Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Striking Immunodominance Hierarchy of Naturally Occurring CD8+ and CD4+ T Cell Responses to Tumor Antigen NY-ESO-11

Immunodominance has been well-demonstrated in many antiviral and antibacterial systems, but much less so in the setting of immune responses against cancer. Tumor Ag-specific CD8+ T cells keep cancer cells in check via immunosurveillance and shape tumor development through immunoediting. Because most tumor Ags are self Ags, the breadth and depth of antitumor immune responses have not been well-appreciated. To design and develop antitumor vaccines, it is important to understand the immunodominance hierarchy and its underlying mechanisms, and to identify the most immunodominant tumor Ag-specific T cells. We have comprehensively analyzed spontaneous cellular immune responses of one individual and show that multiple tumor Ags are targeted by the patient’s immune system, especially the “cancer-testis” tumor Ag NY-ESO-1. The pattern of anti-NY-ESO-1 T cell responses in this patient closely resembles the classical broad yet hierarchical antiviral immunity and was confirmed in a second subject.
Dynamic dwell timer for vertical handover in VLC-WLAN heterogeneous networks

The visible light communication (VLC) and wireless LAN (WLAN) heterogeneous network is considered as a highly competitive candidate for the next generation indoor wireless communication. VLC can provide high data rate as downlink mechanism while WLAN supports reliable connectivity and covers uplink needs. In such heterogeneous systems, vertical handover (VHO) is critical for the system reliability and performance. This paper proposes an improved design of the dwell timer used in VHO process by introducing a dynamic dwell timer based on prediction. Simulation results show that the proposed design outperforms benchmark designs by avoiding unwise handovers while achieving a longer connection time and higher average data rate. Simulations also prove that the proposed design is applicable to different environments and user behaviors.
Activity theory as a basis for the study of work

Activity theory has been successfully applied in diverse schools of psychology with particularly extensive work in the fields of education, ergonomics, human factors and industrial-organizational psychology. However, existing efforts of translation and formulation in English suffer from certain limitations. These limitations include the blurring between Vygotsky's socio-cultural theory of the development of mind and activity theory, the restriction of activity theory in its entirety to the version offered by Leont'ev, errors in the interpretation of some basic concept and terminology, reliance on studies that use obsolete methods, and failure to consider the Russian work in activity theory in its entirety. This last problem results in the omission of the recent advances in engineering psychology and educational psychology in the former Soviet Union that facilitates the application of activity theory to practical problems. This paper is a description of the evolution of basic theory, concepts and terminology relevant to practitioners—particularly in the field of ergonomics.
Sixth Graders’ Co-construction of Explanations of a Disturbance in an Ecosystem: Exploring relationships between grouping, reflective scaffolding, and evidence-based explanations

We report on a study investigating the relationship between cognitive ability grouping, reflective inquiry scaffolding, and students’ collaborative explanations of an ecosystem disturbance which took place when a number of flamingo birds died in a salt lake because of nearby intensive human activities. Twenty-six pairs of students from two intact sixth-grade classes participated in the study. All students investigated scientific data relating to the ecosystem problem using a web-based learning environment. One class was provided with web-based reflective inquiry scaffolding (WorkSpace), while the other class used PowerPoint. The main data analyzed for this study consisted of each pair’s written explanation and task-related artifacts. Findings show that the web-based reflective scaffolding supported students in providing valid evidence in support of their explanations. The analyses of the students’ collaborative explanations showed no statistically significant differences that could be attributed to prior achievement between students in the WorkSpace condition, while differences were found between the different cognitive ability pairs in the PowerPoint class. These findings suggest that the WorkSpace scaffolding may have provided more influential support to lower cognitive ability pairs in creating evidence-based explanations.
EVALUATION OF NATIVE KNEE KINEMATICS AND THE EFFECT OF ARTHROTOMY

