Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A prospective population-based study of the predictors of undergoing total joint arthroplasty.

OBJECTIVE To examine prospectively the predictors of time to total joint arthroplasty (TJA). METHODS This was a prospective cohort study with a median followup time of 6.1 years. We included participants from an existing population-based cohort of 2,128 individuals, ages 55 years and older with disabling hip and/or knee arthritis and no prior TJA, from 2 regions of Ontario, Canada, 1 urban with low TJA rates and 1 rural with high rates. The main outcome measure was the occurrence of a TJA based on procedure codes in the hospital discharge abstract database. RESULTS At baseline, the mean age of the patients was 71.5 years, 67.9% had a high school education or higher, 73.4% were women, the mean arthritis severity (Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index [WOMAC]) score was 41.1 (maximum possible score 100), and 20.0% were willing to consider TJA. Greater probability of undergoing TJA was associated with higher (worse) baseline WOMAC scores (hazard ratio [HR] 1.22 per 10-unit increase, P < 0.001), age (compared with age <or=62 years, the HR increased to 1.57 for 63-68 years, 1.46 for 69-74 years, and 1.51 for 75-81 years, and fell to 0.44 for >or=82 years; P < 0.05 for all), better health (HR 1.14 per 10-unit increase in Short Form 36 general health survey score, P < 0.001), and willingness to consider TJA (HR 4.92, P < 0.001). When willingness was excluded from the model, education level, but not sex or income, became a significant predictor of TJA receipt. CONCLUSION Willingness to consider TJA was the strongest predictor of the time to first TJA. Given that previous research indicates that willingness is largely explained by perceptions of the indications for and risks associated with TJA and not disease severity, this finding supports the need for population education about arthritis treatments, including TJA.
Neuronal current distribution imaging using magnetic resonance

A new functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique to visualize the distribution of neuronal currents in the human brain was developed Measurements of the internal magnetic field deformation caused by an electric current dipole in a phantom were performed using a method based on the microscopic magnetic resonance imaging technique. The minimal value of the current dipole moment detected by the present method was determined to be 90 nAm. The technique was applied to obtain maps of human brain activity by using motor and sensory stimulus paradigms. Measurements were made with an EPI sequence at 1.5 T. Intensity changes, resulting from causes other than neuronal currents, were eliminated by editing functional images obtained with field gradients of different polarities. MRI mapping of the neuronal currents in the brain during middle finger and thumb tapping was clearly obtained.
Direct Marketing, Indirect Profits: A Strategic Analysis of Dual - Channel Supply - Chain Design

The advent of e-commerce has prompted many manufacturers to redesign their traditional channel structures by engaging in direct sales. The model conceptualizes the impact of customer acceptance of a direct channel, the degree to which customers accept a direct channel as a substitute for shopping at a traditional store, on supply-chain design. The customer acceptance of a direct channel can be strong enough that an indepent manufacturer would open a direct channel to compete with its own retailers. Here, direct marketing is used for strategic channel control purposes even though it is inefficient on its own and, surprisingly, it can profit the manufacturer even when so direct sales occur. Specifically, we construct a price-setting game between a manufacturer and its independent retailer. Direct marketing, which indirectly increases the flow of profits through the retail channel, helps the manufacturer improve overall profitability by reducing the degree of inefficient price double marginalization. While operated by the manufacturer to constrain the retailer's pricing behavior, the direct channel may not always be detrimental to the retailer because it will be accompanied by a wholesale price reduction. This combination of manufacturer pull and push can benefit the retailer in equilibrium. Finally, we show that the mere threat of introducing the direct channel can increase the manufacturer's negotiated share of cooperative profits even if price efficiency is obtained by using other business practices.
A Multi-objective Optimization Evolutionary Algorithm Addressing Diversity Maintenance

A multi-objective evolutionary algorithm keeping diversity of the population is proposed. The algorithm makes use of a metric based on entropy to measure the diversity of the population. The evolving state of the current population is associated with the running mechanism of the algorithm by the diversity metric, and several strategies are designed to enhance the extent of exploration of the algorithm. Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm has good performance of convergence and distribution.
On The Difference Between Natural Language And High Level Query Languages

Natural Language questions differ from most existing formal query languages in that they tend to admit a wider range of responses than their formal counterparts, and provide cues for selecting among the variety of appropriate responses. These differences reflect the fact that in Natural Language conversation, a respondent is expected to take an active role in the process of selecting and organizing responses, in contrast to formal query systems, where control of the interaction typically resides with the user or applications program. This paper explores some specific ways in which Natural Language questions are particularly well suited for their environment, and discusses the potential role of similar capabilities in formal query systems, particularly with respect to Natural Language Data Base query systems.
Interactive Simulation of Generalised Newtonian Fluids using GPUs

