Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prostate Cancer Therapy Using Docetaxel and Formononetin Combination: Hyaluronic Acid and Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Targeted Peptide Dual Ligands Modified Binary Nanoparticles to Facilitate the in vivo Anti-Tumor Activity

Objective To evaluate the prostate cancer therapy efficiency of the synergistic combination docetaxel (DTX) and formononetin (FMN) in one nano-sized drug delivery system. Hyaluronic acid (HA) and epidermal growth factor receptor-targeted peptide (GE11) dual ligands were applied to modify the nano-systems. Methods In this study, GE11-modified nanoparticles (GE-NPs) were applied for the loading of DTX, and HA-decorated NPs (HA-NPs) were used to encapsulate FMN. HA and GE11 dual ligand-modified binary nanoparticles (HAGE-DTX/FMN-NPs) were constructed by the self-assembling of GE-NPs and HA-NPs. The anti-PCa ability of the system was evaluated in vitro on PC-3 human prostate carcinoma cells (PC3 cells) and in vivo on PC3 tumor-bearing mice in comparison with single NPs and free drugs formulations. Results HA/GE-DTX/FMN-NPs were nano-sized particles with smaller particles coating on the inner core and achieved a size of 189.5 nm. HA/GE-DTX/FMN-NPs showed a cellular uptake efficiency of 59.6%, and a more efficient inhibition effect on PC3 cells compared with single ligand-modified NPs and free drugs. HA/GE-DTX/FMN-NPs showed significantly higher tumor inhibition efficiency than their single drug-loaded counterparts and free drugs. Conclusion HA/GE-DTX/FMN-NPs have a synergistic anti-tumor effect and also could the reduce unexpected side effects during the cancer therapy. It could be used as a promising anti-PCa system.
Real Effects of Imperfect Bank-Firm Matching

Using granular bank-firm level credit data, we show that the characteristics of bank-firm matches affect firms’ access to credit and real outcomes during crises. We identify a set of potential matches in pre-crisis years, and we use them to predict match formation in crisis times. We generate a measure of “imperfect matches" given by the difference between realized and predicted matches. In crisis times, imperfect matches deteriorate firm outcomes. The effects are economically important. A one standard deviation worsening in the index is associated with a drop in firms’ employment, tangible assets, and survival by 0.9%, 2.7%, and 4.2%, respectively. JEL: G21, G30, E22, E51
Sturm Sequences and Modified Subresultant Polynomial Remainder Sequences

In 1971 using pseudo-divisions - that is, by working in Z[x] - Brown and Traub computed Euclid’s polynomial remainder sequences (prs’s) and (proper) subresultant prs’s using sylvester1, the most widely known form of Sylvester’s matrix, whose determinant defines the resultant of two polynomials. In this paper we use, for the first time in the literature, the Pell-Gordon Theorem of 1917, and sylvester2, a little known form of Sylvester’s matrix of 1853 to initially compute Sturm sequences in Z[x] without pseudodivisions - that is, by working in Q[x]. We then extend our work in Q[x] and, despite the fact that the absolute value of the determinant of sylvester2 equals the absolute value of the resultant, we construct modified subresultant prs’s, which may differ from the proper ones only in sign.
Multiobjective Load Balancing for Multiband Downlink Cellular Networks: A Meta- Reinforcement Learning Approach

Load balancing has become a key technique to handle the increasing traffic demand and improve the user experience. It evenly distributes the traffic across network resources by offloading users from overloaded base stations or channels to less crowded ones. Load balancing is a multi-objective optimization problem involving the automatic adjustment of several parameters to simultaneously maximize multiple network performance indicators. However, the existing methods mostly rely on single-objective approaches which lead to sub-optimal solutions. In this paper, we introduce the first multi-objective reinforcement learning (MORL) framework for load balancing. Specifically, we propose a solution based on meta-reinforcement learning (meta-RL) to learn a general policy capable of quickly adapting to new trade-offs between the objectives. We further enhance the generalization of our proposed solution using policy distillation techniques. To showcase the effectiveness of our framework, experiments are conducted based on real-world traffic scenarios. Our results show that our load balancing framework can (i) significantly outperform the existing rule-based and single-objective solutions, (ii) compute better Pareto front approximations compared to MORL baselines, and (iii) quickly adapt to new objective trade-offs.
The changing ethno-racial profile of ‘very walkable’ urban neighbourhoods in the US (2010–2020): Are minorities under-represented?

