Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dodgson's Rule and Young's Rule

Dodgson’s and Young’s election systems, dating from 1876 and 1977, are beautiful, historically resonant election systems. Surprisingly, both of these systems turn out to have highly intractable winner-determination problems: The winner problems of these systems are complete for parallel access to NP. This chapter discusses both the complexity of these winner-determination problems and approaches—through heuristic algorithms, fixed-parameter algorithms, and approximation algorithms—to circumventing that complexity.
Recovery from schizophrenia and the recovery model

Purpose of review The recovery model refers to subjective experiences of optimism, empowerment and interpersonal support, and to a focus on collaborative treatment approaches, finding productive roles for user/consumers, peer support and reducing stigma. The model is influencing service development around the world. This review will assess whether optimism about outcome from serious mental illness and other tenets of the recovery model are borne out by recent research. Recent findings Remission of symptoms has been precisely defined, but the definition of ‘recovery’ is a more diffuse concept that includes such factors as being productive and functioning independently. Recent research and a large, earlier body of data suggest that optimism about outcome from schizophrenia is justified. A substantial proportion of people with the illness will recover completely and many more will regain good social functioning. Outcome is better for people in the developing world. Mortality for people with schizophrenia is increasing but is lower in the developing world. Working appears to help people recover from schizophrenia, and recent advances in vocational rehabilitation have been shown to be effective in countries with differing economies and labor markets. A growing body of research supports the concept that empowerment is an important component of the recovery process. Summary Key tenets of the recovery model – optimism about recovery from schizophrenia, the importance of access to employment and the value of empowerment of user/consumers in the recovery process – are supported by the scientific research. Attempts to reduce the internalized stigma of mental illness should enhance the recovery process.
Is the magnetization transfer ratio a marker for myelin in multiple sclerosis?

To investigate the correlation between water content (WC) and magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) in normal and multiple sclerosis (MS) brain. The MTR has been proposed as a marker for myelin in central nervous system tissue. However, changes in WC due to inflammation and edema may also affect the MTR.
Future Directions in Tensor-Based Computation and Modeling

Evrim Acar Robert J. Harrison Frank Olken Orly Alter Manal Helal Larsson Omberg Brett Bader Anthony Kennedy Haesun Park Zhaojun Bai Dongmin Kim Robert Plemmons Gregory Beylkin Tamara Kolda Stefan Ragnarsson Lieven DeLathauwer Julien Langou Sri Priya Ponnapalli Inderjit Dhillon Lek-Heng Lim J. Ram Ramanujam Chris Ding Michael Mahoney James Raynolds Lars Elden Carla Martin Phillip Regalia Petros Drineas Martin Mohlenkamp P. Saday Sadayappan Christos Faloutsos Jason Morton Berkant Savas Shmuel Friedland Lenore Mullin Charles Van Loan
The Pathogenesis of Ossification of the Posterior Longitudinal Ligament

Ossification of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is a multi-factorial disease involving an ectopic bone formation of spinal ligaments. It affects 0.8-3.0% aging Asian and 0.1-1.7% aging European Caucasian. The ossified ligament compresses nerve roots in the spinal cord and causes serious neurological problems such as myelopathy and radiculopathy. Research in understanding pathogenesis of OPLL over the past several decades have revealed many genetic and non-genetic factors contributing to the development and progress of OPLL. The characterizations of aberrant signaling of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK), and the pathological phenotypes of OPLL-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have provided new insights on the molecular mechanisms underlying OPLL. This paper reviews the recent progress in understanding the pathophysiology of OPLL and proposes future research directions on OPLL.
Embedded image coding based on context classification and quadtree ordering in wavelet packet domain

