Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When should we stop screening?

CONTEXT Although the age at which screening should be started is the subject of considerable debate, the question of when to stop has received little attention. COUNT Days of life lost by stopping screening at various ages. CALCULATIONS For each of three types of cancer (breast, cervical, and colon), we used life tables to calculate life expectancy at various ages for stopping screening and for continuing screening until death. The days of life lost by stopping screening is the difference in life expectancy between the two life tables for a specified age. DATA SOURCES All-cause and cancer-specific mortality were obtained from the National Center for Health Statistics and Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results Survey (SEER). ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT BENEFIT: On the basis of randomized trial data, we used a 30% reduction in cancer-specific mortality for breast and colon cancer screening. Because there are no comparable data for cervical cancer, we assumed a 30% reduction in the mortality rate for the "best-guess" analysis and a 70% reduction in the mortality rate for the "best-case" analysis. We assumed that these benefits persisted for the elderly. ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT HARM: We assumed that there was no harm with screening. RESULTS Given a starting age of 50 years, screening throughout life has a maximum potential life expectancy benefit of 43 days for breast cancer and 28 days for colon cancer. The average 75-year-old who stops either mammography or fecal occult blood testing would give up a maximum of 9 days. By stopping at age 80, she would give up a maximum of 5 days. Given a starting age of 20, Pap smear screening has a maximum potential benefit of 47 days in the best-case analysis and 7 days in the best-guess analysis. The average 75-year-old who forgoes Pap smear screening would give up a maximum of 3 days (best case) or 0.5 days (best guess). By stopping at age 80, she would give up a maximum of 1.5 days and 0.2 days, respectively. CONCLUSIONS Even assuming that the mortality reduction with screening persists in the elderly, 80% of the benefit is achieved before 75 years of age for breast cancer, 80 years for colon cancer, and 65 years for cervical cancer. The small benefit of screening in the elderly may be outweighed by the harms: anxiety, additional testing, and unnecessary treatment.
Performance enhancement of WiMAX by three layers topology

Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) is a telecommunications protocol that provides fixed and mobile internet access. In addition, WiMAX can provide mobile wireless broadband access without the requirement for direct line-of-sight with a base station. In contrast with other wireless networks, WiMAX can provide high broadband speed, large coverage area, multiple bands and support for multimedia. However, a serious problem, the broadcast storm, needs to be addressed due in part to excessive communications from mobile devices, such as file, audio and video sharing. Therefore, a three-layer-based WiMAX network topology is proposed to reduce packet collisions and to enhance performance of communication efficiently. Furthermore, the stability and expansibility of the WiMAX topology can be improved.
Retinal Cell Biology Sema 3 A Reduces Sprouting of Adult Rod Photoreceptors In Vitro

Frank Kung, Weiwei Wang, Tracy S. Tran, and Ellen Townes-Anderson Joint Program in Biomedical Engineering, Rutgers University, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, United States Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Neuroscience, Rutgers University, New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey, United States Department of Biological Sciences, Rutgers University, Newark College of Arts and Sciences, Newark, New Jersey, United States
Typing algorithm in type theory with inheritance

We propose and study a new typing algorithm for dependent type theory. This new algorithm typechecks more terms by using inheritance between classes. This inheritance mechanism turns out to be powerful: it supports multiple inheritance, classes with parameters and uses new abstract classes FUNCLASS and SORTCLASS (respectively class of functions and sorts). We also defines classes as records, particularily suitable for the formal development of mathematical theories. This mechanism, implemented in the proof checker Coq, can be adapted to all typed ¿-calculus.
Framework for QoS Performance Assessment on Biomedical Wireless Sensor Networks

A Biomedical Wireless Sensor Network (BWSN) is a special Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) with a small number of nodes designed for medical applications. These networks must ensure that medical data is delivered reliably and efficiently, in order to fulfil a set of pre-established Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. In this way, the research community have been proposing new solutions to improve QoS in WSN, namely in routing protocols and power consumption efficiency. However, there still a need for appropriate QoS guaranties in BWSN. In this paper, possible QoS requirements of BWSN are discussed, together with a framework to automatically evaluate the performance of such QoS techniques. That framework was used together with simulators and operating systems appropriate for WSN, COOJA and Contiki OS, and proved to be a valuable tool for a proper evaluation of QoS parameters and metrics.
The greenhouse gas and energy balance of different treatment concepts for bio-waste

