Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Identification of nonlinear systems with outliers using modified quantum particle swarm optimization

This paper presents a modified quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (MQPSO) based on hybrid evolution (HEMQPSO) approach is proposed to identify nonlinear systems with outliers. In HEMQPSO algorithm, combining the conceptions of genetic algorithm (GA) and adaptive annealing learning algorithm with the MQPSO algorithm is adopted to search optimal solutions. Simulation results are illustrated to verify the performance of identification for nonlinear systems. From the numerical simulations and comparisons with other extant evolutionary methods, the validity and superiority of the HEMQPSO approach are verified for identifying nonlinear systems with outliers.
High Interlaboratory Reproducibility of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry-Based Species Identification of Nonfermenting Bacteria

ABSTRACT Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometry has emerged as a rapid, cost-effective alternative for bacterial species identification. Identifying 60 blind-coded nonfermenting bacteria samples, this international study (using eight laboratories) achieved 98.75% interlaboratory reproducibility. Only 6 of the 480 samples were misidentified due to interchanges (4 samples) or contamination (1 sample) or not identified because of insufficient signal intensity (1 sample).
The Cuneiform Conception of Celestial Space and Time

The significance to the modern world of Mesopotamian celestial divination and astronomy cannot be overstated. The names and the ‘ominous’ values assigned to the heavenly bodies by the Mesopotamians underlie Western astrology, and have also influenced Indian astrology. Many of the key features in the astronomy of Hipparchus and Ptolemy, which later passed into the astronomy of the medieval world, were borrowed from the astronomers of Babylon and Uruk. The zodiac, the Metonic cycle, horoscopy, and a variety of astrological techniques are all first attested in Mesopotamia. The same goes for units, notably those divisions of space and time which are now used throughout the world (such as 60 minutes in an hour and 360° in a circle) which can be traced back to cuneiform antecedents.
Work Groups and Teams in Organizations

Contemporary work organizations make heavy use of work teams to meet both immediate and strategic objectives. This chapter addresses the nature and dynamics of work teams. It emphasizes the types of teams that are commonly used in work settings and the processes that are key to their success. The extensive literature on work teams is reviewed and organized around the shifting demands the team's life cycle—from formation to disbanding. Special emphasis is given to research needs relative to team training and development and the role of team leadership. Keywords: composition; development; effectiveness; leadership; team life cycle; team processes; work teams
IN DEMENTIA WITH LEWY BODIES, BRAAK STAGE DETERMINES PHENOTYPE, NOT LEWY BODY DISTRIBUTION

We used an autopsy series to determine whether the newest dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) consensus pathologic classification correlates with premortem diagnosis of DLB. Neocortical sections from a total of 95 cases with Lewy bodies were stained with α-synuclein antibodies. We assigned cases according to the DLB consensus9 categories and found a significant association with the premortem clinical diagnosis of DLB. Clinical diagnosis of DLB, however, depended on the presence of low Alzheimer disease pathology (by Braak staging) rather than on Lewy body distribution.
Memory, war and American identity: Saving Private Ryan as cinematic jeremiad

The American jeremiad long has been an established rhetorical form that operates as a corrective to conditions gone awry. In response to a “falling away,” the jeremiad issues a call to the community to return home to idealized foundational principles. The American experience in Vietnam produced in the national community a crisis of faith in foundational principles and precipitated a crisis of representation of national identity. This essay argues that the secular American jeremiad emerges prominently in Steven Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan. Through a close reading of the film, contextualized by the preceding twenty years of popular cinematic lamentation following Vietnam, I argue that the film operates, in part, as a rhetorically skillful response to the post-Vietnam crisis of national identity. I further argue that Spielberg both acknowledges and appropriates the crisis, offering viewing audiences a “way home” to mythic America. The essay concludes with a discussion of the tensions between the conservative mandate in the jeremiadic form and the possibilities for social transformation.
Intratumoral T but not B lymphocytes are related to clinical outcome in prostate cancer

The number of tumor‐infiltrating lymphocytes is functionally important and correlates with clinical outcome in several tumor entities. Herein we explore the impact of the density of T and B lymphocytes in prostate cancer tissue on prostate‐specific antigen (PSA) recurrence after prostatectomy in 3261 prostate cancer tissue samples. The number of prostate cancer‐infiltrating CD3‐positive T cells and CD20‐positive B cells per tissue spot in a tissue microarray format was determined by immunohistochemistry and was correlated with clinical and pathological data from the same patient cohort. Patients with very low and very high numbers of CD3‐positive T cells per tissue spot had a significantly shorter PSA recurrence‐free survival compared to patients with intermediate numbers of T cells (p = 0.0188). Furthermore, a high number of CD3‐positive T cells per tissue spot was associated with fusion type prostate cancer identified by ERG expression analysis. The number of CD20‐positive B cells per tissue spot was not associated with other clinical and histopathological parameters. This study indicates that the density of T but not B cells plays a functional role in the biology of prostate cancer and may have an impact on clinical outcome in this frequent neoplasia.
Identification of a Porcine Calicivirus Related Genetically to Human Sapoviruses

