Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Review of Diabetic Foot Complication Assessment Tools Developed from 2007 to 2016

s screened (n=8,096) independently by two reviewers 1,841 articles were duplicates 6,255 articles selected by abstract based on inclusion and exclusion criteria An additional 6,143 articles excluded for the following reasons: being outside the search criteria 3,742 published more than 10 years ago 1,161 intervention study 1,031 meta-analysis or systematic review 127 merely opinion-based 51 not related to the foot in type 2 DM patients 31 112 full text articles assessed for eligibility by two reviewers, independently An additional 105 articles were excluded for the following reasons: does not contain tools 72 not written in English 4 could not find the full text 29 Total number of relevant studies 7 2 articles used the same tool, 1 was excluded Total number of relevant studies included: 6 Figure 1. Flow chart of search process. Inclusion criteria were as follows: 1) the study included a standardized assessment tool for diabetic foot complications that was developed within the past 10 years, and 2) the publication was written in English. Exclusion criteria were as follows: 1) intervention studies and cohort studies were excluded; 2) publications such as dissertations, announcements, and independent volumes were excluded; and 3) tools that placed more importance on assessment for complications other than diabetic foot complications were excluded. 4. Data Extraction and Evaluation The literature search was performed in two stages. First, the titles and abstracts were reviewed for relevancy to this study. Next, the full article was reviewed; if it matched the inclusion criteria, it was selected. A total of 8,096 results were found from the following: 1,085 results from Embase, 568 results from Cochrane Library CENTRAL, 3,557 results from PubMed and 2,886 results from CINAHL. Endnote X7 identified 1,841 duplicate results, which were excluded. The two researchers then reviewed the abstracts independently and selected relevant papers according to the inclusion criteria (studies that included tools to assess diabetic foot complications). In the process of checking the titles and abstracts, publications that were intervention studies, metaor literature reviews, published more than 10 years ago, or mainly opinion articles were excluded. Accordingly, 6,143 results were excluded. In the second step, a review of the entire article, the authors excluded an additional 105 articles for reasons that included, among others, being written in a language other than English or not having included the assessment tool. Ultimately, a total of seven papers were selected. However, two of these papers included the same tool; therefore, the one that was published more recently was selected, leaving a final total of six tools. Two independent researchers conducted the literature search process. When there were differences in opinion, these were resolved through discussion between the researchers (Figure 1).
Genome Snapshot of Paenibacillus polymyxa ATCC 842

Bacteria belonging to the genus Paenibacillus are facultatively anaerobic endospore formers and are attracting growing ecological and agricultural interest, yet their genome information is very limited. The present study surveyed the genomic features of P. polymyxa ATCC 842T using pulse-field gel electrophoresis of restriction fragments and sample genome sequencing of 1,747 reads (approximately 17.5% coverage of the genome). Putative functions were assigned to more than 60% of the sequences. Functional classification of the sequences showed a similar pattern to that of B. subtilis. Sequence analysis suggests nitrogen fixation and antibiotic production by P. polymyxa ATCC 842T, which may explain its plant growth-promoting effects.
Camilla Damian and Zehra Eksi-Altay and Rüdiger Frey EM algorithm for Markov chains observed via Gaussian noise and point process information: Theory and case studies

In this paper we study parameter estimation via the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm for a continuous-time hidden Markov model with diffusion and point process observation. Inference problems of this type arise for instance in credit risk modelling. A key step in the application of the EM algorithm is the derivation of finite-dimensional filters for the quantities that are needed in the E-Step of the algorithm. In this context we obtain exact, unnormalized and robust filters, and we discuss their numerical implementation. Moreover, we propose several goodness-of-fit tests for hidden Markov models with Gaussian noise and point process observation. We run an extensive simulation study to test speed and accuracy of our methodology. The paper closes with an application to credit risk: we estimate the parameters of a hiddenMarkovmodel for credit quality where the observations consist of rating transitions and credit spreads for US corporations.
Consistency and Applicability of the λ-Red Recombinase System in Escherichia coli Tested on the Target Genes lacI and phoA

The λ-Red recombinase system has been previously used to successfully delete the lacI gene from Escherichia coli strains C29, BW2553 and MG1655, after many earlier failures. In this study, the previous successful method was tested to determine whether the system could be applied to different genes, and whether the method gives consistent results. To that end, the lacI gene in E. coli C29 was targeted to answer the second aim, and serve as a positive control, while the phoA gene was targeted to test the first aim. A kanamycin resistance cassette (kanR) was used as a template to create lacI-kanR constructs using the previous PCR primers, and a phoA-kanR construct using newly designed primers. Two phoA-kanR products were attempted; the second construct was not successfully created when Luk’s primers were used. The PCR products were electroporated into competent E. coli C29/pKD46 cells, which contain the pKD46 plasmid that encodes ampicillin resistance and the λ-Red recombinase. Screening for the mutants on selective media including antibiotics and colorimetric substrates showed that the target genes were still functioning. These results indicate that further work is necessary to refine the λ-Red recombinase method, as it was not able to knock out the previously successfully targeted lacI, nor the new target, phoA.
Stealing their beer time: turning studying for medical progress tests into a game

