Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using EHRs for Heart Failure Therapy Recommendation Using Multidimensional Patient Similarity Analytics

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) contain a wealth of information about an individual patient’s diagnosis, treatment and health outcomes. This information can be leveraged effectively to identify patients who are similar to each for disease diagnosis and prognosis. In recent years, several machine learning methods1 have been proposed to assessing patient similarity, although the techniques have primarily focused on the use of patient diagnoses data from EHRs for the learning task. In this study, we develop a multidimensional patient similarity assessment technique that leverages multiple types of information from the EHR and predicts a medication plan for each new patient based on prior knowledge and data from similar patients. In our algorithm, patients have been clustered into different groups using a hierarchical clustering approach and subsequently have been assigned a medication plan based on the similarity index to the overall patient population. We evaluated the performance of our approach on a cohort of heart failure patients (N=1386) identified from EHR data at Mayo Clinic and achieved an AUC of 0.74. Our results suggest that it is feasible to harness population-based information from EHRs for an individual patient-specific assessment.
The hard life of open source software project newcomers

While onboarding an open source software (OSS) project, contributors face many different barriers that hinder their contribution, leading in many cases to dropouts. Many projects leverage the contribution of outsiders and the sustainability of the project relies on retaining some of these newcomers. In this paper, we discuss some barriers faced by newcomers to OSS. The barriers were identified using a qualitative analysis on data obtained from newcomers and members of OSS projects. We organize the results in a conceptual model composed of 38 barriers, grouped into seven different categories. These barriers may motivate new studies and the development of appropriate tooling to better support the onboarding of new contributors.
Evolving Software with Multiple Outputs and Multiple Populations

In this research we are concerned with the automatic evolution of programs for control applications, the particular example we use being software for a simple fridge device with two inputs and three outputs. By careful choice of the target programming language in a similar vein to a RISC processor we are able to represent programs as variable length strings and use evolutionary computing techniques to search for fitter individuals. We used a fitness function that summed the fitness of each output channel, by various methods, in an attempt to encourage a total solution using a single population of candidate solutions. In general we were able to successfully evolve suitable solutions, however, the search sometimes suffered from premature convergence once the functionality for two out of the three output channels had evolved. More complex fitness assessment schemes, using mechanisms such as dynamically modifying the fitness associated with an output channel without additional benefit. These difficulties in attempting to do too much with a single population pointed to a ‘divide and conquer’ approach whereby one (or more) populations are dedicated to solving for one output channel alone whilst being exposed to all inputs. This is seen to be an acceptable approach due to the growth in multi-tasking operating systems and multiprocessor platforms.
THE ATMOSPHERES OF THE HOT-JUPITERS KEPLER-5b AND KEPLER-6b OBSERVED DURING OCCULTATIONS WITH WARM-SPITZER AND KEPLER

This paper reports the detection and the measurements of occultations of the two transiting hot giant exoplanets Kepler-5b and Kepler-6b by their parent stars. The observations are obtained in the near-infrared with Warm-Spitzer Space Telescope and at optical wavelengths by combining more than a year of Kepler photometry. The investigation consists of constraining the eccentricities of these systems and of obtaining broadband emergent photometric data for individual planets. For both targets, the occultations are detected at the 3σ level at each wavelength with mid-occultation times consistent with circular orbits. The brightness temperatures of these planets are deduced from the infrared observations and reach TSpitzer = 1930 ± 100 K and TSpitzer = 1660 ± 120 K for Kepler-5b and Kepler-6b, respectively. We measure optical geometric albedos Ag in the Kepler bandpass and find Ag = 0.12 ± 0.04 for Kepler-5b and Ag = 0.11 ± 0.04 for Kepler-6b, leading to upper an limit for the Bond albedo of AB ⩽ 0.17 in both cases. The observations for both planets are best described by models for which most of the incident energy is redistributed on the dayside, with only less than 10% of the absorbed stellar flux redistributed to the nightside of these planets.
YouTube4Two: socializing video platform for two co-present people

YouTube4Two is an application that exploits the YouTube media library (through its API) to demonstrate a new style of social interaction. Two co-present people can share a video and act autonomously to navigate the related-video and comment lists, and search for videos. The novelty is that they can use their own smartphones connected via Internet to control the shared application. The application has been designed according to the responsive-web-design (RWD) principle to smoothly pass from desktop interface (controlled by mouse and keyboard) to smartphone interface (with touch control). YouTube4Two introduces the multi-device responsive Web design (MD-RWD) style that extends the RWD style by introducing the separation between displayed content (on a shared screen) and displayed control commands (on personal smartphones) to support shared control over an application.
Modeling and tracking of dynamic obstacles for logistic plants using omnidirectional stereo vision

