Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MicroRNA‐195 Suppresses Angiogenesis and Metastasis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by Inhibiting the Expression of VEGF, VAV2, and CDC42

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by active angiogenesis and metastasis, which account for rapid recurrence and poor survival. There is frequent down‐regulation of miR‐195 expression in HCC tissues. In this study, the role of miR‐195 in HCC angiogenesis and metastasis was investigated with in vitro capillary tube formation and transwell assays, in vivo orthotopic xenograft mouse models, and human HCC specimens. Reduction of miR‐195 in HCC tissues was significantly associated with increased angiogenesis, metastasis, and worse recurrence‐free survival. Both gain‐of‐function and loss‐of‐function studies of in vitro models revealed that miR‐195 not only suppressed the ability of HCC cells to promote the migration and capillary tube formation of endothelial cells but also directly repressed the abilities of HCC cells to migrate and invade extracellular matrix gel. Based on mouse models, we found that the induced expression of miR‐195 dramatically reduced microvessel densities in xenograft tumors and repressed both intrahepatic and pulmonary metastasis. Subsequent investigations disclosed that miR‐195 directly inhibited the expression of the proangiogenic factor vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the prometastatic factors VAV2 and CDC42. Knockdown of these target molecules of miR‐195 phenocopied the effects of miR‐195 restoration, whereas overexpression of these targets antagonized the function of miR‐195. Furthermore, we revealed that miR‐195 down‐regulation resulted in enhanced VEGF levels in the tumor microenvironment, which subsequently activated VEGF receptor 2 signaling in endothelial cells and thereby promoted angiogenesis. Additionally, miR‐195 down‐regulation led to increases in VAV2 and CDC42 expression, which stimulated VAV2/Rac1/CDC42 signaling and lamellipodia formation and thereby facilitated the metastasis of HCC cells. Conclusion: miR‐195 deregulation contributes to angiogenesis and metastasis in HCC. The restoration of miR‐195 expression may be a promising strategy for HCC therapy. (Hepatology 2013;58:642‐653)
A graphical technique for modeling multi-user data requirements

Existing graphical techniques for data modeling handle diverse user requirements by combining local user views into an integrated schema. This produces a design that does not directly represent the data requirements of any user group in a heterogeneous environment, and which is flexible in the face of changing requirements. This paper offers an explanation of these problems in terms of the treatment of classification in existing data models and diagramming techniques. A new graphical technique is introduced which draws from research on human classification and offers a more flexible approach to modeling multiple views and sharing data among them. Implications of the model for research and practice are also discussed. <<ETX>>
Light-coloured grey asphalt pavements: from theory to practice

This paper presents the technological development and application of hydrated lime in treating the surface of asphalt concrete to develop light-coloured, grey asphalt pavements. When appropriately applied on the surface of fresh asphalt concrete, hydrated lime makes the surface grey, significantly increases its albedo and effectively reduces the pavement's temperature caused by hot weather. Two application case studies are presented, focusing on how to ensure hydrated lime's long-term effectiveness on the surface of asphalt pavements and take into account the effect of the subsequent reduced temperature on the resilient modulus of asphalt concrete in the design of long-life flexible pavements. The increased asphalt concrete modulus, owing to lowered temperature, can reduce the design thickness of the asphalt concrete without sacrificing pavement performance. This also has a positive influence on reduced pavement heat island effects. It is concluded that the appropriate use of hydrated lime on asphalt pavement surfaces is an effective and economical method to produce light-coloured, grey asphalt pavements.
[Epithelial giant inclusion cyst 50 years after enucleation without orbital implant].

BACKGROUND Conjunctival cyst formation following enucleation may occur in 3% to 7% of patients receiving orbital implants, especially secondary implants. We present a patient with a giant epithelial inclusion cyst of the anophthalmic orbit 50 years after enucleation without orbital implant. PATIENT A 54-year-old male presented with increasing proptosis of the ocular prosthesis, shallowing of the inferior fornix, a palpable orbital mass, and difficulty in retaining the ocular prosthesis. At the age of 1 year enucleation of the right eye without orbital implant was performed following perforating ocular trauma. Results of examination of the other eye were unremarkable. Transillumination of the orbital mass was possible. The clinical diagnosis of an epithelial inclusion cyst was confirmed using ultrasonography and CT scan. An incision of conjunctiva and cyst wall and subsequent marsupialization were performed. Nine months postoperatively there was no evidence of recurrence of the cyst. The ocular prosthesis was well in place. CONCLUSION Conjunctival cyst formation following enucleation may rarely occur in patients receiving orbital implants, especially secondary implants. The presentation of a conjunctival cyst formation following enucleation without orbital implant 50 years after surgery is noteworthy in comparison to implantation cysts which are known to occur more commonly within the first two years following secondary orbital implants.
The following is a pre-publication version of Andrews, P. & Xenofontos, C, J. (2015) Analysing the relationship between the problem solving- related beliefs, competence and teaching of three Cypriot primary teachers, Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education. DOI: 10.1007/s10857-014-9287-2 Page numbe

