nils-herrmann/clean_scirepeval huggingface dataset:
Content enhanced Bayesian Personalized Ranking
Venue: 2019 16th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM)
Year: 2019

With the popularization of Knowledge Payment Products (KPP) more accurate recommendations are in great need to alleviate information overload of users. Bayesian Personalized Ranking (BPR) is one of the most representative pairwise ranking methods for recommendation, the performances of which greatly depend on the selection of negative feedback. However, traditional negative samplers may suffer from bias and noises. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on improving negative sampling strategy of BPR by incorporating side information of the knowledge products. We locate negative samples by calculating the cosine similarity among items by the textual features of KPP, under the assumption that a user shall have similar perceptions on items with similar content. We union our sampler strategy and the original one with different ratios. Compared to the original BPR that applies a uniform sampler on all the products, the join of our content based sampler enhances BPR with a relative improvement over 4% on the ZhiHu Live dataset, which demonstrates the effectiveness of considering side information when capturing users' preferences on different items.
La consolidation en microfinance le cas africain
Year: 2014

Cette these part du constat selon lequel, malgre le developpement important du secteur de la microfinance ces deux dernieres decennies, sa performance aupres des pauvres reste faible, notamment en Afrique. Malgre son essor, il y existe une multiplicite d'acteurs de petite taille, ayant des portefeuilles de produits financiers relativement peu diversifies et adaptes au financement des activites generatrices de revenu des populations a situation precaire et des menages pauvres. De plus, les profits realises restent faibles, limites et les capacites d'autofinancement sont instables et limitees. La solution a ces differentes sources d'inefficacite nous semble resider dans le choix de l'option de la consolidation du secteur de la microfinance africaine.Cette these s'interesse donc a la consolidation de l'industrie de la microfinance, avec comme principal but, l'amelioration de l'inclusion financiere des pauvres. On admet que la consolidation peut ameliorer les performances des institutions de microfinance, et contribuer efficacement a reduire le taux de pauvrete. Notre travail s'inscrit au coeur du debat initie entre l'approche welfariste et l'approche institutionnaliste de la microfinance, et demontre que non seulement l'atteinte du double objectif a savoir, l'obtention de la soutenabilite financiere et l'amelioration des conditions de vie des populations pauvres, est possible, mais aussi que son impact n'est finalement pas une illusion.Pour illustrer cet objectif, nous avons tout d'abord examine le secteur de la microfinance en identifiant les motifs de la consolidation (Premiere Partie) Puis nous avons developpe et evalue les formes de consolidation en microfinance (Deuxieme Partie) Cette etude s'est principalement inspiree des lecons relatives a la consolidation des secteurs bancaires americain, europeen, et africain. L'examen des motifs de la consolidation en microfinance porte essentiellement sur les questions de la segmentation de l'offre, de la formation des microstructures de marches, des performances limitees du secteur de la microfinance. L'analyse des formes consolidation s'interesse a l'evaluation comparative de l'efficacite des IMF, a la presentation de l'approche federale des caisses cooperatives et de l'approche commerciale des IMF en vue de leur transition au statut de banque de microfinance.Ces differentes formes de consolidation des IMF assurent la mise en place et le developpement des institutions de grande taille, qui reduiront le taux d'exclusion financiere et produiront probablement des effets positifs sur la croissance economique, et le niveau de vie des agents economiques.
GPR35 promotes glycolysis, proliferation, and oncogenic signaling by engaging with the sodium potassium pump
Venue: Science Signaling
Year: 2019

A GPCR Na/K ATPase interaction alters metabolism and proliferation to enhance intestinal tumor formation. Altering membrane potential for cancer Disease associated polymorphisms can give insight into protein function, particularly for receptors whose ligands are unknown or controversial. Polymorphisms in the G protein coupled receptor GPR35 are associated with increased risk for certain inflammatory diseases of the bile duct and large intestine that have increased cancer risk. Schneditz et al. found that GPR35 promoted the activity of Na/K ATPase, a ubiquitous and essential transmembrane pump that sets the membrane potential in cells, in a manner that did not rely on its proposed ligands. A disease associated variant of GPR35 induced a more pronounced increase in Na/K ATPase activity. This stimulation of Na/K ATPase activity enhanced glycolysis and proliferation in intestinal epithelial cells. Deficiency in Na/K ATPase or treatment with a pepducin targeting Gpr35 decreased tumor burden in mouse models of intestinal cancer. Thus, GPR35 coordinates regulation of membrane potential by Na/K ATPase with metabolism and proliferation. The sodium potassium pump (Na/K ATPase) ensures the electrochemical gradient of a cell through an energy dependent process that consumes about one third of regenerated ATP. We report that the G protein coupled receptor GPR35 interacted with the a chain of Na/K ATPase and promotes its ion transport and Src signaling activity in a ligand independent manner. Deletion of Gpr35 increased baseline Ca2+ to maximal levels and reduced Src activation and overall metabolic activity in macrophages and intestinal epithelial cells (IECs) In contrast, a common T108M polymorphism in GPR35 was hypermorphic and had the opposite effects to Gpr35 deletion on Src activation and metabolic activity. The T108M polymorphism is associated with ulcerative colitis and primary sclerosing cholangitis, inflammatory diseases with a high cancer risk. GPR35 promoted homeostatic IEC turnover, whereas Gpr35 deletion or inhibition by a selective pepducin prevented inflammation associated and spontaneous intestinal tumorigenesis in mice. Thus, GPR35 acts as a central signaling and metabolic pacesetter, which reveals an unexpected role of Na/K ATPase in macrophage and IEC biology.
Estimating the serial interval of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID 19) A statistical analysis using the public data in Hong Kong from January 16 to February 15, 2020
Venue: medRxiv
Year: 2020

