Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Divergent patterns of total and cancer mortality in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease patients: the Florence IBD study 1978–2001

Background and aims: Two divergent patterns of mortality for smoking related diseases in ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease patients were suggested in a previous population based study in Florence, Italy. Long term follow up (median 15 years) was completed to re-evaluate mortality in this Mediterranean cohort. Patients and methods: Overall, 920 patients with inflammatory bowel disease were followed until December 2001 or death, with seven patients (0.8%) lost to follow up. A total of 14 040 person years were available for analysis; 118 deaths were observed (81/689 in ulcerative colitis and 37/231 in Crohn’s disease). Expected deaths were estimated using age, sex, and calendar specific national and local mortality rates; standardised mortality ratios (SMR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results: Among Crohn’s disease patients, mortality was strongly increased for gastrointestinal diseases (SMR 4.49 (95% CI 1.80–9.25)), all cancers (SMR 2.10 (95% CI 1.22–3.36)), and lung cancer (SMR 4.00 (95% CI 1.60–8.24)), leading to a significant 50% excess total mortality. Ulcerative colitis patients showed a significantly reduced total mortality because of lower cardiovascular (SMR 0.67 (95% CI 0.45–0.95)) and lung cancer (SMR 0.32 (95% CI 0.07–0.95)) mortality. No significant excess for colorectal cancer mortality was evident in this extended follow up. Conclusions: These clearly divergent patterns of mortality correlate with documented differences in smoking habits between Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis patients. Family doctors and gastroenterologists should consider stopping cigarette smoking a specific priority for Crohn’s disease patients; the latter should be offered free participation in structured programmes for smoking cessation, with the aim of reducing smoking related excess mortality. Overall, no evidence of an increased mortality for large bowel cancer emerged in this series.
Automating the Design of Ultra-Low-Voltage, Low-Power Analog Integrated Circuits using Improved Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm

Recently, Pareto-based multi-objective optimization methods are widely used in optimizing several complex engineering problems. In this paper, we present a Non-dominated Sorting based global optimization algorithm combined with novel efficient Constraint analysis to design ultra-low-voltage and low-power operational Transconductance Amplifiers (OTAs) for the application of LV, LP and medium speed biomedical analog to digital converters. Using Highlevel simulation-based multi-objective GA, several feasible optimal designs are achieved for a circuit topology in a given technology, considering process and temperature variations. The presented approach has lead to the significant reduction of the design time (nearly, 12 times the time required for weighted sum GA approach). To illustrate the effectiveness of this approach, a 0.5-V DTMOS-based Sub-threshold OTA has been designed in 0. 18μm n-well CMOS process which consumes only 2. 98μW power while having 95dB DC gain and 481 KHz GBW.
Subaru High-Dispersion Spectroscopy of the Narrow-Line Region in the Seyfert Galaxy NGC 4151

We report on a study of the forbidden emission-line spectrum of the nearby Seyfert 1.5 galaxy NGC 4151 based on the high-resolution (R ∼ 45,000) optical spectrum obtained using the High Dispersion Spectrograph on the Subaru Telescope. The profile parameters, such as the emission-line widths, velocity shifts from the recession velocity of the host galaxy, and asymmetry indexes, for emission lines, including very faint ones such as [Ar IV] λλ4712, 4740 and [Fe VI] λλ5631, 5677, are investigated. Statistically significant correlations between the measured profile parameters and the critical densities of transitions are found, while there are no meaningful correlations between the profile parameters and the ionization potentials of ions. By comparing the results with photoionization model calculations, we remark that a simple power-law distribution of the gas density that is independent of the radius from the nucleus cannot explain the observed correlation between the emission-line widths and the critical densities of the transitions. Taking into account the additional dense gas component expected to exist in the innermost area of the narrow-line regions, the observed correlations between the emission-line width and the critical density of the transitions can be understood since high critical density emission lines can arise at such relatively inner regions even if their ionization potentials are low. The observed correlation between the blueshift of the emission lines and the critical densities of the ions is also explained if such dense gas clouds located closer to the nucleus have larger outflowing velocities.
University of

