Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Dynamic Clustering-Based Markov Model for Web Usage Mining

Markov models have been widely utilized for modelling user web navigation behaviour. In this work we propose a dynamic clustering-based method to increase a Markov model's accuracy in representing a collection of user web navigation sessions. The method makes use of the state cloning concept to duplicate states in a way that separates in-links whose corresponding second-order probabilities diverge. In addition, the new method incorporates a clustering technique which determines an effcient way to assign in-links with similar second-order probabilities to the same clone. We report on experiments conducted with both real and random data and we provide a comparison with the N-gram Markov concept. The results show that the number of additional states induced by the dynamic clustering method can be controlled through a threshold parameter, and suggest that the method's performance is linear time in the size of the model.
Gait Analysis for Detecting a Leg Accident with an Accelerometer

We analyzed an acceleration pattern during natural walking and walking hampered by wearing weights to predict falls. These two types of walking could be distinguished with a peak at the half of the principal frequency of the gait in anterior movement. We measured walking while wearing each individual hampering weight and then analyzed. The peak was bigger when a subject wore the hampering weight that was restrictive and made the body unbalanced. As leg accidents are considered to occur with a change of the body balance, our system may be used to detect a leg accident by checking the peak at the half of the principal frequency of the gait in anterior movement
Blood pressure centiles for Great Britain

Objective: To produce representative cross-sectional blood pressure reference centiles for children and young people living in Great Britain. Design: Analysis of blood pressure data from seven nationally representative surveys: Health Surveys for England 1995–8, Scottish Health Surveys 1995 and 1998, and National Diet & Nutrition Survey 1997. Methods: Blood pressure was measured using the Dinamap 8100 with the same protocol throughout. Weight and height were also measured. Data for 11 364 males and 11 537 females aged 4–23 years were included in the analysis, after excluding 0.3% missing or outlying data. Centiles were derived for systolic, diastolic, mean arterial and pulse pressure using the latent moderated structural (LMS) equations method. Results: Blood pressure in the two sexes was similar in childhood, rising progressively with age and more rapidly during puberty. Systolic pressure rose faster and was appreciably higher in adult men than in adult women. After adjustment for age, blood pressure was related more to weight than height, the effect being stronger for systolic blood pressure. Pulse pressure peaked at 18 years in males and 16 years in females. Conclusions: These centiles increase our knowledge of blood pressure norms in contemporary British children and young people. High blood pressure for age should be defined as blood pressure above the 98th centile, and high-normal blood pressure for age as blood pressure between the 91st and 98th centiles. The centiles identify children and young people with increased blood pressure, and will be of benefit to both clinical practice and research.
Neutralisation of uPA with a Monoclonal Antibody Reduces Plasmin Formation and Delays Skin Wound Healing in tPA-Deficient Mice

Background Proteolytic degradation by plasmin and metalloproteinases is essential for epidermal regeneration in skin wound healing. Plasminogen deficient mice have severely delayed wound closure as have mice simultaneously lacking the two plasminogen activators, urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA). In contrast, individual genetic deficiencies in either uPA or tPA lead to wound healing kinetics with no or only slightly delayed closure of skin wounds. Methodology/Principal Findings To evaluate the therapeutic potential in vivo of a murine neutralizing antibody directed against mouse uPA we investigated the efficacy in skin wound healing of tPA-deficient mice. Systemic administration of the anti-mouse uPA monoclonal antibody, mU1, to tPA-deficient mice caused a dose-dependent delay of skin wound closure almost similar to the delayed kinetics observed in uPA;tPA double-deficient mice. Analysis of wound extracts showed diminished levels of plasmin in the mU1-treated tPA-deficent mice. Immunohistochemistry revealed that fibrin accumulated in the wounds of such mU1-treated tPA-deficent mice and that keratinocyte tongues were aberrant. Together these abnormalities lead to compromised epidermal closure. Conclusions/Significance Our findings demonstrate that inhibition of uPA activity with a monoclonal antibody in adult tPA-deficient mice mimics the effect of simultaneous genetic ablation of uPA and tPA. Thus, application of the murine inhibitory mU1 antibody provides a new and highly versatile tool to interfere with uPA-activity in vivo in mouse models of disease.
Pulmonary endarterectomy in the management of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension

Chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) is a type of pulmonary hypertension, resulting from fibrotic transformation of pulmonary artery clots causing chronic obstruction in macroscopic pulmonary arteries and associated vascular remodelling in the microvasculature. Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) offers the best chance of symptomatic and prognostic improvement in eligible patients; in expert centres, it has excellent results. Current in-hospital mortality rates are <5% and survival is >90% at 1 year and >70% at 10 years. However, PEA, is a complex procedure and relies on a multidisciplinary CTEPH team led by an experienced surgeon to decide on an individual's operability, which is determined primarily by lesion location and the haemodynamic parameters. Therefore, treatment of patients with CTEPH depends largely on subjective judgements of eligibility for surgery by the CTEPH team. Other controversies discussed in this article include eligibility for PEA versus balloon pulmonary angioplasty, the new treatment algorithm in the European Society of Cardiology/European Respiratory Society guidelines and the definition of an “expert centre” for the management of this condition. Pulmonary endarterectomy in an expert centre is the treatment of choice for eligible patients with CTEPH http://ow.ly/T0kv308BGeY
GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION ESTIMATION VIA LOCAL REGION CONSENSUS

This work presents a novel method for accurate estimation of perspective transformations in images. Recent publications have shown that considering a rich geometric transformation model of salient local regions, is extremely bene cial for the purpose of point matching.Yet, those methods are not used extensively for two reasons. First, because they are computationally more demanding, second reason is that the estimation of the geometric transformations are of limited accuracy and therefore the usage of them is limited. Moreover, in typical scenes, signi cant portions of the scene are low-textured and cannot be considered salient. Thus their transformation between images can be recovered only by related global transformations. It has been shown that considering a few local point matches in consensus can be very useful in estimating global transformation and rejecting outliers. Though these methods do not typically utilize information from local region transformations. In this work, we propose a mechanism that forges a consensus between local region correspondences and their underlying geometry , that allows the estimation of richer global transformations. We demonstrate how this idea enables the estimation of perspective transformations of planes, and locating many new point matches on practically texture-less areas of the scene.
An overview of health financing patterns and the way forward in the WHO African Region.

BACKGROUND The way a health system is financed affects the performance of its other functions of stewardship, input (or resource) creation and services provision, and ultimately, the achievement of health system goals of health improvement (or maintenance), responsiveness to people's non-medical expectations and fair financial contributions. OBJECTIVES To analyse the changes between 1998 and 2002,in health financing from various sources; and to propose ways of improving the performance of health financing function in the WHO African Region. DESIGN A retrospective analysis of data obtained from the World Health Report, 2005. METHODS The analysis reported in this paper is based on the National Health Accounts (NHA) data for the 46 WHO Member States in the African Region. The data were obtained from the World Health Report 2005. It consisted of information on: levels of per capita expenditure on health; total expenditure on health as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP); general government expenditure on health as a percentage of total expenditure on health; private expenditure on health as a percentage of total expenditure on health; general government expenditure on health as a percentage of total government expenditure; external expenditure as a percentage of total expenditure on health; social security expenditure on health as a percentage of general government expenditure on health; out-of-pocket expenditure as a percentage of private expenditure on health; and private prepaid plans as a percentage of private expenditure on health. The analysis was done using Lotus SmartSuite software. RESULTS The analysis revealed that: fifteen countries spent less than 4.5% of their GDP on health; forty four countries spent less than 15% of their national annual budget on health; sixty three percent of the governments in the Region spent less than US$10 per person per year; fifty per cent of the total expenditure on health in 24 countries came from government sources; prepaid health financing mechanisms cover only a small proportion of populations in the Region; private spending constituted over 40% of the total expenditure on health in 31; direct out-of-pocket expenditures constituted over 50% of the private health expenditure in 38 countries. CONCLUSION Every country needs to develop clear pro-poor health financing policy and a comprehensive health financing strategic plan with a clear roadmap of how it plans to transit from the current health financing state dominated by inequitable, catastrophic and impoverishing direct out-of-pocket payments to a visionary scenario of universal coverage. The strategic plan should strengthening of health sector advocacy and health financing capacities, health economics evidence generation and utilisation in decision-making, making better use of available and expected resources, monitoring of equity in financing, strengthening of the exemption mechanisms, managed removal of direct out-of-pocket payments (for countries that choose to), and improving country-led sectoral coordination mechanisms (e.g. Sector Wide Approaches).
Meta-model Tailoring for Situation-aware Business Process Modelling

Current environments are dynamic. For surviving, organisations should be adaptable to and interoperable with these environments; their Business Processes (BPs) have to provide means to suit the effectiveness requirements. The most important success factors are flexibility and adaptability. Situational engineering has proved its effectiveness, in terms of flexibility and reuse, in many engineering domains such as software and IS development. So reasoning on a situational approach is a challenging research work which can contribute to increase flexibility of models and their adaptability to different organisation settings. The paper deals with creating meta-models for BP modelling which adapt to the situation at hand.
Approximation algorithms design for disk partial covering problem

