Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Afatinib, an irreversible ErbB family blocker, with protracted temozolomide in recurrent glioblastoma: A case report

There are few effective treatments for recurrent glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). We present a patient with recurrent GBM who achieved a prolonged response to treatment with afatinib, an irreversible ErbB family blocker, plus temozolomide. A 58-year-old female patient was diagnosed with multifocal primary GBM. After surgical resection, first-line therapy comprised radiotherapy and temozolomide. Following disease progression after 3 temozolomide cycles, the patient entered a phase I/II clinical trial of afatinib (20–40 mg daily for 28 days) plus temozolomide (50 mg/m2 every 21/28 days). Next-generation sequencing analysis of the brain tumor specimen was performed. At the last assessment, 63 treatment cycles had been completed and the patient had survived for ~5 years since recurrence. Significant disease regression was observed after 5 cycles and was maintained during long-term follow-up. Adverse events were consistent with the known tolerability profile of afatinib and were managed by treatment interruption/dose reduction. The patient had several epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) aberrations, including gene amplification and EGFRvIII positivity. Three somatic mutations were identified, including an unprecedented extracellular-domain substitution (D247Y). The patient has survived ~6-fold longer than normally expected in patients with recurrent GBM. The complex EGFR genotype may underlie sustained response to afatinib plus temozolomide.
Gate Stability of GaN-Based HEMTs with P-Type Gate

This paper reports on an extensive investigation of the gate stability of GaN-based High Electron Mobility Transistors with p-type gate submitted to forward gate stress. Based on combined electrical and electroluminescence measurements, we demonstrate the following results: (i) the catastrophic breakdown voltage of the gate diode is higher than 11 V at room temperature; (ii) in a step-stress experiment, the devices show a stable behavior up to VGS = 10 V, and a catastrophic failure happened for higher voltages; (iii) failure consists in the creation of shunt paths under the gate, of which the position can be identified by electroluminescence (EL) measurements; (iv) the EL spectra emitted by the devices consists of a broad emission band, centered around 500–550 nm, related to the yellow-luminescence of GaN; and (v) when submitted to a constant voltage stress tests, the p-GaN gate can show a time-dependent failure, and the time to failure follows a Weibull distribution.
Automated brain mapping to evaluate the relationship between neurodegeneration, cerebral small vessel disease and structural covariance network disruption in Alzheimer's disease

Humans are currently living longer than any other period in history. However, gains in life expectancy do not portend a commensurate increase in quality of life years, particularly in persons with dementia. This is pertinent as the number of persons suffering from Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is expected to double to over a million within a generation in Canada. The pathological underpinnings of AD remain unclear but are thought to target large-scale brain systems. It is posited that disease of the brain’s small blood vessels may contribute to AD progression by disrupting structural brain networks that subserve complex cognitive routines. Therefore, the overarching aim of this dissertation is to determine the contribution of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) versus coexistent neurodegeneration to brain network disruption in AD. The first part of this thesis presents and validates a state-of-the-art automated hippocampal segmentation technique for magnetic resonance imaging to accurately measure neurodegenerative status in mixed disease samples. The second part of this thesis assesses the relationship between hippocampal volume, SVD burden and grey matter corticoand subneocortico-cortical network hub disruption. Finally, we extend these findings by introducing iii a method we call covariance-based connectomics to characterize how cortex-wide polysynaptic (grey-white matter) systems are disrupted in relation to SVD and neurodegenerative markers in AD versus age-matched controls. In summary, this thesis presents innovative human brain mapping techniques and the application of these methods to explore the relationship between SVD and AD in vivo. The SVD-signature of network disruption in AD is elucidated, and evidence is presented which supports the idea that SVD is differentially associated with neural network degradation in older adults and persons with mild AD.
Profiling of Serum and Urinary MicroRNAs in Children with Atopic Dermatitis

Background Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most prevalent chronic inflammatory skin disease in children characterized by dermatitis and pruritus. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been shown as great potential biomarkers for disease fingerprints to predict prognostics. We aimed to identify miRNA signature from serum and urine for the prognosis of AD patient by genome-wide miRNA profiling analysis. Methods Serum and urine from 30 children with AD and 28 healthy children were collected and their genome-wide miRNA expression profiles were measured by TaqMan-based array and confirmed by quantitative real-time PCR. Inflammatory factors in serum were detected by Antibody Array System. Results miR-203 and miR-483-5p were significantly up-regulated in serum of children with AD compared with healthy children. The level of miR-483-5p in serum was significantly associated with other atopic conditions, such as rhinitis and/or asthma. However, miR-203 was markedly decreased in urine of children with AD compared with healthy children. Down-regulated miR-203 in urine was significant associated with abnormal level of serum IgE in AD patients. 7 inflammatory factors in serum were altered in children with AD compared with healthy children. Up-regulated miR-203 in serum was significantly associated with increased sTNFRI and sTNFRII. Conclusions Up-regulated miR-483-5p in serum may be indicative of other atopic conditions in children with AD. Down-regulated miR-203 in urine may serve as a biomarker for the severity of inflammation in children with AD.
FIW – Working Paper Export Performance and Survival in Russia : Why some Regions grow fast and others don ’ t

