Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Swedish Health Data – Information Access and RepresentationSwedish Health Data – Information Access and Representation

Health related research is an interdisciplinary, broad and growing research area. With the growth of digitalised systems that simplify and make work processes more efficient in many companies and organisations, the amount of available data is now immense. The information contained in health related digital data sets could be used for further research and also, in the long run, for improving health care, health care processes, and public health. A large amount of the information contained in these data sets is often in unstructured, free text. Health related texts can comprise various types of text, such as scientific articles, questionnaire answers, (electronic) health records, information on web sites, and e-mail. What these texts all have in common is above all the use of a domain-specific vocabulary. Information access methods applied to textual data require a language model. Many human language technology tools have been developed in order to improve and simplify representation models, primarily for English, and predominantly for general language use. For Swedish, several human language technology tools have been developed. How these tools work on domainspecific data such as health data, is still a relatively unchartered research area. We have investigated what properties the language use in Swedish electronic health records have compared to a large, general-purpose Swedish corpus, in order to identify if and where adaptation is necessary. We have also created a representation model based on phrases instead of words for Swedish scientific medical text. Health related texts also contain a potentially large amount of previously unknown information, which could be valuable to exploit in further research. We have developed an iterative and interactive method for exploring large text sets, based on document clustering, where both structured and unstructured information is used for generating hypotheses from epidemiological questionnaire data and electronic health records. One of the most important factors that influence the possibilities of performing research on health related data sets is availability. Although digital information is easy to store and obtain automatically, this type of data often contains sensitive and private information that makes it impossible to distribute for further research, unless identifiable information is deleted or replaced. We have initiated work on automatic de-identification for Swedish and created a manually annotated gold standard, which could be used both for evaluating de-identification systems as well as for training new systems.
An Evolutionary Computing Approach to Financial Portfolio Management Based on Growth Stocks & Sector/Industry Distribution

In this work we propose an artificial intelligence based system to compose and manage financial portfolios. Financial knowledge and evolutionary algorithms are incorporated in the system to achieve a better performance when choosing the stocks to compose the portfolio. The main goal is to design a strategy which captures the most promising growing companies on the market. To achieve this goal, the system designed incorporate a fundamental approach and a market division by sectors/industries, using financial ratios and sector specific indicators. Several investing strategies were tested, and further validated using as measures the return, variance and extra risk. The simulations were conducted using data from the S&P 500 index for the periods January 2011 until December 2014. Real constraints are used to define an environment similar to the ones faced by real portfolio managers. The results demonstrated that combining evolutionary computation with financial ratios is a good solution to select the most promising companies. The division of the market by sectors also proved to be profitable. Simulations obtained returns above the market with slightly lower variances. The best results suggested that the most promising stocks are the ones presenting higher returns on equity (ROE), higher rate of revenue (RR) and price to earnings growth (PEG), and additionally, low debt ratios (DR).
Effects of nitrogen and phosphorus additions on primary production and invertebrate densities in a Georgia (USA) tidal freshwater marsh

We added nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and N+P to a Zizaniopsis miliacea (Giant Cutgrass) dominated tidal freshwater marsh in Georgia USA to investigate nutrient limitation of tidal freshwater marsh primary production and invertebrate densities. After two years, aboveground biomass was significantly greater in the plots receiving N (2130 g m−2), and N+P (2066 g m−2) than in the control (886 g m−2) and P (971 g m−2) only treatments. We observed no enrichment of leaf N or P in response to nutrient additions. Rather leaf N decreased and C:N increased in plots receiving N, suggesting that leaf N was diluted by increased production of carbon laden structural components used to support increased plant height. N:P ratios (mol:mol) of the plant tissue were consistently < 30 (14–27) in the treatment plots, also suggesting N limitation of primary production. Total densities of benthic invertebrates and oligochaete worms (primarily Tubificidae and Lumbriculidae) were significantly greater in the N+P plots than in the other treatments after two years of nutrient additions. There were no clear differences in diversity of benthic invertebrates among treatments. Our results suggest that tidal freshwater marsh primary and secondary production is limited or co-limited by N, and thus, like estuaries and salt marshes, are susceptible to N enrichment and eutrophication.
Combination of the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)‐associated 9 technique with the piggybac transposon system for mouse in utero electroporation to study cortical development

