Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of Orthographic Similarity of Drugs Names between Iran and Overseas Using the Solar Model

Background: The recognition of patient safety is now occupying a prominent place on the health policy agenda since medical errors can result in adverse events. The existence of confusing drug names is one of the most common causes of medication errors. In Iran, the General Office of Trademarks Registry (GOTR), for four years (2010–2014) was responsible for approving drug proprietary names. This study aimed to investigate the performance of the GOTR in terms of drug names orthographic similarity using the SOLAR model. Methods: First, 100 names were randomly selected from the GOTR’s database. Then, each name was searched through pharmaceutical websites including Martindale (the Complete Drug Reference published by Pharmaceutical Press), Drugs.com and Medicines Complete. Pair of drugs whose names look orthographically similar with different indications were identified. Then, the SOLAR model was utilized to determine orthographic similarity between all pair of drug names. Results: The mean of match values of these 100 pairs of drug was 77% indicating the high risk of similarity. The match value for most of the reviewed pairs (92%) was high (≥66%). This value was medium (≥ 33% and <66%) just for 8% of the pairs of drug. These results indicate high risk of confusion due to similarity of drug names. Conclusion: The stewardship of the GOTR in patient safety considerations is fundamentally problematic. Thus, as a best practice, we recommend that proprietary names of drugs be evaluated by an entity within the health system. While an entity within the health system should address patient safety considerations, the GOTR is responsible for intellectual property rights.
Tracking multiple sports players through occlusion, congestion and scale

Tracking sports players over a large playing area is a challenging problem. The players move quickly, and have large variations in their silhouettes. This paper presents a framework for multi-object tracking, using a CONDENSATION based approach. Each player being tracked is independently fitted to a model, and the sampling probability for the group of samples is calculated as a function of the fitness score of each player. This function rewards consistently good scores, but punishes a group of some very good and some very bad fitness scores. Ground plane information is used throughout, and the predictive stage of the algorithm is improved to incorporate estimates of position from Kalman filters. This helps group the estimated positions of each player, and to aid in tracking through occlusions.
Crossing Minimization within Graph Embeddings Crossing Minimization within Graph Embeddings

We propose a novel optimization-based approach to embedding heterogeneous high-dimensional data characterized by a graph. The goal is to create a two-dimensional visualization of the graph structure such that edge-crossings are minimized while preserving proximity relations between nodes. This paper provides a fundamentally new approach for addressing the crossing minimization criteria that exploits Farkas’ Lemma to re-express the condition for no edge-crossings as a system of nonlinear inequality constraints. The approach has an intuitive geometric interpretation closely related to support vector machine classification. While the crossing minimization formulation can be utilized in conjunction with any optimization-based embedding objective, here we demonstrate the approach on multidimensional scaling by modifying the stress majorization algorithm to include penalties for edge crossings. The proposed method is used to (1) solve a visualization problem in tuberculosis molecular epidemiology and (2) generate embeddings for a suite of randomly generated graphs designed to challenge the algorithm. Experimental results demonstrate the efficacy of the approach. The proposed edge-crossing constraints and penalty algorithm can be readily adapted to other supervised and unsupervised optimization-based embedding or dimensionality reduction methods. The constraints can be generalized to remove overlaps between any graph components represented as convex polyhedrons including node-edge and node-node intersections.
The Two-Sector Model of General Equilibrium

This important book presents a theory of general equilibrium and was the first to present in condensed form the construction of the two-sector model, its applications to the theory of distribution and public finance for income redistribution, and its conversion into a growth model. It assembles a body of analysis that was previously available only in scattered journal articles and a few textbook chapters.
The Neural Correlates of Problem States: Testing fMRI Predictions of a Computational Model of Multitasking

Background It has been shown that people can only maintain one problem state, or intermediate mental representation, at a time. When more than one problem state is required, for example in multitasking, performance decreases considerably. This effect has been explained in terms of a problem state bottleneck. Methodology In the current study we use the complimentary methodologies of computational cognitive modeling and neuroimaging to investigate the neural correlates of this problem state bottleneck. In particular, an existing computational cognitive model was used to generate a priori fMRI predictions for a multitasking experiment in which the problem state bottleneck plays a major role. Hemodynamic responses were predicted for five brain regions, corresponding to five cognitive resources in the model. Most importantly, we predicted the intraparietal sulcus to show a strong effect of the problem state manipulations. Conclusions Some of the predictions were confirmed by a subsequent fMRI experiment, while others were not matched by the data. The experiment supported the hypothesis that the problem state bottleneck is a plausible cause of the interference in the experiment and that it could be located in the intraparietal sulcus.
SQL for Exact Testing Trend in Proportions

