Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endoscopic metal enteral stent placement for malignant afferent loop syndrome after pancreaticoduodenectomy

Introduction Afferent loop syndrome (ALS) is a rare and dreaded complication after pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD). Malignant ALS after PD is usually difficult to manage due to patients’ poor condition. Effective and safe therapeutic strategies for these patients are reported scarcely at present. Aim To analyze and evaluate the clinical characteristics and treatment of these patients. Material and methods We analyzed 3 patients with malignant ALS after PD. They were treated by endoscopic enteral metal stent placement in our hospital. Meanwhile we retrospectively reviewed 49 cases with ALS after PD through available English literature. All these patients’ clinical features, laboratory study, treatment and outcome were evaluated. Results A total of 52 cases were analyzed in the study. The most common presenting symptoms of ALS after PD were jaundice (56.5%), upper abdominal pain (45.7%), fever (26.1%), and vomiting (23.9%). Sixty percent of ALS cases were caused by tumor recurrence. The mean time from prior surgery to diagnosis of ALS was 13.3 months. The rates of treatment with the endoscopic approach, percutaneous stenting or drainage, surgery, and the conservative method were 40.4%, 32.7%, 11.5%, and 15.4%, respectively. Endoscopic enteral metal stent placement proved more effective and less invasive in the treatment of malignant ALS after PD. Conclusions Cholangitis and cholangiectasis are the major manifestations of malignant ALS after PD. Invasive interventions are enjoying more and more acceptance for treatment. Endoscopic enteral metal stent placement appears to be a promising technique with effective palliation in these patients.
Proposal Enhancing the Implicit Shape Model through Object Tracking

The implicit shape model has shown good results as a framework for object recognition in still images. This approach emphasizes a biologically-inspired perspective of computer vision, and its core thesis is that recognition and figure-ground segmentation should be interdependent. Meanwhile, other advances in object tracking, recognition, and segmentation have shown interesting results by leveraging the prior knowledge and partial results available from external recognition algorithms. Specifically, online learning of instancespecific appearance models has been shown to effectively augment generic object category models and enable robust instance-specific tracking. This thesis aims to integrate these advances with the implicit shape model, resulting in a robust procedure for object recognition, tracking, and segmentation. A biologically-inspired approach to the object category model and the recognition and tracking algorithms will be maintained whenever possible. The system will be evaluated by measuring the performance of its tasks on videos containing objects of a few different categories.
Improved Long-Term Potentiation and Memory in Young Tau-P301L Transgenic Mice before Onset of Hyperphosphorylation and Tauopathy

The microtubule binding protein tau is implicated in neurodegenerative tauopathies, including frontotemporal dementia (FTD) with Parkinsonism caused by diverse mutations in the tau gene. Hyperphosphorylation of tau is considered crucial in the age-related formation of neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) correlating well with neurotoxicity and cognitive defects. Transgenic mice expressing FTD mutant tau-P301L recapitulate the human pathology with progressive neuronal impairment and accumulation of NFT. Here, we studied tau-P301L mice for parameters of learning and memory at a young age, before hyperphosphorylation and tauopathy were apparent. Unexpectedly, in young tau-P301L mice, increased long-term potentiation in the dentate gyrus was observed in parallel with improved cognitive performance in object recognition tests. Neither tau phosphorylation, neurogenesis, nor other morphological parameters that were analyzed could account for these cognitive changes. The data demonstrate that learning and memory processes in the hippocampus of young tau-P301L mice are not impaired and actually improved in the absence of marked phosphorylation of human tau. We conclude that protein tau plays an important beneficial role in normal neuronal processes of hippocampal memory, and conversely, that not tau mutations per se, but the ensuing hyperphosphorylation must be critical for cognitive decline in tauopathies.
Negative Intergroup Contact and Radical Right‐Wing Voting: The Moderating Roles of Personal and Collective Self‐Efficacy

This study examines whether negative contact with immigrants promotes voting for radical right‐wing parties, to what extent this relationship can be explained by feelings of outgroup threat, and whether this relationship depends on perceived personal and collective self‐efficacy. Hypotheses were tested among 630 native Dutch respondents, mainly living in multicultural neighborhoods. The results show that negative contact with immigrants is associated with feelings of personal (egocentric) and group (sociotropic) threat, and both these feelings, in turn, are associated with radical right‐wing voting. However, negative intergroup contact is less strongly related to egocentric threat when individuals feel able to personally address negative situations with other people (personal self‐efficacy). Furthermore, the findings suggest that negative intergroup contact is less strongly related to sociotropic threat when individuals believe that people in their neighborhood are able to collectively address some negative situations (collective self‐efficacy).
Mobile photo collage

