Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Accuracy of preoperative staging for a priori resectable esophageal cancer.

This study assessed the accuracy of preoperative staging in patients undergoing oncological esophagectomy for adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. All patients undergoing surgery for resectable esophageal cancer in a university hospital from 2005 to 2016 were identified from our institutional database. Patients with neoadjuvant treatment were excluded to avoid bias from down-staging effects. Routinely, all patients had an upper endoscopy with biopsy, a thoracoabdominal CT scan, an 18-FEG PET-CT, and endoscopic ultrasound. Preoperative staging was compared to histopathological staging of surgical specimen that was considered as gold standard. There were 51 patients with a median age of 65 years (IQR: 59.3-73 years) having 21 squamous cell carcinoma and 30 adenocarcinoma, respectively. T- and N-stages were correctly predicted in 26 (51%) and 37 patients (72%), respectively. Overall, 18 patients (35%) were preoperatively diagnosed with a correct T- and N-stage. There was no difference between adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. Accuracy of the T-stage was not influenced by the smoking status. The N-stage was not correct in 7/22 smoking patients (32%) and 6/29 nonsmoking patients (21%). The N-stage was underestimated in smoking patients as 6/22 patients (27%) had a histologically confirmed N+ who were preoperatively classified as N0. In conclusion, only 35% of patients had a correct assessment. Separate T- and N-stage prediction was improved with 51% and 72%, respectively. Major efforts are needed for improvement.
PAD and SAD: Two Awareness-Weighted Rhythmic Similarity Distances

Measuring rhythm similarity is relevant for the analysis and generation of music. Existing similarity metrics tend to consider our perception of rhythms as homogeneous in time without discriminating the importance of some regions from others. On a previously reported experiment we observed that measures of similarity may differ given the presence or absence of a pulse inducing sound and the importance of those measures is not constant along the pattern. These results are now reinterpreted by refining the previously proposed metrics. We consider that the perceptual contribution of each beat to the measured similarity is non-homogeneous but might indeed depend on the temporal positions of the beat along the bar. We show that with these improvements, the correlation between the previously evaluated experimental similarity and predictions based on our metrics increases substantially. We conclude by discussing a possible new methodology for evaluating rhythmic similarity between audio loops.
Etiology and Outcome of Graft Failure in Pediatric Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients

Purpose To determine the incidence, etiology and outcome of graft failure in pediatric allogeneic bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients. Patients and Methods Patients with primary or secondary graft failure were identified by database review. A retrospective chart review was performed. Etiologic factors were identified and assessed for statistical significance. Results 309 children underwent allogeneic BMT during the time interval studied. Four cases of primary graft failure and 7 cases of secondary graft failure occurred. Nonmalignant diagnosis, lower total nucleated cell (TNC) dose, and conditioning without total body irradiation were associated with a higher incidence of graft failure. Donor source, donor/recipient CMV status, CD34+ cell dose, and alloimmunization were not associated with graft failure. Conclusions Graft failure is a relatively uncommon occurrence in pediatric patients. Autologous reinfusion may allow time to prepare the patient for a second transplant and decrease complications associated with aplasia. More immunosuppressive conditioning regimens may decrease the incidence of graft failure, particularly in patients with non-malignant diseases or those with lower stem cell doses. More frequent monitoring of chimerism by VNTR analysis may detect late graft failure earlier and allow for more rapid intervention.
Multipath Overlay Data Transfer

For applications involving data transmission from multiple sources, an important problem is: when the sources use multiple paths, how to maximize the aggregate sending rate of the sources using application-layer techniques via TCP? We solve this problem in the context of an overlay network by allowing a source to send data over k (k ≥ 1) overlay paths to its destination. Our goal is to select the overlay paths for each source and control the sending rate on each path via TCP to maximize the aggregate sending rate of the sources. We prove that optimal path selection is NP-hard and develop two practical applicationlevel multipath rate controllers that use TCP. Our performance evaluation demonstrate that very simple path-selection and ratecontrol algorithms perform reasonably well in a wide range of settings. Furthermore, a small number of overlay paths for a source and a small amount of extra bandwidth in the network are sufficient to realize most of the performance gains.
Evaluating legacies: Research, evidence and the regional impact of the Cultural Olympiad

From the bidding stage onwards, the London 2012 Olympics has been framed by an explicitly instrumental agenda, with objectives including increasing participation in sport in the UK and economic and physical regeneration in host sites, through investment in the Olympic Park and its surrounding infrastructure. The bid also signalled the ambition that London 2012 should be the first Olympics to deliver legacy through a nation-wide cultural programme in the build up to and alongside the Games [Kennell, J. & MacLeod, N. (2008, November 6–8). A memetic framework for the conceptualisation and evaluation of the Cultural Olympiad of the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Paper presented at the 2nd Bi-annual International Tourism Studies Association conference in Shanghai, China. Retrieved from http://gala.gre. ac.uk/3951/], deliberately putting in place infrastructure for each English region and nation, shortly after the bid's success was announced. The ensuing national Cultural Olympiad, part funded by Legacy Trust UK, was evaluated through a series of research exercises which aimed to document the legacy and impact of the cultural programme. Through the case study of a regional programme in the North West of England, “We Play”, this article considers how evaluation research has been used locally to develop policy stories and legacy narratives which interpret and interact with the changing landscape of arts funding and cultural policy in the UK.
[Anger expression on the road: validity and reliability of the driving anger expression inventory].

