Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Antimalarials in the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus: a registry-based cohort study in Denmark

Background Evidence-based international guidelines for the treatment of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) recommend treatment with antimalarials (AMs) for all patients with SLE irrespective of disease activity. Only a few studies have investigated the use of AMs among newly diagnosed patients with SLE. Objectives The objective of this paper is to analyze prescription patterns of AMs in newly diagnosed SLE patients in Denmark from 2000 to 2011. Methods Using the Danish Prescription Register (DNPR), we conducted a nationwide cohort study including all patients with a first-time diagnosis of SLE (the Danish National Registry of Patients (NPR)). We used Kaplan-Meier estimates to compute the cumulative probability of starting AM treatment within a year and Cox regression analysis to compare time to treatment between patient groups. Results AMs were prescribed to 37.7% of the newly diagnosed SLE patients within the first year of follow-up. Approximately 20% did not receive any medical treatment. Women were more likely than men to start AM (adjusted HR of 1.28 (95% CI 1.08–1.52)). Patients diagnosed with SLE between 2005 and 2011 were more likely to start treatment than patients diagnosed between 2000 and 2004 (HR of 1.21 (95% CI 1.07–1.36)). Patients with renal disease were less likely to start AM treatment than patients without this condition (adjusted HR of 0.50 (95% CI 0.36–0.68)). Current users of corticosteroids were more likely to start AM treatment than non-users (adjusted HR 1.81 (95% CI 1.59–2.06)). Conclusion Time to start of AM treatment following SLE diagnosis could be further reduced, especially among patients with renal disease. However, our results showed that treatment practice in recent years has changed toward initiating AM treatment earlier.
EEG features of psycho-physiological relaxation

Psycho-physiological relaxation was investigated through its electroencephalographic (EEG) characteristics. During 88 relaxation sessions of 8 subjects, 6-channel EEG data of 3-minute duration were recorded. EEG features of rest were obtained in a form of linear regression trends. On the contrary to general expectations, during resting conditions of 3-minute sessions in lying position with eyes closed, relative alpha-1 powers were decreasing, followed by increase in theta-1 and decrease in total powers over the whole cortex. EEG features derived from linear regression model were selected according their ability to discern between subjectively more and less successful relaxation. More successful relaxation was characterized mainly by lower delta-1 powers across the cortex. Potential applications involve clinical, pharmacological, and stress management areas.
Scalable neural network based language identification from written text

Automatic language identification is an integral part of multilingual automatic speech recognition (ASR) and synthesis systems. We propose a novel scalable method for neural network based language identification from written text. The developed algorithm is further deployed in a multilingual ASR system. The developed algorithm is particularly proposed for embedded implementation platforms with sparse memory resources. With the proposed approach, high rates of both language identification and recognition are achieved across several languages with a compact size of the language identification model. The major benefit of the approach is that the neural network based language identification model can be scaled to meet the memory requirements set by the target platform while maintaining the language identification accuracy of the baseline system. The experiments show that the suggested scalable approach can save more than 50% memory while the performance is comparable to that of the baseline system. The performance is also verified in a multilingual speech recognition task.
The role of duration in vowel categorization: Flemish vs. Dutch listeners: a case study

This paper studies the effect of the regional background of listeners on vowel perception. In Germanic languages such as English, German and Dutch, phonological descriptions of vowel systems distinguish between ‘long’ or ‘tense’ vowels on one hand and ‘short’ or ‘lax’ vowels on the other hand. Both categories may differ in pitch, intensity, vowel quality and duration. This paper focuses on the perceptual role of vowel duration in vowel categorisation. Durational measurements were made of unstressed Standard Dutch vowels in spontaneous speech samples of native speakers originating from Flanders (Belgium) and the Netherlands. Only for the Dutch listeners did vowel duration seem to be one of the parameters determining the location of the phoneme boundary between tense and lax vowels. For the Flemish listeners this boundary could not be determined on the basis of our stimuli.
Worlds Apart: Why Poverty Persists in Rural America

practical mechanics of the democratic peace. Still, much to his credit, Weart goes on to suggest that peace is more than the avoidance of war; it must be defined in terms of the ways in which republican nations generally relate to one another. On this point, he emphasizes that since the time of the Greek city-states, “republics and only republics have tended to form durable, peaceful leagues. ” He attributes this finding to the extension of republican political culture, institutions, and dispute-resolution practices from domestic to international society. Naturally, Weart thus favors the adoption of the ideals of equal rights, toleration, and allegiance to political rules by the international community as well as by individual nations. He stops short, though, of advocating republicanism by force. With reference to U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s facile promotion of self-determination (a policy which should have freed peoples from both internal domination and coercion by external powers to select their own leaders), Weart argues that we cannot guarantee international peace by forcefully creating republican regimes—particularly democracies—because to do so would undermine the more immediate and important goal of fostering republican political culture, and the peaceful resolution of international conflicts. That said, Weart’s conclusion remains overall optimistic. Weart suggests that the observed democratic peace is likely to survive and expand, so long as people continue to devote their lives to achieving that goal. This subtle shift from a purely historical to a veiled personal perspective implies that, for Weart, any definitive explanation of the democratic peace must include the many non-quantifiable particulars of societies and individual leaders that he so fluently incorporates into his case studies. I applaud Weart for so extending himself. Never at War should be read by anyone who studies or practices international conflict resolution and peace.
On solving systems of random linear disequations

