Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Higher concentrations of alanine aminotransferase within the reference interval predict nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.

BACKGROUND In nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), increased alanine aminotransferase (ALT) concentrations are considered to be a consequence of hepatocyte damage. We performed a prospective study to examine the association between ALT within its reference interval and risk for subsequent development of NAFLD. METHODS The study cohort comprised 5237 healthy men without diagnosed NAFLD and without increases of either ALT (> or =35 U/L) or gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT; > or =40 U/L) above the reference intervals. We assessed alcohol intake via self-reporting (questionnaire) and performed biochemical tests for liver and metabolic function and abdominal ultrasonography. We used the Cox proportional hazards model to calculate the adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) in the model for NAFLD. RESULTS During 13 276.6 person-years of follow-up over a 4-year period, 984 new incident cases of NAFLD developed. We adjusted for age, weight change, body mass index, glucose, blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, smoking, alcohol consumption, regular exercise, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, C-reactive protein, and incident diabetes. Compared with an ALT concentration of <16 U/L, aHR values (95% confidence intervals) for ALT concentrations were 1.53 (1.18-1.98), 1.66 (1.29-2.13), 1.62 (1.26-2.08), and 2.21 (1.73-2.81) for ALT concentrations of 16-18, 19-21, 22-25, and 26-34 U/L, respectively. This relationship remained significant even among normal-weight participants who were still within the reference interval of ALT and GGT at all follow-up examinations. CONCLUSIONS In apparently healthy, nondiabetic Korean men, increased ALT concentration, even within the reference interval, was an independent predictor of incident NAFLD.
DTCOT: distributed timeout based transaction commit protocol for mobile database systems

Advancements in communication technologies have given rise to Mobile Database Systems (MDS). MDS allows a mobile user to initiate transactions from anywhere and at any time and guarantees their consistency preserving execution. Transaction processing in MDS has been suggested by modifying the traditional two and three phase commit (2PC) to accommodate the limitations of a Mobile Host and wireless network like intermitted connectivity, limited power, limited memory etc. A timeout based approach "Transaction Commit on Timeout", TCOT, has been suggested which shows better performance compared to 2PC and 3PC. However, this scheme does not explicitly consider a distributed database system. We propose a scheme Distributed Transaction Commit on Timeout, DTCOT, to commit the transaction in a MDS environment with distributed database. This scheme uses a timeout to decide a commit or abort. DTCOT requires two coordinators: - one for coordinating the entire transaction execution and one, which acts as the interface to the distributed database (i.e. database coordinator). The database coordinator is required because data distribution must be transparent the end user (i.e. transaction coordinator). This is a one-phase protocol due to which the time and message complexity are much lower compared to the conventional 2 phases commit and 3 phase commit protocols. We will compare the performance with the modified 2PC and show that it performs better w.r. t. Message and time complexity.
Impact of deep MLP architecture on different acoustic modeling techniques for under-resourced speech recognition

Posterior based acoustic modeling techniques such as Kullback-Leibler divergence based HMM (KL-HMM) and Tandem are able to exploit out-of-language data through posterior features, estimated by a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP). In this paper, we investigate the performance of posterior based approaches in the context of under-resourced speech recognition when a standard three-layer MLP is replaced by a deeper five-layer MLP. The deeper MLP architecture yields similar gains of about 15% (relative) for Tandem, KL-HMM as well as for a hybrid HMM/MLP system that directly uses the posterior estimates as emission probabilities. The best performing system, a bilingual KL-HMM based on a deep MLP, jointly trained on Afrikaans and Dutch data, performs 13% better than a hybrid system using the same bilingual MLP and 26% better than a subspace Gaussian mixture system only trained on Afrikaans data.
Consistent Queries Over Databases With Integrity Constraints 1

INTRODUCTION Integrity constraints represent an important source of information about the real world. They are usually used to define constraints on data (functional dependencies, inclusion dependencies, etc.). Nowadays integrity constraints have a wide applicability in several contexts such as semantic query optimization, cooperative query answering, database integration and view update. Often databases may be inconsistent with respect to integrity constraints, that is, one or more integrity constraints are not satisfied. This may happen, for instance, when the database is obtained from the integration of different information sources. The integration of knowledge from multiple sources is an important aspect in several areas such as data warehousing, database integration, automated reasoning systems and active reactive databases. Since the satisfaction of integrity constraints cannot generally be guaranteed, in the evaluation of queries, we must compute answers which are consistent with the integrity constraints. Example 1 shows a case of inconsistency. Example 1: Consider the following database schema consisting of the single binary relation Teaches (Course, Professor) where the attribute Course is a key for the relation. Assume there are two different instances for the relations Teaches as reported in Figure 1.
Tracking the VIX Index

