Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Induction Immunosuppression and Clinical Outcomes in Kidney Transplant Recipients Infected With Human Immunodeficiency Virus

There is an increased risk of acute rejection (AR) in human immunodeficiency virus–positive (HIV+) kidney transplant (KT) recipients. Induction immunosuppression is standard of care for those at high risk of AR; however, use in HIV+ patients is controversial, given fears of increased infection rates. We sought to compare clinical outcomes between HIV+ KT recipients who were treated with (i) anti–thymocyte globulin (ATG), (ii) IL‐2 receptor blocker, and (iii) no induction. We studied 830 HIV+ KT recipients between 2000 and 2014, as captured in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, and compared rates of delayed graft function (DGF), AR, graft loss and death. Infections and hospitalizations were ascertained by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes in a subset of 308 patients with Medicare. Compared with no induction, neither induction agent was associated with an increased risk of infection (weighted hazard ratio [wHR] 0.80, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.55–1.18). HIV+ recipients who received induction spent fewer days in the hospital (weighted relative risk [wRR] 0.70, 95% CI 0.52–0.95), had lower rates of DGF (wRR 0.66, 95% CI 0.51–0.84), less graft loss (wHR 0.47, 95% CI 0.24–0.89) and a trend toward lower mortality (wHR 0.60, 95% CI 0.24–1.28). Those who received induction with ATG had lower rates of AR (wRR 0.59, 95% CI 0.35–0.99). Induction in HIV+ KT recipients was not associated with increased infections; in fact, those receiving ATG, the most potent agent, had the lowest rates. In light of the high risk of AR in this population, induction therapy should be strongly considered.
Abundance and Distribution of Transposable Elements in Two Drosophila QTL Mapping Resources

Here we present computational machinery to efficiently and accurately identify transposable element (TE) insertions in 146 next-generation sequenced inbred strains of Drosophila melanogaster. The panel of lines we use in our study is composed of strains from a pair of genetic mapping resources: the Drosophila Genetic Reference Panel (DGRP) and the Drosophila Synthetic Population Resource (DSPR). We identified 23,087 TE insertions in these lines, of which 83.3% are found in only one line. There are marked differences in the distribution of elements over the genome, with TEs found at higher densities on the X chromosome, and in regions of low recombination. We also identified many more TEs per base pair of intronic sequence and fewer TEs per base pair of exonic sequence than expected if TEs are located at random locations in the euchromatic genome. There was substantial variation in TE load across genes. For example, the paralogs derailed and derailed-2 show a significant difference in the number of TE insertions, potentially reflecting differences in the selection acting on these loci. When considering TE families, we find a very weak effect of gene family size on TE insertions per gene, indicating that as gene family size increases the number of TE insertions in a given gene within that family also increases. TEs are known to be associated with certain phenotypes, and our data will allow investigators using the DGRP and DSPR to assess the functional role of TE insertions in complex trait variation more generally. Notably, because most TEs are very rare and often private to a single line, causative TEs resulting in phenotypic differences among individuals may typically fail to replicate across mapping panels since individual elements are unlikely to segregate in both panels. Our data suggest that “burden tests” that test for the effect of TEs as a class may be more fruitful.
Novel Three-Phase Three-Level-Stacked Neutral Point Clamped Grid-Tied Solar Inverter With a Split Phase Controller

Characterized by the low leakage current and high efficiency, a three-level neutral point clamped (3L-NPC) inverter becomes more popular for a transformerless photovoltaic grid connected system. The three-level-stacked neutral point clamped (3L-SNPC) structure is a derivative of 3L-NPC providing more advantages such as a double apparent switching frequency and parallel load current paths. In this paper, the power loss distribution and features of 3L-SNPC are analyzed first when applied to solar inverters. Based on the analysis, a novel 3L-SNPC leg structure is proposed for solar applications in order to reduce the power loss particularly for the low power range, given the fact that solar inverters generally operate in the low power range during most of the daytime. Then, a two-stage solar inverter topology, applying the proposed structure to the phase leg, is described. Further, a split phase controller is applied for the two-stage solar inverter, consisting of the maximum power point tracking control, optimized dc-link voltage control, and grid current control. Finally, a new dead-time elimination pulsewidth modulation strategy is proposed and conveniently implemented to each phase based on the split phase controller. Experimental results are illustrated to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed topology and controller.
Fitting ear contour using an ovoid model