PURPOSE The purpose of the current study was to check the validity and reliability of DAX (The Driving Anger Expression Inventory) in a Turkish population. METHOD The study included 220 randomly chosen drivers between the ages of 20 and 65 years from Ankara, Istanbul, and Samsun. The assessment instruments were DAX, The Driving Anger Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory, and the anger symptoms dimension, anger reactions dimension, and anger-eliciting situations dimension of the Multidimensional Anger Scale. RESULTS Psychometric analyses of the scale showed that the Turkish-adapted DAX has the same factor structure and, like the original DAX, consists of 4 subscales and 1 index. The analyses revealed that male drivers between 21 and 30 years old reported more physically aggressive expression and that they used their vehicle to express anger, whereas female drivers reported more adaptive/constructive expression. Furthermore, it was found that drivers who were university graduates expressed their anger verbally when driving, while drivers who were primary and secondary school graduates expressed anger physically. Regression analyses showed that traffic violation penalty, police presence, discourteous or disrespectful behavior to other drivers, and driving slow were predictive variables for total aggressive expression (verbal, physical aggressive expression, and using of the vehicle to express anger). CONCLUSION The current study revealed that the Turkish version of DAX might be a valid and reliable scale to measure forms of anger expression related to driving and important signs related to coping with driving-related anger were identified. Furthermore, it can be suggested that DAX could be used as an assessment instrument for driver selection, and it can be used during the psycho-technical assessment procedure.
Union gives strength: mainstream and special education teachers’ responsibilities in inclusive co-taught classrooms

Co-teaching has gained considerable interest as a means of promoting the inclusion of students with disabilities in mainstream education. Nowadays, there is a consensus among researchers that co-teaching should provide effective education to all students in a mainstream class. This study aims to explore co-teachers’ attitudes towards co-teaching responsibilities in Greek mainstream classrooms. In particular, it examines co-teachers’ attitudes with regard to their non-class-time (planning and evaluation) and class-time (instruction and behaviour management) responsibilities for students with and without disabilities. Four hundred co-teachers participated in this survey study. Overall, our findings demonstrate that mainstream education teachers and special education teachers disagree about their respective class-time and non-class-time responsibilities, and that their role influences their attitudes towards these responsibilities. The study concludes that the different attitudes of co-teachers towards their responsibilities could hinder the development of a shared approach in teaching students with and without disabilities in inclusive classrooms. Union gives strength Aesop (ca. 620-564 BC)
Driven to Distraction: The Impact of Distracter Type on Unconscious Decision Making

While there is a variety of wonderful ways to take a break from work, is there a type of distraction that is actually more productive? Studies on the deliberation-without-attention effect (Dijksterhuis, 2004; Dijksterhuis, Bos, Nordgren, & Van Baaren, 2006) show that a period of distraction while making complex decisions can actually lead to better decisions than a period of conscious deliberation. Although there are a number of activities that will distract participants from decision-making tasks, we investigated if certain types of distracter tasks are better for demonstrating the deliberation-without-attention effect. Since most people realistically take a break with undemanding forms of activity, we hypothesized that undemanding distracter tasks will yield the best results. In Experiment 1, participants were given a choice between four different cars but before they made their decision they instructed (1) to think consciously about the choices, (2) listen to their own music with a portable digital mus.
Co‐regulation of synaptic efficacy at stable polyneuronally innervated neuromuscular junctions in reinnervated rat muscle

