Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Liraglutide on Weight Loss in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: An Observational Study

Objective: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of the glucagon-like peptide-1 analog liraglutide on weight loss in overweight and obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). Methods: In an observational study, 84 overweight or obese women with PCOS were treated with liraglutide. Baseline characteristics and weight changes at clinical follow-up were recorded. Main outcome measures were absolute and relative weight loss. Results: In overweight or obese women with PCOS treated with liraglutide for a minimum of 4 weeks, a mean weight loss of 9.0 kg (95% CI: 7.8–10.1, p < 0.0001) and a mean decrease in BMI of 3.2 kg/m2 (95% CI: 2.8–3.6, p < 0.0001) were found. A weight loss of more than 5 and 10% of baseline weight was seen in 81.7 and 32.9% of patients, respectively. The mean duration of treatment with liraglutide was 27.8 weeks (SD 19.2). Conclusion: Treatment with liraglutide in combination with metformin and lifestyle intervention resulted in a significant weight loss in overweight and obese women with PCOS, indicating that liraglutide may be an effective alternative for weight loss in this group of patients. However, larger placebo-controlled studies are needed to confirm this.
Normal / abnormal heart sound recordings classification using convolutional neural network

As part of the PhysioNet / Computing in Cardiology Challenge 2016, this work focuses on automatic classification of normal / abnormal phonocardiogram (PCG) recording, with the aim of quickly identifying subjects that need further expert diagnosis. To improve the robustness of the classifiers by increasing the number of training samples, the recordings were windowed into 5 second segments and our classifiers were trained to classify these segments. Overall recording classification was then generated using a voting scheme from classification results of its segments. Our features include spectrograms and Mel-frequency cepstrum coefficients. Our best submission result during the official phase (evaluated on a random 20% of the hidden test set) has a score of 0.813, with 0.735 sensitivity and 0.892 specificity. Two more submissions are still being evaluated.
A relevance feedback based on Bayesian logistic regression for 3D model retrieval

Relevance feedback is an iterative search technique to bridge the semantic gap between the high level user intention and low level data representation. This technique interactively determines a user's desired output or query concept by asking the user whether certain proposed 3D models are relevant or not. For a relevance feedback algorithm to be effective, it must grasp a user's query concept accurately and quickly. In this paper, we propose a relevance feedback framework based on Bayesian logistic regression in content-based 3D model retrieval systems to incorporate relevance feedback information. Bayesian logistic regression relevance feedback framework using an active learning algorithm based on variance reduction to actively select documents for user evaluation. Experimental results show that this algorithm achieves higher search accuracy than traditional query refinement schemes.
Extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in different environments (humans, food, animal farms and sewage)

OBJECTIVES This study aimed to determine the presence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae in different environments. METHODS Clinical samples and stool samples from animal farms, sewage, human faecal carriers attending the emergency room and faecal carriers in the context of food-borne disease outbreaks were subcultured onto MacConkey agar supplemented with cefotaxime for the detection of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae. Identification, susceptibility pattern and ERIC-PCR were used for clone delineation in each sample. Community consumption of antibiotics was also recorded. RESULTS An ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae prevalence of 1.9% was observed in human infections. A cross-sectional survey of human faecal carriers in the community showed a general prevalence of 6.6% with a temporal distribution. High use of antibiotics in winter coincided with a lower prevalence in carriers. ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae were detected in the five samples of human sewage, in samples from 8 of 10 pig farms, 2 of 10 rabbit farms, from all 10 poultry farms and in 3 of 738 food samples studied. Faecal carriage of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae was detected in samples from 19 of 61 food-borne outbreaks evaluated. All food-borne outbreaks were due to enteropathogens. The prevalence of carriers in these outbreaks ranged from 4.4% to 66.6%. CONCLUSIONS This widespread occurrence of ESBL-producing Enterobacteriaceae suggests that the community could act as a reservoir and that food could contribute to the spread of these strains.
Comparison of effect of electroacupuncture and nefopam for prevention of postanesthetic shivering in patients undergoing urologic operation under spinal anesthesia

