Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distributed Quantile Regression Over Sensor Networks

As one of the essential statistical tools, quantile regression has been applied to a variety of application areas. Compared with mean regression, which depicts only the relationship between the mean of a response variable and its covariates, quantile regression is able to provide a more complete description of the relationships between the response variable and its covariates by estimating a series of quantiles instead of the mean only. In addition, quantile regression is robust to outliers and does not require any distributional assumption. In many practical applications, the data used for quantile regression can be collected by wireless sensor networks. However, to the best of our knowledge, the existing methods for quantile regression are all developed in the centralized framework, which are not preferred in wireless sensor networks due to heavy computation and communication burdens and some privacy issues. In this paper, we propose a distributed quantile regression algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, each node estimates the global parameter vector of a linear regression model over a wireless sensor network through both the computation based on its local data and the cooperation with its neighbors. Considering that numerous natural and artificial systems and signals are sparse, we also propose a $l_1$ -distributed quantile regression ($l_1$ -dQR) algorithm, which exploits the sparsity, to improve the performance of the method in quantile regression based on sparse models. The convergence analyses of the proposed algorithms are studied, and simulations are also conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Chinese Herbal Medicine and Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most common malignancies worldwide, is highly resistant to standard therapy. It is unclear whether chemotherapy, arterial embolization, or arterial chemoembolization improve survival advantage enough to justify their high toxicity. Treatment with Chinese herbal medicine has been explored, combining herbs that stimulate host immune response with those that have cytotoxic activity against HCC cells. The authors sought to evaluate the effectiveness of Chinese herbal medicine combined with chemotherapy. The hypothesis was that Chinese herbal medicine added to chemotherapy for the treatment of HCC would improve survival and tumor response, when compared to treatment with chemotherapy alone.Methods:The authors searched the databases TCMLARS, PubMed, and EMBASE as well as the bibliographies of studies identified in the systematic search for potentially relevant titles or abstracts of studies in any language. They retained those that (1) treated only HCC patients, (2) were described as randomized or reported that there was no statistical difference between treatment groups, (3) gave patients either Chinese herbal medicine therapy combined with chemotherapy in the treatment group or chemotherapy alone in the control group, and (4) provided data on the number of enrolled subjects and responders and nonresponders for tumor response and survival. The authors used random effects meta-analysis to combine data.Results:Twenty-six studies representing 2079 patients met the inclusion criteria. Chinese herbal medicine combined with chemotherapy, compared to chemotherapy alone, improved survival at 12 months (relative risk [RR], 1.55; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.39-1.72;P< .000), 24 months (RR, 2.15; 95% CI, 1.75-2.64;P< .000), and 36 months (RR, 2.76; 95% CI, 1.95-3.91;P< .000). Tumor response increased (RR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.24-1.56;P< .000). Conclusions:These findings provide promising evidence that combining Chinese herbal medicine with chemotherapy may benefit patients with HCC. Because of the low quality of these studies, these findings should be confirmed through conducting high-quality, rigorously controlled trials.
Protease activation and the signal transduction pathway regulating motility in sperm from the water strider Aquarius remigis

Many motile processes are regulated such that movement occurs only upon activation of a signaling cascade. Sperm from a variety of species are initially quiescent and must be activated prior to beating. The signaling events leading to the activation and regulation of sperm motility are not well characterized. Mature seminal vesicle sperm from the water strider Aquarius remigis are immotile in vitro, but vigorous motility is activated by trypsin. Trypsin‐activated motility was blocked by pretreatment of the sperm with BAPTA‐AM to chelate intracellular Ca2+ and was partially rescued by subsequent addition of A23187 and Ca2+. Thapsigargin stimulated motility in the absence of trypsin, suggesting that intracellular Ca2+ stores are available. In addition, motility could be fully activated by the phosphatase inhibitor calyculin A, suggesting that the immotile state is maintained by an endogenous phosphatase and that kinase activity is required for motility. The MEK1/2 inhibitor U0126 significantly reduced trypsin activated motility, and MPM‐2, an antibody which recognizes proline‐directed phosphorylation by kinases such as MAPK, recognized components of the water strider sperm flagellum. Antibodies specific for the mouse protease activated receptor PAR2 recognized an antigen on the sperm flagellum. These results suggest that trypsin stimulates a Ca2+ and MAPK mediated signaling pathway and potentially implicate a PAR2‐like protein in regulating motility. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Competencias genéricas y formación profesional: un análisis desde la docencia universitaria

