Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reducing readmissions: At what cost?

We read with great enthusiasm the article by Thurston et al on the utilization of a multidisciplinary team to reduce heart failure readmission rates with special attention focused on the pharmacist role. While we applaud the authors highlighting the positive impact that a pharmacist can have on reducing readmissions in this select patient cohort, we do wish to highlight some of our concerns. In recent years, there has been an increasing concern that the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program (HRRP), while reducing readmissions, may be associated with increased mortality. While rooted in a fundamentally altruistic idea, pay for performance (P4P), which gives financial incentives to those who meet metrics determined by the HRRP, has been warped and manipulated into a process in which the patients suffer. Tying financial compensation to readmission rates can apply pressure to clinicians on delaying readmissions, increase utilization of observation days instead of admission, and implementing faulty triage systems to delay admissions until post 30 days discharge. In December 2018, Wadhera et al published a paper examining HRRP data and examining potential unintended consequences of its implementation. They found that after the announcement of HRRP and once implemented there was an increase in 30 days post discharge mortality in HF patients. While this was a retrospective study and causation cannot be attributed to HRRP, it does add to the growing body of literature on the unintended consequences of HRRP. The study presented by Hale et al adds to the paucity of literature on the impact that pharmacists can have on readmissions for patients with heart failure, with only one study to date showing a trend toward mortality reduction with a pharmacist impact. In the P4P era, higher quality evidence is needed on the impact a pharmacist can have on not only readmissions but mortality, as well. ORCID
Maximizing Computational Power by Neuroevolution

Echo state networks represent a special type of recurrent neural networks. Recent papers stated that the echo state networks maximize their computational performance on the transition between order and chaos, the so-called edge of chaos. This work confirms this statement in a comprehensive set of experiments. Afterwards, the best performing echo state network is compared to a network evolved via neuroevolution. The evolved network outperforms the best echo state network, however, the evolution consumes significant computational resources. By combining the best of both worlds, the simplicity of echo state networks and the performance of evolved networks, a new model called locally connected echo state networks is proposed. The results of this thesis may have an impact on future designs of echo state networks and efficiency of their implementation. Furthermore, the findings may improve the understanding of biological brain tissue.
Evolutionarily stable versus fitness maximizing life histories under frequency-dependent selection

There has been recent interest in using the techniques of quantitative genetics to study optimal life histories under frequency-dependent selection, but a search of the literature has revealed no clear quantitative genetics recursion that incorporates both frequency dependence and overlapping generations. This may be due in part to the historical tendency of life-history theory to ignore frequency dependence. Here we provide such a recursion, and use it to explore the general question of how frequency-dependent selection on life-history traits can cause the evolutionarily stable strategies to differ from the point of maximum mean fitness.
Perceiving Internet Anomalies via CDN Replica Shifts

Anomalies are a ubiquitous and inevitable phenomenon associated with a complex and large-scale system such as the Internet. While measuring and analyzing network anomalies is as old as the Internet itself, comprehensively detecting anomalies at a global scale is a challenging task that requires a significant measurement infrastructure. In this paper, we demonstrate that the production Content Distribution Networks (CDNs), and their pervasive network infrastructure, could be effectively utilized to detect Internet anomalies. Our approach avoids direct network measurements and instead relies on “abnormal” spatial and temporal CDN replica shifts to indirectly sense anomalies. We measure replica shifts for five CDNs (Google, Amazon, Akamai, Fastly, and Incapsula) for two months. Contrary to our expectations, we find that (i) Google's and Amazon's CDNs, which are characterized by rich connectivity and infrastructure, are not best suited for our method because they effectively mask anomalies; (ii) Akamai is the most “sophisticated” of all evaluated CDNs, yet again not best suited to detect anomalies because it reacts exceptionally to much smaller network performance variations; (iii) Fastly's and Incapsula's replica shifts strongly correlate with network anomalies, making them viable anomaly predictors.
PIXEL-BASED AND OBJECT-BASED TERRACE EXTRACTION USING
FEED-FORWARD DEEP NEURAL NETWORK

