Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early response to lamivudine therapy in clinically non‐cirrhotic chronic hepatitis B patients with decompensation

This study aimed to elucidate the rate and predictors of early (6 months) therapeutic responses to lamivudine, the rate of early mortality and the use of the model for end‐stage liver disease (MELD) and Index in predicting the survival in patients with a clinical diagnosis of non‐cirrhotic chronic hepatitis B with decompensation. Ninety‐eight patients with lamivudine therapy were enrolled and MELD and Index scores were calculated. Surviving patients were treated with lamivudine for more than 6 months. Four (4.1%) of the 98 patients died after initiation of lamivudine therapy. After a 6‐month lamivudine therapy, 80 (85.1%) patients and 71 (75.5%) patients had normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) values and negative hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA (<200 copies/mL), respectively, and hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)‐negative patients had a significantly higher rate of negative HBV DNA than HBeAg‐positive patients (P=0.002). The rates of HBeAg seroconversion and negative HBV DNA were 28.8 and 63.5%, respectively, and patients with HBeAg seroconversion had a significantly higher rate of negative HBV DNA (P=0.004). By multivariate analyses, older age, HBV nongenotype B infection, negative HBeAg and higher ALT levels were factors associated with negative HBV DNA, and a higher ALT level was associated with HBeAg seroconversion at month 6 after lamivudine therapy. MELD score and Index score were significantly associated with death and areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve for predicting survival were 0.936 and 0.907 respectively. We concluded that after 6‐month lamivudine therapy, the patients who survived achieved favourable biochemical, virological responses and rate of HBeAg seroconversion. Both MELD and Index scoring systems are good models to predict the 6‐month survival.
A Versatile Constraint-Based Type Inference System

The combination of subtyping, conditional constraints and rows yields a powerful constraint-based type inference system. We illustrate this claim by proposing solutions to three delicate type inference problems: "accurate" pattern matchings, record concatenation, and first-class messages. Previously known solutions involved a different technique in each case: our theoretical contribution is in using only a single set of tools. On the practical side, this allows all three problems to benefit from a common set of constraint simplification techniques, a formal description of which is given in an appendix.
The multiple propensity score for analysis of dose–response relationships in drug safety studies

In order to detect adverse drug reactions, large observational drug safety studies are necessary as randomized clinical trials rarely have enough power. However, in order to obtain reliable results the issue of confounding, especially confounding by indication, should be addressed. We proposed a multiple propensity score, which is an extension of the propensity score, to reduce the bias in a dose–response analysis in a drug safety study. The multiple propensity score has similar properties to the propensity score in Rosenbaum and Rubin. 1 Using the propensity score for bias reduction of the risk ratio was considered. We used the multiple propensity score in a study of the dose–response relationship between diclofenac prescriptions and hospitalization for gastrointestinal bleeding and perforation using a record linkage database. We found that the unadjusted risk ratios were biased downwards due to confounders and that this bias was reduced by using stratification based on the multiple propensity score. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Social skills of users of a Psychosocial Care Center

Corresponding Author: Luiz Jorge Pedrão Universidade de São Paulo. Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto Av. dos Bandeirantes, 3900 CEP: 14040-902, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brasil E-mail: lujope@eerp.usp. br 1 RN. 2 PhD, Psychologist, Prefeitura Municipal de Ibaté, Ibaté, SP, Brazil. 3 PhD, Occupational Therapist, Centro de Atenção Psicossocial II, Prefeitura Municipal de São Carlos, São Carlos, SP, Brazil. 4 PhD, Professor, Escola de Enfermagem de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, PAHO/WHO Collaborating Centre for Nursing Research Development, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Social skills of users of a Psychosocial Care Center
Paper effect of hydric stress on the germination of seeds from Sorghum bicolor ( L . ) Moench cv . UDG-110

The objective of this work was to evaluate morphological and biochemical indicators in Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench cv. UDG-110, during the germination process under conditions of hydric stress induced by polyethylene glycol-6000. The seeds were sown on Petri dishes with different concentrations of polyethylene glycol-6000 (0, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21 %) and were placed in a growth chamber during eight days. The following indicators were evaluated: germination percentage, germination value, length of the root and the aerial part, α-amylase activity and contents of proteins, reducing sugars and soluble phenols. A completely randomized design was used with four replicas per treatment. Polyethylene glycol-6000 affected the germination percentage and the morphophysiological traits, such as length of the roots and aerial parts. The α-amylase activity increased in the variants with presence of the osmotic agent, with values higher than 9 %. In the low and intermediate concentrations of polyethylene glycol-6000 the highest contents of reducing sugars and total soluble proteins in the root and the aerial part were observed, respectively. The concentration of soluble phenols in the aerial part reached high values between 15 and 18 %, which can be related with an antioxidant defense mechanism to face the consequences of the oxidative stress generated under diverse conditions of abiotic stresses. Polyethylene glycol-6000 affected the germination process of S. bicolor cv. UDG-110, although there was germination with 21 %, showing the presence of drought tolerance mechanisms, such as the production of osmotically active compounds and the synthesis of antioxidant substances.
Efficient initiation and strand transfer of polypurine tract-primed plus-strand DNA prevent strand transfer of internally initiated plus-strand DNA

