Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Contribution of HIV-1 infection to acquisition of sexually transmitted disease: a 10-year prospective study.

BACKGROUND Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) enhance human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 susceptibility, but few studies have examined the reciprocal effect of HIV-1 on STD acquisition. METHODS Data from a prospective cohort study conducted among female sex workers in Mombasa, Kenya between 1993 and 2003 were used to determine the effect of HIV-1 infection on STD susceptibility. The cohort included 1215 HIV-1-seronegative women who underwent monthly HIV-1 and STD screening, of whom 238 experienced seroconversion to HIV-1 during follow-up. Andersen-Gill proportional-hazards models were used to compare the incidence rates for genital-tract infections (syphilis, genital ulcer disease [GUD], Neisseria gonorrhoeae infection, Chlamydia trachomatis infection, Trichomonas vaginalis infection, vulvovaginal candidiasis, and bacterial vaginosis) in HIV-1-seropositive versus HIV-1-seronegative women, after controlling for sexual behavior and other potential confounding factors. RESULTS HIV-1 infection was associated with a significantly higher incidence of GUD (hazard ratio [HR], 2.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.0-3.9), gonorrhea (HR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2), and vulvovaginal candidiasis (HR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.3-1.8). The risks of GUD and vulvovaginal candidiasis increased with progressive levels of immunosuppression. CONCLUSIONS The increased incidence of genital-tract infections among HIV-1-seropositive women could promote the spread of both HIV-1 and other STDs, particularly in areas where these conditions are highly prevalent.
Training and Labour Market Flexibility: Is There a Trade‐off?

This paper explores the nexus between work-related training and labour market ‘flexibility’ (which we proxy by contract type, part-time employment and lack of union coverage), using the first five waves of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) conducted over the period 1991–5. Our results show that workers on short-term employment contracts, who are working part-time or are not covered by a union collective agreement, are significantly less likely to be involved in any work-related training to improve or increase their skills. These findings suggest that there is a trade-off between expanding the more marginal forms of employment and expanding the proportion of the work-force getting work-related training.
Una breve introducción a las tecnologías de la información para la gestión del conocimiento

El articulo da una nueva vision de las caracteristicas de un buen lider haciendo hincapie en una serie diversa y amplia de capacidades personales, entre las que se destaca la capacidad para la contencion de las ansiedades grupales asi como, la aceptacion de paralizar la accion en los momentos de confusion e impulsividad, primando la reflexion, el espacio y la flexibilidad mental.
Tracking Multiple Indistinguishable Objects through Severe Occlusion

Occlusions are one of the biggest obstacles to reliable tracking. While many existing algorithms perform well while the objects of interest are separated, they often swap object identities when multiple objects occlude one another. We focus on the problem of tracking multiple, nonrigid targets through severe occlusions. Our occlusion reasoning algorithm takes advantage of reliable separated object tracking before and after occlusion events. We use BraMBLe to track separated objects and determine the starts and ends of occlusions. From the separated object tracks, our algorithm uses a simple depth-order heuristic to guess the identity correspondence in the start and end frames of the occlusion. We interpolate the correspondence to yield a guess of the objects’ per-frame motion. This motion guess is incorporated into layer-based affine optical flow estimation in the form of a prior probability. Our algorithm tracks the objects forward one frame at a time from the start of the occlusion and backward one frame at a time from the end of the occlusion. The motion guess is updated based on the current measurements of the object positions. These steps are repeated until the object tracks meet in the middle of the occlusion. We demonstrate results on challenging test video of three identical mice from a side view.
The Complete Genome Sequence of the Pathogenic Intestinal Spirochete Brachyspira pilosicoli and Comparison with Other Brachyspira Genomes