In this paper we analyse the problem solving-related beliefs, competence and classroom practice of three Cypriot upper-primary teachers. Data derived from semi-structured interviews focused on teachers’ beliefs about the nature of mathematical problems, problem solving, and their competence as both problem solvers and teachers of problem solving; clinical interviews during which teachers solved a context-free geometrical problem; and observations of a lesson during which teachers introduced the same geometrical problem to their grade 6 students. Analyses, which were structured by a framework derived from key problem solving literature, indicated firstly, that the framework was an effective tool, being sensitive to variation both within and across the data from the three teachers, and secondly that all three teachers, in largely explicable ways, exhibited both consistency and inconsistency in the ways in which their beliefs, competence and practice interacted. Some implications for further research are discussed.
Antimicrobial acylphloroglucinols from the leaves of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa

Abstract Phytochemical study on the leaves of Rhodomyrtus tomentosa resulted in the isolation of fourteen compounds including a new acylphloroglucinol, named tomentosone C (1), and a new flavonol glycoside, namely myricetin-3,7,3′-trimethyl ether-5′-O-β-glucopyranoside (2). Their structures were characterized by spectral data interpretation for new structures and in comparison with published data for known compounds. The antimicrobial activity evaluation revealed that 1 and the known acylphloroglucinol rhodomyrtone (3) exhibited significant antimicrobial activity with MIC 3.66 and 1.83 μg ml−1, respectively, toward Staphylococcus aureus, responsible for the antimicrobial activity observed with the n-hexane and EtOAc-soluble fraction of the ethanol extract of R. tomentosa leaves.
Author's Personal Copy Physical Communication Compressed Sensing in Random Access Networks with Applications to Underwater Monitoring

In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: a b s t r a c t For networks that are deployed for long-term monitoring of environmental phenomena, it is of crucial importance to design an efficient data gathering scheme that prolongs the lifetime of the network. To this end, we consider a Random Access Compressed Sensing (RACS) scheme that considerably reduces the power and bandwidth usage of a large network. Motivated by underwater applications, we propose a continuous-time RACS that eliminates the need for synchronization and scheduling which are difficult to achieve in a distributed acoustic network. We provide an analytical framework for system design that ensures fast recovery and power-efficiency. Through analysis and examples, we demonstrate that recovery of the field can be attained using only a fraction of the resources used by a conventional TDMA network, while employing a scheme which is simple to implement.
Candida albicans keratitis in an immunocompromised patient

Purpose When investigating a case of unexplained corneal ulceration, we need to think of fungal infection and any predisposing factors. Methods A case study of a corneal ulceration in a patient who was HIV positive with a devastating visual outcome. Results Therapeutic corneal graft was necessary due to corneal perforation. Immunocompromised state of patient was retrospectively diagnosed. Conclusions Candida albicans keratitis is an opportunistic infection of a compromised cornea, and sometimes unknowingly compromised host, which can be initially misdiagnosed. Despite intensive antifungal therapy, occasionally patients require corneal grafting to improve vision, and before it is possible to establish an accurate diagnosis.
Towards purity-guided refactoring in Java

Refactoring source code requires preserving a certain level of semantic behaviors, which are difficult to be checked by IDEs. Therefore, IDEs generally check syntactic pre-conditions instead before applying refactoring, which are often too restrictive than checking semantic behaviors. On the other hand, there are pure functions in the source code that do not have observable side-effects, of which semantic behaviors are more easily to be checked. In this research, we propose purity-guided refactoring, which applies high-level refactoring such as memoization on pure functions that can be detected statically. By combining our purity analyzing tool purano with refactoring, we can ensure the preservation of semantic behaviors on these detected pure functions, which is impossible through previous refactoring operations provided by IDEs. As a case study of our approach, we applied memorization refactoring on several open-source software in Java. We observed improvements of the performance and preservation of semantics by profiling their bundled test cases.
A novel computer vision-based approach to automatic detection and severity assessment of crop diseases

Accurate detection and identification of crop diseases plays an important role in effectively controlling and preventing diseases for sustainable agriculture and food security. In this work, we have developed a novel computer vision-based approach for automatically identifying crop diseases based on marker-controlled watershed segmentation, superpixel based feature analysis and classification. The experimental result demonstrates that the proposed approach can accurately detect crop diseases (i.e. Septoria and Yellow rust. Two types of most important and major wheat diseases in UK and across the world) and assess the disease severity with efficient processing speed.
Tunable Focused X-rays For Patterning and Lithography

