Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Designing a data-tracking system for a private therapeutic day school

DESIGNING A DATA-TRACKING SYSTEM FOR A PRIVATE THERAPEUTIC DAY SCHOOL OLIN J. BITTNER Antioch University Seattle Seattle, WA The Children’s Institute on Mercer Island (CHILD) is a private therapeutic day school in the Seattle area serving students in elementary and secondary education. Their stated mission is to “provide innovative school programs and therapies that promote social, emotional and academic development for children with special needs. ” In the fall of 2012 they engaged in a program evaluation that in many respects resembles a needs assessment in order to explore and improve aspects of their functioning. Through preliminary evaluation processes, including dialogue with CHILD’s Leadership Team and a survey of internal stakeholders, an area of interest in student mental health was uncovered and an initial evaluation question emerged: “How does CHILD claim expertise, particularly in the area of mental health? ” Historically, evidence of CHILD’s impact in this regard has been largely anecdotal. Aside from a limited collection of behavioral data pertaining largely to IEP goals and objectives, CHILD does not track mental health, or long-term student outcomes. As a program interested in its own claims to “expertise,” members of the Leadership Team and other stakeholders have called for improved data collection in this regard. This program evaluation is an attempt to understand the types of data that would be most useful to CHILD’s interest in expertise and then design a program for tracking this data. Bronfenbrenner’s (1994) ecological model was used as a framework
Incidence and Healing Rates of Meniscal Tears in Patients Undergoing Repair During the First Stage of 2-Stage Revision Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction

Background: Meniscal tears, including tears at the root attachment, have been associated with tears of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in both primary and revision settings. However, there is a paucity of literature reporting the healing rates of meniscal repair during 2-stage revision ACL reconstruction (ACLR). Purpose: To evaluate the healing rates of meniscal repairs performed during 2-stage revision ACLR in ACL-deficient knees and to report the incidence of meniscus root tears in patients undergoing primary ACLR as compared with revision ACLR. Study Design: Case series; Level of evidence, 4. Methods: Patients who underwent primary and revision ACLR by a single surgeon were retrospectively identified. Revision ACLRs were grouped according to 1- or 2-stage ACLR. Meniscal tears were grouped according to laterality (medial, lateral) and location of tears. Meniscal repair technique was recorded, including transtibial or inside-out. Meniscal repair healing was assessed via second-look arthroscopy at the time of second-stage revision ACLR. Results: There were 1168 patients identified who underwent ACLR: 851 primary and 317 revision procedures. Sixty-four patients underwent meniscal repair during first-stage bone grafting in ACL-deficient knees, with an overall healing rate of 86%. The healing rates were 82.3% for meniscus root tears via the transtibial repair technique and 92.4% for meniscal peripheral tears via the inside-out repair technique. Meniscus root tears had overall incidences of 15.5% and 26.2% in primary and revision ACLRs, respectively. The incidence of lateral meniscus posterior root tears was approximately 4 times higher than of medial meniscus posterior root tears in both primary (12.2% vs 3.2%) and revision (20.5% vs 5.6%) ACLRs. Conclusion: A high incidence of meniscus root tears was found in patients undergoing revision ACLRs as compared with primary ACLRs. Meniscal repairs have a high rate of healing and success when performed during the first stage of revision ACLR in ACL-deficient knees.
Designs of Sparse Predictive Decision Feedback Equalizers

Compressive sensing techniques can be employed to choose the locations of active tap-weights in the design of a sparse decision feedback equalizer (DFE), thus reducing the DFEâ€™s computational complexity. This paper proposes sparse predictive DFEs (PDFEs) by using the orthogonal matching pursuit (OMP) and the subspace pursuit (SP), which are two popular greedy algorithms. In contrast to the optimal nonsparse PDFE, which may achieve the minimum mean-squared-error (MSE) performance, the sparse PDFEs yielded significant complexity reductions at an acceptable MSE performance loss. Simulation results demon-strated that the sparse PDFE employing the SP algorithm (SP-PDFE) offers superior symbol error rate (SER) performance as compared with the sparse PDFE employing the OMP algorithm (OMP-PDFE) by using two sparse digital television channels. Moreover, the SER performance of the SP-PDFE tends to be much closer to that of the optimal nonsparse PDFE than the OMP-PDFE does for the same sparsity of tap-weight vector.
Sifter: Scalable Sampling for Distributed Traces, without Feature Engineering

