Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Analytical Side-to-Side Related Anastomotic Strategies and Artery Patching

Suture line stress concentration and intimal hyperplasia are related to the long-term complications of end-toside and side-to-side anastomosis. Several factors, such as hemodynamic effects, biological activities and the mechanical properties of the blood vessels, are identified to influence the problem. Yet, it is not completely clear which are the factors that influence most the long-term complications and in what specific way. This study aims to examine if elastic (compliance) mismatch increases the stress concentration and intimal thickening at the suture line. Better compliance may be obtained by using grafts with similar mechanical properties to the host artery or by anastomosis techniques that utilize vein patches and cuffs (Taylor-patch and Miller-cuff anastomosis). The anastomosis model used in this study is a circular cylindrical system consisting of two semi-cylinders, interconnected by two hinges. The internal blood pressure is applied on the arterial walls. The static and dynamic responses are analytically derived in terms of radial and tangential displacements, internal forces and strains of the two blood vessels and rotation of their cross-section. Results suggest that increased elastic mismatch between the artery and the graft may promote elevated intimal thickening due to large incompatible angles at the junction, whereas there is no correlation between elastic mismatch and elevated stress concentration at the suture line. Another interesting application of the present model is the patching of arteries as applied in carotid endarterectomy.
Precarious everyday agency

The concept of agency has been used to bridge the gap between micro- and macro-level analyses in social and feminist studies. Giddens proposed the pair of structure and agency; Bourdieu coined the concept of habitus as an interlocutor between the two. Feminist theorisation developed the concepts of social agency as always embodied, of power as subtly inculcated through the body, and of social action as generative. Agency as a productive tool has also been contested: as a tendency to reduce agency to individual sovereignty, as being androcentric, as losing the sight of everyday life events, and as reducing action to human action. This article contributes to the theoretical debates on agency by developing a notion of precarious everyday agency as a subjective interface in contemporary capitalism. It engages with theories of precarisation and modifies them to incorporate fragile, everyday life agency. The modification is achieved by analysing the role and logic of habits in precarisation. The article draws on empirical data comprising a series of group discussions with women who identify themselves as living in a precarious situation. The article shows that the logic of habit is complex and that a habit of habit-breaking can be identified as a crucial aspect of precarious everyday agency.
Classification of human Epithelial Type-2 cells using hierarchical segregation

Identifying the presence of Anti-Nuclear Antibody (ANA) in Human Epithelial Type-2 (HEp-2) cells via Indirect Immunofluoresence (IIF) images is commonly used to detect various diseases in clinical pathology tests. The main task at hand is the classification of cells into different categories by observing their staining patterns. However, when performed manually, this method is time and labour intensive. Also, as IIF analysis is still subjective, medical doctors have not been able to get satisfactory accuracy rates on the classification task. Pattern recognition techniques have been introduced, but performance of current systems in literature are not satisfactory as they use a common set of descriptors to describe images from all classes and perform classification in one go. Here, we propose a system based on hierarchical classification that takes into account discriminative features for classification purpose. A new texture descriptor based on change of curvature of the parametric from of image intensity is proposed. We have also introduced a model adaptation technique using non-linear transformation functions to make the classifiers more robust.
Multilevel Boundary Crossing in a Professional Development School Partnership

This study aims to understand the recurrent challenges of professional development school (PDS) partnerships experienced by many countries. It does so by conceptualizing PDS partnerships as endeavors to cross institutionally and epistemologically developed boundaries between teacher education, schooling, and academic research. After introducing what we call a multilevel boundary crossing approach, we look at the startup years of one academic PDS partnership, scrutinizing the successive learning mechanisms that were evoked at the institutional, interpersonal, and intrapersonal levels. The case study narrative illustrates the multilevel nature of boundary crossing and reveals different learning mechanisms in different phases and at different levels. For example, whereas coordination initially occurred at all levels, transformation occurred in later years mainly at the intrapersonal level. The study sheds specific light on the intrapersonal level by showing the significant and challenging role of various brokers in establishing both horizontal and vertical connections across and within the organizations involved. Despite being important leaders of the partnerships’ activities, we observed how brokers prevented others from becoming more involved. We propose that partnerships should carefully consider the sort of learning processes they aspire to and can realistically expect at different levels and moments in time and accordingly consider how they want to position the various actors.
COMPARING THE PERFORMANCES OF THE PARTIAL EQUILIBRIUM AND TIME-SERIES APPROACHES TO HEDGING

