Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Embryo Research and the Language of Moral Uncertainty

In bioethics as in the sciences, enormous discussions often concern the very small. Central to public debate over emerging reproductive and regenerative biotechnologies is the question of the moral status of the human embryo. Because news media have played a prominent role in framing the vocabulary of the debate, this study surveyed the use of language reporting on human embryo research in news articles spanning a two-year period. Terminology that devalued moral status—for example, the descriptors things, property, tissue, or experimental material —was found to outnumber fivefold those that affirmed any degree of moral status above that of inanimate cellular matter; for example, living, human life, or human being. A quarter of the articles failed to note that the embryos under discussion were human. These findings confirm that even among scientific and philosophical experts a diversity of opinion exists on society's moral obligations to nascent human life. The skewed linguistic distribution also indicates a distinct bias. Concerned readers should take notice when any category of humanity becomes subject to prejudicial and disparaging language and the value of vulnerable human life is trivialized alongside sensational assertions of anticipated medical cures. The responsibility for holding the media to a higher standard of truth and fairness falls to us all.
Functional recovery and muscle properties after stroke: a longitudinal study

Almost all patients with stroke experience a certain degree of functional recovery within the first six months after stroke. Most recovery of motor and functional performance is seen in the first month after stroke (Gray et al., 1990; Duncan et al., 1992, 1994; Jorgensen et al., 1995; Horgan & Finn, 1997; Kong et al., 2011) but improvement may continue as long as 6–12 months after stroke (Bonita & Beaglehole, 1988). Verheyden et al. (2008) observed most improvement for trunk, arm, leg and functional recovery from 1 week to 1 month after stroke and then to a lesser extent between 1 and 3 months after stroke. Only small, not statistically significant changes could be seen between 3 and 6 months after stroke, indicating that a "plateau phase" was already reached at 3 months after stroke. Further improvement after 6 months can be expected but is mostly limited (Mayo et al., 1999; Hendricks et al., 2002; Desrosiers et al., 2003; Kwakkel et al., 2004). Six months after stroke, only 60% of people with initial hemiparesis have achieved functional independence in simple activities of daily living such as toileting and walking short distances (Mayo et al., 1999; Patel et al., 2000). However, improvements in activities of daily living may continue despite stable deficits at the level of impairment. This is suggestive of further behavioral adaptation or compensation. Rehabilitation is devoted to enlarge and precipitate this functional recovery in order to improve quality of life after stroke (Gresham et al., 1995). Therefore, rehabilitation programs adapted to objectives as allowed by the state of the neuromuscular system are important.
An Evaluation of Two Position based Hybrid Routing Algorithms under Mobility Speed over MANET

Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is collection of wireless nodes forming temporary network without any infrastructure, Ad-hoc networking is a computer communications concept. Here each node participating in the network acts as host and a router and therefore must forward packets for other nodes. Researches in this area are mostly simulation based, and in this paper we will be analyzing the performance of DWI-PBHRA routing protocol with the PBHRA. In the performance evaluation of the protocol, the protocols are tested under the realistic conditions including evaluating performance when applied to variable pause times and constant number of nodes we perform extensive simulations using NS-2 simulator.
Evaluation of 15 Functional Candidate Genes for Association with Chronic Otitis Media with Effusion and/or Recurrent Otitis Media (COME/ROM)

DNA sequence variants in genes involved in the innate immune response and secondary response to infection may confer susceptibility to chronic otitis media with effusion and/or recurrent otitis media (COME/ROM). We evaluated single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 15 functional candidate genes. A total of 99 SNPs were successfully genotyped on the Sequenom platform in 142 families (618 subjects) from the Minnesota COME/ROM Family Study. Data were analyzed for association with COME/ROM using the Generalized Disequilibrium Test (GDT). Sex and age at exam were adjusted as covariates, relatedness was accounted for, and genotype differences from all phenotypically discordant relative pairs were utilized to measure the evidence of association between COME/ROM and each SNP. SNP rs2735733 in the region of the mucin 5, subtypes A/C gene (MUC5AC) exhibited nominal evidence for association with COME/ROM (P = 0.002). Two additional SNPs from this region had P values<0.05. Other variants exhibiting associations with COME/ROM at P<0.05 included the SCN1B SNP rs8100085 (P = 0.013), SFTPD SNP rs1051246 (P = 0.039) and TLR4 SNP rs2770146 (P = 0.038). However, none of these associations replicated in an independent sample of COME/ROM families. The candidate gene variants examined do not appear to make a major contribution to COME/ROM susceptibility, despite a priori evidence from functional or animal model studies for a role in COME/ROM pathology.
Towards proactive human-robot interaction in human environments