We present a method to interactively simulate and visualise Generalised Newtonian Fluids (GNF) using GPUs. GNFs include regular constant viscosity fluids as well as other fluids such as blood, which display variable viscosity due to variable shear rate. We use a statistical approach called Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) for the simulation. LBM is easy to understand and implement and does not include discretisation of differential equations. We exploit the inherent parallelism of LBM coupled with its memory access pattern to create a fast GPU implementation that gives scientifically accurate and fast results such as interactive real time simulations for reasonable domain size. MultiGPU implementations provide the potential to scale to larger problem sizes.
The Ambiguity of Test Preparation: A Multimethod Analysis in One State

We studied test preparation activity among fourth-grade math and science teachers in New Jersey, using a survey of almost 300 teachers and observations of and interviews with almost 60. New Jersey uses a mix of open-ended and multiple-choice tests; links few stakes to test results, except for publication of scores; and offers limited professional development to teachers. New Jersey teachers are adopting specific techniques associated with more inquiry-oriented instruction, but their basic approach does not appear to be changing. Teachers do teach the content on the test with a new wrinkle. When more students are passing a test in one subject area than in another, emphasis shifts to the area with low scores. We found more direct instruction in lower socioeconomic districts but not less inquiry-oriented instruction. Finally, principal support has more influence on the test preparation strategies teachers use than does pressure to comply.
Exploring Fine-Grained Heterogeneity with Composite Cores

Heterogeneous multicore systems- comprising multiple cores with varying performance and energy characteristics-have emerged as a promising approach to increasing energy efficiency. Such systems reduce energy consumption by identifying application phases and migrating execution to the most efficient core that meets performance requirements. However, the overheads of migrating between cores limit opportunities to coarse-grained phases (hundreds of millions of instructions), reducing the potential to exploit energy efficient cores. We propose Composite Cores, an architecture that reduces migration overheads by bringing heterogeneity into a core. Composite Cores pairs a big and little compute μEngine that together achieve high performance and energy efficiency. By sharing architectural state between the μEngines, the migration overhead is reduced, enabling fine-grained migration and increasing the opportunities to utilize the little μEngine without sacrificing performance. An intelligent controller migrates the application between μEngines to maximize energy efficiency while constraining performance loss to a configurable bound. We evaluate Composite Cores using cycle accurate microarchitectural simulations and a detailed power model. Results show that, on average, Composite Cores are able to map 30 percent of the execution time to the little μEngine, achieving a 21 percent energy savings while maintaining 95 percent performance.
Effects of Visual Feedback-Induced Variability on Motor Learning of Handrim Wheelchair Propulsion

Background It has been suggested that a higher intra-individual variability benefits the motor learning of wheelchair propulsion. The present study evaluated whether feedback-induced variability on wheelchair propulsion technique variables would also enhance the motor learning process. Learning was operationalized as an improvement in mechanical efficiency and propulsion technique, which are thought to be closely related during the learning process. Methods 17 Participants received visual feedback-based practice (feedback group) and 15 participants received regular practice (natural learning group). Both groups received equal practice dose of 80 min, over 3 weeks, at 0.24 W/kg at a treadmill speed of 1.11 m/s. To compare both groups the pre- and post-test were performed without feedback. The feedback group received real-time visual feedback on seven propulsion variables with instruction to manipulate the presented variable to achieve the highest possible variability (1st 4-min block) and optimize it in the prescribed direction (2nd 4-min block). To increase motor exploration the participants were unaware of the exact variable they received feedback on. Energy consumption and the propulsion technique variables with their respective coefficient of variation were calculated to evaluate the amount of intra-individual variability. Results The feedback group, which practiced with higher intra-individual variability, improved the propulsion technique between pre- and post-test to the same extent as the natural learning group. Mechanical efficiency improved between pre- and post-test in the natural learning group but remained unchanged in the feedback group. Conclusion These results suggest that feedback-induced variability inhibited the improvement in mechanical efficiency. Moreover, since both groups improved propulsion technique but only the natural learning group improved mechanical efficiency, it can be concluded that the improvement in mechanical efficiency and propulsion technique do not always appear simultaneously during the motor learning process. Their relationship is most likely modified by other factors such as the amount of the intra-individual variability.
WanKeeper : Efficient Coordination at WAN scale

Traditional coordination services for distributed applications do not scale well over wide-area networks (WAN): centralized coordination fails to scale with respect to the increasing distances in the WAN, and distributed coordination fails to scale with respect to the number of nodes involved. We argue that it is possible to achieve scalability over WAN using a hierarchical coordination architecture and a smart token migration mechanism, and lay down the foundation of a novel design for a flexible-consistent coordination framework, called WanKeeper. We implemented a prototype of WanKeeper based on the ZooKeeper API and deployed it over WAN as a proof of concept. Our evaluation in the context of BookKeeper and Shared Cloud-backed File System (SCFS) use cases shows that WanKeeper provides multiple folds improvement in write/update performance in WAN compared to ZooKeeper. Keywords-Coordination; Distributed systems; Wide-area networks; Scalability
Interest and Learning From Text

