Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Replacing cyclophosphamide/cytarabine/mercaptopurine with cyclophosphamide/etoposide during consolidation/delayed intensification does not improve outcome for pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a report from the COG

With modern chemotherapy, approximately 90% of patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia are now cured. However, subsets of patients can be identified who remain at very high risk of relapse with expected 4-year disease-free survival rates <80%; such patients are appropriate candidates for intensive therapeutic strategies designed to improve survival. The AALL1131 trial was designed to determine, in a randomized fashion, whether substitution with cyclophosphamide/etoposide (experimental arm 1) would improve the 4-year disease-free survival of children, adolescents, and young adults with very high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia compared to a modified Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster regimen (control arm). Patients 1-30 years of age with newly diagnosed very high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia were randomized after induction in a 1:2 fashion to the control arm or experimental arm 1 in which they were given cyclophosphamide (440 mg/m2 days 1-5)/etoposide (100 mg/m2 days 1-5) during part 2 of consolidation and delayed intensification. Prospective interim monitoring rules for efficacy and futility were included where futility would be determined for a one-sided P-value ≥0.7664. The study was stopped for futility as the interim monitoring boundary was crossed [hazard ratio 0.606 (95% confidence interval: 0.297 - 1.237)] and the very high-risk arm of AALL1131 was closed in February 2017. Using data current as of December 31, 2017, 4-year disease-free survival rates were 85.5±6.8% (control arm) versus 72.3±6.3% (experimental arm 1) (P-value = 0.76). There were no significant differences in grade 3/4 adverse events between the two arms. Substitution of this therapy for very high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients on the Children’s Oncology Group AALL1131 trial (NCT02883049) randomized to cyclophosphamide/etoposide during part 2 of consolidation and delayed intensification did not improve disease-free survival.
Morphological discrimination amongst geological rock surfaces of Zagros thrust belt via SAR backscattering modelling

Nowadays, processing and interpretation of remote sensing satellite images is the only method of surfacegeological rock surfaces mapping. This doubtlessly requires time-consuming field observations forcomplementary morphological information, i.e. field measurements in geomorphology is unavoidable sincethe hyper-spectral images that are used for geological mapping do not discriminate the lithologies textureand cannot be used to determine the geological morphology. However, due to the impassable and fault cliffs,comprehensive field operations within a geological map is almost impossible. Microwave or radar remotesensing via Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images is capable of obtaining the surface morphology andalteration zones discrimination based on lithologies texture. To fulfill this aim, the Integral Equation Model(IEM), which has been proposed by Fung et al. (1992) and has been developed and improved several times,seems to be the most outstanding method being adopted to model the SAR backscattering coefficient againstthe surface roughness. Nonetheless, it needs to be asserted that the Euclidean calculation of this parameteris not capable enough to measure the morphology of a feature. In this paper, using the power-law geometrycapability, one can improve the alteration zones discrimination. To implement and evaluate the proposedmethod of geomorphological mapping, IEM 𝜎° results for a region on the Zagros fold-thrust belt, in westernIran, were compared with the satellite SAR backscattering data in the L-band (i.e. ALOS-PALSAR) and theX-band (i.e. TerraSAR). Besides, the efficiency of the SAR data processing versus the geological fieldobservations provide an average of more than 20% improvement in terms of the power-law geometry incomparison with the Euclidean geometry. Although this improvement for moderate rough formations is lessthan 3% at high frequency (X-band), it is about 30% for rough formations at low frequency (L-band).
β-Galactosidase Gene of Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112 Isolated from Hot Springs of a Volcanic Area in New Zealand: Identification of the Bacteria, Cloning and Expression of the Gene in Escherichia coli

To isolate the β-galactosidase producing thermophilic bacteria, samples of mud and water were collected from hot springs of avolcanic area near Golden Springs in New Zealand. Among eleven isolated strains, the strain of KNOUC112 produced the highest amounts of β-galactosidase at 40 h incubation time (0.013 unit). This strain was aerobic, asporogenic bacilli, immobile, gram negative, catalase positive, oxidase positive, and pigment producing. Optimum growth was at 70-72°C, pH 7.0-7.2, and it could grow in the presence of 3% NaCl. The main fatty acids of cell components were iso-15:0 (30.26%), and iso-17:0 (31.31%). Based on morphological and biochemical properties and fatty acid composition, the strain could be identified as genus Thermus, and finally as Thermus thermophilus by phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA sequence. So the strain is designated as Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112. A gene from Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112 encoding β-galactosidase was amplified by PCR using redundancy primers prepared based on the structure of β-galactosidase gene of Thermus sp. A4 and Thermus sp. strain T2, cloned and expressed in E. coli JM109 DE3. The gene of Thermus thermophilus KNOUC112 β-galactosidase(KNOUC112β-gal) consisted of a 1,938 bp open reading frame, encoding a protein of 73 kDa that was composed of 645 amino acids. KNOUC112β-gal was expressed as dimer and trimer in E. coli JM109 (DE3) via pET-5b. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2004. Vol 17, No. 11 : 1591-1598)
Application of a word-alignment algorithm to bilingual Greek-Latin documents

