Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Safety of patients isolated for infection control.

CONTEXT Hospital infection control policies that use patient isolation prevent nosocomial transmission of infectious diseases, but may inadvertently lead to patient neglect and errors. OBJECTIVE To examine the quality of medical care received by patients isolated for infection control. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS We identified consecutive adults who were isolated for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus colonization or infection at 2 large North American teaching hospitals: a general cohort (patients admitted with all diagnoses between January 1, 1999, and January 1, 2000; n = 78); and a disease-specific cohort (patients admitted with a diagnosis of congestive heart failure between January 1, 1999, and July 1, 2002; n = 72). Two matched controls were selected for each isolated patient (n = 156 general cohort controls and n = 144 disease-specific cohort controls). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Quality-of-care measures encompassing processes, outcomes, and satisfaction. Adjustments for study cohort and patient demographic, hospital, and clinical characteristics were conducted using multivariable regression. RESULTS Isolated and control patients generally had similar baseline characteristics; however, isolated patients were twice as likely as control patients to experience adverse events during their hospitalization (31 vs 15 adverse events per 1000 days; P<.001). This difference in adverse events reflected preventable events (20 vs 3 adverse events per 1000 days; P<.001) as opposed to nonpreventable events (11 vs 12 adverse events per 1000 days; P =.98). Isolated patients were also more likely to formally complain to the hospital about their care than control patients (8% vs 1%; P<.001), to have their vital signs not recorded as ordered (51% vs 31%; P<.001), and more likely to have days with no physician progress note (26% vs 13%; P<.001). No differences in hospital mortality were observed for the 2 groups (17% vs 10%; P =.16). CONCLUSION Compared with controls, patients isolated for infection control precautions experience more preventable adverse events, express greater dissatisfaction with their treatment, and have less documented care.
Aggressive Online Learning of Structured Classifiers

We present a unified framework for online learning of structured classifiers that handles a wide family of convex loss functions, properly including CRFs, structured SVMs, and the structured perceptron. We introduce a new aggressive online algorithm that optimizes any loss in this family. For the structured hinge loss, this algorithm reduces to 1-best MIRA; in general, it can be regarded as a dual coordinate ascent algorithm. The approximate inference scenario is also addressed. Our experiments on two NLP problems show that the algorithm converges to accurate models at least as fast as stochastic gradient descent, without the need to specify any learning rate parameter.
Ethnic group differences in overweight and obese children and young people in England: cross sectional survey.

AIMS To determine the percentage of children and young adults who are obese or overweight within different ethnic and socioeconomic groups. METHODS Secondary analysis of data on 5689 children and young adults aged 2-20 years from the 1999 Health Survey for England. RESULTS Twenty three per cent of children (n = 1311) were overweight, of whom 6% (n = 358) were obese. More girls than boys were overweight (24% v 22%). Afro-Caribbean girls were more likely to be overweight (odds ratio 1.73, 95% CI 1.29 to 2.33), and Afro-Caribbean and Pakistani girls were more likely to be obese than girls in the general population (odds ratios 2.74 (95% CI 1.74 to 4.31) and 1.71 (95% CI 1.06 to 2.76), respectively). Indian and Pakistani boys were more likely to be overweight (odds ratios 1.55 (95% CI 1.12 to 2.17) and 1.36 (95% CI 1.01 to 1.83), respectively). There were no significant differences in the prevalence of obese and overweight children from different social classes. CONCLUSION The percentage of children and young adults who are obese and overweight differs by ethnic group and sex, but not by social class. British Afro-Caribbean and Pakistani girls have an increased risk of being obese and Indian and Pakistani boys have an increased risk of being overweight than the general population. These individuals may be at greater combined cumulative risk of morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular disease and so may be a priority for initiatives to target groups of children at particular risk of obesity.
Optimal design of tubular permanent magnet linear motor for electric power steering system

Electric power steering is a new kind of power steering which is developing rapidly these years due to their superior energy efficiency and energy conservation. This paper presents the design criteria of a tubular linear motor with interior permanent magnet and a tubular interior permanent magnet linear motor is designed and optimized with respect to weight and force ripple for Electric Power Steering application. Such an application requires low motor vibration and low force fluctuations which are considered in design process. A finite element analysis is used to validate the results obtained from the analytical model, comparing the magnetic field quantities as well as the mechanical force.
A Study of Complications in Real-world Machine Learning

