Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When Do the "Dollars" Make Sense?

There is growing interest in the application of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) as a tech nique for the economic evaluation of health care programs. A distinguishing feature of CBA is that costs and benefits are expressed in the same units of value—typically money. A popular method for estimating money values for health care programs is the use of willingness-to-pay (or accept) survey techniques known as contingent valuation. This paper presents a conceptual framework to help in the interpretation or design of contingent valuation studies in health care. To be consistent with the theory upon which CBA is built, the authors consider what types of questions should be asked of what populations. They conclude that studies undertaking contingent valuation should dis tinguish between compensating variation and equivalent variation, and recognize that respondents can be gainers or losers in utility and therefore should be asked willing ness-to-pay (or accept) questions as appropriate. Current critical-appraisal guidance in the health care literature for CBA is poor and unlikely to offer useful demarcation between good and bad CBA studies. More work is needed exploring whether recently issued guidelines for contingent valuation in environmental damage assessment are applicable to health care studies. Key words: cost-benefit analysis; contingent valu ation ; willingness to pay. (Med Decis Making 1996;16:288-299)
Patient satisfaction with radioiodine treatment and telephone follow-up for the management of thyrotoxicosis

Background and objective Patient satisfaction is of paramount importance when delivering a patient-centered service. Our hospital has been a center for the use of radioiodine to treat thyrotoxicosis for several years, but we began carrying out patient satisfaction surveys and implementing changes after 2008. The aim of the project reported here was to assess patient satisfaction with our radioiodine treatment and telephone follow-up service, and to compare results with our previous surveys. Patients and methods Anonymous patient satisfaction questionnaires were sent to all patients who received radioiodine treatment for thyrotoxicosis between January 2012 and December 2013. Patients were asked to answer four questions concerning informed consenting, treatment, and telephone follow-up using a four-point Likert scale, and post back the questionnaires. A suggestion box was included for comments and suggestions for improvement. Results A total of 56 questionnaires were posted out (to 44 females and 12 males) and 34 questionnaires were returned (60.8% response rate). Between 94% and 100% of the responders, depending on the question asked, were satisfied with the service they received. Patients also put useful comments and suggestions in the suggestion box provided. Conclusion Patients with thyrotoxicosis were satisfied with our radioiodine treatment and telephone follow-up service. This survey has revealed areas for service improvement, and highlights the importance of patient satisfaction when assessing a patient-centered service.
Comparative Study of MFCC AndLPC Algorithms for Gujrati Isolated WordRecognition

The study performs feature extraction for isolated word recognition using Mel-Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) for Gujarati language. It explains feature extraction methods MFCC and Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) in brief. The paper compares the performances of MFCC and LPC features under Vector Quantization (VQ) method. The dataset comprising of males and females voices were trained and tested where each word has been repeated 5 times by the speakers. The results show that MFCC is performed better feature extractor for speech signals.
Deficient Peptide Loading and MHC Class II Endosomal Sorting in a Human Genetic Immunodeficiency Disease: the Chediak-Higashi Syndrome

The Chediak-Higashi syndrome (CHS) is a human recessive autosomal disease caused by mutations in a single gene encoding a protein of unknown function, called lysosomal-trafficking regulator. All cells in CHS patients bear enlarged lysosomes. In addition, T- and natural killer cell cytotoxicity is defective in these patients, causing severe immunodeficiencies. We have analyzed major histocompatibility complex class II functions and intracellular transport in Epstein Barr Virus–transformed B cells from CHS patients. Peptide loading onto major histocompatibility complex class II molecules and antigen presentation are strongly delayed these cells. A detailed electron microscopy analysis of endocytic compartments revealed that only lysosomal multilaminar compartments are enlarged (reaching 1–2 μm), whereas late multivesicular endosomes have normal size and morphology. In contrast to giant multilaminar compartments that bear most of the usual lysosomal markers in these cells (HLA-DR, HLA-DM, Lamp-1, CD63, etc.), multivesicular late endosomes displayed reduced levels of all these molecules, suggesting a defect in transport from the trans-Golgi network and/or early endosomes into late multivesicular endosomes. Further insight into a possible mechanism of this transport defect came from immunolocalizing the lysosomal trafficking regulator protein, as antibodies directed to a peptide from its COOH terminal domain decorated punctated structures partially aligned along microtubules. These results suggest that the product of the Lyst gene is required for sorting endosomal resident proteins into late multivesicular endosomes by a mechanism involving microtubules.
Micro-structure of disfluencies: basics for conversational speech synthesis

