Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
No Incidence of BRAF Mutations in Salivary Gland Carcinomas—Implications for Anti-EGFR Therapies

BRAF is the main effector of KRAS in the RAS-RAF-MAPK axis, a signaling pathway downstream of EGFR. The activation of this cascade is an important pathway in cancer development and is considered a key pathway for therapeutic molecules. Recent studies in metastatic colorectal cancer found that an oncogenic activation of BRAF by a point mutation in exon 15 (V600E) could bypass the EGFR-initiated signaling cascade with the effect that patients bearing the mutant BRAF allele are not likely to benefit from EGFR-targeted therapies. We designed an allele-specific PCR and screened 65 salivary gland carcinoma (SGC) of the main histopathological types for the BRAF V600E mutation. All 65 SGC in this cohort (100%) presented the BRAF wildtype. In a previous study, we found a KRAS wildtype in 98.5% of SGC. These findings imply that SGC rarely acquires mutations that result in a constitutive activation of the signaling cascade downstream of EGFR and this pleads in favor of further therapeutic trials with EGFR-targeting monoclonal antibodies.
Locality in Distributed Graph Algorithms

This paper concerns a number of algorithmic problems on graphs and how they may be solved in a distributed fashion. The computational model is such that each node of the graph is occupied by a processor which has its own ID. Processors are restricted to collecting data from others which are at a distance at most t away from them in t time units, but are otherwise computationally unbounded. This model focuses on the issue of locality in distributed processing, namely, to what extent a global solution to a computational problem can be obtained from locally available data.Three results are proved within this model: • A 3-coloring of an n-cycle requires time $\Omega (\log ^ * n)$. This bound is tight, by previous work of Cole and Vishkin. • Any algorithm for coloring the d-regular tree of radius r which runs for time at most $2r/3$ requires at least $\Omega (\sqrt d )$ colors. • In an n-vertex graph of largest degree $\Delta $, an $O(\Delta ^2 )$-coloring may be found in time $O(\log ^ * n)$.
Self-Fulfilling Liquidity Dry-Ups

Secondary markets for long-term assets might be illiquid due to adverse selection. In a model in which moral hazard is confined to project initiation, I find that: (1) when agents expect a liquidity dry-up on such markets, they optimally choose to self-insure through the hoarding of non-productive but liquid assets; (2) such a response has negative externalities as it reduces ex-post market participation, which worsens adverse selection and dries up market liquidity; (3) liquidity dry-ups are Pareto inefficient equilibria; (4) the Government can rule them out. Additionally, when agents face idiosyncratic, privately known, illiquidity shocks, I show that: (5) it increases market liquidity; (6) illiquid agents are better-off when they can credibly disclose their liquidity position, but transparency has an ambiguous effect on risk-sharing possibilities.
Impact of standardized patients on the training of medical students to manage emergencies

Background: Teaching emergency management should educate medical students not only for facts and treatment algorithms but also for time effective physical examination, technical skills, and team interaction. We tested the hypothesis, that using standardized emergency patients would be more effective in transmitting knowledge and skills compared with a more traditional teaching approach. Methods: Medical students (n = 242) in their fourth (second clinical) year were randomized to receive either training on standardized patients simulating 3 emergency settings (“acute chest pain,” “stroke,” and “acute dyspnea/asthma”) or traditional small group seminars. Before and after the respective training pathways, the students’ knowledge base (multiple-choice examination) and practical performance (objective structured clinical examination using 3 different emergency scenarios) were assessed. Results: Teaching using standardized patients resulted in a significant albeit small improvement in objective structured clinical examination scores (61.2 ± 3 for the standardized patient trained group vs 60.3 ± 3.5 for the traditional seminar group; P = 0.017, maximum achievable score: 66), but no difference in the written examination scores (27.4 ± 2.4 vs 27.0 ± 4.4; P = 0.341; maximum achievable score: 30). Conclusion: Teaching management of emergencies using standardized patients can improve medical students’ performance in clinical tests, and a change from traditional seminars in favor of practice sessions with standardized patients does not compromise the learning of medical facts.
OPTIMIZATION OF THE PYRAMID HEIGHT IN THE PYRAMID-BASED EXPOSURE FUSION ALGORITHMS

Some of the most successful exposure fusion algorithms are based on image decomposition in Gaussian/Laplacian pyramids. However, the visual quality of the fused result is highly dependent on the number of decomposition levels, i.e. the pyramid height. In this paper, the analysis of that dependence is performed, and an automated algorithm for optimization of the pyramid height is proposed. The algorithm is computationally inexpensive, as it uses results and parameters already computed in the pyramid decomposition process. This algorithm is intended to be a part of a fully automated, low processing power exposure fusion solution, designed for implementation on mobile platform devices. Key Words— exposure fusion, Gaussian/Laplacian pyramid, mobile platform 1 The results were obtained in the course of a research project commissioned and funded by NXP Software B.V. , Eindhoven
Self-Timed Scheduling Analysis for Real-Time Applications

