Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Liver transplantation for alcoholic hepatitis: A survey of liver transplant centers

Alcoholic liver disease is one of the most common indications for liver transplantation (LT) in the United States. Most LT centers require at least a 6month abstinence from alcohol before considering LT for alcoholic cirrhosis (AC). Alcoholic hepatitis (AH) is a unique clinical syndrome among patients with chronic and active alcohol abuse that has short-term mortality of up to 50%. Glucocorticoids, the only available treatment option for severe AH, provides only approximately a 50% survival benefit. LT, an established treatment for AC, is typically not considered for AH patients because they do not meet the 6month abstinence criterion. Recently, data have emerged on the benefit of LT for select AH patients. However, LT for AH patients still faces resistance, possibly because of organ shortage, sociocultural and ethical issues, and fear of recidivism after LT. We carried out this survey of LT centers in the United States with an aim to examine practice patterns on the use of LT for severe AH.
A methodological note on quantitative field research in conflict zones: get your hands dirty

Research in areas affected by armed conflict presents many challenges beyond those normally encountered by social scientists. This enhanced complexity has resulted in the conventional academic view that serious quantitative field research has to wait until the fighting stops. Those studies that were conducted in a conflict area fail to discuss how insecurity affects the methodological side of the research process. In this article, the authors argue that valid and reliable quantitative fieldwork is possible even in the most dangerous contexts, but it requires some methodological flexibility. In discussing this flexibility, the authors devote attention to two major components of quantitative survey research: the sampling process and the data collection. In doing so, this article focuses in particular on face-to-face interviews as the mode of data collection.
A Local Feature Based Robust Image Retrieval Algorithm

Color histograms lack spatial information and are sensitive to intensity variation, color distortion and cropping. As a result, images with similar histograms may have totally different semantics. The region-based approaches are introduced to overcome the above limitations, but due to the inaccurate segmentation, these systems may partition an object into several regions that may have confused users in selecting the proper regions. Based on multi-scale HarrisLaplace detector, a robust image retrieval scheme using the color histogram of local feature regions is proposed in this paper. Experimental results show that the proposed color image retrieval is more accurate and efficient in retrieving the user-interested images. Especially, it is robust to some classic transformations. Keywordsimage retrieval, local feature region, color histogram, spatial information, classic transformations
Meal frequency and timing in health and disease

Although major research efforts have focused on how specific components of foodstuffs affect health, relatively little is known about a more fundamental aspect of diet, the frequency and circadian timing of meals, and potential benefits of intermittent periods with no or very low energy intakes. The most common eating pattern in modern societies, three meals plus snacks every day, is abnormal from an evolutionary perspective. Emerging findings from studies of animal models and human subjects suggest that intermittent energy restriction periods of as little as 16 h can improve health indicators and counteract disease processes. The mechanisms involve a metabolic shift to fat metabolism and ketone production, and stimulation of adaptive cellular stress responses that prevent and repair molecular damage. As data on the optimal frequency and timing of meals crystalizes, it will be critical to develop strategies to incorporate those eating patterns into health care policy and practice, and the lifestyles of the population.
New approaches to employee voice and participation in organizations

While the history of employee voice and participation is longstanding, there has been a sharp increase in interest in these topics among academics, practitioners, and policy-makers in recent years. The research on employee voice and participation has therefore significantly broadened, expanding from an earlier institutional focus to also include significant behavioural and strategic streams. This article introduces a symposium that extends our knowledge of employee voice and participation in terms of new organizational forms, practices and processes that affect the nature, structure and conditions of work and organizations by showcasing the breadth of contemporary research on voice and participation.
Ad-hoc multi-dimensional trust evaluation model based on classification of service

Trust models studied before evaluated trust degree by the previous interactions of entities in ad hoc networks within a protocol. However, this way is not accurate and difficult to decide the trust value. The basic difficulty lies in the fact that trust information is often fuzzy and incomplete in an open network environment. The performance of mobile ad hoc network also is constrained by residual energy, delay, delay jitter and other factors. Thus a novel trust model with multiple decision factors is proposed, in which multiple decision factors, involving security trust and quality trust, are incorporated to evaluate trust. AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) methodology is used to combine these different factors in our paper. The requirements of the quality and security of nodes differ as services are different, so we also take the classification of service into consideration. Theoretical as well as simulation results show that our scheme is more accurate than the model evaluated just by the previous interactions of entities.
Attitudes toward School as Related to Nongrading and Intelligence