A critical step in retroviral reverse transcription is the initiation of plus-strand DNA synthesis at the polypurine tract (PPT) and strand transfer of the PPT-primed strong-stop DNA to the 5' end of the viral DNA. An attachment site (att) immediately 3' to the PPT is essential for proper integration of proviral DNA into the host chromosome. Plus-strand DNA synthesis is discontinuous in many retroviruses, indicating that sequences upstream of the PPT are also used to initiate plus-strand DNA synthesis (internally initiated DNA). Strand transfer of internally initiated DNA would result in "dead" viral DNA that lacks the att site needed for integration. Strand transfer of the internally initiated DNA could occur if DNA synthesis failed to initiate at the PPT or if the PPT-primed DNA was displaced before strand transfer. We sought to determine the efficiency of DNA synthesis initiating at the PPT and the proportions of PPT-primed DNA and internally initiated DNAs that are utilized for strand transfer. We constructed spleen necrosis virus-based retroviral vectors containing an internal PPT and an att site 5' of the normal PPT and att site. After one replication cycle of the retroviral vectors, the structures of the resulting proviruses were determined by Southern blotting. The analysis suggested that the PPT is an efficient and rapid initiator of plus-strand DNA synthesis and that internally initiated DNAs are rarely utilized for strand transfer. We hypothesize that efficient synthesis and strand transfer of PPT-primed DNA evolved to prevent lethal strand transfers of internally initiated DNAs.
Repercussions of trauma in childhood in psychopathology of adult life

The study aims to examine the influence of childhood trauma on adult psychopathological symptoms. The sample consisted of 201 patients who were initiating psychoanalytical psychotherapy in a clinic from a training institute. Participants answered two self-report instruments that assessed respectively, the presence and frequency of different traumas in childhood, as well as the intensity of current symptomatology, considering a wide variety of psychopathological syndromes. The results indicate that most of the patients were exposed to childhood adversities and that various types of past traumas have a significant positive association with many dimensions of current symptoms. It was also found that the total trauma index predict levels of symptom-derived psychological distress. The findings corroborate the literature indicating the adverse psychological consequences of childhood trauma on adult mental health.
A COMPARISON OF FIRST PRINCIPLE AND NEURAL NETWORK MODELLING FOR A NOVEL DEPOLLUTION PROCESS

 The capability of first principles models and neural networks for predicting the main state variables (biomass and substrate concentrations) in a novel depollution bioprocess has been tested. Experimental data recorded from batch sequential cultures of anaerobic bacteria and yeast to transform organic nitrogen and carbonaceous substrates into useful feed material were used to train the net and validate the first principle model. Both modeling approaches were tested for a number of experiments carried out under different conditions (maximum growth rate cultures, high pH conditions and starving nutrient conditions). The results indicate that the performance of a simple well-trained neural network model was equivalent or better than the first principles model but showed some limitations for providing insight into the mechanism governing the bioprocess. Limitations of both modeling approaches are finally discussed. Keywords Mathematical models, first principles, artificial neural networks, depollution process.
L G ] 8 M ay 2 01 9 Adaptive MCMC via Combining Local Samplers

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods are widely used in machine learning. One of the major problems with MCMC is the question of how to design chains that mix fast over the whole state space; in particular, how to select the parameters of an MCMC algorithm. Here we take a different approach and, similarly to parallel MCMC methods, instead of trying to find a single chain that samples from the whole distribution, we combine samples from several chains run in parallel, each exploring only parts of the state space (e.g., a few modes only). The chains are prioritized based on the kernel Stein discrepancy, which provides a good measure of performance locally. The samples from the independent chains are combined using a novel technique for estimating the probability of different regions of the sample space. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm may provide significant speedups in different sampling problems. Most importantly, when combined with the state-of-the-art NUTS algorithm as the base MCMC sampler, our method remained competitive with NUTS on sampling from unimodal distributions, while significantly outperforming state-of-the-art competitors on synthetic multimodal problems as well as on a challenging sensor localization task.
Dynamic dispatching for re-entrant production lines — A deep learning approach