The emerging virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS CoV 2) has caused a large outbreak of novel coronavirus disease (COVID 19) in Wuhan, China since December 2019. Based on the publicly available surveillance data, we identified 21 transmission chains in Hong Kong and estimated the serial interval (SI) of COVID 19.  Index cases were identified and reported after symptoms onset, and contact tracing was conducted to collect the data of the associated secondary cases. An interval censored likelihood framework is adopted to fit a Gamma distribution function to govern the SI of COVID 19.  Assuming a Gamma distributed model, we estimated the mean of SI at 4.4 days (95%CI: 2.9 6.7) and SD of SI at 3.0 days (95%CI: 1.8 5.8) by using the information of all 21 transmission chains in Hong Kong.  The SI of COVID 19 may be shorter than the preliminary estimates in previous works. Given the likelihood that SI could be shorter than the incubation period, pre symptomatic transmission may occur, and extra efforts on timely contact tracing and quarantine are recommended in combating the COVID 19 outbreak.
Exploring Mobile Game Addiction, Cyberbullying, and its Effects on Academic Performance among Tertiary Students in one University in the Philippines
Venue: TENCON 2018 2018 IEEE Region 10 Conference
Year: 2018

Mobile gaming addiction is a growing concern that increases the user's risk for physical and psychological health problems. Video game addiction is part of the so called Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and is often associated with Gambling Addiction. In general, IGD has been linked to a poorer academic performance of students in educational institutions. However, a study conducted by Samaha and Hawi (2016) revealed that there is no relationship between smartphone addiction risk and academic performance. This denotes a disparity on the result of academic performance between IGD and mobile phone addiction. Cyber bullying, on the other hand, is also an ethical concern that has affected several young adolescents and adults. Previous studies on traditional bullying and cyberbullying revealed that both can greatly impact school performance of students among others. As far as the present study is concerned, no studies have been conducted which determines whether mobile game addiction and cyberbullying are causal factors for the academic performance of students. It is now the objective of the present study to determine whether both can negatively affect the academic performance of students. This study employed a quantitative approach to determine a possible correlation between mobile game addiction and cyberbullying with student academic performance. A total of eighty five (85) respondents from National University Philippines answered two questionnaires through Google Forms, namely, the Game Addiction Questionnaire and Cyberbullying Questionnaire. Convenience Sampling was used to gather the respondents of the two surveys. Both cyberbullying and mobile game addiction (constructs) were neglected as causal factors for the students' academic performance. However, it can be concluded that those who have been a victim of cyberbullying are most likely to perpetrate or initiate cyberbullying. Other results are further discussed in the paper.
Liquisolid pellets: Mixture experimental design assessment of critical quality attributes influencing the manufacturing performance via extrusion spheronization
Year: 2020

A Quality by Design approach was taken to assess the influence of several formulation parameters on critical quality attributes of liquisolid pellets (LPs) obtained by extrusion spheronization. Two mixture experimental designs were used, one for each of the non volatile solvents (NVS) studied: Kolliphor(r) EL or PEG 400. The studied parameters were the concentrations of NVS (A Kolliphor(r) EL, 0 40% w/w; or PEG 400, 0 31.1% w/w) coating material (B crospovidone, 0 50.3% w/w) and carrier (C microcrystalline cellulose, MCC, 27 100% w/w) The critical quality attributes assessed were amount of granulation liquid required for extrusion/spheronization, residual moisture, particle size, particle size distribution, bulk density, tapped density, true density, Carr's Index, Hausner Ratio, aspect ratio, angle of repose and friability. All hierarchical terms and interactions were evaluated to determine the statistical relevance of each term. Mathematical models were determined by linear regression, taking into account statistically relevant terms. Lack of Fit, R2, adjusted R2 and adequate precision were assessed to determine the fitness of each mathematical model. It was possible to identify and understand parameters affecting critical quality attributes of LPs, as well as the magnitude of these effects. The mathematical models developed were robust and can be used to predict optimal LPs excipient compositions within the experimental domains assessed. This study provides an overall understanding of the impact of excipients on quality attributes of blank LPs, a critical knowledge to the implementation of this novel application of liquisolid systems.
Simultaneous acquisition of neuronal morphology and cytoarchitecture in the same Golgi stained brain.
Venue: Biomedical optics express
Year: 2018

