Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An attribute weighted fuzzy c-means algorithm for incomplete data sets

In many areas, including natural science and engineering technology, data sets are often plagued by the unavoidable problem of data incompleteness. Therefore, the problem of clustering incomplete data sets has become one of the research focuses in the field of pattern recognition, however, the existing algorithms that cluster incomplete data generally assume that each attribute plays a uniform contribution. To overcome this disadvantage, an attribute weighted fuzzy c-means algorithm for incomplete data clustering is proposed in this paper, in which the important degree of each attribute are viewed as additional variables and optimized during clustering. And attribute weights, missing attribute values and clustering results can be obtained simultaneously. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can emphasize the important attributes in clustering, and better clustering results can be obtained.
Safe implementation of thrombolysis in stroke‐monitoring study in Italy

Background and purpose: The safe implementation of thrombolysis in stroke‐monitoring (SITS‐MOST) study was an unique opportunity to test in Italy, where only few centres were expert in thrombolytic treatment before, safety and efficacy of i.v. alteplase within 3 h of ischaemic stroke outside the setting of clinical trials.
Overexpression of CD14, TLR4, and MD-2 in HEK 293T cells does not prevent induction of in vitro endotoxin tolerance

TLR4 and MD-2 are necessary for conferring cellular responsiveness to LPS. Prior exposure to LPS induces a transient state of cell refractoriness to subsequent LPS re-stimulation, known as `endotoxin tolerance'. While induction of LPS tolerance has been reported to correlate with down-regulation of cell surface expression of TLR4/MD-2, other mechanisms of LPS tolerance have been revealed that target intracellular intermediates downstream of the TLR4/MD-2 complex. In this study, we sought to examine whether endotoxin tolerance could be induced under conditions where expression of TLR4 and MD-2 proteins is not affected by LPS. Human HEK 293T cells are completely unresponsive to LPS, but acquire high LPS sensitivity following transient transfection with CD14, TLR4, and MD-2 (293T/CD14/TLR4/MD-2 cells), as judged by NF-κB activation, ERK 1/2 phosphorylation, and TNFα gene expression. Prior exposure of 293T/CD14/TLR4/MD-2 cells to LPS resulted in a significant decrease of LPS-mediated responses, yet failed to affect expression levels of TLR4 and MD-2. Thus, altered expression and/or function of intracellular mediators downstream of the TLR4/MD-2 complex play an important role in mediating LPS tolerance.
Combined Effect of Oxygen and Ammonia on the Kinetics of Ammonia Elimination and Oxygen Consumption of Adherent Rat Liver Cells

Oxygen is essential for the survival of isolated liver cells and its concentration is known to affect their viability and function. Recent reports have also shown that ammonia is eliminated at a rate depending on its concentration and that high ammonia concentrations may be cytotoxic to rat liver cells. Nonetheless, little quantitative information on the effect of either metabolite on liver cell reaction kinetics is available although important to the design of bioreactors for bioartificial livers (BALs). In this investigation, we characterized the dependence of the rate of oxygen consumption (OCR), ammonia elimination (AER) and urea synthesis (USR) on ammonia concentration at physiological (i.e., 43 and 72 mmHg) and supra-physiological (i.e., 134 mmHg) dissolved oxygen tensions. To this purpose, isolated rat liver cells were cultured in adhesion on collagen in a continuous-flow bioreactor optimised for the kinetic characterisation of liver cell metabolic reactions. Rates of the investigated reactions generally increased with increasing ammonia concentrations. OCR and USR significantly increased with increasing dissolved oxygen tensions, particularly at high ammonia concentrations. The actual dissolved oxygen tension significantly influenced also OCR and USR dependence on ammonia concentration. The best-fit rate equations were used to show that, at the beginning of the treatment with a bioreactor packed with primary liver cells, high ammonia concentration in the blood may cause large hypoxic zones in the bioreactor as a result of its effect on OCR. This suggests that plasma (or blood) detoxification prior to entering the bioreactor might enhance BAL efficacy by preserving a large fraction of the available cell activity for longer times.
Impact of a Supportive Housing Program on Housing Stability and Sexually Transmitted Infections Among Young Adults in New York City Who Were Aging Out of Foster Care

