Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Clinicopathological characteristics and prognosis of pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma aged ≥65 years

Objective The present study was designed to better characterize the clinicopathological features and prognosis in patients aged ≥65 years with pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC). Methods Eligible patients with pulmonary LCNEC were retrieved from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database between January 2004 and December 2013. The primary endpoints included cancer-specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). Results Data of 1,619 eligible patients with pulmonary LCNEC were collected. These patients were subsequently categorized into two groups: 890 patients in the older group (age ≥65 years), and 729 in the younger group (age <65 years). More patients were of white ethnicity, stage I, married, and with tumor size <5 cm in the older group in comparison to the younger group. However, there were a significantly lower proportion of patients undergoing surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy in the older group. The 5-year CSS rates of the younger group and older group were 23.94% and 17.94% (P = 0.00031), respectively, and the 5-year OS rates were 20.51% and 13.47% (P < 0.0001), respectively. Multivariate analyses indicated that older age (CSS: HR 1.20, 95% CI [1.07–1.36], P = 0.0024; OS: HR 1.26, 95% CI [1.12–1.41], P < 0.0001) was an independent risk factor for poor prognosis. The mortality risk of the elderly increased in almost every subgroup, especially in OS. Finally, significant predictors for better OS and CSS in patients over age 65 included tumor size <5 cm, lower stage, and receiving surgery, chemotherapy, or radiotherapy. Conclusion The prognosis of patients aged ≥65 years with pulmonary LCNEC was worse than that of younger patients. However, active and effective therapy could significantly improve the survival of older patients with pulmonary LCNEC.
EARTHQUAKE SOURCE PARAMETERS FOR CHILEAN EVENTS FOR USE IN THE NGA-SUBDUCTION PROJECT

The NGA-Subduction project is currently under development, focusing on analyzing the collected data for different regions affected by subduction-zone earthquakes around the world. As part of this effort, an earthquake-source database has been developed for events with ground motion recordings obtained in Chilean territory. Data from the South American subduction zone, and particularly from Chilean earthquakes, are critical for the success of this project, due to the availability of data from many large (M > 7.5) interface subduction events and the importance of significant regional path effects previously observed in Chile but not evident elsewhere. The source database contains information on seismic moment, moment magnitude, hypocenter location, nodal planes, and fine-fault geometric parameters. More than 40 different finite-fault models have been collected and evaluated, introducing a uniform and consistent procedure for fault trimming, where only the trimmed portion of the fault plane with significant slip is used for source-to-site distance calculations. For events that lack published finite-fault models, uniform protocols are applied to assign the source parameters and a simulation-based representation of the finite-fault parameters is used for distance calculation. To support the use of these simulations for subduction-zone earthquakes, relationships for M-rupture area, M-aspect ratio, and hypocenter locations in the down-dip and along-strike directions are developed. 1Ph.D. Student, Dept. Civil Eng., University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095 (vcontreras@ucla.edu) 2Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of California (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095 3Senior Seismologist, Pacific Engineering and Analysis, El Cerrito, CA 94530 4Assistant Professor, Dept. of Civil Eng., Khalifa University of Science Technology and Research, Abu Dhabi, UA 5Principal Engineer, Wood plc, Oakland, CA 94612 Contreras V. , Stewart J.P., Darragh R. , Kishida T. , Youngs R.R. Earthquake Source Parameters for Chilean Events for use in NGA-Subduction Project. Proceedings of the 11th National Conference in Earthquake Engineering, Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA. 2018. Earthquake Source Parameters for Chilean Events for use in the NGA-Subduction Project V. Contreras, J.P. Stewart, T. Kishida, R.B. Darragh, and R.R. Youngs
An Identity Based Key Management Technique for Secure Routing in MANET

: Providing a reliable and secure communication in Mobile Adhoc Network (MANET) is a highly challenging and demanding task in recent days. For this purpose, different techniques are developed in the traditional works, but it lacks with the drawbacks of difficult key revocation, reduced security, increased delay, and bandwidth usage. To solve these problems, this paper motives to develop a routing technique, namely, Identity Based Key Management (IBKM) for providing a secure communication in MANET. Here, the group polynomial equation is generated at first for generating a unique ID to each node in the network. Then, the neighboring nodes of the source and destination are identified and registered in the network table. After that, the routing path between these nodes are validated in order to enable a reliable communication. The node pairing is performed and the public key is distributed to the nodes that are successfully paired. Sequentially, the signature of the packet is generated and verified, if both generated and received signature are same, the packet is received; otherwise, the misbehavior node is identified and blocked. To evaluate the results of the proposed mechanism, various performance measures such as malicious node detection probability, average message overhead, Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), end-to-end delay, throughput, and routing overhead are used. Here, the results are evaluated with respect to various malicious node ratio, speed (m/s), and simulation time (s). Also, the existing Dynamic Source Routing (DSR) and Cooperative Bait Detection Scheme (CBDS) are compared with the proposed mechanism for proving the efficiency. From the results, it is analyzed that the PDR and throughput of the network is increased with the reduced message overhead and delay. Also, the proposed mechanism uses the identity based key management technique, which efficiently detects the malicious nodes in the network.
Deliberative inclusion of minorities: patterns of reciprocity among linguistic groups in Switzerland

