Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Partial Splenic Embolization has Beneficial Effects for the Management of Gastroesophageal Variceal Hemorrhage

Background/Aims: Partial splenic embolization (PSE) is used in the management of gastroesophageal variceal hemorrhage (GEVH). However, it is uncertain whether it has beneficial effects for GEVH patients in preventing variceal recurrence and variceal hemorrhage, as well as promoting overall survival (OS), when it is combined with conventional therapies. Materials and Methods: The databases including PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, Google scholar, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials were searched up to 11th of November, 2015. Meta-analyses were performed by using Review Manager 5.3 software for analyzing the risk of bias, Newcastle-Ottawa Scale for assessing the bias of cohort studies, and GRADEprofiler software for assessing outcomes obtained from the meta-analyses. Results: A total of 1505 articles were reviewed, and 1 randomized controlled trial and 5 cohort studies with 244 participants were eligible for inclusion. The pooled hazard ratio (HR) of variceal recurrence is 0.50 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.37, 0.68; P< 0.00001; I2 = 0%). The pooled HR of variceal hemorrhage is 0.24 (95% CI 0.15, 0.39; P< 0.00001; I2 = 0%). The pooled HR of OS is 0.50 (95% CI 0.33, 0.67; P< 0.00001; I2 = 0%). Meta-analyses demonstrated statistically significant superiority of combinational therapies over conventional therapies in preventing variceal recurrence and variceal hemorrhage and prolonging OS. The complications related to PSE were mild or moderate and nonfatal. Conclusions: The results indicate that PSE has beneficial effects for GEVH patients, however, future investigation with a larger number of subjects in clinical trials is warranted.
Dual time point 18F-FDG PET imaging detects breast cancer with high sensitivity and correlates well with histologic subtypes.

UNLABELLED This prospective study was designed to assess the utility of the dual time point imaging technique by (18)F-FDG PET in detecting primary breast cancer and to determine whether there is a relationship between (18)F-FDG uptake and its change over time and the histopathologic subtypes. METHODS One hundred fifty-two patients with newly diagnosed breast cancer underwent 2 sequential PET scans (dual time point imaging) for preoperative staging. The maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) of (18)F-FDG was measured from both time points. The percent change in SUVmax (Delta%SUVmax) between time points 1 (SUVmax1) and 2 (SUVmax2) was calculated. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to histopathology as invasive and noninvasive. Invasive tumors were also divided into 2 groups (>10 mm and 4-10 mm). The tumor-to-contralateral normal breast (background) ratios of SUVmax at both time points for groups were measured and the Delta%SUVmax values were calculated. RESULTS The mean +/- SD of the SUVmax1, the SUVmax2, and the Delta%SUVmax were 3.9 +/- 3.7, 4.3 +/- 4.0, and 8.3% +/- 11.5% for invasive; 2.0 +/- 0.6, 2.1 +/- 0.6, and 3.4% +/- 13.0% for noninvasive; and were 1.2 +/- 0.3, 1.1 +/- 0.2, and -10.0% +/- 10.8% for the contralateral normal breast groups, respectively. In the comparison of SUVmax1, Delta%SUVmax, and the tumor-to-background ratios among groups, all results were significant (P < 0.001). Visual assessment revealed that the sensitivity of dual time point imaging was 90.1% for invasive cancer >10 mm, 82.7% for invasive breast cancers 4-10 mm, and 76.9% for noninvasive breast cancers. CONCLUSION Dual time point imaging is a simple and noninvasive method that may improve the sensitivity and accuracy of (18)F-FDG PET in assessing patients with primary breast cancer. The changes that are noted in SUVs in dual time point imaging vary depending on the histopathologic type of primary breast cancer.
Optimal Multi-incremental Self Regulating Speed Controller for Industrial PMDC Motor Drive Systems

