Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of hepatocellular carcinoma risk based on peg-interferon plus ribavirin treatment experience in this new era of highly effective oral antiviral drugs

Abstract In this new era of highly effective oral antiviral drugs for chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV), indications for antiviral treatment may be extendable. This study undertaken to identify suitable candidates for peg-interferon plus ribavirin (PEG-IFN/RBV) treatment by evaluating hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk in patients with chronic HCV treated or not with PEG-IFN/RBV. This large-scale retrospective study was conducted on 1176 patients with chronic HCV without a history of HCC (treatment group [n = 489] and no-treatment group [n = 687]). In the treatment group, patients treated with PEG-IFN/RBV were dichotomized based on the achievement of sustained virologic response (SVR) into SVR (+) and SVR (−) groups. Median follow-up for all study subjects was 31 months (range 6–144 months). Three-year cumulative HCC development rates in the SVR (+) (1.1%) and SVR (−) (8.6%) subgroups were significantly lower than in the no-treatment group (13.5%) (P < 0.01 and P < 0.01, respectively). In all study subjects, presence of cirrhosis (hazard ratio [HR], 9.92, P < 0.01), age (HR 1.03, P < 0.01), SVR (−) (HR 7.02, P < 0.01), and no-treatment (HR 6.76, P < 0.01) were found to be independent risk factors of HCC development. In the treatment group, age, the presence of cirrhosis, and SVR (−) were predictors of HCC development. In the no-treatment group, age, male, and the presence of cirrhosis were independent predictors for HCC development. HCC risk increased in patients with chronic HCV with older age, cirrhosis, SVR (−) after PEG-IFN/RBV treatment, and no PEG-IFN/RBV treatment. Active antiviral therapy based on highly effective oral drugs needs to be considered in these patients.
Exploring the effect of permission notice on users' initial trust to an application store: The case of China's Android application market

Privacy invasion via mobile applications is a big issue in the mobile age. This study focuses on China's Android market where a few application stores are available to adopt applications. Recognizing that these stores vary in presenting permission notice, this study examines the effect of two features of a permission notice, i.e., permission sensitivity and permission explanation, on Android users' privacy-related perceptions. Results of our scenario-based study suggest that while the disclosure of highly sensitive permissions increases users' privacy concerns to an application, it also boosts users' initial trust to an unfamiliar application store. Moreover, users' trust to the application store is a necessary condition for the efficiency of permission explanation to reduce users' privacy concerns. In addition to enhancing our theoretical understanding of the role of initial trust in Chinese Android users' elaboration of permission notice, these findings have important implications for both China's application stores and application developers.
Representation of Muscle Synergies in the Primate Brain

Evidence suggests that the CNS uses motor primitives to simplify movement control, but whether it actually stores primitives instead of computing solutions on the fly to satisfy task demands is a controversial and still-unanswered possibility. Also in contention is whether these primitives take the form of time-invariant muscle coactivations (“spatial” synergies) or time-varying muscle commands (“spatiotemporal” synergies). Here, we examined forelimb muscle patterns and motor cortical spiking data in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) handling objects of variable shape and size. From these data, we extracted both spatiotemporal and spatial synergies using non-negative decomposition. Each spatiotemporal synergy represents a sequence of muscular or neural activations that appeared to recur frequently during the animals' behavior. Key features of the spatiotemporal synergies (including their dimensionality, timing, and amplitude modulation) were independently observed in the muscular and neural data. In addition, both at the muscular and neural levels, these spatiotemporal synergies could be readily reconstructed as sequential activations of spatial synergies (a subset of those extracted independently from the task data), suggestive of a hierarchical relationship between the two levels of synergies. The possibility that motor cortex may execute even complex skill using spatiotemporal synergies has novel implications for the design of neuroprosthetic devices, which could gain computational efficiency by adopting the discrete and low-dimensional control that these primitives imply. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We studied the motor cortical and forearm muscular activity of rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) as they reached, grasped, and carried objects of varied shape and size. We applied non-negative matrix factorization separately to the cortical and muscular data to reduce their dimensionality to a smaller set of time-varying “spatiotemporal” synergies. Each synergy represents a sequence of cortical or muscular activity that recurred frequently during the animals' behavior. Salient features of the synergies (including their dimensionality, timing, and amplitude modulation) were observed at both the cortical and muscular levels. The possibility that the brain may execute even complex behaviors using spatiotemporal synergies has implications for neuroprosthetic algorithm design, which could become more computationally efficient by adopting the discrete and low-dimensional control that they afford.
Enhance Privacy Preserving In Location Based

