Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-reported Diabetes Mellitus and Risk of Mortality from All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, and Cancer in Takayama: A Population-based Prospective Cohort Study in Japan

Background Diabetes mellitus has been reported to be a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD), and higher risk of CVD among women than that among men has been observed in many studies. Further, the association of diabetes with increasing risk of cancer has also been reported. Well-designed studies conducted among men and women in the general Japanese population remain scarce. Methods Our cohort consisted of 13355 men and 15724 women residing in Takayama, Japan, in 1992. At the baseline, the subjects reported diabetes in a questionnaire. Any deaths occurring in the cohort until 1999 were noted by using data from the Office of the National Vital Statistics. The risk of mortality was separately assessed for men and women by using a Cox proportional hazard model after adjusting for age; smoking status; body mass index (BMI); physical activity; years of education; history of hypertension; and intake of total energy, vegetables, fat, and alcohol. Results Diabetes significantly increased the risk of mortality from all causes [hazard ratio (HR): 1.35, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11-1.64] and from coronary heart disease (CHD) (HR: 2.96, 95% CI: 1.59-5.50) among men, and that from all causes (HR: 1.74, 95% CI: 1.34-2.26) and cancer (HR: 1.88, 95% CI: 1.16-3.05) among women. Diabetes was not significantly associated with mortality from CHD among women. Conclusion The findings suggest that diabetes increases the risk of mortality from CVD among men and that from cancer among women. The absence of increased risk of mortality from CHD among women may suggest a particular pattern in the Japanese population.
Linguistic analysis of Japanese tsunami evacuation calls

Tsunami evacuation calls were collected from 38 autonomous bodies in Japan and categorized into `preparation', `advisory', and `directive' categories based on the urgency level. This study analyzed these calls from a linguistic viewpoint in terms of language quantity, sentence complexity, and information types included in a call. The analysis obtained the following results: 1) the amount and complexity of language increases as the urgency level increases; 2) many of the local governments adopt the same terms for tsunami alerts used by the Weather Bureau instead of using the legal terms `preparation', `advisory', or `directive'; 3) most evacuation orders in a call are expressed as requests (“Please do ~”) instead of as imperatives; and 4) there are no significant differences in sentences and content used in advisory calls compared with directive calls.
A human factors study of color notation systems for computer graphics

A human factors experiment was conducted that compares three color notation systems for use in computer graphics. Two of the systems (those in common use) represent colors as triples of real numbers in [0, 1]. The third system is based on natural language color categories in English. It was found that users of the natural language based system were significantly more accurate in specifying colors, despite the coarse granularity of that system as compared to the other two. This demonstrates that giving a user choice from a small set of values that are carefully chosen and based on human factors principles works better than providing a much larger and apparently more flexible set of values that are not based on such principles.
Axin1 Prevents Salmonella Invasiveness and Inflammatory Response in Intestinal Epithelial Cells

Background Axin1 and its homolog Axin2 are scaffold proteins essential for regulating Wnt signaling. Axin-dependent regulation of Wnt is important for various developmental processes and human diseases. However, the involvement of Axin1 and Axin2 in host defense and inflammation remains to be determined. Methods/Principal Findings Here, we report that Axin1, but not Axin2, plays an essential role in host-pathogen interaction mediated by the Wnt pathway. Pathogenic Salmonella colonization greatly reduces the level of Axin1 in intestinal epithelial cells. This reduction is regulated at the posttranslational level in early onset of the bacterial infection. Further analysis reveals that the DIX domain and Ser614 of Axin1 are necessary for the Salmonella-mediated modulation through ubiquitination and SUMOylation. Conclusion/Significance Axin1 apparently has a preventive effect on bacterial invasiveness and inflammatory response during the early stages of infection. The results suggest a distinct biological function of Axin1 and Axin2 in infectious disease and intestinal inflammation while they are functionally equivalent in developmental settings.
Propagating Polynomially (Integral) Linear Projection-Safe Global Cost Functions in WCSPs