This paper presents an embedded wavelet packet image coding algorithm which is based on context classification and quadtree ordering (CCAQO). To match up well with the quadtree-based embedded coder, a new cost function for the best basis selection is adopted in discrete wavelet packet transform (DWPT). In addition, combined with the structure of the best wavelet packet basis, a complete quadtree representation of wavelet packet coefficients is established to explore the ordering procedure of embedded image coding. Since subband correlation is mainly captured by significance coding, our focus is on significance coding. The significance probability of wavelet coefficient is estimated by convoluting a 9x9 FIR filter matrix kernel with the significance states of neighboring coefficients, and then a context classifier based on Lloyd- Max algorithm is used to categorize the wavelet coefficients with the same or similar significance probability into several contexts. The significance state of wavelet coefficient with respect to a given threshold is encoded using adaptive arithmetic coder based on the classified context. Due to the optimal context classifier and the flexible quadtree representation ability of wavelet packet coefficients, the proposed CCAQO embedded image coder offers improvement in subjective and objective quality for texture-rich images and experimental results show that it offers coding performance superior to or comparable to the state-of-the-art image coders.
In vitro trichomonacidal activity and preliminary in silico chemometric studies of 5-nitroindazolin-3-one and 3-alkoxy-5-nitroindazole derivatives

SUMMARY A selection of 1,2-disubstituted 5-nitroindazolin-3-ones (1–19) and 3-alkoxy-5-nitroindazoles substituted at positions 1 (20–24) or 2 (25–39) from our in-house compound library were screened in vitro against the most common curable sexually transmitted pathogen, Trichomonas vaginalis. A total of 41% of the studied molecules (16/39) achieved a significant activity of more than 85% growth inhibition at the highest concentration assayed (100 µg mL−1). Among these compounds, 3-alkoxy-5-nitroindazole derivatives 23, 24, 25 and 27 inhibited parasite growth by more than 50% at 10 µg mL−1. In addition, the first two compounds (23, 24) still showed remarkable activity at the lowest dose tested (1 µg mL−1), inhibiting parasite growth by nearly 40%. Their specific activity towards the parasite was corroborated by the determination of their non-specific cytotoxicity against mammalian cells. The four mentioned compounds exhibited non-cytotoxic profiles at all of the concentrations assayed, showing a fair antiparasitic selectivity index (SI > 7·5). In silico studies were performed to predict pharmacokinetic properties, toxicity and drug-score using Molinspiration and OSIRIS computational tools. The current in vitro results supported by the virtual screening suggest 2-substituted and, especially, 1-substituted 3-alkoxy-5-nitroindazoles as promising starting scaffolds for further development of novel chemical compounds with the main aim of promoting highly selective trichomonacidal lead-like drugs with adequate pharmacokinetic and toxicological profiles.
Two-tone set-bells of Marquis Yǐ

A collection of papers on the set-bells of marquis Yi to commemorate the 10th anniversary of their discovery. The unearthing of these 5th-century bells in 1978 marked one of the most important archeological discoveries in the history of science and technology in Chinese civilization. These bells are two-tone set-bells with textural inscriptions and were cast in chromatical scale over a range of 5.5 octaves. This collection of papers represents the interdisciplinary research initiated by the discovery of the bells over the past 10 years.
LKB1 and AMP‐activated protein kinase control of mTOR signalling and growth

The AMP‐activated serine/threonine protein kinase (AMPK) is a sensor of cellular energy status found in all eukaryotes that is activated under conditions of low intracellular ATP following stresses such as nutrient deprivation or hypoxia. In the past 5 years, work from a large number of laboratories has revealed that one of the major downstream signalling pathways regulated by AMPK is the mammalian target‐of‐rapamycin [mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway]. Interestingly, like AMPK, the mTOR serine/threonine kinase plays key roles not only in growth control and cell proliferation but also in metabolism. Recent work has revealed that across eukaryotes mTOR orthologues are found in two biochemically distinct complexes and only one of those complexes (mTORC1 in mammals) is acutely sensitive to rapamycin and regulated by nutrients and AMPK. Many details of the molecular mechanism by which AMPK inhibits mTORC1 signalling have also been decoded in the past 5 years. AMPK directly phosphorylates at least two proteins to induce rapid suppression of mTORC1 activity, the TSC2 tumour suppressor and the critical mTORC1 binding subunit raptor. Here we explore the molecular connections between AMPK and mTOR signalling pathways and examine the physiological processes in which AMPK regulation of mTOR is critical for growth or metabolic control. The functional conservation of AMPK and TOR in all eukaryotes, and the sequence conservation around the AMPK phosphorylation sites in raptor across all eukaryotes examined suggest that this represents a fundamental cell growth module connecting nutrient status to the cell growth machinery. These findings have broad implications for the control of cell growth by nutrients in a number of cellular and organismal contexts.
Development of a Medical School Admissions Interview Phase 2: Predictive Validity of Cognitive and Non-Cognitive Attributes