The need for ﬁne-tuned microtonal pitch combined with the timbral richness of corpus-based concatenative synthesis has led to the development of a new tool for corpus-based pitch and loudness control in real time with C ATA RT. Drawing on recent research in feature modulation synthesis (FMS) as well as the bach library for M AX /MSP, we have implemented a set of new modules for C ATA RT that permit the user to deﬁne microtonal har-monies graphically and combine them with other audio descriptors to trigger concatenative synthesis in real or de-ferred time. Pitch information is generated from a pitch analysis or extracted from soundﬁle meta-data, and loudness may be controlled independently for different sound sets. Musical implementations already suggest promising results as well as future goals to generalize this approach to further timbral features for corpus-based FMS.
Bayesian modelling of skewness and kurtosis with Two-Piece Scale and shape distributions

We introduce the family of univariate double two–piece distributions, obtained by using a density– based transformation of unimodal symmetric continuous distributions with a shape parameter. The resulting distributions contain five interpretable parameters that control the mode, as well as the scale and shape in each direction. Four-parameter subfamilies of this class of distributions that capture different types of asymmetry are presented. We propose interpretable scale and location-invariant benchmark priors and derive conditions for the existence of the corresponding posterior distribution. The prior structures used allow for meaningful comparisons through Bayes factors within flexible families of distributions. These distributions are applied to models in finance, internet traffic data, and medicine, comparing them with appropriate competitors.
Maternal prepregnancy obesity and child neurodevelopment in the Collaborative Perinatal Project.

OBJECTIVES To examine the association between maternal prepregnancy weight and child neurodevelopment, and the effect of gestational weight gain. METHODS Using the U.S. Collaborative Perinatal Project data, 1959-76, a total of 30,212 women with a calculable prepregnancy body mass index (BMI) and gestational weight gain, and term singleton children followed up for more than 7 years were included in this study. Intelligence quotient (IQ) was measured at 7 years of age by Wechsler Intelligence Scales. RESULTS Maternal prepregnancy BMI displayed inverted U-shaped associations with child IQ after adjustment for maternal age, maternal education levels, maternal race, marital status, socioeconomic status, smoking during pregnancy, parity and study center. Women with BMI at around 20 kg/m2 appeared to have the highest offspring IQ scores. After controlling for familial factors in the siblings' sample, maternal obesity (BMI≥30.0 kg/m2) was associated with lower Full-scale IQ (adjusted ß=-2.0, 95% confidence interval -3.5 to -0.5), and Verbal scale IQ (adjusted ß=-2.5, 95% confidence interval -4.0 to -1.0), using BMI of 18.5-24.9 kg/m2 as the reference category. Compared with children born to normal-weight women who gained 21-25 lb. during pregnancy, those born to obese women who gained more than 40 lb. had 6.5 points deficit in IQ after adjustment for potential confounders. CONCLUSIONS Maternal prepregnancy obesity was associated with lower child IQ, and excessive weight gain accelerated the association. With obesity rising steadily, these results appear to raise serious public health concerns.
Scoring the Icecap-A Capability Instrument. Estimation of a UK General Population Tariff†

This paper reports the results of a best–worst scaling (BWS) study to value the Investigating Choice Experiments Capability Measure for Adults (ICECAP-A), a new capability measure among adults, in a UK setting. A main effects plan plus its foldover was used to estimate weights for each of the four levels of all five attributes. The BWS study was administered to 413 randomly sampled individuals, together with sociodemographic and other questions. Scale-adjusted latent class analyses identified two preference and two (variance) scale classes. Ability to characterize preference and scale heterogeneity was limited, but data quality was good, and the final model exhibited a high pseudo-r-squared. After adjusting for heterogeneity, a population tariff was estimated. This showed that ‘attachment’ and ‘stability’ each account for around 22% of the space, and ‘autonomy’, ‘achievement’ and ‘enjoyment’ account for around 18% each. Across all attributes, greater value was placed on the difference between the lowest levels of capability than between the highest. This tariff will enable ICECAP-A to be used in economic evaluation both within the field of health and across public policy generally. © 2013 The Authors. Health Economics published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
An explicit link failure notification with dynamic cache update scheme to improve TCP performance using DSR protocol in MANET