ABSTRACT Whether animals may act as reservoirs for human caliciviruses is unclear. By sequence analysis of a short fragment of the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) region, porcine sapovirus (SaV) strains that genetically resemble human SaVs have been detected in piglets, but more-informative sequences (capsid gene) were not available for a precise characterization. In this study, the 3′ terminus (the 3′ end of open reading frame 1 [ORF1], including the polymerase complex and the complete capsid; ORF2; and the 3′ untranslated region) of one such human SaV-like strain, 43/06-18p3/2006/It, was determined, revealing that these viruses are more related genetically to human (47.4 to 54.9% amino acid identity) than to animal (35.2 to 44.7% amino acid identity) SaVs in the capsid gene. In addition, the recombination-prone RdRp-capsid junction region was highly conserved with those of human SaVs of genogroup GI. The presence of porcine viruses similar to human SaVs is a significant finding because of the potential for zoonotic infections or generation of porcine/human recombinants.
Chaum's protocol for detecting man-in-the-middle: Explanation, demonstration, and timing studies for a text-messaging scenario

ABSTRACT This article explains, demonstrates, and evaluates Chaum’s protocol for detecting a man-in-the-middle (MitM) of text-messaging network communications. MitM attacks pose serious risks to many network communications. Networks often mitigate these risks with robust protocols, such as TLS, which assume some type of public-key infrastructure that provides a mechanism for the authenticated exchange of public keys. By contrast, Chaum’s protocol aims to detect a MitM with minimal assumptions and technology, and in particular without assuming the authenticated exchange of public keys. Chaum assumes that the eavesdropper can “sound like” the communicants but that the eavesdropper cannot fabricate sensible conversations. Using an encryption function and one-way function, Chaum’s protocol works in three phases. In Phase I, the communicants exchange their public keys. In Phase II, each communicant generates a random string. The first communicant cryptographically commits to that string, and sends the string to the other communicant after receiving the other’s string. In Phase III, using any of four different “scenarios” the communicants verify that each possesses the same two strings. The protocol forces any MitM to cause the communicants to possess different pairs of strings. The text-messaging scenario is similar to a forced-latency protocol proposed by Wilcox-O’Hearn in 2003. This article implements and experimentally demonstrates the effectiveness of the third scenario, which uses timing to detect a MitM in text-messaging. Even assuming a MitM can send messages without any network latency, the protocol forces the MitM to cause delays noticeable by the communicants. This article is the first to explain, demonstrate, and evaluate Chaum’s protocol, which Chaum described only in an abandoned and nearly inscrutable patent application.
Psychometric validation of the Brain Symptom and Impact Questionnaire (BASIQ) version 1.0 to assess quality of life in patients with brain metastases.

OBJECTIVE To test the reliability, clinical and psychometric validity of the Brain Symptom and Impact Questionnaire (BASIQ) in patients with brain metastases. METHODS Brain metastases patients were interviewed using the BASIQ, Functional Assessment of Cancer-Brain (FACT-Br) and FACT-General (FACT-G) at baseline, with a follow-up assessment at 1 month. RESULTS Forty patients had complete one data and the median age was 64 years. Patients with higher KPS, ECOG of 2, primary breast cancer, or >3 brain metastases, scored higher on the symptom scale of the BASIQ. All subscales showed no significant change in patient symptoms from baseline to follow-up. CONCLUSION This study supports that the reliability, clinical and psychometric validity of BASIQ to be used in brain metastases patients.
Algorithmic modifications extending MELTS to calculate subsolidus phase relations

Abstract Algorithmic modifications to the MELTS software package are presented in order that calculations of heterogeneous phase equilibria can be performed in the subsolidus. Methods are presented for: (1) selecting an ‘‘initial guess assemblage’’ that satisfies the bulk composition constraints; (2) detecting saturation of new phases (including liquid) in an assemblage; (3) adding and removing phases from the assemblage without adjusting the system bulk composition; and (4) constraining the assemblage to a fixed fO₂ . These methods have been added to MELTS, allowing it to calculate heterogeneous phase equilibria with or without liquid, closed or open to O, and with fixed intensive variables (P,T), (P,S), (P,H), or (V,T). Applications include fractional melting calculations, metamorphic phase equilibria, and geophysical models of subsolidus regions of the Earth.
Polyomavirus tumor induction in mice: effects of polymorphisms of VP1 and large T antigen

