Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Constraint Games revisited

Constraint Games are a recent framework proposed to model and solve static games where Constraint Programming is used to express players preferences. In this paper, we rethink their solving technique in terms of constraint propagation by considering players preferences as global constraints. It yields not only a more elegant but also a more efficient framework. Our new complete solver is faster than previous state-of-the-art and is able to find all pure Nash equilibria for some problems with 200 players. We also show that performances can greatly be improved for graphical games, allowing some games with 2000 players to be solved.
Reduction of antibiotic use in the community reduces the rate of colonization with penicillin G-nonsusceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae.

BACKGROUND There is a lack of evidence documenting the impact of optimized antibiotic use on the rates of colonization with penicillin G-nonsusceptible Streptococcus pneumoniae (PNSP) in children. This study evaluates the effect of community-based intervention strategies on the prevalence of pnsp colonization. METHODS A controlled, population-based pharmacoepidemiological trial was conducted from January through May 2000. Three French geographic areas were selected on the basis of demographic similarities. Two intervention strategies were implemented: (1) reduced antibiotic use, which was achieved by not prescribing antibiotics for presumed viral respiratory tract infections (the prescription-reduction group); and (2) better adaptation of dose and duration (the dose/duration group). A control group received no intervention. The target population was children aged 3-6 years who were attending kindergarten. Oropharyngeal pneumococcus colonization and antibiotic use were monitored throughout the 5-month study. RESULTS The prescription-reduction, dose/duration, and control groups included 601, 483, and 405 children, respectively. The interventions induced significantly larger decreases in antibiotic use in the prescription-reduction group (-18.8%) and dose/duration group (-17.1%) than in the control group (-3.8%), and the rates of PNSP colonization were initially similar for the 3 groups (52.5%, 55.1%, and 50.0%, respectively). At the end of the 5-month study, the rates of PNSP colonization were 34.5% for the prescription-reduction group (P=.05) and 44.3% for the dose/duration group (P=.8), compared with 46.2% for the control group. CONCLUSIONS Intensive educational strategies aimed at optimizing antibiotic use can significantly reduce the rate of PNSP colonization in areas with high resistance rates.
Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium Expressing Mutant Lipid A with Decreased Endotoxicity Causes Maturation of Murine Dendritic Cells

ABSTRACT A major Salmonella component involved in cellular activation is the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) molecule which can act as a dendritic cell (DC) stimulator. The structure of the lipid A domain of the LPS molecule dictates its immunostimulatory capacity with various cell types. In this study, the role of lipid A as an integral component of Salmonella in stimulating murine DCs was studied by using a Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium lpxM mutant with defective lipid A. This study revealed that a mutation in lpxM did not significantly affect the ability of bacteria to activate DCs. Although the lpxM mutant less tumor necrosis factor alpha, interleukin-1β, and inducible nitric oxide synthase than the parental strain, this was only seen at lower multiplicities of infection (MOIs). Both strains upregulated surface molecule expression on DCs and augmented the T-cell-stimulating capacity of these cells in an MOI-independent manner. Thus, the lpxM mutation did not appear to affect the stimulatory capacity of the Salmonella mutant.
Cerebrovascular disease and dementia

Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) is an important cause of psychiatric disability in the elderly. Much of this disability can be attributed to dementia and lesser degrees of cognitive impairment, which result from strokes and other forms of cerebrovascular pathology. While vascular dementia is common, estimates of its frequency vary due to its clinical and pathologic heterogeneity, the challenges involved in its measurement and its frequent co-occurrence with Alzheimer's disease. Nevertheless the clinical features and natural histories of vascular dementia can be described, and risk factors have been identified and include hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidaemia, other conditions that promote atherosclerosis, and rare genetic mutations. While vascular dementia is not curable, treatments are available. For example, a few recent clinical trials suggest that cholinesterase inhibitors have some efficacy. Our knowledge of the risk factors has also provided opportunities for the primary and secondary prevention of vascular dementia, and indicates promising avenues for research.
Hierarchical Semantic-Based Index for Ad Hoc Image Retrieval

