Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term outcome in children with chronic hepatitis B: a 24-year observation period.

BACKGROUND Chronic hepatitis B seems to manifest as mild disease in children and young adults. However, data regarding the long-term course of hepatitis B in untreated and interferon-treated children are still scarce. This study investigates the long-term outcome of disease in a large series of untreated and treated children with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. METHODS Clinical, biochemical, virological, and histological features were evaluated in children (age range, 2-18 years) with chronic HBV infection who did not have concomitant chronic systemic diseases other than HBV infection and who were admitted to the liver unit in the Department of Pediatrics at University "Frederico II" (Naples, Italy) during the period 1981-2005. RESULTS One hundred eight consecutive patients observed for up to 24 years were studied. During the observation period, 67 children remained untreated, and 41 were treated with interferon-alpha. After a median period of observation of 12.1 years (range, 5-23 years), hepatitis B early antigen loss and serum HBV DNA clearance occurred in 43 untreated patients (69.3%) who were hepatitis B early antigen positive at study entry and in 33 treated children (80%; the P value is not statistically significant). In addition, 6 untreated patients (9.7%) and 4 treated patients (9.7%) became anti-HBs [corrected] positive at the end of the follow-up period. Histological assessment, evaluated for 57 children, showed mild-to-moderate disease in 91.2% of cases of HBV infection. No patient developed end-stage liver disease or hepatocellular carcinoma. CONCLUSIONS Children with chronic HBV infection are symptom free, with morphologically mild liver disease. Considering that the overall long-term outcomes did not differ between treated and untreated patients, the real impact of therapy on the long-term course of HBV infection remains to be established. Additional studies are needed to confirm our conclusions.
Analysis of two gradient-based algorithms for on-line regression

In this paper we present a new analysis of two algorithms, Gradient Descent and Exponentiated Gradient, for solving regression problems in the on-line framework. Both these algorithms compute a prediction that depends linearly on the current instance, and then update the coefficients of this linear combination according to the gradient of the loss function. However, the two algorithms have distinctive ways of using the gradient information for updating the coefficients. For each algorithm, we show general regression bounds for any convex loss function. Furthermore, we show special bounds for the absolute and the square loss functions, thus extending previous results by Kivinen and Warmuth. In the nonlinear regression case, we show general bounds for pairs of transfer and loss functions satisfying a certain condition. We apply this result to the Hellinger loss and the entropic loss in case of logistic regression (similar results, but only for the entropic loss, were also obtained by Helmbold et al. using a different analysis.) Finally, we describe the connection between our approach and a general family of gradient-based algorithms proposed by Warmuth et al. in recent works.
Monetary Policy Goals for Inflation in Australia

This paper outlines the inflation objective for monetary policy in Australia, which we describe as seeking to achieve a broad central tendency for inflation of between 2 and 3 per cent over the long run – a “thick point” – rather than a narrow target band. It also provides a more detailed rationale for this objective. In doing so, the paper discusses the issues relevant in determining the appropriate mean inflation rate at which policy should aim, the degree of variation of inflation around that central point, and how policy should respond to shocks. A simple model of the economy is presented which attempts to address these issues in a consistent framework.
Immigrant Youths with Disabilities and Caregivers from the Middle-East—Challenges and Needs During Transition to Adulthood

Background: Recent years of research have increased the knowledge about how to support the transition to adulthood for youths with disabilities. In today’s multi-cultural societies knowledge about transitioning immigrant youths and their caregivers is still needed. Objective: To describe the expectations and needs of immigrant youths with disabilities residing in Sweden during their transition into adulthood as well as the expectations and needs of their caregivers, all of whom come from Arabic-speaking countries. Method: Structured interviews based on the Rotterdam Transition Profile (RTP) questionnaire were conducted with youths 16 to 24 years of age and with caregivers based on the Family Needs Survey (FNS). Results: Findings of interest were the youths´ dependence on parents for care demands and leisure activities, their need for information regarding future care and support and their concerns regarding future marriage. Caregivers’ felt unfamiliar with the term ‘intellectual disability’ and had a need for information about their youths’ condition and of available service for their children now and in the future. Conclusion: To prepare immigrant youths for future support, health care and habilitation services, it is important to enhance their autonomy. Immigrant families need culturally sensitive support and information, provided by designated professionals in their language of preference during the youths’ transition to adulthood.
Adolescent Obesity and Risk for Subsequent Major Depressive Disorder and Anxiety Disorder: Prospective Evidence

