Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative study of physical activity patterns among school children in Kenya and Canada : results from the ISCOLE Project : physical education

Examination of the timing and patterns of daily activity are crucial in understanding when children accumulate the highest levels of physical activity. The objectives of this study were to examine moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) patterns accrued by time of day among Kenyan children, and compare activity patterns in Kenya to those of Canadian children. Physical activity and body weights of participating children were measured by accelerometry and anthropometry, while supplementary self-report data were captured by questionnaires. Data were collected as part of a larger International Study of Childhood Obesity, Lifestyle and Environment (ISCOLE) in Nairobi for ISCOLE-Kenya and in the Ottawa Region for ISCOLE-Canada. A total of 555 Kenyan and 541 Canadian children 9 to 11 years were included in the analyses. In Kenya, boys, under/healthy weight, and children attending public (lower socioeconomic status (SES)) schools were found to have significantly higher MVPA levels compared to girls, overweight/obese, and children attending private (higher SES) schools respectively. MVPA on weekdays was higher than on weekend-days. Activity profiles among Kenyan and Canadian children were very similar; however, Kenyan children had significantly higher MVPA and lower sedentary time on weekend-days. MVPA patterns among urban Kenyan children were largely similar to those of urban Canadian children when assessed by sex, BMI category, and weekday/weekend days. However, in the Kenyan sample, unlike in many higher income countries, lower SES was associated with higher MVPA.
Freezing and desiccation injury resistance in the filamentous green alga Klebsormidium from the Antarctic, Arctic and Slovakia

The freezing and desiccation tolerance of 12 Klebsormidium strains, isolated from various habitats (aeroterrestrial, terrestrial, and hydro-terrestrial) from distinct geographical regions (Antarctic — South Shetlands, King George Island, Arctic — Ellesmere Island, Svalbard, Central Europe — Slovakia) were studied. Each strain was exposed to several freezing (−4°C, −40°C, −196°C) and desiccation (+4°C and + 20°C) regimes, simulating both natural and semi-natural freeze-thaw and desiccation cycles. The level of resistance (or the survival capacity) was evaluated by chlorophyll a content, viability, and chlorophyll fluorescence evaluations. No statistical differences (Kruskal-Wallis tests) between strains originating from different regions were observed. All strains tested were highly resistant to both freezing and desiccation injuries. Freezing down to −196°C was the most harmful regime for all studied strains. Freezing at −4°C did not influence the survival of studied strains. Further, freezing down to −40°C (at a speed of 4°C/min) was not fatal for most of the strains. RDA analysis showed that certain Antarctic and Arctic strains did not survive desiccation at +4°C; however, freezing at −40°C, as well as desiccation at +20°C was not fatal to them. On the other hand, other strains from the Antarctic, the Arctic, and Central Europe (Slovakia) survived desiccation at temperatures of +4°C, and freezing down to −40°C. It appears that species of Klebsormidium which occupy an environment where both seasonal and diurnal variations of water availability prevail, are well adapted to freezing and desiccation injuries. Freezing and desiccation tolerance is not species-specific nor is the resilience only found in polar strains as it is also a feature of temperate strains.
Authors' Response.

medium-to-large effect sizes are observed for RFD when calculated for fixed time periods and eccentric RFD, whereas trivial-to-small effect sizes are observed for time to peak force and peak RFD, when these are calculated from the available data, using the method described by van Rhee et al. (11). Please see Table 1 for results that support this statement. Therefore, we suggest that the conclusion is revised to underpin that resistance training may in fact improve RFD during unloaded dynamic movements, at least for some RFD metrics. LASSE ISHØI MIKKEL BEK CLAUSEN PER AAGAARD Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Sports Orthopaedic Research Center—Copenhagen (SORC-C), Copenhagen University Hospital, Amager-Hvidovre, Denmark Department of Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Health and Technology, Metropolitan University College, Copenhagen, Denmark Institute of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark
A multiresolution analysis based on the wavelet transform to study vegetation dynamics A case study on a desertification hot spot area

