Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social Mixing as a Cure for Negative Neighbourhood Effects: Evidence Based Policy or Urban Myth?

In this paper, we review the evidence base for social mixing in neighbourhoods, which is used as a strategy to tackle assumed negative neighbourhood effects. We discuss in detail the theoretical links between neighbourhood characteristics, and outcomes of individuals living in concentrations of poverty. Through this we identify the theoretical case for promoting socially mixed communities. We then review the empirical evidence base, focusing on outcomes of the American poverty deconcentration initiatives including the Moving to Opportunity and HOPE VI programs. We identify that the evidence from these programs is at best inconclusive. Turning to the European experience we identify problems associated with using observational data to assess individual outcomes in relation to their neighbourhood context. We conclude by suggesting that the evidence base for social mixing is far from robust, and that many of the current empirical papers suffer from serious analytical shortcomings. Ultimately, the process of creating more socially mixed neighbourhoods is unlikely to create more opportunities in life for the original residents. Socially mixing neighbourhoods through tenure mixing will only change the population composition of neighbourhoods, increasing average incomes because more affluent (and employed) residents will move into the owner occupied housing replacing social housing.
Role of O-antigen (lipopolysaccharide) factors in the virulence of Salmonella.

of guinea pig phagocytic cells to autologous and heterologous thymocytes. J. Immunol. 105:879885, 1970. 35. Bona, C. , Anteunis, A. , Robineaux, R. , Astesano, A. Transfer of antigenic macromolecules from macrophages to lymphocytes. I. Autoradiographic and quantitative study of 14C endotoxin and 125I hemocyanin transfer. Immunology 23:799816, 1972. 36. Bona, C. , Robineaux, R. , Anteunis, A. , Heuclin, C. , Astesano, A. Transfer of antigen from macrophages to lymphocytes. II. Immunological significance of the transfer of lipopolysaccharide. Immunology 1973 (in press).
Enhancing retrieval effectiveness of diacritisized Arabic passages using stemmer and thesaurus

In this paper we discuss the enhancement of Arabic passage retrieval for both diacritisized and nondiacritisized text. Most previous work suggested that retrieval start with pre-processing the Arabic text to remove the diacritical marks (short vowels) to unify the text. In most cases, this process causes considerable ambiguity at the word level in the absence of context. However, searching for a word in diacritisized text requires typing and matching all its diacritical marks, which is cumbersome and prevents users from searching and hence retrieving valuable amount of text. The other way around, is to ignore these marks and fall into the problem of ambiguity. In this paper, we propose a passage retrieval approach to search for diacritic and diacritic-less text through query expansion to match a user’s query. We applied a rule-based stemmer and we compiled a huge thesaurus for this purpose. We tested our approach on the scripts of the Quran as an open domain source of diacritisized text using a set of 40 non-diacritical words obtained from testers. The results are presented and the applied approach reveals future directions for search engines.
The Impact of Privacy Concerns on the Use of Information Technologies: A Preliminary Conceptual Model

Privacy-related concerns are likely to be important to the successful adoption and implementation of new information technologies. While personal concerns about privacy (especially information privacy) are well documented in the literature, research on the specific source of these concerns is limited. In particular, there is a dearth of information system’ s research that focuses on the characteristics of information technologies that positively or negatively influence individual privacy perceptions. The objective of this paper is to present a preliminary conceptual model that identifies the privacy-related dimensions of information technologies that influence individual privacy perceptions. This knowledge should help organizations better determine the extent to which these new technologies are likely to be adopted by end users who perceive these technologies as threats to their privacy.
Posttreatment recurrence of malignant brain neoplasm: accuracy of relative cerebral blood volume fraction in discriminating low from high malignant histologic volume fraction.

PURPOSE To determine the accuracy of relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) fraction for distinguishing high-grade recurrent neoplasm from treatment-related necrosis (TRN) in enhancing masses identified on surveillance magnetic resonance (MR) images following treatment for primary or secondary brain neoplasm. MATERIALS AND METHODS This institutional review board approved and HIPAA-compliant retrospective study included 30 patients undergoing resection of recurrent enhancing mass appearing after treatment with surgery and radiation, with or without chemotherapy. The enhancing mass volume was manually segmented on three-dimensional T1-weighted images. The rCBV maps were created by using T2-weighted dynamic susceptibility contrast perfusion MR imaging and registered to T1-weighted images, and the fraction of enhancing mass with rCBV above a range of thresholds was calculated. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was created by calculating sensitivity-specificity pairs at each threshold for rCBV fraction (< or = 20% or > 20%) by using percentage of malignant features at histologic evaluation as the reference criterion. Relationships between rCBV and probability of recurrence were estimated by using logistic regression analysis. RESULTS ROC analysis showed excellent discriminating accuracy of rCBV fraction (area under the ROC curve, 0.97 +/- 0.03 [standard error]) and high efficiency (93%) with an rCBV threshold of 1.8 times that of normal-appearing white matter. Logistic regression analysis showed that a unit increase of rCBV is associated with a 254-fold increase (95% confidence interval: 43, 1504, P < .001) of the odds that enhanced tissue is recurrence, adjusting for age, treatment, volume of enhancing tissue, and time to suspected recurrence. CONCLUSION The fraction of malignant histologic features in enhancing masses recurring after treatment for brain neoplasms can be predicted by using the rCBV fraction, with improved differentiation between recurrent neoplasm and TRN.
Integrating Emerging Technologies in IT Services Companies - The "Driver" CIO

