Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamic: a collaborative filtering strategy for assigning examination's rooms to supervisors

The quality of the educational system has long been a source of national pride and strength for tunisian people. The examination is the pivotal axis around which the educational system evolves and the success or failure of that process is an indicator of the credibility of the academic institutions. Over the last years, the absence of efficient control and coordination mechanisms in practice produced a relaxation of examination standards. The valorization of the academic environment represents nowadays one of the most important research challenges. In this paper, we present a collaborative filtering recommender system able to manage the examination's rooms assignment in a higher educational institution and provide preliminary results on supervisor's satisfaction.
The Costs and Benefits of Sexual Communal Motivation for Couples Coping With Vulvodynia

Objective: Most women with vulvodynia—a prevalent, chronic, vulvovaginal pain condition—engage in intercourse with their partners despite experiencing pain. Their motivation for doing so appears to be interpersonally oriented (e.g., to meet their partners’ sexual needs), but the costs and benefits of such motivations are unknown. We tested whether sexual communal strength (being responsive to a partner’s sexual needs) and unmitigated sexual communion (focusing on a partner’s sexual needs to the exclusion of one’s own needs) were associated with sexual function, and sexual and relationship satisfaction in couples with coping with vulvodynia. Method: In an 8-week daily experience study, 95 women diagnosed with vulvodynia and their partners reported on sexual communal strength, unmitigated sexual communion, sexual function, and sexual and relationship satisfaction on days when sexual activity occurred. Results: On days when women reported higher sexual communal strength, both they and their partners reported greater sexual function and satisfaction, and their partners reported greater relationship satisfaction. When women’s partners reported higher sexual communal strength, both they and the women reported better sexual function, partners reported greater sexual satisfaction, and women reported greater relationship satisfaction. On days when women reported higher unmitigated sexual communion, they reported poorer sexual function and lower sexual satisfaction, and both the women and partners reported lower relationship satisfaction. When women’s partners reported higher unmitigated sexual communion, they reported poorer sexual function. Conclusions: These novel aspects of sexual motivation should be targeted in psychological interventions aimed to improve the sexual and relationship well-being of affected couples.
Antimicrobial Peptides and Their Therapeutic Potential for Bacterial Skin Infections and Wounds

Alarming data about increasing resistance to conventional antibiotics are reported, while at the same time the development of new antibiotics is stagnating. Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are mainly caused by the so called ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) which belong to the most recalcitrant bacteria and are resistant to almost all common antibiotics. S. aureus and P. aeruginosa are the most frequent pathogens isolated from chronic wounds and increasing resistance to topical antibiotics has become a major issue. Therefore, new treatment options are urgently needed. In recent years, research focused on the development of synthetic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with lower toxicity and improved activity compared to their endogenous counterparts. AMPs appear to be promising therapeutic options for the treatment of SSTIs and wounds as they show a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity, low resistance rates and display pivotal immunomodulatory as well as wound healing promoting activities such as induction of cell migration and proliferation and angiogenesis. In this review, we evaluate the potential of AMPs for the treatment of bacterial SSTIs and wounds and provide an overview of the mechanisms of actions of AMPs that contribute to combat skin infections and to improve wound healing. Bacteria growing in biofilms are more resistant to conventional antibiotics than their planktonic counterparts due to limited biofilm penetration and distinct metabolic and physiological functions, and often result in chronification of infections and wounds. Thus, we further discuss the feasibility of AMPs as anti-biofilm agents. Finally, we highlight perspectives for future therapies and which issues remain to bring AMPs successfully to the market.
Length of hospital stay after hip fracture and short term risk of death after discharge: a total cohort study in Sweden

