Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal managements of stage IIIA (N2) non-small cell lung cancer patients: a population-based survival analysis.

Background This study aimed to investigate the optimal management of stage IIIA (cN2) non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients and determine potential predictive factors. Methods We extracted patients diagnosed as NSCLC stage IIIA (cN2) between 2004 and 2011 from Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Overall survival (OS) and lung cancer-specific survival (LCSS) were compared among patients given different clinical managements by Kaplan-Meier method. Other variables such as age, sex and tumor size were analyzed to explore the factors associated with outcomes. Results A total of 98,700 IIIA-cN2 NSCLC patients were identified from SEER database. Survival of patients treated with surgery was better than that of patients treated by radiotherapy alone (P<0.001). Radiation prior to surgery significantly improved the survival in comparison with surgery alone (P<0.001). In the subgroups of OS analysis, age >65 (P=0.902), adenocarcinoma (P=0.279), tumor size ≤3 cm (P=0.170), well differentiated (P=0.360) patients, preoperative radiotherapy improved survival insignificantly compared with surgery alone. Conclusions Preoperative radiation with surgery had the most encouraging survival outcomes in stage IIIA-cN2 NSCLC patients compared with radiation or surgery alone. No significant outcome improvement was shown between postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) and surgery alone.
Characterization Techniques for High Speed Oversampled Data Converters

Bench characterization of wide band oversampled converters is a challenge due to the high data rate at the output of the modulator. We propose the use of a duobinary test interface to extend the frequency range over which reliable laboratory measurements become possible. We show that using such an interface effectively randomizes the modulator output data and reduces high frequency content, thereby reducing the bandwidth demands made on the test equipment. It also reduces degradation of the modulator performance caused by package feedthrough effects. Experimental results from a test chip in 90 nm CMOS show that the proposed interface extends the upper sampling frequency limit of an existing single-bit CTDSM from 3.6 GHz to 4.4 GHz.
Assessment of the Paradoxical Effect of Caspofungin in Therapy of Candidiasis

ABSTRACT Paradoxical growth of some Candida albicans isolates in the presence of caspofungin (CAS) in vitro has been demonstrated previously. We sought to determine whether a similar phenomenon occurred in vivo. A systemic model of candidiasis was studied in CD-1 mice by intravenous inoculation of different isolates of C. albicans. Infected animals were treated with CAS at various dosages (0.01 to 20 mg/kg) and CFU remaining in the kidneys determined. Four clinical isolates that showed paradoxical growth in vitro and one that did not were tested. Recovery of CFU from the kidneys showed that dosages of CAS at 0.1 mg/kg and above were efficacious in the reduction of C. albicans, but were not curative. Against isolates that show paradoxical growth in vitro, CAS was efficacious, but lacked dose responsiveness above 0.5 mg/kg against three of the four. One isolate, 95-68, showed paradoxical growth in vivo with significantly higher CFU recovered from mice given CAS at 20 mg/kg than those given CAS at 5 mg/kg, but the effect was not reproducible in a subsequent experiment. When CAS was given prophylactically and therapeutically, improved efficacy and cure rate were observed. Overall, these data indicate that CAS is highly efficacious against systemic murine candidiasis and a paradoxical effect was not reproducibly demonstrated in vivo.
The influence of data replication in the knowledge discovery in distributed databases process