Ear analysis is an emergent biometric application. The main advantages are the no requirement for subject contact and acquisition without demand. To recognize a subject's ear, we aim to extract a characteristic vector from a human ear image that may subsequently be used to identify or confirm the identity of the owner. Towards this end, a new technique, combining geodesic active contours and a new ovoid model, has been developed, which can be used to compare ears in an independent way of the ear location and size
Preparation and Characterization of Cationic Chitosan-modified Poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) Copolymer Nanospheres as DNA Carriers

Chitosan (CS)-modified poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA/CS) nanoparticles with cationic surface were prepared by means of emulsion—solvent evaporation technique using polyviny alcohol and chitosan as costabilizers. The preparation conditions of the cationic nanoparticles were optimized by orthogonal factorial design, and the influences of the experiment variables such as polymer concentration, the molecular weight of chitosan, etc., on the size and zeta potential of the nanoparticles were evaluated. It was shown that the diameter of the PLGA/CS nanoparticles can be controlled in the range of 150—200 nm as determined by dynamic light scattering with the optimized conditions. The zeta potential of PLGA/CS nanoparticles increased with increasing the concentration of CS (CCS) or decreasing the pH, it was up to 55 mV when CCS was 3mg/mL at pH 4 and inversed around pH 8. The optimization conditions for fabricating the relatively small diameter and high zeta potential cationic nanoparticles were CCS 3mg/mL, CPLGA 10 mg/mL, and the volume ratio of organic solution to aqueous medium 1/4. X-ray photo electron spectroscopy and fluorescence inverted microscope observations approved that CS molecules were adsorbed on the surface of PLGA nanoparticles, DNA-condensing ability of the PLGA/CS nanoparticles and cell transfection efficiency of the nanoparticle—DNA complexes were estimated by gel electrophoresis and transfection experiment to 293FT cell, respectively.
Performance Evaluation of a Combined Input- and Crosspoint-Queued Switch

This letter proposes a combined inputand crosspoint-queued (CIC) switch in which virtual output queuing (VOQ) is used at each input port. This CIC switch has a large buffer at each input port and a small buffer at each crosspoint. It does not require high-speed memory access or high-speed internal cell transmission lines. Since the performance of the CIC switch depends on the scheduling algorithms, we propose new scheduling algorithms for the CIC switch. Numerical results show that the mean cell delay time performance of the CIC switch using the proposed scheduling algorithms is better than that of an inputqueued ATM switch. In addition, the required buffer size for the CIC switch using the proposed scheduling algorithms is smaller than that for a crosspoint-queued ATM switch. key words: input-queued ATM switch, crosspoint-queued ATM
Chromogenic identification of oligonucleotide-directed mutants.

We describe a simple plaque color assay for identifying oligonucleotide-directed mutations in cloned DNA fragments. The basis of the method is to: fuse the sequence of interest in-frame to the E.coli lacZ gene to produce a blue plaque phage, mutate the site of interest to a stop codon to generate a white plaque phage, and revert the stop codon and surrounding nucleotides to give a blue plaque phage containing one or more desired amino acid changes. The advantages of this cyclic method are that it produces truncated as well as amino acid substituted protein molecules, it can be repeated to introduce additional mutations, and it eliminates the need for labor intensive screening. Essentially any piece of DNA can be mutated using this method if the fragment has one open reading frame. If there is an open reading frame between the site and the lacZ gene, ATG codons can be inserted at the target site. We have used this method to produce termination and amino acid substitution mutants in the yeast CUP1 gene.
Cerebral Astrocyte Response to Micromachined Silicon Implants

The treatment of neurologic disorders and the restoration of lost function due to trauma by neuroprosthetic devices has been pursued for over 20 years. The methodology for fabricating miniature devices with sophisticated electronic functions to interface with nervous system tissue is available, having been well established by the integrated circuit industry. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of these devices is severely limited by the tissue reaction to the insertion and continuous presence of the implant, a foreign object. This study was designed to document the response of reactive astrocytes in the hope that this information will be useful in specifying new fabrication technologies and devices capable of prolonged functioning in the brain. Model probes fabricated from single crystal silicon wafers were implanted into the cerebral cortices of rats. The probes had a 1 x 1-mm tab, for handling, and a 2-mm-long shaft with a trapezoidal cross-section (200-microm base, 60microm width at the top, and 130 microm height). The tissue response was studied by light and scanning electron microscopy at postinsertion times ranging from 2 to 12 weeks. A continuous sheath of cells was found to surround the insertion site in all tissue studied and was well developed but loosely organized at 2 weeks. By 6 and 12 weeks, the sheath was highly compacted and continuous, isolating the probe from the brain. At 2 and 4 weeks, the sheath was disrupted when the probe was removed from the fixed tissue, indicating that cells attached more strongly to the surface of the probe than to the nearby tissue. The later times showed much less disruption. Scanning electron microscopy of the probes showed adherent cells or cell fragments at all time points. Thus, as the sheath became compact, the cells on the probe and the cells in the sheath had decreased adhesion to each other. Immunocytochemistry demonstrated that the sheath was labeled with antibodies to glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), an indicator for reactive gliosis. The tissue surrounding the insertion site showed an increased number of GFAP-positive cells which tended to return to control levels as a function of time after probe insertion. It was concluded that reactive gliosis is an important part of the process forming the cellular sheath. Further, the continuous presence of the probe appears to result in a sustained response that produces and maintains a compact sheath, at least partially composed of reactive glia, which isolates the probe from the brain.
Treatment of Cervical Cancer

