Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Time of Assay on Behavioral Responses of Laboratory and Field Populations Aedes aegypti and Culex quinquefasciatus (Diptera: Culicidae) to DEET

ABSTRACT Knowledge on test conditions that may influence behavioral responses of mosquitoes is critical when excito-repellency tests are conducted. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of test time differences on normal circadian activity and behavioral responses of field and colonized Aedes aegypti (L.) ( = Stegomyia aegypti) and Culex quinquefasciatus Say to DEET, one of the most common synthetic repellent active ingredients available. Two field populations of Ae. aegypti and Cx. quinquefasciatus from Kanchanaburi and Nonthaburi provinces, respectively, and two long-standing laboratory populations, Ae. aegypti obtained from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Cx. quinquefasciatus from the Ministry of Public Health, Thailand, were used. Each population was exposed to DEET during two different periods of time (0900–1500 hours) and (2100–0300 hours). Both field and laboratory Cx. quinquefasciatus showed marked differences in spatial repellent escape responses between day and nighttime periods but none in direct contact tests. No significant differences between day and nighttime testing periods were observed with field or laboratory Ae. aegypti, except a higher daytime escape response from noncontact DEET treatment. This study indicates that test time may influence the behavioral avoidance responses and is a potential confounder of excitorepellency evaluations.
When the Greedy Solution Solves a Class of Knapsack Problems

This paper analyzes a heuristic for the knapsack problem that recursively determines a solution by making a variable with smallest marginal unit cost as large as possible. Recursive necessary and sufficient conditions for the optimality of such “greedy” solutions and a “good” algorithm for verifying these conditions are given. Maximum absolute error for nonoptimal “greedy” solutions is also examined.
Measurement of inhalation dose due to radon and its progeny in an oil refinery and its dwellings

Background: Radon, an invisible, odorless, heaviest (nine times heavier than air) and radioactive gas is an aberration (the only gas in the long decay chain of heavy metal elements). It is ubiquitously present in dwellings and in the environment. Humans receive the greatest radiation dose in their homes. That's where they spend most time - typically 70%, more for small children. Recent worldwide surveys reveal that an average person receives each year more radiation from radon than from all other natural or man-made sources combined. Over the years, the radiation exposure accumulated at home may exceed the exposure of uranium miners and lead to lung disorders. Therefore it is fundamental and justified to make a quantitative assessment of the radon in dwellings and the environment of work place. In this study, measurement of radon and its progeny levels was carried out in the environment of an oil refinery. Besides, radon and its progeny levels were also measured in the dwellings situated on the refinery premises and the dwellings in the city for comparison. Materials and Methods: LR-115, Type- II (Kodak Pathe, France), plastic track detectors commonly known as solid state nuclear track detectors (SSNTDs) were used to measure the radon concentration over long integrated times. Alpha particles emitted from radon cause radiation damage tracks, which were subsequently revealed by chemical etching in NaOH. These alpha tracks registered were counted by optical microscope at suitable magnification and converted into radon concentration. Results: The geometric means (GM) of potential alpha energy concentration (PAEC), Equilibrium Equivalent Concentration of radon (EEC value), annual exposure and annual effective dose in the environment of refinery premises was 10.09 mWL, 93.43 Bq m -3 , 0.41 WLM and 1.61 mSv, in refinery dwellings 12.21 mWL, 112.96 Bq m -3 , 0.50 WLM and 1.94 mSv and in city dwellings 8.24 mWL, 76.23 Bq m -3 , 0.34 WLM and 1.31 mSv respectively. Conclusion: The dose levels in the refinery premises were found to be marginally below the ICRP recommendations. The radon and its progeny levels were higher in the dwellings of refinery township as compared to the city dwellings. While studying seasonal variation, it was found that the measured values of radon and its progeny levels were higher in winter (November to February) than in summer (May to August). This study showed that the presence of fossil fuels like natural gas, LPG etc. in the environment had resulted into higher levels of radon and its progeny in the refinery dwellings. Iran. J. Radiat. Res., 2004; 1(4): 181-186
An Analysis of General Exponential Smoothing

General exponential smoothing and adaptive smoothing are terms used to describe the application of discounted least squares to the fitting of certain mathematical functions to time series data. The technique yields forecasts satisfying simple recursive equations that generally contain fairly complex terms. We obtain the transfer function of such forecasting systems and derive from it an equivalent but simpler and more economic forecasting system. Other advantages of using the transfer function form for these complicated forecasting systems are discussed from both theoretical and computational viewpoints.
Activation of nuclear factor-κ B is linked to resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients

Abstract The nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB system is a promising anticancer target due to its role in oncogenesis and chemoresistance in preclinical models. To provide evidence in a clinical setting on the role of NF-kappaB in breast cancer, we aimed to study the value of basal NF-kappaB/p65 in predicting resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and to characterise the pharmacodynamic changes in NF-kappaB/p65 expression following chemotherapy in patients with locally advanced breast cancer. Pre- and post-chemotherapy tumour specimens from 51 breast cancer patients treated with anthracycline- and/or taxane-containing neoadjuvant chemotherapy were assayed by immunohistochemistry for NF-kappaB/p65 subcellular expression. We studied NF-kappaB/p65, a well-characterised member of the NF-kappaB family that undergoes nuclear translocation when NF-kappaB is activated. Activation of NF-kappaB (i.e. nuclear NF-kappaB/p65 staining in pre-therapy specimens) was linked to chemoresistance. Patients with NF-kappaB/p65 nuclear staining in pre-treatment samples had a 20% clinical response rate, while patients with undetected nuclear staining had a 91% response rate to chemotherapy (P = 0.002). Notably, four patients achieved a complete histological response and none of them had pre-treatment NF-kappaB/p65 nuclear staining. Moreover, the number of patients with NF-kappaB/p65 activation increased after chemotherapy exposure. It is concluded that NF-kappaB/p65 activation assayed by immunohistochemistry is a predictive factor of resistance to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer patients. Moreover, NF-kappaB activation was inducible following chemotherapy in a proportion of breast cancer patients. These novel clinical findings strengthen the rationale for the use of NF-kappaB inhibitors to prevent or overcome chemoresistance in breast cancer.
Continuous deployment of mobile software at facebook (showcase)

Continuous deployment is the practice of releasing software updates to production as soon as it is ready, which is receiving increased adoption in industry. The frequency of updates of mobile software has traditionally lagged the state of practice for cloud-based services for a number of reasons. Mobile versions can only be released periodically. Users can choose when and if to upgrade, which means that several different releases coexist in production. There are hundreds of Android hardware variants, which increases the risk of having errors in the software being deployed. Facebook has made significant progress in increasing the frequency of its mobile deployments. Over a period of 4 years, the Android release has gone from a deployment every 8 weeks to a deployment every week. In this paper, we describe in detail the mobile deployment process at FB. We present our findings from an extensive analysis of software engineering metrics based on data collected over a period of 7 years. A key finding is that the frequency of deployment does not directly affect developer productivity or software quality. We argue that this finding is due to the fact that increasing the frequency of continuous deployment forces improved release and deployment automation, which in turn reduces developer workload. Additionally, the data we present shows that dog-fooding and obtaining feedback from alpha and beta customers is critical to maintaining release quality.
Bounds on the Expectation of a Convex Function of a Random Variable: With Applications to Stochastic Programming

This paper is concerned with the determination of tight lower and upper bounds on the expectation of a convex function of a random variable. The classic bounds are those of Jensen and Edmundson-Madansky and were recently generalized by Ben-Tal and Hochman. This paper indicates how still sharper bounds may be generated based on the simple idea of sequentially applying the classic bounds to smaller and smaller subintervals of the range of the random variable. The bounds are applicable in the multivariate case if the random variables are independent. In the dependent case bounds based on the Edmundson-Madansky inequality are not available; however, bounds may be developed using the conditional form of Jensen's inequality. We give some examples to illustrate the geometrical interpretation and the calculations involved in the numerical determination of the new bounds. Special attention is given to the problem of maximizing a nonlinear program that has a stochastic objective function.
Immunotherapy of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy

Background: chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) is an immune-mediated disease. Current treatments are aimed at modulating the immune response to achieve remission and maintain functional status. However, many patients fail to make a long-term recovery with current treatments. Objectives: to review the literature on immunotherapy for CIDP. Methods: We used the Search Strategy of the Cochrane Neuromuscular Disease Review Group to search Medline and Embase. Randomised and non-randomised studies examining the effects of any therapeutic agent in patients with CIDP were selected. The references of relevant articles were scanned to identify additional reports of interest. Results/conclusion: An overview of the different treatments for CIDP is provided. Emphasis has been placed on evidence from randomised controlled trials but open non-randomised studies are discussed if appropriate. We include a treatment algorithm and provide our views on current treatments, ongoing trials and possible directions for further research.
General Techniques for Combinatorial Approximation

