Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Scaling up Health Service Delivery: From Pilot Innovations to Policies and Programmes

This book considers the topic of scaling up focusing on ways to increase the impact of health service innovations that have been tested in pilot or experimental projects so as to benefit more people and to foster policy and programme development on a lasting sustainable basis. It addresses a major failure in the global health and development field: namely the failure to expand the many successful small-scale pilot or demonstration projects that have been organized around the world so as to benefit larger populations than those initially served. It presents a conceptual framework for thinking about scaling up as well as case-studies from Africa Asia and Latin America where the potential for expansion was a concern from the very inception of pilot or experimental projects. The case-studies discuss family planning and related reproductive health service interventions as well as other innovations in primary health care. Chapter 1 provides a conceptual framework for thinking about the scaling-up process within a systems context. The framework is informed by the literature of several disciplines and seeks to promote an interdisciplinary perspective on the topic. Chapter 2 describes the process of scaling up the introduction of the injectable contraceptive depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA) while improving quality of care for all contraceptive methods in Viet Nams national family planning programme.Chapter 3 discusses the quality of care reform in China which seeks to focus the family planning programme on client needs informed choice of contraceptives and better quality services. The discussion in Chapter 4 moves to Zambia reporting on a project that initially field-tested a package of activities to support service delivery in three rural health districts of the Copperbelt Province. The project strengthened contraceptive choice developed referral systems for methods not available on site and applied innovative approaches to provider training. Chapters 5 and 6 are about the Community-based Health Planning and Services (CHPS) initiative in Ghana which has successfully replicated within the national health programme the experimental service delivery innovations developed and tested by the Navrongo Health Research Centre in northern Ghana. The two final chapters (7 and 8) discuss scaling up related to the Reprolatina Project in Latin America. This project sought to expand service innovations and participatory approaches pioneered in connection with the Strategic Approach in Brazil to other municipalities in that country and to Bolivia and Chile. Chapter 7 focuses on Brazil addressing the question of what has been learned about sustainable scaling up in resource-constrained decentralized public sector settings while Chapter 8 describes an innovative training and educational methodology applied in Bolivia Brazil and Chile as the means of scaling up technical and managerial improvements in the public sector. (excerpt)
Humans and Insects Decide in Similar Ways

Behavioral ecologists assume that animals use a motivational mechanism for decisions such as action selection and time allocation, allowing the maximization of their fitness. They consider both the proximate and ultimate causes of behavior in order to understand this type of decision-making in animals. Experimental psychologists and neuroeconomists also study how agents make decisions but they consider the proximate causes of the behavior. In the case of patch-leaving, motivation-based decision-making remains simple speculation. In contrast to other animals, human beings can assess and evaluate their own motivation by an introspection process. It is then possible to study the declared motivation of humans during decision-making and discuss the mechanism used as well as its evolutionary significance. In this study, we combine both the proximate and ultimate causes of behavior for a better understanding of the human decision-making process. We show for the first time ever that human subjects use a motivational mechanism similar to small insects such as parasitoids [1] and bumblebees [2] to decide when to leave a patch. This result is relevant for behavioral ecologists as it supports the biological realism of this mechanism. Humans seem to use a motivational mechanism of decision making known to be adaptive to a heterogeneously distributed resource. As hypothesized by Hutchinson et al. [3] and Wilke and Todd [4], our results are consistent with the evolutionary shaping of decision making because hominoids were hunters and gatherers on food patches for more than two million years. We discuss the plausibility of a neural basis for the motivation mechanism highlighted here, bridging the gap between behavioral ecology and neuroeconomy. Thus, both the motivational mechanism observed here and the neuroeconomy findings are most likely adaptations that were selected for during ancestral times.
Mining and discovering biographical information in Difangzhi with a language-model-based approach

We present results of expanding the contents of the China Biographical Database by text mining historical local gazetteers, difangzhi. The goal of the database is to see how people are connected together, through kinship, social connections, and the places and offices in which they served. The gazetteers are the single most important collection of names and offices covering the Song through Qing periods. Although we begin with local officials we shall eventually include lists of local examination candidates, people from the locality who served in government, and notable local figures with biographies. The more data we collect the more connections emerge. The value of doing systematic text mining work is that we can identify relevant connections that are either directly informative or can become useful without deep historical research. Academia Sinica is developing a name database for officials in the central governments of the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Automatic assessment of levodopa‐induced dyskinesias in daily life by neural networks

