Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exogenous growth factors bFGF, EGF and HGF do not influence viability and phenotype of V600EBRAF melanoma cells and their response to vemurafenib and trametinib in vitro

It has been shown that the response of V600EBRAF melanoma cells to targeted therapeutics is affected by growth factors. We have investigated the influence of three different growth factors, bFGF, EGF and HGF used either alone or in combination, on the response of V600EBRAF melanoma cell populations established from surgical specimens to vemurafenib and trametinib, targeting V600EBRAF and MEK1/2, respectively. We report that proliferation and phenotype of V600EBRAF melanoma cell populations were not detectably influenced by exogenous growth factors. Neither cell distribution in cell cycle and CCND1 expression nor activity of signaling pathways crucial for melanoma development and maintenance, including the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway, WNT/β-catenin pathway and NF-κB signaling, were affected by the presence of different growth factors. We furthermore show that vemurafenib and trametinib abrogated the activity of ERK1/2, arrested cells in G0/G1 cell cycle phase, triggered apoptosis, induced changes in the expression of CXCL8, CCND1 and CTGF and the frequency of Ki-67high and CD271high cells. These effects were, however, similar in the presence of different growth factors. Interestingly, comparable results were also obtained for melanoma cells grown without exogenous growth factors bFGF, EGF and HGF for a period as long as 4 months prior the drug treatment. We conclude that the composition or lack of exogenous growth factors bFGF, EGF and HGF do not markedly influence viability and phenotype of V600EBRAF melanoma cells and their response to vemurafenib and trametinib in vitro. Our results question the necessity of these growth factors in the medium that is used for culturing V600EBRAF melanoma cells.
Minimum exact word error training

In this paper we present the minimum exact word error (exactMWE) training criterion to optimise the parameters of large scale speech recognition systems. The exactMWE criterion is similar to the minimum word error (MWE) criterion, which minimises the expected word error, but uses the exact word error instead of an approximation based on time alignments as used in the MWE criterion. It is shown that the exact word error for all word sequence hypotheses can be represented on a word lattice. This can be accomplished using transducer-based methods. The result is a word lattice of slightly refined topology. The accumulated weights of each path through such a lattice then represent the exact number of word errors for the corresponding word sequence hypothesis. Using this compressed representation of the word error of all word sequences represented in the original lattice, exactMWE can be performed using the same lattice-based re-estimation process as for MWE training. First experiments on the Wall Street Journal dictation task do not show significant differences in recognition performance between exactMWE and MWE at comparable computational complexity and convergence behaviour of the training
Transaortic Aortic Valve Implantation in 100 Patients: Follow-up to 3 Years

Objective Transaortic aortic valve implantation (TAo-AVI) through the ascending aorta is a novel technique and is used as an alternative in patients with poor femoral access. Although early results have been promising, no midterm data have been published yet. To determine whether this approach is an acceptable treatment option, we analyzed the first 100 cases performed at our institution with a follow-up to 3 years. Methods Between July 2011 and January 2015, a total of 100 patients with high-risk or inoperable aortic valve stenosis were treated with TAo-AVI. Preoperative patient data were collected and analyzed retrospectively. All surviving patients were seen for clinical and echocardiographic examination for follow-up. Results Median follow-up was 15 months. Device success was accomplished in 94 patients (94%). There were no access site complications. The 30-day mortality rate was 9%. Stroke occurred in a total of six patients (6%). Survival at 1-, 2-, and 3 years was 75%, 62%, and 58%, respectively. Conclusions Our results show that TAo-AVI is a promising alternative to transapical implantation for treating severe inoperable aortic valve stenosis.
One-Class Principal Component Classifier for anomaly detection in wireless sensor network

To ensure the quality of data collected by sensor networks, misbehavior in measurements should be detected efficiently and accurately in each sensor node before relying the data to the base station. In this paper, a novel anomaly detection model is proposed based on the lightweight One Class Principal Component Classifier for detecting anomalies in sensor measurements collected by each node locally. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed model are demonstrated using two real life wireless sensor networks datasets namely; labeled dataset (LD) and Intel Berkeley Research Lab dataset (IBRL). The simulation results show that our model achieves higher detection accuracy with relatively lower false alarms. Furthermore, the proposed model incurs less energy consumption by reducing the computational complexity in each node.
Meaning and Method

