Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decreased Prognostic Value of International Prognostic Score in Chinese Advanced Hodgkin Lymphoma Patients Treated in the Contemporary Era

Background:The International Prognostic Score (IPS) was developed based on the data of Western advanced Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) patients treated before 1992. Only a few studies ever evaluated the application value of IPS in Chinese population or in patients treated in the contemporary era whose outcomes has improved significantly than before. Methods:We conducted a retrospective study involving 208 previously untreated Chinese advanced HL patients, who were admitted to Cancer Hospital Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences from January 1, 1999 to April 30, 2015 and received uniform first-line treatment. The prognostic value of both IPS and the seven IPS factors for freedom-from progression (FFP) and overall survival (OS) was assessed in this population. The statistical methods included Kaplan-Meier methodology, log-rank testing, and Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. Results:With a median follow-up time of 79 months (range, 15–210 months), the 5-year FFP and OS were 78.8% and 86.0% respectively, which improved obviously compared with the original IPS study. The IPS remained prognostic for both FFP (P = 0.041) and OS (P = 0.013), but the range narrowed obviously, with 5-year FFP ranging from 87.2% to 61.5%, 5-year OS ranging from 94.1% to 69.2%, and the separation of survival curves was not as good as before. Only two of the seven IPS factors showed a significant independent prognostic value in the multivariate analysis: Stage IV (for FFP, hazard ratio [HR] = 2.219, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.148–3.948, P = 0.016; for OS, HR = 2.491, 95% CI: 1.159–5.355, P = 0.019) and hemoglobin <105 g/L (for FFP, HR = 2.136, 95% CI: 1.123–4.060, P = 0.021; for OS, HR = 2.345, 95% CI: 1.099–5.042, P = 0.028). A simple prognostic score calculated by adding one point each for any of the two factors was prognostic both for FFP (P < 0.001) and OS (P < 0.001) with the survival curves separating very well, but the range still narrowed. Conclusions:The IPS has decreased the prognostic value in Chinese advanced HL patients treated in the contemporary era. More prognostic factors are needed to supplement this original scoring system so as to identify different risk populations more accurately.
Quality thinking and systems thinking

Purpose – The full meaning of quality and quality management concepts can be only understood within the framework of systems thinking. The need for a new paradigm, based on systems theory, is even more evident when the attempt is made to extend quality management concepts from the material level of economic transactions to the immaterial level of social relations, to create value for people, organisations and societies.Design/methodology/approach – On the basis of previous papers by the author, where the connection between quality and value was explored, this paper recalls some basic principles of systems thinking in relation to social systems, focussing then on the theme of quality management in the systems thinking perspective.Findings – The problem of redesigning TQM models in the systems perspective is addressed. Starting from a model of the organizational system and its environment, a logical representation of quality management models in the systems perspective is given.Originality/value – The paper.
Weak benchmarking indicators for formative and semi-evaluative assessment of research

Scientometric indicators are traditionally split into two types: evaluative and relational. The purpose of the former is to evaluate research-related activities whereas the latter are used to describe or explore research relationships. In practice, however, there are many indicators that are of an assessing nature but do not satisfy the reliability or validity criteria required for use in an evaluative role. The phrase ‘weak bench-marking’ is introduced for this kind, applicable to indicators for which yardstick values can be calculated. Applications include flagging potential causes for concern when benchmark figures are not met and identifying areas of apparent good practice. This can be either in the context of a monitoring role, to assess whether remedial action is needed, or in the context of providing partial evidence as part of a larger formal evaluation. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
Applying sparse coding to surface multivariate tensor-based morphometry to predict future cognitive decline

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive brain disease. Accurate diagnosis of AD and its prodromal stage, mild cognitive impairment, is crucial for clinical trial design. There is also growing interests in identifying brain imaging biomarkers that help evaluate AD risk presymptomatically. Here, we applied a recently developed multivariate tensor-based morphometry (mTBM) method to extract features from hip-pocampal surfaces, derived from anatomical brain MRI. For such surface-based features, the feature dimension is usually much larger than the number of subjects. We used dictionary learning and sparse coding to effectively reduce the feature dimensions. With the new features, an Adaboost classifier was employed for binary group classification. In tests on publicly available data from the Alzheimers Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, the new framework outperformed several standard imaging measures in classifying different stages of AD. The new approach combines the efficiency of sparse coding with the sensitivity of surface mTBM, and boosts classification performance.
New developments in manufacturing: the just-in-time system

Over the last decade an important transformation has taken place in the nature of manufacturing. New forms of production organisation pioneered in Japan are out-performing traditional methods of mass production in the west. In this paper Andrew Sayer shows how the revolutionary ‘just-in-time’ system turns upside down many western assumptions about manufacturing, and discusses the possibilities and implications of its adoption in the west. According to Sayer the Left has tended to be dismissive of such innovations, and he sets out to show that such an attitude weakens the ability of the Left to respond to the challenge they pose.
Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus vFLIP and Human T Cell Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 Tax Oncogenic Proteins Activate IκB Kinase Subunit γ by Different Mechanisms Independent of the Physiological Cytokine-Induced Pathways