PROC SQL is SAS’ implementation of the ANSI Standard Query Language (SQL), an ANSI standard database programming/query language. Syntax is simple and its utility is broad in scope. As another capability, we find that PROC SQL is a very useful tool to perform exact test for monotonic trend in mean responses of discrete random variables. In this paper, we show utilization of PROC SQL to construct a null configuration set and to compute p-value for conditional exact likelihood ratio test for trend in proportions. INTRODUCTION Suppose that a clinical trial investigates the dose-response relationship of drug with K different levels of an investigational drug. Denote by the number of successes in group k with subjects and assume that a binomial distribution of success rate k x k n ) , ( ~ k k k P n B x K , k Pk , 1 , ⋅ ⋅ ⋅ = . Suppose that a trial tests the following two hypotheses: . : versus : 1 1 0 K P H P with 1 K P P K P P H < ≤ . ≤ = . = COCHRAN ARMITAGE TEST STATISTIC Despite of the unfavorable sensitivity to the score selection, the one-sided Cochran-Armitage (CA) test statistic is commonly used in practice to test linear trend in proportions. The CA test statistic is constructed for testing the slope in the linear regression of rates to the pre-specified dose score level d (Agresti, 1990). The test statistic is the most powerful in testing linear trend in proportions. The CA test statistic is given by k k k n x P / ˆ = k
ReHappy: The House Elf that serves your Rehabilitation Exercises

Intense and frequent motor training is essential in persons with neurological disorders as there are MS and stroke. Technology-based rehabilitation has been proven to be beneficial for specific patient groups, as it shows to be effective on muscle strength and active range of motion of the upper limbs. Personalized training in technology-supported rehabilitation setups using motivational techniques such as serious games have the potential to make repetitive training efforts more endurable. Most neurological rehabilitation approaches suffer from a strict separation between training scenarios and activities in daily living, but have difficulties to bridge the gap between exercising on a functional level and performing on the level of activities in daily living. To improve the integration of motor skill training in a daily living context we propose an approach and proof-of-concept implementation of the training device ReHappy, a tangible character that engages patient in performing additional training that complements the daily activities.
Better than average and better with time: relative evaluations of self and others in the past, present, and future

Evaluations of self and others in the past, present, and future were examined by asking 385 students to rate themselves or an acquaintance relative to their peers on a number of personality traits. We predicted, and found, evidence for self-enhancement, as most participants regarded themselves superior to ‘most others’ at all points in time. We also found a better than average improvement effect, as participants considered themselves more superior now, than they were in the past, and expected to become even more superior in the future. Expected improvement in the future was larger than improvement over an equal span of time in the past. It is suggested that favorable self-constructions are possible to the extent that the past and the future are perceived as ambiguous. Singular acquaintances were also rated better than most others, and were believed to improve over time, but their rate of improvement in the future was smaller than the expected improvement for oneself. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Comparative study of Extended Kalman Filter, Linearised Kalman Filter and Particle Filter applied to low-cost GPS-based hybrid positioning system for land vehicles

International research is very active in the topic of data fusion between GNSS and proprioceptive sensors to improve basic GNSS performances for advanced location-based aiding systems. In this frame, recursive Bayesian estimation methods, still are the most efficient and the most popular tools for measurement data fusion. This paper is to present comparisons, on the one hand between two very popular forms of the Kalman Filter: the so-called Linearized Kalman Filter (LKF), and the Extended Kalman Filter (EKF), and on the other hand between the Kalman Filter and one of its most promising challengers: the Particle Filter (PF). Experimental tests performed in two different circuits and discussion about comparative results are presented.
Run-Time Reconfiguration of Expandable Cache for Embedded Systems

Expandable cache proposed by Bournoutian and Orailoglu is very efficient in reducing miss rate and energy consumption with small area overhead. However, the original expandable cache with only one expansion scheme may lead to thrashing problems. In this work, based on the structure of expandable cache, we will introduce a new cache design which has many expansion schemes to fit different run-time program behaviors. The expansion scheme of our proposed cache is dynamically changed by executing configuration instructions which are inserted at compile time. The experimental results of SPEC CPU2000 have shown that our proposed cache design effectively improves the miss rate by 14.74% as compared with the original expandable cache. In terms of energy improvement ratio, our method is 5.62% higher than that of expandable cache when the baseline is set as the energy consumption of 2-way set-associative cache.
The Early Innate Response of Chickens to Salmonella enterica Is Dependent on the Presence of O-Antigen but Not on Serovar Classification