In this paper, we investigate the relationship between export performance and economic growth in Russian regions. We propose a methodology for decomposition of export growth into intensive and extensive margins and distinguish between productand geographic extensive components within extensive margin. An empirical analysis suggests that higher growth rates in Russian regions are associated with higher intensive margin. We reveal significant differences in export survival of differentiated and homogeneous flows and find evidence of strong effects of distance and institutions on export survival. We argue that Russian regions would experience higher economic growth if they were able to improve their export performance at the intensive margin by providing lower transport costs to the business and by enhancing higher quality of institutions.
Pronoun Use as a Linguistic Representation of Agency and Communion in a Life-review Intervention for People With Mild Depression

The use of function words is considered a linguistic representation of agency and communion, and does as well reflect one’s mental health, e.g. depression and well-being. With respect to their linguistic representations however, contractions are found. First person singular pronouns and depression are negatively correlated, while agency, considered an important factor in the convalescence of depression, is positively associated with the use of first person singular pronouns. This study aims at investigating the syntactical representations of agency and communion, over the course of a narrative e-mail supported intervention, in relation to changes in depression and well-being. Textual data from e-mail conversations between participant and counsellor, and questionnaire data of the participants’ mental health are derived from the intervention ‘Op Verhaal Komen’. By the means of text-mining, using the parsing program GrETEL, the participants’ pronoun use is quantified. While mental health improved, also the use of first person singular pronouns significantly increased and the use of first person plural pronouns decreased. However, no relation between the use of pronouns and mental health, and no association between gender and syntax use could be found. This gives reason to pursue further investigation of pronoun use in the context of agency, communion and depression.
A TRAINABLE PEDESTRIAN DETECTION SYSTEM

In the near future, we can expect on-board automotive vision systems that inform or alert the driver about pedestrians, track surrounding vehicles, and read street signs. Object detection is fundamental to the success of this type of next-generation vision system. In this paper, w e present a trainable object detection system that automatically learns to detect objects of a certain class in unconstrained scenes. We apply our system to the task of pedestrian detection. Unlike previous approaches to pedestrian detection that rely heavily on hand-crafted models and motion information, our system learns the pedestrian model from examples and uses no motion cues. The system can easily be extended to include motion information. We review our previous system, describe a new system that exhibits significantly better performance, provide a comparison between using different combinations of feature sets with classifiers of varying complexity, and describe improvements that increase the system’s processing speed by two orders of magnitude.
Prospective membership and institutional change in transition countries

This paper quantifies the impact of incentives related to potential membership on institutional change as measured by the World Bank Governance Indicators (WBGI). Based on a panel of 25 transition countries for the period from 1996 to 2008 we show that pre-accession incentives provided by EU and NATO clearly matter for institutional development. In addition, path-dependency determined by cultural norms may be overcome by economic liberalization while foreign aid seems to hamper institutional development. JEL-Codes: F15, F20, F50, P20, P30, O19
A System for Finding Frequently Lost Objects in the Home

In this paper, we describe a system for finding frequently lost personal objects--such as wallets, cell phones, and sunglasses--in the home of the future. We are building a system to handle this task, and have prototyped and tested an interface for this system. In support of this task, we are using accurate indoor position sensing and spatialized audio.
Chemistry and clumpiness in planetary nebulae

We study the chemistry in the slow wind during the transition from asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star to protoplanetary nebula (PPN) and planetary nebula (PN). We show that there is a very rich chemistry of degradation products created by photoprocessing, driven by the gradually hardening radiation field of the central star. Most of these products are, however, photodissociated during the PPN phase if the wind is smooth. By contrast, if the wind is clumpy, possibly because of clumpiness in the AGB atmosphere, then many of these degradation products survive into the PN phase. Thus, chemistry may be used to infer the existence of clumpiness in the AGB phase. We identify potential molecular tracers, and we note that, in the case of clumpiness, large molecules may survive the transport from the stellar atmosphere to the interstellar medium. We compare between our model results with observations of three objects at differing evolutionary stages: CRL618, NGC 7027 and the Helix nebula (NGC 7293).
Etching of Lithium Niobate: From Ridge Waveguides to Photonic Crystal Structures