This paper is a case study of a long-term project studying the application of machine learning to the problem of dispatching technicians to x faults in the local loop of a telephone network. The bottom line of the study is that simple machine learning techniques can increase the eeectiveness of local-loop dispatch. However, presenting a convincing argument to that eeect has been far from simple. The case study shows how almost all of the complexity in this application of machine learning is related to issues that are peripheral in the machine learning literature. In particular, we had to gather data from multiple sources, use domain knowledge to clean up data, and deal with the fact that an evaluation based on classiication accuracy is relatively meaningless without an analysis of cost eeectiveness. Our view is that application studies should be helpful in guiding future research. Therefore we conclude by outlining useful directions suggested by our experience on this long-term project.
Survey of approaches for improving the intelligence of marine Surface Vehicles

Waterborne transport faces challenges such as increasing volume, higher environmental requirements and more serious shortage of seafarers in the future. Intelligent vessels, which means that they can comprehend the surroundings and figure out what to do autonomously, could relieve these challenges. However, currently there are few applications of intelligent vessels for civilization use. On the other hand, a variety of technologies has been applied successfully for military or environmental use vessels. This paper summarizes the general architecture of an intelligent vessel based on the existing Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USVs) and then focuses on the internal algorithmic techniques when representing such a vessel as a hierarchical system, from multi-source data fusion, path planning to low level motion control. Alongside, cooperative vessel formation control is briefly reviewed. Then, translation of the theories, algorithms and applications in these fields to the domain of intelligent transportation vessels is discussed. Possible directions for future research in intelligent transport vessels are outlined.
Building the rural economy with high-growth entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs create economic growth in their communities by forming new firms. Each year during the past decade, more than half a million businesses were started that added new jobs in the United States. In the 1990s, during the longest economic expansion in the United States economy, the majority of new jobs were created by small and medium-sized entrepreneurs operating high-growth businesses. > Because entrepreneurs are such a wellspring of growth in the economy, many rural policymakers have shifted their long-time focus of recruiting existing firms, such as branch plants, to developing new entrepreneurs. New policies generally support a wide range of entrepreneurs. However, policies often fail to recognize that the benefits of entrepreneurs can vary dramatically, depending on the entrepreneur’s desire to build a high-growth business. And rural areas often lack these high-growth entrepreneurs. > Henderson reviews entrepreneurial activity in rural America and discusses some of the new ways policymakers are beginning to encourage high-growth entrepreneurs in their communities. After discussing the benefits entrepreneurs offer communities, he examines the pattern of entrepreneurship in rural areas and the difficulties many rural communities face in supporting high-growth entrepreneurs. Finally, he discusses some of the policies supporting the startup and growth of this valuable resource.
Low to Moderate Alcohol Intake Is Not Associated with Increased Mortality after Breast Cancer

Background: Both alcohol consumption and obesity have been linked with breast cancer morbidity and mortality. An inverse association between alcohol intake and obesity suggests possible confounding between these variables (and perhaps other factors) with breast cancer outcomes. Methods: Alcohol intake (beer, wine, spirits, and total) was examined in 3,088 women previously diagnosed and treated for breast cancer within an intervention trial that targeted vegetables, fiber, and fat but not alcohol or weight loss. Factors associated with baseline alcohol intake were included in Cox proportional hazards models for recurrence and mortality. Results: Alcohol intake was significantly associated with higher education and physical activity levels. Neither light alcohol intake nor obesity was significantly associated with breast cancer recurrence, but moderate alcohol intake >300 g/mo was protective against all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 0.69; 95% confidence intervals, 0.49-0.97) in a proportional hazards model adjusted for obesity. Obese women were 61% more likely to be nondrinkers than drinkers, and 76% more likely to be light drinkers than moderate/heavy drinkers. In nonobese women, alcohol intake >10 g/mo was associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% confidence intervals, 0.51-0.91). Conclusion: Light alcohol intake, regardless of body weight, did not increase the risk of breast cancer recurrence or all-cause mortality in this cohort of middle-aged women previously diagnosed with breast cancer. Alcohol intake was associated with other favorable prognostic indicators, which may explain its apparent protective effect in nonobese women. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 19(3); 681–8
Quantitative ultrasonography in rheumatoid arthritis: evaluation of inflammation by Doppler technique