Introduction While total knee arthroplasty (TKA) improves postoperative function and relieves pain in the majority of patients with end stage osteoarthritis, its ability to restore normal knee kinematics is debated. Cadaveric studies using computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) system [1] are one of the most commonly used methods in the assessment of post-TKA knee kinematics. Commonly, these studies are performed with an open arthrotomy; which may impact the knee kinematics. The purpose of this cadaveric study was to compare the knee kinematics before and after (open or closed) arthrotomy. Materials and Methods Kinematics of seven non-arthritic, fresh-frozen cadaveric knees (PCL presumably intact) was evaluated using a custom software application in an image-free CAOS system (ExactechGPS, Blue-Ortho, Grenoble, FR). Prior to the surgical incision, one tracker was attached to the diaphysis of each tibia and femur. Native intact knee kinematics was then assessed by performing passive range of motion (ROM) three separate times, from full extension to at least 110 degrees of flexion, with the CAOS system measuring and recording anatomical values, including flexion angle, internal-external (IE) rotation and anterior-posterior (AP) translation of the tibia relatively to the femur, and the hip-knee-ankle (HKA) angle. Next, an anterior incision with a medial parapatellar arthrotomy was performed, followed by acquisition of the anatomical landmarks used for establishing an anatomical coordinate system in which all the anatomical values were evaluated [2]. The passive ROM test was then repeated with closed and then open arthrotomy (patella manually maintained in the trochlea groove). The anatomical values before and after knee arthrotomy were compared over the range of knee flexion using the native knee values as the baseline. Results Generally, kinematics from the native knee were found to be similar to those with closed and open arthrotomy. Deviations between native knee and arthrotomy groups (open or closed, whichever was the worst case) were 0.49±0.52mm for the AP translation, 0.44±0.41° for the HKA, and 0.86±0.8° for the IE rotation (Figures 1–3). The deviation from native knee kinematics was found to be higher with increased flexion angles in both HKA and AP translation. Closing the arthrotomy had minimal effect on knee kinematics, and no difference was seen in knee kinematics between an open and closed arthrotomy, so long as the patella is manually maintained within the trochlear groove. Discussion This study demonstrated arthrotomy, whether open or closed, did not affect the tested knee kinematics compared to a native intact knee. The deviation found in the anatomical values was within the typical range of clinical variation. Increased deviation in high flexion for some anatomical values may be due to difficulty in reproducing consistent motion during ROM test. This study showed that an open arthrotomy with the patella maintained in the trochlea groove provides accurate assessment of the intact knee kinematics.
Using Journal Writing to Enhance Student Teachers’ Reflectivity During Field Experience Placements

Abstract This paper investigates the use of reflective journals to facilitate student learning during a teacher education practicum. Thirty‐five student teachers undertaking a 1‐year Graduate Diploma of Education submitted weekly journal entries during their 11‐week practicum and were interviewed at several stages about their educational beliefs and practices. Students were randomly assigned to four intervention conditions which varied the content of journalling (experiential or cognitive) and the context (provision of reflective dialogue based on journal entries or self‐analysis). The evidence reported here includes the focus and level of students’ reflections, the effects of the intervention conditions, and students’ perceptions of the value of journalling. Although there was some evidence that students found it easier to write an experiential than a cognitive journal, there were no overall differences in the quality of reflection achieved under the two conditions. Students receiving supervised dialogue.
Higuchi Dimension of Digital Images

There exist several methods for calculating the fractal dimension of objects represented as 2D digital images. For example, Box counting, Minkowski dilation or Fourier analysis can be employed. However, there appear to be some limitations. It is not possible to calculate only the fractal dimension of an irregular region of interest in an image or to perform the calculations in a particular direction along a line on an arbitrary angle through the image. The calculations must be made for the whole image. In this paper, a new method to overcome these limitations is proposed. 2D images are appropriately prepared in order to apply 1D signal analyses, originally developed to investigate nonlinear time series. The Higuchi dimension of these 1D signals is calculated using Higuchi's algorithm, and it is shown that both regions of interests and directional dependencies can be evaluated independently of the whole picture. A thorough validation of the proposed technique and a comparison of the new method to the Fourier dimension, a common two dimensional method for digital images, are given. The main result is that Higuchi's algorithm allows a direction dependent as well as direction independent analysis. Actual values for the fractal dimensions are reliable and an effective treatment of regions of interests is possible. Moreover, the proposed method is not restricted to Higuchi's algorithm, as any 1D method of analysis, can be applied.
Cross‐cultural comparison of personality in Danish and English children

536 Danish boys and 575 Danish girls between the ages of 7 and 15 years filled out a translation of the Junior Eysenck Personality Questionnarie (JEPQ). The data were analyzed in terms of 4 scales which measure Psychoticism (P), Extraversion (E), Neuroticism (N), and Lying (L). Factor comparison indicated very good agreement between the scales of the Danish and English versions of the JEPQ. Reliabilities of the Danish L and N scales were satisfactory, while those for the P and E scales were lower but acceptable. Danish boys scored higher than Danish girls on P and E scales, but lower on N and L scales, in accordance with the usual sex difference seen in the JEPQ. A cross-cultural comparison of scores obtained by children in Denmark and in England showed that Danish boys scored significantly lower than British boys on N and L scales, while Danish girls scored lower than British girls on all scales, although the difference on the L scale was not statistically significant. The notion that L scale scores are related inversely to the degree of permissiveness of society is considered on the basis of findings obtained in the present and previous studies carried out using the JEPQ in Denmark, England, Hungary and Yugoslavia.
Preclinical pharmacology and pharmacokinetics of CERC‐301, a GluN2B‐selective N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate receptor antagonist

