Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intercurrent death after Hodgkin disease therapy in radiotherapy and adjuvant MOPP trials.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To assess long-term differences in mortality associated with initial Hodgkin disease therapy. DESIGN Retrospective review of patients treated in prospectively randomized clinical trials. PATIENTS Three hundred twenty-six patients with pathologic stage I, II, or III, A or B Hodgkin disease treated between 1967 and 1980 with median follow-up exceeding 14 years. INTERVENTIONS Patients at the same stage of disease were randomized to receive radiation alone (167 patients) or radiation followed by 6 cycles of mechlorethamine hydrochloride, vincristine, procarbazine, and prednisone (MOPP) chemotherapy (159 patients) with additional therapy for progression or recurrence. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS No significant differences between treatment regimens for actuarial survival, intercurrent disease, or Hodgkin disease mortality were seen. Thirty-three patients who received radiation alone and 30 patients who received adjuvant chemotherapy died without evident Hodgkin disease. Death was caused by second neoplasms in 28 patients (relative risk, 2.35; 95% CI, 1.46 to 3.24). Six patients developed acute myelogenous leukemia or a myeloproliferative disorder after treatment including MOPP. Chemotherapy exposure varied among the 8 patients with lung cancers, 6 with gastrointestinal and 3 with other adenocarcinomas, 3 with sarcomas, 1 with diffuse large cell lymphoma, and 1 with melanoma. Acute myocardial infarction caused 9 of 17 cardiovascular disease deaths with 5 occurring in patients between the ages of 33 and 43. Nonetheless, the risk for acute myocardial infarction was not clearly increased (relative risk, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.42 to 1.57). Fifteen patients died from infection: 5, opportunistic; 5, asplenic sepsis; and 5, other pneumonias. Two patients died in accidents, and 1 died from radiation pneumonitis. CONCLUSIONS Adjuvant MOPP chemotherapy improved freedom from relapse without significant survival benefit or impairment. Leukemogenesis was the only lethal complication associated with MOPP. Survivors of Hodgkin disease had an increased risk for death from a second neoplasm, but no apparent increased risk for death from acute myocardial infarction.
Extensive genetic variation in somatic human tissues

Genetic variation between individuals has been extensively investigated, but differences between tissues within individuals are far less understood. It is commonly assumed that all healthy cells that arise from the same zygote possess the same genomic content, with a few known exceptions in the immune system and germ line. However, a growing body of evidence shows that genomic variation exists between differentiated tissues. We investigated the scope of somatic genomic variation between tissues within humans. Analysis of copy number variation by high-resolution array-comparative genomic hybridization in diverse tissues from six unrelated subjects reveals a significant number of intraindividual genomic changes between tissues. Many (79%) of these events affect genes. Our results have important consequences for understanding normal genetic and phenotypic variation within individuals, and they have significant implications for both the etiology of genetic diseases such as cancer and for immortalized cell lines that might be used in research and therapeutics.
Multiple Instance and Active Learning for weakly-supervised object-class segmentation

In object-class segmentation, one of the most tedious tasks is to manually segment many object examples in order to learn a model of the object category. Yet, there has been little research on reducing the degree of manual annotation for object-class segmentation. In this work we explore alternative strategies which do not require full manual segmentation of the object in the training set. In particular, we study the use of bounding boxes as a coarser and much cheaper form of segmentation and we perform a comparative study of several Multiple-Instance Learning techniques that allow to obtain a model with this type of weak annotation. We show that some of these methods can be competitive, when used with coarse segmentations, with methods that require full manual segmentation of the objects. Furthermore, we show how to use active learning combined with this weakly supervised strategy. As we see, this strategy permits to reduce the amount of annotation and optimize the number of examples that require full manual segmentation in the training set. Keywords-Multiple Instance Learning; Active Learning; Object-class segmentation.
Social capital's dark side: knowledge, reciprocity, and the liability of relationships

Social Capital’s Dark Side: Knowledge, Reciprocity, and the Liability of Relationships. (December 2006) Jamie D. Collins, B.S., Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri; M.B.A., Texas A&M University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Michael A. Hitt Social capital resources for the firm can be conceptualized as those executive-toexecutive connections held by a firm’s top management team, as well as firm-to-firm relationships that exist fairly independently of particular individuals. This type of resource can compose an important portion of any firm’s overall resource portfolio. The potential benefits associated with social capital include enhanced economic exchange opportunities, improved innovation capabilities and increased firm survival rates, among others. This study adds to the literature stream focusing on the positive consequences of social capital by demonstrating the cross-level influence of social capital on the development of reciprocity within a joint venture network. It also highlights the link between social capital resources and the quality of knowledge available to a firm via its joint venture partnerships. More importantly, though, we specifically investigate the conditions under which a firm’s social capital (firm-to-firm relationships or the social capital held by key executives) can contribute to undesirable firm-level behaviors. One often mentioned, yet rarely explored dimension of social capital is the phenomenon frequently called the ‘dark side’ of social capital. This dark side of social capital is argued to exist whenever
Low-profile dual-polarized antenna with bandpass filter for WiFi application