Location Based Services (LBSs) have recently attracted much attention due to the advancementof GPS facilitates. In LBS, the private and confidential information of user may disclose to others since LBS need a user’s location. To protect the privacy of users, many cloaking algorithms have been proposed to hide user’s actual location. Here to improve the cloaking algorithm performance and location privacy.A fundamental approach to perform the class of kNearest Neighbor (k-NN) queries, the core class of queries used in many of the location-based services, without revealing the origin of the query in order to preserve the privacy of this information. The idea behind our approach is to utilize oneway transformations to map the space of all static and dynamic objects to another space and resolve the query blindly in the transformed space. However, in order to become a viable approach, the transformation used should be able to resolve k-NN queries in the transformed space accurately and more importantly prevent malicious use of transformed data by untrusted entities. Traditional encryption based techniques incur expensive O(n) computation cost (where n is the total number of points in space) and possibly logarithmic communication cost for resolving a K-NN[1] query. This is because such approaches treat points as vectors in space and do not exploit their spatial properties. In contrast, we use Hilbert curves as efficient one-way transformations and design algorithms to evaluate a K-NN query in the Hilbert transformed space. Consequently, we reduce the complexity of computing a K-NN query to and transferring the results to the client in O(K), respectively, where N, the Hilbert curve degree, is a small constant. Our results show that we very closely approximate the result set generated from performing KNN queries in the original space while enforcing our new location privacy metrics termed u-anonymity and a-anonymity, which are stronger and more generalized privacy measures than the commonly used K-anonymity and cloaked region size measures. AS a result, the security level of the proposed protocol is close to perfect secrecy without the aid of a trusted third party and simulation results show that the kNN query accuracy rate of the proposed protocol is higher than 92% even when is large.
The association between basic need satisfaction in relationship and personal growth among lesbian and heterosexual mothers

The study examined the association between basic need satisfaction in the couple relationship (basic need satisfaction in the relationship [BNSR]) and personal growth (PG), using a sample of 57 lesbian mothers individually matched with 57 heterosexual mothers. BNSR was found to correlate positively with growth only among lesbian mothers, while no significant association was found among heterosexual mothers. The findings are explained in terms of the particular characteristics of lesbian couples, such as high emotional support, equal division of labor, and absence of traditional gender roles. The potential contribution of these features to PG in the context of lesbian motherhood, which is planned, intentional, and often achieved after contending with minority stress and challenging life circumstances, is discussed.
Proteomic Analysis of Immature Fraxinus mandshurica Cotyledon Tissues during Somatic Embryogenesis: Effects of Explant Browning on Somatic Embryogenesis

Manchurian ash (Fraxinus mandshurica Rupr.) is a valuable hardwood species in Northeast China. In cultures of F. mandshurica, somatic embryos were produced mainly on browned explants. Therefore, we studied the mechanism of explant browning and its relationship with somatic embryogenesis (SE). We used explants derived from F. mandshurica immature zygotic embryo cotyledons as materials. Proteins were extracted from browned embryogenic explants, browned non-embryogenic explants, and non-brown explants, and then separated by 2-dimensional electrophoresis. Differentially and specifically expressed proteins were analyzed by mass spectrometry to identify proteins involved in the browning of explants and SE. Some stress response and defense proteins such as chitinases, peroxidases, aspartic proteinases, and an osmotin-like protein played important roles during SE of F. mandshurica. Our results indicated that explant browning might not be caused by the accumulation and oxidation of polyphenols only, but also by some stress-related processes, which were involved in programmed cell death (PCD), and then induced SE.
Theory of Quasi-Universal Ratio of Seebeck Coefficient to Specific Heat in Zero-Temperature Limit in Correlated Metals(Condensed Matter: Electronic Structure, Electrical, Magnetic and Optical Properties)

It is shown that the quasi-universal ratio q =lim T →0 e S / C ∼±1 of the Seebeck coefficient to the specific heat in the limit of T =0 observed in a series of strongly correlated metals can be understood on the basis of the Fermi liquid theory description. In deriving this result, it is crucial that a relevant scattering arises from impurities, but not from the mutual scattering of quasiparticles. The systematics of the sign of q is shown to reflect the sign of the logarithmic derivative of the density of states and the inverse mass tensor of the quasiparticles, explaining the systematics of experiments. In particular, the positive sign of q for Ce-based and f 3 -based heavy fermions, and the negative sign for Yb-based and f 2 -based heavy fermions, are explained. The case of non-Fermi liquid near the quantum critical point (QCP) is briefly mentioned, showing that the ratio q decreases considerably toward antiferromagnetic QCP while it remains essentially unchanged for the ferromagnetic QCP or QCP due to.
LabelPatterns.org: A comprehensive pattern library for consumer-decision labels

