Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Primary results of ROSE/TRIO-12, a randomized placebo-controlled phase III trial evaluating the addition of ramucirumab to first-line docetaxel chemotherapy in metastatic breast cancer.

PURPOSE Currently, antiangiogenic strategies in metastatic breast cancer have demonstrated modest improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) but not improved quality or duration of survival, warranting evaluation of new agents in a placebo-controlled setting. Ramucirumab is a human immunoglobulin G1 antibody that binds vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 and blocks ligand-stimulated activation. The ROSE/TRIO-012 trial evaluated ramucirumab with docetaxel in unresectable, locally recurrent, or metastatic breast cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, multinational phase III trial, 1,144 patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -negative breast cancer who had not received cytotoxic chemotherapy in the advanced setting were randomly assigned at a two-to-one ratio to receive docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) plus ramucirumab 10 mg/kg or docetaxel 75 mg/m(2) plus placebo once every 3 weeks. Treatment continued until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or other withdrawal criteria. Patients were stratified by previous taxane therapy, visceral metastasis, hormone receptor status, and geographic region. An independent data monitoring committee oversaw the trial. The primary end point was investigator-assessed PFS. RESULTS Median PFS in patients treated with ramucirumab plus docetaxel was 9.5 months, compared with 8.2 months in patients who received placebo plus docetaxel (hazard ratio [HR], 0.88; P = .077). Median overall survival was 27.3 months in patients who received ramucirumab plus docetaxel, compared with 27.2 months in patients who received placebo plus docetaxel (HR, 1.01; P = .915). Toxicities seen at significantly higher rates in patients receiving ramucirumab included fatigue, hypertension, febrile neutropenia, palmar-plantar erythrodysesthesia syndrome, and stomatitis. CONCLUSION Addition of ramucirumab to docetaxel in HER2-negative advanced breast cancer did not meaningfully improve important clinical outcomes.
Model Architectures for Quotation Detection

Quotation detection is the task of locating spans of quoted speech in text. The state of the art treats this problem as a sequence labeling task and employs linear-chain conditional random ﬁelds. We question the ef-ﬁcacy of this choice: The Markov assumption in the model prohibits it from making joint decisions about the begin, end, and internal context of a quotation. We perform an extensive analysis with two new model architectures. We ﬁnd that (a), simple boundary classiﬁcation combined with a greedy prediction strategy is competitive with the state of the art; (b), a semi-Markov model signiﬁcantly outperforms all others, by relaxing the Markov assumption.
Environmental Impact Assessment of Tobacco Waste Disposal

A study was carried out in a strip of a river and in a nearby well in the rainy and dry seasons to assess the impact of tobacco waste disposal on the roadsides. There were significant seasonal variations in the concentration of nicotine being higher (p<0.05) in the dry season than in the wet season. Regardless of season however, nicotine was observed in highest amounts close to the dumpsite and none or just trace amounts were obtained upstream and in the well water. There were seasonal differences in the concentration of phosphate, sulphate and turbidity, being higher (p<0.05) in the dry season than in the rainy season. However, the concentration of sulphate followed an opposite seasonal trend to that of phosphate, being higher in the rainy season than in the dry season. In the rainy season, the concentrations varied significantly (p<0.05) across the sample points, being highest at point close to the dumpsite followed by the value upstream and the least was obtained downstream. The authorities must enforce the legislation of controlled tobacco waste disposal to avoid harmful environment effects.
Action Candidate Driven Clipped Double Q-learning for Discrete and Continuous Action Tasks

Double Q-learning is a popular reinforcement learning algorithm in Markov decision process (MDP) problems. Clipped double Q-learning, as an effective variant of double Q-learning, employs the clipped double estimator to approximate the maximum expected action value. Due to the underestimation bias of the clipped double estimator, the performance of clipped Double Q-learning may be degraded in some stochastic environments. In this article, in order to reduce the underestimation bias, we propose an action candidate-based clipped double estimator (AC-CDE) for Double Q-learning. Specifically, we first select a set of elite action candidates with high action values from one set of estimators. Then, among these candidates, we choose the highest valued action from the other set of estimators. Finally, we use the maximum value in the second set of estimators to clip the action value of the chosen action in the first set of estimators and the clipped value is used for approximating the maximum expected action value. Theoretically, the underestimation bias in our clipped Double Q-learning decays monotonically as the number of action candidates decreases. Moreover, the number of action candidates controls the tradeoff between the overestimation and underestimation biases. In addition, we also extend our clipped Double Q-learning to continuous action tasks via approximating the elite continuous action candidates. We empirically verify that our algorithm can more accurately estimate the maximum expected action value on some toy environments and yield good performance on several benchmark problems. Code is available at https://github.com/Jiang-HB/ac_CDQ.
Spatio-Temporal Modelling and Forecasting of Fine Particulate Matter