Background Shivering during spinal anesthesia is a frequent complication and is induced by the core-to-peripheral redistribution of heat. Nefopam has minimal side effects and prevents shivering by reducing the shivering threshold. Electroacupuncture is known to prevent shivering by preserving the core body temperature. We compared the efficacies of electroacupuncture and nefopam for the prevention of shivering during spinal anesthesia. Methods Ninety patients scheduled for elective urological surgery under spinal anesthesia were enrolled in the study. Patients were randomly divided into the control group (Group C, n = 30), the electroacupuncture group (Group A, n = 30), and the nefopam group (Group N, n = 30). Groups C and A received 100 ml of isotonic saline intravenously for 30 minutes before spinal anesthesia, while Group N received nefopam (0.15 mg/kg) mixed in 100 ml of isotonic saline. Group A received 30 minutes of electroacupuncture before receiving anesthesia. Shivering scores, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, body temperature and side effects were recorded before, and at 5, 15, 30, and 60 minutes after spinal anesthesia. Results The incidence of postanesthetic shivering was significantly lower in Group N (10 of 30) and Group A (4 of 30) compared with that in Group C (18 of 30)(P < 0.017). Body temperature was higher in Group N and Group A than in Group C (P < 0.05). Hemodynamic parameters were not different among the groups. Conclusions By maintaining body temperature during spinal anesthesia, electroacupuncture is as effective as nefopam in preventing postanesthetic shivering.
An IXA-Based Network Measurement Node

Passive network measurement through packet trace collection is an important technique for understanding the fundamental behavior of increasingly complex computer networks. Our research aims at exploring a next generation of distributed and high-performance passive measurement infrastructure. The challenges of such a system lie in the large amounts of measurement data that are generated through monitoring of Gigabit links and the need for complex processing to extract relevant information. To alleviate these problems, we have developed a network processor based packet capture system that can preprocess packet traces on the measurement node before storing the trace in a database. The network processor implements several important functions: (1) variable-length protocol header parsing, (2) prefix-preserving address anonymization, and (3) online statistics collection. To support online anonymization at Gigabit link speed, we have developed a new algorithm that outperforms existing solutions by two orders of magnitude. This anonymization algorithm employs top-hashing and subtree replication to replace online cryptographic computations with simple lookup operations. We have implemented a prototype packet capture node on the Intel IXP2400 network processor and shown its operation at a Gigabit data rate in simulation as well as in hardware.
Three-level inverter configuration with common-mode voltage elimination for induction motor drive

A scheme for a three-level voltage space phasor generation with common-mode voltage elimination is proposed. An open-end-winding induction motor, fed from both ends by two three-level inverters, which are realised by a cascading two two-level inverter, is used in this configuration. The voltage space vectors of individual three-level inverters, which generate the same common-mode voltage in the inverter pole voltage, are variously grouped. When these voltage space vectors are used to switch individual three-level inverters, it results in zero common-mode voltage across the motor windings. In the proposed scheme, voltage space phasors from individual inverters with zero common-mode voltage in the inverter pole voltage are used for PWM control. For the proposed drive configuration, the DC link voltage requirement is only half when compared to the DC link voltage of a conventional neutral-point-clamped (NPC) three-level inverter. The proposed inverter configuration offers reduced circuit and control complexity when compared to similar schemes with NPC or H-bridge inverter configurations.
Attribution of Conduct to a State in Investment Disputes: Conditions under which a state is responsible for the conduct of local governments, para-statal entites and public corporations (Japanese)

The state as an abstract legal entity cannot, in reality, act itself. Therefore, we need rules to decide whose conduct is attributable to the state under international law. Attribution is the legal fiction which assimilates the actions or omissions of various organs or agents to the state itself and renders the state liable for damage caused. Under general international law, it is well established that the conduct of an organ of the state is attributable to that state. However, in a number of countries, operational matters concerning foreign investments are not handled by the central government, and the respondent states in investment disputes often deny their responsibility toward foreign investors claiming that the conducts in question being perpetrated by such actors as provinces, municipalities, para-statal entities and public corporations cannot be attributed to them. This paper studies the conditions under which conducts that are claimed to violate investment treaties are regarded as being attributable to states.
A survey of migration mechanisms of virtual machines

In the virtualization area, replication has been considered as a mechanism to provide high availability. A high-availability system should be active most of the time, and this is the reason that its design should consider almost zero downtime and a minimal human intervention if a recovery process is demanded. Several migration and replication mechanisms have been developed to provide high availability inside virtualized environments. In this article, a survey of migration mechanisms is reported. These approaches are classified in three main classes: process migration, memory migration, and suspend/resume migration.
Static slicing of concurrent object-oriented programs

Program slicing has many applications such as program debugging, testing, maintenance, and complexity measurement. This paper concerns the problem of slicing concurrent object-oriented programs that has not been addressed in the literatures until now. To solve this problem, we propose a new program dependence representation named the system dependence net (SDN), which extends previous program dependence representations to represent concurrent object-oriented programs. An SDN of a concurrent object-oriented program consists of a collection of procedure dependence nets each representing a main procedure, a free standing procedure, or a method in a class of the program, and some additional arcs to represent direct dependences between a call and the called procedure/method and transitive interprocedural data dependences. We construct the SDN to represent not only object-oriented features but also concurrency issues in a concurrent object-oriented program. Once a concurrent object-oriented program is represented by its SDN, the slices of the program can be computed based on the SDN as a simple vertex reachability problem in the net.
URI Disambiguation in the Context of Linked Data

