Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Repairing blackbox constraint violations in Multi-Objective Optimisation by use of decision trees

A potential area of difficulty for Multi-Objective Optimisation of industrial problems is a class of problems where the majority of the objective space violates blackbox constraints. The difficult arises because potential solutions that violate blackbox constraints provide no information beyond their infeasibility. They provide neither meaningful information about their objective values nor about the degree to which the constraint is violated (or even in some cases which constraint is violated). This means that they do not help to find valid solutions (except by elimination) which, in turn, reduces the early stages of optimisation to effective guesswork until some feasible solutions are found. In this work, we attempt to reduce this problem by using a Decision Tree to identify and repair infeasible solutions by learning the underlying constraints on each parameter. We propose three potential Pre-Repair Methods and compare them on a modified case study of an airfoil lift/drag optimisation problem. Note that no optimisation was done; instead the goal was to decide if the repair methodologies were suitable in the problem space. We used two baselines: not using a Decision Tree, and only using a Decision Tree to identify potentially infeasible solutions for complete regeneration. All three of our proposed methods outperformed the baselines at a statistically significant level of confidence of 0.001.
Quality as discourse: An analysis of external audit reports in Sweden 1995–1998

Abstract During the period 1995–1998, all Swedish higher education institutions were evaluated by external audit panels in an effort to stimulate institutions to increased self‐regulation and to help universities and colleges to improve the quality of their activities. Such audit procedures have, however, raised the question as to what extent higher education institutions may become more homogenous and standardised at the expense of institutional diversity and uniqueness. The article addresses this question by analysing the recommendations and prescriptions for organisational change given in the external reports published in the period 1995–1998. The study shows that the audit groups have a relatively consensual opinion about ‘problem areas’ in Swedish higher education institutions. However, it is not given that recommendations and preconceptions about how institutions should change as a consequence will lead to an increased institutional standardisation.
Laboratory Diagnosis of Visceral Leishmaniasis

The group of diseases known as the leishmaniases are caused by obligate intracellular protozoa of the genus Leishmania ([39][1]). Natural transmission of leishmania is carried out by a certain species of sandfly of the genus Phlebotomus (Old World) or Lutzomyia (New World). These are present in
Mechanism-based inactivation of cytochromes P450 2E1 and 2B1 by 5-phenyl-1-pentyne.

A series of acetylenic compounds whose structures were based on "P450 2E1-like" substrates was investigated for their ability to cause inactivation of P450 2E1-dependent p-nitrophenol hydroxylation. The most effective compound with liver microsomes from pyridine-treated rats or with rabbit P450 2E1 in a reconstituted system was 5-phenyl-1-pentyne. The inactivation of purified 2B1, 2E1, a truncated 2E1 lacking amino acids 3-29, 2E1(Delta3-29), or a truncated 2E1 in which threonine 303 was replaced with alanine, 2E1(Delta3-29, T303A), in a reconstituted system by 5-phenyl-1-pentyne was NADPH- and time-dependent and followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The maximal rate constants for inactivation, the concentrations that gave half-maximal inactivation (KI), and the partition ratios (the number of 5-phenylvaleric acid molecules formed/inactivation event) were determined with each P450. The KI values for 2B1 and 2E1(Delta3-29, T303A) were twice those for 2E1 and 2E1(Delta3-29), and the partition ratios for 2B1 and 2E1(Delta3-29, T303A) were 5-10 times greater than those of 2E1 or 2E1(Delta3-29). During the incubation of P450 2E1 with 5-phenyl-1-pentyne, the loss of P450 as determined by the reduced-CO difference spectra was equal to the loss of catalytic activity. The formation of a heme adduct was demonstrated by HPLC analysis of reaction mixtures containing 5-[3H]phenyl-1-pentyne. HPLC analysis with diode-array detection showed that the Soret region of the proposed heme adduct was different from that of the unmodified heme. The HPLC peak containing the proposed heme adduct was further analyzed by matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry, and the resulting peaks could result from the addition of a 2-oxo-5-phenylpentyl group to the heme.
Contorting high dimensional data for efficient main memory KNN processing

In this paper, we present a novel index structure, called Δ-tree, to speed up processing of high-dimensional K-nearest neighbor (KNN) queries in main memory environment. The Δ-tree is a multi-level structure where each level represents the data space at different dimensionalities: the number of dimensions increases towards the leaf level which contains the data at their full dimensions. The remaining dimensions are obtained using Principal Component Analysis, which has the desirable property that the first few dimensions capture most of the information in the dataset. Each level of the tree serves to prune the search space more efficiently as the reduced dimensions can better exploit the small cache line size. Moreover, the distance computation on lower dimensionality is less expensive. We also propose an extension, called Δ+-tree, that globally clusters the data space and then further partitions clusters into small regions to reduce the search space. We conducted extensive experiments to evaluate the proposed structures against existing techniques on different kinds of datasets. Our results show that the Δ+-tree is superior in most cases.
Aortic Stiffness Predicts Functional Outcome in Patients After Ischemic Stroke