Studies indicate that even short-term exposure to high concentrations of fine atmospheric particulate matter (PM2.5) can lead to long-term health effects. Data are typically observed at fixed monitoring stations throughout a study region of interest at different time points. The study region may contain both rural and urban areas. Statistical spatio-temporal models are appropriate for modelling these data.In this talk I will summarise my recent work on modelling and short-term forecasting of PM2.5 levels. I will talk about a a random effects model developed in Sahu et al. (2004) and briefly mention a Bayesian Kriged-Kalman filtering model detailed in Sahu and Mardia (2005). In the first approach we introduce two random effects components, one for rural or background levels and the other as a supplement for urban areas. These are specified in the form of spatio-temporal processes. Weighting these processes through population density results in nonstationarity in space. In the talk I will analyze a dataset on observed PM2.5 in three states in the U.S. - Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.
Small Tree Stem Volume Equations for Three Plantation Species

Volume equations are given for small hoop pine (Araucaria cunninghammii Ait. ex D. Don), Caribbean pine (Pinus caribaea Mor. var. hondurensis Barr. and Golf) and slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm. var. elliottii) trees.
Analysis of Satisfaction at Gallipoli on ANZAC Day, 2007: Results of a Survey of Event Participants

This paper explores the critical success factors of special events, in this case the Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli, Turkey. This event has become increasingly popular in recent years with crowd numbers growing to around 20,000 people travelling to attend the 2005 Dawn Service at historic Anzac Cove on Anzac day. The aim of this research is to investigate the success factors associated with Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli and to assess how these influence visitor satisfaction. Data was collected from 331 attendees of Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli while they were in transit from Gallipoli to Istanbul on 25 April 2007. The analysis of this data was undertaken using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis as a basis to the development of a model of satisfaction using structural equation modelling. In this case constructs relating to amenities, transport, ceremonies and recommending behaviour were found to be significant predictors of event satisfaction. These issues during the event were found to be of equal importance for both genders and all age groups.
Maternal P2X7 receptor inhibition prevents autism-like phenotype in male mouse offspring through the NLRP3-IL-1 pathway

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The Disruption of Murine Tumor Neovasculature by Low-intensity Ultrasound – comparison between 1 MHz and 3 MHz sonication frequencies 1

, Abstract Objective— The goal was to determine whether the tumor vascular disrupting actions of low-intensity ultrasound were frequency dependent. Materials and Methods— The effect of the frequency (1 MHz at 2.2 W.cm − 2 or 3 MHz at 2.4 W.cm − 2 ) of low intensity ultrasound as a neovascular disrupting modality was investigated in 15 murine melanomas (K1735 22 ) insonated for three minutes following the intravenous injection of a microbubble contrast agent (Definity). In contrast-enhanced power Doppler observations of each tumor (before and after treatment) measurements were made of the size of the area of the tumor that was perfused with blood containing the ultrasound contrast agent (percentage area of flow [PAF]), and the volume of contrast agent flowing through the unit volume of the tumor (color weighted fractional area [CWFA]). During insonation of the tumor the temperature was measured with a fine wire thermocouple in an additional eight mice. Results— The antivascular action of low-intensity ultrasound was significantly enhanced (PAF by 64%; CWFA by 106%) when the tumor was treated with 3 MHz ultrasound rather than 1 MHz (ANOVA: PAF - P = 0.02; CWFA – P = 0.04). The average rate of tumor temperature increase was 2.6 ± 1.3 °C.min − 1 for 1 MHz and 5.0 ± 1.7 °C.min − 1 for 3 MHz; these increases were significantly different (P = 0.04). Conclusions— Insonation of the tumor at a higher frequency amplified the heating of the neoplasm and led to greater disruption of the tumor vasculature; 3 MHz ultrasound was more efficacious than 1 MHz for antivascular cancer therapy.
Onset of power law aftershock decay rates in southern California