This is a tutorial on general techniques for combinatorial approximation. In addition to covering known techniques, a new one is presented. These techniques generate fully polynomial time approximation schemes for a large number of NP-complete problems. Some of the problems they apply to are: 0-1 knapsack, integer knapsack, job sequencing with deadlines, minimizing weighted mean flow times, and optimal SPT schedules. We also present experimental results for the job sequencing with deadlines problem.
Is CTKUB the gold standard in assessing flank pain with diagnostic uncertainty? A one-year review of 228 cases

The use of computed tomography of the kidneys, ureters and bladder (CTKUB) in a "renal colic pathway" has been reported to yield high diagnosis rates and also identifies other non-urological pathology accounting for patients’ symptoms. Our study explores the diagnostic yield of CTKUB as the first-line investigation for suspected renal colic with regard to urolithiasis and additional findings. All CTKUB performed in cases of suspected renal colic were extracted from our radiology database from 1 April 2010 to 1 April 2011. Extracted information included: demographics, the department ordering the investigation, presence of ureteric calculi, presence of renal calculi and any additional findings that could account for patients’ symptoms, or otherwise. During the study 228 CTKUB were performed. The diagnosis rate of ureteric calculi was 33.7%. In the absence of a ureteric stone, additional findings as well as alternative diagnoses were higher (additional finding 49.7% (n=75) vs. 35% (n=27); alternative diagnosis 33.1% (n=50) vs. 15.6% (n=12) p < 0.05). In patients with ureteric calculi, the alternative diagnosis yield of 15.6% falls within the range of that previously documented. This study illustrates that when diagnostic clarity is not reached, CTKUB is being overused. This leads to unnecessary radiation exposure and resource wastage.
Optimum Solution Structure for a Repairable Inventory Problem

This paper proves that the optimum solution structure for an n-period repairable inventory problem is completely defined by three period dependent values: I¸n, the repair-up-to-level; I´n, the purchase-up-to-level; and I¸n + I¾n, the scrap-down-to-level. The specific problem examined includes fixed periodic reviews, instantaneous delivery of purchased and repaired units, backlogging of unsatisfied demand, random demand for serviceables, random return of repairables with any relationship being permitted between demand and returns and a convex differentiable cost function. The basic solution methodology is a backward dynamic programming technique in two dimensions with the Kuhn-Tucker saddle point theorems applied in each stage.
Minimizing a Submodular Function on a Lattice

This paper gives general conditions under which a collection of optimization problems, with the objective function and the constraint set depending on a parameter, has optimal solutions that are an isotone function of the parameter. Relating to this, we present a theory that explores and elaborates on the problem of minimizing a submodular function on a lattice.
Convolutional Matrix Factorization for Document Context-Aware Recommendation

Sparseness of user-to-item rating data is one of the major factors that deteriorate the quality of recommender system. To handle the sparsity problem, several recommendation techniques have been proposed that additionally consider auxiliary information to improve rating prediction accuracy. In particular, when rating data is sparse, document modeling-based approaches have improved the accuracy by additionally utilizing textual data such as reviews, abstracts, or synopses. However, due to the inherent limitation of the bag-of-words model, they have difficulties in effectively utilizing contextual information of the documents, which leads to shallow understanding of the documents. This paper proposes a novel context-aware recommendation model, convolutional matrix factorization (ConvMF) that integrates convolutional neural network (CNN) into probabilistic matrix factorization (PMF). Consequently, ConvMF captures contextual information of documents and further enhances the rating prediction accuracy. Our extensive evaluations on three real-world datasets show that ConvMF significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art recommendation models even when the rating data is extremely sparse. We also demonstrate that ConvMF successfully captures subtle contextual difference of a word in a document. Our implementation and datasets are available at http://dm.postech. ac.kr/ConvMF.
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs prescribing in chronic kidney disease: an observational study

Aim This study assessed the prescription of potentially nephrotoxic non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) to patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in general practice. Background CKD poses a considerable disease burden in the UK. Guidelines state that caution should be exercised when prescribing NSAIDs to CKD patients, due to increased risk of rapid kidney disease progression. Methods We reviewed the medical records of 1427 patients with CKD Stages 3–5 in seven general practices in West Yorkshire. Findings A total of 792 (55.5%) were prescribed NSAIDs; 128 (9%) of these were prescribed NSAIDs excluding low-dose aspirin. Twenty-three (20.2%) patients who were prescribed NSAIDs had no record of CKD monitoring in the preceding year. Conclusion Prescription of NSAIDs is likely to be contributing to unnecessary renal impairment.
An easy-to-use evaluation framework for benchmarking entity recognition and disambiguation systems

