Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants of HIV-1 transmission in men who have sex with men: a combined clinical, epidemiological and phylogenetic approach

Objectives:To identify biological factors associated with HIV transmission in men who have sex with men (MSM). Design:A longitudinal phylogenetic analysis of HIV-1 from an MSM cohort, incorporating clinical and epidemiological data. Methods:Potential individuals were HIV-infected MSM attending a sexual health clinic between 2000 and 2006. Individuals were classified such that they could move from recent to chronic infection categories. HIV-1 pol gene sequences were obtained from plasma virus or proviral DNA and clusters estimated by maximum likelihood and conservative genetic distance differences. The single most likely transmitter generating each recent infection was ascertained and risk factors around time of likely transmission explored using Poisson regression modelling. Results:Out of 1144 HIV-infected MSM, pol sequence data were obtained for 859 (75%); 159 out of 859 (19%) were recently HIV infected at diagnosis. A single most likely transmitter was identified for 41 out of 159 (26%), of which 11 were recently infected (27%) and 30 chronically infected. Factors associated with transmission in multivariable analysis were: younger age {rate ratio per 5 years older 0.68 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.54–0.86], P = 0.0009}, higher viral load [rate ratio per log higher 1.61 (95% CI 1.15–2.25), P = 0.005], recent infection [rate ratio 3.88 (95% CI 1.76–8.55), P = 0.0008] and recent sexually transmitted disease [rate ratio 5.32 (95% CI 2.51–11.29), P = 0.0001]. HAART was highly protective in a univariable model, RR 0.14 (95% CI 0.07–0.27, P = 0.0001). Conclusion:Onward transmission of HIV among MSM is significantly associated with recent infection, sexually transmitted diseases and higher viral load, and reduced by effective HAART. The majority of new infections appear to occur from individuals whose infection was undiagnosed at the time of transmission.
Research on the Emission Uniformity of Explosive Emission Cathodes in Foilless Diodes

Some factors that influence the emission uniformity of explosive emission cathodes (EECs) in foilless diodes such as the guiding magnetic field strength and the rise rate of electric field have been researched in former literatures. This paper is concentrated on another factor that has been overlooked previously, i.e., the defects with dimensions of tens of micrometers on cathode surfaces, especially at blade edges. It is shown that these defects will significantly worsen the emission uniformity of EECs by introducing extraordinarily large microscopic field enhancement factors, and thus they should be eliminated. The micrometer-scale irregularities, however, should be maintained to provide effective emission micropoints. Meanwhile, the outer edge of an annular cathode blade should be rounded off to improve the emission uniformity. After being disposed like this, the emission uniformity of annular graphite cathodes in a foilless diode is obviously improved, which leads to an increase of energy efficiency by more than 20% by broadening the microwave pulse duration under a power level of 2.8 GW for an X-band relativistic backward wave oscillator.
The Genome Solver Project: Faculty Training and Student Performance Gains in Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics brings together biology, mathematics, statistics, and computer science to analyze biological sequence information. Anyone with a computer, access to the Internet, and basic training in this field can contribute to genomics research. Yet many biology faculty feel they lack training in the use of bioinformatics tools and therefore include little bioinformatics content in their courses. To overcome this challenge, the Genome Solver Project was created to empower undergraduate faculty by offering training and resources for creating hands-on bioinformatics course materials. In this study, we show the results of one survey completed directly after the workshop and a further follow-up survey to gain insight into the impact the workshop had on faculty willingness to include bioinformatics content in their courses and what challenges they still faced. We also measured student performance at five different institutions using a 20-question multiple-choice quiz delivered before and after bioinformatics instruction. Data collected from 640 students at these five schools demonstrated student performance increased, suggesting that bioinformatics training workshops can be an effective means of encouraging faculty to engage in bioinformatics instruction and positively influence student learning.
Coronary Calcification by Electron Beam Tomography: Comparison with Coronary Risk Factors and Angiography