OBJECTIVE To evaluate ultrasonographic methods, including the Doppler technique, as measures of synovial inflammation in finger joints of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. METHODS Ultrasonography was performed with a high frequency transducer (13 MHz). Evaluation of the sonographic data was conducted by two independent observers and included measurement of synovial area and thickness (grey tone ultrasound), vascularisation (power/colour Doppler), and indices of the intra- and extrasynovial arterial flow (spectral Doppler). The flow pattern was estimated by the indices of pulsatility (PI) and resistance (RI). RESULTS The sonographic measurements of joint space were reproducible with intraobserver, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) 0.82–0.97 (p<0.0001) and interobserver ICC 0.81 (p<0.0001). The mean (SD) fraction of the synovium vascularised in the patients was 0.15 (0.15). The synovial blood flow was characterised by a diastolic flow—that is, the flow persisting during the diastole. The mean (SD) PI was 1.92 (1.18) and RI 0.70 (0.13). The estimated vascular fraction correlated with the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (r s=0.53, p=0.03). The relative Pi (rPi), an estimate of an abnormally low resistance to vascularisation, correlated with both ESR (r s=−0.557, p<0.05) and Health Assessment Questionnaire score (r s=−0.584, p<0.05). After an injection of contrast Levovist the vascular fraction increased, while no difference in PI and RI was observed. CONCLUSION Ultrasonography is a reliable tool for estimating the size of the joint space and the synovial activity measured by the degree of vascularisation and pattern of flow. Ultrasonography may be useful in monitoring the synovial inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis.
Transforming Growth Factor- 1 to the Bone

TGF1 is a ubiquitous growth factor that is implicated in the control of proliferation, migration, differentiation, and survival of many different cell types. It influences such diverse processes as embryogenesis, angiogenesis, inflammation, and wound healing. In skeletal tissue, TGF1 plays a major role in development and maintenance, affecting both cartilage and bone metabolism, the latter being the subject of this review. Because it affects both cells of the osteoblast and osteoclast lineage, TGF1 is one of the most important factors in the bone environment, helping to retain the balance between the dynamic processes of bone resorption and bone formation. Many seemingly contradictory reports have been published on the exact functioning of TGF1 in the bone milieu. This review provides an overall picture of the bone-specific actions of TGF1 and reconciles experimental discrepancies that have been reported for this multifunctional cytokine. (Endocrine Reviews 26: 743–774, 2005)
GAPS IN MAMMALIAN BODY SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS REEXAMINED

Holling suggested that discontinuities in the body size distributions among species of animals are a universal feature of terrestrial biomes. We compared the magnitudes of body size gaps of mammal communities of North America and Australia to those generated by a simple random null model. In most biomes, no gaps were significantly larger than random, so discontinuities in body size distributions are the exception, not the rule. We also made intra- and intercontinental comparisons of size distributions to test two alternative hypotheses: (1) Holling’s Textural-Discontinuity Hypothesis, that body size distributions reflect structural characteristics of the habitat; and (2) the Core-Taxa Hypothesis, that body sizes reflect the distributions of widespread taxa. We found that the gaps in body size were similar in structurally dissimilar but adjacent biomes that shared the same or closely related species. We conclude that body size distributions of biomes are not highly discontinuous, and their structure reflec.
A GLocal π-Calculus *

The management of the operations acting over distributed an d virtual resources plays an important role for achieving the success of modern distributed ap plications. In this paper, we advocate a notion of resources as entities with their own local polici es and containing their global interactive properties. We introduce a variant of π-calculus with primitives to declare, acquire and release resource dynamically. A Control Flow Analysis predicting r esource usage is also presented.
Neuronal Degeneration in a Viral Model of Multiple Sclerosis

Ever since multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology was defined at the end of the 19th century, it has been debated whether the primary event in the CNS affects myelin or axons. Even though the characteristic pattern of tissue damage was noticed to be demyelination, it was proposed early on that axonal
Conformational dynamics of the molecular chaperone Hsp90

Abstract The ubiquitous molecular chaperone Hsp90 makes up 1–2% of cytosolic proteins and is required for viability in eukaryotes. Hsp90 affects the folding and activation of a wide variety of substrate proteins including many involved in signaling and regulatory processes. Some of these substrates are implicated in cancer and other diseases, making Hsp90 an attractive drug target. Structural analyses have shown that Hsp90 is a highly dynamic and flexible molecule that can adopt a wide variety of structurally distinct states. One driving force for these rearrangements is the intrinsic ATPase activity of Hsp90, as seen with other chaperones. However, unlike other chaperones, studies have shown that the ATPase cycle of Hsp90 is not conformationally deterministic. That is, rather than dictating the conformational state, ATP binding and hydrolysis only shift the equilibria between a pre-existing set of conformational states. For bacterial, yeast and human Hsp90, there is a conserved three-state (apo–ATP–ADP) conformational cycle; however; the equilibria between states are species specific. In eukaryotes, cytosolic co-chaperones regulate the in vivo dynamic behavior of Hsp90 by shifting conformational equilibria and affecting the kinetics of structural changes and ATP hydrolysis. In this review, we discuss the structural and biochemical studies leading to our current understanding of the conformational dynamics of Hsp90, as well as the roles that nucleotide, co-chaperones, post-translational modification and substrates play. This view of Hsp90's conformational dynamics was enabled by the use of multiple complementary structural methods including, crystallography, small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), electron microscopy, Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) and NMR. Finally, we discuss the effects of Hsp90 inhibitors on conformation and the potential for developing small molecules that inhibit Hsp90 by disrupting the conformational dynamics.
Stabilizing Receding Horizon Control for Three Dimensional Visual Feedback System with Fixed Camera Configuration