Jewish philosophy, instead of being a mere appendage of Islamic, is traced back to philo much as Christian philosophy is traced back to St Augustine. It is interesting to observe that the compression required to compensate for this expansion is brought to bear most rigorously upon St Thomas, who was given no less than ten chapters to himself in the early work, but in this has to share with St Albert a single chapter comparable in length to the two chapters just mentioned (though there is a brief note on his political theory at the beginning of the chapter on Marsilius of Padua). The other great names, Bonaventure, DWlS Scotus, William of Ockham, are similarly, though less conspicuously, cut down to size. The last, however, remains a dominant figure, and usurps the supremacy once accorded to St Thomas; for his razor delivers the coup de grace that fmally severs the bond between theology and philosophy which Fr Copleston recognizes as the distinguishing feature of medieval thought, and the first cut of the pruning that was to reduce the latter to mere logic, thus making way for the contemporary concern with linguistic analysis. "Relevance" is the great cry nowadays, and William responds to it more obviously than Thomas. But Fr Copleston ends not with him but with Nicholas of Cusa, who in the earlier History was considered a man of the Renaissance. His inclusion is justified on the ground that he was a "transition-figure". True; but he was transitional from the whole medieval system,not from the Ockhamism that disintegrated it. He was the link between the Platonism that persisted through the Middle Ages and the Platonism of the Renaissance, and he would not have seemed here such an isolated anomaly if Fr Copleston had had more to say of the Medieval Platonism, which is allowed to appear only as a shadowy and mysterious force in the background; and of the founding father of medieval philosophy who was its voice, Johannes Scottus Eriugena, whom Nicholas studied and admired; and of the echoes of that voice that were continually reverberating throughout the whole period. Oxford I. P. SHELDON-WILLIAMS
Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words? A Comparison of Three Organizational Practices for Reducing Racial/Ethnic Harassment and Discrimination

We assessed the effectiveness of three commonly suggested organizational practices for reducing racial/ethnic harassment and discrimination (REHD): training; resources for reporting REHD; and implementation actions taken by leadership to reduce REHD. In a sample of 39,475 U.S. military personnel, we conducted dominance analyses to examine the relative contributions of these practices to REHD. Implementation contributed more to the prediction of REHD than did training or resources. Moreover, implementation moderated the effect of resources and training. This suggests that active leadership effort to address REHD can be 1 of the most effective means of reducing such behavior.
Investigating Positive and Negative Utilities of Red Light Cameras through a Binary Probit Analysis

Driver behavior at intersections equipped with a Red Light Camera (RLC) are influenced by many factors, including the fear of being fined for crossing the intersection during the red signal. This behavioral change may lead to the tendency of stopping at the intersection at the onset of the yellow interval. The following scenarios may arise due to this tendency: (1) the stopped driver may have a rear-end collision by a fast approaching vehicle; (2) the excessive “safe” stoppage by vehicles during the yellow interval may reduce the intersection capacity, thereby increasing congestion; and (3) the safe stoppage during yellow interval may result in reduced intersection related accidents, thereby improving intersection safety. While the first two scenarios can be seen as disutilities (or negative measures) associated with the real intent of RLCs the third scenario is the only utility (or positive measure) that is ideally considered as the basis for RLC installation. With an increasing number of RLCs along busy intersections with the standard assumption of scenario 3 above while the possibilities of scenarios 1 and 2 cannot be ruled out, it is important to thoroughly investigate positive` and negative aspects of a RLC. This can be achieved by collecting reasonably sufficient relevant field data at intersections with and without RLCs and developing a binary choice model to analyze the driver’s dilemma (or indecision) of stop and/or go during the yellow interval. The existence of an indecision zone or Dilemma Zone (DZ) can be estimated using dilemma zone curves developed from the probability of stopping vs. distance from stop bar at the onset of the yellow interval. The construction of dilemma zones can help understand the driver behavioral characteristics contributing to positive and negative aspects of RLCs. In this paper, using field data from Baltimore at 10 intersection pairs with and without RLCs that have similar geometric and traffic characteristics, the authors develop a binary probit choice model to examine driver behavior at RLCs. The results indicate that the negative utilities of RLCs may outweigh their positive utilities.
Competitive routing in networks with polynomial costs

We study a class of noncooperative general topology networks shared by N users. Each user has a given flow which it has to ship from a source to a destination. We consider a class of polynomial link cost functions adopted originally in the context of road traffic modeling, and show that these costs have appealing properties that lead to predictable and efficient network flows. In particular, we show that the Nash equilibrium is unique, and is moreover efficient. These properties make the polynomial cost structure attractive for traffic regulation and link pricing in telecommunication networks. We finally discuss the computation of the equilibrium in the special case of the affine cost structure for a topology of parallel links.
IL-11/IL11RA receptor mediated signaling: a web accessible knowledgebase

