Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Association of Registered Nurse Staffing Levels and Patient Outcomes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective:To examine the association between registered nurse (RN) staffing and patient outcomes in acute care hospitals. Study Selection:Twenty-eight studies reported adjusted odds ratios of patient outcomes in categories of RN-to-patient ratio, and met inclusion criteria. Information was abstracted using a standardized protocol. Data Synthesis:Random effects models assessed heterogeneity and pooled data from individual studies. Increased RN staffing was associated with lower hospital related mortality in intensive care units (ICUs) [odds ratios (OR), 0.91; 95% confidence interval (CI), 0.86–0.96], in surgical (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.80–0.89), and in medical patients (OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.94–0.95) per additional full time equivalent per patient day. An increase by 1 RN per patient day was associated with a decreased odds ratio of hospital acquired pneumonia (OR, 0.70; 95% CI, 0.56–0.88), unplanned extubation (OR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.36–0.67), respiratory failure (OR, 0.40; 95% CI, 0.27–0.59), and cardiac arrest (OR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.62–0.84) in ICUs, with a lower risk of failure to rescue (OR, 0.84; 95% CI, 0.79–0.90) in surgical patients. Length of stay was shorter by 24% in ICUs (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.62–0.94) and by 31% in surgical patients (OR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.55–0.86). Conclusions:Studies with different design show associations between increased RN staffing and lower odds of hospital related mortality and adverse patient events. Patient and hospital characteristics, including hospitals’ commitment to quality of medical care, likely contribute to the actual causal pathway.
Customer Migration: An Empirical Investigation across Multiple Channels

Recent industry studies suggest that customers routinely use multiple channels of the same retailer to make their purchases. However, most studies about the drivers of customer profitability only focus on customer behavior in a single channel. This research investigates customer channel migration and the outcome of channel migration on the drivers of customer profitability. We find that all single-channel buyers and all multi-channel buyers are not alike. In addition, we discuss how forecasts of customer migration patterns can impact channel equity, channel expansion decisions, and promotion and product strategies.
Protein for Exercise and Recovery

Abstract Dietary protein is required to promote growth, repair damaged cells and tissue, synthesize hormones, and for a variety of metabolic activities. There are multiple sources of proteins available; however, animal sources of protein contain all essential amino acids and are considered complete sources of protein, whereas plant proteins lack some of the essential amino acids and are therefore classified as incomplete. There is a significant body of evidence to indicate that individuals who are engaged in intense training require more dietary protein than sedentary counterparts (ie, 1.4–2 g/kg/day). For most individuals, this level of protein intake can be obtained from a regular and varied diet. However, recent evidence indicates that ingesting protein and/or amino acids prior to, during, and/or following exercise can enhance recovery, immune function, and growth and maintenance of lean body mass. Consequently, protein and amino acid supplements can serve as a convenient way to ensure a timely and/or adequate intake for athletes. Finally, adequate intake and appropriate timing of protein ingestion has been shown to be beneficial in multiple exercise modes, including endurance, anaerobic, and strength exercise.
An unusual case of nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia in a young girl

Nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia is a type of acute mesenteric ischemia with high mortality seen mostly in elderly cardiac patients. We present a 21-year-old healthy student with nonocclusive mesenteric ischemia along with radiological evidence of hepatic portal venous gas and pneumatosis intestinalis, with subsequent fatality. Its significance and its possible etiology are discussed.
Autoimmune Diseases Co-occurring Within Individuals and Within Families: A Systematic Review

Background: Autoimmune diseases have been observed to coexist both within individuals and within families. It is unclear whether clinical reports of comorbid autoimmune diseases represent chance findings or true associations. This systematic review evaluates the current level of evidence on the coexistence of selected autoimmune diseases within individuals and families. We reviewed the associations among 4 TH1-associated autoimmune diseases: insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, autoimmune (Hashimoto) thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis. Methods: Studies quantifying the coexistence between the selected diseases, published through March 2004, were identified from Medline and Embase searches. Study eligibility was determined on the basis of preestablished criteria, and relevant data were extracted according to a fixed protocol. We determined the prevalence of comorbid autoimmune disease according to index disease and then compiled summary statistics. Heterogeneity among studies was assessed by exact likelihood ratio tests and Monte Carlo inference. Results: We found 54 studies that met the eligibility criteria. Of these, 52 studies examined the coexistence of disease within individuals and 9 studies examined within-family associations. The majority of studies were uncontrolled and did not account for confounding factors. There was substantial evidence for heterogeneity among studies. Although inconclusive, the data appear to support an increased prevalence of autoimmune thyroiditis among patients with rheumatoid arthritis and those with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, and an inverse association between rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Conclusion: Although the available evidence does not permit firm conclusions regarding comorbidities among the selected autoimmune diseases, results are sufficiently suggestive to warrant further study.
The “Noisier Channel”: Translation from Morphologically Complex Languages

