Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sonographic Diagnosis of Metaphyseal Forearm Fractures in Children: A Safe and Applicable Alternative to Standard X-Rays

Objective Metaphyseal forearm fractures are very common in childhood. Radiography of the wrist is the standard diagnostic procedure. The aim of our study was to evaluate and confirm the safety and applicability of the ultrasound diagnostic procedure in comparison to x-ray diagnosis. Methods We investigated 76 patients aged between 1 and 14 years. After clinical assessment, patients with suspected forearm fractures first underwent ultrasound examination of the metaphyseal forearm followed by standard 2-view radiographs of the wrist. Ultrasound and radiographic findings were then compared, and sensitivity and specificity for ultrasound were calculated. Results Of 76 patients, we found 42 patients with 52 metaphyseal forearm fractures by x-rays. By ultrasound, we also diagnosed 52 fractures. All patients with no fractures were correctly diagnosed as well. Referring to x-ray, we calculated for ultrasound a sensitivity of 96.1% and a specificity of 97%. Comparing axis deviation of displaced fractures, we found a mean difference of 2.1 degrees between sonographic and x-ray values. Conclusions We confirm that ultrasound is an applicable and safe alternative tool to x-rays in nondisplaced or excluded metaphyseal forearm fractures in children.
Low-Loss Circularly Polarized Transmitarray for Beam Steering Application

We present the design and demonstration of a low-loss circularly polarized (CP) transmitarray. The proposed transmitarray is composed of a receiver cell with a 180° analog phase shifter and a transmitter cell integrating 1-bit phase shifting and linear-circular polarization transformation properties. By the analysis of numerical simulation, the transmitarray is verified to transform the incident linearly polarized (LP) wave into outgoing CP wave in the frequency band of 4.75-4.85 GHz. In addition, it can realize the 360° continuous phase modulation, and its insertion loss is less than 2 dB for all the transmission phases. We fabricate a fully reconfigurable 6 × 6 CP transmitarray, and it is experimentally demonstrated to achieve 360° phase tuning range with the average loss of ~2.2 dB. When the proposed CP transmitarray is excited by a LP horn antenna, it produces a CP pencil beam at 4.8 GHz and its measured broadside gain is 14.8 dBi with axial ratio (AR) of 0.65 dB. By tuning its transmission phase, the CP transmitarray can also achieve beam steering at the angle of ±45°, and the value of AR is less than 3 dB at most of the scan angles.
Learning Probabilistic Splice Graphs from RNA-Seq data

RNA-Seq technology provides the foundation for accurately measuring gene expression levels when paired with a model for mapping the produced sequencing reads to a reference genome. Because of the shorter length of RNA-Seq reads, a single read is not uniquely mapped to a single location in the genome and requires probabilistic treatment to accurately measure relative expression levels. We present a directed acyclic graph with edge weights learned using the EM algorithm from a collection of RNA-Seq where reads mapping to multiple locations are distributed according to their probability.
COLLABORATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING AND THE ASSESSMENT OF COGNITIVE SKILLS: PSYCHOMETRIC CONSIDERATIONS

Collaboration is generally recognized as a core competency of today's knowledge economy and has taken a central role in recent theoretical and technological developments in education research. Yet, the methodology for assessing the learning benefits of collaboration continues to rely on educational tests designed for isolated individuals. Thus, what counts as evidence of learning does not correspond to current best practices for teaching, and it does not reflect what students are ultimately expected to be able to do with their knowledge. The goals of this paper are to give an overview of the research conducted in several fields of work related to collaboration, propose a framework for the assessment of cognitive skills (such as science or math) through collaborative problem-solving tasks, and propose several statistical approaches to model the data collected from collaborative interactions. This research contributes to the knowledge needed to support a new generation of assessments based on collaboration.
Voriconazole Inhibits Melanization in Cryptococcus neoformans

