Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nomogram Models for Predicting Risk and Prognosis of Newly Diagnosed Ovarian Cancer Patients with Liver Metastases - A Large Population-Based Real-World Study

Background: Previous studies about liver metastases (LM) in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer (NDOC) patients based on Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program disregarded selection bias of missing data. Methods: We identified Data of NDOC patients from SEER between 2010 and 2016, presented a comprehensive description of this dataset, and limited possible biases due to missing data by applying multiple imputation (MI). We determined predictive factors for underlying LM development in NDOC patients and evaluated prognostic factors in NDOC patients with LM (OCLM). We then established predictive nomograms, assessed by the concordance index, calibration curve, decision curve analysis (DCA), and clinical impact curves (CIC). Results: The amount of missing data for different variables in SEER dataset ranges from 0 to 36.11%. The results between complete dataset and MI datasets are similar. LM prevalence in NDOC patients was 7.18%, and median overall survival for OCLM patients was 11 months. The C-index of risk nomogram for LM development in the training cohort (TC) and validation cohort (VC) were 0.764 and 0.759, respectively. The C-index and integrated area under curve within five years of prognostic nomogram for OCLM patients in the TC and VC were 0.743 and 0.773, 0.714 and 0.733, respectively. For both nomograms, DCA revealed favorable clinical use and calibration curves suggested good consistency. Conclusion: The risk nomogram is expected to aid clinicians in identifying high-risk groups of LM development in NDOC patients for intensive screening. The prognostic nomogram could facilitate individualized prediction and stratification for clinical trials in OCLM patients.
Managing HIV-infected children in a low-resource, public clinic: a comparison of nurse vs. clinical officer practices in ART refill, calculation of adherence and subsequent appointments

In Malawi, as in other sub‐Saharan African countries, nurses manage patients of all ages on antiretroviral treatment (ART). Nurse management of children is rarely studied. We compare ART prescribing between nurses and clinical officers during routine clinic visits at an urban, public clinic to inform policy in paediatric ART management.
The use of Biweight Mid Correlation to improve graph based portfolio construction

An analysis of the correlation between the returns of different securities is of fundamental importance in many areas of finance, such as portfolio optimisation. The most commonly used measure of correlation is the Pearson correlation coefficient; however, this suffers from several problems when applied to data from the real world. We propose an alternative estimator — the Biweight Mid Correlation (Bicor) — as a more robust measure for capturing the relationship between returns. We systematically evaluate Bicor empirically using data from the FTSE 100 constituents, and show that it is more robust when compared with the Pearson correlation coefficient. Finally, we demonstrate that Bicor can be used to improve a graph-based method of portfolio construction. Specifically, we show that when treating the correlation matrix as an adjacency matrix for a graph and using graph centrality to construct portfolios, the use of Bicor leads to better performing portfolios.
A Study of the Integrated Automated Emotion Music with the Motion Gesture Synthesis via ZigBee Wireless Communication

Automated music composition and algorithmic composition are based on the logic operation with music parameters being set according to the desired music style or emotion. The computer generative music can be integrated with other domains using proper mapping techniques, such as the intermedia arts with music technology. This paper mainly discusses the possibility of integrating both automatic composition and motion devices with an Emotional Identification System (EIS) using the emotion classification and parameters through wireless communication ZigBee. The correspondent music pattern and motion path can be driven simultaneously via the cursor movement of the Emotion Map (EM) varying with time. An interactive music-motion platform is established accordingly.
A 4th order CMOS 65nm wideband low power analog filter for wireless receivers

A 4th-order continuous-time band-pass filter for wireless receivers is here presented. The filter is composed by the cascade of two active RC cells. The overall pass-band (32dB) gain is distributed for each cell in order to minimize the power consumption. The operating point issues due to the low VDD/VTH ratio - a value of 2 is typical in CMOS 65nm technologies and down - have been solved by adding a proper bias circuit to the filter. The f@-3dB deviation due to the technological spread, aging and temperature in active RC circuits is adjusted by using variable capacitor with 4 bits of resolution. The device in 65nm CMOS technology consumes 1.3mW from a single 1.2V supply voltage, features −10dBm-IIP3 and 1.6mVrms output integrated noise over the pass-band − 300kHz÷8MHz.
Leishmania and other intracellular pathogens: selectivity, drug distribution and PK–PD

SUMMARY New drugs and treatments for diseases caused by intracellular pathogens, such as leishmaniasis and the Leishmania species, have proved to be some of the most difficult to discover and develop. The focus of discovery research has been on the identification of potent and selective compounds that inhibit target enzymes (or other essential molecules) or are active against the causative pathogen in phenotypic in vitro assays. Although these discovery paradigms remain an essential part of the early stages of the drug R & D pathway, over the past two decades additional emphasis has been given to the challenges needed to ensure that the potential anti-infective drugs distribute to infected tissues, reach the target pathogen within the host cell and exert the appropriate pharmacodynamic effect at these sites. This review will focus on how these challenges are being met in relation to Leishmania and the leishmaniases with lessons learned from drug R & D for other intracellular pathogens.
The Locally Weighted Bag of Words Framework for Document Representation