In today’s most of the Adhoc networks needs the reliable connection to transfer the data. Most number of data packets loss is experienced in the Adhoc networks due to Transfer control protocol(TCP)’s high channel error rate and link failure. To improve TCP performance in Adhoc networks a number of schemes have been proposed, where Adhoc networks use the multi-hop wireless connectivity, where the network has quickly changing network topology. ELFN (Explicit Link Failure Notification) is one mechanism to manage link failures with dynamic cache update scheme to improve the TCP performance considerably. In this paper, we propose a mechanism which significantly increases the throughput of TCP’s performance with ELFN based Dynamic cache update scheme using Dynamic source routing protocol. Our simulation results using ns-2 simulator, mentions that our scheme can handle link failures in effective way, and improves TCP’s performance considerably
The dynamic interaction between lexical and contextual frequency: A case study of (ING)

Abstract To identify how contextual usage frequency and lexical frequency interact when controlling for traditional linguistic constraints, this study analyzes the effect of frequency on (ING), taking into account a word's frequent context of occurrence. The data consist of 13,167 tokens of (ING) from interviews with 132 speakers conducted in Raleigh, North Carolina. Results from mixed-effect logistic regression show a strong effect of frequency on the realization of (ING), and this effect interacts with phonological context of occurrence. Frequent occurrence in environments that favor -in amplify the effect of lexical frequency; conversely, frequent occurrence in environments that favor –ing dampen the effect of overall frequency. Frequency also interacts with year of birth, showing an entrenchment of high-frequency words, lagging behind the community change toward the –ing variant in apparent time. Overall, these findings support the usage-based position of frequency effects as the result of a dynamic interplay between context of use and cognitive systems.
ERK1/2 and p38α/β Signaling in Tumor Cell Quiescence: Opportunities to Control Dormant Residual Disease

Systemic minimal residual disease after primary tumor treatment can remain asymptomatic for decades. This is thought to be due to the presence of dormant disseminated tumor cells (DTC) or micrometastases in different organs. DTCs lodged in brain, lungs, livers, and/or bone are a major clinical problem because they are the founders of metastasis, which ultimately kill cancer patients. The problem is further aggravated by our lack of understanding of DTC biology. In consequence, there are almost no rational therapies to prevent dormant DTCs from surviving and expanding. Several cancers, including melanoma as well as breast, prostate, and colorectal carcinomas, undergo dormant periods before metastatic recurrences develop. Here we review our experience in studying the cross-talk between ERK1/2 and p38α/β signaling in models of early cancer progression, dissemination, and DTC dormancy. We also provide some potential translational and clinical applications of these findings and describe how some currently used therapies might be useful to control dormant disease. Finally, we draw caution on the use of p38 inhibitors currently in clinical trials for different diseases as these may accelerate metastasis development. Clin Cancer Res; 17(18); 5850–7. ©2011 AACR.
Trapezoid Quorum Protocol Dedicated to Erasure Resilient Coding Based Schemes

In distributed storage systems like parallel file systems or storage virtualization middleware, data replication is the mainly used solution to implement data avaialability. The more replicas are distributed among nodes, the more robust is the storage system. However, the price to pay for this dependability becomes significant, due to both direct costs (the price of disks) and indirect costs (the energy consumption of this large amount of disks needed). In order to lower the disk space needed for a given availalbility, Erasure Resilient Codes (referred to as ERC after this) are of interest and start to be implemented in this context. However, the use of such codes involves some new problems in data management. In fact, if some constraints like data concurrency can be solved using classical ways, others like coherency protocols need some adaptations in order to fit this context. In this paper, we present an adaptation of trapezoid protocol in the context of ERC schemes (instead of full replication). This new quorum protocol shows an increase of storage space efficiency while maintaining a high level of availability for read and writes operations.
A line drawings degradation model for performance characterization

