Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Confirmation of five novel susceptibility loci for systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and integrated network analysis of 82 SLE susceptibility loci

We recently identified ten novel SLE susceptibility loci in Asians and uncovered several additional suggestive loci requiring further validation. This study aimed to replicate five of these suggestive loci in a Han Chinese cohort from Hong Kong, followed by meta-analysis (11,656 cases and 23,968 controls) on previously reported Asian and European populations, and to perform bioinformatic analyses on all 82 reported SLE loci to identify shared regulatory signatures. We performed a battery of analyses for these five loci, as well as joint analyses on all 82 SLE loci. All five loci passed genome-wide significance: MYNN (rs10936599, Pmeta = 1.92 × 10-13, OR = 1.14), ATG16L2 (rs11235604, Pmeta = 8.87 × 10 -12, OR = 0.78), CCL22 (rs223881, Pmeta = 5.87 × 10-16, OR = 0.87), ANKS1A (rs2762340, Pmeta = 4.93 × 10-15, OR = 0.87) and RNASEH2C (rs1308020, Pmeta = 2.96 × 10-19, OR = 0.84) and co-located with annotated gene regulatory elements. The novel loci share genetic signatures with other reported SLE loci, including effects on gene expression, transcription factor binding, and epigenetic characteristics. Most (56%) of the correlated (r2 > 0.8) SNPs from the 82 SLE loci were implicated in differential expression (9.81 × 10-198 < P < 5 × 10-3) of cis-genes. Transcription factor binding sites for p53, MEF2A and E2F1 were significantly (P < 0.05) over-represented in SLE loci, consistent with apoptosis playing a critical role in SLE. Enrichment analysis revealed common pathways, gene ontology, protein domains, and cell type-specific expression. In summary, we provide evidence of five novel SLE susceptibility loci. Integrated bioinformatics using all 82 loci revealed that SLE susceptibility loci share many gene regulatory features, suggestive of conserved mechanisms of SLE etiopathogenesis.
Enabling Query Technologies for the Semantic Sensor Web

Sensor networks are increasingly being deployed in the environment for many different purposes. The observations that they produce are made available with heterogeneous schemas, vocabularies and data formats, making it difficult to share and reuse this data, for other purposes than those for which they were originally set up. The authors propose an ontology-based approach for providing data access and query capabilities to streaming data sources, allowing users to express their needs at a conceptual level, independent of implementation and language-specific details. In this article, the authors describe the theoretical foundations and technologies that enable exposing semantically enriched sensor metadata, and querying sensor observations through SPARQL extensions, using query rewriting and data translation techniques according to mapping languages, and managing both pull and push delivery modes.
Simplification of the pulmonary embolism severity index for prognostication in patients with acute symptomatic pulmonary embolism.

BACKGROUND The Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (PESI) estimates the risk of 30-day mortality in patients with acute pulmonary embolism (PE). We constructed a simplified version of the PESI. METHODS The study retrospectively developed a simplified PESI clinical prediction rule for estimating the risk of 30-day mortality in a derivation cohort of Spanish outpatients. Simplified and original PESI performances were compared in the derivation cohort. The simplified PESI underwent retrospective external validation in an independent multinational cohort (Registro Informatizado de la Enfermedad Tromboembólica [RIETE] cohort) of outpatients. RESULTS In the derivation data set, univariate logistic regression of the original 11 PESI variables led to the removal of variables that did not reach statistical significance and subsequently produced the simplified PESI that contained the variables of age, cancer, chronic cardiopulmonary disease, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and oxyhemoglobin saturation levels. The prognostic accuracy of the original and simplified PESI scores did not differ (area under the curve, 0.75 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.69-0.80]). The 305 of 995 patients (30.7%) who were classified as low risk by the simplified PESI had a 30-day mortality of 1.0% (95% CI, 0.0%-2.1%) compared with 10.9% (8.5%-13.2%) in the high-risk group. In the RIETE validation cohort, 2569 of 7106 patients (36.2%) who were classified as low risk by the simplified PESI had a 30-day mortality of 1.1% (95% CI, 0.7%-1.5%) compared with 8.9% (8.1%-9.8%) in the high-risk group. CONCLUSION The simplified PESI has similar prognostic accuracy and clinical utility and greater ease of use compared with the original PESI.
SMEs and Access to Bank Credit: Evidence on the Regional Propagation of the Financial Crisis in the UK