This research compares partial equilibrium and statistical time-series approaches to hedging. The finance literature stresses the former approach, while the applied economics literature has focused on the latter. We compare the out-of-sample hedging effectiveness of the two approaches when hedging commodity price risk using futures contracts. For various methods of parameter estimation and inference, we find that the partial equilibrium models cannot out-perform a vector error-correction model with a GARCH error structure. The partial equilibrium models' unpalatable assumption of deterministically evolving futures volatility seems to impede their hedging effectiveness, even when potentially foresighted option-implied volatility term structures are employed.
Broadcast Transmission, Signal Secrecy And Gestural Primacy Hypothesis

In current literature, a number of standard lines of evidence reemerge in support of the hypothesis that the initial, “bootstrapping” stage of the evolution of language was gestural. However, one specific feature of gestural communication consistent with this hypothesis has been given surprisingly little attention. The visual modality makes gestural signals more secret than vocal signals (lack of broadcast transmission). The high relevance of secrecy is derived from the fundamental constraint on language evolution: the transfer of honest messages itself is a form of cooperation, and therefore not a naturally evolutionarily stable strategy. Consequently, greater secrecy of gestural communication constitutes a potentially important factor that should not fail to be represented in more comprehensive models of the emergence of protolanguage.
Homocysteine up-regulates vascular transmembrane chemokine CXCL16 and induces CXCR6+ lymphocyte recruitment in vitro and in vivo

Objective: Hyperhomocysteinemia induces endothelial dysfunction and promotes atherosclerotic vascular disease. Infiltrates of activated macrophages and lymphocytes are observed in human and experimental atherosclerotic lesions, their emigration being guided by endothelial‐leukocyte adhesion molecules and chemoattractants. The CXC‐chemokine CXCL16 functions as an adhesion molecule by interacting with its receptor (CXCR6) and also as a scavenger for oxidized low density lipoprotein (oxLDL). We investigated the modulation of CXCL16 on cultured endothelial cells (EC) and the recruitment of CXCR6+ lymphocytes in response to homocysteine (Hcy), in vitro and in vivo. Methods and Results: Hcy‐stimulated EC show a significant increase in CXCL16 mRNA and protein expression. Incubation of EC with d,l‐Hcy and l‐Hcy significantly increased CXCR6+ lymphocyte adhesion to EC while l‐Cysteine (l‐Cys) had no effect. Furthermore, EC stimulation with Hcy increased uptake of DiI‐oxLDL. An anti‐CXCL16 monoclonal antibody, antioxidants (Tiron) and PPAR‐γ agonists (Pioglitazone) considerably reduced CXCR6+ lymphocyte adhesion and uptake of DiI‐oxLDL. Upon injection in the peritoneal cavities of mice, l‐Hcy and not l‐Cys, increased the number of CXCR6+ lymphocytes, which was reduced by coinjection with Pioglitazone or anti‐human CXCL16 antibody. Conclusions: Hyperhomocysteinemia up‐regulates CXCL16 leading to increased recruitment of CXCR6+ lymphocytes and scavenging of modified lipids via a potential involvement of a PPAR‐γ‐dependent mechanism. CXCL16 may therefore contribute to the formation and progression of atherosclerotic lesions under conditions of hyperhomocysteinemia.
COP1 mediates the coordination of root and shoot growth by light through modulation of PIN1- and PIN2-dependent auxin transport in Arabidopsis

When a plant germinates in the soil, elongation of stem-like organs is enhanced whereas leaf and root growth is inhibited. How these differential growth responses are orchestrated by light and integrated at the organismal level to shape the plant remains to be elucidated. Here, we show that light signals through the master photomorphogenesis repressor COP1 to coordinate root and shoot growth in Arabidopsis. In the shoot, COP1 regulates shoot-to-root auxin transport by controlling the transcription of the auxin efflux carrier gene PIN-FORMED1 (PIN1), thus appropriately tuning shoot-derived auxin levels in the root. This in turn directly influences root elongation and adapts auxin transport and cell proliferation in the root apical meristem by modulating PIN1 and PIN2 intracellular distribution in the root in a COP1-dependent fashion, thus permitting a rapid and precise tuning of root growth to the light environment. Our data identify auxin as a long-distance signal in developmental adaptation to light and illustrate how spatially separated control mechanisms can converge on the same signaling system to coordinate development at the whole plant level.
The MMPI-2 as a tool for preventing police misconduct: A Victoria (Australia) police study

Police leadership is described as a social process that involves formally identified leaders, followers and the contextual factors comprising police work. Community policing is cited as an example of organisational change requiring shared leadership, or leadership manifested by individuals at all levels of a police organisation and the community stakeholders comprising the social context. Several broad theoretical accounts of leadership with relevance for police leadership are then sketched, with particular emphasis on transformational leadership theory. The transformational model focuses on several social processes that account for organisational change, and highlights the shared responsibility for leadership in order to effect such change. The transformational leadership model is viewed as the best available theoretical approach to help unify the police leadership research and development activities. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Impact of angiotensin II receptor blockers on the progression and regression of coronary atherosclerosis: an intravascular ultrasound study.

