyen, & Luo, 1999; J. W. Lee, Kim, Lee, Lee, & Lee, 2002; Scholkmann, Boss, & Wolf, 2012) for QRS detection and analysis along with several other algorithms that are detailed in the next section. BioSigKit also provides subroutines for activity detection in EMG recordigs, posture estimation from 3 channel Accelerometers and several adaptive filtering routines as well. The object oriented implementation of BioSigKit makes it easy to update and add new algorithms to its collection. The ultimate goal of BioSigKit is to provide an easy-to-use interactive Matlab software that provides easy access to many standard bio-signal processing algorithms.
Prognostic Value of Mismatch Repair Genes for Patients With Colorectal Cancer: Meta-Analysis

DNA mismatch repair was proposed to play a pivotal role in the development and prognosis of colorectal cancer. However, the prognostic value of mismatch repair on colorectal cancer is still unknown. The PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials databases were searched. The articles about mismatch repair (including hMLH1, hMSH2, hMSH3, hMSH6, hPMSH1, and hPMSH2) deficiency for the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer were included in the study. The hazard ratio and its 95% confidence interval were used to measure the impact of mismatch repair deficiency on survival time. Twenty-one articles were included. The combined hazard ratio for mismatch repair deficiency on overall survival was 0.59 (95% confidence interval: 0.50-0.69) and that on disease-free survival was 0.57 (95% confidence interval: 0.43-0.75). In subgroup analysis, there were a significant association between overall survival and mismatch repair deficiency in Asian studies (hazard ratio: 0.67; 95% confidence interval: 0.50-0.91) and Western studies (hazard ratio: 0.56; 95% confidence interval: 0.46-0.67). For disease-free survival, the hazard ratios in Asian studies and Western studies were 0.55 (95% confidence interval: 0.38-0.81) and 0.62 (95% confidence interval: 0.50-0.78), respectively. Our meta-analysis indicated that mismatch repair could be used to evaluate the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer.
Towards purposeful enterprise modeling for enterprise analysis

Enterprise modeling languages provide abstractions of an enterprise in terms of conceptual models. This position paper argues that Requirements Engineering (RE) is a first class citizen for the design of enterprise modeling languages. We introduce a selection of requirements engineering techniques, and discuss how these can complement "technical" efforts in language design. As a contribution, we propose the PEMA language design process wherein requirements engineering plays an integral role. We postulate a set of characteristics that are crucial during the iterations of the PEMA process and make an outlook on the realization of the PEMA process.
Efficient Utilization of Adversarial Training towards Robust Machine Learners and its Analysis

Advancements in machine learning led to its adoption into numerous applications ranging from computer vision to security. Despite the achieved advancements in the machine learning, the vulnerabilities in those techniques are as well exploited. Adversarial samples are the samples generated by adding crafted perturbations to the normal input samples. An overview of different techniques to generate adversarial samples, defense to make classifiers robust is presented in this work. Furthermore, the adversarial learning and its effective utilization to enhance the robustness and the required constraints are experimentally provided, such as up to 97.65% accuracy even against CW attack. Though adversarial learning's effectiveness is enhanced, still it is shown in this work that it can be further exploited for vulnerabilities.
Energy-aware performance engineering in high performance computing

Advances in processor design have delivered performance improvements for decades. As physical limits are reached, however, refinements to the same basic technologies are beginning to yield diminishing returns. Unsustainable increases in energy consumption are forcing hardware manufacturers to prioritise energy efficiency in their designs. Research suggests that software modifications will be needed to exploit the resulting improvements in current and future hardware. New tools are required to capitalise on this new class of optimisation. This thesis investigates the field of energy-aware performance engineering. It begins by examining the current state of the art, which is characterised by ad-hoc techniques and a lack of standardised metrics. Work in this thesis addresses these deficiencies and lays stable foundations for others to build on. The first contribution made includes a set of criteria which define the properties that energy-aware optimisation metrics should exhibit. These criteria show that current metrics cannot meaningfully assess the utility of code or correctly guide its optimisation. New metrics are proposed to address these issues, and theoretical and empirical proofs of their advantages are given. This thesis then presents the Power Optimised Software Envelope (POSE) model, which allows developers to assess whether power optimisation is worth pursuing for their applications. POSE is used to study the optimisation characteristics of codes from the Mantevo mini-application suite running on a Haswell-based cluster. The results obtained show that of these codes TeaLeaf has the most scope for power optimisation while PathFinder has the least. Finally, POSE modelling techniques are extended to evaluate the system-wide scope for energy-aware performance optimisation. System Summary POSE allows developers to assess the scope a system has for energy-aware software optimisation independent of the code being run.
VisCoDeR: A tool for visually comparing dimensionality reduction algorithms