In this paper we address the problem of improving the access to bilingual Greek - Latin documents by incorporating their word level parallelization into the search process. More specifically we focus our experimentation on finding word correspondences between the Greek and Latin versions of the Gospel of Matthew by the utilization of the K - vec algorithm. We demonstrate the applicability of the algorithm in this broader class of language pairs by measuring its efficiency in identifying word correspondences that are valid mutual translations. Our implementation and evaluation of the K - vec algorithm for this specific language pair verifies that the 75% of the top ranked candidate word correspondences produced by the algorithm are valid mutual translations.
The comparison of the hedonic, repeat sales, and hybrid models: Evidence from the Chinese paintings market

Abstract With the objective of evaluating the accuracy of price index models, we adopt a series of techniques to compares the performances of the hedonic, repeat sales, and hybrid models based on the data from the Chinese most representative painter, Qi Baishi during the period from 2000 to 2016. When applying the mean squared error (MSE) technique, the repeat sales model outperforms alternative models. However, according to the correlations and width confidence intervals, the hybrid model provides the most reliable estimates of price indices. The study also shows that the repeat sales model obtains relatively a lower total return estimate as well as a higher volatility than other two models. Our findings have important implications in identifying the precision of index models and provide supplements to art investment studies.
Optimization of Survey Strategies for Detecting Slow Radio Transients

Abstract We investigate the optimal tradeoff between sensitivity and field of view in surveys for slow radio transients using the event detection rate as the survey metric. This tradeoff bears implications for the design of surveys conducted with upcoming widefield radio interferometers, such as the ASKAP VAST survey and the MeerKAT TRAPUM survey. We investigate (i) a survey in which the events are distributed homogeneously throughout a volume centred on the Earth, (ii) a survey in which the events are homogeneously distributed, but are only detectable beyond a certain minimum distance, and (iii) a survey in which all the events occur at an identical distance, as is appropriate for a targetted survey of a particular field which subtends N point telescope pointings. For a survey of fixed duration, T obs, we determine the optimal tradeoff between number of telescope pointings, N, and integration time per field. We consider a population in which the event luminosity distribution follows a power law with index − α, and t slew is the slewing time between fields or, for a drift scan, the time taken for the telescope drift by one beamwidth. Several orders of magnitude improvement in detection rate is possible by optimization of the survey parameters. The optimal value of N for case (i) is N max ~ T obs/4t slew, while for case (iii) we find N max = (L max/L 0)2[(3 − α)/2]2/(α − 1), where L max is the maximum luminosity of a transient event and L 0 is the minimum luminosity event detectable in an integration of duration T obs. (The instance N max > N point in (iii) implies re-observation of fields over the survey area, except when the duration of transient events exceeds that between re-observations of the same field, where N max = N point applies instead. ) We consider the balance in survey optimization between telescope field of view, Ω, and sensitivity, characterised by the minimum detectable flux density, S 0. For homogeneously distributed events (i), the detection rate scales as NΩS −3/2 0, while for targetted events (iii) it scales as NΩS 1 − α 0. However, if the targetted survey is optimised for N the event detection rate scales instead as ΩS −2 0. This analysis bears implications for the assessment of telescope designs: the quantity ΩS −2 0 is often used as the metric of telescope performance in the SKA transients literature, but only under special circumstances is it the metric that optimises the event detection rate.
Towards the Development of a Bridge Inspecting Automated Device

There are , as yet , no commercially viable robotic or automation solutions in the field of reinforced concrete bridge inspection, these structures suffering from deterioration of both their concrete and steel reinforcement elements. In the manual inspection activity for defect diagnosis and repair specification , visual assessment is supplemented by a range of non-destructive tests. There are a range of such tests, each directed at a particular aspect of the decay problem. For automation to be effectively developed, the operational requirements of each test probe needs to be defined in relation to many combinations of access and location geometry. A library of these 'benchmarks ' is in fact needed for use in the research and development of useful automation devices. They can be used in computer based simulation studies to provide work -pieces which test the capability of concept devices and aid their evolution. This is important for the development of both the access vehicle (ROV) and the robot mounted on it. The need for this rational approach is clear in that existing ROV's would fair badly when attempting even the simplest ' benchmark ' task. The application and value of the 'benchmark ' approach to the automation problem has been demonstrated in the consideration of two device concepts for bridge inspection.
Agrobacterium Mediated Transformation of Somatic Embryos of Persian Walnut Using fld Gene for Osmotic Stress Tolerance

