Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
eHealth, Participatory Medicine, and Ethical Care: A Focus Group Study of Patients’ and Health Care Providers’ Use of Health-Related Internet Information

Background The rapid explosion in online digital health resources is seen as transformational, accelerating the shift from traditionally passive patients to patients as partners and altering the patient–health care professional (HCP) relationship. Patients with chronic conditions are increasingly engaged, enabled, and empowered to be partners in their care and encouraged to take responsibility for managing their conditions with HCP support. Objective In this paper, we focus on patients’ and HCPs’ use of health-related Internet information and how it influences the patient-HCP relationship. In particular, we examine the challenges emerging in medical encounters as roles and relationships shift and apply a conceptual framework of relational ethics to examine explicit and nuanced ethical dimensions emerging in patient-HCP interactions as both parties make increased use of health-related Internet information. Methods We purposively sampled patients and HCPs in British Columbia, Canada, to participate in focus groups. To be eligible, patients self-reported a diagnosis of arthritis and at least one other chronic health condition; HCPs reported a caseload with >25% of patients with arthritis and multimorbidity. We used a semistructured, but flexible, discussion guide. All discussions were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. Elements of grounded theory guided our constant comparison thematic analytic approach. Analysis was iterative. A relational ethics conceptual lens was applied to the data. Results We recruited 32 participants (18 patients, 14 HCPs). They attended seven focus groups: four with patients and three with rehabilitation professionals and physicians. Predominant themes to emerge were how use of health-related Internet information fostered (1) changing roles, (2) patient-HCP partnerships, and (3) tensions and burdens for patients and HCPs. Conclusions Relational aspects such as mutual trust, uncertainty, and vulnerability are illuminated in patient-HCP interactions around health-related Internet information and the negotiated space of clinical encounters. New roles and associated responsibilities have key ethical dimensions that make clear the changes are fundamental and important to understand in ethical care. When faced with tensions and burdens around incorporating health-related Internet information as a resource in clinical encounters, participants described a particular ambivalence illustrating the fundamental changes being negotiated by both patients and HCPs.
Life history constraints explain negative relationship between fish productivity and dissolved organic carbon in lakes

Abstract Resource availability constrains the life history strategies available to organisms and may thereby limit population growth rates and productivity. We used this conceptual framework to explore the mechanisms driving recently reported negative relationships between fish productivity and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations in lakes. We studied populations of bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) in a set of lakes with DOC concentrations ranging from 3 to 24 mg/L; previous work has demonstrated that primary and secondary productivity of food webs is negatively related to DOC concentration across this gradient. For each population, we quantified individual growth rate, age at maturity, age‐specific fecundity, maximum age, length‐weight and length‐egg size relationships, and other life history characteristics. We observed a strong negative relationship between maximum size and DOC concentration; for instance, fish reached masses of 150 to 260 g in low‐DOC lakes but <120 g in high‐DOC lakes. Relationships between fecundity and length, and between egg size and length, were constant across the DOC gradient. Because fish in high‐DOC lakes reached smaller sizes but had similar fecundity and egg size at a given size, their total lifetime fecundity was as much as two orders of magnitude lower than fish in low‐DOC lakes. High DOC concentrations appeared to constrain the range of bluegill life history strategies available; populations in high‐DOC lakes always had low initial growth rates and high ages at maturity, whereas populations in low‐DOC showed higher variability in these traits. This was also the case for the intrinsic rates of natural increase of these populations, which were always low at the high end of the DOC gradient. The potentially lower capacity for fish populations in high‐DOC lakes to recover from exploitation has clear implications for the sustainable management of recreational fisheries in the face of considerable spatial heterogeneity and ongoing temporal change in lake DOC concentrations.
The roles of the pfcrt 76T and pfmdr1 86Y mutations, immunity and the initial level of parasitaemia, in predicting the outcome of chloroquine treatment in two areas with different transmission intensities

Abstract The resistance of Plasmodium falciparum to chloroquine (CQ) is probably mediated by point mutations in two genes: pfcrt and pfmdr1. The aim of the present study was to investigate, in patients treated with CQ, the association between host factors, such as immunity and initial level of parasitaemia, and the ability to clear P. falciparum parasites carrying the key chloroquine-resistance (CQR) mutations, pfcrt 76T and pfmdr1 86Y. Identical CQ-efficacy trials were performed in 51 young children (aged <5 years) from Kibaha, in north–western Tanzania, and 44 patients (aged 3–57 years) from Darawish, in eastern Sudan. In both areas, all the CQ-treatment failures had infections with the 76T and 86Y alleles before treatment. Although the presence of these two alleles was significantly associated with treatment failure in Sudan (P=0.001), the corresponding association in Tanzania did not reach statistical significance (P=0.1). Of the 39 patients from Darawish and 44 from Kibaha who harboured parasites with the CQR mutations, 12 and 19, respectively, managed to clear their parasitaemias. The ability to clear CQR parasites was significantly associated with the initial level of parasitaemia (with P-values of 0.05 in Tanzania and 0.01 in Sudan) and with age — the best surrogate for protective immunity in endemic areas (with P-values of 0.02 in Tanzania and 0.001 in Sudan). These results confirm previous observations that indicated that the 76T and 86Y alleles play a role in the mechanism of CQR, although other factors, such as level of parasitaemia when treated and age, are also important. The 76T and 86Y alleles could still be used as predictive markers for CQR, in non-immune individuals and low-transmission areas.
A New Technique for the Cultivation of the Chick Embryo in vitro