Lee and Shum consider cost functions that are Polynomially Linear Projection-Safe (PLPS), but whose minimum cost computation is usually NP-hard. They suggest how such cost functions can still be efficiently propagated using relaxed forms of common consistencies. In this paper, we show that conjunctions of PLPS cost functions are still PLPS, and Lee and Shumâs relaxed consistency method is applicable to give better runtime behavior. We further introduce Polynomially Integral Linear Projection-Safe (PILPS) cost functions, a subclass of PLPS cost functions, which have (a) linear formulations with size polynomial to the number of variables and domain sizes, (b) optimal solutions of the linear relaxation always being integral and (c) the last two conditions unaffected by projections/extensions, even though the operations modify the structure of cost functions. We show that conjunctions of PILPS cost functions are PLPS, which still satisfy conditions (a) and (c). Given a standard WCSP consistency Î±, we give theorems showing that maintaining relaxed Î± on a conjunction of PILPS cost functions is stronger than maintaining Î± on the individual cost functions. A useful application of our method is on some PILPS global cost functions, whose minimum cost computations are tractable and yet those for their conjunctions are not. Experiments are conducted to conï¬rm empirically that maintaining relaxed consistencies on the conjoined cost functions is orders of magnitude more efficient, both in runtime and search space reduction, than maintaining the corresponding standard consistencies on the individual cost functions.
Developmental Expression of Human Hepatic CYP2C9 and CYP2C19

The CYP2C subfamily is responsible for metabolizing many important drugs and accounts for about 20% of the cytochrome P450 in adult liver. To determine developmental expression patterns, liver microsomal CYP2C9 and -2C19 were measured (n = 237; ages, 8 weeks gestation-18 years) by Western blotting and with diclofenac or mephenytoin, respectively, as probe substrates. CYP2C9-specific content and catalytic activity were consistent with expression at 1 to 2% of mature values (i.e., specific content, 18.3 pmol/mg protein and n = 79; specific activity, 549.5 pmol/mg/min and n = 72) during the first trimester, with progressive increases during the second and third trimesters to levels approximately 30% of mature values. From birth to 5 months, CYP2C9 protein values varied 35-fold and were significantly higher than those observed during the late fetal period, with 51% of samples exhibiting values commensurate with mature levels. Less variable CYP2C9 protein and activity values were observed between 5 months and 18 years. CYP2C19 protein and catalytic activities that were 12 to 15% of mature values (i.e., specific content, 14.6 pmol/mg and n = 20; specific activity, 18.5 pmol/mg/min and n = 19) were observed as early as 8 weeks of gestation and were similar throughout the prenatal period. CYP2C19 expression did not change at birth, increased linearly over the first 5 postnatal months, and varied 21-fold from 5 months to 10 years. Adult CYP2C19 protein and activity values were observed in samples older than 10 years. The ontogeny of CYP2C9 and -2C19 were dissimilar among both fetal and 0- to 5-months postnatal samples, implying different developmental regulatory mechanisms.
Maygh: building a CDN from client web browsers

Over the past two decades, the web has provided dramatic improvements in the ease of sharing content. Unfortunately, the costs of distributing this content are largely incurred by web site operators; popular web sites are required to make substantial monetary investments in serving infrastructure or cloud computing resources---or must pay other organizations (e.g., content distribution networks)---to help serve content. Previous approaches to offloading some of the distribution costs onto end users have relied on client-side software or web browser plug-ins, providing poor user incentives and dramatically limiting their scope in practice. In this paper, we present Maygh, a system that builds a content distribution network from client web browsers, without the need for additional plug-ins or client-side software. The result is an organically scalable system that distributes the cost of serving web content across the users of a web site. Through simulations based on real-world access logs from Etsy (a large e-commerce web site that is the 50th most popular web site in the U.S.), microbenchmarks, and a small-scale deployment, we demonstrate that Maygh provides substantial savings to site operators, imposes only modest costs on clients, and can be deployed on the web sites and browsers of today. In fact, if Maygh was deployed to Etsy, it would reduce network bandwidth due to static content by 75% and require only a single coordinating server.
1 Dynamics of Human Behavior