This paper deals with the scheduling analysis of hard real-time streaming applications. These applications are mapped onto a heterogeneous multiprocessor system-on-chip (MPSoC), where we must jointly meet the timing requirements of several jobs. Each job is independently activated and processes streams at its own rate. The dynamic starting and stopping of jobs necessitates the usage of self-timed schedules (STSs). By modeling job implementations using multirate data flow (MRDF) graph semantics, real-time analysis can be performed. Traditionally, temporal analysis of STSs for MRDF graphs only aims at evaluating the average throughput. It does not cope well with latency, and it does not take into account the temporal behavior during the initial transient phase. In this paper, we establish an important property of STSs: the initiation times of actors in an STS are bounded by the initiation times of the same actors in any static periodic schedule of the same job; based on this property, we show how to guarantee strictly periodic behavior of a task within a self-timed implementation; then, we provide useful bounds on maximum latency for jobs with periodic, sporadic, and bursty sources, as well as a technique to check latency requirements. We present two case studies that exemplify the application of these techniques: a simplified channel equalizer and a wireless LAN receiver.
Pattern and Process: A Review Essay on the Relationship between Behavioural Geography and Environmental Psychology

With this issue, the editors of Progress in Human Geography introduce a new series of occasional articles. Our goal is to mcrease interaction between human geography and other academic disciplines, and thereby contribute substantially to the advance­ ment of knowledge and understandmg. Geographers especially are aware that the academic division of scholarly labour is arbitrary. Each disciphne brings a particular set of perspectives to bear on subject matter that is often shared with others, and research interests often overlap. Geo­ graphy is particularly involved in this way, sharing an interface with many other disciplines. Our concern in this new series is to explore those interfaces. We have invited reviews of work relating to a number of such interfaces, iden­ tifying their complementarities, differences, and interrelationships. In many cases we plan to pubhsh separately two pieces, one surveying the interface from the perspective of a human geographer, the other looking at human geography from the perspective of the other discipline or disciplines. But this format is not inflexible; and we will also be pubHshing pieces written jointly by scholars representing both sides of an interface, for example. Several colleagues have already agreed to contribute to the series, and a number of articles are in the process of publication. No fixed schedule has been set, but we hope to include at least two per volume. Any suggestions for contributions to this new venture will be gratefully received.
Energy-Balanced Strategies for Hole Movement in Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks

— This paper considers a mobile WSN that contains a big hole. To achieve the full coverage purpose or enhance the tracking quality, three distributed algorithms are proposed for moving the existing big coverage hole to a predefined location. Firstly, the sink chooses a promising direction for hole movement. Then the Basic, Forward-only and Any-Direction movement mechanisms are proposed to move the hole along the promising direction in a manner of minimizing the total power consumption or balancing the power consumption of the given WSN. Simulation results reveal that the proposed Hole-movement mechanisms enhance the coverage of WSN and balance the power consumption of mobile sensor nodes
Exploring the feasibility of a two-layer NN-based sound classifier for hearing aids

This paper focuses on the development of an automatic sound classifier for digital hearing aids that aims to enhance the listening comprehension when the user goes from a sound environment to another different one. The approach consists in dividing the classifying algorithm into two layers that make use of two neural network algorithms that work more efficiently: the input signal discriminated by the first layer into either speech or non-speech is ulteriorly classified more specifically depending on whether the user is in a conversation (both in quiet and in the presence of background noise) or in a noisy ambient in the absent of speech. The system results in having three classes, labeled “speech in quiet”, “speech in noise”, and “noise”. A brief discussion on the computational complexity of this approach illustrates its feasibility to be implemented on a conventional digital hearing aid.
Defect oriented test development based on inductive fault analysis

This paper describes a method of developing a Defect Oriented Test (DOT) strategy by using Inductive Fault Analysis (IFA) and layout dependent fault models extracted from process defect statistics. The results of a quantitative prediction of the effectiveness of several test strategies, such as functional, IDDQ, and a low voltage power supply method, on a current-mode Digital to Analogue Converter are discussed and show that no single test method is superior.
An Ultra Low-Power WOLA Filterbank Implementation in Deep Submicron Technology

The availability of deep Submicron technology opens the door to advanced algorithms specifically targeted for ultra low-power portable applications like hearing aids. These applications are extremely constrained by small physical size and extremely low power consumption requirements. To achieve these strict requirements, every component must be justified. The Weighted Overlap-Add (WOLA) filterbank discussed here is an important component that meets these difficult requirements.
BioText Team Experiments for the TREC 2004 Genomics Track