In utero electroporation (IUE) is commonly used to study cortical development of cerebrum by downregulating or overexpressing genes of interest in neural progenitor cells (NPCs) of small mammals. However, exogenous plasmids are lost or diluted over time. Furthermore, gene knockdown based on short‐hairpin RNAs may exert nonspecific effects that lead to aberrant neuronal migration. Genomic engineering by the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR‐associated 9 (Cas9) system has great research and therapeutic potentials. Here we integrate the CRISPR/Cas9 components into the piggyBac (PB) transposon system (the CRISPR/Cas9‐PB toolkit) for cortical IUEs. The mouse Sry‐related HMG box‐2 (Sox2) gene was selected as the target for its application. Most transduced cortical NPCs were depleted of SOX2 protein as early as 3 days post‐IUE, whereas expressions of SOX1 and PAX6 remained intact. Furthermore, both the WT Cas9 and the D10A nickase mutant Cas9n showed comparable knockout efficiency. Transduced cortical cells were purified with fluorescence‐activated cell sorting, and effective gene editing at the Sox2 loci was confirmed. Thus, application of the CRISPR/Cas9‐PB toolkit in IUE is a promising strategy to study gene functions in cortical NPCs and their progeny. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Associations between statin use and non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) risk and survival: a meta‐analysis

Evidence on the effect of statin use on non‐Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) is not clear. We conducted a systematic review and meta‐analysis to examine the associations between statin use and NHL risk and survival. We searched multiple literature sources up to October 2014 and identified 10 studies on the risk of diagnosis with NHL and 9 studies on survival. Random effects model was used to calculate pooled odds ratio (PORs) for risk and pooled hazard ratio (PHR) for survival. Heterogeneity among studies was examined using the Tau‐squared and the I‐squared (I2) tests. Statin use was associated with reduced risk for total NHL (POR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.69–0.99). Among statin users, there was a lower incidence risk for marginal zone lymphoma (POR = 0.54, 95% CI 0.31–0.94), but this was not observed for other types of NHL. However, statin use did not affect overall survival (PHR = 1.02, 95% CI 0.99–1.06) or event‐free survival (PHR = 0.99, 95% CI 0.87–1.12) in diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma. There is suggestive epidemiological evidence that statins decrease the risk of NHL, but they do not influence survival in NHL patients. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Expression of Personalization while Developing Long-Term Relationships with Service Customers

Efforts directed towards customer retention highly depend on the area in which company operates. Personalization is considered as one of the most effective means for service companies to develop long-term relationships with their customers. However, it still remains unclear how personalization should be expressed while developing long-term relationships with service customers. Thus, the aim of this study is to reason theoretically the effect of personalization on long-term relationships with service customers and to test it empirically on the example of high personal contact services. Theoretical studies reveal that personalized interaction between a service customer and a company is a three-dimensional construct, dimensions of which are personalized contact, personalized physical environment, and customer environment. Results of personalization in the context of the long-term relationships development are expressed through relationship quality (trust, satisfaction, and commitment) and customer loyalty (loyalty to a service company and loyalty to a certain employee). Hair salon services were chosen as a case for the empirical research. Results of the empirical research show that dimensions of personalized interaction influence both relationship quality dimensions and relationship results. The most significant dimension of personalized interaction while developing long-term relationships with customers of hair salons is personalized contact. The paper gives some practical insights for the development of long-term relationships with customers of hair salons.DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.ee. 27.4. 14159
Vision-based gesture recognition in a robot learning by imitation framework

dc.description. abstract La robotica ha evolucionado en las ultimas decadas hacia agentes cada vez mas complejos, versatiles y capaces. Asi, empiezan a aparecer robots capaces de trabajar en entornos cotidianos, dinamicos e imprevisibles. Es importante que dichos robots puedan interactuar de forma intuitiva y eficaz con las personas que encuentren en dichos entornos. Surge asi el concepto de robot social, una de cuyas caracteristicas principales es la capacidad de aprender de los demas. De entre los diferentes mecanismos de aprendizaje, el aprendizaje por imitacion es una de las opciones mas adecuadas para permitir a una persona suministrar facilmente nuevos conocimientos al robot. Como quiera que el refuerzo verbal de las demostraciones realizadas en este tipo de aprendizaje puede no estar presente, es interesante contar con un mecanismo de aprendizaje por imitacion basado puramente en vision. En esta Tesis, se presenta un sistema que implementa esta funcionalidad, permitiendo a un robot aprender gestos por imitacion. La arquitectura de este sistema, en si misma, supone la contribucion fundamental de este trabajo, pues presenta alternativas y novedades tanto en su estructura como en la implementacion de sus componentes. La entrada sensorial del sistema esta limitada a la informacion suministrada por un unico par estereo. A partir de estos datos, se extraen los movimientos de la parte superior del cuerpo de la persona usando un sistema propuesto en esta Tesis. Una vez estos movimientos han sido segmentados en gestos, son representados mediante una codificacion basada en caracteristicas tanto locales como globales. Dicha codificacion mixta es otra de las aportaciones de esta Tesis. Una vez codificados, los gestos percibidos son comparados con el repertorio de gestos aprendidos por el robot. Las caracteristicas locales se comparan utilizando algoritmos de programacion dinamica, y los resultados obtenidos se refuerzan con la comparacion de las caracteristicas globales. Los resultados de estas comparaciones son utilizados por un componente de aprendizaje para valorar si se debe cambiar o no el repertorio de gestos aprendidos. Para solventar situaciones confusas, un cierto grado de supervision por parte del usuario humano puede ser requerido. Es importante destacar que todo el proceso anterior es independiente de las habilidades motoras del robot, lo que supone una importante variacion de esta arquitectura frente a otras propuestas. Como consecuencia, las caracteristicas fisicas del robot no limitan la percepcion, con lo que los movimientos de la persona que realiza las demostraciones pueden codificarse, reconocerse y aprenderse de manera mas precisa. Solo en aquellos casos en que se requiera que el robot imite fisicamente los movimientos percibidos o aprendidos interviene el ultimo modulo de la arquitectura, que traduce los gestos del espacio de movimientos de la persona al del robot, usando una estrategia combinada
Nonenzymatic Proton Handling by Carbonic Anhydrase II during H+-Lactate Cotransport via Monocarboxylate Transporter 1*

