Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The parametric g‐formula to estimate the effect of highly active antiretroviral therapy on incident AIDS or death

The parametric g‐formula can be used to contrast the distribution of potential outcomes under arbitrary treatment regimes. Like g‐estimation of structural nested models and inverse probability weighting of marginal structural models, the parametric g‐formula can appropriately adjust for measured time‐varying confounders that are affected by prior treatment. However, there have been few implementations of the parametric g‐formula to date. Here, we apply the parametric g‐formula to assess the impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy on time to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or death in two US‐based human immunodeficiency virus cohorts including 1498 participants. These participants contributed approximately 7300 person‐years of follow‐up (49% exposed to highly active antiretroviral therapy) during which 382 events occurred and 259 participants were censored because of dropout. Using the parametric g‐formula, we estimated that antiretroviral therapy substantially reduces the hazard of AIDS or death (hazard ratio = 0.55; 95% confidence limits [CL]: 0.42, 0.71). This estimate was similar to one previously reported using a marginal structural model, 0.54 (95% CL: 0.38, 0.78). The 6.5‐year difference in risk of AIDS or death was 13% (95% CL: 8%, 18%). Results were robust to assumptions about temporal ordering, and extent of history modeled, for time‐varying covariates. The parametric g‐formula is a viable alternative to inverse probability weighting of marginal structural models and g‐estimation of structural nested models for the analysis of complex longitudinal data. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Value of Enterprise MicroBlogs : Empirical Study from weibo . com in Sina

The increasing use of micro-blogs as marketing tools has increased the research attention on the usage and performance of enterprise micro-blogs. Based on research on information system (IS) usage and the resource-based view (RBV) theory, this study develops a model to measure the business value of enterprise micro-blogs. The model consists of metrics on micro-blog usage, micro-blog operational performance, firm capability, and performance. Questionnaires were distributed to firms that use micro-blogs. This study collects 317 valid responses for empirical analysis. The result suggests that the extent of micro-blog usage improves the operational performance of enterprise micro-blogs directly and indirectly by increasing firm capability. The operational performance of enterprise micro-blogs significantly affects firm performance. This study reveals the mechanism of business value generation of enterprise micro-blogs and extends the stream of research that combines IS usage and the RBV theory.
Notes on SUSY and R-symmetry breaking in Wess-Zumino models

We study aspects of Wess-Zumino models related to SUSY and R-symmetry breaking at tree-level. We present a recipe for constructing a wide class of tree-level SUSY and R-breaking models. We also deduce a general property shared by all tree-level SUSY breaking models that has broad application to model building. In particular, it explains why many models of direct gauge mediation have anomalously light gauginos (even if the R-symmetry is broken spontaneously by an order one amount). This suggests new approaches to dynamical SUSY breaking which can generate large enough gaugino masses.
Consolidation in older adults depends upon competition between resting-state networks

Memory encoding and retrieval problems are inherent to aging. To date, however, the effect of aging upon the neural correlates of forming memory traces remains poorly understood. Resting-state fMRI connectivity can be used to investigate initial consolidation. We compared within and between network connectivity differences between healthy young and older participants before encoding, after encoding and before retrieval by means of resting-state fMRI. Alterations over time in the between-network connectivity analyses correlated with retrieval performance, whereas within-network connectivity did not: a higher level of negative coupling or competition between the default mode and the executive networks during the after encoding condition was associated with increased retrieval performance in the older adults, but not in the young group. Data suggest that the effective formation of memory traces depends on an age-dependent, dynamic reorganization of the interaction between multiple, large-scale functional networks. Our findings demonstrate that a cross-network based approach can further the understanding of the neural underpinnings of aging-associated memory decline.
Neisseria gonorrhoeae infects the human endocervix by activating non-muscle myosin II-mediated epithelial exfoliation

Colonization and disruption of the epithelium is a major infection mechanism of mucosal pathogens. The epithelium counteracts infection by exfoliating damaged cells while maintaining the mucosal barrier function. The sexually transmitted bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) infects the female reproductive tract primarily from the endocervix, causing gonorrhea. However, the mechanism by which GC overcome the mucosal barrier remains elusive. Using a new human tissue model, we demonstrate that GC can penetrate into the human endocervix by inducing the exfoliation of columnar epithelial cells. We found that GC colonization causes endocervical epithelial cells to shed. The shedding results from the disassembly of the apical junctions that seal the epithelial barrier. Apical junction disruption and epithelial exfoliation increase GC penetration into the endocervical epithelium without reducing bacterial adherence to and invasion into epithelial cells. Both epithelial exfoliation and junction disruption require the activation and accumulation of non-muscle myosin II (NMII) at the apical surface and GC adherent sites. GC inoculation activates NMII by elevating the levels of the cytoplasmic Ca2+ and NMII regulatory light chain phosphorylation. Piliation of GC promotes, but the expression of a GC opacity-associated protein variant, OpaH that binds to the host surface proteins CEACAMs, inhibits GC-induced NMII activation and reorganization and Ca2+ flux. The inhibitory effects of OpaH lead to reductions in junction disruption, epithelial exfoliation, and GC penetration. Therefore, GC phase variation can modulate infection in the human endocervix by manipulating the activity of NMII and epithelial exfoliation.
Protective Effect of Boric Acid on Oxidative DNA Damage In Chinese Hamster Lung Fibroblast V79 Cell Lines

