Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Daily Mortality and Air Pollution in the Netherlands

ABSTRACT We studied the association of daily mortality with short-term variations in the ambient concentrations of major gaseous pollutants and PM in the Netherlands. The magnitude of the association in the four major urban areas was compared with that in the remainder of the country. Daily cause-specific mortality counts, air quality, temperature, relative humidity, and influenza data were obtained from 1986 to 1994. The relationship between daily mortality and air pollution was modeled using Poisson regression analysis. We adjusted for potential confounding due to long-term and seasonal trends, influenza epidemics, ambient temperature and relative humidity, day of the week, and holidays, using generalized additive models. Influenza episodes were associated with increased mortality up to 3 weeks later. Daily mortality was significantly associated with the concentration of all air pollutants. An increase in the PM10 concentration by 100 u.g/m3 was associated with a relative risk (RR) of 1.02 for total mortality. The largest RRs were found for pneumonia deaths. Ozone had the most consistent, independent association with mortality. Particulate air pollution (e.g., PM10, black smoke [BS]) was not more consistently associated with mortality than were the gaseous pollutants SO2 and NO2. Aerosol SO4 -2, NO3 -, and BS were more consistently associated with total mortality than was PM10. The RRs for all pollutants were substantially larger in the summer months than in the winter months. The RR of total mortality for PM10 was 1.10 for the summer and 1.03 for the winter. There was no consistent difference between RRs in the four major urban areas and the more rural areas.
Gene expression profiling in follicular lymphoma and its implication for clinical practice

Follicular lymphoma (FL) is characterized by an indolent and relapsing course. Recently, the clinical outcome of FL has been distinguished by immune microenvironment-associated gene signatures. In our study, gene expression profiling (GEP) was performed in 31 non-selected patients with follicular lymphoma (FL), 12 of whom were in relapse and the remaining 19 newly diagnosed. A custom oligonucleotide microarray (Agilent 8 × 15K) was used which contained probes for about 3500 genes, including those that had been previously published as demonstrating significant prognostic value. An unsupervised approach was not able to recognize clinically different FLs. As the previously published prognostically relevant gene signatures could not be properly verified, probably due to microarray platform differences, template matching was therefore used in order to define two gene sets with differential gene expression among our samples. These gene sets shared an overrepresentation of genes with similar biological functions and were termed ‘T-CELL’ and ‘PROLIFERATION’ profiles. The ‘poor profile’ was then defined by a high PROLIFERATION score (upper tertile) and/or low T-CELL score (lower tertile). The ‘poor profile’ cohort contained a significantly higher proportion of relapsed cases (p < 0.05, Fisher's exact test). Additionally, a comparison of samples from initial diagnosis and from relapse showed significant differences mainly in the T-CELL profile (p = 0.036; χ2). This supports the hypothesis that the number of T-cells and their expression pattern play a major role in FL development.
Tribeca: Design for PVT variations with local recovery and fine-grained adaptation

With continued advances in CMOS technology, parameter variations are emerging as a major design challenge. Irregularities during the fabrication of a microprocessor and variations of voltage and temperature during its operation widen worst-case timing margins of the design - degrading performance significantly. Because runtime variations like supply voltage droops and temperature fluctuations depend on the activity signature of the processor's workload, there are several opportunities to improve performance by dynamically adapting margins. This paper explores the power-performance efficiency gains that result from designing for typical conditions while dynamically tuning frequency and voltage to accommodate the runtime behavior of workloads. Such a design depends on a fail-safe mechanism that allows it to protect against margin violations during adaptation; we evaluate several such mechanisms, and we propose a local recovery scheme that exploits spatial variation among the units of the processor. While a processor designed for worst-case conditions might only be capable of a frequency that is 75% of an ideal processor with no parameter variations, we show that a fine-grained global frequency tuning mechanism improves power-performance efficiency (BIPS3/W) by 40% while operating at 91% of an ideal processor's frequency. Moreover, a per-unit voltage tuning mechanism aims to reduce the effect of within-die spatial variations to provide a 55% increase in power-performance efficiency. The benefits reported are clearly substantial in light of the <1% area overhead relative to existing global recovery mechanisms.
Strong roaming authentication technique for wireless and mobile networks

When one considers the broad range of wirelessly connected mobile devices used today, it is clear that integrating such network‐enabled devices into secure roaming over wireless networks is of essential importance. Over the years, many authentication protocols have been suggested to address this issue. Among these protocols, the recently proposed privacy‐preserving universal authentication protocol, Priauth, exceeds the security and efficiency of other authentication techniques. This paper studies the existing roaming authentication protocols and shows that they are not strong enough to provide secure roaming services in three aspects. Further, using Priauth as an example, we propose efficient remedies that fix the weaknesses. The experimental results show that the proposed approaches are feasible in practice. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Paravalvular leak closure for persisting aortic regurgitation after implantation of the corevalve transcatheter valve