The paper presents the application of Particle Swarm Optimization PSO technique for the tuning of error-driven self-adjusting multi loop dynamic speed regulator for large industrial PMDC motor drives. Tri-loop dynamic error driven Multi-incremntal self regualting controller is simulated and tuned using Particle Swarm optimization PSO for high performance permanent magnet PMDC industrial motor drives. The proposed dynamic control scheme utilizes speed, current, dynamic momentum excursion error and current dynamic ripple errors as inputs to vary the firing delay angle a of the 6-pulse controlled Thyristor rectifier. The selection of optimal control gains is essential for effective robust dynamic tracking of different speed reference trajectories. The optimization process is based on minimizing either the system total error, the steady state error, settling time, rising time, and maximum overshoot.
Electrochemical fabrication of single-crystalline and polycrystalline Au nanowires: the influence of deposition parameters

We report the electrochemical growth of gold nanowires with controlled dimensions and crystallinity. By systematically varying the deposition conditions, both polycrystalline and single-crystalline wires with diameters between 20 and 100 nm are successfully synthesized in etched ion-track membranes. The nanowires are characterized using scanning electron microscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy, scanning tunnelling microscopy and x-ray diffraction. The influence of the deposition parameters, especially those of the electrolyte, on the nanowire structure is investigated. Gold sulfite electrolytes lead to polycrystalline structure at the temperatures and voltages employed. In contrast, gold cyanide solution favours the growth of single crystals at temperatures between 50 and 65 °C under both direct current and reverse pulse current deposition conditions. The single-crystalline wires possess a [110] preferred orientation.
The Effect of Aggregate Gradation on Engineering Properties of High Performance Concrete

The main theme of this paper is to study the effects of aggregate packing types on the engineering properties of high performance concrete (HPC). Three types of aggregate packing (primitive, dense, gap gradation) and five kinds of paste amount (1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 1.8, 2.0 of void content within aggregate) are the major parameters to evaluate the properties of HPC. The test result indicates that the denser the aggregate packing the better the workability and engineering properties are under sufficient paste content. The application of the densified mixture design algorithm (DMDA) on designing HPC for every aggregate packing type can obtain high flowability and suitable strength growth. The strength efficiency of HPC designed by DMDA is much higher than that by the traditional one. The significant contribution of the aggregate packing to the performance of hardened HPC is obvious. The conclusion is that by applying DMDA, the gap-graded aggregate or other marginal material may be utilized to produce HPC.
Establishment of the Winter-Annual Growth Habit via FRIGIDA-Mediated Histone Methylation at FLOWERING LOCUS C in Arabidopsis[C][W]

In Arabidopsis thaliana, flowering-time variation exists among accessions, and the winter-annual (late-flowering without vernalization) versus rapid-cycling (early flowering) growth habit is typically determined by allelic variation at FRIGIDA (FRI) and FLOWERING LOCUS C (FLC). FRI upregulates the expression of FLC, a central floral repressor, to levels that inhibit flowering, resulting in the winter-annual habit. Here, we show that FRI promotes histone H3 lysine-4 trimethylation (H3K4me3) in FLC to upregulate its expression. We identified an Arabidopsis homolog of the human WDR5, namely, WDR5a, which is a conserved core component of the human H3K4 methyltransferase complexes called COMPASS-like. We found that recombinant WDR5a binds H3K4-methylated peptides and that WDR5a also directly interacts with an H3K4 methyltransferase, ARABIDOPSIS TRITHORAX1. FRI mediates WDR5a enrichment at the FLC locus, leading to increased H3K4me3 and FLC upregulation. WDR5a enrichment is not required for elevated H3K4me3 in FLC upon loss of function of an FLC repressor, suggesting that two distinct mechanisms underlie elevated H3K4me3 in FLC. Our findings suggest that FRI is involved in the enrichment of a WDR5a-containing COMPASS-like complex at FLC chromatin that methylates H3K4, leading to FLC upregulation and thus the establishment of the winter-annual growth habit.
Multiple Objects Device-Free Passive Tracking Using Wireless Sensor Networks

