Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contribution of body mass index to postoperative outcome in minority patients.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this investigation was to examine the association of body mass index (BMI) category with short-term outcomes in minority surgical patients-a relationship that previously has not been well characterized. METHODS Data from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program were used to calculate the BMI of minority patients undergoing surgery from 2005 to 2008. Patients were stratified into 5 BMI classes. Stepwise logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios for mortality after controlling for known clinically relevant covariates. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Morbidity and mortality at 30 days, across all 5 BMI classes. RESULTS Among 119,619 minority patients studied, 50% were African American, 36% Hispanic, 10% Asian and Pacific Islanders, and 4% American Indian and Alaskan natives. Seventy percent were overweight or obese. Women were more likely to be obese or severely obese. The overall mortality rate was 1.5%, and this varied significantly by BMI class. Distribution of 30-day mortality demonstrated a progressive decrease, with the highest risk of death in the underweight class, and the lowest risk of death in the severely obese class. This relationship was maintained, even in patients with at least 1 major postoperative complication. CONCLUSION The prevalence of being overweight or obese was high in this nationally representative cohort of minority surgical patients. Although BMI class is a significant predictor of 30-day mortality, the effect appeared paradoxical. The poorest outcomes were in the underweight and normal BMI patients. Severely obese patients had the lowest risk of mortality, even after experiencing a major postoperative complication.
On the altitude dependence of the spectral characteristics of decametre-wavelength E region backscatter and the relationship with optical auroral forms

Abstract. Observations of E region backscatter by the Ice-land East SuperDARN HF radar from the 30 minute period 2330 to 2400 UT on 13 September 1999 are presented, along with simultaneous observations of auroral luminosity from two all-sky cameras. Interferometric techniques are employed to estimate the altitude of origin of each echo observed by the radar. Under investigation is a region of backscatter which is L-shell aligned and exists in a region of low auroral luminosity bounded to the north and the south by two auroral arcs. The spectral characteristics of the backscatter fall into three main populations: broad, low Doppler shift spectra; narrow, high Doppler shift spectra; and exceptionally narrow, low Doppler shift spectra. The first two populations are similar to type II and type I spectra observed with VHF radars, respectively. These populations scatter from near the peak of the E region. The high Doppler shift population appears to exist in a region of sub-critical electric field. The third population originates below the E region peak at altitudes between 80 and 100 km. We argue that a non-coherent scattering process is responsible for this backscatter. Key words. Ionosphere (auroral ionosphere; ionospheric irregularities)
A reference architecture for integration platforms supporting cross-organizational collaboration

Organizations are progressively more required to collaborate with each other in order to achieve their business goals. This had led to the need of integrating the software systems of different, autonomous and geographically distributed organizations. Such integration is increasingly supported by integration platforms which are specialized middleware-based infrastructures that provide an intermediate processing layer, with integration capabilities, between organizations. This paper proposes a reference architecture for integration platforms supporting cross-organizational collaboration. The architecture is presented through four views where the main concepts, use cases and capabilities of these platforms are described.
Relationship between concentrations of immunoreactive insulin-like growth factor-I in follicular fluid and various biochemical markers of differentiation in bovine antral follicles.

Three experiments were conducted to determine the relationship between concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) in ovarian follicular fluid and various biochemical markers of follicular differentiation in bovine follicles. In Experiment I, ovaries were removed on Days 7, 14, 28, 42, or 56 after parturition from a total of 21 cows. In Experiment II, ovaries of 31 cows were removed between Days 20 and 30 postpartum after 48 or 96 h of either saline (0.9% NaCl, 5 ml) or luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH, 500 ng/5 ml saline) injections given every 2 h via jugular cannulae. In Experiment III, ovaries of six cows were removed 48-50 h after a 35-mg injection of prostaglandin F2 alpha during the midluteal phase of an estrous cycle. In Experiments I and II, all follicles greater than or equal to 8.0 mm in diameter were removed from each ovary (n = 33 and 46, respectively). In Experiment III, fluid from all follicles greater than 4 mm in diameter were removed individually (n = 10), and fluid from follicles 1-4 mm in diameter were pooled for each cow. Follicles for each experiment were further categorized as either estrogen-active (E-A, concentration of estradiol greater than progesterone in follicular fluid) or estrogen-inactive (E-I, concentration of progesterone greater than estradiol in follicular fluid). Measurements of immunoreactive IGF-I (i-IGF-I) were made after separating IGFs from their binding proteins with an acid-ethanol extraction. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Low Consistency of Four Brain Connectivity Measures Derived from Intracranial Electrode Measurements

