Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Lower limb deformity due to failed trauma treatment corrected with the Ilizarov technique

Background and purpose Failed treatment of fractures may be corrected by the Ilizarov technique but complications are common. In 52 patients with compromised healing of femoral and tibial fractures, the results of secondary reconstruction with Ilizarov treatment were investigated retrospectively in order to identify the factors that contribute to the risk of complications. Methods 52 consecutive patients was analyzed. The median interval between injury and secondary reconstruction was 3 (0.1–27) years. The patients had failed fracture treatment resulting in bone defects, pseudarthrosis, infection, limb length discrepancy (LLD) caused by bone consolidation after bone loss, malunion, soft-tissue loss, and stiff joints. Most patients had a combination of these deformities. The results were analyzed by using logistic regression in a polytomous universal mode (PLUM) logistic regression model. Results The median treatment time was 9 (4–30) months, and the obstacle and complication rate was 105% per corrected bone segment. In 2 patients treatment failed, which resulted in amputation. In all other patients healing of nonunion could be established, malunion could be corrected, and infections were successfully treated. The statistical analysis revealed that relative bone loss of the affected bone was the only predictor for occurrence of complications. From these data, we constructed a simple graph that shows the relationship between relative bone loss of the affected bone and risk of complications. Interpretation Relative bone loss of the affected bone segment is the main predictor of complications after Ilizarov treatment of previously failed fracture treatment. The visualization of the analysis in a simple graph may assist comparison of the complication rates in the literature.
Recognizing object affordances in terms of spatio-temporal object-object relationships

In this paper we describe a probabilistic framework that models the interaction between multiple objects in a scene. We present a spatio-temporal feature encoding pairwise interactions between each object in the scene. By the use of a kernel representation we embed object interactions in a vector space which allows us to define a metric comparing interactions of different temporal extent. Using this metric we define a probabilistic model which allows us to represent and extract the affordances of individual objects based on the structure of their interaction. In this paper we focus on the presented pairwise relationships but the model can naturally be extended to incorporate additional cues related to a single object or multiple objects. We compare our approach with traditional kernel approaches and show a significant improvement.
Peptide-modified liposomes for selective targeting of bombesin receptors overexpressed by cancer cells: a potential theranostic agent

Objectives Drug delivery systems consisting of liposomes displaying a cell surface receptor-targeting peptide are being developed to specifically deliver chemotherapeutic drugs to tumors overexpressing a target receptor. This study addresses novel liposome composition approaches to specifically target tissues overexpressing bombesin (BN) receptors. Methods A new amphiphilic peptide derivative (MonY-BN) containing the BN(7–14) peptide, the DTPA (diethylenetriaminepentaacetate) chelating agent, a hydrophobic moiety with two C18 alkyl chains, and polyethylene glycol spacers, has been synthesized by solid-phase methods. Liposomes have been generated by co-aggregation of MonY-BN with 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DSPC). The structural and biological properties of these new target-selective drug-delivery systems have been characterized. Results Liposomes with a DSPC/MonY-BN (97/3 molar ratio) composition showed a diameter of 145.5 ± 31.5 nm and a polydispersity index of 0.20 ± 0.05. High doxorubicin (Dox) loading was obtained with the remote pH gradient method using citrate as the inner buffer. Specific binding to PC-3 cells of DSPC/MonY-BN liposomes was obtained (2.7% ± 0.3%, at 37°C), compared with peptide-free DSPC liposomes (1.4% ± 0.2% at 37°C). Incubation of cells with DSPC/ MonY-BN/Dox showed significantly lower cell survival compared with DSPC/Dox-treated cells, in the presence of 100 ng/mL and 300 ng/mL drug amounts, in cytotoxicity experiments. Intravenous treatment of PC-3 xenograft-bearing mice with DSPC/MonY-BN/Dox at 10 mg/kg Dox dose produced higher tumour growth inhibition (60%) compared with nonspecific DSPC/ Dox liposomes (36%) relative to control animals. Conclusion The structural and loading properties of DSPC/MonY-BN liposomes along with the observed in-vitro and in-vivo activity are encouraging for further development of this approach for target-specific cancer chemotherapy.
The Sustainability of Offshore Outsourcing Relationships : The Role of Relation Specificity and Interest Alignment

Offshore outsourcing of administrative and technical tasks and processes ranges from highly commoditized to high added value knowledge intensive projects. Surprisingly empirical findings show that clients rarely switch providers because of dissatisfaction with performance. The dissolution of outsourcing contracts is a rare event and vendor relationships tend to last. This paper advances a model to explain the sustainability of client-vendor relationships in offshoring. We argue that sustainable relationships are promoted by relation specificity in combination with interest alignment between client and provider. In particular, we find that detailed contracts, involvement in staff training, and client-specific investments in software and infrastructure promote contract renewal and long-term relationships. Empirical data is based on a comprehensive survey of offshore service providers and the annual corporate (buyer side) survey conducted by the Offshoring Research Network (ORN). Findings from this study may contribute to recent research on strategic outsourcing and the governance of offshore outsourcing relationships.
Activity of Caudate Nucleus Neurons in a Visual Fixation Paradigm in Behaving Cats