Ad hoc networks have received considerable research attention by provisions of wireless communications without location limitations and pre-built fixed infrastructure. Because of the absence of any static support infrastructure, ad hoc networks are prone to several limitations such as bandwidth, connectivity, and power. The traditional content-based image retrieval approaches employed in ad hoc networks may result in either high search cost or low fault tolerance. In this paper, we propose and analyze a decentralized nonflooding image retrieval scheme in multi-hop mobile ad hoc networks - Semantic Ad hoc Image Retrieval (SAIR). The novelty of SAIR stems from several factors including: (1) representation of image contents using first-order logic expressions; (2) clustering mobile nodes based on their data contents; (3) organizing image data with a hierarchical semantic-based indexing infrastructure; (4) performing content-based image retrieval within a reduced scope of mobile nodes. Through extensive simulations, we show that relative to the flooding strategy, SAIR can retrieve the semantically most similar image objects by accessing only a small portion of the mobile nodes with much lower search cost. Moreover, it is scalable to large network sizes and large number of data objects.
Reduced Frontal Functional Asymmetry in Schizophrenia During a Cued Continuous Performance Test Assessed With Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) allows noninvasive, in vivo measurement of changes in the concentrations of oxygenated hemoglobin (O2Hb) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb) in brain tissue based on their distinctive optical properties. A previous NIRS investigation on healthy subjects (Fallgatter and Strik 1997) found indications of right frontal activation during a Continuous Performance Test (CPT) that are consistent with results from positron emission tomography (PET) and event-related potentials studies. The indications consisted of right frontal blood oxygenation changes, consistent with a hemodynamic response, along with a significant left frontal increase in HHb. The current study investigated whether this characteristic lateralized frontal NIRS activation pattern was present in a group of nine schizophrenia patients during the execution of a CPT. In contrast to the previous study, no overall or hemispheric activation effects were found in the schizophrenia subjects. Direct comparison of the results of the two studies confirmed group differences, with a lack of lateralized activation in schizophrenia patients. Furthermore, a trend of higher left/right HHb ratios at rest and during activation was found in patients with schizophrenia. The finding is interpreted as a sign of reduced specific lateralized frontal reactivity, possibly based on a left hemisphere functional deficit.
Genetic Variation among Island and Continental Populations of Burrowing Owl (Athene cunicularia) Subspecies in North America

Abstract. Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) have a large geographic range spanning both North and South America and resident populations occur on many islands in the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. Many owl populations are isolated and disjunct from other populations, but studies on genetic variation within and among populations are limited. We characterized DNA microsatellite variation in populations varying in size and geographic isolation in the Florida (A. c. floridana), the Western (A. c. hypugaea), and the Clarion (A. c. rostrata) subspecies of the Burrowing Owl. We also characterized genetic variation in a geographically isolated population of the western subspecies in central Mexico (near Texcoco Lake). Clarion Burrowing Owls had no intrapopulation variation (i.e., fixation) at 5 out of 11 microsatellite loci, a likely outcome of genetic drift in an isolated and small population. The Florida subspecies had only polymorphic loci but had reduced levels of genetic variation compared with the more-widespread western subspecies that occurs throughout western North America. Despite the extensive geographic distribution of the Western Burrowing Owl, we found genetic differentiation between the panmictic population north of the Trans-Mexican Volcanic Belt and the resident Texcoco Lake population in central Mexico.
Reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care: an integral part of quality improvement scholarship

