Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigation of sonic pulse velocity in evaluation of knitted fabrics

Sonic velocity of knitted fabric samples was measured by Dynamic Modulus Tester, and the relationship between changes in the mechanical properties and their sonic velocity was investigated. Through the measurements, sonic velocity was found to be highly correlated not only with fabric static elastic modulus but also with fabric breaking strength, breaking extension, and work of rupture. Sonic velocity, as found, depends on the direction of measurement, walewise or coursewise, and is a linear function of the number of wales and courses per centimeter and loop-shaped factor. Furthermore, the effect of applying dynamical loading on the fabric leads to changes in fabric mechanical and structural properties, which can be patterned through the measurement of their sonic velocity. The dynamic modulus tester measured the velocity of sonic pulses in materials. This technique will help in prediction of the change in mechanical properties of the fabric tensioned structures during their service life.
Experiences of a Community-Based Lymphedema Management Program for Lymphatic Filariasis in Odisha State, India: An Analysis of Focus Group Discussions with Patients, Families, Community Members and Program Volunteers

Background Globally 68 million people are infected with lymphatic filariasis (LF), 17 million of whom have lymphedema. This study explores the effects of a lymphedema management program in Odisha State, India on morbidity and psychosocial effects associated with lymphedema. Methodology/Principal Findings Focus groups were held with patients (eight groups, separated by gender), their family members (eight groups), community members (four groups) and program volunteers (four groups) who had participated in a lymphedema management program for the past three years. Significant social, physical, and economic difficulties were described by patients and family members, including marriageability, social stigma, and lost workdays. However, the positive impact of the lymphedema management program was also emphasized, and many family and community members indicated that community members were accepting of patients and had some improved understanding of the etiology of the disease. Program volunteers and community members stressed the role that the program had played in educating people, though interestingly, local explanations and treatments appear to coexist with knowledge of biomedical treatments and the mosquito vector. Conclusions/Significance Local and biomedical understandings of disease can co-exist and do not preclude individuals from participating in biomedical interventions, specifically lymphedema management for those with lymphatic filariasis. There is a continued need for gender-specific psychosocial support groups to address issues particular to men and women as well as a continued need for improved economic opportunities for LF-affected patients. There is an urgent need to scale up LF-related morbidity management programs to reduce the suffering of people affected by LF.
Tracking Subclonal Mutation Frequencies Throughout Lymphomagenesis Identifies Cancer Drivers in Mouse Models of Lymphoma

Determining whether recurrent but rare cancer mutations are bona fide driver mutations remains a bottleneck in cancer research. Here we present the most comprehensive analysis of retrovirus driven lymphomagenesis produced to date, sequencing 700,000 mutations from >500 malignancies collected at time points throughout tumor development. This enabled identification of positively selected events, and the first demonstration of negative selection of mutations that may be deleterious to tumor development indicating novel avenues for therapy. Customized sequencing and bioinformatics methodologies were developed to quantify subclonal mutations in both premalignant and malignant tissue, greatly expanding the statistical power for identifying driver mutations and yielding a high-resolution, genome wide map of the selective forces surrounding cancer gene loci. Screening two BCL2 transgenic models confirms known drivers of human B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and implicates novel candidates including modifiers of immunosurveillance such as co-stimulatory molecules and MHC loci. Correlating mutations with genotypic and phenotypic features also gives robust identification of known cancer genes independently of local variance in mutation density. An online resource http://mulv.lms. mrc.ac. uk allows customized queries of the entire dataset.
Conversational Informatics and Human-CenteredWeb Intelligence

Conversation is the most natural communication means for people to communicate with each other. I believe that conversation plays a critical role in realizing a paradigm of human-centered web intelligence in which web intelligence engines are grounded on the human society. We are currently building a computational framework for circulating information in a conversational fashion, using information packages called conversation quanta that encapsulate conversational scenes. Technologies are being developed for acquiring conversation quanta on the spot, accumulating them in a visually recognizable form, and reusing them in a situated fashion. Conversational Informatics constitutes the theoretical foundation for measurement, analysis, and modeling of conversation. I will overview recent results in Conversational Informatics that will help achieve our vision. I will also discuss our approach in the context of Social Intelligence Design aimed at the understanding and augmentation of social intelligence for collective problem solving and learning.
Humoral immune response to a therapeutic polyvalent cancer vaccine after complete resection of thick primary melanoma and sentinel lymphadenectomy.

