Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Xpand chest drain: assessing equivalence to current standard therapy--a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND Penetrating chest trauma is a leading cause of admission to South African emergency departments. The resultant pneumo-/haemothoraces are currently routinely treated by means of standard underwater bottle drainage. A South African company, Sinapi Biomedical, recently launched the Xpand chest drain. This device incorporates a one-way valve with a fluid reservoir and permits the detection of an air leak, as well as intrapleural pressure differences. AIM To prove equivalence of the Xpand chest drain compared with standard underwater bottle drainage. METHODS In a non-blinded randomised control trial 67 patients with radiological proof of a pneumo- or haemothorax following penetrating chest trauma were divided into two groups. One group received standard underwater drain treatment and the other group had the Xpand chest drain inserted. Time from placement of drain to removal of drain (following radiological proof of resolution) was compared between the two groups. RESULTS The underwater drain group (N = 34) had drainage periods varying from 6 to 280 hours with an average of 81.47 hours, while the Xpand group (N = 33) had drainage periods varying from 13 to 151 hours with an average of 61.04 hours (p = 0.088). CONCLUSIONS Although there was a definite improvement in drainage time with the Xpand chest drain, the difference did not reach statistical significance. We have, however, proven that the Xpand chest drain is as effective as a standard underwater drain in treating the sequelae of penetrating chest trauma and therefore recommend it as an alternative to current standard therapy.
A coalitional game for distributed estimation in wireless sensor networks

We consider a collaborative estimation problem using dependent observations in a wireless sensor network, where each sensor aims to maximize its estimation performance in terms of Fisher information (FI) by forming coalitions with other sensors and collaborating within a coalition. The energy consumed by the sensors increases with the size of the coalition and hence we prove that grand coalition will not form. We investigate the formation of non-overlapping coalitions such that each sensor's performance is maximized under a specific energy constraint. We decouple marginal and dependent components of FI obtained from the joint distribution by using copula theory. We introduce the concept of diversity gain and redundancy loss and demonstrate how a copula based formulation allows us to characterize these concepts. Distributed estimation problem is formulated as a coalitional game. A merge-and-split algorithm is used for finding an optimal partition. Stability of the proposed algorithm for this game is discussed. Finally, numerical results are discussed.
A comparative analysis of online crowdfunding platforms in USA, Europe and Asia

The aim of this study is to provide a global and regional analysis of online crowdfunding platforms and projects by looking at Kickstarter.com in the United States of America (Northern America), Crowdfunder.co.uk in United Kingdom (Europe), and Crowdonomic.com in Singapore (Asia). Findings suggest that regardless of a degree of system standardisation, smaller online crowdfunding platforms can impose themselves as obligatory passage points locally and regionally by providing more differentiated services compared to standard best-practices like Kickstarter, taking into consideration the specific needs and characteristics of the communities and regions where they are based. An important indicator suggested by this study to evaluate online crowdfunding platforms and networks is the funding ratio (average sum of pledges per fundraising goal). Subject to future research, fundraisers, funders and other stakeholders are encouraged to consider carefully not only the fees and features of each crowdfunding platform, but also the degree of fitness in terms of system interface, projects and associated crowds using them.
A Branch-and-Price Method for a Liquefied Natural Gas Inventory Routing Problem

We consider a maritime inventory routing problem in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) business, called the LNG inventory routing problem (LNG-IRP). Here, an actor is responsible for the routing of the fleet of special purpose ships, and the inventories both at the liquefaction plants and the regasification terminals. Compared to many other maritime inventory routing problems, the LNG-IRP includes some complicating aspects such as (1) a constant rate of the cargo evaporates each day and is used as fuel during transportation; (2) variable production and consumption of LNG, and (3) a variable number of tanks unloaded at the regasification terminals. The problem is solved by a branch-and-price method. In the column generation approach, the master problem handles the inventory management and the port capacity constraints, while the subproblems generate the ship route columns. Different accelerating strategies are implemented. The proposed method is tested on instances inspired from real-world problems faced by a major energy company.
Introducing Expected Returns into Risk Parity Portfolios: A New Framework for Tactical and Strategic Asset Allocation