Background The anaerobic spirochete Brachyspira pilosicoli colonizes the large intestine of various species of birds and mammals, including humans. It causes “intestinal spirochetosis”, a condition characterized by mild colitis, diarrhea and reduced growth. This study aimed to sequence and analyse the bacterial genome to investigate the genetic basis of its specialized ecology and virulence. Methodology/Principal Findings The genome of B. pilosicoli 95/1000 was sequenced, assembled and compared with that of the pathogenic Brachyspira hyodysenteriae and a near-complete sequence of Brachyspira murdochii. The B. pilosicoli genome was circular, composed of 2,586,443 bp with a 27.9 mol% G+C content, and encoded 2,338 genes. The three Brachyspira species shared 1,087 genes and showed evidence of extensive genome rearrangements. Despite minor differences in predicted protein functional groups, the species had many similar features including core metabolic pathways. Genes distinguishing B. pilosicoli from B. hyodysenteriae included those for a previously undescribed bacteriophage that may be useful for genetic manipulation, for a glycine reductase complex allowing use of glycine whilst protecting from oxidative stress, and for aconitase and related enzymes in the incomplete TCA cycle, allowing glutamate synthesis and function of the cycle during oxidative stress. B. pilosicoli had substantially fewer methyl-accepting chemotaxis genes than B. hyodysenteriae and hence these species are likely to have different chemotactic responses that may help to explain their different host range and colonization sites. B. pilosicoli lacked the gene for a new putative hemolysin identified in B. hyodysenteriae WA1. Both B. pilosicoli and B. murdochii lacked the rfbBADC gene cluster found on the B. hyodysenteriae plasmid, and hence were predicted to have different lipooligosaccharide structures. Overall, B. pilosicoli 95/1000 had a variety of genes potentially contributing to virulence. Conclusions/Significance The availability of the complete genome sequence of B. pilosicoli 95/1000 will facilitate functional genomics studies aimed at elucidating host-pathogen interactions and virulence.
Learning near-optimal policies with fitted policy iteration and a single sample path

In this paper we consider the problem of learning a near-optimal policy in continuous-space, expected total discounted-reward Markovian Decision Problems using approximate policy iteration. We consider batch learning where the training data consists of a single sample path of a fixed, known, persistently-exciting stationary stochastic policy. We derive PAC-style bounds on the difference of the performance of the policy returned by the algorithm and the optimal value function in both L∞ and weighted L-norms.
ZumBeat: Evaluation of a Zumba Dance Intervention in Postmenopausal Overweight Women

Physical inactivity is a major public health concern since it increases individuals’ risk of morbidity and mortality. A subgroup at particular risk is postmenopausal overweight women. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and effect of a 12-week ZumBeat dance intervention on cardiorespiratory fitness and psychosocial health. Postmenopausal women with a body mass index (BMI) >30 kg/m2 or a waist circumference >94 cm who were not regularly physically active were asked to complete a 12-week ZumBeat dance intervention with instructed and home-based self-training sessions. Before and after the intervention, peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) was assessed on a treadmill; and body composition and several psychometric parameters (including quality of life, sports-related barriers and menopausal symptoms) were investigated. Of 17 women (median age: 54 years; median BMI: 30 kg/m2) enrolled in the study, 14 completed the study. There was no apparent change in VO2peak after the 12-week intervention period (average change score: −0.5 mL/kg/min; 95% confidence interval: −1.0, 0.1); but, quality of life had increased, and sports-related barriers and menopausal symptoms had decreased. A 12-week ZumBeat dance intervention may not suffice to increase cardiorespiratory fitness in postmenopausal overweight women, but it increases women’s quality of life.
Acoustic signal localization through the use of Head Related Transfer Functions

An acoustic image of space is an acoustically described visual image intended to help blind people orient themselves in space. Description is made with the aid of spatial sounds created using HRTF filters. HRTF filters are empirically acquired FIR filter sets that describe changes to the sound as it travels from its source towards the human eardrum. They include changes related to body shape, ears, ear canal, etc. Our research focused on finding the maximum resolution of the human auditory system when determining the location of a sound source in space. This is also the maximum resolution for creating an acoustic image. We were interested in minimum azimuth and elevation change resolution – we tried to establish the minimum angle between two sources that could still be detected. Resolution dependence on signal bandwidth was also measured. The results were encouraging, especially in the horizontal plane, where most of subjects were able to tell the difference between two sources only 5° apart. Edge resolution, with 80° – 90° azimuth, was still satisfactory if a wide bandwidth signal was used. If elevation is increased, the resolution deteriorates quickly and is no longer satisfactory. To address this problem, different coding should be used to create an acoustic image of elevation.
Effective Algorithm in Mining Interestingness Clustering

It presented an association rule clustering general framework exploring interestingness of rules. It investigate a general framework for clustering unconstrained association rules over unconstrained domains to enable automating much of the laborious manual effort normally involved in the exploration and understanding of interestingness. We also introduce an algorithm and investigate how this approach can be incorporated into the mining process. The output of the new mining process is significantly reduced, almost by half, making post-processing easier, plus post-processing can often achieve similar results with shorter runtime.
Evaluating the Effect of Resection on the Sealing Ability of MTA and CEM Cement