By testing recombinants between "high tumor" (inducing a high incidence of tumors) and "low tumor" (inducing a low incidence of tumors) strains of polyomavirus, we have previously shown that the key determinant(s) for induction of a high tumor profile resides in coding regions of the high tumor strain (R. Freund, G. Mandel, G. G. Carmichael, J. P. Barncastle, C. J. Dawe, and T. L. Benjamin, J. Virol. 61:2232-2239, 1987). Three single-amino-acid differences between the PTA (high tumor) and RA (low tumor) virus strains have now been identified by DNA sequencing, one each in the large T antigen, in the region common to the middle and small T antigens, and in the major capsid protein VP1. Further tests of appropriate recombinants and oligonucleotide-induced mutants show that VP1 of PTA is the major determinant for induction of a high tumor profile, including all tumors of epithelial origin. The differential effect of the VP1s of PTA and RA on the tumor profile is discussed in terms of a likely contribution of the polymorphic region of VP1 to binding of receptors and infection of different cell types in the animal. The polymorphism in the large T antigen has a more restricted action, which is seen only when tested in virus carrying the VP1 type of PTA; the PTA large T antigen then promotes more rapid growth of tumors of salivary gland and thymus than the RA large T antigen.
Clock Drawing Test and the diagnosis of amnestic mild cognitive impairment: Can more detailed scoring systems do the work?

Introduction: The Clock Drawing Test is a frequently used cognitive screening test with several scoring systems in elderly populations. We compare simple and complex scoring systems and evaluate the usefulness of the combination of the Clock Drawing Test with the Mini-Mental State Examination to detect patients with mild cognitive impairment. Method: Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (n = 48) and age- and education-matched controls (n = 48) underwent neuropsychological examinations, including the Clock Drawing Test and the Mini-Mental State Examination. Clock drawings were scored by three blinded raters using one simple (6-point scale) and two complex (17- and 18-point scales) systems. The sensitivity and specificity of these scoring systems used alone and in combination with the Mini-Mental State Examination were determined. Results: Complex scoring systems, but not the simple scoring system, were significant predictors of the amnestic mild cognitive impairment diagnosis in logistic regression analysis. At equal levels of sensitivity (87.5%), the Mini-Mental State Examination showed higher specificity (31.3%, compared with 12.5% for the 17-point Clock Drawing Test scoring scale). The combination of Clock Drawing Test and Mini-Mental State Examination scores increased the area under the curve (0.72; p < .001) and increased specificity (43.8%), but did not increase sensitivity, which remained high (85.4%). Conclusions: A simple 6-point scoring system for the Clock Drawing Test did not differentiate between healthy elderly and patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment in our sample. Complex scoring systems were slightly more efficient, yet still were characterized by high rates of false-positive results. We found psychometric improvement using combined scores from the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Clock Drawing Test when complex scoring systems were used. The results of this study support the benefit of using combined scores from simple methods.
Analyzing CUDA’s Compiler through the Visualization of Decoded GPU Binaries

With GPU architectures becoming increasingly important due to their large number of parallel processors, NVIDIA’s CUDA environment is becoming widely used to support general purpose applications. To efficiently use the parallel processing power, programmers need to efficiently parallelize and map their algorithms. The difficulty of this task leads to the idea to investigate CUDA’s compiler. Part of the compiler in the CUDA tool-chain is entirely undocumented, as is its output. To draw conclusions on the behaviour of this compiler, the resulting object code is reverse engineered. A visualization tool is introduced, analyzing the previously unknown compiler behaviour and proving helpful to improve the mapping process for the programmer. These improvements focus on the area of register allocation and instruction reordering. This paper describes an extension to the CUDA tool-chain, providing programmers with a visualization of register life ranges. Also, the paper presents guidelines describing how to apply optimizations in order to obtain a lower register pressure. In a case-study example, performance increases by 33% compared to already optimized CUDA code. This is achieved by optimizing the code with the help of the introduced visualization tool. Also, in 11 other case-study examples, register pressure is reduced by an average of 18%. The presented guidelines could be added to the compiler to enable a similar register pressure reduction to be achieved automatically at compile-time for new and existing CUDA programs.
2-D DOA Estimation of Improved Toeplitz Algorithms to Coherent Sources