Recent progress of wet etching of Z-cut LN, of inductively coupled plasma (ICP-) etching of X-cut LN, and of ICP-etching of proton-exchanged X-cut LN is reported to fabricate low loss ridge guides, micromechanical, and photonic crystal structures.
A Model for Continuous Language Behaviour

The errors made in reading passages of statistical approximations were analysed. They fell into categories of omissions, substitutions and errors showing the influence of preceding words and the influence of subsequent words (including errors of transposition). A relationship is shown between errors of transposition and omissions in such a way as to indicate that the material in the eye-voice span was subject to decay in a way similar to that described in some theories of immediate memory. Many of the errors due to effects of preceding words and certain of the substitutions and omissions are shown to be consistent with the transformational model for grammar due to Chomsky. Since it can be shown mathematically and linguistically that natural language sequences cannot be treated fully by information theory, the concept of ‘thought units' is developed to explain functionally language behaviour which may be described statistically by information theory. These thought units are then linked with the ‘kernel strings' which are the core of Chomsky's grammar. Finally some suggestions are put forward relating this structure to problems of semantics, with particular reference to comprehension in reading.
A static compliance-checking framework for business process models

Regulatory compliance of business operations is a critical problem for enterprises. As enterprises increasingly use business process management systems to automate their business processes, technologies to automatically check the compliance of process models against compliance rules are becoming important. In this paper, we present a method to improve the reliability and minimize the risk of failure of business process management systems from a compliance perspective. The proposed method allows separate modeling of both process models and compliance concerns. Business process models expressed in the Business Process Execution Language are transformed into pi-calculus and then into finite state machines. Compliance rules captured in the graphical Business Property Specification Language are translated into linear temporal logic. Thus, process models can be verified against these compliance rules by means of model-checking technology. The benefit of our method is threefold: Through the automated verification of a large set of business process models, our approach increases deployment efficiency and lowers the risk of installing noncompliant processes; it reduces the cost associated with inspecting business process models for compliance; and compliance checking may ensure compliance of new process models before their execution and thereby increase the reliability of business operations in general.
Eurographics Symposium on Point-based Graphics (2006) Single-pass Point Rendering and Transparent Shading

Hardware accelerated point-based rendering (PBR) algorithms have suffered in the past from multiple rendering passes; possibly a performance limiting factor. Two passes over the point geometry have been necessary because a first visibility-splatting pass has been necessary for conservative ε-z-buffer visibility culling in the following point-interpolation rendering pass. This separation into visibility-splatting and point-blending, hence processing the point geometry twice, is a fundamental drawback of current GPU-based PBR algorithms. In this paper we introduce a new framework for GPU accelerated PBR algorithm whose basic idea is deferred blending. In contrast to prior algorithms, we formulate the smooth point interpolation problem as an image compositing post-processing task. This is achieved by separating the input point data in a pre-process into not self-overlapping minimal independent groups of points. As an extension of this concept, we can for the first time render transparent point surfaces as well on the GPU. For simple transparency effects, our novel algorithm only needs a single geometry rendering pass. For high-quality transparent image synthesis an extra rendering pass is sufficient. Furthermore, per-fragment reflective and refractive multilayer effects are supported in our algorithm.
The Arabidopsis thaliana FASCICLIN LIKE ARABINOGALACTAN PROTEIN 4 gene acts synergistically with abscisic acid signalling to control root growth

Background and Aims The putative FASCICLIN-LIKE ARABINOGALACTAN PROTEIN 4 (At-FLA4) locus of Arabidopsis thaliana has previously been shown to be required for the normal growth of wild-type roots in response to moderately elevated salinity. However, the genetic and physiological pathway that connects At-FLA4 and normal root growth remains to be elucidated. Methods The radial swelling phenotype of At-fla4 was modulated with growth regulators and their inhibitors. The relationship of At-FLA4 to abscisic acid (ABA) signalling was analysed by probing marker gene expression and the observation of the At-fla4 phenotype in combination with ABA signalling mutants. Key Results Application of ABA suppresses the non-redundant role of At-FLA4 in the salt response. At-FLA4 positively regulates the response to low ABA concentration in roots and is required for the normal expression of ABA- and abiotic stress-induced genes. The At-fla4 phenotype is enhanced in the At-abi4 background, while two genetic suppressors of ABA-induced gene expression are required for salt oversensitivity of At-fla4. Salt oversensitivity in At-fla4 is suppressed by the CYP707A inhibitor abscinazole E2B, and salt oversensitivity in At-fla4 roots is phenocopied by chemical inhibition of ABA biosynthesis. Conclusions The predicted lipid-anchored glycoprotein At-FLA4 positively regulates cell wall biosynthesis and root growth by modulating ABA signalling.
Feature-Opinion Extraction using Formal and Informal Classifier Technique