Background and Purpose— Increased aortic stiffness (measured by carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity) and central augmentation index have been shown to independently predict cardiovascular events, including stroke. We studied whether pulse wave velocity and central augmentation index predict functional outcome after ischemic stroke. Methods— In a prospective study, we enrolled 99 patients with acute ischemic stroke (age 63.7±12.4 years, admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score 6.6±6.6, mean±SD). Carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity and central augmentation index (SphygmoCor) were measured 1 week after stroke onset. Functional outcome was evaluated 90 days after stroke using the modified Rankin Scale with modified Rankin Scale score of 0 to 1 considered an excellent outcome. Results— In univariate analysis, low carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (P=0.000001) and low central augmentation index (P=0.028) were significantly associated with excellent stroke outcome. Age, severity of stroke, presence of previous stroke, diabetes, heart rate, and peripheral pressures also predicted stroke functional outcome. In multivariate analysis, the predictive value of carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity (<9.4 m/s) remained significant (OR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.06–0.79; P=0.02) after adjustment for age, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score on admission, and presence of previous stroke. By contrast, central augmentation index had no significant predictive value after adjustment. Conclusions— This study indicates that aortic stiffness is an independent predictor of functional outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke.
Electrical impact of line-edge roughness on sub-45nm node standard cell

As the transistors are scaled down, undesirable performance mismatch in identically designed transistors increases and hence causes greater impact on circuit performance and yield. Since Line-End Roughness (LER) has been reported to be in the order of several nanometers and not to decrease as the device shrinks, it has evolved as a critical problem in the sub-45nm devices and may lead to serious device parameter fluctuations and performance limitation for the future VLSI circuit application. Although LER is a kind of random variation, it is undesirable and has to be analyzed because it causes the device to fluctuate. In this paper, we present a new cell characterization methodology which uses the non-rectangular gate print-images generated by lithography and etch simulations with the random LER variation to estimate the device performance of a sub-45nm design. The physics based TCAD simulation tool is used for validating the accuracy of our LER model. We systematically analyze the random LER by taking the impact on circuit performance due to LER variation into consideration and suggest the maximum tolerance of LER to minimize the performance degradation. We observed that the driving current is highly affected by LER as the gate length becomes thinner. We performed lithography simulations using 45nm process window to examine the LER impact of the state-of-the-art industrial devices. Results show that the rms value of LER is as much as 10% from its nominal line edge, and the saturation current can vary by as much as 10% in our 2-input NAND cell.
The prevalence of sensitization to lupin flour in France and Belgium: a prospective study in 5,366 patients, by the Allergy Vigilance Network.

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of sensitization to lupin flour in patients consulting allergists, in order to evaluate the risk of primary and secondary allergies to lupin. METHODS A prospective study carried out by members of the Allergy Vigilance Network, using prick-tests with a commercial lupin flour extract in patients with various allergic symptoms. The study design classified patients into four groups: peanut allergy, current atopic disease, latent atopy, no atopy. Data were collected and analysed by Network coordinators. RESULTS Over a two-month period, 88 French and Belgian allergists tested 5,366 patients: 2,680 children and 2,686 adults aged over 16 years. Of the 2,680 children, 11.15% presented with peanut allergy. The frequency of cross-reactivity with lupin was 17.1% for patients with peanut allergy, 2.5% for children with current atopic disease and 1.7% for healthy children with latent atopy. In the 2,686 adults, peanut allergy was diagnosed in 1.86% of patients with cross-reactivity to lupin in 14.6%. Sensitization to lupin was detected in 3.7% of patients with current atopic disease and in 1.8% of those with latent atopy. CONCLUSION The relative frequency of latent sensitisation to lupin in patients of all ages presenting with atopic disease is a new factor indicating the likelihood of an increase in primary food allergies to lupin flour. This justifies the recent decision requiring mandatory labelling of lupin, and shows the need to inform consumers who may be unaware that this ingredient is being used increasingly. Sensitization to lupin should be searched by prick-tests in any case of peanut allergy. Prick-test to lupin may be valuable whenever a food allergy is suspected when no current food allergens have been identified.
Understanding Display Blindness in Future Display Deployments