The objective of the present work is the study of the seasonal and annual vegetation dynamics in order to detect degradation processes. A multiresolution analysis (MRA) based on the wavelet transform is proposed for studying the non- stationary degradation process. MRA gives a simple and fast method for decomposing a signal into its components at different temporal scales. The 1km MEDOKADS (Mediterranean Extended Daily One-Km AVHRR data set) imagery series over Spain have been considered for this study. Descriptive statistics in terms of trend and variability image have been derived from the proposed methodology. The robustness of the technique has been successfully analysed in terms of the precipitation data.
Clinical symptom responses to atypical antipsychotic medications in Alzheimer's disease: phase 1 outcomes from the CATIE-AD effectiveness trial.

OBJECTIVE The study measured the effects of atypical antipsychotics on psychiatric and behavioral symptoms in patients with Alzheimer's disease and psychosis or agitated behavior. METHOD The Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness-Alzheimer's Disease (CATIE-AD) Alzheimer's disease effectiveness study included 421 outpatients with Alzheimer's disease and psychosis or agitated/aggressive behavior. Patients were assigned randomly to masked, flexible-dose treatment with olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, or placebo for up to 36 weeks. Patients could be randomly reassigned to a different medication at the clinician's discretion, which ended phase 1. Psychiatric and behavioral symptoms, functioning, cognition, care needs, and quality of life were measured at regular intervals. RESULTS In relation to placebo, the last observation in phase 1 showed greater improvement with olanzapine or risperidone on the Neuropsychiatric Inventory total score, risperidone on the Clinical Global Impression of Changes, olanzapine and risperidone on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) hostile suspiciousness factor, and risperidone on the BPRS psychosis factor. There was worsening with olanzapine on the BPRS withdrawn depression factor. Among patients continuing phase 1 treatment at 12 weeks, there were no significant differences between antipsychotics and placebo on cognition, functioning, care needs, or quality of life, except for worsened functioning with olanzapine compared to placebo. CONCLUSION In this descriptive analysis of outpatients with Alzheimer's disease in usual care settings, some clinical symptoms improved with atypical antipsychotics. Antipsychotics may be more effective for particular symptoms, such as anger, aggression, and paranoid ideas. They do not appear to improve functioning, care needs, or quality of life.
Children’s Health Insurance, Family Income, and Welfare Enrollment

Children from wealthier families are more likely to have health insurance than children from poorer families on average. However, the relationship between family income and health insurance is non-linear, as children near the Federal Poverty Line (FPL) are less likely to be insured than children from both wealthier families (who obtain health insurance from the private market) and poorer families (who obtain government-funded health insurance). This health insurance dip has persisted even as Medicaid has been expanded to cover those above the FPL. One explanation for this is that families who are far below the poverty line are better connected to the welfare system, and consequently, are more likely to enroll in Medicaid. This study uses data from the 2001–2013 Current Population Surveys and finds that (1) controlling for many of the determinants of eligibility, those on other forms of government assistance are more likely to have health insurance, and (2) the relationship between family income and children's health insurance status is strictly increasing after controlling for enrollment in other welfare programs.
Adaptive Hybrid Model for Long Term Load Prediction in Computational Grid

Long term load prediction can assist task scheduling and load balancing greatly in distributed environment such as computational grid. Due to the dynamic property of grid environment, fixed-parameter prediction model can not exert its forecast capability completely. In this paper we first observe and analyze parameters' impact on prediction accuracy for our previous long term load prediction hybrid model (HModel) in detail. And then, a parameter-level adaptive method based on previous analysis is proposed in order to make HModel adapt to the time-varying characteristics of load in computational grid. The results of the experiments demonstrate that our adaptive hybrid model (AHModel) outperforms the widely used autoregressive (AR) model in long term load prediction significantly, and it also achieves obvious reduction in prediction mean square error comparing with HModel which uses fixed parameter value.
Collaborative Development in Wikipedia

