Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of the combination of camptothecin and doxorubicin or etoposide on rat glioma cells and camptothecin-resistant variants

From the rat C6 glioma cell line in culture, we selected camptothecin-resistant variants by growth in the presence of increasing amounts of this drug (C6CPT10, C6CPT50 and C6CPT100, growing respectively with 10, 50 and 100 ng ml–1 camptothecin). The degree of resistance to camptothecin ranged between 15-fold (C6CPT10) and 30-fold (C6CPT50and C6CPT100). The C6CPT10 cell line presented a collateral sensitivity to etoposide (3.6-fold), while the C6CPT50 and C6CPT100 cell lines were cross-resistant to etoposide (1.8-fold) The resistant lines were characterised by a two-fold reduced content and catalytic activity of topoisomerase I, and C6CPT50 and C6CPT100 presented a significant increase in topoisomerase IIα content and catalytic activity and a marked overexpression of P-glycoprotein. We explored the cytotoxicity of combinations of a topoisomerase I inhibitor (camptothecin) and a topoisomerase II inhibitor (doxorubicin or etoposide) at several molar ratios, allowing the evaluation of their synergistic or antagonistic effects on cell survival using the median effect principle. The simultaneous combination of camptothecin and doxorubicin or etoposide was additive or antagonistic in C6 cells, slightly synergistic in the C6CPT10 line and never more than additive in the C6CPT50 and C6CPT100 cell lines. The sequential combination of doxorubicin and camptothecin gave additivity in the order camptothecin → doxorubicin and antagonism in the order doxorubicin → camptothecin. Clinical protocols combining a topoisomerase I and a topoisomerase II inhibitor should be considered with caution because antagonistic effects have been observed with combinations of camptothecin and doxorubicin. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign http://www.bjcancer. com
Comparing Star Formation on Large Scales in the c2d Legacy Clouds: Bolocam 1.1 mm Dust Continuum Surveys of Serpens, Perseus, and Ophiuchus

We have undertaken an unprecedentedly large 1.1 mm continuum survey of three nearby star-forming clouds using Bolocam at the Caltech Submillimeter Observatory. We mapped the largest areas in each cloud at millimeter or submillimeter wavelengths to date: 7.5 deg2 in Perseus (Enoch and coworkers), 10.8 deg2 in Ophiuchus (Young and coworkers), and 1.5 deg2 in Serpens with a resolution of 31'', detecting 122, 44, and 35 cores, respectively. Here we report on results of the Serpens survey and compare the three clouds. Average measured angular core sizes and their dependence on resolution suggest that many of the observed sources are consistent with power-law density profiles. Tests of the effects of cloud distance reveal that linear resolution strongly affects measured source sizes and densities, but not the shape of the mass distribution. Core mass distribution slopes in Perseus and Ophiuchus (α = 2.1 ± 0.1 and 2.1 ± 0.3) are consistent with recent measurements of the stellar IMF, whereas the Serpens distribution is flatter (α = 1.6 ± 0.2). We also compare the relative mass distribution shapes to predictions from turbulent fragmentation simulations. Dense cores constitute less than 10% of the total cloud mass in all three clouds, consistent with other measurements of low star formation efficiencies. Furthermore, most cores are found at high column densities; more than 75% of 1.1 mm cores are associated with AV ≳ 8 mag in Perseus, 15 mag in Serpens, and 20-23 mag in Ophiuchus.
Morphology Controlled Nanostructure of Zinc Porphyrin

We have shown that various Zinc porphyrin-based nanostructures can be easily synthesized by a surfactant-assisted self-assembly method, where nonionic, anionic and cationic surfactants are employed. It was found that tuning the type of surfactant offered an alternative to promote the formation of Zinc porphyrin nanostructure with different morphologies in aqueous solutions. As-prepared nano-scale self-assemblies, including disc-shaped, ellipsoid, square and quadrangular pyramidal nanoparticles, were investigated in solution via UV/vis, fluorescence spectroscopy and SEM microscopy. The different UV/vis as well as fluorescent spectra between nano-porphyrin and its monomer further conformed that the nano-crystallization of porphyrin would result in novel optical properties differing from the single subunits.
Everlast: Long-life, Supercapacitor-operated Wireless Sensor Node

This paper describes a supercapacitor-operated, solar-powered wireless sensor node called Everlast. Unlike traditional wireless sensors that store energy in batteries, Everlast's use of supercapacitors enables the system to operate for an estimated lifetime of 20 years without any maintenance. The novelty of this system lies in the feedforward, PFM (pulse frequency modulated) converter and open-circuit solar voltage method for maximum power point tracking, enabling the solar cell to efficiently charge the supercapacitor and power the node. Experimental results show that Everlast can achieve low power consumption, long operational lifetime, and high transmission rates, something that traditional sensor nodes cannot achieve simultaneously and must trade-off
Practical type inference based on success typings