Abstract. In this paper, we present the identification of terrace field by using Feed-forward back propagation deep neural network in pixel-based and several cases of object-based approaches. Terrace field of Lao Cai area in Vietnam is identified from 5-meter RapidEye image. The image includes 5 bands: red, green, blue, rededge and nir-infrared. Reference data are set of terrace points and nonterrace points, which are generated by randomly selected from reference map. The reference data is separated into three sets: training set for training processing, validation set for generating optimal parameters of deep neural network model, and test set for assessing the accuracy of classification. Six optimal thresholds (T): 0.06, 0.09, 0.12, 0.14, 0.2 and 0.22 are chosen from Rate of Change graph, and then used to generate six cases of object-based classification. Deep neural network (DNN) model is built with 8 hidden layers, input units are 5 bands of RapidEye, and output is terrace and non-terrace classes. Each hidden layer includes 256 units – a large number, to avoid under-fitting. Activation function is Rectifier. Dropout and two regularization parameters are applied to avoid overfitting. Seven terrace maps are generated. The classification results show that the DNN is able to identify terrace field effectively in both pixel-based and object-based approaches. Pixel-based classification is the most accurate approach, achieves 90% accuracy. The values of object-based approaches are 88.5%, 87.3%, 86.7%, 86.6%, 85% and 85.3% correspond to the segmentation thresholds.
Crescimento do tomateiro cultivado em solo coberto com polipropileno preto

Realizou-se um experimento para avaliar o crescimento e particao de assimilados de plantas de tomate cultivadas sob cobertura ou nao do solo com polipropileno preto. O delineamento experimental foi em blocos casualizados completos, com parcelas subdivididas e quatro repeticoes. Nas parcelas, os tratamentos se constituiram de dois sistemas de cultivo (com e sem cobertura do solo polipropileno preto, TNT) e nas subparcelas, as epocas de amostragem das plantas: 14; 28; 42; 56; 70; 84; 98 e 112 dias apos o transplantio, DAT. Foram avaliados: acumulo de massa seca nas folhas (MSF), ramos (MSR), inflorescencias (MSI), frutos (MSFR) e total (MST), area foliar (AF), razao de area foliar (RAF), taxa assimilatoria liquida (TAL), taxa de crescimento absoluto (TCA) e taxa de crescimento relativo (TCR). A cobertura de solo nao influenciou o MSF, MSR, MSI, MSFR e MST como tambem a AF, RAF, TAL, TCA e TCR. Os frutos se comportaram como dreno preferencial da planta, chegando ao final do ciclo com 47,77% do total da massa seca acumulada. A AF, RAF e TCA atingiram valores maximos aos 83; 27 e 73 DAT, com medias de 75.835 cm2 planta-1, 201,5 cm2 g-1 e 14,87 g planta-1 dia-1, respectivamente, enquanto a TCR e a TAL decresceram durante todo o periodo de avaliacao.
Enhancement Effect of Sea Urchin Grow-out Cages in Lucero, Bolinao, Pangasinan

A preliminary study was conducted on the environmental impact of sea urchin (Tripneustes gratilla Linnaeas) grow-out culture in Lucero, Bolinao, Pangasinan. It was hypothesized that the feces generated by the caged urchins (~6,000 individuals at any one time) might cause localised sediment organic enrichment and subsequent shifts in benthic faunal communities. Results from preliminary surveys conducted in April and August of 1999 indicated minimal impact of sea urchin grow-out culture on the local reef flat community. Some enhancement of faunal abundance and sediment organic matter content in the cage area were noted; however, the impact was limited to a radius of 5-25 meters from the grow-out cages. The enhancement effects appeared to be seasonal occurrences that were dependent on local currents and degree of wave exposure. Epiphyte biomass, total suspended solids, sediment grain size, and relative water movement seemed largely unaffected by sea urchin grow-out culture. However, more frequent and thorough samplings are needed to validate these initial results. The presence of localised enrichment in sediment organic content and epibenthic faunal density suggest the possibility of converting the sea urchin grow-out area into polyculture systems that would make more efficient use of the food resources available while minimizing potential anthropogenic impacts on the environment.
Protein Kinase C (PKC)η-mediated PKCμ Activation Modulates ERK and JNK Signal Pathways*