Incremental dialogue systems can produce fast responses and can interact in a human-like fashion. However, these systems occasionally produce erroneous material or run out of things to say. Humans in such situations use disfluencies to remedy their ongoing production and signal this to the listener. We devised a new model for inserting disfluencies into synthesis and evaluated this approach in a perception test. It showed that lengthenings and silent pauses can be built for speech synthesis with low effort and high output quality. Synthesized word fragments and filled pauses, while potentially useful in incremental dialogue systems, appear more difficult to handle for listeners. While we were able to get consistently high ratings for certain types of disfluencies, the need for more basic research on their micro structure became apparent in order to be able to synthesize the fine phonetic detail of disfluencies. For this, we analysed corpus data with regard to distributional and durational aspects of lengthenings, word fragments and pauses. Based on these natural speaking strategies, we explored further to what extent speech can be delayed using disfluency strategies, and how to handle difficult disfluency elements by determining the appropriate amount of durational variation applicable.
Cost-Effectiveness of Meningococcal Vaccination Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in New York City

Background:To control an outbreak of invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) among men who have sex with men (MSM) in New York City, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recommended vaccination of all HIV-infected MSM and at-risk HIV-uninfected MSM in October 2012. Methods:A decision-analytic model estimated the cost-effectiveness of meningococcal vaccination compared with no vaccination. Model inputs, including IMD incidence of 20.5 per 100,000 HIV-positive MSM (42% fatal) and 7.6 per 100,000 HIV-negative MSM (20% fatal), were from Department of Health and Mental Hygiene reported data and published sources. Outcomes included costs (2012 US dollars), IMD cases averted, IMD deaths averted, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs; $/QALY). Scenarios with and without herd immunity were considered, and sensitivity analyses were performed on key inputs. Results:Compared with no vaccination, the targeted vaccination campaign averted an estimated 2.7 IMD cases, 1.0 IMD deaths, with an ICER of $66,000/QALY when herd immunity was assumed. Without herd immunity, vaccination prevented 1.1 IMD cases, 0.4 IMD deaths, with an ICER of $177,000/QALY. In one-way sensitivity analyses, variables that exerted the greatest influence on results in order of effect were the magnitude of herd immunity, IMD case fatality ratio, and IMD incidence. In probabilistic sensitivity analyses, at a cost-effectiveness threshold of $100,000/QALY, vaccination was preferred in 97% of simulations with herd immunity and 20% of simulations without herd immunity. Conclusions:Vaccination during an IMD outbreak among MSM with and without HIV infection was projected to avert IMD cases and deaths and could be cost-effective depending on IMD incidence, case fatality, and herd immunity.
Stochastic algorithm for PID tuning of bus suspension system

The objective of this paper is to improve the comfortness of the bus suspension system by means of suitable stochastic algorithms such as Real coded Genetic Algorithm (RGA) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). In this paper, active suspension of a one-quarter-bus model is considered. The disturbance in the form of displacement is taken as input to the controller. The computation was originally explained and controlled using conventional PID controllers. RGA and PSO based controller are designed and applied to this bus suspension problem in order to minimize the oscillations thereby comfortness can be achieved. The response of the system using RGA and PSO based PID controller is compared with conventional algorithms. The results show that RGA based PID controller is superior in terms overshoot and settling time. The proposed controller is used such that the system is always operating in a closed loop, which will lead to better performance characteristics.
Liposomal Lipopolysaccharide Initiates TRIF-Dependent Signaling Pathway Independent of CD14