BACKGROUND Although angiotensin II receptor blockers (ARB) have been found to reduce the coronary atherosclerotic plaque burden in animal models, it is unknown whether ARB have a similar effect on human coronary arteries. METHODS AND RESULTS Serial intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) studies of the left main (LM) coronary artery were performed in 64 patients at baseline and after 7-month follow-up. All patients were divided into 2 groups (ARB group: 23 patients; non-ARB group: 41 patients). Three-dimensional volumetric analysis was done throughout the LM coronary artery, and the volume index (VI; volume/length) was calculated for the vessel (VVI), lumen (LVI), and plaque (PVI). No significant difference was found between the 2 groups in baseline clinical characteristics, including age, gender, blood pressure levels, serum cholesterol levels, the presence of diabetes and smoking status. At baseline VVI, LVI and PVI were similar between the groups. In the non-ARB group, VVI, LVI, and PVI did not change between baseline and follow-up. In the ARB group, PVI significantly decreased during follow-up (9.9 +/-3.1 mm2 vs 9.1+/-2.7 mm2, p<0.01), whereas VVI and LVI were unaffected. CONCLUSIONS This preliminary IVUS study suggests that ARB could cause regression of coronary atherosclerosis in humans.
swinger: a user‐friendly computer program to establish captive breeding groups that minimize relatedness without pedigree information

Captive breeding programmes are often a necessity for the continued persistence of a population or species. They typically have the goal of maintaining genetic diversity and minimizing inbreeding. However, most captive breeding programmes have been based on the assumption that the founding breeders are unrelated and outbred, even though in situ anthropogenic impacts often mean these founders may have high relatedness and substantial inbreeding. In addition, polygamous group‐breeding species in captivity often have uncertain pedigrees, making it difficult to select the group composition for subsequent breeding. Molecular‐based estimates of relatedness and inbreeding may instead be used to select breeding groups (≥two individuals) that minimize relatedness and filter out inbred individuals. swinger constructs breeding groups based on molecular estimates of relatedness and inbreeding. The number of possible combinations of breeding groups quickly becomes intractable by hand. swinger was designed to overcome this major issue in ex situ conservation biology. The user can specify parameters within swinger to reach breeding solutions that suit the mating system of the target species and available resources. We provide evidence of the efficiency of the software with an empirical example and using simulations. The only data required are a typical molecular marker data set, such as a microsatellite or SNP data set, from which estimates of inbreeding and pairwise relatedness may be obtained. Such molecular data sets are becoming easier to gather from non‐model organisms with next‐generation sequencing technology. swinger is an open‐source software with a user‐friendly interface and is available at http://www.molecularecology. flinders.edu. au/molecular-ecology-lab/software/swinger/swinger/ and https://github.com/Yuma248/Swinger.
Integrated Ratio of Metastatic to Examined Lymph Nodes and Number of Metastatic Lymph Nodes into the AJCC Staging System for Colon Cancer

Objective At present, only the number of metastatic lymph nodes (LNs+) is used for the pN category of AJCC TNM system for colon cancer. Recently, the ratio of metastatic to examined lymph nodes (LNR) has been reported to represent powerful independent predictive capacity in colon cancer. We sought to propose a novel category (nLN) which intergrades LNR and LNs+ into the AJCC staging system for colon cancer. Design 34476 patients from the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) dataset with stage III colon cancer were reviewed. Harrell's C statistic was used to evaluate the predictive capacity. The Cox proportional hazards model was used to construct a novel category. Results The LNR category had more predictive capacity than the pN category in whole groups of patients (Harrell's C index: 0.6194 vs 0.6113, p = 0.003). Subgroup analysis showed that the LNR category was not better than pN category in predictive capacity if the number of lymph nodes examined was more than 13. We also found that there was significant survival heterogeneity among different pN categories at the same LNR category (P<0.001). The Harrell's C index for our nLN category which intergrades LNR and LNs+ was 0.6228, which was significant higher than that of the pN category (Harrell's C index: 0.6113, P<0.001) or LNR category (Harrell's C index: 0.6194, P = 0.005), respectively. Conclusion To evaluate the prognosis of colon cancer, our nLN category which intergrades LNR with LNs+ is more accurate than the pN category or LNR category, respectively.
On Providing Guaranteed Detectability for Surveillance Applications

