Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changing trends of colorectal carcinoma in Nepalese young adults.

INTRODUCTION Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal malignancy in the older population, but it is also quite frequent among young adults in developing countries. The aim of this study was to update the trends of clinicopathological features of CRC in young Nepalese. METHODS A retrospective comparative study on the data retrieved from the surgical records of all patients between 20 to 39 years of age with CRC was carried out for periods of 5 years each from 1999 to 2003 (early) and 2004 to 2008 (recent), treated at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Kathmandu, Nepal. RESULTS The number of young adults with CRC increased from 28 to 34. However, the proportion of young patients in both groups was 28% of all CRC patients. The mean ages were 34±4.7 and 31.8±5.1 years in early and recent 5 years, respectively, and the male female ratio changed from 2:3 to 4:3. Abdominal pain as the most common presenting symptom was replaced by bleeding per rectum in recent years. The mean duration from onset of symptoms to seeking medical advice decreased from 7.8 months to 5.6 months in recent years. More patients (85.3%) were subjected to endoscopic examination in recent years than early years (60.7%) and right colonic cancer increased from 10.7% to 26.5%. However, the rectum was the commonest site in both early (71.4%) and recent (50%) groups. CRC was detected significantly at an earlier stage (7.1% vs 32.4%) in recent years with large proportion of modified Dukes B stage. Poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma was the predominant histology in both groups (50% vs 60.7%). Curative resection had risen in recent years (39.3% vs 73.6%). CONCLUSION CRC among Nepalese young adults accounts for a high incidence (28%) of all CRC cases. Although right sided colonic cancer has been increasing, rectum is the commonest site. There is also an increasing trend for diagnosis at earlier stages of the disease which can be treated with curative intent.
Indoor3D: a WebGL based open source framework for 3D indoor maps visualization

In this paper, we present Indoor3D, an open source framework for 3D indoor maps visualization. It takes advantage of the WebGL technique of modern browsers, so it can work on any platform which supports the WebGL feature, including desktop computers and mobile devices. An extensible data structure is designed to describe the indoor scene. The proper default view is generated automatically according to the principal direction. A priority based algorithm is employed to control the visibility of the texts and icons. This library is well designed and easy to use. Developers can create an indoor map and customize its behaviour with only a few codes. Designers also benefit from this framework since they can change its visual style by providing a new theme. We believe our Indoor3D will be useful in many cases, such as airports, subway stations and shopping malls.
Dynamically Managing the Delivery of Web Services via Workflow and Feedback

The concept of automating the delivery of Web services functionality is an active research topic. This paper presents a comprehensive and overarching framework that supports the execution and delivery of Semantic Web services within the context of workflow management, and addresses the issues related to Virtual Organizations. The goal is to add semantics to Web services to endow them with capabilities currently lacking in the literature, but necessary for their successful deployment in future systems. In this paper, we indicate how our Knowledge-based Dynamic Semantic Web Services (KDSWS) Framework addresses the activities involved in managing and monitoring Semantic Web Services by using both a meta-model and meta-process approach. In particular, the following issues are addressed: 1) semantic specification of services capabilities including quality of service, trust, and security; 2) the execution and delivery of services 3) workflow management; and 4) resource management, interoperation and evolution of the Virtual Organization.
Performance evaluation of management information systems in clinical trials: a system dynamics approach

The complexity and characteristics of the pharmaceutical firm present an intriguing context for underlying information management issues during clinical trials for new drug development. This paper reports on the evaluation and performance of MIS for information management in clinical trials in new drug development. The main objective of the study is to examine the economic and business impacts of automating that process, to enhance our understanding of informational stakes involved, using a system dynamics (SD) model. The SD method is enriched in this paper with other conceptual frameworks such as Alter's (2001) Work Centered Analysis (WCA) and the activity diagram offered by the Unified Modeling Language (UML). Results of the simulations for alternative sensitivity analyses on errors rates in data transmissions, that is, on alternative error-rate specifications, do not necessarily influence project delay, but rather work intensity. A discussion details the usefulness of enriching the SD modeling process with alternative conceptual frameworks in the problem definition in such complex settings.
Views: a way for pattern matching to cohabit with data abstraction

Pattern matching and data abstraction are important concepts in designing programs, but they do not fit well together. Pattern matching depends on making public a free data type representation, while data abstraction depends on hiding the representation. This paper proposes the views mechanism as a means of reconciling this conflict. A view allows any type to be viewed as a free data type, thus combining the clarity of pattern matching with the efficiency of data abstraction.
Authoring Animations of Virtual Objects in Augmented Reality-Based 3D Space