The greenhouse gas (GHG) and energy performance of bio-waste treatment plants been investigated for three characteristic bio-waste treatment concepts: composting; biological drying for the production of biomass fuel fractions; and anaerobic digestion. Compared with other studies about the environmental impacts of bio-waste management, this study focused on the direct comparison of the latest process concepts and state-of-the-art emission control measures. To enable a comparison, the mass balance and products were modelled for all process concepts assuming the same bio-waste amounts and properties. In addition, the value of compost as a soil improver was included in the evaluation, using straw as a reference system. This aspect has rarely been accounted for in other studies. The study is based on data from operational facilities combined with literature data. The results show that all three concepts contribute to a reduction of GHG emissions and show a positive balance for cumulated energy demand. However, in contrast to other studies, the advantage of anaerobic digestion compared with composting is smaller as a result of accounting for the soil improving properties of compost. Still, anaerobic digestion is the environmentally superior solution. The results are intended to inform decision makers about the relevant aspects of bio-waste treatment regarding the environmental impacts of different bio-waste management strategies.
Open classroom: enhancing student achievement on artificial intelligence through an international online competition

Limitations of formal learning e.g., one-way communication, rigid methodology, results-oriented approach can significantly influence the motivation and expectation of students, thus resulting in an academic progress reduction. In order to make learning processes more playful and motivating, this paper presents a new educational experience developed by two groups of Computer Science students at the University of Huelva Spain. As a result, an authentic real experience was incorporated into the classical teaching of Artificial Intelligence courses where classroom sessions were changed during some days for an international online competition. A comprehensive study considering the competition ranking, the students' opinion and their academic progress was analysed to assess the followed methodology. We found out that the educational experience improved the students' motivation, thereby enhancing their academic performance and personal skills as a result of learning through play. Moreover, additional teaching goals e.g., learning new programming languages or increasing exam attendance were obtained because of the positive motivation experienced by the competition. As a conclusion, this paradigm of real-life experience - not otherwise provided by traditional practical lessons - allowed us to ascertain that the process is more important than the outcome, which could be adapted to different teaching scenarios within an institution.
Relationship between Assessment and Students' Learning

Assessment is a critical aspect of teaching and learning process which aim at collecting, interpreting and analyzing the regarding students’ performance. The quality of learning is determined by the quality of assessment practices in the classroom. There are many purposes of assessment that focus on the different dimensions of educational development, however, the most dominant purposes of assessment are improving students’ learning and develop accountability measures for learning at classroom and school levels. For effective assessment, using appropriate assessment strategies is significant. There are number of that can be employed to enhance students’ learning outcome but teacher rely on only a few strategies which alone cannot promote meaningful learning. Therefore, a clear understanding andskills of using a variety of assessment strategies for learning is pivotal in classroom. It is fundamental teachers to understand the relationship between assessment and learning. Moreover, students need be engaged in their own learning in a challenging but enabling environment. The assessment practices and strategies must encourage developing linkage of theory and real life. Assessment is meant to contribute in students learning and thus need to be integrated in daily teaching and learning process in the classroom.
Relationship between Perceived Health Status and Health Practices in the General Adult Population in Japan

The objective of this study was to explore the relationship of perceived health status and Breslow’s seven health Practices(7 - 8 hours of sleep per night, maintaining a healthy weight, moderate or no alcohol intake, regular physical activity, no eating between meals, eating breakfast, and having never smoked cigarettes) in adult residents in Kumamoto Prefecture Japan. We used 2011 data from the “Health Japan 21” program in Kumamoto Prefecture, a study consisting of 2519 adults aged from 20 - 74 years. Data for the study were gathered by questionnaire. The questionnaire was divided into following sections: perceived health status, seven health practices, life satisfaction, depression, social network, and demographic variables. We found that those groups engaged in more than four health practices had higher scores for perceived health status than those groups with less than four. Using Pearson’s correlation coefficient, positive correlations were found between perceived health status and health practices (r = 0.229, p – 0.058, p – 0.093, p– 0.109, p < 0.001). Furthermore, we clarified the differences in perceived health status by age and gender. The data from multiple regression analysis show an association between level of perceived health status and life satisfaction, the seven health practices, employment, age, depression, and social network. Our findings demonstrate a relationship between perceived health status and the seven health practices, and can be used to encourage healthier practices to enhance perceived health status and life satisfaction in community health care work.
EVOLUTION OF COATED GRAINS IN SPIRAL SHOCKS OF SELF-GRAVITATING PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