In this work we present an obstacle detection and tracking solution applied to Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) in industrial environments. The proposed method relies on information provided by an omnidirectional stereo vision system enabling 360 degree perception around the AGV. The stereo data is transformed into a classified digital elevation map (DEM). Based on this intermediate representation we are able to generate a set of obstacle hypotheses, each represented by a 3D cuboid and a free-form polygonal model. The cuboidal model is used for the classification of each hypothesis as “Pedestrian”, “AGV”, “Large Obstacle” or “Small Obstacle”, while the free-form polylines are used for object motion estimation relying on an Iterative Closest Point (ICP) method. The obtained measurements are subjected to a Kalman filter based tracking approach, in which the data association takes into account also the classification results.
Brain Microbleeds Are Associated With Ambulatory Blood Pressure Levels in a Hypertensive Population

Brain microbleeds, indicative of cerebral small-vessel disease, may occur with increased frequency in patients with hypertension. However, little is known about the relation of these abnormalities with blood pressure levels. We assessed the relation between ambulatory measured blood pressure and the presence of microbleeds in a cohort of hypertensive patients without a history of cerebrovascular disease. A total of 218 participants (110 males, age 52.5±12.6 years) underwent 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring twice (off-medication) and brain MRI to detect microbleeds and coexisting white matter hyperintensities. We performed logistic regression analyses to relate the following blood pressure components (based on both recordings) to microbleeds: the mean 24-hour, awake, and asleep blood pressures; nocturnal hypertension (asleep pressure ≥120/70 mm Hg); nocturnal blood pressure dipping. Models were adjusted for age and sex, and additionally for cardiovascular risk factors and white matter hyperintensities. We detected microbleeds in 35 participants (16.1%; 95% confidence interval, 11.1% to 21.0%). On average, each standard deviation increment in blood pressure, whether 24-hour, awake, or asleep, was significantly and independently associated with a 1.8- to 1.9-fold higher likelihood for microbleeds (all models P<0.05). Similarly, the adjusted odds ratio for microbleeds was 5- to 6-fold higher in subjects diagnosed with nocturnal hypertension (all models P<0.05). Microbleeds were not associated with nocturnal dipping. In conclusion, brain microbleeds are frequently found in hypertensive patients without a history of cerebrovascular disease, and are independently associated with higher daytime as well as night-time blood pressure levels.
Simultaneous observations of the quasar 3C 273 with INTEGRAL, XMM-Newton and RXTE

INTEGRAL has observed the bright quasar 3C 273 on 3 epochs in January 2003 as one of the first observations of the open programme. The observation on January 5 was simultaneous with RXTE and XMM-Newton observations. We present here a first analysis of the continuum emission as observed by these 3 satellites in the band from $\simeq$3 keV to $\simeq$500 keV. The continuum spectral energy distribution of 3C 273 was observed to be weak and steep in the high energies during this campaign. We present the actual status of the cross calibrations between the instruments on the three platforms using the calibrations available in June 2003.
An Interior-Point Algorithm for the Maximum-Volume Ellipsoid Problem

In this report, we consider the problem of nding the maximum-volume ellipsoid inscribing a given full-dimensional polytope in < n deened by a nite set of aane inequalities. We present several formulations for the problem that may serve as algorithmic frameworks for applying interior-point methods. We propose a practical interior-point algorithm based on one of the formulations and present preliminary numerical results.
Online learning on incremental distance metric for person re-identification

Person re-identification is to match persons appearing across non-overlapping cameras. The matching is challenging due to visual ambiguities and disparities of human bodies. Most previous distance metrics are learned by off-line and supervised approaches. However, they are not practical in real-world applications in which online data comes in without any label. In this paper, a novel online learning approach on incremental distance metric, OL-IDM, is proposed. The approach firstly modifies Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network (SOINN) using Mahalanobis distance metric to cluster incoming data into neural nodes. Such metric maximizes the likelihood of a true image pair matches with a smaller distance than that of a wrong matched pair. Second, an algorithm for construction of incremental training sets is put forward. Then a distance metric learning algorithm called Keep It Simple and Straightforward Metric (KISSME) trains on the incremental training sets in order to obtain a better distance metric for the neural network. Aforesaid procedures are validated on three large person re-identification datasets and experimental results show the proposed approach's competitive performance to state-of-the-art supervised methods and self-adaption to real-world data.
The Process and Affordances of Platform-Specific Social Media Disconnection

This article examines millennials’ experience of platform-specific disconnection, focusing on the ambiguous intersection of engagement and disengagement with social media. Drawing on 16 semi-structured interviews with (non)users who have quit specific social media platforms while remaining users on other platforms, this study addresses a specific practice of social media disengagement as a phenomenon, regardless of the (non)users’ demographics. As a result, the study introduces phases leading up to platform-specific disconnection, which can extend to, or derive from, other practices of media rejection and resistance. These different stages refer to the technical and social affordances that influence users in their decision to (dis)engage with specific platforms, revealing a bias between the perception of the phenomenon and the lived experience of the disconnected. By visualizing the process of platform-specific disengagement, this paper provides novel insight into media resistance and non-use, and challenges the misconception of disconnecting in the digital age .
Trends, Recent Developments, "Feeding in" and "Feeding out": a study of national policies

