Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimization of simultaneous carotenes and vitamin E (tocols) extraction from crude palm olein using response surface methodology

ABSTRACT In this study, response surface methodology was utilized to determine the optimal conditions for the extraction of carotenes (α- and β-carotene) and tocols (α-tocopherol, α-, γ-, and δ-tocotrienol) from crude palm olein using ethyl lactate (EL) and ethanol (EtoL) in a temperature-controlled mixer-settler system. Central composite design with four factors including temperature (X1), mixing time (X2), volume fraction (VF) of olein (X3), and VF of EtOL (X4) was used to investigate the multivariate relationship with the five responses including enrichment factor and recovery of both carotenes and tocols. The optimum extraction conditions were determined at 20°C, 10 min of mixing, 48% of crude palm olein, 31.2% of EL and 20.8% of EtoL (corresponding to 0.5 VF of olein and 0.4 VF of EtoL). The enrichment factors of carotenes and tocols were 0.88 and 2.56, respectively while 11.3% of carotenes and 31.2% of tocols were recovered.
Cities with Forking Paths? Agglomeration Economies in New Zealand 1976-2018

We consider whether external urban economic advantages (agglomeration economies) vary with time and space using a simple economic model and detailed micro-data on 134 locations in New Zealand for the period 1976–2018. We find subtle temporal variation, with estimates peaking in 1991 and then falling over the next 15-years by approximately 1%. Since 2006, however, estimates have remained broadly stable. Our results reveal more significant spatial variation: Large cities offer net benefits in production, but not in consumption, whereas small locations close to large cities (“satellites”) experience agglomeration economies that are stronger than average.
Estimation and Machine Learning Prediction of Imports of Goods in European Countries in the Period 2010-2019

In this article we estimate the “Imports of Goods” in European countries in the period 2010-2019 for 28 countries. We use Panel Data with Fixed Effects, Panel Data with Random Effects, Pooled OLS, WLS. Our results show that “Imports of Goods” is negatively associated with “Private Consumption Expenditure at Current Prices”, “Consumption of Fixed Capital”, and “Gross Domestic Product” and positively associated with “Harmonised Consumer Price Index” and “Gross Operating Surplus: Total Economy”. Finally, we compare a set of predictive models based on different machine learning techniques using RapidMiner, and we find that “Gradient Boosted Trees”, “Random Forest”, and “Decision Tree” are more efficient than “Deep Learning”, “Generalized Linear Model” and “Support Vector Machine”, in the sense of error minimization, to forecast the degree of “Imports of Goods”.
Is Flood Risk Priced in Bank Returns?

Climate change related disasters are projected to increase considerably over our lifetime, and storms and floods cause the highest financial damages. Using a comprehensive future flood risk measure matched to bank holding companies in the United States, I find that a higher exposure to future flood risk results in higher excess returns. This is consistent with the interpretation that investors demand compensation for their increased risk exposure. The result is stronger for smaller and less levered banks. Furthermore, I construct a flood risk factor from bank returns that cannot be entirely explained by the conventional bank risk factors. And, I show that the flood risk factor can explain up to 30% of the variance of bank stock returns.
How Much Did the ECB Really Contribute to Ending the Sovereign Debt Crisis?

I show that once one incorporates country-specific yields into the identification of monetary factors for the European Central Bank, a new factor arises which plays a quantitatively important role in explaining the end of the sovereign debt crisis and the resulting convergence in economic outcomes across the Euro block. Specifications that exclude this novel factor instead imply that the central bank played little role in ending the crisis. I argue that this new factor reflects ECB communications that respond to certain countries' conditions beyond their share of Euro area activity, mostly during the crisis period.
Inventory control under corporate income tax and accrual accounting

Abstract Corporate income tax constitutes a significant portion of financial costs in business operations. A typical tax system is characterized by the tax structure, accounting method, and loss carryover rule. In this article, we study the optimal inventory policies under taxation and accrual accounting. We consider a lost-sales periodic-review inventory system under a proportional tax with loss carryforward. We formulate the problem as a cyclic stochastic dynamic program with multiple accounting periods, each of which consists of multiple review periods. We show that an income-dependent basestock policy is optimal. We find that tax function convexity and loss carryforward may introduce conflicting incentives into inventory decisions: the former drives risk-averse decisions whereas the latter induces risk-seeking behavior. We identify two intertemporal effects of taxation, the intra-accounting-period effect and the inter-accounting-period effect, both inducing smaller basestock levels. We further extend the analysis to the progressive tax, backordering system, and cash accounting method. Our numerical study examines the effects of various characteristics of taxation on the optimal policies. Our results demonstrate that ignoring taxation in inventory decisions may lead to significant losses especially when the tax rate and demand uncertainty are sufficiently high, which reveals the value of tax considerations in inventory management.
Association of waist circumference with muscle and fat mass in adults with a normal body mass index