Protein kinase C (PKC), a family of lipid-activated serine kinases, is involved in multiple functions in the regulation of growth control. The PKC-related isoform PKCμ/PKD has been implicated in mitogenic signal cascades because of the activation of p42/p44 MAPK leading to Elk1-mediated gene transcription, and PKCμ/PKD has been shown to be activated via a PKC-dependent pathway. By using confocal analyses, we demonstrate here that PKCμ partially colocalizes with PKCη in different cell types. Colocalization depends on the presence of the PKCμ pleckstrin homology domain. Coexpression of constitutively active PKCη with PKCμ leads to a significant enhancement of the PKCμ substrate phosphorylation capacity as a result of an increased phosphorylation of the activation loop Ser738/742 of PKCμ, whereas Ser910 autophosphorylation remains unaffected. In vitro phosphorylation experiments show that PKCη directly phosphorylates PKCμ on activation loop serines. Consequently, the p42 MAPK cascade is triggered leading to an increase in reporter gene activity driven by a serum-responsive element in HEK293 cells. At the same time, PKCη-mediated JNK activation is reduced, providing evidence for a mutual regulation of PKCμ/PKCη affecting different arms of the p38/ERK/JNK pathways. Our data provide evidence for the sequential involvement of selective PKC isoforms in kinase cascades and identify the relevant domains in PKCμ for interaction with and activation by PKCη as pleckstrin homology domain and activation loop.
Antimicrobial Effect of Phyllanthus amarus and Parquetina nigrescens on Salmonella typhi

Phyllanthus amarus and Paraquetina nigrescens are economic plants grown in West Africa for antimicrobial properties. Crude aqueous (hot and cold water) and ethanolic extracts of the plants were investigated for antimicrobial activity against Salmonella typhi. The organism was collected from the University College Hospital, lbadan, Nigeria and was exposed to ten standard different antibiotics and also to crude extract of P. amarus and P. nigrescens. Agar cup diffusion method was employed fro the plants extracts while disk diffusion method for the standard antibiotics. Ethanolic extracts of P. amarus had the strongest activity against Salmonella typhi with 8.0mm zone of growth inbibition followed by hot water (4.7mm) and cold water (3.8mm). This was statistically significant at P= 0.05 when compared with hot and cold water extracts. Amongst the commercial antibioticis examined, ciprofloxacin had the highest zone of growth inhibition of 9.0mm; Oflxation (6.0mm) Amoxycillin, (4.0mm) while other antibiotics had on effect on test organism. Screening carried out on P. amarus and P. nigrescens using standard methods revealed the presence of saponins, alkaloids, tannins and cardiac glycosides. P. amarus possesses significant antimicrobial activity and confirms the justification by herbalists as extract used for treatment of typhoid fever. (Afr. J. Biomed. Res. 11: 215 - 219) Key Words: P. amarus, P. nigrescens, antimicrobial activity, standard antibiotics, typhoid fever
Mechanical Properties of Arteries in Vivo

