Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Meta-Analysis of the Associations of p-Cresyl Sulfate (PCS) and Indoxyl Sulfate (IS) with Cardiovascular Events and All-Cause Mortality in Patients with Chronic Renal Failure

Background Indoxyl sulfate (IS) and p-cresyl sulfate (PCS) are protein-bound uremic toxins that increase in the sera of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and are not effectively removed by dialysis. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to investigate the relationships of PCS and IS with cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality in patients with CKD stage 3 and above. Methodology/Principle Findings Medline, Cochrane, and EMBASE databases were searched until January 1, 2014 with combinations of the following keywords: chronic renal failure, end-stage kidney disease, uremic toxin, uremic retention, indoxyl sulfate, p-cresyl sulfate. Inclusion criteria were: 1) Patients with stage 1 to 5 CKD; 2) Prospective study; 3) Randomized controlled trial; 4) English language publication. The associations between serum levels of PCS and IS and the risks of all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events were the primary outcome measures. Of 155 articles initially identified, 10 prospective and one cross-sectional study with a total 1,572 patients were included. Free PCS was significantly associated with all-cause mortality among patients with chronic renal failure (pooled OR = 1.16, 95% CI = 1.03 to 1.30, P = 0.013). An elevated free IS level was also significantly associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality (pooled OR = 1.10, 95% CI = 1.03 to 1.17, P = 0.003). An elevated free PCS level was significantly associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events among patients with chronic renal failure (pooled OR = 1.28, 95% CI = 1.10 to 1.50, P = 0.002), while free IS was not significantly associated with risk of cardiovascular events (pooled OR = 1.05, 95% CI = 0.98 to 1.13, P = 0.196). Conclusions/Significance Elevated levels of PCS and IS are associated with increased mortality in patients with CKD, while PCS, but not IS, is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events.
A case for online mixed workload processing

Database systems in the context of business data processing are segmented into two categories: those intended for online transaction processing (OLTP) and those for online analytical processing (OLAP). Over the last 15 years, database management system (DBMS) proposals directly addressing one of those categories were most represented in terms of academic publications and variety of commercial products in the domain of enterprise computing. In contrast, the most innovative DBMS proposals in this century were invented not by addressing a well-known category but by following a methodology that purely focuses on the application characteristics as practiced by Amazon or Google. This paper applies a part of that methodology to the field of enterprise applications in order to evaluate to what extend they are covered by the categories OLTP and OLAP. The evaluation shows that there are enterprise applications that reveal a mix of those characteristics which are usually exclusively associated either with OLTP or with OLAP and therefore cannot be addressed adequately by traditional DBMS. The paper contributes by pointing out that those applications cause an online mixed workload and by explaining what properties a corresponding specialized DBMS should have and how this category of enterprise applications could benefit from it.
Study, design, and evaluation of exploration strategies for autonomous mobile robots

My research activity deals mainly with the problem of defining exploration strategies that drive autonomous mobile robots around environments to be discovered. One of my contributions is towards bridging the gap between theory and practice for exploration strategies, modeling problems related to exploration to theoretically analyze them, and applying obtained results to more realistic scenarios. Another contribution is the use of semantic information in multirobot systems for more informed decisions during exploration. Further contributions provide insights for a more mature experimental assessment of exploring robotic systems.
Achieving business process and business rules integration using SPL

A factor limiting the take up of Web services based business processes is that the mutability of business rules embedded in the business logic cannot be effectively handled. The major Web service composition languages, such as WS-BPEL and BPML, lack constructs that can be used to specify business rules. Hence, the business process is interleaved with the flexible business constraints and policies, so that the whole business logic is coded as a monolithic block which makes it difficult to maintain and evolve without affect the core business logic. In this paper, we propose a solution that uses business rules and Semantic Programming Language (SPL) to model, encapsulate and manage the variable parts of business process independently. An implementation framework also is devised which allows for a more modular and flexible semantic Web service composition.
Ribavirin Therapy for Hepatitis E Virus-Induced Acute on Chronic Liver Failure: A Preliminary Report

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is a common cause of acute on chronic liver failure (ACLF) in HEV hyperendemic regions with high mortality. Treatment for HEV-induced ACLF is currently not available. Recently, efficacy of ribavirin in genotype 3 chronic hepatitis E patients has been reported; however, whether ribavirin is effective in genotype 1 HEV infection is not yet known. The present study includes four patients with HEV-induced ACLF treated with ribavirin in a genotype 1 HEV hyperendemic region. Diagnosis of ACLF was made by conventional criteria and HEV as the cause of ACLF was confirmed by detection of HEV RNA by reverse transcriptase PCR. Ribavirin dose ranged from 200 to 600 mg/day and was used for a median duration of 12 (range 3–24) weeks. All patients had undetectable HEV in 3–8 weeks, survived and none had serious adverse effects. This preliminary observation from a single centre indicates that ribavirin may be an effective therapeutic agent for HEV-induced ACLF and a randomized control trial is needed to establish its efficacy.
Patchwork Policies: State Assistance for Immigrants Under Welfare Reform. Occasional Paper Number 24. Assessing the New Federalism: An Urban Institute Program To Assess Changing Social Policies.