This investigation compared attitudes toward school of nongraded and graded school children. Participants were 117 pupils enrolled in two public elementary schools in the same district. Both above and below average intelligence groups were represented. An analysis of variance showed that brighter children liked school better than less bright children. There was also a significant interaction reflecting more favorable attitudes in nongraded than in graded schools for less intelligent pupils but less favorable attitudes in nongraded than in graded schools for more intelligent pupils. It was speculated that more clear-cut symptoms of recognition provided by graded programs enhanced morale for brighter pupils but lowered morale for less bright pupils.
A compact LTE multi-band loop antenna with additional 3400–3800 MHz coverage for mobile phone application

In this paper a multi-band loop antenna for 4G-LTE mobile phone application was proposed. The antenna has a compact volume of 60×6×5mm<sup>3</sup> and covering 824–960, 1710–2530, 3400–3800 MHz with over 60% simulated efficiency.
Effect of Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Field on MAP2 and Nestin Gene Expression of Hair Follicle Dermal Papilla Cells

Introduction In recent years, the extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF) has attracted a great deal of scientific interest. The ELF-EMF signal is able to control ion transport across ion channels and therefore induce cell differentiation. Aim The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ELF-EMF (50 Hz, 1 mT) on MAP2 and Nestin gene expression of dermal papilla mesenchymal cells (DPCs). Methods In order to examine the effect of chemical and electromagnetic factors on gene expression, 4 experimental groups, namely chemical (cell exposure to chemical signals), EMF (exposing cells to ELF-EMF), chemical-EMF (subjecting cells to chemical signals and ELF-EMF) and control (with no treatment) groups, were prepared, treated for 5 days, and studied. To assess the effect of extended test time on the expression of neural differentiation markers (Nestin and MAP2), an EMF group was prepared and treated for a period of 14 consecutive days. The beneficial role of EMF in inducing neural differentiation was shown by real-time PCR analysis. Results The higher expression of MAP2 after 14 days compared to that after 5 days and decrease of cell proliferation on days 5 to 20 were indicative of the positive effect of extending treatment time on neural differentiation by evaluation of gene expression in EMF group.
School choice and racial segregation in US schools: The role of parents’ education

Abstract We draw on recent developments in the sociology of race and ethnicity and theories of the duality of social structure to explain how the formation of ‘educational identities’ interacts with racial stratification to shape the school choices of highly educated whites in the United States. Analysis of the 1996 National Household Education Survey shows that the racial composition of schools plays an important role in the schooling choices of highly educated whites. As the per cent black in a residential area increases, whites are more likely to select alternative, higher-percentage-white schooling for their children. Importantly, this effect is amplified for highly educated whites (but not highly educated blacks). Ironically, then, despite many positive effects of formal education on racial attitudes, increased education for whites leads to greater negative sensitivity to blacks in public schools, which may in turn have the unintended effect of increasing school segregation and racial inequality.
A history of learning difficulties Australia: Part five‐the journal (continued)

Abstract Part Five in this series on the history of Learning Difficulties Australia continues the history, begun in Part Three, of the association's journal. During this time the quality of articles in the journal came under scrutiny, and refereeing, at first only of research reports, later of all contributions, came into practice. Editorial policy continued to embrace reports of new teaching methods and therapies as a means of informing readers, but contributions also reflected changes taking place in special education and in teacher training. Articles about reading continued to dominate as the debate between whole language and phonics approaches heated up. In 1996 the name of the journal was changed to reflect the broader interests of the association in learning difficulties.
Metaphors and Mental Models: Sensemaking and Sensegiving in Innovative and Entrepreneurial Activities

To be successful, entrepreneurs must be able to cope with significant ambiguity. Entrepreneurial businesses typically operate in unsettled industries or unsettled segments of stable industries. Moreover, starting a new business is an uncertain undertaking creating many ambiguities in itself To cope with these uncertainties, the entrepreneur must develop a “vision” or mental model of how the environment works (sensemaking) and then be able to communicate to others and gain their support (sensegiving). This paper discusses the process of mental model development for entrepreneurs. Metaphor development is proposed to be a significant and important stage in this process. Metaphors provide a common language and a basis for communication within the organization. Through metaphor(s) an organization develops a common language, an understanding of the task environment and a means of interpreting events. Metaphors are particularly useful in communicating broad and sometimes abstract concepts such as organizational mission and strategy and in situations requiring novel concepts and approaches.
Economic Action Does Not Take Place in a Vacuum: Understanding Cisco's Acquisition and Development Strategy