The BioText group participated in the two main tasks of the TREC 2004 Genomics track. Our approach to the ad hoc task was similar to the one used in the 2003 Genomics track, but due to the lack of training data, we did not achieve the high scores of the previous year. The most novel aspect of our submission for the categorization task centers around our method for assigning Gene Ontology (GO) codes to articles marked for curation. This approach compares the text surrounding a target gene to text that has been found to be associated with GO codes assigned to homologous genes for organisms with genomes similar to mice (namely, humans and rats). We applied the same method to GO codes that have been assigned to MGI entries in years prior to the test set. In addition, we filtered out proposed GO codes based on their previously observed likelihood to co-occur with one another.
How to model the "human factor" for agent-based simulation in social media analysis?: work in progress paper

Social networks have evolved to a key technology for information diffusion. Consequently, discourse behavior and communication dynamics have become an important research area. However, privacy settings limit data acquisition extremely, such that empirical online content and discourse analysis are hardly applicable here. Since the "human factor" mostly influences the behavior of individual actors, network analysis also provides a restricted perspective. This leads to the question: How to present the "human factor" in combination with network dynamics? In this paper, we propose the application of agent-based simulation (ABS) and intelligent agents for analysis of information propagation in social networks. The benefit of a simulation approach is, that dynamic analysis of communication behavior as well as artificial scenarios can be produced. In contrast to conventional ABS, where agents are modeled in a reactive or stochastic way, intelligent behavior of the agents should lead to a more realistic behavior of the simulated human actors. Thus, intelligent agents should provide a comprehensive perspective on communication processes taking place in social networks. We discuss our current state of work in using a variety of psychological theories for accomplishing a representation of different personal traits and relationships between actors.
Compiling X10 to Java

X10 is a new programming language for improving the software productivity in the multicore era by making parallel/distributed programming easier. X10 programs are compiled into C++ or Java source code, but X10 supports various features not supported directly in Java. To implement them efficiently in Java, new compilation techniques are needed. This paper discusses problems in translating X10-specific functions to Java and provides our solutions. By using appropriate implementations, sequential execution performance has been improved by about 5 times making it comparable to native Java. The parallel execution performance has also been improved and the gap from Java Fork/Join performance is about 3 times when run at a single place. Initial evaluation of distributed execution shows good scalability. Most of the results in this paper have already been incorporated in X10 release 2.1. 2. Many of the compilation techniques described in this paper can be useful for implementing other programming languages targeted for Java or other managed environments.
Novel Association between Plasma Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 and Risk of Incident Atrial Fibrillation in a Case-Cohort Study: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study

Background Previous cross-sectional studies have suggested that biomarkers of extracellular matrix remodelling are associated with atrial fibrillation (AF), but no prospective data have yet been published. Hence, we examine whether plasma matrix metalloproteinases (MMP) and their inhibitors are related to increased risk of incident AF. Methods We used a case-cohort design in the context of the prospective Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study. From 13718 eligible men and women free from AF in 1990-92, we selected a stratified random sample of 500 individuals without and 580 with incident AF over a mean follow-up of 11.8 years. Using a weighted proportional hazards regression model, the relationships between MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-9, tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1, TIMP-2 and C-terminal propeptide of collagen type-I with incident AF were examined after adjusting for confounders. Results In models adjusted for age, sex and race, all biomarkers were associated with AF, but only the relationship between plasma MMP-9 remained significant in the fully-adjusted model: each one standard deviation increase in MMP-9 was associated with 27% (95% Confidence Interval: 7% to 50%) increase in risk of AF with no evidence of an interaction with race or sex. Individuals with above mean levels of MMP-9 were more likely to be male, white and current smokers. Conclusions The findings suggest that elevated levels of MMP-9 are independently associated with increased risk of AF. However, given the lack of specificity of MMP-9 to atrial tissue, it remains to be determined whether the observed relationship reflects the impact of atrial fibrosis or more generalized fibrosis on risk of incident AF.
Privacy-Preserving Classification for Data Streams

In a wide range of applications, multiple data streams need to be examined together in order to discover trends or patterns existing across several data streams. One common practice is to redirect all data streams into a central place for joint analysis. This “centralized” practice is challenged by the fact that data streams often are private in that they come from different owners. In this paper, we focus on the problem of building a classifier in this context and assume that classification evolves as the current window of streams slides forward. This problem faces two major challenges. First, the many-to-many join relationship of streams will blow up the already fast arrival rate of data streams. Second, the privacy requirement implies that data exchange among owners should be minimal. These considerations rule out all classification methods that require producing the join in the current window. We show that Naïve Bayesian Classification (NBC) presents a unique opportunity to address this problem. Our main contribution is to adopt NBC to solve the classification problem for private data streams.
Real-time Rendering of Accumulated Snow