Neighbourhood walkability has increasingly been viewed as an amenity that may confer substantial health, social and economic benefits. As walkable neighbourhoods become increasingly desirable, there is concern that disadvantaged groups – particularly lower-income and minority households – may be displaced or excluded from these spaces. This investigation assesses whether minorities, and Black residents in particular, are increasingly under-represented in urban neighbourhoods with high walkability by examining demographic changes between 2010 and 2020 across approximately 43,000 urban census tracts. The results suggest a negative association between Black and ‘other’ non-White residents and neighbourhood walkability when controlling for confounding factors. Blacks were also the only major ethno-racial group to decline in absolute number within the nation’s most walkable (i.e. Walk Score®≥90) urban neighbourhoods between 2010 and 2020. Implications for social equity and justice are discussed.
Service Deployment on Shared Virtual Network Functions with Flow Partition

Network operators can operate services in a flexible way with virtual network functions thanks to the network function virtualization technology. Flow partition allows aggregated traffic to be split into multiple parts, which increases the flexibility. This paper proposes a service deployment model with flow partition to minimize the total deployment cost with meeting service time delay requirements. A virtual network function of a service is allowed to have several instances, each of which hosts a part of flows and can be shared among different services, to reduce the initial and proportional cost. We provide the mathematical formulation for the proposed model. A heuristic algorithm is introduced to solve the original problem in practical time by decomposing it into several steps; each step handles a convex problem. The numerical results reveal that the proposed model saves the total deployment cost compared to the conventional one. It improves the maximum admissible traffic scale by 23% in average in our examined cases.
Comparing the key contributory factors for driver injury severities in opposite-direction collision accidents

Abstract Opposite-direction collision (ODC) accidents are more harmful than other collision types and often cause severe casualties and property losses. Based on the ordered discrete choice model, this study selects the data of 19623 ODCs from January 2010 to June 2018 in Victoria, Australia. The ordered logit model, the random-parameters ordered logit model and the heteroscedastic ordered logit (HOL) model are used to quantify the driver injury severities in ODC accidents. The study shows that HOL model can exploit more potential injury severity information of drivers involved from the original ODC accident data properly. The model results showed that some variables (e.g. elderly drivers, female, high speed limits of more than 50 km/h, number of injuries) increases the possibility of severe and fatal injury outcomes in ODC accidents significantly. In contrast, some variables, including give way sign control, non-darkness conditions (i.e. daytime, dusk/dawn, night lighting), slippery pavement, non-frontal collision types, number of individuals involved, and types of vehicles involved (small truck, bus/passenger car, large trucks/heavy vehicles, other), significantly decrease the serious injury and fatality probabilities in such accidents. Based on the model's findings, countermeasures are recommended, such as ongoing safe driving education, enforcing stricter speed limit rules, and setting up warning signs and lighting facilities on dangerous locations and segments.
Further refining and validation of RF absorber approximation equations for anechoic chamber predictions

Indoor antenna ranges must have walls, floor and ceiling treated with RF absorber. The normal incidence performance of the absorber is usually provided by the manufacturers of the materials; however, the bi-static or off angle performance must also be known. In a recent paper [1], a polynomial approximation was introduced that gave a prediction of the reflected energy from pyramidal absorber. In this paper, the approximations are used to predict the quiet zone (QZ) performance of several anechoic chambers. These predictions are compared with measurements performed per the free space VSWR method of four different chambers. Among the chambers analyzed are a 7.3m by 3.65m by 3.65m range with a 24-inch absorber, operating from 1 to 6 GHz with a 91 cm spherical QZ and a 5.18 m path length. Another chamber is 7 m long by 3.3 m wide with a 2.4 m height. 12-inch absorber is used to treat the internal surfaces and the QZ changes from 63 cm to 20 cm from 2 GHz to 18 GHz. The path length is 5.18m. While performing the comparison, changes are made to the calculations to further improve the predictions of the computations. A chamber previously analyzed is computed again after the changes to see whether there are improvements in the prediction. The results show that the polynomial approximations can be used to give a reasonably accurate and safe prediction of the QZ performance of anechoic chambers and improve some of the previous comparisons especially at lower frequencies where the ray tracing is not that accurate.
Video Game Warm-Up May Suggest Improvement in Ophthalmic Surgical Simulator Performance in Surgically Naïve Students