The Linked Data initiative has given rise to an increasing number of RDF datasets, many of which are freely accessible online. These resources often arise as a result of database exports; however sufficient consideration may not be given to the unseen implications caused when they are used in the wider context of the Semantic Web. This paper investigates two popular resources, DBLP and DBpedia, and discusses whether the issues regarding identity management and co-reference resolution have been suitably addressed. We find that a large percentage of authors in DBLP have been conflated, and that disambiguation pages have been incorrectly linked using owl:sameAs within DBpedia. Systems for dealing with these issues are presented, and directions are given for future research.
Poverty and the Optimal General Income Tax-cum-Audit Policy

This paper investigates the optimal general income tax and audit policies when poverty is a public bad and income is not observed in an economy with two types of individuals. Di erently from the traditional "non-distortion at the top" result of the optimal taxation literature, we nd that the optimal marginal income tax rate on skilled individuals is positive when reducing poverty is one of the goals of the social planner and their consumption can affect negatively the poverty measure. Consequently, skilled individuals might be audited stochastically. We characterize a tax regime in which unskilled workers face a negative marginal tax.
Reconstructing Permutations from Identification Minors

We consider the problem whether a permutation of a finite set is uniquely determined by its identification minors. While there exist non-reconstructible permutations of every set with two, three, or four elements, we show that every permutation of a finite set with at least five elements is reconstructible from its identification minors. Moreover, we provide an algorithm for recovering a permutation from its deck. We also discuss a generalization of this reconstruction problem, as well as the related set-reconstruction problem.
Improvement in control of the tandem hot strip mill

Our previous work has shown that the use of the state-dependent Riccati equation (SDRE) technique as a basis for the development of a suitable controller for the tandem hot metal rolling process has resulted in significant improvements in performance. However the method of setting the controller parameters was left as a part of future efforts. In this paper we show that improvements in the implementation of the SDRE method provides a method of easily setting initial control parameters and then making automatic adjustments to the controller as the strip is processed through the mill. This eliminates the need for an on-line solution of the state dependent Riccati equation or the need for lookup tables to make controller settings. These improvements greatly simplify the design and implementation of the controller and also make the SDRE technique even more attractive in the control of many similar complex industrial processes.
Internet Memes and Society

The concept of memes emerged from biology studies, then was adopted by the scholars from a variety of fields, including psychology and computer sciences. Yet this chapter narrows down the up-to-date definition of memes for Internet studies. It relies on media and communication, sociology and linguistics research. The chapter questions the original comparison between memes and genes, looks into the genealogy of memes – accepting emoticons as their ancestors, and discusses the applicability of the ‘lingua franca’, common language concept to memes, as opposed to the idea of memes being inside jokes of the Internet communities. This section concludes by the working definition of memes that reveals close interdependence of these viral texts with language, culture, and social and political context.
A randomized study assessing the impact of cilostazol on platelet function profiles in patients with diabetes mellitus and coronary artery disease on dual antiplatelet therapy: results of the OPTIMUS-2 study.

AIMS Patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) have reduced platelet inhibition compared with non-diabetics following P2Y(12) receptor blockade. Whether inhibition of P2Y(12) signalling can be enhanced by adjunctive treatment with cilostazol in T2DM patients is unknown. The aim of this pilot study was to assess the functional impact of cilostazol in T2DM patients on standard aspirin and clopidogrel treatment. METHODS AND RESULTS This was a prospective, double-blind, double-dummy, placebo-controlled, randomized, cross-over platelet function study. T2DM patients on dual antiplatelet therapy were assigned to receive cilostazol 100 mg or placebo twice daily for 14 days and afterwards crossed-over treatment assignments for another 14 days. Platelet function was performed at three time points: at baseline, 14 days after randomization, and 14 days after treatment cross-over. The P2Y(12) reactivity index, determined through flow cytometric assessment of the phosphorylation status of the vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein, was the primary endpoint measure. In addition to this flow cytometric evaluation, light transmittance aggregometry and VerifyNow testing were performed. A total of 25 T2DM patients were randomized; five patients discontinued treatment due to side effects. The P2Y(12) reactivity index was significantly lower following cilostazol treatment compared with placebo (36.3 +/- 20 vs. 59.9 +/- 16%; P = 0.0002). All other P2Y(12)-specific functional assessments showed enhanced inhibition of this signalling pathway following treatment with cilostazol. CONCLUSION Adjunctive treatment with cilostazol in T2DM patients on standard dual antiplatelet therapy enhances inhibition of platelet P2Y(12) signalling.
Android application's copyright protection technology based on forensic mark