The inaccessibility of the chick embryo in the egg has led to the invention of a large number of in vitro techniques for its cultivation and study. The simplest of these techniques consists of little more than pouring the entire egg contents into a suitable container and taking precautions against excessive evaporation or bacterial infection (e.g. Assheton, 1896; Schmidt, 1937; Vollmar, 1935; Romanoff, 1943). Although these methods assist observation of gross changes occurring in the embryo or its membranes, they are of little use to the embryologist who wishes to make detailed observations or operations. It is very difficult to determine the outline of, for example, a primitive streak, whilst the blastoderm still lies on the yolk; and any operation on the blastoderm is usually followed by a slow leakage of yolk through the wound, which ruins the preparation. The most successful method devised hitherto for explanting the blastoderm in isolation from the yolk is that of Waddington (1932).
Approaches of Dimensionality Reduction for Telugu Document Classification

Document classification is one of the prominent area of research evolved as a result of exponential growth in the usage of electronic documents. Classification of documents demands for understanding of document units by removing insignificant data and improving computational efficiency. This paper deals with the approaches aimed at Dimensionality Reduction (DR) in document units for Telugu. Bag of words is a generic model for English document classification, adaptation of this model on Indic based scripts found to have a meager performance. Two approaches are presented in this paper, first approach deals with language specific and Corpus based dimensionality reduction termed as validity based DR. The other approach is Category and Document specific approach termed as category based DR. The performance of the two approaches is evaluated with the help of accuracy as a measure.
Changes in Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Native Enterococcus faecium in Chickens Fed Virginiamycin

ABSTRACT The extent of transfer of antimicrobial resistance from agricultural environments to humans is controversial. To assess the potential hazard posed by streptogramin use in food animals, this study evaluated the effect of virginiamycin exposure on antimicrobial resistance in Enterococcus faecium recovered from treated broilers. Four consecutive broiler feeding trials were conducted using animals raised on common litter. In the first three trials, one group of birds was fed virginiamycin continuously in feed at 20 g/ton, and a second group served as the nontreated control. In the fourth trial, antimicrobial-free feed was given to both groups. Fecal samples were cultured 1 day after chickens hatched and then at 1, 3, 5, and 7 weeks of age. Isolates from each time point were tested for susceptibility to a panel of different antimicrobials. Quinupristin/dalfopristin-resistant E. faecium appeared after 5 weeks of treatment in trial 1 and within 7 days of trials 2 to 4. Following removal of virginiamycin in trial 4, no resistant isolates were detected after 5 weeks. PCR failed to detect vat, vgb, or erm(B) in any of the streptogramin-resistant E. faecium isolates, whereas the msr(C) gene was detected in 97% of resistant isolates. In an experimental setting using broiler chickens, continuous virginiamycin exposure was required to maintain a stable streptogramin-resistant population of E. faecium in the animals. The bases of resistance could not be explained by known genetic determinants.
Sensing order optimization in wideband spectrum sensing

In the cognitive radio networks (CRNs), efficient spectrum sensing is a key enabling techniques for the effective spectrum exploration. However, Majority of the existing works on spectrum sensing is conducted the spectrum sensing serially in cognitive radio networks, which may bring about the sensing delay problem. In this paper, in order to make full use of the available channel resources and improve the spectrum exploitation, we propose a channel sensing order optimization for secondary users in the scenario that the CRN has a wide spectrum band with multiple channels. Firstly, we extend the preliminary screening mechanism to select the channel set for the secondary users to detect the spectrum hole with descending the product of the idle probability of the channels and channel throughput. Furthermore, the spectrum sensing order is decided according to the Markov prediction technology. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithm can improve the spectrum sensing efficiency and increase the system throughput.
Glycated Hemoglobin and the Risk of Kidney Disease and Retinopathy in Adults With and Without Diabetes