Object tracking is a main application of wireless sensor networks (WSNs), and has been studied widely. In this work, we study multiple objects tracking problem using WSNs, in which we assume no equipment is carried by the object and the tracking procedure is passive. We first show that without carefully design, Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) and Link Quality Indicator (LQI) are not as effective as claimed for passive detection through our testbed studies. We further propose to use light to track moving objects in WSNs. To our best knowledge, this is the first work to study multiple objects tracking using light sensors and general light sources. We propose a novel probabilistic tracking protocol to track multiple objects. We further design several efficient methods to compute some attributes of the moving objects (like heights, moving speeds etc.).
Exploiting place features in link prediction on location-based social networks

Link prediction systems have been largely adopted to recommend new friends in online social networks using data about social interactions. With the soaring adoption of location-based social services it becomes possible to take advantage of an additional source of information: the places people visit. In this paper we study the problem of designing a link prediction system for online location-based social networks. We have gathered extensive data about one of these services, Gowalla, with periodic snapshots to capture its temporal evolution. We study the link prediction space, finding that about 30% of new links are added among "place-friends", i.e., among users who visit the same places. We show how this prediction space can be made 15 times smaller, while still 66% of future connections can be discovered. Thus, we define new prediction features based on the properties of the places visited by users which are able to discriminate potential future links among them. Building on these findings, we describe a supervised learning framework which exploits these prediction features to predict new links among friends-of-friends and place-friends. Our evaluation shows how the inclusion of information about places and related user activity offers high link prediction performance. These results open new directions for real-world link recommendation systems on location-based social networks.
A modified simple logistic chaotic map through exponential controller in nonlinear term

A typical logistic map has been utilized in a variety of applications such as in biological modeling and secure communications. Nonetheless, such a typical logistic map has only a single control parameter that sets all dynamic behaviors. This paper therefore introduces a new arbitrary power in the quadratic term in order to control stability of the system. The addition arbitrary power subsequently increases the degree of freedom of the logistic map and provides versatile responses as well as the flexibility of the system. Dynamic properties are described in terms of Cobweb plots, bifurcations, Lyapunov exponents, and chaotic waveforms in time domain. Experimental results utilize the Arduino microcontroller to generate chaotic waveforms with a relatively flat spectrum in frequency domain. The application in random-bit generator that passes all NIST standard tests is also involved.
The Complexity of Order Type Isomorphism

The order type of a point set in Rd maps each (d+1)-tuple of points to its orientation (e.g., clockwise or counterclockwise in R2). Two point sets X and Y have the same order type if there exists a mapping f from X to Y for which every (d+1)-tuple (a1, a2, ., ad+1) of X and the corresponding tuple (f(a1), f(a2), . , f(ad+1)) in Y have the same orientation. In this paper we investigate the complexity of determining whether two point sets have the same order type. We provide an O(nd) algorithm for this task, thereby improving upon the O(n⌊3d/2⌋) algorithm of Goodman and Pollack (1983). The algorithm uses only order type queries and also works for abstract order types (or acyclic oriented matroids). Our algorithm is optimal, both in the abstract setting and for realizable points sets if the algorithm only uses order type queries.
Immunization of chimpanzees confers protection against challenge with human immunodeficiency virus.

Sustained high titers of neutralizing antibodies were elicited in three chimpanzees after sequential injections of different human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) antigen preparations derived from the HIV-1 BRU strain that included whole inactivated virus or purified recombinant proteins and then synthetic peptides identical to the major HIV-1 neutralizing epitope V3. The animals were challenged i.v. with 40 chimpanzee infectious doses (equivalent to 100 tissue culture 50% infectious doses) of a stock of HIV-1 IIIB isolate. After 6 mo of follow-up, all three animals appeared uninfected by serologic and virologic criteria, including polymerase chain reaction analysis and failure to isolate virus from peripheral blood lymphocytes, bone marrow, and lymph node tissue. Of two chimpanzees monitored for 1 yr, virus was isolated initially from one animal at 32 weeks, but the second chimpanzee was virus negative by all assays through 12 mo; the third animal has remained virus negative through 9 mo of follow-up. These results indicate that it is possible to elicit protection against, or significantly delay infection of, HIV-1 by immunization, thus laying the foundation for development of an HIV-1 vaccine.
Improving Relevancy Filter Methods for Cross-Project Defect Prediction