In this paper, we propose an efficient technique for creating a visually appealing collage on a mobile platform from a set of input images. The proposed algorithm consists of four main modules, namely image ranking, region of interest (ROI) selection, packing, and blending. Each of the four modules is designed using a greedy and localized approach. The modules are further optimized during implementation for efficient porting on a mobile phone processor. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm with visually appealing results on an off-the-shelf mobile phone.
Early Stage Botnet Detection and Containment via Mathematical Modeling and Prediction of Botnet Propagation Dynamics

The research that we discuss in this technical report shows that mathematical models of botnet propagation dynamics are a viable means of detecting early stage botnet infections in an enterprise network, and thus an effective tool for containing those botnet infections in a timely fashion. The main idea that underlies this research is to localize weakly connected subgraphs within a graph that models network communications between hosts, consider those subgraphs as representatives of suspected botnets, and thus employ applied statistics to infer the underlying propagation dynamics. The inferred dynamics are materialized into a model graph, which we use within a subgraph isomorphism search process to determine whether or not there is a match between the inferred propagation dynamics and the actual propagation dynamics observed from the weakly connected subgraphs. We conduct modeling based on an intersection of statistics and graph theory such as a match between the two leads to a timely identification of infected hosts. Our mathematical modeling relies on measures of network vulnerability rates, which in this research we estimate via a statistical approach that draws on epidemiological models in biology. That estimation approach is based on random sampling and follows a novel application of statistical learning and inference in a botnet-versus-network setting. We have implemented this overall research in the Matlab and Perl programming languages, and thus have validated its effectiveness in practice in the Emulab network testbed. We have also validated the vulnerability rate estimation approach extensively with respect to realistically simulated botnet propagation dynamics in a GTNetS network simulation platform. In the technical report we describe our overall approach in detail, and thus discuss experiments along with experimental data that are indicative of the effectiveness of our overall approach to detect early stage botnet infections in an enterprise network.
Airflow limitation and airway dimensions in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

RATIONALE Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by airflow limitation caused by emphysema and/or airway narrowing. Computed tomography has been widely used to assess emphysema severity, but less attention has been paid to the assessment of airway disease using computed tomography. OBJECTIVES To obtain longitudinal images and accurately analyze short axis images of airways with an inner diameter>or=2 mm located anywhere in the lung with new software for measuring airway dimensions using curved multiplanar reconstruction. METHODS In 52 patients with clinically stable COPD (stage I, 14; stage II, 22; stage III, 14; stage IV, 2), we used the software to analyze the relationship of the airflow limitation index (FEV1, % predicted) with the airway dimensions from the third to the sixth generations of the apical bronchus (B1) of the right upper lobe and the anterior basal bronchus (B8) of the right lower lobe. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Airway luminal area (Ai) and wall area percent (WA%) were significantly correlated with FEV1 (% predicted). More importantly, the correlation coefficients (r) improved as the airways became smaller in size from the third (segmental) to sixth generations in both bronchi (Ai: r=0.26, 0.37, 0.58, and 0.64 for B1; r=0.60, 0.65, 0.63, and 0.73 for B8). CONCLUSIONS We are the first to use three-dimensional computed tomography to demonstrate that airflow limitation in COPD is more closely related to the dimensions of the distal (small) airways than proximal (large) airways.
Simultaneous Planning for New Product Development and Batch Manufacturing Facilities

One of the greatest challenges in highly regulated industries, such as pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, is the process of selecting, developing, and efficiently manufacturing new products that emerge from the discovery phase. This process involves the performance of regulatory tests, such as environmental and safety tests, for the new products and the plant design for manufacturing the products that pass all tests. To systematically address this problem, we consider the simultaneous optimization of resource-constrained scheduling of testing tasks in new product development and design/planning of batch manufacturing facilities. A multiperiod mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model that maximizes the expected net present value of multiple projects is proposed. The model takes into account multiple tradeoffs and predicts which products should be tested, the detailed test schedules that satisfy resource constraints, design decisions for the process network, and production profiles for the different sc.
Prediction and Reality

Abstract In a landmark study carried out for the New South Wales State Government in 1976 the present author analysed the economic impact of the meetings and convention industry in Australia. That report laid the foundation for the development of the Sydney Entertainment and Exhibition Centre, although it was not until some time later that purpose-built convention centres began to be constructed in the major convention destinations of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth. The 1976 study provided a benchmark for the early characteristics of the Australian convention industry that can now be updated and critically examined. Longitudinal studies of this nature are now becoming possible with the passage of time since the first focussed research into tourism in Australia was carried out. This paper sets out the predictions made in 1976 for the likely size of the meetings and convention industry in 1993, analyses the assumptions made then and their impact on those predictions; and compares them with .
Permutation complexity of spatiotemporal dynamics