Salmonella vaccines used in poultry in the EU are based on attenuated strains of either Salmonella serovar Enteritidis or Typhimurium which results in a decrease in S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium but may allow other Salmonella serovars to fill an empty ecological niche. In this study we were therefore interested in the early interactions of chicken immune system with S. Infantis compared to S. Enteritidis and S. Typhimurium, and a role of O-antigen in these interactions. To reach this aim, we orally infected newly hatched chickens with 7 wild type strains of Salmonella serovars Enteritidis, Typhimurium and Infantis as well as with their rfaL mutants and characterized the early Salmonella-chicken interactions. Inflammation was characterized in the cecum 4 days post-infection by measuring expression of 43 different genes. All wild type strains stimulated a greater inflammatory response than any of the rfaL mutants. However, there were large differences in chicken responses to different wild type strains not reflecting their serovar classification. The initial interaction between newly-hatched chickens and Salmonella was found to be dependent on the presence of O-antigen but not on its structure, i.e. not on serovar classification. In addition, we observed that the expression of calbindin or aquaporin 8 in the cecum did not change if inflammatory gene expression remained within a 10 fold fluctuation, indicating the buffering capacity of the cecum, preserving normal gut functions even in the presence of minor inflammatory stimuli.
Utility Fair Optimization of Antenna Tilt Angles in LTE Networks

We formulate adaptation of antenna tilt angle as a utility fair optimization task. This optimization problem is nonconvex, but in this paper we show that, under reasonable conditions, it can be reformulated as a convex optimization. Using this insight, we develop a lightweight method for finding the optimal antenna tilt angles, making use of measurements that are already available at base stations, and suited to distributed implementation.
Performance evaluation AODV routing protocol on ad hoc hybrid network testbed using PDAs

This paper presents our work on the test bed implementation of hybrid ad hoc network. In mobile ad hoc network (MANET), nodes are equipped with wireless device which provides self-managing and self-organizing capability, even when there is no network infrastructure present. Ad hoc hybrid network which enables mobile nodes to form instant communication without depending on infrastructure network can communicate with the other devices through LAN or Internet. The function of ad hoc network is very much dependent on the routing protocol that determines the path between nodes in network. ad hoc on-demand distance vector (AODV) is a kind of a reactive routing protocol for ad hoc network. This protocol is the most popular and widely used routing protocol in research and deployment. In this work, we review and implement AODV routing protocol in a testbed consisting of some PCs, laptops (using Linux Red Hat 9.0 and Fedora Core 2), and PDAs Hewlett Packard iPAQ 5550 series (using Linux Familiar v0.7.2 with Opie 1.2). We particularly focus on the AODV-UU routing protocol. We provide packages (by cross compiling) AODV for PocketPC (PDA), and evaluate the packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, and routing overhead of different ad-hoc hybrid network topologies. The testbed implementation result for the average packet delivery ratio is 99.57%, and the end-to-end delay is 1.004 s and the routing overhead is 1,360.36 bps.
Transgenesis for pig models

Animal models, particularly pigs, have come to play an important role in translational biomedical research. There have been many pig models with genetically modifications via somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). However, because most transgenic pigs have been produced by random integration to date, the necessity for more exact gene-mutated models using recombinase based conditional gene expression like mice has been raised. Currently, advanced genome-editing technologies enable us to generate specific gene-deleted and -inserted pig models. In the future, the development of pig models with gene editing technologies could be a valuable resource for biomedical research.
Use of milrinone in critically ill children.