Using 16,068 articles in Wikipedia's Medicine Wikiproject, we study the relationship between collaboration and quality. We assess whether certain collaborative patterns are associated with information quality in terms of self-evaluated quality and article viewership. We find that the number of contributors has a curvilinear relationship to information quality, more contributors improving quality but only up to a certain point. Other articles that its collaborators work on also influences the quality of an information artifact, creating an interdependent network of artifacts and contributors. Finally, we see evidence of a recursive relationship between information quality and contributor activity, but that this recursive relationship attenuates over time.
Personal Privacy and Popular Ubiquitous Technology

In Britain today, ubiquitous technologies are becoming an increasing part of people's lives. Using well-known exemplars (the Oyster Card, London's Congestion Charging System and the Mobile Phone), this paper addresses the issue of privacy in relation to people's use of such technologies. Privacy recommendations are proposed for the use, exchange and control of personal information, with the aim of stimulating public debate on this issue.
Flexible gold-catalyzed regioselective oxidative difunctionalization of unactivated alkenes.

Diols, diamines, and aminoalcohols are ubiquitous functionalities in complex organic molecules. From the seminal work of Sharpless and co-workers on the intermolecular osmiumcatalyzed asymmetric dihydroxylation and aminohydroxylation of alkenes, the development of alternative methods to access these privileged motifs has become a priority for synthetic organic chemists. In recent years, palladium catalysts in combination with PhI(OAc)2 as oxidant have been successfully used in the aminooxygenation and diamination of unactivated alkenes both intraand intermolecularly. These transformations rely on the oxidation of Pd to Pd species to facilitate the formation of C X bonds. 5] Coppercatalyzed and also metal-free reactions have been reported although the required acidic media in the later processes might limit its potential application in more elaborated settings [Eq. (1); TFA = trifluoroacetic acid]. Our research group has recently combined the unique carbophilicity of gold complexes with the Au/Au redox catalytic cycles to design new transformations. 9] Surprisingly, though, only one example of gold-catalyzed oxidative diamination of alkenes from ureas has been reported up to date. We envisioned that highly oxidized gold(III) intermediates generated in the presence of oxidants such as Selectfluor or PhI(OAc)2 could trigger the selective oxidative difunctionalization of alkenes [Eq. (2)].
Is audit research? The relationships between clinical audit and social-research.

PURPOSE Quality has an established history in health care. Audit, as a means of quality assessment, is well understood and the existing literature has identified links between audit and research processes. This paper reviews the relationships between audit and research processes, highlighting how audit can be improved through the principles and practice of social research. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH The review begins by defining the audit process. It goes on to explore salient relationships between clinical audit and research, grouped into the following broad themes: ethical considerations, highlighting responsibilities towards others and the need for ethical review for audit; asking questions and using appropriate methods, emphasising transparency in audit methods; conceptual issues, including identifying problematic concepts, such as "satisfaction", and the importance of reflexivity within audit; emphasising research in context, highlighting the benefits of vignettes and action research; complementary methods, demonstrating improvements for the quality of findings; and training and multidisciplinary working, suggesting the need for closer relationships between researchers and clinical practitioners. FINDINGS Audit processes cannot be considered research. Both audit and research processes serve distinct purposes. ORIGINALITY/VALUE Attention to the principles of research when conducting audit are necessary to improve the quality of audit and, in turn, the quality of health care.
MemGuard: Memory bandwidth reservation system for efficient performance isolation in multi-core platforms

