Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diagnosis of prostate cancer in Serbia.

PURPOSE A rising incidence of prostate cancer is noticed in USA and Europe, which might be due to better diagnostic procedures and screening programs started in some countries. We still lack epidemiological studies confirming the same trend in our country, but the rising number of patients in whom radical prostatectomy is performed is an indirect proof of bigger recruitment of patients with prostate cancer. The purpose of this study was to establish the most appropriate diagnostic protocol for detection of prostate cancer in our unscreened population. MATERIALS AND METHODS Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) -guided biopsies of the prostate were performed in 229 patients. Biplanar transrectal probe with needle channel was used. Six to 10 tissue cores were obtained from each patient. RESULTS The mean patients' age was 67.12 years (range 42-88). All patients had serum prostatic specific antigen (PSA) estimation before biopsy, which ranged from 0.41 to 1550 ng/ml (mean 50.83), with 146 (63.8%) patients having PSA level greater than 10 ng/ml. Free (F) PSA was performed in 120 (52.4%) patients; the range of F to total (T) PSA ratio was 0.02 to 0.74 (mean > 0.13). Digital rectal examination (DRE) was positive in 65% of the patients. The mean prostate volume was 40.5 ml (range 11-140). Cancer was diagnosed in 99 (43.2%) patients, prostate cancer in situ (PIN) alone was diagnosed in 37 (16.2%), chronic prostatitis in 73 (31.9%), while benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) was found in 20 (8.7%) patients. CONCLUSION The cancer detection rate in our patients was high. In a lot of patients the biopsy was needed only for histological proof, not as a staging tool, the intention of which is the selection of patients with localized prostate cancer amenable to curative treatment. There is still reluctance to use PSA as a sole indication for biopsy, positive DRE still being mandatory. With such a policy we are missing a lot of curable prostate cancer cases, thus increasing the cost of treatment. A national policy including screening should be considered.
OVERLOAD RETARDATION IN A STRUCTURAL STEEL

The mechanisms causing crack growth retardation after an overload were examined for BS4360 50B steel. It was found that plasticity-induced crack closure is the main cause of retardation when the pre-overload growth rate is in the mid-regime of the growth rate versus stress intensity range plot. When the pre-overload growth rate is near threshold it is argued that retardation at the surface of the specimen is primarily due to strain hardening and to the build-up of a favourable residual stress distribution in the material ahead of the crack tip. Supporting evidence for this argument is provided by a preliminary test on 2014A-T4 aluminium alloy. Plasticity-induced crack closure may be a further cause of retardation in the bulk, plane strain regions of the specimens made from BS4360 50B steel and 2014A-T4 aluminium alloy, when the pre-overload growth rate is near threshold.
Multi-band mixed-signal hysteresis current control for EMI reduction in switch-mode power supplies

Switched mode power supply (SMPS) is used in majority of portable devices and plays the central role for energy-efficient power management. Recent developments in digital VLSI allow high performance control implementation with ultrafast recovery and high power density. However, electromagnetic interference (EMI) is a major concern in SMPS, which interferes with nearby devices and input power lines. This paper proposes a multi-band mixed-signal hysteresis current control (MBMSHCC) technique in a DC-DC converter. This considers the fast-changing current-loop in the analog domain, whereas a digital voltage controller Gc(z) is used to achieve fast recovery through real-time configuration. This achieves robust stability and parameter insensitive current ripple by sampling the output voltage at the rising edge of the high side gate signal. Closed-loop stability is shown to be insensitive to the input voltage, but it is dependent on the capacitor ESR. Thus a stable behaviour is achieved over a wide input voltage range, even under periodic modulation of the hysteresis band. This periodic multi-band operation significantly reduces the spectral peaks with insignificant impact on the ripple parameters and the transient performance. A synchronous buck converter prototype is made, and the proposed scheme is implemented using an FPGA device.
To Join or Not to Join?: Thinking Twice about Joins before Feature Selection