This article deals with the relation between interest and learning from text. In the first section, the concepts of personal and situational interest and their relation to motivation are clarified. Based on my own studies and findings from other studies, the next sections present evidence for substantial relations between interest and text learning. These relations appear to be stronger for deep-level learning than surface-level learning and seem to be largely independent of prior knowledge and cognitive ability. Finally, it is argued that past research has failed to examine the underlying mechanisms of motivation-learning relations. Suggestions and guidelines for future research are given.
Whole grains and incident hypertension in men.

BACKGROUND Prospective data on the relation between whole grain intake and incident hypertension in men are limited, and no previous studies have quantitatively estimated total grams of whole grains in relation to risk of hypertension. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to estimate the association of whole-grain intake (g/d) and risk of incident hypertension in a large prospective cohort of men. DESIGN The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study is a prospective cohort consisting of 51,529 male health professionals ranging in age from 40 to 75 y at enrollment in 1986. Baseline and updated measurement of whole-grain intake as well as important covariates were measured, and 31,684 participants without known hypertension, cancer, stroke, or coronary heart disease were followed prospectively for 18 y through 2004 for onset of hypertension. RESULTS A total of 9227 cases of incident hypertension were reported over the 18 y of follow-up. In multivariate-adjusted analyses, whole-grain intake was inversely associated with risk of hypertension, with a relative risk (RR) of 0.81 (95% CI: 0.75-0.87) in the highest compared with the lowest quintile (P for trend < 0.0001). In the multivariate model, total bran was inversely associated with hypertension, with a relative risk (RR) of 0.85 (95% CI: 0.78, 0.92) in the highest compared with the lowest quintile (P for trend: 0.002). CONCLUSIONS In summary, we found an independent inverse association between intake of whole grains and incident hypertension in men. Bran may play an important role in this association. These findings have implications for future dietary guidelines and prevention of hypertension.
Self, Silence and Invisibility as a Beginning Teacher: a life history of lesbian experience

Abstract This paper draws upon data from an ongoing series of life history interviews with a young lesbian PE teacher, called Jessica (a pseudonym), who has recently started her career in a secondary school. Various moments from her life as told and written are provided in order to present a view of schooling from a particular standpoint that, for the most part, has been repressed. Therefore, how Jessica experiences homophobia and heterosexism in educational institutions, how she relates these experiences to other moments in her life, and the identity management strategies she adopts to cope with specific situations, provide important insights into a reality that is oppositional to the taken‐for‐granted reality of the dominant and privileged sexual class in schools, that is, heterosexuals. These insights illustrate how Jessica is systematically denied an essential freedom that is systematically granted to heterosexual teachers in a way that legitimises a distinction between her private and public lives th.
The tumor suppressor DAPK inhibits cell motility by blocking the integrin-mediated polarity pathway

Death-associated protein kinase (DAPK) is a calmodulin-regulated serine/threonine kinase and possesses apoptotic and tumor-suppressive functions. However, it is unclear whether DAPK elicits apoptosis-independent activity to suppress tumor progression. We show that DAPK inhibits random migration by reducing directional persistence and directed migration by blocking cell polarization. These effects are mainly mediated by an inhibitory role of DAPK in talin head domain association with integrin, thereby suppressing the integrin–Cdc42 polarity pathway. We present evidence indicating that the antimigratory effect of DAPK represents a mechanism through which DAPK suppresses tumors. First, DAPK can block migration and invasion in certain tumor cells that are resistant to DAPK-induced apoptosis. Second, using an adenocarcinoma cell line and its highly invasive derivative, we demonstrate DAPK level as a determining factor in tumor invasiveness. Collectively, our study identifies a novel function of DAPK in regulating cell polarity during migration, which may act together with its apoptotic function to suppress tumor progression.
Stress, social support and depression in informal caregivers to people with HIV/AIDS in Lomé, Togo

Purpose – This study examined factors associated with depression in 125 informal caregivers to adults living with HIV/AIDS in Lome, Togo.Methodology – Each caregiver completed a questionnaire that assessed primary and secondary stressors, social support and depression. Most of the participants were women (78 per cent), married (53 per cent), and had been giving care to nuclear family members (63 per cent) for about 11 months. OLS regression was used to examine the association of primary and secondary stressors with self‐reported depression.Findings – The analysis showed that caregiving demand, role captivity, and job conflict were positively associated with self‐reported depression. This suggests that work‐related strains and role strains were associated with depression levels among caregivers in our sample.Research limitations/implications – The study is based on a small convenience sample of volunteers and this may limit the generalisability of the results.Practical implications – This knowledge can ben.
Life Course: Innovations and Challenges for Social Research