Measures of brain connectivity are currently subject to intense scientific and clinical interest. Multiple measures are available, each with advantages and disadvantages. Here, we study epilepsy patients with intracranial electrodes, and compare four different measures of connectivity. Perhaps the most direct measure derives from intracranial electrodes; however, this is invasive and spatial coverage is incomplete. These electrodes can be actively stimulated to trigger electrophysical responses to provide the first measure of connectivity. A second measure is the recent development of simultaneous BOLD fMRI and intracranial electrode stimulation. The resulting BOLD maps form a measure of effective connectivity. A third measure uses low frequency BOLD fluctuations measured by MRI, with functional connectivity defined as the temporal correlation coefficient between their BOLD waveforms. A fourth measure is structural, derived from diffusion MRI, with connectivity defined as an integrated diffusivity measure along a connecting pathway. This method addresses the difficult requirement to measure connectivity between any two points in the brain, reflecting the relatively arbitrary location of the surgical placement of intracranial electrodes. Using a group of eight epilepsy patients with intracranial electrodes, the connectivity from one method is compared to another method using all paired data points that are in common, yielding an overall correlation coefficient. This method is performed for all six paired-comparisons between the four methods. While these show statistically significant correlations, the magnitudes of the correlation are relatively modest (r2 between 0.20 and 0.001). In summary, there are many pairs of points in the brain that correlate well using one measure yet correlate poorly using another measure. These experimental findings present a complicated picture regarding the measure or meaning of brain connectivity.
Applying the common criteria in systems engineering

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has proposed using the common criteria and system-level protection profiles (SLPPs) to specify security requirements in large systems, such as those used in air traffic management. This article summarizes experience with SLPP and security targets for the US Federal Aviation Administration's National Airspace System. The authors review the FAA efforts, highlight the problems encountered, and offer suggestions for future work, calling for more research on linking systems, software, and security requirements engineering with SLPP; clearer ties between security specifications and system certification; and better guidance on the appropriate use of SLPP as a prerequisite to widespread use
A Survey of Trends in Fast Packet Processing

Network interfaces of 10 Gbit/s are used more and more. Despite their high performance, packet processing rates are not correspondingly higher. This happens due to the architecture of the network stacks and the design of device drivers. There are restrictive factors and overheads which need to be overcome, so as to enable fast packet processing with commodity hardware. In this paper, techniques towards this direction are discussed and existing frameworks which exploit combinations of them are presented and compared. The frameworks mentioned are divided into two main categories, depending on whether they involve GPU for the packet processing or not.
The Impact of Repeated Stress on Neuropeptidergic Regulation of Monoamine Systems

s/Poster Presentations Lemos JC, Reyes BAS, Van Bockstaele EJ, Chavkin C, Phillips PE. (2011) Repeated stress causes persistent disruption of CRF mediated increases in dopamine in the nucleus accumbens. Winter Conference on Brain Research, Keystone, CO. Lemos JC, Phillips PE, Chavkin C. (2010). Stress-induced dysregulation of kappa opioid modulation of serotonergic DRN neuronal excitability. Program No. 905.13. Abstract Viewer/Itinerary Planner. San Diego, CA. Society for Neuroscience. Online.
Relevance models to help estimate document and query parameters

A central idea of Language Models is that documents (and perhaps queries) are random variables, generated by data-generating functions that are characterized by document (query) parameters. The key new idea of this paper is to model that a relevance judgment is also generated stochastically, and that its data generating function is also governed by those same document and query parameters. The result of this addition is that any available relevance judgments are easily incorporated as additional evidence about the true document and query model parameters. An additional aspect of this approach is that it also resolves the long-standing problem of document-oriented versus query-oriented probabilities. The general approach can be used with a wide variety of hypothesized distributions for documents, queries, and relevance. We test the approach on Reuters Corpus Volume 1, using one set of possible distributions. Experimental results show that the approach does succeed in incorporating relevance data to improve estimates of both document and query parameters, but on this data and for the specific distributions we hypothesized, performance was no better than two separate one-sided models. We conclude that the model's theoretical contribution is its integration of relevance models, document models, and query models, and that the potential for additional performance improvement over one-sided methods requires refinements.
Supplementary Materials for Distance Dependent Infinite Latent Feature Models

In Section 1, we present proofs of the propositions and lemmas that appeared in the main paper. In Section 2, we present a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm for approximate inference. Finally, in Section 3, we present analysis of data in which a non-exchangeable model might be expected to help, but does not.
Generating Strategic IS: Towards the Winning Strategy

In modern era, the role of information system in organization has been taken many discussions. The models of information system are constantly updated. However, most of them can not face the changing world. This paper discusses an approach to generating of strategic information system based on features in organization. We proposed an approach by using disadvantages in some tools of analysis whereby the lack of analysis appear as behaviour of relation between organisation and the world.
Fathers and child welfare services in Norway: self-concept and fathering practice

