Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Statistical Analysis of the Relationship between Brown Haze and Surface Air Pollution Levels on Respiratory Hospital Admissions in Auckland, New Zealand

Eleven years of hospital admissions data for Auckland, New Zealand for respiratory conditions are analyzed using a Poisson regression modelling approach, incorporating a spline function to represent time, based on a detailed record of haze events and surface air pollution levels over an eleven-year period, taking into account the daily average temperature and humidity, the day of the week, holidays and trends over time. NO2 was the only pollutant to show a statistically significant increase (p = 0.009) on the day of the haze event for the general population. Ambient concentrations of CO, NO and NO2 were significantly associated with admissions with an 11-day lag period for the 0–14 year age group and a 5–7 day lag period for the 65+ year age group. A 3-day lag period was found for the 15–64 year age group for CO, NO and PM10. Finally, the incidence of brown haze was linked to significant increases in hospital admissions. A lag period of 5 days was recorded between haze and subsequent increases in admissions for the 0–14 year age group and the 65+ group and an 11-day lag for the 15–64 year age group. The results provide the first statistical link between Auckland brown haze events, surface air pollution and respiratory health. Medical institutions and practitioners could benefit from improved capacity to predict Auckland’s brown haze events in order prepare for the likely increases in respiratory admissions over the days ahead.
Impact of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease on Cognitive and Motor Performances in Dual-Task Walking

ABSTRACT When two tasks are performed simultaneously, they compete for attentional resources, resulting in a performance decrement in one or both tasks. Patients with attention disorders have a reduced ability to perform several tasks simultaneously (e.g., talking while walking), which increases the fall risk and frailty. This study assessed the cognitive and motor performances of patients with COPD and healthy controls within a dual-task walking paradigm. A subobjective was to assess the impact of a pulmonary rehabilitation program on the dual-task performances in COPD. Twenty-five patients with COPD and 20 controls performed a cognitive task (subtraction) and a 15-m walking test separately (single-task; ST) and jointly (dual-task; DT). In addition, a subsample of 10 patients performed the same evaluations 5 weeks later after a pulmonary rehabilitation program following current recommendations. Cognitive and gait performances in ST showed no differences between patients with COPD and controls (all p > 0.05). However, COPD patients exhibited a greater increase in gait variability than controls in DT (4.07 ± 1.46% vs. 2.17 ± 0.7%, p < 0.001). The pulmonary rehabilitation program had no effect on the dual-task impairment for the subsample of patients (p = 0.87). This study provides evidence of insufficient attentional resources to successfully deal with DT in patients with COPD, and this was expressed through an exaggerated increase in gait variability in DT walking. Given the high risk of falls and disability associated with altered gait variability, dual-task training interventions should be considered in pulmonary rehabilitation programs.
Critical role of a double-layer configuration in solution-based unipolar resistive switching memories

Lately, resistive switching memories (ReRAM) have been attracting a lot of attention due to their possibilities of fast operation, lower power consumption and simple fabrication process and they can also be scaled to very small dimensions. However, most of these ReRAM are produced by physical methods and nowadays the industry demands more simplicity, typically associated with low cost manufacturing. As such, ReRAMs in this work are developed from a solution-based aluminum oxide (Al2O3) using a simple combustion synthesis process. The device performance is optimized by two-stage deposition of the Al2O3 film. The resistive switching properties of the bilayer devices are reproducible with a yield of 100%. The ReRAM devices show unipolar resistive switching behavior with good endurance and retention time up to 105 s at 85 °C. The devices can be programmed in a multi-level cell operation mode by application of different reset voltages. Temperature analysis of various resistance states reveals a filamentary nature based on the oxygen vacancies. The optimized film was stacked between ITO and indium zinc oxide, targeting a fully transparent device for applications on transparent system-on-panel technology.
Data Mining and Exploratory Data Analysis for the Evaluation of Job Satisfaction

In this paper we face off the relationship value management which is a theme in the relationship marketing literature gaining increasing attention in the last decade. The main aim of this study is to evaluate job quality and in particular employees’ satisfaction of non-profit enterprises by using, among different exploratory data analysis tools, ordered multiple correspondence analysis which is a part of corporate data mining. We focus attention on Ordered Multiple Correspondence Analysis (OMCA), recently proposed in statistical literature, to monitor (dis)satisfaction in different times or spaces. In particular we present a new strategy based on OMCA which allows to deal with ordered variables (Likert items) taking into account other qualitative information of job (kind of job contract, type of incentives, etc.) affecting the overall satisfaction of employees.
Successional change in species composition alters climate sensitivity of grassland productivity

