Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bayesian Designs for Hierarchical Linear Models

Two Bayesian optimal design criteria for hierarchical linear models are discussed - the psi_beta criterion for the estimation of individual-level parameters beta, and the psi_theta criterion for the estimation of hyper-parameters theta. While the psi_beta criterion involves only the specification of the treatments, the psi_theta criterion involves the specification of both the treatments and the covariates. We focus on a specific case in which all subjects receive the same set of treatments and the covariates are independent of treatments. We obtain the explicit structure of psi_beta and psi_theta optimal continuous (approximate) designs for both the situation of independent random effects and some special situations of correlated random effects. Through examples and simulations we then compare psi_beta and psi_theta optimal designs under more general scenarios of correlated random effects. While orthogonal designs are often psi_beta optimal even when the random effects are correlated, psi_theta optimal designs tend to be non-orthogonal and unbalanced. In our study of the robustness of psi_beta and psi_theta optimal designs, both types of designs are found to be insensitive to various specifications of the response errors and the variances of the random effects. However, they are sensitive to the specifications of the signs of the correlations of the random effects, especially the psi_theta optimal designs. Resulting implications for practical applications are discussed.
Studying Light Soaking of Solar Cells by the Use of Solar Simulator

A review of light soaking of solar cells by the use of commercial IV-characterization instruments is presented. The paper addresses the challenges of studying light induced degradation (LID) using a high intensity light source. Issues related to heating of the cell, temporal intensity instability and the impact of the irradiance spectrum are discussed. The main focus of the paper is devoted to the degradation of boron-doped Czochralski silicon (Cz-Si) where boron-oxygen related complexes are responsible for a metastable defect formation. Some advantages and limitations concerning the use of IV characteristics to reveal the degradation properties of boron-doped Cz-Si compared to applying minority carrier lifetime techniques are also presented.
A Novel Approach for the Fabrication of Silica and Silica/Metal Hybrid Microtubes

This paper describes a novel and simple method to fabricate silica and silica/metal hybrid microtubes of very high aspect ratio via self-rolling of polymer layers. A trilayer of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)/polystyrene (PS)/poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4 VP) self-rolled into microtubes, when exposed to a solvent selective for P4 VP chains, because of the strain generated by the swelling of P4 VP layer. Oxidative pyrolysis of the polymer tubes at 700 °C removes all the organic part of the tube and converts PDMS into silica. Moreover, by depositing a metallic layer on the tripolymer layer, it was possible to obtain silica/metal hybrid tubes. The metallic layer can form the inner or outer wall of the tube by depositing it over or under the PDMS layer. The fabricated tubes were further characterized by optical microscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), energy-dispersive analysis (EDX), 29Si solid-state nuclear magnet.
Risk‐based management of invading plant disease

Summary Effective control of plant disease remains a key challenge. Eradication attempts often involve removal of host plants within a certain radius of detection, targeting asymptomatic infection. Here we develop and test potentially more effective, epidemiologically motivated, control strategies, using a mathematical model previously fitted to the spread of citrus canker in Florida. We test risk‐based control, which preferentially removes hosts expected to cause a high number of infections in the remaining host population. Removals then depend on past patterns of pathogen spread and host removal, which might be nontransparent to affected stakeholders. This motivates a variable radius strategy, which approximates risk‐based control via removal radii that vary by location, but which are fixed in advance of any epidemic. Risk‐based control outperforms variable radius control, which in turn outperforms constant radius removal. This result is robust to changes in disease spread parameters and initial patterns of susceptible host plants. However, efficiency degrades if epidemiological parameters are incorrectly characterised. Risk‐based control including additional epidemiology can be used to improve disease management, but it requires good prior knowledge for optimal performance. This focuses attention on gaining maximal information from past epidemics, on understanding model transferability between locations and on adaptive management strategies that change over time.
Correlates of Medication Nonadherence Among Latinos With Type 2 Diabetes

