Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute hepatitis in israeli travelers.

BACKGROUND Acute hepatitis is a well-described cause of morbidity and sporadic mortality in travelers. Data regarding the epidemiology of hepatitis in travelers are lacking. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiology of acute viral hepatitis among travelers returning from tropical countries, with particular attention to enterically transmitted hepatitis. METHODS This study is a prospective observational study of ill-returned travelers who presented at two travel medicine clinics in Israel between the years 1997 and 2012. Data of patients with acute hepatitis were summarized. Only travelers were included, immigrants and foreign workers were excluded. RESULTS Among 4,970 Israeli travelers who were seen during this period, 49 (1%) were diagnosed with acute hepatitis. Among them, hepatitis E virus (HEV) was the etiology in 19 (39%) cases and hepatitis A virus (HAV) was the etiology in 13 (27%) cases, demonstrating that 65% of all cases were due to enterically transmitted hepatitis. Acquiring acute hepatitis B (two cases) or acute hepatitis C (one case) was uncommon (6.1%). In 27% of the cases, no diagnosis was determined. Fifty-five percent of cases were imported from the Indian subcontinent, with a predominance of HEV infection (84%). A significant male predominance was seen in all groups regardless of etiology. Pre-travel consultation was documented in only 7% of those with vaccine preventable hepatitis (hepatitis A & B) compared to 89% in those with hepatitis E. CONCLUSIONS Enterically transmitted hepatitis is the main causes of viral hepatitis among travelers. HEV is an emerging disease and has become the most common hepatitis among Israeli travelers. Although an efficacious vaccine has been developed, no licensed HEV vaccine is yet available. Although hepatitis A vaccine is highly efficacious, safe, and easily available, there is a stable number of HAV cases.
Learning Policies for First Person Shooter Games Using Inverse Reinforcement Learning

The creation of effective autonomous agents (bots) for combat scenarios has long been a goal of the gaming industry. However, a secondary consideration is whether the autonomous bots behave like human players; this is especially important for simulation/training applications which aim to instruct participants in real-world tasks. Bots often compensate for a lack of combat acumen with advantages such as accurate targeting, predefined navigational networks, and perfect world knowledge, which makes them challenging but often predictable opponents. In this paper, we examine the problem of teaching a bot to play like a human in first-person shooter game combat scenarios. Our bot learns attack, exploration and targeting policies from data collected from expert human player demonstrations in Unreal Tournament. We hypothesize that one key difference between human players and autonomous bots lies in the relative valuation of game states. To capture the internal model used by expert human players to evaluate the benefits of different actions, we use inverse reinforcement learning to learn rewards for different game states. We report the results of a human subjects' study evaluating the performance of bot policies learned from human demonstration against a set of standard bot policies. Our study reveals that human players found our bots to be significantly more human-like than the standard bots during play. Our technique represents a promising stepping-stone toward addressing challenges such as the Bot Turing Test (the CIG Bot 2K Competition).
Co-Teaching in Language Arts: Supporting Students with Learning Disabilities.

In this case study, I have examined teachers’ use of co ‐ teaching models to support students with learning disabilities in an inclusive elementary classroom. Co ‐ teachers progressed from the developmental stage of collegial growth to the compromising stage (Gately & Gately, 2001), but struggled to achieve the third stage of collaboration. Teachers used several methods to support students’ literacy: explicit prompt sheets, scaffolded mini ‐ lessons, and interactional inclusion. Classroom structures and helping routines played key roles in maintaining teachers’ availability to exceptional learners. The students with learning disabilities protected their social status in the classroom, a key factor in their decision to accept teachers’ help. Key words: collaborative practices, literacy learning, interactional inclusion, struggling learners. Dans cette etude de cas, l’auteure examine les modeles de coenseignement utilises en vue de venir en aide a des eleves du primaire ayant des difficultes d’apprentissage dans une classe inclusive. Les coenseignants ont progresse du stade initial de la collegialite au stade des compromis (Gately et Gately, 2001), mais ont eu de la difficulte a atteindre le troisieme stade, celui de la collaboration. Les enseignants ont employe plusieurs methodes pour soutenir les eleves dans leur apprentissage de la litteratie: feuilles de messages ‐ guides explicites, mini ‐ lecons avec soutien a l’apprentissage et inclusion faisant appel a des interactions. C’est principalement grâce aux structures des classes et aux methodes de soutien mises en place que les enseignants ont pu demeurer disponibles pour les eleves en difficulte. Ces eleves ont protege leur statut social en classe, ce qui a joue pour beaucoup dans leur decision d’accepter l’aide des enseignants. Mots cles : methodes de collaboration, apprentissage de la litteratie, inclusion par l’interaction, apprenants en difficulte.
Developmental determinants at the mammalian optic chiasm

