Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Secure and scalable replication in Phalanx

Phalanx is a software system for building a persistent, survivable data repository that supports shared data abstractions (e.g., variables, mutual exclusion) for clients. Phalanx implements data abstraction that ensures useful properties without trusting the servers supporting these abstractions or the clients accessing them, i.e., Phalanx can survive even the arbitrarily malicious corruption of clients and (some number of) servers. At the core of the system are survivable replication techniques that enable efficient scaling to hundreds of Phalanx servers. In this paper we describe the implementation of some of the data abstractions provided by Phalanx, discuss their ability to scale to large systems, and describe an example application.
New species and subspecies descriptions do not and should not always require a dead type specimen

Dubois & Nemesio (2007) recently considered that the present International Code for Zoological Nomenclature (“Code”) could reasonably be interpreted as requiring the deposition of dead vouchers for new species and subspecies descriptions. They considered that, to the extent that there is lack of clarity, the Code should be amended so as to require the deposition of a dead voucher. They doubted the utility of photographs and other materials for descriptions and suggested that ethical or moral concerns about the taking of dead type specimens were poorly supported. Dubois & Nemesio (2007)’s preferred interpretations of the current Code are not supported by members of the Commission. Possible reasons why the collection of a dead type specimen might not be necessary or recommended include the setting of a good example to communities in whose hands conservation action lies, government permit issues and the description of new taxa on the brink of extinction where collecting may impact populations. The Code should be liberal in relation to the nature of type specimens to enable taxonomists, who are the persons best placed to take decisions, to make appropriate judgments for particular descriptions.
Sampling-Based Path Planning on Configuration-Space Costmaps

This paper addresses path planning to consider a cost function defined over the configuration space. The proposed planner computes low-cost paths that follow valleys and saddle points of the configuration-space costmap. It combines the exploratory strength of the Rapidly exploring Random Tree (RRT) algorithm with transition tests used in stochastic optimization methods to accept or to reject new potential states. The planner is analyzed and shown to compute low-cost solutions with respect to a path-quality criterion based on the notion of mechanical work. A large set of experimental results is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method. Current limitations and possible extensions are also discussed.
Two to Tango

Four studies examined dyadic collaboration on quantitative estimation tasks. In accord with the tenets of “naïve realism,” dyad members failed to give due weight to a partner’s estimates, especially those greatly divergent from their own. The requirement to reach joint estimates through discussion increased accuracy more than reaching agreement through a mere exchange of numerical “bids. ” However, even the latter procedure increased accuracy, relative to that of individual estimates (Study 1). Accuracy feedback neither increased weight given to partner’s subsequent estimates nor produced improved accuracy (Study 2). Long-term dance partners, who shared a positive estimation bias, failed to improve accuracy when estimating their performance scores (Study 3). Having dyad members ask questions about the bases of partner’s estimates produced greater yielding and accuracy increases than having them explain their own estimates (Study 4). The latter two studies provided additional direct and indirect evidence for the role of naïve realism.
Differential association of elevated inflammatory cytokines with postoperative fibrous proliferation and neovascularization after unsuccessful vitrectomy in eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy

Background Pars plana vitrectomy is the only treatment for advanced proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). However, vitrectomy is not always successful despite current progress in vitreoretinal surgical techniques. The aim of our study was to investigate whether the vitreal concentrations of MCP-1, IL-6, IL-8, and VEGF are elevated after unsuccessful vitrectomy in patients with PDR and to investigate whether the altered levels of these cytokines are associated with the cause for the reoperation. Patients and methods Vitreous samples were collected from 263 eyes of 233 patients: PDR (n=129 eyes), proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR; n=24 eyes) and nondiabetic controls (n=110 eyes) prior to vitrectomy. Vitreous samples were also collected from 14 eyes of 14 patients with PDR before vitrectomy and from the same 14 eyes before a second vitrectomy for reoperation. The levels of MCP-1, IL-6, IL-8, and VEGF were measured by flow cytometry using a cytometric bead array (CBA) assay. Results The mean concentrations of vitreal MCP-1, IL-6, IL-8, and VEGF were significantly higher in patients with PDR and PVR (P<0.01). There were significantly high correlations among the concentrations of MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-8, whereas the correlation of VEGF with the other 3 cytokines was lower. Among the 14 patients who required reoperation, the mean vitreal concentrations of MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-8 were higher than that at the time of the initial vitrectomy (P<0.01). At the time of the reoperation vitrectomy, the mean vitreous level of MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-8 in eyes with fibrous proliferation was higher than in those without fibrous proliferation (P<0.05). In contrast, VEGF in eyes with neovascular glaucoma (NVG) or anterior hyaloidal fibrovascular proliferation (AHFVP) was higher than in the eyes without NVG and AHFVP (P<0.05). Conclusion The elevated levels of MCP-1, IL-6, and IL-8 may be the cause of the postoperative fibrous proliferation. In contrast, VEGF may be the cause of the neovascularization after unsuccessful vitrectomy in the eyes of PDR patients.
Repeated thalamic haemorrhage: case report and review of the literature

Recurrence of thalamic haemorrhage has rarely been reported. A 70‐year‐old woman had recurrent thalamic haemorrhage five‐times during a period of 6 years. The first, second and fifth haemorrhages were located in the right thalamic region, and the third and fourth haemorrhages in the left thalamic region. Cranial computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed no abnormal lesion. After the first, second, and third haemorrhage with medical treatments, the patient recovered her functional ability or was at least capable of self‐care at home. However, after the fourth and fifth haemorrhage, with medical therapy the patient's prognosis was severe disability. In this case, systemic blood pressure was normalized without antihypertensive agents after the first attack. However, there was an episode of sudden hypertension at each attack. Although the mechanism of rebleeding has not been clarified, rebleeding might be associated with changes of cerebral circulation following the previous haemorrhage.
Mothers’ health-related quality of life: Its relationship with children’s health-related quality of life and behavior in low-income families

Objective To examine the association between mothers’ health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and their children’s HRQOL and behavior in low-income families. Methods Mothers of 278 children aged 6–12 years from low-income families were invited to complete the Child Health Questionnaire Parent Form 50 (CHQ-PF50) and the Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) for their children as well as the 12-item Short-Form Health Survey version 2 (SF-12v2) and the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2). Multiple linear regressions with mother–child pairs as the unit of analysis were performed to examine the associations between maternal and child variables with adjustment of mother- and child-level confounders. Results Compared with the general population, low-income mothers had a lower mean SF-12v2 mental component summary score and their children also had lower mean CHQ-PF50 physical and psychosocial summary scores and SDQ total difficulties score. Children of mothers with SF-12v2 scores below the population mean of 50 had significantly worse CHQ-PF50 scores and higher SDQ total difficulties scores. The mother’s PHQ-2 depression status had no association with the child’s CHQ-PF50 scores. Conclusion Our findings suggest that more attention should be paid to reducing the negative impact of health problems on mothers’ daily roles in childcare in low-income families.
Increasing the Use of Skilled Health Personnel Where Traditional Birth Attendants Were Providers of Childbirth Care: A Systematic Review