The task of the CIO or information technology (IT) manager is to steer the technology base of the company in the right direction with the right solution choices. To innovate their business models companies often rely on emerging technologies in IT (EIT). Disruption introduced by EIT affects the ability of IT organizations to sustain the continuity of services required by the business. Therefore, IT organizations are reluctant to act quickly to integrate EIT. Through in-depth case studies in IT services companies, field interviews and focus group discussions with practitioners who underwent business model innovations based on IT, the research attempts to learn what mechanisms CIOs adopt to motivate IT organizations to innovate. Whilst proposing several directions for future research, this study offers an empirically supported CIO typology in the context of business model innovation based on IT.
Toxico-Pathological Effects of In Ovo Inoculation of Ochratoxin A (OTA) in Chick Embryos and Subsequently in Hatched Chicks

This study was designed to investigate the toxico-pathological effects of in ovo inoculation of ochratoxin A (OTA) in chicken embryos and subsequently in the hatching chicks. Nine hundred fertile white leghorn (WL) layer breeder eggs were divided into eight groups (A–H). Group A was maintained as untreated control, whereas group B was kept as sham control (10 µL of 0.1 M NaHCO3 solution). Before incubation, groups C, D, E, F, G, and H were injected with 0.01, 0.03, 0.05, 0.10, 0.50, and 1.00 µg OTA/egg, respectively. At 53 hrs of incubation, crown to rump length, optic cups, and eye lens diameters were significantly (p ≤ .05) lower, whereas neural tube closure defects were higher in the OTA-treated embryos. Teratogenic defects (studied at day 9 of incubation) and embryonic mortalities were higher in the groups administered high doses of OTA. A significant increase was noted in the serum concentration of ALT, urea, and creatinine, along with higher weights of liver and kidney, in chicks hatched from OTA-contaminated eggs. These findings suggested that there are teratogenic and substantive toxicological risks in the developing chicken embryos and hatched chicks that could be exposed to OTA in ovo.
Norm estimators and global output feedback stabilization of nonlinear systems WithISS inverse dynamics

A preliminary result on the construction of norm estimators for general nonlinear systems that do not necessarily admit a input output to state stable (IOSS)-Lyapunov characterization is given. Furthermore, an output feedback stabilization scheme is presented that makes use of norm estimators. This construction extends some previous results allowing for more general nonlinearities. Two examples complete the work.
Validação de uma bateria de testes de atividades da vida diária para idosos fisicamente independentes

Dados de pesquisas mostram que 25 por cento da populacao idosa mundial e dependente de outros para realizar suas tarefas cotidianas. Entretanto, a grande maioria, apesar de apresentar alguma dificuldade na realizaca dessas atividades, e independente. Nao obstante esses dados, continuam a predominar medidas de avaliacao voltadas para a populacao fisicamente dependente ou fragilizada, dificultando a analise e compreensao do desempenho motor e das atividades da vida diaria (AVD) da maioria dos idosos, que nao sao fisicamente dependentes. Assim, o objetivo desse estudo foi criar e validar uma bateria de testes motores relacionados as AVD, voltados para a populacao fisicamente independente. Participaram da validacao da bateria de testes 30 idosos fisicamente independentes, com idade media de 68,7 anos, participantes do PAAF (Programa Autonomia para Atividade Fisica), da Escola de Educacao Fisica e Esporte da Universidade de Sao Paulo. Levando em consideracao as atividades mais frequentemente desempenhadas por esses idosos, em seu dia-a-dia, bem como as de maior dificuldade de realizacao, foi elaborada uma bateria de testes com as atividades: caminhar 800 metros, sentar e levantar-se de uma cadeira e locomover-se pela casa, subir degraus, subir escadas, levantar-se do solo, habilidades manuais e calcar meias. Os resultados apontaram que os testes criados nesse estudo tem descricao clara, relacionam-se com AVD e possuem aplicabilidade, o que corrobora a validade de seu conteudo.
Therapeutic efficacy of cefadroxil and cephalexin for pneumonia in a rat test model