Digital displays are heralded as a transformative medium for communication. However, a known challenge in the domain is that of display blindness in which passersby pay little or no attention to public displays. This phenomenon has been a major motivation for much of the research on public displays. However, since the early observations, little has been done to develop our understanding of display blindness -- for example, to identify determining factors or propose appropriate metrics. Hence, the degree to which developments in signage form, content, and interaction address display blindness remains unclear. In this paper we examine and categorize current approaches to studying and addressing display blindness. Based on our analysis we identify open questions in the research space, including the impact of display physicality and audience differences, relationships with other observed effects, the impact of research interventions, and selection of appropriate metrics. The goal of this paper is to start a discussion within the community on the topic, and to inform the design of future research.
Developmental changes in myelin-induced proliferation of cultured Schwann cells

Schwann cell proliferation induced by a myelin-enriched fraction was examined in vitro. Although nearly all the Schwann cells contained material that was recognized by antisera to myelin basic protein after 24 h, only 1% of the cells were synthesizing DNA. 72 h after the addition of the mitogen a maximum of 10% of the cells incorporated [3H]thymidine. If the cultures were treated with the myelin-enriched fraction for 24 h and then washed, the number of proliferating Schwann cells decreased by 75% when compared with those cells that were incubated with the mitogen continuously. When Schwann cells were labeled with [14C]thymidine followed by a pulse of [3H]thymidine 24 h later, every Schwann cell labeled with [3H]thymidine was also labeled with [14C]thymidine. Although almost every Schwann cell can metabolize the myelin membranes within 24 h of exposure, a small population of cell initially utilizes the myelin as a mitogen, and this population continues to divide only if myelin is present in the extracellular media. The percentage of the Schwann cells that initially recognize the myelin-enriched fraction as a mitogen is dependent upon the age of the animal from which the cells were prepared.
Self-reported visual functioning and quality of life in age-related macular degeneration

Purpose of review To review the current literature on the impact of age-related macular degeneration on self-reported visual functioning, quality of life, and independent living. Recent findings The quantitative relationships between visual acuity, an objective clinical measure of vision, and self-reported visual functioning have been explored and described within prospective longitudinal clinical trials. When age-related macular degeneration is bilateral, the severe and irreversible loss of central vision experienced by affected persons has been shown to result in despondency, inability to care for self or others, and a state of disutility, which is equivalent to that experienced in coronary heart disease and stroke. Summary Quality-of-life indicators and self-reported visual functioning have gained acceptance as key outcome measure in studies designed to test therapeutic interventions and rehabilitation strategies in age-related macular degeneration. Vision loss from age-related macular degeneration engenders a profound sense of loss and the resultant handicap has been likened to that of the most severe medical conditions.
Identifying At-Risk Students in Massive Open Online Courses

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have received widespread attention for their potential to scale higher education, with multiple platforms such as Coursera, edX and Udacity recently appearing. Despite their successes, a major problem faced by MOOCs is low completion rates. In this paper, we explore the accurate early identification of students who are at risk of not completing courses. We build predictive models weekly, over multiple offerings of a course. Furthermore, we envision student interventions that present meaningful probabilities of failure, enacted only for marginal students.To be effective, predicted probabilities must be both well-calibrated and smoothed across weeks.Based on logistic regression, we propose two transfer learning algorithms to trade-off smoothness and accuracy by adding a regularization term to minimize the difference of failure probabilities between consecutive weeks. Experimental results on two offerings of a Coursera MOOC establish the effectiveness of our algorithms.
CIRJE-F-714 Incentives in Hedge Funds

We investigate a game of delegated portfolio management such as hedge funds featuring risk-neutrality, hidden types, and hidden actions. We show that capital gain tax plays the decisive role in solving the incentive problem. We characterize the constrained optimal fee scheme and capital gain tax rate; the fee after taxation must be linear and affected by gains and losses in a low-powered and symmetric manner. We argue that high income tax incentivizes managers to select this scheme voluntarily. The equity stake suppresses the distortion caused by solvency.
Jaccard Coefficients as a Potential Graph Benchmark

The processing of graphs is of increasing importance in many applications, with the size of such graphs growing rapidly. As with scientific computing, there is a growing need to understand the relationship between system architectures and graph algorithms, especially as both the scale of the system and the size of the graph increase. To date there is one such graph benchmark that has several hundred comparative reports available, namely Breadth First Search, which has over the last few years fueled new algorithms that have improved typical performance very significantly. This paper suggests an additional benchmark based on the computation of neighborhoods and Jaccard coefficients that is of both a different intrinsic complexity and can be recast in multiple ways that may be suitable for different classes of real-world applications.
A commentary on muscle mechanics.