Significant aortic regurgitation after TAVI results in lack of symptomatic and prognostic benefit from the procedure and generally requires intervention. While most of the regurgitations can be successfully targeted with standard techniques, occasional patients have restrictive calcification resistant to post‐dilatation and significant regurgitation persists. We present a case of refractory aortic regurgitation successfully treated with percutaneous paravalvular leak closure. An 81‐year‐old man with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis underwent a transfemoral CoreValve TAVI in December 2009. He had significant aortic regurgitation refractory to medical and interventional therapy including balloon post‐dilatation, valve repositioning and valve‐in‐valve reimplantation. Aortic regurgitation remained severe and therefore in early 2013, we proceeded with an attempted percutaneous closure of the residual paraprosthetic leak. Using 6‐French femoral access and a Terumo wire, the defect was successfully crossed with a 4‐French Multipurpose catheter and an 8 mm Amplatzer Vascular Plug 4 device (St. Jude Medical) was deployed through this catheter, resulting in abolition of aortic regurgitation on aortography and TOE, with associated excellent clinical response. Refractory paravalvular aortic regurgitation post CoreValve implantation can be successfully treated using the Amplatzer Vascular Plug 4 device. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Epigenetic Regulation of Infant Neurobehavioral Outcomes

During fetal development and early infancy, environmental signals can induce epigenetic changes that alter neurobehavioral development and later-life mental health. Several neurodevelopmental genetic diseases influence epigenetic regulatory genes and genomic imprinting. Recently, brain epigenetic marks have been involved in idiopathic neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism spectrum disorders. The placenta is an important regulator of the intrauterine environment that links maternal and fetal nervous systems. Placental epigenetic signatures have been associated with the neurodevelopment of healthy newborns quantified through the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Network Neurobehavioral Scales (NNNS). Associations have been observed for DNA methylation of genes involved in cortisol (NR3C1, HSD11B), serotonin (HTR2A), and metabolic (LEP) pathways. Dysregulation of imprinted genes and microRNAs has also been associated with neurobehavior assessed by NNNS. Further analysis is needed to characterize the mechanisms by which the epigenome influences neurodevelopment and the connection between this dysregulation and mental health disorders. In the future, epigenetic marks could serve as functional biomarkers of mental health and cognitive function.
Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems ( MCIS ) 10-1-2008 THE KNOWLEDGE-GAP REDUCTION IN SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Many papers proposed in the software engineering an d information systems literature are dedicated to analysis of software projects missing their sche dul s, exceeding their budgets, delivering software products with poor quality and in some cases even w rong functionality. The expression “software crisis” has been coined since the late 60’s to illu strate this phenomenon. Various solutions has been proposed by academics and practitioners in order to deal with the software crisis, counter these trend s and improve productivity and software quality. Such solutions recommend software process improvement as the best way to build software produ cts needed by modern organizations. Among the well-known solutions, many are based either on soft ware development tools or on software development approaches, methods, processes, and not atio s. Nevertheless, the scope of these solutions seems to be limited and the improvements they provi de are often not significant. We think that since software artifacts are accumulation of knowledge ow ned by organizational stakeholders, the software crisis is due to a knowledge gap between resulting from the discrepancy between the knowledge integrated in software systems and the knowledge ow ned by organizational actors. In particular, integrating knowledge management in software develo pment process permits reducing the knowledge gap through building software products which refle ct at least partly the organization’s know-how. In this paper, we propose a framework which provides a definition of knowledge based on information systems architecture and describes how to deal with the knowledge gap of a knowledge oriented software development process which may help organiz ations in reducing the software crisis impacts.
Development and Validation of the 34-Item Disability Screening Questionnaire (DSQ-34) for Use in Low and Middle Income Countries Epidemiological and Development Surveys

