Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
State-of-the-Art and Upcoming Innovations in Pancreatic Cancer Care: A Step Forward to Precision Medicine

Simple Summary Pancreatic cancer remains a major therapeutic challenge despite medical advances. The incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing, and this disease is associated with a high mortality and morbidity rate. The poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer can be attributed to several factors, including the difficulty of early diagnosis due to the lack of specific symptoms and biomarkers in the early stages, the aggressiveness of the disease, and its resistance to systemic therapies. However, recent advances in the field have led to promising new therapeutic strategies, and endoscopists have assumed a key role in the multidisciplinary management of this disease. The aim of this article is to provide a comprehensive literature review focused on examining existing treatments for various stages of pancreatic cancer, with an emphasis on new and innovative therapeutic approaches. Abstract Pancreatic cancer remains a social and medical burden despite the tremendous advances that medicine has made in the last two decades. The incidence of pancreatic cancer is increasing, and it continues to be associated with high mortality and morbidity rates. The difficulty of early diagnosis (the lack of specific symptoms and biomarkers at early stages), the aggressiveness of the disease, and its resistance to systemic therapies are the main factors for the poor prognosis of pancreatic cancer. The only curative treatment for pancreatic cancer is surgery, but the vast majority of patients with pancreatic cancer have advanced disease at the time of diagnosis. Pancreatic surgery is among the most challenging surgical procedures, but recent improvements in surgical techniques, careful patient selection, and the availability of minimally invasive techniques (e.g., robotic surgery) have dramatically reduced the morbidity and mortality associated with pancreatic surgery. Patients who are not candidates for surgery may benefit from locoregional and systemic therapy. In some cases (e.g., patients for whom marginal resection is feasible), systemic therapy may be considered a bridge to surgery to allow downstaging of the cancer; in other cases (e.g., metastatic disease), systemic therapy is considered the standard approach with the goal of prolonging patient survival. The complexity of patients with pancreatic cancer requires a personalized and multidisciplinary approach to choose the best treatment for each clinical situation. The aim of this article is to provide a literature review of the available treatments for the different stages of pancreatic cancer.
Adaptive Shack-Hartmann wavefront system with extended dynamic range for lens characterization

The adaptive Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor (SHWFS), which integrates deformable mirror (DM) with SHWFS, is effectively used for measuring and characterizing optical elements such as thick lenses, contact lenses, and intraocular lenses (IOLs). The major advantage of combining the DM with SHWFS is the ability of the DM to implement dynamic corrections of any existing wavefront aberrations. However, the measurement dynamic range of the system is limited by the active area of the DM which has a relatively small bandwidth product. This issue can be physically overcome using compound-lens methodology that uses an additional lens or lens system along with the lens under test. The selection criterion of the compound-lens system is based on the focal length of the tested lens, the effective focal length of the tested lens with the compound lens, and the distance between them. Thus, the optimal selection of the compound-lens system and the setup parameters significantly contribute to readjusting the laser beam diameter to properly fit the DM’s active area. Hence, the measurement dynamic range could be successfully extended. To prove the concept, the dynamic range of the used adaptive SHWFS system is first determined. Then, a group of lenses beyond the dynamic range of the system was measured using the compound-lens methodology. The experimental results reveal that the proposed compound-lens methodology can effectively extend the dynamic range of the measurements while keeping the root-mean-square error minimal.
The Development of a Space Climatology: 1. Solar Wind Magnetosphere Coupling as a Function of Timescale and the Effect of Data Gaps