stored as: pub/Encyclopedia_Complexity_DrwArticle/Dynamics_of_Human_Behavior6. doc * Submitted to Encyclopedia of Complexity and Systems Science. Berlin, Heidelberg:Springer-Verlag. ** Acknowledgements: As a Santa Fe Institute external faculty member, the author greatly appreciates SFI support and the benefits of interactions with scores of SFI researchers, visitors, and staff. Special thanks to Jeroen Bruggeman for sharing his prepublication book manuscript and the cross-fertilization of ideas presented in section IV, to Henry Wright for detailed commentary and suggestions, Eric Smith for comments on the coalescence of the argument, Peter Turchin for sharing historical data, and to Bruggeman, Turchin, Art Griffin, Charles Stanish, and Emily Erikson for suggestions on the discussions of their findings, to Lilyan Brudner-White for many editorial suggestions, and to D. Eric Smith and many other colleagues at SFI for discussions. a University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California b Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Connectionist Modeling of Language: Examples and Implications

Researchers interested in human cognitive processes have long used computer simulations to try to identify the principles of cognition. The strategy has been to build computational models that embody putative principles and then to examine how well such models capture human performance in cognitive tasks. Until the early 1980’s, this effort was undertaken largely within the context of the “computer metaphor” of mind. Researchers built computational models based on the conceptualization that the human mind operated as though it were a conventional digital computer. However, with the advent of so-called connectionist, neural network, or parallel distributed processing models (Anderson, Silverstein, Ritz, & Jones, 1977; Hinton & Anderson, 1981; McClelland & Rumelhart, 1981; McClelland, Rumelhart, & PDP Research Group, 1986; Rumelhart, McClelland, & PDP Research Group, 1986), researchers began exploring the implications of principles that are more broadly consistent with the style of computation employed by the brain. In connectionist models, cognitive processes take the form of cooperative and competitive interactions among large numbers of simple, neuron-like processing units (see Figure 1). Unit interactions are governed by weighted connections that collectively encode the long-term knowledge of the system. The activity of some of the units encodes the input to the system; the resulting activity of other units encodes the system’s response to that input. The patterns of activity of the remaining so-called hidden units constitute learned internal representations that mediate between inputs and outputs. Learning involves modifying the values of connection weights based on feedback from the environment on the accuracy of the system’s responses. While each unit exhibits non-linear spatial and temporal summation, units and connections are not generally considered to be in one-to-one correspondence with actual neurons and synapses. Rather, connectionist systems attempt to capture the essential computational properties of the vast ensembles of real neuronal elements found in the brain, through simulations of smaller networks of units. In this way, the approach is distinct from computational neuroscience (Sejnowski, Koch, & Church
Performance Study of Objective Speech Quality Measurement for Modern Wireless-VoIP Communications

Wireless-VoIP communications introduce perceptual degradations that are not present with traditional VoIP communications. This paper investigates the effects of such degradations on the performance of three state-of-the-art standard objective quality measurement algorithms—PESQ, P.563, and an "extended" E-model. The comparative study suggests that measurement performance is significantly affected by acoustic background noise type and level as well as speech codec and packet loss concealment strategy. On our data, PESQ attains superior overall performance and P.563 and E-model attain comparable performance figures.
Intra- and Extracellular Activities of Dicloxacillin against Staphylococcus aureus In Vivo and In Vitro

