Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rituximab in the treatment of systemic sclerosis-related interstitial lung disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES To assess the effect of rituximab (RTX) on the lung function parameters in SSc interstitial lung disease (SSc-ILD) patients. METHODS PubMed and Embase were searched to identify studies on SSc-ILD treated with RTX, confined to a predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed on the included studies on changes in forced vital capacity (FVC) and diffusion capacity of carbon monoxide (DLCO) from baseline to 6 and 12 months of follow-up. RESULTS A total of 20 studies (2 randomized controlled trials, 6 prospective studies, 5 retrospective studies and 7 conference abstracts) were included (n = 575). RTX improved FVC from baseline by 4.49% (95% CI 0.25, 8.73) at 6 months and by 7.03% (95% CI 4.37, 9.7) at 12 months. Similarly, RTX improved DLCO by 3.47% (95% CI 0.99, 5.96) at 6 months and 4.08% (95% CI 1.51, 6.65) at 12 months. In the two studies comparing RTX with other immunosuppressants, improvement of FVC by 6 months in the RTX group was 1.03% (95% CI 0.11, 1.94) greater than controls. At the 12 month follow-up, RTX treatment was similar to controls in terms of both FVC and DLCO. Patients treated with RTX had a lower chance of developing infections compared with controls [odds ratio 0.256 (95% CI 0.104, 0.626), I2 = 0%, P = 0.47). CONCLUSIONS Treatment with RTX in SSc-ILD was associated with a significant improvement of both FVC and DLCO during the first year of treatment. RTX use was associated with lower infectious adverse events.
Factors Influencing Physician Recommendation for Intraarticular Therapies in Osteoarthritis: Results From a Qualitative Study

Several current and many emerging osteoarthritis (OA) treatments are intraarticular (IA) injections; however, little is known about physicians' perceptions and beliefs regarding IA injections or their considerations when deciding whether to recommend them to patients. We aimed to investigate physician‐perceived benefits and drawbacks of offering IA injections.
Learning to Classify Human Needs of Events from Category Definitions with Prototypical Instantiation

We study the problem of learning an event classifier from human needs category descriptions, which is challenging due to: (1) the use of highly abstract concepts in natural language descriptions, (2) the difficulty of choosing key concepts. To tackle these two challenges, we propose LeaPI, a zero-shot learning method that first automatically generate weak labels by instantiating high-level concepts with prototypical instances and then trains a human needs classifier with the weakly labeled data. To filter noisy concepts, we design a reinforced selection algorithm to choose high-quality concepts for instantiation. Experimental results on the human needs categorization task show that our method outperforms baseline methods, producing substantially better precision.
Robot Path Planning based on an Improved Q-learning Method

—Path planning is one of the most basic and pivotal aspects in research of robots, which is to solve the walking problem of robots. As a widely used reinforcement learning method, Q-learning is employed when the robot has no prior knowledge of how its actions affect its environment. For Q-learning method, there is a problem of exploration-utilization in robot path planning. Therefore, robot path planning based on an improved Q-learning method is proposed. According to the environment in which the robot is located, a Markov decision model is established to design the reward-punishment mechanism and action strategy of the robot in the path planning. During the robot training process, a heuristic search function is defined and added to the value iteration algorithm in order to reduce the invalid path exploration in the environment. The experimental results show that the proposed method not only reduces the length of path and improves the efficiency of path planning, but also accelerates the speed of robot learning. This indicates the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Panel Quantile Regression with Time-Invariant Rank

I propose a quantile-based random coefficient panel data framework to study heterogeneous causal effects. The heterogeneity depends on unobservables, as opposed to heterogeneity for which we can add interaction terms. This connects it to other structural quantile models. My approach uses panel data to address “endogeneity,” meaning dependence between the explanatory variables and the random coefficients. The random coefficient vector depends on an unobserved, scalar, time-invariant “rank” variable, in which outcomes are monotonic at a particular point. I develop the theory first in a simplified model and then extend results to a more general model. First, I establish identification and uniformly consistent estimation. Second, I use a Dirichlet approach to establish small-n confidence sets or uniform confidence bands of the coefficient function. Third, I establish asymptotic normality of the coefficient estimator in the simplified model by applying the functional delta method to the empirical process. This facilitates a bootstrap confidence interval for the coefficient estimator at each specific rank. Finally, I illustrate the proposed methods by examining the causal effect of a country’s oil wealth on its political violence and military defense spending. JEL classification: C23, C21
Feature Reduction for Optimum SMS Spam Filtering Using Domain Knowledge