Entity recognition and disambiguation (ERD) is a crucial technique for knowledge base population and information extraction. In recent years, numerous papers have been published on this subject, and various ERD systems have been developed. However, there are still some confusions over the ERD field for a fair and complete comparison of these systems. Therefore, it is of emerging interest to develop a unified evaluation framework. In this paper, we present an easy-to-use evaluation framework (EUEF), which aims at facilitating the evaluation process and giving a fair comparison of ERD systems. EUEF is well designed and released to the public as an open source, and thus could be easily extended with novel ERD systems, datasets, and evaluation metrics. It is easy to discover the advantages and disadvantages of a specific ERD system and its components based on EUEF. We perform a comparison of several popular and publicly available ERD systems by using EUEF, and draw some interesting conclusions after a detailed analysis.
Overcoming barriers for older gay men in the use of health services: A qualitative study of growing older, sexuality and health

Objective The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of older gay men in relation to health, what gaps existed in health and social care services, and how primary care services could better meet the needs or concerns of older gay men. Design A qualitative study, based on semi-structured interviews. Setting Interviews were carried out in Greater London, in the respondents’ own homes. Methods A variety of recruitment methods were used to identify ten gay men aged between 60 and 70. These men were interviewed using a semi-structured interview schedule. Each participant was given a pseudonym. Results Analysis of the interviews revealed that older gay men may view health services with caution, having experiences of, or expectations of, discrimination or poorer quality care or treatment. Older gay men may not disclose their sexuality to health providers and may find some needs unmet, particularly around areas of partner and other social relationships. Conclusions Policy makers and practitioners need to address the current silence around ageing and sexualities in health services policy. Services need to consider whether they are best responding to the needs of older gay men in their communities, ensure cultural competence, and make efforts to demonstrate that they are seen as open to or accepting of gay men, and to recognise the particular needs that older gay men may experience.
City Research Online

Our brain constantly receives tactile information from the body’s surface. We often only become aware of this information when directing our attention towards the body. Here, we report a study investigating the behavioural and neural response when selecting a target amongst distractor vibrations presented simultaneously to several locations either across the hands or body. Comparable visual search studies have revealed the N2pc as the neural correlate of visual selective attention. Analogously, we describe an enhanced negativity contralateral to the tactile target side. This effect is strongest over somatosensory areas and lasts approximately 200 ms from the onset of the somatosensory N140 ERP component. Based on these characteristics we named this electrophysiological signature of attentional tactile target selection during tactile search the N140-central-contralateral (N140cc). Furthermore, we present supporting evince that the N140cc reflects attentional enhancement of target rather than suppression of distractor locations; the component was not reliably altered by distractor but rather by target location changes. Taken together, our findings present a novel electrophysiological marker of tactile search and show how attentional selection of touch operates by mainly enhancing task relevant locations within the somatosensory homunculus.
Pricing Model for a Computer Center

Managers of computer systems are interested in increased utilization of their resources, which include processing (time) capacity and various storage devices, as well as in attracting more users and revenues. To increase utilization of the system, resources have to be rationed: users' processing has to be scheduled to less utilized time slots (that is, nonpeak hours), and storage and processing capacity have to be properly allocated. This rationing may be achieved by administrative ruling, which might aggravate users and reduce the attractiveness of the system, or by an appropriate pricing policy and free market forces. In this paper the second approach is considered, and a general equilibrium model which takes into account both the system needs and the users' cost and satisfaction is presented. The model is shown to fit many marketing situations, which extends its usability beyond the scope of computer systems. Two heuristic algorithms are used to solve this model: a cobweb type algorithm, and a modified.
Regret in Decision Making under Uncertainty

Evidence exists that people do not always make decisions involving uncertain monetary rewards as if they were maximizing expected utility of final assets. Explanations for this behavior postulate that the cognitive demands of consistency to such a theory are too great. However, situations exist in which more than mental shortcuts are involved and these anomalies raise questions about expected utility theory as a guide to behavior. This paper explores the possibility that expected utility theory appears to fail because the single outcome descriptor—money—is not sufficient. After making a decision under uncertainty, a person may discover, on learning the relevant outcomes, that another alternative would have been preferable. This knowledge may impart a sense of loss, or regret. The decision maker who is prepared to tradeoff financial return in order to avoid regret will exhibit some of the behavioral paradoxes of decision theory. By explicitly incorporating regret, expected utility theory not only becomes a better descriptive predictor but also may become a more convincing guide for prescribing behavior to decision makers.