We present a model of deliberative inclusion, focusing on reciprocity in the interaction between structural minorities/disadvantaged groups and majorities/privileged groups. Our model, however, comes with a ‘friendly amendment’: we have put the ‘burden of reciprocity’ mainly on majorities and privileged groups. It is mainly their obligation to seriously listen and respond to the demands and arguments of minorities and disadvantaged groups and show a willingness to respect and accommodate these interests. Empirically, we apply our model to the interaction of linguistic groups in the Swiss parliament. We find a highly egalitarian, sometimes even minority-favoring mode of interaction between the German-speaking majority and linguistic minorities. The German-speaking majority seems to be willing to take the ‘burden of reciprocity’ when linguistic minorities’ vital interests are concerned. Conversely, linguistic minorities are slightly more self-referential and adversarial under such conditions.
Radical radiotherapy treatment (EBRT + HDR-ICRT) of carcinoma of the uterine cervix: outcome in patients treated at a rural center in India.

AIM To report the outcome of carcinoma of the uterine cervix patients treated radically by external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and high-dose-rate (HDR) intracavitary radiotherapy (ICRT). MATERIALS AND METHODS Between January 1997 to December 2001, a total of 550 newly diagnosed cases of carcinoma of the uterine cervix were reported in the department. All cases were staged according to the International Federation of Gynecologists and Oncologists (FIGO) staging system, but for analytical convenience, the staging was limited to stages I, II, III, and IV. Out of the 550 cases, 214 completed radical radiotherapy (EBRT + HDR-ICRT) and were retrospectively analyzed for presence of local residual disease, local recurrence, distant metastases, radiation reactions, and disease-free survival. RESULTS There were 7 (3.27%), 88 (41.1%), 101 (47.1%), and 18 (8.4%) patients in stage I, II, III, and IV, respectively. The median follow-up time for all patients was 43 months (range: 3-93 months) and for patients who were disease free till the last follow-up it was 59 months (range: 24-93 months). The overall treatment time (OTT) ranged from 52 to 73 days (median 61 days). The 5-year disease-free mean survival rate was 58%, 44%, 33%, and 15%, with 95% confidence interval of 48 to 68, 37 to 51, 24 to 35, and 6 to 24 for stages I, II, III, and IV, respectively. There were 62 (28.97%) cases with local residual disease, 35 (16.3%) developed local recurrence/distant metastases, 17 (7.9%) developed distant metastases, and 9 (4.2%) had local recurrence as well. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION The overall outcome was poor in advanced stage disease, but might be improved by increasing the total dose, decreasing overall duration of treatment, and by adding chemotherapy in patients with disease limited to the pelvis.
Infant Mortality in Scotland

Much work has been done on it and the literature is very great, yet we are still completely ignorant of how or why it acts, and there is even considerable doubt exactly where it exerts its influence. Opium has come down to us from the ancients, and we still do not know how or why morphine affects some cells more than others, why there is that special selection: only the general statement that it affects metabolism of those particular cells. As to the "physical rules governing such contact" modern textbooks deal with that subject and many individual papers are concerned with it. The best-known and commonest example is the function of the red blood cells, where it is recognized that physical properties play an important part. It is known that Donnan's equilibrium theory holds, but the details are obscure. Much the same is true of botanical physiology. Again, speaking generally, the blood may carry the same materials to adjacent tissue cells, yet each cell may select different substances from it. But this general statement is not true if one goes into details, for the " blood " does not usually supply tissue cells directly-never in the skin-only in certain cases. More usually most cells of the body rely on serum extravasated and make their selection from that serum. All cutaneous cells do so, but we do not know how or why the cells make such selection. The most probable explanation is a physical one. We do know that the extravasation is due to physical conditions-pH, etc.-but I have heard no explanation of how or why it acts. The truth is that most of us (and I am one) are so ignorant of mathematics that we tend to take refuge in denying and decrying the whole thing. It is the easiest way out. I anm one of the antiquated group who are trying to creep out of that pit of stagnation; and it is just that effort which makes me realize how much I miss and to what extent medicine, even the practice of it, fails or lacks simply because we funk the dx/dy business, de Moivres's theorem, and so on. And the interesting thing is that there does not seem to be any actual necessity to know about dx/dy, the square root of minus one, the squiggles used, so long as medicine accepts the deductions made by the physicists. To me the real interest in Dr. Mumford's letter is that it indicates how strong is the repugnance to getting out of a groove, even among dermatologists. If only it were realized what a great field is open in this direction, and also how useful it might be in practice, we should soon get more knowledge on the "physical rules -governing contact. " There is no necessity for any physical chemist "to arise," for there are many at work, though there are too few of them, but very few practitioners who dare to consider them, far less. to attempt to apply them in practice. -1 am, etc.,
Thermodynamic Studies on Interaction of Glucose and Alkali Metal Ions with DNA Duplex