Introduction In cases of limited access to the surgical site, an alternative approach is to obturate the canal prior to surgery. Endodontic surgery is subsequently performed by root-end resection without retro-cavity preparation. This in vitro study was designed to compare the sealing ability of resected roots filled with either mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) or calcium enriched mixture (CEM) cement. Materials and Methods Seventy maxillary anterior teeth were selected. Following canal preparation, the teeth were randomly divided into four experimental (n=15) and two control (n=5) groups. In Group 1, CEM cement was placed into the apical 6-mm of the canal. The remainder of the canal was filled with gutta-percha/AH26 and 3-mm root-ends were resected. In Group 2: the teeth were treated as described above except that MTA was used instead of CEM cement. Group 3: The canals were obturated with gutta-percha/AH26. After root-end resection, retro cavities were prepared and filled with CEM cement. Group 4: The teeth were treated as described for group 3 except that MTA was used instead of CEM cement. The root apices of teeth were then placed in India ink, and maximum dye penetration was measured with a stereomicroscope. Nested ANOVA and Independent samples t-test were used to evaluate the statistical significance. Results The mean dye leakage values for groups 1 to 4 were 402.6, 526.4, 141.0, and 177.4, respectively. The retrofilled groups had less microleakage compared to the resected materials; in the CEM cement groups this was statistically significant (P<0.05), i.e. root-end resection had no significant influence on the sealing ability of MTA, but significantly increased the microleakage of CEM cement (P=0.017). Overall, CEM cement showed less microleakage compared to MTA, however the difference was not significant. Conclusion Within the limitations of this dye leakage study, we can conclude that if limited access prohibits retrofill placement, MTA or CEM cement can be used to fill the canal prior to root-end resection; as they have similar sealing ability. However, further laboratory and clinical studies are required to evaluate this alternative method.
Sensitivity studies of different aerosol indirect effects in mixed-phase clouds

Abstract. Aerosols affect the climate system by changing cloud characteristics. Using the global climate model ECHAM5-HAM, we investigate different aerosol effects on mixed-phase clouds: The glaciation effect, which refers to a more frequent glaciation due to anthropogenic aerosols, versus the de-activation effect, which suggests that ice nuclei become less effective because of an anthropogenic sulfate coating. The glaciation effect can partly offset the indirect aerosol effect on warm clouds and thus causes the total anthropogenic aerosol effect to be smaller. It is investigated by varying the parameterization for the Bergeron-Findeisen process and the threshold coating thickness of sulfate (SO4-crit), which is required to convert an externally mixed aerosol particle into an internally mixed particle. Differences in the net radiation at the top-of-the-atmosphere due to anthropogenic aerosols between the different sensitivity studies amount up to 0.5 W m−2. This suggests that the investigated mixed-phase processes have a major effect on the total anthropogenic aerosol effect.
Household Coping and Response to Government Stimulus in an Economic Crisis: Evidence from Thailand

The crash of global financial markets in 2008 caused a ripple effect on economic demand and growth worldwide. Export-oriented economies were hit particularly hard, and many governments stepped in quickly with broad-ranging stimulus programs to lessen the effects on households of rising unemployment and falling income. To better understand the role that stimulus policy might play in softening the effects of these shocks, this paper examines recent nationally-representative data from Thailand, an export-dependent economy where a large-scale stimulus program was introduced in 2009. Using monthly data spanning 2006-2010, the paper uses sub-province-level community panel data to examine the effects of major components of the stimulus on household consumption, income, borrowing, and debt repaid. To address simultaneity of changes in government spending and household outcomes, the analysis estimates a dynamic panel regression, instrumenting the stimulus effect with second-order lagged outcome variables, and estimating the model using the Generalized Method of Moments. The results suggest that household participation in these programs helped smooth consumption. This increase in monthly consumption was not supported from household receipts from the government stimulus, but more likely through a reallocation of consumption and savings that included greater debt repayment. The paper typically finds stronger effects in urban compared with rural areas.
The New Science of ( Random ) Networks Two Books Reviewed