Background Although 80% of persons with disabilities live in low and middle-income countries, there is still a lack of comprehensive, cross-culturally validated tools to identify persons facing activity limitations and functioning difficulties in these settings. In absence of such a tool, disability estimates vary considerably according to the methodology used, and policies are based on unreliable estimates. Methods and Findings The Disability Screening Questionnaire composed of 27 items (DSQ-27) was initially designed by a group of international experts in survey development and disability in Afghanistan for a national survey. Items were selected based on major domains of activity limitations and functioning difficulties linked to an impairment as defined by the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health. Face, content and construct validity, as well as sensitivity and specificity were examined. Based on the results obtained, the tool was subsequently refined and expanded to 34 items, tested and validated in Darfur, Sudan. Internal consistency for the total DSQ-34 using a raw and standardized Cronbach’s Alpha and within each domain using a standardized Cronbach’s Alpha was examined in the Asian context (India and Nepal). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using principal axis factoring (PAF) evaluated the lowest number of factors to account for the common variance among the questions in the screen. Test-retest reliability was determined by calculating intraclass correlation (ICC) and inter-rater reliability by calculating the kappa statistic; results were checked using Bland-Altman plots. The DSQ-34 was further tested for standard error of measurement (SEM) and for the minimum detectable change (MDC). Good internal consistency was indicated by Cronbach’s Alpha of 0.83/0.82 for India and 0.76/0.78 for Nepal. We confirmed our assumption for EFA using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure of sampling well above the accepted cutoff of 0.40 for India (0.82) and Nepal (0.82). The criteria for Bartlett’s test of sphericity were also met for both India (< .001) and Nepal (< .001). Estimates of reliability from the two countries reached acceptable levels of ICC of 0.75 (p<0.001) for India of 0.77 for Nepal (p<0.001) and good strength of agreement for weighted kappa (respectively 0.77 and 0.79). The SEM/MDC was 0.80/2.22 for India and 0.96/2.66 for Nepal indicating a smaller amount of measurement error in the screen. Conclusions In Nepal and India, the DSQ-34 shows strong psychometric properties that indicate that it effectively discriminates between persons with and without disabilities. This instrument can be used in association with other instruments for the purpose of comparing health outcomes of persons with and without disabilities in LMICs.
Neuropathological Correlates of Temporal Pole White Matter Hyperintensities in CADASIL

Background and Purpose— White matter (WM) hyperintensities on MRI or leukoaraiosis is characteristic of stroke syndromes. Increased MRI signals in the anterior temporal pole are suggested to be diagnostic for cerebral autosomal-dominant arteriopathy with subcortical infarcts and leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL), with 90% sensitivity and 100% specificity. The structural correlates of these specific WM hyperintensities seen on T2-weighted and FLAIR sequences in the temporal pole of CADASIL are unclear. We assessed pathological changes in postmortem tissue from the temporal pole to reveal the cause of CADASIL-specific WM hyperintensities. Methods— A combination of tinctorial and immunostaining approaches and in vitro imaging methods were used to quantify the extent of perivascular space (PVS), arteriosclerosis determined as the sclerotic index, WM myelination as the myelin index, and damage within the WM as accumulated degraded myelin basic protein in samples of the anterior temporal pole from 9 CADASIL and 8 sporadic subcortical ischemic vascular dementia cases, and 5 similarly aged (young) and 5 older controls. Luxol fast blue-stained serial sections from a CADASIL case were also used to reconstruct the temporal pole, which was then compared to the MR images. Results— Luxol fast blue sections used to reconstruct the temporal pole revealed an abundance of enlarged PVS in the WM that topographically appeared as indistinct opaque regions. The mean and total areas of the PVS per WM area (%PVS) were significantly greater in CADASIL compared to the controls. The myelin index was severely reduced in CADASIL in relation to the subcortical ischemic vascular dementia and control sample that was consistent with increased immunoreactivity of degraded myelin basic protein, indicating myelin degeneration. Cerebral microvessels associated with the PVS exhibited a 4.5-fold greater number of basophilic (hyalinized) vessels and a 57% increase in the sclerotic index values in CADASIL subjects compared to young controls. A significant correlation between the quantity of hyalinized vessels and sclerotic index values was also apparent (P<0.05). Conclusions— Our findings suggest that MRI hyperintensities in the temporal pole of CADASIL patients are explained by enlarged PVS and degeneration of myelin accompanied by lack of drainage of the interstitial fluid rather than lacunar infarcts. Consistent with the lack of MR hypersignals in the temporal pole of older subcortical ischemic vascular dementia subjects, our observations imply greater progression of pathological changes in CADASIL patients.
Media rituals and festive culture

• Most research on media rituals is based on the assumption that they fulfil a `natural' need in keeping society together. Recently, different scholars have questioned this `neo-Durkheimian' approach, stating that media rituals should not be interpreted as subservient to an existing society, but as active constructors of social order. This article tries to analyse how national identity is being constructed in the longest-running entertainment programme on Dutch television: Te Land ter Zee. The case study shows how images of the nation come about through interaction and negotiation between various parties. The organization plays a key role in the media ritual, but is still dependent for the end-result on the cooperation of the power configurations, participant performance and the appropriation of the programme by the audience. •
How does resource utilization affect fault tolerance?

