Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Percutaneous ethanol injection for benign cystic thyroid nodules: is aspiration of ethanol-mixed fluid advantageous?

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We evaluated the differences between percutaneous ethanol injection with and without aspiration of ethanol-mixed fluid for treatment of benign cystic thyroid nodules. METHODS We examined 60 patients with benign cystic thyroid nodules confirmed by fine-needle aspiration biopsy and divided them into 2 groups according to nonaspiration (group A, n = 30) or aspiration (group B, n = 30) of ethanol-mixed fluid after intracystic ethanol injection. We evaluated in both groups the complete disappearance of the cystic portion of the thyroid nodule on follow-up ultrasonography (first follow-up ultrasonography; mean, 4.6 months in group A; mean, 4.4 months in group B) (chi-square test), side effects or complications during and after the procedure (chi-square test), and the total procedure time (Student t test). RESULTS Most patients showed complete disappearance of the cystic portion of the thyroid nodule (group A, n = 29; group B, n = 28), and they revealed no recurrence on follow-up ultrasonography. There was no statistical difference in the success rates between group A and group B (P > .05). Pain, the most common side effect, and other mild side effects or complications occurred in small numbers of patients in each group, but there was no significant difference in side effects or complications between the 2 groups (P > .05), except for intracystic hemorrhage (P < .05) and the complaint of all group B patients due to a double puncture (P < .001). The total procedure time was nearly double in group B than in group A because of the additional procedures, such as complete evacuation of the ethanol-mixed fluid and the 10-minute compression. CONCLUSION Percutaneous ethanol injection without aspiration of ethanol-mixed fluid seems to be the preferable method of treatment of benign cystic thyroid nodules from the perspective of both the physician and the patient.
Active Imitation Learning via State Queries

We consider the problem of active imitation learning. In passive imitation learning, the goal is to learn a target policy by observing full trajectories of it. Unfortunately, generating such trajectories requires substantial effort and can be impractical in some cases. Active imitation learning reduces this effort by querying the teacher about individual states. Given such a query, the teacher may either suggest an action for the state or declare that the state is “bad” in the sense that the teacher’s policy would never go there. Standard active-learning techniques, do not account for the state-visitation likelihood of the target policy, and hence can perform poorly by asking many “bad” queries. We describe a new approach to this problem that is inspired by viewing query selection in the framework of Bayesian active learning, resulting in a version of Query-by-Committee for active imitation learning. Our experiments in two test domains show promise for our approach compared to a number of alternatives.
The Discrimination of English Vowels by Bilingual Spanish/English and Monolingual English Speakers

The discrimination of English vowel contrasts in real and novel words by 40 native English and 40 bilingual Spanish/English participants was examined, with novel words representing new words in a second language. Discrimination was investigated because this factor is the basis of phonological awareness, although most practitioners focus on production when working with bilingual speakers. This study showed an interaction between bilingualism, vowel contrasts, and novel words. Bilingual participants had greater difficulty with certain vowel contrasts that were contained in novel words, whereas native English participants had no significant difficulty with vowel contrasts in either real or novel words. The main variables that affected the bilingual participants' discrimination were the age of acquisition of English, the report of problems in communication in English, and the overall percentage of time that was devoted to communication in English.
An alternative characterization of the nucleolus in airport problems

We consider the problem of sharing the cost of a public facility among agents who have difierent needs for it. We show that the nucleolus is the only rule satisfying e‐ciency, equal treatment of equals, last-agent cost additivity, and last-agent consistency. Our result reveals the importance of the last agent in characterizing the
Continuous and 4 h infusion of amphotericin B: a comparative study involving high-risk haematology patients.

OBJECTIVES To assess whether a continuous infusion of amphotericin B (CI-AmB) is less nephrotoxic than a 4 h infusion in haematology patients with fever and neutropenia, including bone-marrow transplant recipients. Efficacy was assessed as a secondary end-point. PATIENTS AND METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study over a 2 year period. A total of 1073 haematology admissions were reviewed (98.3% complete) and 81 admissions were eligible for study entry; 39 received CI-AmB and 42 a 4 h infusion of AmB. RESULTS Renal impairment occurred significantly less frequently with CI-AmB compared with a 4 h infusion of AmB [10% versus 45%, respectively, odds ratio (OR) 0.14; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.04-0.5, P < 0.001]. The difference was maintained among allogeneic transplant recipients (P = 0.007) and patients receiving concurrent nephrotoxic drugs (P < 0.001). An AmB infusion rate of <0.08 mg/kg/h was associated with a significant reduction in renal impairment (P < 0.001). A difference in survival was observed between the continuous and 4 h infusion of AmB (95% versus 79%, respectively, OR 5.1; 95% CI 1.02-25.1, P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS CI-AmB appears to be significantly less nephrotoxic than 4 h infusion AmB in haematology patients with fever and neutropenia--including high-risk bone-marrow transplant recipients--without increasing mortality. An AmB infusion rate of <0.08 mg/kg/h appears to be a safe threshold, associated with reduced renal impairment.
International Cross-Listing , Cash Reserve and Acquisition

