Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INVESTIGATION OF COMPRESSED EARTH BRICK CONTAINING CERAMIC WASTE

This study presented experimental results on the use of ceramic waste as substitutes in the composition of laterite soil compressed bricks, better known as compressed earth brick (CEB). The use of ceramic waste was chosen because in recent years it can be seen landfills can no longer accommodate the growing of solid waste. Some examples of solid waste are glass, cans, plastic, paper and ceramic waste. Ceramics used in this study are ceramic rest that has been broken taken from the landfill and then crushed before mixing with the mixture of CEB. The main objective of this study was to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of compressed earth bricks containing waste ceramics and to determine the optimum percentage of waste ceramic in any mix of revenue compressed earth bricks. A total of 72 units of bricks were produced and used to test the density, water absorption, compressive strength and the initial rate absorption. The sample size utilize prototypes size of 100 mm x 50 mm x 40 mm. Laboratory tests conducted in accordance with the test procedures that were performed on brick CEB as specified in BS 3921: 1985 and MS 76: 1972. The experimental results shows that the ratio of ceramic waste 75% was the optimum value because it recorded the highest compressive strength with 33.6 N/mm2 and the test of water absorption and initial rate absorption test were 17.2% and 1,634 kg / min / m2 respectively.
Design space exploration of instruction schedulers for out-of-order soft processors

This work explores instruction scheduler designs for single-issue, out-of-order soft processors targeting irregular workloads. It shows the effect of scheduler size, scheduling policy and back-to-back scheduling on performance, area, and frequency. It is shown that for a modern, high-end FPGA (Altera Stratix III) the best performance is achieved by a small, 4-entry instruction scheduler with an age-based instruction selection policy and back-to-back scheduling. A combined scheduler and register renamer is shown to operate at 303MHz.
Cognitive strategies to the increase of hyper document quality to distance learning

For an effective process of distance learning it is necessary to assist teachers during the design of instructional material, helping them designing the material structure, navigation, organization and layout and considering pedagogical aspects that facilitate the student knowledge building. We consider usability as the needed effort to use the software and the material as an interface to students. In this context, if the material is made easier to be understood, teachers are reducing the students' effort and increasing the material usability. The main goal of this work was to evaluate the use of a group of Cognitive Strategies as an aid for structuring and organizing the instructional material content delivered through the interface, aiming to increase the hyper document usability and consequently its quality. It is intended to write and document these principles in a Pattern format.
Carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene-induced mammary tumorigenesis is accelerated in Smad3 heterozygous mice compared to Smad3 wild type mice

Previous studies based on cell culture and xenograft animal models suggest that Smad3 has tumor suppressor function for breast cancer during early stages of tumorigenesis. In this report, we show that DMBA (7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene), a chemical carcinogen, induces mammary tumor formation at a significantly higher frequency in the Smad3 heterozygous mice than in the Smad3 wild type mice. This is the first genetic evidence showing that Smad3 inhibits mammary tumor formation in a mouse model. Our findings support the notion that Smad3 has important tumor suppressor function for breast cancer.
Lazy Sequences Matching Under Substantial Appearance Changes ( Short Paper )

The ability to localize in changing environments is essential for robust long-term navigation. Robots operating over extended periods of time must be able to handle substantial appearance changes. In this paper, we investigate the problem of efficiently coping with seasonal changes in online localization. We propose an online lazy data association approach for matching streams of incoming images to a reference image sequence. We propose a search heuristic to quickly find matches between the current image sequence and the database. We present an experimental evaluation using real world data containing substantial seasonal changes and show that our approach can efficiently match sequences by requiring comparably small number of image comparisons.
curatedOvarianData: clinically annotated data for the ovarian cancer transcriptome

This article introduces a manually curated data collection for gene expression meta-analysis of patients with ovarian cancer and software for reproducible preparation of similar databases. This resource provides uniformly prepared microarray data for 2970 patients from 23 studies with curated and documented clinical metadata. It allows users to efficiently identify studies and patient subgroups of interest for analysis and to perform meta-analysis immediately without the challenges posed by harmonizing heterogeneous microarray technologies, study designs, expression data processing methods and clinical data formats. We confirm that the recently proposed biomarker CXCL12 is associated with patient survival, independently of stage and optimal surgical debulking, which was possible only through meta-analysis owing to insufficient sample sizes of the individual studies. The database is implemented as the curatedOvarianData Bioconductor package for the R statistical computing language, providing a comprehensive and flexible resource for clinically oriented investigation of the ovarian cancer transcriptome. The package and pipeline for producing it are available from http://bcb.dfci. harvard.edu/ovariancancer. Database URL: http://bcb.dfci. harvard.edu/ovariancancer
Progressive spherical parameterization based on composite stretch metric