This study presents a dynamic dispatching method for re-entrant production systems by combing dynamic programming (DP) with deep learning. First, we use DP to derive optimal value functions and optimal dispatching policies in a small number of numerical cases. The optimal value functions are then applied to train a deep neural network (DNN). The DNN builds an efficient estimation engine for optimal value functions. Since optimal dispatching decisions can be considered a compressed feature of the optimal value function, the value function estimated by DNN can be quickly mapped to dynamic dispatching policies. The accuracy of DNN dispatching policies is validated by the k-fold cross-validation (k-cv) test in a wide variety of re-entrant systems. Our preliminary investigation shows the potential of DNN in instantaneously generating accurate dynamic dispatching policies.
Markov Random Field modeling , inference & learning in computer vision & image understanding : A survey q

1077-3142/$ see front matter 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.cviu. 2013.07. 004 q This paper has been recommended for acceptance by Sven Dickinson. ⇑ Corresponding author at: Perceiving Systems Department, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany. E-mail addresses: chaohui.wang@tue.mpg. de, wangchaohui82@gmail.com (C. Wang). 1 For the purpose of conciseness, D and/or w may not be explicitly written in the energy function in the following presentation unless it is necessary to do so. Chaohui Wang a,b,⇑, Nikos Komodakis , Nikos Paragios a,d
Empirical analysis of inbound open innovation and small and medium-sized enterprises ’ performance : Evidence from oil and gas industry

The role played by innovation in the present competitive world cannot be undermined (Bosworth & Collins 2003; Colombo, Pivo & Rosi-Lamastra 2014). A firm that fails to innovate in its competitive environment will definitely be pushed out of the market (Adelowo, Akinwale & Olaopa 2017; Akinwale et al. 2012). Therefore, innovation becomes an arrow that drives productivity in all sectors of the economy (Kim 2011). Innovation is traditionally viewed as taking place mostly within a single firm (Akinwale, Adepoju & Olomu 2017; Chesbrough 2003b). However, it has become a vital element in today’s globalised and competitive environment (Mytelka 2000). Firms which engage in innovation do not only gain competitiveness but are also able to sustain themselves for a longer period of time (Ismail et al. 2014). To remain competitive and relevant in today’s modern world requires organisations to vigorously pursue innovation. Because a firm cannot operate in isolation, there is a need to relate to the external environment in which it operates. Today, the logic that supports an internally oriented and centralised approach to research and development (R&D) has become obsolete in many sectors (Chesbrough 2003b). This creates a new logic of open innovation, which embraces external ideas and knowledge in conjunction with internal R&D.
Latin American Applied Research 32 : 183-188 ( 2002 ) 183 MONITORING THE THERMAL STABILITY OF THE POROUS STRUCTURE OF HYBRID SiO 2-TiO 2 MATERIALS BY MEANS OF MASS TRANSPORT COEFFICIENT CALCULATIONS

The physical characterization of solids, mainly the surface area measurement and the pore size distribution determination by means of nitrogen adsorption and mercury porosimetry, respectively, might be a matter of controversy in the case of materials that can suffer important structural changes between 77K and their operation temperatures (room or higher), or whose pore structure may be damaged due to the mercury intrusion. The goal of this work is to identify changes in the physical structure of solids when they are exposed to temperatures similar to those used in conventional thermal pretreatments, when they are used as catalysts, by means of mass transfer coefficient measurements. Our working hypothesis is that, if structural changes occur, these should be easily detected via noticeable changes in the mass transfer coefficient for a selected adsorbate. The calculation of relaxation constants, which characterize the transport of cyclohexane through the hybrid materials is carried out by modeling the experimental data corresponding to the transient state of the adsorption tests.
Possibility of organic beef production on South African communal farms

South African communal farmers possess indigenous breeds and resources required for organic beef production. However, the market off-take rate from communal farms is 5-10%, compared to 25% on commercial farms, despite the fact that 40% of cattle are found on communal lands. The objective of the study was to investigate the possibility of organic beef production on South African communal farms, using Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) conducted with communal cattle farmers in UMgungundlovu, KwaZulu-Natal. The findings revealed that socio-cultural factors are the primary reasons for keeping cattle, with cash generation being a secondary importance. Despite the lack of external support, communal farmers value their communal production systems and produce which are labelled ‘organic’ by default. These farmers perceive this system as wholesome; results in mature and tasty meat with several domestic and medicinal benefits compared to conventional cattle production systems, hence, its products should be sold at a premium. Socio-behavioural factors, such as isolation, inferiority and lack of institutional support, market access and market information pertaining to the marketing of organic beef are the reasons why communal farmers are not actively participating in the South African formal beef market. It can be concluded that facilitating product differentiation and the involvement of communal farmers as stakeholders in the South African formal beef market through civic engagement has the potential to increase off-take rates from communal farms, rather than the bottom-up and top-down management strategies. Keywords: Civic engagement, Communal farmers, Extension, Formal beef markets, Organic beef, Off-take rates, Socio-behavioural factor
Having friends with gay friends? The role of extended contact, empathy and threat on assertive bystanders behavioral intentions