An improved algorithm is proposed for Direction-Of-Arrival (DOA) estimation of coherent signals on a ULA, which get new covariance matrix by reconstructing a Toeplitz matrix using the observed data vector rather than getting covariance matrix directly by observed date vector. Traditional decorrelation algorithms are based on ULA. They can only find the one-dimensional (1-D) direction of arrival angles (DOAs). This paper employs the three orthogonal uniform linear arrays to find the 2-D direction of arrival angles. Simulation results verify that the proposed algorithm has better performance than the spatial smoothing MUSIC at the same simulating condition.
Amount of patient education in physical therapy practice and perceived effects.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to investigate the amount and perceived effects of informal patient education in physical therapy practice. SUBJECTS Thirty-seven physical therapists from nine outpatient physical therapy settings participated. METHODS Each therapist audiotaped the entire course of treatment for one patient. The frequency of patient education statements in five categories (information about illness, home exercises, advice and information, health education, and stress counseling) was counted. Therapists, patients, and supervisors completed questionnaires about the amount and perceived effects of these teaching behaviors. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS The greatest numbers of educational statements were in the categories of information about illness (X = 4.72 statements per session), home exercises (X = 3.98 statements per session), and advice and information (X = 2.54 statements per session). The therapists' teaching behaviors rarely corresponded to their perceptions of their own teaching or to their patients' or supervisors' perceptions.
A rainfall-manipulation experiment with 517 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions

The gold standard for studying natural selection is to quantify lifetime fitness in individuals from natural populations that have been grown together under different field conditions. This has been widely done in ecology to measure phenotypic selection in nature for a wide range of organisms — an evolutionary force that seems to be most determined by local precipitation patterns. Studies that include whole-genome data would enable the translation of coefficients of selection to the genetic level, but such studies are still scarce, even though this type of genetic knowledge will be critical to predict the effect of climate change in natural populations. Here we present such an experiment including rainfall-manipulation with the plant A rabidopsis thaliana. The experiment was carried out in a Mediterranean and a Central European field station with rainout shelters to simulate a high and low rainfall treatment within each location. For each treatment combination, we planted 7 pots with one individual and 5 pots with 30 counted seeds of 517 whole-genome sequenced natural accessions covering the global species distribution. Survival, germination, flowering time, and final seed output were measured for ca. 25,000 pots, which contained ca. 14,500 individual plants and over 310,00 plants growing in small populations. This high-throughput phenotyping was only possible thanks to image analysis techniques using custom-made scripts. To make the data and processing code available, we created an R package “dryAR” (http://github.com/MoisesExpositoAlonso/dryAR).
ANN-based classification system for different windows of voltage dips in a power network

Voltage dip has been identified as one of the common types of power quality disturbance in electrical power networks and drew a lot of attention in voltage quality research presently. It is regarded as the most costly power quality problem. It can be caused by starting electrical motor, switching of generators or bulk loads, transformer energizing and short circuits in the power networks. In recent time power utilities and customers have made an effort to improve the reliability of power network, but it has been so difficult to control the external factors that cause voltage dip. As a result voltage dip must be classified and diagnosed accurately so that proper mitigation measures can be implemented. Classification of voltage dips plays an important role in voltage dip mitigation, investigations, assessment and equipment immunity specifications. In this context, this paper develops a technique using artificial neural network (ANN) for voltage dip classification, which is based on the voltage dip windows defined by the South African utility ESKOM. The test is carried out on IEEE 9-bus system through simulation in DigSILENT Power Factory 14.0 software and the ANN model is trained, tested and validated in Matlab environment using neural network Toolbox.
A study of SAR estimation by shape-deformable human models in anatomy

The implications of exposure to electromagnetic waves for human health are a subject of rising concern. Numerical simulations using anatomically realistic computational human models have recently been performed for electromagnetic dosimetry simulation. However, most of these computational models are reference (average) models. In this study, we present a shape-deformable human model to which we applied volume morphing techniques to develop computational models of target persons from the existing models. We also demonstrate the frequency characteristics of the whole-body averaged specific absorption rates of shape-deformable models exposed to vertically polarized plane waves with frequencies ranging from 30 MHz to 2 GHz.
Retroviral transfer of human CD20 as a suicide gene for adoptive T-cell therapy

The aim of adoptive T-cell therapy of cancer is to selectively confer immunity against tumor cells. Autoimmune side effects, however, remain a risk, emphasizing the relevance of a suicide mechanism allowing in vivo elimination of infused T cells. The findings of this study support the broad value of human CD20 as suicide gene in T-lymphocytes and safety switch in adoptive T-cell therapy. The aim of adoptive T-cell therapy of cancer is to selectively confer immunity against tumor cells. Autoimmune side effects, however, remain a risk, emphasizing the relevance of a suicide mechanism allowing in vivo elimination of infused T cells. We investigated the use of human CD20 as suicide gene in T-lymphocytes. Potential effects of forced CD20 expression on T-cell function were investigated by comparing CD20- and mock-transduced cytomegalovirus (CMV) specific T cells for cytolysis, cytokine release and proliferation. The use of CD20 as suicide gene was investigated in CMV specific T cells and in T cells genetically modified with an antigen specific T-cell receptor. No effect of CD20 on T-cell function was observed. CD20-transduced T cells with and without co-transferred T-cell receptor were efficiently eliminated by complement dependent cytotoxicity induced by therapeutic anti-CD20 antibody rituximab. The data support the broad value of CD20 as safety switch in adoptive T-cell therapy.