We investigate the evolution of grains composed of an ice shell surrounding an olivine core as they pass through a spiral shock in a protoplanetary disk. We use published three-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of massive self-gravitating protoplanetary disks to extract the thermodynamics of spiral shocks in the region between 10 and 20 AU from the central star. As the density wave passes, it heats the grains, causing them to lose their ice shell and resulting in a lowering of the grain opacity. In addition, since grains of different sizes will have slightly different temperatures, there will be a migration of ice from hotter grains to cooler ones. The rate of migration depends on the temperature of the background gas, so a grain distribution that is effectively stable for low temperatures can undergo an irreversible change in opacity if the gas is temporarily heated to above ∼150 K. We find that the opacity can drop more and at a significantly faster rate throughout the spiral shocks relative to the prediction of the standard dust grain model adopted in hydrodynamical calculations of protoplanetary disks. This would lead to faster gas cooling within spiral arms. We discuss the implications of our results on the susceptibility of disks to fragment into sub-stellar objects at distances of a few tens of astronomical units.
Use of stabilized inverse propensity scores as weights to directly estimate relative risk and its confidence intervals.

OBJECTIVES Inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) has been used in observational studies to reduce selection bias. For estimates of the main effects to be obtained, a pseudo data set is created by weighting each subject by IPTW and analyzed with conventional regression models. Currently, variance estimation requires additional work depending on type of outcomes. Our goal is to demonstrate a statistical approach to directly obtain appropriate estimates of variance of the main effects in regression models. METHODS We carried out theoretical and simulation studies to show that the variance of the main effects estimated directly from regressions using IPTW is underestimated and that the type I error rate is higher because of the inflated sample size in the pseudo data. The robust variance estimator using IPTW often slightly overestimates the variance of the main effects. We propose to use the stabilized weights to directly estimate both the main effect and its variance from conventional regression models. RESULTS We applied the approach to a study examining the effectiveness of serum potassium monitoring in reducing hyperkalemia-associated adverse events among 27,355 diabetic patients newly prescribed with a renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitor. The incidence rate ratio (with monitoring vs. without monitoring) and confidence intervals were 0.46 (0.34, 0.61) using the stabilized weights compared with 0.46 (0.38, 0.55) using typical IPTW. CONCLUSIONS Our theoretical, simulation results and real data example demonstrate that the use of the stabilized weights in the pseudo data preserves the sample size of the original data, produces appropriate estimation of the variance of main effect, and maintains an appropriate type I error rate.
The Electric Drive Advanced Battery (EDAB) Project: Development and Utilization of an On-Road Energy Storage System Testbed

As energy storage system (ESS) technology advances, vehicle testing in both laboratory and on-road settings is needed to characterize the performance of state-of-the-art technology and also identify areas for future improvement. The Idaho National Laboratory (INL), through its support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Vehicle Testing Activity (AVTA), is collaborating with ECOtality North America and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to conduct on-road testing of advanced ESSs for the Electric Drive Advanced Battery (EDAB) project. The project objective is to test a variety of advanced ESSs that are close to commercialization in a controlled environment that simulates usage within the intended application with the variability of on-road driving to quantify the ESS capabilities, limitations, and performance fade over cycling of the ESS. To accommodate on-road testing of a wide range of ESS size, mass, and intended applications, the EDAB testbed was constructed on a mid-sized pickup truck chassis. This truck was converted into a Series Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV) which enables vehicle operation consistent with any electrified vehicle. Sophisticated software algorithms were prepared and integrated into the testbed to emulate the physical characteristics and ESS demands of the intended application during on-road operation. This emulation is vital for proper ESS operation since the testbed is larger and heavier than the vehicle for which the ESS is typically designed. On-road testing is conducted over a range of ambient temperatures and driving route types ranging from ‘stop-and-go’ city driving to constant-speed highway driving. Battery laboratory cycling with standard test procedures has been conducted throughout all phases of testing to corroborate the on-road data and accurately measure the ESS degradation. The first ESS to be tested is the Type I EV Pack manufactured by EnerDel, Inc. The ESS has a Li-ion chemistry, with a mixed-oxide cathode and amorphous hard carbon anode and a rated capacity of 70 Ah (at a C/3 rate). Due to the sealed enclosure, there is no internal thermal management system (TMS). The intended application for this ESS is for a small EV. This paper will report on current results of energy consumption, city vs. highway proportions, battery throughput, and laboratory testing results. The results illustrate the performance of the unit under test and the degradation throughout. The end-of-test criteria are 100,000 miles, three years of operation, or a 23% decrease in battery capacity, whichever occurs first.
Effects of Stacked Mo–Ti/Cu Source and Drain Electrodes on the Performance of Amorphous In–Ga–Zn-O Thin-Film Transistors