BACKGROUND Optimal dose adjustment of milrinone in critically ill children is challenging because of conflicting information about the association between dose and outcomes in this age group. OBJECTIVES To describe the use of milrinone in critically ill children and to explore associations between milrinone dosing and clinical outcomes, specifically effectiveness and adverse events. METHODS This retrospective cohort study was performed in a consecutive sample of children admitted to a university-affiliated critical care unit (January to June 2004). The relations between milrinone dosing and its effectiveness (based on prevention of low cardiac output syndrome, defined as a difference in oxygen saturation between arterial and mixed venous blood of at least 30% or an increase in serum lactate > 2 mmol/L) and its adverse effects (thrombocytopenia, arrhythmia) were evaluated by logistic regression. RESULTS A total of 197 children from 213 admissions (ranging in age from newborn to 18 years) were included in the study. Milrinone was initiated with a median loading dose of 99.2 μg/kg (range 22.1-162.2 μg/kg). The initial loading dose was higher if given in the operating room rather than the Critical Care Unit (median 99.7 versus 51.0 μg/kg; p < 0.001). Subsequent loading doses, for patients who received them, were lower (median 49 μg/kg). Milrinone was infused at a median rate of 0.64 μg/kg per minute (range 0.13-2.08 μg/kg per minute) for a median of 43.1 h. There was no relation between serum creatinine level and the maintenance dose of milrinone (r2 ≤ 0.0335). Low cardiac output syndrome was relatively frequent (166 [77.9%] of the 213 admissions). There was a trend for occurrence of this syndrome in patients with greater average milrinone dose rate (odds ratio [OR] 8.21, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.98-69.15, p = 0.053) and with longer duration of milrinone therapy (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.01-1.02, p < 0.05). Adverse events were relatively frequent (thrombocytopenia for 27 admissions [12.7%], arrhythmia for 82 admissions [38.5%]) but were not significantly associated with milrinone dosing. CONCLUSIONS A retrospective evaluation of milrinone use in critically ill children revealed variable utilization and frequent occurrence of both low cardiac output syndrome and adverse events. Further prospective research is needed to understand the impact of individual pharmacokinetic differences on pharmacodynamic responses, to guide optimal dose adjustment, improve outcomes, and minimize toxic effects.
A simulation based trainer for software reliability modeling

The paper presents RANDREL, a simulator based trainer for reliability testing. Reliability testing is modeled as a random walk through the program execution state space into which an initial set of faults has been seeded. When a fault is encountered during the simulation, a failure is reported, the tester fixes the fault and resumes reliability testing. After each failure, the reliability growth model is updated and used to determine whether the reliability goal has been achieved. RANDREL provides a low-cost environment for learning reliability testing and modeling, and for exploring factors that contribute to the effectiveness of reliability testing. The paper describes the capabilities of RANDREL and the methodology being used to validate the model.
Identification of a TLR2-stimulating lipoprotein in Bacteroides fragilis JCM 11019 (NCTC 9343)

Bacteroides fragilis is found among the normal intestinal flora and is involved in host immunostimulation via TLR2. Its cell surface components, such as LPS and capsular polysaccharides, were reported to participate in host immunostimulation. In this study, we report on the existence of a lipoprotein that acts as a TLR2 stimulant in B. fragilis. The TLR2-stimulating lipoprotein was obtained using Triton X-114-water phase partitioning followed by preparative SDS-PAGE. Its N-terminal hydrophobic peptide, which was separated from a tryptic digest, was characterized as a triacylated lipopeptide, and the lipoprotein was identified as BF1333 by mass spectrometry of Asp-N-digested peptides. These results showed that the lipoprotein acts as a TLR2-stimulating component in B. fragilis.
Perceived Self‐efficacy for Performing Key Physician–Faculty Functions—A Baseline Assessment of Participants in a One‐year Faculty Development Program

In 1990, the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) established the Northern California Faculty Development Program (NCFDP) to address the needs of family physicians holding full-time faculty positions devoted to teaching, curriculum planning, program leadership, and patient care. Program participants are sponsored by the family medicine departments of three medical schools—University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), University of California, Davis (UCD), and Stanford University (SU). Approximately ten faculty members participate annually in the program’s one-year, parttime comprehensive faculty development curriculum. In 1995, the NCFDP directors developed a Faculty self-efficacy Scale (FacSES) to identify entering participants’ specific faculty development needs and provide a baseline for evaluating educational outcomes using self-efficacy measures. The concept of self-efficacy, which is concerned with people’s beliefs in their capabilities to carry out tasks within relevant personal and professional domains, has been demonstrated to predict performance of those tasks in real-world situations. The Faculty Self-efficacy Scale has now been administered to NCFDP participants annually since 1995, at the beginning and end of the year. While there have been reports describing faculty members’ perceived self-efficacy for carrying out general classroom and nursing-education functions, we are aware of no published report documenting physician–faculty members’ perceived self-efficacy for performing key medical education functions. The purpose of this paper is to: (1) report on participants’ baseline composite self-efficacy scores for the entire scale and for specific areas of professional function, and (2) describe how four independent variables—faculty type, length of time as faculty, age, and gender—affect participants’ self-efficacy scores. The use of the FacSES as an evaluation tool to assess change over time in participants’ perceived self-efficacy will be discussed in a future publication.