Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coronary Risk Reduction Through Intensive Community-based Lifestyle Intervention: The CHIP Experience

Vigorous cholesterol lowering with diet, drugs, or a combination has been shown to slow, arrest, or even reverse atherosclerosis. Residential lifestyle intervention programs have successfully lowered serum cholesterol levels and other coronary risk factors, but they have the disadvantages of high cost and difficulty with long-term adherence. Community-based risk-reduction programs have the potential to effect change at low cost and improve long-term adherence. To assess the effectiveness of, and to develop a model for, such programs, the community-based Coronary Health Improvement Project (CHIP) was developed in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In the intensive (30-day, 40-hour), hospital-based educational program, participants are encouraged to exercise 30 minutes a day and to embrace a largely unrefined plantfood-centered diet that is high in complex carbohydrates and fiber; very low in fat, animal protein, sugar, and salt, and virtually free of cholesterol. A total of 304 enrollees in the first program were at elevated risk of coronary artery and related diseases: 70% were > 10% above their ideal weight, 14% had diabetes, 47% had hypertension, and 32% had a history of coronary artery disease. Of the enrollees, 288 “graduated” from the program (123 men, 165 women; mean age was 55 + 11 years). Various markers of disease risk, including serum blood lipids and fasting blood glucose concentrations, were measured before and after the program. At 4 weeks, overall improvements in the participants’ laboratory test results, blood pressures, weights, and body mass indexes were highly significant (p 200mg% in men, 200-299 mg% in women).
Evaluation of Potential Food Items as Challenge Diets in 2-Choice Tests with Feral Swine

Author(s): Blass, Chad R. ; Snow, Nathan P.; Kinsey, John C. ; Foster, Justin A. ; VerCauteren, Kurt C. | Abstract: Registration of a new toxicant for feral swine in the United States requires meeting test standards under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act as regulated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A primary requirement is to compare the palatability and efficacy of the toxicant to a non-toxic challenge diet in a 2-choice test; however, no standardized challenge diet exists for feral swine. We conducted a series of 2-choice tests to examine four potential challenge diet items for preference by feral swine. We found that feral swine consumed the most and spent the most time feeding on rough rice (i.e., seed rice), although dog food and rough rye could not be wholly discounted as potential challenge diets. Rough rice was preferred, provided adequate nourishment, and is readily consumed by free-ranging feral swine. Therefore, we conclude that rough rice is an appropriate challenge diet for incorporating into 2-choice tests to meet test standards for evaluating the effectiveness of an oral toxicant for feral swine.
Differences in EMG Burst Patterns During Grasping Dexterity Tests and Activities of Daily Living

The aim of this study was to characterize the muscle activation patterns which underlie the performance of two commonly used grasping patterns and compare the characteristics of such patterns during dexterity tests and activities of daily living. EMG of flexor digitorum and extensor digitorum were monitored from 6 healthy participants as they performed three tasks related to activities of daily living (picking up a coin, drinking from a cup, feeding with a spoon) and three dexterity tests (Variable Dexterity Test-Precision, Variable Dexterity Test-Cylinder, Purdue Pegboard Test). A ten-camera motion capture system was used to simultaneously acquire kinematics of index and middle fingers. Spatiotemporal aspects of the EMG signals were analyzed and compared to metacarpophalangeal joint angle of index and middle fingers. The work has shown that a common rehabilitation test such as the Purdue Pegboard test is a poor representation of the muscle activation patterns for activities of daily living. EMG and joint angle patterns from the Variable Dexterity Tests which has been designed to more accurately reflect a range of ADl's were consistently comparable with tasks requiring precision and cylinder grip, reaffirming the importance of object size and shape when attempting to accurately assess hand function.
The role of fluctuations in coarse-grained descriptions of neuronal networks