We study the sensitivity of banks’ credit supply to small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) in the UK to banks’ financial condition before and during the financial crisis. Employing unique data on the geographical location of all bank branches in the UK, we connect firms’ access to bank credit to the financial condition (i.e., bank health and the use of core deposits) of all bank branches in the vicinity of the firm over the period 2004-2011. Before the crisis, banks’ local financial conditions did not influence credit availability irrespective of the functional distance (i.e., the distance between bank branch and bank headquarters). However, during the crisis, we find that SMEs with in their vicinity banks that have stronger financial condition face greater credit availability when the functional distance is low. Our results point to a “flight to headquarters” effect during the financial crisis.
Low levels of linoleic acid and α-linolenic acid and high levels of arachidonic acid in plasma phospholipids are associated with hypertension

Dietary fat is an important determinant in the development and progression of high blood pressure (BP), a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and mortality. The aim of the present study was to determine the association between plasma phospholipid fatty acids and hypertension in Japanese men. The plasma level of linoleic acid (LA) in the subjects with hypertension (systolic BP ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP ≥90 mmHg) was identified to be significantly higher than that in the healthy controls. Following adjustment for age, body mass index, physical activity, smoking status, alcohol consumption, salt intake, and serum levels of glucose and hemoglobin A1c, higher plasma levels of LA and α-linolenic acid (ALA), and lower levels of arachidonic acid (AA) were significantly associated with a lower prevalence of hypertension. The odds ratio (OR) for the highest quartile (Q4) versus the lowest quartile (Q1) of LA was 0.17 (P=0.003), the OR for Q4 versus Q1 of ALA was 0.26 (P=0.042) and the OR for Q4 versus Q1 of AA was 2.04 (P=0.047). These results indicate that elevated levels of LA and ALA, and reduced levels of AA in the plasma prevent hypertension.
Visualization and Numerical Simulation of Rarefied Gas Flow in Vertical Low-Pressure CVD Reactors for Thin Film Formation of Semiconductors

The paper investigates the flow characteristics of reactant gas on the silicon wafers in a vertical LPCVD (Low-Pressure Chemical Vapor Deposition) reactor by the flow visualization and the numerical simulation. The observation was made in a model reactor in a very low-pressure condition, which makes the observation quite difficult because of tracer seeding. The CFD code FLUENT was used for the numerical simulation. The results of the visualization and the numerical simulation showed that the gas flow was quite viscous and it received large resistance force from the wafers and the supporting lodes. Regardless of the low-pressure condition, the flow can be treated as continuous system and can be simulated well by the CFD code based on Navier-Stokes equation. It shows that the most of the field appeared to be laminar. For the establishment of the uniform flow pattern, twin counter-flow nozzles were better than a single nozzle. The flow was free from stagnant flow or re-circulating flow so that it appeared to be suited for the prevention of particle formations.
Rank Average for handover decision making in heterogeneous wireless networks

Vertical handover mechanism is an important issue in heterogeneous wireless networks. Continuity of service during handover and QoS are relevant issues to deal with. This paper focuses on vertical handover decision making. It proposes a Rank Average method for the best access network selection. This method is an aggregation of two Multi Attributes Decision Making (MADM) methods: Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and VIse Kriterijumska Optimizacija kompromisno Resenja (VIKOR), together with Shannon entropy-based weights. Entropy is an adequate tool to weigh up the handover criteria in a quiet easy and straightforward way. Rank Average outperforms TOPSIS and VIKOR in terms of throughput, end to end delay, packet loss, and significantly reduces the number of unnecessary handovers related to the ping-pong effects. Performance results are obtained within the scope of MIH through NS3 simulator.
Mechanism of Slump Loss and Its Control

