Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Medicolegal implications of surgical errors and complications in neck surgery: A review based on the Italian current legislation

Abstract Aim of the present paper is the review of the principal complications associated to endocrine neck surgery considering how expertise, full adoption of guidelines, appropriate technology and proper informed consent may limit the medicolegal claims at the light of the incoming new regulation of the medical professional legal responsibility. A literature search, using the Medline/PubMed database for full-length papers, was used. Postoperative recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN) palsy and hypoparathy-roidism remain the principal causes of surgical malpractice claims . In the procedure of neck lymphadenctomy intra-operative haemorrhage, thoracic duct injury, injuries to loco-regional nerves can be observed and can be source of claims. After many years of increased medicolegal litigations, the Italian government is proposing a drastic change in the regulations of supposed medical malpractice in order to guarantee the patient’s right to a safe treatment and in the meantime to defend clinicians from often unmotivated and prejudicial legal cases. Surgical errors and complications in neck surgery are a relevant clinical issue. Only the combination of surgical and clinical expertise, application of guidelines, appropriate technology and a routinely use of specific informed consent can contain potential medicolegal implications.
WCET and Mixed-Criticality: What does Confidence in WCET Estimations Depend Upon?

Mixed-criticality systems integrate components of different criticality. Different criticality levels require different levels of confidence in the correct behavior of a component. One aspect of correctness is timing. Confidence in worst-case execution time (WCET) estimates depends on the process by which they have been obtained. A somewhat naive view is that static WCET analyses determines safe bounds in which we can have absolute confidence, while measurement-based approaches are inherently unreliable. In this paper, we refine this view by exploring sources of doubt in the correctness of both static and measurement-based WCET analysis.
Global gene regulation by Fusarium transcription factors Tri6 and Tri10 reveals adaptations for toxin biosynthesis

Trichothecenes are isoprenoid mycotoxins produced in wheat infected with the filamentous fungus Fusarium graminearum. Some fungal genes for trichothecene biosynthesis (Tri genes) are known to be under control of transcription factors encoded by Tri6 and Tri10. Tri6 and Tri10 deletion mutants were constructed in order to discover additional genes regulated by these factors in planta. Both mutants were greatly reduced in pathogenicity and toxin production and these phenotypes were largely restored by genetic complementation with the wild‐type gene. Transcript levels for over 200 genes were altered ≥ twofold for Δtri6 or Δtri10 mutants including nearly all known Tri genes. Also reduced were transcript levels for enzymes in the isoprenoid biosynthetic pathway leading to farnesyl pyrophosphate, the immediate molecular precursor of trichothecenes. DNA sequences 5′ to isoprenoid biosynthetic genes were enriched for the Tri6p DNA binding motif, YNAGGCC, in F. graminearum but not in related species that do not produce trichothecenes. To determine the effect of trichothecene metabolites on gene expression, cultures were treated with trichodiene, the first metabolic intermediate specific to the trichothecene biosynthetic pathway. A total of 153 genes were upregulated by added trichodiene and were significantly enriched for genes likely involved in cellular transport. Differentially regulated genes will be targeted for functional analysis to discover additional factors involved in toxin biosynthesis, toxin resistance and pathogenesis.
Automatic role recognition based on conversational and prosodic behaviour

This paper proposes an approach for the automatic recognition of roles in settings like news and talk-shows, where roles correspond to specific functions like Anchorman, Guest or Interview Participant. The approach is based on purely nonverbal vocal behavioral cues, including who talks when and how much (turn-taking behavior), and statistical properties of pitch, formants, energy and speaking rate (prosodic behavior). The experiments have been performed over a corpus of around 50 hours of broadcast material and the accuracy, percentage of time correctly labeled in terms of role, is up to 89%. Both turn-taking and prosodic behavior lead to satisfactory results. Furthermore, on one database, their combination leads to a statistically significant improvement.
Fast and Easy Short Answer Grading with High Accuracy

