Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Association between Serum Bilirubin and Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate among Elderly Persons

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a major public health problem. However, few studies have examined the significance of serum bilirubin as a risk factor for the development of CKD in the general Japanese population. The subjects comprised 413 men (mean age: 79±9 years; (range, 60–100 years) and 637 women (mean age: 81±8 years; range, 60–106 years) who visited the medical department of Seiyo Municipal Nomura Hospital. We examined the relationship between increased serum bilirubin and renal function that was evaluated by estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) using CKD-EPI equations modified by a Japanese coefficient. Stepwise multiple regression analysis with eGFR as the objective variable, and adjusted risk factors as the explanatory variables, showed that serum bilirubin (β = 0.11, P<0.001) was significantly and independently associated with eGFR, in addition to gender, age, prevalence of antihypertensive medication, triglycerides, prevalence of antidiabetic medication, and serum uric acid. Compared with stages 1+2 (eGFR ≥60.0 ml/min/1.73 m2), mean multivariate-adjusted odds ratio {95% (confidence interval (CI)} for hypobilirubinemia (first quartile, <0.52 mg/dL) was 3.52 (range: 1.88–6.59). Next, to control potential confounding factors, data were further stratified by gender, age, medication (antihypertensive, antidyslipidemic, and antidiabetic agents), and prevalence of cardiovascular disease. The standardized coefficient for eGFR was significant in both groups, and there was no interaction between the groups. Our data demonstrated an independent positive association between serum bilirubin and eGFR in both genders. Low serum bilirubin level would be useful as a potential risk factor for renal function.
Multigrid solver for axisymmetrical 2D fluid equations

We have developed an efficient algorithm for steady axisymmetrical 2D fluid equations. The algorithm employs multigrid method as well as standard implicit discretization schemes for systems of partial differential equations. Linearity of the multigrid method with respect to the number of grid points allowed us to use $256\times 256$ grid, where we could achieve solutions in several minutes. Time limitations due to nonlinearity of the system are partially avoided by using multi level grids(the initial solution on $256\times 256$ grid was extrapolated steady solution from $128\times 128$ grid which allowed using "long" integration time steps). The fluid solver may be used as the basis for hybrid codes for DC discharges.
An Empirical Research on the Impact of Consumers' Online Web Experiences upon Their Online Purchase Intention

This paper discussed the impact of mood and perceived risk on purchase intention on the basis of the S-O-R model. The following conclusions were made: Consumers' online web experience has a significant positive impact on mood and perceived risk; one step further, mood and perceived risk has a significant positive impact on purchase intention. And we proposed the strategy to increase the purchase.
Coupling of inverse method and cuckoo search algorithm for multiobjective optimization design of an axial flow pump

This work describes the application of a multiobjective cuckoo search method for turbomachinery design optimization of an axial pump. Maximization of the total efficiency and minimization of the required net positive suction head of the pump are the two objective functions considered for the optimization problem. The optimization process is carried out on a range of imposed volumetric flow rates, with taking into account at each discretized radius between the hub and tip of the rotor: the profile camber, rotor wall thickness, angular deviation, and the solidity, regarded as geometrical constraints and nominal flow rate as mechanical constraint. Two strategies are proposed in order to solve the problem. In the first one, three forms of mono-objective model with two variables, total efficiency and net positive suction head, are considered. In the second one, a multiobjective model with nondominated sorting scheme is adopted. A comparative evaluation of results obtained from the proposed approach with those of a reference machine and genetic algorithm allowed us to validate the present work.
Easing software component repository evolution

Modern software systems are built by composing components drawn from large repositories, whose size and complexity increase at a fast pace. Maintaining and evolving these software collections is a complex task, and a strict qualification process needs to be enforced. We studied in depth the Debian software repository, one of the largest and most complex existing ones, and we developed comigrate, an extremely efficient tool that is able to identify the largest sets of components that can migrate to the reference repository without violating its quality constraints. This tool outperforms significantly all existing tools, and provides detailed information that is crucial to understand the reasons why some components cannot migrate. Extensive validation on the Debian distribution has been performed. The core architecture of the tool is quite general, and can be easily adapted to other software repositories.
Development of microhand utilizing singularity of parallel mechanism

In the fields of medicine and biology, it is essential to realize fine manipulation. Therefore, micromanipulation techniques and micromanipulators such as microgrippers and optical tweezers have been developed. We have developed a two-fingered microhand which is using the parallel mechanism to realize precise and stable micromanipulation. However, the previous microhand has problems about workspace and vibration. In this paper, the development of a new microhand which solves problems of previous microhand. The characteristic of new microhand is to enlarge the workspace utilizing the singularity of the parallel mechanisms. Inverse kinematics and structural analysis are used to analyze the workspace, and we show that results of two analyses match. Vibration analysis simulates transportation task and grasping task for manipulation. The new microhand has a potential to reduce the vibration by vibration analysis results.
View-Invariant Discriminative Projection for Multi-View Gait-Based Human Identification