ABSTRACT Voriconazole is a triazole antifungal drug that inhibits ergosterol synthesis and has broad activity against yeast and molds. While studying the interaction of voriconazole and Cryptococcus neoformans, we noted that cells grown in the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of voriconazole reduced melanin pigmentation. We investigated this effect systematically by assessing melanin production in the presence of voriconazole, amphotericin B, caspofungin, itraconazole, and fluconazole. Only voriconazole impeded the formation of melanin at subinhibitory concentrations. Voriconazole did not affect the autopolymerization of l-dopa, and 0.5 MIC of voriconazole did affect the gene expression of C. neoformans. However, voriconazole inhibited the capacity of laccase to catalyze the formation of melanin. Hence, voriconazole affects melanization in C. neoformans by interacting directly with laccase, which may increase the efficacy of this potent antifungal against certain pigmented fungi.
Effects of rater conscientiousness on evaluations of task and contextual performance of older and younger co-workers

The possibility for age discrimination and stereotypes to affect performance evaluations is rising. Although careful evaluations might be expected from conscientious raters, little is known about whether they might show more or less bias towards certain age groups. Therefore, in our study using a time-lagged design, we investigated the effects of rater conscientiousness on the performance evaluations of younger and older actual co-worker (N = 242). We found that raters who were more conscientious provided higher ratings for older workers than for younger workers on task performance and organizational citizenship behaviours. Specifically, we tested the model of mediated moderation, in which the relation between rater conscientiousness and ratee age predicts ratee-perceived conscientiousness, which in turn predicts performance ratings. The model was significant for older ratees, but not for younger ratees. We discuss our results in terms of the “similar to me” effects and implications for organizational practices.
Participation bias and its impact on the assembly of a genetic specimen repository for a myocardial infarction cohort.

OBJECTIVE To assess participation bias in the assembly of a specimen repository for genetic studies and to examine the association of participation with outcome within the Olmsted County myocardial infarction (MI) cohort. PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS From January 1, 1979, to May 31, 2006, 3081 persons had MI in Olmsted County, MN. Face-to-face contact was used to recruit patients who were hospitalized for an acute event. Persons who had had an MI before establishment of this repository were contacted by mail. At initial contact, we sought consent to use blood samples for genetic studies. Persons who refused were contacted by mail and were asked to consent to the use of stored tissue samples. For deceased subjects, stored tissue was collected when available. RESULTS Of the 3081 persons in the Olmsted County MI cohort, 1994 participated in the study; 1007 (50.5%) blood and 987 (49.5%) tissue specimens were provided. Participants were more likely to be younger men with hypertension, comorbidities, and non-ST-segment elevation MI (all, P<.05). Participants who provided blood specimens were more likely to have non-ST-segment elevation MI and lower Killip class than those who provided tissue. After adjustment for age, sex, hypertension, ST-segment elevation, Killip class, and comorbidities, participation was not associated with outcome. Participants who provided blood specimens were less likely to have heart failure (hazard ratio, 0.49; 95% confidence interval, 0.40-0.59; P<.01) or to die (hazard ratio, 0.16; 95% confidence interval, 0.12-0.21; P<.01) than those who provided tissue. CONCLUSION A variety of sources can be used to assemble community specimen repositories. Baseline characteristics differed between participants and nonparticipants and, among participants, by specimen source. Participants who provided blood specimens had better outcomes than those who provided tissue specimens. No survival advantage was observed for participants after combining blood and tissue specimens.
The Intergroup Aspect of Organizational Workgroups: The Role of Group Support Systems

In this study, we explore the supporting role of group support systems (GSS) in organizational workgroups that involve groups of distinct social identities. Intergroup processes become relevant and prevalent in such workgroups and trigger new issues. Anonymity is an important feature of GSS concerning the social influence in such intergroup setting whereby it not only shields individual participants’ identities, but also the corresponding groups’ identities. We report on the results of an experiment consisting of 20 workgroups. Results show that the anonymity feature of GSS reduces subjective uncertainty and conformity, increases minority satisfaction, and improves decision quality. The enforcement of common fate and its impact on social influence are also examined. Our findings provide preliminary indication of the usefulness of GSS in intergroup settings of organizational workgroups.
Biomarker Identification Using Text Mining