Slump loss of concrete has been attributed ambiguously to the chemical hydration reaction. On the assumption that the physical coagulation of cement particles during the dormant stage is responsible for the slump loss to a large extent, the phenomenon was analyzed in this paper by the theory of colloidal coagulation. From the results obtained, it was found that the half loss time of concrete slump (S1/2) or cement paste flow (F1/2) was approximately proportional to the time during which the particle number was reduced to a half of the initial (t1/2). The technique of repeated partial dosing of superplasticizers applied in this test was found to be a useful way to keep slump for a long time. A newly developed automatic metering and injecting device installed on a truck agitator was quite effective to maintain the slump before placement. (Received Aug. 21, 1979) キー ・ワー ド: スラ ンプ ロスのメカニズム, 分割添加法 (繰返 し添加), 高性能減水剤, 自動 コ ン トロール
The Influence of Market Concentration on the Development of Newly Born Businesses in the Czech Republic

The paper deals with the market concentration as a detractor of life expectancy of new-born economic entities in the Czech economy. Although the start-up firms are small companies, their role in the economy exceeds their size, they are seen as providing the energy for economic growth. The aim of the paper is to evaluate the influence of different levels of market concentration on the business lifespan and consequently the job destruction in the economy. The analysis has shown that the greatest decline of start-up firms comes during the first and second year and that only around 30% of them get to their sixth year. From the viewpoint of the job creation it was found out that almost 30% of all new positions in the Czech economy are established in wholesale and retail trade sector, followed by manufacturing and professional, scientific and technical activities, both with 14% of new jobs. Using the regression analyses and statistical hypotheses testing the relationship between market concentration and firms’ lifespan was investigated with result of semi-strong dependency of the business success on the market structure. The positive correlation between the probability of decline across individual economic sectors and the market concentration in these sectors was confirmed on the level of statistical significance α = 0.01.
Simultaneous tracking and shape estimation using a multi-layer laserscanner

Environment awareness is an essential prerequisite for the operation of automated vehicles. In particular, reliable knowledge about the motion and geometry of surrounding objects is vital for the inference of safe and comfortable driving strategies. The availability of detailed contour measurements, e.g. from laser scanners, allows for precise object geometry estimates which has benefits for the tracking itself as well as higher-level processing. In this paper, we propose a batch formulation of the object tracking problem which allows to simultaneously estimate object motion and shape as an accumulated 3D point cloud. We show that our method is able to produce highly accurate motion estimates and consistent shape reconstructions from only three layers of scan data.
Counterfactual Learning-to-Rank for Additive Metrics and Deep Models

Implicit feedback (e.g., clicks, dwell times) is an attractive source of training data for Learning-to-Rank, but it inevitably suffers from biases such as position bias. It was recently shown how counterfactual inference techniques can provide a rigorous approach for handling these biases, but existing methods are restricted to the special case of optimizing average rank for linear ranking functions. In this work, we generalize the counterfactual learning-to-rank approach to a broad class of additive rank metrics -- like Discounted Cumulative Gain (DCG) and Precision@k -- as well as non-linear deep network models. Focusing on DCG, this conceptual generalization gives rise to two new learning methods that both directly optimize an unbiased estimate of DCG despite the bias in the implicit feedback data. The first, SVM PropDCG, generalizes the Propensity Ranking SVM (SVM PropRank), and we show how the resulting optimization problem can be addressed via the Convex Concave Procedure (CCP). The second, Deep PropDCG, further generalizes the counterfactual learning-to-rank approach to deep networks as non-linear ranking functions. In addition to the theoretical support, we empirically find that SVM PropDCG significantly outperforms SVM PropRank in terms of DCG, and that it is robust to varying severity of presentation bias, noise, and propensity-model misspecification. Moreover, the ability to train non-linear ranking functions via Deep PropDCG further improves DCG.
Tag-Protector: An Effective and Dynamic Detection of Out-of-bound Memory Accesses