Memory bandwidth in modern multi-core platforms is highly variable for many reasons and is a big challenge in designing real-time systems as applications are increasingly becoming more memory intensive. In this work, we proposed, designed, and implemented an efficient memory bandwidth reservation system, that we call MemGuard. MemGuard distinguishes memory bandwidth as two parts: guaranteed and best effort. It provides bandwidth reservation for the guaranteed bandwidth for temporal isolation, with efficient reclaiming to maximally utilize the reserved bandwidth. It further improves performance by exploiting the best effort bandwidth after satisfying each core's reserved bandwidth. MemGuard is evaluated with SPEC2006 benchmarks on a real hardware platform, and the results demonstrate that it is able to provide memory performance isolation with minimal impact on overall throughput.
A Negotiation Protocol Description Language for Automated Service Level Agreement Negotiations

The vision of an open and global Internet of Services (IoS) is driven by globalization and fast changing settings when trading on a world-wide scope. It requires automated on-line techniques for handling services and resources themselves, for advertising and discovery as well as for the on-the-flynegotiation of proper terms for their use. In such a setting covering completely different branches and traditions of business, a flexible infrastructure for negotiating service level agreements is mandatory. In this paper, we propose an extended service usage cycle suitable for IoS along with an expressive but still machine manageable protocol description language capable of specifying a multitude of different negotiation protocols. It supports the extended usage cycle and permits choosing services with appropriate SLA negotiation styles as well as performing SLA negotiations based on the style agreed by potential business partners.
An adaptable Boolean neural network performing specific sequence learning

Sequence learning has a variety of different approaches. We can distinguish two fundamental approaches: general-regularity learning and specific sequence learning. Although some studies suggest that it is possible for a single subsystem underlying both general-regularity and specific-sequence learning, it is proved that relatively independent subsystems may execute the two types of learning more efficiently than a single subsystem. In this paper we propose to implement specific sequence learning in a neural network with no memory and with an implicit representation of time.
The low FODMAP diet: fundamental therapy in the management of irritable bowel syndrome

Purpose of review The low FODMAP diet is now recognized as first-line therapy for treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms including abdominal pain, gas, bloating, diarrhea and or constipation. This information must be disseminated for application to clinical practice. Recent findings There are many people with IBS worldwide who can benefit from following the low FODMAP diet to alleviate or minimize symptoms. Clinical studies and trials demonstrating the positive outcomes of the low FODMAP diet have been based on diet education provided by dietitians. Understanding the types of carbohydrates that are high in FODMAPs and the associated symptoms, nutrition intervention can be targeted using the low FODMAP diet. The nutrition intervention is relatively in expensive, noninvasive and basically without side-effects if monitored by a dietitian and clinical team. Summary Applying the low FODMAP diet in IBS can greatly improve health and quality of life outcomes by alleviating or significantly improves symptoms.
Power balance calculations in MoM solution of SIEs for lossy composite metallic and dielectric structures

Efficient algorithms are proposed for power balance calculations in the case of lossy composite metallic and dielectric structures, when they are analyzed by using method of moments (MoM) applied to surface integral equations (SIEs). In particular, the algorithms are applied in the case when Galerkin variant of MoM is used to solve electric field integral equation (EFIE) in combination with PMCHWT. Some possible ways of using these calculations in estimation and improvement of the method accuracy are outlined and illustrated.
HIT: a new approach for hiding multimedia information in text

A new technique for hiding multimedia data in text, called the Hiding in Text (HIT) technique, is introduced. The HIT technique can transform any type of media represented by a long binary string into innocuous text that follows correct grammatical rules. This technique divides English words into types where each word can appear in any number of types. For each type, there is a dictionary, which maps words to binary codes. Marker types are special types whose words do not repeat in any other type. Each generated sentence must include at least one word from the marker type. In the hiding phase, a binary string is input to the HIT encoding algorithm, which then selects sentence templates at random. The output is a set of English sentences according to the selected templates and the dictionaries of types. In the retrieving phase, the HIT technique uses the position of the marker word to identify the template used to build each sentence. The proposed technique greatly improves the efficiency and the security features of previous solutions. Examples for hiding text and image information in a cover text are given to illustrate the HIT technique.
Phylogenetic Analysis of The Ecology and Evolution of Mammalian Sleep