Ublicherweise lernt man Dimensionsreduktions-Techniken in Kursen, Videos, Buchern oder direkt durch wissenschaftliche Arbeiten welche in die jeweiligen DR-Techniken einfuhren bzw. diese beschreiben. Diese Lernmaterialien sind meist nicht sehr interaktiv und konzentrieren sich oft auf die mathematischen Hintergrunde und die Mechaniken von DR-Techniken. Mit VisCoDeR habe ich ein interaktives Online Tool erstellt, das als interaktives Lernmaterial verwendet werden kann um den Lernprozess zu unterstutzen. VisCoDeR besteht aus drei Modi. Der Discover Mode erlaubt das qualitative Vergleichen von unterschiedlichen DR-Techniken, indem die Ergebnisse der DR- Techniken als Scatterplots nebeneinander visualisiert und verknupft werden. Der Explore Mode erlaubt es hunderte Ergebnisse von DR-Techniken quantitativ zu vergleichen, indem die Ergebnisse als Punkte in einem Scatterplot mittels t-SNE visualisiert werden. Der Play Mode erlaubt es interaktiv die Parameter wahrend der Iterationen zu andern um die Auswirkungen am Verhalten beobachten zu konnen. Mit Case Studies wird gezeigt, dass dieser Ansatz hilfreich ist um Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschiede von verschiedenen DR-Techniken zu erkennen, und wichtige Aspekte einzelner DR-Techniken zu verstehen.
Positive Airway Pressure Versus High-Flow Nasal Cannula for Prevention of Extubation Failure in Infants After Congenital Heart Surgery*

Objectives: Compare the impact of initial extubation to positive airway pressure versus high-flow nasal cannula on postoperative outcomes in neonates and infants after congenital heart surgery. Design: Retrospective cohort study with propensity-matched analysis. Setting: Cardiac ICU within a tertiary care children’s hospital. Patients: Patients less than 6 months old initially extubated to either high-flow nasal cannula or positive airway pressure after cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass were included (July 2012 to December 2015). Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: Of 258 encounters, propensity matching identified 49 pairings of patients extubated to high-flow nasal cannula versus positive airway pressure. Extubation failure was 12% for all screened encounters. After matching, there was no difference in extubation failure rate between groups (positive airway pressure 16% vs high-flow nasal cannula 10%; p = 0.549). However, compared with high-flow nasal cannula, patients initially extubated to positive airway pressure experienced greater resource utilization: longer time to low-flow nasal cannula (83 vs 28 hr; p = 0.006); longer time to room air (159 vs 110 hr; p = 0.013); and longer postsurgical hospital length of stay (22 vs 14 d; p = 0.015). Conclusions: In this pediatric cohort, primary extubation to positive airway pressure was not superior to high-flow nasal cannula with respect to prevention of extubation failure after congenital heart surgery. Compared with high-flow nasal cannula, use of positive airway pressure was associated with increased hospital resource utilization. Prospective initiatives aimed at establishing best clinical practice for postoperative noninvasive respiratory support are needed.
Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor in neonatal sepsis with leukopenia: A prospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE To observe the duration for normalization of the Total Leucocyte Count (TLC) with adjuvant Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating Factor (G-CSF) treatment in leukopenic neonatal sepsis, and to compare the neutrophilic response to G-CSF in neutropenic vs non-neutropenic subgroups. METHODS This prospective cohort study was carried out at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Military Hospital Rawalpindi (NICU) from 1st August 2015 to 25th January 2017. Fifty one newborns with sepsis and leucopenia were sampled judgmentally from a population of 5666 admitted to NICU during the study period. The sample was then divided into neutropenic (exposed) and non-neutropenic (non-exposed) subgroups on basis of the absolute neutrophil count (ANC). Adjuvant G-CSF was given to all subjects and stopped once TLC normalized. SPSS v22 was used to calculate mean G-CSF treatment duration and rise in ANC. A Pearson correlation coefficient and simple linear regression were computed to assess the relationship between pre-GCSF ANC and the duration of treatment with GCSF. Comparison of subgroups with respect to rise in ANC was done using independent samples T-test. RESULTS The mean duration of G-CSF treatment was 1.82±0.81 days (1.0 - 4.0). Neutropenic neonates constituted 49% (n=25). The Pearson correlation coefficient showed a positive but negligible and non-significant correlation between the two variables, r = 0.070, n = 51, p = 0.625. A non-significant regression equation was found (F(1,49) = 0.242,p=0.625) with an R2 of 0.005. There was a 7.06±4.5 fold rise in ANC in the neutropenic subgroup compared to the 4.5±3.1 fold rise in the non-neutropenic subgroup (p=0.04). CONCLUSIONS The mean duration for recovery from leukopenia with G-CSF treatment in neonatal sepsis was less than 2 days and had no significant relationship with pre-GCSF absolute neutrophil count. The neutrophilic response was significantly higher in neutropenic compared to non-neutropenic neonates. As GCSF made no difference to the outcome in terms of mortality, its routine use is not recommended in leukopenic neonatal sepsis.
Can resource dilution explain differences in height by birth order and family size? A study of 389,287 male recruits in twentieth-century Netherlands