Context: Cross-project defect prediction (CPDP)research has been popular. One of the techniques for CPDP isa relevancy filter which utilizes clustering algorithms to selecta useful subset of the cross-project data. Their performanceheavily relies on the quality of clustering, and using an advancedclustering algorithm instead of simple ones used in the past studiescan contribute to the performance improvement. Objective:To propose and examine a new relevancy filter method usingan advanced clustering method DBSCAN (Density-Based SpatialClustering). Method: We conducted an experiment that examinedthe predictive performance of the proposed method. Theexperiments compared three relevancy filter methods, namely,Burak-filter, Peters-filter, and the proposed method with 56project data and four prediction models. Results: The predictiveperformance measures supported the proposed method. It wasbetter than Burak-filter and Peters-filter in terms of AUC andg-measure. Conclusion: The proposed method achieved betterprediction than the conventional methods. The results suggestedthat exploring advanced clustering algorithms could contributeto cross-project defect prediction.
Production of Polysaccharides and Corresponding Sugars from Red Seaweed

Recently, red seaweed attacks growing interests as 3rd generation biomass due to their notable characteristics e. g. no lignin, high CO2 fixation ability as well as high carbohydrate contents such as galactan and glucan. Seaweed may belong to one of the several groups of multicellular macro algae (the red algae, green algae, and brown algae). The ecology of seaweeds is dominated by two specific environmental requirements, that is the presence of seawater and light sufficient to drive photosynthesis. Seaweed is currently being researched as a potential source of biofuel in the form of bioehtanol. Especially, Gelidium amansii known as one of the red seaweed can be depolymerized to produce mixed monosugars such as glucose and galactose. We describe here the polysaccharide extract conditions using G. amansii to maximize the total yields of polymers and their conversion rate into monosugars which are able to be converted into bioethanol.
AdaBoost$^{+}$: An Ensemble Learning Approach for Estimating Weather-Related Outages in Distribution Systems

Environmental factors, such as weather, trees, and animals, are major causes of power outages in electric utility distribution systems. Of these factors, wind and lightning have the most significant impacts. The objective of this paper is to investigate models to estimate wind and lighting related outages. Such estimation models hold the potential for lowering operational costs and reducing customer downtime. This paper proposes an ensemble learning approach based on a boosting algorithm, AdaBoost+, for estimation of weather-caused power outages. Effectiveness of the model is evaluated using actual data, which comprised of weather data and recorded outages for four cities of different sizes in Kansas. The proposed ensemble model is compared with previously presented regression, neural network, and mixture of experts models. The results clearly show that AdaBoost+ estimates outages with greater accuracy than the other models for all four data sets.
Japanese Dependency Parsing Using Co-Occurrence Information and a Combination of Case Elements

In this paper, we present a method that improves Japanese dependency parsing by using large-scale statistical information. It takes into account two kinds of information not considered in previous statistical (machine learning based) parsing methods: information about dependency relations among the case elements of a verb, and information about co-occurrence relations between a verb and its case element. This information can be collected from the results of automatic dependency parsing of large-scale corpora. The results of an experiment in which our method was used to rerank the results obtained using an existing machine learning based parsing method showed that our method can improve the accuracy of the results obtained using the existing method.
DETERMINATION OF THE OPTIMUM INCUBATION PERIOD OF CONTINUOUSLY MONITORED BLOOD CULTURES FROM PATIENTS WITH SUSPECTED ENDOCARDITIS OR FUNGAEMIA