Merchants selling products on the Web often ask their customers to share their opinions and hands-on experiences on products they have purchased. This is not only true for organizations but also true for individuals. Our beliefs and perceptions of reality, and the choices we make, are, to a considerable degree, conditioned upon how others see and evaluate the world. For this reason, when we need to make a decision we often seek out the opinions of others. Unfortunately, reading through all customer reviews is difficult, especially for popular items, the number of reviews can be up to hundreds or even thousands. This makes it difficult for a potential customer to read them and make an informed decision. Thus a compressed and precise opinion list is what a user would generally desire. The contents available on the Web are not in the standard format. The idea is to classify these contents as formal and informal. The type of algorithm used is linguistic. It incorporates grammatical and other knowledge of the language which helps in understanding the text, thus trying to improve the mining approach to mine product features and their opinions from Web opinion sources for formal as well as for informal text.
Ergodicity and Throughput Bounds of Petri Nets with Unique Consistent Firing Count Vector

Ergodicity and throughput bound characterization are addressed for a subclass of timed and stochastic Petri nets, interleaving qualitative and quantitative theories. The nets considered represent an extension of the well-known subclass of marked graphs, defined as having a unique consistent firing count vector, independently of the stochastic interpretation of the net model. In particular, persistent and mono-T-semiflow net subclasses are considered. Upper and lower throughput bounds are computed using linear programming problems defined on the incidence matrix of the underlying net. The bounds proposed depend on the initial marking and the mean values of the delays but not on the probability distributions (thus including both the deterministic and the stochastic cases). From a different perspective, the considered subclasses of synchronized queuing networks; thus, the proposed bounds can be applied to these networks. >
Traditional Artistic Expressions in Science Communication in a Globalized World: Contributions From an Exploratory Project Developed in Northeast Brazil

Science communication projects share one main goal: to bring together academia and society. However, despite the several formats used to make this bridge, traditional artistic expressions—those that are part of the cultural identity of a group—are seldom used. These formats can be particularly relevant in a globalized world where people from different social and cultural backgrounds meet. We present a project developed in Brazil that used a traditional type of theatre and literature to engage the public in a health control program, and reflect on the potentialities of these formats to communicate science in our multicultural societies.
An energy efficient data reporting scheme for wireless sensor networks

This article introduces an event driven data reporting and routing algorithm for wireless sensor networks that offers a local timing based data reporting scheme in a clustered network. When an event occurs, the nodes that has discovered the event, are supposed to report it to their respective cluster heads. All of these nodes would wait for a specific time (based on its residual energy) to send the information. However, only the one of the sensing nodes is going to send the data to the clusterhead. The most appropriate node is the one with more residual energy and it will take its tour sooner to report the data. The waiting time for each individual node is based on its residual energy and its respective cluster head's energy. A channel access management based on CSMA is used for avoiding collision and multiple sending. The performance of this algorithm is evaluated in the sense on network lifetime and event detection reliability.
A new Camera Model and Algorithms for higher Accuracy and better Convergence in Vision-based Pose Calculations

This paper presents novel strategies for better calibration and pose calculations of a system for determining the pose, i.e. position and orientation, of a camera. The system in question has a camera aimed to be placed on the hand of an industrial robot for welding, but is useful for any application with a need for measuring position and/or orientation. To calculate the pose of the camera circular reference points that can be recognized in the images are distributed in the working area. From their 2D image coordinates the 6D pose of the camera can be calculated. First the system is calibrated, i.e. the positions of the reference points and the camera parameters are determined. This is done by first taking images of the reference points from different locations, and then do a "total calibration" procedure to calculate the unknown parameters. For a specific system, called PosEye, it was concluded that the accuracy needs to be improved for welding applications. Also a method for making the calculations converge more easily, was needed. To meet these demands a new camera model is proposed, and three preprocessing calculation steps are presented. The new camera model increases accuracy by considering more distortion effects. The preprocessing steps give better initial values for more robust convergence of the algorithms and increased accuracy