Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The cost-effectiveness of introducing hepatitis B vaccine into infant immunization services in Mozambique.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the cost-effectiveness of introducing hepatitis B vaccine into routine infant immunization services in Mozambique, which took place in the year 2001. METHODS A decision analytic model was used to estimate the impact of hepatitis B vaccination. This model was developed for the WHO to estimate the global burden of disease from hepatitis B. Cost data of vaccine delivery and medical treatment related to hepatitis B infection were collected for the analysis. FINDINGS The introduction of hepatitis B vaccine has increased the annual budget for immunization services by approximately 56%. It is predicted that more than 4000 future deaths are averted annually by the intervention. In the base case scenario, the incremental costs per undiscounted deaths averted amount to US$436, and the costs per undiscounted DALY averted amount to US$36. Since the major impact of hepatitis B vaccination will not start to be evident for at least another 40 years (deaths from hepatitis B mainly occur between 40-60 years of age), the cost per DALY averted rises to US$47, when using a discount rate of 3% on health effects. We found that the monovalent hepatitis B vaccine was considerably more cost-effective than the hepatitis B vaccine in combination with DTP. INTERPRETATION If policy makers value future health benefits equal to current benefits, the cost-effectiveness of infant hepatitis B vaccination is in the range of other primary health care interventions for which similar analysis has been undertaken.
Dynamic programming based segmentation approach to LSF matrix reconstruction

We propose a methodology of speech segmentation in which the LSF feature vector matrix of a segment is reconstructed optimally using a set of parametric/non-parametric functions. We have explored approximations using basis functions or polynomials. We have analyzed the performance of these methods w.r. t. phoneme segmentation (on 100 TIMIT sentences) and reconstruction error based on spectral distortion (SD) measure. We study how amenable these methods are to quantization and their suitability for speech coding. We also estimate the optimum number of segments depending on the reconstruction performance achieved using that many number of segments and the tolerance limit set on the spectral distortion error.
Row reduced representations of behaviors over finite rings

Row reduced representations of behaviors over fields posses a number of useful properties. Perhaps the most important feature is the predictable degree property. This property allows a finite parametrization of the module generated by the rows of the row reduced matrix with prior computable bounds. In this paper we study row-reducedness of representations of behaviors over rings of the form Zp r , where p is a prime number. Using a restricted calculus within Zp r we derive a meaningful and computable notion of row-reducedness.
Organization of Myelinated Axons by Caspr and Caspr2 Requires the Cytoskeletal Adapter Protein 4.1B

Caspr and Caspr2 regulate the formation of distinct axonal domains around the nodes of Ranvier. Caspr is required for the generation of a membrane barrier at the paranodal junction (PNJ), whereas Caspr2 serves as a membrane scaffold that clusters Kv1 channels at the juxtaparanodal region (JXP). Both Caspr and Caspr2 interact with protein 4.1B, which may link the paranodal and juxtaparanodal adhesion complexes to the axonal cytoskeleton. To determine the role of protein 4.1B in the function of Caspr proteins, we examined the ability of transgenic Caspr and Caspr2 mutants lacking their 4.1-binding sequence (d4.1) to restore Kv1 channel clustering in Caspr- and Caspr2-null mice, respectively. We found that Caspr-d4.1 was localized to the PNJ and is able to recruit the paranodal adhesion complex components contactin and NF155 to this site. Nevertheless, in axons expressing Caspr-d4.1, Kv1 channels were often detected at paranodes, suggesting that the interaction of Caspr with protein 4.1B is necessary for the generation of an efficient membrane barrier at the PNJ. We also found that the Caspr2-d4.1 transgene did not accumulate at the JXP, even though it was targeted to the axon, demonstrating that the interaction with protein 4.1B is required for the accumulation of Caspr2 and Kv1 channels at the juxtaparanodal axonal membrane. In accordance, we show that Caspr2 and Kv1 channels are not clustered at the JXP in 4.1B-null mice. Our results thus underscore the functional importance of protein 4.1B in the organization of peripheral myelinated axons.
A learning machine that evolves