—Most of the work done towards content-based SMS spam ﬁltering has suggested the use of Bag of Words, word or character n-gram models, which can result on a huge number of features. In this paper, we study the possibility of using the minimal number of optimal features to classify SMS spam messages by introducing new features based on domain knowledge. Our experimental studies show that, by using our smaller set of features along with lighter models, the results achieved outperform BoW approaches that use dozens of features. The goal of our study is to enhance the performance of SMS classiﬁcation when applied in a limited resource mobile devices.
Pros and Cons of Recombinant DNA Technology in Animal Diseases Diagnosis, Prevention and Control

The advent of better diagnostics and vaccines are instrumentation in of animal health management programs prevention and control of many important diseases of livestock in a cost-effective manner. Most of the conventional vaccines have the limitations like residual virulence, extensive safety precautions, difficulty in production, cost constraints and sometimes requirement of specific growth conditions like cell associated nature of the pathogen. Further, increasing populations of both humans and animals, changes in demography and ecological disturbances have led to unprecedented succession of new pathogens which have the capacity to jump species barriers. However, recent advances in molecular biology, biotechnology, immunology, immunogenetics and genetic engineering have paved new ways in the development of more effective, safe and economical vaccines and diagnostics for not only to the conventional pathogens but also to the unprecedented virulent or exotic pathogens. In this review the authors have highlighted the recent developments in the recombinant DNA technology, its advantages and limitations and the future challenges in reference to the animal disease diagnosis and control.
EXAMINING DRUG TRAFFICKING AS A HUMAN SECURITY THREAT IN VIETNAM

Largely based on secondary data analysis in combination with data acquired from 6 semi-structured interviews (Interviewees in in this research consist of 2 anti-drug trafficking police officers (coded as PO1; PO2), 1 staff from Department Against Social Evil (SE), 1 staff from Hanoi MOLISA (HM), 1 researcher on drug trafficking in Vietnam (RE1) and 1 father of drug addict (FA1), this article examines the nexus between drug trafficking and human insecurity in the context of Vietnam. By adopting the worldwide well-known analytical framework of human security developed by UNDP, this paper reveals that in Vietnam drug trafficking has mounted to an considerable multifaceted threat to human security particularly on the dimensions of economic, health, personal, community and security. In relation to the training of the anti-drug trafficking police, these revelations suggest that the crime should be considered as not only a criminal problem but also an important issue of non-traditional security. This infers that the police training could be undertaken by both police and security academies. With regard to the training curriculum, it should pay more attention on powering its potential victims to develop their resilience and capacity to escape from the victimization. Concerning the methods for policing drug trafficking, since the crime is determined as a security threat, it could be reasonable to utilize some strategies of governing human security issues in order to better control the crime.
THE STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES OF CHITOSAN/POLYETHYLENE GLYCOL/SILICA TERNARY HYBRID ORGANIC-INORGANIC FILMS

The ternary hybrid films consisting of chitosan(CS),polyethylene glycol(PEG)and nano-sized silica which was surface-modified by amino groups(RNSA)were prepared.The structures of the blend membranes were characterized by attenuation total reflection-infrared spectroscopy(ATR-IR),X-ray diffraction(XRD),optical microscopy(OM)and differential scanning calorimetry(DSC). The results showed that the addition of silica affected not only the distribution and crystallinity of PEG on the sample surface,but also the .
Dietary shifts and behavioral adjustments of North American beaver (Castor canadensis) in a novel California riparian ecosystem

1 Rapid anthropogenic change can create novel ecosystems—human-modified environments 2 with no natural analogs—that confront species with new habitat conditions and new species 3 assemblages. Streams and rivers are particularly affected, especially those in arid and 4 Mediterranean climates. Little is known about California’s beaver (Castor canadensis) populations, 5 despite the fact that they are once-again becoming widespread and are assuming important roles in 6 riparian communities. We examined beaver foraging behavior and preferences in a novel riparian 7 ecosystem in California’s Central Valley, placing our results in the context of optimal foraging 8 theory. We found that, consistent with previous studies, beaver foraging patterns were heavily 9 influenced by plant species composition, structure, and distance from the creek. Plants closest to 10 the creek were foraged more frequently, but not more intensively, than those further away. Smaller 11 stems were consumed significantly more frequently and intensively at all distances. Contrary to 12 expectations, we found strong evidence of dietary shifts to a nonnative but widely available food 13 source, Himalayan blackberry (Rubus armeniacus), suggesting that beavers might modify their 14 foraging behavior to take advantage of new resources in altered plant communities We also found 15 evidence that beavers may relax their adherence to central place foraging strategies as a result of 16 reduced predator pressure. We discuss the implications of these findings and provide 17 recommendations for restoration strategies and future research. 18
Interspecific Diversity of Multidrug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus Isolates