Somatic embryos of Persian walnut were transformed with two strains of Agrobacterium tumefaciens i.e. LBA4404 and C58, and two plasmids, namely, pBI121 with nptII and gus genes for improving the transformation protocol, and p6u-ubi-FVTI plasmid containing the hpt and fld genes. The transformation frequency was 10%. PCR and RT-PCR analysis proved the presence and expression of the genes. The transgenic and non-transgenic somatic embryos of Persian walnut were exposed to four salinity levels (0, 50, 100, and 200 mM NaCl) and four osmotic stress (0, 1.5, 5, and 10% PEG) levels. After 20 days, the number of survived, secondary and cotyledonary somatic embryos, as well as fresh and dry weights of embryos were evaluated. In addition, the transgenic and non-transgenic regenerated plantlets with 3 leaves and 2.5 cm length were subjected to 200 mM NaCl. In both experiments, the main effects of fld-transformation and stress treatments on evaluated parameters were significant. Transgenic somatic embryos showed no significant differences at 0 and 200 mM NaCl and 0 and 1.5% PEG. Significant differences of transgenic vs. non-transgenic somatic embryos were observed at 50 and 100 mM NaCl and 5 and 10% PEG. Non-transgenic plantlets on medium containing 200 mM NaCl showed complete necrosis and died after 10 days, while transgenic lines continued growth until 45 days. Our results clearly showed that expression of fld gene increased stress tolerance in fld transformant lines of walnut, and also revealed that expression of this specific cyanobacterial protein may provide a powerful tool to improve tolerance to environmental stresses.
Weighted Focal Loss: An Effective Loss Function to Overcome Unbalance Problem of Chest X-ray14

X-ray film has been applied widely in the elementary diagnosis and screening of thorax diseases. The rapid development of deep learning has improved automatic diagnosis of thorax disease. But different thorax disease in database inevitably exist the problem of unbalanced quantity because of the different morbidity in real life. So, the restricted factor is not just the architecture of the models but the unbalanced problem of database. What’s more, different from the same problem of natural images, this unbalanced problem is not just the unbalanced quantity but also the unbalanced complexity of diagnosis between samples. In this study, we introduced the Focal Loss and proposed the W-FL (weight Focal Loss) function which makes the model pay more attention to the difficult samples and those kinds of diseases which have small quantity and protect the loss and computed gradients from overwhelming by easy negatives. We evaluate the efficiency of W-FL function on the public Chest X-ray14 database using prevailing per-trained models including AlexNet, Inception-v3 and ResNet. We exceed at least 2% average AUC value on 14 different thorax diseases than the W-CEL function which is commonly proposed to solve the unbalanced problem in this database.
Constrained temporal parallel decomposition for EEG-fMRI fusion

Objective. Multimodal neuroimaging has become a common practice in neuroscience research. Simultaneous EEG–fMRI is a popular multimodal recording approach due to the complementary spatiotemporal relationship between the two modalities. Several data fusion techniques have been proposed in the literature for EEG-fMRI fusion, including joint-ICA and parallel-ICA frameworks. Previous EEG–fMRI fusion approaches have used sensor-level EEG features. Recently, we introduced source-space ICA for EEG–MEG source reconstruction and component identification, which was shown to be a superior alternative to sensor-space ICA. Approach. Here, we extend source-space ICA to the fusion of EEG–fMRI data. Additionally, we incorporate the use of a paradigm signal (constrained) and a lag-based signal decomposition approach to accommodate recent findings demonstrating the potentially variable lag structure between electrophysiological and BOLD signals. We evaluated this method on simulated concurrent EEG–fMRI during a boxcar task design, as well as real concurrent EEG–fMRI data from three participants performing an N-Back working memory task. The block diagram of the algorithm and corresponding source codes are provided. Main results. Based on the results of the real working memory task, for all three subjects, one frontal theta component, and one right posterior alpha component had the highest contribution coefficients (~0.5) to the paradigm-related fused component. There were also two more alpha band components with contribution coefficients of 0.3. The highest contributing fMRI component (~0.8) was one known in the literature to be related to the attention network. The second fMRI component was related to the well-known default mode network, with a contribution coefficient of 0.3. Significance. The proposed EEG–fMRI fusion approach, is capable of estimating the brain maps of the EEG and fMRI for the fused components and account for the variable lag structure between electrophysiological and BOLD signals.
Cleaning up and standardizing a folktale corpus for humanities research