We examine the impact of excess cash on non-U.S. fi rms’ mergers and acquisitions behavior to test the effectiveness of U.S. investor protections n improving the corporate governance of cross-listed firms. We find that firms with higher excess cash make more acquisitions and experience lower announcement abnormal returns. Whi le acquisition likelihood is similar, crosslisted firms make better M&A with excess cash than no -cross-listed companies. We find this improvement in cash utilization is more pronounced for cross-listed firms from countries with weak investor protection.
On the formation of globular cluster systems in a hierarchical Universe

ABSTRA C T We have investigated the formation of globular cluster (GC) systems in the fiducial semianalytic model of galaxy formation of Cole et al., by assuming that GCs are formed at high redshifts ﷿z . 5fi in protogalactic fragments, and during the subsequent gas-rich merging of these fragments. Under these assumptions we have simulated the GC systems of 450 elliptical galaxies, and find that the majority (93 per cent) are intrinsically bimodal in metallicity. We find that, in the mean, the metal-rich GC subpopulations are younger than the metal-poor GC subpopulations, with ages of 9 and 12 Gyr respectively, and that the mean ages of the metalrich GCs are dependent upon host galaxy luminosity and environment (halo circular velocity), whereas the metal-poor GCs are not. We find that the continued gaseous merging of the protogalactic fragments leads to significant age-structure amongst the metal-rich GCs. These GCs exhibit a large age-range (5 to 12 Gyr), which increases for low-luminosity galaxies, and for galaxies in low circular velocity haloes. Moreover, the metal-rich GCs associated with low-luminosity field and/or group ellipticals are , 2 Gyr younger than the metal-rich GCs in luminous cluster ellipticals. We find that the total GC populations scale with host galaxy luminosity as NGC / L 1:25 V;gal , a result in agreement with observations of luminous elliptical galaxies. This scaling is due to a systematic increase in the M/L ratios of the galaxy haloes with luminosity for LV;gal . L * galaxies in the model. A comparison between the luminosity growth of the model ellipticals and their GC formation indicates that mergers do not significantly affect SN at z , 2. We find the mean colours of the both the metal-rich and metal-poor GCs exhibit only a weak dependence upon host galaxy luminosity, a result consistent with contemporary observations. We conclude that gaseous merging, the bulk of which occurs at 1 # z # 4i n ourLCDM model, leads to the formation of the metalrich peak of the GC systems of elliptical galaxies. We suggest that the formation and subsequent truncation of the metal-poor GCs in the protogalactic fragments is closely related to the star formation rate in these fragments, which may have been significantly higher at very early times.
Molecular cloning of cDNA for rat liver gap junction protein

An affinity-purified antibody directed against the 27-kD protein associated with isolated rat liver gap junctions was produced. Light and electron microscopic immunocytochemistry showed that this antigen was localized specifically to the cytoplasmic surfaces of gap junctions. The antibody was used to select cDNA from a rat liver library in the expression vector lambda gt11. The largest cDNA selected contained 1,494 bp and coded for a protein with a calculated molecular mass of 32,007 daltons. Northern blot analysis indicated that brain, kidney, and stomach express an mRNA with similar size and homology to that expressed in liver, but that heart and lens express differently sized, less homologous mRNA.
Saddle Path Stability, Fluctuations, and Indeterminacy in Economic Growth

We present a macroeconomic growth model in which investment in physical capital exhibits positive externalities which raise the stock of knowledge. Treating physical capital and knowledge as two separate variables, we show that the model can generate endogenous growth. It is demonstrated that there exist at most two balanced growth paths (BGPs) with endogenous growth. If the BGP is unique it is always saddle-point stable. If there are two BGPs, the first is always stable in the saddle point sense, whereas the second cannot be a saddle point. Instead, the second is either totally stable, giving rise to local indeterminacy, or completely unstable. Further, we can demonstrate that a Hopf bifurcation may occur at the second BGP, leading to persistent fluctuations. Besides local indeterminacy, the model may also give rise to global indeterminacy.
An exploration of parenting : normative expectations, practices and work-life balance in post-apartheid South Africa, 1994-2008