In languages where the compiler performs no static type checks, many programs never go wrong, but the intended use of functions and component interfaces is often undocumented or appears only in the form of comments which cannot always be trusted. This often makes program maintenance problematic. We show that it is possible to reconstruct a significant portion of the type information which is implicit in a program, automatically annotate function interfaces, and detect definite type clashes without fundamental changes to the philosophy of the language or imposing a type system which unnecessarily rejects perfectly reasonable programs. To do so, we introduce the notion of success typings of functions. Unlike most static type systems, success typings incorporate subtyping and never disallow a use of a function that will not result in a type clash during runtime. Unlike most soft typing systems that have previously been proposed, success typings allow for compositional, bottom-up type inference which appears to scale well in practice. Moreover, by taking control-flow into account and exploiting properties of the language such as its module system, success typings can be refined and become accurate and precise We demonstrate the power and practicality of the approach by applying it to Erlang. We report on our experiences from employing the type inference algorithm, without any guidance, on programs of significant size
Analytical Development of Loadability Characteristics for EHV and UHV Transmission Lines

This paper contains the development of an analytical basis for the St. Clair line loadability curve and presents the extension of its use into the EHV and UHV transmission area. A brief historical background describes the origin and pertinent aspects of the St. Clair curve including the fact that the old curve, originally intended for transmission voltages up to 330-kV, is derived empirically based upon practical considerations and experience. In order to extend the usefulness of such line loadability characteristics into the EHV and UHV range, a simplified representation of the system, which incorporates flexibility to include both line and system parameters, is utilized to compute maximum line loadability subject to assumed system performance criteria. It is shown that, for a reasonable and consistent set of assumptions, with regard to system parameters and performance criteria, EHV and UHV transmission line loadability characteristics are nearly identical to the original St. Clair curve. The paper further illustrates the relative influence of these assumptions on the derived characteristics, In particular, the electrical strength of the sending- and receiving-end systems is found to have an increasingly important influence on the loadability of transmission lines as the voltage class increases. The analytical approach to determination of transmission line loadability curves enables the user to examine specific situations and assumptions and to avoid possible misinterpretation of generalized conceptual guides-particularly in the EHV/UHV range where system parameters can have a significant impact on loadability.
Efficient Higher-Order Neural Networks for Classification and Function Approximation

This paper introduces a class of higher-order networks called pi-sigma networks (PSNs). PSNs are feedforward networks with a single “hidden” layer of linear summing units and with product units in the output layer. A PSN uses these product units to indirectly incorporate the capabilities of higher-order networks while greatly reducing network complexity. PSNs have only one layer of adjustable weights and exhibit fast learning. A PSN with K summing units provides a constrained Kth order approximation of a continuous function. A generalization of the PSN is presented that can uniformly approximate any continuous function defined on a compact set. The use of linear hidden units makes it possible to mathematically study the convergence properties of various LMS type learning algorithms for PSNs. We show that it is desirable to update only a partial set of weights at a time rather than synchronously updating all the weights. Bounds for learning rates which guarantee convergence are derived. Several simulation results on pattern classification and function approximation problems highlight the capabilities of the PSN. Extensive comparisons are made with other higher order networks and with multilayered perceptrons. The neurobiological plausibility of PSN type networks is also discussed.
Circular Dichroism and 1H Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Studies on the Solution and Membrane Structures of GAP-43 Calmodulin-binding Domain*

Growth-associated protein-43 (GAP-43) is believed to be palmitoylated near the N terminus and the modification is assumed to be involved in the membrane anchoring of the protein. However, GAP-43 isolated from bovine brain is not palmitoylated as shown by mass spectrometric analysis, but still retains the ability to bind phospholipids, suggesting that other parts of the molecule are involved in the interaction. Upon addition of acidic phospholipids, purified GAP-43 showed a conformational change from random coil to α-helix as indicated by a change in CD spectra. A synthetic peptide corresponding to the calmodulin-binding domain showed a similar conformational change from random coil to α-helix in the presence of various acidic phospholipids. These results suggest that the calmodulin-binding domain of GAP-43 is directly involved in the GAP-43-membrane interaction and undergoes a conformational change upon binding to phospholipid membranes. After phosphorylation by protein kinase C, the phospholipid-induced conformational changes were no longer observed. Structural characteristics of the calmodulin-binding domain peptide in aqueous and hydrophobic solvents were further studied in detail by two-dimensional 1H nuclear magnetic resonance. The results obtained suggest that the domain assumes a nascent α-helical structure in aqueous solution, which is stabilized under hydrophobic environments.
Design and Implementation of Quasi Planar K-Band Array Antenna Based on Travelling Wave Structures