This paper investigates proactive task-related Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) in human environments. The presented approach eventually aims for multi-modality by combining speech, gesture, and emotional facial mimicry. A first step is to focus on exploring the potentials and limitations of each modality in order to enable a robot to control a dialog in terms of proactive retrieval of missing task knowledge from humans in a natural and intuitive way. In this paper, each modality is investigated separately in the context of the IURO (Interactive Urban Robot) project, where a robot asks for its way to a predefined goal location.
Vorsters and Clarks: alternative models of European farmer in the Tuli Block of Botswana

The social history of family firms, founded by white settlers in southern Africa, has been almost totally ignored in the literature on the state, capitalism and enterprise in developing countries. It has been a subversive neglect, within the region and more widely, undermining planned development no less than sociological knowledge and theoretical explanation. In part, that is because it is the settler firms or rather, stereotyped images of them which are often uncritically taken to be paragons of successful entrepreneurship. Conventional wisdom has it, for example, that settler ranching provided the best models for culTent and future development. In Botswana, in Zimbabwe and no doubt in many other parts of post-colonial Africa, what has to be considered is a series of basic questions, the answers to which call for case studies, in depth, of the settler firms. A central problem is the viability of enterprise, when it becomes depenident upon the state. State support is developing countries is notoriously fickle; when it fails, as it often does, it leaves dependent enterprises in disarray. How do settler family firms avoid such dependence or become captive to it? What kinds of organisational structures do the different types of settler family firm develop, and why? My focus is on two extremes among European farmers in the Tuli Block, eastern Botswana. Each case I present is a micro-history of processes of change in a family firm of a distinctive type. These processes occur over at least three generations. They culminate in the emergence of an extreme type, the paternalist entrepreneur, on the one hand, the technocrat in the other. The outcome depends upon the interface between each firm and its social environment, or lifeworld. There is, accordingly, an evolution of distinct types of organisation of family labour within
The contribution of systemic Escherichia coli infection to the early mortalities of commercial broiler chickens

Avian pathogenic Escherichia coli (APEC) are a substantial burden to the global poultry industry. APEC cause a syndromic poultry infection known as colibacillosis, which has been previously associated with broiler chickens over 2 weeks old. We recently reported that the intestinal tract of 1-day-old broilers harbours a rich reservoir of potentially pathogenic E. coli. Prior infections of the reproductive tract of breeders, egg hygiene and transportation all contribute to early colonization of the neonatal gut. Up to one-half of all flock deaths occur in the first week of production, but few data are available describing the contribution of E. coli. In the present study, all dead birds collected on the first daily welfare walk 48 and 72 h after chick placement underwent post-mortem examination. Diseased tissues were selectively cultured for E. coli and isolates subsequently virulotyped using 10 APEC virulence-associated genes (VAGs): astA, iss, irp2, iucD, papC, tsh, vat, cvi, sitA and ibeA. Approximately 70% of birds displayed signs of colibacillosis. Thirty distinct virulence profiles were identified among 157 E. coli. Isolates carried between zero and seven VAGs; ∼30% of E. coli isolates carried five to seven VAGs, with 12.7% sharing the same VAG profile (astA, iss, irp2, iucD, tsh, cvi and sitA). Overall, this study demonstrates the significant contribution of E. coli infections to early broiler mortalities. The identification of a diverse E. coli population is unsurprising based on our previous findings. This work emphasizes the need for an effective vaccination programme and provides preliminary data for vaccine production.
Assessing probabilistic forecasts about particular situations

How useful are probabilistic forecasts of the outcomes of particular situations? Potentially, they contain more information than unequivocal forecasts and, as they allow a more realistic representation of the relative likelihood of different outcomes, they might be more accurate and therefore more useful to decision makers. To test this proposition, I first compared a Squared-Error Skill Score (SESS) based on the Brier score with an Absolute-Error Skill Score (AESS), and found the latter more closely coincided with decision-makers’ interests. I then analysed data obtained in researching the problem of forecasting the decisions people make in conflict situations. In that research, participants were given lists of decisions that might be made and were asked to make a prediction either by choosing one of the decisions or by allocating percentages or relative frequencies to more than one of them. For this study I transformed the percentage and relative frequencies data into probabilistic forecasts. In most cases the participants chose a single decision. To obtain more data, I used a rule to derive probabilistic forecasts from structured analogies data, and transformed multiple singular forecasts for each combination of forecasting method and conflict into probabilistic forecasts. When compared using the AESS, probabilistic forecasts were not more skilful than unequivocal forecasts.
Age and clinical decision making in oncology patients.