1 Intracellular recordings and quantal analysis of synaptic transmission were made at neuromuscular junctions receiving stable convergent innervation in reinnervated rat lumbrical muscles, following recovery from chronic nerve conduction block. The polyneuronally innervated motor endplates (π‐junctions) were identified by vital staining of lateral plantar nerve (LPN) and sural nerve (SN) motor terminals, using the activity‐dependent staining properties of the aminostyryl dyes RH414 and FM1‐43, respectively. 2 Endplate depolarisation and quantal content per unit area varied by more than a factor of ten (≈0.1‐1.4 quanta μm−2) between fibres. However, the stable π‐junctions produced nearly equivalent endplate depolarisations and quantal content per unit area, suggesting that synaptic strengths were co‐regulated at these motor endplates. Quantal content per unit area was also independent of the size of individual synaptic inputs, or whether one, both or neither input was judged sufficient to produce suprathreshold or subthreshold endplate depolarisations. 3 Simultaneous excitation of convergent LPN and SN inputs from some π‐junctions resulted in profound non‐linear summation, and in some cases complete occlusion of the response of the smaller input. The amplitude of the smaller, test responses recovered with a time constant of 2.1 ± 0.5 ms (mean ±s.e.m.s) on varying the interval between paired stimuli, of similar order to the time constant of repolarisation of the conditioning endplate potential. 4 The data show that it is not necessary for a motor nerve terminal to occupy most of an endplate, or to produce a suprathreshold response in order to become stable. The occlusion of linear summation, similar to that described previously at polyneuronal junctions in neonates, suggests that convergent inputs comprising interdigitated synaptic boutons evoke self‐contained synaptic responses at endplates, and that these are non‐co‐operative with respect to overall endplate depolarisation or safety margin for synaptic transmission.
An Improved Fuzzy Identity-Based Encryption Scheme With Constant Size Ciphertext

In this paper, we present an improved biometric identity based encryption scheme which is based on Baek et al’s scheme. By using fuzzy extractor to construct the public key of a user, we reduce the number of exponentiations of encryption algorithm, the number of MaptoPoint hash function and the length of ciphertext from O(n) to O(1). Furthermore, we proved the proposed scheme satisfy the security requirement under indistinguishability of encryptions under fuzzy selective-ID, chosen plaintext attack (IND-FSID-CPA).
On the Automatic Recognition of Saudi License Plate

In this paper three different algorithms for Automatic License Plate Recognition (ALPR) of the Saudi License Plates are described. All algorithms rely on processing information from lines strategically drawn vertically and horizontally through a character. The first algorithm calculates the number of peaks for each line. A peak is a place in the line where the pixels change from black to white. The second algorithm calculates the pixels density for a specific crossing line in a character. Pixel density is defined as the number of pixels having a specific intensity level to the total number of pixels in a line. The third algorithm calculates the position of the peaks introduced in the first algorithm rather than only their numbers. An algorithm was developed for each method to differentiate between all characters of the license plate. Uniformly distributed pseudo-random noise was added to simulate the performance of these algorithms in the presence of noisy images, also performance of the suggested algorithms were tested due to image rotation. A comparison between these algorithms also presented. These algorithms were proven to work even in some cases in which the characters were extremely degraded by noise.
A Comparison Between Chronological and Probabilistic Methods to Estimate Wind Power Capacity Credit

In this paper, the issue of the capacity credit provided by wind energy conversion systems (WECS) is addressed. A chronological method of post-evaluation of the capacity credit is presented and compared with a pre-evaluation probabilistic method. The proposed chronological approach is based on the computation of the WECS capacity factor (ratio between average and total output) over some relevant time period. An appropriate choice of the time interval-for instance, the peak load hours-will lead to a closer approximation of the capacity credit. The comparison is illustrated with two case studies, concerning the Portuguese electric system. The analysis of the theoretical background of both methods and the results obtained allow the conclusion that chronological methods are best designed to assist system operators, whereas probabilistic methods, which are developed within the logic of the public system avoided resources, are a helping tool for system planners.
Regulation of voltage-gated ion channels by NGF and ciliary neurotrophic factor in SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cells

Neurotrophic factors have powerful effects on neuronal differentiation and the maintenance of neuronal phenotype, but understanding of their regulation of one important aspect of neuronal function, excitability, remains limited. We have examined the regulation of voltage-gated ion channels by two unrelated neurotrophic factors, NGF and ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), in the SK-N-SH neuroblastoma cell line that is responsive to both factors. NGF and CNTF have strikingly different neuronal specificities and distributions in the nervous system, and might be expected to have significantly different effects on neuronal function. Using whole-cell, perforated-patch, and single-channel recording, we found that treatment with NGF increased levels of voltage- gated sodium, calcium, and potassium currents. In contrast, CNTF treatment increased levels of potassium currents only. NGF and CNTF appeared to regulate the same delayed-rectifier potassium current; in addition, NGF treatment resulted in increased levels of a second potassium current component. Such differential effects of neurotrophic factors on the expression of voltage-gated ion channels would have profound effects on the excitability of target neurons in vivo.
Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio as a Predictor of Worsening Renal Function in Diabetic Patients (3-Year Follow-Up Study)