Designing antenna arrays based on travelling wave structures has been studied extensively during the past couple of decades and literature on several array topologies is present. It has been an active area of research as constant improvement of antenna arrays is desired for different communication systems developed. Slotted waveguide antennas are one form of travelling wave structures which is adapted in this study due to several advantages offered over other planar array structures. Waveguide slots have been used for a couple of decades as radiating elements. Several design studies have been carried out regarding use of slots with different orientations and geometry and cascading them together to be used as array antennas. Waveguide antennas are preferred as they provide low losses in the feed structure and also offer good radiation characteristics. This study provides a design procedure for implementing a circular polarized planar antenna array based on slotted waveguide structures. The antenna is designed to work in the 19.7 - 20.2 GHz range which is the operating frequency for the downlink of satellites.
Depression before and after uterine cervix and breast cancer neoadjuvant chemotherapy

Depression in cancer patients is common and may affect treatment outcome either directly (by lowering defenses) or indirectly (by lowering compliance). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for advanced uterine cervix or breast cancer is a strenuous undertaking and may lead to depression and impair patients' willingness to comply with the rest of the treatment (eg, surgery or radiotherapy). We compare Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores both before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in order to verify if depression influences treatment outcome. We studied 22 advanced uterine cervix and 20 breast cancer patients submitted to three courses of neoadjuvant chemotherapy. We used cisplatin and ifosfamide for cervix, and fluorouracil, adriamycin, and cyclophosphamide for breast cancer. We did not identify significant differences in the number of depressed patients, before and after treatment. Cognitive affective, somatic-performance, and total BDI scores were not significantly different from before to after chemotherapy for both breast and uterine cervix cancer. After treatment, the number of depressive breast cancer patients increased while the number of uterine cervix cancer patients decreased. This trend to depression was found more often in less responsive breast cancer patients than in the more responsive cervix cancer patients. We were not able to link depression to treatment failure or success, but patients who responded to treatment were less depressed at the end of treatment.
Cooperation through communication in decentralized Markov games

In this paper, we present a comunication-integrated reinforcement-learning algorithm for a general-sum Markov game or MG played by independent, cooperative agents. The algorithm assumes that agents can communicate but do not know the purpose (the semantic) of doing so. We model agents that have different tasks, some of which may be commonly beneficial. The objective of the agents is to determine which are the commonly beneficial tasks, and learn a sequence of actions that achieves the common tasks. In other words, the agents play a multi-stage coordination game, of which they know niether the stage-wise payoff matrix nor the stage transition matrix. Our principal interest is in imposing realistic conditions of learning on the agents. Towards this end, we assume that they operate in a strictly imperfect monitoring setting wherein they do not observe one another's actions or rewards. A learning algorithm for a Markov game under this stricter condition of learning has not been proposed yet to our knowledge. We describe this Markov game with individual reward functions as a new formalism, decentralized Markov game or Dec-MG, a formalism borrowed from Dec-MDP (Markov decison process). For the communicatory aspect of the learning conditions, we propose a series of communication frameworks graduated in terms of facilitation of information exchange amongst the agents. We present results of testing our algorithm in a toy problem MG called a total guessing game.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Physical parameters of the high-mass X-ray binary 4 U 1700-37

We present the results of a detailed non-LTE analysis of the ultraviolet and optical spectrum of the O6.5 Iaf star HD 153919 – the mass donor in the high-mass X-ray binary 4U1700-37. We find that the star has a luminosity log(L∗/L ) = 5.82 ± 0.07, Teff = 35 000 ± 1000 K, radius R∗ = 21.9+1.3 −0.5 R , mass-loss rate Ṁ = 9.5 × 10−6 M yr−1, and a significant overabundance of nitrogen (and possibly carbon) relative to solar values. Given the eclipsing nature of the system these results allow us to determine the most likely masses of both components of the binary via Monte Carlo simulations. These suggest a mass for HD 153919 of M∗ = 58 ± 11 M – implying the initial mass of the companion was rather high (>∼60 M ). The most likely mass for the compact companion is found to be Mx = 2.44 ± 0.27 M , with only 3.5 per cent of the trials resulting in a mass less than 2.0 M and none less than 1.65 M . Such a value is significantly in excess of the upper observational limit to the masses of neutron stars of 1.45 M found by Thorsett & Chakrabarthy (1999), although a mass of 1.86 M has recently been reported for the Vela X-1 pulsar (Barziv et al. 2001). Our observational data is inconsistent with the canonical neutron star mass and the lowest black hole mass observed (>∼4.4 M ; Nova Vel). Significantly changing observational parameters can force the compact object mass into either of these regimes but, given the strong proportionality between M∗ and Mx, the O-star mass changes by factors of greater than 2, well beyond the limits determined from its evolutionary state and surface gravity. The low mass of the compact object implies that it is difficult to form high mass black holes through both the Case A & B mass transfer channels and, if the compact object is a neutron star, would significantly constrain the high density nuclear equation of state.
Optimal inapproximability results for MAX-CUT and other 2-variable CSPs?