We propose a simple model of a learning machine that evolves. When a classification problem is given, a perceptron like learning machine obtains a proper set of feature detecting cells through mating, mutation, and natural selection. Computer simulation showed the expected results. This is one of our trials to approach the evolutionary system in the real world.
The Complexity Crisis - Using Modeling and Simulation for System Level Analysis and Design

This paper discusses the current state of the art of modeling and simulation environments and proposes a set of enhancements that will be necessary for such environments to meet future demands. Modeling and simulation are categorized in accordance with the size of the models to be handled: component level modeling, device level modeling, and system level modeling. It is shown that the requirements that modeling and simulation environments need to satisfy in order to meet the demands of modelers are vastly different at these three
Designing electiricty transmission auctions: an introduction to the relevant literature

The UK has ambitious plans for exploiting offshore wind for electricity production in order to meet its challenging target under the EU Renewable Energy Directive. This could involve investing up to £20bn in transmission assets to bring electricity ashore. An investment of this magnitude calls for an efficient mechanism to determine which projects get financed and ensuring that only those projects that are selected can be delivered at least costs to consumers. The electricity regulator’s ongoing tender auctions are likely to work well for point-to-point transmission and for networks already built. However, it is still unclear what kinds of models could be considered for complex meshed offshore (and onshore) networks where licences are granted not only to own and operate, but also to build a transmission network. This paper provides an extensive survey on the current theory and experience of auctions. The main objective is to discuss the design of auctions for transmission assets in which bidding for packages of transmission assets is a possibility.
Realizing near-true voltage scaling in variation-sensitive L1 caches via fault buffers

Voltage scaling can be applied to cache memories to reduce their energy consumptions. However, reduced supply voltage to the cache memories increases defective SRAM cells due to process variations, which will decrease their yields and performance nullifying the benefits of voltage scaling. To mitigate this problem, we propose a fault buffer-based scheme for L1 caches. Faults are identified and isolated at the granularity of individual words in the L1 caches. Actively used faulty cache words are allocated in the fault buffers dynamically. The fault buffers are organized as multiple banks for low cost implementation and can be reconfigured dynamically to reflect varying performance demands of programs. This dynamic scheme is shown to be more energy- and area-efficient than, and to be performing comparably to the previously proposed static schemes.
Implicit Motives as Determinants of Networking Behaviors

In today’s world of work, networking behaviors are an important and viable strategy to enhance success in work and career domains. Concerning personality as an antecedent of networking behaviors, prior studies have exclusively relied on trait perspectives that focus on how people feel, think, and act. Adopting a motivational perspective on personality, we enlarge this focus and argue that beyond traits predominantly tapping social content, motives shed further light on instrumental aspects of networking – or why people network. We use McClelland’s implicit motives framework of need for power (nPow), need for achievement (nAch), and need for affiliation (nAff) to examine instrumental determinants of networking. Using a facet theoretical approach to networking behaviors, we predict differential relations of these three motives with facets of (1) internal vs. external networking and (2) building, maintaining, and using contacts. We conducted an online study, in which we temporally separate measures (N = 539 employed individuals) to examine our hypotheses. Using multivariate latent regression, we show that nAch is related to networking in general. In line with theoretical differences between networking facets, we find that nAff is positively related to building contacts, whereas nPow is positively related to using internal contacts. In sum, this study shows that networking is not only driven by social factors (i.e., nAff), but instead the achievement motive is the most important driver of networking behaviors.
Causal Relationships and Relationships between Levels: The Modes of Description Perspective