Objective Many studies have been published on the antioxidative effects of boric acid (BA) and sodium borates in in vitro studies. However, the boron (B) concentrations tested in these in vitro studies have not been selected by taking into account the realistic blood B concentrations in humans due to the lack of comprehensive epidemiological studies. The recently published epidemiological studies on B exposure conducted in China and Turkey provided blood B concentrations for both humans in daily life and workers under extreme exposure conditions in occupational setting. The results of these studies have made it possible to test antioxidative effects of BA in in vitro studies within the concentra- tion range relevant to humans. The aim of this study was to investigate the protective ef- fects of BA against oxidative DNA damage in V79 (Chinese hamster lung fibroblast) cells. The concentrations of BA tested for its protective effect was selected by taking the blood B concentrations into account reported in previously published epidemiological studies. Therefore, the concentrations of BA tested in this study represent the exposure levels for humans in both daily life and occupational settings. Materials and Methods In this experimental study, comet assay and neutral red uptake (NRU) assay methods were used to determinacy to toxicity and genotoxicity of BA and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Results The results of the NRU assay showed that BA was not cytotoxic within the tested concentrations (3, 10, 30, 100 and 200 µM). These non-cytotoxic concentrations were used for comet assay. BA pre-treatment significantly reduced (P<0.05, one-way ANOVA) the DNA damaging capacity of H2O2 at each tested BA concentrations in V79 cells. Conclusion Consequently, pre-incubation of V79 cells with BA has significantly reduced the H2O2-induced oxidative DNA damage in V79 cells. The protective effect of BA against oxidative DNA damage in V79 cells at 5, 10, 50, 100 and 200 μM (54, 108, 540, 1080, and 2161 ng/ml B equivalents) concentrations was proved in this in vitro study.
Adaptive Carrier Sensing and Packet Sending - An Alternative to Boost the Performance in Directional Communications

Despite the efforts to leverage the network performance through the use of Directional Communications, most protocols still rely on the basic mechanisms employed by the IEEE802.11 standards. While this might be desirable to facilitate compatibility, nodes empowered with directional antennas should be able to explore the benefits of directional communications whenever possible. With that in mind, we propose two mechanisms, termed Adaptive Carrier Sensing and Adaptive Packet Sending, aiming to allow nodes equipped with directional antennas to exploit the advantages of such systems to improve network performance.
Implementing the real-time publisher/subscriber model on the controller area network (CAN)

Designing distributed real-time systems as being composed of communicating objects offers many advantages with respect to modularity and extensibility of these systems. However, distributed real-time applications exhibit communication patterns that significantly differ from the traditional object invocation style. The publisher/subscriber model for inter-object communication matches well with these patterns. Any implementation of that model must address the problems of binding subscribers to publishers, of routing and filtering of messages, as well as reliability, efficiency and latency of message delivery. In the context of real-time applications, all these issues must be subject to a rigid inspection with respect to meeting real-time requirements. We argue that for embedded control systems built around smart microcontroller-powered devices these requirements can only be met when exploiting the properties of the underlying network. The CAN-Bus (CAN: Controller Area Network) which is an emerging standard in the field of real-time embedded systems is particularly suited to implement a publisher/subscriber model of communication. We present an implementation of the real-time publisher/subscriber model that exploits the underlying facilities of the CAN-Bus. In particular, we introduce a novel addressing scheme for publisher/subscriber communication that makes efficient use of the CAN-Bus addressing method. We provide a detailed design and implementation details along with some preliminary performance estimations.
Poster: Automatically Fixing Real-World JavaScript Performance Bugs

Programs often suffer from poor performance that can be fixed by relatively simple changes. Currently, developers either manually identify and fix such performance problems, or they rely on compilers to optimize their code. Unfortunately, manually fixing performance bugs is non-trivial, and compilers are limited to a predefined set of optimizations. This paper presents an approach for automatically finding and fixing performance bugs in JavaScript programs. To focus our work on relevant problems, we study 37 real-world performance bug fixes from eleven popular JavaScript projects and identify several recurring fix patterns. Based on the results of the study, we present a static analysis that identifies occurrences of common fix patterns and a fix generation technique that proposes to transform a given program into a more efficient program. Applying the fix generation technique to three libraries with known performance bugs yields fixes that are equal or equivalent to those proposed by the developers, and that lead to speedups between 10% and 25%.
Duality Between Learning Machines: A Bridge Between Supervised and Unsupervised Learning