In this paper we shall approach the issue of humanistic education and social commitment of professionals. This constitutes, for the universities of today, a reason to be both occupied and preoccupied.For that purpose, we will discuss the overcoming of the simple approach on professional skills, by which those skills are considered isolated qualities, mainly of a cognitive nature, and determining of professional success in specific professional scenarios. This approach will be replaced by a new personal and dynamic approach that is focused not on the before mentioned isolated qualities, but on the performance of the professional that, as a person, builds, acts and incorporates motivational and cognitive qualities, in order to perform efficiently, no matter where he or she may have to perform.In this way, the attention is more and more focused on the student as a person that it is constructed during the professional learning process. This demands understanding the necessary connection between general and specific skills throughout the process of college professional training. In this sense, we will present reflections, by a group of teachers and college graduates from Bolivia and Cuba, on the importance of general skills and their performance in a college context
Draft Genome Sequence of Mycobacterium virginiense Strain GF75, Isolated from the Mud of a Swine Farm in Japan

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium virginiense, a newly described species of the Mycobacterium terrae complex, is a cause of tenosynovitis and osteomyelitis in the United States. Here, we report the 4,849,424-bp draft genome sequence of M. virginiense strain GF75, isolated from a mud sample taken from a Japanese swine farm.
Macroeconomic Effects of Simultaneous Implementation of Reforms after the Crisis

This paper evaluates the macroeconomic effects of simultaneously implementing fiscal consolidation and competition-friendly reforms in a country of the euro area by simulating a large-scale dynamic general equilibrium model. We find, first, that the joint implementation of reforms has additional expansionary effects on long-run economic activity. Increasing competition in the service sector favors a higher income tax base. Given the targeted public debt-to-GDP ratio, labor and capital income tax rates can be reduced more than with fiscal consolidation alone. Second, fiscal consolidation has non-negligible medium-run costs; however, they are reduced by joint implementation with the services reform. The results are robust to alternative assumptions that capture the impact of financial crisis on the financing conditions of households.
Assessment of Self-Adhesive Resin Composites: Nondestructive Imaging of Resin–Dentin Interfacial Adaptation and Shear Bond Strength

Abstract Shear bond strength (SBS) and the interfacial adaptation (IA) of self-adhesive resin (SAR) composites to dentin were evaluated. Two SARs [Vertise Flow (VTF) and Fusio Liquid Dentin (FLD)] were evaluated and compared with a conventional restorative system [adhesive: OptiBond FL and composite: Herculite Précis (OBF/HP)]. Human third molars were used for SBS testing and IA imaging (n=7) using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Flattened dentin disks were prepared and the composites were applied into molds (2.4 mm diameter) that were positioned on dentin. Samples were subjected to SBS testing and OCT analysis, which considered an increase in signal intensity at the bonded interface as evidence of internal gaps. SBS data were analyzed by one-way analysis of variance and Tukey’s test and IA data (% distribution of high brightness values) by Kruskal–Wallis and Dunn’s test (p≤0.05). No statistically significant difference in SBS was observed between VTF (13.9±3.6 MPa) and FLD (11.3±3.2 MPa), whereas OBF/HP showed higher average strength (27.3±6.1 MPa). However, there was a statistically significant difference in IA when VTF (33.3%) was compared with FLD (1.2%) and OBF/HP (1.5%). The conventional restorative system exhibited superior SBS performance compared with SARs. However, the IA of FLD to dentin had values that were not significantly different from OBF/HP.
Optimum Hurricane Futures Hedge in a Warming Environment: A Risk–Return Jump‐Diffusion Approach

type="main" xml:lang="en"> We develop an optimum risk–return hurricane hedge model in a doubly stochastic jump-diffusion economy. The model's concave risk–return trade-off dictates that a higher correlation between hurricane power and insurer's loss, a smaller variable hedging cost, and a larger market risk premium result in a less costly but more effective hedge. The resulting hedge ratio comprises of a positive diffusion, a positive jump, and a negative hedging cost component. Numerical results show that hedging hurricane jump risks is most crucial with jump volatility being the dominant factor, and the faster the warming the more pronounced the jump effects.
Sequence, expression, and function of the gene for the nonphosphorylating, NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase of Streptococcus mutans

We report the sequencing of a 2,019-bp region of the Streptococcus mutans NG5 genome which contains a 1,428-bp open reading frame (ORF) whose putative translation product had 50% identity to the amino acid sequences of the nonphosphorylating, NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenases (GAPN) from maize and pea. This ORF is located approximately 200 bp downstream of the ptsI gene coding for enzyme I of the phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase transport system. Mutant BCH150, in which the putative gapN gene had been inactivated, lacked GAPN activity that was present in the wild-type strain, thus positively identifying the ORF as the S. mutans gapN gene. Another strain of S. mutans, DC10, which contains an insertionally inactivated ptsI gene, still possessed GAPN activity, as did S. salivarius ATCC 25975, which contains an insertion element between the ptsI and gapN genes. Since the wild-type S. mutans NG5 lacks both glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and NADH:NADP oxidoreductase activities, the NADP-dependent glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase is important as a means of generating NADPH for biosynthetic reactions.
The maturation potential of NK cell clones toward autologous dendritic cells correlates with HMGB1 secretion