ABSTRACT Activation of IκB kinase subunit γ (IKKγ), a key regulator of the classical NF-κB pathway, by the vFLIP protein of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and the Tax protein of human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV1) is essential for virus-associated cancer. We show that vFLIP and Tax activate this pathway by different interactions with IKKγ and independently of the ubiquitin-mediated signaling pathways induced by cytokines. Our data provide new insights into the mechanisms by which IKKγ can be activated and show that NF-κB activation by oncogenic viruses can be targeted without affecting physiologically important pathways.
Market Power Analysis in the Retail Food Industry: A Survey of Methods

The present paper surveys various methods used to analyse market power in the retail food industry. The strengths and weaknesses of these approaches are explored and a review of the issues in using New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) and time-series models is provided. The absence of a theory underlying time-series models is highlighted and a review of some theoretical models in retailing is presented. The impact of imperfect competition in the food processing sector on retailing is also examined. It is argued that a combination of the approaches that minimises the weaknesses and builds on the strengths of single approaches may prove more promising for examining non-competitive behaviour.
Gastroenteritis Caused by the Cryptosporidium Hedgehog Genotype in an Immunocompetent Man

ABSTRACT The Cryptosporidium hedgehog genotype, which has been reported previously in hedgehogs and horses, was identified as the cause of the diarrheal disease cryptosporidiosis in an immunocompetent man in the Czech Republic. This is the first report of human illness caused by the Cryptosporidium hedgehog genotype.
Control and optimization in cement plants

Energy consumption is a crucial parameter in plant performance and a critical factor for optimization. From a control point of view, factors such as nonlinear, multi-variable dynamics and process constraints need to be handled effectively. In addition, several critical process variables and product quality parameters are not measured online in an industrial cement plant. An effective online estimation mechanism along with a knowledge-based control algorithm is thus essential for achieving consistent closed-loop performance. An appropriately designed solution with these components ensures that process variability is significantly reduced along with reduction in specific energy consumption
Peasant Income in China: The Impact of Rural Reforms and Structural Changes

This Stalinist-type development strategy was abandoned by Deng Xiaoping, who launched a market-oriented reform programme soon after he consolidated his power position in the Chinese leadership. At the beginning of the reform, raising the livelihood of farmers was accorded the highest priority in the government’s policy. Dramatically high agricultural growth was brought about by the introduction of various reform measures. Farmers benefited a lot from the increase in income. ’
Does Acute Stress Disorder Predict Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Following Bank Robbery?

Unfortunately, the number of bank robberies is increasing and little is known about the subsequent risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Several studies have investigated the prediction of PTSD through the presence of acute stress disorder (ASD). However, there have only been a few studies following nonsexual assault. The present study investigated the predictive power of different aspects of the ASD diagnosis and symptom severity on PTSD prevalence and symptom severity in 132 bank employees. The PTSD diagnosis, based on the three core symptom clusters, was best identified using cutoff scores on the Acute Stress Disorder scale. ASD severity accounted for 40% and the inclusion of other risk factors accounted for 50% of the PTSD severity variance. In conclusion, results indicated that ASD appears to predict PTSD differently following nonsexual assault than other trauma types. ASD severity was a stronger predictor of PTSD than ASD diagnosis.
IC security evaluation against fault injection attack based on FPGA emulation

Fault injection attacks (FIAs) are becoming a serious threat to the security of integrated circuits (ICs). Circuit designers need a simple and effective method to evaluate the ability of their IC designs against the FIAs at design stage. To address the need, this paper based on FPGA emulation proposes a method, which mimics FIAs on a circuit design implemented on a FPGA by instantiating a uniform architecture which can generate different fault models and span the space of faults and inserting fault injection logic into the design. After the circuit design is submitted to the emulation platform, the fault generation and injection are executed automatically, and a report about the ability of the IC design against the FIAs is generated. The method works at the circuit netlist level, leaves the source codes of the circuit design unmodified, and makes the evaluation a transparent process to the designers. The experiment with various fault models and differential fault analysis on AES-128 encryption circuit shows the effectiveness of the method.
Outward Rectification of Voltage-Gated K+ Channels Evolved at Least Twice in Life History