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) is recognized by CD14 with Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and initiates 2 major pathways of TLR4 signaling, the MyD88-dependent and TRIF-dependent signaling pathways. The MyD88-dependent pathway induces inflammatory responses such as the production of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-12 via the activation of NFκB and MAPK. The TRIF-dependent pathway induces the production of type-I IFN, and RANTES via the activation of IRF-3 and NFκB, and is also important for the induction of adaptive immune responses. CD14 plays a critical role in initiating the TRIF-dependent signaling pathway response to LPS, to support the internalization of LPS via endocytosis. Here, we clearly demonstrate that intracellular delivery of LPS by LPS-formulated liposomes (LPS-liposomes) initiate only TRIF-dependent signaling via clathrin-mediated endocytosis, independent of CD14. In fact, LPS-liposomes do not induce the production of TNF-α and IL-6 but induce RANTES production in peritoneal macrophages. Additionally, LPS-liposomes could induce adaptive immune responses effectively in CD14-deficient mice. Collectively, our results strongly suggest that LPS-liposomes are useful as a TRIF-dependent signaling-based immune adjuvant without inducing unnecessary inflammation.
Do seizures damage the brain? The epidemiological evidence

Do seizures damage the brain? If they do, how often does it happen? The answers are very dependent on the type of research that is used to investigate the questions. Evidence has come from two areas of study that are of particular interest to paediatricians: the outlook for children who have febrile convulsions, and the prognosis after status epilepticus (in this paper febrile convulsions lasting longer than 30 minutes are called lengthy febrile convulsions and are considered separately from status epilepticus). When considering the outcome after seizures it is important to take account of the different types of study that have provided the evidence in children. The advantage of studying a selected group of patients is that each individual can be carefully evaluated, perhaps using the latest imaging or neurophysiological techniques. The disadvantage is that patients who attend specialised clinics or hospitals tend to have relatively severe seizure problems and a worse outlook. By studying unselected groups of children or adults, population based studies have given a more optimistic view of outcome. This paper will refer particularly to three large population based studies: ### THE CONTROVERSY In 1971 Taylor and Ounsted10 wrote: “We think that the convulsive hypoxia sustained during prolonged febrile convulsions causes the death of vulnerable neurones in the cerebellum, the thalamus, …
FPGA implementation of layered low density parity check error correction codes

In this study, Layered Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Decoder algorithm in Error Correction Codes is implemented on FPGA. Firstly, Layered LDPC Decoder algorithm is designed with floating point in MATLAB, then fixed point model is developed. By testing Floating and Fixed point designs, transmitted information that is deformed by AWGN model is corrected by decoding iteratively. After this step, fixed point design is modelled in Verilog HDL. The design in Verilog HDL is matched with MATLAB model and then the Verilog HDL model is implemented on Xilinx Virtex 7 FPGA. Design that is implemented on FPGA has 280 MHz clock frequency and 25.426 Mbps data speed.
γH2AX Expression in Tumors Exposed to Cisplatin and Fractionated Irradiation

Purpose: Is retention of γH2AX foci useful as a biomarker for predicting the response of xenograft tumors to cisplatin with X-ray? Is a similar approach feasible using biopsies from patients with cervical cancer? Experimental Design: Mice bearing SiHa, WiDr, or HCT116 xenograft tumors were exposed to cisplatin and/or three daily doses of 2 Gy. Tumors were excised 24 h after treatment and single cells were analyzed for clonogenic fraction and retention of γH2AX foci. Tumor biopsies were examined using 47 paraffin-embedded sections from untreated tumors and 24 sections from 8 patients undergoing radiochemotherapy for advanced cancer of the cervix. Results: Residual γH2AX measured 24 h after cisplatin injection accurately predicted surviving fraction in SiHa and WiDr xenografts. When a clinically equivalent protocol using cisplatin and fractionated irradiation was employed, the fraction of xenograft cells lacking γH2AX ranked survival accurately but underestimated tumor cell kill. Residual γH2AX foci were detected in clinical samples; on average, only 25% of tumor nuclei exhibited one or more γH2AX foci before treatment and 74% after the start of treatment. Conclusion: γH2AX can provide useful information on the response of human tumors to the combination of cisplatin and radiation, but prediction becomes less accurate as more time elapses between treatment and tumor biopsy. Use of residual γH2AX as a biomarker for response is feasible when cell survival exceeds ∼20%, but heterogeneity in endogenous and treatment-induced γH2AX must be considered.
The Hemorrhagic Coli Pilus (HCP) of Escherichia coli O157:H7 Is an Inducer of Proinflammatory Cytokine Secretion in Intestinal Epithelial Cells