Under 'Key Trends' (3.) and 'Key policy and legislative developments' (4.), we review recent trends and report on some of the main policies which have emerged since the publication of the latest version of the National Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion. The remainder of the report is devoted to an assessment of the UK's implementation report on the National Reform Programme (NRP). This was published (quietly) in September 2007, but was supplemented by an updating letter in October following the PreBudget Report and Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) which contained the most significant recent policy proposals. The UK has again called its report 'Jobs and Growth', rather than the more usual EU phrase 'Growth and Jobs'. We focus on issues of concern in the implementation report.
Comparison of AIS and PSO for Constrained Portfolio Optimization

This paper applies two computational intelligence techniques, namely particle swarm optimization and artificial immune systems, to constrained portfolio optimization. The portfolio selection model considered in this paper is based on the classical Markowitz mean-variance theory enhanced with floor and ceiling constraints. Several experiments are conducted using the stocks listed on the Karachi Stock Exchange 30 Index (KSE30). The performances of both computational intelligence techniques are compared on two criteria: (a) maximization of expected return and (b) maximization of return-to-variance ratio. The results are also compared with the ones obtained through Microsoft Excel Solver.
Are NORs Always Located on Homeologous Chromosomes? A FISH Investigation with rDNA and Whole Chromosome Probes in Gymnotus Fishes (Gymnotiformes)

Gymnotus (Gymnotiformes, Gymnotidae) is the most diverse known Neotropical electric knife fish genus. Cytogenetic studies in Gymnotus demonstrate a huge karyotypic diversity for this genus, with diploid numbers ranging from 34 to 54. The NOR are also variable in this genus, with both single and multiple NORs described. A common interpretation is that the single NOR pair is a primitive trait while multiple NORs are derivative. However this hypothesis has never been fully tested. In this report we checked if the NOR-bearing chromosome and the rDNA site are homeologous in different species of the genus Gymnotus: G. carapo (2n = 40, 42, 54), G. mamiraua (2n = 54), G. arapaima (2n = 44), G. sylvius (2n = 40), G. inaequilabiatus (2n = 54) and G. capanema (2n = 34), from the monophyletic group G. carapo (Gymnotidae-Gymnotiformes), as well as G. jonasi (2n = 52), belonging to the G1 group. They were analyzed with Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) using 18S rDNA and whole chromosome probes of the NOR-bearing chromosome 20 (GCA20) of G. carapo (cytotype 2n = 42), obtained by Fluorescence Activated Cell Sorting. All species of the monophyletic G. carapo group show the NOR in the same single pair, confirmed by hybridization with CGA20 whole chromosome probe. In G. jonasi the NORs are multiple, and located on pairs 9, 10 and 11. In G. jonasi the GCA20 chromosome probe paints the distal half of the long arm of pair 7, which is not a NOR-bearing chromosome. Thus these rDNA sequences are not always in the homeologous chromosomes in different species thus giving no support to the hypothesis that single NOR pairs are primitive traits while multiple NORs are derived. The separation of groups of species in the genus Gymnotus proposed by phylogenies with morphologic and molecular data is supported by our cytogenetic data.
Choosability of a weighted path and free-choosability of a cycle

A graph $G$ with a list of colors $L(v)$ and weight $w(v)$ for each vertex $v$ is $(L,w)$-colorable if one can choose a subset of $w(v)$ colors from $L(v)$ for each vertex $v$, such that adjacent vertices receive disjoint color sets. In this paper, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for a weighted path to be $(L,w)$-colorable for some list assignments $L$. Furthermore, we solve the problem of the free-choosability of a cycle.
A Rotation , Scaling , and Cropping Invariant Second Generation Watermarking Scheme Based on Hough Transform