Abstract The amount of time asleep varies greatly in mammals, from 3 h in the donkey to 20 h in the armadillo. Previous comparative studies have suggested several functional explanations for interspecific variation in both the total time spent asleep and in rapid-eye movement (REM) or “quiet” (non-REM) sleep. In support of specific functional benefits of sleep, these studies reported correlations between time in specific sleep states (NREM or REM) and brain size, metabolic rate, and developmental variables. Here we show that estimates of sleep duration are significantly influenced by the laboratory conditions under which data are collected and that, when analyses are limited to data collected under more standardized procedures, traditional functional explanations for interspecific variation in sleep durations are no longer supported. Specifically, we find that basal metabolic rate correlates negatively rather than positively with sleep quotas, and that neither adult nor neonatal brain mass correlates positively with REM or NREM sleep times. These results contradict hypotheses that invoke energy conservation, cognition, and development as drivers of sleep variation. Instead, the negative correlations of both sleep states with basal metabolic rate and diet are consistent with trade-offs between sleep and foraging time. In terms of predation risk, both REM and NREM sleep quotas are reduced when animals sleep in more exposed sites, whereas species that sleep socially sleep less. Together with the fact that REM and NREM sleep quotas correlate strongly with each other, these results suggest that variation in sleep primarily reflects ecological constraints acting on total sleep time, rather than the independent responses of each sleep state to specific selection pressures. We propose that, within this ecological framework, interspecific variation in sleep duration might be compensated by variation in the physiological intensity of sleep.
Effect of Aminophyllin and Dexamethasone on Secretion of Pulmonary Surfactant in Fetal Rabbits

Summary: Aminophyllin, dexamethasone, or saline was injected into 27.5-day fetal rabbits 2.5 hr before sacrifice, after which static pressure-volume curves with air were performed. In further similar experiments the lungs were lavaged with physiologic saline which was analyzed for total phospholipid content. There were no changes in total lung capacity (TLC) induced with either aminophyllin or dexamethasone. The lungs of fetal rabbits injected with saline retained 44% TLC (±3 SE) after deflation to 10 cm H2O trans-pulmonary pressure compared with 48% TLC (±3 SE) in those injected with dexamethasone, a difference which was not statistically significant. In contrast, the lungs of fetal rabbits injected with aminophyllin retained 53% TLC (±2 SE) after deflation to 10 cm H2O pressure, a significant increase when compared with saline controls (P < 0.01). There were no changes in lung weight or lung water. These results were interpreted to mean that aminophyllin decreased surface tension and augmented secretion of pulmonary surfactant. This was supported by finding significantly increased total phospholipid recovered in the lung lavage fluid of fetal rabbits injected with aminophyllin, 62 μg/g dry lung weight (±6 SE) compared with 32 μg/g dry lung weight (±3 SE) in saline controls (P < 0.05). Phospholipid recovered from dexamethasone-injected fetal rabbits was not significantly increased, 38 μg/g dry lung weight (±4 SE). Speculation: Although other explanations cannot be excluded, the effect of aminophyllin in promoting secretion of surfactant is consistent with proposals that the secretory process is under control of cAMP.
An Evidence-Based Approach to Improving Care of Patients with Heart Failure across the Continuum

A coordinated initiative for patients with heart failure was planned and implemented across this healthcare system to: (1) incorporate best evidence-based practice to rapidly stabilize the patient, and (2) establish early, coordinated patient education to promote self-care at home with the support of appropriate resources. Length of stay, readmission frequency, ACE inhibitor and beta blocker prescribing patterns at discharge were the outcomes selected for ongoing study and cross-site efforts toward improvement. These outcomes did improve following cross-site implementation with the collaboration of all appropriate disciplines and the coordination of new and existing services to serve this population.