Objective To investigate relation between inpatient length of stay after hip fracture and risk of death after hospital discharge. Setting Population ≥50 years old living in Sweden as of 31 December 2005 with a first hip fracture the years 2006-12. Participants 116 111 patients with an incident hip fracture from a closed nationwide cohort. Main outcome measure Death within 30 days of hospital discharge in relation to hospital length of stay after adjustment for multiple covariates. Results Mean inpatient length of stay after a hip fracture decreased from 14.2 days in 2006 to 11.6 days in 2012 (P<0.001). The association between length of stay and risk of death after discharge was non-linear (P<0.001), with a threshold for this non-linear effect of about 10 days. Thus, for patients with length of stay of ≤10 days (n=59 154), each 1-day reduction in length of stay increased the odds of death within 30 days of discharge by 8% in 2006 (odds ratio 1.08 (95% confidence interval 1.04 to 1.12)), which increased to16% in 2012 (odds ratio 1.16 (1.12 to 1.20)). In contrast, for patients with a length of stay of ≥11 days (n=56 957), a 1-day reduction in length of stay was not associated with an increased risk of death after discharge during any of the years of follow up. Limitations No accurate evaluation of the underlying cause of death could be performed. Conclusion Shorter length of stay in hospital after hip fracture is associated with increased risk of death after hospital discharge, but only among patients with length of stay of 10 days or less. This association remained robust over consecutive years.
Targeted therapy in triple-negative metastatic breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that compared the efficacy of targeted therapy to conventional chemotherapy (CT) in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Methods Several databases were searched, including Medline, Embase, LILACS, and CENTRAL. The primary end point was progression-free survival (PFS). We performed a meta-analysis of the published data. The results are expressed as hazard ratio (HR) or risk ratio, with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs). Results The final analysis included twelve trials comprising 2,054 patients with TNBC, which compared conventional CT alone against CT combined with targeted therapy (bevacizumab [Bev], sorafenib [Sor], cetuximab, lapatinib, and iniparib). PFS was superior in previously untreated patients with TNBC who received Bev plus CT compared to CT alone (fixed effect, HR 0.62, 95% CI 0.51–0.75; P<0.00001). Also, PFS was higher in one study that tested Bev plus CT combination in previously treated patients (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.33–0.74; P=0.0006). Sor plus CT was also tested as first-line and second-line treatments. The pooled data of PFS favored the combination CT plus Sor (fixed effect, HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.49–0.98; P=0.04). Comparisons of iniparib plus CT also had a better PFS than CT alone (fixed effect, HR 0.75, 95% CI 0.62–0.90; P=0.002). Conclusion Targeted therapy, when associated with conventional CT, demonstrated gains in the PFS of patients with TNBC.
A lung cancer diagnostic framework using gene prediction graph

Cancer at one point of time was synonymous to death. However, with the advancement of time, research especially in the domain of cancer prediction and treatment has reached a level where we could arrest the disease if detected at an early stage. One of the reasons for the occurrence of cancer is due to anomaly in cell structure. This anomaly occurs due to uncontrolled behavior of genes presents in cancerous cell. A fresh approach to reduce and identify the set of dominant genes which may lead to various types of cancer if the genes malfunction has been proposed. A reduced Gene Prediction Graph depicting the dominant genes along with the extent of their interdependence is plotted both for a healthy person and a diseased individual. A detailed comparative study between the graphs detects the set of malfunctioning genes with decreasing order of influence. The theory of Information Gain, Fuzzy Logic, Prim's Algorithm, Conditional Entropy, Entropy and Symmetric Uncertainty has been applied in the development of the proposed system.
Cause-specific mortality in Swedish males diagnosed with non-psychotic mental disorders in late adolescence: a prospective population-based study

