Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Prognostic relevance of microvessel density in colorectal tumours.

The importance of angiogenesis as a prognostic marker has been examined in 111 colorectal cancer patients with a minimum follow-up of 5 years. Tumour sections were immunostained with pan-endothelial antibody to CD31. Microvessels were identified and counted in 5 separate areas of highest vascularity (). Analysis of the data showed that the survival was not significantly affected by tumour site, size, grade, patients' age or gender. However, a statistically significant correlation was found between microvessel density (MVD) and survival: patients with an increased number of microvessels survived longer than those with a low number of microvessels (p=0.0007). Therefore, paradoxically, unlike other tumour types, in colorectal cancer MVD appears to be an indicator of good prognosis. The reasons that MVD correlates with good or poor prognosis are likely to vary in different tumours. For instance a frequent difficult issue in colon cancer is the presence of ulceration and adjacent severe inflammation which by itself can increase vascularity. Furthermore, overall prognosis will also depend on other factors, such as oncogenes, extracellular matrix components, adhesion molecules, growth factors, degree of apoptosis and the mode of metastatic spread.
Correlations of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 gene polymorphisms with the risk and prognosis of gastric cancer.

AIM To investigate the correlations of MMP-2 and TIMP-2 polymorphisms with the risk and prognosis of gastric cancer (GC). METHODS With an incorporation of 254 GC patients in the case group and 250 healthy subjects enrolled as the control group, this experiment was conducted. Denaturing high performance liquid chromatography method was adopted to detect all genotypes under partial denaturation, haloptype analysis was completed with the Shesis software. Serum MMP-2 and TIMP-2 levels were determined by the immunohistochemical semi-quantitative analysis. The follow-up examination was conducted after the patients had completed systemic therapy and discharged. RESULTS The distribution frequencies of MMP-2-735C/T locus genotypes between groups were compared (P > 0.05). However, the distributions of alleles and genotype frequencies of MMP-2-1306C/T, TIMP-2-303G/A and -418G/C all exhibited statistical difference (all P < 0.05). The gene polymorphism of MMP-2-1306C/T was statistically correlated with the expression of MMP-2 protein (P < 0.05); the same result was also found regarding TIMP-2-303G/A (P < 0.05). The haplotype analysis revealed that the CGC frequency of the case group was apparently higher than that of the control group (P < 0.05), the positive survival rate of CGC was apparently lower than the negative one. CONCLUSION MMP-2-1306C/T, TIMP-2-303G/A and -418G/C variants might be correlated with GC susceptibility. Serum MMP-2 and TIMP-2 protein levels might be associated with GC susceptibility; Additionally, CGC haplotype might be the risk factor of GC.
A New Method to Predict RNA Secondary Structure Based on RNA Folding Simulation

RNA plays an important role in various biological processes; hence, it is essential when determining the functions of RNA to research its secondary structures. So far, the accuracy of RNA secondary structure prediction remains an area in need of improvement. This paper presents a novel method for predicting RNA secondary structure based on an RNA folding simulation model. This model assumes that the process of RNA folding from the random coil state to full structure is staged and in every stage of folding, the final state of an RNA is determined by the optimal combination of helical regions, which are urgently essential to dynamics of RNA formation. This paper proposes the First Large Free Energy Difference (FLED) in order to find the helical regions most urgently needed for optimal final state formation among all the possible helical regions. Tests on the datasets with known structures from public databases demonstrate that our method can outperform other current RNA secondary structure prediction methods in terms of prediction accuracy.
Fine motor deficits in reading disability and language impairment: same or different?

Several studies have found evidence of motor deficits in poor readers. There is no obvious reason for motor and literacy skills to go together, and it has been suggested that both deficits could be indicative of an underlying problem with cerebellar function and/or procedural learning. However, the picture is complicated by the fact that reading problems often co-occur with oral language impairments, which have also been linked with motor deficits. This raises the question of whether motor deficits characterise poor readers when language impairment has been accounted for – and vice versa. We considered these questions by assessing motor deficits associated with reading disability (RD) and language impairment (LI). A large community sample provided a subset of 9- to 10-year-olds, selected to oversample children with reading and/or language difficulties, to give 37 children with comorbid LI + RD, 67 children with RD only, 32 children with LI only, and 117 typically-developing (TD) children with neither type of difficulty. These children were given four motor tasks that taxed speed, sequence, and imitation abilities to differing extents. Different patterns of results were found for the four motor tasks. There was no effect of RD or LI on two speeded fingertip tapping tasks, one of which involved sequencing of movements. LI, but not RD, was associated with problems in imitating hand positions and slowed performance on a speeded peg-moving task that required a precision grip. Fine motor deficits in poor readers may be more a function of language impairment than literacy problems.
Two Roads to Updating Brand Personality Impressions

