Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Early Intervention for Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Baltimore Sexually Transmitted Diseases Clinics: Impact on Gonorrhea Incidence in Patients Infected With HIV

Background: High incidences of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) after posttest counseling have been documented in patients diagnosed with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Baltimore STD clinics. In July 1991, the authors instituted an HIV early intervention program providing long‐term medical care and social work services. This study compares the incidence of gonorrhea after post‐HIV+ test counseling in patients diagnosed with HIV before and after the institution of the early intervention program. Methods: Medical records of a cohort composed of all patients newly diagnosed with HIV and those who underwent posttest counseling for HIV in 1991 to 1993 in two Baltimore STD clinics were reviewed. Patients were offered early intervention medical and social work services. Gonorrhea incidence in this cohort was compared to a historical cohort diagnosed and counseled for post‐HIV+ testing in 1988 to 1989 who were not offered early intervention services. Results: The mean follow‐up time was 418 days (range, 26 to 703 days). After post‐HIV+ test counseling, gonorrhea developed in 39 of 468 (8.3%) men in the 1989 cohort and 13 of 400 (3.3%) men in the 1991 to 1993 cohort. Controlling for variable length of follow‐up, the 1991 to 1993 cohort had a relative risk of 0.442 for the development of gonorrhea during the study period (95% confidence interval, 0.225 to 0.790; P = 0.006). Incident gonorrhea after post‐HIV+ test counseling also was associated with a prevalent gonorrhea condition at the time of HIV diagnosis (RR = 3.02; 95% CI, 1.75 to 5.23; P = 0.0001) and failure to return for post‐HIV+ test counseling as scheduled (RR = 2.27; 95% CI, 1.17–4.43; P = 0.013). After adjustment for gonorrhea at the time of HIV diagnosis and failure to return for scheduled posttest counseling, the difference in gonorrhea incidence between men in the two cohorts remained statistically significant (RR = 0.494; 95% CI, 0.260 to 0.941; P = 0.032). In comparison, overall gonorrhea rates in Baltimore changed little between 1988 and 1993. No significant difference was found in gonorrhea incidence in women, which may have been the result of active gonorrhea screening during the 1991 to 1993 period, which was not performed in 1988 to 1989. Conclusions: Providing clinical care to persons with HIV may facilitate the reduction of high‐risk behaviors that lead to incident STDs and further HIV transmission.
Fast and low-cost clock deskew buffer

We propose a clock buffer that is able to compensate clock skews possibly due to process variations, and correct even more severe skews, as those possibly due to faults affecting the clock distribution network or those due to power supply noise. Compensation/correction is performed instantaneously, during system run-time, upon skew occurrence. Compared to alternative solutions which can be used to compensate/correct skews between couples of clocks, that presented here is definitely faster, features lower area overhead and power consumption, and does not require any initialization phase at the beginning of system operation. Additionally, our proposed buffer is also able to compensate/correct clock duty cycle variations due to process parameter variations, as well as faults affecting the clock distribution network. Also in this case, compensation/correction is accomplished within the same clock cycle of duty-cycle variation occurrence.
Qualified matching feature collection for feature point-based copy-move forgery detection

Abstract. The feature matching step plays a critical role during the copy-move forgery detection procedure. However, when several highly similar features simultaneously exist in the feature space, current feature matching methods will miss a considerable number of genuine matching feature pairs. To this end, we propose a clustering-based method to collect qualified matching features for the feature point-based methods. The proposed method can collect far more genuine matching features than existing methods do, and thus significantly improve the detection performance, especially for multiple pasting cases. Experimental results confirm the efficacy of the proposed method.
The compensatory and complementary influence of individual , team and firm level factors on appropriate audit support system use