The process of knowledge discovery applied in distributed databases implies finding useful knowledge from mining data sets stored in real implementations of distributed databases. Distributed Databases represents a software system that allows a multitude of applications to access the data stored in local or remote databases. In this scenario, the data distribution is achieved through the process of replication. Nowadays many solutions for storing the data are available: relational distributed Database Management Systems (DBMS), NoSQL storing solutions, NewSQL storing solutions, graph oriented databases, object oriented databases, object-relational databases, etc. The present study analyzes the most commonly used storing solution: the relational model. The replication topology used in the related experiments was the classical publisher-subscriber topology. The distribution of data is made from the publisher system. The present work studies the interaction between the most suited distributed data mining architecture (Distributed Committee Machines) for mining distributed data and real relational distributed databases. The chosen Data Mining task is the classification one. Distributed Committee Machines are a group of neuronal networks working in a distributed procedure to obtain an improved classification performance compared to a single neural structure. In these experiments we used the classical multilayer perceptron trained with the backpropagation algorithm. The execution performance of the Distributed Committee Machine is analyzed, based on some of the most used types of replication in relational databases: snapshot replication, merge replication, transactional replication, and transactional with queued updating replication. For all these types of replications the execution performances (distributed speedup and distributed efficiency) of the entire system is also analyzed. These results are useful to numerous research fields: adaptive e-learning applications, medical diagnosis, artificial intelligence, business management, etc.
Pyruvate Decarboxylase Provides Growing Pollen Tubes with a Competitive Advantage in Petuniaw⃞

Rapid pollen tube growth places unique demands on energy production and biosynthetic capacity. The aim of this work is to understand how primary metabolism meets the demands of such rapid growth. Aerobically grown pollen produce ethanol in large quantities. The ethanolic fermentation pathway consists of two committed enzymes: pyruvate decarboxylase (PDC) and alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH). Because adh mutations do not affect male gametophyte function, the obvious question is why pollen synthesize an abundant enzyme if they could do just as well without. Using transposon tagging in Petunia hybrida, we isolated a null mutant in pollen-specific Pdc2. Growth of the mutant pollen tubes through the style is reduced, and the mutant allele shows reduced transmission through the male, when in competition with wild-type pollen. We propose that not ADH but rather PDC is the critical enzyme in a novel, pollen-specific pathway. This pathway serves to bypass pyruvate dehydrogenase enzymes and thereby maintain biosynthetic capacity and energy production under the unique conditions prevailing during pollen–pistil interaction.
Super-exponential methods for blind deconvolution

The authors present a class of iterative methods for solving the problem of blind deconvolution of an unknown possibly nonminimum phase linear system driven by an unobserved input process. The methods converge monotonically at a very fast super-exponential rate to the desired solution in which the inverse of the unknown system is identified, and the input process is recovered up to a delay and possibly a constant phase shift. The proposed methods are universal in the sense that they do not impose any restrictions on the probability distribution of the input process, provided that it is non-Gaussian. <<ETX>>
Real-time 3-D robot vision employing novel color fringe projection

This article presents a novel 3-D image acquisition technique using color fringe projection with encoded triangular fringes for high-speed 3-D machine vision. In the developed method, three-step phase shifting operation can be performed simultaneously by encoding and analyzing RGB color components on single structured fringe patterns. The greatest advantage for using the proposed structured color fringe having triangular intensity is on its significant time reduction required in phase retrieving. A high-speed 3-D prototype robot vision system was successfully developed and some experiments were conducted to verify the feasibility and accuracy of the method. From the preliminary experimental result analysis, it was demonstrated that the speed of the 3D image acquisition can be achieved up to 60 frames per second (fps) or higher. The maximum measurement errors can be controlled within 2.8% of the overall depth detection range.
X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 1 (XRCC1) deficiency enhances class switch recombination and is permissive for alternative end joining

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are essential intermediates in Ig gene rearrangements: V(D)J and class switch recombination (CSR). In contrast to V(D)J recombination, which is almost exclusively dependent on nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ), CSR can occur in NHEJ-deficient cells via a poorly understand backup pathway (or pathways) often termed alternative end joining (A-EJ). Recently, several components of the single-strand DNA break (SSB) repair machinery, including XRCC1, have been implicated in A-EJ. To determine its role in A-EJ and CSR, Xrcc1 was deleted by targeted mutation in the CSR proficient mouse B-cell line, CH12F3. Here we demonstrate that XRCC1 deficiency slightly increases the efficiency of CSR. More importantly, Lig4 and XRCC1 double-deficient cells switch as efficiently as Lig4-deficient cells, clearly indicating that XRCC1 is dispensable for A-EJ in CH12F3 cells during CSR.
A Study on the Participation of LINC(Leaders in INdustry-university Cooperation) at Korean Firm's Employees Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior

Many Korean colleges funded by the Korean government have actively implemented LINC (Leaders INdustry-university Cooperation) programs to facilitate practical training since 2012. The LINC programs have two major different categories, a technologically and innovative focused program and a field-centered program. A number of studies have applied the TPB (Theory of Planned Behavior) model proposed by Fishbein and Azjen successfully to predict the behavioral intention in many areas, such as marketing, environmental purchasing, and technology, etc. On the other hand, few studies have applied the TPB within industry-university cooperation settings. The purpose of this study was to empirically test the applicability of the TPB model in predicting the employees` participation in LINC programs. To investigate the study`s purpose, a closed-ended questionnaire, composed of a total of 32 questions based on previous studies, was developed, and the data from 115 out of 132 employees in the participating companies of LINC were utilized. Specific analysis of the study showed that the attitudes, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control were significant predictors of the LINC intention. In addition, the LINC intention was a significant predictor of the participation in LINC.
A Comparative Analysis of Consumers' Attitude and Behavior toward Green Practices

﻿The present study suggests that national culture will influence consumer attitude and behavior; however, research documenting differences in consumer culture in Taiwan and China is lacking. This study analyzes the hotel industry of Taiwan and China and explores the relationships between environmental attitudes, environmental responsive behavior and the willingness to stay at environmentally friendly hotels. In addition, it also discusses whether there are differences between consumers from Taiwan and China. From the responses to a questionnaire from 600 and 656 hotel guests in Taiwan and China, respectively, it was determined that environmental attitudes affected the environmental responsive behavior and willingness to stay at environmentally friendly hotels and that environmental responsive behavior only affected Taiwanese consumers’ willingness to stay at environmentally friendly hotels. The study also found significant differences in the environmental attitudes, environmental responsive behavior and willingness to stay at environmentally friendly hotels of consumers in Taiwan and China.
Isolation of Escherichia coli O157:H7 from retail fresh meats and poultry

A total of 896 samples of retail fresh meats and poultry was assayed for Escherichia coli serogroup O157:H7 by a hydrophobic grid membrane filter-immunoblot procedure developed specifically to isolate the organism from foods. The procedure involves several steps, including selective enrichment, filtration of enrichment culture through hydrophobic grid membrane filters, incubation of each filter on nitrocellulose paper on selective agar, preparation of an immunoblot (by using antiserum to E. coli O157:H7 culture filtrate) of each nitrocellulose paper, selection from the filters of colonies which corresponded to immunopositive sites on blots, screening of isolates by a Biken test for precipitin lines from metabolites and antiserum to E. coli O157:H7 culture filtrate, and confirmation of isolates as Vero cell cytotoxic E. coli O157:H7 by biochemical, serological, and Vero cell cytotoxicity tests. E. coli O157:H7 was isolated from 6 (3.7%) of 164 beef, 4 (1.5%) of 264 pork, 4 (1.5%) of 263 poultry, and 4 (2.0%) of 205 lamb samples. One of 14 pork samples and 5 of 17 beef samples contaminated with the organism were from Calgary, Alberta, Canada, grocery stores, whereas all other contaminated samples were from Madison, Wis. , retail outlets. This is the first report of the isolation of E. coli O157:H7 from food other than ground beef, and results indicate that the organism is not a rare contaminant of fresh meats and poultry.
Tactile sensory coding during development: signaling capacities of neurons in kitten dorsal column nuclei.

