Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association of clinical outcome assessments of mobility capacity and incident disability in community-dwelling older adults - a systematic review and meta-analysis

IMPORTANCE The predictive value of common performance-based outcome assessments of mobility capacity on incident disability in activities of daily living in community-dwelling older adults remains uncertain. OBJECTIVE To synthesize all available research on the association between mobility capacity and incident disability in non-disabled older adults. DATA SOURCES MEDLINE, EMBASE and CINAHL databases were searched without any limits or restrictions. STUDY SELECTION Published reports of longitudinal cohort studies that estimated a direct association between baseline mobility capacity, assessed with a standardized outcome assessment, and subsequent development of disability, including initially non-disabled older adults. DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS Data extraction was completed by independent pairs of reviewers. The risk of bias was assessed using the Quality in Prognosis Studies (QUIPS) tool. Random-effect models were used to explore the objective. The certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE. MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURES The main outcome measures were the pooled relative risks (RR) per one conventional unit per mobility assessment for incident disability in activities of daily living. RESULTS A total of 40 reports were included, evaluating 85,515 and 78,379 participants at baseline and follow-up, respectively (median mean age: 74.6 years). The median disability rate at follow-up was 12.0% (IQR: 5.4%-23.3%). The overall risk of bias was judged as low, moderate and high in 6 (15%), 6 (15%), and 28 (70%) reports, respectively. For usual and fast gait speed, the RR per -0.1 m/s was 1.23 (95% CI: 1.18-1.28; 26,638 participants) and 1.28 (95% CI: 1.19-1.38; 8,161 participants), respectively. Each point decrease in Short Physical Performance Battery score increased the risk of incident disability by 30% (RR = 1.30, 95% CI: 1.23-1.38; 9,183 participants). The RR of incident disability by each second increase in Timed Up and Go test and Chair Rise Test performance was 1.15 (95% CI: 1.09-1.21; 30,426 participants) and 1.07 (95% CI: 1.04-1.10; 9,450 participants), respectively. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among community-dwelling non-disabled older adults, a poor mobility capacity is a potent modifiable risk factor for incident disability. Mobility impairment should be mandated as a quality indicator of health for older people.
A gene expression map of host immune response in human brucellosis

Brucellosis is a common zoonotic disease caused by intracellular pathogens of the genus Brucella. Brucella infects macrophages and evades clearance mechanisms, thus resulting in chronic parasitism. Herein, we studied the molecular changes that take place in human brucellosis both in vitro and ex vivo. RNA sequencing was performed in primary human macrophages (Mφ) and polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMNs) infected with a clinical strain of Brucella spp. We observed a downregulation in the expression of genes involved in host response, such as TNF signaling, IL-1β production, and phagosome formation in Mφ, and phosphatidylinositol signaling and TNF signaling in PMNs, being in line with the ability of the pathogen to survive within phagocytes. Further transcriptomic analysis of isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and PMNs from patients with acute brucellosis before treatment initiation and after successful treatment revealed a positive correlation of the molecular signature of active disease with pathways associated with response to interferons (IFN). We identified 24 common genes that were significantly altered in both PMNs and PBMCs, including genes involved in IFN signaling that were downregulated after treatment in both cell populations, and IL1R1 that was upregulated. The concentration of several inflammatory mediators was measured in the serum of these patients, and levels of IFN-γ, IL-1β and IL-6 were found significantly increased before the treatment of acute brucellosis. An independent cohort of patients with chronic brucellosis also revealed increased levels of IFN-γ during relapse compared to remissions. Taken together, this study provides for the first time an in-depth analysis of the transcriptomic alterations that take place in human phagocytes upon infection, and in peripheral blood immune populations during active disease.
CMAR_A_354360 875..893

1Department of Surgery, Masaka Regional Referral Hospital, Masaka, Uganda; 2Department of Surgery, Faculty of Health Sciences, Habib Medical School, IUIU University, Kampala, Uganda; 3Department of Pathology, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; 4Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda; 5Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Gulu University, Gulu, Uganda
Early Reading Learning in a Private Elementary School in Bandung

Various research has found that students’ reading abilities in Indonesia need to be improved. Several difficulties are the cause of students’ low early reading skills. To effectively solve these problems requires a deeper understanding of how early reading learning is currently implemented. This paper discusses an ethnographic study at a private elementary school in Bandung City, Indonesia, aiming to gain an in-depth understanding of early reading learning in that school. The respondents in this study are four teachers and 195 students of first-grade classes who participated in early reading learning. Data was collected via interview and observation to be analyzed based on component analysis focusing on the methods and techniques, media, and difficulties of early reading learning. The findings show that teachers mostly employed the SAS method and observational learning (modeling) technique to teach early reading learning. They also used teaching media such as books, flashcards, direct objects, videos, and hand puppets. The most prominent difficulties that students faced in early reading learning included difficulties in recognizing letters, pronunciation being influenced by mother tongue, difficulties in combining double consonants/vowels sound, difficulties in reading fluently, and difficulties in comprehension.
Meta-learning richer priors for VAEs