Background Improved access to skilled health personnel for childbirth is a priority strategy to improve maternal health. This study investigates interventions to achieve this where traditional birth attendants were providers of childbirth care and asks what has been done and what has worked? Methods and Findings We systematically reviewed published and unpublished literature, searching 26 databases and contacting experts to find relevant studies. We included references from all time periods and locations. 132 items from 41 countries met our inclusion criteria and are included in an inventory; six were intervention evaluations of high or moderate quality which we further analysed. Four studies report on interventions to deploy midwives closer to communities: two studies in Indonesia reported an increase in use of skilled health personnel; another Indonesian study showed increased uptake of caesarean sections as midwives per population increased; one study in Bangladesh reported decreased risk of maternal death. Two studies report on interventions to address financial barriers: one in Bangladesh reported an increase in use of skilled health personnel where financial barriers for users were addressed and incentives were given to skilled care providers; another in Peru reported that use of emergency obstetric care increased by subsidies for preventive and maternity care, but not by improved quality of care. Conclusions The interventions had positive outcomes for relevant maternal health indicators. However, three of the studies evaluate the village midwife programme in Indonesia, which limits the generalizability of conclusions. Most studies report on a main intervention, despite other activities, such as community mobilization or partnerships with traditional birth attendants. Many authors note that multiple factors including distance, transport, family preferences/support also need to be addressed. Case studies of interventions in the inventory illustrate how different countries attempted to address these complexities. Few high quality studies that measure effectiveness of interventions exist.
Keratinocyte growth factor induces matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression and correlates with venous invasion in pancreatic cancer

Keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), also known as fibroblast growth factor-7, and KGF receptor (KGFR) play important roles in the growth of epithelial cells and are overexpressed in a variety of malignant epithelial tumors, including pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We previously reported that co-expression of KGF and KGFR in PDAC is associated with venous invasion, enhanced vascular endothelial growth factor A expression and poor prognosis. Matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) is known to participate in the degradation of type IV collagen, which is a primary component of extracellular matrices in the vascular basement membrane. In the present study, we examined the expression and roles of KGF, KGFR and MMP-9 in human PDAC cell lines and tissues. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis demonstrated the expression of MMP-9 mRNA in all eight PDAC cell lines. KGF, KGFR and MMP-9 were, respectively, expressed in 27 (43%), 23 (37%) and 35 (56%) of 63 patients. Each expression of KGF, KGFR or MMP-9 correlated positively with venous invasion. Furthermore, expression of KGF or MMP-9 correlated positively with liver metastasis. KGF-positive cases exhibited shorter survival than KGF-negative cases, while KGFR and MMP-9 expression were unrelated to prognosis. Administration of recombinant human KGF increased MMP-9 expression in PDAC cells, while transient transfection with short hairpin RNAs targeting KGF transcripts reduced MMP-9 expression in PDAC cells. Moreover, recombinant human KGF significantly enhanced migration and invasion of PDAC cells. These findings suggest that KGF and KGFR promote venous invasion via MMP-9 in PDAC, and closely correlate with liver metastasis. The KGF/KGFR pathway may be a critical therapeutic target for PDAC metastasis.
Malignant potential of adenomas of colon and rectum.

Among approximately 1,700 polyps of the large bowel and rectum removed surgically there were 61 adenomatous polyps containing carcinoma and 81 villous adenomas with and without carcinoma. In the adenomatous polyps the incidence of both atypia and invasive carcinoma rose sharply with increase in size. No lymphnode metastases were found associated with the 61 adenomatous polyps containing carcinoma, and in no instance did the lesion cause the death of the patient. However, 45 (55%) of the 81 villous adenomas contained invasive carcinoma; in 13 of the 45, the carcinoma had involved the regional nodes and in 10 instances had killed the patient. In a separate study of 666 clinically frank carcinomas, areas of adenomatous polyp were found in 6. The authors urge that all polypoid lesions be removed for definitive histologic study unless the operative risk is prohibitive.
Association of mean platelet volume with risk of venous thromboembolism and mortality in patients with cancer