Consumer-decision labels are relatively small panels of information, placed where consumers make decisions, that help those consumers make informed choices and, at times, motivate desired behaviors. They provide information about environmental impact/sustainability, nutrition, health, safety, the quality and suitability of consumer goods, and other domains. Design patterns are expanded guidelines that follow a problem-solution structure, provide more context than standard guidelines, and are supported when possible by citations to relevant research and professional literature. Pattern libraries are sets of coordinated patterns that strive to comprehensively support the design process in a particular domain. Pattern libraries have proven successful and are now used in such domains as urban planning, object-oriented programming, software user interface design, and web design. LabelPatterns.org is a newly launched website currently hosting over 75 design patterns that support the design of consumer-decision labels. It also offers other kinds of information about these labels and related messaging. The patterns and the website were begun as student projects in the Department of Human Centered Design & Engineering at the University of Washington, USA. It is now being managed and expanded by a volunteer project team.
Analysis of 3-level inverter scheme with DC-link voltage balancing using LS-PWM & SVM techniques

Multilevel converters in FACTS and distributed generation system are very promising area for academic researchers and industry interest. Here two different modulation schemes of 3-level Neutral point clamped inverter are proposed and presented. The inherent neutral point potential unbalance issues and balancing methods for LS-PWM and SVM techniques are analyzed in detail. Total Harmonic Distortion in output voltage and current is used as the performance indicator for the inverter. It can be concluded that LS-PWM has higher harmonic distortions and high losses when compared to SVM. SVM technique also is excellent in DC bus voltage balancing. The experimental results for a 1.5kW prototype validate the simulation and theoretical results.
Reconstructing 3D human poses from monocular image

This project aims to reconstruct 3D human poses from a small number of 2D points obtained from a calibrated monocular image. With homography transformation and camera calibration, we can limit the solution space and then use some human pose constraints to choose the best possible solution. We believe that this methodology will be effective for our future works on musculoskeletal disorder assessment from 3D poses of patients walking or running on a treadmill.
Code choice between L1 and the target language in English learning and teaching: a case study of Japanese EFL classrooms

Abstract The use of English as a medium of instruction (teaching in English) as well as a subject (teaching English) has recently been promoted as a part of Japan’s language education policy. However, there is still a need to examine how the first language and target language function together to construct classroom interaction. This article investigates the practice and function of code choice and code alternation in English language classrooms. The way in which teachers and students actually choose the codes according to context are examined. The data were recorded in English classes at a public junior high school and a private junior high school (lower secondary school) in Japan. These data are analyzed from the perspective of classroom discourse analysis. Two types of code choice are considered, one depending on sociocultural factors and the other based on encouragement of target language use. The study suggests that code choice fulfills three pedagogical functions: (1) support to compensate for a learner’s lack of ability in the target language, (2) setting up communicative activities in the target language, and (3) transmission of sociocultural knowledge to learners.
Differences in acculturation-based family conflict: a latent profile analysis of Latino adolescent and mother cultural value endorsement

Previous theory suggests that Latino adolescents and their mothers acculturate to the United States culture at different rates, leading to gaps in acculturation that may result in family conflict and youth maladjustment (Szapocznik & Kurtines, 1993). Because acculturation is a multi-faceted construct that includes identity, cultural value endorsement, and engagement in culturally-influenced behaviors (Schwartz, Unger, Zamboanga & Szapocznik, 2010), it is critical to identify the gaps in specific aspects of acculturation that are most detrimental for youth and family outcomes, such as cultural value gaps. The current study identified profiles of adolescent/mother dyads based on mean reports of cultural value endorsement across seven cultural values to determine patterns of cultural value endorsement across dyads and cultural value gaps within dyads. The sample included 174 Latino youth (51.4% female) and their mothers recruited from two middle schools in rural North Carolina. Results indicate that there are four profiles of adolescent-mother cultural value endorsement that result in patterns of cultural value gaps within dyads. Adolescent reports of acculturation-based family conflict differed across profiles such that the profile with adolescents who reported above average endorsement of the traditional gender role value and the U.S. mainstream values as compared to their mothers reported significantly more acculturation-based family conflict than adolescents in other profiles. The implication of this finding is discussed.
Trade and Income Distribution in Developing Countries