The therapeutic efficacies of cefadroxil and cephalexin were compared in a Streptococcus pyogenes-induced lung infection in rats. Although MICs, rates of in vitro killing in rat serum, and antibiotic serum levels after oral administration were similar for both drugs, cefadroxil was about eight times more effective than cephalexin in reducing the number of viable streptococci at the site of infection. This excellent in vivo bactericidal activity of cefadroxil in lung tissue and bronchial secretions was reflected in the 50% protective dose (PD50) after single or multiple oral treatments. A single treatment given 24 h after infection resulted in a PD50 of 2.8 mg of cefadroxil per kg, compared with 21 mg of cephalexin per kg. When treatment was administered three times, at 24, 27, and 30 h postinfection, the PD50s of cefadroxil and cephalexin were 0.7 and 8.0 mg/kg, respectively. In infected animals, treated 24 h postinfection, the area under the lung tissue concentration versus time curve for cefadroxil was significantly greater than that of cephalexin. This difference in pharmacokinetic behavior may account, at least in part, for the superior therapeutic results obtained with cefadroxil in this experimental pulmonary infection.
Modeling Intracerebal Hemorrhage: Glutamate, Nuclear Factor-&kgr;B Signaling and Cytokines

A significant amount of new information has been generated in animal models of intracerebral hemorrhage during the past several years. These include findings on the pathophysiological, biochemical and molecular processes that underlie the development of brain tissue injury after intracerebral hemorrhage as well as potential new treatments. We review these various findings that include glutamate receptor activation, oxidative stress development, intracellular signaling through the transcription factor, nuclear factor-&kgr;B, and markedly upregulated cytokine gene expression. We also briefly review the surgical treatment for intracerebral hemorrhage and list the pharmacological treatment studies that have recently appeared.
PREDICTIVE MODELING WITH MISSING DATA USING AN AUTOMATIC RELEVANCE DETERMINATION ENSEMBLE: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

The objective of this article is to present an automatic relevance determination ensemble as an effective variable extraction method for insurance datasets with large numbers of variables. Automatic relevance determination is a method that uses a Bayesian neural network and the evidence framework to rank variables in the order of relevance to the target variable. The current approach uses a single Bayesian neural network that searches only for local minima or maxima. In large datasets with numerous variables, this is a concern because we cannot be certain that the outcome is an optimal one. The method used to address this issue in this study is an automatic relevance determination ensemble with various configurations (or structures) of the Bayesian neural networks. Each outcome in the ensemble is determined by using a confidence factor rather than by scrutinizing the most probable weights values or hyperparameters directly. The extraction method is used with the repeated incremental pruning to produce error reduction, logistic discriminant analysis, and k-nearest neighbor models to evaluate the performance. Furthermore, the datasets employed contain escalating missing data to measure the accuracy and resilience of the models when they are used with the proposed ensemble. The ensemble is compared with the principal component analysis method. The results show that with the automatic relevance determination ensemble, the models achieve higher accuracies in performance than when used with the principal component analysis. Furthermore, the resilience and strength of models is higher when using the ensemble, compared with the principal component analysis method.
A HYBRID METHOD FOR INTEGRATING MULTIPLE ONTOLOGIES

While there has been a variety of research focusing on ontology integration based on simple techniques (e.g., element- or structure-level techniques), the hybrid approaches combining the simple techniques have not been explored. In this paper we describe a hybrid method to integrate multiple ontologies in several levels, such as the element level, internal structure, and relational structure. A semantic supporting environment (SSE) combining special domains (e.g., WordNet) and text corpus are defined in the proposed approach. An enriched ontology model (EOM) has been proposed to reduce the initial complexity of the process of ontology integration. Subsequently, the semantic network called OnConceptSNet is provided. The relations between the concepts in the OnConceptSNet are derived from the SSE. An enhanced algorithm (EA) has been proposed to enhance OnConceptSNet.
Opening Pandora’s Box: E(cid:27)ective Techniques for Reverse Engineering IoT Devices

With the growth of the Internet of Things, many insecure embedded devices are entering into our homes and businesses. Some of these web-connected devices lack even basic security protections such as secure password authentication. As a result, thousands of IoT devices have already been infected with malware and enlisted into malicious botnets and many more are left vulnerable to exploitation. In this paper we analyze the practical security level of 16 popular IoT devices from high-end and low-end manufacturers. We present several low-cost black-box techniques for reverse engineering these devices, including software and fault injection based techniques for bypassing pass-word protection. We use these techniques to recover device (cid:28)rmware and passwords. We also discover several common design (cid:29)aws which lead to previously unknown vulnerabilities. We demonstrate the e(cid:27)ectiveness of our approach by modifying a laboratory version of the Mirai botnet to automatically include these devices. We also discuss how to improve the security of IoT devices without signi(cid:28)cantly increasing their cost.
(E)-tert-Butyl 4-(N′-hydroxycarbamimidoyl)piperazine-1-carboxylate