PURPOSE A therapeutic polyvalent cancer vaccine (Canvaxin vaccine; CancerVax Corp, Carlsbad, CA) induces antibodies to a glycoprotein tumor-associated antigen (TA90). However, endogenous immune responses to TA90 have also been reported. This study examined anti-TA90 antibody responses with respect to the survival of patients who received adjuvant vaccine immunotherapy after resection of thick (> or = 4 mm) primary cutaneous melanoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS Serum specimens were obtained from 54 patients immediately before and then 1, 2, 4, and 6 months after wide local excision of thick primary cutaneous melanoma and sentinel lymphadenectomy. All patients were offered adjuvant therapies with the vaccine, high-dose interferon, or other agents. An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to determine serial serum titers of immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies against TA90. These titers were correlated with clinical course. RESULTS Forty-three patients chose vaccine therapy, and 11 patients chose postoperative observation. Preoperative anti-TA90 IgG and IgM titers were similar for vaccine and observation groups (P =.184). At a median follow-up of 26 months, univariate analysis of Cox regression showed that disease-free survival and overall survival of vaccine patients were significantly correlated with maximal IgM response (P =.0006 and.006, respectively) but not with maximal IgG response (P =.73 and.95, respectively). Neither response predicted survival in the observation group. CONCLUSION Postoperative vaccine therapy may enhance IgG and IgM immune responses to TA90 after surgical resection, but only the IgM response is correlated with improved survival. These findings may become useful to guide selection of patients for postoperative adjuvant therapy of high-risk melanoma.
On the selection of meaningful speech parameters used by a pathologic/non pathologic voice register classifier

Most of vocal and voice diseases cause changes in the voice. These diseases have to be diagnosed and treated during an early stage. There is an increased risk for vocal and voice diseases due to the modern way of life. Acoustic voice analysis is an effective and non-invasive tool due to: a) Objective support of the diagnostics. b) Screening the vocal and voice diseases and especially their early detection. c) Objective determination of the impairment of the vocal function. d) Objective evaluation of the effect of the air pollution on the voice. e) Evaluation of surgical and pharmacological treatments. f) Evaluation of the rehabilitation. Many algorithms to calculate acoustic parameters have been developed and it is demonstrated that there is a great correlation between deviations of parameters and pathologies. The effectiveness and importance of the acoustic analysis of pathological voices has been proven by many experimental researches demonstrating that acoustic parameters of pathologic voices are deviated from the mean. The authors have focused their task in separation of pathologic/non pathologic voices, and evaluating the meaningful acoustic parameters by means of neural network technology and pruning methods.
Journal of Software Maintenance and Evolution: Research and Practice on the Effectiveness of Clone Detection by String Matching

SUMMARY Although duplicated code is known to pose severe problems for software maintenance, it is difficult to identify in large systems. Many different techniques have been developed to detect software clones, some of which are very sophisticated, but are also expensive to implement and adapt. Lightweight techniques based on simple string matching are easy to implement, but how effective are they? We present a simple string-based approach which we have successfully applied to a number of different languages such COBOL, In each case the maximum time to adapt the approach to a new language was less than 45 minutes. In this paper we investigate a number of simple variants of string-based clone detection that normalize differences due to common editing operations, and assess the quality of clone detection for very different case studies. Our results confirm that this inexpensive clone detection technique generally achieves high recall and acceptable precision. Over-zealous normalization of the code before comparison, however, can result in an unacceptable numbers of false positives.
Genetic Factors Are Not the Major Causes of Chronic Diseases

The risk of acquiring a chronic disease is influenced by a person’s genetics (G) and exposures received during life (the ‘exposome’, E) plus their interactions (G×E). Yet, investigators use genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to characterize G while relying on self-reported information to classify E. If E and G×E dominate disease risks, this imbalance obscures important causal factors. To estimate proportions of disease risk attributable to G (plus shared exposures), published data from Western European monozygotic (MZ) twins were used to estimate population attributable fractions (PAFs) for 28 chronic diseases. Genetic PAFs ranged from 3.4% for leukemia to 48.6% for asthma with a median value of 18.5%. Cancers had the lowest PAFs (median = 8.26%) while neurological (median = 26.1%) and lung (median = 33.6%) diseases had the highest PAFs. These PAFs were then linked with Western European mortality statistics to estimate deaths attributable to G for heart disease and nine cancer types. Of 1.53 million Western European deaths in 2000, 0.25 million (16.4%) could be attributed to genetics plus shared exposures. Given the modest influences of G-related factors on the risks of chronic diseases in MZ twins, the disparity in coverage of G and E in etiological research is problematic. To discover causes of disease, GWAS should be complemented with exposome-wide association studies (EWAS) that profile chemicals in biospecimens from incident disease cases and matched controls.
Dynamic detection of atomic-set-serializability violations

