Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Dose De-Escalation and Escalation on Daptomycin's Pharmacodynamics against Clinical Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates in an In Vitro Model

ABSTRACT De-escalation and escalation therapeutic strategies are commonly employed by clinicians on the basis of susceptibility results and patient response. Since no in vitro or in vivo data are currently available to support one strategy over the other for daptomycin, we attempted to evaluate the effects of dose escalation and de-escalation on daptomycin activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolates using an in vitro pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model with simulated endocardial vegetations. Three clinical MRSA isolates, including one heterogeneous vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (hVISA) isolate and one vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) isolate, were exposed to daptomycin at 10 or 6 mg/kg of body weight/day for 8 days using a starting inoculum of ∼109 CFU/g of vegetations, with dose escalation and de-escalation initiated on the fourth day. Daptomycin MIC values ranged from 0.5 to 1 μg/ml. In the PK/PD model, high-dose daptomycin (10 mg/kg/day) and de-escalation simulation (10 to 6 mg/kg/day) appeared to be the most efficient regimens against the three tested isolates, exhibiting the fastest bactericidal activity (4 to 8 h) compared to that of the standard regimen of 6 mg/kg/day and the escalation therapy of 6 to 10 mg/kg/day. The differences in the numbers of CFU/g observed between dose escalation and de-escalation were significant for the hVISA strain, with the de-escalation simulation exhibiting a better killing effect than the escalation simulation (P < 0.024). Although our results need to be carefully considered, the use of high-dose daptomycin up front demonstrated the most efficient activity against the tested isolates. Different therapeutic scenarios including isolates with higher MICs and prolonged drug exposures are warranted to better understand the outcomes of escalation and de-escalation strategies.
A Supply-Noise-Insensitive PLL in Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors

A high-performance CMOS charge pump supply-noise-insensitive phase-locked loop (SNI-PLL) for on-chip clock generation of Monolithic Active Pixel Sensors (MAPS) is presented. The SNI-PLL employs a voltage regulator which provides two stable power supplies to the charge pump and the voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), respectively. The voltage regulator achieves a Power Supply Noise Rejection (PSNR) of -40 dB over the entire frequency spectrum by using virtual grounded cascode compensation technique. The presented SNI-PLL generates a 160 MHz clock with a Time Interval Error (TIE) of 0.062 UI (Unit Interval) from a 10 MHz reference clock in a noisy power supply environment. The circuit was fabricated with a 0.35 μ m standard CMOS process and occupies 0.38 mm 2 area. The power consumption of the SNI-PLL is about 15.2 mW at 160 MHz.
Extended Graph Backbone for Motif Analysis

Local interaction patterns in complex networks, called motifs, explain many of the network properties but are challenging to extract due to the large search space. In this paper first an approximate representation of a complex network in terms of an extended backbone is proposed, then a reduced sampling space that speeds up the motif search in different kinds of networks is explored based on this representation. It will be shown using several real datasets that the proposed method is effective in reducing the sampling space, extracts the same relevant patterns, and hence preservs the network local structural information.
The Role of Physical Exercise in Wilderness Therapy for Troubled Adolescent Women

This study explores the impacts of backpacking as a therapeutic process for troubled adolescent women participating in wilderness therapy. A qualitative case study approach was used to investigate the experience of six adolescent women and three female wilderness instructors at an established wilderness therapy program. Data were collected through participant observation, client psychological profiles, and semi-structured interviews. Research explored the emotional, cognitive, and physical impacts attributed to the backpacking component of the therapeutic process and the relationships between these impacts. Results revealed eight central impacts of backpacking, each of which fell into categories differentiated by dimensions of temporality, intensity, and clarity. A conceptual model captures the flow of the backpacking process and offers insight into this specific therapeutic element of wilderness therapy.
Heart beat detection in multimodal data using signal recognition and beat location estimation

The tachogram is typically constructed by detecting the R peaks in the electrocardiogram (ECG). Sometimes the ECG is however very noisy, which makes it hard to find the R peaks in these cases by using only the ECG. Information from other signals can then be used in order to find the R peaks. In this paper, a method is suggested that is able to automatically detect signals with the same periodic behavior as the ECG. Heart beat labels of the detected signals are combined by using majority voting, heart beat location estimation and Hjorth's mobility parameter. The average performance was 99.95% for the training set and 85.62% for the last phase of the 2014 Computing in Cardiology challenge. If the available labels for the signals are used, the performance on the hidden test set was 86.61%.
Bounded Radiosity – Illumination on General Surfaces and Clusters

Traditionally, Radiosity algorithms have been restricted to scenes made from planar patches. Most algorithms for computing form factors and the subdivision criterion for hierarchical methods implicitly assume planar patches. In this paper, we present a new radiosity algorithm that is solely based on simple geometric information about surface elements, namely their bounding boxes and cone of normals. Using this information allows to compute efficient error bounds that can be used for the subdivision oracle and for computing the energy transfer. Due to the simple interface to geometric objects, our algorithm not only allows for computing illumination on general curved surfaces, but it can also be directly applied to a hieararchy of clusters. Several examples demonstrate the advantages of the new approach.
Interdependent Data in Psychological Research: Statistical Nuisance or Substantive Opportunity?