In this paper, a low-profile dual-polarized antenna integrated with bandpass filter based on dual-mode open-loop resonant is proposed. The antenna design employs the concept of multistacked square patches fed by two probes located in two orthogonal directions. The two bandpass filters used to feed the antenna are on the bottom layer which share the same ground with the antenna. Both the separate and composite performance are simulated and measured in this design.
Sustainability as Trigger to Change Performance Measurement System

The triple bottom line is on the agenda of many companies around the world, which have been increasingly implementing sustainable practices to both comply with government regulations and attend to the demands of customers and non-governmental organizations. Indeed, the concept of sustainability has been seen as a new opportunity for improving business performance and creating competitive advantage. Therefore, the adoption of sustainability practices can change in different ways how companies measure their performance. This paper aims to investigate how these practices affect performance measurement systems. Two cases studies were conducted in companies that are ranked in sustainability within Brazil. Although the performance measurement system in one company seems to be more affected than the other, case study empirical findings demonstrate changes to the performance measurement system in both companies. Specifically, these changes have occurred in three performance measurement system elements: performance indicators, how the companies communicate their results, and the process of information management.
Enhanced 3D object snap for CAD modelling on large stereo displays

Large stereo displays and 3D input devices have proved significant productivity benefits in CAD, but they have also shown interaction weaknesses. We present a novel approach for pointing CAD entities with a 3D cursor on a wall-like stereoscopic display. We proved that the user error is affected by anisotropy, hence we present an enhanced snap tool called eSnap. This tool uses an elliptic metric for 3D cursor proximity. The provided results demonstrate a significant improvement in user performances and can be used as a guide for the development of user interfaces in emerging 3D displays.
Leukocyte Interactions Mediated by Selectins

Endothelial cells, platelets, and leukocytes all play key roles in hemostatic and inflammatory responses to tissue injury. Many of these responses require cellular activation as well as cell-cell contact. This chapter will focus on the properties of P-selectin (CD62, formerly GMP-140 or PADGEM), a receptor that supports binding of leukocytes to activated platelets and endothelium. P-selectin-mediated adhesive interactions operate in conjunction with cell-cell interactions directed by related molecules and are likely to be important in both hemostatic and inflammatory processes.
Measuring entrepreneurs' social networks and their economic impact in the African informal economy

Informal economies have shown rapid growth in the developing countries during last decades, notably in African cities. In this context, understanding their dynamics represents a crucial issue for policy intervention. One little-known aspect of these dynamics is the role of social networks as a major form of social regulation. From an entrepreneur standpoint, social networks and relations facilitate the circulation and quality of information as well as the access to diverse useful resources. In this study, we focus on entrepreneur’s social or personal network instead of interfirm or business ties. Indeed, observed networks go through usual frontiers of social institution and categories. This perspective, named ‘egocentered’ network approach, is particularly relevant to study informal entrepreneurs’ social networks that are often composed of a mixture of business, friend and kin ties. Networks are thus defined as entrepreneurs’ regular social relations conveying essential resources for activities’ current exploitation. Such an approach allows to measure social networks according to three salient dimensions: network structure (size, density), content of ties (strength, social role, exchanged resources), and members’ attributes (sociodemographic, social status, professional occupation). It permits to describe and evaluate the nature and influence of entrepreneurs’ social networks on economic outcomes from a quantitative standpoint. To do so, we use an original dataset collected in 2007 on a representative sample of 317 entrepreneurs in the informal economy of Bobo-Dioulasso (Burkina Faso). The ‘multiple name generators’ method used to collect personal network data produces a rich set of information describing social networks according to their three dimensions. Quantitative measures of networks composition and heterogeneity are then computed. Finally, these indicators are used to compute earnings functions specifically designed to test and discuss the effects of social networks on informal entrepreneurs’ income.
Should Italy Sell Its Nonfinancial Assets to Reduce the Debt?