OBJECTIVE Glycated hemoglobin was recently recommended for use as a diagnostic test for diabetes. We examined the association between 2010 American Diabetes Association diagnostic cut points for glycated hemoglobin and microvascular outcomes (chronic kidney disease, end-stage renal disease [ESRD], and retinopathy) and formally tested for the presence of risk thresholds in the relationships of glycated hemoglobin with these outcomes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Prospective cohort and cross-sectional analyses of 11,357 participants (773 with a history of diagnosed diabetes) from the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study. RESULTS During a median of 14 years of follow-up of individuals without diagnosed diabetes at baseline, clinical categories of glycated hemoglobin were associated with risk of chronic kidney disease, with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of 1.12 (0.94–1.34) and 1.39 (1.04–1.85) for glycated hemoglobin 5.7–6.4% and ≥6.5%, respectively, as compared with <5.7% (P trend = 0.002). The corresponding HRs for ESRD were 1.51 (0.82–2.76) and 1.98 (0.83–4.73), respectively (P trend = 0.047). In the absence of diagnosed diabetes, glycated hemoglobin was cross sectionally associated with the presence of moderate/severe retinopathy, with adjusted odds ratios of 1.42 (0.69–2.92) and 2.91 (1.19–7.11) for glycated hemoglobin 5.7–<6.5% and ≥6.5%, respectively, compared with <5.7% (P trend = 0.011). Risk associations were stronger among individuals with a history of diabetes. We did not observe significant thresholds in the associations of glycated hemoglobin with kidney disease risk or retinopathy. CONCLUSIONS These data from a community-based, biracial population support the use of new 2010 American Diabetes Association glycated hemoglobin cut points for the diagnosis of diabetes.
Normal Bandits of Unknown Means and Variances: Asymptotic Optimality, Finite Horizon Regret Bounds, and a Solution to an Open Problem

Consider the problem of sampling sequentially from a finite number of N > 2 populations, specified by random variables X i k , i = 1;:::; N; and k = 1; 2;:::; where X i k denotes the outcome from population i the k th time it is sampled. It is assumed that for each fixed i,fX i k gk>1 is a sequence of i.i. d. normal random variables, with unknown mean mi and unknown variance s 2 i . The objective is to have a policy p for deciding from which of the N populations to sample form at any time n = 1; 2;::: so as to maximize the expected sum of outcomes of n samples or equivalently to minimize the regret due to lack on information of the parameters mi and s 2 i . In this paper, we present a simple inflated sample mean (ISM) index policy that is asymptotically optimal in the sense of Theorem 4 below. This resolves a standing open problem from Burnetas and Katehakis (1996b). Additionally, finite horizon regret bounds are given.
A New Revenue Model for P2P Real-Time Multimedia Communications in Small High-Interactive Groups

New service providers, completely separated from the Internet Service Providers (ISP), are growing today in the Internet scenario to create new multimedia services through the P2P approach. These providers are manifesting great interest not only for classical multimedia applications, like video streaming and video on demand, but also for other applications, like for example video-conferencing, multi-party games, private video-chat rooms, and real-time video teaching for e-learning, that usually contain a small number of group members, and the groups are often created and destroyed relatively dynamically. For this kind of applications, use of the P2P approach constitutes a challenging research activity in the immediate future. In addition, new business models are needed to support the economical growth of these kinds of providers. An idea at the basis of the paper is that users are divided in two classes, according to the way they pay the service: in bandwidth (cheap-tariff peers), or with some money (full-tariff peers). The target of this paper is to define a revenue model for providers of services of a new P2P-based platform for multipoint communications for small groups of high-interactive users.
Ferrimagnetism of Ti-Adsorbed Graphene

Using the first-principles calculations, we investigate the magnetism of isolated Ti-adsorbed graphene and the magnetic ground state of Ti adatoms at various concentrations. For isolated Ti adatom on graphene, we analyze the localization of magnetic impurity states and moment formation that can be understood in terms of hybridization between C-pz and Ti 4s-3d orbitals. To examine the magnetic ground state of Ti adatoms, we construct graphene cells with Ti adatom at various concentrations and set up the magnetic configurations for a triangle lattice. It is found that a ferrimagnetic (FI) phase is the most stable in a wide range of Ti concentration by comparing the total energies of different magnetic states. In addition, the exchange integrals between the nearest neighbor and next-nearest-neighbor Ti adatoms are calculated by applying a classical Heisenberg model. The prediction of a graphene-based FI metal monolayer will open the door to applications of spintronics, given that Ti obeys a 2-D growth mechanism on graphene.
Bibliometrics and scientometrics in India: An overview of studies during 1995-2014, Part I: Indian publication output and its citation impact