Existing methods for multi-view gait-based identification mainly focus on transforming the features of one view to the features of another view, which is technically sound but has limited practical utility. In this paper, we propose a view-invariant discriminative projection (ViDP) method, to improve the discriminative ability of multi-view gait features by a unitary linear projection. It is implemented by iteratively learning the low dimensional geometry and finding the optimal projection according to the geometry. By virtue of ViDP, the multi-view gait features can be directly matched without knowing or estimating the viewing angles. The ViDP feature projected from gait energy image achieves promising performance in the experiments of multi-view gait-based identification. We suggest that it is possible to construct a gait-based identification system for arbitrary probe views, by incorporating the information of gallery data with sufficient viewing angles. In addition, ViDP performs even better than the state-of-the-art view transformation methods, which are trained for the combination of gallery and probe viewing angles in every evaluation.
FAST: Near Real-Time Searchable Data Analytics for the Cloud

With the explosive growth in data volume and complexity and the increasing need for highly efficient searchable data analytics, existing cloud storage systems have largely failed to offer an adequate capability for real-time data analytics. Since the true value or worth of data heavily depends on how efficiently data analytics can be carried out on the data in (near-) real-time, large fractions of data end up with their values being lost or significantly reduced due to the data staleness. To address this problem, we propose a near-real-time and cost-effective searchable data analytics methodology, called FAST. The idea behind FAST is to explore and exploit the semantic correlation within and among datasets via correlation-aware hashing and manageable flat-structured addressing to significantly reduce the processing latency, while incurring acceptably small loss of data-search accuracy. The near-real-time property of FAST enables rapid identification of correlated files and the significant narrowing of the scope of data to be processed. FAST supports several types of data analytics, which can be implemented in existing searchable storage systems. We conduct a real-world use case in which children reported missing in an extremely crowded environment (e.g., A highly popular scenic spot on a peak tourist day) are identified in a timely fashion by analyzing 60 million images using FAST. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the efficiency and efficacy of FAST in the performance improvements and energy savings.
Corn Classification System based on Computer Vision

Automated classification of corn is important for corn sorting in intelligent agriculture. This paper presents a reliable corn classification method based on techniques of computer vision and machine learning. To discriminate different damaged types of corns, a line profile segmentation method is firstly used to segment and separate a group of touching corns. Then, twelve color features and five shape features are extracted for each individual corn object. Finally, a maximum likelihood estimator is trained to classify normal and damaged corns. To evaluate the performance of the proposed method, a private dataset consisting of images of normal corn and six kinds of damage corns, including heat-damaged, germ-damaged, cob-rot-damaged, blue eye mold-damaged, insect-damaged, and surface mold-damaged, were collected in this work. The proposed method achieved an accuracy of 96.67% for the classification between normal corns and the first four common damaged corns, and an accuracy of 74.76% was achieved for the classification between normal corns and six kinds of damaged corns. The experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed corn classification system.
The wonder project: an early years arts education project with Traveller mothers and their children

ABSTRACT The Wonder Project was a collaborative early-years music and visual arts project developed in partnership with Traveller children and their mothers, involving artists, Fingal County Childcare Committee, Fingal Travellers’ Organisation and the Arts Education Research Group in Trinity College Dublin. This qualitative study aimed to create an artistic space for young children (aged 0–5 years) and mothers from the Traveller community. Accounting for less than 1% of the population, Irish Travellers are a small indigenous ethnic group who are recognised for their shared history, rich cultural and arts traditions, and distinct language [Murray, C. , and M. Urban. 2012. Diversity & Equality in Early Childhood. An Irish Perspective. Dublin: Gill Education. ]. Facing severe discrimination for centuries, the Irish Traveller community were officially recognised as an ethnic minority in Ireland in 2017. The area of arts engagement with ethnic minorities is under-researched [DiMaggio, P., and P. Fernández-Kelly. 2015. “Immigration and the Arts: a Theoretical Inquiry. ” Ethnic and Racial Studies 38 (8): 1236–1244. ], with little evidence pertaining to the early years. At the social, cultural, political, economic and policy levels, the relevance of arts engagement and participation for ethnicized minorities has been hypothesised [Vertovec, S. 2009. Conceiving and Researching Diversity. Göttingen: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, MMG Working Paper 09-01. ], but greater research is needed to better understand how artistic expressions play a role in the assertion of local identities and protect against the assimilating forces of the dominant social, cultural and political order [Martiniello, M. 2015. “Immigrants, Ethnicized Minorities and the Arts: A Relatively Neglected Research Area. ” Ethnic and Racial Studies 38 (8): 1229–1235. ]. Working within a Freirean and participatory and collaborative arts framework, this study aimed to examine the potential of arts education to impact on the relationship between Traveller mothers and their young children, and its potential to facilitate artistic exchanges between artists, mothers and children. Increased access to the arts, outdoor play and well-being between Traveller children and mothers was documented through audio recordings, still photographs, artists’ evaluations and semi-structured interviews. The success of The Wonder Project illustrates the importance of non-mainstreamed arts interventions for marginalised minority groups.
Common But Differentiated Governance: A Metagovernance Approach to Make the SDGs Work

