Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Neoadjuvant and Concurrent Chemotherapy Have Varied Impacts on the Prognosis of Patients with the Ascending and Descending Types of Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Treated with Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy

Purpose To compare the outcomes of patients with ascending type (T4&N0-1) and descending type (T1-2&N3) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT), neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) + intensity-modulated radiotherapy (RT) or NACT + CCRT. Methods Retrospective analysis of 839 patients with ascending or descending types of NPC treated at a single institution between October 2009 to February 2012. CCRT was delivered to 236 patients, NACT + RT to 302 patients, and NACT + CCRT to 301 patients. Results The 4-year overall survival rate, distant metastasis-free survival rate, local relapse-free survival rate, nodal relapse-free survival rate, loco-regional relapse-free survival rate, and progression free survival rate were 75.2% and 73.4% (P = 0.114), 85.7% and 74.1% (P = 0.008), 88.8% and 97.1% (P = 0.013), 96.9% and 94.1% (P = 0.122), 86.9% and 91.2% (P = 0.384), 73.7% and 66.2% (P = 0.063) in ascending type and descending type. Subgroup analyses indicated that NACT + RT significantly improved distant metastasis-free survival rate and progression-free survival rate when compared with CCRT in the ascending type, and there were no significant differences between the survival curves of NACT +RT and NACT + CCRT. For descending type, there were no significant differences among the survival curves of NACT +RT, CCRT, and NACT + CCRT groups, and the survival benefit mainly came from CCRT. Conclusions Compared with NACT + CCRT or CCRT, NACT + RT may be a reasonable approach for ascending type. Although concurrent chemotherapy was effective in descending type, NACT + CCRT may be a more appropriate strategy for descending type.
Journal of Theoretical and Applied Information Technology a Survey of Optimal Power Flow Methods

The objective of an Optimal Power Flow (OPF) algorithm is to find steady state operation point which minimizes generation cost, loss etc. or maximizes social welfare, loadability etc. while maintaining an acceptable system performance in terms of limits on generators' real and reactive powers, line flow limits, output of various compensating devices etc. Traditionally, classical optimization methods were used to effectively solve OPF. But more recently due to incorporation of FACTS devices and deregulation of a power sector, the traditional concepts and practices of power systems are superimposed by an economic market management. So OPF have become complex. In recent years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods have been emerged which can solve highly complex OPF problems. The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive survey of various optimization methods used to solve OPF problems.
Fluidized bed granulation of an ordered powder mixture

The phenomenon of ordered unit segregation is of paramount importance in determining the homogeneity of an ordered mixture. This problem can be avoided by using a monodisperse carrier, but it is uneconomic. The fluidized bed granulation of a 0.1% ordered mixture has been studied as a method of reducing the effects of segregation. The ordered units were stable when fluidized and no significant loss of the microfine adsorbed material occurred during processing. The distribution of the minor component in the granules was significantly more uniform than in the original ordered mixtures. The demixing potential
Estimating Tropical Cyclone Size in the Northwestern Pacific from Geostationary Satellite Infrared Images

Thirty-year (1980–2009) tropical cyclone (TC) images from geostationary satellite (GOES, Meteosat, GMS, MTSAT and FY2) infrared sensors covering the Northwestern Pacific were used to build a TC size dataset based on objective models. The models are based on a correlation between the size of TCs, defined as the mean azimuth radius of 34 kt surface winds (R34) and the brightness temperature radial profiles derived from satellite imagery. Using satellite images between 2001 and 2009, we obtained 16,548 matchup samples and found the correlation to be positive in the TC’s inner core region (in the annulus field 64 km from the TC center) and negative in its outer region (in the annulus field 100–250 km from the TC center). Then, we performed a stepwise regression to select the dominant variables and derived the associated coefficients for the objective models. Independent validation against best track archives shows the median estimation error to be between 27 and 65 km, which are not significantly different to other satellite series data. Finally, we applied the models to 721 TCs and made 13,726 measurements of TC size. The difference of mean TC size derived from our models, and also that from the US Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) best track archives is 19 km. The developed database is valuable in the research fields of TC structure, climatology, and the initialization of forecasting models.
A Publication of the Association of Management THE IMPACT OF EXPECTATION DISCONFIRMATION ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND RECOMMENDATION BEHAVIOR : INVESTIGATING ONLINE TRAVEL AND TOURISM SERVICES

