Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physical Activity Is Associated with Attenuated Disease Progression in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Introduction Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) progression is variable and affects several disease domains, including decline in lung function, exercise capacity, muscle strength, and health status as well as changes in body composition. We aimed to assess the longitudinal association of physical activity (PA) with these a priori selected components of disease progression. Methods We studied 114 COPD patients from the PAC-COPD cohort (94% male, mean [SD], 70 yr [8 yr] of age, 54 [16] forced expiratory volume in 1 s % predicted) at baseline and 2.6 yr (0.6 yr) later. Baseline PA was assessed by accelerometry. Multivariable general linear models were built to assess the association between PA and changes in lung function, functional exercise capacity, muscle strength, health status, and body composition. All models were adjusted for confounders and the respective baseline value of each measure. Results Per each 1000 steps higher baseline PA, forced expiratory volume in 1 s declined 7 mL less (P < 0.01), forced vital capacity 9 mL less (P = 0.03) and carbon monoxide diffusing capacity 0.10 mL·min−1·mm Hg−1 less (P = 0.04), while the St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire symptom domain deteriorated 0.4 points less (P = 0.03), per year follow-up. Physical activity was not associated with changes in functional exercise capacity, muscle strength, other domains of health status or body composition. Conclusions Higher PA is associated with attenuated decline in lung function and reduced health status (symptoms domain) deterioration in moderate-to-very severe COPD patients.
Syntax-Centered and Semantics-Centered Views of Discourse: Can They be Reconciled?

In this paper, we argue that there are two seemingly incompatible perceptions of discourse structure: a semantics-centered view and a syntax-centered view. In the semantics-based view, discourse structure is viewed as a structure that identifies the most important portions of the text and describes how they combine semantically. In the syntax-based view, discourse structure is viewed as an extension of syntax to the discourse level, which essentially links the syntactic trees for the individual sentences into one big tree structure. We will argue that these differences in perception may explain some of the central disagreements in the literature about the nature of discourse structure, in particular whether discourse structure is best viewed as a tree or a general graph. However, the two views are not as incompatible as they may seem at first sight, since the semantic discourse structure can be reinterpreted as a functor-argument structure that is derived from the syntactic tree structure. We describe the ramifications of the two views for the analysis of discourse markers, which are the focus of the discourse annotation in the Penn Discourse Treebank, and show how the syntax-based view can maintain a tree structure even for examples that seem to exhibit non-tree like properties in a semantics-based view. Most research on discourse structure builds on the premise that coherent texts have an associated internal structure that places constraints on how the meaning of the whole text is computed from the meanings of its individual clauses and sentences, and how the individual clauses and sentences are presented in the linear order. When texts appear coherent and easily comprehensible to readers, it is because they have a well-formed discourse structure that respects the listeners' conventions about linear order and sensible semantic and pragmatic interpretation, whereas texts that lack this property are perceived as being incoherent and difficult to comprehend. Discourse structure is mostly viewed as a tree structure, or at least a very tree-like structure, where the most important portions of the text are assumed to be located at or near the top of the tree, and the deepest parts of the tree are supposed to encode supplementary information that is less central to the writer's purposes and can be more easily excluded from a summary of the text. The individual branches in the discourse tree define discourse units which are supposed to form coherent textual units that can be interpreted in isolation, a property that can be used in reverse to identify the discourse units in a text. To varying degrees, this general framework forms the theoretical basis for discourse theories like Rhetorical Structure Theory (Mann and Thompson, 1987), the Linguistic Discourse Model (Polanyi, 1988), and Segmented Discourse Representation Theory (Lascarides and Asher, 2007), and for discourse treebanks like the English RST treebank (Carlson et al., 2001), the Discourse Graphbank (Wolf and Gibson, 2005), the Penn Discourse Treebank
An Integrated Approach for Information Security Using Recursive Transposition & Addition of Blocks (RTAB)

In this paper a novel cipher based on private key block ciphering protocol is proposed which is to be implemented in bit level. It considers the source file as a stream of bits ,which is then divided into a no of 2,4,8,16,32,64,128,256.This technique directly involves all the bits of blocks in a Boolean operation. The same operation is repeated for different block sizes as per the specification of a session key to generate the final encryption stream. As this is symmetric in nature, hence decoding is done following the same procedure. There is a tendency that the execution time of this cipher linearly changes with the size of the file to be encrypted. It is a kind of block cipher and symmetric in nature hence, decoding is done following the same procedure. A comparison of the proposed technique with existing and industrially accepted RSA and TDES has also been done in terms of frequency distribution and homogeneity of source and encrypted files.
Lottery Router:A Customized Arbitral Priority