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES We aimed to investigate the association of waist circumference (WC) with body composition among individuals with a normal body mass index (BMI) to distinguish muscle and fat mass, as both affect health differently. SUBJECTS/METHODS We analyzed dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry data (derived from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Survey, which includes information on fat and lean mass) of 7,493 adults with a normal BMI. Subjects were categorized into four groups of increasing WC. The fourth group was defined as being centrally obese. Each number of subjects are as follows: 1,870, 695, 231, and 39 among men and 3,054, 1,100, 406, and 98 among women. We conducted a sex-stratified linear regression analysis of body composition according to WC group after adjustments for covariates. RESULTS We observed a positive association of body fat with increasing WC in both men and women (all P for trend: < 0.001). The adjusted mean values for percent body fat with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) according to the four WC groups in ascending order were 17.8 (17.5–18.3), 21.0 (20.6–21.5), 22.1 (21.5–22.8), and 25.1 (24.2–26.1) in men and 29.7 (29.4–30.0), 32.0 (31.6–32.3), 32.9 (32.4–33.4), and 34.7 (33.2–36.1) in women. However, there was an inverted J-shaped association between muscle mass and WC. The fourth group had a higher percent body fat and lower muscle mass than other groups. The adjusted mean values for appendicular skeletal muscle mass index (kg/m2) with 95% CIs according to the four WC groups in ascending order were 7.55 (7.51–7.59), 7.62 (7.56–7.68), 7.65 (7.56–7.74), and 7.22 (7.04–7.41) in men and 5.83 (5.80–5.85), 5.96 (5.92–6.00), 6.03 (5.96–6.10), and 5.88 (5.73–6.03). CONCLUSIONS There was a positive association between body fat and WC among individuals with normal BMI; conversely there was an inverted J-shaped association between lean body mass and WC. Our findings support the WC measurement should be included in obesity evaluations for adults with a normal BMI.
Influence of Commercial Insurance Purchase on the Health Status of Chinese Residents

Under the context of rapid economic and social development, and growing demands for a better life, Chinese residents have been increasingly concerned with their health status and issues. In this study, the internal relations between the purchase of commercial insurance by residents and their health status are analyzed and studied with a polytomous logit model based on the data of Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2015. According to the research result, purchase of commercial insurance significantly improved the health status of residents, with an improving effect for rural residents apparently better than that among urban residents. In addition, purchase of commercial insurance can promote the health status of residents by increasing their household income. This research will provide an effective reference for the innovative development and medical reform of the commercial insurance of China in the future, which is theoretically and practically significant to the implementation of the Healthy China Strategy.
Data-driven remaining useful life prediction based on domain adaptation

As an important part of prognostics and health management, remaining useful life (RUL) prediction can provide users and managers with system life information and improve the reliability of maintenance systems. Data-driven methods are powerful tools for RUL prediction because of their great modeling abilities. However, most current data-driven studies require large amounts of labeled training data and assume that the training data and test data follow similar distributions. In fact, the collected data are often variable due to different equipment operating conditions, fault modes, and noise distributions. As a result, the assumption that the training data and the test data obey the same distribution may not be valid. In response to the above problems, this paper proposes a data-driven framework with domain adaptability using a bidirectional gated recurrent unit (BGRU). The framework uses a domain-adversarial neural network (DANN) to implement transfer learning (TL) from the source domain to the target domain, which contains only sensor information. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we analyze the IEEE PHM 2012 Challenge datasets and use them for verification. The experimental results show that the generalization ability of the model is effectively improved through the domain adaptation approach.
Deep learning analysis of resting electrocardiograms for the detection of myocardial dysfunction, hypertrophy, and ischaemia: a systematic review

Abstract The aim of this review was to assess the evidence for deep learning (DL) analysis of resting electrocardiograms (ECGs) to predict structural cardiac pathologies such as left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction, myocardial hypertrophy, and ischaemic heart disease. A systematic literature search was conducted to identify published original articles on end-to-end DL analysis of resting ECG signals for the detection of structural cardiac pathologies. Studies were excluded if the ECG was acquired by ambulatory, stress, intracardiac, or implantable devices, and if the pathology of interest was arrhythmic in nature. After duplicate reviewers screened search results, 12 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included. Three articles used DL to detect LV systolic dysfunction, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.89–0.93 and an accuracy of 98%. One study used DL to detect LV hypertrophy, achieving an AUC of 0.87 and an accuracy of 87%. Six articles used DL to detect acute myocardial infarction, achieving an AUC of 0.88–1.00 and an accuracy of 83–99.9%. Two articles used DL to detect stable ischaemic heart disease, achieving an accuracy of 95–99.9%. Deep learning models, particularly those that used convolutional neural networks, outperformed rules-based models and other machine learning models. Deep learning is a promising technique to analyse resting ECG signals for the detection of structural cardiac pathologies, which has clinical applicability for more effective screening of asymptomatic populations and expedited diagnostic work-up of symptomatic patients at risk for cardiovascular disease.
Defining and measuring microservice granularity—a literature overview