Programming languages permitting immediate memory accesses through pointers often result in applications having memory-related errors, which may lead to unpredictable failures and security vulnerabilities. A light-weight solution is presented in this paper to tackle such illegal memory accesses dynamically in C/C++ based applications. We propose a new and effective method of instrumenting an application's source code at compile time in order to detect out-of-bound memory accesses. It is based on creating tags, to be coupled with each memory allocation and then placing additional tag checking instructions for each access made to the memory. The proposed solution is evaluated by instrumenting applications from the BugBench benchmark suite and publicly available benchmark software, Runtime Intrusion Prevention Evaluator (RIPE), detecting all the bugs successfully. The performance and memory overhead is further analysed by instrumenting and executing real world applications.
Challenges for matching spatial data on economic activities from official and alternative sources

One of the most interesting challenges for urban geographic applications is the integration of multiple heterogeneous data sources. Given current limitations in the access to official data, in spite of modern Open Governmental Data policies, it is necessary to assess whether unofficial data sources can be used to replace official ones, or used along with them, in a complementary fashion. This work proposes a methodology for matching and comparing official governmental and alternative data on economic activities in an urban area. Applied to data from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, the proposed approach led to the accurate matching of up to 75% of Google Places entries to official municipal tax records in some categories. Results show that alternative data sources on businesses can be more accessible and dynamic than official datasets, especially when such businesses benefit from the online exposure provided by freely accessible Web applications.
The effect of different water managements on rice arsenic content in two arsenic-spiked soils

Growing rice on arsenic (As)-contaminated paddy fields may induce high As level grain production. In order to reduce the food contamination risk, the pot experiments containing two As-spiked aging soils and four water managements were conducted to evaluate the effects of water managements on rice As content. The results indicated that As concentration of Erlin soil solution was 10 to 20 times (210-520 µg/L) higher than that of Pinchen soil solution (5-20 µg/L) at early stage of experiment (0-60 days). Aerobic water treatment will decrease As level to 30-50% (108-220 µg/L) of original As concentration in Erlin soil solution. Statistic results indicated that water management was effective to reduce the rice grain As level in Erlin soil. However, the management impact was not obvious in Pinchen soil, which may be attributed to high clay or free Fe and Al content in the soil. This study suggested that keeping soil under aerobic condition for 3 weeks before rice heading can reduce the risk of rice grown at the As-contamination soil.
Strategies for managing transient tachypnoea of the newborn - a systematic review

Abstract Objective: To conduct a systematic review of strategies for the management of transient tachypnoea of the newborn (TTN). Methods: The Cochrane Collaboration and PRISMA guidelines were used for conducting and reporting this systematic review, respectively. The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, CINAHL and EMBASE databases were searched in February 2016. Only randomised and quasi-randomised controlled trials (RCTs) assessing any intervention for the management of TTN in infants <7 days of age, born at 35 or more weeks with a clinical diagnosis of TTN were eligible for inclusion. Primary outcomes included the duration of respiratory support, oxygen support, tachypnoea and hospitalisation. Results: Nine RCTs with moderate risk of bias were included. The interventions assessed included furosemide (2 trials, n = 100), inhaled salbutamol (2 trials, n = 94), inhaled epinephrine (1 trial, n = 20), restrictive fluids (2 trials, n = 146) and non-invasive ventilation (2 trials, n = 80). Amongst all interventions, inhaled salbutamol significantly reduced the duration of hospitalisation (2 trials, n = 94) [mean difference (MD) - 1.63 days (95% CI −2.71 to −0.55); p = 0.003] and duration of oxygen requirement (1 trial, n = 37) [MD - 43.10 h (95% CI −81.82 to −4.38; p = 0.03] without adverse effects. Conclusion: Limited low-quality evidence exists on the effects of different management strategies for TTN. The safety and efficacy of inhaled salbutamol in the treatment of TTN can be assessed in a large RCT.
FGF 21 inhibitor suppresses the proliferation and migration of human umbilical vein endothelial cells through the eNOS / PI 3 K / AKT pathway