ABSTRACT Antibiotic treatment of Staphylococcus aureus infections is often problematic due to the slow response and recurrences. The intracellular persistence of the staphylococci offers a plausible explanation for the treatment difficulties because of the impaired intracellular efficacies of the antibiotics. The intra- and extracellular time- and concentration-kill relationships were examined in vitro with THP-1 cells and in vivo by use of a mouse peritonitis model. The in vivo model was further used to estimate the most predictive pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) indices (the ratio of the maximum concentration of drug in plasma/MIC, the ratio of the area under the concentration-time curve/MIC, or the cumulative percentage of a 24-h period that the free [f] drug concentration exceeded the MIC under steady-state pharmacokinetic conditions [fTMIC]) for dicloxacillin (DCX) intra- and extracellularly. In general, DCX was found to have similar intracellular activities, regardless of the model used. Both models showed (i) the relative maximal efficacy (1-log-unit reduction in the numbers of CFU) of DCX intracellularly and (ii) the equal relative potency of DCX intra- and extracellularly, with the MIC being a good indicator of the overall response in both situations. Discordant results, based on data obtained different times after dosing, were obtained from the two models when the extracellular activity of DCX was measured, in which the in vitro model showed a considerable reduction in the number of CFU from that in the original inoculum (3-log-unit decrease in the number of CFU after 24 h), whereas the extracellular CFU reduction achieved in vivo after 4 h did not exceed 1 log unit. Multiple dosing of DCX in vivo revealed increased extra- and intracellular efficacies (2.5 log and 2 log units of reduction in the numbers of CFU after 24 h, respectively), confirming that DCX is a highly active antistaphylococcal antibiotic. PK/PD analysis revealed that fTMIC is the index that is the most predictive of the outcome of infection both intra- and extracellularly.
A Review of Research on Pre-Service Teachersâ Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Teaching English Language

In this modern era, the knowledge of technology, pedagogy, and content knowledge (TPACK) is very crucial in preparing the pre-service teachers to become quality teachers in order for them to face the challenge of 21st century. This paper reviews literature of TPACK mastery among pre-service teachers. The objective of this study is to find out the level of TPACK mastery of preservice teacher and at the same time identify the challenges faced by student teachers during their practicum especially challenges that are related to the use of technology tools. The researcher will use triangulation method which are classroom observations, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. The samples are four pre-service teachers who enroll in the Teaching English as Second Language (TESL) course from Faculty of Language and Communication (FBK), Sultan Idris Education University (UPSI). The pre-service teachers are in their final year (7th semester). They are mostly well verse with technology. However, there are reasons that they cannot implement the use of technology in their classroom such as time constraint and also inadequate space. Therefore, the result that the researcher expect is the pre-service teacher will be using very little technology tools and would be sticking to the traditional method which is ‘chalk and talk’. Unless, the pre-service teachers take the initiative to use the computer lab or ICT room in the school to conduct their lesson, then only they can implement the 21st century learning. Another option for the pre-service teachers is by bringing their own tools into the classroom which not many of them can afford it. In conclusion, the teachers in Malaysia are equipped with the soft skills in using technology tool but there are challenges for them to carry out activities using technologies and many schools also are not equipped with sufficient tools for all teachers in school.
Modelo predictivo de persistencia universitaria: Alumnado con beca salario

La dimension social de la Educacion Superior constituye uno de los elementos fundamentales de las politicas universitarias a nivel internacional en estos inicios del siglo xxi. Entre las medidas de retencion, las politicas de becas y ayudas al estudio favorecen la equidad ya que garantiza una renta a las familias con menor nivel de recursos. En Espana, dentro del marco de la Estrategia 2015, la implantacion de las becas salario pretendia garantizar el acceso y la persistencia a los estudios universitarios a aquellos grupos sociales mas desfavorecidos economicamente. La presente investigacion utiliza un modelo de regresion logistica dirigido a buscar los factores determinantes de la permanencia del alumnado becado. El estudio se ha realizado con un total de 642 estudiantes de grado con beca salario de la cohorte 2010-11 de la universidad de Barcelona. Con base a los resultados se puede afirmar que la probabilidad de que un o una estudiante becada de la poblacion objeto de estudio presente persistencia, aumenta con el incremento de la tasa de presentacion y con un alto porcentaje de asignaturas aprobadas. Los resultados estimados parecen indicar que la beca proporciona mayor dedicacion al estudio y permite compensar las dificultades del alumnado procedente de familias con bajos ingresos. Y por lo tanto se constituye en un instrumento potente para garantizar la equidad social.
PSYCHIATRIC ILLNESS IN SUICIDE ATTEMPTERS