Despite significant federal benefit restorations and considerable assistance provided by states, the social safety net for immigrants remains weaker than before welfare reform. Although many states stepped in to help immigrants, few fully replaced lost federal benefits and state variation in available safety net services has increased. This report, based on a survey of state officials in all 50 states, found that most states that created substitute programs placed conditions on program eligibility rendering many immigrants ineligible, often targeted only specific groups of immigrants, or provided lower benefits than the federal programs which they replaced. The paper ranks states according to the availability of their safety net to immigrants.
UBM-GMM Driven Discriminative Approach for Speaker Verification

In the past few years, discriminative approaches to perform speaker detection have shown good results and an increasing interest. Among these methods, SVM based systems have lots of advantages, especially their ability to deal with a high dimension feature space. Generative systems such as UBM-GMM systems show the greatest performance among other systems in speaker verification tasks. Combination of generative and discriminative approaches is not a new idea and has been studied several times by mapping a whole speech utterance onto a fixed length vector. This paper presents a straight-forward, cost friendly method to combine the two approaches with the use of a UBM model only to drive the experiment. We show that the use of the TFLLR kernel, while closely related to a reduced form of the Fisher mapping, implies a performance that is close to a standard GMM/UBM based speaker detection system. Moreover, we show that a combination of both outperforms the systems taken independently
Анализ Условий Применения Правил Проведения Кредитно-Денежной Политики (Analysis of the Conditions of Application of the Rules of Monetary Policy)

В данной научно-исследовательской работе проведен анализ различных аспектов политики инфляционного таргетирования. Рассмотрены основные подходы к определению этого режима монетарной политики, его основные характеристики, последствия его применения в теоретической и практической точек зрения. Отдельно проанализированы условия, способствующие успешному применению инфляционного таргетирования центральными банками разных стран. Исследована возможность перехода к режиму инфляционного таргетирования в России, предложены рекомендации по подготовке Банка России к переходу на режим инфляционного таргетирования. Работа может быть интересна студентам и преподавателям экономических специальностей, всем интересующимся вопросом, что такое инфляционное таргетирование и каковы возможности его применения в России. In this research paper, an analysis of various aspects of the policy of inflation targeting. The main approaches to the definition of the monetary policy regime, its main characteristics, its implications in the theoretical and practical points of view. Separately analyzed the conditions conducive to the successful implementation of inflation targeting central banks of various countries. The possibility of transition to inflation targeting regime in Russia, the recommendations for the preparation of the Bank of Russia for the transition to inflation targeting. The work may be of interest to students and teachers of economic specialties, all interested in the question, what is the inflation targeting and what are the possibilities for its use in Russia.
Throughput improvement for OFDMA femtocell networks through spectrum allocation and access control strategy

In this paper, we propose a novel scheme to improve the throughput of femtocell networks. The proposed scheme consists of two steps: spectrum allocation for femtocells and dealing with nearby macro-users with access control strategy. Since the positions of femtocells are relatively stable, we firstly deal with inter-femtocell interference and formulate it as an integer programming problem. Then we analyze the effects of different access strategies on system throughput for each sub-channel and propose a novel access control strategy. Finally, the superiority of the proposed scheme is verified by simulation results.
Reference Point Determination in Enhanced Fingerprint Image

Accurate reference point detection is crucial for features extraction to improve the performance of fingerprint recognition system. Many reference-point detection algorithms work well in good-quality fingerprints, however, most fail to correctly locate the reference point in poor-quality fingerprints with cracks and scars, dry skin, or poor ridge-and-valley contrast. In this paper, we propose a method to detect a reference point in an enhanced fingerprint image by using a novel and effective enhancement approach. It preserves true ridges and valleys, and it also repairs the damaged ridges and valleys, which in turn helps to detect reference points reliably and accurately. Experimental results on public databases show that the proposed method has better results when a reference point detection method applies to the enhanced image, than to the original image.
Microarray Analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Quorum-Sensing Regulons: Effects of Growth Phase and Environment