An important special case of the hidden subgroup problem is equivalent to the hiddenshift problem over abelian groups. An efficient solution to the latter problem could serveas a building block of quantum hidden subgroup algorithms over solvable groups. Themain idea of a promising approach to the hidden shift problem is a reduction to solvingsystems of certain random disequations in finite abelian groups. By a disequation wemean a constraint of the form f(x) ≠ 0. In our case, the functions on the left handside are generalizations of linear functions. The input is a random sample of functionsaccording to a distribution which is up to a constant factor uniform over the "linear"functions f such that f(u) ≠ 0 for a fixed, although unknown element u ∈ A. The goal isto find u, or, more precisely, all the elements u′ ∈ A satisfying the same disequations asu. In this paper we give a classical probabilistic algorithm which solves the problem inan abelian p-group A in time polynomial in the sample size N, where N = (log |A|)O(q2),and q is the exponent of A.
Distinct spatiotemporal expressions of five NMDA receptor channel subunit mRNAs in the cerebellum

The distribution of five NMDA receptor channel subunit mRNAs was examined in the mouse cerebellum from embryonic day 13 through postnatal day 56, by in situ hybridization with subunit‐specific oligonucleotide probes. At postnatal days 21 and 56, each cerebellar neuron displayed differential expressions of the ∈ subunit mRNAs. The granule cells showed hybridizing signals for the ∈1 and ∈3 subunit mRNAs, the molecular layer neurons for the ∈4 subunit mRNA, and the cerebellar nucleus neurons for the ∈1 and ∈4 subunit mRNAs, whereas the Purkinje cells did not express any ∈ subunit mRNAs. At early postmitotic stages of development, the ∈2 subunit mRNA appeared in each cerebellar neuron, including the Purkinje cells, and the ∈4 subunit mRNA appeared in neurons of the molecular layer and the cerebellar nuclei. The expression patterns in the cerebellum altered drastically during the first 2 postnatal weeks: the ∈1 and ∈3 subunit mRNAs appeared in the granule cells and the cerebellar nucleus neurons, whereas the ∈2 subunit mRNA disappeared from each neuron and the signal levels of the ∈4 subunit mRNA decreased remarkably. In contrast to the differential expressions of the four ∈ subunit mRNAs, intense signals for the ζ 1 subunit mRNA were observed in each cerebellar neuron from early postmitotic stages through the mature stage. These findings suggest that anatomical organization of the ∈ subunits is heterogeneous in the cerebellum both spatially and temporally, which would give rise to functional diversity of the NMDA receptor channel. © 1994 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Combined Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithm to Solve Optimization Problems

— Combinatorial optimization problems arise in many scientific and practical applications. Therefore many researchers try to find or improve different methods to solve these problems with high quality results and in less time. Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Simulated Annealing (SA) have been used to solve optimization problems. Both GA and SA search a solution space throughout a sequence of iterative states. However, there are also significant differences between them. The GA mechanism is parallel on a set of solutions and exchanges information using the crossover operation. SA works on a single solution at a time. In this work SA and GA are combined using new technique in order to overcome the disadvantages' of both algorithms.
Escherichia coli O157 and Salmonella infections associated with sprouts in California, 1996-1998.

BACKGROUND In California, from 1996 through 1998, more than 50% of multicounty outbreaks with confirmed food vehicles were related to alfalfa or clover sprouts. OBJECTIVE To summarize investigations of sprout-associated outbreaks. DESIGN Matched case-control studies. SETTING California. PATIENTS Outbreak-associated patients and matched population controls. MEASUREMENTS Matched odds ratios and 95% CIs; traceback and environmental investigations of sprout and seed growers; and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis of isolates from patients, sprouts, and seeds. RESULTS Five sprout-associated outbreaks of salmonellosis and one outbreak of infection with nonmotile Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 occurred. Six hundred patients had culture-confirmed disease, and two died. It is estimated that these outbreaks caused 22 800 cases of gastrointestinal illness or urinary tract infection. In the case-control studies, odds ratios for the association between illness and alfalfa sprout consumption ranged from 5.0 to infinity (all were statistically significant). Three sprout growers were implicated, and each was associated with two outbreaks. Outbreak strains of Salmonella were isolated from sprouts supplied by two sprout growers and from seeds used by the third sprout grower. CONCLUSIONS As currently produced, sprouts can be a hazardous food. Seeds can be contaminated before sprouting, and no method can eliminate all pathogens from seeds. Seed and sprout growers should implement measures to decrease contamination. The general public should recognize the risks of eating sprouts, and populations at high risk for complications from salmonellosis or E. coli O157 infection should avoid sprout consumption.
Requirement analysis and development of MW-range PCS for substation-scale battery energy storage systems