This article is based on interviews with 15 men whose children have, or have had, involvement with Norwegian child welfare services (CWS). The aim is to contribute to an increased knowledge of their experience of fatherhood, factors affecting their self-concept and the consequences this has for their fathering practice. The fathers’ relationship to their parents appears important – in terms of what they emphasise in their childcare, and the importance they ascribe themselves as fathers. The fathers constitute their fatherhood as in opposition to their own fathers, and to their children’s mothers. If fathers are uncertain of their role and importance for their children, while being faced with the CWS’ understanding of mothers as primary caregivers, this can cause them to withdraw. There is a need for a greater degree of reflection regarding different understandings of fatherhood, and how the CWS relate to gender roles and to fathers.
Genome Mapping and Molecular Breeding of Tomato

The cultivated tomato, Lycopersicon esculentum, is the second most consumed vegetable worldwide and a well-studied crop species in terms of genetics, genomics, and breeding. It is one of the earliest crop plants for which a genetic linkage map was constructed, and currently there are several molecular maps based on crosses between the cultivated and various wild species of tomato. The high-density molecular map, developed based on an L. esculentum × L. pennellii cross, includes more than 2200 markers with an average marker distance of less than 1 cM and an average of 750 kbp per cM. Different types of molecular markers such as RFLPs, AFLPs, SSRs, CAPS, RGAs, ESTs, and COSs have been developed and mapped onto the 12 tomato chromosomes. Markers have been used extensively for identification and mapping of genes and QTLs for many biologically and agriculturally important traits and occasionally for germplasm screening, fingerprinting, and marker-assisted breeding. The utility of MAS in tomato breeding has been restricted largely due to limited marker polymorphism within the cultivated species and economical reasons. Also, when used, MAS has been employed mainly for improving simply-inherited traits and not much for improving complex traits. The latter has been due to unavailability of reliable PCR-based markers and problems with linkage drag. Efforts are being made to develop high-throughput markers with greater resolution, including SNPs. The expanding tomato EST database, which currently includes ∼214 000 sequences, the new microarray DNA chips, and the ongoing sequencing project are expected to aid development of more practical markers. Several BAC libraries have been developed that facilitate map-based cloning of genes and QTLs. Sequencing of the euchromatic portions of the tomato genome is paving the way for comparative and functional analysis of important genes and QTLs.
Spinal Information Processing and its Application to Motor Learning Support

We designed motor learning support for acquiring motor skills involving neural mechanisms. We should be able to acquire neural information by analyzing whole-body muscle data, because the nervous system controls the musculoskeletal system and lengths and forces information is fed back to the nervous system. Motor information is calculated by mapping motioncapture data on to a musculoskeletal human model. Neural information represents the set of motor information on the muscles innervated by the arbitrary spinal cord segment. Neural information processing is proposed which calculates correlation among the neural information. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposal by experimental results of “kesagiri”.
Mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease treated with an anti-tumor necrosis factor agent

Background/Aims To evaluate the impact on mortality of anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) treatment of rheumatoid arthritis-associated interstitial lung disease (RA-ILD). Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 100 RA-ILD patients who visited our tertiary care medical center between 2004 and 2011, identified those treated with an anti-TNF agent, divided patients into non-survivor and survivor groups and evaluated their clinical characteristics and causes of death. Results A total of 24 RA-ILD patients received anti-TNF therapy, of whom six died (25%). Mean age at initiation of anti-TNF therapy was significantly higher in the nonsurvivor versus survivor group (76 years [range, 66 to 85] vs. 64 years [range, 50 to 81], respectively; p = 0.043). The mean duration of anti-TNF treatment in the non-survivor group was shorter (7 months [range, 2 to 14] vs. 23 months [range, 2 to 58], respectively; p = 0.030). The duration of anti-TNF therapy in all nonsurviving patients was < 12 months. Pulmonary function test results at ILD diagnosis, and cumulative doses of disease-modifying drugs and steroids, did not differ between groups. Five of the six deaths (83%) were related to lung disease, including two diffuse alveolar hemorrhages, two cases of acute exacerbation of ILD, and one of pneumonia. The sixth patient died of septic shock following septic arthritis of the knee. Conclusions Lung complications can occur within months of initial anti-TNF treatment in older RA-ILD patients; therefore, anti-TNF therapy should be used with caution in these patients.
A Note on Automorphisms of the Infinite-Dimensional Hypercube Graph

We define the infinite-dimensional hypercube graph $H_{{\aleph}_{0}}$ as a graph whose vertex set is formed by the so-called singular subsets of ${\mathbb Z}\setminus\{0\}$. This graph is not connected, but it has isomorphic connected components. We show that the restrictions of its automorphisms to the connected components are induced by permutations on ${\mathbb Z}\setminus\{0\}$ preserving the family of singular subsets. As an application, we describe the automorphism group of the connected components.
Disasters2.0: application of web 2.0 technologies in emergency situations