Background While risk of premature death is most pronounced among persons with severe mental illness, also milder conditions are associated with increased all-cause mortality. We examined non-psychotic mental (NPM) disorders and specific causes of natural death in a cohort of late adolescent men followed for up to 46 years. Methods Prospective cohort study of Swedish males (n=1 784 626) who took part in structured conscription interviews 1968–2005. 74 525 men were diagnosed with NPM disorders at or prior to conscription. Median follow-up time was 26 years. HRs for cause-specific mortality were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models. Results Risks in fully adjusted models were particularly elevated for death by infectious diseases (depressive and neurotic/adjustment disorders (HR 2.07; 95% CI 1.60 to 2.67), personality disorders (HR 2.90; 95% CI 1.96 to 4.28) and alcohol-related and other substance use disorders (HR 9.02; 95% CI 6.63 to 12.27)) as well as by gastrointestinal causes (depressive and neurotic/adjustment disorders (HR 1.64; 95% CI 1.42 to 1.89), personality disorders (HR 2.77; 95% CI 2.27 to 3.38) and alcohol-related/substance use disorders (HR 4.41; 95% CI 3.59 to 5.42)). Conclusion Young men diagnosed with NPM disorders had a long-term increased mortality risk, in particular due to infectious and gastrointestinal conditions. These findings highlight the importance of early preventive actions for adolescents with mental illness.
Juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (Batten disease): current insights

The present review is focused on juvenile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (JNCL; Batten disease) due to a mutation in CLN3. Functional vision impairment occurring around 5–6 years of age is the first symptom in more than 80% of patients. Approximately 2 years later (though sometimes simultaneously), obvious signs of cognitive impairment appear. Behavior problems can occur in advance, especially in boys. These include anxious and depressed mood, aggressive behavior, and hallucinations, and even psychotic symptoms. Following the teens, severe dementia is present, including loss of memory, attention, and general reasoning abilities, as well as loss of independent adaptive skills such as mobility, feeding, and communicating. Sleep abnormalities, such as settling problems, nocturnal awakenings, and nightmares, are reported in more than half of patients. The vast majority, if not all, patients develop seizures, starting at approximately 10 years of age. Generalized tonic–clonic seizure occurs as the only type of seizure in approximately half of patients, and in combination with partial seizures in a third of patients. There seems to be no difference in seizure severity according to sex or genotype, and there is great variation in seizure activity among patients. Soon after diagnosis, patients begin to have slight ataxic symptoms, and at adolescence extrapyramidal symptoms (rigidity, bradykinesia, slow steps with flexion in hips and knees) occur with increasing frequency. Chewing and swallowing difficulties emerge as well, and food intake is hampered in the late teens. Disabling periodically involuntary movements may occur as well. A progressive cardiac involvement with repolarization disturbances, ventricular hypertrophy, and sinus-node dysfunction, ultimately leading to severe bradycardia and/or other conduction abnormalities, starts in the mid-teens. Patients are usually bedridden at 20 years of age, and death usually occurs in the third decade of life.
Performance and Reliability Characteristics of 1200 V, 100 A, 200°C Half-Bridge SiC MOSFET-JBS Diode Power Modules

A custom multi-chip power module packaging was designed to exploit the electrical and thermal performance potential of silicon carbide MOSFETs and JBS diodes. The dual thermo-mechanical package design was based on an aggressive 200°C ambient environmental requirement and 1200 V blocking and 100 A conduction ratings. A novel baseplate-free module design minimizes thermal impedance and the associated device junction temperature rise. In addition, the design incorporates a free-floating substrate configuration to minimize thermal expansion coefficient induced stresses between the substrate and case. Details of the module design and materials selection process will be discussed in addition to highlighting deficiencies in current packaging materials technologies when attempting to achieve high thermal cycle life reliability over an extended temperature range.
Convertible solid oxide fuel cell/electrolyser cell with optimised composite electrodes and bi-layer electrolyte