Peers are present in more than 80% of bullying episodes and research showed that bystanders have a very important role in stopping bullying episodes. However, little is known about the predictors of assertive interventions by bystanders. The current study explored if extended contact (i.e., having friends who have gay friends), is related to assertive behavioral intentions to help the victims of homophobic bullying, through increased empathy and decreased masculinity/femininity threat. An online survey was completed by 87 heterosexual adolescents (12 to 18 years old). Results revealed that, as expected, extended contact was associated with more assertive interventions, via increased affective empathy and decreased masculinity/femininity threat. These findings replicated and extended previous studies by illustrating the underlying mechanisms through which extended contact positively affects bystanders’ interventions.
Data Lake Management: Challenges and Opportunities

The ubiquity of data lakes has created fascinating new challenges for data management research. In this tutorial, we review the state-of-the-art in data management for data lakes. We consider how data lakes are introducing new problems including dataset discovery and how they are changing the requirements for classic problems including data extraction, data cleaning, data integration, and data versioning. The tutorial will cover enterprise data lakes and data lakes that are being used to support data science. Our focus will be on the exciting new open research challenges that data lakes are inspiring
Dietary Factors and the Risk of Lung Cancer in New Caledonia (South Pacific)

Our objective was to study the relations between the risk of lung cancer and dietary factors in New Caledonia, in the South Pacific. A population-based case-control study of respiratory cancers was conducted between 1993 and 1995 in New Caledonia; we analyzed data for 134 incident lung cancer cases (109 men and 25 women) and 295 controls (227 men and 68 women) who had completed a food frequency questionnaire. Odds ratios (ORs) associated with food and nutrient intakes were calculated with unconditional logistic regression, with adjustment for smoking, age, and ethnicity. Analyses were performed separately for men and women. Among men, no significant associations were observed with any foods, including vegetables and fruits. Nonetheless, high consumption of dark green leafy vegetables (highest vs. lowest tertile of intake) was associated with decreased risk (OR = 0.5, 95% confidence interval = 0.2-1.2, P for trend = 0.12), particularly among Melanesians (OR = 0.4, 95% confidence interval = 0.1-1.0, P for trend = 0.07). A similar protective effect was also suggested for high consumption of poultry (P for trend = 0.06) and fresh fish (P for trend = 0.08). No significant association was found with nutrients. Among women, the analyses concerned few subjects and were not informative. This study suggests that high consumption of dark green leafy vegetables may reduce the risk of lung cancer among men in this population.
Data Literacy - What is it and how can we make it happen?

With the advent of the Internet and particularly Open Data, data literacy (the ability of non-specialists to make use of data) is rapidly becoming an essential life skill comparable to other types of literacy. However, it is still poorly defined and there is much to learn about how best to increase data literacy both amongst children and adults. This issue addresses both the definition of data literacy and current efforts on increasing and sustaining it. A feature of the issue is the range of contributors. While there are important contributions from the UK, Canada and other Western countries, these are complemented by several papers from the Global South where there is an emphasis on grounding data literacy in context and relating it the issues and concerns of communities.
INTERFERENCE IN LEARNING ENGLISH : OMISSION OF COPULA BE IN ENGLISH ESSAY WRITING AMONG UNDERGRADUATES IN SELANGOR INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

Acquiring English grammar is often treated as a ‘meticulous’ process for ESL learners. Direct translation in their second language is the result from language transfer from their first language. Some ESL learners found it difficult to grab even the most basic English grammar after spending years in school. Applying Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis together with the Error Analysis Hypothesis as a method of explaining why some features of a Target Language were more difficult to acquire than others, this study aims to identify the students’ errors in essay writing in regards to the omission of the copula be; and to analyze the learner’s production of data to see the relationship between omission of the copula be in English essay writing and their native language grammar. The results showed that learners produced sentences that seem to have interference from their L1. They directly translated English sentences according to the syntactic structure in their L1. This agrees with Selinker (1979) and Dulay et al (1982) that when learners fail to understand the syntactic structure of L2, they resort to L1 in order to produce sentences in L2.
Training a Coach to be Autonomy ‐ Supportive : An Avenue for Nurturing Mental Toughness

1. What is mental toughness? 2. How would you assess an athlete’s mental toughness? 3. You’ve been asked by a sport organization to create an intervention or programme aimed at developing mental toughness in athletes. How would you approach this request for developing mental toughness (e.g., content, structure)? 4. What role do coaches play in the development of mental toughness? 5. Which coaching behaviours foster or forestall mental toughness development? LEARNING OBJECTIVES