Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Search Function and Evolutionary Novelty

Search is a pervasive phenomenon of biological and economic life. But search is hard, especially in uncertain and dynamic environments. In this chapter we directly address the hard problem of search. We develop a generalized form of question-answer probing as a way of simplifying search, with implications for understanding biological and economic novelty. Question-answer probes are organism-specific search images and ‘search-for-functions’ that direct awareness. This form of search simultaneously constrains and enables search spaces in counterintuitive ways. Question-answer probing not only illustrates relatively mundane search activity (such as foraging for food or looking for a lost item), but also provides the foundation for explaining the emergence of both evolutionary novelty and economic value. An organism’s (or organization’s) directed search (especially the search for function) supplies a key mechanism for realizing adjacent possibilities and niches. Our approach contrasts with extant evolutionary, computational (such as serial processing or Bayesian priors and updating), and physics-oriented approaches to search, which lack organism-specific mechanisms. Our approach also contrasts with popular, physics-oriented conceptions of mind, organism, and consciousness. Throughout the chapter, we offer biological and economic examples to illustrate our points. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of our arguments for economics and innovation.
MaskMy.XYZ: An easy‐to‐use tool for protecting geoprivacy using geographic masks

Geographic masks are techniques used to protect privacy when publishing sensitive data in maps, but are not well adopted among researchers and may be difficult to execute for some GIS users. We developed a client‐side web application called MaskMy.XYZ that makes geographic masking easy to perform. It executes donut geomasking, a well‐known geographic mask, on thousands of points in seconds, and visualizes the original and masked point patterns in an integrated web map for visual comparison. MaskMy.XYZ also features metrics for both privacy protection and information loss, and allows users to rapidly and iteratively adjust masking parameters based on these metrics. The user interface was designed to prioritize usability, and clear documentation has been included to educate users about geographic masks, which is otherwise only found in niche literatures. By developing this application, we hope that geographic masks will be more widely adopted such that privacy is better protected in research.
A survey of the use of applied behaviour analysis for children with autism in the Czech Republic

ABSTRACT There is growing awareness of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the Czech Republic. As a result, there has been an increasing number of diagnoses, more services have become available, and legislation has been developed with regard to practices for children with ASD. In the past, families seeking services to support the needs of children with ASD had limited options. Teaching methodology based on applied behaviour analysis (ABA) for children with ASD was not available prior to 2016. Even though ABA has now reached the Czech Republic, the full extent of its prevalence in the region is unclear. There has been a lack of information regarding the accessibility of services, the details of practitioners, the characteristics of clients, facets of services, its integration with other practices, and challenges associated with its usage. Therefore, the aim of this study was to survey all self-identified ABA practitioners within the region (N = 40) in order to better understand the current state of ABA provision in the Czech Republic. The results show that although there has been a movement towards the increased availability of ABA support for children with ASD, more needs to be done in terms of training and support.
Efectividad del Ácido Ibandrónico y Ácido Zoledrónico en el tratamiento de osteoporosis postmenopáusica : estudio multicéntrico.

INTRODUCCION La osteoporosis postmenopausica afecta a una gran proporcion de mujeres en el mundo, la mayoria en edades superiores a 50 anos, la incidencia de la enfermedad seguira aumentando dado el envejecimiento de la poblacion que se acompana de aumento en el riesgo total de fracturas. OBJETIVO Evaluar la efectividad del acido zoledronico comparado con el acido ibandronico, para el manejo de la osteoporosis postmenopausica en poblaciones de Medellin y Bogota pertenecientes a la IPS Helpharma, quienes recibieron tratamiento por un periodo de 2 a 4 anos. METODOLOGIA Estudio analitico, de cohorte, retrospectivo de 277 pacientes con diagnostico de osteoporosis postmenopausica. Las pacientes fueron tratadas por un periodo de 2 a 4 anos en la IPS Helpharma en las ciudades de Bogota y Medellin. Se incluyeron 56 pacientes tratadas con acido ibandronico y 221 tratadas con acido zoledronico. Se realizo muestreo aleatorio estratificado por afijacion proporcional y la distribucion por ciudades fue Bogota (n: 99 pacientes) y Medellin (n: 178 pacientes). RESULTADOS El acido ibandronico obtuvo una mayor ganancia en T-score a nivel lumbar que femoral (6% vs1,5%), el FRAX mayor disminuyo en un 0,5% y el FRAX de cadera tuvo una ganancia de 0,1%. El acido zoledronico mostro ganancia en T-score lumbar del 11% y femoral del 5,4%, el FRAX mayor disminuyo en un 0,3% y FRAX cadera en un 0,1%, Los eventos adversos se presentaron con mayor proporcion en el grupo de acido zoledronico. La incidencia de fracturas en ambos grupos fue baja. CONCLUSIONES Los medicamentos evaluados en el presente estudio mostraron ser efectivos dentro de su grupo de tratamiento y no se evidenciaron diferencias en las efectividades entre grupos, por tanto, la decision de la eleccion del tratamiento es del medico tratante y debe ser individual a cada paciente.
Factors Affecting Energy Performance of Large-Scale Office Buildings: Analysis of Benchmarking Data from New York City and Chicago