The preclinical pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic properties of 4‐methylbenzyl (3S, 4R)‐3‐fluoro‐4‐[(Pyrimidin‐2‐ylamino) methyl] piperidine‐1‐carboxylate (CERC‐301), an orally bioavailable selective N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunit 2B (GluN2B) antagonist, were characterized to develop a translational approach based on receptor occupancy (RO) to guide CERC‐301 dose selection in clinical trials of major depressive disorder. CERC‐301 demonstrated high‐binding affinity (Ki, 8.1 nmol L−1) specific to GluN2B with an IC50 of 3.6 nmol L−1 and no off‐target activity. CERC‐301 efficacy was demonstrated in the forced swim test with an efficacy dose (ED50) of 0.3–0.7 mg kg−1 (RO, 30–50%); increase in locomotor activity was observed at ED50 of 2 mg kg−1, corresponding to an RO of 75%. The predicted 50% RO concentration (Occ50) in humans was 400 nmol L−1, similar to that predicted for rat, dog, and monkey (300, 200, and 400 nmol L−1, respectively). Safety pharmacology and neurotoxicity studies raised no specific safety concerns. A first‐in‐human study in healthy males demonstrated a dose‐proportional pharmacokinetic profile, with Tmax of ~1 h and t1/2 of 12–17 h. Based on the preclinical and pharmacodynamic data, doses of ≥8 mg in humans are hypothesized to have an acceptable safety profile and result in clinically relevant peak plasma exposure.
Improving handwritten character segmentation by incorporating Bayesian knowledge with Support Vector Machines

Learning Bayesian Belief Networks (BBN) from corpora and incorporating the extracted inferring knowledge with a Support Vector Machines (SVM) classifier has been applied to character segmentation for unconstrained handwritten text. By taking advantage of the plethora in unlabeled data found in image databases in addition to some available labeled examples, we overcome the expensive task of annotating the whole set of training data and the performance of the character segmentation learner is increased. Apart from this approach, which has not previously used for this task, we have experimented with two well-known machine learning methods (Learning Vector Quantization and a simplified version of the Transformation-Based Learning theory). We argue that a classifier generated from BBN and SVM is well suited for learning to identify the correct segment boundaries. Empirical results will support this claim. Performance has been methodically evaluated using both English and Modem Greek corpora in order to determine the unbiased behaviour of the trained models. Limited training data are proved to endow with satisfactory results. We have been able to achieve precision exceeding 86%.
Robust Covariate Shift Prediction with General Losses and Feature Views

Covariate shift relaxes the widely-employed independent and identically distributed (IID) assumption by allowing different training and testing input distributions. Unfortunately, common methods for addressing covariate shift by trying to remove the bias between training and testing distributions using importance weighting often provide poor performance guarantees in theory and unreliable predictions with high variance in practice. Recently developed methods that construct a predictor that is inherently robust to the difficulties of learning under covariate shift are restricted to minimizing logloss and can be too conservative when faced with high-dimensional learning tasks. We address these limitations in two ways: by robustly minimizing various loss functions, including non-convex ones, under the testing distribution; and by separately shaping the influence of covariate shift according to different feature-based views of the relationship between input variables and example labels. These generalizations make robust covariate shift prediction applicable to more task scenarios. We demonstrate the benefits on classification under covariate shift tasks.
Enhancing the MD-Strengthening & Designing Scalable 1-Way Hash Families

One-way hash algorithms are an indispensable tool in data security. Over the last decade or so a number of one-way hash algorithms have been designed and many of them have been used in numerous applications. Recent progress in cryptanalytic attacks on one-way hash algorithms by Wang and co-workers, however, has brought up the urgency of research into new and more secure algorithms. The goal of this paper is two-folded. On one hand we propose a simple technique to affix authentication tags to messages prior to being hashed by an iterative oneway hash algorithm with the aim of increasing the overall security of the algorithm against cryptanalytic attacks. One the other hand we advocate the importance of a system oriented approach towards the design and deployment of new families of one-way hash algorithms that support greater scalability and facilitate migration to newer member algorithms upon the compromise of deployed ones. We base our observations on a common sense premise that there is no specific one-way hash algorithm can remain secure forever and it will eventually be broken by a cryptanalytic attack faster than exhaustive research. ∗Corporate Information Security, Wachovia Bank, 1525 West T. Harris Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28288, USA. {neil.kauer, tony.suarez }@wachovia.com †Information Security and Assurance Center, UNC Charlotte, 9201 University City Blvd, Charlotte, NC 28223, USA.yzheng@uncc.edu
Predictors of diagnostic interval and associations with outcome in acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Little is known about diagnostic interval lengths in childhood cancer, their predictors or impact upon survival. To date, studies have relied on questionnaires or chart abstraction. We aimed to construct and validate a diagnostic interval measure using health services data among children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in order to determine predictors of prolonged intervals and associations with event‐free survival (EFS).
Competence-based management development in small and medium-sized enterprises: a multi-stakeholder analysis

