Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Couplage de données pour les études démographiques

Résumé Des données pour un même individu se trouvent souvent sur des documents différents; leur utilisation concomitante pose des problèmes techniques parfois difficiles ou entraine de grandes pertes de temps. On peut citer, par exemple, le cas de la mortalité infantile selon la catégorie socio-professionnelle du père étudié en France dès 1951, par couplage de données appartenant à deux statistiques. M. H. B. Newcombe, biologue et généticien canadien, attaché à la recherche nucléaire, étudie le problème dans son aspect le plus général, expose les méthodes techniques de couplage des données, les diverses recherches déjà faites grâce à elles et les possibilités considérables qu'ouvrent, dans ce domaine, l'utilisation des ordinateurs les plus récents et diverses techniques apparentées, tant pour la collecte de renseignements que pour des contrôles administratifs.
Use of molecular probes to assess geographic distribution of Pfiesteria species.

We have developed multiple polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods for the detection of Pfiesteria sp. in cultures and environmental samples. More than 2,100 water and sediment samples from estuarine sites of the U.S. Atlantic and gulf coasts were assayed for the presence of Pfiesteria piscicida Steidinger & Burkholder and Pfiesteria shumwayae Glasgow & Burkholder by PCR probing of extracted DNA. Positive results were found in about 3% of samples derived from routine monitoring of coastal waters and about 8% of sediments. The geographic range of both species was the same, ranging from New York to Texas. Pfiesteria spp. are likely common and generally benign inhabitants of coastal areas, but their presence maintains a potential for fish and human health problems.
Análise funcional do comportamento

Behavior Analysis main concern is with the usage of functional units of behavior. The influences that led to this posture are analyzed: a natural sciences model, an evolutionist model, an empiricist model, and a Machian functionalist model. Accordingly, a functional analysis of behavior is an analysis of its fitness to environmental conditions. The implications of this option to the causality model adopted by Behavior Analysis are considered, specially in relation to rejected metaphors such as the constant relations and the chained sequences ones as well as its linguistic limitations. The basic steps of a functional analysis are described and then broken into smaller molecular actions. Examples and strategies for performing a functional analysis of behavior are given, as well as bibliographical references for both basic and applied analysis.
TSEP: Threshold-Sensitive Stable Election Protocol for WSNs

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) are expected to find wide applicability and increasing deployment in near future. In this paper, we propose a new protocol, Threshold Sensitive Stable Election Protocol (TSEP), which is reactive protocol using three levels of heterogeneity. Reactive networks, as opposed to proactive networks, respond immediately to changes in relevant parameters of interest. We evaluate performance of our protocol for a simple temperature sensing application and compare results of protocol with some other protocols LEACH, DEEC, SEP, ESEP and TEEN. And from simulation results it is observed that protocol outperforms concerning life time of sensing nodes used.
miR-197 Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells from Hepatitis B Virus-Infected Patients

Background/Aims This study aimed to investigate the microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles in peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients with different clinical manifestations and to analyze the function of miR-197. Methods PBMC miRNA expression profiles in 51 healthy controls, 70 chronic asymptomatic carriers, 107 chronic hepatitis B patients, and 76 HBV-related acute on chronic liver failure patients were analyzed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). miR-197 mimic and inhibitor were transfected in THP-1 cells. qRT-PCR and ELISA for interleukin (IL)-18 mRNA and protein levels were performed, respectively. Results The microarray analysis revealed that 17 PBMC miRNA expression profiles (12 miRNAs downregulated and five miRNAs upregulated) differed significantly in HBV-induced liver disease patients presenting with various symptoms. The qRT-PCR results suggested that the PBMC miR-197 levels regularly decreased as the severity of liver disease symptoms became aggravated. IL-18, a key regulator in inflammation and immunity, was inversely correlated with miR-197 levels. Bioinformatic analysis indicated that IL-18 was a target of miR-197. Exogenous expression of miR-197 could significantly repress IL-18 expression at both the mRNA and protein levels in THP-1 cells. Conclusions We concluded that multiple PBMC miRNAs had differential expression profiles during HBV infection and that miR-197 may play an important role in the reactivation of liver inflammation by targeting IL-18.
BodiPod: interacting with 3d human anatomy via a 360° cylindrical display

We present BodiPod, a 3D 360° stereoscopic human anatomy browser. Our cylindrical display allows users to view a human anatomy volume at full scale from any perspective. Shutter glasses are only required if users want to examine the data stereoscopically. Users can change views simply by walking around the display volume, and interact with the human anatomy model inside the display through gesture and speech interactions, which include scaling, rotation, peeling, slicing and labeling. Our demonstration shows that using a cylindrical display has the benefits of providing stereoscopic rendering of human anatomy models at life-size scale that can be examined from any angle, while allowing interactions from an appropriate viewing distance.
Influenza Vaccination and Major Adverse Vascular Events in High-Risk Patients