In the title compound, C10H20N4O3, the piperazine ring adopts a chair conformation. The molecule adopts an E conformation across the C=N double bond, with the –OH group and the piperazine ring trans to one another. Further, the H atom of the hydroxy group is directed away from the NH2 group. An intramolecular N—H⋯O contact occurs involving the NH2 group and the oxime O atom. In the crystal, molecules are linked via strong N—H⋯O and O—H⋯N hydrogen bonds with alternating R 2 2(6) and C(9) motifs into tetrameric units forming R 4 4(28) motifs.
Isolation and characterization of the gene encoding the principal sigma factor of the vegetative cell RNA polymerase from the cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120

The filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 responds to combined nitrogen deprivation by forming specialized nitrogen-fixing cells at regular intervals along the filament. Genetic and biochemical studies have indicated that regulation of gene expression during differentiation occurs at the transcriptional level. As part of a characterization of RNA polymerase during differentiation, the gene encoding the 52-kDa principal sigma factor of the Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 vegetative-cell RNA polymerase was isolated by using an oligonucleotide probe based on the sequence of the N-terminal seven amino acids of the purified protein. sigA codes for a 390-amino-acid polypeptide that has a predicted molecular weight of 45,641. The amino acid sequence of the polypeptide encoded by sigA contains four regions corresponding to conserved domains of the principal RNA polymerase sigma factors of Escherichia coli (sigma 70) and Bacillus subtilis (sigma 43). Thus, although the subunit composition of cyanobacterial RNA polymerase core differs from that of other eubacteria (G. J. Schneider and R. Haselkorn, J. Bacteriol. 170:4136-4140, 1988), the principal sigma factor of at least one cyanobacterium is typically eubacterial. In contrast to sigma 70 and sigma 43 operon organization, sigA is monocistronic and encodes two transcripts of 1.7 and 2.2 kb. The abundance of the 1.7-kb transcript remains constant under both nitrogen-replete and nitrogen-limiting conditions, whereas the 2.2-kb transcript is induced following the removal of combined nitrogen. Continued or enhanced transcription of sigA under nitrogen starvation conditions is consistent with the observation that the principal RNA polymerase in differentiating cells contains SigA.
A pointing facilitation system for motor-impaired users combining polynomial smoothing and time-weighted gradient target prediction models

ABSTRACT As computers become more and more essential for everyday life, people who cannot use them are missing out on an important tool. The predominant method of interaction with a screen is a mouse, and difficulty in using a mouse can be a huge obstacle for people who would otherwise gain great value from using a computer. If mouse pointing were to be made easier, then a large number of users may be able to begin using a computer efficiently where they may previously have been unable to. The present article aimed to improve pointing speeds for people with arm or hand impairments. The authors investigated different smoothing and prediction models on a stored data set involving 25 people, and the best of these algorithms were chosen. A web-based prototype was developed combining a polynomial smoothing algorithm with a time-weighted gradient target prediction model. The adapted interface gave an average improvement of 13.5% in target selection times in a 10-person study of representative users of the system. A demonstration video of the system is available at https://youtu.be/sAzbrKHivEY
Assessment of arterial stiffness in patients with inactive and active Behçet’s disease

Objectives: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a systemic vasculitis involving diverse sizes of arteries and veins. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between central blood pressures, pulse wave velocity (PWV) measurements, and biochemical parameters in patients with inactive and active BD and control subjects. Method: Ninety-six patients with BD were recruited in this study. Each subject was evaluated in active and inactive disease periods. For the control group, 54 healthy age- and sex-matched subjects were enrolled. All patients completed a standard questionnaire form and various laboratory parameters were evaluated. Vascular measurements were performed with a Mobil-O-Graph 24-h PWA Monitor, an automatic oscillometric device. Results: According to the vascular function parameters of patients with active and inactive BD, 24-h, day, and night PWV values were higher in patients with active BD than in patients with inactive BD (p < 0.05). When we performed a linear regression analysis, 24-h PWV was positively correlated with age and duration of BD. Cardiac output (CO) values and day central diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were higher in patients with BD than in the control group (p < 0.05). Conclusions: PWV values were higher in patients with active BD than in patients with inactive BD. This may be explained by more prominent inflammatory changes in the vascular wall in the active disease period. Further studies in large populations are required to confirm our results.
Inefficient Vaginal Transmission of Tenofovir-Resistant HIV-1

ABSTRACT Transmission of drug-resistant HIV has been postulated to be a threat to current first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens and the efficacy of several antiretroviral-based preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) strategies being tested. Here we evaluated the effect of the common tenofovir (TFV) resistance mutation K65R on vaginal HIV transmission. Our results demonstrate that despite no overt loss of overall replication competence in vivo, this mutation results in significantly reduced mucosal transmission. When transmitted, the mutant virus eventually reverted to the wild type in 2 of 3 animals examined.