Audit support systems are deployed by audit firms to achieve efficient and effective audits. When developing an audit support system, a trade-off between the extent of restrictiveness to embed within a system and the extent to which auditors will be unconstrained in exercising professional judgment when using the system is made. Because any decrease in system restrictiveness has the potential to negatively affect the extent to which a firm’s audit methodology is consistently applied, audit firms must instantiate control mechanisms promoting the appropriate use of their system. By investigating the influence of individual, team and audit firm level socio-ideological and technocratic controls on how auditors use audit support systems, this study provides important insights into how different control mechanisms complement or compensate the extent of restrictiveness embedded within a system. A theoretical model grounded in the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen 1991) and Adaptive Structuration Theory (DeSanctis and Poole 1994) is developed and tested using a two step structural equation modeling approach. In the first step, the measurement model is refined and validated using data from 210 auditors. In the second step, the refined measurement model is validated and the structural model tested using data from an independent sample of 359 auditors. The results indicate that different controls are important determinants of how auditors use an audit support system depending on the extent of embedded restrictiveness. Socio-ideological controls operating at the audit team and auditor level are important compensatory control mechanisms when the extent of restrictiveness is low. In contrast, when restrictiveness is high, firm level consensus on appropriation and the audit review process are important complementary controls.
Clinical pharmacokinetics of aztreonam in cancer patients

The pharmacokinetics of aztreonam were studied in 25 adult patients with hematological malignancies. Two groups of nine patients each received aztreonam (1 or 2 g every 8 h) prophylactically, and seven infected patients received a therapeutic regimen of aztreonam (1.5 g every 4 h). The mean peak serum concentration after a 1-g dose of aztreonam (given over 0.5 h on day 1) was 75.5 micrograms/ml; after a 2-g dose it was 177.2 micrograms/ml. The mean peak serum concentration after a 1.5-g dose of aztreonam (given over 2 h on day 1) was 68.5 micrograms/ml. The serum half-life ranged between 1.7 and 2.0 h for all regimens studied. The urinary concentration of the metabolite of aztreonam, SQ 26,992, increased during 1 week of administration of the drug; however, serum levels of the metabolite were barely detectable.
Surgical treatment of femoroacetabular impingement: evaluation of the effect of the size of the resection.

BACKGROUND In patients with symptomatic hip impingement, surgical resection of the femoral head-neck junction may improve the range of motion and relieve pain. A risk of this procedure is fracture. We evaluated the amount of resection of the anterolateral aspect of the femoral head-neck junction that can be done safely. METHODS Cadaveric proximal femoral specimens (fifteen matched pairs) were divided into three groups: 10%, 30%, or 50% of the diameter of one femoral neck was removed, and the contralateral femoral neck was left intact to serve as the control. A compressive load was applied directly to the femoral head. Peak load, stiffness, and energy to fracture were compared among the groups. RESULTS The energy to fracture differed significantly (p = 0.0015) among the 10%, 30%, and 50% resection groups. The peak load after the 50% resection was significantly less (p = 0.0025) than that after the 10% or 30% resection. With the numbers available, there was no significant difference in peak load between the 10% and 30% resections. CONCLUSIONS Resection of up to 30% of the anterolateral quadrant of the head-neck junction did not significantly alter the load-bearing capacity of the proximal part of the femur. However, a 30% resection significantly decreased the amount of energy required to produce a fracture. Thirty percent should be considered to be the greatest feasible amount of resection because of the change in the pattern of the femoral head-neck response to axial loads that we observed.
Prevention of neonatal group B streptococcal disease: A combined intrapartum and neonatal protocol.

