Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Choice, Competition and Pupil Achievement

Choice and competition in education have recently found growing support from both policy-makers and academics. Yet evidence on the actual benefits of market-orientated reforms is at best mixed. Moreover, although the economic rationale for choice and competition is clear, in existing work there is rarely an attempt to distinguish between the two concepts. In this paper, we study whether pupils in Primary schools in England with a wider range of school choices achieve better academic outcomes than those whose choice is more limited; and whether Primary schools facing more competition perform better than those in a more monopolistic situation. In simple least squares regression models we find little evidence of a link between choice and achievement, but uncover a small positive association between competition and school performance. Yet this could be related to endogenous school location or pupil sorting. In fact, an instrumental variable strategy based on discontinuities generated by admissions district boundaries suggests that the performance gains from greater school competition are limited. Only when we restrict our attention to Voluntary Aided schools, which have more freedom in managing their governance and admission practices, do we find some evidence of a positive causal link between competition and pupil achievement.
On core and more: a design perspective for systems-on-a-chip

In this survey, key drivers in design methodology are provided that enable successful design of systems-on-a-chip for the highly competitive telecommunications market. Main components of a design environment are described that fulfill the requirements of today's system design: efficient verification by means of fast simulation, integration of intellectual property, support of HW/SW co-design by means of a generic machine description language, generation of dedicated hardware blocks for high speed applications, and the link from system level performance evaluation to implementations in hardware and software.
Standardized Testing for Determining the Durability of High-Volume Fly Ash Mixtures

Fly ash is becoming increasing used in concrete structures for enhanced durability. This research investigated two types of fly ash in conjunction with four cements. The cements were both high and low alkali, with and without blended silica fume. Mortar and concrete mixtures were prepared containing from 0 to 80% fly ash replacement. Standardized tests were performed for compressive strength, as well as sulfate, chloride, and alkali resistance. High replacement levels performed relatively well in sulfate and alkali resistance, but poorly in regards to compressive strength and chloride resistance. From a durability perspective, 40% fly ash replacement was found to have the best overall performance from these mixtures. Standardized test methods are comparative by nature, and as such cannot replicate the complexity of concrete mixtures and their exposure conditions; higher replacements have been successfully used in practice.
Utilization of Complementary and Alternative Medicine by United States Adults: Results From the 1999 National Health Interview Survey

Objective. To measure utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) by US adults. Methods. We analyzed data from the 1999 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), which covers the noninstitutionalized civilian US population. Information on 12 types of CAM use in the past 12 months was obtained from 30,801 respondents aged 18 years and older. Statistical analyses were performed using the SUDAAN software package to account for the complex sample design of the NHIS. Results. An estimated 28.9% of US adults used at least one CAM therapy in the past year. The three most commonly used therapies were spiritual healing or prayer (13.7%), herbal medicine (9.6%), and chiropractic therapies (7.6%). The use of CAM was most prevalent among women, persons aged 35 to 54 years, and persons with an educational attainment of ≥16 years. The overall CAM use was higher for white non-Hispanic persons (30.8%) than for Hispanic (19.9%) and black non-Hispanic persons (24.1%). Although the use was higher for persons who had health insurance than for those who did not, the difference was not statistically significant after adjusting for age, gender and educational attainment. Compared with nonusers, CAM users were more likely to use conventional medical services. Conclusions. Estimates of CAM use in this nationally representative sample were considerably lower than have been reported in previous surveys. Most CAM therapies are used by US adults in conjunction with conventional medical services.
Modeling requirements with goals in virtual university environment

In recent years, goal based requirements analysis methods have attracted increasing attention in the area of requirements engineering. However, there is no systematic way in the existing approaches to handle the impacts of requirements on the structuring of software architecture. As an attempt towards the investigation of the interactions among goals, scenarios, and software architectures, we propose a goal based approach to building software architecture based on the interactions in an incremental fashion. The proposed approach is illustrated using the problem domain of a virtual university environment.
Using Load Tests to Automatically Compare the Subsystems of a Large Enterprise System

Enterprise systems are load tested for every added feature, software updates and periodic maintenance to ensure that the performance demands on system quality, availability and responsiveness are met. In current practice, performance analysts manually analyze load test data to identify the components that are responsible for performance deviations. This process is time consuming and error prone due to the large volume of performance counter data collected during monitoring, the limited operational knowledge of analyst about all the subsystem involved and their complex interactions and the unavailability of up-to-date documentation in the rapidly evolving enterprise. In this paper, we present an automated approach based on a robust statistical technique, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to identify subsystems that show performance deviations in load tests. A case study on load test data of a large enterprise application shows that our approach do not require any instrumentation or domain knowledge to operate, scales well to large industrial system, generate few false positives (89% average precision) and detects performance deviations among subsystems in limited time.
Understanding the everyday use of head-worn computers

