Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Development of high pressure and cryogenic techniques, and their application to neutron diffraction

Neutron diffraction is an extremely powerful technique in condensed matter research; it can be used to measure crystallographic structures, including some of those undeterminable using X-rays. It is also perhaps the most powerful technique for determining magnetic structures, and for probing the strength of magnetic interactions, revealing information beyond that extractable from a magnetometer. High pressure is used by many condensed matter researchers as an additional thermodynamic variable, or tool to perturb otherwise stable systems, and has been used with neutron diffraction for many years. When coupled with low temperatures, this has led to the discovery of an enormous range of non-ambient phases of matter, with a range of exotic properties, some of which are discussed in this thesis. Pressure has a very strong effect on the magnetic properties of a material, with many of the most unusual magnetic phases existing only at extremely low temperatures, or pressures which can only be reached on very small samples. The main topic for this thesis is the study, development, and implementation of new techniques to combine low temperatures, high pressures, and neutron diffraction measurements from micro sized samples. A new pressure cell has been designed, tested, and commissioned with neutron beam time on the WISH diffractometer at the ISIS neutron facility. The cell is compact, with a total mass of approximately 5 kg, and is capable of generating large loads in excess of 4.5 tonnes force. Depending on the sample size used with the cell, the opposed anvil system is capable of generating a range of different pressures beyond what is widely available for low temperature neutron diffraction measurements. To save wasted experimental time in cooling and warming the device, the cell is capable of varying the applied load continuously down to 5 K, whilst the sample pressure can also be measured in-situ using a compact spectrometer system. Obtaining refineable neutron diffraction data from the small samples (< 1 mm) possible in an opposed anvil pressure cell is challenging
Coronary Artery Angiographic Changes in Veterans Poisoned by Mustard Gas

Objectives: We aimed to identify coronary artery involvement in mustard gas-poisoned patients. Methods: We conducted a case-control study on 40 mustard gas-poisoned patients who underwent coronary artery angiography due to cardiac pain. The study was performed during a 3-year interval on patients who were referred to three main hospitals of Mashhad, Iran. The nonexposed control group consisted of 40 normal individuals who had undergone angiography for the same reasons. The primary outcome measurement was coronary artery involvement and its location. Data were collected through studying the angiography films. Results: Among the 40 poisoned patients studied, 15 (37.5%) had coronary artery ectasia, mainly in the left anterior descending artery, but 25 (62.5%) did not. The same values were 2 (5%) and 38 (95%) in the nonexposed group, respectively, which was significantly different compared to the exposed group (p = 0.001). The odds ratio was 11.40. Conclusions: The prevalence of coronary artery ectasia in mustard gas-poisoned patients was 7.5 times more than in nonexposed controls. Considering the proposed odds ratio, the occurrence of coronary artery ectasia is around 11.4 times greater in mustard gas-poisoned veterans. This is the first study to suggest a strong correlation between mustard gas poisoning and coronary artery ectasia.
Lower liver‐related death in African‐American women with human immunodeficiency virus/hepatitis C virus coinfection, compared to Caucasian and Hispanic women

Among individuals with and without concurrent human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), racial/ethnic differences in the natural history of hepatitis C virus (HCV) have been described. African Americans have lower spontaneous HCV clearance than Caucasians, yet slower rates of liver fibrosis once chronically infected. It is not clear how these differences in the natural history of hepatitis C affect mortality, in either HIV‐positive or ‐negative individuals. We conducted a cohort study of HIV/HCV coinfected women followed in the multicenter Women's Interagency HIV Study to determine the association of self‐reported race/ethnicity with all‐cause and liver‐related mortality. Survival analyses were performed using Cox's proportional hazards models. The eligible cohort (n = 794) included 140 Caucasians, 159 Hispanics, and 495 African Americans. There were 438 deaths and 49 liver‐related deaths during a median follow‐up of 8.9 years and maximum follow‐up of 16 years. African‐American coinfected women had significantly lower liver‐related mortality, compared to Caucasian (hazard ratio [HR], 0.41; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.19‐0.88; P = 0.022) and Hispanic coinfected women (HR, 0.38; 95% CI: 0.19‐0.76; P = 0.006). All‐cause mortality was similar between racial/ethnic groups (HRs for all comparisons: 0.82‐1.03; log‐rank test: P = 0.8). Conclusions: African‐American coinfected women were much less likely to die from liver disease, as compared to Caucasians and Hispanics, independent of other causes of death. Future studies are needed to investigate the reasons for this marked racial/ethnic discrepancy in liver‐related mortality. (HEPATOLOGY 2012;56:1699–1705)
Journal of Enterprise Information Management A contingency fit model of critical success factors for software development