Risk parity is an allocation method used to build diversified portfolios that does not rely on any assumptions of expected returns, thus placing risk management at the heart of the strategy. This explains why risk parity became a popular investment model after the global financial crisis in 2008. However, risk parity has also been criticized because it focuses on managing risk concentration rather than portfolio performance, and is therefore seen as being closer to passive management than active management. In this article, we show how to introduce assumptions of expected returns into risk parity portfolios. To do this, we consider a generalized risk measure that takes into account both the portfolio return and volatility. However, the trade-off between performance and volatility contributions creates some difficulty, while the risk budgeting problem must be clearly defined. After deriving the theoretical properties of such risk budgeting portfolios, we apply this new model to asset allocation. First, we consider long-term investment policy and the determination of strategic asset allocation. We then consider dynamic allocation and show how to build risk parity funds that depend on expected returns.
CCQR: Constant Cost Quality-based Routing Protocol in Delay Tolerant Networks

Quality-based routing protocols are proposed to restrict message flooding within only high quality nodes in delay tolerant networks (DTNs). However, different quality threshold mechanisms have diverse impact on the network and we investigate this issue in the paper. Through theoretical analysis we show that heterogeneous threshold mechanism suffers a severe nodal cost imbalance problem. Furthermore, for both homogeneous and heterogeneous mechanisms, routing cost depends on the total number of nodes, and becomes significant in large-scale networks. To address these issues, we propose Constant Cost Quality-based Routing (CCQR) protocol, which not only retains the favorable features of quality-based routing protocols, but also achieves a constant routing cost. More importantly, thanks to the wise message distribution rules, CCQR protocol is capable of alleviating nodal cost imbalance problem effectively. We also conduct extensive simulations to verify our conclusions and the efficacy of the new protocol.
Analog IC placement using absolute coordinates and a hierarchical combination of Pareto optimal fronts

Analog integrated circuit (IC) floorplan automation due to its importance has been intensively studied in the last decades. The problem is complex as multiple requirements which appear in the form of device symmetry, matching and proximity constraints must be dealt simultaneously for a robust floorplan. Absolute coordinates is the most intuitive manner of implementing these layout constraints, as it allows for the optimization kernel to move the cells explicitly and represent any possible floorplan. A complete study of previous approaches shows that illegal overlaps have been improperly modeled in a single-objective (SO) cost function for optimization along with other objectives. In this paper, the problem of analog floorplan automation in absolute coordinates is re-formulated, and, since it is impracticable to determine a single best floorplan for all of the design objectives, a multi-objective optimization (MOO) algorithm is applied to solve it. In order to reduce the problem complexity, Pareto optimal fronts (POFs) of placements representing the tradeoffs between the design objectives are combined bottom-up through the partitions of the circuit's hierarchy. The approach is demonstrated for the UMC 0. 13μm design process and compared with most recent representations.
Internally Generated Reactivation of Single Neurons in Human Hippocampus During Free Recall

The emergence of memory, a trace of things past, into human consciousness is one of the greatest mysteries of the human mind. Whereas the neuronal basis of recognition memory can be probed experimentally in human and nonhuman primates, the study of free recall requires that the mind declare the occurrence of a recalled memory (an event intrinsic to the organism and invisible to an observer). Here, we report the activity of single neurons in the human hippocampus and surrounding areas when subjects first view cinematic episodes consisting of audiovisual sequences and again later when they freely recall these episodes. A subset of these neurons exhibited selective firing, which often persisted throughout and following specific episodes for as long as 12 seconds. Verbal reports of memories of these specific episodes at the time of free recall were preceded by selective reactivation of the same hippocampal and entorhinal cortex neurons. We suggest that this reactivation is an internally generated neuronal correlate for the subjective experience of spontaneous emergence of human recollection.
Arrhythmia classification using nearest neighbor search with principal component analysis