This thesis explores the complexities of parenting in post-apartheid South Africa. It investigates the normative expectations surrounding motherhood and fatherhood and how employed mothers, as those who bear the main responsibility for childcare, reconcile family and paid work. It is a qualitative study which draws on 43 interviews with women and men managers in a Government Department and a Parastatal. Thirty seven interviews were with managers (21 mothers and 16 fathers), 3 with gender experts in these organisations, and 3 with Human Resources personnel. It also draws on an analysis of domestic divisions of labour in 3 households and an exploration of national legislation and workplace policies to examine how the workplace accommodates those with family/childcare responsibilities. The study demonstrates that South African parenting is complex: parental norms encapsulate the coexistence of modern and traditional values (Inglehart and Baker, 2003; Hotchfeld, 2008), rather than following a linear pattern of change from traditional to modern. Moreover, there are inconsistencies in values and normative expectations relating to gender-role attitudes and parenting expectations, as well as between gender-role attitudes and parenting practices. Incongruencies and contradictions in relation to parenting are also found between and within domains: the fast-changing workplace brought about by the new democratic government‟s commitment to equality and the subsequent transformation of the public sector contrasts with the „stalled revolution‟ in parenting practices, especially in relation domestic divisions of labour, within the domestic sphere. Using Squires‟s (2005) typology of inclusion, reversal and displacement to analyze South African approaches to workplace gender transformation, the study establishes that South Africa has adopted policies based on inclusion and reversal and has left out displacement, thus increasing women‟s representation at the workplace without challenging the status quo. To this effect the workplace has remained masculineoriented; it is characterized by a long-working hours regime and minimal work-life balance policies. As a result mothers are facing difficulties in reconciling family and paid work. However, women mobilize support outside the workplace to cope with the demands of family and paid work. The study shows that the support networks mobilized by women are influenced by socio-economic and geographical mobility associated with the rise of the new black middle-class families brought about by the political change from apartheid to democracy. The migration of families from working to middle-class areas demonstrates the fluidity of mothering and coping strategies; while fathers remain free from childcare and family responsibilities.
Estimation of Real-Time Software Code Size using COSMIC FSM

For distributed networks which will be mass produced, such as computer systems in modern vehicles, it is crucial to find cost efficient hardware. A distributed network in a vehicle consists of several ECUs (Electronic Control Unit). In this paper we consider the amount of memory needed for these ECUs. They should contain enough memory to survive several software generations, without inducing unnecessary cost of too much memory. Our earlier work shows that UML Component Diagrams can be used to collect enough information for estimating memory size using a Functional Size Measurement method. This paper replicates our earlier experiment with more software components of a different type. We compare the results from the two experiments.
Peristaltic flow in non-uniform vessels of the micro-circulatory system

Of concern in the paper is generalized a theoretical study concerning the peristaltic flow of blood in the micro-circulatory system. The vessel is considered to be of non-uniform cross-section and blood to be a non-Newtonian fluid. The progressive wave front of the peristaltic flow is supposed sinusoidal/straight section dominated (SSD) (expansion/contraction type); Reynolds number is considered to be small with reference to the flow of physiological fluids. The non-Newtonian behaviour of blood is illustrated by considering the Herschel-Bulkley fluid model. The objective of the study has been to examine the effect of the effects of amplitude ratio, mean pressure gradient, yield stress and the power law index on the velocity distribution, wall shear stress, streamline pattern and trapping. Considerable quantitative differences between the results obtained for transport in two dimensional channel and an axisymmetric circular tube are noticed. The study shows that peristaltic pumping, flow velocity and wall shear stress are significantly affected by the non-uniform geometry of blood vessels. Moreover, the magnitude of the amplitude ratio and the value of the fluid index are important parameters that affect the flow behaviour. The novel feature due to SSD wave on said flow behaviour has also been discussed.
Design Pattern Recognition by Using Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System

Software design patterns describe recurring design problems and provide the essence of best practice solutions. It is useful and important, for various software engineering tasks, to know which design pattern is implemented where in a software design. However, this information is often lost due to poor or absent documentation, and so accurate recognition tools are required. The problem is that design patterns, given their abstract and vague nature, have a level of resistance to be automatically and accurately recognized. Although this vagueness or fuzziness can be captured and modelled by the fuzzy inference system, it has not yet been applied to solve this problem. This paper fills this gap by proposing an approach for design pattern recognition based on Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference System. Our approach consists of two phases: space reduction phase and design pattern recognition phase. Both phases are implemented by ANFIS. We evaluate the approach by an experiment conducted to recognize six design patterns in an open source application. The results show that the approach is viable and promising.
Efficient Compression of 4D-Trajectory Data in Air Traffic Management