Variational auto-encoders have proven to capture complicated data distributions and useful latent representations, while advances in meta-learning have made it possible to extract prior knowledge from data. We incorporate these two approaches and propose a novel flexible prior, namely the Pseudo-inputs prior, to obtain a richer latent space. We train VAEs using the Model-Agnostic Meta-Learning (MAML) algorithm and show that it achieves comparable reconstruction performance with standard training. However, we show that this MAML-VAE model learns richer latent representations, which we evaluate in terms of unsupervised few-shot classification as a downstream task. Moreover, we show that our proposed Pseudo-inputs prior outperforms baseline priors, including the VampPrior, in both models, while also encouraging high-level representations through its pseudo-inputs.
Indefinite Pronouns Optimize the Simplicity/Informativeness Trade‐Off

Abstract The vocabulary of human languages has been argued to support efficient communication by optimizing the trade‐off between simplicity and informativeness. The argument has been originally based on cross‐linguistic analyses of vocabulary in semantic domains of content words, such as kinship, color, and number terms. The present work applies this analysis to a category of function words: indefinite pronouns (e.g., someone, anyone, no one). We build on previous work to establish the meaning space and featural make‐up for indefinite pronouns, and show that indefinite pronoun systems across languages optimize the simplicity/informativeness trade‐off. This demonstrates that pressures for efficient communication shape both content and function word categories. In doing so, our work aligns with several concurrent studies exploring the simplicity/informativeness trade‐off in functional vocabulary. Importantly, we further argue that the trade‐off may explain some of the universal properties of indefinite pronouns, thus reducing the explanatory load for linguistic theories.
A Comparative Study on Rhetorical Moves of IJAL’s Abstracts Written by UPI’s Lecturers and by UPI-Other Indonesian Universities’ Lecturers

A well-written abstract is considered as the reflection of a qualified journal article which can be read by academic readers. It also serves as a determining point whether the reader decides to continue reading the text. Some of the previous studies examined abstracts based on the background of the writers as an expert-novice and a nativenon-native. Meanwhile, this study presents research in progress on rhetorical moves of accepted research article (RA) abstracts, influenced by the different forms of collaboration which may have different realizations of abstract rhetorical patterns and linguistic features, i.e., voice and tense. Six abstracts of Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics (IJAL) articles published in 2020 and 2021 were selected. The selected abstracts are compared based on Hyland’s (2000) theory of rhetorical move analysis. The data are taken from those written by lecturers of Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) and those by UPI’s lecturers and other Indonesian universities’ lecturers. The results of this study revealed differences in rhetorical moves and steps. On the other hand, the linguistics features in selected abstracts showed similarities in terms of tense and voice. Implications of the present research findings to English for academic writing courses and journal writing workshops will be discussed.
Employment and Retirement Among Older Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic Employment and Retirement Among Older Workers During the Covid-19 Pandemic

The Covid-19 pandemic dealt an unprecedented shock to older workers and led to a sharp increase in the share of U.S. adults who are retired. This paper uses Current Population Survey data to explore the distribution and determinants of employment loss and retirement among older workers during the pandemic. Employment declines among older workers were greatest for low earners, women, non-whites and non-collegeeducated workers. By contrast, increased transitions to retirement occurred across demographic groups and concentrated in both the lowestand highest-earning quartiles. Job characteristics that best predicted increased pandemic retirement transitions were employment in high-contact occupations and part-time work schedules. I estimate that part-time workers made up roughly 70% of the increase in net year-to-year employment-to-retirement transitions during the first year of the pandemic. This finding has implications for recent Social Security claiming behavior and for the possible persistence of the pandemic retirement boom. Keywords— older workers, retirement, labor supply, Covid-19
Boosted Rule Learning for Multi-Label Classification using Stochastic Gradient Descent