The development and progression of coronary artery disease is the result of exposure to a variety of different risk factors. In larger populations, strong associations exist between risk factors and the development of both angiographic and clinical coronary artery disease. But, this relationship is extremely variable in individual subjects. Coronary calcification is a specific marker of coronary artery disease. Its formation and progression is determined by largely identical risk factors compared with angiographic coronary artery disease. Coronary calcification quantitated by electron beam tomography (EBT) thus enables the non-invasive assessment of whether the risk factor exposure has actually led to the development of coronary atherosclerosis in an individual subject. Whereas other non-invasive tests focus on the physiological consequences of coronary obstruction, EBT represents anatomic disease itself. Because the propensity of plaques to cause coronary obstruction partly depends on the degree of arterial remodelling, large plaques may not necessarily appear as high-grade stenoses angiographically. Indeed, angiography and EBT evaluate two facets of atherosclerotic plaque disease, i.e. luminal obstruction and calcified plaque itself. Coronary calcification is strongly associated with the presence, extent, and severity of angiographic coronary artery disease. A number of studies have shown that it is clearly superior in this respect compared with conventional risk factors. However, because of the indirect relationships between plaque formation and luminal obstruction, EBT does not permit the site-specific prediction of coronary stenoses. Recent investigations have focused on the ability of EBT to represent the extent of anatomic coronary artery disease, which is an important predictor of future cardiac events. The availability of a simple, non-invasive test for the direct visualization of coronary artery disease holds great promise regarding improved definitions of the relationships between risk factors and coronary atherosclerosis as well as regarding the diagnosis of non-obstructive coronary disease, which can nevertheless result in acute events.
Natural Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Polyaniline Counter Electrode

An inexpensive polyaniline was synthesized by electrochemical polymerizat ion on conducting glass as a platinum substitute for tri-iodide reduction on the conducting glass substrate, and natural sensitizers as a synthetic dyes replacement. Plant pigments such as chlorophyll, caroten oid, flavonoid, anthocyanin, betalains are present in natural sensitizers are responsible for light absorption and the charge injection to the conduction band of the semiconductor nanoparticles. The efficiencies of dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with natural sensitizers and synthetic dye i.e. N719 with polyaniline as a counter electrode catalyst was compared.
Privacy and Security Aspects of Data Mining Proceedings of a Workshop held in Conjunction with 2005

Privacy-Preserving Data Mining has generated many researchsuccesses, but as yet little real-world impact. One problem is that we do not yet have accepted definitions of privacy; either legal, social, or technical; that apply to privacy-preserving data mining. This paper discusses this issue, and surveys work on the topic. In spite of this problem, there are real-world scenarios that can be addressed by today’s technology; the paper concludes with a discussion of such areas and the research needed to make technology
Injury among 1107 Canadian students with self-identified disabilities

Purpose. Students with disabilities are at risk for poor health outcomes; however, the causes and consequences of injury in this group are not well understood. The epidemiologies of injuries among students with and without disabilities were profiled and compared. Methods. The cross-sectional, 2002 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children Survey, was administered to a representative sample of 7235 students (grades 6 – 10) from Canada. Students who reported at least one functional difficulty due to a health condition were classified as having a disability. Primary outcomes were: (i) Medically attended injury; (ii) multiple injuries, and (iii) serious injury experiences during a 12-month period. Results. Some 16.3% of students reported a disability. Injuries were more common in students with disabilities compared to those without disabilities (67% vs. 51% annually, p < 0.01). Students with disabilities experienced 30% increases in the risk for medically attended injury, multiple injury, and serious injury as compared to their peers. Consistent and statistically significant associations (p < 0.05) were identified between different types of disability and all injury outcomes. Conclusions. Canadian students who report disabilities experience higher risks for injury than their peers, perhaps due to an inability to perceive and avoid environmental hazards. Injury prevention programmes are needed to address these unique risk profiles in order to prevent additional disability or secondary conditions.
This Architecture Tastes Like Microarchitecture

Instruction set architecture bridges the gap between actual implementations, or microarchitecture, and the software that runs on them. Traditionally, instruction sets were a direct reflection of the hardware resources and capabilities. The two drifted apart in the rise of CISC and its microcoded implementations. In the 1980s, the RISC movement reasserted the philosophy that the two should correspond, and that microcode was a less desirable approach. Nevertheless, time has shown that the natural tendency in industrial designs is to treat the instruction set as an abstraction. In this paper we review, with several decades of hindsight, an early RISC proposal in the form of the original MIPS architecture. While we find that the RISC movement left a legacy congruent with its philosophy, the specific techniques proposed in this seminal work were considerably more aggressive and did not succeed. In our investigation, we find that RISC’s impact on microarchitecture should be contrasted with its impact on ISA design, where a promising and under explored approach is to specify and therefore assume less about how the machine works, not more. To that end, the authors review several competing ISA design proposals from others; some that are aligned with the idea that less detail about the machine is actually more and others, such as transport triggered architecture, that take machine detail to the extreme.
Epigenetic repression of regulator of G‐protein signaling 2 promotes androgen‐independent prostate cancer cell growth