BACKGROUND Ageism is a cultural bias that might inappropriately steer oncologists away from recommending aggressive treatments for older patients. The extent to which older patients might prefer less aggressive cancer therapies is unknown. Our lack of knowledge about patients' personal preferences for therapy may perpetuate this bias. PURPOSE We conducted a study to determine 1) if age influences patient acceptance of cancer therapy and 2) if the older patients would be more or less likely to trade increased survival for maintaining quality of life than their younger counterparts. METHODS Using an interview format, 244 cancer patients of all ages treated at a tertiary care cancer center read two sets of hypothetical vignettes. The first set consisted of four vignettes that varied in terms of stage of disease and treatment toxicity. Patients were asked to make hypothetical decisions about treatment given with respect to varying levels of either increasing cure or extending survival. The second set of vignettes presumed acceptance of cancer therapy. Within each vignette, two hypothetical treatments (mild versus severe) with different probabilities of 1-year survival were contrasted. The point at which patients shifted preferences from a treatment with mild versus severe side effects was the dependent measure. Mixed analysis of variance (ANOVA) procedures (F test) assessed the impact of age (< 65 years versus > or = 65 years) and patient disease stage (early versus advanced) on hypothetical decisions about treatment. All P values are two sided. RESULTS In the treatment-preference vignettes, there was no effect of either age [F(1,239) = 2.14; P = . 14] or patient stage [F(1,239) = . 40; P = . 53] on treatment acceptance. Older adults were as likely as their younger counterparts to agree to chemotherapy for both curative and control purposes. In the switch-point vignettes, younger adults switched to a more toxic treatment to gain survival advantage at an earlier point than the older patients in both the early-disease vignette [F(1,232) = 3.88; P = . 05] and the advanced-disease vignette [F(1,232) = 4.43; P = . 036]. There was neither an effect of disease stage on treatment decisions nor an interaction between disease stage and age. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS In a tertiary care setting, older adults do not differ from their younger counterparts in terms of acceptance of chemotherapy. However, when treatment is presumed, they differ in terms of willingness to trade survival for current quality of life. Generalization of findings is limited by the relatively small sample of older adults (n = 43) and the referral population from which the sample was drawn. Replication with a larger older adult sample in a community setting is needed.
Uncertainties Associated with Quantifying Climate Change Impacts on Human Health: A Case Study for Diarrhea

Background Climate change is expected to have large impacts on health at low latitudes where droughts and malnutrition, diarrhea, and malaria are projected to increase. Objectives The main objective of this study was to indicate a method to assess a range of plausible health impacts of climate change while handling uncertainties in a unambiguous manner. We illustrate this method by quantifying the impacts of projected regional warming on diarrhea in this century. Methods We combined a range of linear regression coefficients to compute projections of future climate change-induced increases in diarrhea using the results from five empirical studies and a 19-member climate model ensemble for which future greenhouse gas emissions were prescribed. Six geographical regions were analyzed. Results The model ensemble projected temperature increases of up to 4°C over land in the tropics and subtropics by the end of this century. The associated mean projected increases of relative risk of diarrhea in the six study regions were 8–11% (with SDs of 3–5%) by 2010–2039 and 22–29% (SDs of 9–12%) by 2070–2099. Conclusions Even our most conservative estimates indicate substantial impacts from climate change on the incidence of diarrhea. Nevertheless, our main conclusion is that large uncertainties are associated with future projections of diarrhea and climate change. We believe that these uncertainties can be attributed primarily to the sparsity of empirical climate–health data. Our results therefore highlight the need for empirical data in the cross section between climate and human health.
Real-time bid optimization for group-buying ads

Group-buying ads seeking a minimum number of customers before the deal expiry are increasingly used by the daily-deal providers. Unlike the traditional web ads, the advertiser's profits for group-buying ads depends on the time to expiry and additional customers needed to satisfy the minimum group size. Since both these quantities are time-dependent, optimal bid amounts to maximize profits change with every impression. Consequently, traditional static bidding strategies are far from optimal. Instead, bid values need to be optimized in real-time to maximize expected bidder profits. This online optimization of deal profits is made possible by the advent of ad exchanges offering real-time (spot) bidding. To this end, we propose a real-time bidding strategy for group-buying deals based on the online optimization of the bid values. We derive the expected bidder profit of deals as a function of the bid amounts, and dynamically vary bids to maximize profits. Further, to satisfy time constraints of the online bidding, we present methods of minimizing computation timings. We evaluate the proposed bidding on a multi-million click stream of 935 ads. The method shows significant profit improvement over the existing strategies.
Difficulty of linkage learning in estimation of distribution algorithms

This paper investigates the difficulty of linkage learning, an essential core, in EDAs. Specifically, it examines allelicpairwise independent functions including the parity, paritywith-trap, and Walsh-code functions. While the parity function was believed to be difficult for EDAs in previous work, our experiments indicate that it can be solved by CGA within a polynomial number of function evaluations to the problem size. Consequently, the apparently difficult paritywith-trap function can be easily solved by ECGA, even though the linkage model is incorrect. A convergence model for CGA on the parity function is also derived to verify and support the empirical findings. Finally, this paper proposes a socalled Walsh-code function, which is more difficult than the parity function. Although the proposed function does deceive the linkage-learning mechanism in most EDAs, EDAs are still able to solve it to some extent.
What's in a Fashion? Interpretative Viability and Management Fashions

Building and reacting on the most influential article on the topic, namely, `Management Fashion' by Abrahamson (Academy of Management Review 21(1), 1996), we propose that management fashions are best conceptualized as `the production and consumption of temporarily intensive management discourse, and the organizational changes induced by and associated with this discourse'. This conceptualization allows us to take account of `interpretative viability', a certain degree of ambiguity about a fashion `s content, and its consequences for the dynamics involved in the ongoing shaping and reshaping of a concept's connotations. Our arguments are illustrated by drawing on a variety of empirical work on Business Process Reengineering in the Netherlands.
Influenza vaccination for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: understanding immunogenicity, efficacy and effectiveness

Influenza infection is an important cause of global mortality and morbidity with the greatest impact on older people and those with chronic disease. Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are particularly vulnerable to influenza, with evidence for increased incidence and severity of infection. In this patient group influenza is associated with exacerbations and pneumonia which result in a significant healthcare burden and premature mortality. Influenza vaccination and in particular the use of the seasonal trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) is recommended for patients with COPD. The evidence base for its effects in this population is, however, limited. Available data suggest that immunogenicity is variable in COPD but the underlying mechanisms are not completely understood. The contribution of age, disease severity, comorbidity and treatments to vaccine responses has only been investigated in a limited manner. Existing data suggest that key immune mechanisms governing T- and B-cell responses are adversely affected by these factors. The efficacy of TIV has been studied in a number of small clinical trials which form the basis of a Cochrane review. Here evidence for effect is conflicting depending on individual trial design and inclusions. Overall, TIV offers protection against influenza infection in the trial setting but further studies are required to stratify patients and enable prediction of inadequate responses. Larger-scale clinical studies have largely been observational and have often been conducted in consort with pneumonia vaccination. Overall the mortality benefit of TIV in COPD is suggested by a number studies but the impact on exacerbation prevention is less clear. Influenza vaccination currently plays an important role in disease prevention in COPD. However, we postulate that a more in-depth understanding of mechanisms of response in the context of a highly heterogeneous disease will lead to a more informed approach to vaccination and greater benefit for the individual patient.
[Tamoxifen combined with coenzyme Q10 for idiopathic oligoasthenospermia].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of tamoxifen (TMX) combined with coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) on idiopathic oligoasthenospermia. METHODS A total of 183 patients with idiopathic oligoasthenospermia were randomly divided into a TMX + CoQ10 group (n = 63), a TMX group (n = 61) and a CoQ10 group (n = 59). At the end of 3 and 6 months of treatment, semen analyses and hormone tests were performed, and the results were compared with those obtained before the treatment. RESULTS Compared with the pre-treatment results, the levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH) and testosterone (T) and sperm concentration were significantly elevated in the TMX + CoQ10 and TMX groups (P < 0.05), but showed no significant difference in the CoQ10 group (P > 0.05); sperm motility and morphologically normal sperm were increased significantly in the TMX + CoQ10 and CoQ10 groups (P < 0.05), and slightly in the TMX group but with no statistically significant difference (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION Tamoxifen combined with CoQ10 can significantly improve sperm concentration, motility and morphology in patients with idiopathic oligoasthenospermia.