Abstract Background: Interest in improving medical school admissions processes led to the development of a structured admissions interview to eliminate potential bias and provide valid information for selection. This article reports on the degree to which this interview, along with other admissions variables, predicted later student performance during medical school. Methods: All applicants considered for admission participated in the new interview. Interview scores and regular admissions data were compiled. Measures of performance in cognitive (e.g., written test scores) and non-cognitive (e.g., ratings of listening skills) domains were gathered during participants’ enrollment in medical school and correlated with measures gathered during the admissions process. Results: Cognitive predictors predicted later performance in cognitive domains but did not predict non-cognitive performance. Both written and interview-based measures of non-cognitive abilities predicted performance in non-cognitive domains. Both cognitive and non-cognitive predictors predicted grades in clinical rotations, which presumably reflect a mixture of cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. Conclusions: Our results do not support the predictive validity of our interview-based measure above other cognitive and non-cognitive admissions variables more easily gathered. However, in some domains, interview-based variables did incrementally predict medical school performance.
[Comparative study between magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography in the diagnosis of the pancreatic and biliary obstruction].

BACKGROUND The endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography were methods used for diagnosis of the diseases in the biliary and pancreatic ducts. AIM Compare the diagnostic concordance among, analyzing sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy. PATIENTS/METHODS There were 41 patients in the studied group, divided in two groups: I--without biliary or pancreatic tract obstruction, and II--with obstruction. Group II was further divided in A--obstruction due to lithiasis, and B--due to other causes. RESULTS Concordance between the two methods was found in 67% in group I and 82% in group II. Sensitivity of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography was 94% and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography was 89%. Specificity of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography was 100% and magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography was 67%. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography positive predictive value was 93%, the negative predictive value was 50% and the accuracy was 85%. CONCLUSION Both methods showed the same sensitivity.
Highly efficient enzymatic synthesis of an ascorbyl unstaturated fatty acid ester with ecofriendly biomass‐derived 2‐methyltetrahydrofuran as cosolvent

Enzymatic synthesis of ascorbyl undecylenate, an unsaturated fatty acid ester of ascorbic acid, was reported with biomass‐derived 2‐methyltetrahydrofuran (MeTHF) as the cosolvent. Of the immobilized lipases tested, Candida antarctica lipase B (CAL‐B) showed the highest activity for enzymatic synthesis of ascorbyl undecylenate. Effect of reaction media on the enzymatic reaction was studied. The cosolvent mixture, t‐butanol‐MeTHF (1:4, v/v) proved to be the optimal medium, in which not only ascorbic acid had moderate solubility, but also CAL‐B showed a high activity, thus addressing the major problem of the solvent conflict for dissolving substrate and keeping satisfactory enzyme activity. In addition, the enzyme was much more stable in MeTHF and t‐butanol‐MeTHF (1:4) than in previously widely used organic solvents, t‐butanol, 2‐methyl‐2‐butanol, and acetone. The much higher initial reaction rate in this cosolvent mixture may be rationalized by the much lower apparent activation energy of this enzymatic reaction (26.6 vs. 38.1–39.1 kJ/mol) and higher enzyme catalytic efficiency (Vmax/Km, 8.4 vs. 1.3–1.4 h−1). Ascorbyl undecylenate was obtained with the yields of 84–89% and 6‐regioselectivity of >99% in t‐butanol‐MeTHF (1:4) at supersaturated substrate concentrations (60 and 100 mM) after 5–8 h. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol. Prog. , 30:1005–1011, 2014
Gambogic amide, a selective TrkA agonist, does not improve outcomes from traumatic brain injury in mice