Succession theory predicts altered sensitivity of ecosystem functions to disturbance (i.e., climate change) due to the temporal shift in plant community composition. However, empirical evidence in global change experiments is lacking to support this prediction. Here, we present findings from an 8‐year long‐term global change experiment with warming and altered precipitation manipulation (double and halved amount). First, we observed a temporal shift in species composition over 8 years, resulting in a transition from an annual C3‐dominant plant community to a perennial C4‐dominant plant community. This successional transition was independent of any experimental treatments. During the successional transition, the response of aboveground net primary productivity (ANPP) to precipitation addition magnified from neutral to +45.3%, while the response to halved precipitation attenuated substantially from −17.6% to neutral. However, warming did not affect ANPP in either state. The findings further reveal that the time‐dependent climate sensitivity may be regulated by successional change in species composition, highlighting the importance of vegetation dynamics in regulating the response of ecosystem productivity to precipitation change.
A Stochastic Decoder for Neural Machine Translation

The process of translation is ambiguous, in that there are typically many valid translations for a given sentence. This gives rise to significant variation in parallel corpora, however, most current models of machine translation do not account for this variation, instead treating the problem as a deterministic process. To this end, we present a deep generative model of machine translation which incorporates a chain of latent variables, in order to account for local lexical and syntactic variation in parallel corpora. We provide an in-depth analysis of the pitfalls encountered in variational inference for training deep generative models. Experiments on several different language pairs demonstrate that the model consistently improves over strong baselines.
Personalizing Medicine: Disease Prevention in silico and in socio

Proponents of the emerging field of P4 medicine (defined as personalized, predictive, preventive and participatory) argue that computational integration and analysis of patient-specific “big data” will revolutionize our health care systems, in particular primary care-based disease prevention. While many ambitions remain visionary, steps to personalize medicine are already taken via personalized genomics, mobile health technologies and pilot projects. An important aim of P4 medicine is to enable disease prevention among healthy persons through detection of risk factors. In this paper, we examine the current status of P4 medicine in light of historical and current challenges to predictive and preventive medicine, including overdiagnosis and overtreatment. Moreover, we ask whether it is likely that in silico integration of patient-specific data will be able to better deal such challenges and to turn risk predictions into disease-preventive actions in a wider social context. Given the lack of evidence that P4 medicine can tip the balance between benefits and harms in preventive medicine, we raise concerns about the current promotion of P4 medicine as a solution to the current challenges in public health.
Psychometric properties of the positivity scale - Brazilian version

Este estudo apresenta as propriedades psicometricas da versao brasileira da Escala de Positividade (EP). Participaram 730 sujeitos (65,0% mulheres), com idades entre 17 e 70 anos (M = 31,0; DP = 11,43) de 21 estados brasileiros. A amostra foi dividida em duas metades para a validacao cruzada dos resultados. Com a primeira metade da amostra (n1 = 365), foi conduzida uma analise fatorial exploratoria (AFE). Com a segunda metade da amostra (n2 = 365), foi conduzida uma analise fatorial confirmatoria (AFC) para avaliar a adequacao do modelo exploratorio. Validade convergente e diferencas entre grupos tambem foram avaliadas. A AFE e a AFC indicaram o modelo unidimensional para a EP. Correlacoes moderadas foram encontradas entre a EP e medidas de saude mental, felicidade subjetiva e satisfacao com a vida. Os niveis de positividade apresentaram correlacoes positivas fracas com as variaveis idade, nivel educacional e renda. Resultados significativos, com baixo tamanho de efeito, foram encontrados nos niveis de positividade em relacao a status ocupacional e estado civil. A positividade parece estar mais relacionada a disposicoes pessoais do que com caracteristicas sociodemograficas. Os resultados sugerem que a EP pode ser uma medida confiavel para avaliar os niveis de positividade no Brasil.
Scaling Neural Machine Translation

Sequence to sequence learning models still require several days to reach state of the art performance on large benchmark datasets using a single machine. This paper shows that reduced precision and large batch training can speedup training by nearly 5x on a single 8-GPU machine with careful tuning and implementation. On WMT’14 English-German translation, we match the accuracy of Vaswani et al. (2017) in under 5 hours when training on 8 GPUs and we obtain a new state of the art of 29.3 BLEU after training for 85 minutes on 128 GPUs. We further improve these results to 29.8 BLEU by training on the much larger Paracrawl dataset. On the WMT’14 English-French task, we obtain a state-of-the-art BLEU of 43.2 in 8.5 hours on 128 GPUs.
Ability of Patients to Distinguish Among Cardiac Genomic Variant Subclassifications