Multi-Label classification, the process of assigning multiple different labels to a set of examples is a more complex form of the traditional classification task. It can be achieved using many different approaches. One such approach is using boosted rule models. The idea here is that each rule by itself provides a weak prediction as to the overall labels, but by summing all these weak individual predictions up we can achieve one combined prediction that is actually reasonably strong and is a decent approximation of the learned data. Using an existing and refined gradient boosting framework for the learning of multi-label classification rules called BOOMER [28], we are proposing and developing an extension to the original algorithm in order to facilitate the modification of rules that have already been learned. Prior work in the field focused on other often more simple rule models or tree models (like SGD Trees[14], RIPPER [4] or IREP [12]) and managed to achieve good results when applying concepts such as post-pruning or replacing parts of rules with new ones. While the original algorithm does already provide decent results when using a sufficient number of rules, our goal is to use these insights and apply them to our chosen algorithm. We want to determine whether or not these concepts also work on a stochastic gradient descent boosted rule learner for multi-label classification and can yield better overall models while possibly using less complex rules than were required previously. We will later analyze our finished implementation using some commonly used classification datasets [31] to benchmark and appropriate metrics to evaluate whether any progress was made.
Control system design for nano-positioning using piezoelectric actuators

This paper presents a systematic control system design for nano-positioning of a piezoelectric actuator (PEA). PEAs exhibit hysteresis nonlinearity, which can dramatically limit the application and performance of linear feedback control theory. Thus the hysteresis is compensated for based on the Maxwell resistive capacitor (MRC) model first. Then a proportional plus integral (PI) controller and a proportional double integral plus lead compensation (PII&L) controller are designed for the hysteresis-compensated PEA to account for model uncertainty, disturbance, and noise. The robust stability of both controllers is proved. The effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is demonstrated experimentally. Both controllers achieve fast precise positioning. The 2% settling times for the PI controller and the PII&L controller are 1.5 ms and 4.7 ms, respectively. The positioning resolution is upto 1 nm for both controllers.
Why people vote for thin-centred ideology parties? A multi-level multi-country test of individual and aggregate level predictors

The present research investigates the individual and aggregate level determinants of support for thin-centred ideology parties across 23 European countries. Employing a multilevel modelling approach, we analysed European Social Survey data round 7 2014 (N = 44000). Our findings show that stronger identification with one’s country and confidence in one’s ability to influence the politics positively but perceiving the system as satisfactory and responsive; trusting the institutions and people, and having positive attitudes toward minorities, i.e., immigrants and refugees, negatively predict support for populist and single issue parties. The level of human development and perceptions of corruption at the country level moderate these effects. Thus, we provide the first evidence that the populist surge is triggered by populist actors’ capacity to simultaneously invoke vertical, “ordinary” people against “the elites”, and horizontal, “us” against “threatening aliens”, categories of people as well as the sovereignty of majority over minorities. These categories and underlying social psychological processes of confidence, trust, and threats are moderated by the general level of human development and corruption perceptions in a country. It is, therefore, likely that voting for populist parties will increase as the liberally democratic countries continue to prosper and offer better opportunities for human development. Stronger emphasis on safeguarding the integrity of the economic and democratic institutions, as our findings imply, and preserving their ethical and honest, i.e., un-corrupt, nature can keep this surge under check.
Ionic Interactions at the Crude Oil–Brine–Rock Interfaces Using Different Surface Complexation Models and DLVO Theory: Application to Carbonate Wettability

The impact of ionic association with the carbonate surface and its influence toward carbonate wettability remains unclear and is an important topic of interest in the current literature. In this work, a triple layer model (TLM) approach was used to capture the electrokinetic interactions at both calcite–brine and oil–brine interfaces. The developed TLM was assembled against measured ζ-potential values from the literature, successfully capturing the trends and closely matching the ζ-potential magnitudes. The developed TLM was compared to a diffused layer model (DLM) presented in previous works, with the DLM showing a better match to the ζ-potential values for seawater brine solutions. The ζ-potential values predicted from both surface complexation models (SCMs) were used to calculate the total interaction energy (or potential) based on the Derjaguin, Landau, Verwey, and Overbeek (DLVO) theory. It was observed that low Mg2+ and high SO42– concentrations in modified composition brine (MCB) made the calcite–brine interface more negative. However, at the oil–brine interface, low Mg2+ made the oil–brine interface more negative but high SO42– concentrations slightly shifted the oil–brine ζ-potential toward negative. At the crude oil–brine–rock (COBR) interfaces, low Mg2+ and high SO42– concentrations in the MCB were observed to generate a greater repulsive interaction energy, which could trigger carbonate wettability alteration toward water wetness. The absolute sum of the ζ-potential at both interfaces was observed to be correlated to the total interaction potential at a 0.25 nm separating distance. Thus, an increase in the absolute sum of the ζ-potentials would generate a greater repulsive interaction potential and trigger wettability alteration. Therefore, these SCMs can be applied to design modified composition brine capable of triggering a repulsive interaction energy to alter carbonate wettability toward water wetness.
What’s in a face: Automatic facial coding of untrained study participants compared to standardized inventories