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of expectation disconfirmation on user loyalty and recommendation behavior with respect to online travel and tourism services. For this, the Expectation Disconfirmation Theory was employed as a lens of analysis, and the critical incident technique was applied to survey 94 Expedia users. In this study, a number of findings emerged that contribute to our understanding of the antecedents of loyalty and word-of-mouth behavior, and lead to important recommendations that may be utilized by online travel and tourism businesses. Particularly, the lack of a clear link between the type (i.e., positive or negative) of expectation disconfirmation and loyalty / service recommendation was observed. Consistent with prior research, it was concluded that the relationship between customer experience, satisfaction, loyalty and word-of-mouth is very complicated.
Combining ORAM with PIR to Minimize Bandwidth Costs

Cloud computing allows customers to outsource the burden of data management and benefit from economy of scale, but privacy concerns limit its reach. Even if the stored data are encrypted, access patterns may leak valuable information. Oblivious RAM (ORAM) protocols guarantee full access pattern privacy, but even the most efficient ORAMs proposed to date incur large bandwidth costs. We combine Private Information Retrieval (PIR) techniques with the most bandwidth-efficient existing ORAM scheme known to date (ObliviStore), to create OS+PIR, a new ORAM with bandwidth costs only half those of ObliviStore. For data block counts ranging from 2^20 to 2^30, OS+PIR achieves a total bandwidth cost of only 11X-13X blocks transferred per client block read+write, down from ObliviStore's 18X-26X. OS+PIR introduces several enhancements in addition to PIR in order to achieve its lower costs, including mechanisms for eliminating unused dummy blocks.
A High-Efficiency Step-Up Current-Fed Push–Pull Quasi-Resonant Converter With Fewer Components for Fuel Cell Application

In this paper, a new high-efficiency step-up current-fed push–pull quasi-resonant converter is proposed, which is suitable for low-voltage fuel cell power conditioning system. The proposed converter conserves inherent advantages of low-input-current stress and high voltage conversion ratio of the conventional current-fed push–pull converter. All of power devices can achieve soft switching at light load improving the overall efficiency. Moreover, similar features have been obtained with fewer components in comparison with the active-clamped current-fed push–pull converter [37] and current-fed push–pull resonant converter [40], that enabling to reduce the cost and improve system reliability. In addition, the voltage-doubler rectifier is adopted to eliminate the reverse-recovery problem of secondary diodes and provides much higher voltage conversion ratio resulting in small turn ratio of the high-frequency transformer. Detailed operation, analysis, design, comparative study, experimental results, and loss breakdown for the proposed converter are presented in the paper. A 510-W prototype verifies the theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed concept.
D1 dopamine receptor stimulation increases GluR1 phosphorylation in postnatal nucleus accumbens cultures

Postsynaptic interactions between dopamine and glutamate receptors in the nucleus accumbens are critical for acute responses to drugs of abuse and for neuroadaptations resulting from their chronic administration. We tested the hypothesis that D1 dopamine receptor stimulation increases phosphorylation of the AMPA receptor subunit GluR1 at the protein kinase A phosphorylation site (Ser845). Nucleus accumbens cell cultures were prepared from postnatal day 1 rats. After 14 days in culture, GluR1 phosphorylation was measured by western blotting using phosphorylation site‐specific antibodies. The D1 receptor agonist SKF 81297 increased Ser845 phosphorylation in a concentration‐ dependent manner, with marked increases occurring within 5 min. This was prevented by the D1 receptor antagonist SCH 23390 and the protein kinase A inhibitor H89, and reproduced by forskolin. The D2 receptor agonist quinpirole attenuated the response to D1 receptor stimulation. Neither D1 nor D2 receptor agonists altered GluR1 phosphorylation at Ser831, the site phosphorylated by protein kinase C and calcium/calmodulin‐dependent protein kinase II. In other systems, phosphorylation of GluR1 at Ser845 is associated with enhancement of AMPA receptor currents. Thus, the present results suggest that AMPA receptor transmission in the nucleus accumbens may be augmented by concurrent D1 receptor stimulation.
The importance of amino acid interactions in the crystallization of hydroxyapatite