This study to estimate toxigenic diversity of three S. aureus strains (11SaUTI, 5SaRM and 21SaRW) isolated from clinical patient, food and water at Mesallata City, Libya. As well as to know antibiotic resistance, phage typing, biofilm formation and genoypes (icaA gene and 16s rDNA gene). Three S. aureus isolates were selected from isolates obtained from the different sources and identified by conventional biochemical tests and confirmed by VETIk kit. These isolates exhibited variation of toxigenic, antibiotics resistance, biofilm formation and phage plaque forming (phage typing). The amplified 16s rDNA gene to confirm the diversity of S. aureus isolates . In addition to molecular diagnosis to have a complete and clear image for bacterial etiology based on genetic variability. DNA genome of S. aureus isolates was used as template for PCR to amplify 16s rDNA gene. Partially, length of 16s rDNA gene could be synthesized using the internal primer sets combination in PCR to confirm its interspecific to S. aureus with an expected size 1219 bp. The replacement situation of nucleotide sequences were with percent of camera 1.067, 2.217 and 1.313 respectively. Three S. aureus isolates were recorded in gene bank under accession no. LC121093.1 (11SaUTI); LC121094.1 (5SaRM) and LC121095.1 (21SaRW).
Determinants of capital structure

The purpose of this empirical study is to explore the factors that affect the capital structure of manufacturing firms and to investigate whether the capital structure models derived from developed economies provide convincing explanations for capital structure decisions of the Romanian firms. Different conditional theories of capital structure are reviewed (the trade-off theory, pecking order theory, agency theory, and the signal theory) in order to formulate testable propositions concerning the determinants of capital structure. The investigation is performed using panel data procedures for a sample of 29 firms listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange during 2003-2012. The results suggest that profitability, liquidity, tax and tangibility are related negatively to the debt ratio, whereas firm size and development opportunities are positively linked to the debt ratio. The findings of this study are consistent with the predictions of the tradeoff theory, pecking order theory, and agency theory which show that capital structure models derived from developed countries do provide some help in understanding the financing behavior of Romanian companies.
Modelling user interactions in the Internet of Things

User experience with ‘smart’ objects determines the device’s adoption. One important consideration, therefore, is whether it is possible to model the interactions prior to development, so that design decisions can be made which could enhance user experience. In this paper, we focus on the use of Task Analysis for Error Identification (TAFEI) as a tool for Internet of Things (IoT) systems modelling. Based on the concept of identifying and characterising the purpose of the social-like interactions, we analyse how goals are achieved when using an instrumented object. TAFEI provides a perspective in which Human-Internet of Things Interaction (HII) is analysed from the context of system’s goals and sub goals. As such, this approach not only provides system’s failure scenarios, but more appropriately for IoT enabled objects, it also enables the identification of new scenarios for the system to provide knowledge to the user, and allow it to predict a user’s intent and pre-emptively take action on the user’s behalf. This methodology allows Internet of Things development to not only consider sensor data, but also system usability, promoting meaningful HII, and improving user engagement with IoT systems.
The Impact of Human Capital on Economic Growth in Sri Lanka

Human capital is the knowledge, skills and competen cies embodied in individuals that facilitate the creation of persona l, social and economic wellbeing (OECD, 1999). With the development of end ogenous growth theory around 1980s, human capital was recog nized as an important factor in the production function. [ ) , , ( L H K Af Y = ]. According to Romer (1986) and Lucas (1988) techn ology has no role in long run economic growth. It always depends on endogenous factors like human capital. This is demonstrated by the above growth equation.
Microfabrication of a Planar Paul Trap

The goal of my thesis is the fabrication of a planar complex trapping structure for single ions for applications of quantum information processing. Of high importance is the separation of a trapping device into different regions, either optimized for loading of ions, for their transport, for the manipulation of internal degrees of freedom to realize quantum logic gate operations, for the decoherence free storage of information, and for the readout. Between such regions, we need to shuttle ions and Y-junctions will allow to direct ions either in the one or the other direction as particle beam splitters. The main quest today is to design and fabricate devices which allow for a future scalable quantum processor. A trap design with more than 60 individually addressable DC and RF electrodes has been fabricated. In the focus of this thesis is the application and adaption of microfabrication processing. With a focus on photolithography I have reached an interelectrode gap with an aspect ratio higher than 1 and inter-electrode gaps of either 1.2 μm, 3.3 μm and 4.8 μm of gold structures on glass substrates. I proved experimentally that these structures sustain electrical breakdown from 180 V for a 1.2 μm inter-electrode gap to 720 V for a 4.8 μm inter-electrode gap. The gold electrodes are plated to a thickness of 6.0 μm. The surface ion trapping device (gap of 4.0 μm) is installed in an ultra high vacuum recipient wired and assembled for single cold ions trapping.
Target Firm Earnings Management and the Method of Sale: Evidence from Auctions and Negotiations