ABSTRACT Bacterial communication via quorum sensing (QS) has been reported to be important in the production of virulence factors, antibiotic sensitivity, and biofilm development. Two QS systems, known as the las and rhl systems, have been identified previously in the opportunistic pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. High-density oligonucleotide microarrays for the P. aeruginosa PAO1 genome were used to investigate global gene expression patterns modulated by QS regulons. In the initial experiments we focused on identifying las and/or rhl QS-regulated genes using a QS signal generation-deficient mutant (PAO-JP2) that was cultured with and without added exogenous autoinducers [N-(3-oxododecanoyl) homoserine lactone and N-butyryl homoserine lactone]. Conservatively, 616 genes showed statistically significant differential expression (P ≤ 0.05) in response to the exogenous autoinducers and were classified as QS regulated. A total of 244 genes were identified as being QS regulated at the mid-logarithmic phase, and 450 genes were identified as being QS regulated at the early stationary phase. Most of the previously reported QS-promoted genes were confirmed, and a large number of additional QS-promoted genes were identified. Importantly, 222 genes were identified as being QS repressed. Environmental factors, such as medium composition and oxygen availability, eliminated detection of transcripts of many genes that were identified as being QS regulated.
Enclosed Residential Neighborhoods in Israel: From Landscapes of Heritage and Frontier Enclaves to New Gated Communities

Contemporary studies of gated communities largely associate this phenomenon with global forces, emphasizing recent urban processes that operate across national borders. However, the Israeli experience demonstrates that multiple forces work simultaneously to produce various forms of enclosed residential communities that follow very different evolutionary routes. Older forms of gated spaces such as traditional and frontier enclaves, characterized by religious–cultural or ethno-national identities, coexist and evolve alongside newer forms of postwelfare-state market-driven enclaves also referred to as neoliberal enclaves. Although gated enclaves share some similar defining features, they differ significantly in reasons for enclosure, developmental mechanisms and gating effects. The diverse landscape of enclaves results from ongoing interactions of macrosocietal processes influenced by global trends, with place-specific institutional and cultural settings.
Visual tracking algorithm by particle filter and EM based on multi-cues

To overcome the real-time and robust problem of visual tracking, a visual tracking algorithm based on a fusion of multi cue and particle filter was proposed. Firstly, the integrating formula was transmuted on the framework of particle filter base on multi-cues which integrated multi-cues based on cues rather than feature points so that it could be used for parallel computing. Secondly, the EM algorithm was used in multi-cues integration without the weight of each cue which improved the visual tracking algorithm robust by acclimatizing the appearance model to the object change. Experiment results show that the algorithm can track targets in complex environments and under pose and local occlusion.
Analysis for Class-Component Testability

Testability is a quality factor used to predict the amount of effort required for software testing and to indicate the difficulty of revealing faults. Also, it can be used to estimate the difficulty of software testing. This paper presents a quantitative testability analysis method for a software component that can be used when the source program is not available, but the bytecode is (as in Java .class files). This process analyzes the testability of each location to evaluate the component testability. The testability of a location is analyzed by computing the probability that the location will be executed and, if the location contains a fault, the execution will cause the fault to be revealed as a failure. This analysis process helps developers measure component testability and determine whether the component testability should be increased before the component is reused. In addition, low testability locations are identified. This paper uses an example to evaluate the ability of this process to indicate component testability. Key-Words: Software Testing, Software Testability, Testability Analysis, Bytecode, Mutation Analysis
Betterment of attitude estimation based on complementary filter applied in drumstick

For the problem of attitude estimation of drumstick in strenuous exercise, a detailed analysis of the attitude estimation process of complementary filter is done and the difficult issues during this process are proposed. The old attitude estimation based on complementary filter algorithm is improved. Experimental results show out that Betterment of attitude estimation based on complementary filter can solve high precision attitude of drumstick in strenuous exercise, and the virtual drums can be played successfully.
Maternal and perinatal outcome in nulliparious women complicated with pregnancy hypertension.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate maternal and perinatal outcome in nulliparious women complicated with pregnancy hypertension. METHODS This descriptive-analytic and case-control study was performed on 100 hypertensive and 100 normotensive nulliparious women who were referred to Imam Reza hospital in 2008. They were compared for maternal and perinatal outcomes. The data was analyzed by SPSS software. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS In this study, there were no significant differences in maternal age, menstruation condition, delivery mode, placental detachment rate between the studied groups. Gestational age was significantly lower in the case group, especially in severe preeclampsia subgroup (P < 0.001). Serum creatinine level more than 1.2 mg/dl was significantly higher in mild and severe preeclampsia groups (P = 0.018). Significant differences were found in neonatal APGAR, need of rescusitation, NICU admission, birth weight and length, LBW and intrauterine growth retardation between the studied groups. CONCLUSION The results of this study revealed that maternal and foetal-neonatal complications mostly appear in pregnancy complicated with induced hypertension especially in severe preeclampsia.
Risk aversion, information searches, and distinct risky investment preference: The moderator effect of gender on risk aversion