We exhibit a duality between two perceptrons that allows us to compare the theoretical analysis of supervised and unsupervised learning tasks. The first perceptron has one output and is asked to learn a classification of p patterns. The second (dual) perceptron has p outputs and is asked to transmit as much information as possible on a distribution of inputs. We show in particular that the maximum information that can be stored in the couplings for the supervised learning task is equal to the maximum information that can be transmitted by the dual perceptron.
Features or parameters: which one makes second language acquisition easier, and more interesting to study?

While agreeing with Lardiere that the `parameter-resetting' approach to understanding second language acquisition (SLA) needs rethinking, it is suggested that a more construction-based perspective runs the risk of losing deductive and explanatory power. An alternative is to investigate the constraints on feature assembly/re-assembly in second language (L2) grammars. A model of grammatical organization is adopted from Ramchand and Svenonius (2008) in which properties of the conceptual—intentional (C—I) module of mind are universal, and variation between languages is determined by the extent to which such properties are grammaticalized or determined by context. Predictions are then made about the degree of difficulty involved in determining the appropriate mapping from the C—I module to grammar or context when a learner's first language (L1) is similar to or different from the L2.
Moderate Load Eccentric Exercise; A Distinct Novel Training Modality

Over the last 20 years a number of studies have been published using progressive eccentric exercise protocols on motorized ergometers or similar devices that allow for controlled application of eccentric loads. Exercise protocols ramp eccentric loads over an initial 3 weeks period in order to prevent muscle damage and delayed onset muscle soreness. Final training loads reach 400–500 W in rehabilitative settings and over 1200 W in elite athletes. Training is typically carried out three times per week for durations of 20–30 min. This type of training has been characterizes as moderate load eccentric exercise. It has also been denoted RENEW (Resistance Exercise via Negative Eccentric Work by LaStayo et al., 2014). It is distinct from plyometric exercises (i.e., drop jumps) that impose muscle loads of several thousand Watts on muscles and tendons. It is also distinct from eccentric overload training whereby loads in a conventional strength training setting are increased in the eccentric phase of the movement to match concentric loads. Moderate load eccentric exercise (or RENEW) has been shown to be similarly effective as conventional strength training in increasing muscle strength and muscle volume. However, as carried out at higher angular velocities of joint movement, it reduces joint loads. A hallmark of moderate load eccentric exercise is the fact that the energy requirements are typically 4-fold smaller than in concentric exercise of the same load. This makes moderate load eccentric exercise training the tool of choice in medical conditions with limitations in muscle energy supply. The use and effectiveness of moderate load eccentric exercise has been demonstrated mostly in small scale studies for cardiorespiratory conditions, sarcopenia of old age, cancer, diabetes type 2, and neurological conditions. It has also been used effectively in the prevention and rehabilitation of injuries of the locomotor system in particular the rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament surgery.
Outage probability analysis of wireless sensor networks in the presence of channel fading and spatial correlation

Evaluating the reliability of wireless sensor networks is becoming more important as theses networks are being used in crucial applications. The outage probability defined as the probability that the error in the system exceeds a maximum acceptable threshold has recently been used as a measure of the reliability of such systems. In this work we find the outage probability of wireless sensor network in different scenarios of distributed sensing where sensors' readings are affected by spatial correlation and in the presence of channel fading.
Optimizing Plasma Arc Cutting Parameters for Structural Steel using Grey Relational Analysis

This paper represents the experimental investigation on the plasma arc cutting of structural steel (IS 2062 E250 BR). The response parameters considered are material removal rate (MRR), top and bottom kerf widths and bevel angle: while machining variables are current, standoff distance (SOD), pressure and speed. Experiments are performed using response surface methodology (RSM). Further grey relational analysis is used to optimize the parameters. For material removal rate, higher the better output performance characteristic is considered whereas lower the better characteristic is considered for top kerf width, bottom kerf width and bevel angle. Optimization can be used for selecting the values of process variables to get the desired values of response parameters. Keywords— Plasma Arc Cutting, Structural Steel, Process Parameters, MRR, DOE, RSM, Optimization, Grey Relational Analysis (GRA).
Implication of Transient Receptor Potential Vanilloid Type 1 in 14,15-Epoxyeicosatrienoic Acid-induced Angiogenesis