Summary Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a frequent complication in cancer patients. Mean platelet volume (MPV) has been associated with arterial and venous thrombosis in patients without cancer. We analysed MPV in cancer patients and investigated the association of MPV with risk of VTE and mortality. MPV was routinely determined in the Vienna Cancer and Thrombosis Study, a prospective, observational cohort study of patients with newly diagnosed or progressive cancer after remission. Study endpoints were occurrence of symptomatic VTE or death during a maximum follow-up of two years. Out of 1,544 included patients, 114 (7.4%) developed VTE and 573 (37.1%) died during a median observation time of 576 days. High MPV ≥75th percentile of the study population; ≥10.8 fL) was associated with decreased risk of VTE compared to MPV below the 75th percentile (HR [95% CI]: 0.59 [0.37–0.95], p=0.031). In multivariable analysis, including age, sex, cancer groups, newly diagnosed vs recurrent disease, platelet count and soluble P-selectin, this association remained statistically significant (0.65 [0.37–0.98], p=0.041). Mortality of patients with MPV (≥75th percentile was significantly decreased compared to those with lower MPV (0.72 [0.59–0.88], p=0.001). Two-year probability of VTE and overall survival was 5.5% and 64.7% in patients with high MPV compared to 9% and 55.7% in those with lower MPV. In conclusion, high MPV is associated with decreased VTE risk and improved survival in cancer patients. This finding is contrary to results observed in patients without cancer. Further studies are needed to confirm our results and elucidate underlying mechanisms. Previous presentations of this manuscript: Data from this study were presented in part at the Annual Spring Meeting of the Austrian Society for Haematology and Oncology (OeGHO) in Linz, Austria, and as an oral presentation at the XXIV. Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) 2013 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Complexity of K-Tree Structured Constraint Satisfaction Problems

Trees have played a key role in the study of constraint satisfaction problems because problems with tree structure can be solved efficiently. It is shown here that a family of generalized trees, k-trees, can offer increasing representational complexity for constraint satisfaction problems, while maintaining a bound on computational complexity linear in the number of variables and exponential in k. Additional results are obtained for larger classes of graphs known as partial k-trees. These methods may be helpful even when the original problem does not have k-tree or partial k-tree structure. Specific tradeoffs are suggested between representational power and computational complexity.
Image coding based on fractal approximation and vector quantization

We propose a coding algorithm for still images using fractal approximation and vector quantization (VQ). The conventional fractal coding algorithms indirectly used the gray patterns of an original image with contraction mapping, whereas the proposed fractal coding method employs a previously approximated image as a domain pool and uses its gray patterns. Thus, the proposed algorithm employs fractal approximation without the constraint of contraction mapping. To approximate an original image, we use an orthogonal polynomial transform and to encode the transform coefficients we employ VQ. Also, for variable block-size segmentation, we use the fractal dimension that represents the similarity of regions in a block and the roughness of the gray surface of a region. Computer simulations with several test images show that the proposed method shows better performance than the conventional fractal coding methods for encoding still pictures. <<ETX>>
Relationship of Tooth Size to Cusp Number and Groove Conformation of Occlusal Surface Patterns of Lower Molar Teeth

Lower molar occlusal surface pattern variation has always been assumed to be correlated with size, particularly the aspect concerning the number of cusps. Although it is not necessary to show a statistically significant relationship in every instance of comparison, such a consideration of size and pattern is helpful in clarifying and evaluating the general evolutionary trends occurring in the permanent lower molar teeth of modern hominid populations.
A multicentre, double-blind, randomized comparison of quetiapine (ICI 204,636, ‘Seroquel’) and haloperidol in schizophrenia

Background. Quetiapine (ICI 204,636, ‘Seroquel’) is a new atypical antipsychotic agent with a similar binding profile to the original atypical antipsychotic, clozapine. Its clinical efficacy has already been demonstrated at multiple fixed doses (150–750 mg/day) and has been suggested to be comparable with haloperidol (12 mg/day). Methods. This international, 6-week, multicentre, double-blind, randomized, parallel-group trial compared quetiapine with haloperidol (455 mg and 8 mg mean total daily doses, respectively) in 448 hospitalized patients with acute exacerbation of chronic or subchronic schizophrenia (DSM-III-R), in order to establish their equivalence in terms of efficacy, and the nature of their tolerability profiles, especially in terms of extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) and serum prolactin levels. Results. Both quetiapine and haloperidol produced a clear reduction in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) scores and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Severity of Illness and Global Improvement scores. At day 42, the PANSS total score was reduced by −18·7±1·63 in the quetiapine group, and −22·1±1·63 in the haloperidol group (P = 0·13, between-treatment). Quetiapine was better tolerated than haloperidol in terms of EPS as demonstrated by the significant differences in the Simpson Scale and Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale scores (P<0·05). Although patients in both groups had elevated serum prolactin concentrations at baseline, mean serum prolactin concentration decreased (by 16·5 μg/l) in quetiapine-treated patients, yet increased (by 5·9 μg/l) in patients treated with haloperidol. Conclusion. Quetiapine is an effective and well tolerated antipsychotic of comparable efficacy to haloperidol and lacks the latter compound's effect on prolactin and EPS.
Segmented min-min: a static mapping algorithm for meta-tasks on heterogeneous computing systems