This paper presents a method of computing snow accumulation as a per pixel effect while rendering the scene. The method is similar to the shadow mapping method for shadow calculations. A depth buffer is used to find out how much snow a particular surface should receive. The amount of snow is then modified depending on the slope of the surface. To render the snow in a convincing way 3D noise is utilized for the lighting of the snow surface.
Fourier–Mukai transform on Weierstrass cubics and commuting differential operators

In this paper, we describe the spectral sheaves of algebras of commuting differential operators of genus one and rank two with singular spectral curve, solving a problem posed by Previato and Wilson. We also classify all indecomposable semi-stable sheaves of slope one and ranks two or three on a cuspidal Weierstraß cubic.
What Fraction of a Capital Investment is Sunk Costs

To what extent are capital investments sunk costs? This question is addressed by examining the salvage values of discarded metalworking machinery. Even though such assets are expected to be non-specific, many discarded assets are scrapped rather than sold on second-hand markets. Econometric results suggest that firms can only expect to get back 20-50 percent of the initial price of a "new" machine once it is installed. The results also indicate differences in value-age profiles across firms, but provide only weak support for the hypothesis that salvage values are particularly low during recessions. Copyright 2000 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Forecasting Non-Stationary Time Series : From Theory to Algorithms

Generalization bounds for time series prediction and other non-i.i. d. learning scenarios that can be found in the machine learning and statistics literature assume that observations come from a (strictly) stationary distribution. The first bounds for completely non-stationary setting were proved in [6]. In this work we present an extension of these results and derive novel algorithms for forecasting nonstationary time series. Our experimental results show that our algorithms significantly outperform standard autoregressive models commonly used in practice.
Representing refactoring opportunities

Approaches for the representation of refactoring opportunities and their association with refactorings are usually described in an informal basis. This informality can hamper the creation of catalogues and tools to represent and search for refactoring opportunities. We propose an unified way to represent both the conditions in which the application of a refactoring can be advantageous and the mechanisms to associate these conditions with refactorings. The resulting representation mechanisms can be used to express search criteria based on software metrics, structural problems, heuristics or improvements on the software quality.
Top-K Query Answering for Probabilistic Data Integration Systems in Pervasive Computing Environment

In pervasive computing environment, a challenge is how to exchange and share information on heterogeneous devices. The mediated-base approach of data integration provide a uniform view by creating the semantic relationship between sources and mediated schema. Since the manual match is unfeasible, many automatic approaches are developed. The probability of mappings should be considered inevitably during a query proposed on the global schema of mediated process. Since each tuple of the results has different probability, we may adapt Top-K algorithm to get the most approximate k answers. In this paper, based on a given pervasive computing scenario, we formulate a theoretical model for data integration with probability, demonstrate the probabilities for schema mappings and query answering. We also describe a distributed top-k algorithm cooperating with a local top-k algorithm.
Further analysis on the validation of a usability inspection method for model-driven web development

Currently, there is a lack of empirically validated usability evaluation methods that can properly be integrated during the early stages of Web development processes. This has motivated us to propose a usability inspection method called WUEP that can be integrated into different model-driven Web development processes. In previous work, we presented the operationalization and validation of WUEP in a specific process based on the Object-Oriented Hypermedia (OO-H) method. In this paper, we present further analysis of the empirical validation of the operationalization of WUEP into WebML, which is one of the most well-known industrial model-driven Web development process. The effectiveness, efficiency, perceived ease of use, and satisfaction of WUEP was evaluated in comparison to Heuristic Evaluation. The results show that WUEP is more effective and efficient than heuristic evaluation in the detection of usability problems. The inspectors were also satisfied when applying WUEP, and found it easier to use than heuristic evaluation.
Visualization for modeling and simulation: problems of visualization of technological processes

This paper deals with problems of visualization of dynamic phenomena. An effort to develop new visualization schemes has been described. The main idea is to extend approaches used in the case of visualization of phenomena of static nature into an environment where dynamic phenomena are investigated and visualized. We introduced the "level of detail" approach in time scaling in the environment of dynamic processes where time plays a primary role. In the case of visualization of dynamic phenomena the users are looking for specific dynamic patterns that should help them to understand in a better way the nature of dynamic processes under investigation. A new approach that should meet these requirements has been developed. This approach has been verified by means of two systems used for simulation and visualization of technological processes that are of a dynamic nature.