This paper assesses the proposal, publicly debated in recent years in Italy, to reduce public debt by selling public assets, especially nonfinancial tangible assets. The main findings indicate that, although selling public assets has some merit if done to make more productive use of them, practical complications abound. Moreover, such sales might weaken underlying fiscal discipline. Other heavily indebted countries have reduced their debt much more than Italy without heavy recourse to extraordinary sales. In this context, the case of Belgium is of particular interest. Weighing the trade-offs, if properly and transparently done, the sale of public assets can complement, to a limited extent, fiscal consolidation, but should not be considered as an alternative to it.
Sub-Terahertz Dielectric Measurement and Its Application to Concealed Object Detection

This paper reports on complex permittivity values of different natural and synthetic materials at J-band (220-325 GHz). The materials considered in this study include different types of fabrics (wool, polyester, acrylic, jeans, vinyl, and cow leather), in addition to human skin. For the wool and jeans materials, we consider both dry and wet conditions. The knowledge of dielectric constant of these materials is needed for evaluation of radar based concealed object detection methods. The measurement setup used consists mainly of a vector network analyzer (VNA) combined with two -band frequency extenders. A free space transmission only measurement technique is used to obtain both the complex dielectric constant and the effective thickness of all the fabric materials. Such approach is adequate for fabric materials as they do not have a well-defined thickness. The major factors affecting the uncertainty in the measurements are shown to be related to the sample thickness inhomogeneity, and to the unrepeatability of the network analyzer measurement itself. For the human skin case, a reflection measurement method from a terminated waveguide is adapted.
Large amplitude oscillatory microrheology

We study the motion of a colloidal particle as it is driven by an oscillating external force of arbitrary amplitude and frequency through a colloidal dispersion. Large amplitude oscillatory flows (LAOFs) are examined predominantly from a phenomenological perspective in which experimental measurements inform constitutive models. Here, we investigate a LAOF from a microstructural perspective by connecting motion of the probe particle to the material response while making no assumptions a priori about how stress relaxes in the material. The suspension exerts nonconservative, hydrodynamic forces on the probe, while distortions in the particle configuration exert conservative forces: Brownian and interparticle forces, for example. The relative importance of each of these contributions to particle motion evolves with the degree of displacement from equilibrium. When the force on the probe is weak, the linear microviscoelasticity of the suspension is probed [see, e.g., Khair and Brady, J. Rheol. 49, 1449–1481 (2005)]. When oscillation rate is slow, the steady microrheology is probed [see, e.g., Squires and Brady, Phys. Fluids 17, 073101 (2005); Khair and Brady, J. Fluid Mech. 557, 73–117 (2006)]. This article develops a micromechanical model that recovers these limiting cases and then uses the same model to reveal the microrheology of colloidal dispersions deformed by a probe driven with arbitrary force amplitude and frequency. A chief result of this work is the discovery of a regime in which the resistance to motion of the probe particle is on average weaker than the resistance the probe experiences when deformed by high frequency oscillation. This hypoviscous effect arises when the reciprocating motion of the probe particle opens a channel free of other particles which is thus less resistive to probe motion. This effect is most apparent under the conditions of strong forces, rapid oscillation, and large extent of deformation.
The influence of the Internet on destination satisfaction

Purpose – The aim of the present study is to provide an insight into the effect that the satisfaction with the information obtained through the Internet may have on the satisfaction with the selected destination. In particular, assuming that the Internet functions as an effective source of information for the tourist, one would expect the above relationship to be positive and significant.Design/methodology/approach – In order to test the proposed hypotheses, a structured questionnaire was administered to tourists of different nationalities. The total number of valid cases was 279. The field work was done between June 2004 and June 2005.Findings – The results seem to show that the greater the tourist's satisfaction with the Internet, the fuller is his or her enjoyment of the holiday. This relationship, however, is moderated by two variables – the tourist's previous experience of the destination and the tourist's experience of the Internet. These conclusions may well prove crucial for the future use of the .
Organizational resistance to performance‐enhancing technological innovations: a motivation‐threat‐ability framework

Purpose – Organizational resistance to technological innovations creates hurdles to diffusion of innovations in industrial technology markets. This study aims to examine the causes of this problematic phenomenon and develop useful strategies to overcome innovation resistance of organizational customers.Design/methodology/approach – The paper's conceptual framework is adapted from the motivation‐opportunity‐ability (MOA) paradigm of consumer and organizational information processing. The analysis draws on a body of multidisciplinary literature, empirical observations, and case studies.Findings – The determinants of organizational innovation resistance encompass the psychological, economic, technological, political, strategic, and organizational structural aspects of a technological innovation. Information flow is the key to breaking through the resistance barrier and promoting diffusion of innovations among industrial customers.Research limitations/implications – An empirical study is needed in the future .
Systemic Biomarkers in 2-Phase Antibiotic Periodontal Treatment