The min-min algorithm is a simple algorithm. It runs fast and delivers good performance. However, the min-min algorithm schedules small tasks first, resulting in some load imbalance. We present an algorithm which improves the min-min algorithm by scheduling large tasks first. The new algorithm, segmented min-min, balances the load well and demonstrates even better performance in both makespan and running time.
Theoretical Analysis of Interferometer Wave Front Tilt and Fringe Radiant Flux on a Rectangular Photodetector

This paper is a theoretical analysis of mirror tilt in a Michelson interferometer and its effect on the radiant flux over the active area of a rectangular photodetector or image sensor pixel. It is relevant to sensor applications using homodyne interferometry where these opto-electronic devices are employed for partial fringe counting. Formulas are derived for radiant flux across the detector for variable location within the fringe pattern and with varying wave front angle. The results indicate that the flux is a damped sine function of the wave front angle, with a decay constant of the ratio of wavelength to detector width. The modulation amplitude of the dynamic fringe pattern reduces to zero at wave front angles that are an integer multiple of this ratio and the results show that the polarity of the radiant flux changes exclusively at these multiples. Varying tilt angle causes radiant flux oscillations under an envelope curve, the frequency of which is dependent on the location of the detector with the fringe pattern. It is also shown that a fringe count of zero can be obtained for specific photodetector locations and wave front angles where the combined effect of fringe contraction and fringe tilt can have equal and opposite effects. Fringe tilt as a result of a wave front angle of 0.05° can introduce a phase measurement difference of 16° between a photodetector/pixel located 20 mm and one located 100 mm from the optical origin.
CD 11 b ( + ) Ly 6 C ( + + ) Ly 6 G (-) cells show distinct function in mice with chronic inflammation or tumor

Background: S100A9 has been shown to be important for the function of so called Myeloid Derived Suppressor Cells (MDSC). Cells with a similar phenotype are also involved in pro-inflammatory processes, and we therefore wanted to investigate the gene expression and function of these cells in animals that were either subjected to chronic inflammation, or inoculated with tumors. Methods: CD11bLy6C and Ly6G cells were isolated from spleen, tumor tissue or inflammatory granulomas. S100A9, Arginase 1 and iNOS gene expression in the various CD11b cell populations was analyzed using Q-PCR. The suppressive activity of the CD11b cell populations from different donors was studied in co-culture experiments. Results: S100A9 was shown to be expressed mainly in splenic CD11bLy6CG cells both at the RNA and protein level. Arginase I and iNOS expression could be detected in both CD11bLy6CLy6G and CD11bLy6CG/CG derived from tumors or a site of chronic inflammation, but was very low in the same cell populations isolated from the spleen. CD11b cells isolated from mice with peritoneal chronic inflammation were able to stimulate T lymphocytes, while CD11b cells from mice with peritoneal tumors suppressed T cell growth. Conclusion: An identical CD11bLy6CG cell population appears to have the ability to adopt immune stimulatory or immune suppressive functions dependent on the presence of a local inflammatory or tumor microenvironment. Thus, there is a functional plasticity in the CD11bLy6CG cell population that cannot be distinguished with the current molecular markers.