Previously we presented atomic sets, memory locations that share some consistency property, and units of work, code fragments that preserve consistency of atomic sets on which they are declared. We also proposed atomic-set serializability as a correctness criterion for concurrent programs, stating that units of work must be serializable for each atomic set. We showed that a set of problematic data access patterns characterize executions that are not atomic-set serializable. Our criterion subsumes data races (single-location atomic sets) and serializability (all locations in one set). In this paper, we present a dynamic analysis for detecting violations of atomic-set serializability. The analysis can be implemented efficiently, and does not depend on any specific synchronization mechanism. We implemented the analysis and evaluated it on a suite of real programs and benchmarks. We found a number of known errors as well as several problems not previously reported.
Feasibility and acceptability of a physical activity promotion programme in general practice.

BACKGROUND Physical activity promotion in general practice is advocated though not incorporated into daily practice. Several barriers must be overcome to develop a feasible and acceptable programme. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to conduct a process evaluation of a physical activity promotion programme in general practice (PACE), in which patients visited their provider (GP or practice nurse) twice. METHODS Process evaluation was conducted by means of telephone-administered, semi-structured interviews with providers and practice assistants. The main topics of the interviews were overall impression of PACE, PACE training, content and usability of the intervention materials, counselling, implementation of the intervention, and opportunities for future use. RESULTS In the 15 participating general practices, a total of 17 providers and 12 practice assistants were interviewed. The overall impression of the PACE programme was positive. Most providers experienced the provided material and training as helpful. Some problems concerning the number of forms used and patients having difficulties completing the forms were mentioned. Most providers (70.6%) spend 10 min or more discussing PACE during the first consultation. The second consultation mostly was completed within 10 min. Patients overestimating their level of physical activity was mentioned as the main barrier in providing the counselling. PACE was evaluated as suitable for implementation in Dutch general practice, and 60% of the providers actually intended using PACE in the future. CONCLUSION The PACE programme was evaluated as being both acceptable and feasible in a selection of Dutch general practices. Positive adaptations will be made in order to implement PACE successfully in general practice at a wider scale.
Prediction of cervical cancer recurrence using textural features extracted from 18F-FDG PET images acquired with different scanners

Objectives To identify an imaging signature predicting local recurrence for locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) treated by chemoradiation and brachytherapy from baseline 18F-FDG PET images, and to evaluate the possibility of gathering images from two different PET scanners in a radiomic study. Methods 118 patients were included retrospectively. Two groups (G1, G2) were defined according to the PET scanner used for image acquisition. Eleven radiomic features were extracted from delineated cervical tumors to evaluate: (i) the predictive value of features for local recurrence of LACC, (ii) their reproducibility as a function of the scanner within a hepatic reference volume, (iii) the impact of voxel size on feature values. Results Eight features were statistically significant predictors of local recurrence in G1 (p < 0.05). The multivariate signature trained in G2 was validated in G1 (AUC=0.76, p<0.001) and identified local recurrence more accurately than SUVmax (p=0.022). Four features were significantly different between G1 and G2 in the liver. Spatial resampling was not sufficient to explain the stratification effect. Conclusion This study showed that radiomic features could predict local recurrence of LACC better than SUVmax. Further investigation is needed before applying a model designed using data from one PET scanner to another.
The Relationship Between Social Support and Adherence to Healthy Lifestyle Among Patients With Coronary Artery Disease in the North of Jordan

Numerous studies have shown that social support improves health behaviors in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between adherence to a healthy lifestyle, and social support and selected sociodemographics among patients with CAD. Cross-sectional descriptive design was used. A convenient sample of 153 patients with CAD was recruited from the cardiac clinic in an educational hospital in the north of Jordan. One hundred and thirty-three patients completed the interview. Social support was the most significant predictor—t(124) = 9.51, p < . 001—which explained 60% of variance in adherence to a healthy lifestyle. Providing patients with adequate social support improves adherence to a healthy lifestyle. More attention should be given to the elderly and patients with low income to enhance adherence to a healthy lifestyle. The applications of this study in practice provide a guide for nursing clinical assessment of social support for patients facing CAD.
SmartAnnotator An Interactive Tool for Annotating Indoor RGBD Images