• Numerous studies of cardiac muscle mechanics have produced contradictory conclusions. The present paper discusses a few salient points about cardiac muscle mechanics, but it is not a critical review of the literature such as that recently published by Jewell and Blinks (1). An analysis of ventricular contraction is also presented; we hope that it will stimulate fresh thought about the relationship between isolated muscle experiments and the functioning of the intact heart. Isolated muscle experiments on papillary muscles have, in many cases, been made in an overly optimistic manner. The literature of only a few years ago suggests that cardiac muscle mechanics is a highly quantitative science operating on universally accepted, well-defined principles. More recently, however, the tenuous state of our knowledge has been recognized by many investigators: classical theories are being attacked and entirely new viewpoints are being advanced. This situation makes the study of cardiac muscle mechanics academically challenging but causes no little consternation for cardiologists and others who desire practical parameters of cardiac performance based on fundamental physiology. The application of the concepts of skeletal muscle mechanics to isolated cardiac papillary muscle demonstrated by Abbott and Mommaerts (2) stimulated a large body of work which tended to
Environmental risk factors and work-related lower respiratory symptoms in 80 office buildings: an exploratory analysis of NIOSH data.

BACKGROUND We evaluated relationships between lower respiratory symptoms and risk factors for microbiological contamination in office buildings. METHODS The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health collected data from 80 office buildings during standardized indoor environmental health hazard evaluations. Present analyses included lower respiratory symptom-based outcome definitions and risk factors for potential microbiologic contamination. Multivariate logistic regression models for selected outcomes identified key risk factors. RESULTS Adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) for "at least three of four work-related lower respiratory symptoms" were, for debris in ventilation air intake, 2.0 (1.0-3.9), and for poor drainage in air-conditioning drip pans, 2.6 (1.3-5.2). Adjusted associations with risk factors were consistently stronger for outcomes requiring both multiple symptoms and improvement away from work, and somewhat stronger among diagnosed asthmatics. CONCLUSIONS Moisture and debris in ventilation systems, possibly by supporting microbiologic growth, may increase adverse respiratory effects, particularly among asthmatics. Data from more representative buildings are needed to confirm these findings.
A Fast NL Means De-noise Algorithm Based on Fuzzy Adaptive

In order to overcome the large computing of Non-Local (NL) means for image de-noise, a new method of FANL(Fuzzy Adaptive Non Local) means de-noise is proposed in this paper. It is proposed that the noise variance is estimated from noise image. And the optimism parameter is estimated by variance and noise image standard deviation. The optimism parameter is acquired from fuzzy control algorithm to a better de-noise effect and high peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR). Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm is effective and comparing favorable with existing techniques, Practical application shows that this method also proposes a reliable parameter estimation method, and the result is reliable to stitching a large image. At the same time, the processing time is faster than NL means method.
Re: "Job stress and breast cancer risk: the Nurses' Health Study".

The recent paper by Schernhammer et al. (1) in the American Journal of Epidemiology presents the latest evidence on the importance of job stress as a determinant of health in North American nurses. These authors’ findings suggest that job stress doesn’t cause breast cancer in this group. An earlier paper (2) suggested that it does not cause heart disease either. Despite these two negative reports regarding the effects of job stress on important objective indicators of women’s health, perceptions of job stress are strongly associated with perceptions of health among participants in the Nurses’ Health Study (3). What might explain this apparent anomaly? Many people believe that the bad feelings they call stress, particularly those associated with their job, influence their physical health (4). This is hardly surprising since scientists have been telling them as much for some time (5). In addition, irrespective of conscious beliefs about stress, many people appear to have an essentially negative worldview and perceive that they experience both more stress and more illness symptoms, in the absence of any objective evidence that this is the case (6). Both of these considerations mean that associations between subjective stress and subjective health are likely to be the rule rather than the exception and that such associations generally tell us little about the etiology of physical disease (7). The second part of the explanation probably relates to the social patterning of illness and job stress. Most illness is positively associated with social disadvantage. Further, socially advantaged people tend to like their jobs more and perceive that they expose them to less stress. Thus, one would expect that, irrespective of any true causal processes, confounding by disease-causing factors associated with social position would generate an association between psychosocial adversity and illness (8). However, if stress truly mediated this association, it should be apparent whatever the social distribution of either stress or illness. This is why, in this context, it is interesting to study examples of diseases that are not associated with disadvantage or populations where it is not the disadvantaged who feel more stressed (7, 8). In North America, breast cancer is not generally associated with disadvantage (9). However, job stress appears typically patterned among North American nurses, higher stress being associated with lower social position (1). Conversely, among Scottish men in the 1970s, heart disease was strongly associated with disadvantage, yet it was the socially advantaged who felt themselves to be more stressed (7, 8). Both of these situations provide ideal opportunities to test the hypothesis that stress genuinely causes disease, perhaps through the neuroendocrine pathways typically invoked in this regard. The fact that no such association is apparent (in fact, in both examples higher stress appears weakly protective) strongly suggests that stress doesn’t cause physical disease and that instances where it appears to are products of Letters to the Editor 1133