Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulation of driver, vehicle and environmental aspects of crash initiation, a new method to improve integrated safety effectiveness

New technologies are becoming available to reduce the frequency of crashes. They may be vehicle based or road based and will involve a variety of levels of information provision to drivers and increasing levels of control over the vehicle. Vehicle systems under development include intelligent speed control, lane keeping, adaptive cruise control, night vision, driver drowsiness detection while road based systems include information services and signalling. Systems development is made on the basis of technological factors, experimental studies and human factors approaches. While improved safety is a prime objective of a number of these systems, there are currently few methods available to systematically assess the in-depth application of the technologies in specific accident situations. The paper reports on a new methodology for vehicle and traffic simulation that reproduces the drivers' and vehicles' actions in the period leading to a crash. Autonomous driver agents are used to simulate the observations, behaviour and decision making of the driver while vehicle dynamics modules and road modules place the driver within the traffic and road context. To enable virtual drivers to emulate some of the unpredictable behaviour of their human counterparts, each driver agent has the capability to perceive their environment, make decisions based on what they 'see' and take appropriate actions. So far, several aspects of the model have been validated against experimentally derived data. The model has been used to simulate the pre-crash events leading to cases examined within the UK On-the-Spot Accident study. Case studies are presented and other applications of the simulation methodology relating to driving simulators, virtual road design and other transport applications will also be discussed. The oral presentation will include video run throughs of real-world scenarios and their simulations. For the covering abstract see ITRD E825082.
Nuclear translocation of myocardin-related transcription factor-A during transforming growth factor beta–induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition of lens epithelial cells

Purpose Transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) is a known inducer of epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), and studies in other systems have shown that nuclear localization of the myocardin-related transcription factor (MRTF) is downstream of TGFβ. In the following study, we investigated whether nuclear translocation of MRTF-A or MRTF-B is involved in TGFβ-induced EMT of lens epithelial cells (LECs). We further investigated the relationship between matrix metalloproteinase-2 and -9 (MMP-2/9) and MRTF in the EMT of LECs. Methods Rat lens explant cultures were used as the model system. Explants were treated with TGFβ, an MMP-2/9 inhibitor, or actin binding drugs and immunostained for alpha smooth muscle actin (αSMA), MRTF-A, and MRTF-B. Cytoplasmic and nuclear intensities of cells were measured using ImageJ. Production of αSMA was measured using western blot analysis and ImageJ. Results Untreated explant cells exhibited little αSMA expression, and MRTF-A and B were found to reside primarily in the cytosol. However, when stimulated with TGFβ, a significantly greater number of cells exhibited nuclear expression of MRTF-A, accompanied by an increase in αSMA expression. However, MRTF-B remained in the cytoplasm following TGFβ treatment. Cotreatment with an MMP-2/9 inhibitor and TGFβ resulted in reduced MRTF-A nuclear localization and αSMA expression compared to cells treated with TGFβ alone. Conclusions Our results are the first to demonstrate the expression of MRTF-A in LECs and that its nuclear translocation can be stimulated by TGFβ. Our data further suggest that MMP-2 and -9 are involved in the translocation of MRTF-A in LECs during TGFβ-induced EMT.
Evaluation of safety and analgesic consumption in patients with advanced cancer treated with zoledronic acid

Abstract Background. The aim of the study was evaluation of zoledronic acid with regard to safety, effect on analgesic consumption and impact on occurrence of skeletal related events in patients with bone lesions from solid tumors and multiple myeloma. Methods. We conducted an observational, 12-month, phase IV and multi-center study. One hundred and twentyfive symptomatic (pain) bone-metastatic patients were included between 2007 and 2009: 92 prostate cancers, 28 multiple myelomas, 5 others. They were prescribed monthly infusions of zoledronic acid in accordance to each disease’s treatment guidelines. Analgesics consumption, pain and laboratory values were evaluated. Results. Zoledronic acid was prescribed concurrent to initial therapy for myeloma and only in late stage of prostate cancer. With treatment, percentage of patients on analgesics decreased in myeloma group (from 57% to 24%) and increased in prostate cancer group (from 70% to 88%). In patients with any analgesics, the use of opiates’ prescription dropped from 72.9% to 64%, percentages of non-steroidal analgesics and other mild analgesics increased slightly. Pain score (Visual Analog Scale, VAS) decreased non significantly (by 22%) in prostate cancer but significantly in myeloma (by 97%). Hypocalcaemia grade 3 or 4 was observed in 4% of patients. Deviations in creatinine remained stable throughout. A total of 31 skeletal related events were reported for 10 patients (8%). Conclusions. Zoledronic acid was safe medication. Different response of pain was seen between prostate cancer and myeloma patients, which might be due to different stages of disease where it was prescribed according to present guidelines. Possibility of earlier start of treatment should be explored in prostate cancer.
Effectiveness of Residential Treatment for Substance Abusing Youth: Benefits of the Pine River Institute Program