Identifying molecular biomarkers has become one of the important tasks for scientists to assess the different phenotypic states of cells or organisms correlated to the genotypes of diseases from large-scale biological data. In this paper, we proposed a text-mining-based method to discover biomarkers from PubMed. First, we construct a database based on a dictionary, and then we used a finite state machine to identify the biomarkers. Our method of text mining provides a highly reliable approach to discover the biomarkers in the PubMed database.
The cultural evolution of complex linguistic constructions in artificial sign languages

Though most documented sign languages make use of space to denote relationships between predicate arguments, studies of emerging sign languages suggest that spatial reference does not emerge fully-formed but takes time to develop. We present an artificial sign language learning experiment that expands the cultural evolutionary framework to investigate complex linguistic constructions. Our results demonstrate the gradual emergence of consistent devices to distinguish between sentence arguments, some of which rely on iconic spatial contrasts. These findings mirror data from emerging sign languages and point to the cultural mechanisms that facilitate the evolution of complex linguistic structures.
Population Size, Per Capita Income, and the Risk of Civil War: Regional Heterogeneity in the Structural Relationship Matters

A common finding in the empirical civil war literature is that population size and per capita income are highly significant predictors of civil war incidence and onset. This paper shows that the common finding of population size and per capita income having a significant average effect on civil war risk in a world sample breaks down once countryand year-specific unobservables are accounted for. However, for Sub-Saharan Africa there continues to be a highly significant average effect of population size and per capita income on civil war risk that is robust to the use of country- and year-fixed effects and instrumental variable techniques.
PRODUCTION OF HUMAN TISSUE PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATOR (tPA) IN Cucumis sativus

Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) as a serine protease with 72 kD molecular mass and 527 amino acids plays an important role in the fibrinolytic system and the dissolution of fibrin clots in human body. The collective production of this drug in plants such as cucumber, one of the most important vegetables in the world, could reduce its production costs. In this study, after scrutiny of the appropriate regeneration of cucumber plant (Isfahan variety) on MS medium with naphthalene acetic acid hormone (NAA; 0/1 mg L−1) and benzyl amino purine hormone (BAP; 3 mg L−1) hormones, the cloned human tPA gene under the CaMV 35S promoter and NOS terminator into pBI121 plasmid was transferred into cotyledon explants by Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain LBA4404. Subsequent to the regeneration of inoculated explants on the selective medium, the persistence of tPA gene in recombinant plants was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with specific primers. To evaluate the tPA gene expression in transgenic plants, RNA was extracted and the tPA gene transcription was confirmed by reverse-transcription (RT) PCR. Followed the extraction of protein from the leaves of transgenic plants, the presence of tPA protein was confirmed by dot blot and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis in order to survey the production of recombinant tPA protein. The enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was used for recombinant tPA protein level in transgenic cucumber plants. It was counted between 0.8 and 1%, and based on this, it was concluded that the presence of three expressions of regulatory factors (CaMV 35S, Kozak, NOS) and KDEL signal in the construct caused the increase of the tPA gene expression in cucumber plants.
Key developmental regulators change during hyperoxia‐induced injury and recovery in adult mouse lung

Developmentally important genes have recently been linked to tissue regeneration and epithelial cell repair in neonatal and adult animals in several organs, including liver, skin, prostate, and musculature. We hypothesized that developmentally important genes play roles in lung injury repair in adult mice. Although there is considerable information known about these processes, the specific molecular pathways that mediate injury and regulate tissue repair are not fully elucidated. Using a hyperoxic injury model to study these mechanisms of lung injury and tissue repair, we selected the following genes based upon their known or putative roles in lung development and organogenesis: TTF‐1, FGF9, FGF10, BMP4, PDGF‐A, VEGF, Ptc, Shh, Sca‐1, BCRP, CD45, and Cyclin‐D2. Our findings demonstrate that several developmentally important genes (Sca‐1, Shh, PDGF‐A, VEGF, BCRP, CD45, BMP4, and Cyclin‐D2) change during hyperoxic injury and normoxic recovery in mice, suggesting that adult lung may reactivate key developmental regulatory pathways for tissue repair. The mRNA for one gene (TTF‐1), unchanged during hyperoxia, was upregulated late in recovery phase. These novel findings provide the basis for testing the efficacy of post‐injury lung repair in animals genetically modified to inactivate or express individual molecules. J. Cell. Biochem. 100: 1415–1429, 2007. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CLASSIFICATION TECHNIQUES ON MEDICAL DATA SETS