Background: Clinical genetic testing for heritable cardiovascular disease has become a widely used tool to aid in the management of patients and their families. A 5-category variant classification system is commonly used for genetic test results, but some laboratories further subclassify variants of uncertain significance. How and whether patients perceive differences among the variant categories or subclassifications of variants of uncertain significance is unknown. Methods: We tested whether participants perceived differences in genetic variant subclassifications on outcomes including risk comprehension, risk perception, worry, perceived uncertainty, and intentions. Order-randomized hypothetical cardiovascular genetic results were given to 289 participants enrolled in a genome sequencing study. Three categories of variants were presented to participants: variants of uncertain significance, possibly pathogenic, and likely pathogenic. Responses to the first variant presented were analyzed in a between-groups analysis, and responses to all 3 variants were analyzed in a within-groups analysis. Results: When presented with all 3 results, participants distinguished among the subclassifications on all outcomes (P<0.001). When given only a possibly pathogenic result, their risk perceptions were similar to those of variants of uncertain significance, but they were more worried and intended to behave as if they had received a likely pathogenic result. Individuals depended more on their affective responses such as worry when they received only one result (P<0.05). Conclusions: Participants are better able to distinguish pathogenicity subclassifications when presented with multiple categories. Individuals who receive a single uncertain result in a cardiovascular disease gene may benefit from interventions to decrease worry, calibrate risk perceptions, and motivate variant-appropriate behaviors.
Functional Threshold Power in Cyclists: Validity of the Concept and Physiological Responses

Abstract Functional threshold power is defined as the highest power output a cyclist can maintain in a quasi-steady state for approximately 60 min (FTP60). In order to improve practicality for regular evaluations, FTP60 could theoretically be determined as 95% of the mean power output in a 20-min time trial (FTP20). This study tested this assumption and the validity of FTP20 and FTP60 against the individual anaerobic threshold (IAT). Twenty-three trained male cyclists performed an incremental test to exhaustion, 20- and 60-min time trials, and a time to exhaustion at FTP20. Power output, heart rate and oxygen uptake representing FTP20, FTP60 and IAT were not different (p>0.05), and large to very large correlations were found (r=0.61 to 0.88). Bland-Altman plots between FTP20, FTP60 and IAT showed small bias (–1 to –5 W), but large limits of agreement ([–40 to 32 W] to [–62 to 60 W]). Time to exhaustion at FTP20 was 50.9±15.7 min. In conclusion, FTP20 and FTP60 should not be used interchangeably on an individual basis and their validity against IAT should be interpreted with caution.
On the Trade-Off Between Bit Depth and Number of Samples for a Basic Approach to Structured Signal Recovery From  $b$ -Bit Quantized Linear Measurements

We consider the problem of recovering a high-dimensional structured signal from independent Gaussian linear measurements each of which is quantized to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$b$ </tex-math></inline-formula> bits. The focus is on a specific method of signal recovery that extends a procedure originally proposed by Plan and Vershynin for one-bit quantization to a multi-bit setting. At the heart of this paper is a characterization of the optimal trade-off between the number of measurements <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$m$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and the bit depth per measurement <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$b$ </tex-math></inline-formula> given a total budget of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$B = m \cdot b$ </tex-math></inline-formula> bits when the goal is to minimize the expected <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-error in estimating the signal. It turns out that the choice <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$b = 1$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is optimal for estimating the unit vector (direction) corresponding to the signal for any level of additive Gaussian noise before quantization as well as for a specific model of adversarial noise, whereas in a noiseless setting the choice <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$b = 2$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is optimal for estimating the direction and the norm (scale) of the signal. Moreover, Lloyd–Max quantization is shown to be an optimal quantization scheme with respect to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-estimation error. Our analysis is corroborated by the numerical experiments showing nearly perfect agreement with our theoretical predictions. This paper is complemented by an empirical comparison to alternative methods of signal recovery. The results of that comparison point to a regime change depending on the noise level: in a low-noise setting, the approach under study falls short of more sophisticated competitors while being competitive in moderate- and high-noise settings.
AtPep3 is a hormone-like peptide that plays a role in the salinity stress tolerance of plants