Interaction of NK cells with autologous immature dendritic cells (iDCs) results in reciprocal activation. We have previously reported that NK cells trigger iDC to polarize and secrete IL‐18; in turn, DC‐activated NK cells secrete the nuclear protein/proinflammatory cytokine high mobility group box protein 1 (HMGB1), which induces DC maturation and prevents DC from lysis. However, activated NK cells can also kill iDC. To investigate whether effector and maturative properties may coexist or segregate in different NK subsets, human NK cell clones were generated and analyzed for their effects on iDC. We found that the ability of different NK cell clones to induce iDC maturation is unlinked to their phenotypic and cytolytic features but correlates with the relocation of HMGB1 from nucleus to cytoplasm. “Maturative” NK cell clones secrete HMGB1 spontaneously. It is interesting that secretion is strongly enhanced by engagement of the surface molecule NKp30 but only slightly induced by triggering of the activating NK receptor CD16. However, culturing freshly isolated NK cells for 1 week with low doses of anti‐CD16 triggers the relocation of HMGB1 from nucleus to cytoplasm and its spontaneous secretion, resulting in a stronger maturation potential of the NK cells. Together, our data indicate that NK cells comprise functionally different subsets, endowed with different capacities to secrete HMGB1 and to induce maturation of autologous iDC. Nonetheless, maturation properties can be modulated by different stimuli. This suggests that depending on the environmental stimuli, NK/iDC interaction can lead to different outcomes, thus influencing immune response.
Implied Preference for Seismic Design Level and Earthquake Insurance

Seismic risk can be reduced by implementing newly developed seismic provisions in design codes. Furthermore, financial protection or enhanced utility and happiness for stakeholders could be gained through the purchase of earthquake insurance. If this is not so, there would be no market for such insurance. However, perceived benefit associated with insurance is not universally shared by stakeholders partly due to their diverse risk attitudes. This study investigates the implied seismic design preference with insurance options for decisionmakers of bounded rationality whose preferences could be adequately represented by the cumulative prospect theory (CPT). The investigation is focused on assessing the sensitivity of the implied seismic design preference with insurance options to model parameters of the CPT and to fair and unfair insurance arrangements. Numerical results suggest that human cognitive limitation and risk perception can affect the implied seismic design preference by the CPT significantly. The mandatory purchase of fair insurance will lead the implied seismic design preference to the optimum design level that is dictated by the minimum expected lifecycle cost rule. Unfair insurance decreases the expected gain as well as its associated variability, which is preferred by risk‐averse decisionmakers. The obtained results of the implied preference for the combination of the seismic design level and insurance option suggest that property owners, financial institutions, and municipalities can take advantage of affordable insurance to establish successful seismic risk management strategies.
Multilocus VNTR analysis of Mycobacterium ulcerans strains isolated in Côte d'Ivoire.

INTRODUCTION Buruli ulcer, caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans, is endemic in more than 30 countries worldwide, with Côte d'Ivoire being among the most affected countries. METHODOLOGY We used seven variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) markers and analyzed 114 samples from 11 Ivorian localities consisting of 33 bacterial strains and 81 clinical samples. Complete data sets at loci 1, 6, 9 and 33 were obtained for 18 of these strains (n = 15) and samples (n = 3) collected in each of the localities. RESULTS All the strains had allelic profile [3113], corresponding to the previously described Atlantic Africa genotype. CONCLUSION Sequencing of PCR products at all loci showed no variation in sequence or repeat number, underlining the genetic monomorphism of M. ulcerans in Côte d'Ivoire.
International variation in reported livebirth prevalence rates of Down syndrome, adjusted for maternal age