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are considered increasingly important for economic growth (Wilson, 1995) and effective management of them is regarded as essential for their survival and success (Jennings and Beaver, 1995). This study adopted a multi-stakeholder perspective in order to explore the promotion, via Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs); provision and (potential for) purchase of competence-based management training and development (MTD) in the SME sector in the United Kingdom. Survey data from (551) and interviews with (12) SMEs; plus interviews (6) with TECs and interviews (29) with providers of MTD are reported. ‘Product’ deficiencies in competence-based MTD are identified and recommendations for promotion made.
Acupuncture for treating aromatase inhibitor-related arthralgia in breast cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

PURPOSE Acupuncture has been used as a complementary medical treatment for arthralgia and other types of pain. The objective of this review is to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of arthralgia in patients with breast cancer who were treated with aromatase inhibitors (AIs). METHODS A literature search was performed, without language restrictions, of 10 databases from their inception through February 2014. The literature reviewed included randomized clinical trials (RCTs) and clinical trials that compared real versus sham acupuncture for the treatment of AI-related musculoskeletal symptoms (AIMSS). The methodologic quality of these trials was assessed by using the modified Jadad Quality Scale. Meta-analytic software (RevMan 5.0) was used to analyze the data. RESULTS Five To compare the effects of real versus sham acupuncture, five RCTs were assessed by meta-analysis and quality analysis. Three of the RCTs reported favorable effects with regard to use of acupuncture in reducing pain and joint-related symptoms, while the other two RCTs did not. The meta-analysis showed trends toward reduced pain and stiffness in patients given acupuncture compared with those who received sham treatment (n=82; pain, mean difference: -2.07 [95% confidence interval (CI), -4.72 to 0.57]; p=0.12; stiffness, mean difference: -86.10 [95% CI, -249.11 to 76.92]; p=0.30), although these differences were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Acupuncture has been reported as a safe and promising treatment for AIMSS, but the present analysis indicated that the effects were not statistically significant. Other outcome measurements, such as imaging studies, would be worth including in future studies to further confirm the efficacy of acupuncture in AIMSS.
The Assessment of Alternative Measures of Consumer Expertise

This study assesses a number of different measures of consumer expertise by examining their ability to predict correct choices in three stimulus-based choice tasks and to support a number of hypotheses derived from the cognitive psychology and consumer behavior literature. The hypotheses concern how consumer expertise should affect the content and organization of knowledge for a product class and reasons for choice across different usage contexts. After a factor analysis of the different measures of consumer expertise that yielded three orthogonal factors, we used regression and TOBIT analyses to examine the effect of each factor on the number of correct choices and the hypothesized differences in the content and organization of knowledge and reasons for choice in the choice tasks. Two of the factors, “subjective/objective knowledge” and “friends owning motorcycles,” predict the number of correct choices in the stimulus-based choice tasks, while the subjective/objective-knowledge factor supports almost all of the hypothesized relationships for the content and organization of knowledge and reasons for choice. The third factor, “magazines read/motorcycles owned,” also supports many of the relationships concerning general knowledge.
Multiple-Model Switching Control of Vehicle Longitudinal Dynamics for Platoon-Level Automation

Platooning of autonomous vehicles has the potential to significantly benefit road traffic. This paper presents a new robust acceleration tracking control of vehicle longitudinal dynamics toward platoon-level automation. Based on a multiple-model switching structure, this design divides the large uncertainties of vehicle dynamics into small uncertainties and, accordingly, develops multiple robust controllers for the multiple-model set. The switching control system automatically selects the most appropriate candidate controller into the loop, according to the errors between current vehicle dynamics and multiple models. This technique offers more consistent and approximately linear node dynamics for upper level platoon control, even under relatively large vehicle uncertainties. Simulation comparison with a sliding model controller and a fixed H-infinity controller is conducted for a passenger car to demonstrate the enhanced robustness of the switching control method. The experimental test for the same car is performed for further validation.