Beside its motor functions, the caudate nucleus (CN), the main input structure of the basal ganglia, is also sensitive to various sensory modalities. The goal of the present study was to investigate the effects of visual stimulation on the CN by using a behaving, head-restrained, eye movement-controlled feline model developed recently for this purpose. Extracellular multielectrode recordings were made from the CN of two cats in a visual fixation paradigm applying static and dynamic stimuli. The recorded neurons were classified in three groups according to their electrophysiological properties: phasically active (PAN), tonically active (TAN) and high-firing (HFN) neurons. The response characteristics were investigated according to this classification. The PAN and TAN neurons were sensitive primarily to static stimuli, while the HFN neurons responded primarily to changes in the visual environment i.e. to optic flow and the offset of the stimuli. The HFNs were the most sensitive to visual stimulation; their responses were stronger than those of the PANs and TANs. The majority of the recorded units were insensitive to the direction of the optic flow, regardless of group, but a small number of direction-sensitive neurons were also found. Our results demonstrate that both the static and the dynamic components of the visual information are represented in the CN. Furthermore, these results provide the first piece of evidence on optic flow processing in the CN, which, in more general terms, indicates the possible role of this structure in dynamic visual information processing.
Public art as public pedagogy: memorial landscapes of the Cambodian genocide

ABSTRACT Historical memory in the form of public art acts as a pedagogical tool, both revealing the artist’s interpretation of history and serving as a historical device for the viewer. In Cambodia, new generations are developing an understanding of the Khmer Rouge regime (1975–1979) and its effect on their country’s history. Young peoples’ understanding of history is constructed through institutional, living, and public memory pedagogies. These pedagogical channels do not always work in unison, leaving gaps in historical education. In Cambodia, institutional and living memory pedagogies on the Khmer Rouge genocide often fail to transmit this important national history to those who did not live through it. Publicly accessible memorial art has the potential to supplement the historical understanding of young, rural Cambodians. Three murals sites in rural Cambodia act as landscapes of public pedagogy by depicting scenes of Khmer Rouge atrocities. This paper aims to understand the significance of the impact and implications of public memorial art as an educational supplement, and how public art can be utilized as public pedagogy in Cambodia and beyond.
FF-Replan: A Baseline for Probabilistic Planning

FF-Replan was the winner of the 2004 International Probabilistic Planning Competition (IPPC-04) (Younes & Littman 2004a) and was also the top performer on IPPC-06 domains, though it was not an official entry. This success was quite surprising, due to the simplicity of the approach. In particular, FF-Replan calls FF on a carefully constructed deterministic variant of the planning problem and selects actions according to the plan until observing an unexpected effect, upon which it replans. Despite the obvious shortcomings of the approach and its strawman nature, it is the state-of-the-art in probabilistic planning as measured on recent competition benchmarks. This paper gives the first technical description of FF-Replan and provides an analysis of its results on all of the recent IPPC-04 and IPPC-06 domains. We hope that this will inspire extensions and insight into the approach and planning domains themselves that will soon lead to the dethroning of FF-Replan.
On the Persistence and Attrition of Women in Mathematics

The purpose of this study was to investigate what motivates women to choose mathematics as an undergraduate major and to further explore what shapes their future career goals, paying particular attention to their undergraduate experiences and their perceptions of the role of gender in these decisions. A series of semi-structured, individual interviews were conducted with twelve undergraduate women mathematics majors who were attending either a large public university or a small liberal arts college. This study found that strong mathematical identities and enjoyment of mathematics heavily inuenced their decisions to major in mathematics. At the career selection stage, these women desired careers that are service-oriented, social in nature, and involved mathematical applications. For those planning to become teachers, the desire to help others predominantly inuenced their career decision. Many of the non-teaching majors were unaware of mathematical careers other than teaching that satised these career qualities. Implications of these results with respect to women’s participation in mathematics are discussed.
Decision-making self-efficacy mediates the peer support–career exploration relationship