Background Microservices are an architectural approach of growing use, and the optimal granularity of a microservice directly affects the application’s quality attributes and usage of computational resources. Determining microservice granularity is an open research topic. Methodology We conducted a systematic literature review to analyze literature that addresses the definition of microservice granularity. We searched in IEEE Xplore, ACM Digital Library and Scopus. The research questions were: Which approaches have been proposed to define microservice granularity and determine the microservices’ size? Which metrics are used to evaluate microservice granularity? Which quality attributes are addressed when researching microservice granularity? Results We found 326 papers and selected 29 after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. The quality attributes most often addressed are runtime properties (e.g., scalability and performance), not development properties (e.g., maintainability). Most proposed metrics were about the product, both static (coupling, cohesion, complexity, source code) and runtime (performance, and usage of computational resources), and a few were about the development team and process. The most used techniques for defining microservices granularity were machine learning (clustering), semantic similarity, genetic programming, and domain engineering. Most papers were concerned with migration from monoliths to microservices; and a few addressed green-field development, but none address improvement of granularity in existing microservice-based systems. Conclusions Methodologically speaking, microservice granularity research is at a Wild West stage: no standard definition, no clear development—operation trade-offs, and scarce conceptual reuse (e.g., few methods seem applicable or replicable in projects other than their initial proposal). These gaps in granularity research offer clear options to investigate on continuous improvement of the development and operation of microservice-based systems.
Conformational flexibility of proteins involved in ribosome biogenesis: investigations via Small Angle X-ray Scattering (SAXS)

The dynamism of proteins is central to their function, and several proteins have been described as flexible, as consisting of multiple domains joined by flexible linkers, and even as intrinsically disordered. Several techniques exist to study protein structures, but small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) has proven to be particularly powerful for the quantitative analysis of such flexible systems. In the present report, we have used SAXS in combination with X-ray crystallography to highlight their usefulness at characterizing flexible proteins, using as examples two proteins involved in different steps of ribosome biogenesis. The yeast BRCA2 and CDKN1A-interactig protein, Bcp1, is a chaperone for Rpl23 of unknown structure. We showed that it consists of a rigid, slightly elongated protein, with a secondary structure comprising a mixture of alpha helices and beta sheets. As an example of a flexible molecule, we studied the SBDS (Shwachman-Bodian-Diamond Syndrome) protein that is involved in the cytoplasmic maturation of the 60S subunit and constitutes the mutated target in the Shwachman-Diamond Syndrome. In solution, this protein coexists in an ensemble of three main conformations, with the N- and C-terminal ends adopting different orientations with respect to the central domain. The structure observed in the protein crystal corresponds to an average of those predicted by the SAXS flexibility analysis.
Emerging Role of Mitophagy in the Heart: Therapeutic Potentials to Modulate Mitophagy in Cardiac Diseases

The normal function of the mitochondria is crucial for most tissues especially for those that demand a high energy supply. Emerging evidence has pointed out that healthy mitochondrial function is closely associated with normal heart function. When these processes fail to repair the damaged mitochondria, cells initiate a removal process referred to as mitophagy to clear away defective mitochondria. In cardiomyocytes, mitophagy is closely associated with metabolic activity, cell differentiation, apoptosis, and other physiological processes involved in major phenotypic alterations. Mitophagy alterations may contribute to detrimental or beneficial effects in a multitude of cardiac diseases, indicating potential clinical insights after a close understanding of the mechanisms. Here, we discuss the current opinions of mitophagy in the progression of cardiac diseases, such as ischemic heart disease, diabetic cardiomyopathy, cardiac hypertrophy, heart failure, and arrhythmia, and focus on the key molecules and related pathways involved in the regulation of mitophagy. We also discuss recently reported approaches targeting mitophagy in the therapy of cardiac diseases.
Laboratory evaluation of twelve portable devices for medicine quality screening