We investigated the effectiveness treatment for substance abusing youth at an innovative residential program in Canada, the Pine River Institute (PRI). We explored (a) whether pretreatment problems were predicted by individual differences; (b) what predicted treatment progression; (c) the amount of improvement pre- to posttreatment; and (d) what predicted those improvements. From data from 148 youths, we found that (a) parental divorce and mental health issues were associated with pretreatment problems; (b) youths who attended PRI in more recent years progressed further through treatment; (c) improvements were significant and large; and (d) youths who progress further in treatment experience greater improvements.
Sarcopenic obesity, weight loss, and mortality: the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Background: Age-related sarcopenia describes the loss of muscle strength and often accompanies an increase in adiposity in the elderly.Objective: We examined the association of sarcopenic obesity and changes in muscle strength and weight with the risk of mortality.Design: Participants (n = 6864) were community-dwelling men and women (45.6% men; 54.4% women; mean ± SD age: 66.2 ± 9.5 y) from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing. Handgrip strength and body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2) were measured at baseline and at a 4-y follow-up. Individual participant data were linked with death records from National Health Service registries. Sarcopenic obesity was defined as obese individuals (BMI ≥30) in the lowest tertile of sex-specific grip strength (<35.3 kg for men and <19.6 kg for women). Results: There were 906 deaths over a mean follow-up of 8 y. Compared with the reference group (normal BMI and highest handgrip tertile), the risk of all-cause mortality increased as grip strength reduced within each BMI category. For participants in the lowest handgrip tertile, there was little difference in the risk between normal BMI (HR: 3.25; 95% CI: 1.86, 5.65), overweight (HR: 2.50; 95% CI: 1.44, 4.35), and obesity (HR: 2.66; 95% CI: 1.86, 3.80) after adjusting for covariates. The risk of all-cause mortality was significantly greater in participants who experienced weight loss over 4 y (HR: 2.21; 95% CI: 1.32, 3.71) and/or reduced hand grip strength (HR: 1.53; 95% CI: 10.07, 2.17) than in those with stable weight and grip strength, with the highest risk in those with both weight loss and reduced strength (HR: 3.77; 95% CI: 2.54, 5.60). Conclusions: Sarcopenic obesity did not confer any greater risk than sarcopenia alone. Weight loss combined with sarcopenia presented the greatest risk of mortality.
Speaker Recognition on Single- and Multispeaker Data

Weber, Frederick, Peskin, Barbara, Newman, Michael, Corrada-Emmanuel, Andres, and Gillick, Larry, Speaker Recognition on Single- and Multispeaker Data, Digital Signal Processing10(2000), 75? 92.We discuss Dragon Systems' approach to the NIST Speaker Recognition tasks. For the one-speaker task, we employ a combination of methods: a basic GMM system and two LVCSR-based systems, one using standard mixture models and the other using nonparametric techniques. We discuss some explorations of the recently introduced two-speaker tasks based on the GMM system alone. “Cheating” tests using NIST-supplied keys lead us to some improvements in channel normalization, and illuminate the roles that speaker segmentation and segment selection play in these tasks.
A CHARACTERISTIC DIVISION BETWEEN THE FUELING OF QUASARS AND SEYFERTS: FIVE SIMPLE TESTS