SUMMARY Sample consisted of a series of 100 cases of attempted suicide who were hospitalized in medical or psychiatric wards of the two hospitals of Lucknow city during a period of two years. The study revealed about 80% subjects were in the age range of 15-34 years. Psychiatric disorders were observed in 62% of these subjects. 58% subjects had shown clinical features of abnormal personalities, usually of schizoid, hysterical or passive-aggressive type. Socio-demographic variables associated with self-destructive impulse were investigated. The enquiry also incorporates certain clinical impressions about 61% subjects who were followed-up for a period of two years. Two of the attempters committed suicide during the follow-up.
Cluster and set topology control on virtual backbone for coal mime

In this paper, we consider the relay nodes as the virtual backbone to make the network topology of energy conservation and efficiency, and present a Clusters diversity topological control algorithm CHS; The different parts of the algorithm running on the relay nodes and sensor nodes make the computational complexity of the sensor nodes to be the linear complexity. Simulations show that the life cycle of a mixed network is twice longer than that of a single network.
Performance Analysis of DiffServ based Quality of Service in a Multimedia Wired Network and VPN effect using OPNET

Quality of Service (QoS) techniques are applied in IP networks to utilize available network resources in the most efficient manner to minimize delays and delay variations (jitters) in network traffic having multiple type of services. Multimedia services may include voice, video and database. Researchers have done considerable work on queuing disciplines to analyze and improve QoS performance in wired and wireless IP networks. This paper highlights QoS analysis in a wired IP network with more realistic enterprise modeling and presents simulation results of a few statistics not presented and discussed before. Four different applications are used i.e. FTP, Database, Voice over IP (VoIP) and Video Conferencing (VC). Two major queuing disciplines are evaluated i.e. 'Priority Queuing' and 'Weighted Fair Queuing' for packet identification under Differentiated Services Code Point (DSCP). The simulation results show that WFQ has an edge over PQ in terms of queuing delays and jitters experienced by low priority services. For high priority traffic, dependency of 'Traffic Drop', 'Buffer Usage' and 'Packet Delay Variation' on selected buffer sizes is simulated and discussed to evaluate QoS deeper. In the end, it is also analyzed how network's database service with applied Quality of Service may be affected in terms of throughput (average rate of data received) for internal network users when the server is also accessed by external user(s) through Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Foods and Dietary Patterns That Are Healthy, Low-Cost, and Environmentally Sustainable: A Case Study of Optimization Modeling for New Zealand

Objective Global health challenges include non-communicable disease burdens, ensuring food security in the context of rising food prices, and environmental constraints around food production, e.g., greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions. We therefore aimed to consider optimized solutions to the mix of food items in daily diets for a developed country population: New Zealand (NZ). Methods We conducted scenario development and linear programming to model 16 diets (some with uncertainty). Data inputs included nutrients in foods, food prices, food wastage and food-specific GHG emissions. Findings This study identified daily dietary patterns that met key nutrient requirements for as little as a median of NZ$ 3.17 per day (US$ 2.41/d) (95% simulation interval [SI] = NZ$ 2.86 to 3.50/d). Diets that included “more familiar meals” for New Zealanders, increased the cost. The optimized diets also had low GHG emission profiles compared with the estimate for the ‘typical NZ diet’ e.g., 1.62 kg CO2e/d for one scenario (95%SI = 1.39 to 1.85 kg CO2e) compared with 10.1 kg CO2e/d, respectively. All of the optimized low-cost and low-GHG dietary patterns had likely health advantages over the current NZ dietary pattern, i.e., lower cardiovascular disease and cancer risk. Conclusions We identified optimal foods and dietary patterns that would lower the risk of non-communicable diseases at low cost and with low greenhouse gas emission profiles. These results could help guide central and local government decisions around which foods to focus policies on. That is which foods are most suitable for: food taxes (additions and exemptions); healthy food vouchers and subsidies; and for increased use by public institutions involved in food preparation.