Aftershocks rates seem to follow a power law decay, but the question of the aftershock frequency immediately after an earthquake remains open. We estimate an average aftershock decay rate within one day in southern California by stacking in time different sequences triggered by main shocks ranging in magnitude from 2.5 to 4.5. Then we estimate the time delay before the onset of the power law aftershock decay rate. For the last 20 years, we observe that this time delay suddenly increase after large earthquakes, and slowly decreases at a constant rate during periods of low seismicity. In a band‐limited power law model such variations can be explained by different patterns of stress distribution at different stages of the seismic cycle. We conclude that, on regional length scales, the brittle upper crust exhibits a collective behavior reflecting to some extent the proximity of a threshold of fracturing.
Critical evaluation of state evolution laws in rate and state friction: Fitting large velocity steps in simulated fault gouge with time‐, slip‐, and stress‐dependent constitutive laws

The variations in the response of different state evolution laws to large velocity increases can dramatically alter the style of earthquake nucleation in numerical simulations. But most velocity step friction experiments do not drive the sliding surface far enough above steady state to probe this relevant portion of the parameter space. We try to address this by fitting 1–3 orders of magnitude velocity step data on simulated gouge using the most widely used state evolution laws. We consider the Dieterich (Aging) and Ruina (Slip) formulations along with a stress‐dependent state evolution law recently proposed by Nagata et al. (2012). Our inversions confirm the results from smaller velocity step tests that the Aging law cannot explain the observed response and that the Slip law produces much better fits to the data. The stress‐dependent Nagata law can produce fits identical to, and sometimes slightly better than, those produced by the Slip law using a sufficiently large value of an additional free parameter c that controls the stress dependence of state evolution. A Monte Carlo search of the parameter space confirms analytical results that velocity step data that are well represented by the Slip law can only impose a lower bound on acceptable values of c and that this lower bound increases with the size of the velocity step being fit. We find that our 1–3 orders of magnitude velocity steps on synthetic gouge impose this lower bound on c to be 10–100, significantly larger than the value of 2 obtained by Nagata et al. (2012) based on experiments on initially bare rock surfaces with generally smaller departures from steady state.
Anchored PDE4 regulates chloride conductance in wild-type and (cid:1) F508-CFTR human airway epithelia

Cystic ﬁbrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the gene encoding the cystic ﬁbrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) that impair its expression and/or chloride channel function. Here, we provide evidence that type 4 cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterases (PDE4s) are critical regulators of the cAMP/PKA-dependent activation of CFTR in primary human bronchial epithelial cells. In non-CF cells, PDE4 inhibition increased CFTR activity under basal conditions ( (cid:1) I SC 7.1 (cid:2) A/cm 2 ) and after isoproterenol stimulation (increased (cid:1) I SC from 13.9 to 21.0 (cid:2) A/cm 2 ) and slowed the return of stimulated CFTR activity to basal levels by > 3-fold. In cells homozygous for (cid:1) F508-CFTR , the most common mutation found in CF, PDE4 inhibition alone produced minimal channel activation. How-ever, PDE4 as determinant of in of inhibitors to potentiate the correctors and potentiators. —
Incentive-elicited striatal activation in adolescent children of alcoholics.

AIMS Deficient recruitment of motivational circuitry by non-drug rewards has been postulated as a pre-morbid risk factor for substance dependence (SD). We tested whether parental alcoholism, which confers risk of SD, is correlated with altered recruitment of ventral striatum (VS) by non-drug rewards in adolescence. DESIGN During functional magnetic resonance imaging, adolescent children of alcoholics (COA; age 12-16 years) with no psychiatric disorders (including substance abuse) and similarly aged children with no risk factors responded to targets to win or avoid losing $0, $0.20, $1, $5 or a variable amount (ranging from $0.20 to $5). RESULTS In general, brain activation by either reward anticipation or outcome notification did not differ between COA and age/gender-matched controls. Cue-elicited reward anticipation activated portions of VS in both COA and controls. In nucleus accumbens (NAcc), signal change increased with anticipated reward magnitude (with intermediate recruitment by variable incentives) but not with loss magnitudes. Reward deliveries activated the NAcc and mesofrontal cortex in both COA and controls. Losses activated anterior insula bilaterally in both groups, with more extensive right anterior insula activation by losses in controls. NAcc signal change during anticipation of maximum rewards (relative to non-reward) correlated positively with both Brief Sensation-Seeking Scale scores and with self-reported excitement in response to maximum reward cues (relative to cues for non-reward). CONCLUSIONS Among adolescents with no psychiatric disorders, incentive-elicited VS activation may relate more to individual differences in sensation-seeking personality than to presence of parental alcoholism alone. Future research could focus on adolescents with behavior disorders or additional risk factors.
Incorporating Weather Impacts in Traffic Estimation and Prediction Systems