The literature and common belief holds that the acquisition of high- technology firms in rapidly evolving markets normally results in failure. Cisco, however, has successfully grown through the conscious and deliberate use of acquisitions to become the dominant global networking equipment provider. The crux of our argument is that Cisco's success cannot be fully explained by economic and financial variables, or by acquisition target selection, alone. Managing social and organizational processes has been central to Cisco's success. Cisco's success is attributed to an active involvement by both the firm and its employees in its ecosystem. We explain the operation of Cisco's multiplex intelligence gathering function, and characterize it as a "high surface area strategy". This is followed by highlighting how Cisco's due diligence process treats human resource issues as central to calculating the true value of the acquisition. Whereas, most firms consider the process as complete when the decision to acquire has been made, this study explains how Cisco's integration process is staged to ensure that the core product development teams in the acquired firm suffer minimal disruption. Finally, Cisco's success is measured through the use of retention and market share data.
The Role of Affective Dispositions in Job Satisfaction and Work Strain: Comparing Collectivist and Individualist Societies

The individualism-collectivism dimension cuts across the East and the West. It explains the differing values and cultural breeding that are necessary in acculturating people's affective and cognitive behaviours in accordance with the culture to which they belong. Many empirical studies have investigated the effects of personality traits on job satisfaction and work strain. The personality of individuals affects how they perceive the impact of job satisfaction and work stress. Furthermore, personality traits are influenced by cultural background. This study surveyed 626 nurses from collectivist and individualist societies to find out the possible difference in the role of affective dispositions in self-reported job satisfaction and work strain between these two cultural orientations. L'individualisme-collectivisme est une dimension qui decrit l'Orient et l'Occident. Elle explique les differentes valeurs et la transmission culturelle qui sont necessaires pour harmoniser les comportements affectifs et cognit.
A Coding-Cost Framework for Super-Resolution Motion Layer Decomposition

We consider the problem of decomposing a video sequence into a superposition of (a given number of) moving layers. For this problem, we propose an energy minimization approach based on the coding cost. Our contributions affect both the model (what is minimized) and the algorithmic side (how it is minimized). The novelty of the coding-cost model is the inclusion of a refined model of the image formation process, known as super resolution. This accounts for camera blur and area averaging arising in a physically plausible image formation process. It allows us to extract sharp high-resolution layers from the video sequence. The algorithmic framework is based on an alternating minimization scheme and includes the following innovations. (1) A video labeling, we optimize the layer domains. This allows to regularize the shapes of the layers and a very elegant handling of occlusions. (2) We present an efficient parallel algorithm for extracting super-resolved layers based on TV filtering.
Characterisation of the MutS and MutL Proteins from the Pseudomonas avellanae Mismatch Repair (MMR) System

The identification and analysis of the Pseudomonas avellanae mismatch repair system (MMR) were performed via sequencing and cloning the mutS and mutL genes and then analyzing the characteristics of the corresponding proteins studying their function and biological role in an E. coli heterologous system. In these studies, the P. avellanae MutS and MutL proteins were shown to localise at the nucleoid level, in a MutS-dependent manner as far as MutL is concerned, and were also able to complement the defect observed in both the mutS and mutL knockout strains of E. coli. In addition, their ability to form both homo and heterodimers between each other was shown by using the prokaryotic two-hybrid assay. Our results represent a first step to elucidate the MMR mechanism in plant pathogenic pseudomonads since the MMR genes were identified in P. syringae pathovars but there was no evidence on their action as effective repair products.
Engineering multi-agent systems with aspects and patterns

Objects and agents are software engineering abstractions that have many common concerns. However, agents are more complex entities since they encompass additional concerns: their state is driven by beliefs, goals, capabilities and plans, and their behavior is composed of a number of agency properties such as autonomy, adaptation, interaction, learning, mobility, and collaboration. A multi-agent system usually incorporates multiple objects and types of agents, with each agent type addressing distinct agency concerns. These agency concerns typically overlap and interact with each other, and so a disciplined scheme for composition is required. In this context, this paper presents and compares an aspect-based proposal with a new pattern-based proposal for building multi-agent software. Both proposals have the following goals: (i) minimize the misalignments between high-level agent models and object-oriented designs, (ii) promote the separation of agency concerns, (in) provide explicit support for disciplined composition of agency concerns in complex software agents, (iv) incorporate flexible facilities to build different types of software agents, and (v) allow the production of multi-agent software systems that are easy to understand, maintain and reuse. We demonstrate the applicability of the two proposals through the Portalware system, a Web-based environment f or the development of e-commerce portals.
East European Cities — Patterns of Growth and Decline, 1960–2005