Background Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli (EHEC) O157:H7, the causative agent of hemorrhagic colitis and the hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), produces long bundles of type IV pili (TFP) called hemorrhagic coli pili (HCP). HCP are capable of mediating several phenomena associated with pathogenicity: i) adherence to human and bovine epithelial cells; ii) invasion of epithelial cells; iii) hemagglutination of rabbit erythrocytes; iv) biofilm formation; v) twitching motility; and vi) specific binding to laminin and fibronectin. HCP are composed of a 19 kDa pilin subunit (HcpA) encoded by the hcpA chromosomal gene (called prepilin peptidase-dependent gene [ppdD] in E. coli K-12). Methodology/Principal Findings In this study we investigated the potential role of HCP of E. coli O157:H7 strain EDL933 in activating the release of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines from a variety of host epithelial cells. We found that purified HCP and a recombinant HcpA protein induced significant release of IL-8 and TNF-α, from cultured polarized intestinal cells (T84 and HT-29 cells) and non-intestinal HeLa cells. Levels of proinflammatory IL-8 and TNF-α, but not IL-2, IL6, or IL-10 cytokines, were increased in the presence of HCP and recombinant HcpA after 6 h of incubation with ≥50 ng/ml of protein, suggesting that stimulation of IL-8 and TNF-α are dose and time-dependent. In addition, we also demonstrated that flagella are potent inducers of cytokine production. Furthermore, MAPK activation kinetics studies showed that EHEC induces p38 phosphorylation under HCP-producing conditions, and ERK1/2 and JNK activation was detectable after 3 h of EHEC infection. HT-29 cells were stimulated with epidermal growth factor stimulation of HT-29 cells for 30 min leading to activation of three MAPKs. Conclusions/Significance The HcpA pilin monomer of the HCP produced by EHEC O157:H7 is a potent inducer of IL-8 and TNF-α release, an event which could play a significant role in the pathogenesis of hemorrhagic colitis caused by this pathogen.
Quantification of low voltage network reinforcement costs: A statistical approach

Long-term investment for large-scale low voltage (LV) (0.4 kV in the U.K.) networks is one of the key issues concerned by distribution network operators (DNOs). The major difficulties in carrying out long-term LV distribution network investment at the system level are the extensiveness of these networks and the very limited network information, such as utilizations of transformers and circuits. To overcome these difficulties, this paper proposes a novel statistical method for quantifying the reinforcement costs in LV distribution networks driven by demand growth. The triangular probability distribution is used to represent the distribution of utilization levels of circuits and transformers in LV networks, allowing the assessment of the scale of network assets to be reinforced based on probabilities. The demand driven reinforcement for a given period is evaluated in terms of thermal violation and voltage violation. Total reinforcement costs are determined based on the evaluated proportions of assets to be reinforced, their unit costs and total amount. The proposed statistical method is implemented into a practical distribution system in Great Britain (GB).
In vitro transcription profiling of the σS subunit of bacterial RNA polymerase: re-definition of the σS regulon and identification of σS-specific promoter sequence elements