We developed an objective and automatic procedure to assess the severity of levodopa‐induced dyskinesia (LID) in patients with Parkinson's disease during daily life activities. Thirteen patients were continuously monitored in a home‐like situation for a period of approximately 2.5 hours. During this time period, the patients performed approximately 35 functional daily life activities. Behavior of the patients was measured using triaxial accelerometers, which were placed at six different positions on the body. A neural network was trained to assess the severity of LID using various variables of the accelerometer signals. Neural network scores were compared with the assessment by physicians, who evaluated the continuously videotaped behavior of the patients off‐line. The neural network correctly classified dyskinesia or the absence of dyskinesia in 15‐minute intervals in 93.7, 99.7, and 97.0% for the arm, trunk, and leg, respectively. In the few cases of misclassification, the rating by the neural network was in the class next to that indicated by the physicians using the AIMS score (scale 0–4). Analysis of the neural networks revealed several new variables, which are relevant for assessing the severity of LID. The results indicate that the neural network can accurately assess the severity of LID and could distinguish LID from voluntary movements in daily life situations. © 2002 Movement Disorder Society
'Ain't nothin' like the real thing'. Motivation and study processes on a work-based project course in information systems design.

BACKGROUND Advocates of the project method claim that project-based learning inspires student learning. However, it has been claimed that project-based learning environments demand quite a bit of self-regulation on the part of the learner. AIMS Consequently, it was tested whether students scoring low in self-regulation of learning experienced 'friction', an incompatibility between student self-regulation and the demands posed by the learning environment. This would be manifest in cognitive processing and motivation. SAMPLES The target group consisted of 58 mainly third-year Finnish university students taking a mandatory project course in information systems design. During the project course, student teams completed a commissioned assignment. The study also included a matched nonequivalent comparison group composed of computer science students attending study programmes without a project-based component. METHODS Data were gathered by means of a questionnaire administered at the beginning and end of the project course and it was analysed by between-groups repeated measures ANOVA. In addition, the students on the course were interviewed. RESULTS Results suggest that the work-based project model in question may indeed have a substantial motivational impact, interestingly benefitting especially those students who scored low in self-regulation. CONCLUSIONS It is argued that we tend to view learning environments too simplistically. In particular, a basic distinction should be made between individual and collaborative learning contexts, since peer scaffolding, group grading and choice of group roles may explain why students scoring low in self-regulation of learning did not encounter friction as expected.
Neuroanatomy of the ureterovesical junction: clinical implications.

PURPOSE The anatomy of the ureterovesical junction is germane to surgical reconstruction in patients with significant reflux. In this study we refine the description of the neuroanatomy of the distal ureter and ureterovesical junction. MATERIALS AND METHODS The distal ureter and bladder including the ureterovesical junction from 6 normal human fetuses (3 female and 3 male) at 21 to 40 weeks of gestation were studied using immunohistochemical analysis and 3-dimensional imaging techniques with antibodies against the nonspecific neuronal markers S-100 and nitric oxide synthase (nNOS). RESULTS Nerves were observed to occupy the medial aspect of the distal ureter. At the ureterovesical junction the nerves encircled the entire ureter. They traveled just outside Waldeyer's sheath, leaving a safe area for surgical dissection under the sheath. As the ureter tunneled into the bladder, the nerves localized to the lateral wall of detrusor muscle. The nerves originating from the ureter and bladder and innervating the trigonal area were immunoreactive to S-100 and nNOS. nNOS positive nerve fibers arising from the bladder and ureteral nerves were found spreading among the detrusor fibers in the trigonal area. CONCLUSIONS A detailed knowledge of the distal ureteral and ureterovesical junction neuroanatomy and the pathway of these nerves in relation to the anatomical landmarks is critical for preserving bladder function. Based on these anatomical dissections, we would recommend careful dissection within Waldeyer's sheath during ureteral reconstructive surgery.
Estimation of glomerular filtration rate using serum cystatin C in overweight and obese subjects.