Recordings in the field of folk narrative have been made around the world for many decades. By digitizing and annotating these texts, they are frozen in time and are better suited for searching, sorting and performing research on. This paper describes the first steps of the process of standardization and preparation of digital folktale metadata for scientific use and improving availability of the data for humanities and, more specifically, folktale research. The Dutch Folktale Database has been used as case study but, since these problems are common in all corpora with manually created metadata, the explanation of the process is kept as general as possible.
EUV line intensity distribution in the solar atmosphere: differences between a polar coronal hole and its equatorial extension

Intensity histograms of 14 EUV emission lines in a polar coronal hole, its equatorial extension, the Elephant's Trunk, and the adjacent quiet Sun regions have been obtained from SOHO/CDS observations made in August and September 1996. Differences between the quiet region and coronal hole on the one hand, and the polar hole and the equatorial extension on the other, have been examined. As reported earlier, intensity histograms are more similar in the quiet Sun region and the hole for lower transition region lines, while they become increasingly different for upper transition region lines and the corona. However, we also find that coronal holes affect line intensities at most of the atmospheric heights from the transition region to the corona. Histograms of the polar hole and its equatorial extension show dramatic differences with respect to height in the solar atmosphere. The polar coronal hole appears to be brighter than the equatorial extension for emission lines with formation temperature below 0.52 MK, while it appears to be increasingly darker above this temperature. Possible reasons for the polar-equatorial differences in coronal holes are briefly discussed on the basis of flux transport in the solar atmosphere and the consequences of the different orientations of the observed boundary regions of the two coronal holes. The different behaviour seen in the polar coronal hole and its equatorial extension are explained in terms of the effects resulting from different levels of magnetic reconnection occurring in the two regions under study.
Live Migration of Virtual Machines and Containers over Wide Area Networks with Distributed Mobility Management

Seamless mobility of mobile objects (MOs) such as containers or virtual machines cannot be guaranteed when MOs move across different networks of which the IP address domains are different. In this paper, we propose what is termed the live migration (LM) system and protocol that together provide seamless mobility for MOs connected to the Internet moving across different networks. The components of the LM system are the LM distributed hash table (DHT) system that stores the locator information of MOs and the LM Access Router, cooperating with the DHT system, which supports the mobility of MOs. The LM Access Router inserts the identifier of an MO into a packet and routes the packet to the LM Access Router to which the MO is associated. The LM system does not require modification of the network protocol stack of the host on which an MO is running, and it can support mobility with the IPv4 and IPv6 Internet protocols by introducing LM Access Routers into the network. We implemented the LM system on a testbed and conducted an experiment on the live migration of containers and virtual machines across networks. The findings showed that downtime of the live migration of a container to a host on a different network can enable the seamless live migration of MOs across networks.
POSSIBLE CHANGES IN FAVOURABILITYAREAS FOR MONTAGU ’ S AND HEN HARRIERS IN SPAIN ACCORDING TO CLIMATE CHANGE SCENARIOS

—We modelled the distribution of Montagu’s harrier Circus pygargus and hen harrier Circus cyaneus in Spain under current conditions. Current favourability for Montagu’s harrier was highest throughout Western Spain, whilst for hen harrier it was concentrated in the Northern half of Spain. We also calculated their future climatic favourability according to two climate scenarios. Both forecast a contraction of the favourable areas for both species during future periods. Specifically, the model for the Montagu’s harrier forecast that high favourability areas will be concentrated in Castilla y León, and in the case of hen harriers in the Northern mountain areas of Spain.
A microbial biosensor for the microscale measurement of bioavailable organic carbon in oxic sediments

A microbial biosensor consisting of an oxygen microelectrode with microbial cells immobilized in polyvinyl alcohol attached to the tip is described. Since the oxygen consumption of the immobilized cells is dependent on the oxidation of assimilable carbon, the biosensor allows the estimation of available dissolved organic carbon (ADOC) in sediment profiles on a microscale. Only that fraction of the ADOC can be detected which is actually respired by the test organisms. Since the biosensor works only in oxic sediments, oxygen has to be measured separately. Calibration was achieved in mineral salt medium of different oxygen content using different concentrations of carbon (glucose, acetate). The 90'% response time of the blosensor was about 10 S; within 1.5 min a plateau was reached, ~ndlcating that the diffusion of oxygen from the sample was In equ~l ibnum with the oxygen consumption of the cells. Measurements with immobilized yeast cells revealed that wi th~n the diffusive boundary layer, concentrations of ADOC Increased, reaching maximum values immediately below the sediment surface. Less than 0.1 "h of the total organic carbon (TOC) was immediately available for microbial metabolism. Based on respiration calculated from measurements by oxygen microelectrodes in the dark, the average turnover time of ADOC within the upper 1 mm of the sediment was in the range of 50 min.