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is a ubiquitous enzyme catalyzing the equilibration of carbon dioxide, protons, and bicarbonate. For several acid/base-coupled membrane carriers it has been shown that the catalytic activity of CA supports transport activity, an interaction coined “transport metabolon. ” We have reported that CA isoform II (CAII) enhances lactate transport activity of the monocarboxylate transporter isoform I (MCT1) expressed in Xenopus oocytes, which does not require CAII catalytic activity ( Becker, H. M., Fecher-Trost, C., Hirnet, D., Sültemeyer, D., and Deitmer, J. W. (2005) J. Biol. Chem. 280, 39882-39889 ). Coexpression of MCT1 with either wild type CAII or the catalytically inactive mutant CAII-V143Y similarly enhanced MCT1 activity, although injection of CAI or coexpression of an N-terminal mutant of CAII had no effect on MCT1 transport activity, demonstrating a specific, nonenzymatic action of CAII on lactate transport via MCT1. If the H+ gradient was set to dominate the rate of lactate transport by applying low concentrations of lactate at a high H+ concentration, the effect of CAII was largest. We tested the hypothesis of whether CAII helps to shuttle H+ along the inner face of the cell membrane by measuring the pH change with fluorescent dye in different areas of interest during focal lactate application. Intracellular pH shifts decayed from the focus of lactate application to more distant sites much less when CAII had been injected. We present a hypothetical model in which the effective movement of H+ into the bulk cytosol is increased by CAII, thus slowing the dissipation of the H+ gradient across the cell membrane, which drives MCT1 activity.
Zebrafish Androgen Receptor: Isolation, Molecular, and Biochemical Characterization1

Abstract Androgens play an important role in male sexual differentiation and development. They exert their function by binding to and activating the androgen receptor (Ar), a member of the steroid hormone receptor superfamily. Here, we report on the isolation and characterization of zebrafish Ar. The complete transcript of zebrafish ar is 5.3 kb long encoding a putative polypeptide of 868 amino acids. Our experimental and bioinformatic analysis has found a single ar locus in zebrafish. Phylogenetic analysis using the ligand-binding domain showed that the zebrafish Ar clustered with its cyprinid orthologs to form a separate group, which was closer to the beta clade than to the alpha clade. Tissue-specific expression analysis revealed that the ar mRNA was expressed ubiquitously in all adult tissues tested, with sexually dimorphic expression in the gonad and muscle. While the ar transcript was maternally deposited into the embryo, signs of zygotic expression could be detected as early as 24 h after fertilization, and the expression level increased substantially afterwards. When analyzed during gonad development, the expression level of ar mRNA at 4 wk after fertilization was similar in both developing gonads but later became higher in the transforming testis, suggesting a potential role during male gonad differentiation. We also combined theoretical modeling with in vitro experiments to show that the zebrafish Ar is preferentially activated by 11-ketotestosterone.
Variations of Candida albicans electrophoretic karyotypes

We previously described 14 rare spontaneous morphological mutants of Candida albicans that were associated with chromosomal aberrations (E. P. Rustchenko-Bulgac, F. Sherman, and J. B. Hicks, J. Bacteriol. 172:1276-1283, 1990). Improved conditions for separation of chromosomes, as well as hybridization probes, were used to investigate the variation of karyotypes of clinical isolates and additional morphological mutants. All 23 newly analyzed morphological mutants, representing frequently occurring and highly unstable colonial forms, had a variety of altered karyotypes. All chromosomal changes were similar to those previously observed in mutants m1 to m14. In this study, I particularly noted that the most frequent changes involved the long chromosome VIII, which carries ribosomal DNA cistrons. Two rates of instability were uncovered by analyzing the progenies from two highly unstable mutants. An unstable mutant proved to be able to continuously produce a large number of altered karyotypes that could result in a wide variety of different phenotypes. Furthermore, all four independent clinical isolates, FC18, C9, 3153A, and WO-1, common laboratory strains, revealed different electrophoretic karyotypes and distinct colonial morphologies on a synthetic medium, similar to spontaneous mutants. The differences of electrophoretic karyotypes observed among clinical isolates resembled the changes found among different kinds of spontaneous morphological mutants. These findings contribute to the understanding of natural karyotypic variability and are in agreement with the hypothesis that chromosomal alterations observed spontaneously under laboratory conditions provide this amictic species with genetic variability in nature.
Primary-care patients' trade-off preferences with regard to antidepressants