This paper reviews our recent work addressing the role of both synaptic-input and connectivity-architecture fluctuations in coarse-grained descriptions of integrate-and-fire (I&F) point- neuron network models. Beginning with the most basic coarse-grained description, the all-to-all coupled, mean-field model, which ignores all fluctuations, we add the effects of the two types of fluctuations one at a time. To study the effects of synaptic-input fluctuations, we derive a kinetic- theoretic description, first in the form of a Boltzmann equation in (2+1) dimensions, simplifying that to an advection-diffusion equation, and finally reducing the dimension to a system of two (1+1)- dimensional kinetic equations via the maximum entropy principle. In the limit of an infinitely-fast conductance relaxation time, we derive a Fokker-Planck equation which captures the bifurcation between a bistable, hysteretic operating regime of the network when the amount of synaptic-input fluctuations is small, and a stable regime when the amount of fluctuations increases. To study the ef- fects of complex neuronal-network architecture, we incorporate the network connectivity statistics in the mean-field description, and investigate the dependence of these statistics on the statistical prop- erties of the neuronal firing rates for three network examples with increasingly complex connectivity architecture.
Assessment of Results of the Mammography Screenings among Women Older than 40 Years in a Residential Area

Objective: This study was conducted in order to determine the breast cancer risk levels among women older than 40, gain the habit of having a mammography which is one of the early screening programs, direct women to mammography, and assess the mammography results. Methods: The study was conducted on female patients older than 40, who were hospitalized in the services of a research and training hospital between 1 February and 1 June 2014, and their relatives (n=409). Appointments were received from Kirsehir Early Diagnosis, Screening, and Training Center for women who completed the data collection form and breast cancer risk assessment form and they were guided in having mammography. Results: As a result of the mammography screening; while normal breast tissues were determined in 42.5% of the women, nodular lumps were determined in 21.8%. Breast cancer risk scores were observed to be higher in women who had personal history of breast cancer and a history of breast cancer in their mothers, had no children, menstruated before the age of 11, had a fat body structure, were in the high risk group according to the breast cancer risk. Discussion: Early diagnosis in breast cancer could be possible through training and informing women on this issue and applying the screening programs. In this study, many women were screened by using mammography, which is a cheap, easily applicable, and easily accessible screening method, and the risk factors were determined.
Provider volumes and early outcomes of primary total joint replacement in Ontario.

BACKGROUND A relation between provider volume and outcome of total joint replacement (TJR) has not been demonstrated in Canada. Given the recent increase in TJR, changing patient characteristics and small sizes of previous Ontario studies, we reassessed whether adverse outcomes of TJR are related to hospital and surgeon procedure volumes. METHODS We included all Ontarians aged 20 years and older who underwent a unilateral elective primary total hip replacement (THR) or total knee replacement (TKR) between April 2000 and March 2004. The main data sources were hospital discharge abstracts and physician billings. We defined provider volume as the average annual number of primary and revision procedures performed by hospitals and surgeons during the study period. We assessed the association between procedure volumes and acute length of hospital stay (ALOS) and between volume and rate of surgical complications during the index admission; death within 90 days of operation; readmission for amputation, fusion or excision within 1 year; and revision arthroplasty within 1 year. We adjusted for age, sex, comorbidity, arthritis type, teaching hospital status and discharge disposition. The analyses of hospital volume were adjusted for surgeon volume and vice versa. RESULTS We included 20,290 patients who received THR and 27,217 who received TKR. Patient age, sex and comorbidity were significant predictors of complications and mortality. There were no associations between provider volume and mortality. Findings for other outcomes were mixed. Surgeon procedure volume was related to rates of revision THR but not to rates of revision TKR. Shorter ALOS was associated with male sex, younger age, fewer comorbidities, discharge to a rehabilitation unit or facility and greater surgeon volume. CONCLUSION Patient characteristics were significant predictors of complications, ALOS and mortality after primary TJR. Evidence for a relation between provider volume and outcome was limited and inconsistent.
Who will Interact with Whom ? A Case-Study in Second Life using Online and Location-based Social Network Features to Predict Interactions between Users