The determinants of investment decision making under uncertainty have been widespread discussed. Yet it remains few empirical examining focusing on distinct risky investments. By integrating risk aversion and information search aspects and by theorizing the moderator of gender, this study has three contributions: (1) clarifying the likely direct effects of both risk aversion and information searches on distinct risky investment preference, (2) discussing heuristics reliance, a simplified information research method, across distinct risky investment preferences, and (3) greatly expanding our understanding for the moderator effect of gender on risk aversion. 500 investors with investment experiment from financial holding companies were surveyed and hierarchical regression analysis was employed. We expected that the results could provide empirical support for the propositions this article presented. Thus the practical implications for professional advisors or for mutual fund companies could be addressed.
A New Scheme for Cache Optimization Based on Cluster Computing Framework Spark

Nowadays people have paid more attention to use the memory to do data transmission of the parallel computing framework in the iterative computations. Compared to the traditional disk and network, using the memory can not only reduce the transmission time of data, but also improve running speed. Spark memory computational framework is the most popular data processing model currently and also has better fault tolerance. This paper mainly analyze the Spark's usage behavior of memory, aims at improving the execution order of RDD's operator action, and compute the weights of RDDs in the task. Finally, the paper proposes an ASRW algorithm, which has important reference value to improve memory cache resource utilization rate and improve the running efficiency of the program.
PROTECTING INFORMATION RESOURCES AND MANAGING THE RISK

This paper addresses some of the problems in protecting information resources in organizations and in particular implementing data security measures. A survey was conducted of employees of organizations in southern New England and in Wisconsin to measure user awareness of a group of ten widely known data security concerns. While the ranking of the recognition and addressing of the concerns was consistent for the two samples, it was found that user awareness of data security procedures was far from comprehensive and further work needs to be done by management in this area.
Global Soft Decision Employing Support Vector Machine For Speech Enhancement

In this letter, we propose a novel speech enhancement technique based on global soft decision incorporating a support vector machine (SVM). Global soft decision in the proposed approach is performed employing the probabilistic outputs of the SVM rather than the conventional Bayes' rule. Actually, global speech absence probability (GSAP) is determined by the sigmoid function based on key parameters estimated by the model-trust minimization algorithm of the SVM output. Improved results are obtained in terms of speech quality measures for various types of noise and at different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels when the proposed SVM is adopted in the global soft decision for speech enhancement.
Tackling cyberbullying: Review of empirical evidence regarding successful responses by students, parents and schools

A summary of current knowledge on successful responses to cyberbullying differentiating between three different response domains: reducing risks, combatting the problem, and buffering negative impact. A systematic literature search yielded thirty-six relevant studies, most of which report findings regarding general prevention strategies (e.g., anti-bullying policies or cybersafety strategies) and the use of coping strategies such as seeking support, responding (retaliation or confronting), technical solutions, and avoidant and emotion-focussed strategies. Whilst a few studies report perceived success, very few measure the success of the strategies in relation to risks and outcomes. There is a clear lack of evidence concerning successful responses.
Schunn Logical Reasoning Skills 2 Rethinking Logical Reasoning Skills from a Strategy Perspective Overview

10% 29% 18% 33% 11% Concrete 12% 20% 26% 32% 10% Syllogisms 10% 25% 24% 31% 11% Conditionals 14% 24% 23% 33% 6% Wason 14% 36% 21% 20% 8% Non-Wason 12% 22% 22% 36% 8% Morris & Schunn Logical Reasoning Skills 37 Figure 1. Solution times associated with self-reported strategies for conditional and syllogistic reasoning problems.
Subtypes of GABAergic Neurons Project Axons in the Neocortex

γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons in the neocortex have been regarded as interneurons and speculated to modulate the activity of neurons locally. Recently, however, several experiments revealed that neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS)-positive GABAergic neurons project cortico-cortically with long axons. In this study, we illustrate Golgi-like images of the nNOS-positive GABAergic neurons using a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate diaphorase (NADPH-d) reaction and follow the emanating axon branches in cat brain sections. These axon branches projected cortico-cortically with other non-labeled arcuate fibers, contra-laterally via the corpus callosum and anterior commissure. The labeled fibers were not limited to the neocortex but found also in the fimbria of the hippocampus. In order to have additional information on these GABAergic neuron projections, we investigated green fluorescent protein (GFP)-labeled GABAergic neurons in GAD67-Cre knock-in/GFP Cre-reporter mice. GFP-labeled axons emanate densely, especially in the fimbria, a small number in the anterior commissure, and very sparsely in the corpus callosum. These two different approaches confirm that not only nNOS-positive GABAergic neurons but also other subtypes of GABAergic neurons project long axons in the cerebral cortex and are in a position to be involved in information processing.