Background: Previous studies have demonstrated the role of inflammation in diabetic nephropathy (DN). Neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) rather than other white cell parameters was found to be a useful inflammatory marker to predict adverse outcomes in medical and surgical conditions. Nevertheless, the value of NLR in predicting DN has not been elucidated. Method: An observational study included 338 diabetic patients, who were followed at our clinic between 2007 and 2009. We arranged our patients into tertiles according to their 2007 NLR. The primary outcome was continuous decrease of GFR >12 mL/min between 2007 and 2009 with the last GFR <60 mL/min. Result: The lowest NLR tertile had fewer patients (2.7%) with primary outcome (i.e., worsening renal function) compared with middle and highest NLR tertiles, which had more patients with primary outcomes (8.7% and 11.5%, respectively) with a significant p-value 0.0164. When other potential confounders were individually analyzed with NLR tertile, the NLR tertiles remained a significant predictor of poor GFR outcome in the presence of other variables (hemoglobin A1C, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, age, and congestive heart failure with p-values 0.018, 0.019, 0.017, 0.033, and 0.022, respectively). Conclusion: NLR predicted the worsening of the renal function in diabetic patients. Further studies are needed to confirm this result.
Workplace Learning in Malaysia: The Learner's Perspective

This paper offers a scenario of workplace learning as practiced in Malaysia. Based on survey research, the article describes learner profiles, learning provision and pattern. The analysis shows that Malaysians participate in formal workplace learning as part of their employment activities. Workplace learning in Malaysia is contextual, promoted by the political-economic agenda of a nation aspiring towards fully developed status. Workplace learning is also affected by factors such as learners' socio-cultural, economic and psychological status, and employers' role and support.
Hierarchical region based stereo matching

Stereo matching is the process of determining correspondences between entities in related images. Often, this is treated as two quite independent subprocesses, namely, segmentation, followed by matching. These processes are treated as naturally related, in that partial matching is fed back to the segmentation and both proceed simultaneously in a cooperative fashion. Regions are considered as the primitives to be matched, since many of the shortcomings inherent in approaches based on points or lines can be overcome by taking more developed entities. The implementation is based on maintaining a hierarchy of segmented regions in each image, corresponding to analysis at differing scales. The selection of a particular segmentation in each image at a scale appropriate to each region is validated with reference to the optimal matching region in the other image. Examples of these methods, applied to a synthetic image (incorporating color) and to natural office scenes, are presented. <<ETX>>
Prognostic Value of MRS Metabolites in Postoperative Irradiated High Grade Gliomas

Purpose. We studied the prognostic significance of Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) in operated high grade gliomas. Materials and Methods. Twelve patients were treated with radiotherapy and Temozolomide. The MRS data were taken four weeks after operation (before radiotherapy) and every six months after the completion of RT. The N-acetyl aspartate, choline, creatine, and myo-inositol parameters were quantified, analyzed, and correlated to recurrence-free survival (RFS). Results. The median RFS was 26.06 months. RFS was significantly worse in elderly patients (P = 0.001) along with the higher choline/creatine ratios at either baseline (P = 0.003) or six months post Radiotherapy (P = 0.042). Median RFS was 23 months in high choline/creatine levels ≥2 at 6 months after radiotherapy and 11 months for those with <2 choline/creatine levels. There was a significant correlation of maximum difference of choline/creatine ratio with RFS (rho = 0.64, P = 0.045). Conclusion. Age and choline/creatine ratio are strong independent prognostic factors in high grade gliomas.
Knowledge Representation in Graphs using Convolutional Neural Networks

Knowledge Graphs (KG) constitute a flexible representation of complex relationships between entities particularly useful for biomedical data. These KG, however, are very sparse with many missing edges (facts) and the visualisation of the mesh of interactions nontrivial. Here we apply a compositional model to embed nodes and relationships into a vectorised semantic space to perform graph completion. A visualisation tool based on Convolutional Neural Networks and Self-Organised Maps (SOM) is proposed to extract high-level insights from the KG. We apply this technique to a subset of CTD, containing interactions of compounds with human genes / proteins and show that the performance is comparable to the one obtained by structural models.
Auto-calibration via the absolute quadric and scene constraints

A scheme is described for incorporation of scene constraints into the structure from motion problem. Specifically, the absolute quadric is recovered with constraints imposed by orthogonal scene planes. The scheme involves a number of steps. A projective reconstruction is first obtained, followed by a linear technique to form an initial estimate of the absolute quadric. A nonlinear iteration then refines this quadric and the camera intrinsic parameters to upgrade the projective reconstruction to Euclidean. Finally, a bundle adjustment algorithm optimizes the Euclidean reconstruction to give a statistically optimal result. This chain of algorithms is essentially the same as used in auto-calibration and the novelty of this paper is the inclusion of orthogonal scene plane constraints in each step. The algorithms involved are demonstrated on both simulated and real data showing the performance and usability of the proposed scheme.