Purpose – While the choices available for project management methodologies have increased significantly, questions remain on whether project managers fully consider their alternatives. When project categorization systems and criteria are not logically matched with project objectives, characteristics and environment, this may provide the key reason for why many software projects are reported to fail to deliver on time, budget or do not give value to the client. The purpose of this paper is to identify and categorize critical success factors (CSFs) and develop a contingency fit model contrasting perspectives of traditional plan-based and agile methodologies. Design/methodology/approach – By systematically reviewing the previous literature, a total of 37 CSFs for software development projects are identified from 148 articles, and then categorized into three major CSFs: organizational, team and customer factors. A contingency fit model augments this by highlighting the necessity to match project characteristics and project management methodology to these CSFs. Findings – Within the three major categories of CSFs, individual factors are ranked based on how frequently they have been cited in previous studies, overall as well as across the two main project management methodologies (traditional, agile). Differences in these rankings as well as mixed empirical support suggest that previous research may not have adequately theorized when particular CSFs will affect project success and lend support for the hypothesized contingency model between CSFs, project characteristics and project success criteria. Research limitations/implications – This research is conceptual and meta-analytic in its focus. A crucial task for future research should be to test the contingency fit model developed using empirical data. There is no broad consensus among researchers and practitioners in categorizing CSFs for software development projects. However, through an extensive search and analysis of the literature on CSFs for software development projects, the research provides greater clarity on the categories of CSFs and how their direct, indirect and moderated effects on project success can be modelled. Practical implications – This study proposes a contingency fit model and contributes towards developing a theory for assessing the role of CSFs for project
INFLAMMATION AND INFLAMMATORY BOWEL DISEASE Impairment of epithelial transport but not of barrier function in idiopathic pouchitis after ulcerative colitis

Background and aims: Little is known of the permeability of ileoanal pouches. Hence the aim of the present study was to determine changes in permeability and mucosal function after ileo-pouchanal anastomosis (IPAA) in patients with ulcerative colitis. Materials and methods: Biopsies were taken from 43 patients (male:female ratio 28:15; mean age 35.2 (12.5) years) prior to colectomy (ileum prior to pouch), prior to closure of ileostomy (deviation), and after closure of ileostomy (intact pouch) in the case of pouchitis, and from 14 healthy controls. Tissues were mounted in a miniaturised Ussing chamber. Epithelial and subepithelial resistance was determined by transmural impedance analysis. Active Na-glucose cotransport was measured as change in short circuit current after stepwise addition of glucose, and active Cl secretion was measured after stimulation with theophylline and prostaglandin E2. Results: Neither epithelial resistance nor mannitol fluxes were significantly altered compared with intact controls, indicating no barrier defect in pouchitis. Subepithelial resistances of intact pouches and pouchitis were increased compared with deviation (18.2 (1.6) and 24.3 (1.5) v 13.6 (1.0) Ω×cm) consistent with an adaptive thickening of the subepithelial layer. In contrast, active Cl secretion of pouchitis tissues was reduced versus intact pouch and controls (1.4 (0.3) v 4.3 (0.7) and 4.6 (0.7) μmol/ h/cm), and Na-glucose cotransport of pouchitis was reduced compared with intact pouch and controls (1.8 (0.5) v 4.2 (0.8) and 8.8 (1.3) μmol/h/cm). Conclusions: Ileal mucosa in pouchitis and terminal ileum prior to IPAA exhibit impaired secretory and absorptive transport functions whereas the epithelial barrier function remains unchanged. This differs from findings in ulcerative colitis. Thus the hypothesis that pouchitis represents a remanifestation of ulcerative colitis has to be questioned.
A Survey of Available Corpora for Building Data-Driven Dialogue Systems

During the past decade, several areas of speech and language understanding have witnessed substantial breakthroughs from the use of data-driven models. In the area of dialogue systems, the trend is less obvious, and most practical systems are still built through significant engineering and expert knowledge. Nevertheless, several recent results suggest that data-driven approaches are feasible and quite promising. To facilitate research in this area, we have carried out a wide survey of publicly available datasets suitable for data-driven learning of dialogue systems. We discuss important characteristics of these datasets and how they can be used to learn diverse dialogue strategies. We also describe other potential uses of these datasets, such as methods for transfer learning between datasets and the use of external knowledge, and discuss appropriate choice of evaluation metrics for the learning objective.
Rituximab for indolent lymphomas before and after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Purpose of reviewThe most substantial advancement in the treatment of indolent B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), since the advent of combination chemotherapy, has been the introduction of the monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody rituximab. However, the optimal schedule, timing, and duration of rituximab therapy remain controversial. Recent findingsSince its initially reported single-agent activity in 1997, the role of rituximab has greatly expanded and it is now ubiquitously integrated in all treatment phases of indolent NHL. Yet, several questions remain to be addressed: should asymptomatic patients be treated at diagnosis with single-agent rituximab or still kept in watchful waiting, what are the optimal first-line treatments to combine with rituximab, what is the role of maintenance therapy, and is there a benefit in incorporating rituximab in autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation schemes for these diseases? Recent and ongoing clinical trials tackling these relevant issues will be presented and critically discussed in this article. SummaryExcellent outcomes are reported with rituximab therapy in indolent NHL, both early and late in the disease course. Continued study of this most valuable therapeutic agent is warranted to set the optimal treatment approach leading to cure the majority of patients.
Modeling of successive cancer risks in Lynch syndrome families in the presence of competing risks using copulas

