Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adopting a Patient-Centered Approach to Primary Outcome Analysis of Acute Stroke Trials Using a Utility-Weighted Modified Rankin Scale

Background and Purpose— Although the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) is the most commonly used primary end point in acute stroke trials, its power is limited when analyzed in dichotomized fashion and its indication of effect size challenging to interpret when analyzed ordinally. Weighting the 7 Rankin levels by utilities may improve scale interpretability while preserving statistical power. Methods— A utility-weighted mRS (UW-mRS) was derived by averaging values from time-tradeoff (patient centered) and person-tradeoff (clinician centered) studies. The UW-mRS, standard ordinal mRS, and dichotomized mRS were applied to 11 trials or meta-analyses of acute stroke treatments, including lytic, endovascular reperfusion, blood pressure moderation, and hemicraniectomy interventions. Results— Utility values were 1.0 for mRS level 0; 0.91 for mRS level 1; 0.76 for mRS level 2; 0.65 for mRS level 3; 0.33 for mRS level 4; 0 for mRS level 5; and 0 for mRS level 6. For trials with unidirectional treatment effects, the UW-mRS paralleled the ordinal mRS and outperformed dichotomous mRS analyses. Both the UW-mRS and the ordinal mRS were statistically significant in 6 of 8 unidirectional effect trials, whereas dichotomous analyses were statistically significant in 2 to 4 of 8. In bidirectional effect trials, both the UW-mRS and ordinal tests captured the divergent treatment effects by showing neutral results, whereas some dichotomized analyses showed positive results. Mean utility differences in trials with statistically significant positive results ranged from 0.026 to 0.249. Conclusions— A UW-mRS performs similar to the standard ordinal mRS in detecting treatment effects in actual stroke trials and ensures the quantitative outcome is a valid reflection of patient-centered benefits.
A comprehensive two-hybrid analysis to explore the yeast protein interactome

Protein–protein interactions play crucial roles in the execution of various biological functions. Accordingly, their comprehensive description would contribute considerably to the functional interpretation of fully sequenced genomes, which are flooded with novel genes of unpredictable functions. We previously developed a system to examine two-hybrid interactions in all possible combinations between the ≈6,000 proteins of the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Here we have completed the comprehensive analysis using this system to identify 4,549 two-hybrid interactions among 3,278 proteins. Unexpectedly, these data do not largely overlap with those obtained by the other project [Uetz, P., et al. (2000) Nature (London) 403, 623–627] and hence have substantially expanded our knowledge on the protein interaction space or interactome of the yeast. Cumulative connection of these binary interactions generates a single huge network linking the vast majority of the proteins. Bioinformatics-aided selection of biologically relevant interactions highlights various intriguing subnetworks. They include, for instance, the one that had successfully foreseen the involvement of a novel protein in spindle pole body function as well as the one that may uncover a hitherto unidentified multiprotein complex potentially participating in the process of vesicular transport. Our data would thus significantly expand and improve the protein interaction map for the exploration of genome functions that eventually leads to thorough understanding of the cell as a molecular system.
Virulence evolution through a latency-transmission trade-off Implications as to the durability of resistance in agriculture

In evolutionary epidemiology, most of the existing models address virulence evolution through a transmission-virulence trade-off. Although some models consider a coupling with other host-parasite interaction features such as clearance, there seem to be no model considering a coupling with a trait which is however often measured, and may have some lifehistorical significance: the latent period. In this note, we use a simple model that explicitly incorporates the latent period to gain some insight into the virulence evolution determinants. We discuss the model's implications as to the durability of resistance in agriculture. In particular, we show that an anti-growth-rate resistance may, contrarily to the classical insight, lower intrinsic virulence. This is because latency, as an additional “degree of freedom”, may absorb what would otherwise result in an virulence increase towards less resistant hosts. Moreover, this goes with a greater healthy host density, regardless whether the crop is resistant or not, thanks to maladaptation.
Antiviral and Antimicrobial Profiles of Selected Isoquinoline Alkaloids from Fumaria and Corydalis Species

In the current study, 33 isoquinoline alkaloids belonging to protopine-, benzylisoquinoline-, benzophenanthridine-, spirobenzylisoquinoline-, phthalideisoquinoline-, aporphine-, protoberberine-, cularine-, and isoquinolone-types as well as 7 derivatives of them obtained from some Fumaria and Corydalis species growing in Turkey have been evaluated for their in vitro antiviral and antimicrobial activities. Both DNA virus Herpes simplex (HSV) and RNA virus Parainfluenza (PI-3) were employed for antiviral assessment of the compounds using Madine- Darby bovine kidney and Vero cell lines and their maximum non-toxic concentrations (MNTC) and cytopathogenic effects (CPE) were determined using acyclovir and oseltamivir as the references. Antibacterial and antifungal activities of the alkaloids were tested against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, and Candida albicans by the microdilution method and compared to ampicilline, ofloxacine, and ketocanazole as the references. The alkaloids did not present any notable antibacterial effect, while they had significant antifungal activity at 8 μg/ml concentration. On the other hand, the alkaloids were found to have selective inhibition against the PI-3 virus ranging between 0.5 and 64 μg/ml as minimum and maximum CPE inhibitory concentrations, whereas they were completely inactive towards HSV.
Caenorhabditis Elegans—Applications to Nematode Genomics