The rythmic cycles in which so many happenings in the universe occur, probably following a law of nature — the change from day to night, the tidal waves of the sea, the rythm of the seasons — can also be noted in medicine, not only in the variation of frequency and character of diseases, but also in the methods of fighting them. These cycles are distinctly recognizable in our methods of fighting cervical cancer. The present review intends only to describe the most important landmarks which led to the development of the different methods of treatment. I t claims by no means to give a complete list of all the authors who have worked successfully on that problem. The first attempts to treat cervical cancer by vaginal hysterectomy have shown very poor results. The history of the radical operation of cervical carcinoma begins 1878 with Dr. W. A. FREUND'S suggestion to perform laparotomy and if necessary to extirpate carcinomatous glands. Since that time laparotomy gained steady recognition although vaginal operation has been resorted to again and again by some gyne­ cologists. It was "WERTHEIM who in the first decade of this century performed his laparotomy for cervical cancer with extirpation of the glands syste­ matically in hundreds of cases. He succeeded in considerably improv­ ing the permanent salvage so that the Wertheim operation soon con­ quered the world, and the vaginal operation was abandoned. Indeed, WERTHEIM and the surgeons who followed his example obtained ab­ solute cures of 18—20 %. The relative cures amounted to about 40 %,
Post-Processing for Convolutive Blind Source Separation

Convolutive blind source separation (BSS) aims at separating point sources from mixtures picked up by several sensors. In real-world environments moving speakers, background noise and long reverberation are encountered which often degrade the performance of BSS algorithms. In such cases, the application of a post-filter can improve the output signal quality by suppression of residual cross-talk and of background noise. In this paper we propose a novel technique to estimate the necessary power spectral densities of the cross-talk components and present a robust system which allows to further suppress both, the remaining interference from point sources and the background noise. Experimental results show the benefit of this post-processing method in realistic environments
SIMPS: Using Sociology for Personal Mobility

Assessing mobility in a thorough fashion is a crucial step toward more efficient mobile network design. Recent research on mobility has focused on two main points: analyzing models and studying their impact on data transport. These works investigate the consequences of mobility. In this paper, instead, we focus on the causes of mobility. Starting from established research in sociology, we propose SIMPS, a mobility model of human crowds with pedestrian motion. This model defines a process called sociostation, rendered by two complimentary behaviors, namely socialize and isolate, that regulate an individual with regard to her/his own sociability level. SIMPS leads to results that agree with scaling laws observed both in small-scale and large-scale human motion. Although our model defines only two simple individual behaviors, we observe many emerging collective behaviors (group formation/splitting, path formation, and evolution).
Automated Alertness and Emotion Detection for Empathic Feedback during e-Learning

In the context of education technology, empathic interaction with the user and feedback by the learning system using multiple inputs such as video, voice and text inputs is an important area of research. In this paper, a non-intrusive, standalone model for intelligent assessment of alertness and emotional state as well as generation of appropriate feedback has been proposed. Using the non-intrusive visual cues, the system classifies emotion and alertness state of the user, and provides appropriate feedback according to the detected cognitive state using facial expressions, ocular parameters, postures, and gestures. Assessment of alertness level using ocular parameters such as PERCLOS and saccadic parameters, emotional state from facial expression analysis, and detection of both relevant cognitive and emotional states from upper body gestures and postures has been proposed. Integration of such a system in e-learning environment is expected to enhance students' performance through interaction, feedback, and positive mood induction.
Unique decomposition of a POLSAR coherency matrix using a generalized scattering model