Specific promoter recognition by bacterial RNA polymerase is mediated by σ subunits, which assemble with RNA polymerase core enzyme (E) during transcription initiation. However, σ70 (the housekeeping σ subunit) and σS (an alternative σ subunit mostly active during slow growth) recognize almost identical promoter sequences, thus raising the question of how promoter selectivity is achieved in the bacterial cell. To identify novel sequence determinants for selective promoter recognition, we performed run-off/microarray (ROMA) experiments with RNA polymerase saturated either with σ70 (Eσ70) or with σS (EσS) using the whole Escherichia coli genome as DNA template. We found that Eσ70, in the absence of any additional transcription factor, preferentially transcribes genes associated with fast growth (e.g. ribosomal operons). In contrast, EσS efficiently transcribes genes involved in stress responses, secondary metabolism as well as RNAs from intergenic regions with yet-unknown function. Promoter sequence comparison suggests that, in addition to different conservation of the −35 sequence and of the UP element, selective promoter recognition by either form of RNA polymerase can be affected by the A/T content in the −10/+1 region. Indeed, site-directed mutagenesis experiments confirmed that an A/T bias in the −10/+1 region could improve promoter recognition by EσS.
A New Technology That Can Enhance Light-Matter Interactions

The purpose of optical antennas is to convert the energy of free propagating radiation to localized energy, and vice versa. Although this is similar to what radio wave and microwave antennas do, optical antennas exploit the unique properties of metal nanostructures, which behave as strongly coupled plasmas at optical frequencies. It is hoped that optical antennas can increase the efficiency of light-matter interactions in important applications, such as light-emitting devices, photovoltaics, and spectroscopy. Electromagnetic antennas, a key enabling technology for devices such as cellular phones and televisions, are mostly used in the radio-wave or microwave regime of the electromagnetic spectrum. At optical frequencies, on the contrary, electromagnetic fields are controlled by re-directing the wave fronts of propagating radiation by means of lenses, mirrors, and diffractive elements. Because this type of manipulation is based on the wave nature of electromagnetic fields, it cannot be used to control fields on the subwavelength scale. In contrast, radio wave and microwave technology predominantly uses antennas to manipulate electromagnetic fields, controlling them on the subwavelength scale and interfacing efficiently between propagating radiation and localized fields. Recent research in nano-optics and plasmonics has generated considerable interest in optical antennas, and several current studies are exploring ways of translating established radio wave and microwave antenna theories Lukas Novotny Optical Antennas A New Technology That Can Enhance Light-Matter Interactions
Digital predistortion optimization using normalization gain adjustment in wideband systems

Digital predistortion (DPD) is a highly cost-effective technique to linearize high power amplifiers (HPAs) in wireless applications. In this paper we propose a normalization gain control in the predistortion function synthesis to provide further improvement in terms of correction and linearity performance. The linearity dependency of the linearized amplifier upon the normalization gain and the transmitted signal has been investigated. It is shown that he linearity performance of the predistorter depends on the normalization gain factor. Transmitted signal characteristics such as probability density function (pdf) or peak to average power ratio (PAPR) affect to DPD performance. Thus, different normalization gain factors will be suitable depending on the transmitted signal. Tests carried out in LTE downlink and uplink transmissions confirm that the DPD performance improves when an adjustment of the normalization gain is included in the predistortion extract process.
Bursty-Interference Analysis Techniques for Analyzing Complex Real-Time Task Models

Due to the recent trend towards building complex real-time cyber-physical systems, system designers need to develop and choose expressive formal models for representing such systems, as the model should be adequately expressive such that it can accurately convey the relevant characteristics of the system being modeled. Compared to the classical sporadic task model, there exist a number of real-time task models that are more expressive. However, such models are often complex and thus are rather difficult to be analyzed efficiently. Due to this reason, prior analysis methods for dealing with such complex task models are pessimistic. In this paper, a novel analysis technique, namely the bur sty-interference analysis, is presented for analyzing two common expressive real-time task models, the general self-suspending task model and the deferrable server task model. This technique is used to derive new uniprocessor utilization-based schedulability tests and rate-monotonic utilization bounds for the two considered task models scheduled under rate-monotonic scheduling. Extensive experiments presented herein show that our proposed tests improve upon prior tests in all scenarios, in many cases by a wide margin. To the best of our knowledge, these are the first techniques that can efficiently analyze the general self-suspending and deferrable server task models on uniprocessors.