Abstract Interleukin-11 (IL-11) is a pleiotropic cytokine that belongs to gp130 family. It plays a significant role in the synthesis and maturation of hematopoietic cells, inhibition of adipogenesis, regulation of embryo implantation, and trophoblasts invasion. Although IL-11 signaling has been described in several biological processes, a centralized resource documenting these molecular reactions induced by IL-11 is not publicly available. In the current study, we have manually annotated the molecular reactions and interactions induced by IL-11 from literature available. We have documented 40 unique molecules involved in 18 protein–protein interactions, 26 enzyme–substrate reactions, 7 translocation events, and 4 activation/ inhibition reactions. We have also annotated 23 genes reported to be differentially regulated under IL-11 stimulation. We have enabled the data availability in standard exchange formats from ‘NetPath’, a repository for signaling pathways. We believe that this will help in the identification of potential therapeutic targets in IL-11-associated disorders.
Regulation of Alternative Macrophage Activation by Galectin-31

Alternative macrophage activation is implicated in diverse disease pathologies such as asthma, organ fibrosis, and granulomatous diseases, but the mechanisms underlying macrophage programming are not fully understood. Galectin-3 is a carbohydrate-binding lectin present on macrophages. We show that disruption of the galectin-3 gene in 129sv mice specifically restrains IL-4/IL-13-induced alternative macrophage activation in bone marrow-derived macrophages in vitro and in resident lung and recruited peritoneal macrophages in vivo without affecting IFN-γ/LPS-induced classical activation or IL-10-induced deactivation. IL-4-mediated alternative macrophage activation is inhibited by siRNA-targeted deletion of galectin-3 or its membrane receptor CD98 and by inhibition of PI3K. Increased galectin-3 expression and secretion is a feature of alternative macrophage activation. IL-4 stimulates galectin-3 expression and release in parallel with other phenotypic markers of alternative macrophage activation. By contrast, classical macrophage activation with LPS inhibits galectin-3 expression and release. Galectin-3 binds to CD98, and exogenous galectin-3 or cross-linking CD98 with the mAb 4F2 stimulates PI3K activation and alternative activation. IL-4-induced alternative activation is blocked by bis-(3-deoxy-3-(3-methoxybenzamido)-β-D-galactopyranosyl) sulfane, a specific inhibitor of extracellular galectin-3 carbohydrate binding. These results demonstrate that a galectin-3 feedback loop drives alternative macrophage activation. Pharmacological modulation of galectin-3 function represents a novel therapeutic strategy in pathologies associated with alternatively activated macrophages.
Collision warning dissemination in vehicles strings: An empirical measurement

Inter-Vehicular Communications (IVC) are considered a promising technological approach for enhancing transportation safety and improving highway efficiency. Previous theoretical work has demonstrated the benefits of IVC in vehicles strings. Simulations of partially IVC-equipped vehicles strings showed that only a small equipment ratio is sufficient to drastically reduce the number of head on collisions. However, these results are based on the assumptions that IVC exhibit lossless and instantaneous messages transmission. This paper presents the research design of an empirical measurement of a vehicles string, with the goal of highlighting the constraints introduced by the actual characteristics of communication devices. A warning message diffusion system based on IEEE 802.11 wireless technology was developed for an emergency breaking scenario. Preliminary results are presented as well, showing the latencies introduced by using 802.11a and discussing early findings and experimental limitations
Quantum Volume

As we build larger quantum computing devices capable of performing more complicated algorithms, it is important to quantify their power. The origin of a quantum computer’s power is already subtle, and a quantum computer’s performance depends on many factors that can make assessing its power challenging. These factors include: 1. The number of physical qubits; 2. The number of gates that can be applied before errors make the device behave essentially classically; 3. The connectivity of the device; 4. The number of operations that can be run in parallel. Here we propose an architecture-neutral metric, the quantum volume, to summarize performance against these factors. The quantum volume measures the useful amount of quantum computing done by a device in space and time. Table 1 summarizes predicted quantum volumes for potential near-term devices.
T cell responses to natural human proteins in primary biliary cirrhosis

The study of T cell responses to autoantigens in human autoimmunity has been hampered by difficulties, firstly in identifying significant autoantigens, and secondly in the purification of authentic human proteins in sufficient quantities to allow characterization of antigen‐specific T cell responses. In this study we have purified a human autoantigen, pyruvate dehydrogenase, retaining its enzymatic activity, and characterized autoreactive T cell responses to it in a human autoimmune disease, primary biliary cirrhosis. T cell responses to a mixture of the E2 and protein X subunits of human pyruvate dehydrogenase complex are seen in most affected patients, but in only a small minority of normal and chronic liver disease controls. By contrast, responses to whole pyruvate dehydrogenase complex occur with equal frequency in both groups. This suggests that responses to the E2 component/protein X of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex play a role in the pathogenesis of primary biliary cirrhosis. The availability of significant quantities of the human autoantigen in primary biliary cirrhosis makes this condition an interesting model in which to study true autoreactive human T cell responses.
The Lions domain decomposition algorithm on non‐matching cell‐centred finite volume meshes