Purpose Long-term video game play and its effects on the skills used in surgical simulators have been previously studied, but little information is available about short-term video game warm-ups and subsequent ophthalmic surgical simulation performance. In this study, we hypothesize that a video game warm-up will improve performance on the Eyesi Ophthalmic Surgical Simulator. Methods Twenty medical students with no prior surgical simulation experience were recruited for the study. Information regarding prior video game experience was gathered, and half of the participants were then randomly assigned to play a video game session prior to Eyesi performance. All subjects completed three sets of Eyesi modules, and the scores and time to completion were recorded. Bivariate analysis including Fisher’s Exact test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test were used for statistical analysis. Results The warm-up group scored higher in Navigation, Bimanual, and Forceps modules (33.6, 39.7, 7.2, respectively) compared to non-warm-up group (27.3, 27.3, 3.6, respectively). In addition, average times (sec) were lower (310.5, 117.4, 229.2, respectively) compared to non-warm-up group (321.9, 163.3, 235.8, respectively). It was also observed that significantly more participants in the warm-up group had reported a history of spending >15 hours per week playing video games compared to the non-warm-up group (80% vs 20%, p=0.0402). Conclusion In our pilot study, there appears to be a positive trend between video game warm-up and Eyesi simulation performance; however, no statistically significant difference was observed due to lower power. This trend can be explained by a greater collective video game experience within the warm-up group, mechanical factors (increased flexibility and grip strength after playing video games) and feeling more relaxed after the video game warm-up. Larger follow-up studies are needed to further investigate the relationship between short-term video game use on ophthalmic surgical simulation performance.
Comparing National Trends in Hispanic and White College Student Six-Year Graduation Rates Using IPEDS Data

Six-year college graduation rates for Hispanic and White students from 17 cohorts were analyzed using data from the U.S. Department of Education’s IPED System. Results from regression analyses confirmed statistically significant positive linear trends for Hispanic and White students and statistically significant differences between the two regression lines, with the Hispanic rate of increase almost double that for White students. Adverse impact was found in 9/17 cohorts.
Diurnal Variability in EMIRS Daytime Observations of Water Ice Clouds During Mars Aphelion‐Season

Diurnal analyses of water ice cloud optical depths retrieved from thermal infrared spectra by the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer showed changing cloud abundance throughout the Martian day. Observations began with the start of the Emirates Mars Mission science phase near the beginning of aphelion‐season in Mars Year 36 and included the prominent aphelion cloud belt (ACB) and orographic clouds in the vicinity of volcanoes. A midday minimum with higher morning and afternoon optical depths was typical for the ACB, though with considerable spatial variability in this diurnal pattern. Clouds near volcanoes reached a minimum before local noon and tended to increase in abundance throughout the afternoon. Comparisons against the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique global circulation model showed analogous spatial patterns in the diurnal signal, which suggested thermal tides and topographic effects to be the predominant drivers of ACB variability, while more localized circulations affected volcano clouds.
The total interval number of a graph

An interval representation (or simply representation) R of a graph G is a collection of finite sets $\{R(\nu):\nu \in V(G)\}$ of closed bounded intervals so that $u \leftrightarrow \nu$ if and only if there exist $\theta\sb{u} \in R(u), \theta\sb{\nu} \in R(\nu)$ with $\theta\sb{u} \cap \theta\sb{\nu} \not= \emptyset$. The size of a representation is the number of intervals in the entire collection. The total interval number of G is the size of the smallest representation of G and is denoted I(G). This thesis studies I by proving best possible upper bounds for several classes of graphs. For some classes, the bounds are in terms of n, the number of vertices and for some classes, the bounds are in terms of m, the number of edges. The main result is that for planar graphs, $I(G) \leq 2n(G) - 3$.
Navigating the Space between Policy and Practice: Toward a Typology of Collaborators in a Federal Land Management Agency

Abstract Navigating the space between policy and on-the-ground natural resource management presents unique challenges. We interviewed 22 U.S. Bureau of Land Management Field Office Managers to understand their perceptions toward, and applications of, collaboration with public and private stakeholders. Interviews were transcribed and open-coded using qualitative data analysis software. Then, each interview was represented visually using the MaxQDA MaxMaps feature. We deductively coded each visual model and created a typology based on a mix of salient traits exhibited by each group. Differences emerged in each group’s approach to teaching and learning; communication style; attitude toward collaboration; attention to relational and substantive outcomes; and the ability to create space within the agency mission to achieve mutually beneficial goals. Findings can help agencies navigate the challenges associated with aligning agency directives with on-the-ground realities in different contexts when collaborators exhibit different traits.
A Comparison of CP-OFDM, PCC-OFDM and UFMC for 5G Uplink Communications