Three different forms of duplex nucleic acid (A, B or Z DNA) have been described in living system. The most common form of DNA at neutral pH and physiological ionic concentrations is right-handed double helical structure is B-form. The B-form DNA duplex structure is involved in the regulation of fundamental cellular functions, such as transcription or its regulation. Many physical factors affect the B-form DNA duplex structure like water, metal ions, pH, temperature etc. Nucleic acid hydration is crucially important for the conformation and utility of DNA. The double helix can take number of conformations with differing hydration. The predominant B-form DNA has a wide and deep major groove and a narrow and deep minor groove and is highly hydrated form. Previous report suggests that short dodecamer is surrounded by a spine of hydration in its minor groove [1]. High resolution data of the same oligonucleotides showed that water hexagons layers forms the spine of hydration [2]. On the other hand, metabolic activities of living organisms depend on metal ions to carry out many vital processes of cell functioning. Hydration free energy of the cation, its valency and the coordination geometry regulates the specific binding of a particular cation with nucleic acids by electrostatic interactions. In aqueous solutions, cations are surrounded by at least three hydration layers and X-ray diffraction showed that metal ions interact with DNA in their first solvation shell of water molecules by charge-dipole interaction, and therefore fully hydrated ions are treated as excellent hydrogen bond donors [3]. It is very well documented that the monovalent ions (K + , Na +) and divalent ions (Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ ) binds to the negatively charged phosphate groups on the DNA backbone and hence reducing the repulsion between the phosphodiester backbones and stabilizes the DNA structure and its conformation [4]. Structural studies using solution NMR, X-ray Crystallography and Molecular dynamic (MD) simulations studies reported that various monovalent Abstract Here we report the thermodynamic analysis of glucose interaction on conformational transitions on DNA duplex with different base compositions and lengths by using Circular Dichroism, UV thermal melting and native gel electrophoresis. CD results revealed that three duplexes Duplex 1 ―D1‖ and Duplex 2 ―D2‖ folded into B-form while Duplex 3 ―D3‖ folded into mixed A and B like forms in the presence of different cations and glucose. We monitor the interaction between DNA duplex and glucose over a range of temperatures. Thermal melting data revealed that these duplexes are more stable without glucose under all cationic (Na + , K + , Na + + Mg ++ and K + + Mg ++ ) conditions tested and calculated the enthalpy ―∆H‖, entropy ―∆S‖ and free energy ―∆G‖. Moreover, these duplexes are marginally destabilized at high concentration of glucose. In this study, glucose was considered as an essential model for understanding interactions between interfacial water molecules at hydrophilic surfaces of DNA duplexes.
A High Fill-Factor, Large Scan-Angle, Two-Axis Analog Micromirror Array Driven by Leverage Mechanism

We report on a high fill-factor, large scan-angle, two-axis analog micromirror array for 1xN wavelength-selective switches. The two-axis MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems) mirror is driven by electrostatic vertical comb-drive actuators through vertical motion amplifying levers. The maximum mechanical scan angle is +/6.7 degree at 75V for both axes. The resonant frequency is 5.9 kHz before metallization. A linear fill factor of 98% is achieved for the one-dimensional micromirror array.
Mosquitoes of the Jaú National Park and their potential importance in Brazilian Amazonia

Abstract. An entomological inventory was conducted between 1993 and 1996 to obtain information on the diversity of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae) in the Jaú National Park, State of Amazonas, Brazil. A total of 10 159 adult (91%) and immature mosquito specimens, representing 130 taxa (species + morphospecies) in 16 genera, was collected. A species list for the family Culicidae is presented, including 30 new records for the State of Amazonas. The collecting localities were restricted to the alluvial subregion of the Open Tropical Forest found in the park. Most of the specimens (71%) were collected in forest habitats and the rest in areas of second growth and peridomicile. The majority of immature specimens (46%) were collected in bodies of water along the edges of rivers, flooded forests, lakes and streams. Among the various collection methods used, the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and Shannon traps together were responsible for capturing 60% of the adults. More than 90% of the material collected belongs to the genera Culex (65%), Psorophora (19%), Wyeomyia (4%), and Anopheles (3%), which together represent 70% of the identified taxa. The genus Culex presented the largest number of species (45). The species Culex (Melanoconion) vaxus, Cx. (Mel.) pedroi, Psorophora amazonica, Cx. (Mel.) portesi and Cx. (Mel.) theobaldi together (< 4% of the recorded species) represent more than 63% of the material collected and identified to the species level. The most abundant species was Cx. (Mel.) vaxus, representing 17% of the material identified to species. The possible epidemiological and ecological implications of the species hereby recorded in the Jaú National Park are presented and discussed.
Use of ICDAS Combined with Quantitative Light-Induced Fluorescence as a Caries Detection Method