The research examines the dynamic process of inference updating. The authors present a framework that delineates two mechanisms that guide the updating of personality trait inferences about brands. The results of three experiments show that chronics (those for whom the trait is accessible) updated their initial inferences on the basis of the trait implications of new information. Notably, nonchronics (those for whom the trait is not accessible) also update their initial inferences, but they do so on the basis of the evaluative implications of new information. The framework adds to the inference-making literature by uncovering two distinct paths of inferences updating and by emphasizing the moderating role of trait accessibility. The findings have direct implications for marketers attempting to understand the construction of brand personality, and they emphasize the constantly evolving nature of brand perceptions and the notion that both the consumer and the marketer have important roles to play in this process.
Discretization methods for battery systems modeling

First principles battery models, consisting of non linear coupled partial differential equations, are often difficult to discretize and reduce in order so that they can be used by systems engineers for design, estimation, prediction, and management. In this paper, six methods are used to dis cretize a benchmark electrolyte diffusion problem and their time and frequency response accuracy is determined as a function of discretization order. The Analytical Method (AM), Integral Method Approximation (IMA), Pade Approximation Method (PAM), Finite Element Method (FEM), Finite Difference Method (FDM) and Ritz Method (RM) are formulated for the benchmark problem and convergence speed and accuracy calculated. The PAM is the most efficient, producing 99.5% accurate results with only a 3rd order approximation. IMA, Ritz, AM, FEM, and FDM required 4, 6, 9, 14, and 27th order approximations, respectively, to achieve the same error.
Cyclops: Wearable and Single-Piece Full-Body Gesture Input Devices

This paper presents Cyclops, a single-piece wearable device that sees its user's whole body postures through an ego-centric view of the user that is obtained through a fisheye lens at the center of the user's body, allowing it to see only the user's limbs and interpret body postures effectively. Unlike currently available body gesture input systems that depend on external cameras or distributed motion sensors across the user's body, Cyclops is a single-piece wearable device that is worn as a pendant or a badge. The main idea proposed in this paper is the observation of limbs from a central location of the body. Owing to the ego-centric view, Cyclops turns posture recognition into a highly controllable computer vision problem. This paper demonstrates a proof-of-concept device, and an algorithm for recognizing static and moving bodily gestures based on motion history images (MHI) and a random decision forest (RDF). Four example applications of interactive bodily workout, a mobile racing game that involves hands and feet, a full-body virtual reality system, and interaction with a tangible toy are presented. The experiment on the bodily workout demonstrates that, from a database of 20 body workout gestures that were collected from 20 participants, Cyclops achieved a recognition rate of 79% using MHI and simple template matching, which increased to 92% with the more advanced machine learning approach of RDF.
The reciprocal cycle of self‐concealment and trust in romantic relationships

We propose that perceived partner concealment, self-concealment from one's partner (i.e., keeping secrets from one's partner), and trust in one's partner form a reciprocal cycle in romantic relationships. In Study 1, participants in a romantic relationship (N = 94) completed a two-time point survey within a span of 8 to 10 weeks. Results revealed that perceived partner concealment was associated with a loss of trust in partner, and low trust in partner was associated with an increase in self-concealment from one's partner. Furthermore, the association between perceived partner concealment and self-concealment from one's partner was mediated by trust. In Study 2, couples (N = 50) completed daily records for 14 consecutive days. Multilevel analyses indicated that on the days the individuals reported more self-concealment, their partners reported lower trust in them. Moreover, on the days the partners reported lower trust, the partners also reported higher self-concealment. These findings suggest that self-concealment in romantic relationships can create a reciprocal cycle that involves loss of trust and more self-concealment between partners, which would slowly deteriorate the relationship well-being. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Communication and Cultural Development: A Multidimensional Analysis

c LASSICAL SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY has been concerned with the process by which societies change from traditional agriculturally based systems to modern ones in which wealth is generated primarily through industrial production (Tonnies 1912; Durkheim 1960; Spencer 1897; Parsons 1961). This process has become known as development or , when dealing with a specific nation-state, national development. Despite the popularity of the terms "development" in the social science literature, little scholarly attention has been paid to the precise definition of this term. Each academic discipline (if not each individual researcher) uses and shapes the term as it is beneficial for each particular study without concern that the notion of development incorporates a number of dimensions from all the social sciences. Rao has defined development as
The Character of Character: New Directions for a Dispositional Theory