This paper investigates vision based robot control based on a receding horizon control strategy, as a first step for a predictive visual feedback control. Firstly, the brief summary of the 3D dynamic visual feedback system with fixed camera configuration is given. Next, a stabilizing receding horizon control for the 3D dynamic visual feedback system, a highly nonlinear and relatively fast system, is proposed. The stability of the receding horizon control scheme is guaranteed by using the terminal cost derived from an energy function of the visual feedback system. Keywords— Visual Feedback Control, Lyapunov Stability, Passivity, Receding Horizon Control
High Coverage Multicasting for Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

A family of message propagation protocols for highly mobile ad-hoc networks is defined, and is studied analytically and by simulation. The coverage of a message (the fraction of nodes that receive it), can be made arbitrarily close to 1, at a moderate cost of extra message traffic. Under certain simplifying assumptions, it is shown that a high coverage is achieved by making a total of O(n lnn) broadcasts, where n is the number of nodes, and the time to propagate a message is O(lnn). The effect of various parameters on the protocol performance is examined.
Self-Serving Use of Equity Rules in Bargaining with Asymmetric Outside Options

We experimentally investigate multiple notions of equity in ultimatum bargaining with asymmetric outside options. Building on the generalized equity principle formulated by Selten (1978), we derive three different equity rules that can explain 43% of all offers. Our within-subject design further allows us to show that proposers use different equity rules and apply them in a self-serving manner. They tend to follow the rules that suggest the highest payoff for them. Responders exhibit a similar pattern of behavior. Combined, these tendencies lead to high inefficiencies due to frequent rejections.
Robust stability analysis of time-varying parameter polynomial-dependent linear systems

The article proposes a novel approach to robust stability analysis of linear parameter-varying systems, of which the system matrix is polynomial-dependent on a time-varying parameter with degree L. The robust asymptotically stability of the system is transformed into feasibility test of a pair of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs) that include the parameter, its varying-rate bound and given coefficient matrices. The result presented in this article is less conservative comparing with the previous results that are based on either quadratic Lyapunov function, or a parameter-dependent Lyapunov function, respectively. A numerical example shows the validity of the result.
On Evaluating BGP Routing Stress Attack

The routing system is playing a critical role in the Internet. Numerous routing security events reveal that the Internet is not so dependable yet. Some hackers even boasted that they could bring down the whole Internet in a short time. This paper investigates a new attack on BGP routing system inspired from synchronization and resonance in complex system. The attack applies routing stress by periodically injecting and propagating excessive BGP routing advertisements which are beyond the processing ability and the storage capacity of the BGP routers in the routing system. Our contributions are twofold. First, we describe a BGP routing stress attack method inspired from synchronization and resonance of complex network. Second, we devise a cascading failure model to evaluate the robustness under BGP routing stress attack on the real Internet AS-level topology. We measure the dependability and the connectivity under cascading failures with three metrics: the proportion of failed ASes, the proportion of failed links, and the proportion of disconnected AS-AS pairs. Our experimental results show that BGP routing stress attack can eventually lead to a high proportion of failures and bring about serious impacts on the connectivity of the Internet routing system.
Unified Dynamic Hashing

This paper attempts to unify a variety of dynamic hashing methods. Spiral storage, linear hashing and to a certain extent, linear hashing with partial expansions can be seen as particular cases of a more general technique. The approach is closest to spiral storage in concept. A new instantiation of the general method is offered which permits an adjustment to the dynamic growth rate during expansion. In addition, “optimai” performance results if a sufficiently accurate estimate of the file size is possible. UNIFIED DYNAMIC HASHING
“The First [Draft] was a lot of Me . . . but the Second One is What They Want”: A Multiple-Case Study of Four Indigenous Students’ Experiences With Academic Writing

This multiple case study explores the experiences that four Indigenous students have with academic writing as an important step toward addressing the pervasive gap in postsecondary achievement rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in Canada. This study draws on an Indigenous-based research approach, as well as critical and social approaches to academic writing, to explore students’ experiences with academic writing. Interview questions, sketches, and samples of students’ writing were used to elicit accounts of experiences. These experiences point to a perceived distance between the writing the students produce and the writing they feel they ought to produce. Students’ accounts suggest that in spite of their location in a Eurocentric and predominately White institution, Indigenous students can appropriate academic writing for their own purposes and use it as a form of resistance. Implications for pedagogy include the need to create transformative spaces for the negotiation of, and talk about, academic writing.