Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HIV prevention and African American youth: examination of individual-level behaviour is not the only answer

African American youth continue to be disproportionately represented in the incidence and prevalence of HIV despite numerous prevention efforts that target adolescent populations and declines in sexual risk behaviour among youth in general during the last decade. Several studies examining individual-level behavioural factors have failed to explain the health disparity in HIV prevalence. African American youth experience higher rates of HIV and other STIs, even when their sexual behaviour is normative. These findings suggest the need to expand beyond the examination of individual-level factors and to consider contextual issues such as economic, geographic and cultural influences. This paper reviews the relationship between contextual factors and HIV risk and prevalence and the implication for prevention for African American youth.
Tangible user interface for supporting disaster education

We introduce an interactive disaster simulation system for disaster education. This system incorporates a tabletop tangible user interface [Ishii and Ullmer 1997] and a digital pen input to provide a wide range of users with a collaborative and easy-to-use learning environment. Users can manipulate the map data to learn more about their towns. Likewise, through natural interaction with the physical tools on the table, users can explore disaster evacuation scenarios based on simulation.
Improved Software Updating for Automotive ECUs: Code Compression

Vehicles these days have roughly one hundred Electronic Control Units (ECUs). Therefore, it is difficult to fix bugs that are caused by timing. The near future may hold autonomous vehicles, which will be controlled by extensive software. Therefore, software updating will be necessary. Many vehicles are connected to a network, thus, updating should take as little time as possible. In this paper, we show how to reduce the data size for software updating. Our method is based on bsdiff, which is a well-known code-difference technique. We propose an improved bsdiff method and evaluate it by simulation. We found that it slightly reduced some of the data sizes.
Research on trajectory planning in emergency situations with multiple objects

This paper answers the question of the latest possible evasive trajectory. Using a novel approach, it can be shown and proven that it has to be a combined braking and steering maneuver. Although Horiuchi et al. (2004) has already pointed out the advantages of a combination over a sole steering intervention, the question of the latest possible collision-free trajectory has not yet been answered. Based on the novel approach, a propagation method is presented, which reveals unavoidable collisions in scenarios with multiple obstacles and which can be used to derivate an evasive trajectory
Algorithms for Extracting Structured Motifs Using a Suffix Tree with an Application to Promoter and Regulatory Site Consensus Identification

This paper introduces two exact algorithms for extracting conserved structured motifs from a set of DNA sequences. Structured motifs may be described as an ordered collection of p > or = 1 "boxes" (each box corresponding to one part of the structured motif), p substitution rates (one for each box) and p - 1 intervals of distance (one for each pair of successive boxes in the collection). The contents of the boxes--that is, the motifs themselves--are unknown at the start of the algorithm. This is precisely what the algorithms are meant to find. A suffix tree is used for finding such motifs. The algorithms are efficient enough to be able to infer site consensi, such as, for instance, promoter sequences or regulatory sites, from a set of unaligned sequences corresponding to the noncoding regions upstream from all genes of a genome. In particular, both algorithms time complexity scales linearly with N2n where n is the average length of the sequences and N their number. An application to the identification of promoter and regulatory consensus sequences in bacterial genomes is shown.
[Biochemical assessment of nutritional status in the Canary Islands population (1998)].