The mammalian optic chiasm is widely and properly regarded as a region where axons from the temporal retina take an uncrossed course and separate from axons arising in the nasal retina that take a crossed course. However, this is but a rough approximation of the adult situation, and developmental studies must take account of several distinctive stages and axon rearrangements that characterize the region of the chiasm. At the early and late stages of development of nonprimate species the axons do not segregate in accordance with a strict naso-temporal rule at all, and their behavior at the chiasm is not relevant to the formation of the naso-temporal division. As the axons pass from the eye to the chiasm they tend to lose their retinotopic order, to gain a chronotopic order, and then, in the region of the chiasm, to regain some aspects of the retinotopic order before reaching their terminal sites. Molecular or cellular cues that allow the several distinct organizational steps to occur must be expected in the retina, on the axons themselves, and also along the pathway of the axons, prechiasmatically and at the chiasm. Some of these cues will be associated with local nerve cells, some with specialized glial elements and some with the retinofugal axons themselves. Several candidate molecules have been identified in the retina and along the path of the axons, but to date no clearly defined role in the specific events of the pathway determination have been identified. The sequence of developmental processes that characterizes the formation of the optic chiasm provides an interesting and useful challenge to experimentalists, because the advancing axons can now be observed in vitro and in the living brain. The pattern of growth changes as development proceeds, it shows distinctive properties in different species and in their genetic mutants, and it can be readily modified by simple experimental procedures. These all provide opportunities for investigating the function of proposed molecular cues that act in the development of the chiasm.
Developing globally responsible leaders in business schools

Purpose – It is 50 years since the Gordon/Howell and Pierson reports substantially influenced and shaped management education. “Vision 50+20” offers an alternative future in management education for the next 20 years. The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the suggested new purpose of business schools as role models in providing responsible leadership for a sustainable world. The article proposes a model of implementation of the vision in the domain of teaching and learning, with concrete best practice examples collected from around the world. The evolution of teaching and learning in business education is briefly reviewed in light of newly proposed “collaborator” method, hopefully launching a debate and further research in this important domain.Design/methodology/approach – The 50+20 vision of management education for the world resulted from an 18‐month collective creative visioning and back‐casting process, looking into the future and based on explicitly normative assumptions about the nee.
Design of super regenerative on-off keying receiver for 5.8GHz ISM band short range applications

This paper presents a new architecture of super regenerative On-Off keying receiver (SROOK RX) applying to the 5.8GHz Industrial Scientific Medical (ISM) band in TSMC 0.18 μm process. The proposed SROOK Rx uses a quenched oscillator to reduce the required gain of Low Noise Amplifier (LNA) and can achieve low power consumption. The technology of pulse width demodulator employs the Pulse-Width Expander (PWE) to convert the pulse into digitally binary level and achieves fine resolution, which allows the SROOK Rx to support OOK demodulation. To improve the sensitivity and reduce demodulation difficulty, a high-speed comparator is added between the Envelope Detector (ED) and PWE. From simulation results, the whole receiver consumes 7mW from 0.6V/1.2V supply voltages and achieves data rate of 6 Mbps and sensitivity of -115dBm (hence energy efficiency of 1.17nJ/bit). The core area is 1.2×0.8 mm2.
Atrial Fibrillation Complexity Parameters Derived From Surface ECGs Predict Procedural Outcome and Long-Term Follow-Up of Stepwise Catheter Ablation for Atrial Fibrillation