Line detection algorithms constitute the basis fortechnical document analysis and recognition. Theperformance of these algorithms decreases as the qualityof the documents degrades. To test the robustness of linedetection algorithms under noisy circumstance, wepropose a document degradation mode, which simulatesnoise types that drawings may undergo during theirproduction, storage, photocopying, or scanning. Using ourmodel, a series of document images at various noise levelsand types can be generated for testing the performance ofline detection algorithms. To illustrate that our model isconsistent with real world noise types, we validated themethod by applying it to three line recognition algorithms.
Assessment of a Rapid Approach for Estimating Catchment Areas for Surface Drainage Lines U.S. Geological Survey Center of Excellence for Geospatial Information Science 1400 Independence Road, Rolla Missouri, 65401

The catchment, or catchment area, is the area associated with a segment of a drainage network. Surface runoff in a catchment flows into the associated network segment. Catchment area is commonly used for estimating watershed parameters, such as upstream drainage area, flood frequency, or surface-water flow. Hydrologic analyses require relatively accurate catchment area estimates to furnish substantive conclusions. Conversely, alternative uses for catchment area may not require such precise estimates. Estimation of catchment areas using Thiessen polygons around evenly spaced points along network features is a rapid and computationally simple approach when compared to the alternative of deriving catchments from an elevation model; however, Thiessen-estimated catchments do not precisely follow the ridgelines of surface models and only provide approximate subdivisions of the watershed. This paper assesses the accuracy of Thiessen-derived catchment area estimates for several drainage networks having various drainage densities and landscape types. Thiessen-derived catchment area estimates are compared to those derived from surface-elevation models.
TIMESCALE-RESOLVED SPECTROSCOPY OF Cyg X-1

We propose the timescale-resolved spectroscopy (TRS) as a new method to combine the timing and spectral study. The TRS is based on the time domain power spectrum and reflects the variable amplitudes of spectral components on different timescales. We produce the TRS with the RXTE PCA data for Cyg X-1 and study the spectral parameters (the power-law photon index and the equivalent width of the iron fluorescent line) as a function of timescale. The results of TRS and frequency-resolved spectra have been compared, and similarities have been found for the two methods with the identical motivations. We also discover the correspondences between the evolution of photon index with timescale and the evolution of the equivalent width with timescale. The observations can be divided into three types according to the correspondences and different type is connected with different spectral state.
NEGATIVE MAGNETIC EDDY DIFFUSIVITIES FROM THE TEST-FIELD METHOD AND MULTISCALE STABILITY THEORY

The generation of a large-scale magnetic field in the kinematic regime in the absence of an α-effect is investigated by following two different approaches: the test-field method and the multiscale stability theory relying on the homogenization technique. Our computations of the magnetic eddy diffusivity tensor of the parity-invariant flow IV of G. O. Roberts and the modified Taylor–Green flow confirm the findings of previous studies and also explain some of their apparent contradictions. The two flows have large symmetry groups; this is used to considerably simplify the eddy diffusivity tensor. Finally, a new analytic result is presented: upon expressing the eddy diffusivity tensor in terms of solutions to auxiliary problems for the adjoint operator, we derive relations between the magnetic eddy diffusivity tensors that arise for mutually reverse small-scale flows v ( x ) ? > and − v ( x ) ? > .
Glaucomatous Patterns in Frequency Doubling Technology (FDT) Perimetry Data Identified by Unsupervised Machine Learning Classifiers