It is vital that quality improvement interventions address this unacceptable problem We advocate three fundamental additions to the draft guidelines for quality improvement (QI) manuscripts proposed by Davidoff and Batalden.1 The purpose of these additions is to highlight the opportunity that the guidelines offer for reducing racial and ethnic disparities in health care. Equity is one of the six quality aims defined by the US Institute of Medicine in their 2001 report “ Crossing the Quality Chasm ”, along with safety, effectiveness, patient centeredness, timeliness, and efficiency.2 So far, effectiveness has been a frequent target of QI programs. Clearly, effectiveness is an important goal, but addressing equity offers great opportunities for profound improvement for both individual patients and society as a whole. Racial inequity in health care is common to many pluralistic societies and is increasingly regarded as unacceptable. The Institute of Medicine’s 2003 report “ Unequal Treatment ” documented substantial racial and ethnic differences in the quality of care in the USA.3 The UK’s National Health Service (NHS) and Commission for Racial Equality recently released “ Race Equality Guide 2004 ” which provides a framework for achieving racial equality in the care of patients at NHS facilities.4 Racial gaps in care are important because they lead to needless morbidity, medical complications, and mortality. …
Deparaffinization With Mineral Oil: A Simple Procedure for Extraction of High-quality DNA from Archival Formalin-fixed Paraffin-embedded Samples

Extracting DNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) archival samples remains difficult. Successful polymerase chain reactions (PCR) with DNA extracted from FFPE samples is still very low. We extracted DNA from 12 recent and old archival FFPE bone marrow trephine biopsies by use of a simple protocol on the basis of deparaffinization with molecular biology–grade mineral oil followed by DNA extraction with the Qiagen FFPE kit. Comparison of this deparaffinization method with standard protocols, for example, xylene or Hemo-D with subsequent rehydration using graded ethanols, was investigated. The quality and quantity of extracted DNA were tested by a combination of ultraviolet spectroscopy, analysis on a Caliper LabChip GX, and real-time PCR combined with high-resolution melt analysis. Highest quality PCR-amplifiable DNA was obtained by deparaffinization with mineral oil, whereas more variable results were obtained for the other 2 deparaffinization procedures. This result was confirmed by real-time PCR and high-resolution melt analysis. Besides improvements in the quality of extracted DNA, use of mineral oil for deparaffinization has the added benefit of decreased time (20 vs. 75 min) and a significant reduction of hands-on labor (1 step vs. multiple hands-on centrifugation and decanting steps).
Fast Construction and Maintenance of the HYB Index

We show that a HYB index can be constructed twice as fast as an ordinary inverted index. As shown in a series of recent works, the HYB index enables very fast prefix searches, which in turn is the basis for fast processing of many other types of advanced queries, including autocompletion, faceted search, synonym search, errortolerant search etc. HYB can be viewed as a “half-inverted index“ and one of the main reasons for our speed improvement is that for a half-inversion we can omit the expensive index merging phase required for an ordinary inverted index. The algorithm has been carefully engineered, with special attention paid to cache-efficiency and disk cost. We compared our algorithm to the state-of-the-art index construction from Zettair. We also show that our HYB index construction naturally supports very fast dynamic index updates with running time that is independent of the size of the collection.
Comorbidity and ovarian cancer survival in Denmark, 1995–2005: a population-based cohort study

The impact of comorbid diseases on ovarian cancer survival is largely unknown. We therefore examined (i) the prevalence of comorbidity among ovarian cancer patients and (ii) the impact of comorbidity on ovarian cancer survival and mortality. Using hospital discharge data, we identified Danish women diagnosed with ovarian cancer between 1995 and 2005 (n= 1995 within a population of 1.6 million) and then computed Charlson comorbidity index scores (0, 1–2, and 3+). We estimated the prevalence of comorbidity and computed absolute survival and relative mortality rate ratios (MRRs) according to comorbidity level, using patients with Charlson score 0 as the reference group. During the study period, the proportion of patients without comorbidity fell from 81% to 75%, while the proportion of patients with comorbidity score 1–2 and 3+ rose from 16% to 21% and from 4% to 5%, respectively. Overall 1-year survival increased from 68% in 1995–1997 to 70% in 1998–2000 and to 73% in 2001–2004. For patients with Charlson score 1–2, 1-year adjusted MRRs were 1.1 (95% CI, 0.8–1.6) in 1995–1997, 1.3 (95% CI, 1.0–1.8) in 1998–2000, and 1.7 (95% CI, 1.3–2.4) in 2001–2004. For patients with Charlson score 3+, 1-year adjusted MRRs were 2.4 (95% CI, 1.4–4.3) in 1995–1997, 1.6 (95% CI, 1.0–2.7) in 1998–2000, and 2.2 (95% CI, 1.3–3.8) in 2001–2004. The 5-year MRRs were similar to the 1-year MRRs. One quarter of Danish women with ovarian cancer were found to have comorbid conditions, and 5% had severe comorbidity. Severe comorbidity was a predictor of poorer survival.
Complete mitochondrial genome sequence for the black croaker Atrobucca nibe (Perciformes, Sciaenidae) and its phylogeny