Background—The success rate of catheter ablation for persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) is still far from satisfactory. Identification of patients who will benefit from ablation is highly desirable. We investigated the predictive value of noninvasive AF complexity parameters derived from standard 12-lead ECGs for AF termination and long-term success of catheter ablation and compared them with clinical predictors. Methods and Results—The study included a training (93 patients) and a validation set (81 patients) of patients with persistent AF undergoing stepwise radiofrequency ablation. In the training set AF terminated in 81% during catheter ablation, 77% were in sinus rhythm after 6 years and multiple ablations. ECG-derived complexity parameters were determined from a baseline 10-s 12-lead ECG. Prediction of AF termination was similar using only ECG (cross-validated mean area under the curve [AUC], 0.76±0.15) or only clinical parameters (mean AUC, 0.75±0.16). The combination improved prediction to a mean AUC of 0.79±0.13. Using a combined model of ECG and clinical parameters, sinus rhythm at long-term follow-up could be predicted with a mean AUC of 0.71±0.12. In the validation set AF terminated in 57%, 61% were in sinus rhythm after 4.6 years. The combined models predicted termination with an AUC of 0.70 and sinus rhythm at long-term follow-up with an AUC of 0.61. Overall, fibrillation-wave amplitude provided the best rhythm prediction. Conclusions—The predictive performance of ECG-derived AF complexity parameters for AF termination and long-term success of catheter ablation in patients with persistent AF is at least as good as known clinical predictive parameters, with fibrillation-wave amplitude as the best predictor.
E-ffects on relationality in leadership: Looking at the effects of the use of social network sites on aspiring leaders through the lens of relational dialectics

This study will examine the effects of the use of social network sites (SNS), specifically Facebook, on the relationality of aspiring leaders. The use of SNSs has skyrocketed among people all over the world, and particularly within the younger generation. An increasing amount of studies have been undertaken to look at the effects of using such SNSs. Further, as such SNSs take root and reveal substantial influence on relationships and habits within daily life, they seem to be increasingly leveraged by influential people for leadership purposes. As leadership remains one of the most critical topics within our culture, and relationality has long been acknowledged as a foundational element of effective leadership, it is vital that we examine the effects of the booming SNSs on relationality of young, aspiring leaders. This study implemented ethnographic interviews within a purposive sample of six recent graduates identified as leaders through being hired within their alma mater, which is a small state liberal arts university. The themes emerging from participant responses revealed the following effects on the relationality of the participants: heightened self-awareness and impression management; increased efforts towards balance, consistency, and credibility; heightened awareness of responsibility; and increased reflection on the intentionality of self and others, corresponding relational investment, and ultimate personal impact. E-FFECTS ON RELATIONALITY IN LEADERSHIP 4
Mycosis Fungoides in Iraqi Patients—Clinical, Histopathological and Immunohistochemical Study

Background: Mycosis fungoides (MF) is not an uncommon T-cell lymphoma in Iraqi population which is increasing over years. There are many diagnostic techniques to confirm the diagnosis including histopathological and immunohistochemical tests. Objectives: To evaluate all cases of MF including clinical, histopathological and immunohistochemical tests with CD markers. Patients and Methods: This clinical, histopathological, immunohistochemical outpatient based study took place in the Department of Dermatology, Baghdad Teaching Hospital, Medical City, Baghdad, Iraq during the period from May 2012-September 2013. Twenty five patients with MF were included in the present work. History was obtained from each patient regarding all socio-demographic aspects related to the disease. Also, clinical evaluation was carried out for all patients. Incisional biopsies for ordinary histopathology and immunohistochemical tests were done. Then staging was carried out depending on TNMB classification for all patients. Results: All cases of MF were confirmed after clinical evaluation, histopathology and immunohistochemical examination. Male to female ratio was 1.5:1. The mean age of onset at presentation was 47.45 ± 16.9 years. Itching was found in 84% of cases. The patch stage was seen in 36% patients. The hypopigmentaed MF was presented in 12% cases. The lower extremities were seen in 80%. Lymph node involvement as a manifestation of the disease was seen in 44% cases. The histopathological features of MF went parallel with the clinical stage of disease. Immunohistochemical study aids in the diagnosis of patch and erythrodermic stages. The most patients presented with stage IB (36%). Conclusion: MF seems to be not uncommon problem in Iraqi population and is increasing over years. The disease was diagnosed early commonly with patch stage (stage IB) while hypopigmented MF was not a common variant when compared with neighboring countries.
Reelin Signaling Pathway Genotypes and Alzheimer Disease in a Spanish Population