Different terrestrial space weather indicators (such as geomagnetic indices, transpolar voltage, and ring current particle content) depend on different coupling functions (combinations of near‐Earth solar wind parameters), and previous studies also reported a dependence on the averaging timescale, τ. We study the relationships of the am and SME geomagnetic indices to the power input into the magnetosphere Pα, estimated using the optimum coupling exponent α, for a range of τ between 1 min and 1 year. The effect of missing data is investigated by introducing synthetic gaps into near‐continuous data, and the best method for dealing with them when deriving the coupling function is formally defined. Using Pα, we show that gaps in data recorded before 1995 have introduced considerable errors into coupling functions. From the near‐continuous solar wind data for 1996–2016, we find that α = 0.44 ± 0.02 and no significant evidence that α depends on τ, yielding Pα∝B0.88Vsw1. 90(mswNsw)0.23sin4(θ/2), where B is the interplanetary magnetic field, Nsw the solar wind number density, msw its mean ion mass, Vsw its velocity, and θ the interplanetary magnetic field clock angle in the geocentric solar magnetospheric reference frame. Values of Pα that are accurate to within ±5% for 1996–2016 have an availability of 83.8%, and the correlation between Pα and am for these data is shown to be 0.990 (between 0.972 and 0.997 at the 2σ uncertainty level), 0.897 ± 0.004, and 0.790 ± 0.03, for τ of 1 year, 1 day, and 3 hr, respectively, and that between Pα and SME at τ of 1 min is 0.7046 ± 0.0004.
Extension of Basic Linear Mixed Effect Model to Incorporate Heterocedasticity

The linear mixed effect model allows considerable flexibility in the specification of the random effects structure but restricts the within group errors to be independent, identically distributed random variables with mean zero and constant variance. This basic linear mixed effects model provides an adequate model for many different types of grouped data observed in practice. However, there are many applications involving grouped data for which the within group errors are heteroscedastic (i.e. have unequal variances), correlated or both. The lme() function of nlme library due to pinherio and bates 2000 is used to fit the extended linear mixed-effects model. The complexity of linear mixed-effects (LME) models means that traditional diagnostics are rendered less effective. This is due to a breakdown of asymptotic results, boundary issues, and visible patterns in residual plots that are introduced by the model fitting process. Loy et al., has proposed adjustment to some of the well-known issues (Loy, 2013). International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 7 Number 06 (2018) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas. com
Convenient Interface to Inverse Ising (ConIII): A Python package for solving maximum entropy models

ConIII (pronounced CON-ee) is an open-source Python project providing a simple interface to solving maximum entropy models, with a focus on the Ising model. We describe the maximum entropy problem and give an overview of the algorithms that are implemented as part of ConIII (this https URL) including Monte Carlo histogram, pseudolikelihood, minimum probability flow, a regularized mean field method, and a cluster expansion method. We briefly explain how one should approach and validate maxent models from the perspective of model selection. Our goal is to make a variety of maximum entropy techniques accessible to those unfamiliar with the techniques and accelerate workflow for users.
Reconnoitering Elements of Uzbekistan’s Trade Performance in Recent Years: A Gravity Model Approach Adapting Panel Data Estimation

Purpose: The study examines the impact of growing investments and increasing manufacturing activities on the trade performance in case of Uzbekistan. It also tries to explore the influence of being in CIS region and being a former part of Soviet Union on the trade patters with its major partner countries. The theoretical framework: The study takes Gravity Model as a base to formulate estimation equation where Uzbekistan trade is taken as a dependent variable. Panel dataset is prepared and random effects GLS regression is used to estimate the augmented equation. Findings: The study concludes that lately the composition of trade has shifted. It argues that trade is more based on intra-industry than comparative advantage. Yet the economy envisions strengthening its trade flows by boosting investment in fixed capital and strengthening the manufacturing sector. The study shows that manufacturing and investment in fixed capital are potentially increasing its trade performance. However, trade is still concentrated in a few markets. It is concluded that Uzbekistan’s trade differs in time (a positive indication) and within the group of countries significantly (not so good situation). Research Policy Implications: Based on the analysis, it is recommended that the economy find more global markets to realize its comparative advantage and continue the intra-industry trade within the region. Originality/Value: The study gives new insights on the most recent trends in trade patters of Uzbekistan with its major partners as well as also identifies the nature of its strength in terms of realizing comparative advantage or intra-industry trade. Based on the results the trade performance can be further increased by exploring the markets and product categories more categorically.
Lock-in in forced vibration of a circular cylinder