Many researchers have argued for a description of nature using multiple levels, or modes of description, as we call them. This paper focuses on a confusion that follows from the multiple-mode approach, a confusion due to the notion of causation between modes. Causation between modes is reinterpreted as ordinary causation but with cause and effect described in different modes. In the first part of the paper the framework of modes of description is presented. In the second part it is applied to examples from cognitive science, which are taken from debates on the mind-brain issue and the dynamical systems approach to cognition.
Constrained H1-Regularization Schemes for Diffeomorphic Image Registration

We propose regularization schemes for deformable registration and efficient algorithms for their numerical approximation. We treat image registration as a variational optimal control problem. The deformation map is parametrized by its velocity. Tikhonov regularization ensures well-posedness. Our scheme augments standard smoothness regularization operators based on H1- and H2-seminorms with a constraint on the divergence of the velocity field, which resembles variational formulations for Stokes incompressible flows. In our formulation, we invert for a stationary velocity field and a mass source map. This allows us to explicitly control the compressibility of the deformation map and by that the determinant of the deformation gradient. We also introduce a new regularization scheme that allows us to control shear. We use a globalized, preconditioned, matrix-free, reduced space (Gauss-)Newton-Krylov scheme for numerical optimization. We exploit variable elimination techniques to reduce the number of unknowns of our system; we only iterate on the reduced space of the velocity field. Our current implementation is limited to the two-dimensional case. The numerical experiments demonstrate that we can control the determinant of the deformation gradient without compromising registration quality. This additional control allows us to avoid oversmoothing of the deformation map. We also demonstrate that we can promote or penalize shear whilst controlling the determinant of the deformation gradient.
When Is It “Manly” to Intervene?: Examining the Effects of a Misogynistic Peer Norm on Bystander Intervention for Sexual Aggression

Objective: The current study examined effects of the presence of a misogynistic male peer norm and masculine gender role stress (MGRS) on bystander intervention behavior for sexual aggression. Method: Undergraduate men (N = 104) engaged in a novel laboratory paradigm in which they and 3 male confederates watched a female confederate, who reported a strong dislike of sexual content in the media, view a sexually explicit film which they could stop at any time. Prior to the female viewing the film, participants were randomly assigned to an audience manipulation wherein the male confederates set a misogynistic or ambiguous group norm. Results: Zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression models indicated (a) the presence of a misogynistic peer norm decreased the odds of intervening, and (b) higher levels of MGRS significantly increased the rate of bystander intervention among participants exposed to a misogynistic, but not an ambiguous, norm. Conclusions: Findings highlight the importance of examining situational and individual level factors that may influence prosocial bystander intervention behavior to prevent sexual aggression.
What is the Cost of Diagnosis and Management of Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in South Africa?

Background Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is undermining TB control in South Africa. However, there are hardly any data about the cost of treating DR-TB in high burden settings despite such information being quintessential for the rational planning and allocation of resources by policy-makers, and to inform future cost-effectiveness analyses. Methodology We analysed the comparative 2011 United States dollar ($) cost of diagnosis and treatment of drug sensitive TB (DS-TB), MDR-TB and XDR-TB, based on National South African TB guidelines, from the perspective of the National TB Program using published clinical outcome data. Principal Findings Assuming adherence to national DR-TB management guidelines, the per patient cost of XDR-TB was $26,392, four times greater than MDR-TB ($6772), and 103 times greater than drug-sensitive TB ($257). Despite DR-TB comprising only 2.2% of the case burden, it consumed ∼32% of the total estimated 2011 national TB budget of US $218 million. 45% and 25% of the DR-TB costs were attributed to anti-TB drugs and hospitalization, respectively. XDR-TB consumed 28% of the total DR-TB diagnosis and treatment costs. Laboratory testing and anti-TB drugs comprised the majority (71%) of MDR-TB costs while hospitalization and anti-TB drug costs comprised the majority (92%) of XDR-TB costs. A decentralized XDR-TB treatment programme could potentially reduce costs by $6930 (26%) per case and reduce the total amount spent on DR-TB by ∼7%. Conclusion/Significance Although DR-TB forms a very small proportion of the total case burden it consumes a disproportionate and substantial amount of South Africa’s total annual TB budget. These data inform rational resource allocation and selection of management strategies for DR-TB in high burden settings.
Exploratory and interactive daily deals recommendation