Many fault-tolerant architectures are based on the single-fault assumption, hence accumulation of dormant faults represents a potential reliability hazard. Based on the example of the fail-silent "Time-Triggered Architecture" we study sources and effects of dormant faults. We identify software as being more prone to dormant faults than hardware. By means of modeling we reveal a high sensitivity of the MTTF to the existence of even a small amount of irregularly used resources. We propose on-line testing as a means of coping with dormant faults and sketch an appropriate test strategy.
Cryptographic framework for analyzing the privacy of recommender algorithms

Recommender algorithms are widely used, ranging from traditional Video on Demand to a wide variety of Web 2.0 services. Unfortunately, the related privacy concerns have not received much attention. In this paper, we study the privacy concerns associated with recommender algorithms and present a cryptographic security model to formulate the privacy properties. We propose two privacy-preserving content-based recommender algorithms and prove their properties. Moreover, we show the potential weakness in some existing collaborative filtering algorithms which claim to provide privacy protection.
Compiler support for reducing leakage energy consumption

Current trends indicate that leakage energy consumption will be an important concern in upcoming process technologies. In this paper, we propose a compiler-based leakage energy optimization strategy. Our strategy is built upon a data-flow analysis that identifies basic blocks that do not use a given functional unit. Based on this information, the compiler then inserts activate/deactivate instructions in the code to set/reset a sleep signal which controls leakage current for functional units. Our experimental results show that the proposed compiler-based strategy is very effective in reducing leakage energy of functional units.
Parental Perceptions of Forgoing Artificial Nutrition and Hydration During End-of-Life Care

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Forgoing artificial nutrition and hydration (FANH) in children at the end of life (EOL) is a medically, legally, and ethically acceptable practice under specific circumstances. However, most of the evidence on FANH involves dying adults. There is a paucity of pediatric evidence to guide health care providers’ and parents’ decision-making around this practice. Objectives were (1) to explore the experiences of bereaved parents when a decision had been made to FANH during EOL care for their child and (2) to describe the perceived quality of death in these children, as reported by their parents. METHODS: This was a qualitative study using in-depth interviews with parents whose children died after a decision to FANH. Parental perceptions about the experience and their child’s quality of death were explored. Interviews were audiotaped and transcribed, then data were analyzed by using interpretive description methodology. RESULTS: All parents were satisfied with their decision to FANH and believed that their child’s death was generally peaceful and comfortable. The child’s perceived poor quality of life was central to the decision to FANH, with feeding intolerance often contributing to this perception. Despite overall satisfaction, all parents had doubts and questions about the decision and benefited from ongoing assurances from the clinical team. CONCLUSIONS: FANH in children at the EOL is an acceptable form of palliation for some parents and may contribute to a death that is perceived to be peaceful and comfortable. In situations in which FANH may be a reasonable possibility, physicians should be prepared to introduce the option.
Predicting Sentiment from Rotten Tomatoes Movie Reviews

The aim of the project is to experiment with different machine learning algorithms to predict the sentiment of unseen reviews from the improved corpus that has the additional sentiment information of all sub-phrases. We use the Rotten Tomatoes movie review corpus1 that has been greatly improved upon, and annotated with a fine sentiment score via Amazon Mechanical Turk. We want to see whether having a finer sentiment annotations for every span of a parsed sentence in the training set would help improve the accuracy in predicting the overall sentiment of unseen sentences.
Gluconeogenesis from Lactate in the Small Intestinal Mucosa of Suckling Rats

ABSTRACT. Glucose formation from uniformly labeled 14C-lactate was studied in the small intestinal mucosa of rats and rabbits. It was found to occur in infant but not in adult (weaned) animals and to be increased by the presence of dibutyryl cyclic AMP or tetradecyl glycidic acid. Similarly the formation of glyceride glycerol was enhanced by tetradecyl glycidic acid but not by glucagon or cyclic AMP. The glycogen content of the intestinal mucosa was always low, but increased significantly at the time of weaning. It is suggested that gluconeogenesis occurs in the small intestinal mucosa of infant rodents to supply glucose to the muscular part of the small intestine.
A simple algorithm for partial redundancy elimination

Partial redundancy elimination was originally formulated as a bidirectional, bit-vector, data-flow analysis problem by Morel and Renvoise. Dhamdhere improved the original algorithm using the concept of edge placement. Knoop, R&uuml;thing, and Steffen viewed the problem within a framework that required only four unidirectional analyses for an optimal solution. Here, we propose an algorithm for partial redundancy elimination based on well known concepts, viz., availability, anticipability, partial availability, and partial anticipability. The algorithm is both computationally and lifetime optimal. Our algorithm also requires four unidirectional data-flow analyses. The main advantage of the algorithm is its simplicity.