Mobile servers are established to provide services for mobile nodes in an anticipated area. If the distribution of mobile nodes can be foreseen, the location of mobile servers becomes critical to the QoS of wireless systems. Under resource and topology constraints, it is very difficult to figure out a solution, or unable to cover all given mobile nodes within limited number of mobile servers. In this paper, we study the issue of the partial covering problem such that part of mobile nodes to be covered. Several approximation algorithms are proposed to cover the maximum number of elements. For real time systems, such as the battlefield communication system, the proposed algorithms with polynomial-time complexity can be efficiently applied. The algorithm complexity analysis illustrates the improvement made by our algorithms. The experimental results show that the performance of our algorithms is much better than other existing 3-approximation algorithm for the robust k-center problem.
Evaluation of regional flood frequency analysis with a region of influence approach

A novel approach to regional flood frequency analysis is presented and evaluated. The technique is referred to as the region of influence approach in that every site can have a potentially unique set of gauging stations for use in the estimation of at-site extremes. The rationale for the methodology is discussed, and several options for incorporating the approach into regional flood frequency analysis are developed and compared with traditional regional estimation procedures. Through a Monte Carlo experiment, the region of influence approach is demonstrated to provide improved at-site estimates of extreme flow quantlies in terms of network average root mean squared error and comparable results for bias. The method is further shown to have attractive features for estimating extremes for unusual sites in a network of gauging stations.
Establishment, maintenance and description of cell lines from the tick Ixodes scapularis.

Interest in tick-borne pathogens has been enhanced by the emergence of Lyme disease and, more recently, human and animal ehrlichioses. In order to facilitate investigations of the vector phase of tick-borne disease agents in vitro, several new cell lines derived from embryonated eggs of northern (IDE lines) and southern (ISE lines) populations of the tick Ixodes scapularis were developed. The establishment and characteristics of 4 IDE (IDE1, 2, 8, and 12) and 2 ISE (ISE5 and 18) lines were described. Primary cultures were initiated in L-15B medium at 31 C from a single egg mass each and established lines developed a morphologically distinct phenotype. Myoblasts were present during the first year after isolation in several lines as isolated clusters or sheets covering the whole flask. Cell line extracts resolved by isoelectric focusing were characterized for 3 isozymes (lactate dehydrogenase, malate dehydrogenase, and malic enzyme). The combined banding patterns allowed discrimination between Ixodes cell lines and a Rhipicephalus appendiculatus cell line. Two lines, i.e., ISE5 and ISE18, had unique isozyme bands. Chromosome numbers and morphology conformed to those described from tissue squashes of I. scapularis.
Neonatal Satellite Cells Form Small Myotubes In Vitro

Although palatal muscle reconstruction in patients with cleft palate takes place during early childhood, normal speech development is often not achieved. We hypothesized that the intrinsic properties of head satellite cells (SCs) and the young age of these patients contribute to the poor muscle regeneration after surgery. First, we studied the fiber type distribution and the expression of SC markers in ex vivo muscle tissue from head (branchiomeric) and limb (somite-derived) muscles from neonatal (2-wk-old) and young (9-wk-old) rats. Next, we cultured SCs isolated from these muscles for 5, 7, and 9 d, and investigated the in vitro expression of SC markers, as well as changes in proliferation, early differentiation, and fusion index (myotube formation) in these cells. In our ex vivo samples, we found that virtually all myofibers in both the masseter (Mass) and the levator veli palatini (LVP) muscles contained fast myosin heavy chain (MyHC), and a small percentage of digastric (Dig) and extensor digitorum longus myofibers also contained slow MyHC. This was independent of age. More SCs were found in muscles from neonatal rats as compared with young rats [17.6 (3.8%) v. 2.3 (1.6%); P < 0.0001]. In vitro, young branchiomeric head muscle (BrHM) SCs proliferated longer and differentiated later than limb muscle SCs. No differences were found between SC cultures from the different BrHMs. SC cultures from neonatal muscles showed a much higher proliferation index than those from young animals at 5 d (0.8 v. 0.2; P < 0.001). In contrast, the fusion index in neonate SCs was about twice as low as that in SCs from young muscles at 9 d [27.6 (1.4) v. 62.8 (10.2), P < 0.0001]. In conclusion, SCs from BrHM differ from limb muscles especially in their delayed differentiation. SCs from neonatal muscles form myotubes less efficiently than those from young muscles. These age-dependent differences in stem cell properties urge careful consideration for future clinical applications in patients with cleft palate.
Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, angiotensin receptor blockers and combined therapy in patients with micro- and macroalbuminuria and other cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