For the different communications of specific NOC (network on chip) applications, this paper proposes a customized arbitral priority NOC router. This router uses the arbitral mechanism based on Lottery algorithm instead of the RR (round robin) algorithm, which is widely used in the arbiter of current NOC routers. The arbitral priority of Lottery router can be customized by users according to the communication cases among IPs in NOC. Through the analysis of different priority input ports competing for the same output port, it is illustrated that the Lottery mechanism distinguish different priorities and guarantee the response to the high priority port. This paper uses SystemC to implement the router and build a NOC based on the 2D Mesh to simulate and compare the performance of Lottery router with RR router in average delay and the network resources utilization.
A Single-chip VHF And UHF Receiver For Radio Paging

The authors describe a signal-chip radio receiver for VHF and UHF digital wide-area paging transmissions up to 500 MHz with frequency-shift-keying (FSK) data rates up to 1200 Bd. All channel filtering is on-chip and the IC requires only 28 surface mounted external components and a quartz crystal to make a complete receiver. With -126-dBm sensitivity, 70-dB adjacent channel rejection, and 60-dB intermodulation immunity, it satisfies all known pager specifications, worldwide, using the POCSAG paging code. High-dynamic-range mixers, integrated gyrator filters, small-area high-pass filters, and an efficient FSK demodulator combine to give good performance with a current consumption of only 2.7 mA from a 2-V supply. High-density on-chip capacitors in a bipolar process designed for analog RF applications give a chip size of only 4.6*3.8 mm. >
European Academy of Neurology guideline on trigeminal neuralgia

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is an extremely painful condition which can be difficult to diagnose and treat. In Europe, TN patients are managed by many different specialities. Therefore, there is a great need for comprehensive European guidelines for the management of TN. The European Academy of Neurology asked an expert panel to develop recommendations for a series of questions that are essential for daily clinical management of patients with TN.
A Knowledge Based System For House Design

The aim of this paper is to describe a Knowledge based system for the design of standard house (one family, two levels ). The system helps in different tasks: Asking user requirements and checking their consistency, proposing room layout design, justifiying solutions. Design process is performed handling heterogeneous sources of knowledge: Architectural object (structure, functionality, and environment) users of the house (number of persons, activities, cultural environment, personal views, hobbies, etc. ); good design practice (composition rules, aesthetic criteria, design strategies).
A practical approach to DSM repeater insertion: satisfying delay constraints while minimizing area and power

Repeaters are now widely used to increase the performance of long on-chip interconnections in CMOS VLSI. Significantly high power consumption and area overhead due to optimal repeater insertion will soon be a bigger problem with the number of on-chip repeaters projecting to reach 700,000 in a 70 nm CMOS process. In this paper, we look at devising a methodology for minimizing power and area overhead of repeaters while meeting the target performance goals of on-chip interconnect lines. We integrate area and power overhead constraints along with delay into a repeater design methodology. We present a mathematical treatment for finding the number of repeaters and their sizes required for minimizing area and power overhead while meeting a given delay target. These expressions can easily be integrated into a repeater design methodology and CAD tool for interconnect planning. Our model is based on the Alpha-power law governing the MOSFET model to account for the short-channel effects and resistive loads that arise in deep sub-micron technologies. Results in 0.16 /spl mu/m, CMOS technology show that significant, reduction in area and power, of repeaters can be obtained by using the above design methodology.
A Comprehensive Review of Studies on Syntactic Structures and Semantic Features of De-Constructions in Chinese

The de-construction is one of frequently used phrase structures in Mandarin Chinese. It is a DP often used as subject or object in a sentence. Meanwhile, it cannot be used as a predicate, or be modified by adverbs, nor does it have tense or aspect marker. This paper aims at providing a comprehensive review of previous research on the syntactic structures and semantic features of de-constructions. Major issues and the relevant findings from four areas of de-constructions are presented, namely, features and functions of de and de-constructions, the head of the de-construction, the internal and external relations of de-constructions, and the category of the verb in the [NP NP de VP] construction. Finally, representative opinions and proposals related to the syntactic structures and semantic features of de and de-constructions are summarized and new scope for future research is proposed.
Inuit women's attitudes and experiences towards cervical cancer and prevention strategies in Nunavik, Quebec.