The complete genome sequence of the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans was published 4 years ago. Since then, we have seen great strides in technologies that seek to exploit this data. Here we describe the application of some of these techniques and other advances that are helping us to understand about not only the biology of this important model organism but also the entire phylum Nematoda.
A single-arm, investigator-initiated study of the efficacy, safety and tolerability of intravitreal aflibercept injection in subjects with exudative age-related macular degeneration, previously treated with ranibizumab or bevacizumab: 6-month interim analysis

Aim To evaluate efficacy and safety of intravitreal aflibercept injection (IAI) in subjects who were previously treated with ranibizumab and/or bevacizumab for active exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods Patients (n=26) were enrolled in a 12-month prospective, interventional, single arm, investigator-initiated study with planned 6-month interim analysis. Patients with active exudative AMD, previously treated with ranibizumab and/or bevacizumab, were treated with 2 mg IAI every month for the first 3 months, followed by a fixed dosing schedule of 2 mg IAI every 2 months. The primary study endpoint was the mean absolute change from baseline central subfield thickness (CST) at month 12 as measured by SDOCT. Secondary outcomes included mean change from baseline best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) score, percentage of subjects who gained or lost greater than or equal to 15 letters of vision, percentage of subjects who are 20/40 or better, percentage of subjects who are 20/200 or worse, and the incidence of adverse events (AE) and serious AEs. Results Planned 6-month interim analysis demonstrated a mean decrease in CST of 38.6 µm (p<0.001) and a mean increase in ETDRS BCVA of +5.9 letters (p<0.001). Fifteen percent of subjects experienced a greater than 15-letter improvement in visual acuity, 84.6% of patients gained visual acuity, and no patient lost 3 lines of vision from baseline. Forty-two percent of subjects were 20/40 or better, and 11.5% of subjects were 20/200 or worse at month 6. No serious ocular or systemic AEs were encountered. Conclusions IAI-treated eyes demonstrated improved short-term functional and anatomic endpoints in subjects with active exudative AMD switching from previous anti-VEGF treatment when given in a fixed dosing scheme for 6 months. Trial registration number NCT01617148.
Pitch synchronous multi-band (PSMB) speech coding

A novel speech coding algorithm, named pitch synchronous multiband (PSMB), is proposed. It uses the multiband excitation (MBE) model to generate a representative pitch-cycle waveform (PCW) for each frame. The representative PCW of a frame is encoded by two out of three codebooks depending upon whether the frame is related or unrelated to the previous frame. The new speech coder introduces a pitch-period-based coding feature. The PSMB coder operating at 4 kbps outperforms the Inmarsat 4.15 kbps IMBE coder by a clear margin. It is also found to be slightly better than the FS1016 4.8 kbps code excited linear predictive (CELP) coder in terms of perceptual quality. Fast search algorithms for the three codebooks used in PSMB are also developed.
SVM multiregression for nonlinear channel estimation in multiple-input multiple-output systems

This paper addresses the problem of multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) frequency nonselective channel estimation. We develop a new method for multiple variable regression estimation based on Support Vector Machines (SVMs): a state-of-the-art technique within the machine learning community for regression estimation. We show how this new method, which we call M-SVR, can be efficiently applied. The proposed regression method is evaluated in a MIMO system under a channel estimation scenario, showing its benefits in comparison to previous proposals when nonlinearities are present in either the transmitter or the receiver sides of the MIMO system.
The Role of Genetic Ancestry in Brazilian Patients With Primary Congenital Glaucoma