Many health education programs use progress tests to evaluate students’ progress in learning and to identify possible gaps in the curricula. The tests are typically longitudinal and feedback-oriented. Although many benefits of the progress test have been described in the literature, we argue that the acclaimed facilitation of deeper learning and better retention of knowledge appear questionable. We therefore propose an innovative way of presenting both the test itself and the study process for the test: a real-time-strategy game with in-game challenges, both individual and in teams. In this conceptual paper we provide a brief overview of the benefits and challenges of progress testing and illustrate how gamifying the process of both the assessment and preparatory work taps into many aspects that educators would like to promote in their students’ learning outcomes and behavior. We then argue why and how we aim to create a pilot version of a progress test game for medical and allied health students. For the development of this game, six tracks are proposed, that will run mostly in parallel in an iterative process, using design-based research as a framework.
Voices in health communication — experts and expert-roles in the German news coverage of multi resistant pathogens

When it comes to complex topics in the field of health and risk communication, experts are of high importance for the credibility of a news media report. This paper examines the use of experts and their roles in the news media coverage of multi-resistant pathogens by means of a quantitative content analysis of German print and online news. A cluster analysis of the expert statements identifies three different statement frames describing different expert roles. The results show manifest patterns of selected expert sources, which points to professionalized mechanisms of selecting expert sources for news media reports. Abstract
Managing the equity risk using Short Put Ladder strategy by barrier options

The main aim of the paper is to measure hedging efficiency using the Short Put Ladder strategy formed by barrier options in the equity market. The researchers hedge full protection against price’s drop, combining the European down and knock-in put options with the lowest exercise price and vanilla or barrier put options with the higher exercise prices. The authors chose the analyzed alternatives according to the requirement of the zero-cost strategy. The aim of the investigated hedging variants is to secure the minimum constant selling price for the underlying asset’s price drop. Theoretical results of this approach were applied in the equity market, i.e., SPDR S&amp;P 500 ETF. The authors analyzed and compared all hedging variants to each other, however, only the selected techniques were presented in the paper. The findings reveal that the barrier options used for managing the equity risk produce significant reductions of that risk. The right combination of options with the strike prices and the barrier levels wisely selected plays a significant role in risk elimination. Finally, according to the findings, the recommendations for potential investors are introduced.
Scalable Monitoring Heuristics for Improving Network Latency

We consider a routing overlay in which the delay of a path can be obtained at some fixed cost by sending probe packets, and investigate the joint minimization of the probing cost and the routing delay. Assuming that link delays are modelled by Markov chains, this problem can be cast as a Markov Decision Process (MDP). Unfortunately, computing the exact solution of this MDP is prohibitively expensive due to the well-known "curse of dimensionality". In this work we propose two scalable approaches that are fast enough to provide efficient solutions on practical time scales. We analyze the complexity of both approaches, and evaluate their accuracy in small synthetic scenarios for which the optimal monitoring policy can be computed. Finally, the robustness and the scalability of the proposed solutions are analyzed using real delay data collected over the Internet.
URBAN-RURAL DISPARITY: THE UTILIZATION OF PRIMARY HEALTHCARE CENTERS AMONG ELDERLY IN EAST JAVA, INDONESIA

Background: Urban always attracts investors to invest. Health facilities in urban areas are growing rapidly compared to villages. This condition is estimated to contribute to the disparity of urban-rural areas in the utilization of health services. Studying the utilization of health services is a way to evaluate the performance of the health care system through its output.Aim: This study analyzed the urban-rural disparity in the utilization of primary healthcare center by the elderly.Method: This study used in the 2013 Basic Health Research raw data. The 2013 Basic Health Research was designed as a cross-sectional survey. With the multi-stage cluster random sampling method, 25,813 elderly people in East Java Province participated. Data were analyzed using Multinomial Logistic Regression tests.Results: Elderly people in urban areas have a better probability of outpatient use of 1.208 than those living in rural areas (OR 1.208; 95% CI 1.057-1.380). The elderly who have a primary school and under education have the possibility of 1.558 times more utilizing outpatients in primary healthcare centers than the elderly who have college education levels (OR 1.558; 95% CI 1.001-2.424). Conclusion: There was a disparity between urban and rural areas in the utilization of outpatient primary healthcare centers in East Java by the elderly. Policymakers in East Java are recommended to improve facilities and infrastructure of the primary healthcare centers in rural areas by paying attention to the results of this study.Keywords: elderly, urban-rural disparities, primary healthcare center, healthcare utilization, inpatient-outpatient.
Designing an All-Flash Lustre File System for the 2020 NERSC Perlmutter System