Volatility has emerged as an important distinct asset class over the past decade. The popularity of volatility stems from its unique properties, namely its negative correlation with equity returns and its usefulness as insurance against tail risk. Trading applications of volatility-related securities and financial instruments involve among others short-term trading in order to exploit shifts in volatility (realized, implied or expected implied volatility), hedging an equity exposure and modifying the risk of an asset allocation mix.This paper examines the tracking performance of VIX futures and seven popular volatility Exchange Traded Products (ETPs) on the spot VIX index. The empirical findings suggest limited tracking ability of all the products under review as the magnitude of the respective tracking errors is significant. Therefore, even though there is a plethora of volatility products nowadays, there is still potential room for additional VIX ETP offerings that would attempt to track spot VIX following either a physical or a synthetic replication method.
Superdiscs in radio galaxies: jet–wind interactions

Taking a clue from their sharp-edged (strip-like) morphology observed in several cases, a new mechanism is proposed for the formation of the emission gaps seen between the radio lobes of many powerful extragalactic double radio sources. Canonical understanding of the radio gaps invokes either blocking of the backflowing lobe plasma by the denser interstellar medium (ISM) of the host galaxy, or 'squeezing' of the radio bridge in the middle through buoyancy force exerted by either the ISM or the surrounding intracluster medium (ICM). These pictures encounter difficulties in explaining situations where the sharp-edged radio gaps associated with non-cluster radio galaxies have widths running into several tens (even hundreds) of kiloparsecs. More particularly, the required dense high-pressure ISM/ICM is likely to be lacking at least in the case of high-redshift radio galaxies. We propose here that radio emission gaps in at least such cases could arise from a dynamical interaction between the powerful thermal wind outflowing from the active galactic nucleus (AGN) and the backflowing synchrotron plasma in the two radio lobes, which occurs once the rapidly advancing jets have crossed out of the wind zone into the intergalactic medium. A simple analytical scheme is presented to explore the plausibility of the sideways confinement of the thermal wind by the radio lobe pair, which would 'freeze' pancake-shaped conduits in the space, along which the hot, metal-enriched wind from the AGN can escape (roughly orthogonal to the radio axis). Some other possible consequences of this scenario are pointed out.
Say what? why users choose to speak their web queries

The context in which a speech-driven application is used (or conversely not used) can be an important signal for recognition engines, and for spoken interface design. Using large-scale logs from a widely deployed spoken system, we analyze on an aggregate level factors that are correlated with a decision to speak a web search query rather than type it. We find the factors most predictive of spoken queries are whether a query is made from an unconventional keyboard, for a search topic relating to a users' location, or for a search topic that can be answered in a “hands-free” fashion. We also find, contrary to our intuition, that longer queries have a higher probability of being typed than shorter queries.
Just-in-Time Production, Work Organization and Absence Control

Studies of sick-pay and absenteeism have traditionally treated absence as a worker-related phenomenon. There are good reasons to suppose, though, that firms' incentives to control absenteeism are not uniform. Using an employee/employer-matched data set, we investigate the relationship between the firm's production methods and the generosity of its sick-pay. The results suggest that firms that might be expected to value reliability highly, characterized as those that use just-in-time, are more likely to provide less generous sick-pay. Those findings survive when we control for the use of complementary policies that buffer production from absence shocks.
A Visual Analytics Approach to Finding Factors Improving Automatic Speaker Identifications

Classification quality criteria such as precision, recall, and F-measure are generally the basis for evaluating contributions in automatic speaker recognition. Specifically, comparisons are carried out mostly via mean values estimated on a set of media. Whilst this approach is relevant to assess improvement w.r. t. the state-of-the-art, or ranking participants in the context of an automatic annotation challenge, it gives little insight to system designers in terms of cues for improving algorithms, hypothesis formulation, and evidence display. This paper presents a design study of a visual and interactive approach to analyze errors made by automatic annotation algorithms. A timeline-based tool emerged from prior steps of this study. A critical review, driven by user interviews, exposes caveats and refines user objectives. The next step of the study is then initiated by sketching designs combining elements of the current prototype to principles newly identified as relevant.
An Average Performance Limit of MIMO Systems in Tracking Multi-Sinusoids With Partial Signal Information