Voltage-gated potassium (K+) channels are present in all living systems. Despite high structural similarities in the transmembrane domains (TMD), this K+ channel type segregates into at least two main functional categories—hyperpolarization-activated, inward-rectifying (Kin) and depolarization-activated, outward-rectifying (Kout) channels. Voltage-gated K+ channels sense the membrane voltage via a voltage-sensing domain that is connected to the conduction pathway of the channel. It has been shown that the voltage-sensing mechanism is the same in Kin and Kout channels, but its performance results in opposite pore conformations. It is not known how the different coupling of voltage-sensor and pore is implemented. Here, we studied sequence and structural data of voltage-gated K+ channels from animals and plants with emphasis on the property of opposite rectification. We identified structural hotspots that alone allow already the distinction between Kin and Kout channels. Among them is a loop between TMD S5 and the pore that is very short in animal Kout, longer in plant and animal Kin and the longest in plant Kout channels. In combination with further structural and phylogenetic analyses this finding suggests that outward-rectification evolved twice and independently in the animal and plant kingdom.
B cell ontogeny in murine embryo studied by a culture system with the monolayer of a stromal cell clone, ST2: B cell progenitor develops first in the embryonal body rather than in the yolk sac.

A stromal cell clone, ST2, which can support both myelopoiesis and B lymphopoiesis of adult bone marrow was used as an in vitro microenvironment for investigating the ontogeny of the B cell progenitor in murine embryos. The B cell progenitor clonable on an ST2 layer first become detectable in the embryonal body rather than in the yolk sac around day 9.5 of gestation. As soon as it develops in the embryo, it enters the blood circulation and becomes detectable both in the developing fetal liver and the yolk sac of the 10 day embryo. On the other hand, mast cell and polymorphonuclear cell progenitors, which are also generated on the ST2 layer, develop first in the yolk sac and migrate to the fetal liver around day 10‐11 of gestation. At the late stage of embryonal development, day 15‐16 of gestation, the B cell progenitor enters the femur as vascularization of the femur starts. These results suggest that the localization of the committed stem cells for various hemopoietic cell lineages differs in the early embryo, although the localization of the pluripotent stem cells is yet to be determined.
An optimized fuzzy logic-based control of static VAr compensator in a power system with wind generation

An optimal controller for a shunt-connected static VAr compensator (SVC) has been developed for improving the dynamic performance of a power system with wind-turbine generators. The fuzzy-logic control complements the voltage control function, and provides damping in the system. A constrained-optimization design procedure for determining the optimal values of the linguistic variables for forming the crisp output of the fuzzy-logic controller has been developed. A novel aspect of the design is to establish the nonlinear relationship between the power system dynamic performance index (DPI) and the linguistic variables. The nonlinear relationship is represented by a multilayer feed-forward neural network. The inputs to the neural network are the linguistic variables associated with the controller output, and the neural network output represents the DPI. The objective function defined in terms of the DPI is minimized with respect to the linguistic variables, constrained within their bounds, which leads to their optimal values, and in turn gives the optimal fuzzy-controller output. Time-domain simulations confirm the effectiveness the optimized fuzzy-logic controlled SVC. Comparative study performed confirms that the new optimal fuzzy logic controller offers significant improvement in terms of damping of power system oscillations in comparison with the conventional fuzzy logic controller.
Secondary electron emission from thin foils under fast-ion bombardment.

The total secondary electron emission (SEE) coefficient . gamma. was measured from sputter-cleaned self-supporting C, Al, Ni, Cu, Pd, Ag, Sm, Gd, Au, and Bi targets under bombardment of fast protons, as well of incident H/sup +/, Li/sup 2+/, Li/sup 3+/, C/sup 3+/, C/sup 4+/, O/sup 3+/, O/sup 4+/, and O/sup 5+/ ions from thin carbon foils (20 .mu.g/cm/sup 2/) in the energy range 0.4less than or equal toE/sub p/less than or equal to22 MeV. The material paramter . lambda. deduced from our measurements is calculated to 0.031 +- 0.005 nm/eV for the different studied targets with 28less than or equal toZless than or equal to83. For all projectiles and velocity regions studied the SEE coefficient . gamma. and the stopping power have the same velocity dependence. However, for a given projectile velocity, the . gamma. coefficient and the stopping power do not have the same projectile Z/sub p/ dependence. The data are discussed in the frame of an extended Sternglass model.
Identifying skills needs for improving the engagement of the communities in the housing market renewal process: A case study of neighbourhood facilities in Northwest England

In the late 1990s, several areas in Northwest of England were identified as suffering from -social and economic deprivations with low housing demand, abandoned neighbourhoods, where local people and services have moved out. To address these problems, the HMR initiative was introduced by the Department of Communities and Local Government in 2003. Nine Pathfinders supported by the HMR Funds were established aimed at rebuilding communities through creating places where people want to live and work for the present and for future generations.
End-to-End Training of Acoustic Models for Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition with TensorFlow