Data from dyads or small groups are relevant to nearly every branch of psychological research. To provide just a few examples, clinical researchers must consider the relationship between therapist and client or among participants in therapy groups, developmental researchers investigate (for example) relationships children have with their parents and peers, cognitive psychologists must consider the interplay between different brain regions, and Dyadic Data Analysis
Towards a Hybrid Temporal Paradigm for Musical Composition and Performance: The Case of Musical Interpretation

In this article, we consider the possibility of mixing two main paradigms of electroacoustic music: the writing-oriented and the performance-oriented paradigms. We show that these two opposing paradigms are the consequence of two corresponding conceptions of time. In addition, we assume that the temporal aspects of a performer's interpretation of a musical composition can be linked to both paradigms. Based on this theoretical study, we propose a formalism for composing pieces of electroacoustic music that can be interpreted in performance.
Coding contrast as brightness to convert colour images to greyscale

In terms of human and machine vision it is often assumed that greyscale is simply the weighted sum of three colour responses. Thinking of greyscale (or luminance) in this way occasionally causes practical problems: details in pictures or graphics can be lost in greyscale reproductions if two different colours share the same weighted response. An alternative way to envisage the greyscale is as brightness encoding, whereby rather than using the luminance value at each pixel, the greyscale image represents the colour-contrast of the colour image as luminance-contrast. Socolinsky and Wolff1 have proposed an algorithm to achieves this goal. The algorithm consists of two stages: computing a gradient field using DiZenzo’s structure tensor2, and then reintegrating the gradient field. This approach produces a greyscale image whose local luminance-contrast reflects the colour-contrast of the original image.
Beyond Speculation: A Holistic Investigation into Factors Affecting Social Media Utilisation in the Workplace

The utilisation of social media in the workplace has attracted much speculation in the business community in relation to its risks and benefits. However, intra-organisational dimensions affecting such ustilisation are yet to be holistically considered. Grounded in the scholarly literature, a survey questionnaire was operationalized and empirical data collected and analysed using PLS. The results indicate that, with respective importance, Championing, Infrastructure, Policy, and Empowerment have a significant influence on social media unitisation in the workplace. The results also highlight the significance between such utilisation and perceived social media benefits. The findings hold important theoretical and practical implications, particularly given the connected, information-intensive, and competitive global marketplace.
"Role Models Can't Just Be on Posters": Re/membering Barriers to Indigenous Community Engagement.

Current Canadian scholarly literature, education policy, and curricular documents encourage the participation of Indigenous community members as a key component of Indigenous Education reform. Guided by sharing circles conducted with Indigenous Elders, families, teachers, and support workers, we present community voices and experiences of Indigenous Education in an urban school board through poetic transcription. Our research suggests that four key barriers will have to be overcome in efforts to improve urban Indigenous Education: unwelcoming schools, professionalization of classroom teaching, colonized classrooms, and unilateral decolonization. Poetic transcription is used in this article to centre the voices of Indigenous participants as well as attempt to decolonize our approach to data dissemination of Indigenous voices as white, Euro-Canadian university-based researchers. La litterature savante, les politiques d’education et les documents curriculaires canadiens actuels encouragent la participation des membres des communautes autochtones comme element-cle de la reforme en matiere d’education autochtone. A partir des cercles de partage auxquels participaient les aines, les familles, les enseignants et les agents de soutien, nous presentons, par l’intermediaire de la transcription poetique, les voix et les experiences d’une communaute autochtone en milieu scolaire urbain. Notre recherche suggere quatre barrieres a surmonter dans le but d’ameliorer l’experience scolaire en milieu urbain : ecoles non accueillantes, professionnalisation de l’enseignement en salle de classe, salle de classe colonisee et decolonisation unilaterale. L’utilisation de la transcription poetique dans cet article a comme objectif de mettre en valeur les voix des participants de la communaute autochtone et de tenter de decoloniser, a titre de chercheurs universitaires blancs euro-canadiens, notre approche de dissemination des donnees reliees aux voix autochtones.
Energy Consumption Minimization for FiWi Enhanced LTE-A HetNets with UE Connection Constraint