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess factors related to diabetes medication nonadherence in a sample of predominantly Spanish-speaking Mexican-origin adults residing along the US-Mexico border. Methods As part of a randomized controlled trial, 302 patients randomly sampled from a clinic roster completed a baseline interview. Medication nonadherence was assessed with the Morisky Medication Adherence Scale. Consistent with the framework proposed by Venturini et al, four factors were examined: patient-related attributes, drug regimen characteristics and complexity, health status, and patient-provider interaction characteristics. Results Sixty percent of the patients were classified as nonadherent. Men, those who engaged in diabetes control behaviors less frequently, and individuals with depression were more likely to be classified as nonadherent. Among those who were Spanish-dominant, education and self-rated health also were significantly and negatively related to medication adherence; patients with a high school education or greater and those who more positively rated their health were more likely to be classified as nonadherent compared to those with less than a high school education and those who rated their health as poor. Conclusions Results reflect potentially higher medication nonadherence rates for Latinos with type 2 diabetes living in rural communities along the US-Mexico border. Additionally, this study supports the need to address strategies to support medication adherence, including addressing depression, for diabetes control. Strategies to promote adherence among Latino men are sorely needed, as are strategies to address forgetfulness and carelessness regarding diabetes medicine taking.
Effect of casting parameters on sticker breakout and its propagation behaviour during slab continuous casting

A sticker breakout is a significant occurrence which not only disturbs steady state casting but also reduces plant productivity and efficiency. Optimising the casting parameters and increasing the accuracy rate of breakout prediction systems are two effective measures for reducing breakouts. In the present paper, plant data were collected and the influence of casting parameters such as slab dimension, casting speed and mould level on sticker breakouts were analysed, especially the effect of heat flux. In addition, sticker propagation behaviour characteristics, including vertical velocity, horizontal velocity and propagation angle, were investigated by measuring the temperature of the mould copper plates. These results provide a reference for optimising the casting parameters and enhancing the accuracy of breakout prevention systems.
The human subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus internus differentially encode reward during action control

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) and globus pallidus internus (GPi) have recently been shown to encode reward, but few studies have been performed in humans. We investigated STN and GPi encoding of reward and loss (i.e., valence) in humans with Parkinson's disease. To test the hypothesis that STN and GPi neurons would change their firing rate in response to reward‐ and loss‐related stimuli, we recorded the activity of individual neurons while participants performed a behavioral task. In the task, action choices were associated with potential rewarding, punitive, or neutral outcomes. We found that STN and GPi neurons encode valence‐related information during action control, but the proportion of valence‐responsive neurons was greater in the STN compared to the GPi. In the STN, reward‐related stimuli mobilized a greater proportion of neurons than loss‐related stimuli. We also found surprising limbic overlap with the sensorimotor regions in both the STN and GPi, and this overlap was greater than has been previously reported. These findings may help to explain alterations in limbic function that have been observed following deep brain stimulation therapy of the STN and GPi. Hum Brain Mapp 38:1952–1964, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
McHale Operation in Patients with Neglected Hip Dislocations: The Importance of Locking Plates

Neglected hip dislocation in patients with cerebral palsy is a challenge for the pediatric orthopedic surgeon. Many patients experience pain, limitation of hip motion, and sitting and hygiene problems. Arthrodesis, proximal femoral head resection, and subtrochanteric valgus osteotomy are effective salvage procedures for patients with painful hip dislocation and restricted hip motion when reconstruction of the hip is not possible. Osteopenia is one of the problems that can complicate the postoperative course in these patients. Postoperative cast immobilization may further worsen the osteopenia and can predispose to fractures of the femur after cast removal. Standard plating of the proximal osteotomy may not always provide adequate stability of the fixation. In order to prevent postoperative osteoporotic fractures we use locking plates, without casting. Since 2003 until 2011, we operated on 9 patients (14 hips) with painful neglected hip dislocations. The first three patients (five hips) were operated on using standard nonlocking plates. All other patients (nine hips) were operated on using locking plates. During the followup, the hardware failed in one of these cases. All patients treated with locking plates had not been casted postoperatively, and none had loss of fixation or fractures during the followup.
Epigenetic mechanisms contribute to decrease stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 expression in the liver of dairy cows after prolonged feeding of high-concentrate diet.