ABSTRACT Objectives: There is evidence that treatment with nerve growth factor (NGF) may reduce neuroinflammation and apoptosis after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). NGF is thought to exert its effects via binding to either TrkA or p75 neurotrophin receptors. This study aimed to investigate the effects of a selective TrkA agonist, gambogic amide (GA), on TBI pathology and outcomes in mice following lateral fluid percussion injury. Methods: Male C57BL/6 mice were given either a TBI or sham injury, and then received subcutaneous injections of either 2 mg/kg of GA or vehicle at 1, 24, and 48 h post-injury. Following behavioural studies, mice were euthanized at 72 h post-injury for analysis of neuroinflammatory, apoptotic, and neurite outgrowth markers. Results: Behavioural testing revealed that GA did not mitigate motor deficits after TBI. TBI caused an increase in cortical and hippocampal expression of several markers of neuroinflammation and apoptosis compared to sham groups. GA treatment did not attenuate these increases in expression, possibly contributed to by our finding of TrkA receptor down-regulation post-TBI. Conclusions: These findings suggest that GA treatment may not be suitable for attenuating TBI pathology and improving outcomes.
Navigation of News Reading on Mobile Devices : Leveraging Social Networks

We present a way to rethink how to maximize the reading time and minimize the navigation time to content of interest (specific hops reached through intermediary steps, where the user pauses to read content) on a mobile device, using information gathered from social networks. Between commutes and meetings, mobile users spend 1-5 minutes navigating online news sources. However, due to the constraints of time and screen real estate, they often spend a considerable time navigating to content, thus maintaining habitual and regular usage patterns. The system presented in this paper advocates that by recommending mobile users content of interest viewed by people in their social networks, not only will they be able to quickly identify content that responds to their interests, but they will also expand their typical usage patterns. ACM Classification: H.5. 4 [Hypertext, Hypermedia]: Navigation; H.5. 2 [User Interfaces]: Interaction styles, User-centered design; H.5. 1 [Multimedia Information Systems]: Evaluation/Methodology
Development of path loss model for 802.11n in large conference rooms

In this paper, a path loss (PL) model for 802.11n in large conference rooms is determined, based on PL measurements. The PL can be described accurately by a one-slope model with one standard deviation. PL exponents varying from 1.2 to 1.7 are found. Based on this PL model, the effect of frequency (2.4 vs 5 GHz), configuration (SISO vs MIMO (spatial diversity)), bandwidth (20 vs 40 MHz) and transmit power on number of access points, total power consumption and possible (physical) throughputs is investigated. According to the determined PL model, a higher range (by tuning the transmit power) requires less access points, as well as a lower total power consumption, due to a PL exponent lower than 2.
CMOS biochips for hypothesis-driven DNA analysis

High-throughput and highly multiplexed DNA detection platforms require complex and generally bulky instrumentation to perform sensing, signal conditioning and quantification. Integrated CMOS biosensor arrays (CMOS biochips) have the ability to miniaturize such platforms into portable and low cost point-of-care (PoC) devices, that can be instrumental for the adoption of genomics test in molecular diagnostics (MDx). This paper focuses on CMOS biochips for detecting specific DNA sequences in a sample (i.e., hypothesis-driven analysis) employing DNA hybridization arrays. It examines various aspects of CMOS biochips technology including detection modalities, pixel architectures, ease-of-integration into VLSI processes, and limits of performance.
Neural Networks as Function Primitives : Software / Hardware Support with X-FILES / DANA