Daniel Jacobson, Advisor My dissertation aims to solve a puzzle, a paradox, and a problem. The puzzle is to explain why people act in uncharacteristic (i.e., seemingly cruel) ways in a number of social psychological experiments, such as Stanley Milgram’s obedience experiment, in which 65% of the participants complied with the experimenter’s demands to issue a series of increasingly powerful “shocks” to an unwilling recipient. I argue that owing to features of the experimental design participants were made to feel: out of their element, confused, disoriented, pressured, intimidated, and acutely distressed, and that the “experimenter” (actually a confederate) exploited these factors, which is the central reason why the majority of participants complied with his demands despite being reluctant to do so. The paradox is that, although ordinary people seem to be good, bad, or somewhere in between, evidence (again from social psychology) seems to suggest that most people would behave deplorably on many occasions and heroically on many others. This, in turn, suggests the paradoxical conclusion that most people are indeterminate—i.e., no particular character evaluation appears to apply to them. I argue to the contrary that the social psychological evidence fails to support the claim that people would behave deplorably on many occasions. Milgram’s participants, for example, faced extenuating circumstances that should mitigate the degree to which they were blameworthy for their actions, and this, in turn, challenges the claim that they behaved deplorably. ii The problem is that no existing theory has been able to adequately account for the connection between possessing certain character traits and performing certain actions. Commonsense suggests that there is a connection between, for instance, being a truthful person and telling the truth, but it has been challenging for philosophers to capture precisely what the connection is in an empirically defensible way. I argue that there is a strong empirical connection between character traits and action, but that to understand this connection, it must be admitted at the outset that interfering factors may come between traits and their manifestations in action. The key is to develop a theory that can give an account of which sources of interference are character trait undermining and which are not. I go some way toward developing such a theory. iii
A Fully Integrated Watt-Level Power Transfer System With On-Chip Galvanic Isolation in Silicon Technology

This paper presents the design and experimental characterization of a power transfer system performing a dc-dc conversion with on-chip galvanic isolation. The converter is operated in the VHF band, which enables fully integration of all the required components in silicon technology. It consists of only two silicon dice, i.e., a power oscillator with an on-chip isolation transformer and a full-bridge rectifier, which are fabricated in 0.35-μm BCD and 0.13-μm CMOS technology, respectively. A thick SiO2 layer was used, which guarantees galvanic isolation between the transformer windings. A co-design procedure for the system building blocks is proposed, which aims at optimizing the dc-dc converter performance in terms of power efficiency at a given power density. Thanks to the adopted approach, a maximum output power up to 980 mW is demonstrated with a power efficiency of 29.6%. This paper outperforms previously reported integrated inductive step-up converters in terms of power per silicon area (up to 105 mW/mm2), while providing on-chip galvanic isolation without any discrete devices or post-processing steps.
On false discovery control under dependence

A popular framework for false discovery control is the random effects model in which the null hypotheses are assumed to be independent. This paper generalizes the random effects model to a conditional dependence model which allows dependence between null hypotheses. The dependence can be useful to characterize the spatial structure of the null hypotheses. Asymptotic properties of false discovery proportions and numbers of rejected hypotheses are explored and a large-sample distributional theory is obtained.
Human visual behaviour for collaborative human-machine interaction

Non-verbal behavioural cues are fundamental to human communication and interaction. Despite significant advances in recent years, state-of-the-art human-machine systems still fall short in sensing, analysing, and fully "understanding" cues naturally expressed in everyday settings. Two of the most important non-verbal cues, as evidenced by a large body of work in experimental psychology and behavioural sciences, are visual (gaze) behaviour and body language. We envision a new class of collaborative human-machine systems that fully exploit the information content available in non-verbal human behaviour in everyday settings through joint analysis of human gaze and physical behaviour.
On Rewriting, Answering Queries in OBDA Systems for Big Data (Short Paper)