We explored the mediating effect of decision-making self-efficacy in the relationship between undergraduates’ perceived career-related peer support and career exploration. Participants were 650 junior and senior undergraduates from 6 public universities in Shanghai, China. The key results were as follows: (1) career information and suggestion, emotional support, and peer role models were the 3 dominant factors of career-related peer support; (2) career-related peer support was positively and significantly correlated with career exploration; and (3) career decision-making self-efficacy mediated the relationship between career-related peer support and career exploration. Specifically, career information and suggestion and peer role models provided proximal and distal support, promoting individuals’ career exploration not only directly but also indirectly through career decision-making self-efficacy. In comparison, emotional support from peers provided only distal support, promoting individual career exploration indirectly through career decision-making self-efficacy. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings, study limitations, and future research directions are discussed.
A Novel 1.5 Quadruple Antenna for Tri-Band GPS Applications

A new global positioning system (GPS) antenna is proposed to cover the three GPS bands (L1, L2, and L5, namely 1575, 1227, and 1176 MHz) with the L5 band to be added after 2006. The developed antenna size is only 1.5" x 1.5" in aperture corresponding to lambda/7 x lambda/7 (lambda = free space wavelength) and lambda/13 thick. Quadrature feeding is employed to ensure right-hand circular polarized (RHCP) radiation. The final miniature antenna exhibits a gain greater than 2 dBi, and to our knowledge this is the smallest such size for circular polarized (CP) operation covering all three bands. Detailed parametric simulations leading to the best design along with measurements for the constructed antenna are presented.
Entropy, area, and black hole pairs.

We clarify the relation between gravitational entropy and the area of horizons. We first show that the entropy of an extreme Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole is zero, despite the fact that its horizon has nonzero area. Next, we consider the pair creation of extremal and nonextremal black holes. It is shown that the action which governs the rate of this pair creation is directly related to the area of the acceleration horizon and (in the nonextremal case) the area of the black hole event horizon. This provides a simple explanation of the result that the rate of pair creation of nonextreme black holes is enhanced by precisely the black hole entropy. Finally, we discuss black hole annihilation, and argue that Planck scale remnants are not sufficient to preserve unitarity in quantum gravity.
Adaptive Control

Adaptive control is the attempt to " redesign " the controller while online, by looking at its performance and changing its dynamic in an automatic way. Adaptive control is that feedback law that looks at the process and the performance of the controller and reshapes the controller closed loop behavior autonomously. Plant Adaptation Procedure Controller u(t) y(t) y(t) u(t) Figure 1. Adaptive Control as Feedback Law Adaptive Control is made by combining 1. online parameter estimator based on current measurements and control actions 2. control law, that recalculates the controller based on those parameters There are two main modalities of adaptive control. We discussed them below. In this case, the estimated parameters refer to the plant, and the controller is designed based on those parameters. For example, an energy consumption coefficient is estimated; a linearized version of the plant is produced, which is then used in a pole placement method to calculate the gains of the final controller. The main problem is to make sure that the controller behaves well in cases when the estimation of the plant is not good, like for example, during transients. In principle, the indirect method is applicable to all types of plants.
A SUMO-Like Domain Protein, Esc2, Is Required for Genome Integrity and Sister Chromatid Cohesion in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

The ESC2 gene encodes a protein with two tandem C-terminal SUMO-like domains and is conserved from yeasts to humans. Previous studies have implicated Esc2 in gene silencing. Here, we explore the functional significance of SUMO-like domains and describe a novel role for Esc2 in promoting genome integrity during DNA replication. This study shows that esc2Δ cells are modestly sensitive to hydroxyurea (HU) and defective in sister chromatid cohesion and have a reduced life span, and these effects are enhanced by deletion of the RRM3 gene that is a Pif1-like DNA helicase. esc2Δ rrm3Δ cells also have a severe growth defect and accumulate DNA damage in late S/G2. In contrast, esc2Δ does not enhance the HU sensitivity or sister chromatid cohesion defect in mrc1Δ cells, but rather partially suppresses both phenotypes. We also show that deletion of both Esc2 SUMO-like domains destabilizes Esc2 protein and functionally inactivates Esc2, but this phenotype is suppressed by an Esc2 variant with an authentic SUMO domain. These results suggest that Esc2 is functionally equivalent to a stable SUMO fusion protein and plays important roles in facilitating DNA replication fork progression and sister chromatid cohesion that would otherwise impede the replication fork in rrm3Δ cells.
Face Recognition: a Summary of 1995 - 1997

The development of face recognition over the past years allows an organization into three types of r ecognition algorithms, namely frontal, profile, and v iew-tolerant recognition, depending on the kind o f imagery and the according recognition algorithms. While frontal recognition certainly is the c lassical approach, view-tolerant algorithms usually p erform recognition in a more sophisticated fashion by taking into consideration some of the underlying phy sics, geometry, and statistics. Profile schemes as s tand-alone systems have a rather marginal significance for identification. However, they are very p ractical either f or f ast coarse pre-searches of large face databases to reduce the c omputational l oad for a subsequent sophisticated algorithm, or as part of a hybrid recognition scheme. Such hyb rid approaches have a special status among face recognition systems as they combine different recognition approaches in an either serial or parallel order to ov ercome the shortcomings of the individual components.
Time Truncated Chain Sampling Plans for Generalized Exponential Distribution