V Abstract Fuel cells are electrochemical and efficient energy conversion devices that directly convert a fuel’s chemical energy into electrical energy. They have environmental advantages in reduced pollution and high energy conversion efficiency when compared with the conventional power generation systems such as internal combustion engines and gas turbines fired with fossil fuels. Among all fuel cell types, the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) produces high quality waste heat, which can be utilised to increase the overall energy conversion efficiency. When operating in a reverse manner, a SOFC becomes a Solid Oxide Electrolyser Cell (SOEC), which works well with the intermittent renewable energy such as solar PV and wind turbine as it converts the electrical energy generated by the renewable energy into hydrogen through electrolysis of water, thus serving as energy storage. The objective of this study is to propose a Solid Oxide Cell (SOC) system, which is optimised to operate in both SOFC and SOEC modes. In order to explore electrolytes with improved conductivity, ceria based electrolytes including gadolinia doped ceria (GDC), Gd0.2Ce0. 8O1.9, and samaria doped ceria (SDC), Sm0.2Ce0. 8O1.9, are synthesised and characterised. Samples sintered at 1400°C1500°C possess relative densities as high as 97.7% suggesting that this temperature range leads to improved densification of electrolyte as reflected by the high open circuit voltages. The Arrhenius plots of GDC and SDC conductivities show that SDC electrolyte presents higher conductivity compared to GDC, especially those sintered at 1400°C and 1500°C. Moreover, Ni-GDC/GDC/Ba0.5Sr0. 5Co0.8Fe0. 2O3- (BSCF) and Ni-SDC/SDC/BSCF cells were fabricated and polarisation curves were obtained. The thickness of the SDC and GDC electrolytes were identical and about 7.5 μm. Based on polarisation results, open-circuit voltages (OCVs) of 0.829 V, 0.817 V and, 0.792 V and maximum power densities of 0.368 W.cm -2 , 0.619 W.cm -2 and, 0.790 W.cm -2 were recorded at 500°C, 550°C, and 600°C, respectively, for the Ni-GDC/GDC/BSCF cell. With humidified hydrogen (3 vol% water vapour) as fuel and air as oxidant, the Ni-SDC/SDC/BSCF cell generates OCVs at 500°C, 550°C, and 600°C as 0.848 V, 0.815 V, and 0.797 V, and maximum power densities of 0.398 W.cm -2 , 0.810 W.cm -2 and, 1.1 W.cm -2 , respectively.
Daytime Exposure to Short- and Medium-Wavelength Light Did Not Improve Alertness and Neurobehavioral Performance

While previous studies have demonstrated short-wavelength sensitivity to the acute alerting effects of light during the biological night, fewer studies have assessed the alerting effect of light during the daytime. This study assessed the wavelength-dependent sensitivity of the acute alerting effects of daytime light exposure following chronic sleep restriction in 60 young adults (29 men, 31 women; 22.5 ± 3.1 mean ± SD years). Participants were restricted to 5 h time in bed the night before laboratory admission and 3 h time in bed in the laboratory, aligned by wake time. Participants were randomized for exposure to 3 h total of either narrowband blue (λmax 458-480 nm, n = 23) or green light (λmax 551-555 nm, n = 25) of equal photon densities (2.8-8.4 × 1013 photons/cm2/sec), beginning 3.25 h after waking, and compared with a darkness control (0 lux, n = 12). Subjective sleepiness (Karolinska Sleepiness Scale), sustained attention (auditory Psychomotor Vigilance Task), mood (Profile of Mood States Bi-Polar form), working memory (2-back task), selective attention (Stroop task), and polysomnographic and ocular sleepiness measures (Optalert) were assessed prior to, during, and after light exposure. We found no significant effect of light wavelength on these measures, with the exception of a single mood subscale. Further research is needed to optimize the characteristics of lighting systems to induce alerting effects during the daytime, taking into account potential interactions between homeostatic sleep pressure, circadian phase, and light responsiveness.
Learning Recommendations While Influencing Interests

Personalized recommendation systems (RS) are extensively used in many services. Many of these are based on learning algorithms where the RS uses the recommendation history and the user response to learn an optimal strategy. Further, these algorithms are based on the assumption that the user interests are rigid. Specifically, they do not account for the effect of learning strategy on the evolution of the user interests. In this paper we develop influence models for a learning algorithm that is used to optimally recommend websites to web users. We adapt the model of [1] to include an item-dependent reward to the RS from the suggestions that are accepted by the user. For this we first develop a static optimization scheme when all the parameters are known. Next we develop a stochastic approximation based learning scheme for the RS to learn the optimal strategy when the user profiles are not known. Finally, we describe several user-influence models for the learning algorithm and analyze their effect on the steady user interests and on the steady state optimal strategy as compared to that when the users are not influenced.
A century of development.