Although three-dimensional computer graphics (3DCG) is a powerful means to express ideas in a lively manner, it is difficult and time-consuming to create 3DCG content. One of the reasons is the gap between the two-dimensional (2D) manipulation space and the 3D modeling space. Meanwhile, the development of augmented reality (AR) applications has grown, with the mobile phone-based approach showing much promise. In this paper, we present a system for authoring animations of virtual objects in AR-based 3D space. The manipulation of the virtual character being superimposed on a marker is carried out by a finger in front of a camera on the backside of the mobile phone. This approach provides the user with the feeling of direct manipulation within the augmented 3D space. User testing has shown the effectiveness of our AR-based 3D animation authoring method, although we need to conduct further studies on the system implementation, including improvements to system response and finger motion detection in the depth direction.
Causal Relationships Between Premiums and Losses, and Causes of the Underwriting Cycles

This research explored two major insurance-market issues. First, it investigated the dynamic interactions between premiums and losses using vector autoregressive (VAR) models. Second, it showed how premiums respond to shocks to losses, surplus, interest rates, the variance in losses, and the variance in interest rates. New empirical results based on a decomposition of variance methodology suggest that changes in losses, surplus, interest rates, and uncertainty do explain substantial percentages of variations in premiums. Our results are substantially consistent with an extrapolation hypothesis and a hypothesis of rational expectations with an institutional lag, a capacity-constraint hypothesis, an interest-rate- fluctuation hypothesis, and a change-in-expectations hypothesis. Interestingly, current premiums were found to explain a substantial percentage of the variation in future losses in a two-variable system. This result is consistent with the predictions offered by rational expectations with institutional lags and some financial pricing models for insurance coverages. New evidence on the response of premiums to shocks in various financial variables is also provided by this study. In summary, the pattern generated by impulse response functions for premiums seem to support Cummins and Outreville's hypothesis of rational expectations with an institutional lag, a result which differs somewhat from the observations of Niehaus and Terry (1993).
An Application of the Constructive Spectrum of a Ring

This paper exempliies how one can give constructive interpretations of proofs which uses the non-constructive principle that any ideal is contained in a prime ideal. We consider a textbook example AM69] which states that the coeecients of an invertible polynomial in a commutative ring with unit are nilpotent. This statement has a simple non-constructive proof which relies on the existence of certain prime ideals. We interpret this proof constructively, by using a constructive representation of the spectrum of the ring. We obtain in this way a simple constructive proof which has been partially formalised in Agda Coq98], and can be executed to yield an n such that a n = 0 for coeecients a.
A New Detection Scheme for Differential Unitary Space-Time Modulation

The performance loss of approximately 3 dB signal to noise ratio is always paid with conventional differential unitary space-time demodulation (DUSTD) compared to the related coherent detection. In this paper, a new detection scheme consisting of two steps is proposed for differential unitary space-time modulation (DUSTM) system. In the first step, the data sequence is estimated by conventional DUSTD and receded to produce an initial estimate of the transmitted symbol stream. In the second step, the initial estimate of the symbol stream is utilized to estimate the channel, which is then used to implement coherent sequence detection. Simulation results show that the proposed detection scheme performs much better than conventional DUSTD
Spatial local binary patterns for scene image classification

Local binary patterns (LBP), which is an effective and efficient texture descriptor, has been successfully applied to image analysis tasks such as face recognition and scene categorization. However, the conventional LBP histogram ignores spatial information of objects existing in images. In this paper, to address this problem, we propose a new Spatial Local Binary Patterns (SLBP) approach to encode geometric information of objects within images. The proposed method focuses on two critical aspects of scene classification: SLBP descriptor for image representation, and kernelized classifier for categorization. For the former one, SLBP descriptor is used to generate a series of ordered LBP histograms for capturing spatial information, by projecting LBP descriptor of an image onto different resolution and directions by linear projection, or points by circular projection. For the latter one, in order to fuse information from various resolution and direction, the support vector machines classifier with linear combinations of kernels is learned in different resolution and direction for scene image classification. Experimental results conducted on two popular benchmark datasets show that the gain over the original LBP may attain up to ten percentage points, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed SLBP technique.
Decimal Quotes: The Price is Right