The paper analyzes the requirements for the power conditioning systems (PCSs) applied to substation-scale battery energy storage systems (BESSs). Then, the hierarchical parallel technology and the 3-level convertor technology are discussed considering the requirements. Based on the discussion a large capacity PCS rated at 800kW is developed. The developed PCS is evaluated by full power tests at the factory simulating the large capacity battery bank. The PCS also shows excellent performance for substation application as expected. The PCSs have already applied to an actual BESS.
A flexible architecture for systematic implementation of SoC security policies

Modern SoC designs incorporate several security policies to protect sensitive assets from unauthorized access. The policies affect multiple design blocks, and may involve subtle interactions between hardware, firmware, and software. This makes it difficult for SoC designers to implement these policies, and system validators to ensure adherence. Associated problems include complexity in upgrading these policies, IP reuse for systems targeted for markets with differing security requirement, and consequent increase in design time and time-to-market. In this paper, we address this important problem by developing a generic, flexible architectural framework for implementing arbitrary security policies in SoC designs. Our architecture has several distinctive features: (1) it relies on a dedicated, centralized, firmware-upgradable plug-and-play IP block that can implement diverse security policies; (2) it interfaces with individual IP blocks through their “security wrapper”, which exploits and extends test/debug wrappers; (3) it implements a security policy as firmware code following existing security policy languages; (4) it can implement any security policy as long as relevant observable and controllable signals from the constituent IPs are accessible through the security wrappers; and (5) it realizes a low-overhead communication link between security wrappers of IP blocks and the centralized, dedicated controller. The approach builds on and extends the recent work on developing a centralized infrastructure IP for SoC security, referred to as IIPS, that interface with IP blocks using their boundary scan based wrappers. While this architecture is generic and independent of security policy types, we provide case studies with several common policies to show the flexibility and extendibility of the architecture. We also evaluate its viability in terms of overhead in area and power.
Incorporation of rubidium cations into perovskite solar cells improves photovoltaic performance

Improving the stability of perovskite solar cells Inorganic-organic perovskite solar cells have poor long-term stability because ultraviolet light and humidity degrade these materials. Bella et al. show that coating the cells with a water-proof fluorinated polymer that contains pigments to absorb ultraviolet light and re-emit it in the visible range can boost cell efficiency and limit photodegradation. The performance and stability of inorganic-organic perovskite solar cells are also limited by the size of the cations required for forming a correct lattice. Saliba et al. show that the rubidium cation, which is too small to form a perovskite by itself, can form a lattice with cesium and organic cations. Solar cells based on these materials have efficiencies exceeding 20% for over 500 hours if given environmental protection by a polymer coating. Science, this issue pp. 203 and 206 The seemingly too small rubidium cation was successfully integrated into perovskite solar cells. All of the cations currently used in perovskite solar cells abide by the tolerance factor for incorporation into the lattice. We show that the small and oxidation-stable rubidium cation (Rb+) can be embedded into a “cation cascade” to create perovskite materials with excellent material properties. We achieved stabilized efficiencies of up to 21.6% (average value, 20.2%) on small areas (and a stabilized 19.0% on a cell 0.5 square centimeters in area) as well as an electroluminescence of 3.8%. The open-circuit voltage of 1.24 volts at a band gap of 1.63 electron volts leads to a loss in potential of 0.39 volts, versus 0.4 volts for commercial silicon cells. Polymer-coated cells maintained 95% of their initial performance at 85°C for 500 hours under full illumination and maximum power point tracking.
A Bayesian Approach to Dialogue Act Classication

The paper proposes a probabilistic approach to the interpretation of natural language utterances in terms of dialogue acts. Bayesian networks can be used to combine partial linguistic information with knowledge about the state of the dialogue and about the speaker, in order to nd the most probable dialogue act performed, using standard probabilistic inference in the network. The proposed approach is illustrated with a simple example.
Language Identifications of Arabic Script Web Documents Using Independent Component Analysis