This brief account of the role of developmental biology in anthropology largely reflects my personal journey as I followed my intellectual curiosity and professional interests. If you asked others who have brought developmental biology to anthropological inquiry to write such an essay, you might-in fact you wouldget a very different account. Relative to anthropology, the field of developmental biology is new, but it is mature and thriving. My essay is long on impressions and does not attempt to describe or document a complete history of research or basic themes in the fields of developmental biology or evolutionary developmental biology. Rather, it is the story of the influence of developmental biology on anthropological inquiry from my personal perspective as well as an accounting of what I think anthropology offers to developmental biology. For more comprehensive reviews of developmental biology from various perspectives, see (Fraser and Harland, 2000; Galloway and Tabin, 2008; Gilbert, 1991, 2010; Hamburger, 1988; Horder et al., 1986; Lovejoy et al., 2003; Maienschein et al., 2004; Oppenheimer, 1967; Scott, 2000).
Biological function of pathogenesis-related proteins: Four tobacco pathogenesis-related proteins are chitinases.

Four endochitinases (poly[1,4-(N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminide)] glycanohydrolase, EC 3.2. 1.14) have been purified from leaves of Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun NN reacting hypersensitively to tobacco mosaic virus. Two of them are acidic proteins of molecular weights 27,500 and 28,500 and have been identified as 2 of the 10 pathogenesis-related proteins that are known to accumulate in tobacco in response to stress or pathogen attack. These two pathogenesis-related proteins, named "P" and "Q" when their biological function was unknown, account for one-third of tobacco mosaic virus-induced chitinase activity of tobacco leaves. They are serologically closely related to the two other chitinases, which can be considered as new basic pathogenesis-related proteins. These two basic chitinases exhibit higher molecular weights (32,000 and 34,000) and higher specific enzyme activity than the two acidic isoforms.
Plastic Debris in the Aquatic Environment MICROPLASTICS AS VECTORS FOR BIOACCUMULATION OF HYDROPHOBIC ORGANIC CHEMICALS IN THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT: A STATE-OF-THE-SCIENCE REVIEW

A state-of-the-science reviewwas conducted to examine the potential for microplastics to sorb hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) from themarine environment, for aquatic organisms to take up these HOCs from themicroplastics, and for this exposure to result in adverse effects to ecological and human health. Despite concentrations of HOCs associated with microplastics that can be orders of magnitude greater than surrounding seawater, the relative importance of microplastics as a route of exposure is difficult to quantify because aquatic organisms are typically exposed to HOCs from various compartments, including water, sediment, and food. Results of laboratory experiments and modeling studies indicate that HOCs can partition from microplastics to organisms or from organisms to microplastics, depending on experimental conditions. Very little information is available to evaluate ecological or human health effects from this exposure. Most of the available studies measured biomarkers that are more indicative of exposure than effects, and no studies showed effects to ecologically relevant endpoints. Therefore, evidence is weak to support the occurrence of ecologically significant adverse effects on aquatic life as a result of exposure to HOCs sorbed to microplastics or to wildlife populations and humans from secondary exposure via the food chain. More data are needed to fully understand the relative importance of exposure to HOCs from microplastics compared with other exposure pathways. Environ Toxicol Chem 2016;35:1667–1676. # 2016 SETAC
A homozygous TTN gene variant associated with lethal congenital contracture syndrome

Pathogenic variants in the TTN gene have been reported to cause various cardiomyopathies and a range of skeletal muscle diseases, collectively known as titinopathies. We evaluated a consanguineous family multiple members affected with a lethal congenital contracture syndrome. Using exome sequencing, we identified a homozygous c.36122delC (p. P12041Lfs*20) variant in exon 167 in the fetal IC isoform of TTN. The finding expands the phenotypes that can be caused by pathogenic variants TTN, which should be considered in lethal congenital contracture syndromes, arthrogryposis multiplex congenita, congenital myopathies, and hydrops fetalis.