Parameterization of 3D mesh is important for many graphics applications, such as texture mapping, geometry compression and morphing. For closed two-manifold genus-0 meshes, the sphere is the most natural parameterization domain. No-foldover and low-distortion are two basic challenges for spherical procedure. In this paper, we present a new stretch metric (SCSM, spherical-domain composite stretch metric) to solve the spherical parameterization problem. In order to further reduce the area distortion of parameterized triangles, we introduce the concept of global area into SCSM. The experimental results show that our method can parameterize the spatial genus-0 meshes onto the unit sphere fast than traditional methods but with less distortion.
Methods for Determining The Status Of MV Switching Devices Using Minimum Cost Criterion

This paper introduces a new method for evaluating the status of medium-voltage (MV) switching devices by defining two hybrid parameters. The device condition hybrid parameter (DCHP) and the device importance hybrid parameter (DIHP) are defined by using weighing factors. Three different methods were applied for determining the DCHP, while the DIHP is determined by using the differential evolution algorithm. Boundary values for the DCHP are calculated on the basis of economic criterion regarding minimum costs. The proposed approach was primarily developed for applying modern MV switching devices maintenance, but can also be used in network planning and for proper choosing of MV switching devices. It is elucidated by an example.
Clinical Assessment of Psychiatric Symptoms in Mentally Retarded Individuals

Mentally retarded Australians with emotional and behavioural disorders are seriously under-served by psychiatrists, despite such individuals being as prevalent as those with schizophrenia. These disorders have serious consequences for the individual, family and carers, and the community as a whole. In the psychiatric assessment of mentally retarded persons, a key principle is that while intellectual handicap increases vulnerability to psychiatric illness, it does not of itself cause psychopathology. A biopsychosocial framework provides a model whereby those factors which are contributing to psychopathology can be systematically elucidated. Biological factors include brain pathology associated with particular mental retardation syndromes, drug side-effects and epilepsy. Psychological factors include temperament, a history of abuse, and current life stresses. Social factors include distortions in family roles and hostel or workshop conflicts. Although clinical assessment can be challenging, and confident syndrome diagnosis is not always possible, a systematic approach to the analysis of symptoms will provide a guide to useful interventions.
‘At-risk’ individuals’ responses to direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs: a nationally representative cross-sectional study

Objectives The factors determining individuals’ self-reported behavioural responses to direct to consumer advertising of prescription drugs were explored with an emphasis on ‘at-risk’ individuals’ responses. Design Nationally representative cross-sectional survey. Setting Community living adults in New Zealand. Participants 2057 adults (51% women). Primary outcome measures Self-reported behavioural responses to drug advertising (asking a physician for a prescription, asking a physician for more information about an illness, searching the internet for more information regarding an illness and asking a pharmacist for more information about a drug). Methods Multivariate logistic regressions determined whether participants’ self-reported behavioural responses to drug advertising were predicted by attitudes towards advertising and drug advertising, judgements about safety and effectiveness of advertised drugs, self-reported health status, materialism, online search behaviour as well as demographic variables. Results Identifying as Indian and to a less extent Chinese, Māori and ‘other’ ethnicities were the strongest predictors of one or more self-reported responses (ORs 1.76–5.00, Ps<0.05). Poorer self-reported health status (ORs 0.90–0.94, all Ps<0.05), favourable attitude towards drug advertising (ORs 1.34–1.61, all Ps<0.001) and searching for medical information online (ORs 1.32–2.35, all Ps<0.01) predicted all self-reported behavioural outcomes. Older age (ORs 1.01–1.02, Ps<0.01), less education (OR 0.89, P<0.01), lower income (ORs 0.89–0.91, Ps<0.05) and higher materialism (ORs 1.02–1.03, Ps<0.01) also predicted one or more self-reported responses. Conclusions Taken together, the findings suggest individuals, especially those who are ‘at-risk’ (ie, with poorer self-reported health status, older, less educated, lower income and ethnic minorities), may be more vulnerable to drug advertising and may make uninformed decisions accordingly. The outcomes raise significant concerns relating to the ethicality of drug advertising and suggest a need for stricter guidelines to ensure that drug advertisements provided by pharmaceutical companies are ethical.
Motivational Goals and School Achievement: Lebanese-Background Students in South-Western Sydney