Given the existence of the MBH–σ relation, models of self-regulated black hole (BH) growth require both a fuel supply and concomitant growth of the host bulge to deepen the central potential, or else the system will either starve or immediately self-regulate without any sustained activity. This leads to a generic prediction that the brightest quasars must be triggered in major mergers: a large fraction of the galaxy mass must be added/converted to new bulge mass and a galactic supply of gas must lose angular momentum in less than a dynamical time. Low-luminosity active galactic nuclei, in contrast, require little bulge growth and small gas supplies, and could be triggered in more common nonmerger events. This leads to the expectation of a characteristic transition to merger-induced fueling around the traditional quasar–Seyfert luminosity division (growth of BH masses above/below ∼107 M☉). We compile and survey a number of observations in order to test several predictions of such a division, including (1) a transition to bulge-dominated hosts (which any major merger remnant, regardless of difficult-to-observe tidal features, should be). (2) A transition between “pseudobulges” and “classical” bulges hosting the remnant BHs: pseudobulges are formed in secular processes and minor mergers, whereas classical bulges are relics of major mergers. (3) An increase in the amplitude of small-scale clustering (increased halo occupation of small group environments) where mergers are more efficient. (4) Different redshift evolution, with gas-rich merger rates rising to redshifts z > 2 while secular processes are relatively constant in time. (5) An increasing prominence of post-starburst features in more luminous systems. Our compilation of observations in each of these areas provides tentative evidence for the predicted division around the Seyfert-quasar threshold, and we discuss how future observations can improve these constraints and, in combination with the tests here, break degeneracies between different fueling models.
Benchmarking surgery: secondary post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage 1999-2005.

CONCLUSIONS We found no evidence that the reported increase in otolaryngologic surgery in Norway in recent years has affected post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage rates, and suggest that the latter is a valuable benchmark for the quality of the tonsillectomies and adenotonsillectomies nationwide. OBJECTIVES To estimate the incidence of post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage and assess the distribution of hospitalizations for post-hemorrhage bleeding and surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was a national study using data from the Norwegian Patient Registry 1999-2005 with complete information on the incidence of post-hemorrhage hospitalizations, rebleeding surgery, and (adeno)tonsillectomy rates. RESULTS One patient per 200 tonsillectomies was hospitalized and 1 per 1000 operated for post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage during the study period. Of the 328 patients hospitalized, 64 (20%) required surgery under general anesthesia. Peak age was 5-9 years; 194 (59%) with post-tonsillectomy hemorrhage were males. The mean rebleeding rate was 0.5% (confidence interval (CI)=0.5-0.6) when secondary rebleeding was estimated as the proportion of all tonsillectomies. While tonsillar surgery was more frequent in the non-adult population, post-tonsillectomy surgery was equally common in the ages below and above 16 years. Seasonal variation in post-tonsillectomy hemorrhages was not found.
Symbolic numeric analysis of attractors in randomly generated piecewise affine models of gene networks

The goal of this paper is to present and experiment the computer aided analysis of phase portraits of some ordinary differential equations. The latter are piecewise affine, and have been primitively introduced as coarse-grained models of gene regulatory networks. Their simple formulation allows for numerical investigation, but their typical phase portrait is still largely unknown. They have been shown to present all the main aspects of nonlinear dynamics, including chaos. But it is still of interest to simulate random versions of these models, and to count and classify their attractors. This paper presents algorithms that allow for an automatic treatment of this kind, and apply it to four-dimensional sample systems. Contrary to previous studies, the latter have several thresholds in each direction, a fact whose consequences on the number and nature of attractors is discussed.
Free‐energy‐driven folding and thermodynamics of the 67‐residue protein GS‐α3W—A large‐scale Monte Carlo study

Utilizing the computational power of a few thousand processors on a BlueGene/P, we have explored the folding mechanism of the 67‐residue protein GS‐α3W. Results from our large‐scale simulation indicate a diffusion‐collision mechanism for folding. However, the lower‐than‐expected frequency of native‐like configurations at physiological temperatures indicates shortcomings of our energy function. Our results suggest that computational studies of large proteins call for redevelopment and reparametrization of force fields that in turn require extensive simulations only possible with the newly available supercomputers with computing powers reaching the petaflop range. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Comput Chem 2009
Social Media Usage and Shopping Preferences: an Empirical Investigation