This study examines the relationship between trade policy and income distribution on a cross-section of developing countries. The evidence suggests that the impact of openness on income distribution depends on the endowments of human capital. Basic education was found to be the key human capital variable determining export composition. Countries relatively well endowed with basic education tend to have higher shares of manufacturing exports and experience lower income inequality than countries with high shares of primary exports. These findings suggest that trade policies promoting manufactures should be based on expanding basic education to have the necessary poverty and inequality reducing effects.
On why discs generate magnetic towers and collimate jets

We show that accretion discs with magnetic fields in them ought to make jets provided that their electrical conductivity prevents slippage and there is an ambient pressure in their surroundings. We study equilibria of highly wound magnetic structures. General Energy theorems demonstrate that they form tall magnetic towers, the height of which grows with every turn at a velocity related to the circular velocity in the accretion disc. The pinch effect amplifies the magnetic pressures toward the axis of the towers, the stability of which is briefly considered. We give solutions for all twist profiles Φ(P) = Ω(P)t and for any external pressure distribution p(z). The force-free currents are given by j = α(P)B and we show that the constant pressure case gives α P - 1 /2 which leads to analytic solutions for the fields.
The Permission Delegation Mechanism for P2P Network

Peer-to-peer model is more and more popular in distributed computing. We present a permission delegation mechanism in this paper. This mechanism consists of three protocols, i.e. agency discovering protocol, permission delegating protocol and resource access protocol. Firstly, the task initiator, PEER_T, decomposes the task into several subtasks and manages to choose several peers from all his neighbors in high trust degree with satisfied abilities to accomplish these subtasks. We call these neighbors as task agents, PEER_A. Then, PEER_T temporarily transfers all or part of rights to PEER_As based on credit certificate, Ct, and delegation certificate, Cd. Finally, the resource access protocol defines the rules by which PEER_A followed while consuming the resources of PEER_R. These protocols are modeled in colored Petri-net, and simulated with CPN Tools.
TPCC: Proxy Based Trusted Pre Cluster Count in Unlabelled Data Sets

-The selection of the number of clusters is an important and challenging issue in cluster analysis. A number of attempts have been made to estimate the number of clusters in a given data set. Most methods are post clustering measures of cluster validity i.e. they attempt to choose the best partition from a set of alternative partitions. In contrast, tendency assessment attempts to estimate the number of clusters before clustering occurs. In this paper, we investigate a new method called Trusted Precluster Count ( TPCC ) algorithm for automatically estimating the number of clusters in unlabeled data sets, which is based on an existing algorithm Dark Block Extraction ( DBE ) of a data set, using several common image and signal processing techniques. Our focus is preclustering tendency assessment. But for completeness we briefly summarize some existing approaches to the post clustering cluster validity problem, before describing visual methods for cluster tendency assessment.
The effects of progressive functional training on lower limb muscle architecture and motor function in children with spastic cerebral palsy

[Purpose] To investigate the effects of progressive functional training on lower limb muscle architecture and motor function of children with spastic cerebral palsy (CP). [Subjects] The subjects of this study were 26 children with spastic CP. [Methods] Thirteen subjects in the experimental group performed general neurodevelopmental treatment (NDT) and additional progressive functional trainings and 13 subjects in the control group performed only general NDT 3 times a week for 6 weeks. Ultrasonography, gross motor function measurement (GMFM) and the mobility questionnaire (MobQue) were evaluated. [Results] After the intervention, the muscle thickness of the quadriceps femoris (QF), cross-sectional area of the rectus femoris (RF), pennation angle of the gastrocnemius (GCM) and the MobQue score of the experimental group were significantly greater than those of the control group. The muscle thickness of QF correlated with the cross-sectional area (CSA) of RF and the pennation angle of GCM, and GMFM score correlated with the pennation angle of GCM. [Conclusion] Progressive functional training can increase muscle thickness, CSA, and the pennation angle of the lower limb muscles, and improve the mobility of spastic CP children making it useful as a practical adjunct to rehabilitation therapy.
Solitary Skin Metastasis of Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma

A solitary skin metastasis is a rare manifestation of papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). A 55-year-old woman presented with a movable subcutaneous nodule in her anterior neck for several months. Three years ago, she underwent total thyroidectomy and remnant ablation for classical PTC (pT3N0M0) and was under thyroxine suppression therapy without any evidence of recurrent disease. The subcutaneous nodule was 0.4 cm in size, firm, and movable without any change in the overlying skin. Recurrent PTC was confirmed after excision biopsy. Eight months after, she got a new nodule along the previous excision site. After punch biopsy, metastatic PTC was confirmed in the deep dermis and was re-excised with a clear resection margin. This is the first report of a case of solitary skin metastasis of PTC in Korea. Although solitary skin metastasis of PTC is rare, it should be considered in patients with a skin nodule.