OBJECTIVE We sought to assess the efficacy of a clinical protocol to reduce the incidence of early-onset neonatal group B Streptococcus (GBS) infection. STUDY DESIGN We assessed neonatal sepsis from GBS and other organisms with use of a before-after study design to evaluate the effects of implementation of combined intrapartum antimicrobial prophylaxis given selectively to mothers with GBS risks and penicillin G given to all neonates. RESULTS In 1994, early-onset GBS infection developed in 31 of 13,887 live births (2.2/1000), 13 preterm and 18 term cases. After implementation of the prophylaxis protocol (1995), 6 of 13,527 live births had early-onset GBS (0.4/1000) (P <.001). There were no preterm (P =.0004) and 6 term GBS cases (P =.02). The efficacy continued through 1999 (0.5/1000) without an increase in neonatal infections from other bacteria. CONCLUSION Combined maternal and infant antimicrobial prophylaxis can significantly and safely reduce rates of early-onset GBS infection in both preterm and term infants.
A Modified Levy Jump-Diffusion Model Based on Market Sentiment Memory for Online Jump Prediction

In this paper, we propose a modified Levy jump diffusion model with market sentiment memory for stock prices, where the market sentiment comes from data mining implementation using Tweets on Twitter. We take the market sentiment process, which has memory, as the signal of Levy jumps in the stock price. An online learning and optimization algorithm with the Unscented Kalman filter (UKF) is then proposed to learn the memory and to predict possible price jumps. Experiments show that the algorithm provides a relatively good performance in identifying asset return trends.
Fault-Tolerant Reconfiguration System for Asymmetric Multilevel Converters Using Bidirectional Power Switches

Asymmetric multilevel converters can optimize the number of levels by using H-bridges scaled in the power of three. The shortcoming of this topology is that the H-bridges are not interchangeable, and then, under certain faulty conditions, the converter cannot operate. A reconfiguration system based on bidirectional electronic valves has been designed for three-phase cascaded H-bridge inverters. Once a fault is detected in any of the insulated gate bipolar transistors of any H-bridge, the control is capable to reconfigure the hardware keeping the higher power bridges in operation. In this way, the faulty phase can continue working at the same voltage level by adjusting its gating signals. Some simulations and experiments with a 27-level inverter, to show the operation of the system under a faulty condition, are displayed.
Factors affecting participation in wild berry picking by rural and urban dwellers

The purpose of this study was to examine the participation of urban and rural dwellers in the activity of berry-picking. The respondents in the study lived in the city of Joensuu and in the municipality of Ilomantsi, in eastern Finland. 68% of Joensuu households compared with 82% of those in Ilomantsi participated in berry-picking. These evident differences in the participation rates may be largely due to the higher costs incurred by urban dwellers in picking, since the probability of participation was not signifi cantly higher for Ilomantsi households compared with those in Joensuu who had access to a summer-cottage which was likely to be located near the berry resources. In both municipalities, the participants were divided into two groups according to the nature of their participation in the activity. The larger group – termed ordinary pickers – were characteristically younger families with children, while the other group, termed active pickers, were distinctly more advanced in age. The quantities picked for home consumption by the groups of pickers in Ilomantsi were twice as large as those picked by the corresponding groups in Joensuu. In Joensuu, households were not signifi cantly involved in commercial picking.
Higher Order Mode Excitation for High-Gain Broadside Radiation From Cylindrical Dielectric Resonator Antennas

A resonant mode (HEM12δ), other than those ( HEM11δ and TM01δ) conventionally excited and used in a cylindrical dielectric resonator antenna (CDRA) has been examined with a view for using it as another radiating mode with broadside radiation patterns. Excitation of the mode, being the most challenging aspect, has been discussed and resolved by employing an innovative technique. The proposed concept has been successfully verified and experimentally demonstrated for the first time. More than 8-dBi peak gain with excellent broadside radiation has been obtained from a prototype shaped from a commercially available low-loss dielectric material with relative permittivity 10.
Psychological Approaches in the Treatment of Chronic Pain Patients—When Pills, Scalpels, and Needles are Not Enough

