Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CD26-positive/CD326-negative circulating cancer cells as prognostic markers for colorectal cancer recurrence

The present study evaluated the presence and clinical relevance of a cluster of differentiation (CD)26+/CD326− subset of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in pre- and post-operative blood samples of colorectal cancer patients, who had undergone curative or palliative intervention, in order to find a novel prognostic factor for patient management and follow-up. In total, 80 colorectal cancer patients, along with 25 healthy volunteers were included. The easily transferable methodology of flow cytometry, along with multiparametric antibody staining were used to selectively evaluate CD26+/CD326− CTCs in the peripheral blood samples of colorectal cancer patients. The multiparametric selection allowed any enrichment methods to be avoided thus rendering the whole procedure suitable for clinical routine. The presence of CD26+/CD326− cells was higher in advanced Dukes’ stages and was significantly associated with poor survival and high recurrence rates. Relapsing and non-surviving patients showed the highest number of CD26+/CD326− CTCs. High pre-operative levels of CD26+/CD326− CTCs correctly predicted tumor relapse in 44.4% of the cases, while 69% of post-operative CD26+/CD326− CTC-positive patients experienced cancer recurrence, with a test accuracy of 88.8%. By contrast, post-operative CD26+/CD326− CTC-negative patients showed an increase in the three-year progression-free survival rate of 86%, along with a reduced risk of tumor relapse of >90%. In conclusion, CD26+/CD326− CTCs are an independent prognostic factor for tumor recurrence rate in multivariate analysis, suggesting that their evaluation could be an additional factor for colorectal cancer recurrence risk evaluation in patient management.
Upper-bound performance of a wide-band adaptive modem

Adaptive modulation is applied in conjunction with a decision-feedback equalizer (DFE) in order to mitigate the effects of the slowly varying wide-band multipath Rayleigh fading channel in a noise-limited environment. An upper-bound mean bit-error rate and bits per symbol performance is introduced for this scheme by utilizing the pseudo signal-to-noise ratio at the output of the DFE in order to switch the modulation schemes on a burst-by-burst basis.
The Effect of Anesthetic Technique on Survival in Human Cancers: A Meta-Analysis of Retrospective and Prospective Studies

Animal models have shown that regional anesthesia (combined with or without general anesthesia) would attenuate the surgical stress response by preserving immune function and result in better long-term outcome. In order to test the hypothesis that cancer patients who had surgery with epidural anesthesia (EA) would have better outcome (either overall survival [OS] or recurrence-free survival [RFS]) than those who were general anesthesia (GA), we performed this meta-analysis. By searching relevant literature, a total of 14 studies containing 18 sub-studies (seven in OS analysis and eleven in RFS analysis) were identified and meta-analyzed. Adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to assess the strength of association. For OS, the random-effects model was used to analyze the data and demonstrated an OS benefit in favor of EA compared with GA alone (HR = 0.84, 95% CI 0.74–0.96, P = 0.013). The influence analysis showed the robustness of the results. Specifically, a significantly positive association between EA and improved OS was observed in colorectal cancer (HR = 0.65, 95% CI 0.43–0.99, P = 0.045). For RFS, the random-effects model was used to analyze the data and no significant relationship between RFS benefit and EA (HR = 0.88, 95% CI 0.64–1.22, P = 0.457) was detected. In conclusion, our meta-analysis suggests that epidural anesthesia and/or analgesia might be associated with improved overall survival in patients with operable cancer undergoing surgery (especially in colorectal cancer), but it does not support an association between epidural anesthesia and cancer control. Prospective studies are needed to determine whether the association between epidural use and survival is causative.
Corporate Fraud and Internal Control: A Framework for Prevention

Preface vii PART I: QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS Chapter 1: Nature of Fraud 3 Chapter 2: Elements of the Crimes of Theft and Fraud 9 Chapter 3: Frauds Against the Individual 15 Chapter 4: Frauds Against the Organization 19 Chapter 5: Fighting Corruption 31 Chapter 6: Role of Ethics in Fighting Fraud 39 Chapter 7: Controlling Fraud 45 Chapter 8: Fraud Risk Management 55 Chapter 9: Investigating Fraud 63 Chapter 10: Computer Fraud and Countermeasures 75 Chapter 11: Legal Issues Surrounding Fraud 91 Chapter 12: Industry-Related Fraud Opportunities 95 PART II: SOLUTIONS Chapter 1: Nature of Fraud 115 Chapter 2: Elements of the Crimes of Theft and Fraud 119 Chapter 3: Frauds against the Individual 123 Chapter 4: Frauds against the Organization 125Chapter 5: Fighting Corruption 131 Chapter 6: Role of Ethics in Fighting Fraud 137 Chapter 7: Controlling Fraud 141 Chapter 8: Fraud Risk Management 149 Chapter 9: Investigating Fraud 153 Chapter 10: Computer Fraud and Countermeasures 159 Chapter 11: Legal Issues Surrounding Fraud 167 Chapter 12: Industry-Related Fraud Opportunities 169
Effects of a Foot Placement Constraint on Use of Motor Equivalence during Human Hopping