Non-collagenous proteins (NCPs) inhibit hydroxyapatite (HA; Ca5(PO4)3OH) formation in living organisms by binding to nascent nuclei of HA and preventing their further growth. Polar and charged amino acids (AAs) are highly expressed in NCPs, and the negatively charged ones, such as glutamic acid (Glu) and phosphoserine (P-Ser) seem to be mainly responsible for the inhibitory effect of NCPs. Despite the recognized importance of these AAs on the behaviour of NCPs, their specific effect on HA crystallization is still unclear, and controversial results have been reported concerning the efficacy of HA inhibition of positively versus negatively charged AAs. We focused on a positively charged (arginine, Arg) and a negatively charged (Glu) AA, and their combination in the same solution. We studied their inhibitory effect on HA nucleation and growth at physiological temperature and pH and we determined the mechanism by which they can affect HA crystallization. Our results showed a strong inhibitory effect of Arg on HA nucleation; however, Glu was more effective in inhibiting HA crystal growth during the growth stage. The combination of Glu and Arg was less effective in controlling HA nucleation, but it inhibited HA crystal growth. We attributed these differences to the stability of complexes formed between AAs and calcium and phosphate ions at the nucleation stage, and in bonding strength of AAs to HA crystal faces during the growth stage. The AAs also influenced the morphology of synthesized HA. Presence of either Arg or Glu resulted in the formation of spherulites consisting of preferentially oriented nanoplatelets orientation. This was attributed to kinetic factors favoring growth front nucleation (GFN) mechanism.
Design Space Development for the Extraction Process of Danhong Injection Using a Monte Carlo Simulation Method

A design space approach was applied to optimize the extraction process of Danhong injection. Dry matter yield and the yields of five active ingredients were selected as process critical quality attributes (CQAs). Extraction number, extraction time, and the mass ratio of water and material (W/M ratio) were selected as critical process parameters (CPPs). Quadratic models between CPPs and CQAs were developed with determination coefficients higher than 0.94. Active ingredient yields and dry matter yield increased as the extraction number increased. Monte-Carlo simulation with models established using a stepwise regression method was applied to calculate the probability-based design space. Step length showed little effect on the calculation results. Higher simulation number led to results with lower dispersion. Data generated in a Monte Carlo simulation following a normal distribution led to a design space with a smaller size. An optimized calculation condition was obtained with 10000 simulation times, 0.01 calculation step length, a significance level value of 0.35 for adding or removing terms in a stepwise regression, and a normal distribution for data generation. The design space with a probability higher than 0.95 to attain the CQA criteria was calculated and verified successfully. Normal operating ranges of 8.2-10 g/g of W/M ratio, 1.25-1.63 h of extraction time, and two extractions were recommended. The optimized calculation conditions can conveniently be used in design space development for other pharmaceutical processes.
Corpus-Driven Knowledge Acquisition for Discourse Analysis

The availability of large on-line text corpora provides a natural and promising bridge between the worlds of natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning (ML). In recent years, the NLP community has been aggressively investigating statistical techniques to drive part-of-speech taggers, but application-specific text corpora can be used to drive knowledge acquisition at much higher levels as well. In this paper we will show how ML techniques can be used to support knowledge acquisition for information extraction systems. It is often very difficult to specify an explicit domain model for many information extraction applications, and it is always labor intensive to implement hand-coded heuristics for each new domain. We have discovered that it is nevertheless possible to use ML algorithms in order to capture knowledge that is only implicitly present in a representative text corpus. Our work addresses issues traditionally associated with discourse analysis and intersentential inference generation, and demonstrates the utility of ML algorithms at this higher level of language analysis. The benefits of our work address the portability and scalability of information extraction (IE) technologies. When hand-coded heuristics are used to manage discourse analysis in an information extraction system, months of programming effort are easily needed to port a successful IE system to a new domain. We will show how ML algorithms can reduce this development time to a few days of automated corpus analysis without any resulting degradation of overall system performance.
Mapping complex tissue architecture with diffusion spectrum magnetic resonance imaging

Methods are presented to map complex fiber architectures in tissues by imaging the 3D spectra of tissue water diffusion with MR. First, theoretical considerations show why and under what conditions diffusion contrast is positive. Using this result, spin displacement spectra that are conventionally phase‐encoded can be accurately reconstructed by a Fourier transform of the measured signal's modulus. Second, studies of in vitro and in vivo samples demonstrate correspondence between the orientational maxima of the diffusion spectrum and those of the fiber orientation density at each location. In specimens with complex muscular tissue, such as the tongue, diffusion spectrum images show characteristic local heterogeneities of fiber architectures, including angular dispersion and intersection. Cerebral diffusion spectra acquired in normal human subjects resolve known white matter tracts and tract intersections. Finally, the relation between the presented model‐free imaging technique and other available diffusion MRI schemes is discussed. Magn Reson Med, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Impact of symptom control on health-related quality of life in atrial fibrillation patients: the psychologist's viewpoint.