Although considerable amount of work has been conducted recently of how to predict links between users in online social media or networks, studies using features from di↵erent domains are rare. In this paper we present the latest results of a project that studies the extent to which interactions – in our case directed and bi-directed message communication – between users in online social networks can be predicted by looking at features obtained from online and location-based social network data. To that end, we conducted a number of experiments on data obtained from the virtual world of Second Life. As our results reveal, location-based social network features outperform online social network features if we try to predict interactions between users. However, if we try to predict, whether or not this communication was also reciprocal we find that online social network features seem to be superior.
GPU Accelerated Cascade Hashing Image Matching for Large Scale 3D Reconstruction

Image feature point matching is a key step in Structure from Motion(SFM). However, it is becoming more and more time consuming because the number of images is getting larger and larger. In this paper, we proposed a GPU accelerated image matching method with improved Cascade Hashing. Firstly, we propose a Disk-Memory-GPU data exchange strategy and optimize the load order of data, so that the proposed method can deal with big data. Next, we parallelize the Cascade Hashing method on GPU. An improved parallel reduction and an improved parallel hashing ranking are proposed to fulfill this task. Finally, extensive experiments show that our image matching is about 20 times faster than SiftGPU on the same graphics card, nearly 100 times faster than the CPU CasHash method and hundreds of times faster than the CPU Kd-Tree based matching method. Further more, we introduce the epipolar constraint to the proposed method, and use the epipolar geometry to guide the feature matching procedure, which further reduces the matching cost.
Tool for automatic real-time regional cardiac function analysis using HARP

The FastHARP magnetic resonance pulse sequence can acquire taggged cardiac images at a rate of 45 ms per frame, enabling 7-20 harmonic phase (HARP) images per heartbeat per tag orientation. By switching the tag orientation every heartbeat, data from just two heartbeats can be used to compute in-plane quantities describing myocardial deformation, such as circumferential and radial strain. Standard HARP software, however, requries about one second to compute each strain image, which is not fast enough to keep up with the FastHARP pulse sequence. In this work, we have developed real-time algorithms for HARP processing of tagged MR images. The code was implemented along wiht a visualization tool that runs in conjunction with the FastHARP pulse sequence. HARP strain computations and display can now be carried out in real-time after a one heartbeat delay. The software is also fast enough to track and plot the time profile of strain of one or more points in the myocardium in real-time. Our software has now been integrated into a research testbed for magnetic resonance cardiac stress testing, contributing to the emerging suite of clinical cardiac MRI protocols.
A Model of Superinfection of Virus-Infected Zebrafish Larvae: Increased Susceptibility to Bacteria Associated With Neutrophil Death

Enhanced susceptibility to bacterial infection in the days following an acute virus infection such as flu is a major clinical problem. Mouse models have provided major advances in understanding viral-bacterial superinfections, yet interactions of the anti-viral and anti-bacterial responses remain elusive. Here, we have exploited the transparency of zebrafish to study how viral infections can pave the way for bacterial co-infections. We have set up a zebrafish model of sequential viral and bacterial infection, using sublethal doses of Sindbis virus and Shigella flexneri bacteria. This virus induces a strong type I interferons (IFN) response, while the bacterium induces a strong IL1β and TNFα-mediated inflammatory response. We found that virus-infected zebrafish larvae showed an increased susceptibility to bacterial infection. This resulted in the death with concomitant higher bacterial burden of the co-infected fish compared to the ones infected with bacteria only. By contrast, infecting with bacteria first and virus second did not lead to increased mortality or microbial burden. By high-resolution live imaging, we showed that neutrophil survival was impaired in Sindbis-then-Shigella co-infected fish. The two types of cytokine responses were strongly induced in co-infected fish. In addition to type I IFN, expression of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL10 was induced by viral infection before bacterial superinfection. Collectively, these observations suggest the zebrafish larva as a useful animal model to address mechanisms underlying increased bacterial susceptibility upon viral infection.
Digital Agility: The Impact of Software Portfolio Architecture on IT System Evolution