Purpose:The relationship between clinical data and genetic ancestry in Brazilian patients with primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) was studied. Patients and Methods:Thirty patients with PCG and 60 unrelated controls underwent a complete ophthalmological examination. The PCG inclusion criterion was prior surgery with a minimum follow-up of 6 months after the last surgical procedure. Clinical data were recorded and DNA from each individual was extracted and genotyped for a panel of 40 validated ancestry-informative insertion-deletion DNA polymorphisms (indels). Results:Eighteen (60%) children had bilateral disease and 16 (53.3%) were male. The mean age at diagnosis was 6.3 months and surgical follow-up time varied from 8 to 85 months. For the PCG group, the proportion of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians was 0.784±0.044 (mean±SEM), 0.149±0.035, and 0.067±0.023, respectively, whereas for the control group was 0.730±0.048, 0.132±0.034, and 0.138±0.032, respectively. An increased proportion of African indels was associated with worse surgical prognosis (P=0.036). There was also a statistically significant (P<0.05) positive correlation between axial length and African component (initial: R=0.625; final: R=0.567). Conclusions:An increased proportion of African indels was associated with worse prognosis for PCG in a mixed population. Genetic ancestry markers may be helpful in assessing risk factors for surgical outcomes in PCG. Further studies are needed to unveil the role of ancestry in heterogeneous populations such as Brazilians with PCG.
A Kinetic Model for the Sedimentation of Rod-Like Particles

We consider a coupled system consisting of a kinetic equation coupled to a macroscopic Stokes (or Navier-Stokes) equation and describing the motion of a suspension of rigid rods in gravity. A reciprocal coupling leads to the formation of clusters: The buoyancy force creates a macroscopic velocity gradient that causes the microscopic particles to align so that their sedimentation reinforces the formation of clusters of higher particle density. We provide a quantitative analysis of cluster formation. We derive a nonlinear moment closure model, which consists of evolution equations for the density and second order moments and that uses the structure of spherical harmonics to suggest a closure strategy. For a rectilinear flow we employ the moment closure together with a quasi-dynamic approximation to derive an effective equation, The effective equation is an advection-diffusion equation with nonisotropic diffusion coupled to a Poisson equation, and belongs to the class of the so-called flux-limited Keller-Segel models. For shear flows, we provide an argument for the validity of the effective equation and perform numerical comparisons that indicate good agreement between the original system and the effective theory. Finally, a linear stability analysis on the moment system shows that linear theory predicts a wavelength selection mechanism for the cluster width, provided that the Reynolds number is larger than zero.
Opacity light fields: interactive rendering of surface light fields with view-dependent opacity

We present new hardware-accelerated techniques for rendering surface light fields with opacity hulls that allow for interactive visualization of objects that have complex reflectance properties and elaborate geometrical details. The opacity hull is a shape enclosing the object with view-dependent opacity parameterized onto that shape. We call the combination of opacity hulls and surface light fields the opacity light field. Opacity light fields are ideally suited for rendering of the visually complex objects and scenes obtained with 3D photography. We show how to implement opacity light fields in the framework of three surface light field rendering methods: view-dependent texture mapping, unstructured lumigraph rendering, and light field mapping. The modified algorithms can be effectively supported on modern graphics hardware. Our results show that all three implementations are able to achieve interactive or real-time frame rates.
A supervised learning algorithm for binary domain classification of Web queries using SERPs

General purpose Search Engines (SEs) crawl all domains (e.g., Sports, News, Entertainment) of the Web, but sometimes the informational need of a query is restricted to a particular domain (e.g., Medical). We leverage the work of SEs as part of our effort to route domain specific queries to local Digital Libraries (DLs). SEs are often used even if they are not the “best” source for certain types of queries. Rather than tell users to “use this DL for this kind of query”, we intend to automatically detect when a query could be better served by a local DL (such as a private, access-controlled DL that is not crawlable via SEs). This is not an easy task because Web queries are short, ambiguous, and there is lack of quality labeled training data (or it is expensive to create). To detect queries that should be routed to local, specialized DLs, we first send the queries to Google and then examine the features in the resulting Search Engine Result Pages. Using 400,000 AOL queries for the “non-scholar” domain and 400,000 queries from the NASA Technical Report Server for the “scholar” domain, our classifier achieved a precision of 0.809 and F-measure of 0.805.
Online adaptive utilization control for real-time embedded multiprocessor systems

To provide Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees in open and unpredictable environments, the utilization control problem is defined to keep the processor utilization at the schedulable utilization bound, even in the face of unpredictable and/or varying task execution times. To handle the end-to-end task model where each task is comprised of a chain of subtasks distributed on multiprocessors, researchers have used Model Predictive Control (MPC) to address the Multiple-Input, Multiple-Output (MIMO) control problem. Although MPC can handle a limited range of model uncertainties due to execution time estimation errors, the system may suffer performance deterioration or even become unstable if the actual task execution times are much larger than their estimated values. In this paper, we present an online adaptive optimal control approach using Recursive Least Squares (RLS) based model estimator plus Linear Quadratic (LQ) optimal controller. We use simulation experiments to demonstrate the effectiveness of our controller compared with the MPC-based controller.
A semi-canonical form for sequential AIGs