Subacute ruminal acidosis (SARA) of dairy cattle is a widely occurring but not very overt metabolic disorder thought to impair milk composition. The enzyme stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) is rate-limiting for the formation of Δ-9 unsaturated fatty acids and thus crucially involved in controlling lipid metabolism in the liver. It is known that SCD1 expression is downregulated during SARA, but the underlying molecular mechanisms are unknown. To study these mechanisms, we enrolled 12 healthy multiparous mid-lactation Holstein cows into a diet-induced SARA experiment. Six cows were fed a high-concentrate diet for 18 weeks (60% content of high-concentrate to 40% forage; HC group), whereas the others received a low-concentrate diet ad libitum (40% high-concentrate content to 60% forage; LC group). Sustained low ruminal pH values (pH 5.6 maintained for 4 h/d) and reduced milk yield performance (2.07 kg/d less than LC cows) verified that SARA had been induced in the HC group. Results showed a significantly decreased concentrations of cis-9 monounsaturated long-chain fatty acids in plasma collected from hepatic but not portal veins. This was matched by reduced SCD1 mRNA and protein concentrations in HC livers. The expression levels of genes related to lipid formation (DGAT1 and PLIN2) were downregulated during SARA, whereas those of catabolic genes (CPT1A, CPT2, and ACOX1) and some inflammatory genes were upregulated. Expression of SCD1 was downregulated through reduced transcription and abundance of the transcription factor sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1c). This effect was augmented by local chromatin tightening and DNA methylation at and around the SREBP1c binding site in the SCD1 promoter. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays confirmed that SARA reduced SREBP1c binding at the SCD1 promoter; hence, epigenetic mechanisms are involved in regulating the expression of genes related to long-chain fatty acid modification, partially through downregulation of both SCD1 and SREBP1c in the liver. Our results suggest that in addition to inflammatory genes, SCD1 is also involved in SARA-induced epigenetic regulation and its associated metabolic changes. This knowledge might help to provide a target for intervening against the detrimental metabolic effects of SARA.
Light scattering in a thin-film waveguide and surface-roughness statistical characteristic determination

The problem of the waveguided light energy loss, due to irregularities of the surfaces, was raised in the very first works on planar optics. Later, the light scattering on irregularities of thin-film waveguides (TW) was discussed by a number of authors. There are two approaches to the problem: attenuation coefficient, and scattering diagram (SD), etc., -- direct problem and characterization of surface roughness statistical parameters with the help of recorded scattering diagram -- inverse problem. Here we discuss the works performed at the Department of Radiophysics of the People's Friendship University since 1963, mainly those that deal with the light scattering on irregularities of TW and the characterization of the surface roughness.
Loss of Intercalated Cells (ITCs) in the Mouse Amygdala of Tshz1 Mutants Correlates with Fear, Depression, and Social Interaction Phenotypes