RGBD images with high quality annotations, both in the form of geometric (i.e., segmentation) and structural (i.e., how do the segments mutually relate in 3D) information, provide valuable priors for a diverse range of applications in scene understanding and image manipulation. While it is now simple to acquire RGBD images, annotating them, automatically or manually, remains challenging. We present SmartAnnotator, an interactive system to facilitate annotating raw RGBD images. The system performs the tedious tasks of grouping pixels, creating potential abstracted cuboids, inferring object interactions in 3D, and generates an ordered list of hypotheses. The user simply has to flip through the suggestions for segment labels, finalize a selection, and the system updates the remaining hypotheses. As annotations are finalized, the process becomes simpler with fewer ambiguities to resolve. Moreover, as more scenes are annotated, the system makes better suggestions based on the structural and geometric priors learned from previous annotation sessions. We test the system on a large number of indoor scenes across different users and experimental settings, validate the results on existing benchmark datasets, and report significant improvements over low‐level annotation alternatives. (Code and benchmark datasets are publicly available on the project page.)
Ultrathin Nanowires—A Materials Chemistry Perspective

The recent years have seen an explosive interest in one‐dimensional nanostructures 1 , as testified by the number of citations this field has accrued; as customary, its blossoming was enabled by chemical breakthroughs that allowed the reproducible and affordable synthesis of such structures. 2 , 3 The limitations of those syntheses was in the diameter of the nanowires that it could produce (hardly < 10 nm), and in the use of expensive and low‐yield techniques, such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Regulation of cytomegalovirus late gene expression: gamma genes are controlled by posttranscriptional events

We investigated the control of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) late (gamma)-gene expression in human fibroblast cells. Transcriptional activity of two gamma genes, encoding ICP27, a structural component (matrix or tegument) of virions, and ICP36, a major DNA-binding protein family, was followed by analysis of steady-state RNA levels during viral infection. Synthesis of the protein products of these genes was analyzed with specific monoclonal antibodies in conjunction with sensitive immunoblot or immunoprecipitation analysis. Although accumulation of ICP27 and ICP36 was not abundant until late times, both late genes were as transcriptionally active at early times (4 h postinfection) as at late times (48 h postinfection). Reduced amounts (less than 5% of late levels) of the protein products were detected at early times, demonstrating that a small proportion of the ICP27 and ICP36 RNA made at this time was translated. These observations establish that expression of at least two CMV gamma genes is regulated through posttranscriptional events. The very early transcriptional activation of late genes and the relative importance of posttranscriptional regulation to late-gene expression distinguishes CMV from other well-studied herpesviruses and does not appear analogous to late-gene regulation in any other DNA animal virus.
Measurement and modeling of dielectric response of composite oil/paper insulation

Moisture and aging strongly influence the dielectric properties of oil/cellulose insulation systems. Dielectric measurements can therefore be used for assessing the condition of the oil/paper insulation. In this paper, we report on measurements and modeling of recovery voltages and polarization and depolarization current measurements on composite oil/paper insulation. A numerical model allows us to model the response of the composite system from knowledge of the dielectric properties of the constituents (oil and paper). In particular we demonstrate the consistency between recovery voltages and polarization and depolarization current measurements and show the influence of material properties on dielectric response.
Short-term Effects of Clear-cutting on the Water Chemistry of Two Boreal Streams in Northern Sweden: A Paired Catchment Study

Abstract The effects of clear-cutting on stream-water chemistry in northern Sweden remain largely unexplored. Here we report data collected during a reference period and the first two years after logging in two typical partially harvested northern catchments; the objective was to compare water chemistry along the stream with and without a forest buffer. Two typical uncut reference catchments are included for comparison. Runoff was measured at the outlet of each catchment, and water samples were generally taken every second week and analyzed for 20 constituents. Logging resulted in increased runoff and increased concentrations of sodium, potassium, chloride, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and suspended material from both catchments. Nitrate (NO3−) leaching increased only from the catchment without a forest buffer. It has not yet been possible to evaluate fully the effects of the forest buffer on the NO3− leaching because the uphill clear-cut area leached minimal amounts of NO3−.
Symbolic Variable Elimination for Discrete and Continuous Graphical Models

Probabilistic reasoning in the real-world often requires inference incontinuous variable graphical models, yet there are few methods for exact, closed-form inference when joint distributions are non-Gaussian. To address this inferential deficit, we introduce SVE -- a symbolic extension of the well-known variable elimination algorithm to perform exact inference in an expressive class of mixed discrete and continuous variable graphical models whose conditional probability functions can be well-approximated as piecewise combinations of polynomials with bounded support. Using this representation, we show that we can compute all of the SVE operations exactly and in closed-form, which crucially includes definite integration w.r. t. multivariate piecewise polynomial functions. To aid in the efficient computation and compact representation of this solution, we use an extended algebraic decision diagram (XADD) data structure that supports all SVE operations. We provide illustrative results for SVE on probabilistic inference queries inspired by robotics localization and tracking applications that mix various continuous distributions; this represents the first time a general closed-form exact solution has been proposed for this expressive class of discrete/continuous graphical models.