This article presents a social approach for disaster management based on a social portal called Disasters2.0, which provides facilities for integrating and sharing user-generated information about disasters. The architecture of Disasters2.0 is designed following Representational State Transfer (REST) principles and integrates external mashups such as Google Maps. This architecture has been consumed with different clients, including a mobile client, a multiagent system for assisting the decentralised management of disasters and an expert system for automatically assigning resources to disasters. As a result, the platform allows seamless collaboration of humans and intelligent agents, and provides a novel web 2.0 approach for multiagent and disaster management research.
Cellular Objects for Cellular Computers

The term cellular computer can be associated with a number of computational engines that range from chip-level architectures to massively parallel systems of the size of Connection Machine, and whose common characteristics include the relative large number of simple processing units with limited local memory, as well as, the simple (mostly synchronous/broadcasting) communication protocols. From a different point of view, these systems can be viewed as extensions of the simple cellular automaton model of computation. The extensions include properties, such as, non-homogeneity of the cells/processors, non-local addressed communications, etc. [Hillis85].
Mammalian Target of Rapamycin: Its Role in Early Neural Development and in Adult and Aged Brain Function

The kinase mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) integrates signals triggered by energy, stress, oxygen levels, and growth factors. It regulates ribosome biogenesis, mRNA translation, nutrient metabolism, and autophagy. mTOR participates in various functions of the brain, such as synaptic plasticity, adult neurogenesis, memory, and learning. mTOR is present during early neural development and participates in axon and dendrite development, neuron differentiation, and gliogenesis, among other processes. Furthermore, mTOR has been shown to modulate lifespan in multiple organisms. This protein is an important energy sensor that is present throughout our lifetime its role must be precisely described in order to develop therapeutic strategies and prevent diseases of the central nervous system. The aim of this review is to present our current understanding of the functions of mTOR in neural development, the adult brain and aging.
A survey of the effect of leader’s social intelligence on employee’s perception of interpersonal justice: the mediating role of shared leadership

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a leader’s social intelligence (SI) on an employee’s perception of interpersonal justice by considering the mediating role of shared leadership. Conceptual model and research hypotheses have been developed by the Marlowe’ SI model (1986), and the theory of shared leadership and interpersonal justice theory. Research population was Ministry of Education and training employees in TEHRAN; 108 employees were selected for gathering the required data. Data were collected using a standard questionnaire. Reliability testing of questionnaire with Cronbach’s alpha was confirmed by . 96 coefficient. For analyzing data and determining the relationships between variables of conceptual model, the covariance-based structural equation modelling with maximum likelihood method has been used. Results provide acceptable evidence of convergent and discriminant validities and internal consistency and item reliabilities of the measure of SI, interpersonal justice and shared leadership. The study contributed to our understanding of the linkage among pro-social attitude, social performance skills, empathetic ability, emotional expressiveness and confidence between shared leadership and interpersonal justice. Results of data analysis show that among SI dimensions, the ‘pro-social attitude’ by . 383 coefficient has the highest effect on perceived interpersonal justice. Also among shared leadership dimensions, the ‘perceived shared purpose’ by . 378 coefficient has the highest effect on the perceived interpersonal justice.
Women’s Political Firsts and Symbolic Representation

ABSTRACT The extent to which politics is still a “man’s game” is made evident every time a top political office has a female holder for the first time. These incredibly revealing moments may give a new social meaning to women in politics—women’s political presence—and women and politics—gendered social constructions about women’s capacity to rule. This article explores the types of gendered mediation underpinning the representation of first-ever women serving in historically male-dominated political offices in Spain. It shows that gender media frames are pervasive, which may lead to an effective annihilation of women’s symbolic representation.
Is marriage or cohabitation better for mental well-being?

Historically, the married have had better well-being outcomes than the unmarried. The decline in marriage and increase in cohabitation raises questions about whether marriage still provides these benefits. Do partnerships in general, and marriage in particular, provide benefits to mental wellbeing among the middle aged in the UK today? Do differences in well-being by partnership hold when childhood characteristics are taken into account?
Adaptive tracking control of uncertain SISO nonlinear systems

In the paper we consider adaptive tracking control problem of a class of partially unknown, nonlinear systems in affine form. The proposed here output feedback linearizing controller plus parameter tuning law ensure asymptotic tracking via adaptive compensation of linearly parametrized model nonlinearities. A new feature is that this controller does not require multiple differentiation of the system output which could be problematic especially for the systems of higher relative degree.