Early research on head-worn computers (HWCs) has focused on hardware and specific applications. However, there is little research about the everyday usage of head-worn computers in particular aspects such as: context of use, social acceptance across different activities, audiences and interaction techniques. This paper provides insights into the use of head-worn computers by capturing the opinions of novice and expert users through a survey, a three-week diary study, and interviews. The overarching finding is that the context of use is critical, either due to the need to support micro-interactions, or because the interaction paradigm itself should depend on the context of use.
Low-voltage organic strain sensor on plastic using polymer/high- K inorganic hybrid gate dielectrics

In this paper, gate-induced pentacene semiconductor strain sensors based on hybrid-gate dielectrics using poly-vinylphenol (PVP) and high-K inorganic, Ta2O5 are fabricated on flexible substrates, polyethylene naphthalate (PEN). The Ta2O5 gate dielectric layer is combined with a thin PVP layer to obtain very smooth and hydrophobic surfaces which improve the molecular structures of pentacene films. The PVP-Ta2O5 hybrid-gate dielectric films exhibit a high dielectric capacitance and low leakage current. The sensors adopting thin film transistor (TFT)-like structures show a significantly reduced operating voltage (~6V), and good device characteristics with a field-effect mobility of 1.89 cm2/V•s, a threshold voltage of -0.5 V, and an on/off ratio of 103. The strain sensor, one of the practical applications in large-area organic electronics, was characterized with different bending radii of 50, 40, 30, and 20 mm. The sensor output signals were significantly improved with low-operating voltages.
Neutral Liposomes and DNA Transfection

Non viral gene transfer vectors for human gene therapy (HGT) applications represent today one of the widest fields of chemical, biological and medical research. Some authors (Kostaleros & Miller, 2005) have expressed the opinion that the future of a safe and efficient gene therapy will depend on suitable synthetic vectors of genetic material, rather than on viruses. The reason for this preference is based on the consideration that viruses, although characterized by high transfection efficiency of genetic material, may suffer from some serious disadvantages such as immune response (Marshall, 2000) and potential oncogenic activity (Hacein-Bey-Abina et al., 2003), as well as a high cost of preparation of the transferring system. On the contrary, synthetic vectors have many potential advantages, such as lack of immunogenicity and oncogenicity, no limits to the size of nucleic acids to be carried inside the cells (Harrington et al., 1997; Roush, 1997; Willard, 2000) and finally preparation procedures cheap and easy to perform. Nevertheless an awkward problem that accompanies their use is the low efficiency of the transfections in vivo. Among the synthetic vectors, the most explored by the researchers are the cationic liposomes (CLs), after Felgner and collaborators (Felgner et al., 1997) described the synthesis of the first cation lipid, N-[1(2,3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium chloride (DOTMA) and demonstrated that it was able to bind DNA and transfect it both in vitro and in vivo experiments. Other cationic lipids followed and became popular, such as the commercially widely used N-[1(2,3-dioleoyloxy)propyl]-N,N,N-trimethylammonium methylsulfate (DOTAP), 1,2-dioleoyl3-dimethylammonium-propane (DODAP), dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DDAB) and 3β-[N-(N',N'-dimethylaminoethane)-carbamoyl]cholesterol hydrochloride (DCChol); many others were synthesized during the past years and are still being synthesized. A few years after the Felgner’s discovery scientists’ interest was focused also on cationic polymers (Wu, G.Y. & Wu; C.H., 1987), that became popular after the discovery of polyethylenimines (Boussif, 1995) and are still the object of great interest. Both classes of cationic compounds owe their interest to the formation of stable complexes with DNA, called lipoplexes and polyplexes respectively, formed through an electrostatic interaction between the cationic head of lipids and the negative phosphates of DNA. The great amount of data and experiments reported in the literature with cationic vectors and some encouraging results in in vivo transfection experiments have led to the significant milestone of 20% of the ongoing clinical trials run with synthetic vectors (Edelstein et al., 2004): however the goal of a higher efficiency is still a problem to be solved. As recently stated (Safinya et al., 2006), the long-term target of research in this area is to develop a general
Management of Complications after Pancreaticoduodenectomy in a High Volume Centre: Results on 150 Consecutive Patients / with Invited Commentary

Pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) is still a difficult procedure with significant morbidity. We report 150 consecutive PDs performed during a 3-year period. All the cases have been prospectively evaluated with regard to the surgical outcome. Mortality in this series was 3/150 (2%) with a re-operation rate of 5/150 (3.3%); surgical complications were experienced in 57/150 (38%). The most frequent complications were collections in 25/150 (16.6%) and pancreatic fistulas in 16/150 (10.7%). The majority of these complications were conservatively managed: only one abscess and one fistula due to an anastomotic dehiscence required re-operation. The complication most responsible for mortality was haemorrhage secondary to arterial pseudoaneurysms in patients with severe post-operative pancreatitis. The continued high morbidity of PDs is compensated by the ability to treat complications non-operatively, resulting in a surgical risk that should now be considered medium to low in high volume centres.
Baseline High Viral Load and Unfavorable Patterns of Alanine Aminotransferase Change Predict Virological Relapse in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Genotype 1 or 2 Obtaining Rapid Virological Response During Antiviral Therapy

Background Rapid virological response (RVR) strongly predicts sustained virological response (SVR) in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), and abbreviates antiviral therapy in some patients. Objectives To identify factors predicting virological relapse (VR) in CHC patients who attained RVR. Patients and Methods Medical records of 133 CHC patients with an RVR after completing 24 weeks of antiviral therapy (a combination of pegylated interferon-α and ribavirin) were analyzed. Baseline characteristics and on-treatment responses were compared between the patients with an SVR and those with VR. Patients with normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels at weeks 4 and 12 and at the end-of-treatment (EoT) and patients with elevated, but constantly decreasing, ALT levels were classified as having favorable patterns of ALT change. A trend of increasing ALT levels either between weeks 4 and 12 or between weeks 12 and EoT was classified as unfavorable. A high viral load (HVL) was defined as a baseline HCV RNA ≥ 600000 IU/mL. Results In total, 116 (87.2%) patients had a SVR and 14 (10.5%) had VR. The VR rates were comparable between patients with genotype-1 (13.1%) and genotype-2 infection (8.7%) (P = 0.572). Multivariate analysis revealed that HVL (P = 0.015; odds ratio [OR] = 14.754; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.671–130.240), and unfavorable ALT patterns (P = 0.039; OR = 4.397; 95% CI = 1.078–17.930) independently predicted VR. In subgroup analysis, low viral load (LVL) patients had a minimal VR rate (1.8%). Among the HVL patients, the VR rate of those using peg-IFN-α-2a was relatively low (9.1%). Patients using peg-IFN-α-2b had a slightly higher VR rate (23.8%; P = 0.128), and patients with favorable patterns of ALT changes had a lower VR rate (10.3%) compared to the 53.8% in patients with unfavorable ALT patterns (P = 0.005). Conclusions In southern Taiwan, 24 weeks of antiviral therapy achieved a high SVR rate in patients with CHC attaining RVR, except in the subgroup of patients treated with peg-IFN-α-2b with HVL and on-treatment unfavorable ALT patterns.
THE EFFECTS OF SELECTION FOR LARVAL BEHAVIOR ON ADULT LIFE‐HISTORY FEATURES IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Abstract Selection for late‐life fecundity and longevity in adult Drosophila melanogaster is well known to modify numerous characteristics of life history and physiology. We report experiments here in which selection applied to behavior affects features in an identical fashion. Selection for feeding rate of larval D. melanogaster modifies caloric intake, as measured by the uptake and incorporation of labeled glucose. Selection for slow larval feeding produced lines of D. melanogaster in which larvae synthesized significantly less lipid prior to pupation and eclosed to have low early‐life fecundity and a long life as adults. They also had greater lifetime fecundity, but lower viability of egg to hatched adult. Alternatively, fast‐feeding larvae incorporated more lipid before pupation and eclosed with high early‐fecundity that declined rapidly throughout their short adult life. Slow‐feeding populations also had a significantly enhanced expression of the stress‐resistance genes CuZn‐SOD, CATALASE, and HSP70. Selection on larval feeding behavior reproduced the antagonistic evolutionary trade‐off found under selection for adult life span and mimicked the physiological response in life span as seen in many species when dietary restriction is imposed on adults. Thus, nutrient acquisition during development appears to share a common evolutionary and genetic basis with the allocation processes that determine adult life‐history traits and the related phenotypic dietary restriction phenomena.
Update on Inflammation in Chronic Kidney Disease

Background: Despite recent advances in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) management, morbidity and mortality in this population remain exceptionally high. Persistent, low-grade inflammation has been recognized as an important component of CKD, playing a unique role in its pathophysiology and being accountable in part for cardiovascular and all-cause mortality, as well as contributing to the development of protein-energy wasting. Summary: The variety of factors contribute to chronic inflammatory status in CKD, including increased production and decreased clearance of pro-inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress and acidosis, chronic and recurrent infections, including those related to dialysis access, altered metabolism of adipose tissue, and intestinal dysbiosis. Inflammation directly correlates with the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) in CKD and culminates in dialysis patients, where extracorporeal factors, such as impurities in dialysis water, microbiological quality of the dialysate, and bioincompatible factors in the dialysis circuit play an additional role. Genetic and epigenetic influences contributing to inflammatory activation in CKD are currently being intensively investigated. A number of interventions have been proposed to target inflammation in CKD, including lifestyle modifications, pharmacological agents, and optimization of dialysis. Importantly, some of these therapies have been recently tested in randomized controlled trials. Key Messages: Chronic inflammation should be regarded as a common comorbid condition in CKD and especially in dialysis patients. A number of interventions have been proven to be safe and effective in well-designed clinical studies. This includes such inexpensive approaches as modification of physical activity and dietary supplementation. Further investigations are needed to evaluate the effects of these interventions on hard outcomes, as well as to better understand the role of inflammation in selected CKD populations (e.g., in children).
Computer-aided retrometabolic drug design: soft drugs

Soft drug design approaches aim to design new therapeutic agents that undergo facile, preferentially hydrolytic metabolism to produce inactive metabolites. This approach is general and can be used in essentially any therapeutic area, especially where the desired activity is localized, relatively short-lived or susceptible to easy titration. In most cases, this approach aims to design close steric and electronic analogs of an existing drug, which serves as a lead for the design. Therefore, computer programs that can generate virtual libraries of possible analogs and can provide quantitative tools to rank them on the basis of the closeness of their properties to the original lead are of particular relevance. Related aspects, including quantitative structure–metabolism relationships tools to predict hydrolytic stability are reviewed together with illustrative examples.
Visual Search Revived: The Slopes Are Not That Slippery: A Reply to Kristjansson (2015)

Kristjansson (2015) suggests that standard research methods in the study of visual search should be “reconsidered. ” He reiterates a useful warning against treating reaction time x set size functions as simple metrics that can be used to label search tasks as “serial” or “parallel. ” However, I argue that he goes too far with a broad attack on the use of slopes in the study of visual search. Used wisely, slopes do provide us with insight into the mechanisms of visual search.
Automatically composed workflows for grid environments

Once the realm of high-performance computing for scientific applications, grid computing is rising as a key enabling infrastructure for resource sharing and coordinated problem solving in dynamic multiinstitutional virtual organizations. Grids build over networking technology to provide middleware support such as locating files over a network of computers, scheduling the distributed execution of jobs, and managing resource sharing and access policies.2 The need of scientific communities to interconnect applications, data, expertise, and computing resources is shared by other application areas, such as business, government, medical care, and education.
Governments, Civilians, and the Evolution of Insurgency: Modeling the Early Dynamics of Insurgencies

This paper models the early dynamics of insurgency using an agent-based computer simulation of civilians, insurgents, and soldiers. In the simulation, insurgents choose to attack government forces, which then strike back. Such government counterattacks may result in the capture or killing of insurgents, may make nearby civilians afraid to become insurgents, but may also increase the anger of surrounding civilians if there is significant collateral damage. If civilians become angry enough, they become new insurgents. I simulate the dynamics of these interactions, focusing on the effectiveness of government forces at capturing insurgents vs. their accuracy in avoiding collateral damage. The simulations suggest that accuracy (avoidance of collateral damage) is more important for the long-term defeat of insurgency than is effectiveness at capturing insurgents in any given counterattack. There also may be a critical 'tipping point' for accuracy below which the length of insurgencies increases dramatically. The dynamics of how insurgencies grow or decline in response to various combinations of government accuracy and effectiveness illustrate the tradeoffs faced by governments in dealing with the early stages of an insurgency.
Effects of Ghrelin Administration on Left Ventricular Function, Exercise Capacity, and Muscle Wasting in Patients With Chronic Heart Failure

Background—Ghrelin is a novel growth hormone–releasing peptide that also induces vasodilation, inhibits sympathetic nerve activity, and stimulates feeding through growth hormone–independent mechanisms. We investigated the effects of ghrelin on left ventricular (LV) function, exercise capacity, and muscle wasting in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods and Results—Human synthetic ghrelin (2 &mgr;g/kg twice a day) was intravenously administered to 10 patients with CHF for 3 weeks. Echocardiography, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, dual x-ray absorptiometry, and blood sampling were performed before and after ghrelin therapy. A single administration of ghrelin elicited a marked increase in serum GH (25-fold). Three-week administration of ghrelin resulted in a significant decrease in plasma norepinephrine (1132±188 to 655±134 pg/mL; P<0.001). Ghrelin increased LV ejection fraction (27±2% to 31±2%; P<0.05) in association with an increase in LV mass and a decrease in LV end-systolic volume. Treatment with ghrelin increased peak workload and peak oxygen consumption during exercise. Ghrelin improved muscle wasting, as indicated by increases in muscle strength and lean body mass. These parameters remained unchanged in 8 patients with CHF who did not receive ghrelin therapy. Conclusions—These preliminary results suggest that repeated administration of ghrelin improves LV function, exercise capacity, and muscle wasting in patients with CHF.