* sponsored by Chinese National Science Foundation(Grant No.60172331), contact: jizhen@21cn.com; phone 86 755 6536145; fax: 86 755 6536198; http://www.szu. edu.cn; Faculty of Information Engineering, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, 518060; Abstract In this paper, a scheme which follows the second generation watermarking(2GW) paradigm is proposed. The goal of this proposed scheme is basically to increase the robustness against geometric attacks. The host image is decomposed with the wavelet packet. The bit stream of binary watermark is coded into several patterns with salient feature. The circular feature is used in this paper, because: (a) the computational complexity of the method grows rapidly with more complex shapes. (b) the circle is rotation-invariant and partially scale-invariant. (c) the circular feature can be detected by Hough transform effectively. These patterns are embedded into wavelet packet coefficients according to human perceptual characteristics. A new HVS mask based on wavelet transform is proposed with consideration of local texture characteristics. The introduction of HVS characteristics boosts the performance of the whole scheme. Then, the watermarked image is generated by WP reconstruction. For the detection of watermark, the geometric distortion is calibrated for the contaminated watermarked image, then it is decomposed with the same WP used in embedding procedure. Hough transform is used to detect the circular features in the WP Coefficients. This scheme has the following characteristic s: (a) robustness against the common geometric attacks(rotation, scaling, cropping, and etc) is improved significantly. (b) human perceptual characteristics is taken into consideration, so the tradeoff between invisibility and robustness is improved. Results of extensive experiments indicate that this proposed scheme is significantly effective in resisting various attacks such as rotation, scaling, JPEG compression, adding noise, etc.
Effect of repeated exposure to alcohol on the response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis of the rat: II. Role of the length and regimen of alcohol treatment.

BACKGROUND Prior exposure to alcohol alters the adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) response to a second drug challenge administered several days later. We used three models of alcohol treatment to investigate the mechanisms that may be involved in this phenomenon. METHODS Adult male rats were exposed to alcohol vapors daily for 3 days (4-4.5 hr/day) and then were exposed to shocks or an intragastric injection of alcohol 7 days later (group A); were injected daily with alcohol (4.5 g/kg intragastrically) for 3 days and then exposed to shocks or an intragastric injection of alcohol 7 days later (group B); or were exposed to alcohol vapors for 6 days and exposed to shocks or an intragastric injection 24 hr later (group C). Control animals were not exposed to the vapors or received the appropriate vehicle. RESULTS Compared with animals administered the vehicle, rats of groups A and B that had been exposed to alcohol all exhibited a significantly decreased ACTH response to a second drug challenge. In contrast, their ACTH response to footshocks was statistically comparable to that of vehicle-pretreated animals. Rats of group C that had been exposed to alcohol for 6 days also showed decreased ACTH release when injected with alcohol 7 days later while responding normally to shocks. Measurement of anterior pituitary pro-opiomelanocortin indicated that alcohol pretreatment had produced a 54% increase of these transcripts in group C and a 27% decrease in group A. There were no changes in pituitary receptors type 1 for corticotropin-releasing factor (CRFR1) in any of the groups. CONCLUSION Regardless of whether they are delivered shortly before an acute alcohol injection or several days earlier, alcohol vapors or injections interfere with the ACTH response to the drug but not to shocks. Our results also suggest that changes in ACTH responses may not be correlated directly with small changes in pituitary pro-opiomelanocortin or CRFR1 mRNA levels.
Transgenic Disruption of Gap Junctional Intercellular Communication Enhances Early but Not Late Stage Hepatocarcinogenesis in the Rat

Much experimental evidence supports the conclusion that loss of gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) contributes to carcinogenesis. Transgenic rats featuring a dominant negative mutant of the connexin 32 gene under albumin promoter control (Cx32ΔTg-High and Cx32ΔTg-Low lines, respectively with high and low copy numbers of the transgene) have disrupted GJIC, as demonstrated by scrape dye-transfer assay in vivo as previous report by Asamoto et al. (2004). In the present study, we investigated the susceptibility of these transgenic rats to a single intraperitoneal administration of diethylnitrosamine (DEN), and found a significant increase in preneoplastic glutathione S-transferase placental form (GST-P) positive lesions in the livers of Cx32ΔTg-High but not Cx32ΔTg-Low rats. However, incidences of adenomas and hepatocellular carcinomas were not elevated at the end of the experiment (52 weeks). In addition, we investigated the promotional effect of phenobarbital (PB) on Cx32ΔTg-High rats pretreated with DEN and found enhanced formation of GST-P positive lesions, in contrast to the lack of promoting effects reported for Cx32 deficient mice. The results indicate that although both high and low expression of the dominant negative connexin 32 mutant gene in our rats is able to inhibit gap junctional capacity, only high expression is effective at enhancing susceptibility to early stage DEN-induced liver carcinogenesis.
Introducing Ontological Realism for Semi-Supervised Detection and Annotation of Operationally Significant Activity in Surveillance Videos

As part of DARPA's Mind's Eye program, a video-analysis software platform able to detect operationally significant activity in videos is being developed. The goal is to describe such activity semi-automatically in terms of verb phrases mapped to a realism-based ontology that can be used to infer and even predict further activities that are not directly visible. We describe how Region Connection Calculus and its derivative, Motion Class Calculus, can be used together to link the spatiotemporal changes that pixel-aggregates undergo in video-displays to the corresponding changes of the objects in reality that were recorded and to linguistic descriptions thereof. We discuss how Ontological Realism can be used as a safeguard to drawing such correspondences naively.