In all U. S. Equity markets the minimum price increment is one eighth of a dollar. This "insidious eighth" is the largest source of friction in our equity markets today. Fractional pricing hinders competition and therefore impairs market efficiency. The solution is decimal pricing and a one cent minimum price increment. Efficiency is improved because equilibrium stock prices are resolved to the penny. Competition in bidding and offering stock is intensified, significantly increasing liquidity. In addition, market structure anomalies such as payment for order flow, fragmentation and internalization are discouraged by the natural forces of economics, alleviating the need for regulation. Most importantly, investor savings are estimated amounting to several billion dollars per year.
THE DESIGN OF ECONOMIC CONSTITUTIONS IN AN EMERGING BORDERLESS WORLD ECONOMY

Economic basis of constitutional design, the so-called assignment problem represents the most fundamental issue in public sector organization in any country, federal and unitary alike. This paper reflects upon a framework for such assignment to accommodate newer challenges arising from the demise of communism, failures of central planning, demonstration effects of the European Union, and other changing perspectives on the role of the public sector including globalization and localization of economic activity. The paper predicts a resurgence in trend towards confederalization of nation states and regionalization/localization of authority within nations.
Long-time fluctuations in a dynamical model of stock market indices.

Financial time series typically exhibit strong fluctuations that cannot be described by a Gaussian distribution. Recent empirical studies of stock market indices examined whether the distribution P(r) of returns r(tau) after some time tau can be described by a (truncated) Lévy-stable distribution L(alpha)(r) with some index 0<alpha< or =2. While the Lévy distribution cannot be expressed in a closed form, one can identify its parameters by testing the dependence of the central peak height on tau as well as the power-law decay of the tails. In an earlier study [R. N. Mantegna and H. E. Stanley, Nature (London) 376, 46 (1995)] it was found that the behavior of the central peak of P(r) for the Standard & Poor 500 index is consistent with the Lévy distribution with alpha=1.4. In a more recent study [P. Gopikrishnan et al., Phys. Rev. E 60, 5305 (1999)] it was found that the tails of P(r) exhibit a power-law decay, with an exponent alpha congruent with 3, thus deviating from the Lévy distribution. In this paper we study the distribution of returns in a generic model that describes the dynamics of stock market indices. For the distributions P(r) generated by this model, we observe that the scaling of the central peak is consistent with a Lévy distribution while the tails exhibit a power-law distribution with an exponent alpha>2, namely, beyond the range of Lévy-stable distributions. Our results are in agreement with both empirical studies and reconcile the apparent disagreement between their results.
The Impact of Multifunctional Genes on "Guilt by Association" Analysis

Many previous studies have shown that by using variants of “guilt-by-association”, gene function predictions can be made with very high statistical confidence. In these studies, it is assumed that the “associations” in the data (e.g., protein interaction partners) of a gene are necessary in establishing “guilt”. In this paper we show that multifunctionality, rather than association, is a primary driver of gene function prediction. We first show that knowledge of the degree of multifunctionality alone can produce astonishingly strong performance when used as a predictor of gene function. We then demonstrate how multifunctionality is encoded in gene interaction data (such as protein interactions and coexpression networks) and how this can feed forward into gene function prediction algorithms. We find that high-quality gene function predictions can be made using data that possesses no information on which gene interacts with which. By examining a wide range of networks from mouse, human and yeast, as well as multiple prediction methods and evaluation metrics, we provide evidence that this problem is pervasive and does not reflect the failings of any particular algorithm or data type. We propose computational controls that can be used to provide more meaningful control when estimating gene function prediction performance. We suggest that this source of bias due to multifunctionality is important to control for, with widespread implications for the interpretation of genomics studies.
Evaluation of Antiviral Activities of Four Local Malaysian Phyllanthus Species against Herpes Simplex Viruses and Possible Antiviral Target

Nucleoside analogues such as acyclovir are effective antiviral drugs against herpes simplex virus infections since its introduction. However, with the emergence of acyclovir-resistant HSV strains particularly in immunocompromised patients, there is a need to develop an alternative antiherpetic drug and plants could be the potential lead. In this study, the antiviral activity of the aqueous extract of four Phyllanthus species were evaluated against herpes simplex virus type-1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 in Vero cells by quantitative PCR. The protein expressions of untreated and treated infected Vero cells were studied by 2D-gel electrophoresis and Western blot. This is the first study that reported the antiviral activity of P. watsonii. P. urinaria was shown to demonstrate the strongest antiviral activity against HSV-1 and HSV-2, with SI >33.6. Time-of-addition studies suggested that the extract may act against the early infection stage and the replication stage. Protein expression studies indicated that cellular proteins that are involved in maintaining cytoskeletal structure could be potential target for development of antiviral drugs. Preliminary findings indicated that P. urinaria demonstrated potent inhibitory activity against HSV. Hence, further studies such as in vivo evaluation are required for the development of effective antiherpetic drug.
Targeted Methylation of the Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (EpCAM) Promoter to Silence Its Expression in Ovarian Cancer Cells