—New experimental and AI-driven workloads are moving into the realm of extreme-scale HPC systems at the same time that high-performance ﬂash is becoming cost-effective to deploy at scale. This conﬂuence poses a number of new technical and economic challenges and opportunities in designing the next generation of HPC storage and I/O subsystems to achieve the right balance of bandwidth, latency, endurance, and cost. In this paper, we present the quantitative approach to requirements deﬁnition that resulted in the 30 PB all-ﬂash Lustre ﬁle system that will be deployed with NERSC’s upcoming Perlmutter system in 2020. By integrating analysis of current workloads and projections of future performance and throughput, we were able to constrain many critical design space parameters and quantitatively demonstrate that Perlmutter will not only deliver high performance, but effectively balance cost with capacity, endurance, and modern features in Lustre.
The Implementation of Budg- eting in the ICT Environment: A Case Study of Competing Logics

The purpose of this paper is to examine the multiple competing logics at work in an attempt by the European Un-ion (EU) to institutionalize performance-based budgeting (PBB) as part of an Industrial Modernization Programme (IMP) in Egypt. An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) as one of today‘s modern information and communication technologies (ICT) was introduced to facilitate the management of PBB in the Industrial Modernization Centre (IMC), the executive arm of the IMP. A recent theoretical framework that analyzes discourses in term of social, political and fantasmatic logics was used. Case study materials were collected from interviews, site visits and observations and documentary evidence. The findings of this study revealed the failure to institutionalize PBB fantasy imposed by the EU as a condition of funding and the ERP that supposedly supports the diffusion of PBB led to its failure. The competing political logics at all levels (the EU, the Egyptian government and the IMC) rendered the PBB fantasy impossible. The social logics of PBB are very different from the social logics of line item budgeting. This study is based on studying the introduction of performance-based budgeting and the role of ERP in its implementation in an Egyptian enterprise, the IMC. The debate needs to continue on the desirability and means of instilling accountability cultures in different countries. This study contributes to debate on the role of supranational organizations like the EU and the World Bank in the globalization of performance-based budgeting. It also introduces a new theoretical frame-work, Logics of Critical Explanation, as a useful tool in understanding change and stability of management accounting systems.
Quality assurance for clinical implementation of an Optical Surface monitoring system

Optical Surface Monitoring system (OSMS) has been recently introduced by Varian for initial patient positioning and real-time monitoring during complex radiotherapy treatment. The purpose of this work was to implement TG 147 with OSMS. Recently we installed OSMS first of its kind in India on linear accelerator, True BEAM STx at our Institute. The OSMS is composed of three-camera ceiling mounted and a Workstation. The following tests were performed to validate the system. a) Calibration b) System reproducibility and drifts c) Static localization displacement accuracy and d) Dynamic radiation gating delivery. The Calibration procedure consists of Daily, Monthly and MV Radiation Isocenter Calibration. The reproducibility of the system was tested by monitoring the Varian gating phantom test pattern for at least 90 minutes. Each recorded pattern was registered to the reference surface to calculate the required couch adjustment. To measure the static localization displacement accuracy of the system and quantify patient shift relative to a reference image, we compared the shift detected by the surface imaging system with known couch transitions in a phantom study. The phantom was set in motion and the radiation beam was held by changing the threshold in the software for different clinical setups to test the dynamic radiation gating capability. The Daily calibration was within ±0.5 mm. The MV radiation isocenter with respect for cameras was less than 0.1 mm in translational axis and less than 0.3° for rotational axis. The reproducibility was 0.3 mm. The static displacement accuracy was 0.25 mm for the translational axis, and less than 0.25 ° for rotational axis. The system was able to hold the beam with a minimum threshold of 1 mm. A quality assurance process has been developed for the clinical implementation of an OSMS following the guidelines of TG 147.
ROLE OF TWO LEARNING RATES IN CONVERGENCE OF MODEL-AGNOSTIC META-LEARNING

Model-agnostic meta-learning (MAML) is known as a powerful meta-learning method. However, MAML is notorious for being hard to train because of the existence of two learning rates. Therefore, in this paper, we derive the conditions that inner learning rate α and meta-learning rate β must satisfy for MAML to converge to minima with some simplifications. We find that the upper bound of β depends on α, in contrast to the case of using the normal gradient descent method. Moreover, we show that the threshold of β increases as α approaches its own upper bound. This result is verified by experiments on various few-shot tasks and architectures; specifically, we perform sinusoid regression and classification of Omniglot and MiniImagenet datasets with a multilayer perceptron and a convolutional neural network. Based on this outcome, we present a guideline for determining the learning rates: first, search for the largest possible α; next, tune β based on the chosen value of α.
Electrically Controlled Rotor Blade Vortex Interaction Airloads and Noise Analysis Using Viscous Vortex Particle Method