UNLABELLED Nutrition surveys include information about dietary intake and nutritional status utilising clinical, biochemical and anthropometric measurements. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the nutritional status of the Canary Island population by means of biochemical and haematological indicators METHODOLOGY A cross-sectional study was realised in a representative subsample aged 6 to 75 years that participated in the Nutritional Survey of the Canary Islands, 1997-98 (ENCA). We determined levels of ferritin and vitamin B12 (enzyme-immunoassay), serum and erythrocytic folic acid (automated ionic catchment), retinol, tocopherol and carotenes (high performance liquid chromatography) and minerals (atomic absorption spectrometry) RESULTS There were neither sex, age nor socio-economic differences in the reference population sample and the ENCA sample. The participation rate was 48.8%. 25% of the women had deficit levels of ferritin and the prevalence of anaemia in women over 18 years was 2.9%. 13% of the population had low erythrocyte folic acid levels, that increased with age, and 3.4% had low vitamin B12 levels, which, on the contrary, decreased with age, 15% of the population presented a deficit of alpha-tocopherol and 5.2% of retinol, being more frequent in the youngest group, and 56.4% and 41.1% exhibited low levels of beta-carotene and lycopene respectively. Among mineral and trace elements, low levels of manganese drew attention due to its heightened prevalence, and, to a lesser extent, selenium. CONCLUSIONS In spite of the complexity of its interpretation, this data yields a precise estimation of nutritional status for certain vitamins and minerals in the Canary Island population.
Haptic feedback companion for Body Area Network using body-carried electrostatic charge

Body Area Network approaches leveraging intra- or near-body communication offer exciting opportunities to utilize the human body as a signal transmission channel. Improvements in technical feasibility have encouraged research proposing mobile applications using data transferring touch interaction. In this work, we aim to provide haptic feedback for these applications to improve user experience. We propose a wearable haptic feedback device that uses electrostatic force to provide physical stimuli when a user touches objects that are electrically grounded, or of opposite polarity. Unlike previous approach, we neither physically actuate objects nor use any hand-worn haptic feedback devices. We introduce a mechanism to artificially build up electrostatic charge within the human body, and further leverage the effects of electrostatic discharge to create novel physical stimuli. In this paper, we report the underlying theory of operation as well as details of our prototype implementation. We use our prototype to explore the design space of interactions based on body-channeled physical stimuli, we illustrate our results using two applications: a) SandStorm: visualization of actuated force field using sand, and b) CheckMate: future vision of a touch-based transaction checkout system that provides haptic sensation for more reassuring feedbacks.
Background elimination using the SNIP algorithm for Bragg reflections from a protein crystal measured by a TOF single-crystal neutron diffractometer

In white neutron diffraction studies, the energy, intensity, and number of resolved Bragg peaks depend on detector resolution and background from physics processes. The statistics-sensitive non-linear iterative peak-clipping (SNIP) algorithm is widely used for subtracting the background under a peak. This paper reports the validation procedures and availability of the SNIP algorithm for time-of-flight (TOF) Bragg reflections observed with a TOF single-protein-crystal neutron diffractometer.
The Clinical, Hemodynamic, and Pathologic Diagnosis of Muscular Subvalvular Aortic Stenosis

Muscular obstruction to left ventricular outflow is a rare but serious occurrence. Eight cases in which this disease was anatomically proved are presented. The commonest symptoms are angina, dyspnea, and palpitations. Not uncommonly a family history of heart disease may be elicited. A systolic murmur along the left sternal border is the most characteristic physical finding, but a normal aortic second sound, the presence of third and fourth heart sounds, splitting of the second sound, and the absence of a diastolic murmur are all helpful clinical guides. Withdrawal pressures from the left ventricle reveal a characteristic infundibular pressure zone. Other hemodynamic findings include an anacrotic notch on the left ventricular pressure tracing, a rapidly ascending bisferious aortic pulse and a small compensatory beat after extrasystoles. Necropsy specimens reveal a grossly thickened interventricular septum as compared with normal and hypertrophied control hearts. Microscopic alterations are minimal. The etiology remains obscure but familial and developmental factors, either or both, appear to be implicated.
Volume Expansion with Albumin Compared to Gelofusine in Children with Severe Malaria: Results of a Controlled Trial