Neural networks and machine learning provide utility for analyzing, inferring, learning, and predicting information from data. Substantial interest in this area has created a wide proliferation of different software and hardware implementations. As neural network usage assumedly becomes a dominant component in future applications, this wide proliferation of software and hardware begins to become a problem. With this work, we treat neural network computation as a functional primitive and explore the consequences of this approach for hardware design and software management.
Regime-Switching Univariate Diffusion Models of the Short-Term Interest Rate

This article proposes a general regime-switching univariate diffusion model to describe the dynamics of the short-term interest rate. The maximum likelihood estimates are obtained using the weekly series of U.S. three-month treasury bill rates. The estimation results reveal that there are strong evidences for the existence of high and low volatility regimes, for the time varying transition probability of the regime variable, and for the high persistence of both regimes. In both regimes, the volatility, but not the drift, is estimated accurately and plays a key role in explaining the dynamics of the interest rates. High persistence's and different volatilities of two regimes can well explain volatility clustering observed in the data. Based on the inferred probability of the process being in each regime, most of the high volatility periods correspond to some historic events. The likelihood-based test shows that misspecification can result in misleading outcomes particularly regarding the volatility and transition probabilities of the regime index.
Hyperconcentrated platelets stored in additive solution: aspects on productivity and in vitro quality

Background and Objectives New platelet (PLT) additive solutions (PASs) allow a plasma carryover of < 30% in PLT concentrates. This implicates the need to collect apheresis PLT concentrates at very high PLT concentrations: so‐called dry PLTs (DPs). We used the TRIMA, with software version 4 (TRIMA V4), to collect such DPs and investigated the in vitro quality of these PLTs when stored in the new modified PAS‐III (PAS‐IIIM).
Resolving Superimposed Action Potentials for EMG Signal Decomposition

A practical method for resolving superimposed action potentials detected in the real electromyography (EMG) signal is describes in this paper. This algorithm is based on the peel off approach, which uses waveform peak alignment when the template waveforms have been subtracted from the superimposed action potential. Moreover, the algorithm also uses the firing pattern information to select the template waveform. Both the alignment procedure and the firing pattern information can be used to reduce the search space. The algorithm is tested using real EMG signals. After peeling off the templates from the superimposed action potentials the mean amplitude square summation of the remaining waveform was reduced to 4.96 from 45.32, which is the mean amplitude square summation of the original superimposed action potentials.
Central Role of the Threonine Residue within the p+1 Loop of Receptor Tyrosine Kinase in STAT3 Constitutive Phosphorylation in Metastatic Cancer Cells

ABSTRACT The receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) RET, MET, and RON all carry the Metp+1loop→Thr point mutation (i.e., 2B mutation), leading to the formation of tumors with high metastatic potential. Utilizing a novel antibody array, we identified constitutive phosphorylation of STAT3 in cells expressing the 2B mutation but not wild-type RET. MET or RON with the 2B mutation also constitutively phosphorylated STAT3. Members of the EPH, the only group of wild-type RTK that carry Thrp+1loop residue, are often expressed unexpectedly in different types of cancers. Ectopic expression of wild-type but not Thrp+1loop→Met substituted EPH family members constitutively phosphorylated STAT3. In both RTKMetp+1loop with 2B mutation and wild-type EPH members the Thrp+1loop residue is required for constitutive kinase autophosphorylation and STAT3 recruitment. In multiple endocrine neoplasia 2B (MEN-2B) patients expressing RETM918T, nuclear enrichment of STAT3 and elevated expression of CXCR4 was detected in metastatic thyroid C-cell carcinoma in the liver. In breast adenocarcinoma cell lines expressing multiple EPH members, STAT3 constitutively bound to the promoters of MUC1, MUC4, and MUC5B genes. Inhibiting STAT3 expression resulted in reduced expression of these metastasis-related genes and inhibited mobility. These findings provide insight into Thrp+1loop residue in RTK autophosphorylation and constitutive activation of STAT3 in metastatic cancer cells.