We empirically explore the associations between social media usage at home and shopping preferences using survey data. We focus on popular retail firms including brick-and-mortar firms such as Walmart, Target, Nordstrom, and Best Buy, and online retailers, such as Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. Social media usage of popular platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Skype are analyzed. We draw on Media Richness Theory (MRT) and Strength of Weak Ties from Social Network Analysis (SNA) and related theories to explain our results. Our results have important implications for social marketing campaigns and social media policies for consumer retail firms.
Generation-Friendly Eq Hash Tables

Eq hash tables, which support arbitrary objects as keys, distinguish keys via pointer comparison and often employ hash functions that utilize the address of the object. When compacting garbage collectors move garbage collected objects, the addresses of such objects may change, thus invalidating the hash function computation. A common solution is to rehash all of the entries in an eq hash table on the first access to the table after a collection. For a simple stop-and-copy garbage collector, which moves every element of a hash table, the rehashing overhead is proportional to the amount of work done by the collector and so the cost of rehashing adds only constant overhead. Generational copying collectors, however, may move a few or none of the entries, so rehashing a large table may cost considerably more than the garbage collection run that caused the rehash. In other words, such rehashing is not “generation friendly. ” In this paper, we describe an efficient, generation-friendly mechanism for implementing eq hash tables. The amount of work required for rehashing is proportional to the work performed by the collector as only objects that actually move during a collection are rehashed. The collector supports eq hash tables and their variants via a simple new type of object, a transport link cell, the handling of which by the collector is nearly trivial.
An increased incidence of overt hypothyroidism after iodine fortification of salt in Denmark: a prospective population study.

CONTEXT Iodine fortification (IF) of salt was introduced in Denmark in 1998. Little is known about the effect of a minor increase in iodine intake on the incidence of hypothyroidism. We prospectively identified all new cases of overt hypothyroidism in two areas of Denmark before and for the first 7 yr after IF had been introduced. METHODS A computer-based register was used to identify continuously all new cases of overt hypothyroidism in two subcohorts with previous moderate and mild iodine deficiency (ID), respectively (Aalborg, n = 310,124, urinary iodine = 45 microg/liter; and Copenhagen, n = 225,707, urinary iodine = 61 microg/liter). Data were obtained 1) before IF (1997-1998), 2) during voluntary IF (1999-2000), 3) during early (2001-2002) and 4) during late (2003-2005) period with mandatory IF. RESULTS The overall incidence rate of hypothyroidism increased during the study period: baseline, 38.3/100,000.yr; voluntary IF, 43.7 (not significant vs. baseline); early mandatory IF, 48.7 [vs. baseline, rate ratio (RR) = 1.27; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.10-1.47]; and late mandatory IF, 47.2 (vs. baseline, RR = 1.23; 95% CI = 1.07-1.42). There was a geographic difference because hypothyroidism increased only in the area with previous moderate ID: Aalborg, late mandatory IF vs. baseline, 40.3/29.7 (RR = 1.11; 95% CI = 1.11-1.66); Copenhagen, 56.7/51.6 (RR = 1.10; 95% CI = 0.90-1.34). The increase occurred in young and middle-aged adults. CONCLUSION Even a cautious iodization of salt was accompanied by a moderate increase in the incidence rate of overt hypothyroidism. This occurred primarily in young and middle-aged subjects with previous moderate ID.
Sentiment Analysis in Microblogs Using HMMs with Syntactic and Sentimental Information

In this paper, we propose an approach for sentiment analysis in microblogs that learns patterns of syntactic and sentimental word transitions. Because sentences are sequences of words, we can more accurately analyze sentiments by properly modeling the sequential patterns of words in sentimental sentences. However, most previous research has focused on just extending feature sets using n-grams, POS tags, polarity lexicons, etc., without considering sequential patterns. Our proposed approach ﬁrst identiﬁes groups of words that have similar syntactic and sentimental roles, called SIGs (similar syntactic and sentimental information groups). We then build HMMs using the SIGs as hidden states for the initialization. The SIGs function as the prior knowledge of formative elements of sentimental sentences for HMMs. By using the SIGs, HMMs can start with informative hidden states and more precisely model the transition patterns of words in sentimental sentences with robust probability estimation. For the performance evaluation, we compare the proposed approach with existing ones using HCR dataset. The result shows that the proposed approach outperforms the previous ones in various performance measures.
Sustainable Development and Urban Growth in the Argentine Pampas Region