14,15-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (14,15-EET) is implicated in regulating physiological functions of endothelial cells (ECs), yet the potential molecular mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects in ECs are not fully understood. In this study, we investigated whether transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor type 1 (TRPV1) is involved in 14,15-EET-mediated Ca2+ influx, nitric oxide (NO) production and angiogenesis. In human microvascular endothelial cells (HMECs), 14,15-EET time-dependently increased the intracellular level of Ca2+. Removal of extracellular Ca2+, pharmacological inhibition or genetic disruption of TRPV1 abrogated 14,15-EET-mediated increase of intracellular Ca2+ level in HMECs or TRPV1-transfected HEK293 cells. Furthermore, removal of extracellular Ca2+ or pharmacological inhibition of TRPV1 decreased 14,15-EET-induced NO production. 14,15-EET-mediated tube formation was abolished by TRPV1 pharmacological inhibition. In an animal experiment, 14,15-EET-induced angiogenesis was diminished by inhibition of TRPV1 and in TRPV1-deficient mice. TRPV1 may play a crucial role in 14,15-EET-induced Ca2+ influx, NO production and angiogenesis.
Experiencing Interactive Exhibition Spaces

Exhibition spaces are often regarded as a communal space which situates content for the pleasure of viewing. Consistent with the current development of technology emergence in digital applications, these spaces have been affected in the way that the content and tools are now being developed in the realm of digital and virtual capacity. Exploration of new media design and aesthetics has tremendously supported the new hybrid space either conceptually or visually. The local scenario is also seeing a vast participation and interest from various domains where a large number of new inventions are designed and tailored to benefit from this multimedia diversity. Together with the shift of the situation, the built environment also faces new challenges where the physical entities are blended with digital attributes giving the users a sense of virtually participating in the space. Thus, the visual experience is also enriched when they visit these interactive exhibition spaces and able to interact with the artefacts or content in a multiple way to the otherwise static and linear story telling of exhibits. This paper aims to study visual experience in visiting exhibition spaces of the new media and aesthetics. There are many factors that can be observed, analysed and used as a tool to gauge visual experience, spatial experience and interaction. Existing spaces that are available locally have the infrastructure and advantages to be created in such manner, and observations have to be done for analysis purposes. Similar research projects and method applied elsewhere to observe these spaces can be also used as an insight to understand the visual experience further. Findings from the study will benefit research in areas of visual experience, engagement and how interaction proceeds in a multimedia environment. Exhibition spaces now undergo major change from a static space to a fluid, flexible one and offer a high technological platform. This opportunity contributes aptly in time to knowledge generation and societal well-being. The research outcome from this project will be in the form of some observation analysis on related spaces and a few case studies on related researches done. As the study is still in its infancy, more future works are envisioned to take place which includes prototype testing in the near future which will contribute to construct and design interactive exhibition space.
Tourist Activity of Local Government Employees on the Example of Warsaw Studies

Tourist Activity of Local Government Employees on the Example of Warsaw Studies Introduction. The aim of this study was to determine the form, nature and level of participation of Warsaw local government employees in tourism. Identification of the relevant characteristics of this group can lead to the knowledge of its behaviour, and ultimately to conduct effective health intervention-promotional activities. Material and methods. The questionaire study covered 321 local government employees (121 male, 200 female). The study was conducted using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 17 (SPSS). Assessment of the relationship of demographic variables with the type of trip and the level of tourism activity were made using chi-square statistics and adjusted residuals. The level of participation in tourism was determined using principal components analysis. Results. Short-term trips reported 87% of local administration employees, long-term - 77% and international - 26%. Average number of short trips was 7.0±7.2, long - 2.1±1.44 and international - 1.4±0.8. Very low levels of tourism activity characterized 32%, low - 15%, moderate - 21%, high - 17% and very high - 14% of the respondents. Education is the main factor that determines the participation and level of tourism activity of respondents. Conclusions. Often the trips declared are not compatible with the level of tourist activity - analysis based on the number of trips a year (short, long and international). It follows that for half of the respondents participation in tourism is sporadic.
Model driven QoS management via dynamic programming

Self-healing systems are capable of changing their behavior at runtime to meet target constraints. An important research question is how quality of service models can enabled self-healing systems. This paper presents a solution to the problem for service-oriented architectures. Service-oriented architectures (SOAs) consist of a group of independent computational services, with communication between services being managed and maintained via external orchestration. We employ dynamic programming, a form of optimal control theory, to reconfigure SOA orchestration. Reconfiguration occurs when a performance constraint over the orchestration ­ a global service level agreement (SLA) ­ is violated. Currently, reconfiguration may take the form of re-directing and load-balancing of calls to services that offer equivalent functionality, but better performance. Previous experiments by Poernomo and Akzhalova involved application of optimal control theory to determine reconfiguration policies for a single service. This paper presents a significant improvement, as we now consider entire orchestrations of services. Furthermore, by utilizing dynamic programming, our new approach has the advantage of determining adaptation policies from a given discrete set of choices.