Arrhythmia is currently classified by rate, mechanism, or duration, and many experts are using different techniques to classify arrhythmia. The present group of researchers have developed an automated method to select useful heartbeat features, which were then applied to a k-nearest neighbor algorithm of arrhythmia classification. The arrhythmia dataset from the University of California, Irvine, Machine Learning Repository was applied to test the performance of our method, yielding a classification accuracy of 98%.
Event Argument Linking and Event Nugget Detection Task: IHMC DISCERN System Report

We present the design and implementation of three variants of an event-detection system called DISCERN, one that used manually created rules (DISCERN-R), one that used machine-learned rules (DISCERN-ML), and one that combined manual and machine-learned rules (DISCERN-C). All three used linguistic resources (VerbNet, CatVar, Semantic Role Labeling, NER, POS tagging, dependency parsing, and coreference resolution) and were applied to two tasks in the NIST TAC KBP 2015 Event Track: Event Nugget Detection (EN) and Event Argument Extraction and Linking (EAL). Two contributions of this work are: (a) a web interface that improved efficiency during system development by enabling quick changes to linguistic rules and examination of their effect on precision and recall at runtime; (b) an approach to collapsing support-verb and event nominals that improved recall of event argument detection enough to surpass the median in the NIST TAC KBP evaluation. Future refinements to the combination of linguistic and machine learning approaches may result in improvements due to the complementarity of these approaches: linguistically informed rules can improve precision and machine-learned systems can improve recall.
In vitro effects of 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide on human immunoregulatory T subset function. I. Selective effects on lymphocyte function in T-B cell collaboration

The alkylating agent cyclophosphamide may suppress or enhance immune responses in vivo but is inactive in vitro unless metabolized by microsomal enzyme activation. 4-hydroperoxycyclophosphamide (4-HC) is a synthetic compound that is spontaneously converted in aqueous solution to the active metabolites. In this report, we examined the in vitro sensitivity of functional human T cell subsets to 4-HC in a polyclonal B cell differentiation assay and in the generation of mitogen-induced suppressor cells for effector B cell function. Con A-induced T suppression of B cell differentiation is completely abrogated by a 1-h pretreatment of T cells at very low concentrations of between 10(-2) and 20 nmol/ml, whereas inducer T cell function is sensitive only to concentrations in greater than 40 nmol/ml. The effects of 4-HC on suppressor T cells appear to occur at concentrations that do not result in DNA cross-linking or decreased blastogenesis. Con A-induced T suppressors are generated from within the OKT4+, OKT8- subset and are sensitive to low-dose 4-HC only before activation, whereas differentiated suppressor cells are resistant to concentrations in greater than 80 nmol/ml. Low-dose 4-HC pretreatment of the B cell population results in abrogation of immunoglobulin secretion when treated B cells are cocultured with unfractionated T cells, however, this effect is completely reversible if pretreated B cells are cocultured with T cells devoid of suppressor activity. These results demonstrate that human presuppressor cells for B-effector function differentiate in response to Con A from the OKT4+, OKT8- subset and are exquisitely sensitive to low concentrations of CYP whereas mature suppressor and inducer functions are resistant to all but very high concentrations in vitro. The differential sensitivity of functional T and B cell subsets to 4-HC in vitro can be a very useful probe in dissecting immunoregulatory interactions with man.
The Transcription Factor Spi-1/PU.1 Interacts with the Potential Splicing Factor TLS*