Former foster youth are at increased risk of housing instability and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) during the transitional period following foster care. We measured housing stability using sequence analysis and assessed whether a supportive housing program in New York, New York, was effective in improving housing stability and reducing STIs among former foster youth. Matched administrative records identified 895 former foster youth who were eligible for the housing program during 2007-2010. The main outcomes included housing stability (as determined from episodes of homelessness, incarceration, hospitalization, and residence in supportive housing) and diagnosed STI case rates per 1,000 person-years during the 2 years after baseline. Marginal structural models were used to assess impacts of the program on these outcomes. Three housing stability patterns (unstable housing, stable housing, and rare institutional dwelling patterns) were identified. The housing program was positively associated with a pattern of stable housing (odds ratio = 4.4, 95% confidence interval: 2.9, 6.8), and negatively associated with diagnosed STI rates (relative risk = 0.3, 95% confidence interval: 0.2, 0.7). These positive impacts on housing stability and STIs highlight the importance of the supportive housing program for youths aging out of foster care and the need for such programs to continue.
Quantifying Risk in Traditional Energy and Sustainable Investments

These days we are witnessing a deep change in the characteristics of the type of energy that our economies are supplied with. A clear trend is that sustainable and green energies are decisively replacing traditional fossil fuel-based sources of energy. For various reasons, this fundamental change implies an increasing risk in investments on portfolios heavily based on traditional energy industries. What is less known, is that these industries have returns that show a very low correlation with sustainable fossil fuel-free stock portfolios making them an appealing tool for portfolio managers to design properly diversified investments. In this study we examine this and related phenomena proposing statistical methods to implement the expected shortfall (ES), the challenging risk measure recently adopted by the financial regulator. We obtain evidence that a newly proposed backtesting procedure for the ES based on multinomial tests is an adequate and simple method to validate these risk measures when applied to a highly volatile stock index. Backtesting results of the ES show that flexible heavy-tailed distribution α–stable performs well for modelling the loss distribution. These results are even improved when the variances of fossil fuel price returns are included as external regressors in the GARCH model variance equation. In this case, the ES computed from the four considered loss distributions perform properly.
Investigation of a solid-state detector for advanced computed tomography

Utilization of solid-state detectors for computed tomography (CT) has been the focus of many studies. Previous phantom and clinical experiments have shown that one of the important performance parameters for the solid-state detector is the primary speed and afterglow. In this paper, the authors present a detailed investigation on the signal decay characteristics of the HiLight (GE Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI) scintillating detector. The detector primary speed and afterglow are modeled by a multiexponential function and fully characterized by a set of time constants and relative strengths. The sensitivity of these parameters to X-ray photon energy, detector aging, and radiation exposure is then established and analyzed. No statistically significant variation is observed in these parameters due to changes in the above external variables. The impact of various decay time constants on CT image quality, such as spatial resolution, noise, and artifacts, is subsequently illustrated with computer simulations and phantom experiments. Finally, an algorithmic correction scheme is derived to compensate for detector afterglow. The correction scheme employs a recursive filter to remove adverse effects of the detector decay on image quality. Experimental results have shown that the correction scheme successfully restores system spatial resolution, produces a more homogeneous noise pattern, and eliminates ring-band image artifacts due to detector afterglow. The effectiveness and robustness of the correction scheme are demonstrated by extensive phantom and clinical experiments.
Design optimization of microstrip lines with via fences through surrogate modeling based on polynomial functional interpolants