We call permutation complexity the kind of dynamical complexity captured by any quantity or functional based on order relations, like ordinal patterns and permutation entropies. These mathematical tools have found interesting applications in time series analysis and abstract dynamical systems. In this letter we propose to extend the study of permutation complexity to spatiotemporal systems, by applying some of its tools to a time series obtained by coarse-graining the dynamics and to state vectors at fixed times, considering the latter as sequences. We show that this approach allows to quantify the complexity and to classify different types of dynamics in cellular automata and in coupled map lattices. Furthermore, we show that our analysis can be used to discriminate between different types of spatiotemporal dynamics registered in magnetoencephalograms.
Cotton market integration and the impact of China's new exchange rate regime: Y. Ge et al. / Agricultural Economics xx (2010) 1-9

This article studies the integration of China's cotton market with the international market, especially the U.S. market. Investigating the futures prices from the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in the U.S. and the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange (ZCE) in China with several time series models, we find that a long-run cointegration relationship exists between these two series. The two markets share price transmissions, and based on results from an Autoregressive Conditional Heteroskedasticity (ARCH) model, we find their price volatilities are similar. We argue that China's recent exchange rate reform and its gradual liberalization in bilateral cotton trade since it joined World Trade Organization have had important impacts on these futures markets. Based on these findings, several important economic and policy implications are derived. Copyright (c) 2010 International Association of Agricultural Economists.
Plk1 regulates the kinesin-13 protein Kif2b to promote faithful chromosome segregation

Mass spectrometry identified multiple phosphorylation sites on the kinesin-13 protein Kif2b, some of which are acutely sensitive to inhibition of Polo-like kinase 1 (Plk1). Data demonstrate that Plk1 regulates the localization and activity of Kif2b during mitosis to promote the correction of kinetochore-microtubule attachment errors to ensure mitotic fidelity.
Zermelo Navigation and a Speed Limit to Quantum Information Processing

SUMMARY AND FUTURE WORK We have obtained a closed form expression eqn. (9) forthe optimal implementation times for an arbitrary quan-tum operationon aﬁnite dimensionalHilbert spacein thepresence of a speciﬁc constraint on the time-independentcontrol Hamiltonian: that it is constant in size (in thespeciﬁc sense above), and stronger than the drift Hamil-tonian.We have done this by ﬁnding a Randers metric witha special property. The metric of eqn. (5) has the prop-erty that the length of any curve on SU(N) is the op-timal traversal time (for Uˆ t ) for a quantum system sub-ject to the constraints discussed. This is in contrast toother methods which typically compute the optimal timefor the optimal trajectories, or for only the trajectoriesachievable with time independent Hamiltonians. Thismethod applies to all trajectories whose lengths can becomputed. Finding the geodesics of eqn. (5) would ﬁndthe globally (over all paths with ﬁxed endpoints) timeoptimal trajectories; however, these curves may not betrajectories achievable with time independent Hamilto-nian.
A new species of Glyphocrangon (Decapoda: Caridea: Glyphocrangonidae) from off the coast of western Mexico*

A new species of Glyphocrangon has been collected during deep-water sampling off western Mexico, in the east Pacific. The series of specimens, including both males and females, was found between 780 and 1879 m depth. Glyphocrangon sp. nov. is close to G. sicaria Faxon, 1893 and G. vicaria Faxon, 1896, both occurring in the east Pacific. It differs from both species, however, by the absence of tubercles between the lateral carinae, the presence of a large tooth at the anterior end of the second anterior lateral carina, the size of the eye (proportionally smaller in G. vicaria), and the presence of two large rostral lateral teeth (one obsolete in G. sicaria). The new species is, however, strikingly similar to G. fimbriata Komai & Takeuchi, 1994, from the Mid-Pacific Mountains. It differs from the later species by the shape of the male endopod of first pleopod, the relative size and spination of the appendices interna and masculina, the presence of a large lateral tooth on pleura of abdominal somites 3–5, and the absence of curved setae on distal part of the dactyl of pereiopods 3–5.
Seeing and Feeling Motion: Canonical Computations in Vision and Touch

While the different sensory modalities are sensitive to different stimulus energies, they are often charged with extracting analogous information about the environment. Neural systems may thus have evolved to implement similar algorithms across modalities to extract behaviorally relevant stimulus information, leading to the notion of a canonical computation. In both vision and touch, information about motion is extracted from a spatiotemporal pattern of activation across a sensory sheet (in the retina and in the skin, respectively), a process that has been extensively studied in both modalities. In this essay, we examine the processing of motion information as it ascends the primate visual and somatosensory neuraxes and conclude that similar computations are implemented in the two sensory systems.
Impact of perceived teachers' competence on students' performance: evidence for mediating role of achievement motivation among vocational colleges students' in Malaysia