The popular bag of words assumption represents a document as a histogram of word occurrences. While computationally efficient, such a representation is unable to maintain any sequential information. We present an effective sequential document representation that goes beyond the bag of words representation and its n-gram extensions. This representation uses local smoothing to embed documents as smooth curves in the multinomial simplex thereby preserving valuable sequential information. In contrast to bag of words or n-grams, the new representation is able to robustly capture medium and long range sequential trends in the document. We discuss the representation and its geometric properties and demonstrate its applicability for various text processing tasks.
Risk, Ritual and Performance

Performance approaches to the interpretation of ritual highlight process, presence, strategy and uniqueness. They are often favourably contrasted to textual approaches said to emphasize meaning, structure and stability. However, this sharp distinction can be maintained only by ignoring the notion of inscription, which is central to text. Inscription is a political process which involves risk, strategy and struggle. Moreover, commonly performance approaches neglect questions of risk in ritual action. Ritual is often seen as suppressing risk, but many rituals are events involving high risk. This article considers various Balinese rituals in which risk is a prominent feature, and suggests ways in which a focus on risk may aid our understanding of ritual. One reason the metaphor of 'performance' has been popular in the analysis of ritual is the concern that textual approaches insufficiently appreciate the importance of a ritual's occasion. Text is considered inferior to metaphors of dialogue and of performance, the latter advanced to compensate for the apparent failings of the former. ' Metaphors of text tend to construe ritual as an almost automatic acting out of rules based on an underlying cultural logic. This turns ritual action into symbolic action, and analysis becomes the disclosing of the meaning embedded in the symbols. For various reasons performance theorists argue that rituals involve more than this. Officiants and participants always bring their own competencies, reputations and interests to a ceremony, so that the ritual becomes a specific performance rather than an exercise in repetition, and what is important about it is what the personnel make of their opportunities. Consequently, textual metaphors, with their emphasis on meaning, displace the doing, the performative dimension of the action. Ritual action, however, works not only on the level of meaning but also emotionally and socially, the events of any particular occasion being conditioned by many factors other than the prescribed rules. Despite a growing consensus about the merits of the notion of performance, I think that it pays inadequate attention to elements of risk that inevitably accompany performances. I shall also argue that the criticism of text is problematical. This article, therefore, has three aims: to make a case for the continuing significance of text; to trace some of the relations between text and performance; to comment on the neglected aspect of risk. The ethnography concentrates on various Balinese ritual performances in which risk figures prominently.
From natural product-inspired pyrrolidine scaffolds to the development of new human Golgi α-mannosidase II inhibitors.

Natural products are an important source of inspiration in drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, and chemical biology. An ongoing challenge, however, is the efficient preparation of natural product-based molecules that incorporate a large number of stereogenic centers. Difficult stereoselective reactions and tedious separation processes are frequently required. Many polyhydroxylated pyrrolidines and their derivatives, which bear identical functional groups of different spatial configurations, are known to exhibit a variety of different biological properties and inhibitory activities against various glycoprocessing enzymes, which are involved in diseases such as diabetes and cancer, viral infections, and lysosomal storage disorders. Because of their broad-spectrum biological activities, this type of molecules can be considered a privileged scaffold. For example, synthetic ADMDP (aminodeoxy-DMDP) with the configuration pattern of (2R,3R,4R,5R), inspired from naturally occurring DMDP (2,5-dideoxy-2,5-imino-d-mannitol) or DAB (1,4-dideoxy1,4-imino-d-arabinitol), was successfully synthesized by us and others, and its derivatives have been extensively applied as potent b-hexosaminidase and a-glucosidase inhibitors. The C-2 aminomethyl moiety of the pyrrolidine ring can be considered a diversity position to which various functional moieties or substituents can be conjugated, which has the potential to improve inhibitory potency and selectivity. According to general mechanisms of enzymatic glycoside hydrolysis and transglycosylation, the pyrrolidine skeleton might mimic the sp-like hybridization of the glycosyl unit; and the protonated N1-nitrogen can mimic the charge distribution at the anomeric position. However, the corresponding relationships between the stereo-configurations of multiple hydroxy groups of pyrrolidine iminosugars and pyranose-based glycans have yet to be comprehensively established. Obviously, a systematic correlation study is limited by difficulties associated with acquiring and modifying all possible polyhydroxylated pyrrolidines. Indeed, two interesting questions can be posed: 1) Can all sixteen stereoisomeric ADMDP-based scaffolds with four stereogenic centers (Figure 1) be prepared? and 2) How can we apply this unique set of scaffolds as a powerful tool to efficiently answer questions of biological relevance?
Safety in numbers? Teacher collegiality in the risk-conscious school