The phenomenon of lock-in/synchronization in uniform flow past an oscillating cylinder is investigated via a stabilized finite element method at Re = 100. Computations are carried out for various amplitudes and frequencies of cylinder oscillation to accurately obtain the boundary of the lock-in regime. Results from earlier studies show a significant scatter in the lock-in boundary. The scatter might be an outcome of the difference in data collection or the use of a different criterion for identifying lock-in. A new criterion for lock-in is proposed, wherein the following two conditions are to be satisfied. (i) The most dominant frequency in the power spectrum of lift coefficient matches the frequency of cylinder oscillation (fy) and (ii) other peaks in the power spectrum, if any, are present only at super-harmonics of fy. Utilizing this criterion, three flow regimes are identified on the frequency-amplitude plane: lock-in, transition, and no lock-in. The behaviour of the wake is also investigated by examining the power spectra of the velocity traces at various locations downstream of the cylinder. Wake-lock-in is observed during lock-in. A wake-transition regime is identified wherein the near wake, up to a certain streamwise location, is in a lock-in state while the downstream region is in a desynchronized state. For a fixed fy, the location beyond which the wake is desynchronized moves downstream as the amplitude of oscillation is increased. The proposed criterion for lock-in addresses the wide scatter in the boundary of the lock-in regime among earlier studies. Energy transfer from the fluid to the structure, per cycle of cylinder oscillation, is computed from the data for forced vibration. The data is utilized to generate iso-energy transfer contours in the frequency-amplitude plane. The free vibration response with zero structural damping is found to be in very good agreement with the contour corresponding to zero energy transfer.
Schrödinger and Klein–Gordon theories of black holes from the quantization of the Oppenheimer and Snyder gravitational collapse

The Schrödinger equation of the Schwarzschild black hole (BH) has been recently derived by the author and collaborators. The BH is composed of a particle, the ‘electron’, interacting with a central field, the ‘nucleus’. Via de Broglie’s hypothesis, one interprets the ‘electron’ in terms of BH horizon’s modes. Quantum gravity effects modify the BH semi-classical structure at the Schwarzschild scale rather than at the Planck scale. The analogy between this BH Schrödinger equation and the Schrödinger equation of the s states of the hydrogen atom permits us to solve the same equation. The quantum gravitational quantities analogous of the fine structure constant and of the Rydberg constant are not constants, but the dynamical quantities have well-defined discrete spectra. The spectrum of the ‘gravitational fine structure constant’ is the set of non-zero natural numbers. Therefore, BHs are well-defined quantum gravitational systems obeying Schrödinger’s theory: the ‘gravitational hydrogen atoms’. By identifying the potential energy in the BH Schrödinger equation as being the gravitational energy of a spherically symmetric shell, a different nature of the quantum BH seems to surface. BHs are self-interacting, highly excited, spherically symmetric, massive quantum shells generated by matter condensing on the apparent horizon, concretely realizing the membrane paradigm. The quantum BH described as a ‘gravitational hydrogen atom’ is a fictitious mathematical representation of the real, quantum BH, a quantum massive shell having a radius equal to the oscillating gravitational radius. Nontrivial consequences emerge from this result: (i) BHs have neither horizons nor singularities; (ii) there is neither information loss in BH evaporation, nor BH complementarity, nor firewall paradox. These results are consistent with previous ones by Hawking, Vaz, Mitra and others. Finally, the special relativistic corrections to the BH Schrödinger equation give the BH Klein–Gordon equation and the corresponding eigenvalues.
Mixtures of Probabilistic Principal Component Analyzers