The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of perceived teachers’ competence on students’ performance mediated by achievement motivation through students’ perception among the vocational colleges students’ in Malaysia. The sample for this study consists of 360 students from 13 selected vocational colleges all around Malaysia. Participants were between the age of 16-18 years old. Instrument for Teachers’ Competency (ITC) and Achievement Motivation Scales (AMS) that have been adapted and adopted from the original version were used to measure the perceived of teachers’ competence and achievement motivation, respectively. The data was analyzed using AMOS version 22.0 through Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) Analysis indicated that perceived of teachers’ competence was predicted the students’ performance and achievement motivation. The model fit was p=. 000, RMSEA=. 062, GFI=. 925, CFI=. 954, TLI=. 936 and CMIN/df=2.397. Therefore, this study concluded that achievement motivation has a mediation effects on the relationship between teachers’ competence and students’ performance.
The Cell Adhesion Molecule Neuroplastin-65 Is a Novel Interaction Partner of γ-Aminobutyric Acid Type A Receptors*

Background: Mechanisms of γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptor anchorage remain elusive. Results: The cell adhesion molecule neuroplastin-65 can be co-purified with GABAA receptors and co-localizes with α1, α2, and α5 but not α3 subunits. Conclusion: Neuroplastin-65 interacts with distinct receptor subtypes at synaptic or extra-synaptic sites. Significance: This interaction might contribute to a novel mechanism of GABAA receptor anchorage affecting receptor mobility and synaptic strength. γ-Aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptors are pentameric ligand-gated ion channels that mediate fast inhibition in the central nervous system. Depending on their subunit composition, these receptors exhibit distinct pharmacological properties and differ in their ability to interact with proteins involved in receptor anchoring at synaptic or extra-synaptic sites. Whereas GABAA receptors containing α1, α2, or α3 subunits are mainly located synaptically where they interact with the submembranous scaffolding protein gephyrin, receptors containing α5 subunits are predominantly found extra-synaptically and seem to interact with radixin for anchorage. Neuroplastin is a cell adhesion molecule of the immunoglobulin superfamily that is involved in hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Our results reveal that neuroplastin and GABAA receptors can be co-purified from rat brain and exhibit a direct physical interaction as demonstrated by co-precipitation and Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) analysis in a heterologous expression system. The brain-specific isoform neuroplastin-65 co-localizes with GABAA receptors as shown in brain sections as well as in neuronal cultures, and such complexes can either contain gephyrin or be devoid of gephyrin. Neuroplastin-65 specifically co-localizes with α1 or α2 but not with α3 subunits at GABAergic synapses. In addition, neuroplastin-65 also co-localizes with GABAA receptor α5 subunits at extra-synaptic sites. Down-regulation of neuroplastin-65 by shRNA causes a loss of GABAA receptor α2 subunits at GABAergic synapses. These results suggest that neuroplastin-65 can co-localize with a subset of GABAA receptor subtypes and might contribute to anchoring and/or confining GABAA receptors to particular synaptic or extra-synaptic sites, thus affecting receptor mobility and synaptic strength.
Spirituality and worker well-being: Examining the relationship between spirituality, job burnout, and work engagement

ABSTRACT Workers in the social work, mental health, and human service fields are increasingly encouraged to use spirituality and religion in their interventions with clients. This emphasis on the importance of spirituality and religion on client wellness could be beneficial equally when used by social workers and other human service providers to promote their own well-being. Using a cross-sectional availability sample of 133 human service workers, we examine the relationship between spirituality, job burnout, and worker engagement. In the present study, spirituality was statistically related to dedication, one of the three dimensions of worker engagement but not job burnout.
Time after Time in Words: Chronology through Language Statistics

Previous research has shown that perceptual relations, social affiliations, and geographical locations can be predicted using distributional semantics. We investigated whether this extends to chronological relations. In several computational studies we demonstrated that the chronological order of days, months, years, and the chronological sequence of historical figures can be predicted using language statistics. In fact, both the leaders of the Soviet Union and the presidents of the United States can be ordered chronologically based on the cooccurrences of their names in language. An experiment also showed that the bigram frequency of US president names predicted the response time of participants in their evaluation of the chronology of these presidents. These findings are explained by the Symbol Interdependency Hypothesis which predicts that as a function of language use, language encodes relations in the world around us. Language users can then use language as a cognitive short-cut for mental representations.