Teacher collegiality comes with the friendliest of epithets. This is the case despite the widely disseminated concerns of Andy Hargreaves (1994) about the pernicious effects of what he calls â€˜contrived collegialityâ€™, and the warnings of Milbury McLaughlin (1993) that more apparent collegiality does not automatically translate into more effective teaching practice. The driving logic of contemporary discussions of teacher culture, in general, still appears to be that teacher collegiality is an essential ingredient of any school that claims to be an â€˜emotionally healthy workplaceâ€™ (Jarzabkowski 2001, p 4). It is, ipso facto, a good thing. In this paper, we cautiously attempt to write against the grain of this prevailing moral-ethical tale about teacher collegiality, at the same time working to undo the binary formulation of â€˜positiveâ€™ as distinct from â€˜negativeâ€™ collegiality that Andy Hargreaves finds useful.
Augmentation of a term/document matrix with part-of-speech tags to improve accuracy of latent semantic analysis

We consider the improvement in accuracy of latent semantic analysis when a part of speech tagger is used to augment a term/document matrix. We first construct an augmented term/document matrix as input into singular value decomposition (SVD). The singular values then serve as principal components for a cosine projection. The results show that the addition of POS tags can decrease ambiguities significantly.
Developing an Information Provision Strategy for University Libraries in Ghana

This study explores the notion of organisational missions and goals held by the major stakeholders in university libraries in Ghana and assesses these visions for the libraries in relation to the development of a strategic planning process for the libraries. Multiple case studies were used to collect the data and the data were analysed using the multiple case study approach. The primary findings are that the major stakeholders in Ghanaian university libraries have different perceptions of the missions of their libraries. Two main perceptions emerged. The non-library stakeholders preferred a narrower mission for the libraries focused more on the needs of their institutions and emphasising collection development as the method of attaining excellence. The library stakeholders expressed a much broader mission defined in the context of national information provision, emphasising information access while at the same time balancing it with collection development. This multiplicity of strategic visions was found to be the subject of disagreement between decision-makers and the rest of the library staff. The study concludes with some ideas on how to address this situation.
An exploratory study of religious involvement as a moderator between anxiety, depressive symptoms and quality of life outcomes of older adults.

AIMS The aims of this study were to examine the relationships among religion, religious involvement, anxiety, depressive symptoms and quality of life in older adults with psychological problems and whether religious involvement moderated anxiety and depressive symptoms on the outcome of quality of life. Evidence for the mechanism through which religious involvement exerts its moderated effect on anxiety and depressive symptoms was provided. BACKGROUND Older adults suffering from stress may consequently have anxiety or depressive symptoms and their quality of life is also influenced. The meanings of religious involvement are well documented but less is known about moderating characteristics that determine which older adults with psychological problems are most likely to benefit. DESIGN A correlational, cross-sectional study. METHODS The study was conducted in 2007-2008 with a purposive sample of 115 older adults who were 60 years of age or older at a psychiatric centre in Taiwan. Three reliable and valid questionnaires and a demographic sheet were administered. RESULTS Approximately 75% of older adults had mild to severe anxiety; 76·5% had depressive symptoms; and 67·8% of participants who had depressive symptoms also had comorbid anxiety. Findings indicated that there was a significant moderating effect for religious involvement on the quality of life outcome. Religious involvement significantly moderated anxiety and depressive symptoms on quality of life. Moreover, religious participants had a better quality of life and had lower anxiety and depressive symptoms than non-religious participants. CONCLUSION Testing for moderating effects provides important information regarding the benefits of religious involvement. The current study reveals that religious participants have lower levels of depressive symptoms and anxiety and better quality of life than non-religious ones. Religious involvement plays a role in buffering the relationship between psychological problems and quality of life. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Nurses can encourage individuals with health problems to participate in religious involvement, which may help individuals to experience a feeling of support and enhance their quality of life.
Diaphragm muscle sarcopenia in Fischer 344 and Brown Norway rats

What is the central question of this study? Several rat models are commonly used to study the physiology of ageing (e.g. Fischer 344 and Brown Norway rats are recommended by the USA National Institute of Ageing). Diaphragm muscle sarcopenia (ageing‐related muscle weakness and atrophy) remains incompletely described in these rat models. What is the main finding and its importance? Diaphragm muscle sarcopenia is present in both the Fischer 344 and Brown Norway rat strains, but appears more pronounced in Fischer 344 rats.
The Talking Books Project: Some Further Insights into the Use of Talking Books to Develop Reading