Classification is the preliminary stage of data mining which is used to categorize the dataset in smaller groups where each group contains the similar data items. The classification basically deals with two main parameters; one is the number of classes and another is the criteria for deciding the class members. Different recognition algorithms also use the classification process as an initial stage to perk up the efficiency and the accuracy. The accuracy of the classification algorithm also decides the effectiveness of its use in other mining applications. The present work is about to analyze the effectiveness of the most popular classification techniques. In this paper, the analysis has been performed for five different classification algorithms in terms of accuracy, kappa statistics, execution time, mean absolute error under three datasets, collected from medical domain. The work has been implemented in WEKA environment and obtained results show that SVM is the most robust classification method and KNN is the least effective classifier for medical data sets.
Matching models across abstraction levels with Gaussian Processes

Biological systems are often modelled at different levels of abstraction depending on the particular aims/resources of a study. Such different models often provide qualitatively concordant predictions over specific parametrisations, but it is generally unclear whether model predictions are quantitatively in agreement, and whether such agreement holds for different parametrisations. Here we present a generally applicable statistical machine learning methodology to automatically reconcile the predictions of different models across abstraction levels. Our approach is based on defining a correction map, a random function which modifies the output of a model in order to match the statistics of the output of a different model of the same system. We use two biological examples to give a proof-of-principle demonstration of the methodology, and discuss its advantages and potential further applications.
A novel multiple description coding scheme compatible with the JPEG2000 decoder

We propose a novel technique to generate rate-distortion optimized multiple descriptions of images, exploiting the rate-allocation strategy embedded in the JPEG2000 encoder. The proposed scheme can be applied to any encoding algorithm, given that the rate allocation is based on code-block truncation. The method yields excellent performance in terms of both central and side distortion, outperforming state-of-the art techniques. Moreover, the single description decoding is fully compatible with the JPEG2000 Part 1 decoder.
A Collaborative Strategy to Reduce Initial Setup Requirements of ParamILS using EvoCa

ParamILS is a sophisticated tuning method able to provide valuable information for designers and manage conditional parameters. EvoCa is a recently proposed tuner which does not require a fine definition of the initial parameters values. In this work, we propose a collaborative framework between EvoCa and ParamILS to generate quality calibrations without requiring expertise to define a proper initial set-up. Results show that our collaborative approach is able to find good calibrations.
A Taxonomy of Live Updates

Many high-availability systems require regular software updates but can hardly afford any downtime. Existing general-purpose live update approaches proposed as a solution to this problem have failed to reach broad acceptance. In this paper, we investigate the root causes of the poor acceptance and argue that a new model is necessary to offer adequate dependability guarantees. To substantiate our claim, we propose a taxonomy of live updates and analyze many practical examples from operating systems. We show how the nature of the update is crucial to determine the properties and limitations of the resulting live update process and discuss the emerging need for update-aware systems.
Elevated Insulin and Insulin Resistance Are Associated with the Advanced Pathological Stage of Prostate Cancer in Korean Population