A common technique to reduce crosstalk between microstrip lines consists of using via fences or guard traces. However, via fences may significantly increase the amount of reflections at the signaling microstrip lines. We propose an EM-based design optimization method to achieve reduction of crosstalk and transmission losses by the use of via fences without a significant deterioration of impedance matching at the signaling microstrip lines. Our method exploits surrogate models using polynomial-based functional interpolants. We start from a zero-order model that is as simple as a fixed EM model response. This zero-order model is enhanced by multidimensional polynomial interpolants around a reference base point in the design space. The polynomial approximation is a function of the design variables, and it is used to interpolate highly accurate EM responses in a region of interest around the selected base point. Global optimum values for the surrogate model weighting factors are efficiently obtained in closed form. By optimizing the surrogate model, we efficiently find an optimal performance for the microstrip lines with via fences.
Nerve surgery and gene therapy: a neurobiological and clinical perspective

Despite major microsurgical improvements the clinical outcome of peripheral nerve surgery is still regarded as suboptimal. Over the past decade several innovative techniques have been developed to extend the armamentarium of the nerve surgeon. This review evaluates the potential of gene therapy in the context of peripheral nerve repair. First the main challenges impeding peripheral nerve regeneration are presented. This is followed by a short introduction to gene therapy and an overview of its most important advantages over the classical delivery of therapeutic proteins. Next, this review focuses on the most promising viral vectors capable of targeting the peripheral nervous system and their first application in animal models. In addition, the challenges of translating these experimental results to the clinic, the limitations of current vectors and the further developments needed, are discussed. Finally, four strategies are presented on how gene therapy could help patients that have to undergo reconstructive nerve surgery in the future.
Imatinib and its combination with 2,5-dimethyl-celecoxibinduces apoptosis of human HT-29 colorectal cancer cells

Mono-targeting by imatinib as a main antitumor agent does not always accomplish complete cancer suppression. 2,5-dimethyl-celecoxib (DMC) is a close structural analog of the selective cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, celecoxib, that lacks COX-2 inhibitory function. In this study, we aimed to show the apoptotic effects of imatinib in combination with DMC in human HT-29 colorectal cancer (CRC) cells. HT-29 CRC cells were treated with IC 50 dose of imatinib (6.60 μM), DMC (23.45 μM), and their combination (half dose of IC 50 ) for 24 h. The caspase-3 activity was estimated with colorimetric kit. The caspase-3 gene expression was evaluated by real-time PCR method. There was a significant up-regulation in caspase-3 enzyme activity and caspase-3 expression by imatinib and its half dose combination with DMC as compared to control. As a summary, the results of this study strongly suggest that half dose combination of imatinib with DMC induced apoptosis as potent as full dose imatinib in human HT-29 CRC cells, while minimizing undesired side effects related to imatinib mono-therapy. This study also pointed towards possible caspase-dependent actions of imatinib and DMC.
Synchronizing a biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicle with human cardiovascular system

In this study, a nonlinear model is developed to connect a biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicle (BAUV) with human cardiovascular system. The BAUV with sensors and a compliant tail is capable to perform Carangiform locomotion. To make the tail of the BAUV perform rhythmic motion, a nonlinear feedback torque is applied to the tail equation to construct a self-excited oscillator. Besides, a system consists of five coupled nonlinear oscillators is used to describe the cardiovascular system. Then the fin oscillator is connected with the cardiac oscillator through one-way coupling. Simulation results present the phase synchronization between the fin motion and the human heartbeat can be achieved with a strong enough coupling gain.
Evidence for dynamic clustering of carboxy‐terminal aromatic amino acids in TonB‐dependent energy transduction