Background— We sought to determine the association between influenza vaccination and major adverse vascular events because the association remains uncertain. Methods and Results— A total of 31 546 participants were enrolled from 40 countries. Eligibility included age ≥55 years and known vascular disease. The primary outcome was a composite of death resulting from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or stroke during 4 influenza seasons (2003–2007). Influenza vaccination was associated with a lower risk of the outcome during 3 influenza seasons (defined using World Health Organization FluNet reports): 2004 to 2005 (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 0.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.50–0.77), 2005 to 2006 (adjusted OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.53–0.91), and 2006 to 2007 (adjusted OR, 0.52; 95% CI, 0.42–0.65), the same years that circulating influenza matched the vaccine antigen. In 2003 to 2004, there was an incomplete match between circulating influenza and the vaccine antigen, and there was no association between influenza vaccination and the outcome (adjusted OR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.73–1.27). However, tests of potential biases in the analyses revealed associations between influenza vaccination and outcome during noninfluenza seasons except 2003 to 2004. The summary ORs in the influenza season (OR, 0.65; 95% CI, 0.58–0.74]) and noninfluenza season (OR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.57–0.76) were almost identical. The reduction in risk of noncardiovascular death associated with the influenza vaccine ranged from 73% to 79%. Conclusion— Although initial analyses suggest that influenza vaccination was associated with reduced risk of major adverse vascular events during influenza seasons when the influenza vaccine matched the circulating virus, sensitivity analyses revealed that risk of bias remained. A randomized trial is needed to definitively address this question.
Hypoxia-inducible Factor-1 Mediates Neuronal Expression of the Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products following Hypoxia/Ischemia*

Activation of the receptor for advanced glycation endproducts (RAGE) by its multiple ligands can trigger diverse signaling pathways with injurious or pro-survival consequences. In this study, we show that Rage mRNA and protein levels were stimulated in the mouse brain after experimental stroke and systemic hypoxia. In both cases, RAGE expression was primarily associated with neurons. Activation of RAGE-dependent pathway(s) post-ischemia appears to have a neuroprotective role because mice genetically deficient for RAGE exhibited increased infarct size 24 h after injury. Up-regulation of RAGE expression was also observed in primary neurons subjected to hypoxia or oxygen-glucose deprivation, an in vitro model of ischemia. Treatment of neurons with low concentrations of S100B decreased neuronal death after oxygen-glucose deprivation, and this effect was abolished by a neutralizing antibody against RAGE. Conversely, high concentrations of exogenous S100B had a cytotoxic effect that seems to be RAGE-independent. As an important novel finding, we demonstrate that hypoxic stimulation of RAGE expression is mediated by the transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor-1. This conclusion is supported by the finding that HIF-1α down-regulation by Cre-mediated excision drastically decreased RAGE induction by hypoxia or desferrioxamine. In addition, we showed that the mouse RAGE promoter region contains at least one functional HIF-1 binding site, located upstream of the proposed transcription start site. A luciferase reporter construct containing this RAGE promoter fragment was activated by hypoxia, and mutation at the potential HIF-1 binding site decreased hypoxia-dependent promoter activation. Specific binding of HIF-1 to this putative HRE in hypoxic cells was detected by chromatin immunoprecipitation assay.
Anti‐tumour effects of nobiletin, a citrus flavonoid, on gastric cancer include: antiproliferative effects, induction of apoptosis and cell cycle deregulation

Aim: To demonstrate the antitumour effects of nobiletin (5,6,7,8,3′,4′‐hexamethoxyflavone), a citrus flavonoid extracted from Citrus depressa Hayata, on human gastric cancer cell lines TMK‐1, MKN‐45, MKN‐74 and KATO‐III.
Framework for Performance Evaluation

tudents need constructive evaluation as they proceed through any learning process. Without thoughtful reaction from a teacher or some other leader, children often fail to see a need for basic development in a discipline. The type of evaluation and subsequent grading for most teachers ought to be simple, direct, and concrete. Time and writing skills need to be kept to a minimum. The process must be as accurate as possible,
Code-switching and predictability of meaning in discourse

What motivates a fluent bilingual speaker to switch languages within a single utterance? We propose a novel discourse-functional motivation: less predictable, high information-content meanings are encoded in one language, and more predictable, lower information-content meanings are encoded in another language. Switches to a speaker’s less frequently used, and hence more salient, language offer a distinct encoding that highlights information-rich material that comprehenders should attend to especially carefully. Using a corpus of natural Czech-English bilingual discourse, we test this hypothesis against an extensive set of control factors from sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, and discourse-functional lines of research using mixed-effects logistic regression, in the first such quantitative multifactorial investigation of code-switching in discourse. We find, using a Shannon guessing game to quantify predictability of meanings in conversation, that words with difficult-to-guess meanings are indeed more likely to be code-switch sites, and that this is in fact one of the most highly explanatory factors in predicting the occurrence of code-switching in our data. We argue that choice of language thus serves as a formal marker of information content in discourse, along with familiar means such as prosody and syntax. We further argue for the utility of rigorous, multifactorial approaches to sociolinguistic speaker-choice phenomena in natural conversation.
Rapid Responsiveness to Practice Predicts Longer-Term Retention of Upper Extremity Motor Skill in Non-Demented Older Adults