Abstract ‘Resource dilution’ has been invoked as a possible mechanism to explain the inverse relation between sibship size and sibling heights in European populations (Öberg, 2015). Alternative explanations include confounding of the relation by other measured or unmeasured family characteristics including socio-economic position or birth order. It is difficult to quantify the contribution of any factor in isolation. To examine the question, we accessed data from the national birth cohort of 389,287 Dutch conscripts born in 1944–1947 and examined for military service at age 18. The records include all men of Dutch nationality born between January 1, 1944 and December 31, 1947 examined for military service in the Netherlands. The birth cohorts provide a well-defined study population to reliably assess the impact of family size and birth order on adult height, accounting for potential confounders. The cohorts include a large number of high-parity families, provide reliable information on both family size and birth order, and differentiate between all birth orders. The military examinations provide reliable information on height for all study subjects and uniform measurements at age 18. We show that recruits from larger families are shorter than recruits from smaller families; that birth order effects are small in relation to family size effects; and that birth order and family size effects are comparable in recruits from higher to lower socio-economic backgrounds. Recruits from higher backgrounds are significantly taller however. Our findings are compatible with a ’resource dilution’ hypothesis, but our data provide no information on any specific differences in the childhood environment in terms of nutrition, education, or other family behaviours could explain the observed height differences at age 18. Additional studies will be needed to identify what differences in specific family behaviours could lead to changes in height development.
A real‐time field experiment on search and rescue operations assisted by unmanned aerial vehicles

This paper reports on the performance of a novel system for supporting search and rescue activities, known as SARUAV (search and rescue unmanned aerial vehicle), in a field experiment during which a real‐world search scenario was simulated. The experiment took place on March 2–3, 2017, at two sites located in southwestern Poland. Three groups acted in the experiment: (1) SARUAV and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operators, (2) ground searchers, and (3) participants who simulated being lost. In the uncomplicated topography without snow cover, the system identified the lost persons, and ground searchers found them 31 min after the SARUAV report had been disseminated. In the mountainous area covered with snow, one person was found within 9 min after searchers received the SARUAV report; however, the other two persons were not identified by SARUAV. The field experiment served as a proof of concept of the SARUAV system, confirmed its potential in person identification studies, and helped to identify numerous scientific and technical problems that need to be solved to develop a mature version of the system.
Management of allergic rhinitis in the community pharmacy: identifying the reasons behind medication self-selection

Background: Community pharmacists have a key role to play in the management of allergic rhinitis (AR). Their role is especially important because the majority of medications used to treat AR are available for purchase over-the-counter (OTC), allowing patients to self-select their own medications and bypass the pharmacists. Patients’ self-selection often results in suboptimal treatment selection, undertreated AR and poor clinical outcomes. In order for pharmacists to optimise the care for AR patients in the pharmacy, pharmacists need to be able to identify patient cohorts who self-select and are at high risk of mismanagement. Objectives: This study aimed to compare the demographics, clinical characteristics and medication selected, between pharmacy customers who choose to self-select and those who speak with a pharmacist when purchasing medication for their AR in a community pharmacy and identify factors associated with AR patients’ medication(s) self-selection behaviour. Methods: A cross-sectional observational study was conducted in a convenience sample of community pharmacies from the Sydney metropolitan area. Demographics, pattern of AR symptoms, their impact on quality of life (QOL) and medication(s) selected, were collected. Logistic regressions were used to identify factors associated with participants’ medication self-selection behaviour. Results: Of the 296 recruited participants, 202 were identified with AR; 67.8% were female, 54.5% were >40 years of age, 64.9% had a doctor’s diagnosis of AR, and 69.3% self-selected medication(s). Participants with AR who self-select were 4 times more likely to experience moderate-severe wheeze (OR 4.047, 95% CI 1.155-14.188) and almost 0.4 times less likely to experience an impact of AR symptoms on their QOL (OR 0.369, 95% CI 0.188-0.727). Conclusions: The factors associated with AR patients’ self-selecting medication(s) are the presence of wheeze and the absence of impact on their QOL due to AR symptoms. By identifying this cohort of patients, our study highlights an opportunity for pharmacists to engage these patients and encourage discussion about their AR and asthma management.
Systematic review: efficacy and safety of switching patients between reference and biosimilar infliximab