In numerous EDA flows, time-consuming computations are repeatedly applied to sequential circuits. This motivates developing methods to determine what circuits have been processed already by a tool. This paper proposes an algorithm for semi-canonical labeling of nodes in a sequential AIG, allowing problems or sub-problems solved by an EDA tool to be cached with their computed results. This can speed up the tool when applied to designs with isomorphic components or design suites exhibiting substantial structural similarity.
Application of Integrated Methods to Improve the Technological Properties of Steel

Getting a new generation of materials, advancing by its qualities world counterparts, among the most important objectives of the creation of scientific and technical groundwork in various fields of science and technology. Particular attention is paid to technological metals and their alloys; materials having the fine and ultrafine structure, single crystal, amorphous and powder materials. The preparation of such materials is possible thanks to new production technologies, modern equipment and the use of costly additives or use of technologies with application of complex measures for these materials. One way to obtain the desired technological properties is the use of complex natural materials. This method is cheaper compared to other costs, and requires no additional equipment, as well as lower costs of preparatory. For more efficient use of these components is necessary to preliminary processing, which will improve the effect of the use of steel in the modification. The type of treatment can be varied by mechanical activation powder to extract individual components. As a result of a series of studies on the impact modifiers to change the structure and properties of steel were detected changes in the structure; in particular the number of non-metallic inclusions was reduced.Heat treatment allows improving effect of modifying the structure of steel and the items received.
Bilinguals Use Language-Control Brain Areas More Than Monolinguals to Perform Non-Linguistic Switching Tasks

We tested the hypothesis that early bilinguals use language-control brain areas more than monolinguals when performing non-linguistic executive control tasks. We do so by exploring the brain activity of early bilinguals and monolinguals in a task-switching paradigm using an embedded critical trial design. Crucially, the task was designed such that the behavioural performance of the two groups was comparable, allowing then to have a safer comparison between the corresponding brain activity in the two groups. Despite the lack of behavioural differences between both groups, early bilinguals used language-control areas – such as left caudate, and left inferior and middle frontal gyri – more than monolinguals, when performing the switching task. Results offer direct support for the notion that, early bilingualism exerts an effect in the neural circuitry responsible for executive control. This effect partially involves the recruitment of brain areas involved in language control when performing domain-general executive control tasks, highlighting the cross-talk between these two domains.
Efficient elementary function generation with multipliers

Virtually all numerical techniques for elementary function generation share the common property of avoiding multiplication by iteratively performing shift operations. However, with the advent of VLSI, multiplier economics are considerably less formidable than before. The author proposes combining multipliers with these multiplication-free algorithms to construct fast methods of elementary function generation. He demonstrates the idea by combining multipliers with the CORDIC algorithm to achieve fast vector rotation. <<ETX>>
IT Governance and Organizational Agility: A Study based on Platform Organizing Logic Perspectives

Managing IS changes is critical for IT governance decisions. Thus, firms should be concerned IT agility in order to respond to uncertain changes in a dynamic environment. In this case study, we analyze the course of IT governance decisions to understand how the case company uses IT to enable organizational agility. Further, we adopt platform organizing logic perspectives to identify factors associated with this issue. These factors are classified as collaboration requirements and cohesion forces. We also identify four key principles used by the case company for making their IT governance decisions to sustain their IT agility: balance between collaboration requirements and cohesion forces, autonomy of IS integration and scalability, simplification of business processes by digitized process capital, and entrepreneurial alertness for absorbing new IT capabilities. These findings illustrate how to apply platform organizing logic to IT governance decisions and also respond to the call for research in reframing the role of IT in shaping organizational agility through digital options.
A Separately Passive-Aggressive Training Algorithm for Joint POS Tagging and Dependency Parsing

Recent study shows that parsing accuracy can be largely improved by the joint optimization of part-of-speech (POS) tagging and dependency parsing. However, the POS tagging task does not benefit much from the joint framework. We argue that the fundamental reason behind is because the POS features are overwhelmed by the syntactic features during the joint optimization, and the joint models only prefer such POS tags that are favourable solely from the parsing viewpoint. To solve this issue, we propose a separately passive-aggressive learning algorithm (SPA), which is designed to separately update the POS features weights and the syntactic feature weights under the joint optimization framework. The proposed SPA is able to take advantage of previous joint optimization strategies to significantly improve the parsing accuracy, but also overcome their shortages to significantly boost the tagging accuracy by effectively solving the syntax-insensitive POS ambiguity issues. Experiments on the Chinese Penn Treebank 5.1 (CTB5) and the English Penn Treebank (PTB) demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed methodology and empirically verify our observations as discussed above. We achieve the best tagging and parsing accuracies on both datasets, 94.60% in tagging accuracy and 81.67% in parsing accuracy on CTB5, and 97.62% and 93.52% on PTB.