There is a general belief that Lebanese-background students in Australia do not usually perform well at school. This study examines the school achievement of Lebanese-background students and the major motivational factors related to their achievement. A total of 271 Year Nine students (117 Lebanese-background and 154 non-Lebanese background) in three high schools in southwestern Sydney completed the Inventory of School Motivation and the Facilitating Conditions Questionnaire and this information was used to examine the students' motivational profiles and the salience of motivational and other background variables in predicting school achievement. The study indicates that the Lebanese-background group is lower on variables which predict both their English and Science results, such as their valuing of education, and their perceived family and teacher support. The strongest predictors for achievement for the Lebanese-background group were competition, social concern, recognition, and token reward; however, these variables were not the strongest motivators for the students of Lebanese background. The variable most strongly valued by the Lebanese-background group was power, and that was found to be negatively related to their school achievement. The significance of these findings is that the Lebanese-background group does not strongly value the positive predictors for school achievement and attention needs to be paid to enhance these among this group; and that the Lebanese-background group shows higher levels of the negative predictors and hence attention needs to be given to diminish the students' negative perspectives which predict lower academic performance.
Prospects for the Study of Evolution in the Deep Biosphere

Since the days of Darwin, scientists have used the framework of the theory of evolution to explore the interconnectedness of life on Earth and adaptation of organisms to the ever-changing environment. The advent of molecular biology has advanced and accelerated the study of evolution by allowing direct examination of the genetic material that ultimately determines the phenotypes upon which selection acts. The study of evolution has been furthered through examination of microbial evolution, with large population numbers, short generation times, and easily extractable DNA. Such work has spawned the study of microbial biogeography, with the realization that concepts developed in population genetics may be applicable to microbial genomes (Martiny et al., 2006; Manhes and Velicer, 2011). Microbial biogeography and adaptation has been examined in many different environments. Here we argue that the deep biosphere is a unique environment for the study of evolution and list specific factors that can be considered and where the studies may be performed. This publication is the result of the NSF-funded Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI) theme team on Evolution (www.darkenergybiosphere.org).
Controllable polarization splitting in liquid crystal infiltrated photonic crystals

Large and controllable polarization splitting effects are demonstrated based on liquid crystal infiltrated two-dimensional photonic crystals with silicon as a background material. Due to the strong birefringence of the liquid crystal, the dispersion curves of the two polarizations are distinctly different, resulting in large splitting between the two polarizations. Extremely large splitting, as large as 90 degree, can be obtained. Moreover, the splitting can be substantially tuned upon re-orienting the optic axis of liquid crystal. The influence of incident angle and the birefringence of the LC to the polarization splitting are also analyzed.
Trials to Improve Blood Pressure Through Adherence to Antihypertensives in Stroke/TIA: Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Background The purpose of this study was to determine whether interventions including components to improve adherence to antihypertensive medications in patients after stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA) improve adherence and blood pressure control. Methods and Results We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, BNI, PsycINFO, and article reference lists to October 2012. Search terms included stroke/TIA, adherence/prevention, hypertension, and randomized controlled trial (RCT). Inclusion criteria were participants with stroke/TIA; interventions including a component to improve adherence to antihypertensive medications; and outcomes including blood pressure, antihypertensive adherence, or both. Two reviewers independently assessed studies to determine eligibility, validity, and quality. Seven RCTs were eligible (n=1591). Methodological quality varied. All trials tested multifactorial interventions. None targeted medication adherence alone. Six trials measured blood pressure and 3 adherence. Meta‐analysis of 6 trials showed that multifactorial programs were associated with improved blood pressure control. The difference between intervention versus control in mean improvement in systolic blood pressure was −5.3 mm Hg (95% CI, −10.2 to −0.4 mm Hg, P=0.035; I2=67% [21% to 86%]) and in diastolic blood pressure was −2.5 mm Hg (−5.0 to −0.1 mm Hg, P=0.046; I2=47% [0% to 79%]). There was no effect on medication adherence where measured. Conclusions Multifactorial interventions including a component to improve medication adherence can lower blood pressure after stroke/TIA. However, it is not possible to say whether or not this is achieved through better medication adherence. Trials are needed of well‐characterized interventions to improve medication adherence and clinical outcomes with measurement along the hypothesized causal pathway.
A Diffusion-Based Processor Reallocation Strategy for Tracking Multiple Dynamically Varying Weather Phenomena