We analyze the language identification algorithms used to identify the Arabic script Web documents such as Arabic, Jawi, Persian and Urdu using independent component analysis (ICA). We have used a combination of Entropy term weighting scheme and class based feature (CPBF) vectors as feature selection methods for selecting the best features of Arabic script Web documents for Web page language identifications. Then we input the selected features based on the identification of latent semantics of user profiles using singular value decomposition (SVD). The SVD has been used to remove the noises on the documents retrieved before applying the ICA for topic extraction. We assume that the topic on each document is independent from each other. We have used the information retrieval measures that are precision, recall and F\ in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. From the experiments, we have found that the proposed method could leads to good Arabic script language identification results with good separations of Arabic, Persian, and Urdu languages using the ICA.
Unrepeatered DP-QPSK Transmission Over 352.8 km SMF Using Random DFB Fiber Laser Amplification

Unrepeatered 100 Gbit/s per channel wave-divisionmultiplexed dual-polarization-QPSK transmission with random distributed feedback fiber laser-based Raman amplification using fiber Bragg grating is demonstrated. Transmission of 1.4 Tb/s (14 × 100 Gbit/s) was possible in 352.8 km link and 2.2 Tb/s (22 × 100 Gbit/s) was achieved in 327.6 km without employing remote optically pumped amplifier or speciality fibers.
Conformational changes and flexibility in T-cell receptor recognition of peptide–MHC complexes

A necessary feature of the immune system, TCR (T-cell receptor) cross-reactivity has been implicated in numerous autoimmune pathologies and is an underlying cause of transplant rejection. Early studies of the interactions of αβ TCRs (T-cell receptors) with their peptide–MHC ligands suggested that conformational plasticity in the TCR CDR (complementarity determining region) loops is a dominant contributor to T-cell cross-reactivity. Since these initial studies, the database of TCRs whose structures have been solved both bound and free is now large enough to permit general conclusions to be drawn about the extent of TCR plasticity and the types and locations of motion that occur. In the present paper, we review the conformational differences between free and bound TCRs, quantifying the structural changes that occur and discussing their possible roles in specificity and cross-reactivity. We show that, rather than undergoing major structural alterations or ‘folding’ upon binding, the majority of TCR CDR loops shift by relatively small amounts. The structural changes that do occur are dominated by hinge-bending motions, with loop remodelling usually occurring near loop apexes. As predicted from previous studies, the largest changes are in the hypervariable CDR3α and CDR3β loops, although in some cases the germline-encoded CDR1α and CDR2α loops shift in magnitudes that approximate those of the CDR3 loops. Intriguingly, the smallest shifts are in the germline-encoded loops of the β-chain, consistent with recent suggestions that the TCR β domain may drive ligand recognition.
Internet- und Computerspielabhängigkeit

OBJECTIVE: Excessive and addictive internet use and computer game playing is reported as an increasing problem in outpatient care. The aim of this paper is to give an overview about the current scientific discussion of the overuse and addiction of internet and computer game playing. METHODS: Pubmed was used for a systematic literature research considering original papers and review articles dealing with Internet/computer game addiction. RESULTS: Recent epidemiological data from Germany suggest that 1.5-3.5 % of adolescent computer and internet users show signs of an overuse or addictive use of computer and video games. Moreover there is evidence that the disorder is associated with higher rates of depression, anxiety, as well as lower achievements e. g. at school. Although the nosological assignment still remains unclear there is some evidence from neurobiological data that the disorder can be conceptualized as behavioral addiction. As treatment strategy CBT-techniques have been proposed, but there is still a lack of controlled clinical trials concerning their efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: Since the addicted persons often show little motivation for a behavioural change we consider it a promising approach to treat and train their relatives with the aim of increasing the motivation for a behavioural change of the addicted person.
Learning Bayesian network classifiers for credit scoring using Markov chain Monte Carlo search

In this paper, we evaluate the power and usefulness of Bayesian network classifiers (probabilistic networks) for credit scoring. Various types of Bayesian network classifiers are evaluated and contrasted including unrestricted Bayesian network classifiers learning using Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) search. Experiments were carried out on three real life credit scoring data sets. It is shown that MCMC Bayesian network classifiers have a very good performance and by using the Markov blanket concept, a natural form of feature selection is obtained, which results in parsimonious and powerful models for financial credit scoring.
Robust Tracking Algorithm Based on Color and Edge Distribution for Real-time Video Based Motion Capture Systems

This paper describes a robust tracking algorithm for real-time, video based motion capture systems. Conventional motion capture systems are unable to capture motion data in real time because they use many video cameras and take a long time to deal with many images. To deal with problem, the authors have proposed in their earlier work [I] a real-time motion capture system using one video camera. It takes a video image of the upper part of the body of a person, and generates upper body motion data, e.g., x, y, z position of hands and a face rotation in real time and it employs a very simple tracking algorithm, but it suffers from occlusion problem. In this paper, the authors propose a more robust tracking algorithm that solves the occlusion problem. This paper mainly describes this algorithm, and delineates its usefulness by showing its application and experimental results.