In this paper, we give evidence suggesting that MAX-CUT is NP-hard to approximate to within a factor of /spl alpha//sub cw/+ /spl epsi/, for all /spl epsi/ > 0, where /spl alpha//sub cw/ denotes the approximation ratio achieved by the Goemans-Williamson algorithm (1995). /spl alpha//sub cw/ /spl ap/ . 878567. This result is conditional, relying on two conjectures: a) the unique games conjecture of Khot; and, b) a very believable conjecture we call the majority is stablest conjecture. These results indicate that the geometric nature of the Goemans-Williamson algorithm might be intrinsic to the MAX-CUT problem. The same two conjectures also imply that it is NP-hard to (/spl beta/ + /spl epsi/)-approximate MAX-2SAT, where /spl beta/ /spl ap/ . 943943 is the minimum of (2 + (2//spl pi/) /spl theta/)/(3 - cos(/spl theta/)) on (/spl pi//2, /spl pi/). Motivated by our proof techniques, we show that if the MAX-2CSP and MAX-2SAT problems are slightly restricted - in a way that seems to retain all their hardness -then they have (/spl alpha//sub GW/-/spl epsi/)- and (/spl beta/ - /spl epsi/)-approximation algorithms, respectively. Though we are unable to prove the majority is stablest conjecture, we give some partial results and indicate possible directions of attack. Our partial results are enough to imply that MAX-CUT is hard to (3/4 + 1/(2/spl pi/) + /spl epsi/)-approximate (/spl ap/ .909155), assuming only the unique games conjecture. We also discuss MAX-2CSP problems over non-Boolean domains and state some related results and conjectures. We show, for example, that the unique games conjecture implies that it is hard to approximate MAX-2LIN(q) to within any constant factor.
Visibility sweeps for joint-hierarchical importance sampling of direct lighting for stochastic volume rendering

Physically-based light transport in heterogeneous volumetric data is computationally expensive because the rendering integral (particularly visibility) has to be stochastically solved. We present a visibility estimation method in concert with an importance-sampling technique for efficient and unbiased stochastic volume rendering. Our solution relies on a joint strategy, which involves the environmental illumination and visibility inside of the volume. A major contribution of our method is a fast sweeping-plane algorithm to progressively estimate partial occlusions at discrete locations, where we store the result using an octahedral representation. We then rely on a quadtree-based hierarchy to perform a joint importance sampling. Our technique is unbiased, requires little precomputation, is highly parallelizable, and is applicable to a various volume data sets, dynamic transfer functions, and changing environmental lighting.
Hsp90 as a Gatekeeper of Tumor Angiogenesis: Clinical Promise and Potential Pitfalls

Tumor vascularization is an essential modulator of early tumor growth, progression, and therapeutic outcome. Although antiangiogenic treatments appear promising, intrinsic and acquired tumor resistance contributes to treatment failure. Clinical inhibition of the molecular chaperone heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) provides an opportunity to target multiple aspects of this signaling resiliency, which may elicit more robust and enduring tumor repression relative to effects elicited by specifically targeted agents. This review highlights several primary effectors of angiogenesis modulated by Hsp90 and describes the clinical challenges posed by the redundant circuitry of these pathways. The four main topics addressed include (1) Hsp90-mediated regulation of HIF/VEGF signaling, (2) chaperone-dependent regulation of HIF-independent VEGF-mediated angiogenesis, (3) Hsp90-dependent targeting of key proangiogenic receptor tyrosine kinases and modulation of drug resistance, and (4) consideration of factors such as tumor microenvironment that pose several challenges for the clinical efficacy of anti-angiogenic therapy and Hsp90-targeted strategies.
E-mail authorship mining based on SVM for computer forensic

We describe our work which attempts to mine e-mail authorship for the purpose of computer forensic. We extract various e-mail document features including linguistic features, header features and structural characteristics. These features together are used with the support vector machine learning algorithm to classify or attribute authorship of e-mail messages to an author. The primary experiments on a number of e-mail documents have given ideal results, which indicate that the project has laid a firm groundwork for the future work.
Long-term ecology resolves the timing, region of origin and process of establishment for a disputed alien tree

Alien plants are a pervasive environmental problem, particularly on islands where they can rapidly transform unique indigenous ecosystems. However, often it is difficult to confidently determine if a species is native or alien, especially if establishment occurred before historical records. This can present a management challenge: for example, should such taxa be eradicated or left alone until their region of origin and status is clarified? In this paper we show how combining palaeoecological and historical records can help resolve such dilemmas, using the tree daisy Olearia lyallii on the remote New Zealand subantarctic Auckland Islands as a case study.