The modern industrial firm increasingly relies on software to support its competitive position. However, the uncertain and dynamic nature of today’s global marketplace dictates that this software be continually evolved and adapted, to meet new business challenges. This ability – to rapidly update, improve, remove, replace, and reimagine the software applications that underpin a firm’s competitive position – is at the heart of what has been called IT agility. Unfortunately, we have little understanding of the antecedents of IT agility, specifically with respect to the choices that a firm makes when designing its portfolio of software applications. In this paper, we explore the relationship between software portfolio architecture and IT agility. In particular, we use modular systems theory to examine how different types of coupling impact the ability to maintain, retire and commission new software applications. We test our hypotheses with a unique longitudinal dataset from a large financial services firm. Our sample comprises information on over 2,000 software applications observed over a 4-year period. We find that applications with higher levels of coupling cost more to maintain, are less likely to be retired, and are less likely to be commissioned. However, we show specific types of coupling present greater challenges than others, in terms of their impact. In particular, applications that are cyclically coupled (i.e., mutually interdependent) are the most difficult to manage, in terms of maintaining and updating the software portfolio. Our results suggest that IT managers have a critical design role to play, in firms that seek enhanced digital agility.
Fractals for Kernelization Lower Bounds, With an Application to Length-Bounded Cut Problems

Bodlaender et al.'s [SIDMA 2014] cross-composition technique is a popular method for excluding polynomial-size problem kernels for NP-hard parameterized problems. We present a new technique exploiting triangle-based fractal structures for extending the range of applicability of cross-compositions. Our technique makes it possible to prove new no-polynomial-kernel results for a number of problems dealing with length-bounded cuts. In particular, answering an open question of Golovach and Thilikos [Discrete Optim. 2011], we show that, unless a collapse in the Polynomial Hierarchy occurs, the NP-hard Length-Bounded Edge-Cut problem (delete at most $k$ edges such that the resulting graph has no $s$-$t$ path of length shorter than $\ell$) parameterized by the combined $k$ and $\ell$ has no polynomial-size problem kernel. Our framework applies to planar as well as directed variants of the basic problems and also applies to both edge and vertex deletion problems. Key words: Fixed-parameter tractability; polynomial kernels; kernelization; kernel lower bounds; cross-compositions; graph modification problems; fractals.
Mixed-Signal Circuit Implementation of Spiking Neuron Models

Inspiriert vom Nervensystem spiegeln analoge neuromorphe Systeme die vielseitige Dynamik biologischer Neuronen und Synapsen wider. Fur die Weiterentwicklung des neuromorphen Systems „BrainScaleS“ wird in dieser Arbeit ein beschleunigtes, spikendes Neuronenmodell in einem 65-nm-CMOS-Prozess umgesetzt. Kompakte, hoch konfigurierbare, zeitkontinuierliche analoge Schaltungen mit niedrigem Energieverbrauch werden entwickelt und mit Hilfe von drei Prototypen-Chips charakterisiert. Das erste Design emuliert ein Leaky-Integrate-and-Fire-Modell (LIF). Die Messergebnise zeigen, dass ein grosser Bereich von Zeitkonstanten eingestellt werden kann und eine gute Ubereinstimmung mit dem mathematischen Modell erreicht wird. Das LIF-Modell wird dann zu einem Adaptive-Exponential-Integrate-and-Fire-Modell (AdEx) erweitert, wofur zusatzliche Schaltungen fur den Exponential- und Adaptionsterm implementiert werden. Die Ergebnisse des AdEx-Prototyp-Chips zeigen, dass eine Vielzahl typischer Feuermuster, wie sie bei kortikalen Neuronen beobachtet wurden, mit der Schaltung emuliert werden konnen. Der in dieser Arbeit entworfene Neuronenschaltkreis wird den Benutzern ein der Biologie ahnliches, spikendes Neuron bieten und als fundamentale Einheit in die zweite Generation des BrainScaleS-Systems eingehen.
Evaluation of harvest indices for monitoring cougar survival and abundance