This article describes the conflict between rural and urban development in the Pampa Ondulada (Rolling Pampas), the ecological region in which the city of Buenos Aires is located, which is one of the world's richest and most productive agricultural areas. It describes the ecological changes brought by urban growth in periurban and rural areas between 1869 and 1991. It also includes an analysis of the social and economical changes during the past decade (1991-2001) and their effect on ecological services. The article ends with a discussion of the lack of planning over the expansion process of the urban agglomeration, including the so-called suburbia settlements of the middle and upper classes and the speculative pricing of land in advance of its development.
Biodiversity Dynamics on Islands: Explicitly Accounting for Causality in Mechanistic Models

Island biogeography remains a popular topic in ecology and has gained renewed interest due to recent theoretical development. As experimental investigation of the theory is difficult to carry out, mechanistic simulation models provide useful alternatives. Several eco-evolutionary mechanisms have been identified to affect island biodiversity, but integrating more than a few of these processes into models remains a challenge. To get an overview of what processes mechanistic island models have integrated so far and what conclusions they came to, we conducted an exhaustive literature review of studies featuring island-specific mechanistic models. This was done using an extensive systematic literature search with subsequent manual filtering. We obtained a list of 28 studies containing mechanistic island models, out of 647 total hits. Mechanistic island models differ greatly in their integrated processes and computational structure. Their individual findings range from theoretical (such as humped-shaped extinction rates for oceanic islands) to system-specific dynamics (e.g., equilibrium and non-equilibrium dynamics for Galapagos’ birds). However, most models so far only integrate theories and processes pair-wise, while focusing on hypothetical systems. Trophic interactions and explicit micro-evolution are largely underrepresented in models. We expect future models to continue integrating processes, thus promoting the full appraisal of biodiversity dynamics.
Length and clinical effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation in outpatients with chronic airway obstruction.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To assess the clinical effectiveness of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) after 10 or 20 consecutive sessions in outpatients with chronic airway obstruction (CAO). DESIGN Observational prospective cohort trial. SETTING Outpatient clinic of a rehabilitation center. PATIENTS AND INTERVENTIONS Twenty-five outpatients (mean age, 65 +/- 9 years [+/- SD]; FEV1, 64 +/- 12% predicted) admitted to a comprehensive PR program, including exercise training. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS The load reached on a cycloergometer (maximal achieved load [W-max]), the maximal and isoload dyspnea and leg fatigue on a Borg scale, 6-min walk distance (6MWD), and the health-related quality of life as assessed using the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ) [total and components score] have been recorded as outcome measures at baseline, after 10 sessions (T10), and after 20 sessions (T20). The predefined criteria of the clinically significant improvement were as follows: + 15% W-max, + 54 m at 6MWD, - 1 point at isoload dyspnea and leg fatigue, and - 4% at SGRQ scores. There was a mean significant difference between changes at T20 and T10 for 6MWD (- 42.96 m; 95% confidence interval [CI], - 57.79 to - 28.12 m; p = 0.001), total SGRQ (4.80; 95% CI, 2.29 to 7.31; p = 0.001), activity SGRQ (3.60; 95% CI, 0.48 to 6.71; p = 0.025), and symptoms SGRQ (5.96; 95% CI, 2.72 to 9.2; p = 0.001). The percentage of patients who improved was different at T20 as compared with T10 for W-max (68% and 48%, respectively; p = 0.025), 6MWD (76% and 20%, p = 0.001), and total SGRQ (64% and 36%, p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS A 10-session course of PR provides only limited clinically significant changes of outcome measures when compared with a 20-session course in outpatients with CAO of mild-to-moderate severity.