Objectives: Previous studies have shown that in children with severe malaria, resuscitation with albumin infusion results in a lower mortality than resuscitation with saline infusion. Whether the apparent benefit of albumin is due solely to its colloidal properties, and thus might also be achieved with other synthetic colloids, or due to the many other unique physiological properties of albumin is unknown. As albumin is costly and not readily available in Africa, examination of more affordable colloids is warranted. In order to inform the design of definitive phase III trials we compared volume expansion with Gelofusine (succinylated modified fluid gelatin 4% intravenous infusion) with albumin. Design: This study was a phase II safety and efficacy study. Setting: The study was conducted at Kilifi District Hospital, Kenya. Participants: The participants were children admitted with severe falciparum malaria (impaired consciousness or deep breathing), metabolic acidosis (base deficit > 8 mmol/l), and clinical features of shock. Interventions: The interventions were volume resuscitation with either 4.5% human albumin solution or Gelofusine. Outcome Measures: Primary endpoints were the resolution of shock and acidosis; secondary endpoints were in-hospital mortality and adverse events including neurological sequelae. Results: A total of 88 children were enrolled: 44 received Gelofusine and 44 received albumin. There was no significant difference in the resolution of shock or acidosis between the groups. Whilst no participant developed pulmonary oedema or fluid overload, fatal neurological events were more common in the group receiving gelatin-based intervention fluids. Mortality was lower in patients receiving albumin (1/44; 2.3%) than in those treated with Gelofusine (7/44; 16%) by intention to treat (Fisher's exact test, p = 0.06), or 1/40 (2.5%) and 4/40 (10%), respectively, for those treated per protocol (p = 0.36). Meta-analysis of published trials to provide a summary estimate of the effect of albumin on mortality showed a pooled relative risk of death with albumin administration of 0.19 (95% confidence interval 0.06–0.59; p = 0.004 compared to other fluid boluses). Conclusions: In children with severe malaria, we have shown a consistent survival benefit of receiving albumin infusion compared to other resuscitation fluids, despite comparable effects on the resolution of acidosis and shock. The lack of similar mortality benefit from Gelofusine suggests that the mechanism may involve a specific neuroprotective effect of albumin, rather than solely the effect of the administered colloid. Further exploration of the benefits of albumin is warranted in larger clinical trials.
Propagation of stress fracture of the patella

Anterior knee pain in athletes is common and usually self limited. There should be a high index of suspicion and low threshold for special imaging in cases with acute onset and specific tenderness. The risk of propagation of stress fracture of the patella in athletes is highlighted. The case report presented illustrates the potential sequence of events.
BUCKLING OPTIMIZATION OF STEERING STIFFENERS FOR GRID-STIFFENED COMPOSITE STRUCTURES

Grid-stiffened composite structures, where the skin is stiffened by a lattice of stiffeners, not only allow for significant reduction in structural weight but are also competitive in terms of structural stability and damage tolerance compared with sandwich composite structures. As the development of Automated Fiber Placement (AFP) technology matures, integrated construction of skin and stiffeners is easily manufacturable. Optimization of grid-stiffened structures is needed to fully take advantage of the expanded design possibilities. In this paper, a steering/curved stiffener layout is optimized for grid-stiffened composite structures in order to enhance the structural buckling resistance. A homogenization method is used to calculate the equivalent material properties. Global and local buckling loads are determined by a global/local coupled strategy. A linear variation of stiffener angles is assumed resulting in the formation of a locally rhombic lattice pattern by the stiffeners. Moreover, manufacturing constraints are considered in the optimization by setting a lower bound on the stiffener spacing. Since the calculation is implemented on an equivalent model with a fixed mesh, it is possible to use a gradient-based optimization algorithm. A comparison between the performance of grid-stiffened composite structures with curved stiffeners, with straight stiffeners, and with variable-stiffness skins with curved fibers, reveals the potential of curved stiffener configurations in improving structural efficiency.
Scaling Optimistic Concurrency Control by Approximately Partitioning the Certifier and Log