Daily deals sites (DDSs), such as Groupon and LivingSocial, attract millions of customers in the hunt for products and services at significantly reduced prices. A typical approach to increase revenue is to send email messages featuring the deals of the day. Such daily messages, however, are usually not centered on the customers, instead, all registered users typically receive similar messages with almost the same deals. Traditional recommendation algorithms are innocuous in DDSs because: (i) most of the users are sporadic bargain hunters, and thus past preference data is extremely sparse, (ii) deals have a short living period, and thus data is extremely volatile, and (iii) user taste and interest may undergo temporal drifts. In order to address such particularly challenging scenario, we propose new algorithms for daily deals recommendation based on the explore-then-exploit strategy.Users are split into exploration and exploitation sets -- in the exploration set the users receive non-personalized messages and a co-purchase network is updated with user feedback for purchases of the day, while in the exploitation set the updated network is used for recommending personalized messages for the remaining users.A thorough evaluation of our algorithms using real data obtained from a large daily deals website in Brazil in contrast to state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms show gains in precision ranging from 18% to 34%.
The Examination of the Musculoskeletal System Based Only on the Evaluation of Pelvic-Hip Complex Muscle and Trunk Flexibility May Lead to Failure to Screen Children for Generalized Joint Hypermobility

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate whether the clinical assessment of the pelvic-hip complex muscle and trunk flexibility is sufficient for diagnosing generalized joint hypermobility (GJH). Design A cross-sectional study. Setting Center of Body Posture in Olsztyn, North East Poland. Participants The study included 136 females and 113 males aged 10–13 years. Main outcome measures In order to assess muscle flexibility, the straight leg raise (SLR) test (for hamstring) and modified Thomas test for one- (O-JHF) and two-joint (T-JHF) hip flexors were performed. To evaluate trunk flexibility the fingertip-to-floor (FTF) and lateral trunk flexion (LTF) tests were used. The GJH occurrence was assessed with the use of nine-point Beighton scale (threshold value ≥5 points for females, ≥4 for males). The analysis was carried out separately for females and males. Results There were no significant differences between females with versus without GJH, and males with versus without GJH regarding SLR (p = 0.86, p = 0.19 for females and males, respectively), O-JHF (p = 0.89, p = 0.35 for females and males, respectively), T-JHF (p = 0.77, p = 0.4 for females and males, respectively), FTF (p = 0.19, p = 0.84 for females and males, respectively) and LTF (p = 0.58, p = 0.35 for females and males, respectively) tests results. Conclusions Clinical examination of the pelvic-hip complex muscles and trunk flexibility by use of SLR, O-JHF, T-JHF, FTF and LTF revealed to be insufficient in diagnosing GJH in children aged 10–13 years. Thus, the Beighton scale should be considered a standard element of physiotherapeutic examination of the musculoskeletal system in children and youth.
Vector fuzzy C-means

Many variants of fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering method are applied to crisp numbers but only a few of them are extended to non-crisp numbers, mainly due to the fact that the latter needs complicated equations and exhausting calculations. Vector form of fuzzy c-means (VFCM), proposed in this paper, simplifies the FCM clustering method applying to non-crisp (symbolic interval and fuzzy) numbers. Indeed, the VFCM method is a simple and general form of FCM that applies the FCM clustering method to various types of numbers (crisp and non-crisp) with different correspondent metrics in a single structure, and without any complex calculations and exhaustive derivations. The VFCM maps the input (crisp or non-crisp) features to crisp ones and then applies the conventional FCM to the input numbers in the resulted crisp features' space. Finally, the resulted crisp prototypes in the mapped space would be influenced by inverse mapping to obtain the main prototypes' parameters in the input features' space. Equations of FCM applied to crisp, symbolic interval and fuzzy numbers (i.e., LR-type, trapezoidal-type, triangular-type and normal-type fuzzy numbers) are obtained in this paper, using the proposed VFCM method. Final resulted equations are the same as (the FCM clustering method applying to non-crisp numbers directly and without using VFCM), while the VFCM obtains these equations using a single structure for all cases [7, 9, 10, 13, 18, 19, 30, 38–40] without any complex calculations. It is showed that VFCM is able to clustering of normal-type fuzzy numbers, too. Simulation results approve truly of normal-type fuzzy numbers clustering.
A simplified intelligent controller for ball and beam system

Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) performance is greatly dependent on its inference rules. In most cases, the more rules being applied to a FLC, the accuracy of the control action is enhanced. Nevertheless, a large set of rules requires more computation time. As a result, FLC implementation requires fast and high performance processors. In this paper, it is shown that the inference rule table of a two-input FLCs used to control a ball and beam system can be reduced to form a Single Input Fuzzy Logic Controller (SIFLC), which can be easily implemented using a lookup table. Simulated results are presented to demonstrate the better dynamic performance of the ball and beam using SIFLC compared to the conventional FLC (CFLC) and classical PID.
Dynamic Honeypot Construction

System security personnel fight a seemingly unending battle to secure their digital assets against an ever-increasing onslaught of attacks. Honeypots provide a valuable tool to collect information about the behaviors of attackers in order to design and implement better defenses, but most current configurations are static setups consisting of either low interaction or high-interaction environments. Although static honeypots help address this issue, the ability to construct dynamic honeypots easily would enable security personnel to identify potential security vulnerabilities in the attempt to build better defenses. This research effort describes a method to automatically and dynamically configure honeypots based on the results of network scans. These dynamically constructed honeypots then emulate a system or network of systems in order to collect information to better protect that network. This dynamic honeypots configuration methods has been implemented and tested, and can now enhance the ability of system administrators to identify system vulnerabilities .
Threats from Inside: Dynamic Utility (Mis)Alignments in an Agent based Model

We envision a game theoretic model of an organization so as to devise new mechanisms to improve compliance and reduce various insider threats – be it intentional or unintentional, while paying proportional attention to various intertwined issues: namely in the form of deception, privacy, trust, global utilities and stability. For this purpose, we primarily rely on a realistic formulation of classical information-asymmetric signaling games, in a repeated form, while allowing the agents to dynamically vary their strategic choices as their utilities get (mis)aligned. To better understand the multi-faceted security concerns in existing and emerging multi-agent interactions within an organization, we map, model and analyze various challenging scenarios of threats: namely, those by design or those by negligence. We also describe a bridge to the future by investigating the extendability of the proposed mechanisms in a speciﬁc embodiment, where available meta-data is mined to model behavioral propensities of the agents. Simulation and empirical analysis indicate promising results for this approach to deliver new mechanisms and control regimes.
POTENTIAL FOR SELF‐DEFEATING BIOLOGICAL CONTROL? VARIATION IN HERBIVORE VULNERABILITY AMONG INVASIVE SPARTINA GENOTYPES

Invasive species can experience strong selection in their new environments. Some populations of invasive Spartina spp. cordgrass in Pacific estuaries have been separated from the specialist planthopper Prokelisia marginata for many generations while virtually no native populations, in estuaries of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America, have experienced this separation. Contemplating the implications for biological control, we compared native cordgrass populations for resistance and tolerance to the planthopper with invasive ones that have been separated from the herbivore from many generations. We found that plant genotypes varied more in their ability to resist and support planthoppers in a population that had been separated from the herbivore for many generations (in Willapa Bay, Washington, USA) than in one that had been consistently exposed to the herbivore (in San Francisco Bay, California, USA). In the former, some plant genotypes experienced >50% shoot mortality while others experienced non.