The intercalated cells (ITCs) of the amygdala have been shown to be critical regulatory components of amygdalar circuits, which control appropriate fear responses. Despite this, the molecular processes guiding ITC development remain poorly understood. Here we establish the zinc finger transcription factor Tshz1 as a marker of ITCs during their migration from the dorsal lateral ganglionic eminence through maturity. Using germline and conditional knock-out (cKO) mouse models, we show that Tshz1 is required for the proper migration and differentiation of ITCs. In the absence of Tshz1, migrating ITC precursors fail to settle in their stereotypical locations encapsulating the lateral amygdala and BLA. Furthermore, they display reductions in the ITC marker Foxp2 and ectopic persistence of the dorsal lateral ganglionic eminence marker Sp8. Tshz1 mutant ITCs show increased cell death at postnatal time points, leading to a dramatic reduction by 3 weeks of age. In line with this, Foxp2-null mutants also show a loss of ITCs at postnatal time points, suggesting that Foxp2 may function downstream of Tshz1 in the maintenance of ITCs. Behavioral analysis of male Tshz1 cKOs revealed defects in fear extinction as well as an increase in floating during the forced swim test, indicative of a depression-like phenotype. Moreover, Tshz1 cKOs display significantly impaired social interaction (i.e., increased passivity) regardless of partner genetics. Together, these results suggest that Tshz1 plays a critical role in the development of ITCs and that fear, depression-like and social behavioral deficits arise in their absence. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We show here that the zinc finger transcription factor Tshz1 is expressed during development of the intercalated cells (ITCs) within the mouse amygdala. These neurons have previously been shown to play a crucial role in fear extinction. Tshz1 mouse mutants exhibit severely reduced numbers of ITCs as a result of abnormal migration, differentiation, and survival of these neurons. Furthermore, the loss of ITCs in mouse Tshz1 mutants correlates well with defects in fear extinction as well as the appearance of depression-like and abnormal social interaction behaviors reminiscent of depressive disorders observed in human patients with distal 18q deletions, including the Tshz1 locus.
JU_KS@SAIL_CodeMixed-2017: Sentiment Analysis for Indian Code Mixed Social Media Texts

This paper reports about our work in the NLP Tool Contest @ICON-2017, shared task on Sentiment Analysis for Indian Languages (SAIL) (code mixed). To implement our system, we have used a machine learning algo-rithm called Multinomial Na\"ive Bayes trained using n-gram and SentiWordnet features. We have also used a small SentiWordnet for English and a small SentiWordnet for Bengali. But we have not used any SentiWordnet for Hindi language. We have tested our system on Hindi-English and Bengali-English code mixed social media data sets released for the contest. The performance of our system is very close to the best system participated in the contest. For both Bengali-English and Hindi-English runs, our system was ranked at the 3rd position out of all submitted runs and awarded the 3rd prize in the contest.
Influence of antigen conformation and mode of presentation on the antibody and protective responses against human respiratory syncytial virus: relevance for vaccine development

ABSTRACT Human respiratory syncytial virus (hRSV) remains one of the most prevalent human pathogens for which a vaccine is still missing. After several decades of hesitant efforts, particularly after the harmful effects of a formalin-inactivated hRSV vaccine trial in the 1960s, hRSV vaccine development has received new impetus from structure-based studies of its main protective antigen: the fusion (F) glycoprotein. This article reviews studies done with hRSV F, either in pieces (e.g. epitopes) or as soluble or membrane-anchored molecules folded in different conformations or presented under different forms. Knowledge gained from these studies has provided the basis for novel vaccines that are now in different phases of development and has generated tools and reagents for developing other control measures such as prophylactic or therapeutic antibodies against this virus, which remains the most important cause of hospitalization in infants and one of the leading global causes of infant mortality.
Etiology, diagnosis, and clinical management of vulvodynia

Chronic vulvar pain or discomfort for which no obvious etiology can be found, ie, vulvodynia, can affect up to 16% of women. It may affect girls and women across all age groups and ethnicities. Vulvodynia is a significant burden to society, the health care system, the affected woman, and her intimate partner. The etiology is multifactorial and may involve local injury or inflammation, and peripheral and or central sensitization of the nervous system. An approach to the diagnosis and management of a woman presenting with chronic vulvar pain should address the biological, psychological, and social/interpersonal factors that contribute to her illness. The gynecologist has a key role in excluding other causes for vulvar pain, screening for psychosexual and pelvic floor dysfunction, and collaborating with other health care providers to manage a woman’s pain. An important component of treatment is patient education regarding the pathogenesis of the pain and the negative impact of experiencing pain on a woman’s overall quality of life. An individualized, holistic, and often multidisciplinary approach is needed to effectively manage the woman’s pain and pain-related distress.
The efficacy of ozone therapy in neonatal rats with hypoxic ischemic brain injury.