Background: Chronic pain is a prevalent and costly problem that eludes adequate treatment. Persistent pain affects all domains of people's lives and in the absence of cure, success will greatly depend on adaptation to symptoms and self-management. Method: We reviewed the psychological models that have been used to conceptualize chronic pain—psychodynamic, behavioural (respondent and operant), and cognitive-behavioural. Treatments based on these models, including insight, external reinforcement, motivational interviewing, relaxation, meditation, biofeedback, guided imagery, and hypnosis are described. Results: The cognitive-behavioural perspective has the greatest amount of research supports the effectiveness of this approach with chronic pain patients. Importantly, we differentiate the cognitive-behavioural perspective from cognitive and behavioural techniques and suggest that the perspective on the role of patients' beliefs, attitudes, and expectations in the maintenance and exacerbation of symptoms are more important than the specific techniques. The techniques are all geared to fostering self-control and self-management that will encourage a patient to replace their feelings of passivity, dependence, and hopelessness with activity, independence, and resourcefulness. Conclusions: Psychosocial and behavioural factors play a significant role in the experience, maintenance, and exacerbation of pain. Self-management is an important complement to biomedical approaches. Cognitive-behavioural therapy alone or within the context of an interdisciplinary pain rehabilitation program has the greatest empirical evidence for success. As none of the most commonly prescribed treatment regimens are sufficient to eliminate pain, a more realistic approach will likely combine pharmacological, physical, and psychological components tailored to each patient's needs.
Implicit user calibration for gaze-tracking systems using kernel density estimation

We propose a implicit calibration method for estimating the offset between the optical and visual axes without active participation of a user. The method relies on a fully calibrated setup and uses the relation between the optical axes of both eyes, the position of the center of the cornea, and the position of the display. The method is based on the assumption that the visual axes of both the eyes coincide on the display. The implicit calibration method estimates the offsets by continuously estimating the angle kappa through kernel density estimation. From the numerical simulation, the accuracy of our method is comparable or better than existing methods for implicit calibration.
New Technologies and Institutional Change in Public Administration

This article aims to study and analyze, from a multidisciplinary point of view, the organizational and institutional transformations that public administration is experiencing due to a country’s transition to the information and knowledge society. Three specific goals are pursued: (a) studying the use of new technologies in the public administration, (b) studying the impact brought about by the use of new technologies by the public administration, and (c) studying the institutional changes caused by the use of these technologies. To achieve these goals, three guiding lines are considered: first, the term governance; that is, the collection of institutions and rules that set the limits and the incentives needed for the constitution and functioning of interdependent networks of actors (government, private sector and civil society actors); second, the new institutionalism perspective; and finally, the relationship between technology and organizational and institutional change.
Performing Knowledge Requirements Analysis for Public Organisations in a Virtual Learning Environment: A Social Network Analysis Approach

This paper describes an application of Social Network Analysis methods for identification of knowledge demands in public organisations. Affiliation networks established in a postgraduate programme were analysed. The course was executed in a distance education mode and its students worked on public agencies. Relations established among course participants were mediated through a virtual learning environment using Moodle. Data available in Moodle may be extracted using knowledge discovery in databases techniques. Potential degrees of closeness existing among different organisations and among researched subjects were assessed. This suggests how organisations could cooperate for knowledge management and also how to identify their common interests. The study points out that closeness among organisations and research topics may be assessed through affiliation networks. This opens up opportunities for applying knowledge management between organisations and creating communities of practice. Concepts of knowledge management and social network analysis provide the theoretical and methodological basis.
Consciousness is slower than you think