Spi-1/PU.1 is an Ets protein deregulated by insertional mutagenesis during the murine Friend erythroleukemia. The overexpression of the normal protein in a proerythroblastic cell prevents its terminal differentiation. In normal hematopoiesis Spi-1/PU.1 is a transcription factor that plays a key role in normal myeloid and B lymphoid differentiation. Moreover, Spi-1/PU.1 binds RNA and interferes in vitro with the splicing process. Here we report that Spi-1 interacts in vivo with TLS (translocated in liposarcoma), a RNA-binding protein involved in human tumor-specific chromosomal translocations. This interaction appears functionally relevant, since TLS is capable of reducing the abilities of Spi-1/PU.1 to bind DNA and to transactivate the expression of a reporter gene. In addition, we observe that TLS is potentially a splicing factor. It promotes the use of the distal 5′ splice site during the E1A pre-mRNA splicing. This effect is counterpoised in vivo by Spi-1. These data suggest that alteration of pre-mRNA alternative splicing by Spi-1 could be involved in the transformation of an erythroblastic cell.
The dangers of replication and a solution

Update anywhere-anytime-anyway transactional replication has unstable behavior as the workload scales up: a ten-fold increase in nodes and traffic gives a thousand fold increase in deadlocks or reconciliations. Master copy replication (primary copy) schemes reduce this problem. A simple analytic model demonstrates these results. A new two-tier replication algorithm is proposed that allows mobile (disconnected) applications to propose tentative update transactions that are later applied to a master copy. Commutative update transactions avoid the instability of other replication schemes.
Dynamic voltage scaling algorithm for dynamic-priority hard real-time systems using slack time analysis

Dynamic voltage scaling (DVS), which adjusts the clock speed and supply voltage dynamically, is an effective technique in reducing the energy consumption of embedded real-time systems. The energy efficiency of a DVS algorithm largely depends on the performance of the slack estimation method used in it. In this paper, we propose a novel DVS algorithm for periodic hard real-time tasks based on an improved slack estimation algorithm. Unlike the existing techniques, the proposed method takes full advantage of the periodic characteristics of the real-time tasks under priority-driven scheduling such as EDF. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm reduces the energy consumption by 20/spl sim/40 % over the existing DVS algorithm. The experiment results also show that our algorithm based on the improved slack estimation method gives comparable energy savings to the DVS algorithm based on the theoretically optimal (but impractical) slack estimation method.
Improved analysis of bile acids in tissues and intestinal contents of rats using LC/ESI-MSs⃞s⃞ The online version of this article (available at http://www.jlr.org) contains supplementary data in the form of a figure. Published, JLR Papers in Press, September 4, 2008.

To evaluate bile acid (BA) metabolism in detail, we established a method for analyzing BA composition in various tissues and intestinal contents using ultra performance liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (UPLC/ESI-MS). Twenty-two individual BAs were determined simultaneously from extracts. We applied this method to define the differences in BA metabolism between two rat strains, WKAH and DA. The amount of total bile acids (TBAs) in the liver was significantly higher in WKAH than in DA rats. In contrast, TBA concentration in jejunal content, cecal content, colorectal content, and feces was higher in DA rats than in WKAH rats. Nearly all BAs in the liver were in the taurine- or glycine-conjugated form in DA rats, and the proportion of conjugated liver BAs was up to 75% in WKAH rats. Similar trends were observed for the conjugation rates in bile. The most abundant secondary BA in cecal content, colorectal content, and feces was hyodeoxycholic acid in WKAH rats and ω-muricholic acid in DA rats. Analyzing detailed BA profiles, including conjugation status, in a single run is possible using UPLC/ESI-MS. This method will be useful for investigating the roles of BA metabolism under physiological and pathological conditions.
The effect of Palliative Daycare on Hope: A comparison of Daycare Patients with Two Control Groups

Background: Despite expansion in palliative daycare services, research has not demonstrated an improvement in patient outcomes. This study aimed to determine the effect of palliative daycare on hope. Methods: This was a prospective cohort study that compared three groups of patients: a daycare group and two control groups, one recruited before daycare opened and a matched comparison group. Patients were interviewed at baseline and at two follow-ups using the Herth Hope Index. Results: In all, 22 daycare patients completed a baseline interview (T1); 12 a second (T2); and 9 a third (T3). Corresponding numbers were: before group (56, 34, 24) and matched group (49, 29, 19). An independent samples t-test confirmed a significant difference between the groups from T1 to T2 (mean difference=3.20, p=0.007), with the daycare group experiencing an increase in hope not seen in the other groups. However, this was not maintained. Conclusion: Daycare may effect an initial improvement in hope. The study suffered from attrition and the sample was small. Further robust evaluation of daycare is needed.
IC power distribution challenges