Background Antidepressants are frequently prescribed but results regarding their efficacy have been equivocal for different spectra of the severity continuum and their side-effects are often burdensome. Non-adherence is a likely consequence. The objective was therefore to examine patients’ trade-offs between the efficacy, side-effects and other drawbacks of antidepressants and whether these trade-offs predicted non-adherence. Method Trade-offs from 225 antidepressant users, recruited through community pharmacies, were assessed with an Adaptive Conjoint Analysis (ACA) choice task that was customized to each individual patient. From the estimated utilities, relative importance scores of treatment properties were calculated. Non-adherence was measured through self-report and pharmacy refill data. Results Relapse prevention and symptom relief were on average equally important. Side-effects were as important and the side-effect stomach and intestine complaints was on average even slightly more important than relapse prevention and symptom relief. Additional treatment with psychotherapy was preferred by 61% of the patients. A benefit/drawback ratio revealed that 18% of the patients did not consider the efficacy to outweigh the drawbacks. A higher benefit/drawback ratio was associated with a decreased odds of intentional non-adherence [odds ratio (OR) 0.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.07–0.7, Wald = 6.7, p = 0.01). Conclusions For nearly one in five patients, the efficacy of antidepressants does not outweigh their drawbacks. Knowing patients’ trade-offs is likely to aid both physicians and patients to identify important treatment preferences, to improve adherence and to make more deliberate decisions on whether or not to continue treatment.
Effect of round curvature of anterior implant-supported zirconia frameworks: finite element analysis and in vitro study using digital image correlation

Abstract Two groups of 4-unit zirconia frameworks were produced by CAD/CAM to simulate the restoration of an anterior edentulous gap supported by 2 implant-abutment assemblies. Group 1 comprised straight configuration frameworks and group 2 consisted of arched frameworks. Specimens were made with the same connector cross-section area and were cemented and submitted to static loads. Displacements were captured with two high-speed photographic cameras and analysed with video correlation system. Frameworks and the implant-abutment assembly were scanned and converted to 3DCAD objects by reverse engineering process. A specimen of each group was veneered and the corresponding 3D geometry was similarly obtained after scanning. Numerical models were created from the CAD objects and the FE analysis was performed on the zirconia frameworks and on the FPDs bi-layered with porcelain (veneered frameworks). Displacements were higher for the curved frameworks group, under any load. The predicted displacements correlated well with the experimental values of the two framework groups, but on the straight framework the experimental vertical displacements were superior to those predicted by the FEA. The results showed that the round curvature of zirconia anterior implant-supported FPDs plays a significant role on the deformation/stress of FPDs that cannot be neglected neither in testing nor in simulation and should be considered in the clinical setting.
Proceedings of the 17th ACM conference on Computer supported cooperative work & social computing

We warmly welcome you to Baltimore, Maryland, USA, for the 2014 ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing! In keeping with previous years, CSCW 2014 presents premier research on computer-mediated collaboration, social computing, and social media, from the design of technical systems for collaboration to ethnographic studies of use in the wild. The mission of the conference is to share the novel research that will advance the state of our art. The conference program embraces a variety of perspectives, reflecting how collaboration permeates different aspects of people's work, social, and civic lives. This diversity of perspectives is mirrored by geographic diversity among contributors. The CSCW 2014 program retains the richly articulated structure of previous conferences in this series including a robust program of workshops, papers, panels, demonstrations, videos, and interactive posters. This year, we also introduce CSCWhat's Next, a selection of forward-looking research-in-progress papers intended to foster discussion. Another innovation this year is the option for demos, videos and poster presenters to give short talks about their work immediately preceding Monday night's reception. Special highlights this year include our opening plenary talk, "Making a Difference In and Through Playful Design," by Mary Flanagan of Dartmouth University and our closing plenary, "Next Generation Humanitarian Computing," by Patrick Meier of Qatar Computing Research Institute. We will also present the inaugural CSCW Lasting Impact Award to Jonathan Grudin for his groundbreaking 1988 paper "Why CSCW applications fail: Problems in the design and evaluation of organizational interfaces. " Interest in CSCW'14 is as high as ever, including a record number of paper submissions. The welcome message from our technical program chairs highlights the modifications to the review process this year as we continue to optimize our new revise and resubmit system.