In this article, we propose an association model to estimate the penetrance (risk) of successive cancers in the presence of competing risks. The association between the successive events is modeled via a copula and a proportional hazards model is specified for each competing event. This work is motivated by the analysis of successive cancers for people with Lynch Syndrome in the presence of competing risks. The proposed inference procedure is adapted to handle missing genetic covariates and selection bias, induced by the data collection protocol of the data at hand. The performance of the proposed estimation procedure is evaluated by simulations and its use is illustrated with data from the Colon Cancer Family Registry (Colon CFR).
Planning the Motions of a Mobile Robot in a Sensory Uncertainty Field

Failures in mobile robot navigation are often caused by errors in localizing the robot relative to its environment. This paper explores the idea that these errors can be considerably reduced by planning paths taking the robot through positions where pertinent features of the environment can be sensed. It introduces the notion of a "sensory uncertainty field" (SUF). For every possible robot configuration q, this field estimates the distribution of possible errors in the robot configuration that would be computed by a localization function matching the data given by the sensors against an environment model, if the robot was at q. A planner is proposed which uses a precomputed SUF to generate paths that minimize expected errors or any other criterion combining, say, path length and errors. This paper describes in detail the computation of a specific SUF for a mobile robot equipped with a classical line-striping camera/laser range sensor. It presents an implemented SUF-based motion planner for this robot and shows paths generated by this planner. Navigation experiments were conducted with mobile robots using paths generated by the SUF-based planner and other paths. The former paths were tracked with greater precision than the others. The final section of the paper discusses additional research issues related to SUF-based planning. >
Bi and Sb Nanowire Assemblies for Thermoelectric Applications

This thesis presents the fabrication and characterization of Bi(1-x)Sb(x) nanowire assemblies with wellcontrolled and systematically adjusted wire diameter, composition, and vertical or tilted geometrical alignment. The nanowire assemblies were fabricated by means of ion-track technology combining chemical etching of ion-irradiated polymer membranes with electrodeposition of Bi and Sb into track-etched nanochannels. By systematic variation of the etching and deposition conditions, including pulsed potential parameters and surfactant concentration in the electrolyte, the fabrication process was optimized yielding homogeneously grown, uniform nanowire assemblies and networks. The influence of the deposition parameters on morphology and crystalline structure of the resulting Bi, Sb and Bi(1-x)Sb(x) nanowires and networks was investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, high resolution transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistance of the nanowire assemblies were investigated in detail as a function of nanowire diameter and temperature. The results confirm the p- and n-type behavior of the Sb and Bi nanowires and provide evidence of the influence of size effects on the thermoelectric transport properties. In addition, a method to measure all relevant thermoelectrical cross-plane properties to deduce the thermoelectric efficiency of a given nanowire assembly was developed. This includes the measurement of the electrical and thermal conductivity as well as the Seebeck coefficient of a nanowire assembly. Finally, more complex nanowire systems were fabricated by combining ion-track nanotechnology and microtechnology to prepare thermocouples formed by Sb and Bi nanowire arrays. These three-dimensional nanowire assemblies of parallel or interconnected nanowires with adjustable diameter and density, embedded in polymer templates, are of great interest for future implementation as e.g. flexible infrared sensors.
From C++ To Mathcad: Teaching An Introductory Programming Course With A Non Traditional Programming Language

Mathcad has replaced C++ as the language of the introductory programming course taught in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at The Citadel. Advantages and disadvantages associated with the switch are discussed in the paper. A comparison is made between the Mathcad-based programming course and the previous versions of the course taught using traditional programming languages. An evaluation of students’ use of Mathcad a year after completing the Mathcad-based course is included and compared to those students who had taken the C++ version of the course. In addition, the classroom approach taken to teach the course is discussed.
Response of the green alga Oophila sp., a salamander endosymbiont, to a PSII‐inhibitor under laboratory conditions