Recent developments of life-course theory and research are discussed in a comparative framework. With accelerating social change, the life course has become a topic that centres on the interplay of personal and institutional dynamics through the life span that provides the temporal and social contexts for biographical planning and stock-taking. Modern life-course analysis asks to what extent biographies are losing their structural embeddedness in favour of negotiations among individuals, opportunities, institutions and social networks. First, a historical account about European and North American traditions of life-course research is presented, delineating the cohort/life-event and the life-history approaches. Second, three conceptual frameworks are illuminated that focus on the relationship between social change and human lives: linking mechanisms, structuration and institutional arrangements (with a focus on age and gender). Concerning methodology, longitudinal studies that use quantitative as well as qualitative methods are necessary to understand the interrelationships between social change and biography. Third, innovative themes for research are presented, relating to the issues of agency and institutions, the timing of transitions and linked lives. The article concludes with a call for more cross-cultural life-course research.
On Frog Distribution Patterns East of the Andes

The frogs of the Tropical and Subtropical lowland forests east of the Andes comprise a diverse assemblage whose basic Zoogeographie patterns are just beginning to be understood. Part of the problem in understanding the basic distributions has been the unequal representation of frog collections on a geographical basis. Recently, authors have been proposing some general distribution patterns, especially for the frogs of the Amazonian and Atlantic Forest regions (e.g. Duellman, 1982; Lynch, (1979). One general pattern proposed is that the lowland frog fauna next to the Andes is much more diverse and contains many more endemics than the central Amazonian frog fauna (Duellman, 1982; Lynch, 1979). A second pattern proposed is that the Atlantic Forest frog fauna is characterized by a high local endemicity producing a latitudinal gradient of distribution patterns (e.g. i^ynch, 1979). Although almost everyone who discusses Neotropical frog distributions includes a caveat that there is still some question regarding the distributional data-base itself, no one has attempted to assess the adequacy of the data base. In this paper, an attempt is made to assess the adequacy of the distributional data base for the frogs that occur in the tropical forests east of the Andes, emphasizing the Amazonian and Atlantic Forest areas. The first portion of this paper comprises an assessment of whether collecting artifact is cause for concern. The second portion of this paper discusses general patterns, questions, and practical consequences arising from the first section.
Design technique of broadband CMOS LNA for DC - 11GHz SDR

This paper presents a DC-11GHz CMOS low noise amplifier (LNA) for software-defined radio (SDR). The broadband performance is extended to cover the spectrum from near DC to 11GHz by adopting extra inductors with modified resistive feedback, folded current reuse topology. Bandwidth extension is proposed by inserting pole splitting, interstage and LC ladder inductors. A source follower jointly acts as the buffer stage for broadband output matching and feed-forward path for gain enhancement as well as noise cancellation. Simulation shows power gain of 11 ±4dB and the NF ranging from 1.8 to 3dB in 0.4-11GHz band. The LNA achieves an average IIP3 of -10dBm while consumes only 5.3mW. The proposed broadband LNA is designed in 0.18-µm CMOS process from 1.5V supply.
Service-Learning and Faith Formation

Although "spiritual growth" is occasionally cited as an outcome of participation in servicelearning events and classes, little research has focused on this particular area. This article describes a qualitative research project that investigated undergraduate students' perceptions of the impact of a short-term international service-learning course on their spiritual lives and faith formation. Applying the insights of Sharon Parks and James Fowler as theorists in the field of faith formation and Janet Eyler and Dwight Giles in the area of service-learning pedagogy, journals, academic papers, and interviews from 38 students were analyzed using a computerassisted qualitative data analysis software program (NVivo). The article includes both psychosocial and biblical-theological interpretation of the data. Faith is defined as the matrix of meaning that human beings construct, negotiate, disassemble, and reconstruct throughout their lives as they seek to make sense of the world, their lives, their relationships with others, and God.
An exact method to compute a $p$-value for the beyond-pairwise correlations among cancer gene mutations

The increasing observation of mutual exclusivity correlations among cancer gene mutations is a key component for identifying driver events or pathways in cancer genome analysis. Here we report a rigorous statistical method to compute an exact $p$-value for the beyond-pairwise mutual exclusivity or co-occurrence relationships among cancer gene mutations by enumerating a null distribution of overlapping mutations across more than two genes. The validity and the advantage of our method is explicitly demonstrated in both cancer gene mutations and simulation data through the comparison to the permutation test.