Abstract The blackmouth croaker, Atrobucca nibe (Jordan & Thompson, 1911), is one of the most important economic fish in China. The mitogenome of A. nibe was determined in this study. The full circle length of the complete mitochondrial DNA was 16,505 bp. It contained 13 protein-coding genes, 22 tRNA genes, 2 rRNA genes, and a control region (D-loop). All 21 tRNA genes can fold into a typical cloverleaf structure except for tRNASer (AGY). The phylogenetic analysis revealed that A. nibe clustered into the three species of Sciaenidae (Pennahia microcephalus, Chrysochi aureus and Protonibea diacanthus).
A Network Identification Model on Open Social Network

: Today the number of cybercrimes increases very rapidly, this cause large financial loss to many organizations. Existing cyber-security technologies are not effective enough to protect organizations from this cyber attack; this is because existing cyber security solutions are weak in cybercrime forensic and predictions. This paper present development of a novel weakly supervised cybercriminal network mining method to facilitate cybercrime forensic to mine cybercriminal networks from online social media. This method collects the conversational messages posted to online social media by cybercriminals and finds both implicit and explicit relationship among them.
A preliminary exploration on tone error detection in Mandarin based on clustering

This paper addresses the ongoing issue of tone error detection for Mandarin Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) systems. A novel approach based on clustering is proposed. The selection of different contextual tonal factors including Uni-tone, LBi-tone and RBi-tone are explored. Experimental results show that our proposed approach is feasible, obtaining an Equal Error Rate (EER) of 18.75% by LBi-tone and with a 2.35% reduction compared to Uni-tone on a real corpus of nonnative speaker of Mandarin. Additionally, effects of contextual tonal factors on disyllabic words are investigated in this work.
Bridging the Gap between Energy Consumption and Distribution through Non-Technical Loss Detection

The application of Artificial Intelligence techniques in industry equips companies with new essential tools to improve their principal processes. This is especially true for energy companies, as they have the opportunity, thanks to the modernization of their installations, to exploit a large amount of data with smart algorithms. In this work we explore the possibilities that exist in the implementation of Machine-Learning techniques for the detection of Non-Technical Losses in customers. The analysis is based on the work done in collaboration with an international energy distribution company. We report on how the success in detecting Non-Technical Losses can help the company to better control the energy provided to their customers, avoiding a misuse and hence improving the sustainability of the service that the company provides.
Compressive sensing for ECG signals in the presence of electromyographic noise

This paper presents a compressive sensing based method to reconstruct electrocardiogram (ECG) signals in the presence of electromyographic (EMG) noise. The symmetric α-stable (SαS) distribution is used to model the EMG interference and the proposed reconstruction algorithm is based on fractional lower-order moments to efficiently deal with the large variance of the noise. The method is validated using real data from the MIT-BIH Noise Stress Test Database.
Latina Mothers of Emergent Bilinguals as Policymakers? Barriers and Opportunities toward Critical Participation in LCAP