Objective: To assess whether adolescent obesity is associated with risk for development of major depressive disorder (MDD) or anxiety disorder. Obesity has been linked to psychosocial difficulties among youth. Methods: Analysis of a prospective community-based cohort originally from upstate New York, assessed four times over 20 years. Participants (n = 776) were 9 to 18 years old in 1983; subsequent assessments took place in 1985 to 1986 (n = 775), 1991 to 1994 (n = 776), and 2001 to 2003 (n = 661). Using Cox proportional hazards analysis, we evaluated the association of adolescent (age range, 12–17.99 years) weight status with risk for subsequent MDD or anxiety disorder (assessed at each wave by structured diagnostic interviews) in males and females. A total of 701 participants were not missing data on adolescent weight status and had ≥1 subsequent assessments. MDD and anxiety disorder analyses included 674 and 559 participants (free of current or previous MDD or anxiety disorder), respectively. Adolescent obesity was defined as body mass index above the age- and gender-specific 95th percentile of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth reference. Results: Adolescent obesity in females predicted an increased risk for subsequent MDD (adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 3.9; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.3, 11.8) and for anxiety disorder (HR = 3.8; CI = 1.3, 11.3). Adolescent obesity in males was not statistically significantly associated with risk for MDD (HR = 1.5; CI = 0.5, 3.5) or anxiety disorder (HR = 0.7; CI = 0.2, 2.9). Conclusion: Females obese as adolescents may be at increased risk for development of depression or anxiety disorders. BMI = body mass index; CDC = Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; CI = confidence interval; CIC = Children in the Community Study; DSM = Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; DISC = Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children; HR = hazard ratio; SCID-IV = Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders; SD = standard deviation; SES = socioeconomic status.
IMPACT OF COUNTRY RISK ON NETWORK LINKAGES WITHIN MNCs

Focusing on multinational corporations (MNCs), we examine the impact of country risk on intra-firm trade linkages between a foreign subsidiary and the rest of the MNC’s global network. Panel data analysis on 3362 subsidiaries of 1050 MNCs covering the period 1983-1996 indicate that country risk has a positive impact on the subsidiary’s intensity of intra-firm trade. Additionally, this positive association is weaker in the case of MNCs with greater experience at dealing with subsidiaries in high risk countries. Note to editors and reviewers: Given the severe space constraints associated with a manuscript positioned as a “Research Note,” we were forced to be very parsimonious regarding citations. We remain open to suggestions in this regard.
Latent credibility analysis

A frequent problem when dealing with data gathered from multiple sources on the web (ranging from booksellers to Wikipedia pages to stock analyst predictions) is that these sources disagree, and we must decide which of their (often mutually exclusive) claims we should accept. Current state-of-the-art information credibility algorithms known as "fact-finders" are transitive voting systems with rules specifying how votes iteratively flow from sources to claims and then back to sources. While this is quite tractable and often effective, fact-finders also suffer from substantial limitations; in particular, a lack of transparency obfuscates their credibility decisions and makes them difficult to adapt and analyze: knowing the mechanics of how votes are calculated does not readily tell us what those votes mean, and finding, for example, that a source has a score of 6 is not informative. We introduce a new approach to information credibility, Latent Credibility Analysis (LCA), constructing strongly principled, probabilistic models where the truth of each claim is a latent variable and the credibility of a source is captured by a set of model parameters. This gives LCA models clear semantics and modularity that make extending them to capture additional observed and latent credibility factors straightforward. Experiments over four real-world datasets demonstrate that LCA models can outperform the best fact-finders in both unsupervised and semi-supervised settings.
Progress on Powertrain Verification Challenge with C2E2

In this paper, we present the progress we have made in verifying the benchmark powertrain control systems introduced in the last ARCH workshop. We implemented the algorithm reported in [8] in the hybrid system verification tool C2E2 for automatically computing local discrepancy (rate of convergence or divergence of trajectories). We created Stateflow translations of the original models to aid the processing using C2E2 tool. We also had to encode the different driver behaviors in the form of state machines. With these customizations, we have been successful in verifying one of the easier (but still challenging) benchmarks from the powertrain suite. In this paper, we present some of the engineering challenges and describe the artifacts we created in the process. 1 The Powertrain Benchmarks The benchmark suite of powertrain control systems were published in [10,9] as challenge problems for hybrid system verification. The suite has a set of SimulinkTM models with increasing levels of sophistication and fidelity. At a high-level, all the models take inputs from a driver (throttle angle) and the environment (sensor failures), and define the dynamics of the engine. The key controlled quantity is the air to fuel ratio which in turn influences the emissions, the fuel efficiency, and torque generated. The first model (model 1) is the most complex. It has look-up tables, delayed differential equations, and switches. Models 2 and 3 are simpler but still complicated enough for most hybrid verifcation tools. Model 3 is a hybrid automaton with polynomial differential equations and continuously computed control inputs, and Model 2 is similar but with nonlinear differential equations and both continuous and discretely sampled variables. The requirements for the system are stated in signal temporal logic (STL). A typical property, for example, 3t(x ∈ [xeq − , xeq + ]), states that after t units of time, the continuous variable x is within the range xeq ± . The results reported here have beed submitted for peer-review, however, this paper presents several technical details and artifacts for the first time. We thank Jim Kapinski, Jyotirmoy Deshmukh, and Xiaoqing Jin of Toyota for several useful discussions on the powertrain models. This research is funded by research grants from the National Science Foundation (grant: CAR 1054247 and NSF CSR 1016791) and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR YIP FA9550-12-1-0336).
Building Controllers for Tetris