This paper introduces Chain sampling plan for generalized exponential distribution when the life-test is truncated at a prespecified time are provided in this manuscript. It is assumed that the shape parameter of the generalized exponential distribution is known. The design parameters such as the minimum sample size and the acceptance number are obtained by satisfying the producer’s and consumer’s risks at the specified quality levels in terms of medians, under the assumption that the termination time and the number of items are pre-fixed.
The Effect of a Complainant’s Race and Ethnicity on Dispositional Outcome in Police Misconduct Cases in Chicago

This study examines whether the race and ethnicity of the individual filing a police misconduct allegation in Chicago predicts whether the allegation was (1) sustained, (2) not sustained, (3) determined to be unfounded (not factual), or (4) whether the accused police officer was exonerated of any wrongdoing. Multinomial logistic regression results show that Black and Hispanic complainants are much less likely to have their allegations of police misconduct sustained. When compared to a sustained outcome, Black complainants are 4.7 times more likely to receive a not sustained outcome, 3.6 times more apt to receive an unfounded outcome, and 4.2 times more likely that their misconduct allegation will culminate in the exoneration of the police officer. Results also show that a Hispanic complainant is 1.6 times less apt to achieve a favorable outcome in his or her case alleging misconduct by a police officer. These findings suggest that more work still needs to be done to reduce racial disparity in the resolution of allegations of police misconduct in Chicago.
Feature Identification: An Epidemiological Metaphor

Feature identification is a technique to identify the source code constructs activated when exercising one of the features of a program. We propose new statistical analyses of static and dynamic data to accurately identify features in large multithreaded object-oriented programs. We draw inspiration from epidemiology to improve previous approaches to feature identification and develop an epidemiological metaphor. We build our metaphor on our previous approach to feature identification, in which we use processor emulation, knowledge-based filtering, probabilistic ranking, and metamodeling. We carry out three case studies to assess the usefulness of our metaphor, using the "save a bookmark" feature of Web browsers as an illustration. In the first case study, we compare our approach with three previous approaches (a naive approach, a concept analysis-based approach, and our previous probabilistic approach) in identifying the feature in MOZILLA, a large, real-life, multithreaded object-oriented program. In the second case study, we compare the implementation of the feature in the FIREFOX and MOZILLA Web browsers. In the third case study, we identify the same feature in two more Web browsers, Chimera (in C) and ICEBrowser (in Java), and another feature in JHOTDRAW and XFIG, to highlight the generalizability of our metaphor
International Journal of Health Geographics the Importance of Accurate Road Data for Spatial Applications in Public Health: Customizing a Road Network

Background: Health researchers have increasingly adopted the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for analyzing environments in which people live and how those environments affect health. One aspect of this research that is often overlooked is the quality and detail of the road data and whether or not it is appropriate for the scale of analysis. Many readily available road datasets, both public domain and commercial, contain positional errors or generalizations that may not be compatible with highly accurate geospatial locations. This study examined the accuracy, completeness, and currency of four readily available public and commercial sources for road data (North Carolina Department of Transportation, StreetMap Pro, TIGER/Line 2000, TIGER/Line 2007) relative to a custom road dataset which we developed and used for comparison.
Molecular Determinants of Pentamidine-Induced hERG Trafficking Inhibition

Pentamidine is an antiprotozoal compound that clinically causes acquired long QT syndrome (acLQTS), which is associated with prolonged QT intervals, tachycardias, and sudden cardiac arrest. Pentamidine delays terminal repolarization in human heart by acutely blocking cardiac inward rectifier currents. At the same time, pentamidine reduces surface expression of the cardiac potassium channel IKr/human ether à-go-go-related gene (hERG). This is unusual in that acLQTS is caused most often by direct block of the cardiac potassium current IKr/hERG. The present study was designed to provide a more complete picture of how hERG surface expression is disrupted by pentamidine at the cellular and molecular levels. Using biochemical and electrophysiological methods, we found that pentamidine exclusively inhibits hERG export from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cell surface in a heterologous expression system as well as in cardiomyocytes. hERG trafficking inhibition could be rescued in the presence of the pharmacological chaperone astemizole. We used rescue experiments in combination with an extensive mutational analysis to locate an interaction site for pentamidine at phenylalanine 656, a crucial residue in the canonical drug binding site of terminally folded hERG. Our data suggest that pentamidine binding to a folding intermediate of hERG arrests channel maturation in a conformational state that cannot be exported from the endoplasmic reticulum. We propose that pentamidine is the founding member of a novel pharmacological entity whose members act as small molecule antichaperones.