Humans can robustly locomote over complex terrains even while simultaneously attending to other tasks such as accurate foot placement on the ground. We investigated whether subjects would exploit motor redundancy across the joints of the leg to stabilize overall limb kinematics when presented with a hopping task that constrained foot placement position. Subjects hopped in place on one leg (2.2 Hz) while having to place their foot into one of three target sizes upon landing (0.250, 0.063, 0.010 m2). As takeoff and landing angles are critical to this task performance, we hypothesized smaller target sizes would increase the need to stabilize (i.e., make more consistent) the leg orientation through motor equivalent combinations of segment angles. As it was not critical to the targeting task, we hypothesized no changes for leg length stabilization across target size. With smaller target sizes, we saw total segment angle variance increase due to greater signal-dependent noise associated with an increased activation of leg extensor muscles (medial and lateral gastrocnemius, vastus medialis, vastus lateralis and rectus femoris). At smaller target sizes, more segment angle variance was aligned to kinematic deviations with the goal of maintaining leg orientation trajectory. We also observed a decrease in the variance structure for stabilizing leg length at the smallest target conditions. This trade-off effect is explained by the nearly orthogonal relationship between the two goal-equivalent manifolds for leg length vs. leg orientation stabilization. Our results suggest humans increasingly rely on kinematic redundancy in their legs to achieve robust, consistent locomotion when faced with novel conditions that constrain performance requirements. These principles may generalize to other human locomotor gaits and provide important insights into the control of the legs during human walking and running.
Individual and organizational perspectives on data use in serious games

In order to save time and costs, organizations are increasingly investing in technologyenhanced learning systems to fulfil their employee training requirements. Serious games are one possible approach to technology-enhanced learning where learners play game scenarios designed to facilitate competence development as they entertain. Previous research suggests that privacy is an important factor affecting the acceptance of information systems in organizations. Research on privacy in technology-enhanced learning has usually focused on data types assumed to be sensitive without user input on how they perceive the data. Additionally, proposed solutions consist in applying generic data protection techniques to already designed systems as opposed to trying to include privacy considerations during the design process. In this paper, we describe preliminary research into the potential privacy risks of serious games for competence development. We present findings from a workshop with developers of a serious game system and three focus groups with prospective learnerparticipants of the same system. Our findings indicate some potential areas of user concern e.g. the collection and retention of performance data for internal recruitment purposes, and the association of avatars with real identities inside the game environment. We conclude by making some initial recommendations concerning the privacy issues that employee and organizational representatives should be aware of when negotiating the deployment of a learning system of this type. UCL DEPARTMENT OF
Successive cancellation for cyclic interference channels

The Chong-Motani-Garg inner bound for the two-user interference channel is generalized to a special case of many-user interference channels. By taking a geometric viewpoint and using rate-splitting arguments, it is shown that all operating points in the Chong-Motani-Garg inner bound allow decoding by successive cancellation at all receivers.
Psychological disorders as consequences of involvement in motor vehicle accidents: a discussion and recommendations for a research program

The potential consequences of crash involvement in the psychological domain are discussed, based on the small corpus of relevant literature and additional material concerning psychological disorders thought to occur as a result of exposure to traumatic events. The results of an analysis of Victorian crash data suggest that the lifetime risk of developing psychological disorders resulting from injury in a crash is quite high. For post traumatic stress disorder, for example, this risk is estimated at 13.1 percent. It is concluded that there is a need to conduct research in this area to investigate the psychological consequences of crash involvement in the Australian context and to develop and evaluate therapeutic interventions which might reduce the impact of crash involvement.
States of welfare or states of workfare ? A fuzzy-set ideal type analysis of major welfare state restructuring in sixteen advanced capitalist democracies , 1985-2002 *

Did welfare states change radically from welfare towards workfare or was such a shift absent and was welfare state change regime specific instead? This paper assesses this question for sixteen advanced capitalist democracies for the period 1985-2002, using an innovative method, fuzzy-set ideal type analysis. This study shows that the mainstream welfare state literature's prediction of no radical and regime specific change holds for most countries. The regulation literature's prediction of radical change from welfare towards workfare is supported fully only in Ireland and moderately in Denmark. Furthermore, interesting other patterns are revealed in six countries.
Sensing capacity of Cognitive Radio Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