Accumulating evidence suggests that periodontal infections may have an impact on systemic health. In patients with untreated periodontitis, very high values for several inflammatory markers in serum are expressed simultaneously. We investigated to what extent these peak values change after nonsurgical and surgical periodontal treatment, with adjunctive antibiotics administered during the first or the second treatment phase. In a single-center, randomized, placebo-controlled, and double-masked clinical trial, 80 patients with chronic or aggressive periodontitis were randomized into 2 treatment groups: group A, receiving systemic amoxicillin and metronidazole during the first, nonsurgical phase of periodontal therapy (phase 1), and group B, receiving the antibiotics during the second, surgical phase (phase 2). Serum samples were obtained at baseline (BL), 3 mo after phase 1 (M3), and 6 and 12 mo after phase 2 (M6, M12). Samples were evaluated for 15 cytokines and 9 acute-phase proteins using the Bio-Plex bead array multianalyte detection system. For each analyte, peak values were defined as greater than mean +2 SD of measurements found in 40 periodontally healthy persons. Sixty-six patients showed a peak value of at least 1 analyte at BL. At M12, the number of these patients was only 36 (P = 0.0002). This decrease was stronger in group A (BL: 35, M12: 19, P = 0.0009) than in group B (BL: 31, M12: 17, P = 0.14). Twenty patients displayed peak values of at least 4 biomarkers at BL. The nonsurgical therapy delivered in the first phase reduced most of these peaks (group A, BL: 9, M3: 4, P = 0.17; group B, BL: 11, M3: 2, P = 0.01), irrespective of adjunctive antibiotics. The reductions obtained at M3 were maintained until M12 in both groups. Initial, nonsurgical periodontal therapy reduced the incidence of peak levels of inflammatory markers. Antibiotics and further surgical therapy did not enhance the effect (Clinicaltrials.gov NCT02197260).
A Comparison of Psoas Compartment Block and Spinal and General Anesthesia for Outpatient Knee Arthroscopy

The optimal anesthetic technique for outpatient knee arthroscopy remains controversial. In this study, we evaluated surgical operating conditions, patient satisfaction, recovery times, and postoperative analgesic requirements associated with psoas compartment block, general anesthetic, or spinal anesthetic techniques. Sixty patients were randomized to receive a propofol/nitrous oxide/fentanyl general anesthetic, spinal anesthesia with 6 mg of bupivacaine and 15 &mgr;g of fentanyl, or psoas compartment block with 40 mL of 1.5% mepivacaine. All patients received IV ketorolac and intraarticular bupivacaine. The frequency of postanesthesia recovery room admission was 13 (65%) of 20 for patients receiving general anesthesia, compared with 0 of 21 for patients receiving spinal anesthesia and 1 (5%) of 19 for patients receiving psoas block (P < 0.001). The median time from the end of surgery to meeting hospital discharge criteria did not differ across groups (131, 129, and 110 min for general, spinal, and psoas groups, respectively). In the hospital, 45% of general anesthesia patients received opioid analgesics, compared with 14% of spinal anesthesia and 21% of psoas block patients (P = 0.087). There was no difference among groups with respect to the time of first analgesic use or the number of patients requiring opioid analgesia. Pain scores were highest in patients receiving general anesthesia at 30 min (P = 0.032) and at 60, 90, and 120 min (P < 0.001). Patient satisfaction with anesthetic technique (P = 0.025) and pain management (P = 0.009) differed significantly across groups; patients receiving general anesthesia reported lower satisfaction ratings. We conclude that spinal anesthesia or psoas block is superior to general anesthesia for knee arthroscopy when considering resource utilization, patient satisfaction, and postoperative analgesic management.
Comparative efficiencies of photothermal destruction of malignant cells using antibody-coated silica@Au nanoshells, hollow Au/Ag nanospheres and Au nanorods

Three Au-based nanomaterials (silica@Au nanoshells, hollow Au/Ag nanospheres and Au nanorods) were evaluated for their comparative photothermal efficiencies at killing three types of malignant cells (A549 lung cancer cells, HeLa cervix cancer cells and TCC bladder cancer cells) using a CW NIR laser. Photodestructive efficiency was evaluated as a function of the number of nanoparticles required to destroy the cancer cells under 808 nm laser wavelength at fixed laser power. Of the three nanomaterials, silica@Au nanoshells needed the minimum number of particles to produce effective photodestruction, whereas Au nanorods needed the largest number of particles. Together with the calculated photothermal conversion efficiency, the photothermal efficiency rankings are silica@Au nanoshells > hollow Au/Ag nanospheres > Au nanorods. Additionally, we found that HeLa cells seem to present better heat tolerance than the other two cancer cell lines.
Stock Volatility, Institutional Ownership and Analyst Coverage

We examine the relation between stock volatility and asymmetric information empirically. We use two proxies of information asymmetry: institutional ownership and analyst coverage. We find that firms covered by more analysts are more likely to have less volatile returns. A significant and positive bilateral relationship between stock volatility and institutional block holdings is observed supporting possible herding behaviours of institutional investors.