We present a fast, simple, and high-accuracy short answer grading system. Given a short-answer question and its correct answer, key measures of the correctness of a student response can be derived from its semantic similarity with the correct answer. Our supervised model (1) utilizes recent advances in the identiﬁcation of short-text similarity, and (2) augments text similarity features with key grading-speciﬁc constructs. We present experimental results where our model demonstrates top performance on multiple benchmarks.
Bound-oriented parallel pruning approaches for efficient resource constrained scheduling of high-level synthesis

As a key step of high-level synthesis (HLS), resource constrained scheduling (RCS) tries to find an optimal schedule which can dispatch all the operations with minimum latency under specific resource constraints. Branch-and-bound heuristics are promising to achieve such an optimal schedule quickly, since they can prune away large parts of infeasible solution space during the exploration. However, few of them are based on the prevalent multi-core platforms. Based on the bound information, this paper exploits the parallel pruning potentials from different perspectives and proposes various efficient techniques that can substantially reduce the overall RCS search efforts. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach can reduce the RCS time drastically.
A comparison of photointerpretation and ground measurements of forest structure

Traditional forest inventory methods are compared with photointerpreted results. The accuracy of photointerpretation for forest-type classification is assessed in test locations in northern California. If the accuracy of photointerpretation is not sufficiently high, then the traditional practice of comparing satellite classification to photointerpretation is not justified. If this hypothesis is true, it is speculated that spectral analysis of advanced digital satellite data (SPOT and TM) can be used in conjunction with ancillary ground data to produce forest classifications of the same or better accuracy than by traditional photointerpretation techniques. Results of the accuracy assessment of three levels of classification - species, size class, and density - are presented in tables.
Staring Down the Mukhabarat: Rhizomatic Social Movements and the Egyptian and Syrian Arab Spring

iv Chapter One: Introduction 1 Potential Causes of the Arab Spring 2 Research Question and Theory 4 Methodology 6 Outline of Chapters 8 Notes 8 Chapter Two: Literature Review 9 Collective Behavior Approaches 11 Chicago School 12 Mass Society 17 Relative Deprivation 18 Resource Mobilization Theory 22 Political Process Theory 25 New Social Movements 27 Framing 30 Collective Identity 33 Emotion 34 Social Networks Approach 36 Theoretical Framework 39 Rhizomatic Movements 41 Argument 44 Notes 45 Chapter Three: Egypt 46 Economic Conditions 47 The Rise of Contentious Politics: A Decade of Action 50 Anti-War Movements 51 Prodemocracy Movements 53 Youth Activism 56
Targeting chromatin binding regulation of constitutively active AR variants to overcome prostate cancer resistance to endocrine-based therapies

Androgen receptor (AR) variants (AR-Vs) expressed in prostate cancer (PCa) lack the AR ligand binding domain (LBD) and function as constitutively active transcription factors. AR-V expression in patient tissues or circulating tumor cells is associated with resistance to AR-targeting endocrine therapies and poor outcomes. Here, we investigated the mechanisms governing chromatin binding of AR-Vs with the goal of identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities. By chromatin immunoprecipitation and sequencing (ChIP-seq) and complementary biochemical experiments, we show that AR-Vs display a binding preference for the same canonical high-affinity androgen response elements (AREs) that are preferentially engaged by AR, albeit with lower affinity. Dimerization was an absolute requirement for constitutive AR-V DNA binding and transcriptional activation. Treatment with the bromodomain and extraterminal (BET) inhibitor JQ1 resulted in inhibition of AR-V chromatin binding and impaired AR-V driven PCa cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Importantly, this was associated with a novel JQ1 action of down-regulating AR-V transcript and protein expression. Overall, this study demonstrates that AR-Vs broadly restore AR chromatin binding events that are otherwise suppressed during endocrine therapy, and provides pre-clinical rationale for BET inhibition as a strategy for inhibiting expression and chromatin binding of AR-Vs in PCa.
An approximate truthful mechanism for combinatorial auctions with single parameter agents