This article discusses strategies for end-to-end training of stateof-the-art acoustic models for Large Vocabulary Continuous Speech Recognition (LVCSR), with the goal of leveraging TensorFlow components so as to make efficient use of large-scale training sets, large model sizes, and high-speed computation units such as Graphical Processing Units (GPUs). Benchmarks are presented that evaluate the efficiency of different approaches to batching of training data, unrolling of recurrent acoustic models, and device placement of TensorFlow variables and operations. An overall training architecture developed in light of those findings is then described. The approach makes it possible to take advantage of both data parallelism and high speed computation on GPU for state-of-the-art sequence training of acoustic models. The effectiveness of the design is evaluated for different training schemes and model sizes, on a 20, 000 hour Voice Search task.
Test-retest Agreement and Reliability of Quantitative Sensory Testing 1 Year After Breast Cancer Surgery

Objectives:Quantitative sensory testing (QST) is used to assess sensory dysfunction and nerve damage by examining psychophysical responses to controlled, graded stimuli such as mechanical and thermal detection and pain thresholds. In the breast cancer population, 4 studies have used QST to examine persistent pain after breast cancer treatment, suggesting neuropathic pain being a prominent pain mechanism. However, the agreement and reliability of QST has not been described in the postsurgical breast cancer population, hindering exact interpretation of QST studies in this population. The aim of the present study was to assess test-retest properties of QST after breast cancer surgery. Methods:A total of 32 patients recruited from a larger ongoing prospective trial were examined with QST 12 months after breast cancer surgery and reexamined a week later. A standardized QST protocol was used, including sensory mapping for mechanical, warmth and cold areas of sensory dysfunction, mechanical thresholds using monofilaments and pin-prick, thermal thresholds including warmth and cold detection thresholds and heat pain threshold, with bilateral examination. Agreement and reliability were assessed by Bland-Altman plots, descriptive statistics, coefficients of variance, and intraclass correlation. Results:Bland-Altman plots showed high variation on the surgical side. Intraclass coefficients ranged from 0.356 to 0.847 (moderate to substantial reliability). Between-patient variation was generally higher (0.9 to 14.5 SD) than within-patient variation (0.23 to 3.55 SD). There were no significant differences between pain and pain-free patients. The individual test-retest variability was higher on the operated side compared with the nonoperated side. Discussion:The QST protocol reliability allows for group-to-group comparison of sensory function, but less so for individual follow-up after breast cancer surgery.
Measurement of IgG Concentration in Ovine Fetal Fluids: A Useful Diagnostic Test

The Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory at Oregon State University received 172 aborted ovine fetuses during the 1985–1987 lambing seasons; from 120 of these, body fluids were evaluated for IgG levels. Fifty-two (43%) of the fetal fluids had immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels greater than 15 mg/dl. Forty-five (87%) of the fluids with elevated IgG levels were confirmed or presumed toxoplasma or Chlamydia abortions. A mean fetal fluid IgG concentration of 111.5 ± 78 mg/dl was found for the 26 toxoplasma abortions; for the 19 Chlamydia abortions, a mean IgG concentration of 109 ± 91 mg/dl was found. Antibody titers equal to or greater than 1:40 against Toxoplasma gondii were detected in 23 fetal fluids. Fetal fluid IgG concentration less than 15 mg/dl was found to be associated with bacterial organisms (i.e., Campylobacter sp.) as the confirmed or presumed cause of abortion. These results suggest that measurement of fetal fluid IgG concentration is a useful, supportive diagnostic test in determining the cause of ovine abortion, and should be included as a routine laboratory procedure for ovine abortion diagnosis.
Prime cordial labeling of some wheel related graphs

A prime cordial labeling of a graph G with the vertex set V (G) is a bijection f : V (G) → {1, 2, 3, . , |V (G)|} such that each edge uv is assigned the label 1 if gcd(f(u), f(v)) = 1 and 0 if gcd(f(u), f(v)) > 1, then the number of edges labeled with 0 and the number of edges labeled with 1 differ by at most 1. A graph which admits prime cordial labeling is called prime cordial graph. In this paper we prove that the gear graph Gn admits prime cordial labeling for n ≥ 4. We also show that the helm Hn for every n, the closed helm CHn (for n ≥ 5) and the flower graph Fln (for n ≥ 4) are prime cordial graphs.
Identification of cyclophilin A as a potential prognostic factor for clear-cell renal cell carcinoma by comparative proteomic analysis

The high recurrence and improved survival rate of clear-cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) demand for continuous effort to search for novel prognostic factors. Herein a comparative proteomics approach based on two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) was used to identify differentially expressed proteins between ccRCC cell line RLC-310 and normal renal cell line HK-2. Of the 31 proteins identified, Cyclophilin A (CypA) was a newly identified differentially expressed protein in ccRCC cell line. The overexpression of CypA in ccRCC tissues was confirmed using RT-PCR and Western blot analyses. Further immunohistochemistry revealed that overexpression of CypA was associated with poor differentiation and decreased survival (p