The fiber-wireless (FiWi) enhanced LTE-A HetNet, which consists of fiber optic networks as its backhaul and LTE-A HetNets as its wireless front-end, is regarded as a promising technique for a 5G radio access network to host large-scale mobile data transmission. In order to reduce the energy consumption of a FiWi enhanced LTE-A HetNet, we should offload the traffic of lightly loaded BSs to other active BSs and turn them into sleep state, while in order to provide stable service to more user equipments (UEs), we should put as many BSs into active state as possible. Obviously, there is a trade-off between minimizing the energy consumption and maximizing the number of UEs associated with the BSs. However, previous research works either focused on energy consumption minimization or placed emphasis on UE connection maximization, and few of them integrate these two parts together and give an optimal solution. Toward this end, this article studies the issues in energy consumption minimization with the UE connection constraint in FiWi enhanced LTE-A HetNets, and propose a heuristic greedy solution to find an optimal list of active BSs and their associated UEs.
Ubiquitin orchestrates proteasome dynamics between proliferation and quiescence in yeast

Proteasomes are key protease complexes responsible for protein degradation, and their localization changes with the growth conditions. This work in yeast shows that proteasomes exit the nucleus with the transition from proliferation to quiescence. Ubiquitin is a key player in proteasome dynamics and cytoplasmic proteasome granule formation.
On the role of non-shared environment for executive functioning in ADHD: a twin-differences design study

Abstract Introduction: The study of differences between monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs with respect to ADHD may provide novel leads to disentangle the environmental contribution driving its phenotypes. Objectives: To examine non-shared environmental influences on executive function in dimensionally defined ADHD. Methods: This study included 27 MZ twin pairs (7 female) aged 11–20 years being moderately to substantially discordant for ADHD traits as assessed by the Attention Problem (AP) scale of the Child Behavior Checklist/Adult Behavior Checklist. The twins completed the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) for cognitive flexibility and the Tower Test (TT) for foresighted planning. Two statistical approaches were used to analyze the data. First, correlations between ADHD trait intra-pair differences and WCST and TT scores were calculated. Second, the significance of those intra-pair differences on WCST and TT, using ADHD as categorical variable in clinically discordant pairs, was tested. Results: Both analysing strategies revealed a link between ADHD on one hand, and foresighted planning and inhibitory control on the other hand mediated by non-shared environmental factors. The first statistical approach yielded positive correlations between intra-pairs differences on the AP scale and intra-pair differences on two subscales of the TT: total rule violation (rs = 0·41) and rule-violation-per-item-ratio (rs = 0·38). Findings in categorically discordant pairs were consistent, showing within-pair differences on the same subtests (z-1·63, P = 0·05, one-tailed and z = −1·60, P = 0·05, one-tailed). Conclusions: Findings confirm previous research suggesting ADHD to be a quantitative extreme on a continuum with executive functions being a cognitive marker of ADHD traits. Non-shared environmental factors appear to influence planning skills and inhibitory control.
Parallel Worlds: Spatial and Textual Representations of Information Structure in VR

Navigation is central to information seeking in electronic worlds. Previous research on the physical world and virtual ones has considered the impact of environmental structure on navigation and learning. Such structure can be either spatial or textual. I propose an exploratory study to evaluate the effects of combining spatial and textual representations of information structure in different ways in VR. By observing users in several virtual worlds with similar information structures, I hope to extract guidelines for the use of spatial and textual representations in VR design.
On the Heston Model with Stochastic Interest Rates

We discuss the Heston [Heston-1993] model with stochastic interest rates driven by Hull-White [Hull,White-1996] (HW) or Cox-Ingersoll-Ross [Cox, et al.-1985] (CIR) processes. A so-called volatility compensator is defined which guarantees that the Heston hybrid model with a non-zero correlation between the equity and interest rate processes is properly defined. Two different approximations of the hybrid models are presented in order to obtain the characteristic functions. These approximations admit pricing basic derivative products with Fourier techniques [Carr,Madan-1999; Fang,Oosterlee-2008], and can therefore be used for fast calibration of the hybrid model. The effect of the approximations on the instantaneous correlations and the influence of the correlation between stock and interest rate on the implied volatilities are also discussed.
Fast Sequential Creation of Random Realizations of Degree Sequences

Abstract We examine the problem of creating random realizations of very large degree sequences. While fast in practice, the Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method for selecting a realization has limited usefulness for creating large graphs because of memory constraints. Instead, we focus on sequential importance sampling (SIS) schemes for random graph creation. A difficulty with SIS schemes is assuring that they terminate in a reasonable amount of time. We introduce a new sampling method where we guarantee termination while achieving speed comparable to the MCMC method.
The College Aid Quandary: Access Quality and the Federal Role