Buildings in high-income, industrialized cities are responsible for more than 50% of global energy consumption; consequently, many developed cities have legislated energy benchmarking and disclosure policies to understand their buildings’ energy-use dynamics better. By utilizing these benchmarking data and additional information taken from 3D models, this paper presents a comprehensive analysis of large-scale office buildings located in New York and Chicago, with respect to their energy use intensity (EUI). To identify the primary factors affecting the EUI, Spearman’s correlation analysis and multiple variate regression tests were performed on office buildings over 500,000 ft2 (46,452 m2) gross floor area. The results showed the number of floors, construction year, window-to-wall ratio (WWR), and source-to-site ratio statistically significant, while morphological factors such as the relative compactness and surface-to-volume ratio showed limited relation to EUI. In New York City, the smallest EUI median was found in the buildings with 20 to 30 floors, and in Chicago, the buildings with 60 floors or more. A higher source-to-site ratio generally had lower overall EUI in both cities. Despite the high correlation, different kinds of dependency were found for window-to-wall ratio (WWR) and construction year between NYC and Chicago. These findings highlight the relative role that each building’s characteristics play concerning the EUI, depending on the particular building’s typology, scale, and the urban context.
Cigarette Taxes and Smoking Among Sexual Minority Adults

We provide the first quasi-experimental evidence on the relationship between cigarette taxes and smoking among sexual minority adults, a group that has been understudied in past research. We use large samples of individuals in same-sex households (a large share of whom are sexual minorities in same-sex romantic relationships) from the 1996-2018 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System. We find that cigarette taxes significantly reduced smoking among men and women in same-sex households, and the effects we find for men in same-sex households are very robust and significantly larger than the associated effects for men in different-sex households (the vast majority of whom are heterosexual married or partnered men). For men in same-sex households, we find no unintended consequences of higher cigarette taxes on other risky behaviors, and in fact we find that cigarette taxes are associated with significant improvements in self-rated health for men in same-sex households. These results suggest that the sizable disparities in adult smoking rates between heterosexual and sexual minority men would have been even larger in the absence of stricter tobacco control policy. However, in line with previous research indicating that cigarette taxes have 'lost their bite', we find no significant relationship between cigarette taxes and sexual minority smoking in more recent years.
Mineral Content in Some Species of Leguminosae in Bandar Torkaman Plain Rangelands, Iran

A Faculty of Agriculture Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Sari, Iran B PhD Student of Range Science, Islamic Azad University of Tehran, Iran C B.Sc. Student of Range Management, Agriculture Sciences and Natural Resources, University of Sari, Iran D Experts of Environmental Science, Natural Resources Organization, Sari, Iran E Department of Watershed Management, Sari Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources University, Iran Contact email: mr_t979@yahoo.com
The Use of Balloon-assisted Enteroscopy at a Large Volume Centre: A Retrospective Analysis

Abstract Objectives Balloon-assisted enteroscopy (BAE) is increasingly used for the evaluation of small bowel disorders. We quantified local diagnostic and therapeutic yields of BAE in patients with suspected small bowel diseases. Methods Adult patients undergoing BAE between January 2010 and July 2015 at McGill University Health Centre were included. Procedures were identified using a prospectively maintained database. Patients were excluded if procedure report was unavailable. Electronic medical records were reviewed. Analyses were restricted to patients who did not have a previous BAE. Results BAE was performed in 453 patients, including 421 anterograde cases. Patients had a mean age of 61.0 ± 17.5 years. Most common indications for referral were obscure gastrointestinal bleeding (OGIB) (n=207, 45.7%), abnormal imaging (n=88, 19.4%), suspected small bowel neoplasia (SBN) (n=39, 8.6%) and Crohn’s disease (CD) (n=31, 6.8%). A diagnosis was established in 216 procedures (47.7%). A pre-endoscopic indication of CD (odds ratio [OR]: 3.78; 95% Confidence Interval [CI], 1.60–8.90), OGIB (OR: 3.69, 95% CI, 2.03–6.71), suspected SBN (OR: 2.45; 95% CI, 1.06–5.65) and previous VCE (OR: 9.33; 95% CI, 3.24–26.90) were associated with abnormal findings. A therapeutic procedure was performed in 126 cases (28.3%). OGIB (OR: 7.00; 95% CI, 3.83–12.81), previous video capsule endoscopy (VCE) (OR: 7.86; 95% CI, 2.93–21.04) and suspected SBN (OR: 6.30; 95% CI, 2.58–21.04) were associated with performance of a therapeutic intervention. Complication rate was 1.6%, with bleeding in seven cases and one perforation. Conclusions In carefully selected patients, such as those with OGIB, Crohn’s disease and previous VCE, BAE was a safe procedure that led to the identification of abnormal findings and therapeutic interventions.
Emerging concern of infectious diseases in lung cancer patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy

Background: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is one of the most studied cancers in cancer immunotherapy. Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have unique immune related adverse effects. However, little is known about infectious diseases occurring during ICI treatment. Aims and Objectives: To examine the incidence and risk factors of infectious diseases in NSCLC patients receiving ICIs. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed NSCLC patients who received nivolumab, one of the ICIs, at National Hospital Organization Kyoto Medical Center and Kyoto University Hospital between December 2015 and November 2016. We counted all infectious diseases, occurring after initiation of nivolumab until 6 months after discontinuation. Results: Eighty-four NSCLC patients received nivolumab during the observational period. Of 84 patients, 20 (23.8%) patients developed an infectious disease. Fifteen patients (pneumonia, 9; lung abscess, 1; bloodstream infection, 2; skin infection, 2; tuberculosis, 1), two patients (Aspergillus, 1; Trichophyton, 1) and three patients (Zoster, 1; influenza, 2) developed bacterial, fungal and viral infection, respectively. There were no significant differences in characteristics, number of prior chemotherapies and nivolumab between patients with and without infection. Of 20 patients with infection, 10 (50%) had a history of steroid use during nivolumab treatment. However, there was no significant difference in corticosteroid use between patients with and without infection (50% vs. 56%, P=0.62). Conclusion: Incidence of infectious diseases was relatively high in patients with nivolumab treatment. ICI has a potential risk for infectious disease regardless of steroid use.
First-Principle Calculations of the Binding Energy of the Coating Components of New Generation Dental Implants

We propose a new method of calculating adhesive strength of a novel bioactive nano-crystralline hydroxyapatite (HAp) coating of a dental implant by methods of Density Functional Theory (DFT) and Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation. Hydroxyapatite is the material similar to the bone — that is why it is used in odontology to cover the implant to improve the process of osseointegration of the implant with the bone. It is also important to have a strong adhesive bond between the coating and the implant to avoid unpleasant situations dealing with the peeling of the coating. Our research focuses on understanding the strength of the bonds of interactions occurring during the process of spraying the dental implants, proposing factors that affect that strength, and ultimately looking at ways to improve the coating process. The goal of this work is to determine the strength of the interactions of the bio-nanocoating, hydroxyapatite, with titanium, which is the common material for the implant. Specifically the binding energy of different combinations of the constituents of the hydroxyapatite coating with titanium are calculated and ranked in order of intermolecular interactions. In the future, these components will be used to calculate the total binding energy of the HAp unit cell and the Ti (II) cation.
Safety‐constrained robust adaptive control for a class of MIMO non‐linear systems

This study proposes two new safety-constrained robust indirect adaptive control schemes for a class of multi-input multi-output non-linear systems subject to unstructured additive model uncertainties and external disturbances. The controllers are designed using a novel error transformation and a new asymptotically stable closed-loop non-linear error dynamics. The model uncertainties of the actual system are approximated by constructing a neural network-based auxiliary observer dynamics. The weights of the neural network are updated using a robust Lyapunov stable weight update rule. Using the estimation information of model uncertainties, two different asymptotically and finite-time exponentially stable tracking controllers are designed to minimise the error between auxiliary observer states and reference signals. It is proven that the closed-loop states of the actual system will remain bounded by the imposed state constraints and the steady-state tracking error of the system will converge asymptotically (or exponentially in finite time) to a user-defined domain. The beauty of the proposed control designs lies in the fact that they are easy to design and implement, and provide design freedom to impose constraints on an individual component of the system states. The effectiveness of the proposed techniques is shown by controlling a two-link robot manipulator in a constrained environment.
Molecular Cloning and Expression of Candida antarctica lipase B in Corynebacterium genus

This study, for the first time, reports the functional expression of lipase B derived from the yeast Candida antarctica (CALB) in Corynebacterium strain using the Escherichia coli plasmid PK18. The CALB gene fragment encoding a 317-amino-acid protein was successfully obtained from the total RNA of C. antarctica. CALB was readily produced in the Corynebacterium strain without the use of induction methods described in previous studies. This demonstrated the extracellular production of CALB in the Corynebacterium strain. CALB produced in the Corynebacterium MB001 strain transformed with pEC-CALB recombinant plasmid exhibited maximum extracellular enzymatic activity and high substrate affinity. The optimal pH and temperature for the hydrolysis of 4-nitrophenyl laurate by CALB were 9.0 and 40℃, respectively. The enzyme was stable at pH 10.7 in the glycine-KOH buffer and functioned as an alkaline lipase. The CALB activity was inhibited in the presence of high concentration of Mg2+, which indicated that CALB is not a metalloenzyme. These properties are key for the industrial application of the enzyme.
Life orientation teacher training needs in career guidance at rural high schools