Distributed tracing is a core component of cloud and datacenter systems, and provides visibility into their end-to-end runtime behavior. To reduce computational and storage overheads, most tracing frameworks do not keep all traces, but sample them uniformly at random. While effective at reducing overheads, uniform random sampling inevitably captures redundant, common-case execution traces, which are less useful for analysis and troubleshooting tasks. In this work we present Sifter, a general-purpose framework for biased trace sampling. Sifter captures qualitatively more diverse traces, by weighting sampling decisions towards edge-case code paths, infrequent request types, and anomalous events. Sifter does so by using the incoming stream of traces to build an unbiased low-dimensional model that approximates the system's common-case behavior. Sifter then biases sampling decisions towards traces that are poorly captured by this model. We have implemented Sifter, integrated it with several open-source tracing systems, and evaluate with traces from a range of open-source and production distributed systems. Our evaluation shows that Sifter effectively biases towards anomalous and outlier executions, is robust to noisy and heterogeneous traces, is efficient and scalable, and adapts to changes in workloads over time.
A Novel Method for Non-Stationary CFO Estimation and Tracking in Inter-UAV OFDM Links

Drones or UAVs are widely used today for commer- cial as well as strategic purposes. When a large numbers of drones fly and manueuver together, the OFDM based communication links between drones would see time-varying Doppler. In partic- ular, we study a measurement model where the Doppler variationis significant even within one OFDM block (symbol) duration. We approximately model the time variation of Doppler within one OFDM symbol as well as one whole frame and propose a low complexity timing correlation based algorithm. This approach exploits the repetition of the preamble symbol as well as theself similarity of the Cyclic Prefix(CP) to estimate the Doppler frequency, track the same throughout the frame. The proposed approach provides a far superior bit error rate performance in this time-varying Doppler models when compared to conventional schemes.
Nutrition Care Management Practices for In-Patients with Dysphagia in Korean Clinical Settings

This study aimed to examine nutrition care management for in-patients with dysphagia and to evaluate knowledge on nutrition care related to dysphagia among dietitians in clinical settings. A total of 554 questionnaires were distributed to dietitians at hospitals located in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province in Korea, and 147 responses were used for data analysis after excluding responses with significant missing data. Study participants worked at general hospitals (37.2%), long-term care hospitals (24.3%), hospitals (19.2%), and tertiary hospitals (11.5%). Prior education and training related to dysphagia was received by 69.9% of the respondents. The percentage of hospitals that had diet guidelines for dysphagia was 68.0%. Dysphagia diets of 2 levels and 3 levels were provided in 55.1% and 34.7% of the hospitals, respectively. Overall 74.7% of the dietitians responded that they provided information on dysphagia diets to in-patients and caregivers, but only 45.7% of dietitians did so in the long-term care hospitals. Among the respondents who used commercial thickening agents, 77.2% used only one type of commercial thickening agent. Patients or caregivers (75.7%) or nurses (34.5%) were reported to modify viscosity of liquid. Dietitians showed low levels of knowledge on nutrition care related to dysphagia (a mean of 5.14 based on possible scores from 0 to 10 points). To promote nutritional consumption and prevent malnutrition and aspiration, hospitals need the standardized diet guidelines, and dietitians should improve their expertise in nutritional care for patients with dysphagia.
Dissatisfaction in Chat Reference Users: A Transcript Analysis Study