Each year, millions of American families struggle with the expense of higher education. For the past fifty years, the U.S. government has helped students and families pay for college; but with the entire domestic policy agenda in flux, federal aid to education hangs in the balance. This book analyzes government policies for helping students pay for education beyond high school. It is being published at a time when aid to education is a prominent issue in battles over the federal budget and policymakers are debating the need for and effectiveness of federal student assistance programs. Starting with the post-World War II GI Bill, the book reviews the 50-year history of federal student aid legislation, assesses the results, and identifies trends and problems that cloud the future of this critically important national effort. The authors draw on the thinking of the country's top experts in examining the rationale and structure of the student aid system and how it might more effectively expand college opportunities while ensuring educational quality. Their analysis encourages policymakers to consider the multiple objectives of government aidnot just getting more students into college, but promoting student success and degree completion. The book offers a framework for future policy debates aimed at improving a system vital to America's economic future and its continued promise of opportunity. Copublished with the College Board / Dialogue on Public Policy"
Predicting Failures with Hidden Markov Models

A key challenge for proactive handling of faults is the prediction of system failures. The main principle of the approach presented here is to identify and recognize patterns of errors that lead to failures. I propose the use of hidden Markov models (HMMs) as they have been successfully used in other pattern recognition tasks. The paper further motivates their use, explains how HMMs can be used to predict failures and describes the training procedure. An outlook to a more sophisticated treatment of time between events is also presented.
Enter The Dragon! An Empirical Analysis of Chinese versus US Arms Transfers to Autocrats and Violators of Human Rights, 1989–2006†

de Soysa, Indra and Paul Midford. (2012) Enter The Dragon! An Empirical Analysis of Chinese versus US Arms Transfers to Autocrats and Violators of Human Rights, 1989–2006. International Studies Quarterly, doi: 10.1111/isqu.12028 © 2012 International Studies Association The rise of China has led to a spate of scholarly and journalistic speculation about the future of a liberal world order. Apparently, the rise of a nondemocratic, Asian rival to US hegemony potentially undermines the growth of democracy throughout the system. Many see a resource-hungry China engaging itself globally out of purely self-interested motives, and Chinese business and aid offer a viable alternative to Western influence. Using the Stockholm Institute for Peace Research’s (SIPRI) data on arms transfers since the end of the Cold War, we test the proposition empirically by assessing the nature and strength of Chinese politico-military support, measured as conventional arms transfers, globally and to African regimes. In short, we find that China relative to the United States transfers greater amounts of arms to democracies rather than autocracies, whereas the United States seems to prefer more autocratic regimes, despite rhetoric that claims an ethical foreign policy. The same result holds when we assess this relationship using human rights data. Moreover, Chinese arms transfers to countries suffering civil wars are much lower than the United States’. The findings are robust to the inclusion of several control variables and alternative estimation techniques. The findings show that popular perceptions about China’s role in Africa do not match reality, particularly when assessed against the current hegemon’s behavior.
Multi‐element behaviour support as a model for the delivery of a human rights based approach for working with people with intellectual disabilities and behaviours that challenge

This paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the multi-element behaviour support (MEBS) model in meeting the rights of persons with intellectual disabilities and behaviours that challenge. It does this through explicitly linking the multi-element model to the guiding principles of a human rights based approach (HRBA) using a vignette to demonstrate the link. The guiding principles of a HRBA are express link to rights, participation, empowerment, nondiscrimination and accountability. The background assessment and functional assessment phase of the MEBS process enables the identification of rights infringements while the MEBS plan addresses those rights. The accountability tool in the MEBS model, which is the periodic service review, is then used as a measure of implementation of the MEBS plan and consequently the enabling of rights. Implications in relation to the rights of those supporting persons in receipt of MEBS and those living with the person receiving MEBS are also highlighted: 'In each situation we confront, a rights based approach requires us to ask: What is the content of the right? Who are the rights claim-holders? Who are the corresponding duty-bearers? Are claim holders and duty bearers able to claim their rights and fulfil them? If not how can we help them to do so? This is the heart of a human rights based approach. ' (Robinson 2003:1)
Activity situations on an Alzheimer's disease special care unit and resident environmental interaction, time use, and affect

Routine activity situations on an Alzheimer's disease (AD) special care unit were examined with respect to residents' social and physical environmental interactions, time use, and apparent affect. Using a computerassisted observational tool, observers recorded prevailing activity situations and corresponding behaviors and affects of seven residents every 10 minutes, from 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM,across four days. Although meals/snacks and some activity groups were positively associated with use of physical objects and engagement in activities, residents were predominantly environmentally disengaged, inactive, or without positive affects during the most prevalent activity situations of background media, downtime, and television. Findings suggest that routine activity situations may act as potent environmental influences on the quality of life (QOL) of people with AD and mediate the effectiveness of other environmental interventions undertaken on their behalf.