Methods have been assembled permitting the simultaneous recording of intra-arterial pressure and arterial diameter with sufficient accuracy so that the mechanical properties of arteries in vivo, under physiologic conditions, can be derived. The analysis necessitates finding the relationships between 5 simultaneous variables; hence the data were recorded on magnetic tape and processed by analog and digital computer technics. Analysis of the data established the fact that the mechanical properties of arteries can be described by a linear, first-order differential equation whose coefficients can be defined as the moduli of elasticity and viscosity. Furthermore, the magnitudes of the coefficients were evaluated. The strain which the arteries undergo as a result of arterial pulse pressure variations is normally between 0.01 and 0.04, i.e., between 1 and 4 per cent change in circumference. The total strain associated with marked constriction and dilation does not usually exceed 10 per cent. Therefore, it is established that the circumferential motion of arteries may be characterized as small strain. The fact that the strain is effectively small is confirmed by analytical consideration, i.e., stress-strain relationships can be linearized under physiologic conditions without introducing significant error. The mass of the artery wall does not play a significant role in determining the mechanical behavior of the arteries and can therefore be neglected in any such considerations. The harmonic content, i.e., the frequency spectrum, comprising the pressure and diameter pulsations associated with the cardiac cycle have been evaluated by Fourier analysis. The magnitudes of the coefficients relating pressure and strain are: elastic (Ep) varies from 1,000 to 6,000 Gm. /cm.2 (with the exception of a value of 500 in the thoracic aorta of a 12-week-old puppy), viscous (Rp) from 10 to 150, and mass (Mp) from 0.0002 to 0.005. The magnitudes of the coefficients vary from individual to individual, from one site to another within the vascular tree and temporally in response to vasoactive factors. The effects of epinephrine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine and autonomic nerve stimulation on the mechanical properties and behavior of arteries are discussed. The differences between the pressure-strain relationships and the wall tension-strain relationships are discussed, since the mechanical properties of the wall material itself is not given directly by the pressure-strain relationships, i.e., radius and wall thickness must be considered. An analytical discussion is developed and mathematical equations are derived which relate pressure, wall tension, radius, strain, elasticity, viscosity and inertia in a tube which has been shown to be a reliable model of the living artery. It is concluded that the concept that the arteries function as a “peripheral heart,” i.e., rhythmically contract in synchrony with the heart, is not justified. Probable relationships of these properties to the structure and functions of the arterial system are discussed.
Research ethics and epistemic oppression

Both in theory and practice, a consistent interrogation of epistemic oppression and the shadows that it casts is the leitmotif of our editorial engagement, or (im)print on the International Feminist Journal of Politics (IFJP). Whether a particular article puts epistemic oppression center stage thematically, or epistemic oppression is the backdrop for the article, together, our authors, submission by submission, issue by issue, and volume by volume provide us with ways to break past, through, and around it. Through their painstaking political work, we get to see behind that curtain. Such oppression results from politics and practices of knowledge that oppress some people (and uphold the privilege of others) via the imposition of social, economic, political, and epistemic norms about those people. These knowledge politics and practices rely on and perpetuate norms that treat those with power as credible transmitters of objective knowledge and facts, and others as suspicious conveyors of subjective experience and politicized opinions. These norms are so pernicious and pervasive as to render their function almost invisible. They support broadly shared distinctions between fact and opinion in ways that dismiss resistance as biased opinion when it challenges the ideas that are privileged by conventional norms. As feminist editors, we situate the following discussion of the journal’s publishing ethics in the context of concerns about epistemic oppression as it might be experienced not only by our authors but also by those who are engaged in political struggles in their research sites. Thus, IFJP’s research ethics guidelines keep two considerations in mind:
Policy Dimensions of Progressive Institutional Change: Lessons from China’s Construction of a Socialist Market Economy

Abstract: Through a comprehensive review of the progressive institutional change (PIC) literature, I first discuss four possible trajectories of PIC by considering the forces of societal reaction that might frame the path, as well as the scale and scope of the changes. Thus, I pose four questions that need to be asked when related policies are formulated for PIC. To illustrate this method, I scrutinize the evidence from the construction of a socialist market economy by the Chinese government since the 1980s and argue that related policies have successfully promoted PIC from three dimensions: (1) curbing potential conflicts with power groups; (2) promoting a sense of awareness among stakeholders; and (3) minimizing disturbances to the community. Actually, the related changes demonstrate a dynamic “displacement process” for PICs. Despite the success of this sociosystem, it is found that the sustaining of PIC which requires policy factors that enhance instrumental efficiency in the Chinese context will serve as a challenge to the Chinese government ahead.
Predicting the revisit intention of volunteer tourists using the merged model between the theory of planned behavior and norm activation model