Polynomial-cancellation-coded orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (PCC-OFDM) is a form of OFDM that has waveforms which are very well localized in both the time and frequency domains and so it is ideally suited for use in the 5G network. This paper analyzes the performance of PCC-OFDM in the uplink of a multiuser system using orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) and compares it with conventional cyclic prefix OFDM (CP-OFDM), and universal filtered multicarrier (UFMC). PCC-OFDM is shown to be very much less sensitive to time and frequency offsets than either CP-OFDM or UFMC. For a given constellation size, PCC-OFDM in additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) requires 3 dB lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for a given bit-error-rate, and the SNR advantage of PCC-OFDM increases rapidly when there are timing and/or frequency offsets. For PCC-OFDM no frequency guard-band is required between different OFDMA users. PCC-OFDM is completely compatible with CP-OFDM and adds negligible complexity and latency, because it uses a simple mapping of data onto pairs of subcarriers at the transmitter, and a simple weighting-and-adding of pairs of subcarriers at the receiver. The weighting-and-adding step, which has been omitted in some of the literature, is shown to contribute substantially to the SNR advantage of PCC-OFDM. A disadvantage of PCC-OFDM (without overlapping) is the potential reduction in spectral efficiency because subcarriers are modulated in pairs, but this reduction is more than regained because no guard band is required and because, for a given channel, larger constellations can be used.
Vitamin D and Male Reproduction: Updated Evidence Based on Literature Review

The purpose of this study was to clarify the vitamin D (VD) effect on male infertility. Our research was conducted using the following electronic databases: MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, Scopus, ClinicalTrials.gov, and Cochrane Library. Selection criteria included all published randomized controlled trials and non-randomized studies, focusing on vitamin D and male reproductive function. The results showed that the effects of VD on male reproduction has been investigated in three different topics: the molecular mechanism underlying VD effects on semen quality (SQ), the relationship between VD levels and SQ, and the effect of VD supplementation on SQ. Results supported the hypothesis of a relevant interrelation between concentrations of male VD and semen parameters, with particular reference to sperm motility; on the contrary, evidence on the effect of VD on male sex steroid hormone levels was inconclusive. The results of this review hold up the thesis that VD plays a role in male reproduction. Most of the data highlighted a positive effect on semen quality, particularly in sperm motility, both in fertile and infertile men. Additional dedicated studies are required to elucidate the still controversial aspects of this topic.
CORRIGENDUM: Shape inversion from TM and TE real data by controlled evolution of level sets

The retrieval of the cross-sectional contour of a homogeneous, multiply connected cylindrical obstacle located in free space is performed via controlled evolution of a level set from experimental data in either the transverse magnetic (TM) or transverse electric (TE) polarization case as is described in the introductory paper of the special section. Theoretical and algorithmic details on the solution method are found in Ramananjaona et al (2001 Inverse Problems 17 1087–111) for the buried object configuration—the free-space configuration is a straightforward simplification—and only key elements are recalled here. Focus is on the display and discussion of shape identification results for the two dielectric circular cylinders (TM data), the rectangularly shaped metal cylinder (TM and TE data), and the U-shaped metal cylinder (TM data). In addition to the fact that TE data are often seen as more of a challenge that TM data, those cases appear to be the most demanding ones in the microwave data base in terms of geometry (the U-shaped one) or in view of the inversion algorithm itself (developed for penetrable objects, the metal case is in principle off limits) whilst the two cylinders illustrate how multiply connected, dielectric objects are retrieved.
Impact of Passband Shift in Optical Wireless Communication Systems based on Wavelength Division

In this paper we investigate the impact of the passband shift (PS) phenomenon on optical wireless communication (OWC) systems based on wavelength division (WD). We first introduce the associated challenges, then we discuss the mathematical framework needed to evaluate the performance of systems based on WD when the impact of the PS phenomenon is taken into account. We introduce the concept of spectral overlap (SO) and discuss its role in the design of WD solutions. Results show that this design phase has to take the SO into account, and that its careful balance with the channel gain is essential when multiple colours are used for parallel communication in OWC.
Overtree Misting for Bloom Delay in ‘Golden Delicious’ Apple1

Spring overtree misting using greenhouse mist nozzles was tested for effects on bloom delay, incidence of disease, European red mite populations, fruit size, maturity, fruit russeting and tree survival of ‘Golden Delicious’ apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) on Mailing 9 rootstock. Bloom delay of 9 and 8 days was observed in misted trees in 1975 and 1976, respectively, Apple scab was controlled with standard fungicide spray programs, but fireblight was severe in 1975 on misted trees. European red mite (Panonychus ulmi Koch.) egg hatch was delayed on misted trees but post treatment populations were not affected. Phytotoxicity occurred on calyx and foliar tissue in misted trees in 1975. Fruit set and yield were reduced in misted trees in both years. Fruit size in misted treatments in 1975 was reduced through late July, but was comparable at harvest. In 1976, misted fruit size was reduced. Fruit color, soluble solids and firmness tests indicated maturity was delayed by mist. Fruit russeting in spring misted treatments was reduced. Substantial tree losses occurred in misted treatments in 1975.