This article reports the continuation of some work already described in this journal in which the potential of electronic books for supporting reading was investigated. Jane Medwell’s conclusions suggest that this particular medium has a great deal of potential use in developing young children’s reading but also that the effects of different kinds of texts are different. As information and communications technology embeds itself into teaching practice there is a great deal to learn about its most effective use and Jane Medwell’s work offers a number of ways forward.
A Three-Dimensional Shape-Based Force and Stiffness-Sensing Platform for Tendon-Driven Catheters

This paper presents an efficient shape-based three-axial force and stiffness estimator for active catheters commonly implemented in cardiac ablation. The force-sensing capability provides important feedback for catheterization procedures including real-time control and catheter steering in autonomous navigation systems. The proposed platform is based on the introduced accurate and computationally efficient Cosserat rod model for tendon-driven catheters. The proposed nonlinear Kalman filter formulation for contact force estimation along with the developed catheter model provides a real-time force observer robust to nonlinearities and noise covariance uncertainties. Furthermore, the proposed platform enables stiffness estimation in addition to tip contact force sensing in different operational circumstances. The approach incorporates pose measurements which can be achieved using currently developed pose-sensing systems or imaging techniques. The method makes the approach compatible with the range of forces applied in clinical applications. The simulation and experimental results verify the viability of the introduced force and stiffness-sensing technique.
Preparation for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification as Music Teacher Professional Development

The National Board for Professional Teacher Standards (NBPTS) is the national organization that sets standards for advanced teaching excellence and assesses teachers who apply for this advanced certification. This review considers the relevant research on the potential of NBPTS certification as professional development for music teachers. The year-long certification process for music teachers is briefly explained. A discussion of literature outside of music is followed by information on music teachers and the NBPTS process.
Advances in the biometric recognition methods: a survey on iris and fingerprint recognition

Human recognition based on biometrics finds many important applications in many life sectors and in particular in commercial and law enforcement. This paper aims to give a general overview of the advances in the biometric recognition methods. We concentrate on main methods and accessible ideas presented for human recognition systems based on two types of biometrics: iris and fingerprint. We present a quick overview of the landmark papers that laid the foundation in each track then we present the latest updates and important turns and solutions that developed in each track in the last few years.
A Psychosocial Study on Restricted Interests in High Functioning Persons with Pervasive Developmental Disorders

To explore how restricted interests are perceived by individuals with pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs) and their relatives, 18 in-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with six high-functioning individuals with PDD, their parents and/or siblings. Results revealed that restricted interests play a significant role in the person’s life that is acknowledged by most of their relatives. They provide a sense of well-being, a positive way of occupying one’s time, a source of personal validation, and an incentive for personal growth. However, these positive dimensions are counterbalanced by their negative consequences. Following the demands and the support from their environment, the participants in the study reported to have involved themselves in an active process to adapt, reduce or diversify their restricted interests. These findings on transformation of restricted interests under development and social pressure may have theoretical (for cognitive models of autism) and clinical consequences (in their use for rehabilitation).
Genetic control of yeast mannan structure. Biochemical basis for the transformation of saccharomyces cerevisiae somatic antigen.

Abstract Analysis of Saccharomyces cerevisiae X2180 phosphomannan, with a mannose to phosphate ratio of 38, has shown that it contains phosphorylated side chains with the structure [see PDF for equation] This unit apparently arises in the mannan by the addition of α(1→3)-linked mannose units to existing mannosylphosphorylmannotriose side chains from the action of an α(1→3)mannosyltransferase. It is postulated that the immunochemical difference between S. cerevisiae X2180 and strain 4484-24D (Antalis, C., Fogel, S., and Ballou, C. E. (1973) J. Biol. Chem. 248, 4655–4659) results from the presence or absence of this single enzyme. In its absence, the mannosylphosphate groups that are added to mannotriose side chains through the action of a mannosylphosphate transferase act as characteristic antigenic determinants in the 4484-24D mannan. However, in strain X2180, or in the hybrid diploid obtained by a cross of X2180 with 4484-24D, these mannosylphosphate groups are converted to α(1→3)-mannobiosylphosphate groups. In the resulting mannan, the various terminal α(1→3)-linked mannobiose units confer on the molecule a new immunological specificity.
Spatial Associations in Numerical Cognition—From Single Digits to Arithmetic

The literature on spatial associations during number processing is dominated by the SNARC (spatial–numerical association of response codes) effect. We describe spatial biases found for single digits and pairs of numbers, first in the “original” speeded parity task and then extending the scope to encompass different tasks, a range of measures, and various populations. Then we review theoretical accounts before surveying the emerging evidence for similar spatial associations during mental arithmetic. We conclude that the mental number line hypothesis and an embodied approach are useful frameworks for further studies.