Background Post-market surveillance is a key regulatory function to prevent substandard and falsified (SF) medicines from being consumed by patients. Field deployable technologies offer the potential for rapid objective screening for SF medicines. Methods and findings We evaluated twelve devices: three near infrared spectrometers (MicroPHAZIR RX, NIR-S-G1, Neospectra 2.5), two Raman spectrometers (Progeny, TruScan RM), one mid-infrared spectrometer (4500a), one disposable colorimetric assay (Paper Analytical Devices, PAD), one disposable immunoassay (Rapid Diagnostic Test, RDT), one portable liquid chromatograph (C-Vue), one microfluidic system (PharmaChk), one mass spectrometer (QDa), and one thin layer chromatography kit (GPHF-Minilab). Each device was tested with a series of field collected medicines (FCM) along with simulated medicines (SIM) formulated in a laboratory. The FCM and SIM ranged from samples with good quality active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) concentrations, reduced concentrations of API (80% and 50% of the API), no API, and the wrong API. All the devices had high sensitivities (91.5 to 100.0%) detecting medicines with no API or the wrong API. However, the sensitivities of each device towards samples with 50% and 80% API varied greatly, from 0% to 100%. The infrared and Raman spectrometers had variable sensitivities for detecting samples with 50% and 80% API (from 5.6% to 50.0%). The devices with the ability to quantitate API (C-Vue, PharmaChk, QDa) had sensitivities ranging from 91.7% to 100% to detect all poor quality samples. The specificity was lower for the quantitative C-Vue, PharmaChk, & QDa (50.0% to 91.7%) than for all the other devices in this study (95.5% to 100%). Conclusions The twelve devices evaluated could detect medicines with the wrong or none of the APIs, consistent with falsified medicines, with high accuracy. However, API quantitation to detect formulations similar to those commonly found in substandards proved more difficult, requiring further technological innovation.
A knowledge graph based question answering method for medical domain

Question answering (QA) is a hot field of research in Natural Language Processing. A big challenge in this field is to answer questions from knowledge-dependable domain. Since traditional QA hardly satisfies some knowledge-dependable situations, such as disease diagnosis, drug recommendation, etc. In recent years, researches focus on knowledge-based question answering (KBQA). However, there still exist some problems in KBQA, traditional KBQA is limited by a range of historical cases and takes too much human labor. To address the problems, in this paper, we propose an approach of knowledge graph based question answering (KGQA) method for medical domain, which firstly constructs a medical knowledge graph by extracting named entities and relations between the entities from medical documents. Then, in order to understand a question, it extracts the key information in the question according to the named entities, and meanwhile, it recognizes the questions’ intentions by adopting information gain. The next an inference method based on weighted path ranking on the knowledge graph is proposed to score the related entities according to the key information and intention of a given question. Finally, it extracts the inferred candidate entities to construct answers. Our approach can understand questions, connect the questions to the knowledge graph and inference the answers on the knowledge graph. Theoretical analysis and real-life experimental results show the efficiency of our approach.
Educational Case: Neisseria Meningitis

The following fictional case is intended as a learning tool within the Pathology Competencies for Medical Education (PCME), a set of national standards for teaching pathology. These are divided into three basic competencies: Disease Mechanisms and Processes, Organ System Pathology, and Diagnostic Medicine and Therapeutic Pathology. For additional information, and a full list of learning objectives for all three competencies, seehttp://journals.sagepub. com/doi/10.1177/2374289517715040.1
Effect of Toe Only Rocker at 10 and 15 Degrees on Balance and Walking Speed in Elderly Adults

Objective: Balance is one of the indicators to determine independence in performing daily activities in the elderly. One of the influential factors in postural control and balance is walking speed. This study aims to evaluate the effect of rocker soles at two degrees of 10 and 15 on the walking speed and balance of the elderly. Materials & Methods: The study participants were 19 older adults aged 60 years or older (13 women and 6 men; mean age=66.1 years, mean height=1.63 m, mean weight=70.3 kg). Three models of shoes were used: shoes with a 10-degree rocker sole angle, shoes with a 15-degree rocker sole angle, and control shoes. Walknig speed was evaluated with 10-m walking test, while balance and dynamic postural control were assessed with the Berg balance Scale (BBS) and Star Excursion balance test, respectively. The Shapiro-Wilks test was used to examine the normality of data distribution, and repeated-measures ANOVA and Wilcoxon test were used to compare the effects of different rocker angles on balance and walking speed. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS v. 22. Results: There was no significant difference in walking speed (P= 0.993), dynamic postural balance at anterior (P= 0.835), posterolateral (P= 0.86), and posteromedial (P= 0.598) directions and balance obtained from BBS (P= 0.625) among the groups using three shoe models. Conclusion: It seems that the use of rocker sole shoes does not affect the balance and walking speed of the elderly. This study supports the administration of shoes with toe-only rocker soles to the elderly.