The zone plate focused soft X-rays of a scanning transmission X-ray microscope have been used to pattern poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(dimethylglutarimide) films by a direct write method which is analogous to lithography with a focused electron beam. The lithographic characteristics of both polymers have been determined for 300 eV X-rays. With low doses (1 MGy), developed lines 40 ± 5 nm wide were created in poly(methyl methacrylate). At higher doses an exposure spreading phenomenon substantially increases the lateral dimensions of the developed patterns. The spreading mechanism has been identified as the point-spread function of the zone plate lens. The performance of focused soft X-ray lithography is compared to other direct write methods. The practicality of a dedicated focused soft X-ray writer instrument is discussed.
On the phase transition of corrupted sensing

In [1], a sharp phase transition has been numerically observed when a constrained convex procedure is used to solve the corrupted sensing problem. In this paper, we present a theoretical analysis for this phenomenon. Specifically, we establish the threshold below which this convex procedure fails to recover signal and corruption with high probability. Together with the work in [1], we prove that a sharp phase transition occurs around the sum of the squares of spherical Gaussian widths of two tangent cones. Numerical experiments are provided to demonstrate the correctness and sharpness of our results.
Path conditions and principal matching: a new approach to access control

Traditional authorization policies are user-centric, in the sense that authorization is defined, ultimately, in terms of user identities. We believe that this user-centric approach is inappropriate for many applications, and that what should determine authorization is the relationships that exist between entities in the system. While recent research has considered the possibility of specifying authorization policies based on the relationships that exist between peers in social networks, we are not aware of the application of these ideas to general computing systems. We develop a formal access control model that makes use of ideas from relationship-based access control and a two-stage method for evaluating policies. Our policies are defined using path conditions, which are similar to regular expressions. We define semantics for path conditions, which we use to develop a rigorous method for evaluating policies. We describe the algorithm required to evaluate policies and establish its complexity. Finally, we illustrate the advantages of our model using an example and describe a preliminary implementation of our algorithm.
Preparation of Core−Shell Structured PCL-r-Gelatin Bi-Component Nanofibers by Coaxial Electrospinning

A TEM image of core−shell structured bi-component nanofiber produced by a coaxial electrospinning technique. The core and shell are polymers of gelatin and PCL, respectively. Variation of inner concentration during such a spinning process also resulted in tunable amount of gelatin encapsulated in the PCL-r-gelatin bi-component nanofibers.
Genome Sequence of the Lager-Brewing Yeast Saccharomyces sp. Strain M14, Used in the High-Gravity Brewing Industry in China

ABSTRACT Lager-brewing yeasts are mainly used for the production of lager beers. Illumina and PacBio-based sequence analyses revealed an approximate genome size of 22.8 Mb, with a GC content of 38.98%, for the Chinese lager-brewing yeast Saccharomyces sp. strain M14. Based on ab initio prediction, 9,970 coding genes were annotated.
Detection of Cytomegalovirus DNA in Human Specimens by LightCycler PCR

ABSTRACT Detection of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA in clinical specimens is considered a cornerstone in the diagnosis of CMV disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate a newly designed LightCycler-based quantitative CMV PCR. Specimens of human origin (n = 200) were tested using the LightCycler PCR, the quantitative COBAS AMPLICOR CMV MONITOR (CACM) assay, and a qualitative in-house PCR assay for the presence of CMV DNA. Samples that were reactive in at least two of the three assays were considered CMV DNA positive (n = 95 [47.5%]), while samples that were nonreactive in two of the three assays were considered CMV DNA negative (n = 105 [52.5%]). Using the LightCycler assay, CMV DNA was detected in 91 of the 95 CMV DNA-positive human specimens (sensitivity, 95.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI], 89.6 to 98.8) and in 1 of the CMV DNA-negative specimens (specificity, 99%; 95% CI, 94.8 to 99.8). Results of CMV load determination as assessed by both quantitative test systems were correlated (r = 0.73;P < 0.0001; 95% CI, 0.61 to 0.81). Results for undiluted samples containing a high CMV load were more accurate with the LightCycler test than were results obtained with the CACM test, which underestimated the viral load of samples containing high DNA copy numbers. The high level of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and rapidity provided by the LightCycler technology are favorable for the use of this system in the detection of CMV DNA in clinical specimens.
Vortex Method Simulation of Ground Vehicle Aerodynamics

Recent results are presented from the application of a grid-free vortex method to the prediction of turbulent aerodynamic flows produced by road vehicles. The approach has the character of a large eddy simulation and incorporates a fast technique for evaluating the mutual interactions of several million vortex elements needed in describing the dynamically significant structure of the turbulent field. The simulations provide information about the unsteady evolution of the flow including forces, vortical structure and separation regions. Predicted mean velocity statistics are shown to compare favorably with physical experiments.
Enterprise Architecture Meta Models for IT/Business Alignment Situations