ABSTRACT Despite the importance of the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and norm activation model (NAM) in explicating revisit intention, predictions based on the merging of these theories remain sparse in the youth volunteer tourism segment. To understand revisit intention formation, a meta-analysis is performed to draw a macro conclusion using prosocial studies as a representative of volunteer tourism in investigating the predictive power of the aforementioned-merged theories. Subsequently, latent growth curve modeling is applied to extend the understanding of tourist type identification to volunteer tourism research. The introduction of NAM into TPB marginally adds value to predictive power.
Urea-degrading enzymes in algae

Extracts prepared from 10 bacteria-free algal cultures and 4 naturally occurring seaweeds were examined for urease and ATP-urea amidolyase (UAL-ase) activities. UAL-ase activity is confined to members of the classes Volvocales, Chlorococcales and Chaetophorales in the Chlorophyceae. Members of the Ulotrichales may possess either urease or UAL-ase. Ulva contains urease. All other algae, so far examined, which can grow with urea as nitrogen source contain urease but not UAL-ase.
Surface elastic waves whispering gallery modes based subwavelength tunable waveguide and cavity modes of the phononic crystals

Abstract We studied the characteristics of a phononic crystal which consists of hollow pillars mounted on the surface of semi-infinite substrate. In this study, the existence of surface waves whispering gallery modes referred as localized cavity modes of the hollow pillars at the subwavelength frequency spectrum is reported. The interaction of the hollow pillars with the surface waves induce localized cavity modes and by tuning the inner radius of the hollow pillars these confined modes can be adjusted/tuned inside the bandgap region, thus introducing new applications for the surface waves based phononic crystals and acoustic metamaterial devices. These subwavelength confined cavity modes possess high-q narrow passband characteristics induced by the interaction of cavity modes with the surface waves propagating at the surface of semi-infinite substrate. We demonstrate the subwavelength waveguiding and other functionalities of these localized cavity modes by tuning the inner radius of the hollow pillars and allowing the specific wavelength frequencies to pass through the monochannel, multichannel, and linear cavity based compact waveguides. To make the study more general, we demonstrate the wave multiplexing phenomena for the identical frequencies (diameters of the hollow pillars are kept constant) for all types of waveguides. However, by varying the inner radii of the hollow pillars, the high-q localized frequencies can be tuned. All the physical phenomena presented shows excellent agreement and it indicates promising applications for the manipulation of surface waves in the surface acoustic waves devices, surface waves sensor and actuator technology, and other photonic/phononic and metamaterial applications.
Xerostomia: An Update of Causes and Treatments

Xerostomia or dry mouth sensation is considered a complex condition that affects several stomatological functions that drives to the detriment of the quality of life of individuals who suffer from it. Often, xerostomia is accompanied by a decrease in salivary flow or hyposalivation, and this condition leads to oral health problems such as dental caries, can -didiasis, and mucosal complications. Currently, the diagnosis and therapeutic methods for this condition are varied and it is difficult to achieve favorable results in all cases, since the etiology seems to be multifactorial where both local factors and systemic conditions would participate. This chapter presents, in a concise shape, the relevant data about etiol ogy of xerostomia, such as age, autoimmune diseases, systemic diseases, infectious dis - eases, neuropathic complications, psychogenic factors and therapeutically consumption of drugs among others, and the current available treatments.
The Science of Wisdom in a Polarized World: Knowns and Unknowns

Abstract Interest in wisdom in the cognitive sciences, psychology, and education has been paralleled by conceptual confusions about its nature and assessment. To clarify these issues and promote consensus in the field, wisdom researchers met in Toronto in July of 2019, resolving disputes through discussion. Guided by a survey of scientists who study wisdom-related constructs, we established a common wisdom model, observing that empirical approaches to wisdom converge on the morally-grounded application of metacognition to reasoning and problem-solving. After outlining the function of relevant metacognitive and moral processes, we critically evaluate existing empirical approaches to measurement and offer recommendations for best practices. In the subsequent sections, we use the common wisdom model to selectively review evidence about the role of individual differences for development and manifestation of wisdom, approaches to wisdom development and training, as well as cultural, subcultural, and social-contextual differences. We conclude by discussing wisdom’s conceptual overlap with a host of other constructs and outline unresolved conceptual and methodological challenges.