BACKGROUND Obesity and overweight are strong independent risk factors for chronic kidney disease (CKD). Using serum creatinine-based estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) equations in these subjects may be inaccurate. On the other hand, cystatin C-based eGFR equations may overestimate CKD prevalence as recent findings suggest an association of cystatin C with obesity. The objective of this study was to assess the accuracy of a cystatin C-based eGFR equation compared to two creatinine -based eGFR equations in overweight and obese subjects. METHODS This was a prospective cross-sectional study which recruited healthy volunteers aged 18-55 years with a body mass index (BMI) > or = 23kg/m(2) (Asia Pacific Guidelines). Their renal profiles, serum cystatin C and 99m technetium diethylene triamine pentacetic acid (99)mTc-DTPA) scans were performed on the same day. The correlations and accuracy of the creatinine-based and cystatin C-based eGFR equations with the (99)mTc-DTPA GFR were determined. RESULTS One hundred and one subjects with a median age of 30.0 (27.0-43.5) years and mean BMI of 28.7 +/- 4.5 kg/m(2) were recruited. The cystatin C-based eGFR equation showed the best correlation with the (99)mTc-DTPA GFR (r = 0.526, p = 0.001) and was more accurate in measuring abnormal GFR compared to the creatinine-based eGFR equations. CONCLUSION Our study showed that the cystatin C-based eGFR equation was more accurate, sensitive and specific in overweight and obese subjects compared to the creatinine-based eGFR equations.
General-Purpose vs . GPU : Comparison of Many-Cores on Irregular Workloads

XMT is a general-purpose many-core parallel architecture. The foremost design objective for XMTwas to meet the highest standards for ease of parallel programming. GPUs, on the other hand, have acquired a strong reputation on performance, sometimes at the expense of easeof-programming. The current paper presents a performance comparison on diverse workloads between XMT and an NVIDIA CUDA-enabled GPU. Configured with roughly the same amount of chip resources as the GPU, XMT achieves an average speedup of 6.05x on irregular applications, while incurring an average slowdown of 2.07x on regular ones. Namely, XMT comes ahead for significant applications without having to pay a (possibly worthwhile) price for easier programming. This surprising result suggests a yet untapped opportunity: A highperformance easy-to-programgeneral-purpose 1000-core computer.
A common site for immortalizing proviral integrations in Friend erythroleukemia: molecular cloning and characterization

By using a tagged derivative of Friend spleen focus-forming virus, we previously obtained evidence that proviral integration(s) in the host genome can cause erythroblast immortality by abrogating the commitment of the cell to differentiate (C. Spiro, B. Gliniak, and D. Kabat, J. Virol. 62:4129-4135, 1988). Exploiting the fact that each leukemia was a single clone that contained one tagged provirus, we have now molecularly cloned and characterized one common genomic site for immortalizing proviral integrations.
Parallel processing on real-time gesture recognition system

In the modern world, surveillance is ubiquitous and pervasive. One of the most common such surveillance is video surveillance. While the present day technological advances have provided the state-of-the-art gadgetry for those involved in surveillance to acquire video imagery data and for the processing, transmitting, storage and retrieval of such data, much of the analysis, interpretation and recognition is still a manual effort. One area of interest in vision and image processing is automated identification of objects in real-time or recorded video streams and analysis of these identified objects. Human motion identification and video processing have been used in critical crime investigations and highly technical applications usually involving skilled human experts. Although the technology has many uses that can be applied in every day activities, it has not been put into such use due to requirements in sophisticated technology, human skill and high implementation costs. Performance and processing time are most important design parameters of this types of systems. Those two are interrelated to each other. This system is using many heavy computational algorithms in each and every component. So it may take more processing time, as a result performance may reduce. This paper presents a research and analysis of various parallel processing methods and proposed method which can be applied to such a real time gesture recognition system.
Nearly incompressible and nearly inextensible finite hyperelasticity

6 A novel approach to computational strongly transversely isotropic and nearly incompressible finite hypere7 lastic fibre mechanics is introduced. It relies on using an equivalent generalised right Cauchy-Green stretch 8 tensor which is volume preserving and simply-stretch free in the limit of incompressibility and inextensibility. 9 In other words, its third and fourth principal invariants become trivial. Otherwise it represents volume change 10 and fibre stretch by aid of point-wise equivalent auxiliary measures in the continuous case. The generalised 11 kinematics implies the common orthogonal spherical – deviatoric decomposition of the stresses. The devia12 toric stresses are further orthogonally decomposed into axial fibreand ground substance-stresses. The novel 13 approach implies that the deviatoric ground substance stresses are trivial in the fibre direction as opposed to 14 the current standard formulation. The approach is also able to represent exact inextensible fibres which is a 15 problem recently addressed in the literature using an additive volumetric isochoric decoupled strain energy 16 density function, relying on volume preserving stretch. The formulation is corroborated by a couple of simple 17 numerical examples using a preliminary finite element setting. 18
Proper Quaternion Gaussian Graphical Models