Reported livebirth prevalence of Down syndrome (DS) may be affected by the maternal age distribution of the population, completeness of ascertainment, accuracy of diagnosis, extent of selective prenatal termination of affected pregnancies, and as yet unidentified genetic and environmental factors. To search for evidence of the latter, we reviewed all published reports in which it was possible to adjust both for effects of maternal age and for selective termination (where relevant). We constructed indices that allowed direct comparisons of prevalence rates after standardising for maternal age. Reference rates were derived from studies previously identified as having near complete ascertainment. An index value significantly different from 1 may result from random fluctuations, as well as from variations in the factors listed above. We found 49 population groups for which an index could be calculated. Methodological descriptions suggested that low values could often be attributed to underascertainment. A possible exception concerned African-American groups, though even among these most acceptable studies were compatible with an index value of 1. As we have reported elsewhere, there was also a suggestive increase in rates among US residents of Mexican or Central American origin. Nevertheless, our results suggest that “real” variation between population groups reported to date probably amounts to no more than ±25%. However, reliable data in many human populations are lacking including, surprisingly, some jurisdictions with relatively advanced health care systems. We suggest that future reports of DS livebirth prevalence should routinely present data that allow calculation of an index standardised for maternal age and adjusted for elective prenatal terminations.
Inconsistency in Abnormal Brain Activity across Cohorts of ADHD-200 in Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Many papers have shown results from the multi-site dataset of resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a data-sharing project named ADHD-200. However, few studies have illustrated that to what extent the pooled findings were consistent across cohorts. The present study analyzed three voxel-wise whole-brain metrics, i.e., amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and degree centrality (DC) based on the pooled dataset as well as individual cohort of ADHD-200. In addition to the conventional frequency band of 0.01–0.08 Hz, sub-frequency bands of 0–0.01, 0.01–0.027, 0.027–0.073, 0.073–0.198, and 0.198–0.25 Hz, were assessed. While the pooled dataset showed abnormal activity in some brain regions, e.g., the bilateral sensorimotor cortices, bilateral cerebellum, and the bilateral lingual gyrus, these results were highly inconsistent across cohorts, even across the three cohorts from the same research center. The standardized effect size was rather small. These findings suggested a high heterogeneity of spontaneous brain activity in ADHD. Future studies based on multi-site large-sample dataset should be performed on pooled data and single cohort data, respectively and the effect size must be shown.
Accuracy of Resting Energy Expenditure Calculations in Unselected Overweight and Obese Patients

Aims: Measurements of resting energy expenditure (REE) were compared with the data of 14 equations to determine their accuracy. Methods: REE measurements by indirect calorimetry in 1,032 unselected overweight and obese men (n = 306) and women (n = 726) were compared with calculations by 14 different formulas. Results: The mean (± SD) values calculated with the Owen, Robertson and Reid and WHO-I equations were not significantly different from our measurement of 1,682 ± 441.9 kcal/24 h. The values obtained with the Livingston, Mifflin, Müller and Bernstein equations were significantly different but still within a range of ±100 kcal/24 h. For females, the best comparison was observed with the Müller equation which, however, differed substantially in males. For men, the Cunningham equation was best, but it gave the worst comparison in women. A good individual match was only obtained with the equation of Robertson and Reid in 34% of the men and with the Owen equation in 38% of the women. All other formulas were less accurate. Drug treatment for 55% of the subjects had no effect on the mismatch between calculated and measured data. Conclusion: Calculations of REE with most equations seem to be valid in a group analysis but they are not helpful for the estimation of an obese patient's individual energy expenditure.
South Africa as an Immigration State

A dramatic outburst of xenophobic violence in May 2008 spotlighted South Africa's place among countries of immigration. While a plethora of policy studies have examined many micro-level dynamics in these attacks, surprisingly little attention has been paid to underlying political causes. By applying the comparative ‘immigration state’ literature, I offer a counter-intuitive, two-part explanation for the complex and often contradictory mix of South African migration policies. First, the historical absence of a ‘rights-markets’ coalition allows for the persistence of exclusionary and protectionist legislation. Second, post-apartheid international commitments to ‘rights-markets’ norms have contributed to significant reforms, especially regarding refugees, but these pressures have not fully counter-balanced the predominant exclusionary and protectionist coalition. Democratization in the absence of a liberal ‘rights-markets’ coalition, I conclude, has reinforced xenophobia and will continue to produce only incremental policy reforms.
Measuring and Understanding Productivity in UK Market Services

Many productivity studies, if they cover the service sector, commonly enter a caveat that the data are uncertain or just look at manufacturing. This paper attempts to clarify what UK market-service-sector data are available, whether they should be treated as inaccurate, and what conceptual problems might make measuring service-sector output so hard. Our overall conclusion is that most problems surround financial intermediation and business services. In financial intermediation, national accounts conventions and adjustments make the output data very hard to interpret. In business services many of the output measures are employment based. Elsewhere, for example, retail and wholesale trade, transport, and hotels and restaurants, the main problem is, in practice, lack of collected deflators. Copyright 2006, Oxford University Press.
Diet and gastric cancer. A case‐control study in Belgium

A case‐control study was carried out in 2 Belgian provinces with contrasting gastric‐cancer mortality. The results were analyzed for the total study group and also separately in each of the 4 sub‐groups: men and women in each province. Only risks which appeared consistently in at least 3 of these 4 sub‐groups were retained in the discussion. Consumption of most vegetables, either cooked or raw, and of fresh fruit was found to be protective. There was an increased risk associated with meal and flour products, including white bread. Added sugar also increased the risk of gastric cancer. Consumption of lean meat was associated with a decreased risk. There was no clear effect for most sources of fat, but for oils with a high P/S ratio there was a decreased risk. Together with our earlier finding on salt, these results are to a large extent similar to those of other recent studies on gastric cancer.