Skill acquisition is a form of motor learning that may provide key insights into the aging brain. Although previous work suggests that older adults learn novel motor tasks slower and to a lesser extent than younger adults, we have recently demonstrated no significant effect of chronological age on the rates and amounts of skill acquisition, nor on its long-term retention, in adults over the age of 65. To better understand predictors of skill acquisition in non-demented older adults, we now explore the relationship between early improvements in motor performance due to practice (i.e., rapid responsiveness) and longer-term retention of an upper extremity motor skill, and whether the extent of rapid responsiveness was associated with global cognitive status. Results showed significant improvements in motor performance within the first five (of 150) trials, and that this “rapid responsiveness” was predictive of skill retention 1 month later. Notably, the extent of rapid responsiveness was not dependent on global cognitive status, as measured by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Thus, rapid responsiveness appears to be an important variable in longer-term neurorehabilitative efforts with older adults, regardless of their cognitive status.
A decentralized approach for security and privacy challenges in the Internet of Things

The strong development of the Internet of Things (IoT) is dramatically changing traditional perceptions of the current Internet towards an integrated vision of smart objects interacting with each other. While in recent years many technological challenges have already been solved through the extension and adaptation of wireless technologies, security and privacy still remain as the main barriers for the IoT deployment on a broad scale. In this emerging paradigm, typical scenarios manage particularly sensitive data, and any leakage of information could severely damage the privacy of users. This paper provides a concise description of some of the major challenges related to these areas that still need to be overcome in the coming years for a full acceptance of all IoT stakeholders involved. In addition, we propose a distributed capability-based access control mechanism which is built on public key cryptography in order to cope with some of these challenges. Specifically, our solution is based on the design of a lightweight token used for access to CoAP Resources, and an optimized implementation of the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) inside the smart object. The results obtained from our experiments demonstrate the feasibility of the proposal and show promising in order to cover more complex scenarios in the future, as well as its application in specific IoT use cases.
Ontogenetic Variation in Parasite infracommunities of the Clingfish Sicyases sanguineus (Pisces: Gobiesocidae)

Abstract This study analyzed the variation of the parasite infracommunities and their relationship with the diet and spatial distribution of the clingfish Sicyases sanguineus during its ontogeny. In total, 154 clingfish were collected from the intertidal and the upper subtidal zone of Pacific Ocean along the central Chilean coast. A wide range in body length (1.4–34.5 cm) was observed, including juvenile and adult specimens. Eleven parasite species were found in the clingfish, i.e., 2 Copepoda, 2 Hirudinea, 1 Monogenea, 5 Digenea, and 1 Cestoda. The prevalence, total abundance, Brillouin's diversity index, and the infracommunity species richness increased with fish body length. The parasite communities, the diet, and the spatial distribution changed during clingfish ontogeny, specifically between juveniles (<20 cm body length [BL]) and adults (>20 cm BL). When fish reached a 20-cm BL, a considerable increment in abundance and species richness of parasites was observed; this coincided with an increase in the number of prey items in the diet and with a change of the fish from the intertidal into the subtidal zone. Therefore, the ontogeny of S. sanguineus is important for the variation of parasite infracommunities, which also was associated with dietary and spatial distribution shifts of this fish.
A Simple One-Trial Learning Situation for Mice

The advantages of using mice rather than rats in learning experiments have been sparingly exploited despite the fact that mice occupy less space and are less expensive. The present technique for producing one-trial learning in mice appears to be at least as efficient as, if not better than, one-trial learning procedures described for other species (Hudson, 1939; Maatsch, 1959; Jarvik, 1953). S, randomly selected from a group of 10 experimental and 10 control animals, was placed upon a narrow metal, 1%" wide platform, which projected horizontally from the center of a wall measuring 24" square. After 10 sec. , a 4" wide, sliding metal shelf was pushed through a slot -$$" below and parallel to the platform on which S was seated. A 400-v, 60-cycle power supply in series with 200,000 ohms was connected to the platform and shelf when experimental Ss were present. The circuit was completed when S stepped down. No voltage was applied when control Ss were placed in the same situation. On the training trial 100% of both groups left the platform within 10 sec. , (taken as a cut-off point). A retention test was run 24 hr. following training with the same procedure as the initial training; the only difference was that the platform and shelf were not electrified. Ss not responding by moving off the platform within 20 sec. were removed by hand, whereas those responding in less time were removed from the apparatus 2 sec. after doing so. On the test trial only 10% of the experimental and 90% of the control Ss left the platform in 10 sec. or less. The difference between groups is significant at the 0.005 level as determined by xZ, applying the Yates correction. No significant differences were found between the response latencies of the control group on training and testing, or the control and experimental groups on training. The obvious change in response latency for experimental Ss with one training trial indicates that one-trial learning can be effectively established in mice.
Antiretroviral therapy in antenatal care to increase treatment initiation in HIV-infected pregnant women: a stepped-wedge evaluation