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction, Latent Variable Models and PCA, Probabilistic PCA, Mixtures of Probabilistic Principal Component Analyzers, Local Linear Dimensionality Reduction, Density Modeling, Conclusions, Appendix A: Maximum Likelihood PCA, Appendix B: Optimal Least-Squares Reconstruction, Appendix C: EM for Mixtures of Probabilistic PCA, Acknowledgments, References
An Indonesian concatenative speech synthesis system

An Indonesian concatenative speech synthesis system was developed that can (1) differentiate between the pronunciation of [e] and [@] (XSAMPA) by utilizing a pronunciation dictionary and pronunciation rules and (2) automatically create derived words that are then inserted into the pronunciation dictionary, which is used in converting text into phonemes. Speech data were recorded from a female native Indonesian speaker. Phrases included proper nouns and text samples from Indonesian textbooks, newspaper articles, and TV scripts, which covered almost all possible Indonesian syllables. There were 4,490 phrases lasting a total of 5.1 hours. The transcription was constructed considering pauses during narration. A forced alignment technique was used to obtain the phoneme boundary of the speech, and each phoneme and its acoustic/linguistic features were added to a database. In the synthesis step, an input text was converted into phonemes. An appropriate segment sequence, which has features similar to the phonemes.
A framework for classification and practice of verb tenses in English language.

This work describes a framework developed for verb tenses classification in the English language and automatic generation of verb-tenses-oriented exercises, based on chosen texts for study. The classification is a rule-based process. The rules were analyzed and improved in the course of the work. This research brings a method for generation of exercises of transposition/transformation of verb tenses. By this method, it is possible to transpose each verb tense on a sentence to another verb tense, if there is an indexed example of that target verb tense. The verb tenses transposition method can also be applied in other contexts, like text generation, making it easy to choose an action and applying it to verb tense. Our results demonstrate that the framework is effective for its purpose, reaching 98.17% in average precision on the task of classifying verb tenses.
Influence of a Salt Plume Parameterization in a Coupled Climate Model

Sea ice formation is accompanied by the rejection of salt which in nature tends to be mixed vertically by the formation of convective plumes. Here we analyze the influence of a salt plume parameterization in an atmosphere‐sea ice‐ocean model. Two 330‐yearlong simulations have been conducted with the AWI Climate Model. In the reference simulation, the rejected salt in the Arctic Ocean is added to the uppermost ocean layer. This approach is commonly used in climate modeling. In another experiment, employing salt plume parameterization, the rejected salt is vertically redistributed within the mixed layer based on a power law profile that mimics the penetration of salt plumes. We discuss the effects of this redistribution on the simulated mean state and on atmosphere–ocean linkages associated with the intensity of deepwater formation. We find that the salt plume parameterization leads to simultaneous increase of sea ice (volume and concentration) and decrease of sea surface salinity in the Arctic. The salt plume parameterization considerably alters the interplay between the atmosphere and the ocean in the Nordic Seas. The parameterization modifies the ocean ventilation; however, resulting changes in temperature and salinity largely compensate each other in terms of density so that the overturning circulation is not significantly affected.
The Curious Case of Ribā’s Muted Role in Bank Selection Criteria Among Muslims in Klang Valley, Malaysia