The project Optiqueaims at providing an end-to-end solution for scalable access to Big Data integration, were end users will formulate queries based on a familiar conceptualization of the underlying domain. From the users queries the Optique platform will automatically generate appropriate queries over the underlying integrated data, optimize and execute them. In this paper we discuss Optique’s automatic generation of queries and two systems to support this process: QUEST and PEGASUS The automatic query generation is important and challenging, especially when the queries are over heterogeneous distributed databases and streams, and Optique will provide a scalable solution for it.
New perspectives for estimating body condition from mass/length data: the scaled mass index as an alternative method

Body condition is assumed to influence an animal’s health and fitness. Various non-destructive methods based on body mass and a measure of body length have been used as condition indices (CIs), but the dominant method amongst ecologists is currently the calculation of residuals from an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression of body mass against length. Recent studies of energy reserves in small mammals and starlings claimed to validate this method, although we argue that they did not include the most appropriate tests since they compared the CI with the absolute size of energy reserves. We present a novel CI (the ‘scaled mass index’) based on the central principle of scaling, with important methodological, biological and conceptual advantages. Through a reanalysis of data from small mammals, starlings and snakes, we show that the scaled mass index is a better indicator of the relative size of energy reserves and other body components than OLS residuals, performing better in all seven species and in 19 out of 20 analyses. We also present an empirical and theoretical comparison of the scaled mass index and OLS residuals as CIs. We argue that the scaled mass index is a useful new tool for ecologists.
A multivariate approach to affected‐sib‐pair analysis using highly dense molecular maps

A multivariate approach to affected‐sib‐pair analyses was performed to localize disease‐susceptibility genes with a minimum number of type I errors (false positives). Using 1,155 independent affected sib pairs extracted from Problem 2A of the GAW10 data set, we were able to localize major genes (MG) 1 and 2. Using 30% of the affected‐sib‐pair sample (N = 337) we were able to localize MG1. False positives were not detected in either of these samples. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Outcome of occlusion treatment for amblyopia.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine the level of visual acuity following occlusion treatment for strabismic and anisometropic amblyopia and to analyze the factors that influence the outcome. METHODS In this observational study, we examined the medical records of 246 patients discharged between April 1991 and March 1996, including those who failed to complete treatment. Two groups were identified: Group 1 esotropia (n = 151); and Group 2 anisometropic amblyopia with or without microtropia (n = 79). Factors influencing outcome of treatment were analyzed, success being defined as 6/12 or better in the amblyopic eye. RESULTS In Group 1, 85% achieved 6/12 or better in the worst eye (linear acuity test), 15% achieved less than 6/12. (73% achieved 6/9 or better, 16% achieved 6/12 or 6/18, and 11% achieved less than 6/18). In group 2, 95% achieved 6/9 or better in the worst eye (linear acuity test); 5% achieved 6/12. CONCLUSION Outcome was better than other full population studies to date. A good visual outcome was achieved in all cases of pure anisometropic amblyopia. Significant factors influencing outcome in the esotropic group were compliance, anisometropia, and visual acuity at start of treatment. An occlusion protocol is suggested aimed at further improving compliance and outcome.
My Share Is Fair, So I Don’t Care: The Moderating Role of Distributive Justice in the Perception of Leaders’ Self-Serving Behavior

In the present research we argue that despite leaders’ self-serving actions, followers can still perceive them as being fair and thus ethical. First, we developed a scale to capture followers’ perceptions of their leaders’ self-serving behavior. Second, in a field study we showed that even though leaders may act self-servingly, if employees perceive their own outcomes as fair (i.e., ethical), they will not see much harm in the leader’s behavior. Finally, in a third study (a scenario study) we replicated the findings of our second study and examined the process underlying the proposed relationships. More specifically, we revealed that people experience increased uncertainty in the face of a self-serving leader and that distributive justice helps them deal with the emotional consequences of these feelings of uncertainty. In sum, our findings indicate that people care less about a self-serving leader as long as their share is fair.
Thermal measurements on cooling lava

In recent years, great effort has been dedicated to understanding the phenomena connected with volcanic activities. In particular, the behavior of flowing lava during a big eruption is of great interest in managing emergency activities. The very first parameters to be taken into account in studying the path of the lava flow are those defining the crust properties, which are highly dependent on the cooling process. In this paper, the improvement of a multisensorial measurement system already presented by the authors is proposed, which allows the estimation of the emittance value at higher resolution than the previous architecture. This feature permits the study of the heat transfer process in the boundary regions of the lava flow during crust formation. This is an important task for experts in order to predict the behavior of the lava flow, with emittance strictly correlated to the heat transfer process and, hence, to the crust formation.