Many meteorological phenomena occur at different locations simultaneously. These phenomena vary temporally and spatially. It is essential to track these multiple phenomena for accurate weather prediction. Efficient analysis require high-resolution simulations which can be conducted by introducing finer resolution nested simulations, nests at the locations of these phenomena. Simultaneous tracking of these multiple weather phenomena requires simultaneous execution of the nests on different subsets of the maximum number of processors for the main weather simulation. Dynamic variation in the number of these nests require efficient processor reallocation strategies. In this paper, we have developed strategies for efficient partitioning and repartitioning of the nests among the processors. As a case study, we consider an application of tracking multiple organized cloud clusters in tropical weather systems. We first present a parallel data analysis algorithm to detect such clouds. We have developed a tree-based hierarchical diffusion method which reallocates processors for the nests such that the redistribution cost is less. We achieve this by a novel tree reorganization approach. We show that our approach exhibits up to 25% lower redistribution cost and 53% lesser hop-bytes than the processor reallocation strategy that does not consider the existing processor allocation.
On the Performance Degradation of Cyber-Physical Systems Under Stealthy Integrity Attacks

This technical note analyzes the effect of stealthy integrity attacks on Cyber-Physical Systems, which is modeled as a Stochastic Linear Time-Invariant (LTI) system equipped with a linear filter, a linear feedback controller and a χ2 failure detector. An attacker wishes to induce perturbation in the control loop by compromising a subset of the sensors and injecting an exogenous control input, without incurring detection from an anomaly detector. We show how the problem can be modeled, from the attacker's standpoint, as a constrained control problem and that the characterization of the maximum perturbation can be posed as reachable set computation, which we solve using ellipsoidal calculus.
Asynchronous vs. Synchronous Design of RSA

Asynchronous designs have the potential to be robust with respect to changes in the physical environment. They also appear to consume less power and provide better performance compared to their synchronous counterparts. In this work, synchronous and asynchronous implementations of the modular multiplication that is the major part of the RSA algorithm is presented at the transistor level. Total currents and transistor counts are reported and compared.
OncoCase: Interdisciplinary Case Based Teaching in Neuro-Oncology Based on the Campus Platform

The problem-oriented learning (POL) paradigm has been successfully implemented in electronic medical teaching. Several e-learning and authoring platforms for POL are available. At the Freiburg University Hospital an interdisciplinary POL program has been established in the domain of Neuro-Oncology (OncoCase) utilizing the Campus e-learning platform. OncoCase e-learning is in the process of being integrated in the curriculum and is supplemented by an interdisciplinary lecture. Learning success and usability were evaluated.
Eligibility criteria of randomized controlled trials published in high-impact general medical journals: a systematic sampling review.

CONTEXT Selective eligibility criteria of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are vital to trial feasibility and internal validity. However, the exclusion of certain patient populations may lead to impaired generalizability of results. OBJECTIVE To determine the nature and extent of exclusion criteria among RCTs published in major medical journals and the contribution of exclusion criteria to the representation of certain patient populations. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SELECTION The MEDLINE database was searched for RCTs published between 1994 and 2006 in certain general medical journals with a high impact factor. Of 4827 articles, 283 were selected using a series technique. DATA EXTRACTION Trial characteristics and the details regarding exclusions were extracted independently. All exclusion criteria were graded independently and in duplicate as either strongly justified, potentially justified, or poorly justified according to previously developed and pilot-tested guidelines. DATA SYNTHESIS Common medical conditions formed the basis for exclusion in 81.3% of trials. Patients were excluded due to age in 72.1% of all trials (60.1% in pediatric populations and 38.5% in older adults). Individuals receiving commonly prescribed medications were excluded in 54.1% of trials. Conditions related to female sex were grounds for exclusion in 39.2% of trials. Of all exclusion criteria, only 47.2% were graded as strongly justified in the context of the specific RCT. Exclusion criteria were not reported in 12.0% of trials. Multivariable analyses revealed independent associations between the total number of exclusion criteria and drug intervention trials (risk ratio, 1.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.11-1.65; P = .003) and between the total number of exclusion criteria and multicenter trials (risk ratio, 1.26; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-1.52; P = .009). Industry-sponsored trials were more likely to exclude individuals due to concomitant medication use, medical comorbidities, and age. Drug intervention trials were more likely to exclude individuals due to concomitant medication use, medical comorbidities, female sex, and socioeconomic status. Among such trials, justification for exclusions related to concomitant medication use and comorbidities were more likely to be poorly justified. CONCLUSIONS The RCTs published in major medical journals do not always clearly report exclusion criteria. Women, children, the elderly, and those with common medical conditions are frequently excluded from RCTs. Trials with multiple centers and those involving drug interventions are most likely to have extensive exclusions. Such exclusions may impair the generalizability of RCT results. These findings highlight a need for careful consideration and transparent reporting and justification of exclusion criteria in clinical trials.