In optimistic concurrency control, a certifier algorithm processes a log of transaction operations to determine whether each transaction satisfies a given isolation level and therefore should commit or abort. This logging and certification of transactions is often sequential and can become a bottleneck. To improve transaction throughput, it is beneficial to parallelize or scale out the certifier and the log. One common technique for such parallelization is to partition the database. If the database is perfectly partitioned such that transactions only access data from a single partition, then both the log and the certifier can be parallelized such that each partition has its own independent log and certifier. However, for many applications, partitioning is only approximate, i.e., a transaction can access multiple partitions. Parallelization using such approximate partitioning requires synchronization between the certifiers and logs to ensure correctness. In this paper, we present the design of a parallel certifier and a partitioned log that uses minimal synchronization to obtain the benefits of parallelization using approximate partitioning. Our parallel certifier algorithm dynamically assigns constraints to each certifier. Certifiers enforce constraints using only atomic writes and reads on shared variables, thus avoiding expensive synchronization primitives such as locks. Our partitioned log uses a lightweight causal messaging protocol to ensure that transactions accessing the same partition appear in the same relative order in all logs where they both appear. We describe the techniques applied to an abstract certifier algorithm and log protocol, making them applicable to a variety of systems. We also show how both techniques can be used in Hyder, a scale-out log-structured indexed record manager.
OPTIMIZATION, KINETICS AND QUANTIFICATION OF LACTIC ACID PRODUCTION BY ANAEROBIC DIGESTION OF VEGETABLE WASTE USING INDIGENOUS MICROORGANISMS.

Present work is an economic approach towards production of lactic acid in pure form from cheap agricultural by products. Optimization, quantification and kinetic parameter were evaluated for lactic acid production during anaerobic digestion of vegetable waste using the indigenous microbial population predominated by Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and E.coli. The fermentation was carried out at different dilutions (waste to water ratio) providing different initial total solids (TS) concentration (55-190 g/L) for a period of 3 days & parameters such as total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, pH, COD, carbohydrates, and protein were monitored. Acetic acid was the major organic acid produced; however, the lactic acid production was optimum at waste: water ratio of 1:1 on volume basis. Highest lactic acid (15-20 g/L) was produced at TS of 95 -100 g/L.
Addressing Common Vulnerabilities of Reputation Systems for Electronic Commerce

Reputation systems provide a form of social control and reveal behaviour patterns in the uncertain and risk-laden environment of the open Internet. However, proposed reputation systems typically focus on the effectiveness and accuracy of reputation management, and suffer from a number of common vulnerabilities. As a result, introducing reputation management into the business environment may only replace the problems it hopes to solve with new issues. This paper aims to improve the security and robustness of reputation systems through 1) identifying the basic requirements in that area, 2) analyzing existing reputation systems for e-Commerce and a handful of other environments to compare their design choices and solutions provided, and 3) compiling a number of topical practices into guidelines for future research and development of reputation systems.
Behavioral experiments on handmarkings

Handmarkings, e.g., handwritten proofeditors' marks, can be used as direct editing commands to an interactive computer system. Three exploratory experiments studied the potential value of handmarkings for editing text and pictures. Results showed that circles are the most frequently used scoping mark and arrows are the most frequently used operator and target indicators. Experimental comparisons showed that handmarkings have the potential to be faster than keyboards and mice for editing tasks. But their ultimate value will depend upon the style and details of their user interface implementation.
Gesture-Based, Touch-Free Multi-User Gaming on Wall-Sized, High-Resolution Tiled Displays

Having to carry input devices can be inconvenient when interacting with wall-sized, high-resolution tiled displays. Such displays are typically driven by a cluster of computers. Running existing games on a cluster is non-trivial, and the performance attained using software solutions like Chromium is not good enough. This paper presents a touch-free, multi-user, humancomputer interface for wall-sized displays that enables completely device-free interaction. The interface is built using 16 cameras and a cluster of computers, and is integrated with the games Quake 3 Arena (Q3A) and Homeworld. The two games were parallelized using two different approaches in order to run on a 7x4 tile, 21 megapixel display wall with good performance. The touch-free interface enables interaction with a latency of 116 ms, where 81 ms are due to the camera hardware. The rendering performance of the games is compared to their sequential counterparts running on the display wall using Chromium. Parallel Q3A’s framerate is an order of magnitude higher compared to using Chromium. The parallel version of Home
Reconstructing multivariate causal structure between functional brain networks through a Laguerre-Volterra based Granger causality approach