Background:Several reports suggest that the reelin protein could play a role in Alzheimer pathophysiology. This led us to ask whether genetic variability in the reelin pathway may increase the risk of developing Alzheimer disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Methods:This was a case-control study in which neuropsychological tests were administered and peripheral blood samples taken. The study included 121 patients with AD, 94 with MCI, and 198 controls. Forty biallelic variants single nucleotide polimorphisms were genotyped in 8 genes related to reelin signaling pathway using a SNPlex genotyping system, and allele frequencies were compared between patients and controls using &khgr;2 tests and obtaining odds ratios (OR). Results:A total of 413 subjects with complete neuropsychological data were analyzed. A significant association between the genotypes RELN (rs528528 and rs2299356), PLK2 (rs15009 and rs702723), and CAMK2A (rs3756577 and rs3822606) and AD or MCI was found. A significant association also was found between the GG genotype at the RELN-rs2299356 and the risk of AD (OR=2.68, P=0.003) and between the AG genotype at the CAMK2A-rs3822606 (OR=2.13, P=0.004). We found a protective effect of the RELN-rs528528 CT genotype and MCI (OR=0.36, P=0.002), and the PLK2-rs15009 CC and GG genotypes and CC genotype at PLK2-rs702723 with OR ranging from 0.40 to 0.57 on AD. These data suggest that TT or CT genotypes at CAMK2A-rs3756577 is associated with risk reduction for AD and MCI ranging from 2 to nearly 8 times. Conclusions:Our data suggest a possible relation between certain reelin signaling pathway genotypes and cognitive impairment related to AD.
Cooperative Diversity using Distributed Turbo Codes

A novel coding technique, termed distributed turbo coding, is proposed for the quasi-static relay channel. The source broadcasts a recursive code to both relay and destination. After detecting the data broadcasted by the source, the relay interleaves and re-encodes the message prior to forwarding it to the destination. Because the destination receives both codes in parallel, a distributed turbo code is embedded in the relay channel. Simulation results show that the proposed code performs close to the information-theoretic bound on outage event probability.
How to bring HCI research and practice closer together

This special interest group probes potential problems between HCI researchers and the practitioners who are consumers of research, to explore the extent of the problems and propose possible solutions. It will start with the results of the CHI 2010 workshop on the same topic, articulating factors that may render some of the research literature inaccessible or irrelevant to practitioners. When should HCI researchers be concerned about the relevance of their work to practitioners? How should practitioners communicate their needs for research? Participants will discuss these topics and others that both groups can use to help bridge the gap between research and practice in HCI.
Cylindrical conformai microstrip Yagi array with endfire radiation and vertical polarization

A cylindrical conformai microstrip Yagi antenna working around 10 GHz with endfire radiation and vertical polarization is proposed. The presented Yagi antenna has advantages of low profile, small size and high endfire gain. Each element of the Yagi antenna is a microstrip antenna (MSA) with one edge shorted, which can be regarded as a half MSA (HMSA). Furthermore, a cylindrical conformal Yagi array consisted of 24 above Yagi antennas is presented to improve the endfire radiation performance. Simulated results show that an exactly endfire radiation with 21 dB gain can be provided. Besides, beaming scanning in the endfire direction with side lobe level (SLL) lower than -20 dB can also be realized by adjusting the amplitudes and phases of the antennas in the array.
Movie Rating Prediction Using Singular Value Decomposition CMPS 242

In this paper, we explore the application of SVD for collaborative filtering. We employ the incremental SVD method for predicting movie ratings based on previous user preferences using the dataset provided by Netflix. Various experiments are performed to see the effect of different parameters on the performance of the algorithm. The results show that the method has potential, although it is prone to overfitting.
Contemporary incidence and mortality rates of kidney cancer in the United States.