With each technology generation, delivering a time-varying current with reduced nominal supply voltage variation is becoming more difficult due to increasing current and power requirements. The power delivery network design becomes much more complex and requires accurate analysis and optimizations at all levels of abstraction in order to meet the specifications. We describe techniques for estimation of the supply voltage variations that can be used in the design of the power delivery network. We also describe the decoupling capacitor hierarchy that provides a low impedance to the increasing high-frequency current demand and limits the supply voltage variations. Techniques for high-level power estimation that can be used for performance vs. power trade-offs to reduce the current and power requirements of the circuit are also presented.
Experimentally induced Bartonella henselae infections followed by challenge exposure and antimicrobial therapy in cats.

OBJECTIVES To elucidate kinetics of Bartonella henselae bacteremia and IgG response, evaluate antibiotic therapy, and investigate challenge exposure in cats. ANIMALS Specific-pathogen-free cats. PROCEDURE Cats were inoculated with B henselae or B quintana and monitored. Convalescent cats were challenge exposed with B henselae. Amoxicillin, enrofloxacin, erythromycin, and tetracycline HCl were evaluated for effect on B henselae bacteremia. RESULTS Cats developed B henselae bacteremia within 1 week; bacteremia persisted for longer than 2 months before subsiding spontaneously. IgG antibody titer developed shortly after onset of bacteremia; antibody co-existed with bacteremia for several weeks and remained detectable after bacteremia subsided. Cats inoculated with B quintana remained abacteremic. On challenge exposure to B henselae, cats previously infected with B henselae remained abacteremic; cats previously inoculated with B quintana supported B henselae infection. Tetracycline HCl and erythromycin depressed B henselae bacteremia; however, duration of bacteremia remained similar to that in untreated cats. Obvious signs of illness were not observed. CONCLUSIONS Long-duration, high-titer B henselae infections were highly reproducible in cats. Convalescent cats were immune to reinfection. B quintana-inoculated cats did not have evidence of infection and were susceptible to B henselae challenge exposure. Antibiotic therapy was incompletely efficacious in terminating cat bacteremia. CLINICAL RELEVANCE A cat with an inapparent B henselae infection must provisionally be regarded as a possible reservoir for infection for a minimum of 2 to 3 months. Convalescent cats are resistant to reinfection. Usual antibiotic therapy was not completely efficacious. Measurement of IgG antibody can be used to detect past or current infection.
Modelling the Combination of Generic and Target Domain Embeddings in a Convolutional Neural Network for Sentence Classification

Word embeddings have been successfully exploited in systems for NLP tasks, such as parsing and text classification. It is intuitive that word embeddings created from a larger corpus would provide a better coverage of vocabulary. Meanwhile, word embeddings trained on a corpus related to the given task or target domain would more effectively represent the semantics of terms. However, in some emerging domains (e.g. bio-surveillance using social media data), it may be difficult to find a domain corpus that is large enough for creating effective word embeddings. To deal with this problem, we propose novel approaches that use both word embeddings created from generic and target domain corpora. Our experimental results on sentence classification tasks show that our approaches significantly improve the performance of an existing convolutional neural network that achieved state-of-the-art performances on several text classification tasks.
Matching Reviews to Objects using a Language Model

We develop a general method to match unstructured text reviews to a structured list of objects. For this, we propose a language model for generating reviews that incorporates a description of objects and a generic review language model. This mixture model gives us a principled method to find, given a review, the object most likely to be the topic of the review. Extensive experiments and analysis on reviews from Yelp show that our language model-based method vastly outperforms traditional tf-idf-based methods.