This paper addresses a Cognitive Radio Mobile Ad Hoc Network (CRMAHN) where the licensed users (Primary users - PUs) are mobile nodes. In this scenario, the non-licensed users (Secondary Users - SUs) may opportunistically use the PUs' band when it is available. Because the availability of the band is determined by the spectrum sensing adopted by each SU, this work characterizes the transmission capability of the SUs (Sensing Capacity) through the characterization of the cases when the SUs sense the spectrum as being vacant. Admitting that PUs are mobile, the SUs must declare the band as being used when the PUs within their sensing region use the band. Contrarily to other works, our main contribution is the assumption that PUs may also be detected active when they are located outside the SUs' sensing region, which may frequently occur in CRMAHNs. This effect, known as Spatial False Alarm (SFA), is taken into account through the probability of detection of the PUs located outside the SU's sensing region, which is derived in this work. Finally, it is shown that SFA degrades the sensing capacity of CRMAHNs, when the number of mobile PUs increases and/or the level of activity of the PUs also increases.
Relations of income inequality and family income to chronic medical conditions and mental health disorders: national survey

Abstract Objectives: To analyse the relation between geographical inequalities in income and the prevalence of common chronic medical conditions and mental health disorders, and to compare it with the relation between family income and these health problems. Design: Nationally representative household telephone survey conducted in 1997-8. Setting: 60 metropolitan areas or economic areas of the United States. Participants: 9585 adults who participated in the community tracking study. Main outcome measures: Self report of 17 common chronic medical conditions; current depressive disorder or anxiety disorder assessed by clinical screeners. Results: A strong continuous association was seen between health and education or family income. No relation was found between income inequality and the prevalence of chronic medical problems or depressive disorders and anxiety disorders, either across the whole population or among poorer people. Only self reported overall health, the measure used in previous studies, was significantly correlated with inequality at the population level, but this correlation disappeared after adjustment for individual characteristics. Conclusions: This study provides no evidence for the hypothesis that income inequality is a major risk factor for common disorders of physical or mental health. What is already known on this topic Several studies have found a relation between income inequality and self reported health or mortality What this study adds There is a strong social gradient in health, as measured by the prevalence of chronic medical conditions and specific mental health disorders, by income or education No such association is seen between income inequality and health
Bayesian Markov Switching Stochastic Correlation Models

This paper builds on Asai and McAleer (2009) and develops a new multivariate Dynamic Conditional Correlation (DCC) model where the parameters of the correlation dynamics and those of the log-volatility process are driven by two latent Markov chains. We outline a suitable Bayesian inference procedure, based on sequential MCMC estimation algorithms, and discuss some preliminary results on simulated data. We then apply the model to three major cross rates against the US Dollar (Euro, Yen, Pound), using high-frequency data since the beginning of the European Monetary Union. Estimated volatility paths reveal significant increases since mid-2007, documenting the destabilizing effects of the US sub-prime crisis and of the European sovereign debt crisis. Moreover, we find strong evidence supporting the existence of a time-varying correlation structure. Correlation paths display frequent shifts along the whole sample, both in low and in high volatility phases, pointing out the existence of contagion effects closely in line with the mechanisms outlined in the recent contagion literature (Forbes and Rigobon (2002) and Corsetti at al. (2005)).
Big data security issues and challenges

We have entered in data deluge already. Data Deluge means data generated by IoT devices and humans simultaneously. The data deluge is a Big threat for technologist but beneficial for end users. Now the coming problem is the security of this data. Big Data is too big, too fast and too diverse that does not compile with traditional data base system. Traditional data base systems are very good to analyze structured data but these systems are not enough to analyze unstructured data. In this paper we discourse the possible challenges and security issues related to Big Data characteristics and possible solutions.
Developing multi-dimensional green value: Extending Social Exchange Theory to explore customers’ purchase intention in green hotels – evidence from Korea

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to elucidate how green value influences potential green hotel customers’ propensity to choose green. Studies on green hotels emphasized environmental and financial benefits that conventional hotels do not provide to society or the companies. However, these benefits may not be the ones that resonate best with its potential customers. Besides, given the characteristics of green products, it is also important to point out how customers perceive green-related costs. Design/methodology/approach – A pilot test was conducted in three universities and then an anonymous questionnaire was randomly administered to Korean passengers at the Incheon International Airport. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were the primary methods of data analysis. Findings – Four dimensions for perceived green benefits and three dimensions for perceived green costs emerged: functional, emotional, social and epistemic benefits; and monetary, explicit and implicit costs. E.
From sustainable development to carbon control: Eco-state restructuring and the politics of urban and regional development