This paper studies the best achievable reference tracking performance of MIMO linear time-invariant (LTI) feedback systems with partial reference information. The reference signal to be tracked is a multi-tone sinusoidal signal. It is assumed that, other than the instantaneous values of the reference signal, only the frequencies of the sinusoidal components are known. The tracking performance is measured by the energy of the tracking error. With this partial information of the reference signal, we consider an averaged performance measure and obtain an explicit expression of the best achievable performance. The expression shows how the harmonic frequencies and the zero directions may affect the performance, and further, how a performance degradation may result under the available partial information.
Power system state estimation and bad data analysis using weighted least square method

The static state of an electric power system is defined by the voltage magnitudes and angles at all network buses. The static-state estimator is a data processing algorithm for converting redundant meter readings and other available information into an estimate of the static-state of the system. This paper explains the concept of Weighted Least Square static state estimation. Static state estimation is performed on the data made available through the SCADA system. In this paper this data is obtained through Newton Raphson Load flow analysis. Power flow, power injections and voltage magnitudes are the various measurements taken from load flow analysis as the measurements for state estimation. Weighted least square method estimates the state of the power system based on the weight given to each measurement. A state estimator should have the ability to detect and identify the presence of a bad data. If a bad data is present among the measurements, then the estimated state variables will vary from the actual state variables. In this paper bad data detection is performed using Chi Squared test and bad data identification is performed using largest normalized residual method. Weighted least square algorithm is applied on an IEEE 14 bus.
Enabling adaptive management for regional natural resource management

Adaptive management is a concept and process that has been widely promoted for many years as a way for managing complex issues. More recently the Australian Government has promoted adaptive management as part of the programs for achieving regional natural resource management (NRM). It is surprising that, despite its simple logic and wide acceptance as the way forward, the effective application of adaptive management principles and practices in NRM regions proves challenging and elusive. One reason may be the disconnect between the capacity of current political and funding mechanisms and the complex and changing needs of natural and human systems in the wide variety of Australian catchments. Another reason may be limited experience and capacities for achieving coordinated outcomes from the multistakeholder processes required for democratic NRM governance. ; ;
Metabolic differences between primary and recurrent human brain tumors: a 1H NMR spectroscopic investigation

High‐resolution proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was performed on tissue specimens from 33 patients with astrocytic tumors (22 astrocytomas, 11 glioblastomas) and 13 patients with meningiomas. For all patients, samples of primary tumors and their first recurrences were examined. Increased anaplasia, with respect to malignant transformation, resulting in a higher malignancy grade, was present in 11 recurrences of 22 astrocytoma patients. Spectroscopic features of tumor types, as determined on samples of the primary occurrences, were in good agreement with previous studies. Compared with the respective primary astrocytomas, characteristic features of glioblastomas were significantly increased concentrations of alanine (Ala) (p = 0.005), increased metabolite ratios of glycine (Gly)/total creatine (tCr) (p = 0.0001) and glutamate (Glu)/glutamine (Gln) (p = 0.004). Meningiomas showed increased Ala (p = 0.02) and metabolite ratios [Gly, total choline (tCho), Ala] over tCr (p = 0.001) relative to astrocytomas, and N‐acetylaspartate and myo‐inositol were absent. Metabolic changes of an evolving tumor were observed in recurrent astrocytomas: owing to their consecutive assessments, more indicators of malignant degeneration were detected in astrocytoma recurrences (e.g. Gly, p = 0.029; tCho, p = 0.034; Glu, p = 0.015; tCho/tCr, p = 0.001) in contrast to the comparison of primary astrocytomas with primary glioblastomas. The present investigation demonstrated a correlation of the tCho‐signal with tumor progression. Significantly elevated concentrations of Ala (p = 0.037) and Glu (p = 0.003) and metabolite ratio tCho/tCr (p = 0.005) were even found in recurrent low‐grade astrocytomas with unchanged histopathological grading (n = 11). This may be related to an early stage of malignant transformation, not yet detectable morphologically, and emphasizes the high sensitivity of 1H NMR spectroscopy in elucidating characteristics of brain tumor metabolism. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Powered ankle-foot system that mimics intact human ankle behavior: Proposal of a new concept

This paper reports on the importance of understanding the human walking biomechanics for the design of new robotic and/or prosthetic feet. On the basis of the human ankle behavior, the design specifications for a new ankle-foot system are determined. Two existing electrically powered anklefoot concepts are described. The first device was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Laboratory, the second was developed at Arizona State University. The performance of both devices is presented. Furthermore, we propose a new concept based on the MACCEPA. The working principle and the performance characteristics of this new system are discussed.
Chemotaxis towards hyaluronan is dependent on CD44 expression and modulated by cell type variation in CD44-hyaluronan binding