The inclusion of career guidance in the life orientation (LO) curriculum has posed a number of challenges for LO teachers in South Africa. LO teachers seem to experience confusion, feelings of incompetence, and insufficient training that points to a need for training and professional development. The purpose of this article is to explore the training needs of LO teachers in teaching career guidance at rural high schools in the Lephalale Municipality of the Waterberg District. A qualitative research approach was followed in this study. This study was a small investigation in which non-probability purposive sampling was used to select 2 secondary schools and 1 LO teacher per selected school. Face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were used to elicit responses from a purposefully selected sample of 2 Further Education and Training (FET) LO teachers at 2 rural high schools in the Lephalale Municipality. FET LO teacher training needs in teaching career guidance emerged as a major theme and is discussed in this article.Keywords: career guidance; FET phase; Life Orientation; life orientation teacher; rural high schools; training needs
Characterization of Threshold Voltage Instability Under Off-State Drain Stress and Its Impact on p-GaN HEMT Performance

The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-GaN gate technology is commonly implemented to achieve normally OFF gallium nitride (GaN) devices. Nonetheless, the threshold voltage instability under OFF-state stress remains a concern. In this article, the characterization technique of threshold voltage shift is proposed and the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\text {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> shift’s impact on device performance is investigated. Specifically, a fast <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\mathrm {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> the measurement circuit is introduced and validated to successfully characterize both the magnitude and the time-constant of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\mathrm {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> shift. According to the experimental results, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\mathrm {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> increases by more than 50% within several <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{s}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> after the high drain voltage is applied. In contrast, the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\mathrm {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> slowly (tens of seconds) gets back to the static value after the stress is removed. Following the characterization, the threshold voltage instability’s impact on the device’s static/switching performance is studied experimentally. A knee point shift is observed at low gate voltage, and the static ON-resistance value remains unchanged. Regarding the switching performance, the turn-ON loss increases by >20% after the high drain voltage stress. The change in turn-ON loss can be reduced when the gate resistance is decreased from 20 to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0~\Omega $ </tex-math></inline-formula>. In terms of the turn-OFF loss, the impact of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\mathrm {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> shift is negligible. It is concluded that time-dependent threshold voltage shift needs to be considered in <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-GaN device’s modeling, and high gate drive voltage together with low gate resistance is recommended to mitigate the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$V_{\mathrm {th}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> instability’s effect on <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$p$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-GaN high-electron-mobility transistor’s performance.
Tendencia e impacto de la mortalidad por enfermedades cardiovasculares en México, 1990-2015

Introduccion : Las enfermedades cardiovasculares son el principal grupo de causas de muerte en Mexico. Objetivo : Analizar la tendencia de las enfermedades cardiovasculares en Mexico por sexo, edad, causa de muerte; y su impacto en la esperanza de vida entre 1990-2015. Metodos : Estudio descriptivo con informacion de estadisticas vitales de mortalidad en Mexico. Se calcularon tasas estandarizadas de mortalidad por enfermedades isquemicas, enfermedades hipertensivas, enfermedades cerebrovasculares, otras enfermedades del corazon y otras enfermedades cardiovasculares. Se analizo la tendencia de las tasas mediante una regresion de modelos segmentados; se calcularon las contribuciones al cambio en esperanza de vida por causa y por edad. Resultados : La tendencia de la mortalidad por enfermedades cardiovasculares presento tres periodos: entre 1990-1997 se produjo un incremento en ambos sexos; en 1997-2000 una tendencia decreciente y entre 2000-2015 una tendencia estacionaria en mujeres y creciente en hombres. La mortalidad por enfermedades isquemicas del corazon y enfermedades hipertensivas se incrementaron en hombres y mujeres con el consecuente aporte negativo a la esperanza de vida. Por el contrario, las enfermedades cerebrovasculares disminuyeron con ganancias a la esperanza de vida. Las otras enfermedades del corazon tendieron a disminuir aumentando la esperanza de vida en los dos sexos. Conclusiones : En Mexico existe una diminucion de la mortalidad por algunas enfermedades cardiovasculares especificas con un aporte positivo a la esperanza de vida en los adultos mayores. Sin embargo, existen otras que inciden en un incremento en la mortalidad, lo que disminuye la esperanza de vida de la poblacion, principalmente la de los adultos mayores.