The management of carbon emissions holds some prospect for challenging sustainable development as the organising principle of socio-environmental regulation. This paper explores the rise of a distinctive low-carbon polity as an ideological state project, and examines its potential ramifications for the regulation of economy–environment relations at the urban and regional scale. Carbon control would seem to introduce a new set of values into state regulation and this might open up possibilities for challenging mainstream modes of urban and regional development in a manner not possible under sustainable development. But low-carbon restructuring also portends intensified uneven development, new forms of state control and a socially uneven reworking of state–society relations. In order to explore these issues we start by setting out a framework for conceptualising environmental regulation based around the idea of eco-state restructuring. This idea is introduced to capture the conflicts, power struggles and strategic selectivities involved as governments seek to reconcile environmental protection with multiple other pressures and demands. Overall the paper seeks to make a distinctive contribution to theoretical work on state environmental regulation and the emerging spatial dimensions of climate policy.
Speed and exercise intensity of recreational walkers.

BACKGROUND Brisk walking has been identified as an activity suited to meet American College of Sport Medicine/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for moderate intensity exercise (55-69% HR(max), 40-59% VO(2)R). However, little is known about whether recreational walkers self-select a pace which elicits this intensity and how they interpret the term "brisk walking. " METHODS The walking speed of 82 adults was covertly observed in a public park. Fifty-nine of these participants demonstrated their interpretation of "brisk walking" and the speed was noted. Eleven of these subjects subsequently walked on a treadmill at their observed and "brisk walk" speeds. Heart rate (HR), respiratory gases, and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) were measured. RESULTS Mean observed and "brisk" walking speeds were 1.56 +/- 0.17 m. s(-1) and 1.79 +/- 0.19 m x s(-1) respectively (P < or = 0.001). Mean exercise intensities during the treadmill test (n = 11) were 59.0 +/- 13.4% VO(2max) and 67.3 +/- 11.6% HR(max) for the observed speed (1.60 + 0.24 m x s(-1)). The brisk speed (1.86 +/- 0.12 m x s(-1)) equated to 68.6 +/- 14.9% VO(2max) and 78.5 +/- 15.5% HR(max). CONCLUSION The speed and intensity selected by this group of walkers meets current recommendations for moderate intensity exercise. Instructing individuals to "walk briskly" prompts more vigorous activity.
Recognition of Everyday Auditory Scenes: Potentials, Latencies and Cues

A li stening test was conducted where the human abili ties in recognizing everyday auditory scenes based on binaural recordings were studied. The accuracy, latency, and acoustic cues used by the subjects in the recognition process were analyzed. The average correct recognition rate for 19 subjects was 70% for 25 different scenes, and the average recognition time was 20 seconds. In most cases, the test subjects reported that the recognition was based on prominent identified sound events. 1 Email: { peltonen,eronen,partsi,klap} @cs.tut. f
The Immensely Inflated News Audience: Assessing Bias in Self-Reported News Exposure

Many studies of media effects use self-reported news exposure as their key independent variable without establishing its validity. Motivated by anecdotal evidence that people's reports of their own media use can differ considerably from independent assessments, this study examines systematically the accuracy of survey-based self-reports of news exposure. I compare survey estimates to Nielsen estimates, which do not rely on self-reports. Results show severe overreporting of news exposure. Survey estimates of network news exposure follow trends in Nielsen ratings relatively well, but exaggerate exposure by a factor of 3 on average and as much as eightfold for some demographics. It follows that apparent media effects may arise not because of differences in exposure, but because of unknown differences in the accuracy of reporting exposure.
Recognizing hand gesture using Fourier descriptors

This paper describes a novel application of Fourier descriptor techniques for the recognition of hand gesture trajectories. Appearance based coordinates of hand centroids and time steps are normalized to a fixed length by multirate techniques. Fourier techniques are applied to the data to produce frequency domain data that is scale and translation invariant. The results of inputting the complex harmonic data to a probabilistic neural network for gesture classification are discussed. An understanding of underlying structure of gesture trajectories can be gained from modeling them as an infinite set of ellipses at given orientations. The rotation of the ellipses is visualized in the time domain as 'elliptic corkscrews'.
Switching Regimes in the Term Structure of Interest Rates during U.S. Post-War: A Case for the Lucas Proof Equilibrium?

Farmer (1991) suggests that in a model in which there are multiple rational expectations (RE) equilibria agents may find it useful to coordinate their expectations in a unique RE equilibrium which is immune to the Lucas Critique. In this paper, we evaluate Lucas proof (LP) equilibrium performance in the context of the term structure of interest rates model by using post-war US data. Estimation results show that LP equilibrium exhibits some important features of the data that are not reproduced by the fundamental equilibrium. For instance, the short rate behaves as a random walk in a regime characterized by low conditional volatility, whereas the term spread Granger-causes changes in the short-rate in periods characterized by high conditional volatility.