ABSTRACT Understanding why and how stakeholders become involved in education governance, and with what consequence, is critical to the success of any equity-minded participatory policy. This area of inquiry is especially salient to California’s education law called the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP). LCAP requires local district officials to include families of emergent bilinguals in deciding how to spend nearly $48 billion in education funds. Moreover, it specifically calls for the direct involvement of historically marginalized families, including parents of emergent bilinguals in setting and evaluating LCAP policy decisions. Findings from this study highlight the adversity, tension, and suppression faced by 10 Latina immigrant mothers (mamás) active in a district-level District English Learner Advisory Committee (DELAC). Despite the challenging environment, every mamá regards her involvement as important and intends to continue her advocacy work. Findings also highlight that active mamás do not share a common or clear understanding about LCAP or the role of parents in the new policymaking process – issues that can create barriers to authentic parent engagement in participatory policymaking processes. These issues, however, could be addressed if meaningful dialogue and deliberation opportunities were constructed between parents and district officials.
12-Week Effectiveness and Safety of Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol-Lowering Therapy by Proprotein Convertase Subtilisin/Kexin Type 9 Inhibition in Patients With Familial Hypercholesterolemia and Hypercholesterolemia　― Data From a Real-World Observational Study of Evolocumab in Japan ―

Background: Evolocumab is the first monoclonal antibody against proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) approved in Japan for the treatment of patients with familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) and hypercholesterolemia (HC). This study assessed the 12-week effectiveness and safety of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C)-lowering therapy by PCSK9 inhibition in patients with FH (homozygous [HoFH] or heterozygous [HeFH]) and HC by analyzing evolocumab data collected in the real-world setting in Japan. Methods and Results: Overall, 427 patients (mean±SD age, 61.6±13.8 years; female, 38.4%; 28 HoFH, 320 HeFH, 79 HC), enrolled from 299 clinical sites, were included in the safety analysis set. The major cardiovascular risk factors were coronary artery disease (77.3%), diabetes mellitus/impaired glucose tolerance (38.6%), and hypertension (65.1%). Median follow-up duration was 85.0 days. After 12 weeks of evolocumab treatment, the mean±SD percent change from baseline in LDL-C was −45.5%±27.0% (n=23) in HoFH (P<0.001 vs. baseline; t-test), −54.2%±29.0% (n=280) in HeFH (P<0.001), and −64.6%±22.4% (n=72) in HC (P<0.001) patients. The incidence of adverse drug reactions was 5.4% (23/427). Conclusions: Results suggest that patients receiving evolocumab treatment in the real-world setting were predominantly those with FH and HC in the secondary prevention group. LDL-C-lowering effectiveness with evolocumab was observed in FH (both HoFH and HeFH) and HC patients.
Post-Translational Modification Profiling of Burn-Induced — Insulin Resistance and Muscle Wasting

The maintenance of glucose levels represents one of the most tightly regulated systems in the body. All cells require glucose, however, it is only available from exogenous sources or hepatic production. Since glucose cannot be stored in significant amounts except as glycogen in the liver and muscle, glucose transport into the cell by specific transport proteins is critical for cell function. Insulin plays a major role in the maintenance of normal glucose levels. When blood glucose levels rise, insulin secretion is stimulated, resulting in increase in uptake of glucose by skeletal muscle via glucose transporter protein 4 (GLUT4), and decreased production by the liver. Binding of insulin to its receptor leads to activation of insulin receptor tyrosine kinase, which phosphorylates IRS proteins that function as docking platforms for the two main signalingpathways are responsible downstream regulation [1]; the phosphatidyl inositol 3kinase (PI3K)-Akt/protein kinase B (PKB) pathway and the Ras-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. There appear to be several key proteins in the insulin/glucose and protein turnover regulatory cascade, including IRS-1 the predominent form of IRS in muscle. When levels of insulin and glucose are abnormally high in the fasting state, a condition called insulin resistance exists. Insulin resistance and muscle wasting during the persistent high grade inflammation induced by severe burn injury increases the patients risk for infection, sepsis, and death. Clinical data indicate that a resting metabolic rate switch occurs after burn injuries that involve ~40-60% total body surface area (TBSA). Based on studies of 189 pediatric burn patients [2,3,4], it was determined that burn size determines the inflammatory and hypermetabolic response to injury; serum glucose and insulin levels increased to 144 mg/dl and 32 ng/ml on day 8 after injury. Metabolic alterations such as abnormal cytokine release [5, 6], altered gene expression [7,8] and increased protein catabolism are common in patients with