Automatic facial coding (AFC) is a novel research tool to automatically analyze emotional facial expressions. AFC can classify emotional expressions with high accuracy in standardized picture inventories of intensively posed and prototypical expressions. However, classification of facial expressions of untrained study participants is more error prone. This discrepancy requires a direct comparison between these two sources of facial expressions. To this end, 70 untrained participants were asked to express joy, anger, surprise, sadness, disgust, and fear in a typical laboratory setting. Recorded videos were scored with a well-established AFC software (FaceReader, Noldus Information Technology). These were compared with AFC measures of standardized pictures from 70 trained actors (i.e., standardized inventories). We report the probability estimates of specific emotion categories and, in addition, Action Unit (AU) profiles for each emotion. Based on this, we used a novel machine learning approach to determine the relevant AUs for each emotion, separately for both datasets. First, misclassification was more frequent for some emotions of untrained participants. Second, AU intensities were generally lower in pictures of untrained participants compared to standardized pictures for all emotions. Third, although profiles of relevant AU overlapped substantially across the two data sets, there were also substantial differences in their AU profiles. This research provides evidence that the application of AFC is not limited to standardized facial expression inventories but can also be used to code facial expressions of untrained participants in a typical laboratory setting.
Preparing for patients with high-consequence infectious diseases: Example of a high-level isolation unit

Introduction Patients with high-consequence infectious diseases (HCID) are rare in Western Europe. However, high-level isolation units (HLIU) must always be prepared for patient admission. Case fatality rates of HCID can be reduced by providing optimal intensive care management. We here describe a single centre’s preparation, its embedding in the national context and the challenges we faced during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic. Methods Ten team leaders organize monthly whole day trainings for a team of doctors and nurses from the HLIU focusing on intensive care medicine. Impact and relevance of training are assessed by a questionnaire and a perception survey, respectively. Furthermore, yearly exercises with several partner institutions are performed to cover different real-life scenarios. Exercises are evaluated by internal and external observers. Both training sessions and exercises are accompanied by intense feedback. Results From May 2017 monthly training sessions were held with a two-month and a seven-month break due to the first and second wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, respectively. Agreement with the statements of the questionnaire was higher after training compared to before training indicating a positive effect of training sessions on competence. Participants rated joint trainings for nurses and doctors at regular intervals as important. Numerous issues with potential for improvement were identified during post processing of exercises. Action plans for their improvement were drafted and as of now mostly implemented. The network of the permanent working group of competence and treatment centres for HCID (Ständiger Arbeitskreis der Kompetenz- und Behandlungszentren für Krankheiten durch hochpathogene Erreger (STAKOB)) at the Robert Koch-Institute (RKI) was strengthened throughout the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Discussion Adequate preparation for the admission of patients with HCID is challenging. We show that joint regular trainings of doctors and nurses are appreciated and that training sessions may improve perceived skills. We also show that real-life scenario exercises may reveal additional deficits, which cannot be easily disclosed in training sessions. Although the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic interfered with our activities the enhanced cooperation among German HLIU during the pandemic ensured constant readiness for the admission of HCID patients to our or to collaborating HLIU. This is a single centre’s experience, which may not be generalized to other centres. However, we believe that our work may address aspects that should be considered when preparing a unit for the admission of patients with HCID. These may then be adapted to the local situations.
Knowledge, Perception and Preparedness Related to COVID-19 among Adult Rural Population in Konso, Southern Ethiopia

Background According to the world health organization, the COVID-19 outbreak has currently affected millions of people worldwide. Since the start of the pandemic in China, everything countries have thrown at the virus turned unsuccessful. As there is no established vaccine to halt the virus transmission, it might be very difficult for developing countries like Ethiopia even after vaccine development. Thus, focusing on improving knowledge, perception, and preparedness related to the virus might be very vital. Methods A community-based cross-sectional survey was conducted using the questionnaire applied in most countries which is suitable to apply in the Konso zone in South Nations Nationalities Region (SNNPR) from April.2020 to July 2020. Data were collected, cleaned, coded, checked, and entered into Epi Info and then exported and analyzed in STATA 15. We fitted a binary logistic regression model. Categorical variables were presented using figure tables, and proportion and for continuous variables, mean and standard deviation were used. The results were also presented using Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR) with 95% CI. Results From 636 respondents expected, 615(97%) were participated and possessed the knowledge of 39%, and 64% perception and preparedness each. Measurements related to the policy and interventions like restrictions to movement, self-isolation, wearing a face mask, & the need for more tests was not supported by most participants. Conclusion The poor knowledge, perception, and preparedness were correlated with the unavailability of water and electricity, less education, and informal source of information which could be improved through area appropriate health education interventions.