This article has two purposes: a review on the problem of building a controller for the well-known video game Tetris, and a contribution on how to achieve the best performance. Key components of typical solutions include feature design and feature-weight optimization. We provide a list of all the features we could find in the literature and in implementations, and mention the methods that have been used for weight optimization. We also highlight the fact that performance measures for Tetris must be compared with great care, as (1) they have a rather large variance, and (2) subtle implementation choices can have a significant effect on the resulting scores. An immediate interest of this review is illustrated. Straightforwardly gathering ideas from different works may lead to new ideas. We show how we built a controller that outperforms the previously known best controllers. Finally, we briefly discuss how this implementation allowed us to win the Tetris-domain prize of the 2008 Reinforcement Learning Competition.
Dominant Styles of Thinking About Religion

The Post-Critical Belief Scale (PCBS) is a commonly used tool in Europe, also in Poland, for cognitive studies on religion. The theoretical basis of this scale is Wulff’s (1991) model. The main aim of the research presented here was an attempt to distinguish the 4 dominant styles of thinking about religion in the students tested using the PCBS questionnaire, and then to examine the links between the individual styles and the following variables: gender, type of education, and religiosity (religious engagement and religious practices). Out of 958 participants, it was possible to distinguish 374 persons who represent the main dominant styles of religious thinking.
Sunspot plume observations in the EUV - The gas pressure differential between the umbra and surrounding region

The electron density over a bright sunspot plume region was evaluated using lines within the O v 760 A multiplet. The plume showed an intensity enhancement factor of in the O v lines compared to regions outside the sunspot umbra. Internal agreement between the various ratios is excel lent which would suggest that the O v lines do not suffer from blending problems. The derived mean electron densities for the sunspot plume is log N e /cm - 3 9.9 compared to log N e /cm - 3 10.20-10.45 in the surrounding area. The derived gas pressure in the plume compared to that outside leads weight to the suggestion that it is plasma flowing from outside the spot into the umbra at transition region temperatures that is the main cause of the down-flows. The plume non-thermal velocities are 5 to 10 km s - 1 smaller than those measured in regions external to the spot, suggesting significantly less turbulence within the umbra.
Hybrid Multi-Agent Control in Microgrids: Framework, Models and Implementations Based on IEC 61850

Operation control is a vital and complex issue for microgrids. The objective of this paper is to explore the practical means of applying decentralized control by using a multi agent system in actual microgrids and devices. This paper presents a hierarchical control framework (HCF) consisting of local reaction control (LRC) level, local decision control (LDC) level, horizontal cooperation control (HCC) level and vertical cooperation control (VCC) level to meet different control requirements of a microgrid. Then, a hybrid multi-agent control model (HAM) is proposed to implement HCF, and the properties, functionalities and operating rules of HAM are described. Furthermore, the paper elaborates on the implementation of HAM based on the IEC 61850 Standard, and proposes some new implementation methods, such as extended information models of IEC 61850 with agent communication language and bidirectional interaction mechanism of generic object oriented substation event (GOOSE) communication. A hardware design and software system are proposed and the results of simulation and laboratory tests verify the effectiveness of the proposed strategies, models and implementations.
Massive training artificial neural network (MTANN) for reduction of false positives in computerized detection of lung nodules in low-dose computed tomography.