This paper presents a new paradigm for translation from inflectionally rich languages that was used in the University of Maryland statistical machine translation system for the WMT07 Shared Task. The system is based on a hierarchical phrase-based decoder that has been augmented to translate ambiguous input given in the form of a confusion network (CN), a weighted finite state representation of a set of strings. By treating morphologically derived forms of the input sequence as possible, albeit more "costly" paths that the decoder may select, we find that significant gains (10% BLEU relative) can be attained when translating from Czech, a language with considerable inflectional complexity, into English.
Toward a Topological Characterization of Asynchronous Complexity

This paper introduces the use of topological models and methods, formerly used to analyze computability, as tools for the quantification and classification of asynchronous complexity. We present the first asynchronous complexity theorem, applied to decision tasks in the iterated immediate snapshot (IIS) model of Borowsky and Gafni. We do so by introducing a novel form of topological tool called the nonuniform chromatic subdivision. Building on the framework of Herlihy and Shavit's topological computability model, our theorem states that the time complexity of any asynchronous algorithm is directly proportional to the level of nonuniform chromatic subdivisions necessary to allow a simplicial map from a task's input complex to its output complex. To show the power of our theorem, we use it to derive a new tight bound on the time to achieve n process approximate agreement in the IIS model: $\bigl\lceil \log_d \frac{\max\_input - \min\_input}{\epsilon} \bigr\rceil$, where d = 3 for two processes and d = 2 for three or more. This closes an intriguing gap between the known upper and lower bounds implied by the work of Aspnes and Herlihy. More than the new bounds themselves, the importance of our asynchronous complexity theorem is that the algorithms and lower bounds it allows us to derive are intuitive and simple, with topological proofs that require no mention of concurrency at all.
Pervasive Episodic Memory: Evidence from a Control-of-Attention Paradigm

Events appear to be represented distinctly in memory in large numbers at a fine grain, even in tasks in which memory retention is not a primary performance measure. In Experiment 1, participants classified character strings in sequences governed by randomly-alternating instructions. Response times were fastest near the start of a sequence, slowed gradually throughout the sequence, then sped up again near the start of the next sequence. This speedup and gradual slowdown were modeled in the ACT-R architecture as a combination of priming and interference effects in episodic memory. The model correctly predicts the absence of these effects in Experiment 2, in which the instruction must be inferred from the trial stimulus and hence is not a source of priming. These findings suggest (a) that episodic encoding is a pervasive side effect of cognitive performance; (b) that elements of episodic memory interact through priming and interferenceeffects traditionally associated with semantic memory; and (c) that brief interruptions of task performance have more complex effects than previously documented.
System recognizing Bahamian license plate with touching characters

Abstract. Various methods are proposed for license plate recognition, but none of them are universal. Some common methods for license plate localization, character extraction, and recognition are analyzed. Then a system is proposed to recognize the Bahamian license plate with touching characters. A vertical edge-based method with a modified sliding window technique is used to locate the license plate, and a machine learning process is used to trim the region. The located license plate is rectified by using the minimum enclosing box and the stroke width value. Then the vertical projection and pairs of extreme points are combined to segment the characters. Finally, a deep learning method is used to recognize the characters. 2996 images are experimented on and the total recognition accuracy achieves 83.29%. Typical methods of each stage are implemented to compare with the proposed methods. In addition, the proposed system is experimented on a public dataset to show the generalization ability of the system. The experimental results show that the proposed system performs better than the other methods and is able to be used in a real-time application.
Information geometry in evolutionary computation