OBJECTIVES To describe the attitudes about and experiences with cervical cancer, Pap smear screenings and the HPV vaccine among a sample of Inuit women from Nunavik, Quebec, Canada. We also evaluated demographic and social predictors of maternal interest in HPV vaccination. STUDY DESIGN A mixed method design was used with a cross-sectional survey and focus group interviews. METHODS Women were recruited through convenience sampling at 2 recruitment sites in Nunavik from March 2008 to June 2009. Differences in women's responses by age, education, and marital status were assessed. Unconditional logistic regression was used to determine predictors of women's interest in HPV vaccination for their children. RESULTS Questionnaires were completed by 175 women aged 18-63, and of these women a total of 6 women aged 31-55 participated in 2 focus groups. Almost half the survey participants had heard of cervical cancer. Women often reported feelings of embarrassment and pain during the Pap smear and older women were more likely to feel embarrassed than younger women. Only 27% of women had heard of the HPV vaccine, and 72% of these women were interested in vaccinating their child for HPV. No statistically significant predictors of maternal interest in HPV vaccination were found. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that health service planners and providers in Nunavik should be aware of potential barriers to Pap smear attendance, especially in the older age groups. Given the low awareness of cervical cancer, the Pap smear and the HPV vaccine, education on cervical cancer and prevention strategies may be beneficial. 1Published 'ahead-of-print' 26 October 2011 (at www.ijch.fi ) in accordance with previous publisher's routines.
FILTER BANK MULTICARRIER BASED DYNAMIC SPECTRUM IN OSI LAYER

Orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), used for sharing the spectrum among different nodes in a dynamic spectrum access network, imposes tight timing and frequency synchronization requirements. The use of filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), understood alternative, for dynamic spectrum access and examine FBMC PHY layer, Data Link Layer, Network Layer in reliably transmitting data packets at a very high rate, Next to understand the impact of FBMC beyond the PHY layer, distributed and adaptive medium access control (MAC) and Aggregation Algorithm protocol that coordinates data packet traffic among the different nodes in the network in a best-effort manner. The FBMC an order of magnitude performance improvement over OFDM in several aspects packet transmission delays, channel access delays, and effective data transmission rate available to each node. Finally, through extensive simulations, we showed that FBMC outperforms OFDM with an order of magnitude improvement over large distances. FBMC can achieve about smaller end-to- end packet delivery delays and low packet drop probabilities.
Attribute Based Mechanism Using Cipher Policy Verification

Cloud storage enables users to remotely store their data and enjoy the on demand high quality cloud applications without the burden of local hardware and software management. To achieve the assurances of cloud data integrity and availability and enforce the quality of dependable cloud storage service for users. This project proposed an effective Attribute based encryption with verifiable outsourced Decryption. Attribute Based Encryption is a standard encryption that allows users to encrypt and decrypt data based on user attributes. It is flexible access control of encrypted data stored in the cloud. It is using access polices and attributes associated with private keys. The drawbacks of this scheme are that decryption involves expensive pairing operations. It does not guarantee the correctness of the transformation done by the cloud. We consider a new requirement of ABE with outsourced decryption perform verifiability process. This verifiability used guarantees that a user can efficiently check if the transformation is done correctly. The main aim of this project is without relying on random oracles.
Comparing representations for product architecture design through life-cycle evaluation methods

Product architectures are important determinants of life-cycle performance. Many modelling languages have been proposed to represent such architectures and thereby support their design. This paper assesses product architecture modelling languages with respect to their ability to support assessment against different life-cycle performance objectives. In order to do so, the information represented by 15 product modelling languages is compared with the information requirements of 27 assessment methods. The MOKA Modelling Language was determined to be the most comprehensive modelling language of those reviewed. However, even this most comprehensive language only includes the information required to evaluate 33% of the assessment methods we reviewed. In conclusion, there is a need to bridge the gap between the information provided by product modelling languages and that required by assessment methods. Possible approaches to achieve this include simplifying assessment methods, extending product modelling languages or developing methods for predicting detailed information about the design from preliminary design decisions. However, the potential complexity of such methods must be balanced with usability to ensure architecture modelling languages and life-cycle evaluation methods can support real engineering projects.
MFDp2

Intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs) are either entirely disordered or contain disordered regions in their native state. IDPs were found to be abundant in complex organisms and implicated in numerous cellular processes. Experimental annotation of disorder lags behind the rapidly growing sizes of the protein databases, and thus computational methods are used to close this gap and to investigate the disorder. MFDp2 is a novel content-rich and user-friendly web server for sequence-based prediction of protein disorder that builds upon our residue-level disorder predictor MFDp and chain-level disorder content predictor DisCon. It applies novel post-processing filters and uses sequence alignment to improve predictive quality. Using a new benchmark data set, which has reduced sequence identity to corresponding training data sets, MFDp2 is shown to provide competitive predictive quality when compared with MFDp and a comprehensive set of 13 other state-of-the-art predictors, including publicly available versions of the top predictors from CASP9. Our server obtains the highest Mathews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) and the second best Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUC). In addition to the disorder predictions, our server also outputs well-described sequence-derived information that allows profiling the predicted disorder. We conveniently visualize sequence conservation, predicted secondary structure, relative solvent accessibility and alignments to chains with annotated disorder. We allow predictions for multiple proteins at the same time and each prediction can be downloaded as text-based (parsable) file. The web server, which includes help pages and tutorial, is freely available at biomine.ece. ualberta.ca/MFDp2/.
Advanced sensors placement for accurate 3D needle shape reconstruction

Needles are tools widely used in minimally invasive surgery. During such procedures the localization of the needle and its tip is a challenging situation because of the needle deformations due to its interactions with tissues. To tackle this problem, instrumented needles with sensors have been currently developed to allow needle reconstruction and tip localization. In conventional surgery this difficulty is overcome by medical imaging. The interest in using an instrumented needle resides in the possible dispense of medical imaging. This papers develops new methods to reconstruct needles in three dimensions and to find the locations of sensors which minimizes the error of reconstruction of the needle. A notable feature of our method is that input data are based on real needle data, that should assure a better representation of reality. Reconstructions simulated with 22 gauge 200 mm long needles show that the localization of the needle tip is more accurate by 18% to 52% with optimal sensors positions compared to equidistant sensors positions.
Remembering NEA Stewart-Dore: Reading and Writing the (School) World

This article explores Nea Stewart-Dore's legacy, specifically the ERICA model for supporting reading in the content areas, developed with Bert Morris in 1984, and the contribution of this model to text-based approaches to language and literacy education adopted in Australia in recent decades. The authors report on the way that teachers at a regional secondary school developed a whole school approach to teaching reading and writing across the curriculum. Supported by academic partners, they applied a text-based pedagogy comprising strategies such as those advocated by Morris and Stewart-Dore (1984).
STUDENT-DRIVEN MOODLE COURSEWARE DESIGN FOR ADVANCED ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Linguistic courseware design requires accurate planning and involves the implementation of pedagogical principles in order to achieve authenticity, learner autonomy and to develop the students’ cognitive processes (Fenner and Newby, 2000 [5]). It is a complex procedure which calls for careful consideration of all the factors and variables of a specific learning situation, including the learner’s needs, motives, expectations, responses and results. The use of a learning environment like the learning management system Moodle facilitates enormously the course designer in the elicitation, collection and analysis of student data about all these elements. Moodle records and files in an easily retrievable modality all the students’ activities and interactions in an online course, namely attendance and views records, controlled exercises, forum discussions, tasks, answers to quizzes and questionnaires, collaborative activities such as glossaries and wikis, personal and group blogs, private e-mail. These data are particularly informative when they are produced by university students, who are expert learners and can provide insightful information about their own cognitive and metacognitive processes as well as their reactions and opinions on the features of the course. This study is aimed at developing a research action method to gather and analyse this wealth of data in order to redesign and improve online or blended courses on the basis of the students’ elicited and non-elicited output. After examining the data sources and data types, a data processing and analysis model is presented, followed by the sample case study of an experimental English linguistics online workshop developed at the Faculty of Foreign Languages and Literatures of the University of Torino.
Chernoff face graphs as an efficient way of creating comprehensive Patient Profiles in SAS

Patient Profile listings usually contain a large range of data domains and can run for many pages. With such a large volume of information, it may not be simple or quick to draw together a holistic view of a patient’s health or group patients together. But it doesn’t need to be that way! Instead, imagine a comprehensive graph containing a patient’s key data in one place, making interpretation of Patient Profiles much easier. One graph can be used to reflect various health characteristics such as vital signs and laboratory data. Just as the face can reveal one’s health, why not present the patient’s ‘face’ on a graph? Chernoff faces can display multivariate data in the shape of a human face. The aim of the proposed paper is to present useful tips on how to create Patient Profile face graphs in SAS®.