Mechanism design seeks algorithms whose inputs are provided by selfish agents who would lie if advantageous. Incentive compatible mechanisms compel the agents to tell the truth by making it in their self-interest to do so. Often, as in combinatorial auctions, such mechanisms involve the solution of NP-hard problems. Unfortunately, approximation algorithms typically destroy incentive compatibility. Randomized rounding is a commonly used technique for designing approximation algorithms. We devise a version of randomized rounding that is incentive compatible, giving a truthful mechanism for combinatorial auctions with single parameter agents (e.g., "single minded bidders") that approximately maximizes the social value of the auction. We discuss two orthogonal notions of truthfulness for a randomized mechanism, truthfulness with high probability and in expectation, and give a mechanism that achieves both simultaneously.We consider combinatorial auctions where multiple copies of many different items are on sale, and each bidder i desires a subset Si. Given a set of bids, the problem of finding the allocation of items that maximizes total valuation is the well-known SETPACKING problem. This problem is NP-hard, but for the case of items with many identical copies the optimum can be approximated very well. To turn this approximation algorithm into a truthful auction mechanism we overcome two problems: we show how to make the allocation algorithm monotone, and give a method to compute the appropriate payments efficiently.
Bcl-2 expression and frequency of apoptosis correlate with morphogenesis of colorectal neoplasia.

AIM To investigate whether the expression of apoptosis and cell proliferation related proteins is related to the macroscopic form of colorectal neoplasia. METHODS The extent of apoptosis, using the 3' end DNA labelling method, and the immunohistochemical expression of cell proliferation (Ki-67) and apoptosis related proteins (Bcl-2, Bak, and p53) were investigated in 64 colorectal adenomas and 22 early carcinomas extending no further than the upper submucosal region. The specimens were classified into three types of macroscopic form (polypoid, flat, and depressed). RESULTS The Ki-67 labelling index and the Bak score did not differ significantly among each macroscopic form. In contrast, the apoptotic index and the Bcl-2 score changed significantly according to the macroscopic forms. Compared with polypoid and flat tumours, depressed tumours had a significantly lower apoptotic index (2.84, 2.28, and 1.44, respectively) and a significantly lower Bcl-2 score (3.18, 2.70, and 1.64, respectively). The proliferation/apoptosis ratio was significantly lower in polypoid tumours than in the other two macroscopic forms. The Bcl-2 score became significantly lower as the tumours flattened or took on a depressed form. Immunohistochemical p53 overexpression did not correlate with the macroscopic forms. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that differences in both Bcl-2 expression and apoptosis may play an important role in the morphogenesis of colorectal neoplasia.
Underwater acoustic networks

With the advances in acoustic modem technology that enabled high-rate reliable communications, current research focuses on communication between various remote instruments within a network environment. Underwater acoustic (UWA) networks are generally formed by acoustically connected ocean-bottom sensors, autonomous underwater vehicles, and a surface station, which provides a link to an on-shore control center. While many applications require long-term monitoring of the deployment area, the battery-powered network nodes limit the lifetime of UWA networks. In addition, shallow-water acoustic channel characteristics, such as low available bandwidth, highly varying multipath, and large propagation delays, restrict the efficiency of UWA networks. Within such an environment, designing an UWA network that maximizes throughput and reliability while minimizing the power consumption becomes a very difficult task. The goal of this paper is to survey the existing network technology and its applicability to underwater acoustic channels. In addition, we present a shallow-water acoustic network example and outline some future research directions.
Commonsense Knowledge Enhanced Embeddings for Solving Pronoun Disambiguation Problems in Winograd Schema Challenge