Purpose – Arguably, the most significant difference between conventional and Islamic banking is the prohibition of ribā (interest)—besides gharar (uncertainty) and maysir (speculation). Naturally, it is questioned whether ribā is the make-or-break selection criterion for Islamic banking customers in Malaysia. Consequently, this study examined the moderating effect of ribā knowledge on the nexus between the already widely researched bank selection criteria (i.e., service quality, corporate reputation, cost and benefits, and technology) and bank selection among Malaysian Muslims. Design/Methodology/Approach – This research is quantitative, cross-sectional and non-experimental. It uses structured questionnaires to acquire and understand bank selection criteria and the moderation effect of ribā among Malaysian Muslims. The sample comprised 244 Muslim customers with loan/financing accounts in banks in Klang Valley, Malaysia. This study uses exploratory factor analysis and structural model analysis for data analysis. Findings – The findings reveal three criteria—notably, corporate reputation, cost and benefits, and technology—that exhibit a significant correlation with bank selection. Despite the strong injunctions against ribā, it failed to moderate the relationship between bank selection criteria and bank selection. Additionally, the subsequent importance-performance test indicates that ribā knowledge holds lower significance compared to the three significant criteria. Therefore, the authors believe there is a strong possibility that Malaysian Muslims, specifically in Klang Valley, may not factor the prohibition of ribā into their banking selection decisions. Research Limitations/Implications – The items measured for knowledge of ribā have not been widely tested and are not designed to assess the level of religiosity of the respondents nor the awareness of Islamic law behind the prohibition of ribā. Nevertheless, this paper provides insight into the level of knowledge about ribā among Muslims in Klang Valley, Malaysia and its possible moderating effect on bank selection. Future research could extend this work and examine the knowledge of ribā with respect to the level of respondents’ religiosity and/or the awareness of Islamic law behind the prohibition of ribā. Practical Implications – Religious authorities, non-government organisations and Islamic banks could leverage these insights by uplifting and broadening public education, especially for the Muslim community, on the actual meaning of ribā and its implications in their lives and the hereafter. Originality/Value – The lack of studies focusing on the subject of ribā, its practice in conventional banking, and its prohibition in Islamic banking has often been overshadowed by research studies on adoptions and perceptions of Islamic banking and finance, which may have led to the negligence of its importance in choosing Islamic banking over conventional banking among Muslims in Malaysia.
Scaling behavior of cohesive self-gravitating aggregates

By means of extensive three-dimensional contact dynamics simulations, we analyze the strength properties and microstructure of a granular asteroid, modeled as a self-gravitating cohesive granular aggregate composed of spherical particles, and subjected to diametrical compression tests. We show that, for a broad range of system parameters (shear rate, cohesive forces, asteroid diameter), the behavior can be described by a modified inertial number that incorporates interparticle cohesion and gravitational forces. At low inertial numbers, the behavior is ductile with a well-defined stress peak that scales with internal pressure with a prefactor 0.9. As the inertial number increases, both the prefactor and fluctuations around the mean increase, evidencing a dynamical crisis resulting from the destabilizing effect of particle inertia. From a micromechanical description of the contact and force networks, we propose a model that accounts for solid fraction, local stress, particle connectivity, and granular texture. In the limit of small inertial numbers, we find a very good agreement of the theoretical estimate of compressive strength, evidencing the major role of these structural parameters for the modeled aggregates.
A fuzzy clustering approach to evaluate individual competencies from REFLEX data

ABSTRACT We empirically illustrate how concepts and methods involved in a grade of membership (GoM) analysis can be used to sort individuals by competence. Our study relies on a data set compiled from the international survey on higher education graduates called REFLEX. We focus on the subset of data related to the perception of own competencies. It is first decomposed into fuzzy clusters that form a hierarchical fuzzy partition. Then, we calculate a scalar measure of competencies for each fuzzy cluster, and subsequently use the individual GoM scores to combine cluster-based competencies to position individuals on a scale from 0 to 1.
Microstrip Leaky-Wave Antenna With Circular Polarization and Broadside Radiation

In this letter, a novel circularly polarized microstrip leaky-wave antenna (LWA) is proposed with broadside radiation and high gain. A conventional microstrip patch has been modified to obtain broadside gain along with circular polarization. The modified patch is periodically placed along one side of the 50 Ω delay line to form LWA. The optimized broadside frequency of the antenna is 10.1 GHz. The bandwidth associated with 3 dB axial ratio is 13.3% while the maximum obtained gain is 15.8 dBic. The measured gain variation within 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth is 1.6 dB. Measured results of the fabricated antenna follow the simulations.