This study aims to identify factors and behaviors associated with user dissatisfaction with a chat reference interaction to provide chat operators with suggestions of behaviors to avoid. The researchers examined 473 transcripts from an academic chat reference consortium from June to December 2016. Transcripts were coded for 13 behaviors that were then statistically analyzed with exit survey ratings. When present in the chat, three behaviors explained user dissatisfaction: clarification, transfers, and referrals. The absence of three more behaviors also explained dissatisfaction: ending the chat mutually; maintaining a professional tone; and displaying interest or empathy.
Quality of life of patients with implanted cardiac devices: a transversal study

Objective: Evaluate the quality of life (QL) of patients with implanted cardiac devices and describe the recognition of electromagnetic sources, and symptoms, in the event of failure of the device. Methods: This is a transversal study that used the SF-36 questionnaire and an instrument developed to observe other variables. Results: The research included 56 patients, 58±13 years of age, predominantly male. In relation to QL, scores were: functional capacity = 58±26; pain = 65±32; vitality = 58±26; social aspects = 72±31; mental health = 69±26; physical aspects = 12.5(0-50); emotional aspects = 33(0-100); general health status = 49±25. The majority of the patients (91%) know that the device could suffer from interference. Conclusions: The sample of this study showed low QL scores in physical and emotional aspects, and in general health status. Besides that, patients were aware that the devices could suffer from magnetic interference, but they could not name the main sources of that interference.
The Effects of a Whey Protein and Guar Gum-Containing Preload on Gastric Emptying, Glycaemia, Small Intestinal Absorption and Blood Pressure in Healthy Older Subjects

A whey protein/guar gum preload reduces postprandial glycaemia in type 2 diabetes through slowing gastric emptying. However, gastric emptying has previously been assessed using a stable isotope breath test technique, which cannot discriminate between slowing of gastric emptying and small intestinal absorption. This preload also may be useful in the management of postprandial hypotension. We evaluated the effects of a whey protein/guar preload on gastric emptying, glucose absorption, glycaemic/insulinaemic and blood pressure (BP) responses to an oral glucose load. Eighteen healthy older participants underwent measurements of gastric emptying (scintigraphy), plasma glucose and insulin, glucose absorption, superior mesenteric artery (SMA) flow, BP and heart rate (HR) after ingesting a 50 g glucose drink, with or without the preload. The preload reduced plasma glucose (p = 0.02) and serum 3-O-methylglucose (3-OMG) (p = 0.003), and increased plasma insulin (p = 0.03). There was no difference in gastric emptying or BP between the two days. The reduction in plasma glucose on the preload day was related to the reduction in glucose absorption (r = 0.71, p = 0.002). In conclusion, the glucose-lowering effect of the preload may relate to delayed small intestinal glucose absorption and insulin stimulation, rather than slowing of gastric emptying.
Dissonance Between Human and Machine Understanding

Complex machine learning models are deployed in several critical domains including healthcare and autonomous vehicles nowadays, albeit as functional blackboxes. Consequently, there has been a recent surge in interpreting decisions of such complex models in order to explain their actions to humans. Models which correspond to human interpretation of a task are more desirable in certain contexts and can help attribute liability, build trust, expose biases and in turn build better models. It is therefore crucial to understand how and which models conform to human understanding of tasks. In this paper we present a large-scale crowdsourcing study that reveals and quantifies the dissonance between human and machine understanding, through the lens of an image classification task. In particular, we seek to answer the following questions: Which (well performing) complex ML models are closer to humans in their use of features to make accurate predictions? How does task difficulty affect the feature selection capability of machines in comparison to humans? Are humans consistently better at selecting features that make image recognition more accurate? Our findings have important implications on human-machine collaboration, considering that a long term goal in the field of artificial intelligence is to make machines capable of learning and reasoning like humans.
Dosimetric Characterization of the Dual Layer MLC System for an O-Ring Linear Accelerator