Acquiring an accurate orientation reference is a prerequisite for precisely analysing the morphological features of Golgi stained neurons in the whole brain. However, the same reflective imaging contrast of Golgi staining for morphology and Nissl staining for cytoarchitecture leads to the failure of distinguishing soma morphology and simultaneously co locate cytoarchitecture. Here, we developed the dual mode micro optical sectioning tomography (dMOST) method to simultaneously image the reflective and fluorescent signals in three dimensions. We evaluated the feasibility of real time fluorescent counterstaining on Golgi stained brain tissue. With our system, we acquired whole brain data sets of physiological and pathological Golgi stained mouse model brains with fluorescence labelled anatomical annotation at single neuron resolution. We also obtained the neuronal morphology of macaque monkey brain tissue using this method. The results show that real time acquisition of the co located cytoarchitecture reference in the same brain greatly facilitates the precise morphological analysis of Golgi stained neurons.
DNA/RNA chimera templated copper nanoclusters for label free detection of reverse transcription associated ribonuclease H
Year: 2020

DNA templated fluorescent copper nanoclusters (DNA CuNCs) have demonstrated enormous potential for biochemical analysis. However, most of them are focused on DNA related sensing. Here, we designed a hairpin DNA/RNA chimeric chain for the formation of fluorescent CuNCs and further applied it to detect reverse transcription associated ribonuclease H (RNase H) The DNA/RNA chimera templated copper nanoclusters (DNA/RNA CuNCs) exhibited similar spectral properties with DNA CuNCs. In the presence of RNase H, the RNA segment in chimera is hydrolyzed and release short oligonucleotides, which fail to synthsize fluorescent CuNCs. The capabilities for RNase H detection from complex samples and screening of inhibitors were verified. This strategy exhibited high sensitivity for RNase H with a detectable minimum concentration of 5.5 x 10 4 U mL 1, which is lower than the developed fluorescent methods. This work will open up new thoughts to design new template for metal nanoclusters and broaden their application in RNA related sensing.
Sensitivity of revised diagnostic criteria for the behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia.
Venue: Brain a journal of neurology
Year: 2011

Based on the recent literature and collective experience, an international consortium developed revised guidelines for the diagnosis of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. The validation process retrospectively reviewed clinical records and compared the sensitivity of proposed and earlier criteria in a multi site sample of patients with pathologically verified frontotemporal lobar degeneration. According to the revised criteria, 'possible' behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia requires three of six clinically discriminating features (disinhibition, apathy/inertia, loss of sympathy/empathy, perseverative/compulsive behaviours, hyperorality and dysexecutive neuropsychological profile) 'Probable' behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia adds functional disability and characteristic neuroimaging, while behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia 'with definite frontotemporal lobar degeneration' requires histopathological confirmation or a pathogenic mutation. Sixteen brain banks contributed cases meeting histopathological criteria for frontotemporal lobar degeneration and a clinical diagnosis of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia, Alzheimer's disease, dementia with Lewy bodies or vascular dementia at presentation. Cases with predominant primary progressive aphasia or extra pyramidal syndromes were excluded. In these autopsy confirmed cases, an experienced neurologist or psychiatrist ascertained clinical features necessary for making a diagnosis according to previous and proposed criteria at presentation. Of 137 cases where features were available for both proposed and previously established criteria, 118 (86% met 'possible' criteria, and 104 (76% met criteria for 'probable' behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. In contrast, 72 cases (53% met previously established criteria for the syndrome (P 0.001 for comparison with 'possible' and 'probable' criteria) Patients who failed to meet revised criteria were significantly older and most had atypical presentations with marked memory impairment. In conclusion, the revised criteria for behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia improve diagnostic accuracy compared with previously established criteria in a sample with known frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Greater sensitivity of the proposed criteria may reflect the optimized diagnostic features, less restrictive exclusion features and a flexible structure that accommodates different initial clinical presentations. Future studies will be needed to establish the reliability and specificity of these revised diagnostic guidelines.
Statistical Evolutionary Laws in Music Styles
Venue: Scientific Reports
Year: 2019