In this paper, we extend Gaussian graphical models to proper quaternion Gaussian distributions. The properness assumption reduces the number of unknowns by a factor of four while graphical models reduce the number of degrees of freedom via sparsity. Each of the methods allows accurate estimation using a small number of samples. To enjoy both gains, we show that the proper quaternion Gaussian inverse covariance estimation problem is convex and has a closed form solution. We proceed to demonstrate that the additional sparsity constraints on the inverse covariance matrix also lead to a convex problem, and the optimizations can be efficiently solved by standard numerical methods. In the special but practical case of a chordal graph, we provide a closed form solution. We demonstrate the improved performance of our suggested estimators on both synthetic and real data.
“You Have to Absorb Yourself in It”

Inspired by inquiry-guided learning and critical self-reflection as pedagogical approaches, we describe exercises that encourage students to develop critical thinking skills through inquiry and reflective writing. Students compile questions and reflections throughout the course and, at the end of the term, use their writings for a comprehensive analytic self-reflection that examines their intellectual and sociological growth. Following Schwalbe’s (2008) urging to emphasize sociological thinking over disciplinary nuances in introductory courses, we describe several complementary methods for teaching students how to think like sociologists. We detail five inquiry exercises and three reflection exercises that build up to the final analytic reflection essay. The unique value of these exercises is that students not only engage the course material throughout the course but also learn to examine their own writing as data. In doing so, students learn to value the process of learning, inquiry, and critical self-reflection while acquiring and constructing self-knowledge.
Please Scroll down for Article International Journal of Parallel, Emergent and Distributed Systems Smrs: a Scalable Multi-path Routing Scheme Smrs: a Scalable Multi-path Routing Scheme

This article may be used for research, teaching and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution , reselling , loan or sub-licensing, systematic supply or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. The publisher does not give any warranty express or implied or make any representation that the contents will be complete or accurate or up to date. The accuracy of any instructions, formulae and drug doses should be independently verified with primary sources. The publisher shall not be liable for any loss, actions, claims, proceedings, demand or costs or damages whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material. Source routing has been extensively investigated as a method of improving diversity in path selection. Due to its limited scalability, the application of source routing is hindered today. Yang and Wetherall proposed a tag-based routing architecture to provide a set of non-shortest-path routes as an alternative to explicit source routes. The idea is that each router constructs a deflection set with the 1-hop route information and utilises tags as hints to independently deflect packets to the neighbours in the deflection set. To find more diverse paths, one approach is to increase the route knowledge of every node. However, there is a tradeoff in that more route knowledge leads to more diverse loop-free and dead end-free paths, but it also causes more overhead. In this paper, our objective lies in designing a method to find more diverse paths, with minimum knowledge. In addition, the tag-based deflection approach does not consider the length of the utilised paths as a main issue, which may lead to long paths. With this in mind, we propose a scalable multi-path routing scheme (SMRS), which consists of two components. One is the extension of the Yang and Wetherall approach to 2-hop history information. The other is the next hop selection algorithms to control the average length of the utilised paths. Comprehensive simulations are conducted to compare the performance of the tag-based deflection routing and SMRS. 1. Introduction Because of the dynamic network environment, single-path routing, which usually constructs the shortest path, is subject to network faults, e.g. link or router failure, link congestion, low capacity link and high delay link, resulting in degraded delivery efficiency. Thus, finding alternative paths between the source and the destination, which is mainly implemented by multi-path routing …
Differing roles for B7 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 in negative selection of thymocytes

To ensure self tolerance, immature thymocytes with high binding affinity for self peptides linked to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules are eliminated in situ via apoptosis (negative selection). The roles of two costimulatory molecules, B7-1 and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1), in negative selection was examined by studying apoptosis of T cell receptor transgenic CD4+8+ thymocytes cultured with specific peptides presented by MHC class I- transfected Drosophila cells. When coexpressed on these cells, B7-1 and ICAM-1 act synergistically and cause strong class 1-restricted negative selection of thymocytes. When expressed separately, however, B7-1 and ICAM-1 display opposite functions: negative selection is augmented by B7-1, but is inhibited by ICAM-1. It is notable that B7-1 is expressed selectively in the thymic medulla, whereas ICAM-1 is expressed throughout the thymus. Because of this distribution, the differing functions of B7-1 and ICAM-1 may dictate the sites of positive and negative selection. Thus, in the cortex, the presence of ICAM-1, but not B7-1, on the cortical epithelium may preclude or reduce negative selection and thereby promote positive selection. Conversely, the combined expression of B7-1 and ICAM-1 may define the medulla as the principal site of negative selection.