The functional maturation of cuneate neurons was studied using reproducible tactile stimulation procedures and quantitative assessment of coding capacities in anesthetized (N2O/O2 plus barbiturate infusion) or decerebrate cats from six different age groups; neonatal (1-5 days), 10-15, 25-30, 55-63, and 83-90 days, and an adult group. Cuneate neurons were distinguished from input fibers to the nucleus on criteria of spike configuration and time course and on response profiles. Extracellular spike durations underwent a progressive shortening with age, reaching the adult range at approximately 3 mo when background activity levels also reached maturity. Despite an increase in conduction-path length, response latencies decreased to adult values by 25-30 days of age, presumably reflecting the increased conduction velocity in the input fibers. In each age group three functional classes of neurons responsive to tactile stimulation of the footpads were identifiable. One consisted of slowly adapting neurons whose stimulus-response relations resembled those of the adult in responsiveness and dynamic range by 25-30 days postnatal age. The remaining neurons were purely dynamically sensitive, but among them two classes could be distinguished by their differential sensitivity to cutaneous vibration, one receiving rapidly adapting (RA) fiber input the other pacinian corpuscle (PC) input. The combined bandwidth of vibration sensitivity in dynamically sensitive cuneate neurons expands from approximately 5-300 Hz in the neonate to the mature range of 5-1,000 Hz by 1 mo of age. The PC class of cuneate neurons showed an upward shift in peak sensitivity from 30-200 Hz in the neonate to 100-300 Hz at 10-15 days, reaching adult values of 200-600 Hz by 25-30 days. Over this period absolute thresholds dropped by an order of magnitude at 200-500 Hz reflecting the threshold trends in primary PC fibers. During the first 1-2 postnatal months, the capacity of cuneate PC neurons to signal information in a pattern code about vibration frequencies around 300 Hz is restricted because of poor phase locking and low responsiveness, which preclude an impulse periodicity reflecting the vibratory frequency. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Robust feature learning by improved auto-encoder from non-Gaussian noised images

Much recent research has been devoted to learning algorithms for deep architectures such as Deep Belief Net-works(DBN) and stacks of auto-encoder variants, with impressive results obtained in several areas, mostly on vision and languages datasets. These learning algorithms aim to find good representations for data, which can be used for classification, reconstruction, visualization and so on. Despite the progress, most existing algorithms would be fragile to non-Gaussian noises and outliers due to the criterion of mean square error(MSE) and cross entropy(CE). In this paper, we propose a robust auto-encoder called correntropy-based contractive auto-encoder(C-CAE) to learn robust features from data with non-Gaussian noises and outliers. The maximum correntropy criterion(MCC) is adopted as reconstruction cost function and a well chosen penalty term is added to the reconstruction cost function. By replacing cross entropy with MCC, the proposed method can learn robust features from the data containing non-Gaussian noises and outliers. The penalty term corresponds to the Frobenius norm of the Jacobian matrix of the encoder activations with respect to the input. By adding the penalty term, the antinoise ability of the proposed method is improved. The proposed method is evaluated using the MNIST benchmark dataset. Experimental results show that, compared with the traditional auto-encoders, the proposed method learns robust features, improves classification accuracy and reduces the reconstruction error, which demonstrates that the proposed method is capable of learning robust features on noisy data.
The expression of IGF-1R in Helicobacter pylori-infected intestinal metaplasia and gastric cancer