In recent years there have been independent developments in multiple branches of Evolutionary Computation (EC) that interpret population-based and model-based search algorithms in terms of information geometric concepts. This trend has resulted in the development of novel algorithms and in improved understanding of existing ones. This tutorial aims at making this new line of research accessible to a broader range of researchers. A statistical model, identified by a parametric family of distributions, is equipped with an intrinsic (Riemannian) geometry, the so-called information geometry. From this perspective, a statistical model is a manifold of distributions where the inner product is given by the Fisher information metric. Any evolutionary algorithm that implicitly or explicitly evolves the parameters of a search distribution defines a dynamic over the manifold. Taking into account the Riemannian geometry of the new search space given by the search distributions allows for the description and analysis of evolutionary operators in a new light. Notably, this framework can be used for the study of optimization algorithms. A core idea of several recent and novel heuristics, both in the continuous and the discrete domain, such as Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs) and Natural Evolution Strategies (NESs), is to perform stochastic gradient descent directly on the space of search distributions. However the definition of gradient depends on the metric, which is why it becomes fundamental to consider the information geometry of the space of search distributions. Despite being equivalent to classical gradient-based methods for a stochastically relaxed problem the approach performs randomized direct search on the original search space: the generation of an offspring population as well as selection and strategy adaptation turn out to implicitly sample a search distribution in a statistical model and to perform a stochastic gradient step in the direction of the natural gradient. Particular strengths of the information geometric framework are its ability to unify optimization in discrete and continuous domains as well as the traditionally separate processes of optimization and strategy parameter adaptation. Respecting the intrinsic information geometry automatically results in powerful invariance principles. The framework can be seen as an analysis toolbox for existing methods, as well as a generic design principle for novel algorithms. This tutorial will introduce from scratch the mathematical concept of information geometry to the EC community. It will transport not only rigorous definitions but also geometric intuition on Riemannian geometry, information geometry, natural gradient, and stochastic gradient descent. Stochastic relaxations of EC problems will act as a glue. The framework will be made accessible with applications to basic as well as state-of-the-art algorithms operating on discrete and continuous domains.
The impact of stalkers on their victims

Background This paper examines the social and psychological impact on victims of stalking. Method A group of 100 victims of stalking completed a 50-item questionnaire on their experiences. Results The majority of the victims were subjected to multiple forms of harassment including being followed, repeatedly approached and bombarded with letters and telephone calls for periods varying from a month to 20 years. Threats were received by 58 subjects, and 34 were physically or sexually assaulted. All but six victims made major changes in their social and work lives, with 53% changing or ceasing employment and 39% moving home. Increased levels of anxiety were reported by 83%, intrusive recollections and flashbacks by 55%, with nightmares, appetite disturbances and depressed mood also being commonly reported. Suicidal ruminations were acknowledged by 24% of victims. The criteria for a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder were fulfilled in 37% of subjects, with a further 18% having the clinical features but not qualifying for a stressor involving threatened or actual physical harm. Conclusions The study indicates the extent of the social and psychological damage sustained by those subjected to persistent stalking, and underlines the inadequacy of the current legal and medical responses to the needs of these victims.
Agroecological approaches to agricultural development

This background study stresses that the interest in the sustainability of agricultural and food systems can be traced to environmental concerns that began to appear in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, concerns about sustainability centre on the need to develop agricultural technologies and practices that: i) do not have adverse effects on the environment (partly because the environment is an important asset for farming); ii) are accessible to and effective for farmers, and lead both to improvements in food productivity and have positive side-effects on environmental goods and services. Sustainability in agricultural systems incorporates concepts of both resilience (the capacity of systems to buffer shocks and stresses) and persistence (the capacity of systems to continue over long periods), and addresses many wider economic, social and environmental outcomes. The study explains that agricultural systems in all parts of the world will have to make improvements. In many, the challenge is to increase food production to solve immediate problems of hunger. In others, the focus will be more on adjustments that maintain food production whilst increasing the flow of environmental goods and services. Further changes in environments and markets will bring substantial challenges to agricultural systems. The most significant is likely to be climate change. It is also predicted that energy prices will have a substantial impact as markets for bio-fuels and demand for cereal and oil products changes dramatically. Finally, consumer behavior will affect whole supply chains, as people increasingly choose food products that are labeled as having come from agricultural systems that can claim they are sustainable.
A World Without Pretense? Honest and Dishonest Signaling in Social Life