The implementation of the common and universally applicable United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) requires differentiated governance frameworks at all levels, as it falls short to use one governance style only—hierarchical, network or market governance—or any one style combination that is believed to be fit-for-all-purposes. The article introduces the guiding principle of “Common But Differentiated Governance” (CBDG) and illustrates how this principle can make the SDGs work. It will be shown that, after more than 15 years’ experience with the concept of “metagovernance” (how to combine different governance styles into successful governance frameworks), there seems to be some convergence towards using this as comprehensive approach to achieve situationally appropriate governance frameworks. In this article, we have elaborated how policy makers could use metagovernance, combined with key governance principles, as mechanism to support analysis, design and management of SDG governance frameworks, to make failures noticed, and to suggest mitigation measures. Metagovernance respects common principles like rule of law, but takes as starting point that there may be different pathways to achieve them. A possible step-by-step approach for SDG implementation with metagovernance is proposed, as well as establishing governance support arrangements to assist process design, review, monitoring and evaluation, at least at the national level.
Statistical Properties of Similarity Score Functions

In computational biology, a large amount of problems, such as pattern discovery, deals with the comparison of several sequences (of nucleotides, proteins or genes for instance). Very often, algorithms that address this problem use score functions that reflect a notion of similarity between the sequences. The most efficient methods take benefit from theoretical knowledge of the classical behavior of these score functions such as their mean, their variance, and sometime their asymptotic distribution in a given probabilistic model. In this paper, we study a recent family of score functions introduced in Mancheron 2003, which allows to compare two words having the same length. Here, the similarity takes into account all matches and mismatches between two sequences and not only the longest common subsequence as in the case of classical algorithms such as BLAST or FASTA. Based on generating functions, we provide closed formulas for the mean and the variance of these functions in an independent probabilistic model. Finally, we prove that every function in this family asymptotically behaves as a Gaussian random variable.
PFC Cuk converter based electronic ballast for an 18 W compact fluorescent lamp

This paper deals with the design and performance simulation of high power factor (HPF), low crest factor electronic ballast for a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL). The proposed electronic ballast uses a Cuk buck-boost ac-dc converter in continuous conduction mode (CCM) as a power factor preregulator. In this electronic ballast topology, a self oscillating half bridge series resonant parallel loaded inverter (SRPLI) is used for the conversion of dc to high frequency ac voltage. The design, modelling and simulation of this topology is done in MATLAB-SIMULINK environment for a 18W, 220V, 50Hz compact fluorescent lamp. The zero voltage switching (ZVS) is achieved which reduces the switching losses. The power quality indices like total harmonic distortion of ac mains current (THDi), power factor (PF) and crest factor (CF) are evaluated to demonstrate the behaviour of proposed electronic ballast.
Assessing the clinical impact of prostate-specific antigen assay variability and nonequimolarity: a simulation study based on the population of the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND Prostate-specific antigen (PSA) is the most widely used serum biomarker to differentiate between malignant and benign prostate disease. Assays that measure PSA can be biased and/or nonequimolar and hence report significantly different PSA values for samples with the same nominal amount. This report investigates the effects of biased and nonequimolar assays on the decision to recommend a patient for a prostate biopsy based on age-specific PSA values. METHODS A simulation model, calibrated to the distribution of PSA values in the United Kingdom, was developed to estimate the effects of bias, nonequimolarity, and analytical imprecision in terms of the rates of men who are recommended to have a biopsy on the basis of their assay-reported PSA values when their true PSA values are below the threshold (false positives) or vice versa (false negatives). RESULTS False recommendation rates for a calibrated equimolar assay are 0.5-0.9% for analytical imprecision between 5% and 10%. Positive bias leads to significant increases in false positives and significant decreases in false negatives, whereas negative bias has the opposite effect. False-positive rates for nonequimolar assays increase from 0.5% to 13% in the worst-case scenario, whereas false-negative rates are almost always 0%. CONCLUSIONS Biased and nonequimolar assays can have major detrimental effects on both false-negative and false-positive rates for recommending biopsy. PSA assays should therefore be calibrated to the International Standards and be unbiased and equimolar in response to minimize the likelihood of incorrect clinical decisions, which are potentially detrimental for both patient and healthcare provider.
Perinatal polychlorinated biphenyl 126 exposure alters offspring body composition