Classical multivariate approaches based on Granger causality (GC) which estimate functional connectivity in the brain are almost exclusively based on autoregressive models. Nevertheless, information available from past samples is limited due to both signal autocorrelation and necessarily low model orders. Consequently, multiple time-scales interactions are usually unaccounted for. To overcome these limitations, in this study we propose the use of discrete-time orthogonal Laguerre basis functions within a Wiener-Volterra decomposition of the BOLD signals to perform effective GC assessments of brain functional connectivity. We validate our method in synthetic noisy oscillator networks, and analyze experimental fMRI data from 30 healthy subjects publicly available within the Human Connectome Project (HCP). Synthetic results demonstrate that our Laguerre-Volterra based GC estimates outperform classical approaches in terms of accuracy in detecting true causal links while rejecting false causal links in complex nonlinear networks. Human data analysis shows for the first time that the default mode network modulates both the salience network as well as fronto-temporal circuits in a causal fashion.
Incidence and clinical characteristics of lower urinary tract symptoms as a presenting symptom for patients with newly diagnosed bladder cancer.

PURPOSE The incidence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) as the sole presenting symptom for bladder cancer has traditionally been reported to be low. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of newly diagnosed bladder cancer patients who presented with LUTS in the absence of gross or microscopic hematuria. MATERIALS AND METHODS We queried our database of bladder cancer patients at the Atlanta Veteran's Affairs Medical Center (AVAMC) to identify patients who presented solely with LUTS and were subsequently diagnosed with bladder cancer. Demographic, clinical, and pathologic variables were examined. RESULTS 4.1% (14/340) of bladder cancer patients in our series presented solely with LUTS. Mean age and Charlson Co-morbidity Index of these patients was 66.4 years (range = 52-83) and 3 (range = 0-7), respectively. Of the 14 patients in our cohort presenting with LUTS, 9 (64.3%), 4 (28.6%), and 1 (7.1%) patients presented with clinical stage Ta, carcinoma in Situ (CIS), and T2 disease. At a median follow-up of 3.79 years, recurrence occurred in 7 (50.0%) patients with progression occurring in 1 (7.1%) patient. 11 (78.6%) patients were alive and currently disease free, and 3 (21.4%) patients had died, with only one (7.1%) death attributable to bladder cancer. CONCLUSIONS Our database shows a 4.1% incidence of LUTS as the sole presenting symptom in patients with newly diagnosed bladder cancer. This study suggests that urologists should have a low threshold for evaluating patients with unexplained LUTS for underlying bladder cancer.
Redox Stabilization of the Atmosphere and Oceans by Phosphorus-Limited Marine Productivity

Data from modern and ancient marine sediments demonstrate that burial of the limiting nutrient phosphorus is less efficient when bottom waters are low in oxygen. Mass-balance calculations using a coupled model of the biogeochemical cycles of carbon, phosphorus, oxygen, and iron indicate that the redox dependence of phosphorus burial in the oceans provides a powerful forcing mechanism for balancing production and consumption of atmospheric oxygen over geologic time. The oxygen-phosphorus coupling further guards against runaway ocean anoxia. Phosphorus-mediated redox stabilization of the atmosphere and oceans may have been crucial to the radiation of higher life forms during the Phanerozoic.
Multigrid-like technique for power grid analysis

Modern sub-micron VLSI designs include huge power grids that are required to distribute large amounts of current, at ever lower voltages. The resulting voltage drop on the grid reduces noise margin and increases gate delay, resulting in a serious performance impact. Checking the integrity of the supply voltage using traditional circuit simulation is not practical, for reasons of time and memory complexity. We propose a novel multigrid-like technique for the analysis of power grids. The grid is reduced to a coarser structure, and the solution is mapped back to the original grid. Experimental results show that the proposed method is very efficient as well as suitable for both DC and transient analysis of power grids.