An electrically controlled rotor (ECR), also called a swashplateless rotor, replaces a swashplate with a trailing-edge flap system to implement primary rotor control. To investigate the aerodynamic characteristics of an ECR in blade-vortex interaction (BVI) condition, an analysis model based on the viscous vortex particle method, ECR blade pitch equation, and the Weissinger-L lifting surface model is established. In this model, the ECR wake flow field vorticity is discretized as multiple vortex particles, and the vorticity-velocity form of the Navier-Stokes equation is solved to simulate the transport diffusion of the vorticity. The flap motion-inducing blade-pitch movement is obtained by solving the ECR blade-pitch movement equation via the Runge–Kutta fourth-order method. On the basis, BVI noise radiation of an ECR is evaluated using the Ffowcs Williams and Hawkings (FW-H) equation. Based on the present prediction model, the aerodynamic and acoustic characteristics of a sample ECR in BVI condition are analyzed. The results show that since the BVI event of the ECR on the advancing side is mainly caused by the interaction between the flap tip vortex and the blade, the blade spanwise range of ECR BVI occurrence on the advancing side is smaller than that of the conventional rotor. In addition, the magnitude of the maximum sound pressure level on the advancing side as well as on the retreating side of the ECR is also different from that of the conventional rotor, which is consistent with the difference in the airloads between the ECR and conventional rotor. Furthermore, a study was performed to examine the effect of the pre-index angle on the BVI-induced airloads and noise. The amplitude of the impulsive airloads of the ECR on the advancing side is increased with the increase in pre-index angle, while the amplitude of the impulsive airloads of the ECR on the retreating side is decreased. Indeed, when the pre-index angle of the sample ECR is 8 degrees, the retreating-side noise radiation lobe is almost disappeared. In addition, the different intensity of wake vorticity is the main reason for the differences of the BVI-induced airloads and noise among the ECR with different pre-index angles.
Continuous ECG Acquisition Holter System with mobile phone

There is currently available in the market, a huge variety equipment for the monitoring and analysis of physiological signals. In all these devices, the basic principles of signal acquisition are similar, however, the way signals are analyzed, processed and information is provided, varies greatly for each equipment, thus opening opportunities for introducing new products in the market. Associating to these opportunities, the widespread diffusion of mobile phones (Smartphone’s) with high storage and processing capacity, it's the goal of this thesis, to develop and implement a continuous ECG acquisition Holter system for mobile phones. In this project, two applications were developed. The first application (mHolter), runs on a Nokia phone with Symbian S60. The application performs the acquisition and real-time processing of the electrocardiogram, identifying artifacts and detecting possible scenarios of arrhythmias, by recurring to a Kalman filter. The second application (oHolter), displays the ECG on a personal computer, providing the user an extended set of searching and viewing features, based in the records provided by the mHolter application. Python programming language was used for the full project development (for S60 version 1.9.7 and 2.5.4 for Windows).
DETERMINATION OF COLOR AND ANTHOCYANINS IN THREE ROMANIAN RED WINES

In this study UV-VIS spectrophotometer and CM 700 D spectrophotometer - KONICA MINOLTA Colorimeter (CieLab Method) were used to investigate the anthocyanins content and color of three Romanian red wines. The samples were purchased from three different Romanian vineyards located in different regions of the country (South East Development Region (SEDR), South-Muntenia Development Region (SMDR) and South West Oltenia Development Region (SWODR)). In total, nine samples of red wine Feteasca Neagra, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, the harvest of 2012, were analyzed. During this study chromatic parameters as L *, a *, b *, C * and H0 were determined. The degree of brightness is indicated by the L * parameter and according to our results it is between 0.27 (darkest) for Merlot wine from the Vineyard located in South West Oltenia Development Region and 15.48 for the Feteasca Neagra wine from the Vineyard located in South-Muntenia Development Region. The results showed that chromatic parameter a, located on the color coordinate red-green, has values ranging from -0.09 (Feteasca Neagra from SMDR) and 1.47 (Cabernet Sauvignon from SMDR). The highest total anthocyanins content of the Feteasca Neagra wine was recorded in the vineyard located in the SWODR (251 mg/L), followed by the vineyard located in the SEDR, and the lowest content (97 mg/L) was recorded for the wine from the vineyard located in the SMDR. Feteasca Neagra, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot wines have different anthocyanins content from one vineyard to another, demonstrating that the variation of anthocyanins and implicitly variation in wine color is influenced by pedo-climatic conditions in the area, cultivated varieties and vinification technology applied.