The Epithelial Cell Adhesion Molecule (EpCAM) is overexpressed in many cancers including ovarian cancer and EpCAM overexpression correlates with decreased survival of patients. It was the aim of this study to achieve a targeted methylation of the EpCAM promoter and silence EpCAM gene expression using an engineered zinc finger protein that specifically binds the EpCAM promoter fused to the catalytic domain of the Dnmt3a DNA methyltransferase. We show that transient transfection of this construct increased the methylation of the EpCAM promoter in SKOV3 cells from 4–8% in untreated cells to 30%. Up to 48% methylation was observed in stable cell lines which express the chimeric methyltransferase. Control experiments confirmed that the methylation was dependent on the fusion of the Zinc finger and the methyltransferase domains and specific for the target region. The stable cell lines with methylated EpCAM promoter showed a 60–80% reduction of EpCAM expression as determined at mRNA and protein level and exhibited a significantly reduced cell proliferation. Our data indicate that targeted methylation of the EpCAM promoter could be an approach in the therapy of EpCAM overexpressing cancers.
Insights into the pharmacological relevance of lysophospholipid receptors

The discovery of lysophospholipid (LP) 7‐transmembrane, G protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs) that began in the 1990s, together with research into the functional roles of the major LPs known as lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine 1‐phosphate (S1P), have opened new research avenues into their biological processes and mechanisms. Major examples of LP signalling effects include embryogenesis, nervous system development, vascular development, uterine implantation, immune cell trafficking, and inflammatory reactions. LP signalling also influences the pathophysiology of many diseases including cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, which indicate that LP receptors may be attractive targets for pharmacological therapies. A key example of such a therapeutic agent is the S1P receptor modulator FTY720, which upon phosphorylation and continued drug exposure, acts as an S1P receptor functional antagonist. This compound (also known as fingolimod or Gilenya) has recently been approved by the FDA for the treatment of relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. Continued basic and translational research on LP signalling should provide novel insights into both basic biological mechanisms, as well as novel therapeutic approaches to combat a range of human diseases.
A new linear-time harmonic balance algorithm for cyclostationary noise analysis in RF circuits

A new technique is presented for computing noise in nonlinear circuits. The method is based on a formulation that uses harmonic power spectral densities (HPSDs), using which a block-structured matrix relation between the second-order statistics of noise within a circuit is derived. The HPSD formulation is used to devise a harmonic-balance-based noise algorithm that requires O(nN log N) time and O(nN) memory, where n represents circuit size and N the number of harmonics of the large-signal steady state. The method treats device noise sources with arbitrarily shaped PSDs (including thermal, shot and flicker noises) handles noise input correlations and computes correlations between different outputs. The HPSD formulation is also used to establish the non-intuitive result that bandpass filtering of cyclostationary noise can result in stationary noise. The new technique is illustrated using an example that exhibits noise folding and interaction between harmonic PSD components. The results are validated against Monte-Carlo simulations. The noise performance of a large industrial integrated RF circuit (with >300 nodes) is also analyzed in less than 2 hours using the new method.
Optimal design of high density 802.11 WLANs

The provisioning of high throughput performance infrastructure wireless networks necessitates the deployment of a high density of Access Points. While the latter improves wireless link quality to the clients, it can also introduce additional interference unless the network is carefully planned and tuned. It has been shown that the reaction of CSMA/CA protocol to interference is unnecessarily conservative in high density environments. In this work, we study the problem of infrastructure wireless network design, and the interaction between high density and MAC parameter tuning. Through analysis and numerical results, we provide recommendations on (i) optimum dimensioning of high density networks, and (ii) optimum tuning of their MAC parameters. We demonstrate that 802.11a networks are inherently noise-dominated, while 802.11g networks are interference-dominated, thus requiring different network design approaches. In sharp contrast to previous work, we establish that MAC parameter tuning has limited benefit in properly planned 802.11a networks. On the other hand, analytical results on the optimal tuning of MAC parameters in interference-dominated 802.11g deployments show substantial throughput improvements. Using the insight gained through our analysis, we propose an algorithm for the optimal tuning of MAC parameters in unstructured high density environments. Opnet simulations show that the proposed algorithm results in up to 260% improvement in network throughput.