The Halcyon is Varian’s latest linear accelerator that offers a single 6X flattening-filter-free beam with a jawless design that features a new dual layer multileaf collimator system with faster speed and reduced transmission. Dosimetric characteristics of the dual layer multileaf collimator system including transmission, dosimetric leaf gap, and tongue and groove effects were measured. Ionization chambers, diode arrays, and an electronic portal imaging device were used to measure various multileaf collimator characteristics. Transmission through both multileaf collimator banks was found to be 0.008%, while the distal and proximal banks alone had transmission values of 0.4%. The penumbra was slightly sharper for fields using only the distal multileaf collimator bank but found to be largely independent of leaf position with values between 2.7 to 3.0 mm at dmax for the combined multileaf collimator banks. The dosimetric leaf gap was measured for the proximal and distal multileaf collimator banks both individually and together and found to have values of −0.216 mm, −0.225 mm, and 0.964 mm, respectively. Measurements of dosimetric leaf gap at the leaf edge and midline were also performed. Tongue and groove effects were investigated with both the electronic portal imaging device and a 2-dimensional array of diodes.
Machine learning in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: an improved predictive model for short-term disability progression

Background Enhanced prediction of progression in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) could improve clinical trial design. Machine learning (ML) algorithms are methods for training predictive models with minimal human intervention. Objective To evaluate individual and ensemble model performance built using decision tree (DT)-based algorithms compared to logistic regression (LR) and support vector machines (SVMs) for predicting SPMS disability progression. Methods SPMS participants (n = 485) enrolled in a 2-year placebo-controlled (negative) trial assessing the efficacy of MBP8298 were classified as progressors if a 6-month sustained increase in Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) (≥1.0 or ≥0.5 for a baseline of ≤5.5 or ≥6.0 respectively) was observed. Variables included EDSS, Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite component scores, T2 lesion volume, brain parenchymal fraction, disease duration, age, and sex. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was the primary outcome for model evaluation. Results Three DT-based models had greater AUCs (61.8%, 60.7%, and 60.2%) than independent and ensemble SVM (52.4% and 51.0%) and LR (49.5% and 51.1%). Conclusion SPMS disability progression was best predicted by non-parametric ML. If confirmed, ML could select those with highest progression risk for inclusion in SPMS trial cohorts and reduce the number of low-risk individuals exposed to experimental therapies.
Evaluation of Salivary and Serum Concentration of Nickel and Chromium Ions in Orthodontic Patients and their Possible Influence on Hepatic Enzymes: An in vivo Study

Objectives: The aims of present study were to evaluate nickel and chromium ions concentrations in salivary and serum samples from patients treated with fixed orthodontic appliances and their possible influences on hepatic enzymes. Materials and methods: Saliva and blood samples were collected from 36 patients ranging in age from 12 to 24 years. Three samples of saliva and two samples of blood were obtained. First saliva and blood samples were collected before inserting fixed appliances. Second salivary samples were collected at 1 week, third salivary sample and second blood sample after 4 weeks of appliance insertion. Serum was prepared by centrifuging blood samples at 3000 rpm for 10 minutes. Spectrophotometric determinations were carried out using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Results and conclusion: In serum, significant increase in Ni and Cr ion concentration occurred in samples collected after 4 weeks. In saliva samples, nickel and chromium reached their highest lavels in first week. Mean liver function enzymes SGOT and SGPT were also significantly increased in 4 weeks. Fixed orthodontic appliances release measurable amount of nickel and chromium when placed in mouth, but this increase does not reach toxic levels for nickel and chromium in saliva and serum to cause harmful effects in human beings.
Anchoring lumen-apposing metal stent with coaxial plastic stent for endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage of pancreatic fluid collections: any benefit?