BACKGROUND A recent clinical trial showed harmful renal effects with the combined use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin-II receptor blockers (ARB) in people with diabetes or vascular disease. We examined the benefits and risks of these agents in people with albuminuria and one or more cardiovascular risk factors. METHODS MEDLINE, EMBASE and Renal Health Library were searched for trials comparing ACEI, ARB or their combination with placebo or with one another in people with albuminuria and one or more cardiovascular risk factor. RESULTS Eighty-five trials (21,708 patients) were included. There was no significant reduction in the risk of all-cause mortality or fatal cardiac-cerebrovascular outcomes with ACEI versus placebo, ARB versus placebo, ACEI versus ARB or with combined therapy with ACEI + ARB versus monotherapy. There was a significant reduction in the risk of nonfatal cardiovascular events with ACEI versus placebo but not with ARB versus placebo, ACEI versus ARB or with combined therapy with ACEI + ARB versus monotherapy. Development of end-stage kidney disease and progression of microalbuminuria to macroalbuminuria were reduced significantly with ACEI versus placebo and ARB versus placebo but not with combined therapy with ACEI + ARB versus monotherapy. CONCLUSIONS ACEI and ARB exert independent renal and nonfatal cardiovascular benefits while their effects on mortality and fatal cardiovascular disease are uncertain. There is a lack of evidence to support the use of combination therapy. A comparative clinical trial with ACE, ARB and its combination in people with albuminuria and a cardiovascular risk factor is warranted.
Toward the development of a cortically based visual neuroprosthesis

Motivated by the success of cochlear implants for deaf patients, we are now facing the goal of creating a visual neuroprosthesis designed to interface with the occipital cortex as a means through which a limited but useful sense of vision could be restored in profoundly blind patients. We review the most important challenges regarding this neuroprosthetic approach and emphasize the need for basic human psychophysical research on the best way of presenting complex stimulating patterns through multiple microelectrodes. Continued research will hopefully lead to the development of and design specifications for the first generation of a cortically based visual prosthesis system.
The Tennessee State University Automatic Spectroscopic Telescope: Data Processing and Velocity Variation of Cool Giants

This paper discusses data reduction for an echelle spectrograph we have developed for an automatic telescope at Tennessee State University and are using to monitor radial velocities and line profiles of cool giant and supergiant stars. Although our approach to data reduction is rather conventional, we discuss flat‐fielding and extraction of velocities in ways that should be of general interest, establish a transformation to the IAU radial velocity system (+0.35 ± 0.09 km s−1), and determine the external precision for measured velocities (0.10–0.11 km s−1). Also, we present results of the first 2–3 years of monitoring radial velocities in about 120 cool giants and compare those results with the level of variability found with photometry. These new data confirm the widely held understanding that K and M giants are all radial velocity variables at the level of 0.1 km s−1.
Fast MAC-Layer Scanning in IEEE 802.11 Fixed Relay Radio Access Networks

Mobile real-time services require wireless networks with low handoff latencies. This paper focuses on the handoffrelated MAC-Layer scanning latencies in IEEE 802.11- based Fixed Relay Radio Access Networks (FRRAN). The IEEE 802.11 scanning procedure is known to have latencies of 300 to 550 ms, which exceeds the requirements of real-time applications like Voice over IP (VoIP) by far. Previous solutions for this problem have only focused on the IEEE 802.11 infrastructure mode. However, the IEEE 802.11 ad-hoc mode is a better basis for FRRANs because it enables mobile nodes to use all relays in range, e.g. for load balancing purposes, instead of being associated to a single access point only as in infrastructure mode. Therefore, we present a novel fast-scan concept for IEEE 802.11 ad-hoc-mode-based FRRANs. The key idea is to answer MAC-layer probe requests by IP-based probe responses, which are sent back to a scanning node via the FRRAN infrastructure. The benefit of this cross-layer concept is that scanning nodes can return to their current channel quickly and can continue to send and receive normal data packets while awaiting the IP-based probe responses. We implemented our solution for commodity IEEE 802.11 hardware and could reduce scanning latencies to 70 to 80 ms.
TKB-UO: Using Sense Clustering for WSD

This paper describes the clustering-based approach to Word Sense Disambiguation that is followed by the TKB-UO system at SemEval-2007. The underlying disambiguation method only uses WordNet as external resource, and does not use training data. Results obtained in both Coarse-grained English all-words task (task 7) and English fine-grained all-words subtask (task 17) are presented.