The study was designed to investigate the effect of serum glucose, insulin and insulin resistance on the risk of prostate cancer (CaP) and on the clinicopathological characteristics in Korean men. Subjects were retrospectively recruited from 166 CaP patients underwent radical prostatectomy and 166 age-matched benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) patients. The serum was taken on the morning of the day of operation and insulin resistance was assessed by homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR). Men in highest tertile of insulin was associated with 55% reduced odds of CaP than those with the lowest tertile (OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.23-0.89, P = 0.022). The patients in highest tertile of insulin had a more than 5.6 fold risk of locally advanced stage than those in the lowest tertile (OR = 5.62, 95% CI = 1.88-16.83, P = 0.002). Moreover, the patients in the highest tertile HOMA-IR group was associated with an increased risk of locally advanced stage than the lowest tertile group (OR = 3.10, 95% CI = 1.07-8.99, P = 0.037). These results suggest that elevated insulin and insulin resistance are associated with the advanced pathological stage of prostate cancer in Korean patients.
A sensitive flow-through microcalorimeter for measuring the heat production of cardiac trabeculae

Measurement of the energy consumption of isolated cardiac muscle requires a flow-through microcalorimeter with sensitivity in the /spl mu/W range. In this paper we describe and characterize a sensitive flow-through microcalorimeter, designed and constructed for measuring the heat output of cardiac trabeculae. The device exploits a non-contact, temperature-sensing technique utilizing infra-red-sensitive, thin-film thermopile sensors. The microcalorimeter achieves a sensitivity of 1.8 - 1.9 V/W at a flow rate of 1 /spl mu/l/s, with a time constant of approximately 3.5 s. The typical power signal-to-noise ratio is better than 200. Predictions of a finite element model of the calorimeter's characteristics compare favourably with measured data.
In Sup35p filaments (the [PSI+] prion), the globular C‐terminal domains are widely offset from the amyloid fibril backbone

In yeast cells infected with the [PSI+] prion, Sup35p forms aggregates and its activity in translation termination is downregulated. Transfection experiments have shown that Sup35p filaments assembled in vitro are infectious, suggesting that they reproduce or closely resemble the prion. We have used several EM techniques to study the molecular architecture of filaments, seeking clues as to the mechanism of downregulation. Sup35p has an N‐terminal ‘prion’ domain; a highly charged middle (M‐)domain; and a C‐terminal domain with the translation termination activity. By negative staining, cryo‐EM and scanning transmission EM (STEM), filaments of full‐length Sup35p show a thin backbone fibril surrounded by a diffuse 65‐nm‐wide cloud of globular C‐domains. In diameter (∼8 nm) and appearance, the backbones resemble amyloid fibrils of N‐domains alone. STEM mass‐per‐unit‐length data yield ∼1 subunit per 0.47 nm for N‐fibrils, NM‐filaments and Sup35p filaments, further supporting the fibril backbone model. The 30 nm radial span of decorating C‐domains indicates that the M‐domains assume highly extended conformations, offering an explanation for the residual Sup35p activity in infected cells, whereby the C‐domains remain free enough to interact with ribosomes.
Cross-modal identification of audiovisual streams directly from the compressed domain

During the last years, a number of search and retrieval methods for audio and visual content were described in literature. Also cross-modal approaches started to emerge recently. All search methods are based on audiovisual fingerprints, which are extracted from the audiovisual data prior to the actual search. Since the most data are available in the compressed domain, they must be decompressed prior to the feature extraction. This paper describes an audiovisual search engine, which extracts their features directly from the compressed domain, without performing a decoding algorithm. The direct video feature extraction is based on motion vectors and the direct audio feature extraction is based on a polyphase matrix description. The paper depicts an overview of the search engine, which operates cross-modal on audio, and visual features and describes the evaluation of the direct feature extraction methods in detail.
Imagine! Preface to the Post-Traditional

This symposium is about theorizing a fresh consciousness. It’s about a radically imaginative field(s) of study and action that will provide quantum and macro improvement in terms of post-traditional governance and bureaucracy. This preface: (a) offers a nutshell description of post-traditional governance and bureaucracy; (b) identifies the symposiasts; (c) sketches how the symposiasts’ contributions relate to more specifics about posttraditional governance and bureaucracy; and (d) indicates a partial history of the idea of the post-traditional, avant la lettre.