Surveillance is an important class of applications for wireless senor networks (WSNs), whose central task is to detect events of interest. Existing approaches seriously suffer from blind spots and low energy efficiency. In this paper, we propose a fully distributed algorithm GAP for energy-efficient event detection for surveillance applications. The unique features of GAP are threefold. First, it provides guaranteed detectability for any event occurring in the sensing field. Second, it exposes a convenient interface of the user to specify the desired detectability. Finally, it significantly reduces the duty cycle of each sensor and therefore prolongs system lifetime remarkably. Without relying on costly time synchronization, GAP is a lightweight distributed protocol and is truly scalable to network scale and sensor density. Comprehensive experiments are conducted, which demonstrate the efficacy of the GAP algorithm.
Mesh Denoising using Extended ROF Model with L1 Fidelity

This paper presents a variational algorithm for feature‐preserved mesh denoising. At the heart of the algorithm is a novel variational model composed of three components: fidelity, regularization and fairness, which are specifically designed to have their intuitive roles. In particular, the fidelity is formulated as an L1 data term, which makes the regularization process be less dependent on the exact value of outliers and noise. The regularization is formulated as the total absolute edge‐lengthed supplementary angle of the dihedral angle, making the model capable of reconstructing meshes with sharp features. In addition, an augmented Lagrange method is provided to efficiently solve the proposed variational model. Compared to the prior art, the new algorithm has crucial advantages in handling large scale noise, noise along random directions, and different kinds of noise, including random impulsive noise, even in the presence of sharp features. Both visual and quantitative evaluation demonstrates the superiority of the new algorithm.
Transfer Learning for Bilingual Content Classification

LinkedIn Groups provide a platform on which professionals with similar background, target and specialities can share content, take part in discussions and establish opinions on industry topics. As in most online social communities, spam content in LinkedIn Groups poses great challenges to the user experience and could eventually lead to substantial loss of active users. Building an intelligent and scalable spam detection system is highly desirable but faces difficulties such as lack of labeled training data, particularly for languages other than English. In this paper, we take the spam (Spanish) job posting detection as the target problem and build a generic machine learning pipeline for multi-lingual spam detection. The main components are feature generation and knowledge migration via transfer learning. Specifically, in the feature generation phase, a relatively large labeled data set is generated via machine translation. Together with a large set of unlabeled human written Spanish data, unigram features are generated based on the frequency. In the second phase, machine translated data are properly reweighted to capture the discrepancy from human written ones and classifiers can be built on top of them. To make effective use of a small portion of labeled data available in human written Spanish, an adaptive transfer learning algorithm is proposed to further improve the performance. We evaluate the proposed method on LinkedIn's production data and the promising results verify the efficacy of our proposed algorithm. The pipeline is ready for production.
The Origins of World War I

World War I began in eastern Europe. The war started when Serbia, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Germany decided that war or the risk of war was an acceptable policy option. In the aftermath of the Balkan wars of 1912/13, the decision-makers in eastern Europe acted more assertively and less cautiously. The Serbian government displayed little willingness to negotiate with Vienna; in fact, some elements of the Belgrade regime worked to challenge, by violent means if necessary, Habsburg rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Austria-Hungary, threatened anew by the Balkan problems, grew more anxious about its declining position and became more enamored of the recent successes of its militant diplomacy. Having encouraged the creation of the Balkan League and benefited from Serbia's military triumphs, Russian policymakers displayed a new aggressiveness toward their Danubian neighbor. The German leadership, for its part, fretted more than ever about its relative position in the European system and found the new Russian self-confidence troubling. Then came the Sarajevo assassinations on 28 June 1914 of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, and his wife Sophie. Within a month of these deaths, Austria-Hungary and Serbia would be at war, followed by the rest of Europe shortly thereafter. Although the war began in eastern Europe, the events there have received only modest attention from historians. This neglect is not entirely surprising, given the Versailles “war guilt” clause against Germany and subsequent efforts to defend or denounce
Computer Simulation of Arrhythmias in a Network of Coupled Excitable Elements

Arrhythmias were simulated in sheets or cables, consisting of coupled excitable elements, which were characterized by a simple regenerative mechanism. The geometry of the network, the amount of coupling among individual elements, and the properties of the elements relating to excita-bility, automaticity, and duration of the refractory period could be adjusted arbitrarily in an interactive computer program. When a critical amount of coupling was present between automatic and non-automatic cells, sustained repetitive activity could be initiated and stopped by stimulation of the elements. Using this mechanism, it also was possible to evoke reciprocal activity in a one-dimensional cable. In uniform sheets of coupled elements, circus movement of the activation front could be evoked. The presence of an obstacle or dispersion of the refractory periods of the elements was not a prerequisite for the initiation of circus movements. The vortex of circus movements in the homogeneous sheets consisted of elements which were inactivated by depolarizing currents from the circulating wavefront. In sheets of sufficient size, multiple vortices could be present. Circ Res 47: 454-466, 1980