In this paper, we propose commonsense knowledge enhanced embeddings (KEE) for solving the Pronoun Disambiguation Problems (PDP). The PDP task we investigate in this paper is a complex coreference resolution task which requires the utilization of commonsense knowledge. This task is a standard first round test set in the 2016 Winograd Schema Challenge. In this task, traditional linguistic features that are useful for coreference resolution, e.g. context and gender information, are no longer effective anymore. Therefore, the KEE models are proposed to provide a general framework to make use of commonsense knowledge for solving the PDP problems. Since the PDP task doesn't have training data, the KEE models would be used during the unsupervised feature extraction process. To evaluate the effectiveness of the KEE models, we propose to incorporate various commonsense knowledge bases, including ConceptNet, WordNet, and CauseCom, into the KEE training process. We achieved the best performance by applying the proposed methods to the 2016 Winograd Schema Challenge. In addition, experiments conducted on the standard PDP task indicate that, the proposed KEE models could solve the PDP problems by achieving 66.7% accuracy, which is a new state-of-the-art performance.
Creating Ground Truth for Audio Key Finding: When the Title Key May Not Be the Key

In this paper, we present an effective and efficient way to create an accurately labeled dataset to advance audio key finding research. The MIREX audio key finding contest has been held twice using classical compositions for which the key is designated in the title. The problem with this accepted practice is that the title key may not be the perceived key in the audio excerpt. To reduce manual annotation, which is costly, we use a confusion index generated by existing audio key finding algorithms to determine if an audio excerpt requires manual annotation. We collected 3224 excerpts and identified 727 excerpts requiring manual annotation. We evaluate the algorithms’ performance on these challenging cases using the title keys, and the re-labeled keys. The musicians who aurally identify the key also provide comments on the reasons for their choice. The relabeling process reveals the mismatch between title and perceived keys to be caused by tuning practices (in 471 of the 727 excerpts, 64.79%), and other factors (188 excerpts, 25.86%) including key modulation and intonation choices. The remaining 68 challenging cases provide useful information for algorithm design.
Grading of cerebral dynamic autoregulation from spontaneous fluctuations in arterial blood pressure.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Assessment of cerebral autoregulation has been traditionally performed with static changes in arterial blood pressure. Newer dynamic methods require the induction of sudden drops in arterial blood pressure with the sudden release of bilateral thigh cuffs. An alternative method is proposed, based on the spontaneous variability of arterial blood pressure that does not require its manipulation. We compared this method with the established thigh cuff method in patients with carotid artery stenosis. METHODS Cerebral blood flow velocity (determined by transcranial Doppler) and arterial blood pressure (determined by noninvasive servo-controlled plethysmograph) were recorded in 20 patients with carotid artery stenosis and 18 age-matched controls. At rest, grading of dynamic autoregulation was estimated from the impulse response of the blood pressure-velocity dynamic relationship. This was compared with the autoregulatory index (ARI) provided by the thigh cuff method and with the degree of stenosis. The critical closing pressure was derived from the fitted models and was also correlated with degree of stenosis. RESULTS The 2 ARIs were significantly correlated (r=0.76) and reduced in subjects with carotid stenosis (baseline ARI, 3.65+/-3.11 versus 6.68+/-1.88, P<0. 0001; thigh cuff ARI, 3.78+/-2.32 versus 6.35+/-1.06, P<10(-5)). The critical closing pressure (relative to mean arterial blood pressure) was also significantly reduced (-0.24+/-1.06 versus 0.50+/-0.31, P<0. 0001) and correlated with the thigh cuff ARI (r=0.68). Both the baseline ARI and critical closing pressure were correlated with degree of stenosis (P<10(-6)). CONCLUSIONS Grading of dynamic autoregulation with the use of undisturbed recordings of arterial blood pressure and cerebral blood flow velocity might provide a safer technique for assessment of patients in whom a sudden drop of arterial blood pressure is not desirable, such as patients with heart or autonomic failure.
Profiling and Tracing Dynamic Library Usage Via Interposition