Air traffic management (ATM) is facing a tremendous increase in the amount of available flight data, particularly four-dimensional (4D) trajectories. Computational requirements for analysis and storage of such bulk of data are steeply increasing. Compression is one key technology to address this challenge. In this paper we propose two techniques for compressing air traffic 4D trajectories. Our first technique analyzes a set of samples and computes a prediction for the most likely picked successor coordinate by a random walker. The second technique, i.e., referential compression, compresses a 4D trajectory as a collection of subtrajectory pointers into a reference trajectory. We evaluate our algorithms on trajectory data from the Demand Data Repository provided by EUROCONTROL. We show that a combination of our referential and statistical compression techniques compresses 4D trajectories of all air traffic over Europe in the year 2013 from 60 GB down to 0.78 GB, achieving a compression ratio of more than 75 : 1. The compression ratio for our techniques increases with the number of to-be-compressed flights, whereas standard compression techniques achieve a fixed compressed ratio for any number of flights. Our work contributes toward efficient handling of the increasing amount of traffic data in ATM.
Identification of Novel Mutations in ABCA4 Gene: Clinical and Genetic Analysis of Indian Patients with Stargardt Disease

Stargardt disease (STGD) is the leading cause of juvenile macular degeneration associated with progressive central vision loss, photophobia, and colour vision abnormalities. In this study, we have described the clinical and genetic features of Stargardt patients from an Indian cohort. The next generation sequencing was carried out in five clinically confirmed unrelated patients and their family members using a gene panel comprising 184 retinal specific genes. Sequencing results were analyzed by read mapping and variant calling in genes of interest, followed by their verification and interpretation. Genetic analysis revealed ABCA4 mutations in all of the five unrelated patients. Among these, four patients were found with compound heterozygous mutations and another one had homozygous mutation. All the affected individuals showed signs and symptoms consistent with the disease phenotype. We report two novel ABCA4 mutations in Indian patients with STGD disease, which expands the existing spectrum of disease-causing variants and the understanding of phenotypic and genotypic correlations. Screening for causative mutations in patients with STGD using panel of targeted gene sequencing by NGS would be a cost effective tool, might be helpful in confirming the precise diagnosis, and contributes towards the genetic counselling of asymptomatic carriers and isolated patients.
Semi-dense visual odometry for RGB-D cameras using approximate nearest neighbour fields

This paper presents a robust and efficient semidense visual odometry solution for RGB-D cameras. The core of our method is a 2D-3D ICP pipeline which estimates the pose of the sensor by registering the projection of a 3D semidense map of a reference frame with the 2D semi-dense region extracted in the current frame. The processing is speeded up by efficiently implemented approximate nearest neighbour fields under the Euclidean distance criterion, which permits the use of compact Gauss-Newton updates in the optimization. The registration is formulated as a maximum a posterior problem to deal with outliers and sensor noise, and the equivalent weighted least squares problem is consequently solved by iteratively reweighted least squares method. A variety of robust weight functions are tested and the optimum is determined based on the probabilistic characteristics of the sensor model. Extensive evaluation on publicly available RGB-D datasets shows that the proposed method predominantly outperforms existing state-of-the-art methods.
Complementary Roles of Human Hippocampal Subfields in Differentiation and Integration of Spatial Context

The unique circuitry of the hippocampus is thought to support the encoding and retrieval of context-rich episodic memories. Given the neuroanatomical differences between the hippocampal subfields, determining their functional roles during representation of contextual features in humans is an important yet unaddressed research goal. Prior studies suggest that, during the acquisition of information from the environment, the dentate gyrus (DG) and CA3 subfields rapidly differentiate competing contextual representations, whereas CA1, situated downstream from CA3/DG, is believed to process input from both CA3 and neocortical areas via the temporoammonic pathway. To further explore the functionality of these roles, we used high-resolution fMRI to investigate multivariate response patterns within CA3/DG and CA1 during the processing of spatial context. While undergoing functional imaging, participants viewed videos of virtual environments and were asked to discriminate between similar yet geometrically distinct cities. We manipulated a single contextual feature by systematically morphing the city configurations from one common geometric shape to another, resulting in four cities—two distinctively shaped cities and two intermediate “morphed” cities. Pattern similarity within CA3/DG scaled with geometric changes to the environment. In contrast, CA1 pattern similarity, as well as interregional pattern similarity between CA1 and parahippocampal cortex, increased for the regularly shaped configurations compared with the morphs. These results highlight different roles for subfields CA3/DG and CA1 in memory and advance our understanding of how subcomponents of the human hippocampal circuit represent contextual features of memories.