OBJECTIVES This study is aimed to determine the effect of ozone therapy in neonatal rats with experimentally induced hypoxic ischemic brain injury (HIBI). METHODS The study included 7-d-old male Wistar rats that were randomized to the sham, control, ozone 1, and ozone 2 groups. All rats except those in the sham group were kept in a hypoxia chamber, and then the rats in the control group were given 0.5 mL of saline. Those in the ozone 1 group were given ozone 1 mg kg-1 intraperitoneally, and those in the ozone 2 group were given ozone 2 mg kg-1 intraperitoneally. RESULTS There were significantly fewer apoptotic neurons in the right hemispheres of the rats in the ozone 1 and ozone 2 groups than in the control group (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). There were significantly fewer apoptotic neurons in the right hemispheres of the rats in the ozone 2 group than in the ozone 1 group (p < 0.001). Morris Water Maze (MWM) test results were similar in the ozone 2 and sham groups. CONCLUSIONS The present study's findings show that ozone therapy reduced neuronal apoptosis and improved cognitive function in neonatal rats with experimentally induced HIBI (Tab. 2, Ref. 30).
HIF1A (rs11549465) and AKNA (rs10817595) Gene Polymorphisms Are Associated with Primary Sjögren's Syndrome

Objective. To evaluate the allele and genotype frequencies of polymorphic sites of HIF1A and ANKA genes in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS). Methods. We included 110 patients with pSS and 141 ethnically matched healthy controls. Three HIF1A gene polymorphisms (Pro582Ser, Ala588Thr, and C191T) and two AKNA gene polymorphisms (−1372C>A and Pro624Leu) were genotyped using TaqMan probes in a Real-Time PCR instrument. Associations between pSS and genotypes, alleles, and inheritance models of the SNPs of interest were evaluated by logistic regression adjusted by age and gender. Results. The C/T genotype and the T allele of the HIF1A Pro582Ser polymorphism protected against pSS (OR = 0.22; 95% CI = 0.09–0.52; P < 0.01; OR = 0.26; 95% CI = 0.12–0.58; P < 0.01, resp.), whereas under a recessive model adjusted by age and gender, the AKNA −1372C>A polymorphism A/A genotype was associated with an increased risk of pSS (OR = 2.60; 95% CI = 1.11–6.12; P = 0.03). Conclusions. We identified HIF1A Pro582Ser T allele and C/T genotype as well as AKNA −1372C>A polymorphism A/A genotype as genetic factors associated with pSS. Further studies in other populations are needed to validate our findings and research is warranted in order to shed some light on their functional implications across biological pathways in this disease.
Validation and Clinical Utility of the hERG IC50:Cmax Ratio to Determine the Risk of Drug‐Induced Torsades de Pointes: A Meta‐Analysis

Use of the QT interval corrected for heart rate (QTc) on the electrocardiogram (ECG) to predict torsades de pointes (TdP) risk from culprit drugs is neither sensitive nor specific. The ratio of the half‐maximum inhibitory concentration of the hERG channel (hERG IC50) to the peak serum concentration of unbound drug (Cmax) is used during drug development to screen out chemical entities likely to cause TdP.
Dropout Model Evaluation in MOOCs

The field of learning analytics needs to adopt a more rigorous approach for predictive model evaluation that matches the complex practice of model-building. In this work, we present a procedure to statistically test hypotheses about model performance which goes beyond the state-of-the-practice in the community to analyze both algorithms and feature extraction methods from raw data. We apply this method to a series of algorithms and feature sets derived from a large sample of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). While a complete comparison of all potential modeling approaches is beyond the scope of this paper, we show that this approach reveals a large gap in dropout prediction performance between forum-, assignment-, and clickstream-based feature extraction methods, where the latter is significantly better than the former two, which are in turn indistinguishable from one another. This work has methodological implications for evaluating predictive or AI-based models of student success, and practical implications for the design and targeting of at-risk student models and interventions.