Recently there has been increasing use of Android smartphones. Accordingly, the number of Android applications ("apps") is increasing rapidly. Accordingly, the number of Android application developers is also increasing. However, because of a lack of the required legal system and technology, it is difficult to protect copyrights. Consequently, the use of pirated apps is increasing. In this paper, we investigate the detection of pirated apps using forensic marks. To control the execution of apps, we study developers' copyright protection technology. To apply this technique, we developed developer copyright libraries ("self-checking libraries") and a forensic mark insertion tool. To configure the system, a virtual market, a market server, and a client app have been developed. The actual app is built in a market-like environment. Experiments were conducted to ascertain real-world applicability and practical possibilities. The practical techniques proposed in this paper contribute to the protection of app copyrights. Furthermore, the smartphone apps market is expected to contribute greatly to this effort.
A Simple and Efficient Oxidant Pd(OAc) 2 Catalyzed Selective Oxidation of Alkyl/Benzyl Alcohols in Presence of Air Using Recyclable Room-Temperature Ionic Liquid (RTIL)

Trimethyl pyrazolium tetrafluoroborate room-temperature ionic liquid was prepared and employed for the selective oxidation of alkyl/benzyl alcohols using palladium acetate by stirring at room-temperature in presence of air (oxygen from air). This green procedure gave products in moderate to good yields. Moreover, the synthesized 1,3,5- trimethylpyrazolium tetrafluoroborate ionic liquid could be recycled for at least three runs without the loss of significant activity.
Interactive visualization of concurrents programs [concurrents read concurrent]

Our studies focused on applying program visualization techniques to concurrent programs, our approach is oriented to interaction, that is, to let the user the capability to interact with the classes that build up the programs at the sake of a better comprehension of its dynamic behaviour. Our goal is to help the programmers in interactively debugging Java programs with functionalities explicitly devoted to dealing with concurrent programs.
A Detailed Failure Analysis Examination of the Effect of Thermal Cycling on Cu TSV Reliability

In this paper, the reliability of through-silicon via (TSV) daisy chains under thermal cycling conditions was examined. The electrical resistance of TSV daisy chains was found to increase with the number of thermal cycles, due to thermally induced damage leading to the formation and growth of defects. The contributions of each identified damage type to the change in the electrical resistance of the TSV chain were evaluated by electrical modeling. Thermo-mechanical modeling showed a good correlation between the observed damage locations and the simulated stress-concentration regions of the TSV.
Associative Classification techniques for predicting e-banking phishing websites

This paper presents a novel approach to overcome the difficulty and complexity in detecting and predicting e-banking phishing website. We proposed an intelligent resilient and effective model that is based on using association and classification Data Mining algorithms. These algorithms were used to characterize and identify all the factors and rules in order to classify the phishing website and the relationship that correlate them with each other. We implemented six different classification algorithm and techniques to extract the phishing training data sets criteria to classify their legitimacy. We also compared their performances, accuracy, number of rules generated and speed. The rules generated from the associative classification model showed the relationship between some important characteristics like URL and Domain Identity, and Security and Encryption criteria in the final phishing detection rate. The experimental results demonstrated the feasibility of using Associative Classification techniques in real applications and its better performance as compared to other traditional classifications algorithms.
Alcohol, conflict, and aggression in intimate relationships: A dyadic approach

Intimate partner aggression (IPA) is a critical public health problem that requires clear and testable etiological models that may translate into effective interventions. While alcohol intoxication and a pattern of heavy alcohol consumption are robust correlates of IPA perpetration, there has been limited research that examines this association from a dyadic perspective. In the present review, we discuss compelling reasons for understanding dyadic factors that assist our understanding of alcohol-facilitated IPA, review the relatively small number of studies that have investigated such factors, and provide a theoretical and methodological framework for researchers to conceptualize how to model alcohol-facilitated IPA from a dyadic framework.
An Organic Nanoparticle Transistor Behaving as a Biological Spiking Synapse

Molecule‐based devices are envisioned to complement silicon devices by providing new functions or by implementing existing functions at a simpler process level and lower cost, by virtue of their self‐organization capabilities. Moreover, they are not bound to von Neuman architecture and this feature may open the way to other architectural paradigms. Neuromorphic electronics is one of them. Here, a device made of molecules and nanoparticles—a nanoparticle organic memory field‐effect transistor (NOMFET)—that exhibits the main behavior of a biological spiking synapse is demonstrated. Facilitating and depressing synaptic behaviors can be reproduced by the NOMFET and can be programmed. The synaptic plasticity for real‐time computing is evidenced and described by a simple model. These results open the way to rate‐coding utilization of the NOMFET in dynamical neuromorphic computing circuits.