In a rare example of autotroph‐vertebrate endosymbiosis, eggs of the yellow‐spotted salamander (Ambystoma maculatum) are colonized by a green alga (Oophila sp.) that significantly enhances salamander development. Previous studies have demonstrated the potential for impacts to the salamander embryo when growth of the algae is impaired by exposure to herbicides. To further investigate this relationship, the authors characterized the response of the symbiotic algae (Oophila sp.) alone to the photosystem II (PSII) inhibitor atrazine under controlled laboratory conditions. After extraction of the alga from A. maculatum eggs and optimization of culturing conditions, 4 toxicity assays (96 h each) were conducted. Recovery of the algal population was also assessed after a further 96 h in untreated media. Average median effective concentration (EC50) values of 123 µg L−1 (PSII yield), 169 µg L−1 (optical density), and 299 µg L−1 (growth rate) were obtained after the 96‐h exposure. Full recovery of exposed algal populations after 96 h in untreated media was observed for all endpoints, except for optical density at the greatest concentration tested (300 µg L−1). Our results show that, under laboratory conditions, Oophila sp. is generally less sensitive to atrazine than standard test species. Although conditions of growth in standard toxicity tests are not identical to those in the natural environment, these results provide an understanding of the tolerance of this alga to PSII inhibitors as compared with other species. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:1858–1864. © 2014 SETAC
Beyond a Dichotomous View of the Concepts of ‘Sex’ and ‘Gender’ Focus Group Discussions among Gender Researchers at a Medical Faculty

Introduction The concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ are both of vital importance in medicine and health sciences. However, the meaning of these concepts has seldom been discussed in the medical literature. The aim of this study was to explore what the concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ meant for gender researchers based in a medical faculty. Methods Sixteen researchers took part in focus group discussions. The analysis was performed in several steps. The participating researchers read the text and discussed ideas for analysis in national and international workshops. The data were analysed using qualitative content analysis. The authors performed independent preliminary analyses, which were further developed and intensively discussed between the authors. Results The analysis of meanings of the concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ for gender researchers based in a medical faculty resulted in three categories; “Sex as more than biology”, with the subcategories ‘sex’ is not simply biological, ‘sex’ as classification, and ‘sex’ as fluid and changeable; ”Gender as a multiplicity of power-related constructions”, with the subcategories: ‘gender’ as constructions, ‘gender’ power dimensions, and ‘gender’ as doing femininities and masculinities; “Sex and gender as interwoven”, with the subcategories: ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ as inseparable and embodying ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. Conclusions Gender researchers within medicine pointed out the importance of looking beyond a dichotomous view of the concepts of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’. The perception of the concepts was that ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ were intertwined. Further research is needed to explore how ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ interact.
Lower urinary tract symptoms and risk of prostate cancer: The HUNT 2 Cohort, Norway

Screening for early prostate cancer is frequently employed in the routine management of men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), but the evidence‐base linking LUTS with prostate cancer is limited. We assessed the association of LUTS with a subsequent prostate cancer diagnosis in a prospective cohort study based on 21,159 Norwegian men who completed baseline questionnaires, including the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) questionnaire, between 1995 and 2007 as part of the second Nord‐Trøndelag Health Study (HUNT 2). Men were followed‐up for prostate cancer incidence and mortality from the date of clinical examination to end 2005. During a mean of 9 years follow‐up, 518 incident prostate cancers were diagnosed and 74 men died from prostate cancer. Men with severe LUTS (IPSS 20–35) had a 2.26‐fold (95% CI: 1.49–3.42) increased risk of prostate cancer compared to men reporting no symptoms. A positive association was observed for localized (hazard ratio, HR: 4.61; 2.23–9.54), but not advanced (HR: 0.51; 0.15–1.75), cancers (p for heterogeneity <0.001). There was no evidence that moderate/severe symptoms (IPSS 8–35) were associated with prostate cancer mortality (HR: 0.83; 0.42–1.64) vs. no symptoms. Amongst 518 men with prostate cancer, there was a 46% lower (10–68%) risk of death with moderate/severe symptoms vs. no symptoms. We conclude that LUTS are positively associated with localized, but not advanced or fatal, prostate cancer, suggesting that urinary symptoms are not caused by prostate cancer. Thus, screening for early cancers on the basis of LUTS may not be justified. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Photoselective vaporization of the prostate using the 180W lithium triborate laser

Introduction: Photoselective vaporization of the prostate (PVP) is widely used to treat benign prostatic obstruction (BPO), but there is little experience reported on the new more powerful 180W lithium triborate (LBO) laser. This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of using the 180W LBO laser to treat BPO by examining a multicentre Australian experience.