The accumulation of the extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan by tumours and tumour-associated stroma promotes cancer cell invasion and metastasis. Using the Dunn chamber chemotaxis assay, we demonstrate for the first time that high molecular mass hyaluronan acts as a soluble chemoattractant promoting the directional migration of MDA-MB-468 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Moreover, chemotaxis towards hyaluronan, but not foetal bovine serum, can be abrogated following treatment of the cells with siRNA oligonucleotides to downregulate CD44 expression. These data indicate that CD44 is the principal receptor mediating this response and that CD44 expression is not a general requirement for cell migration and gradient sensing, rather it elicits a ligand-specific response. However, expression of CD44 alone is not sufficient to drive chemotaxis towards hyaluronan, as NIH-3T3 fibroblasts were unable to respond to a hyaluronan gradient even when transfected with high levels of human CD44. For NIH-3T3 cells to bind exogenous hyaluronan, it was necessary to both increase the level of receptor expression and remove a hyaluronan pericellular matrix. Together, these studies reveal a direct mechanism for promoting cell invasion into the hyaluronan-rich matrix and predict that in the complex multicellular environment in vivo, multiple mechanisms exist to regulate the ability of a cell to respond to a chemotactic hyaluronan gradient.
Towards a more cherishable digital object

As we go about our everyday routines we encounter and interact with numerous physical (e.g. furniture or clothes) and digital objects (e.g. photos or e-mails). Some of these objects may be particular cherished, for example because of memories attached to them. As several studies into cherished objects have shown, we have more difficulties identifying cherished digital objects than physical ones. However, cherishing a small collection of digital objects can be beneficial; e.g. it can encourage active selection of digital objects to keep and discard. This paper presents a study that aimed to increase understanding of cherished physical and digital objects, and beyond that, of how we perceive physical and digital objects, and their advantages and disadvantages. We identified design opportunities for novel products and systems that support the creation of more cherishable digital objects by extrapolating the advantages of the physical to the digital, exploiting the reasons for cherishing digital objects, and aiming for meaningful integrations of physical and digital.
A wireless system for gait and posture analysis based on pressure insoles and Inertial Measurement Units

In this paper we describe a wireless wearable system to monitor gait, based on a customized pair of commercial insoles able to collect ground reaction forces by use of 24 embedded cells for each foot. Each insole was combined with a small form factor, low-power Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and enabled to communicate via Bluetooth with a base station. We present here the characterization of the system both in terms of performance and in terms of functionality. The system was tested on a subject to demonstrate the usability and the features extraction during gait; this data allow to recognize walking phase in terms of swing and stance phase, step and stride duration, double support and single support duration, both using the pressure sensors and the IMU.
Monetary Policy Reaction Functions in Small Open Economies: A Quantile Regression Approach

type="main"> We use quantile regressions to model monetary policy reaction functions in three small open economies: Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Focusing on Taylor-type rules, we find evidence of asymmetric interest rate responses for all the countries considered, with monetary policy reacting more strongly to inflation when interest rates are high than when they are low. This is consistent with previous research suggesting that central bankers place more weight on positive deviations of inflation from its target than negative ones. In contrast, the interest rate response to the output gap is largely symmetric and small.
Gene Expression Analysis of In Vivo Fluorescent Cells

Background The analysis of gene expression for tissue homogenates is of limited value because of the considerable cell heterogeneity in tissues. However, several methods are available to isolate a cell type of interest from a complex tissue, the most reliable one being Laser Microdissection (LMD). Cells may be distinguished by their morphology or by specific antigens, but the obligatory staining often results in RNA degradation. Alternatively, particular cell types can be detected in vivo by expression of fluorescent proteins from cell type-specific promoters. Methodology/Principal Findings We developed a technique for fixing in vivo fluorescence in brain cells and isolating them by LMD followed by an optimized RNA isolation procedure. RNA isolated from these cells was of equal quality as from unfixed frozen tissue, with clear 28S and 18S rRNA bands of a mass ratio of ∼2∶1. We confirmed the specificity of the amplified RNA from the microdissected fluorescent cells as well as its usefulness and reproducibility for microarray hybridization and quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Conclusions/Significance Our technique guarantees the isolation of sufficient high quality RNA obtained from specific cell populations of the brain expressing soluble fluorescent marker, which is a critical prerequisite for subsequent gene expression studies by microarray analysis or qRT-PCR.
Against Apathy: Role Models for Engagement.

We hear a lot about the retreat of students from public life. The annual surveys suggest they care less each year about the environment, racial understanding, community-action programs, or even discussing political issues. So their generation has been repeatedly accused of apathy⎯simply not caring. Yet as I travel to speak, visit classes, and lead workshops at campuses throughout the country, I see less indifference and more learned helplessness⎯the feeling that they can’t change the world, so why try?