This editorial refers to ‘Impact of the control of symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation on health-related quality of life’ by L. Guedon-Moreau et al. , on page 634. Atrial fibrillation (AF) can be a highly symptomatic arrhythmia, with patients reporting palpitations, dizziness, breathlessness, exercise intolerance, and fatigue.1 Thus, it is unsurprising that AF patients report a reduction in their quality of life (QoL) when compared with the age- and sex-matched general population in sinus rhythm.2–4 Given that AF is a chronic condition that places patients at increased risk of mortality and morbidity, and often requires life-long treatment, including long-term oral anticoagulation, QoL is, therefore, an important treatment outcome when measuring patients' physical, emotional, and social functioning, as well as their perceived health. As reviewed by Thrall et al . ,5 many previous studies have shown that AF patients have poorer QoL when compared with age-comparable healthy controls and the general population, particularly general health, vitality, physical, social, and emotional role functions; however, QoL does improve with symptom alleviation. Thus, should we aggressively pursue the goal of symptom alleviation when managing AF patients? Guendon-Moreau et al . 6 examined the impact of flecainide acetate-controlled release (flecainide CR), an antiarrhythmic drug, on the QoL of controlled [defined as ≤1 symptomatic paroxysmal AF (PAF) episode within 6 months] and uncontrolled (defined as ≥2 symptomatic PAF episodes within 6 months) PAF patients. Patients were treated with flecainide CR over a 48-week period and followed up 12, 24, and 48 weeks later. QoL was assessed at each of these time-points using the short-form health survey-36 items (SF-36). 7 At baseline, patients with controlled PAF had significantly better mental health ( P = 0.029), vitality ( P = 0.001), and general health ( P = 0.01) component scores than the uncontrolled group. When compared with a healthy … *Corresponding author. Tel: +44 121 507 5080; fax: +44 121 507 5907, Email: deirdre.lane{at}swbh.nhs. uk
The parameter estimation of the electrothermal model of inductors

This paper presents the electrothermal model of inductors dedicated to the analysis of dc-dc converters in SPICE and the proposed method of determining parameters of this model. The parameter estimation algorithm of this model is described in detail. The results of verifi cation of the correctness of the model and the estimation procedure for arbitrarily selected choking coils are presented. Very good agreement between the calculated and measured characteristics of the considered choking-coils was obtained.
Kvinnors hälsa – en fråga om medvetenhet, möjligheter och makt - Att öka förståelsen för människors livssammanhang genom tidsgeografisk analys

Nordell, K. , Kvinnors hälsa – en fråga om medvetenhet, möjligheter och makt. Att öka förståelsen för människors livssammanhang med tidsgeografisk analys (Women’s health – about awareness, possibilities and power). Publications edited by the Department of Human and Economic Geography, Göteborg University. Serie B, No 101. 261 pages. In Swedish, summary in English. Department of Human and Economic Geography, School of Economics and Commercial Law, Gothenburg University. ISBN 91-86472-43-7 This thesis is an exploratory and action-oriented study, with a focus on the present societal problem of long-term sick leave. It deals with people’s efforts to keep their health when it is threatened and to regain it when it has already turned into sickness. An underlying hypothesis is that individuals’ knowledge of their own lifeand work context must be utilised in order to deal with the increasing sick leave rates. The main aim of this study is therefore to develop, test and evaluate whether a timegeographic approach can encourage people to change and influence their life-context in a direction that is desired by the individual herself. Time geography forms the base for the theoretical frame of reference and the main concept that is elaborated is life-context. Theoretical inspiration also comes from phenomenological theory, the theory of symbolic interaction and the ”Sense of Coherence” (SOC) approach. Methodologically, people are studying their own life-contexts through a timegeographic diary method and a work model. This gives an awareness of actual restrictions and possibilities for their space (scope) of action and thereby a new platform for action. The empirical base is two case studies. One study takes place in a rehabilitation setting where the participants are women on long-term sick leave, primarily because of fibromyalgia. The other study is a work environment project where the participants are female dentists in a Norrbotten’s County Council in the north of Sweden. Consequently, the case studies deal with the problem of long-term sick leave both when it has already become a reality and while there is still time to prevent it. The results are mostly positive. The participants received new insights when their lifecontexts became tangible in diaries and computer-drawn maps. When their unique, activity-related geographical, and social contexts were analysed and related to the participants’ experienced life contexts, it became clear what they were doing when not feeling well and could therefore improve upon. Nyckelord: tidsgeografi, livssammanhang, metodutveckling, kvinnor, hälsa, ohälsa, rehabilitering, sjukskrivning
Stimulating Referral Behavior May Backfire for Men: The Effect of Referral Failure on Susceptibility to Persuasion

We present the referral-backfire effect, reflecting the phenomenon that consumers become less susceptible to persuasive attempts when they experienced referral failure. In two lab studies and one field study, we provide evidence for the effect and for the hypothesis that the effect occurs because referral failure is interpreted as a sign that the sender's social relations are threatened.