INTRODUCTION This is a timely update of incidence and mortality for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in the United States. METHODS Relying on the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database, we computed age-adjusted incidence, mortality rates and 5-year cancer-specific survival (CSS) for patients with histologically confirmed kidney cancer between 1975 and 2009. Long-term (1975-2009) and short-term (2000-2009) trends were examined by joinpoint analysis, and quantified using the annual percent change (APC). The reported findings were stratified according to disease stage. RESULTS Age-adjusted incidence rates of RCC increased by +2.76%/year between 1975 and 2009 (from 6.5 to 17.1/100 000 person-years, p < 0.001), and by +2.85%/year between 2000 and 2009 (p < 0.001). For the same time points, the corresponding APC for the incidence of localized stage were +4.55%/year (from 3.0 to 12.2/100 000 person years, p < 0.001), and +4.42%/year (p < 0.001), respectively. The incidence rates of regional stage increased by +0.88%/year between 1975 and 2009 (p < 0.001), but stabilized in recent years (2000-2009: +0.56%/year, p = 0.4). Incidence rates of distant stage remained unchanged in long- and short-term trends. Overall mortality rates increased by +1.72%/year between 1975 and 2009 (from 1.2 to 5.0/100 000 person-years, P<0.001), but stabilized between 1994 and 2004 (p = 0.1). Short-term mortality rates increased in a significant fashion by +3.14%/year only for localized stage (p < 0.001). INTERPRETATION In contemporary years, there is a persisting upward trend in incidence and mortality of localized RCC.
Dissociative disorders : an expanding window into the psychobiology of the mind

Dissociative disorders (along with schizophrenia, depression, and anxiety) are one of the top four contemporary mental health problems. This issue reviews the latest neuroscientific and psychotherapeutic advances in the treatment of dissociative disorders, including articles on normative dissociation, psychological assessment, forensic evaluation, alternate identities, culture-bound dissociation, conversion seizures, metaphor and DD, and international perspectives.
Design of test generator for embedded self-testing

The authors consider the built-in self-test signature model. This article describes the analysis shows the ability of signature schemes, as well as the synthesis of the test generator. The approach is generalized for the case when for the synthesis of the test we use several registers with a common synchronization. Experiments have shown that the method of signature generation circuit design allows the test to predict the length of the test when the built-in self-test. In the study, the authors have achieved a substantial reduction in the length of the test sequence, on average by about 80% compared with a test sequence disordered.
Encapsulated Brucella ovis Lacking a Putative ATP-Binding Cassette Transporter (ΔabcBA) Protects against Wild Type Brucella ovis in Rams

This study aimed to evaluate protection induced by the vaccine candidate B. ovis ΔabcBA against experimental challenge with wild type B. ovis in rams. Rams were subcutaneously immunized with B. ovis ΔabcBA encapsulated with sterile alginate or with the non encapsulated vaccine strain. Serum, urine, and semen samples were collected during two months after immunization. The rams were then challenged with wild type B. ovis (ATCC25840), and the results were compared to non immunized and experimentally challenged rams. Immunization, particularly with encapsulated B. ovis ΔabcBA, prevented infection, secretion of wild type B. ovis in the semen and urine, shedding of neutrophils in the semen, and the development of clinical changes, gross and microscopic lesions induced by the wild type B. ovis reference strain. Collectively, our data indicates that the B. ovis ΔabcBA strain is an exceptionally good vaccine strain for preventing brucellosis caused by B. ovis infection in rams.