We propose a new POLSAR model-based decomposition with a generalized scattering model. The generalized scattering model is built by adding the ellipticity angle with the particle cloud model. The model is flexible so that it represents surface scattering, double-bounce, volume scattering, and helix scattering. Moreover, a decomposition procedure to use the generalized model is proposed. First, the model parameters are determined so that the resultant model matrix can be subtracted from the observed coherency matrix as much as possible with keeping the residual matrix positive semidefinite. Next, the same operation is applied to the residual matrix with a new parameter set. By repeating this process, the residual matrix becomes null at last and the decomposed matrices perfectly fit the observed one. The decomposition results were compared to the results of the eigenvalue-based decomposition. Due to the orientation randomness, the proposed decomposition makes the interpretation straightforward and has a possibility of making the classification easy.
Information Fusion on Concurrent Computing Systems

Detecting and responding to critical states in the environment has become increasingly important in dealing with man-made and natural crises. The state of the extended environment includes data from geographically dispersed sites and of various forms—numerical, textual, visual. This data comes from multiple sources such as databases, news sources and Web services, and has varying degrees of accuracy. For some applications, responses in seconds are critical. Analyzing events with high occurrence rates and heterogeneous data in seconds requires high-performance systems. This paper explores algorithms for scheduling processors in shared-memory multiprocessors and in distributed computing grids to reduce response times for critical state detection. The collection of algorithms explored all have a common characteristic: events arriving on different streams are assumed to have (reasonably accurate) timestamps, and a collection of events with approximately the same timestamp is treated as a global snapshot—a valid state—of the environment. The algorithms use concepts, such as null messages, from distributed simulation to improve their efficiency. Quantitative performance results are presented.
Quantitative analysis of the expression of glycosylphosphatidylinositol‐anchored proteins during the maturation of different hematopoietic cell compartments of normal bone marrow

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol‐anchored proteins (GPI‐AP) are a heterogeneous group of proteins deficiently expressed in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria. Up till now, no study has been reported in which the exact patterns of expression of a large number of GPI‐AP are quantitatively evaluated in normal bone marrow (BM) cells classified according to their lineage and maturation stage.
Symbolic execution of program paths involving pointer structure variables

Many white-box testing methods are based on the analysis of program paths. For these methods, an important problem is to determine the feasibility of a given path, and find appropriate input data to execute the path if it is feasible. The symbolic execution of program paths is studied. An approach is presented, which translates a path involving pointer and structure variables to a path involving simple variables and array variables only. The later is then analyzed with constraint solving techniques. An implementation of the translation tool is described with some examples. Preliminary experimental results show that the approach is quite efficient and applicable to paths in typical programs.
Three Hours a Day: Understanding Current Teen Practices of Smartphone Application Use

Teens are using mobile devices for an increasing number of activities. Smartphones and a variety of mobile apps for communication, entertainment, and productivity have become an integral part of their lives. This mobile phone use has evolved rapidly as technology has changed and thus studies from even 2 or 3 years ago may not reflect new patterns and practices as smartphones have become more sophisticated. In order to understand current teen's practices around smartphone use, we conducted a two week, mixed-methods study with 14 diverse teens. Through voicemail diaries, interviews, and real world usage data from a logging application installed on their smartphones, we developed an understanding of the types of apps used by teens, when they use these apps, and their reasons for using specific apps in particular situations. We found that the teens in our study used their smartphones for an average of almost 3 hours per day and that two-thirds of all app use involved interacting with an average of almost 10 distinct communications applications. From our study data, we highlight key implications for the design of future mobile apps or services, specifically new social and communications-related applications that allow teens to maintain desired levels of privacy and permanence on the content that they share.
Steganalysis in the Presence of Watermarked Images

Watermarked images are increasingly prevalent in the internet. Hence, any practical steganalyzer has to take the presence of watermarked images into account, particularly as potential source of false alarms due to similar embedding algorithms. In this study, we investigate the impact of watermarked images on the performance of a standard steganalyzer using two recent watermarking schemes: JPEG Compression Resistance Watermarking (JCRW) in the DCT domain [1] and Controllable Secure Watermarking (CSW) [2] in the pixel domain. Our findings show that JCRW and CSW do interfere with steganalysis. In particular, CSW-watermarked images were mostly classified as stego images thus rendering the investigated steganalyzer useless because of the excessively high false alarm rate. We propose a two-step classifier to handle this problem which achieves the same performance as the original steganalyzer, but in the presence of watermarking.