G‐protein‐coupled receptor (GPCR)‐stimulated androgen‐independent activation of androgen receptor (AR) contributes to acquisition of a hormone‐refractory phenotype by prostate cancer. We previously reported that regulator of G‐protein signaling (RGS) 2, an inhibitor of GPCRs, inhibits androgen‐independent AR activation (Cao et al., Oncogene 2006;25:3719‐34). Here, we show reduced RGS2 protein expression in human prostate cancer specimens compared to adjacent normal or hyperplastic tissue. Methylation‐specific PCR analysis and bisulfite sequencing indicated that methylation of the CpG island in the RGS2 gene promoter correlated with RGS2 downregulation in prostate cancer. In vitro methylation of this promoter suppressed reporter gene expression in transient transfection studies, whereas reversal of this promoter methylation with 5‐aza‐2′‐deoxycytidine (5‐Aza‐dC) induced RGS2 reexpression in androgen‐independent prostate cancer cells and inhibited their growth under androgen‐deficient conditions. Interestingly, the inhibitory effect of 5‐Aza‐dC was significantly reduced by an RGS2‐targeted short hairpin RNA, indicating that reexpressed RGS2 contributed to this growth inhibition. Restoration of RGS2 levels by ectopic expression in androgen‐independent prostate cancer cells suppressed growth of xenografts in castrated mice. Thus, RGS2 promoter hypermethylation represses its expression and unmasks a latent pathway for AR transactivation in prostate cancer cells. Targeting this reversible process may provide a new strategy for suppressing prostate cancer progression by reestablishing its androgen sensitivity.
Self-Customisation and Attribute Alignability: Role of Utilitarian versus Hedonic Consumption

High degree of customisation prevalent in various industries calls for a richer understanding of customers’ evaluations of different attributes during the task of choosing some options and forgoing others. To that end, the research reported in this paper examines consumers’ preference for alignable versus nonalignable attributes during self-customisation of products. Specifically, we propose that utilitarian versus hedonic consumption goals will explain consumer’s preference of alignable versus nonalignable attributes. Consistent with our theorizing, results from two studies suggest that when customising a utilitarian product, consumers rely more on alignable product components. Conversely, when customising hedonic products, nonalignable components draw more attention. The proposed correspondence between consumption motivation and structural alignment approach of comparison deepens our understanding of consumers’ choice difficulty and provides insights into downstream impact of customisation strategy on consumer well-being. Furthermore, the findings will aid firms in co-creating better value with customers through formulating better self-customisation options.
Optimizing POCS Parameters Through Genetic Programming and its Application for CBERS-2 Satellite Image Restoration

Abstract. We introduced here a Genetic Programming (GP) approach for optimal or quasi-optimal parameter selection for projection-based image restoration algorithms, such that the well known Projections Onto Convex Sets (POCS) technique for iterative image restoration. We boosted here the RAP-2D convex projector operator by selecting the relaxation parameter that best fit a GP fitness function given by the ISNR index. Experiments in phantom and real CBERS-2 satellite images showed the good results obtained.
Assessment Algorithm for Service Matching Based on Bloom Filter

The main service search algorithms that used on content-based publish/subscribe system don’t support service fuzzy matching effectively. This paper presents a service matching degree assessment method based on Bloom filter. Facilitated by this approach, an algorithm that supports service fuzzy matching has been proposed. The main idea of this algorithm is using Bloom filter to describe the service and request, and assessing the similitude degree of service and request by the similarity of Bloom filter vectors. Experimental and theoretical results show that this algorithm can support content-based service fuzzy matching by simple algebraic operations on Bloom filter. The evaluation accuracy rate is beyond 90%.
Use of Ultrasonic Sealing System as a Containment System at Spent Fuel Storage

A sealing system has been designed by JRC/ISPRA in cooperation with ABACC and the IAEA in order to account for the difficulties in accessing spent fuel located in lower layers of spent fuel ponds. The system consists of mechanical parts with an ultrasonic seal as containment measure combined with a surveillance system. The objective of the sealing arrangement is to maintain continuity of knowledge on nuclear material stored in the lower racks of the spent fuel ponds by preventing undeclared removal of this material. It will also introduce advantages by lowering the re-verification requirements at Physical Inventory Verifications (PIVs) and in case of surveillance failure. For this application, ultrasonic seals have the necessary characteristics since they are designed to be attached underwater, they are very resistant to harsh environments like storage pools, they are easy to apply and they can be regularly verified. The verification of ultrasonic seals does not involve the replacement of cables or seals, thus improving inspector’s productivity and decreasing the burden on the plant operator. A six-month field trial will be conducted at the spent fuel storage at the Central Nuclear de Atucha 1 (CNA1) – Presidente Juan Domingo Perón, after which ABACC and the IAEA will be able to assess whether the system meets the necessary requirements for safeguards use. The overall impact on safeguards is discussed through a general approach to this facility. The key components of a possible safeguards approach that considers the implementation of this specific ultrasonic design are also briefly discussed.
Performance analysis for MIMO LTE on the high altitude platform station