Run-time resolution of library functions provides a rich and powerful opportunity to collect workload profiles and function/parameter trace information without source, special compilation, or special linking. This can be accomplished by having the linker resolve library functions to special wrapper functions that collect statistics before and after calling the real library function, leaving both the application and real library unaltered. The set of dynamic libraries is quite large including interesting libraries like libc (the C library and Operating System interface), graphics, database, network interface, and many more. Coupling this with the ability to simultaneously trace multiple processes on multiple processors covering both client and server processes yields tremendous feedback. We have found the amount of detailed information that can be gathered has been useful in many stages of the project life-cycle including the design, development, tuning, and sustaining of hardware, libraries, and applications. This paper first contrasts our extended view of interposition to other profiling, tracing, and interposing techniques. This is followed by a description and sample output of tools developed around this view; a discussion of obstacles encountered developing the tools; and finally, a discussion of anticipated and unanticipated ways those tools have been applied.
Evaluation of National Park Service 21st Century Relevancy Initiatives: Case Studies Addressing Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the National Park Service

A long standing program of research has found consistent and substantial evidence of the underrepresentation of people of color in national parks and has identified potential reasons for this underrepresentation and barriers to participation. However, little research has examined cases where the National Park Service (NPS) has begun to successfully address diversity issues and engage diverse audiences. Through exploration of programs that successfully engage diverse youth, this study identifies promising practices that can be incorporated into NPS diversity programs across the national park system. The study was conducted in two phases. Phase one examined the current state of knowledge and learning needs of the NPS related to relevancy among new and diverse audiences through the use of qualitative interviews with NPS staff and select individuals outside the NPS. The findings from the interviews were used to develop a conceptual model based on key themes for successful engagement. The model was then applied in phase two of the study through the examination of relevancy programs within the NPS. Phase two used case study research techniques to explore programs designed to engage youth of color at two NPS units, Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and Boston Harbor Islands National Park Area. This research examined how programs at the two study areas were successful at engaging youth of color. A model of deep engagement was developed, building on the model developed in phase one. The model of deep engagement highlights six processes through which parks can more effectively engage diverse and traditionally underserved audiences.
Temozolomide-Mediated DNA Methylation in Human Myeloid Precursor Cells: Differential Involvement of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Apoptotic Pathways

Purpose: An understanding of how hematopoietic cells respond to therapy that causes myelosuppression will help develop approaches to prevent this potentially life-threatening toxicity. The goal of this study was to determine how human myeloid precursor cells respond to temozolomide (TMZ)-induced DNA damage. Experimental Design: We developed an ex vivo primary human myeloid precursor cells model system to investigate the involvement of cell-death pathways using a known myelosuppressive regimen of O6-benzylguanine (6BG) and TMZ. Results: Exposure to 6BG/TMZ led to increases in p53, p21, γ-H2AX, and mitochondrial DNA damage. Increases in mitochondrial membrane depolarization correlated with increased caspase-9 and -3 activities following 6BG/TMZ treatment. These events correlated with decreases in activated AKT, downregulation of the DNA repair protein O6-methylguanine–DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), and increased cell death. During myeloid precursor cell expansion, FAS/CD95/APO1(FAS) expression increased over time and was present on approximately 100% of the cells following exposure to 6BG/TMZ. Although c-flipshort, an endogenous inhibitor of FAS-mediated signaling, was decreased in 6BG/TMZ–treated versus control, 6BG-, or TMZ alone–treated cells, there were no changes in caspase-8 activity. In addition, there were no changes in the extent of cell death in myeloid precursor cells exposed to 6BG/TMZ in the presence of neutralizing or agonistic anti-FAS antibodies, indicating that FAS-mediated signaling was not operative. Conclusions: In human myeloid precursor cells, 6BG/TMZ–initiated apoptosis occurred by intrinsic, mitochondrial-mediated and not extrinsic, FAS-mediated apoptosis. Human myeloid precursor cells represent a clinically relevant model system for gaining insight into how hematopoietic cells respond to chemotherapeutics and offer an approach for selecting effective chemotherapeutic regimens with limited hematopoietic toxicity. Clin Cancer Res; 19(10); 2699–709. ©2013 AACR.