Aim: It is routine practice to prolong the incubation period of blood cultures from patients with suspected subacute bacterial endocarditis (SBE) or fungal infection. The protocol in this laboratory required 28 days incubation with weekly subcultures. Following the introduction of automated continuously monitored blood culture instruments, the duration of incubation for specimens from these categories of patients was reviewed. Method: In a retrospective study of blood culture specimens submitted from 1 July 1994 to 31 July 1998, the time from collection to a positive signal from the BacT/Alert automated blood culture system, in patients suspected of SBE or fungal infection, was assessed. Results: From 355 patient episodes, 896 bottles were incubated for up to 28 days, during which time 116 bottles (40 patient episodes) signalled positive. Significant organisms from suspected endocarditis patients were isolated from 87 bottles (87%), with the time to detection ranging from 9 to 96 hours. The data collected from significant isolates obtained from clinically suspected fungaemias were extremely small, prompting a review of the total fungal isolates from all blood culture bottles incubated during the study period. Yeast isolates were obtained from 78 (0.08%) bottles with the detection time ranging from 15 to 144 hours. Conclusion: The practice in this laboratory now is to incubate blood cultures for up to 7 days when the clinical notes indicate the possibility of SBE or a fungal infection.Abbreviations: (SBE) subacute bacterial endocarditis.
ADP-Ribosylation Factor 1 Regulates Asymmetric Cell Division in Female Meiosis in the Mouse1

Abstract Mouse oocytes undergo two successive meiotic divisions to generate one large egg with two small polar bodies. The divisions are essential for preserving the maternal resources to support embryonic development. Although previous studies have shown that some small guanosine triphosphatases, such as RAC, RAN, and CDC42, play important roles in cortical polarization and spindle pole anchoring, no oocytes undergo cytokinesis when the mutant forms of these genes are expressed in mouse oocytes. Here, we show that the ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1) plays an important role in regulating asymmetric cell division in mouse oocyte meiosis. Microinjection of mRNA of a dominant negative mutant form of Arf1 (Arf1T31N) into fully grown germinal vesicle oocytes led to symmetric cell division in meiosis I, generating two metaphase II (MII) oocytes of equal size. Subsequently, the two MII oocytes of equal size underwent the second round of symmetric cell division to generate a four-cell embryo (zygote) when activated parthenogenetically or via sperm injection. Furthermore, inactivation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) but not MDK (also known as MEK) has been discovered in the ARF1 mutant oocytes, and this further demonstrated that ARF1, MAPK pathway plays an important role in regulating asymmetric cell division in meiosis I. Similarly, ARF1T31N-expressing, superovulated MII oocytes underwent symmetric cell division in meiosis II when activation was performed. Rotation of the MII spindle for 90 degrees was prohibited in ARF1T31N-expressing MII oocytes. Taken together, our results suggest that ARF1 plays an essential role in regulating asymmetric cell division in female meiosis.
Protocol coding for reliable wireless bits under jamming: Concept and experimental validation

Practical digital communication systems are designed to operate well in typical conditions, where the bit/packet error rates are below a certain level. In packet-based systems, if Bob has a data to send to Alice then Bob first transmits a preamble/packet header followed by data. A necessary condition to receive the data correctly is to receive the packet header and therefore headers use a more robust encoding. Under typical conditions, the probability of error for the packet header is close to 0. However, when the received signal at Alice is very weak or she experiences excessive interference, the error rate for the data part of the packets goes to 1, while the error rate for the header part increases significantly. This causes the wireless connection to break and produces a rate waterfall effect in digital systems: either the wireless data rate is above a minimal rate R, or it is equal to 0. In other words, practical digital systems do not degrade the data rate gracefully towards 0 as the transmission conditions worsen. We have recently introduced the concept protocol coding to refer to strategies for sending information by using the degrees of freedom available when one needs to decide the actions taken by a particular communication protocol. Under typical operating conditions, protocol coding delivers relatively low data rate, but the transmitted bits are very reliable. In this paper we show that by applying protocol coding, the rate waterfall effect can be avoided in practically any wireless digital communication system. An example application of such a concept is the case in which a short critical message needs to be delivered to a severely interfered receiver. We describe an experimental setup which proves the viability of this concept in a WiFi system exposed to a commercial jammer of the ISM band.