In this letter, the performance of amorphous In–Ga–Zn-O (a-IGZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs) is investigated using the stacked Mo–Ti/Cu source (S) and drain (D) electrodes. The test samples A and B of the a-IGZO TFT have interlayers with Mo/Ti ratios of 2.29 and 1.15, respectively, for the SD electrodes, and each has a core layer of Cu stacked on the top of the interlayers. They were fabricated and measured to compare their performance in terms of the transfer characteristic and mobility. The measurement results showed that the sample B with a lower Mo/Ti ratio exhibited better performance than the sample A: higher field-effect mobility by 4.4 cm2/V-s, higher saturation mobility by 3.2 cm2/V-s, smaller sub-threshold slope by 0.91 V/decade, and lower threshold voltage by 1.4 V. In addition, the material properties of samples A and B were obtained using the line scan of the energy dispersive spectroscopy and analyzed with technology computer-aided design simulation. As a result, the performance of a-IGZO TFTs can be optimized by tuning the Mo/Ti ratios of the interlayer in the stacked SD electrodes.
State-selective electron capture in collisions of ground and metastable N2+ ions with H(1s)

An ab initio calculation of the electron capture cross sections for collisions of ground and metastable states of N{sup 2+} with H(1s) is presented. Total cross sections are evaluated for {sup 14}N impact energies from 2x10{sup -3} to 300 keV, using both quantal and semiclassical treatments. The results are compared with experimental and previous theoretical data, and are used to check the presence of metastable ions in the beams employed in the experiments. Partial cross sections are also presented and related to the collision mechanism.
A Lack of Consistent Amino Acid Substitutions in NSP4 between Rotaviruses Derived from Diarrheal and Asymptomatically‐Infected Kittens

Nonstructural glycoprotein NSP4 of group A rotavirus has recently been shown to be a viral enterotoxin, inducing diarrhea in neonatal mice. Literature is conflicting as to whether there is any consistent amino acid substitution between virulent (or symptomatic) and attenuated (or asymptomatic) rotavirus strains. We have sequenced and compared the NSP4 sequences derived from a total of 10 geographically‐ and serologically‐related feline rotavirus strains from both diarrheal and asymptomatically‐infected kittens. These NSP4 sequences were closely related to each other and there were differences at 19 amino acid residues, but none was segregated according to whether the strain was isolated from a diarrheal kitten or not. Thus, this study failed to lend support to the contention that mutations in NSP4 play a significant role in the pathogenesis of rotavirus diarrhea. Involvement of other genes may explain the outcome of infection in cats from which these 10 feline rotaviruses were isolated.
Streptomycin resistance of coliform bacteria from turkeys fed streptomycin.

DURING an investigation of the microbiological aspects connected with the use of streptomycin and other antibiotic supplements in turkey nutrition, we observed cases of considerable drug fastness in the intestinal microflora. Since the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of microbes has a bearing on the successful use of antibiotics as nutritional supplements, as well as on the use of these agents for chemotherapy, an examination was made of the streptomycin resistance of coliform bacteria from turkeys which had been on diets containing streptomycin. it is, of course, recognized that results with streptomycin cannot be equated completely with those expected using other antibiotics because of the relative ease with which streptomycin-resistant mutants arise. Our first efforts were directed toward determining whether inclusion of streptomycin in the diet of poults results in the appearance of an intestinal microflora containing drug-resistant coliforms. Cultures for this purpose were isolated from two types of material. In one type of experiment, intestinal contents were obtained at autopsy from turkey poults * which for about a month had been fed an adequate, high-soybean-
What the drivers do and do not tell you: using verbal protocol analysis to investigate driver behaviour in emergency situations

Although task analysis of pedestrian detection can provide us with useful insights into how a driver may behave in emergency situations, the cognitive elements of driver decision-making are less well understood. To assist in the design of future Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, such as Autonomous Emergency Brake systems, it is essential that the cognitive elements of the driving task are better understood. This paper uses verbal protocol analysis in an exploratory fashion to uncover the thought processes underlying behavioural outcomes represented by hard data collected using the Southampton University Driving Simulator. Practitioner Summary: This research assessed the appropriateness of verbal protocol analysis (VPA) in investigating driver behaviour in addition to quantitative data collected using Southampton University's Driving Simulator. VPA proved to be a useful extension tool in validating and enhancing hard data. A number of practical recommendations have been offered to guide future research.
Improvement of the Simplified FTF-Type Algorithm

In this paper, we propose a new algorithm M-SMFTF which reduces the complexity of the simplified FTFtype (SMFTF) algorithm by using a new recursive method to compute the likelihood variable. The computational complexity was reduced from 7L to 6L, where L is the finite impulse response filter length. Furthermore, this computational complexity can be significantly reduced to (2L+4P) when used with a reduced P-size forward predictor. Finally, some simulation results are presented and our algorithm shows an improvement in convergence over the normalized least mean square (NLMS).