At the beginning of the 21st century, a maverick group of scientists is discovering that all networks—from a cocktail party to a terrorist cell to an international conglomerate—have a deep underlying order and operate according to simple but powerful rules. Knowledge of the structure and behavior of these networks illuminates everything from the vulnerability of economies to the way diseases are spread, allowing us to design the “perfect” business or stop an outbreak before it goes global. This paragraph is from the press release for the book whose full title is: Linked: The New Science of Networks. How Everything is Connected to Everything Else and What it Means for Science, Business, and Everyday Life. The content of the book is considerably less hyperbolic than the press release, but Barabási, who publishes frequently in Nature and Science, speaks with great confidence about the farreaching implications of his results. The second book under review, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age by Duncan J. Watts, has a more modest tone that mathematicians will be more comfortable with. Having started at the end of the story, we will now go back more than forty years in time and across the Atlantic to Hungary to explain the developments that led up to this point. Along the way we will give references to let you know who did what and where you can learn more. Due to the laziness of the reviewer, there is no list of references here. However, most of them are contained in the 429 works cited in Mark Newman’s recent article [1] in SIAM Review. In a series of papers in the late 1950s, Erdős and Renyi introduced the simplest random graph model: G(n,p) . There are n vertices, and each of the n(n− 1)/2 possible edges between vertices are independently present with probability p. When p = c/n and n is large, there is a dramatic change in the connectedness of the graph at c = 1. If c < 1, then the connected component containing a given vertex will have an average of 1/(1− c) members; while if c > 1, it will with positive probability belong to a giant component of size g(c)n where g(c) is a constant that depends on c. To foreshadow later developments, we note that when c > 1 the world is small. One can go between two vertices in the giant component in (1 + o(1))ln(n)/ln(c) steps. The next scene in our story takes place in 1967. Stanley Milgram, a Harvard social psychologist, was interested in the social distance between any two people in the United States. He gave letters to a few hundred randomly selected people in Omaha, Nebraska. The letters were to be sent toward a target person, a stockbroker in Boston, but recipients could send the letters only to someone they knew Book Review
. D G ] 1 6 M ar 2 00 5 Harmonic forms on manifolds with edges

Let (X, g) be a compact Riemannian stratified space with simple edge singularity. Thus a neighbourhood of the singular stratum is a bundle of truncated cones over a lower dimensional compact smooth manifold. We calculate the various polynomially weighted de Rham cohomology spaces of X , as well as the associated spaces of harmonic forms. In the unweighted case, this is closely related to recent work of Cheeger and Dai [5]. Because the metric g is incomplete, this requires a consideration of the various choices of ideal boundary conditions at the singular set. We also calculate the space of L harmonic forms for any complete edge metric on the regular part of X .
An Illustrative Example Of Application Decision Making Process For Production Consumer Goods

This article we provide an overview of the analysis a method of decision making system for consumer goods. Based on the definition of the positive ideal solution and negative ideal solution, this method selects the most appropriate one with the highest degree of membership belonging to the positive ideal solution. The use of this method is expected to help and provide the best decision in the selection of sale of consumer goods. A case study is used to illustrate the procedure of the proposed approach at the end of the paper.
Beyond “getting drugs into bodies”: social science perspectives on pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV

Social scientists have much to contribute to the analysis of the real and potential contribution of pre‐exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to HIV prevention around the world. Beyond just a matter of clinical efficacy and getting pills into people's mouths, PrEP raises a number of important social‐psychological questions that must be attended to in order to translate biomedical and clinical findings into uptake of PrEP among enough people at risk of HIV infection to produce population‐level effectiveness. PrEP is a dynamic phenomenon with “dialectical” attributes that invite both optimism and cynicism as a desirable and effective HIV prevention strategy. PrEP disrupts traditional notions of “safe” and “unsafe” sex; it confers on its users a level of agency and control not generally achieved with condoms; and it affects sexual practices and sexual cultures in meaningful ways. As these dynamics play out in different contexts, and as new modes of PrEP administration emerge, it will be important for social scientists to be engaged in assessing their impact on PrEP implementation and effectiveness.
Identifying Low Confidence Mesh Regions: Uncertainty Measures and Segmentation

3D digital models have become an important part of diverse applications ranging from computer games, virtual reality, architectural design to visual impact studies. One common method to create 3D models is to create a point cloud using laser scanners, structured lighting sensors, or image-based modelling techniques, and then construct a 3D mesh, and texture-map it using photographs of the observed scene. Attributed to the inherent properties of general 3D scenes such as occluded or inaccessible parts, reflective surfaces, lighting conditions or poor-quality inputs, 3D models produced by these approaches often exhibit unsatisfactory and erroneous mesh regions. In many cases, it is desirable to identify and extract such regions so that they can be constructed or corrected through other means. While much effort has been invested into the problem of 3D reconstructions, the task of evaluating existing models and preparing them for subsequent enhancement processes has been largely neglected. In this paper, we present a novel method for automatically detecting and segmenting mesh regions with low confidence in their correctness. The confidence estimation is achieved by exploiting and integrating various uncertainty measures such as geometric distances, normal variations and texture discrepancies. Low-confidence mesh regions are isolated and removed in such a way that the extracted region's boundary is as simple as possible in order to facilitate subsequent automatic or manual improvement of these regions. Segmentation is achieved by minimising an energy function that takes the genus and boundary length and smoothness of the extracted regions into account.