Background:The objective of the study was to evaluate whether providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) integrated in antenatal care (ANC) clinics resulted in a greater proportion of treatment-eligible women initiating ART during pregnancy compared with the existing approach of referral to ART. Analysis design and methods:The evaluation used a stepped-wedge design and included all HIV-infected, ART-eligible pregnant women in eight public sector clinics in Lusaka district, Zambia. Main outcome indicators were the proportion of treatment-eligible pregnant women enrolling into HIV care within 60 days of HIV diagnosis, and of these, the proportion initiating ART during pregnancy. Adjusted odds ratios (AORs) and confidence intervals (CIs) for enrollment and initiation proportions were estimated through a logistic regression model accounting for clinical site cluster and time effects. Results:Between 16 July 2007 and 31 July 2008, 13 917 women started antenatal care more than 60 days before the intervention rollout and constituted the control cohort; 17 619 started antenatal care after ART integrated into ANC and constituted the intervention cohort. Of the 1566 patients found eligible for ART, a greater proportion enrolled while pregnant and within the 60 days of HIV diagnosis in the intervention cohort (376/846, 44.4%) compared with the control cohort (181/716, 25.3%), AOR 2.06, 95% CI (1.27–3.34); and initiated ART while pregnant in the intervention cohort (278/846, 32.9%) compared with the control cohort (103/716, 14.4%), AOR 2.01, 95% CI (1.37–2.95). Conclusion:An integrated ART in ANC strategy doubled the proportion of treatment-eligible women initiating ART while pregnant.
The Changing Role of JUAA in Japanese University Evaluation

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper is to trace the history of JUAA and its relationship with the central government in the realm of university evaluation. The role of JUAA has changed considerably during the course of university development in the past half century. It has taken two major turns. Initially, JUAA emerged as a strong candidate for governing universities in 1947. However, during the 1950s until the mid‐1980s, the Japanese government set up centralised education policies causing JUAA's prospects to fade. Now, JUAA's role has become increasingly important, because it has focused itself as an agent for enhancing the quality of higher education.
Haug , Czado : An exponential continuous time GARCH process

In this paper we introduce an exponential continuous time GARCH(p, q) process. It is defined in such a way that it is a continuous time extension of the discrete time EGARCH(p, q) process. We investigate stationarity, mixing and moment properties of the new model. An instantaneous leverage effect can be shown for the exponential continuous time GARCH(p, p) model.
CoBots: Robust Symbiotic Autonomous Mobile Service Robots

We research and develop autonomous mobile service robots as Collaborative Robots, i.e., CoBots. For the last three years, our four CoBots have autonomously navigated in our multi-floor office buildings for more than 1,000km, as the result of the integration of multiple perceptual, cognitive, and actuations representations and algorithms. In this paper, we identify a few core aspects of our CoBots underlying their robust functionality. The reliable mobility in the varying indoor environments comes from a novel episodic non-Markov localization. Service tasks requested by users are the input to a scheduler that can consider different types of constraints, including transfers among multiple robots. With symbiotic autonomy, the CoBots proactively seek external sources of help to fill-in for their inevitable occasional limitations. We present sampled results from a deployment and conclude with a brief review of other features of our service robots.
Transitioning youth with sexually harmful behaviour back into the community

Abstract The current study aimed to examine the transitioning experiences of adolescents with sexually harmful behaviour following treatment and to explore whether additional services are needed to facilitate their successful transition into the community. Qualitative methods were employed on data collected from in-depth interviews with 12 adolescents and 16 parent/caregivers. The age of adolescent participants at the time of interview ranged from 17 to 21 (average = 18.6 years). The results identified four key transitioning areas—accommodation, education/employment, social life and leisure, and emotional support. Several main overarching themes were also identified: reaching out for help is hard; adolescents need a focus and something to strive for; advice on financial management/budgeting would be useful; and adolescent motivation was important for successful transition. In addition, follow-up would be advantageous, as would mentors/role models during the transition period. The results are discussed in relation to current transitioning literature on similar at-risk populations, and recommendations are made to inform transitioning practice.