In this study, we investigated molecular mechanism underlying the regulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression by fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21). We analyzed FGF21 and eNOS expression in hypertensive and healthy (control) subjects (n=30/group). To evaluate the effects of FGF21 on endothelial cells, we transfected FGF21 mimics or FGF21 inhibitor into human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Cell proliferation was analyzed using the methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay, and cell migration and invasion were assessed using Transwell assays. In addition, eNOS, PI3K, and AKT mRNA in the HUVECs were evaluated by quantitative reverse transcription PCR, and p-eNOS, PI3K, and p-AKT were evaluated by Western blotting. Our results showed increased levels of FGF21 mRNA and eNOS mRNA/protein in the blood of hypertensive patients compared with healthy controls. The FGF21 inhibitor inhibited HUVEC growth, migration, and invasion and significantly decreased eNOS, PI3K, and AKT mRNA levels and p-eNOS, PI3K, and p-AKT protein levels in HUVECs. Treatment with VEGF and/or overexpression of eNOS partially restored cell proliferation and p-AKT levels. Taken together, our results indicate that FGF21 regulates eNOS through the PI3K/AKT pathway.
Balancing physical and cognitive challenge: A study of players' psychological responses to exergame play

Exercise video games have a recognized potential for use as tools for effective exercise. Current exergames do not consistently strike a successful balance between the ”fun gameplay” and ”effective exercise” aspects of the ideal exergame. Our research into exergame design addresses the question of what balance between an exergame’s physical exertion and gameplay challenge is most successful from a user experience perspective. We have applied existing gameflow research and established exercise guidelines, such as those published by the American College of Sports Medicine, to a collection of four custom exergames: Astrojumper-Intervals, Washboard, Sweet Harvest and Legerdemain implement fullbody motion mechanics that support different types of exercise, and vary in game complexity and level of physical challenge. This paper will present data collected on players’ flow experiences and changes in mood state as a result of play, along with player feedback. We will compare the psychological responses to each of these games and discuss the importance of challenge-type balance as an exergame design consideration.
Shifting Mean Activation Towards Zero with Bipolar Activation Functions

We propose a simple extension to the ReLU-family of activation functions that allows them to shift the mean activation across a layer towards zero. Combined with proper weight initialization, this alleviates the need for normalization layers. We explore the training of deep vanilla recurrent neural networks (RNNs) with up to 144 layers, and show that bipolar activation functions help learning in this setting. On the Penn Treebank and Text8 language modeling tasks we obtain competitive results, improving on the best reported results for non-gated networks. In experiments with convolutional neural networks without batch normalization, we find that bipolar activations produce a faster drop in training error, and results in a lower test error on the CIFAR-10 classification task.
Defect related emission versus intersystem crossing: blue emitting ZnO/graphene oxide quantum dots.

In ref. [Nat. Nanotechnol. , 2012, 7, 465-471] interesting optoelectronic properties of ZnO/graphene oxide (GO) composite were presented. Essentially, in the luminescence spectrum indirect optical transitions were identified to be from the epoxy group of GO (GOepoxy) to the valance band (Ev) of ZnO. Viz. 406 nm, L1: (LUMO+2)GOepoxy→Ev and 436 nm, L2: (LUMO)GOepoxy→Ev. Furthermore, the emission peak at ∼550 nm was attributed to zinc interstitials (Znis) or oxygen vacancies (VOs) and shown to span from 350-650 nm (equivalent to a width of ∼0.8 eV). In this report we accentuate two vital though largely ignored concerns as itemized in the following. (i) By considering the growth mechanism of ZnO in the composite, there is a certain possibility that these two bands (L1 and L2) may originate from intrinsic defects of ZnO such as Znis and extended Znis (ex-Znis). Or L1 and L2 might be intrinsic to GO. (ii) The 550 nm emission involves VOs and consists of two components with a typical width of ∼0.3 eV. Here we present the results of a thorough investigation confirming the presence of Znis, ex-Znis and intrinsic emission from GO. We also note that during the synthesis the presence of dimethyl formamide significantly affected the emission from GO in addition to some chemical modifications. Apart from these, we have discussed other crucial factors which require deeper attention in the context of luminescence from complex systems such as those present.