The purpose of this study was to combine a standardized visually based system, the International Caries Detection and Assessment System (ICDAS), with a sensitive fluorescence-based system, quantitative light-induced fluorescence (QLF), to determine the ability to monitor caries lesion progression. This combination (QLF-I) has the potential to increase the sensitivity of the visual method without compromising specificity. A total of 460 children were enrolled and examined at baseline, 8 months and 12 months by ICDAS and QLF by a single examiner. The examiner repeatability for both methods was comparable, varying between weighted kappa of 0.70 and 0.79. The DMFT score was 6.0 (SD 5.8) at baseline and 6.4 (SD 6.3) at 12 months, and both methods were able to follow the increase in incidence. The QLF-I scored more surfaces at the early ICDAS scores (1 and 2) and score 4. Not all lesions progressed at the same rate, differing by score at baseline and surface type.
An energy-efficient virtual machine scheduler based on CPU share-reclaiming policy

With the development of cloud computing, resource virtualisation technology has been widely applied for deploying large-scale IT-infrastructures in many high-performance data centres. However, using virtualisation technology will also lead to some extra performance costs, especially when the cloud system is in the presence of mixed-workloads. In this paper, we present a novel virtual machine scheduling approach, namely share-reclaiming policy, in which the scheduler allows virtual machines to obtain extra CPU shares if they were frequently blocked by I/O interrupted recently. By this policy, short-term I/O-intensive tasks will have more chances of being scheduled so as to compensate their performance losses caused by I/O operations. Extensive experiments are conducted by using various benchmarks; the results show that the proposed policy outperforms existing scheduling algorithm in the terms of energy-efficiency, especially when the virtualised system is in the presence of intensive mixed-workloads.
Understanding of the halalan tayyiban concept towards purchase intention of halal cosmetics among young urban muslim consumers

This study investigates understanding of the halalan tayyiban concept and its influence on purchase intention of halal cosmetics. The data was collected through a self administered questionnaire survey with purposive sampling on a population of 560 Indonesian young urban Muslim consumers. A structural equation modelling technique was used to test the proposed model. Understanding of the halalan tayyiban concept was found to be predictor of attitude towards halal cosmetics.Attitude was found to influence purchase intention of halal cosmetics. This study is one of the first attempts to empirically test the value-attitude-behavior model in the context of halal cosmetics purchasing behavior. The study provides useful information for marketers as well as policy makers.
Experimental Investigation of Viscous Liquid Jet Transitions

Spray and atomization have been extensively studied in the past due to their broad applications in agriculture, pharmaceutical synthesis, ink jet printing, fuel spray in engines and so on. Fundamental knowledge of atomization process is important in predicting and achieving desired spray characteristics. However, the process is still not well understood due to the underlying phenomena, including turbulent mixing, primary breakup, secondary breakup, and droplet coalescence, etc. To better understand the physics of liquid jet breakup, experimental investigation were carried out in laminar, transient, and turbulent flow regimes to gain a complete understanding towards the breakup behavior. Experiments were conducted using a 4.6 mm diameter cylindrical nozzle with 20 cP glycerin-water mixture and flow rates ranging from 1 gpm to 10 gpm. Experimental investigation covered jet Reynolds numbers between 900 and 9000 and liquid Weber numbers between 1200 and 120,000. Jet transitions are studied via imaging of the jet up to 45 nozzle diameters. As a result, we are able to observe surface dynamics during Rayleigh breakup and satellite droplet formation. In the atomization regime, breakup behavior and droplet size are compared under different flow rates. It is found that droplet size decreases as flow rate increases in atomization regime. Droplets were generated by both ligament breakup and sheet breakup in the atomization regime. The droplet sizes generated by the two mechanisms differ by an order magnitude. It was also interesting to note that the jet transition Weber numbers from first wind induced to second wind induced breakup and second wind induced breakup to atomization shifted to higher values for the viscous jets.
Phytochemical Studies on Origanum acutidens Esen

Origanum species (Lamiaceae) are commenly used as herbal tea, flavoring agents and medicinal plants all over the world. Rosmarinic acid, lithospermic acid, vicenin-2, betulalbuside A, 8-OH-linaloyl glycoside, ursolic acid, oleanolic acid were isolated from the aerial parts of Origanum acutidens in this study. Their structures were identified by means of spectroscopic methods (1Dand 2D-NMR).