Escherichia coli uses the proton motive force of the cytoplasmic membrane and TonB protein to energize the active transport of iron‐siderophores and vitamin B12 across the outer membrane. TonB shuttles between the cytoplasmic and outer membranes, presumably during the course of energy transduction. Previous results indicated that the carboxy‐terminal 65 amino acids of TonB are essential for both its outer membrane association and activity. A highly conserved region (residues 199–216) within this domain, predicted to be an amphipathic α‐helix, was the initial focus of this study. Scanning mutagenesis indicated that only the aromatic residues F202, W213 and Y215 were individually important for activity. When the crystal structure of a dimeric TonB carboxy‐terminus subsequently became available, we observed that two additional aromatic residues outside that region, F180 and F230, were potentially engaged in end‐on hydrophobic interactions with the three residues identified previously. Changing these five aromatic residues individually to alanine reduced TonB activity. Surprisingly, however, each substitution exhibited a unique phenotypic profile with respect to ability to support [55Fe]‐ferrichrome transport, sensitivity to colicins B, D, Ia and M or sensitivity to bacteriophage φ80. The phenotypic results suggested that the carboxy‐terminus of TonB was a flexible and dynamic domain that could interact specifically with different ligands or transporters, perhaps through the aromatic residues. The possibility of interactions among all the aromatic residues was tested using double‐mutant cycle analysis. All possible combinations of alanine substitutions were constructed, with the result that TonB containing any double‐alanine substitution was inactive in the phenotypic assays, while retaining the ability to associate with the outer membrane. This synergistic, rather than additive, effect of the double mutants suggested that, consistent with the flexibility suggested by analysis of the single substitutions, all the aromatic residues might be capable of interacting with one another. A means of reconciling these results with the crystal structure is presented.
Application of the OpenCL API for Implementation of the NIPALS Algorithm for Principal Component Analysis of Large Data Sets

An implementation of the nonlinear iterative partial least squares algorithm (NIPALS) was used as a test case for use of OpenCL for computation on a general purpose graphics processing unit (GPGPU) cluster using MPI. Timing results are shown along with results of a model of time required per iteration for defined problem sizes. Various steps in optimization of the code are discussed, moving from use of a single GPU, to multiple GPUs on a single node, to multiple GPUs on multiple nodes. Comparison of performance between OpenCL and BLAS implementations, modern CPU architectures and NVidia Tesla and Fermi class GPU systems are given.
Design and Evaluation of Social buttons for News Comments

This study began with a question of whether the existing social buttons are able to evaluate the quality of news comments. Most social buttons adopt a holistic approach by using only one button. The current simplified method of evaluating news comments makes it difficult to reflect at least two different perspectives of information value—utilitarian and hedonic. Having only single button muddles the reasons why people recommended the news comment and complicates efforts to assess the quality of comments. To address this problem, social buttons for a system of online news comments need to undergo improvements to permit proper assessment of comments and of their informational value. This research will identify the problems social buttons pose for news comments and also will design and evaluate solutions to these problems through a design workshop. We adopted design science as a research method and will develop and evaluate a new button design in an iterative manner. We found through literature reviews two important dimensions of comment value, informational value and sentimental value, that will be accommodated by the newly proposed social button.
Treatment of recurrent Langerhans cell histiocytosis in children with 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine

The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2-CdA), a purine nucleoside analog, in treating recurrent Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) in children. This study retrospectively analysed the clinical records of 13 patients who were seen in the department for recurrent LCH. These patients were treated consecutively with 2-CdA chemotherapy between July 1997 and May 2005. Median age at diagnosis was 4 years 7 months and median pre-treatment duration of disease was 16.4 months. Four children received 0.1 mg kg−1 per day for 7 days and nine patients 5 mg m−2 per day for 5 days, repeated every 21 days. The maximum number of courses of 2-CdA per patient was limited to six. Seventy-six courses of 2-CdA were administered without difficulty. All 13 patients (100%) had a clinical response documented by radiographic investigation. Nine patients did not require additional therapy and remain in complete remission (CR). Four remaining children are currently disease-free after receiving other therapy as irradiation (two cases) or maintenance chemotherapy (vinblastine, prednisone and 6-mercaptopurine) (one case) or chemothery (vinblastine) + irradiation (one child) (Table I. ). Hematologic toxicity was minimal and no infectious complications were documented. Median follow-up after initiation of 2-CdA treatment was 4 years 3 months (range 7 months – 8 years 2 months). This experience confirms the reported efficacy of 2-CdA in the treatment of LCH. However, further studies are needed to determine the role of this agent in high-risk patient who did not achieve complete remission after 2-CdA administration.
Effects of ambient conditions on the risk of pressure injuries in bedridden patients—multi‐physics modelling of microclimate