High Altitude Platform Station (HAPs) is a new communications infrastructure that uses air balloon to carry high data rate service and wide bandwidth. One technique to make it happen is Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE support capacity increasing, expand coverage area, data rate increasing, multi-antenna, and can be integrated with other systems. To improve the performance of LTE in capacity building, coverage area, and data rate, it can use the multi-antenna techniques both on receiver or transmitter or often called multiple input multiple outputs (MIMO). Type of MIMO technique in this paper is spatial Multiplexing. In this study, an estimation that has been used is the Linear Minimum Mean Square Error (LMMSE). Channel estimation is used to find out information about the channel condition between the transmitter and the receiver so that the performance of Bit Error Rate (BER) increase and expand the coverage area of the same BER compared without estimation. The system performed channel estimation has a better performance than the without estimation system with improved SNR of 20dB. Based on the simulation to get the same BER value in the system with channel estimation and without estimation, on the system with estimation it is necessary to lower elevation angle to be 10° and still there was improvement of SNR of 3 dB compared to the system without any estimation. With lowered elevation angle from 90° to 10°, the area of coverage was greater becomes 215.77km from the original 0.032km
The Knowing Organization as Learning Organization.

Examines the information processes that support organisational sense‐making, knowledge creation and decision making. Sense‐making involves interpreting the raw data of the environment by enactment, selection and retention. New knowledge is created by knowledge conversion, knowledge building, and knowledge linking. Completely rational decision making would involve identifying alternatives, projecting the outcomes of each alternative and evaluating the alternatives and their outcomes according to known preferences and objectives. In the organisational knowing cycle, a continuous flow of information is maintained between sensemaking, knowledge creating, and decision making, and the outcome of information use in one mode provides the elaborated context and the expanded resources for information use in other modes. An illustration is given of a knowledge cycle in the World Health Organisation Smallpox Eradication Programme in which continuous cycles of interpretation, innovation and adaptive action underpinned the success of the project.
Genome-Wide Association Mapping Reveals Multiple QTLs Governing Tolerance Response for Seedling Stage Chilling Stress in Indica Rice

Rice crop is sensitive to cold stress at seedling stage. A panel of population representing 304 shortlisted germplasm lines was studied for seedling stage chilling tolerance in indica rice. Six phenotypic classes were exposed to six low temperature stress regimes under control phenotyping facility to investigate response pattern. A panel of 66 genotypes representing all phenotypic classes was used for ensuring genetic diversity, population structure and association mapping for the trait using 58 simple sequence repeat (SSR) and 2 direct trait linked markers. A moderate level of genetic diversity was detected in the panel population for the trait. Deviation of Hardy-Weinberg's expectation was detected in the studied population using Wright's F statistic. The panel showed 30% variation among population and 70% among individuals. The entire population was categorized into three sub-populations through STRUCTURE analysis. This revealed tolerance for the trait had a common primary ancestor for each sub-population with few admix individuals. The panel population showed the presence of many QTLs for cold stress tolerance in the individuals representing like genome-wide expression of the trait. Nineteen SSR markers were significantly associated at chilling stress of 8°C to 4°C for 7–21 days duration. Thus, the primers linked to the seedling stage cold tolerance QTLs namely qCTS9, qCTS-2, qCTS6.1, qSCT2, qSCT11, qSCT1a, qCTS-3.1, qCTS11.1, qCTS12.1, qCTS-1b, and CTB2 need to be pyramided for development of strongly chilling tolerant variety.
Factors Associated With Front Row Seating of Children in Motor Vehicle Crashes

Background: Current safety guidelines recommend that children age 12 or younger sit in the rear seat of passenger vehicles. However, front row seating among these children remains common. To develop future educational and other interventions to decrease front row seating of young children, it is important to examine factors associated with this behavior. Methods: We identified factors associated with front row seating of children 12 years of age or younger using data from a cross-sectional study of children who were the single passenger in crashes of insured vehicles in 15 U.S. states. Data were collected by insurance claims records and a telephone interview. A probability sample of 3775 crashes representing 27,678 crashes with child occupants was collected between 1 December 1998, and 30 November 2002. Multivariate Poisson regression was used to identify specific child, driver, and vehicle characteristics associated with front row seating. Results: When children were the sole occupants in the vehicle, approximately 1 in 3 (31%) sat in the front seat. The child's age and restraint use, the driver's age and relationship to the child passenger, the type of vehicle, and the presence of a passenger airbag were all associated with front row seating. Conclusions: Educational interventions can be tailored to address the specific needs of subgroups of drivers and children to reduce front row seating. In addition, these data could be used to support legislative interventions to limit front row seating of younger children when a teenager is driving.