Dynamic Traffic Simulation-Assignment models are gaining wider acceptance and use to support transportation network planning and traffic operations decision-making. Significant improvements in traffic estimation capabilities and overall utilities of these systems for traffic management can be achieved by upgrading or adjusting them to account for the impacts of weather. This report presents the results of a study to develop weather-sensitive dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) models for Traffic Estimation and Prediction (TrEPS) application, which addresses both supply and demand aspects of the response to adverse weather, including user responses to various weather-specific interventions such as advisory information and control actions.
The salt marsh vegetation spread dynamics simulation and prediction based on conditions optimized CA

The biodiversity conservation and management of the salt marsh vegetation relies on processing their spatial information. Nowadays, more attentions are focused on their classification surveying and describing qualitatively dynamics based on RS images interpreted, rather than on simulating and predicting their dynamics quantitatively, which is of greater importance for managing and planning the salt marsh vegetation. In this paper, our notion is to make a dynamic model on large-scale and to provide a virtual laboratory in which researchers can run it according requirements. Firstly, the characteristic of the cellular automata was analyzed and a conclusion indicated that it was necessary for a CA model to be extended geographically under varying conditions of space-time circumstance in order to make results matched the facts accurately. Based on the conventional cellular automata model, the author introduced several new conditions to optimize it for simulating the vegetation objectively, such as elevation, growth speed, invading ability, variation and inheriting and so on. Hence the CA cells and remote sensing image pixels, cell neighbors and pixel neighbors, cell rules and nature of the plants were unified respectively. Taking JiuDuanSha as the test site, where holds mainly Phragmites australis (P.australis) community, Scirpus mariqueter (S.mariqueter) community and Spartina alterniflora (S.alterniflora) community. The paper explored the process of making simulation and predictions about these salt marsh vegetable changing with the conditions optimized CA (COCA) model, and examined the links among data, statistical models, and ecological predictions. This study exploited the potential of applying Conditioned Optimized CA model technique to solve this problem.
Oncologic Outcomes after Localized Prostate Cancer Treatment: Associations with Pretreatment Prostate Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings

From the Department of Radiology (AGW, JC, YL, RAL, JN, IN, ES, HH, HAV), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MG, SVC), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, Department of Surgery (SVC, PS), Urology Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, Department of Pathology (SWF), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, Department of Radiation Oncology (MJZ), Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, New York, Department of Urology (SVC), Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg, Institute of Clinical Sciences, Gothenburg, Sweden
MINERALOGY OF BOHEMIAN GREEN EARTH PIGMENT AND ITS MICROANALYTICAL EVIDENCE IN HISTORICAL PAINTINGS

While the most famous historical green earth deposits in Italy and Cyprus were exceptionally rich in celadonite, the deposits near Kadaň, Czech Republic, consisted of thin Fe-rich celadonite impregnations accompanied by interstratified celadonite/smectite. In superimposed tuffs, smectites become prevalent and their colour changes from forest to olive green. Powder X-ray microdiffraction and infrared microspectroscopy permit us to distinguish between green earth minerals in microsamples taken from works of art. The Ti contents and the Fe/Mg ratios help to indicate the presence of Bohemian green earth from Kadaň. We found this material in local 18th-century works of art and also in paintings by Anton Kern (1709–47).
The impact of the African elephant on marula trees in the Kruger National Park

Previous vegetation studies in the Kruger National Park have shown a dramatic decline in the density of large trees in four major vegetation units of the Park. An assessment of the damage status of Sclerocarya birrea (marula), identified as one of the most important tree species in the Kruger National Park, was conducted across three major landscapes of the Park. Previous studies indicated that marula were most utilized by elephants, resulting in weak regeneration and recruitment, with consequent changes to the population structure of the species. Furthermore, results indicated that the marula populations in two major landscapes of the Kruger National Park were threatened. The objective of this study was to generate a data set, which can be used in conjunction with future monitoring, to quantify the elephant damage to the marula population in the Kruger National Park. Results indicated that almost half the surveyed population suffered from damage due to elephant activity, predominantly in the form of bark stripping and felling. Felling resulted in a large proportion of marula trees being reduced to a height of less than five metres. Main stem breakage by elephant was the main cause of the 7% mortality observed in the marula population.
GLOBAL WARMING AND FAT TAILED- UNCERTAINTY: RETHINKING THE TIMING AND INTENSITY OF CLIMATE POLICY

The possibility of low-probability extreme natural events has reignited the debate over the optimal intensity and timing of climate policy. In this paper, we contribute to the literature by assessing the implications of low-probability extreme events on environmental policy in a continuous-time real options model with “tail risk”. In a nutshell, our results indicate the importance of tail risk and call for foresighted pre-emptive climate policies.