Scientific evidence regarding microclimate and its effects on the risk of pressure ulcers (PU) remains sparse. It is known that elevated skin temperatures and moisture may affect metabolic demand as well as the mechanical behaviour of the tissue. In this study, we incorporated these microclimate factors into a novel, 3‐dimensional multi‐physics coupled model of the human buttocks, which simultaneously determines the biothermal and biomechanical behaviours of the buttocks in supine lying on different support surfaces. We compared 3 simulated thermally controlled mattresses with 2 reference foam mattresses. A tissue damage score was numerically calculated in a relevant volume of the model, and the cooling effect of each 1°C decrease of tissue temperature was deduced. Damage scores of tissues were substantially lower for the non‐foam mattresses compared with the foams. The percentage tissue volume at risk within the volume of interest was found to grow exponentially as the average tissue temperature increased. The resultant average sacral skin temperature was concluded to be a good predictor for an increased risk of PU/injuries. Each 1°C increase contributes approximately 14 times as much to the risk with respect to an increase of 1 mmHg of pressure. These findings highlight the advantages of using thermally controlled support surfaces as well as the need to further assess the potential damage that may be caused by uncontrolled microclimate conditions on inadequate support surfaces in at‐risk patients.
PET-CT in the assessment of lung cancer at Rikshospitalet from 2007-2011.

BACKGROUND PET-CT is an aid in the assessment of lung cancer for identifying operable patients. The examination is recommended for most patients with non-small cell lung cancer whom the primary assessment has indicated may have a curable disease. The aim was to assess the usefulness of PET-CT for patients assumed to be operable who underwent an examination at Rikshospitalet. MATERIAL AND METHOD Patients admitted for lung cancer assessment are registered consecutively in the department's quality database. We analysed data for the period 2007-2011 for patients whom a primary assessment had revealed to have a potentially operable tumour. For capacity reasons, some patients underwent surgery without a prior PET-CT. RESULTS Of 651 potentially operable patients, 533 had had a PET-CT scan of which 403 (76%) had undergone surgery. We calculated that the examination had a sensitivity of 78% (95% CI 70-86) and specificity 88% (95% CI 85-91%), positive predictive value 64% (95% CI 55-72) and negative predictive value 94% (95% CI 91-96) for spreading to mediastinal lymph nodes. Diagnostic accuracy was 86% (95% CI 83-89) with kappa agreement 0.61 (95% CI 0.53-0.69) between PET-CT and actual findings of malignant or benign mediastinal lymph nodes. INTERPRETATION PET-CT was a useful tool for selecting potentially operable lung cancer patients at Rikshospitalet in the period 2007-2011. Provided that the population we scan with PET-CT does not change, patients with a negative PET-CT can with few exceptions be referred directly for surgery without further invasive assessment.
Corporate Environmental Responsibilities and Executive Compensation: A Risk Management Perspective

In this article, we examine how firms design executive compensation in light of their risk environment. Prior literature shows that corporate environmental responsibility (CER) of a firm inversely affects firm risk. We argue that firms with better CER performance benefit from the reduced firm risk, and therefore are more likely to provide greater managerial risk&#8208;taking incentives to encourage the risk&#8208;averse managers to undertake risk&#8208;increasing but positive net present value (NPV) investments. Consistent with our hypotheses, we find that a firm&#8217;s CER rating is positively associated with its CEO risk&#8208;taking incentives (vega) in the following year. We also document cross&#8208;sectional variations in the CER&#8208;vega relationship, that is, a weaker association in the controversial industries. This study contributes to the literature by investigating the role of CER on executive compensation design from the perspective of risk management.