Overexpression of IGF-1R has been demonstrated in gastrointestinal cancers, and its expression is reported as the result of the loss of tumor suppressors. IL-16 is involved in the pathophysiological process of chronic inflammatory diseases. The aim of this study is to determine the changes in the expression of IGF-1R in intestinal metaplasia (IM) and gastric cancer (GC) as well as the effect of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) and IL-16 on cell proliferation and IGF-1R expression in gastric cells. AGS cells were incubated with combinations of IL-16 and H. pylori. Gastric cell proliferation was studied by BrdU uptake. In H. pylori infected mucosa, IGF-1R was significantly higher in IM than chronic gastritis (CG), and also higher in GC than CG and IM. H. pylori significantly decreased BrdU uptake. IL-16 increased BrdU uptake and IGF-1R on AGS cells which had been decreased by H. pylori. Co-incubation with IL-16 increased the expression of IGF-1R mRNA in H. pylori infected cells. We conclude that the expression of IGF-1R in H. pylori infected gastric mucosa may indicate an early stage of carcinogenesis. The IL-16 secretion by H. pylori can be a trigger for the expression of IGF-1R, and it may also be a factor for gastric carcinogenesis.
Evaluation of basal micronucleus frequency and hexavalent chromium effects in fish erythrocytes

Hexavalent chromium (Cr [VI]) genotoxicity was studied using fish micronucleus analysis in peripheral blood erythrocytes from Pimephales promelas, the fathead minnow. Forty‐five‐ to 60‐d‐old fish were used to assess the spontaneous level of genotoxic damage. The genotoxic effect of Cr (VI) obtained from potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) in tests performed for 7‐, 14‐, and 21‐d exposure periods was estimated. Significant micronucleated erythrocyte (MNE) induction was detected in fish exposed for 7 d to 2.5 mg/L of Cr (VI), and induction decreased after 21 d of exposure. The results suggest a handling effect in fish manipulated compared to those not manipulated, thus demonstrating the importance of including parallel negative controls in experimental design. Basal levels of MNE are reported, providing laboratory values for future assay quality control. The importance of determining the period with the highest expression of the genotoxic effects in this assay system was also confirmed.
The interrogation game

While there is widespread debate about techniques for obtaining information from non-cooperative sources, there is little research concerning the efficacy of different methods. We introduce the ‘Interrogation Game’ as a simple model of the information a source will provide when faced with either (1) an interrogator using coercive techniques or (2) an interrogator offering rewards. The model demonstrates that coercive interrogation results in a very slight increase in accurate information from knowledgeable sources, but much more inaccurate information from ignorant sources. In short, when ignorant group members refuse to provide information, this increases the inequality of payoffs among group members under coercion while the same behavior – truthfully revealing ignorance – decreases the inequality of payoffs under reward. If ignorant detainees have concern for the payoffs of their other group members, they will admit their ignorance in reward, but not coercion. We test the model with a group-based experiment. As the model predicts, coercion leads subjects to provide more inaccurate information. Contrary to the model’s expectations, however, accurate information is almost equally likely in the coercion and reward treatments.
Reduction of Multiple Access Interference in CDMA by using Improved Minimum Mean Square Error Receiver

— Code division multiple access (CDMA) is a most promising technique for using channel efficiency. Multiple access interference (MAI) is a limiting factor for the capacity of CDMA system. Proposed design is based on the step by step practical implementation of matched filter (MF) detection and minimum mean squared error (MMSE) detection. Thus, providing flexibility of variations in all parameters of interest which are otherwise difficult to accommodate in a theoretical model. In this paper, matched filter, decorrelating filter and MMSE and other detection techniques have been proposed to alleviate the effects of the MAI.
INCIDE the brain of a bee: Visualising honeybee brain activity in real time by semantic segmentation

We present a software solution for processing recordings of honeybee brain activity in real time. In the honeybee brain, odors elicit spatio-temporal activity patterns that encode odor identity. These patterns of neural activity in units called glomeruli can be recorded by calcium imaging with fluorescent dyes, but so far glomerulus segmentation was only possible offline, making interactive experiments impossible. Our main contribution is an adaptive algorithm for image processing, along with a fast implementation for the graphics processing unit that enables semantic segmentation in real time. Semantics is based on the temporal dimension, relying on the fact that time series of pixels within a glomerulus are correlated. We evaluate our software on reference data, demonstrate applicability in a biological experiment, and provide free source code. This paves the way for interactive experiments where neural units can be selected online based on their past activity.