In this study, we investigated a pattern-recognition technique based on an artificial neural network (ANN), which is called a massive training artificial neural network (MTANN), for reduction of false positives in computerized detection of lung nodules in low-dose computed tomography (CT) images. The MTANN consists of a modified multilayer ANN, which is capable of operating on image data directly. The MTANN is trained by use of a large number of subregions extracted from input images together with the teacher images containing the distribution for the "likelihood of being a nodule. " The output image is obtained by scanning an input image with the MTANN. The distinction between a nodule and a non-nodule is made by use of a score which is defined from the output image of the trained MTANN. In order to eliminate various types of non-nodules, we extended the capability of a single MTANN, and developed a multiple MTANN (Multi-MTANN). The Multi-MTANN consists of plural MTANNs that are arranged in parallel. Each MTANN is trained by using the same nodules, but with a different type of non-nodule. Each MTANN acts as an expert for a specific type of non-nodule, e.g., five different MTANNs were trained to distinguish nodules from various-sized vessels; four other MTANNs were applied to eliminate some other opacities. The outputs of the MTANNs were combined by using the logical AND operation such that each of the trained MTANNs eliminated none of the nodules, but removed the specific type of non-nodule with which the MTANN was trained, and thus removed various types of non-nodules. The Multi-MTANN consisting of nine MTANNs was trained with 10 typical nodules and 10 non-nodules representing each of nine different non-nodule types (90 training non-nodules overall) in a training set. The trained Multi-MTANN was applied to the reduction of false positives reported by our current computerized scheme for lung nodule detection based on a database of 63 low-dose CT scans (1765 sections), which contained 71 confirmed nodules including 66 biopsy-confirmed primary cancers, from a lung cancer screening program. The Multi-MTANN was applied to 58 true positives (nodules from 54 patients) and 1726 false positives (non-nodules) reported by our current scheme in a validation test; these were different from the training set. The results indicated that 83% (1424/1726) of non-nodules were removed with a reduction of one true positive (nodule), i.e., a classification sensitivity of 98.3% (57 of 58 nodules). By using the Multi-MTANN, the false-positive rate of our current scheme was improved from 0.98 to 0.18 false positives per section (from 27.4 to 4.8 per patient) at an overall sensitivity of 80.3% (57/71).
Form follows function -- how PufX increases the efficiency of the light-harvesting complexes of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Some species of purple bacteria as, e.g., Rhodobacter sphaeroides contain the protein PufX. Concurrently, the light harvesting complexes 1 (LH1) form dimers of open rings. In mutants without PufX, the LH1s are closed rings and photosynthesis breaks down, because the ubiquinone exchange at the reaction center is blocked. Thus, PufX is regarded essential for quinone exchange. In contrast to this view, which implicitly treats the LH1s as obstacles to photosynthesis, we propose that the primary purpose of PufX is to improve the efficiency of light harvesting by inducing the LH1 dimerization. Calculations with a dipole model, which compare the photosynthetic efficiency of various configurations of monomeric and dimeric core complexes, show that the dimer can absorb photons directly into the RC about 30% more efficient, when related to the number of bacteriochlorophylls, but that the performance of the more sophisticated dimeric LH1 antenna degrades faster with structural perturbations. The calculations predict an optimal orientation of the reaction centers relative to the LH1 dimer, which agrees well with the experimentally found configuration. For the increased required rigidity of the dimer additional modifications of the LH1 subunits are necessary, which would lead to the observed ubiquinone blockage, when PufX is missing.
Persist: Mitigating route breakages in wireless mesh networks

Although static mesh networks lack mobility, yet research shows that route breakages are quite frequent for reactive protocols in 802.11-based static mesh networks. In 802.11, a link is considered broken if a fixed number of consecutive transmission attempts fail at link-layer. However, transmissions failures can be temporary and may occur due a number of reasons including collisions on the channel or a burst of channel errors, leading to false link (and hence route) breakages which degrade performance. Our proposed scheme “Persist” reduces route breakages in reactive routing protocols in 802.11 based wireless mesh networks by considering the long-term loss-ratio of the links and taking a coherent decision on link breakage by dynamically adjusting the MAC retry limit. A strength of the Persist mechanism is that is extremely simple to implement and can be integrated in existing on-demand routing protocols and provides significant improvements in routing stability and throughput.
p‐Cycle configuration possibilities over DRDA networks

A resilience analysis of protection cycles (p‐cycle) configurations for Double Rings with Dual Attachment (DRDAs) architectures is presented in this work. DRDAs are composed of two rings with corresponding nodes connected by two separated links. There are several possible configurations of p‐cycles, which may be used in DRDAs for improving link or node protection upon link failure. The values of the parameters Mean Time To Failure and Mean Time To Disconnection are analysed in the paper to show the best choice of p‐cycles in DRDAs architectures. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.