An analysis of 801 papers published in the area of bibliometrics and scientometrics during 1995-2014 indicates a steep increase in the number of papers published by Indian researchers as compared to the number of papers published during 1970-1994. This indicates a growing interest of Indian scholars in scientometrics and bibliometrics. The paper provides several reasons for this steep increase. The main focus of research is on bibliometric assessment of India and other countries followed by cross national assessment and bibliometric analysis of individual journals. CSIR-NISTADS is the top producing institute contributing about one-third (31.4%) of the total output followed by the output of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre and CSIR-NISCAIR. The distribution of citation data indicates that about one-fifth (21.7%) papers remained uncited. The paper identifies journals in which these uncited papers were published. Only 15% papers were cited more than 20 times. Most of the prolific authors as well as highly cited authors were from the institutions belonging to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Among all authors B.M. Gupta (CSIR-NISTADS) produced the highest number of papers, but the impact as seen in terms of citation per paper and relative citation impact, S. Arunachalam (MSSRF) topped the list.
Small-Signal Modeling of Asymmetrical Half Bridge Flyback Converter

A small-signal model for the asymmetrical half bridge flyback converter is presented. The effects of storage elements and peak current mode control on the transfer characteristics are investigated. The results show that the power stage of the studied converter is basically a fourth order system with two low-frequency poles and two high frequency poles. While the peak current mode control is applied, the transfer functions are reduced to three poles: one dominant pole dependent on the output capacitance and output load resistance, and two high-frequency poles determined by the resonant inductance and the DC blocking capacitance. The validity of the proposed models is verified by both PSPICE simulations and hardware experiments
Efficient parallel Stochastic Gradient Descent for matrix factorization using GPU

Matrix factorization is an advanced and efficient technique for recommender systems. Recently, Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) method is considered to be one of the most popular techniques for matrix factorization. SGD is a sequential algorithm, which is difficult to be parallelized for large-scale problems. Nowadays, researches focus on efficiently parallelizing SGD. In this research, we propose an efficient parallel SGD method, ESGD, for GPU. ESGD is more efficient than recent parallel methods because it utilizes GPU, reducing non-coalesced access of global memory and achieving load balance of threads. In addition, ESGD does not require any sorting and/or data shuffling as preprocessing phase. Although platform used for ESGD implementation is old, ESGD demonstrates 12.5× speedup over state-of-the-art GPU method, BSGD.
Fauna Passages as an Effective Way to Increase Habitat Connectivity for Diverse Non–Target Species

Urbanisation has become the most significant cause of habitat loss and fragmentation globally, facilitating the rapid expansion of road infrastructure networks which have led to environmental degradation at a scale disproportionate to the land they occupy. More than 20 individual ecological effects are directly attributed to road presence, with road effect zones shown to extend up to thousands of meters beyond the road itself. The effects of roads are generally recognised as being detrimental to most wildlife, occurring at localised patch levels, endangering local wildlife and reducing local habitat, as well as at the landscape scale, where they increase habitat fragmentation and facilitate widespread ecological degradation. The expansion of road systems worldwide has stimulated the development of mitigation strategies aiming to reduce biodiversity loss and enhance species persistence. The preservation of landscape corridors and natural habitat are becoming commonplace in urban planning, while fauna passages are gaining increasing recognition as tools to reconnect already fragmented landscapes. The potential for fauna passages to reduce barrier effects, increase habitat connectivity and avoid roadkill is becoming increasingly evident throughout the world, with the rapid expansion of road ecology research. Currently, fauna passage use by mammals is by far the most researched, followed by reptiles, birds and amphibians, while bats have received almost no attention. Furthermore, a lack of detailed information demonstrating effective fauna passage use is a consequence of study longevity, restricting the comprehensive understanding of fauna passage acclimation and long–term success.
GYROLESS ATTITUDE AND RATE ESTIMATION ALGORITHMS FOR THE FUSE SPACECRAFT

This paper documents the testing and development of magnetometer-based gyroless attitude and rate estimation algorithms for the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). The results of two approaches are presented, one relies on a kinematic model for propagation, a method used in aircraft tracking, and the other is a pseudelinear Kalman filter that utilizes Euler's equations in the propagation of the estimated rate. Both algorithms are tested using flight data collected over a few months after the failure of two of the reaction wheels. The question of closed-loop stability is addressed. The ability of the controller to meet the science slew requirements, without the gyros, is analyzed.
The Etiology of Individual Differences in Second Language Acquisition in Australian School Students: A Behavior-Genetic Study.

We present one of the first behavior-genetic studies of individual differences in school students’ levels of achievement in instructed second language acquisition (ISLA). We assessed these language abilities in Australian twin pairs (maximum N pairs = 251) by means of teacher ratings, class rankings, and self-ratings of proficiency, and used the classic twin design to estimate the relative influences of genes, shared (family/school) environment, and unique environment. Achievement in ISLA was more influenced by additive genetic effects (72%, 68%, and 38% for teacher ratings, class rankings, and twin self-ratings, respectively) than by shared environment effects, which were generally not substantial (20%, 07%, and 13%). Genetic effects distinct to speaking and listening, on the one hand, and reading and writing, on the other, were evident for the twin self-ratings. We discuss the limitations and implications of these findings and point to research questions that could profitably be addressed in future studies.