If a cultural feature is transmitted over generations and exposed to stochastic selection when spreading in a population, its evolution may be governed by statistical laws and be partly predictable, as in the case of genetic evolution. Music exhibits steady changes of styles over time, with new characteristics developing from traditions. Recent studies have found trends in the evolution of music styles, but little is known about their relations to the evolution theory. Here we analyze Western classical music data and find statistical evolutionary laws. For example, distributions of the frequencies of some rare musical events (e.g. dissonant intervals) exhibit steady increase in the mean and standard deviation as well as constancy of their ratio. We then study an evolutionary model where creators learn their data generation models from past data and generate new data that will be socially selected by evaluators according to the content dissimilarity (novelty) and style conformity (typicality) with respect to the past data. The model reproduces the observed statistical laws and can make non trivial predictions for the evolution of independent musical features. In addition, the same model with different parameterization can predict the evolution of Japanese enka music, which is developed in a different society and has a qualitatively different tendency of evolution. Our results suggest that the evolution of musical styles can partly be explained and predicted by the evolutionary model incorporating statistical learning, which can be important for other cultures and future music technologies.
Data Resource Profile: Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD)
Venue: International journal of epidemiology
Year: 2015

The Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD) is an ongoing primary care database of anonymised medical records from general practitioners, with coverage of over 11.3 million patients from 674 practices in the UK. With 4.4 million active (alive, currently registered) patients meeting quality criteria, approximately 6.9% of the UK population are included and patients are broadly representative of the UK general population in terms of age, sex and ethnicity. General practitioners are the gatekeepers of primary care and specialist referrals in the UK. The CPRD primary care database is therefore a rich source of health data for research, including data on demographics, symptoms, tests, diagnoses, therapies, health related behaviours and referrals to secondary care. For over half of patients, linkage with datasets from secondary care, disease specific cohorts and mortality records enhance the range of data available for research. The CPRD is very widely used internationally for epidemiological research and has been used to produce over 1000 research studies, published in peer reviewed journals across a broad range of health outcomes. However, researchers must be aware of the complexity of routinely collected electronic health records, including ways to manage variable completeness, misclassification and development of disease definitions for research.
Induction motor Parameter Estimation using Hybrid Genetic Algorithm
Venue: 2008 IEEE Region 10 and the Third international Conference on Industrial and Information Systems
Year: 2008

The main objective of this work is to develop a cost effective off line method for determination of induction motor equivalent circuit parameters by conducting a single load test on the motor. The proposed scheme is an alternative viable method to conventional means of no load and blocked rotor tests. The identification of motor parameters is redrafted as a multi objective optimization problem and solution is sought through conventional optimization method as well as genetic algorithm (GA) The conventional method employed is the well known Rosenbrock's (RB) rotating coordinates method. When the results of the two methods are analyzed, it is observed that while GA offers near optimal solution to the problem, the method of RB always results in global optima, provided initial values are chosen judiciously. Hence, it is proposed to combine these two methods to gain the advantages of both the methods. In such a hybrid optimization method, the task of global search is carried out by GA, while Rosenbrock's method is devoted to local search. Comparison of these two techniques are discussed and presented in conjunction with computed and practical results. It is shown that combination of GA with conventional method yields improved results.
Age determination in asylum seekers: physicians should not be implicated
Venue: European Journal of Pediatrics
Year: 2015

Every year asylum seekers come to Europe. Around 4 of these are, according to their testimony, minors. Because the regulations for admitting or refusing to enter the country are different between minors and adults, governments are eager to ascertain the age of the asylum seekers who testify to be minor. The help of physicians is sought to determine the age of these individuals. Date of birth and chronological age but also biological age are determinants of how individuals can participate in, or are treated by, the society in which they live. The fact that evidence of age is fundamental to the realisation of rights and needs in society is recognised in Article 7 of The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states that "The child shall be registered immediately after birth"  Unfortunately, it has been estimated that around 51 million births go unregistered each year in developing countries, mainly in South Asia and sub Saharan Africa  Even when a birth has been registered, the individual may lose the documentation and have no way of replacing it, particularly in times of upheaval such as war and social unrest. The unfortunate geographical coincidences of incomplete birth registration rates, wars and poverty mean that refugees and asylum seekers often possess no evidence of age. Worldwide, in 2008, there were approximately 827,000 asylum seekers, 44 of whomwere children [21] Unaccompanied or separated children formed 4 of asylum claims. Age is a key determinant of how an individual is handled in such circumstances and may be the deciding factor in the success or failure of an asylum application. For children, it also defines access to education and healthcare. Three important aspects must be considered regarding age determination in cases when the age of an asylum seeker is in doubt.