Background: Anchoring double-pigtail plastic stents (DPSs) within lumen-apposing metal stents (LAMSs) has been proposed to prevent adverse events during endoscopic drainage of pancreatic fluid collections (PFCs). We sought to compare the outcomes of patients who received LAMSs alone and those who received both LAMSs and anchoring DPSs for drainage of PFCs. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted at the University of Kentucky. Patients with PFCs who underwent endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage using LAMSs, with or without DPSs, between January 2016 and March 2018 were included. Categorical data were analyzed using chi-square tests, and continuous variables using 2-sample t-tests. Adverse events were defined according to the American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy’s Lexicon. The primary outcome was to evaluate the efficacy (PFC resolution), and safety (adverse events) of LAMSs with or without DPSs used to drain PFCs. Results: Fifty-seven patients with PFCs were treated by 2 experienced endoscopists over 26 months. Twenty-one (37%) patients received LAMSs alone, and 36 (63%) received LAMSs plus DPSs. Forty-three patients had walled-off pancreatic necrosis, and 14 patients had pancreatic pseudocyst. Clinical success (resolution of PFCs) was achieved in 15 patients (71.4%) in the LAMSs alone group, and 21 patients (58.3%) with LAMSs plus DPSs (P=0.32). In patients with LAMSs alone, 6 patients (28.6%) had adverse events, while in those with LAMSs plus DPSs, 14 (38.9%) patients had adverse events (P=0.43). Conclusion: No significant difference was identified in fluid resolution or adverse events between patients with LAMSs alone and those with LAMSs plus DPSs.
Influence of high fat and different types of carbohydrate diet on energy metabolism in growing mice

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine whether different types of carbohydrate diets with or without exercise changes energy metabolism at rest and during exercise. METHODS To minimize differences in food and energy intake between experimental groups, mice were pair-fed. After 1 week of adaptation, 40 male ICR mice (6 weeks old) were randomly divided into four groups: Sta. (high fat + high starch), Scu. (high fat + high sucrose), StaEX. (high fat + high starch + exercise), and SucEX. (high fat + high sucrose + exercise). StaEX. and ScuEX. groups underwent training by running on a treadmill five times a week. After 10 weeks of training, energy metabolism was measured for 24 h and during a 1 h exercise period. RESULTS The final body weight showed no significant difference between the groups. However, the weight of abdominal tissues (epididymal, perirenal, and mesenteric adipose tissue) in training groups was markedly decreased following 10 weeks of training. Results of all energy metabolism (24 h at rest and during 1 h of exercise) showed no significant interactions between diet and exercise. A brief summary of the results of the energy metabolism is that the metabolism related indicators over 24 h were more affected by the dietary pattern than the exercise but during the 1 h of exercise, training had more effect on energy metabolism than diet. CONCLUSION Our findings confirm that: (a) the type of carbohydrates included in the diet influence the metabolic responses over 24 h, (b) training had more effect on energy metabolism than diet during 1 h of exercise, (c) both results; abdominal adipose tissue weight and fat oxidation during exercise are suggestive for a beneficial effect of moderate physical activity on weight maintenance.
PHQ-9 and SNOT-22: Elucidating the Prevalence of Depression in Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Objective Chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) has been associated with comorbid depression, yet the prevalence of depression among all patients with CRS is not well described. The Patient Health Questionnaire–9 (PHQ-9), a validated instrument for diagnosing depression, has been used to assess depression in a variety of clinical settings. PHQ-9 scores ≥10 are the threshold for a depression diagnosis. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of depression in a rhinology practice and compare the PHQ-9 with the 22-item Sinonasal Outcome Test (SNOT-22). Study Design Retrospective chart review. Setting Tertiary rhinology practice. Subjects and Methods During the 2-month period ending April 30, 2018, all rhinology patients were asked to complete the PHQ-9 and SNOT-22. Results Among 216 patients, 46 (21.3%) had a self-reported history of depression, and 39 (18.1%) had a PHQ-9 score ≥10. Of the 39 patients screening positive for depression, 18 (41.9%) had no history of depression. Comparison of PHQ-9 with overall SNOT-22 score had a Pearson’s coefficient of 0.632 (P < .005). Logistic regression showed that the highest 2 quintiles of SNOT-22 scores had an odds ratio of 60.6 (95% CI, 9.7-378.3) for a positive depression screen (PHQ-9 score ≥10). Conclusion Depression rates (estimated by PHQ-9 responses) among rhinology patients are similar to chronic disease populations; depression may be underdiagnosed in rhinology patients. Higher SNOT-22 scores were associated with higher PHQ-9 scores. Further studies are warranted to understand the impact of comorbid conditions of depression and CRS in patient quality of life.