Purpose The variational Bayesian independent component analysis-mixture model (VIM), an unsupervised machine-learning classifier, was used to automatically separate Matrix Frequency Doubling Technology (FDT) perimetry data into clusters of healthy and glaucomatous eyes, and to identify axes representing statistically independent patterns of defect in the glaucoma clusters. Methods FDT measurements were obtained from 1,190 eyes with normal FDT results and 786 eyes with abnormal FDT results from the UCSD-based Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study (DIGS) and African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study (ADAGES). For all eyes, VIM input was 52 threshold test points from the 24-2 test pattern, plus age. Results FDT mean deviation was −1.00 dB (S.D. = 2.80 dB) and −5.57 dB (S.D. = 5.09 dB) in FDT-normal eyes and FDT-abnormal eyes, respectively (p<0.001). VIM identified meaningful clusters of FDT data and positioned a set of statistically independent axes through the mean of each cluster. The optimal VIM model separated the FDT fields into 3 clusters. Cluster N contained primarily normal fields (1109/1190, specificity 93.1%) and clusters G1 and G2 combined, contained primarily abnormal fields (651/786, sensitivity 82.8%). For clusters G1 and G2 the optimal number of axes were 2 and 5, respectively. Patterns automatically generated along axes within the glaucoma clusters were similar to those known to be indicative of glaucoma. Fields located farther from the normal mean on each glaucoma axis showed increasing field defect severity. Conclusions VIM successfully separated FDT fields from healthy and glaucoma eyes without a priori information about class membership, and identified familiar glaucomatous patterns of loss.
The Action Execution Process Implemented in Different Cognitive Architectures: A Review

Abstract An agent achieves its goals by interacting with its environment, cyclically choosing and executing suitable actions. An action execution process is a reasonable and critical part of an entire cognitive architecture, because the process of generating executable motor commands is not only driven by low-level environmental information, but is also initiated and affected by the agent’s high-level mental processes. This review focuses on cognitive models of action, or more specifically, of the action execution process, as implemented in a set of popular cognitive architectures. We examine the representations and procedures inside the action execution process, as well as the cooperation between action execution and other high-level cognitive modules. We finally conclude with some general observations regarding the nature of action execution.
A family of graph-theory-driven algorithms for managing complex probabilistic graph data efficiently

Traditionally, a great deal of attention has been devoted to the problem of effectively modeling and querying probabilistic graph data. State-of-the-art proposals are not prone to deal with complex probabilistic data, as they essentially introduce simple data models (e.g., based on confidence intervals) and straightforward query methodologies (e.g., based on the reachability property). According to our vision, these proposals need to be extended towards achieving the definition of innovative models and algorithms capable of dealing with the hardness of novel requirements posed by managing complex probabilistic graph data efficiently. Inspired by this main motivation, in this paper we propose and experimentally assess an innovative family of graph-theory-driven algorithms for managing complex probabilistic graph data, whose main double-fold goal consists in enhancing the expressive power of the underlying probabilistic graph data model and the expressive power of graph queries.
Building clusters for CRM startegies by mining airlines customer data

As airlines strive to gain market share and sustain profitability in today's economically challenging environment, they should develop new ways to optimize their frequent flyer programs while increase revenues. Aware of the challenges, airlines want to implement a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy based on customer analytics and data mining techniques to support marketing decisions. So, to achieve this goal, we have to apply clustering techniques to the company customer databases and develop a single view of customer across their demographic and behavioral characteristics as well as their value for the company. This will enable the company to identify the most profitable customers and run marketing campaigns more efficiently.
A schema-less spatio-temporal database system

Several disciplines such as medicine, education, engineering, and science use video to convey infonnation to users. The nature of video demands a schema-less data model that allows any user to represent descriptive information associated to any video in a flexible manner. This paper introduces a conceptual model and a query language that satisfies the demands of video and accommodates its temporal and spatial characteristics. Additionally, it introduces a novel representation of the spatial characteristics of rendered objects that significantly improves accuracy of query results in respect to the bounding box representation.