Abstract Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants whose exposure levels are associated with various health hazards. We hypothesized that in utero and lactational exposure to PCBs can cause changes in body composition and obesity in a mouse model. Pregnant mice were exposed biweekly to two concentrations of PCB 126 via oral gavage. Maternal PCB exposure did not result in heavier offspring, however, dose-dependent and sex specific changes in body composition were observed. Female offspring displayed the most susceptibility to PCB-induced alterations in body composition, having less percent lean body mass and increased adiposity compared to females born to control dams, and these effects were largely dose-dependent. In contrast to females, and independent of the exposure level of PCB 126, male offspring had reduced lean body mass but no change in fat mass compared to males born to control dams. In conclusion, perinatal PCB 126 exposure did not affect body weight, but rather modulated body composition in a dose-dependent and gender-specific manner.
Changes in outdoor learning in primary schools in England, 1995 and 2017: lessons for good practice

ABSTRACT Outdoor learning provides memorably relevant learning and authentic, contextualised opportunities to extend classroom-based education. This research draws on empirical data from surveys involving teachers in primary schools in England in 1995 and 2017 (n=61 and n=40 respectively). The evidence illustrates that schools are continuing to use their playgrounds and day visits as locations for practice. Teacher expertise had decreased by 2017 but the major challenges and barriers to implementation of time and expense remain similar in both years. Teachers no longer see outdoor ‘education’ as a subject in its own right but within the physical education curriculum although Early Years Foundation Stage practitioners report an enabling curriculum for outdoor learning. The research identifies the strength of teachers’ values and beliefs, an open approach to curriculum interpretation, the importance of suitable locations, a culture of risk benefit and positive initiatives as key ingredients for successful outdoor learning in primary schools.
Thunks and the-calculus ( extended version )

Plotkin, in his seminal article Call-by-name, call-by-value and the λ-calculus, formalized evaluation strategies and simulations using operational semantics and continuations. In particular, he showed how call-by-name evaluation could be simulated under call-by-value evaluation and vice versa. Since Algol 60, however, call-by-name is both implemented and simulated with thunks rather than with continuations. We recast this folk theorem in Plotkin’s setting, and show that thunks, even though they are simpler than continuations, are sufficient for establishing all the correctness properties of Plotkin’s call-by-name simulation. Furthermore, we establish a new relationship between Plotkin’s two continuation-based simulations Cn and Cv, by deriving Cn as the composition of our thunk-based simulation T and of C+ v — an extension of Cv handling thunks. Almost all of the correctness properties of Cn follow from the properties of T and C+ v . This simplifies reasoning about call-by-name continuation-passing style. We also give several applications involving factoring continuationbased transformations using thunks. ∗Basic Research in Computer Science, Centre of the Danish National Research Foundation. †Computer Science Department 219 Mathematical Sciences, Stillwater, OK 74078-1053, USA. E-mail: hatcliff@a.cs. okstate.edu ‡Department of Computer Science Ny Munkegade, Building 540, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark. E-mail: danvy@brics.dk
Overexpression of Three TaEXPA1 Homoeologous Genes with Distinct Expression Divergence in Hexaploid Wheat Exhibit Functional Retention in Arabidopsis

Common wheat is a hexaploid species with most of the genes present as triplicate homoeologs. Expression divergences of homoeologs are frequently observed in wheat as well as in other polyploid plants. However, little is known about functional variances among homologous genes arising from polyploidy. Expansins play diverse roles in plant developmental processes related to the action of cell wall loosening. Expression of the three TaEXPA1 homoeologs varied dynamically at different stages and organs, and epigenetic modifications contribute to the expression divergence of three TaEXPA1 homoeologs during wheat development. Nevertheless, their functions remain to be clarified. We found that over expression of TaEXPA1-A, -B and -D produced similar morphological changes in transgenic Arabidopsis plants, including increased germination and growth rate during seedling and adult stages, indicating that the proteins encoded by these three wheat TaEXPA1 homoeologs have similar (or conserved) functions in Arabidopsis. Collectively, our present study provided an example of a set of homoeologous genes expression divergence in different developmental stages and organs in hexaploid wheat but functional retention in transgenic Arabidopsis plants.