Harvest indices are used by state wildlife management agencies to monitor population trends and set harvest quotas for furbearer species. Although harvest indices may be readily collected from hunters, the reliability of harvest indices for monitoring demography and abundance of the harvested species is rarely examined, particularly amongst large carnivores. The overall objective of this study was to assess whether cougar (Puma concolor) harvest statistics collected bywildlife managers were correlated with changes in cougar demography, mainly survival rates and abundance. We estimated key demographic parameters for 2 cougar populationsinUtah over17years during whichwemonitored235 radio-collared cougars. Wethencompared these demographic parameters to harvest statistics provided by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources over the same time period for the Oquirrh-Stansbury (lightly harvested population) and Monroe (heavily harvested population) harvest management units. In the Oquirrh-Stansbury unit, the percent of harvested cougars >6 years old was positively correlated with annual survival, indicative of a population experiencing several years of high survival resulting in an older age structure. Percent of permits filled and cougar abundance were also significantly correlated, suggesting higher hunting success with increased density. In the Monroe management unit, the annual percent of permits filled was correlated with changes in overall annual survival and male and female annual survival. Of utmost importance, pursuit success (cougars treed/day) increased with the number of cougars on the unit suggesting that pursuit indices may be an informative metric for wildlife managers to determine cougar population trends. Because both management units were subjected to contrasting mortality regimes, results provided by this assessment could potentially be applied to additional management areas sharing similar ecological characteristics and harvest metrics. Published 2015. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
To Sell or Not To Sell: Trading Your Reserved Instances in Amazon EC2 Marketplace

Recently, Amazon EC2 offers a reserved instance marketplace, where cloud users can sell their idle reserved instances varying in contract lengths and pricing options for avoiding the waste of their unused reservations. However, without knowing the future demands, it is hard for users to determine how to sell instances optimally, for it would incur more cost if new demands arrive after selling their reserved instances. For dealing with this problem, in this paper we first propose three online selling algorithms to guide cloud users in making decisions whether or not to sell their reservations in Amazon EC2 marketplace while guaranteeing competitive ratios. We prove theoretically that the three proposed online algorithms can guarantee bounded competitive ratios, whose values are specific to the type of reserved instances under consideration. Specifically, for all standard instances (Linux, US East) for 1-year terms in Amazon EC2, compared with a benchmark optimal offline algorithm, our algorithm A3T/4 can achieve a ratio of 2-α-a/4 in managing instance purchasing cost, where α is the entitled discount due to reservation and a is the selling discount specified by the user who sells its reservations. Finally, through extensive experiments based on workload data collected from real-world applications, we validate the effectiveness of our online instance selling algorithms by showing that it can bring significant cost savings to cloud users compared with always keeping their reservations in Amazon EC2 reserved instance marketplace.
Efficient Bayesian Computation by Proximal Markov Chain Monte Carlo: When Langevin Meets Moreau

Modern imaging methods rely strongly on Bayesian inference techniques to solve challenging imaging problems. Currently, the predominant Bayesian computation approach is convex optimization, which scales very efficiently to high-dimensional image models and delivers accurate point estimation results. However, in order to perform more complex analyses, for example, image uncertainty quantification or model selection, it is necessary to use more computationally intensive Bayesian computation techniques such as Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. This paper presents a new and highly efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo methodology to perform Bayesian computation for high-dimensional models that are log-concave and nonsmooth, a class of models that is central in imaging sciences. The methodology is based on a regularized unadjusted Langevin algorithm that exploits tools from convex analysis, namely, Moreau--Yoshida envelopes and proximal operators, to construct Markov chains with favorable convergence properties.