Enterprise Architecture models can be used to support IT/business alignment. However, existing approaches do not distinguish between different IT/business alignment situations. Since companies face diverse challenges in achieving a high degree of IT/business alignment, a universal ‘one size fits all’ approach does not seem appropriate. This paper proposes to decompose the IT/business alignment problem into tangible qualities for business, IT systems, and IT governance. An explorative study among 162 professionals is used to distinguish four IT/business alignment situations, i.e. four clusters of IT/business alignment problems. These situations each represent the current state according to certain qualities and also the priorities for future development. In order to increase IT/business alignment, enterprise architecture meta models are proposed for each identified situation. One core meta model (to reflect common priorities) as well as situation specific extensions are presented.
The Open vSwitch Database Management Protocol

Open vSwitch is an open-source software switch designed to be used as a vswitch (virtual switch) in virtualized server environments. A vswitch forwards traffic between different virtual machines (VMs) on the same physical host and also forwards traffic between VMs and the physical network. Open vSwitch is open to programmatic extension and control using OpenFlow and the OVSDB (Open vSwitch Database) management protocol. This document defines the OVSDB management protocol. The Open vSwitch project includes open-source OVSDB client and server implementations.
Analyses of definitions of Hidden Markov Models

Hidden Markov Models have been widely used, which are usually considered as a set of states with Markovian properties and observations generated independently by those states. This kind of considerations may have confusion and thus needs improvement from the viewpoint of formalization. Moreover, there are different definitions for Hidden Markov Models, the relations between them also needs clarification. Based on different combinations of some probability conditions concerning the current state and the current observation, this paper analyzes several formal definitions and proves their equivalence respectively for one-dimensional and two-dimensional Hidden Markov Models.
A Study of the Influence of Fibre Properties on the Characteristics of Rotor-spun Yarns by Factor Analysis

The influence of important fibre properties such as the 2.5% span length, Micronaire value and breaking tenacity on the characteristics of 30-tex yarns spun on the rotor-spinning system from 32 different varieties of Indian cotton has been investigated by the technique of factor analysis by using the SPSS package on a DEC 2020 computer. The behaviour of corresponding ring-spun yarns from the same cottons has also been evaluated for comparative interpretation. Factors expressed in terms of variables lead to the development of new expressions for yarn and fibre quality indices. The method of factor analysis used in the present study confirms a lower degree of exploitation of fibre properties into the yarn characteristics of rotor-spun yarns as compared with ring-spun yarns, which is attributed to the difference in structure of these two types of yarn. Factor loadings obtained by the iterative rotation of the correlation matrix indicate a much higher impact of cotton fibre length on the rotor-spun yarns than.
Sedimentological and biostratigraphical analyses of short sediment cores from Hagelseewli (2339 m a.s.l.) in the Swiss Alps

Several short sediment cores of between 35 and 40 cm from Hagelseewli, a small, remote lake in the Swiss Alps at an elevation of 2339 m a.s. l. were correlated according to their organic matter content. The sediments are characterized by organic silts and show in their uppermost part a surprisingly high amount of organic matter (30-35%). Synchronous changes, occurring in pollen from snow-bed vegetation, the alga Pediastrum, chironomids, and grain-size composition, point to a climatic change interpreted as cooler or shorter summers that led to prolonged ice-cover on the lake. According to palynological results the sediments date back to at least the early 15th century A.D., with the cooling phase encompassing the period between late 16th and the mid-19th century thus coinciding with the Little Ice Age. Low concentrations of both chironomid head capsules and cladoceran remains in combination with results from fossil pigment analyses point to longer periods of bottom-water anoxia as a result of long-lasting ice-cover that prevented mixing of the water column. According to our results aquatic biota in Hagelseewli are mainly indirectly influenced by climate change. The duration of ice-cover on the lake controls the mixing of the water column as well as light-availability for phytoplankton blooms.
Artificial Neural Networks in Image Processing for Early Detection of Breast Cancer

Medical imaging techniques have widely been in use in the diagnosis and detection of breast cancer. The drawback of applying these techniques is the large time consumption in the manual diagnosis of each image pattern by a professional radiologist. Automated classifiers could substantially upgrade the diagnosis process, in terms of both accuracy and time requirement by distinguishing benign and malignant patterns automatically. Neural network (NN) plays an important role in this respect, especially in the application of breast cancer detection. Despite the large number of publications that describe the utilization of NN in various medical techniques, only a few reviews are available that guide the development of these algorithms to enhance the detection techniques with respect to specificity and sensitivity. The purpose of this review is to analyze the contents of recently published literature with special attention to techniques and states of the art of NN in medical imaging. We discuss the usage of NN in four different medical imaging applications to show that NN is not restricted to few areas of medicine. Types of NN used, along with the various types of feeding data, have been reviewed. We also address hybrid NN adaptation in breast cancer detection.