We contend that target managers have incentives to manage earnings and the decision to manage earnings can also have an impact on the method of sale. If target management engages in “window-dressing” their financial statements, selling through an auction, instead of through a one-on-one negotiation, can limit the level and timing of the information that bidders can scrutinize. The risk of earnings management detection, thus, decreases. We find that once we control for self-selection bias and simultaneity, earnings management is positively associated with the target’s decision to sell via an auction. Additionally, after we control for potential earnings management, multivariate analysis indicates both cumulative abnormal returns and offered premiums increase for targets when they sell through an auction. Conversely, managing earnings significantly reduces these wealth changes. Our findings suggest both the market and the bidder rationally expect lower value acquisitions due to increased uncertainty about reported earnings. Clinical evidence supports the conjecture that negotiating acquirers detect potential earnings management more often than auctioning acquirers.
Quirera de Arroz em Substituição ao Milho em Rações para Suínos em Crescimento e Terminação: Desempenho e Características de Carcaça

O bj e ti v ou -se, com o presente trabalho, ava l iar o desempenho e caracteristicas de c a r c aca de s u i n os n a fa se de c r escimento e terminac a o, submetidos a racoes contendo diferentes n ivei s (0 , 2 5, 50, 7 5 e 10 0 %) de quirera de arroz (QA) em substituicao ao milho. Foram utilizados 160 suinos , m a cho s (ca str ados) e femeas com peso medio inic i a l de 23,7±2,20 kg . O delineamento foi em blocos c a s u a l i zado s co m c i nco tratamentos, quatro re p eticoes e oito animais por unidade experimental . Durante a fa se de crescimento observou - se efe it o linear (P de r acao e pa ra o s d e m ais p a râmetros e fase nao foi observada diferenca (P>0,05) entre os t ratamentos. Os ni ve i s d e QA nao influenciaram as caracteristicas d e carcaca . Conclui-se que a QA pod e subst ituir o milho em racoes de suinos em crescimento e terminacao sem afetar o d e se mpe nho e caracter i sticas de carcaca dos animais.
Characterization of Acacia Sieberiana (AS) Gum and Their Corrosion Inhibition Potentials for Zinc in Sulphuric Acid Medium

GCMS analysis of AS gum indicated the presence of camphene (2.15 %), sucrose (23.76 %), hexadecanoic acid (37.32 %), verbenol (5.12 %), octadecanoic acid (10.93 %) and 16-methyl-octadecanoic acid (20.72 %). Through the knowledge of the chemical structures of compounds in AS gum, the potential inhibition potential of the gum was ascertain and investigated using weight loss, thermometric and scanning electron microscopy methods. The gum exhibited efficient inhibition potential between the temperature and concentration ranges of 303 to 333 K and 0.1 to 0.5 g/L respectively. After examining the trend for the variation of inhibition efficiency of the gum with temperature and the magnitude of calculated values of activation and standard free energies of adsorption, the mechanism of physical adsorption was established for the adsorption of the inhibitor on the surface of zinc. The adsorption of the inhibitor on the metal surface was also found to be spontaneous, exothermic and occurred with increasing degree of association. The failure of the Langmuir adsorption model to account for the existence of molecular interaction parameter was addressed through the fitness of the Frumkin adsorption model, which revealed the attractive behavior of the inhibitor. Scanning electron micrographs of the metal with and without the inhibitor clearly revealed the formation of protective layer on the surface of the inhibitor by the gum.
Towards A Secured Financial Transaction: A Multi-Factor Authentication Model

The need to secure financial transactions beyond token and knowledge-based approach is imperative, hence, the need for biometric-based authentication model which authenticates based on “who you are” in contrast to “what you have or know”. This research, therefore, is aimed at presenting a multi-factor model for financial transaction with particular emphasis on ATM transactions using both Personal Identification Number (PIN) and Facial recognition biometric feature. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) algorithms were used to match faces and extract facial features for the purpose of identification and authentication. A Multi-factor authentication model presents a fool-proof approach to securing financial transactions beyond the general PIN based transaction.
BISTABLE DIGITAL AUDIO EFFECT

A mechanical system is said to be bistable when its moving parts can rest at two equilibrium positions. The aim of this work is to model the vibration behaviour of a bistable system and use it to create a sound effect, taking advantage of the nonlinearities that characterize such systems. The velocity signal of the bistable system excited by an audio signal is the output of the digital effect. The latter is coded in C++ language and compiled into VST3 format that can be run as an audio plugin within most of the commercial digital audio workstation software in the market and as a standalone application. A Web Audio API demonstration is also available online as a support material.