The paper examines the long-term population trajectories of East European cities and analyses how their fortunes have changed, both in relation to their past growth profiles and to other settlements. The main finding is that the absolute and relative positions of cities have declined sharply since the 1960s and 1970s. During the last decade the population of three-quarters of cities has been contracting, and slightly faster on average than the overall population. The immediate explanation for the downturn appears to be general demographic decline, including a fall in the fertility rate and international out-migration, rather than specific urban factors. Some places have fared less badly than others, including many of the capital cities and the principal centres of rural regions.
Reply to Comments on Byravan and Ramanaiah's 1995 Study of the Structure of the 16Pf Fifth Edition from the Perspective of the Five-Factor Model

This article provides a reply to Cattell's 1995 comments on some methodological issues related to Byravan and Ramanaiah's 1995 study and shows that their study was methodologically sound. It was concluded that the results of Byravan and Ramanaiah's study were different from those of Cattell's 1995 factor analyses mainly due to the fact that the former involved the factor analysis of 16PF primary scales from the perspective of the five-factor model using Revised NEO Personality Inventory domain scales and Goldberg's 1992 scales as markers for the five major factors whereas the latter investigated the structure of the Revised NEO Personality Inventory facet scales from the perspective of the 16PF global scales.
The Association of Demodex with Chalazia: A Histopathologic Study of the Eyelid

Purpose: To investigate the association of Demodex with chalazia and to describe the associated histopathologic changes in the eyelid tissue. Methods: In a retrospective histopathologic case–control study, 78 ectropion/entropion repair eyelid wedge resections were examined. Serial sections were obtained on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues, stained with hematoxylin-eosin and studied by light microscopy. Thirty-eight patient specimens had evidence of chalazia and 40 did not. The main outcome measures included quantification of total eyelid hair follicles, meibomian glands, Demodex folliculorum and Demodex brevis; determining the presence of lipogranulomatous and non-lipogranulomatous inflammation, hair follicle and meibomian gland duct dilatation and hyperkeratinization, and meibomian gland acinar dilation, keratinization, and atrophy. Results: There was a significantly greater mean number of D. folliculorum in biopsies with chalazia, when compared with biopsies without chalazia (5.55 vs. 2.68, p = 0.044). The presence of D. folliculorum was strongly associated with hair follicle duct dilatation and hyperkeratinization and with perifollicular nongranulomatous inflammation (p = 0.00). Hair follicle duct dilatation, hyperkeratinization, and perifollicular inflammation were also independently associated with chalazia (p = 0.040 and 0.031, respectively). D. brevis was observed only in meibomian glands with chalazia (mean = 0.342), but this finding did not reach statistical significance; p= 0.068. Conclusion: While the authors cannot establish causality between Demodex and chalazia, these findings suggest that D. folliculorum indirectly may be involved in the pathogenesis of chalazia via its effect on the anterior eyelid margin.
Respiratory Effects of Spinal Anesthesia: Resting Ventilation and Single‐Breath CO2 Response

&NA; The effects of spinal anesthesia with bupivacame or lidocaine on resting pulmonary ventilation and on the response to the single‐breath carbon dioxide test were studied in 11 unpremedicated patients. Resting end‐tidal Pco2 decreased from 34.8 ± 4.5 (mean ± sd) to 31.6 ± 4.6 mm Hg after induction of spinal anesthesia (P = 0.002). The decrease in end‐tidal Pco2 correlated negatively with patient age (r = −0.67, P = 0.02) and positively with spinal analgesic level (r = 0.58, P = 0.06). Breath‐to‐breath variability of ventilation increased during spinal anesthesia. Spinal anesthesia was not associated with statistically significant changes in tidal volume, respiratory rate, minute ventilation, mean inspiratory flow rate, inspiratory duty cycle duration, or the response to the single‐breath CO2 test.
Mining GPS data for extracting significant places

This paper addresses the problem of safety in mining applications. It presents new metrics that can be used to determine dangerous situations during mine operation in real time. It also presents a fast and robust algorithm for extracting significant places from information logged by a state-of-the-art collision avoidance system. Determining significant places provides valuable context information in a variety of applications such as map building, vehicle tracking and user assistance. In our case, we are interested in obtaining context information as a preliminary step towards improving mining safety. The algorithm presented here is validated with experimental data obtained from a fleet of haulage vehicles operating in various open pit mines.