Biosimilar versions of widely prescribed drugs, including the tumour‐necrosis factor antagonist infliximab, are becoming increasingly available. As biosimilars are not identical copies of reference products, evidence may be required to demonstrate that switching between a reference biologic and biosimilars is safe and efficacious. To establish interchangeability, US Food and Drug Administration guidance states that studies must demonstrate that biosimilars remain equivalent or non‐inferior to a reference product after multiple switches between products.
N-Arylcinnamamides as antistaphylococcal agents

Despite the fact that the percentage of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus is slowly decreasing in Europe [1], new compounds for fighting bacterial infections are still needed. Biofilm-associated infections, which are a significant cause of mortality, are also considered a serious problem [2]. Derivatives of cinnamic acid have been investigated for a long time due to their wide spectrum of biological activities, such as antibacterial, antiviral, antidiabetic, anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory [3]. Based on these facts, a series of 16 ring-substituted N-arylcinnamamides was synthetized and investigated for their antibacterial activity against S. aureus ATCC 29213 and 3 methicillin-resistant isolates. The microtitration dilution method was used for the determination of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). In addition, the most potent compounds were studied for their synergetic effect with clinically used antibacterial chemotherapeutics and ability to inhibit and degrade staphylococcal biofilm; in addition, the dynamics of their antibacterial activity was characterized. (2E)-N-[3,5-bis(Trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-3-phenylprop-2-enamide and (2E)-3-phenyl-N-[3-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]prop-2-enamide showed the highest activities (MICs = 22.27 and 27.47 µM, respectively) against all four staphylococcal strains. These compounds showed an activity against biofilm formation of S. aureus ATCC 29213 in concentrations close to MICs, but no degradative effect on mature biofilm was observed. Both compounds showed abilities to increase the activity of clinically used antibiotics with different mechanisms of action (vancomycin, ciprofloxacin and tetracycline). In time-kill studies, a decrease of colony-forming units (CFU/mL) of >99% was observed after 8 h from the beginning of incubation. This contribution was supported by grant No. UK/229/2018 of the Comenius University in Bratislava, grants FaF UK/9/2018 and FaF UK/37/2018 of the Faculty of Pharmacy of Comenius University in Bratislava and partially by SANOFI-AVENTIS Pharma Slovakia, s.r. o. HEUER, O. et al. Antimicrobial resistance surveillance in Europe: annual report of the European Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance Network (EARS-Net). European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 2010. SON, J.S. et al. Antibacterial and biofilm removal activity of a podoviridae Staphylococcus aureus bacteriophage SAP-2 and a derived recombinant cell-wall-degrading enzyme. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 2010. 86, 1439-1449. POSPISILOVA, S. et al. Synthesis and spectrum of biological activities of novel N‑arylcinnamamides. J. Mol. Sci. 2018, 19, 2318.
Influence of grandmothers on exclusive breastfeeding: cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT Objective To evaluate the influence of grandmothers of infants on exclusive breastfeeding, from their perspective. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study was carried out with 91 women from a hospital in the inland state of São Paulo. By means of a questionnaire, the following data were collected: sociodemographic data of the grandmother, mother and child; duration of exclusive breastfeeding of daughter or daughter-in-law; information on kinship of participant and grandchild; kind of help provided by grandmother; and knowledge about breastfeeding. Results The prevalence of infants on exclusive breastfeeding at two months was 35.17%; a total of 67.3% of grandmothers considered it important to give food to babies before six months of life, and 54% considered relevant breastfeeding at regular intervals. Moreover, 40% believed in weak milk and were not aware of signs of sufficient breast milk. Of the grandmothers interviewed, 69% had already offered tea and water to their grandchildren. In the univariate analysis, the maternal grandmother was more involved and close to the pair mother and child. Conclusion The presence of grandmothers influences in exclusive breastfeeding.