Significance Hormone-like peptides derived from small coding genes (<100 amino acids) have not been extensively characterized in relation to abiotic stress tolerance. Focusing on 17 salinity stress-inducible small coding genes in Arabidopsis, we showed that four genes conferred increased salinity stress tolerance when overexpressed in transgenic plants. One of the four genes (AtPROPEP3) was found to induce salinity stress tolerance by treatment with a 13-peptide (KPTPSSGKGGKHN) fragment, providing unique functional evidence for enhanced salinity stress tolerance in plants in response to a peptide treatment. Although the 13-peptide fragment shares homology with known peptides associated with immune response, the other peptides may encode unique hormone-like peptides associated with salinity stress tolerance. Peptides encoded by small coding genes play an important role in plant development, acting in a similar manner as phytohormones. Few hormone-like peptides, however, have been shown to play a role in abiotic stress tolerance. In the current study, 17 Arabidopsis genes coding for small peptides were found to be up-regulated in response to salinity stress. To identify peptides leading salinity stress tolerance, we generated transgenic Arabidopsis plants overexpressing these small coding genes and assessed survivability and root growth under salinity stress conditions. Results indicated that 4 of the 17 overexpressed genes increased salinity stress tolerance. Further studies focused on AtPROPEP3, which was the most highly up-regulated gene under salinity stress. Treatment of plants with synthetic peptides encoded by AtPROPEP3 revealed that a C-terminal peptide fragment (AtPep3) inhibited the salt-induced bleaching of chlorophyll in seedlings. Conversely, knockdown AtPROPEP3 transgenic plants exhibited a hypersensitive phenotype under salinity stress, which was complemented by the AtPep3 peptide. This functional AtPep3 peptide region overlaps with an AtPep3 elicitor peptide that is related to the immune response of plants. Functional analyses with a receptor mutant of AtPep3 revealed that AtPep3 was recognized by the PEPR1 receptor and that it functions to increase salinity stress tolerance in plants. Collectively, these data indicate that AtPep3 plays a significant role in both salinity stress tolerance and immune response in Arabidopsis.
Isthmin 1 (ism1) is required for normal hematopoiesis in developing zebrafish

Hematopoiesis is an essential and highly regulated biological process that begins with hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). In healthy organisms, HSCs are responsible for generating a multitude of mature blood cells every day, yet the molecular pathways that instruct HSCs to self-renew and differentiate into post-mitotic blood cells are not fully known. To understand these molecular pathways, we investigated novel genes expressed in hematopoietic-supportive cell lines from the zebrafish (Danio rerio), a model system increasingly utilized to uncover molecular pathways important in the development of other vertebrate species. We performed RNA sequencing of the transcriptome of three stromal cell lines derived from different stages of embryonic and adult zebrafish and identified hundreds of highly expressed transcripts. For our studies, we focused on isthmin 1 (ism1) due to its shared synteny with its human gene ortholog and because it is a secreted protein. To characterize ism1, we performed loss-of-function experiments to identify if mature blood cell production was disrupted. Myeloid and erythroid lineages were visualized and scored with transgenic zebrafish expressing lineage-specific markers. ism1 knockdown led to reduced numbers of neutrophils, macrophages, and erythrocytes. Analysis of clonal methylcellulose assays from ism1 morphants also showed a reduction in total hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Overall, we demonstrate that ism1 is required for normal generation of HSPCs and their downstream progeny during zebrafish hematopoiesis. Further investigation into ism1 and its importance in hematopoiesis may elucidate evolutionarily conserved processes in blood formation that can be further investigated for potential clinical utility.
Metabolic Costs of Military Load Carriage over Complex Terrain.

Introduction Dismounted military operations often involve prolonged load carriage over complex terrain, which can result in excessive metabolic costs that can directly impair soldiers' performance. Although estimating these demands is a critical interest for mission planning purposes, it is unclear whether existing estimation equations developed from controlled laboratory- and field-based studies accurately account for energy costs of traveling over complex terrain. This study investigated the accuracy of the following equations for military populations when applied to data collected over complex terrain with two different levels of load carriage: American College of Sports Medicine (2002), Givoni and Goldman (1971), Jobe and White (2009), Minetti et al (2002), Pandolf et al (1977), and Santee et al (2003). Materials and Methods Nine active duty military personnel (age 21 ± 3 yr; height 1.72 ± 0.07 m; body mass 83.4 ± 12.9 kg; VO2 max 47.8 ± 3.9 mL/kg/min) were monitored during load carriage (with loads equal to 30% and 45% of body mass) over a 10-km mixed terrain course on two separate test days. The course was divided into four 2.5-km laps of 40 segments based on distance, grade, and/or surface factors. Timing gates and radio-frequency identification cards (SportIdent; Scarborough Orienteering, Huntington Beach, CA) were used to record completion times for each course segment. Breath-by-breath measures of energy expenditure were collected using portable oxygen exchange devices (COSMED Sri., Rome, Italy) and compared model estimates. Results The Santee et al equation performed best, demonstrating the smallest estimation bias (-13 ± 87 W) and lowest root mean square error (99 W). Conclusion Current predictive equations underestimate the metabolic cost of load carriage by military personnel over complex terrain. Applying the Santee et al correction factor to the Pandolf et al equation may be the most suitable approach for estimating metabolic demands in these circumstances. However, this work also outlines the need for improvements to these methods, new method development and validation, or the use of a multi-model approach to account for mixed terrain.