The title of my essay is inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein who in his Last Writings on the Philosophy of Psychology asks: " Could one imagine a world in which there could be no pretence? " Again he asks: " Can one imagine people who cannot lie? — What else would these people lack? , " and answers: " We should probably also imagine that they cannot make anything up and do not understand things that are made up. " 2 The authors whose writings I plan to discuss do not go so far as to envision a world in which the capacity to pretend or simulate is entirely lacking. But in what might be viewed as a compensatory response to the seeming pervasiveness of lying, fraud, and deception in our daily lives, many emotion theorists are committed to the idea that the problem of cheating and dissimulation can be alleviated, if not completely eliminated, because there exist inbuilt mechanisms of reliable or truthful signaling. They adopt the view that honesty, or knowing whom to trust, is guaranteed in advance, as it were, because difficult or impossible-to-fake facial movements and other non-verbal signals have evolved through natural selection to provide accurate information about a person's internal, affective states. We might put it that such emotion theorists believe they have found a solution to the philosophical problem of other minds by appealing to the idea of innately determined emotional " expressions " that, under the right conditions, unfailingly signal to us what other people are thinking and feeling because those expressions are hardwired to do so. These same emotion theorists further believe, or proceed as if they believe, that without such a system of communication designed by natural selection to automatically vouchsafe the genuineness and sincerity of emotional signals, trust, cooperation, and indeed genuine altruism are doomed to be undermined by the selfish human tendency to cheat. They therefore propose that the evolution of reliable emotional signals helps answer the basic political question of how it is that unrelated human beings can come to trust and hence cooperate with each other in civic life. ROBERT FRANK AND THE BASIC EMOTION PARADIGM The literature on these topics is enormous. In my essay I want to focus on the claims that have been made about the nature of emotional signaling. One obvious place to begin is with Robert Frank's influential book, Passion Within Reason: The …
Dominance of the senescent phenotype in heterokaryons between replicative and post-replicative human fibroblast-like cells.

In heterokaryons between senescent and young diploid fibroblast-like cells, dominance of the former with respect to nuclear DNA synthesis (incorporation of [(3)H]thymidine) was demonstrated. For identification of the respective partners, double-layer autoradiography was used after the old cells were labeled with [(3)H]methionine and the young cells were labeled with [(14)C]thymidine. Synchrony of nuclear labeling (i.e., all nuclei in a cell labeled with [(3)H]thymidine) was observed in the majority of di- and polykaryons during the second and third of three 24-hr periods of labeling with [(3)H]thymidine. The results are compatible with either terminal differentiation or error theories of clonal senescence.
Lamivudine for patients with chronic hepatitis B and advanced liver disease.

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of antiviral therapy in preventing disease progression in patients with chronic hepatitis B and advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis is unknown. METHODS Patients with chronic hepatitis B who had histologically confirmed cirrhosis or advanced fibrosis were randomly assigned in a 2:1 ratio to receive lamivudine (100 mg per day) or placebo for a maximum of five years. Of 651 patients, 436 were assigned to receive lamivudine and 215 to receive placebo. The primary end point was time to disease progression, defined by hepatic decompensation, hepatocellular carcinoma, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, bleeding gastroesophageal varices, or death related to liver disease. An independent data and safety monitoring board monitored the progress of the study and performed interim analyses of the data. RESULTS We randomly assigned 651 patients (98 percent Asian and 85 percent male) to receive lamivudine or placebo. The study was terminated after a median duration of treatment of 32.4 months (range, 0 to 42) owing to a significant difference between treatment groups in the number of end points reached. End points were reached by 7.8 percent of the patients receiving lamivudine and 17.7 percent of those receiving placebo (hazard ratio for disease progression, 0.45; P=0.001). The Child-Pugh score increased in 3.4 percent of the patients receiving lamivudine and 8.8 percent of those receiving placebo (hazard ratio, 0.45; P=0.02), whereas hepatocellular carcinoma occurred in 3.9 percent of those in the lamivudine group and 7.4 percent of those in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.49; P=0.047). Genotypic resistance YMDD mutations developed in 49 percent of the patients treated with lamivudine, and the Child-Pugh score was more likely to increase in patients with these mutations than in the other patients treated with lamivudine (7 percent vs. <1 percent). Overall, 12 percent of the patients in the lamivudine group and 18 percent of the patients in the placebo group reported serious adverse events. CONCLUSIONS Continuous treatment with lamivudine delays clinical progression in patients with chronic hepatitis B and advanced fibrosis or cirrhosis by significantly reducing the incidence of hepatic decompensation and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma.