Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Paediatric acute asthma management in Australia and New Zealand: practice patterns in the context of clinical practice guidelines

Objectives: To compare clinical practice guideline (CPG) recommendations and reported physician management of acute paediatric asthma in the 11 largest paediatric emergency departments, all of which have CPGs, in Australia (n = 9) and New Zealand (n = 2). All 11 sites participate in the Paediatric Research in Emergency Departments International Collaborative (PREDICT) research network. Methods: (a) A review of CPGs for acute childhood asthma from all PREDICT sites. (b) A standardised anonymous survey of senior emergency doctors at PREDICT sites investigating management of acute childhood asthma. Results: CPGs for mild to moderate asthma were similar across sites and based on salbutamol delivery by metered dose inhaler with spacer and oral prednisolone. In severe to critical asthma, differences between sites were common and related to recommendations for: ipratropium use; metered-dose inhaler versus nebulised delivery of salbutamol in severe asthma; use of intravenous aminophylline, intravenous magnesium and dosing of intravenous salbutamol in critical asthma. The questionnaire (78 of 83 doctors responded) also revealed significant differences between doctors in the treatment of moderate to severe asthma. Ipratropium was used for moderate asthma by 42%. For severe to critical asthma, nebulised delivery of salbutamol was preferred by 79% of doctors over metered dose inhalers. For critical asthma, doctors reported using intravenous aminophylline in 45%, intravenous magnesium in 55%, and intravenous salbutamol in 87% of cases. Thirty-nine different dosing regimens for intravenous salbutamol were reported. Conclusions: CPG recommendations and reported physician practice for mild to moderate paediatric asthma management were broadly similar across PREDICT sites and consistent with national guidelines. Practice was highly variable for severe to critical asthma and probably reflects limitations of available evidence. Areas of controversy, in particular the comparative efficacy of intravenous bronchodilators, would benefit from multi-centre trials. Collaborative development of CPGs should be considered.
Mining Software Process Lines

There is a vast growth of generated event data being collected and stored by organizations. Within the field of Process Mining, this data has been used to discover, analyze and enhance processes from different domains. For this purpose there are hundreds of techniques available in different tools. These techniques are mostly focused on single processes. On the other hand, there are several proposals for dealing with multiple processes. Under different names, such as: configurable process models, process families or process lines, processes are characterized by capturing commonalities and variability between (similar) process models. These approaches have shown to be useful for organizations that have multiple variants of a given process, e.g., reducing redundancy and maintenance time. In this thesis proposal we plan to develop a framework that allows to use Process Mining in families of processes within the software development domain (i.e., Software Process Lines).
NetCSSP: web application for predicting chameleon sequences and amyloid fibril formation

The calculation of contact-dependent secondary structure propensity (CSSP) is a unique and sensitive method that detects non-native secondary structure propensities in protein sequences. This method has applications in predicting local conformational change, which typically is observed in core sequences of protein aggregation and amyloid fibril formation. NetCSSP implements the latest version of the CSSP algorithm and provides a Flash chart-based graphic interface that enables an interactive calculation of CSSP values for any user-selected regions in a given protein sequence. This feature also can quantitatively estimate the mutational effect on changes in native or non-native secondary structural propensities in local sequences. In addition, this web tool provides precalculated non-native secondary structure propensities for over 1 400 000 fragments that are seven-residues long, collected from PDB structures. They are searchable for chameleon subsequences that can serve as the core of amyloid fibril formation. The NetCSSP web tool is available at http://cssp2.sookmyung. ac.kr/.
Dysphagia and Aspiration Following Stroke

Dysphagia is prominent across the continuum of stroke recovery and its presence is likely to result in pulmonary complications, particularly pneumonia, dehydration and poor nutrition. It is estimated that between 29 and 50 percent of acute stroke survivors are dysphasic. In this chapter, we describe techniques that are commonly used in the detection and assessment of dysphagia and aspiration. We also review the interventions used in the management of dysphagia including texture-modified diets, general dysphagia therapy programs, non-oral (enteral) feeding, medications, and physical and olfactory stimulation.
A Distributed Energy Monitoring and Analytics Platform and its Use Cases

We present Emonix, a distributed, low-cost system for monitoring and analyzing energy consumption patterns in buildings. Emonix is designed with our custom energy sensing hardware and integrated communication units to be efficiently mounted in breaker panels of buildings. In contrast to plug-based monitoring systems, this approach is less intrusive to users because it does not intrude on their physical space, yet it still provides fine-grained real-time energy data in both space and time. The Emonix hardware platform is open, modular, and extensible. It provides an accessible data and configuration API for users, and we believe it is useful to the broad community. To demonstrate the usefulness of this platform, we have deployed this infrastructure on two campus dormitories covering 60 rooms and 120 residents. We have been operating this infrastructure as an energy monitoring service for the residents for more than four months to help them understand their consumption patterns at different timescales. Our results indicate significant temporal variations in energy consumption patterns at different time scales, and that a small fraction of occupants can consume a disproportionately large amount of energy in such buildings.
Tolerability of Accelerated Chest Irradiation and Impact on Survival of Prophylactic Cranial Irradiation in Patients with Limited-stage Small Cell Lung Cancer: Review of a Single Institution's Experience

Introduction: Evidence that has been published in the last decade indicates that in patients with limited-stage small-cell lung cancer (SCLC), hyperfractionated accelerated thoracic radiotherapy (RT) given twice daily and prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) have each separately improved survival. Concerns about the toxicities associated with these treatments and uncertainty about their impact on survival outside the trial setting may have restricted the extent to which they have been incorporated into standard treatment protocols. We have reviewed the experience at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre to determine the tolerability of these treatments in routine practice and to determine their effects on survival. Methods: A retrospective review of patients with limited-stage SCLC receiving a radical course of thoracic RT between June 1998 and May 2002, including either conventional fractionation at 50 Gy for 5 weeks, or hyperfractionated accelerated RT at 45 Gy for 3 weeks. Patients achieving a complete response were offered PCI at 36 Gy in 18 fractions. The main outcomes recorded were RT toxicity (graded using CTCAE v. 3.0 and RTOG/EORTC late scoring criteria), response, relapse-free survival, and overall survival. Results: Ninety patients were identified as having undergone radical-intent thoracic RT, with a median potential follow-up of 4.2 years. Fifty-seven patients (63%) were treated with hyperfractionated accelerated RT, and 33 (37%) were treated with conventional fractionation. Forty-six patients (51%) received PCI. Patients receiving hyperfractionated accelerated RT compared with conventional fractionation had higher rates of grade 3 and 4 esophagitis (14% versus 6%; p = 0.312), a higher rate of treatment interruptions (12% versus 3%; p = 0.250), and a higher hospital admission rate (39% versus 15%; p = 0.031). The majority of patients were able to complete the planned treatment, and there were no treatment-related deaths. Median survival for all patients from commencement of RT was 14.2 months (95% confidence interval [CI]: 11.9–18.1 months), and survival at 2 years was 24.8% (95% CI: 16.9–35.0%). On multifactor analysis, the only factor associated with longer survival was PCI (hazard ratio = 0.40; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Hyperfractionated accelerated RT was more toxic than conventional fractionation, but it was possible to deliver treatment as planned in the majority of patients. PCI was associated with improved survival. Both treatments can be incorporated into routine practice.
Single nucleotide polymorphism C677T in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase gene might be a genetic risk factor for infertility for Chinese men with azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia.

AIM To analyze the distribution of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) C677T in the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene in 355 infertile Chinese patients with idiopathic azoospermia or severe oligozoospermia and 252 fertile Chinese men as controls to explore the possible association of the SNP and male infertility. METHODS Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism technique, the allele and genotype distribution of SNP C677T in the MTHFR gene were investigated in both patients and controls. RESULTS The frequencies of allele T (40.9% vs 30.4%, P = 0.002, odds ration [OR] = 1.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.24-2.02) and mutant homozygote (TT) (18.3% vs. 11.5%, P=0.023, OR=1.72, 95% CI: 1.07-2.76) as well as carrier with allele (TT + CT) (63.4% vs. 49.2%, P = 0.0005, OR = 1.79, 95% CI: 1.29-2.48) in infertile patients were significantly higher than those in controls. After patient stratification, the significant differences in distribution of the SNP between each patient subgroup and control group still remained. CONCLUSION Our findings indicate that there is an association of SNP C677T in the MTHFR gene with male infertility, suggesting that this polymorphism might be a genetic risk factor for male infertility in Chinese men.
Rôle du récepteur aux cannabinoïdes CB2 sur la synaptogenèse

During this study we first localised the receptors CB1 and CB2 on neuronal structures. We have shown that those receptors expressed on dendrites and filopodia. Likewise and based on Bouchard’s previous laboratory results showing an implication of the netrin-1 receptor, Deleted in Colorectal Cancer (DCC), on the synaptogenesis process mediated by the receptor CB1 we localized the receptor DCC on neuronal structures. We have shown that the receptor DCC is expressed on dendrites, axons and filopodia. These results suggest an implication of the receptor DDC in a synaptogenesis process that would be mediated by the receptor CB2. We then evaluated the effects triggered by the receptor CB2’s ligands on the synaptogenesis process. We found no evidences of any effects on synaptogenesis mediated by the receptor CB2 inverse agonists (AM630 and JTE907) and agonists (JWH015 and JWH133) in term of filopodia density and synaptic contacts density variations. We witnessed highly variable results that were irreproducible. Visual quantifications of filopodia and synaptic contacts density were variable as we quantified two times the same set of photos. We have therefore developed a computer based quantification method by which we were able to obtained reproducible results. Nevertheless we found no evidence of any implication of the receptor CB2 on the synaptogenesis process. These preliminary results do not allow us neither to rule out nor to confirm eventual CB2 receptor effects on synaptogenesis. An exhaustive study is required to access possible CB2 receptors effect on synaptogenesis.
VISUALIZATION APPROACH FOR SOFTWARE PROJECTS

Software visualization helps developers to understand, compare and browse large scale information. Software projects consist of a large number of packages, classes and methods. It is not an easy task for developers to browse source code and get information about the project’s contents. This paper presents an approach to visualize the contents of a software project in summarized views named BookViews. Each project is modeled as a book in which its chapters represent packages, its sections represent classes and its pages represent methods. The visualization helps developers to understand the internal structure of java projects, as well as, compare between projects in simple and meaningful views. A pilot experimental study on an open source project has been conducted to evaluate BookViews. Results showed that BookViews supports program comprehension and helps developers in understanding the contents of software projects.
Heuristics for the Brauer–Manin Obstruction for Curves

We conjecture that if C is a curve of genus > 1 over a number field k such that C(k) = Ø, then a method of Scharaschkin (essentially equivalent to the Brauer–Manin obstruction in the context of curves) supplies a proof that C(k) = Ø. As evidence, we prove a corresponding statement in which C(𝔽v) is replaced by a random subset of the same size in J(𝔽v) for each residue field 𝔽v at a place v of good reduction for C, and the orders of Jacobians over finite fields are assumed to be smooth (in the sense of having only small prime divisors) as often as random integers of the same size. If our conjecture holds, and if Tate– Shafarevich groups are finite, then there exists an algorithm to decide whether a curve over k has a k-point, and the Brauer– Manin obstruction to the Hasse principle for curves over the number fields is the only one.
Flexible Scheduling: How Does a Principal Facilitate Implementation?

This study investigated flexible scheduling in United States elementary libraries that had received no funding to implement the change. The larger study examined many elements of the implementation, but this article looks specifically at the role of the principal in the implementation of flexible scheduling in the six schools involved. Principals' beliefs and behaviors were described by principals, librarians, and teachers in regard to their role in implementation. Principals supported flexible scheduling because they believed it would have a positive impact on student learning. They were willing to take risks because they trusted their librarians to be leaders in the implementation process. Librarians depended on their principals to be strong advocates for the change to flexible scheduling and found that the change was facilitated by the principal's support.
The Ets protein Pointed prevents both premature differentiation and dedifferentiation of Drosophila intermediate neural progenitors

Intermediate neural progenitors (INPs) need to avoid both dedifferentiation and differentiation during neurogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. In Drosophila, the Ets protein Pointed P1 (PntP1) is required to generate INPs from type II neuroblasts. Here, we investigated how PntP1 promotes INP generation. By generating pntP1-specific mutants and using RNAi knockdown, we show that the loss of PntP1 leads to both an increase in type II neuroblast number and the elimination of INPs. The elimination of INPs results from the premature differentiation of INPs due to ectopic Prospero expression in newly generated immature INPs (imINPs), whereas the increase in type II neuroblasts results from the dedifferentiation of imINPs due to loss of Earmuff at later stages of imINP development. Furthermore, reducing Buttonhead enhances the loss of INPs in pntP1 mutants, suggesting that PntP1 and Buttonhead act cooperatively to prevent premature INP differentiation. Our results demonstrate that PntP1 prevents both the premature differentiation and the dedifferentiation of INPs by regulating the expression of distinct target genes at different stages of imINP development. Summary: The Ets transcription factor Pointed maintains the balance between differentiation and dedifferentiation of intermediate neural progenitors by acting through two distinct pathways.
Club Cell-16 and RelB as Novel Determinants of Arterial Stiffness in Exacerbating COPD Patients

Background Exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are acute events of worsened respiratory symptoms that may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), a leading cause of mortality amongst COPD patients. The utility of lung-specific inflammatory mediators such as club cell protein-16 (CC-16) and surfactant protein D (SPD) and that of a novel marker of CV outcomes in COPD- RelB- in predicting adverse cardiovascular events during exacerbation is not known. Methods Thirty-eight subjects with COPD admitted to the hospital for severe exacerbation were included in this analysis. Clinical, physiological and arterial stiffness measurements were performed within 72 hours of admission; this was followed by measurements taken every 3 days until hospital discharge, then once a week until 30 days after discharge, and then again at 90 and 180 days. Plasma concentrations of inflammatory mediators were measured from peripheral venous blood taken at admission, and at days 15, 30, 90 and 180. Results CC-16 and RelB concentrations were increased at day 15 of exacerbations whereas SPD concentrations were decreased. The course of change in CC-16 and RelB levels over time was inversely associated with that of carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity, the gold-standard measure of arterial stiffness. Increases in CC-16 could predict a decreased number of subsequent exacerbations during follow-up. Conclusions Lung-specific (CC-16) and novel (RelB) biomarkers are associated with systemic cardiovascular changes over time. CC-16 can predict subsequent exacerbations in subjects with severe COPD and may be an important biomarker of pulmonary and systemic stress in COPD.
On the problem of lamination in the superficial dorsal horn of mammals: A reappraisal of the substantia gelatinosa in postnatal life

Although it is one of the most distinctive and earliest recognized features in the spinal cord, the substantia gelatinosa (SG) remains among the most enigmatic of central nervous system regions. The present neuroanatomical studies employed transganglionic transport of horseradish peroxidase conjugates of choleragenoid (B‐HRP) and the B4 isolectin of Bandeiraea simplicifolia (IB4‐HRP) on opposite sides to compare the projection patterns of myelinated and unmyelinated cutaneous primary afferents, respectively, within the superficial dorsal horn of the spinal cord in postnatal mice, from shortly after birth to adulthood. Putative unmyelinated afferents labeled with IB4‐HRP gave rise to a dense sheet of terminal‐like labeling restricted to the outer half of the SG. In contrast, myelinated inputs labeled with B‐HRP gave rise to a similarly dense sheet of terminal‐like labeling that occupied the inner half of the SG. This adult organization, with two dense sheets of terminal labeling in the superficial dorsal horn, was clearly evident shortly after birth using these markers, prior to the emergence of the SG. Furthermore, the location of the SG proper varied considerably within the dorsoventral plane of the dorsal horn according to mediolateral and segmental locations, a finding that was also seen in comparative studies in rat and cat. These findings caution against equating the SG in particular, and the superficial dorsal horn in general, with nociceptive processing; at minimum, the SG subserves a clear duality of function, with only a thin portion of its outermost aspect devoted to pain. J. Comp. Neurol. 417:88–102, 2000. ©2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Digital fabrication technologies for on-skin electronics

The development of wearable, on-skin devices is still difficult and expensive. One of the reasons is the fabrication process is not fully digitalized and requires the involvement of skilled engineers. Recent advances in material science have made it possible to fabricate thin and flexible devices conformal to human body. In this position paper, I would like to introduce the fabrication techniques and characteristics of the materials to develop on-skin devices.
Combining interaction and context design to support collaborative argumentation using a tool for synchronous CMC

Empirical studies and theory suggest that educational dialogue can be used to support learners in the development of reasoning, critical thinking and argumentation. This paper presents an educational design for synchronous online peer discussion that guides student dialogue in ways that lead to improved argumentation and collaborative knowledge development. This design includes a mediating interface – or tool, linked to a broader set of online educational activities – a designed local context, where the latter aims to provide conditions that support argumentation. The approach is based on collaborative working and dialogue game approaches to discussion. Preliminary findings with UK Open University students showed the argumentation process was more coherent, varied, deeper and extended when using our interaction design compared with the use of a simple unstructured interface.
Towards consistent software defined networking with logic programming

Software Defined Networking (SDN) allows the construction of virtual networks on top of a datacenter network infrastructure. However, the flexibility also increases the chance of inconsistencies in the network configurations caused by component failures, software bugs, or human errors. The inconsistencies may result in service outage or security policy violation. We propose a model-based verification system to check the consistency of a virtual network. The system models the requirements as logic constraints and extracts the configuration states of a virtual network. The configuration states are checked against the logic constraints by using a SMT solver[1]. The prototype system successfully detects various inconsistencies injected to the testbed and incurs reasonable amount of overheads.
Identification of User Ownership in Digital Forensic using Data Mining Technique

As existing technology used by criminal rapidly changes and growing, digital forensics is also growing and important fields of research for current intelligence, law enforcement and military organizations today. As huge information is stored in digital form, the need and ability to analyze and process this information for relevant evidence has grown in complexity. During criminal activities crime committed use digital devices, forensic examiners have to adopt practical frameworks and methods to recover data for analysis which can comprise as evidence. Data Preparation/ Generation, Data warehousing and Data Mining, are the three essential features involved in the investigation process. The purpose of data mining technique is to find the valuable relationships between data items. This paper proposes an approach for preparation, generation, storing and analyzing of data, retrieved from digital devices which pose as evidence in forensic analysis. Attribute classification model has been presented to categorized user files. The data mining tools has been used to identify user ownership and validating the reliability of the pre-processed data. This work proposes a practical framework for digital forensics on hard drives.