In easy serial choice reaction time tasks (CRT tasks) young adults can very rapidly “correct” nearly all their errors by making the responses that they should have made (error-correcting responses). They are much less accurate at signalling their errors by making the same, deliberate, response to each (error-signalling responses), and they poorly remember errors that they have not signalled or corrected. When instructed to ignore errors they nevertheless involuntarily register them because the response immediately following them (responses following unacknowledged errors) are unusually slow, and they sometimes make involuntary error correction responses. Errors that are neither signalled nor remembered are registered at some level because responses following unacknowledged errors are slowed. Old age does not impair the accuracy of error correction or reduce the proportion of errors that are acknowledged because they are followed by unusually slow responses, but it does reduce the accuracy of error signalling and of recall of errors. Groups of 40 young adults (mean age 20.1 years, SD 1.1) and 40 older adults (mean 71.2 years, SD 5.1) signalled and recalled their errors increasingly accurately as intervals between each response and the next signal were increased from 150 ms to 1000 ms. Error signalling and recall improved as response-signal interval (RSI) durations increased, reaching asymptote at RSIs of 800 ms for the young and 1000 ms for the older adults. Thus processes necessary for conscious and deliberate choice or error-signalling responses and for subsequent recall of errors require more than 150 ms to complete, are slowed by old age, and may be interrupted by onset of new signals occurring earlier than 800 to 1000 ms after completion of an incorrect response.
Initial Biomechanical Evaluation of Wearable Tactile Feedback System for Gait Rehabilitation in Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy (PN) is a significant public health concern, resulting in abnormal gait biomechanics, diminished postural stability, and increased risk of falls. A wearable tactile feedback system previously developed for sensory augmentation of prosthetic limbs has been adapted for individuals with PN and evaluated in a pilot group of 4 participants with idiopathic bilateral PN, as well as one with Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease. Participants were assessed both for their abilities to perceive tactile stimuli, and for the effect of tactile biofeedback on their gait. Preliminary data indicate that most participants could localize tactile stimuli and make meaningful modifications to their gait in real time, but that the effect of feedback on gait was highly variable from subject to subject, demanding further investigation.
Certificate Transparency with Privacy

Abstract Certificate transparency (CT) is an elegant mechanism designed to detect when a certificate authority (CA) has issued a certificate incorrectly. Many CAs now support CT and it is being actively deployed in browsers. However, a number of privacy-related challenges remain. In this paper we propose practical solutions to two issues. First, we develop a mechanism that enables web browsers to audit a CT log without violating user privacy. Second, we extend CT to support non-public subdomains.
Light Control of Nuclear Gene mRNA Abundance and Translation in Tobacco1

Photosynthetic signals modulate expression of nuclear genes at the levels of mRNA transcription, mRNA stability, and translation. In transgenic tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), the pea (Pisum sativum) Ferredoxin 1 (Fed-1) mRNA dissociates from polyribosomes and becomes destabilized when photosynthesis is inhibited by photosynthetic electron transport inhibitor 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea. We used polymerase chain reaction suppressive-subtractive hybridization to identify similarly regulated endogenous tobacco genes. This screen identified 14 nuclear-encoded tobacco mRNAs whose light-induced increase in abundance is suppressed in the presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea. Sequence analysis of the cognate cDNAs revealed that nine of the mRNAs encode putative chloroplast-targeted proteins. We asked whether the abundance of these mRNAs was regulated transcriptionally or posttranscriptionally. Of the five mRNAs with sufficient abundance to detect using nuclear run-on assays, we observed transcriptional regulation of α-tubulin, thiazole biosynthetic enzyme, and pSKA10 (an unknown gene). Photosystem A subunit L and, to a lesser extent, α-tubulin and pSKA10 mRNAs, may also be stabilized in the light. In contrast, Rubisco small subunit mRNA abundance appears to be transcriptionally up-regulated but posttranscriptionally down-regulated in the light. To determine whether, like Fed-1 mRNA, the mRNAs identified in this screen were translationally responsive to light, we characterized the polyribosome association of these mRNAs in the light and after a 15-min dark treatment. A subset of the mRNAs showed dramatic dark-induced polyribosome dissociation, similar to Fed-1 mRNA, and all of the mRNAs showed at least slight polyribosome dissociation. Thus, both posttranscriptional and translational regulation appear to be important mechanisms regulating the expression of many nuclear-encoded mRNAs encoding proteins involved in photosynthesis.