A finite volume scheme for convection diffusion equations on non-matching grids is presented. Sharp error estimates for H 2 solutions of the continuous problem are obtained. A finite volume version of an adaptation of the Schwarz algorithm due to P. L. Lions is then studied. For a fixed mesh, its convergence towards the finite volume scheme on the whole domain is proven. Numerical experiments are performed to illustrate the theoretical rate of convergence of the finite volume sequences of solutions as the mesh is refined, together with the speed of convergence of the Schwarz algorithm.
Object-Specific Semantic Coding in Human Perirhinal Cortex

Category-specificity has been demonstrated in the human posterior ventral temporal cortex for a variety of object categories. Although object representations within the ventral visual pathway must be sufficiently rich and complex to support the recognition of individual objects, little is known about how specific objects are represented. Here, we used representational similarity analysis to determine what different kinds of object information are reflected in fMRI activation patterns and uncover the relationship between categorical and object-specific semantic representations. Our results show a gradient of informational specificity along the ventral stream from representations of image-based visual properties in early visual cortex, to categorical representations in the posterior ventral stream. A key finding showed that object-specific semantic information is uniquely represented in the perirhinal cortex, which was also increasingly engaged for objects that are more semantically confusable. These findings suggest a key role for the perirhinal cortex in representing and processing object-specific semantic information that is more critical for highly confusable objects. Our findings extend current distributed models by showing coarse dissociations between objects in posterior ventral cortex, and fine-grained distinctions between objects supported by the anterior medial temporal lobes, including the perirhinal cortex, which serve to integrate complex object information.
Mutations in the CACNA1F and NYX genes in British CSNBX families

X‐linked congenital stationary night blindness (CSNBX) is a genetically and phenotypically heterogeneous non‐progressive disorder, characterised by impaired night vision but grossly normal retinal appearance. Other more variable features include reduction in visual acuity, myopia, nystagmus and strabismus. Genetic mapping studies by other groups, and our own studies of British patients, identified key recombination events indicating the presence of at least 2 disease genes on Xp11. Two causative genes (CACNA1F and NYX) for CSNBX have now been identified through positional cloning strategies. In this report, we present the results of comprehensive mutation screening in 14 CSNBX families, three with mutations in the CACNA1F gene and 10 with mutations in the NYX gene. In one family we failed to identify the mutation after testing RP2, RPGR, NYX and CACNA1F. NYX gene mutations are a more frequent cause of CSNBX, although there is evidence for founder mutations. Our report of patient population mutation screening for both CSNBX genes, and our exclusion of RP2 and RGPR, indicates that mutations in CACNA1F and NYX are likely to account for all CSNBX. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Music Listening in the Future: Augmented Music-Understanding Interfaces and Crowd Music Listening

In the future, music listening can be more active, more immersive, richer, and deeper by using automatic music-understanding technologies (semantic audio analysis). In the first half of this invited talk, four Augmented Music-Understanding Interfaces that facilitate deeper understanding of music are introduced. In our interfaces, visualization of music content and music touch-up (customization) play important roles in augmenting people’s understanding of music because understanding is deepened through seeing and editing. In the second half, a new style of music listening called Crowd Music Listening is discussed. By posting, sharing, and watching time-synchronous comments (semantic information), listeners can enjoy music together with the crowd. Such Internet-based music listening with shared semantic information also helps music understanding because understanding is deepened through communication. Two systems that deal with new trends in music listening — time-synchronous comments and mashup music videos — are finally introduced.
RNA recognition by the embryonic cell fate determinant and germline totipotency factor MEX-3

Totipotent stem cells have the potential to differentiate into every cell type. Renewal of totipotent stem cells in the germline and cellular differentiation during early embryogenesis rely upon posttranscriptional regulatory mechanisms. The Caenorhabditis elegans RNA binding protein, MEX-3, plays a key role in both processes. MEX-3 is a maternally-supplied factor that controls the RNA metabolism of transcripts encoding critical cell fate determinants. However, the nucleotide sequence specificity and requirements of MEX-3 mRNA recognition remain unclear. Only a few candidate regulatory targets have been identified, and the full extent of the network of MEX-3 targets is not known. Here, we define the consensus sequence required for MEX-3 RNA recognition and demonstrate that this element is required for MEX-3 dependent regulation of gene expression in live worms. Based on this work, we identify several candidate MEX-3 targets that help explain its dual role in regulating germline stem cell totipotency and embryonic cell fate specification.
Using Sound Source Localization to Monitor and Infer Activities in the Home

Recent research in ubiquitous computing has focused both on how to infer human activity from a variety of signals sensed in the environment as well as how to use that information to support interactions. In this paper, we examine the feasibility and usefulness of sound source localization (SSL) in a home environment, which is an implicit location system to support monitoring of a remote space as well as to infer key activities, such as face-to-face conversations. We present a microphone array system that covers a significant portion of the public space in a realistic home setting and discuss monitoring and automated inferring applications that are made possible with this technology in a