Closer integration of machine learning (ML) with data processing is a booming area in both the data management industry and academia. Almost all ML toolkits assume that the input is a single table, but many datasets are not stored as single tables due to normalization. Thus, analysts often perform key-foreign key joins to obtain features from all base tables and apply a feature selection method, either explicitly or implicitly, with the aim of improving accuracy. In this work, we show that the features brought in by such joins can often be ignored without affecting ML accuracy significantly, i.e., we can "avoid joins safely. " We identify the core technical issue that could cause accuracy to decrease in some cases and analyze this issue theoretically. Using simulations, we validate our analysis and measure the effects of various properties of normalized data on accuracy. We apply our analysis to design easy-to-understand decision rules to predict when it is safe to avoid joins in order to help analysts exploit this runtime-accuracy trade-off. Experiments with multiple real normalized datasets show that our rules are able to accurately predict when joins can be avoided safely, and in some cases, this led to significant reductions in the runtime of some popular feature selection methods.
Research on the GARCH Model Optimized by the Ant Colony Algorithm of Forecast Exchange Rate

In 2005, after the RMB exchange rate reform, the RMB-USD exchange rate has been caused for concern. This article is based on the use of GARCH models to establish the prediction model of RMB-USD exchange rate and a new stimulated evolutionary optimization algorithm - ant colony algorithm applied to the model, hoping to provide a RMB-USD exchange rate for the model to predict accurately. We analyze the prediction results of GARCH model and MMAS-GARCH model, and eventually proved the MMAS-GARCH model is better than the GARCH model in the forecast of the RMB-USD exchange rate.
Facial expressions modeling for interactive virtual environments

Nowadays, in Human-Machine Interaction systems, the communication between user and the machine (robot, computer, etc.) may be performed using a graphical representation of human often called avatar. Such graphical form needs a realistic human motion synthesis mechanisms which are becoming more and more popular in the virtual environments. Therefore the paper is focussed on the problem of facial motion modeling for interactive virtual humans using events-based interaction rules. First, the most frequent emotional states and two types of personalities have been selected. For both personalities the transitions of the emotional states have been performed based on the motion probabilities. Then, for animation process a set of the facial expression subtypes has been introduced. In such case it is possible to get a quite natural reactions of the avatar for various emotional states. Also, the transition probabilities have been defined for sub-states. Having obtained transition probabilities, a temporal duration of emotional state have been calculated. Finally, the architecture of the system for interaction between user and avatar based on facial animation modeling has been proposed.
A nystagmus strategy to linearize the vestibulo-ocular reflex

Two important aspects of the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) are addressed. First, the linear range of ocular responses is much more extensive than expected from the characteristics of central pathways (CNS), and this is shown to result directly from early convergence of fast and slow premotor signals in the central processes, associated with significant and intermittent changes in functional connectivity (effective structural modulation). Second, the presence of such structural modulation implies that responses must be analyzed using transient analysis techniques, rather than previous steady state approaches, in order to properly evaluate reflex dynamics. Simulation results with a recent model of the VOR are used to illustrate the arguments. Relying on known interconnections between saccadic burst circuits in the brainstem, and the ocular premotor areas of the vestibular nuclei, a viable strategy for the timing of nystagmus events is proposed. The strategy easily reproduces the characteristic changes in vestibular nystagmus with the amplitude of head velocities, and with the frequency of passive head oscillation. <<ETX>>
Dating concerns among women with breast cancer or with genetic breast cancer susceptibility: a review and meta-synthesis

ABSTRACT Objective. While dating is critical in the formation of a lifelong romantic relationship, women with breast cancer or a genetic susceptibility to developing this disease report a myriad of dating concerns. This review synthesises and discusses the perceived dating barriers and concerns in this population. Method. A systematic search of CINAHL, Embase, MEDLINE, PsycINFO and PubMed was undertaken and yielded 19 published qualitative studies. Papers were subjected to critical appraisal to ensure the integrity of findings. Results. Six areas of concern were identified: Feeling unattractive due to treatment side effects; perceiving limited dating partners available; determining how, when and what to disclose; fear of cancer recurrence and reduced life expectancy; apprehension about entering into a new sexual relationship; and dating urgency and not wanting to ‘waste time’ on partners without long-term potential. Conclusions. This paper provides a valuable synthesis of the complex issues, concerns and decisions that single women face at different stages of relationship formation following their breast cancer experience. Future research is warranted to explore the perceptions, appraisals and beliefs underlying these concerns, to help guide the future design and development of appropriate informational and supportive care offered to breast cancer patients.
Memory Effects in Mixtures of Liquid Crystals and Anisotropic Nanoparticles

For years there is a substantial interest on impact of disorder on condensed matter structural properties (Imry & Ma, 1975) (Bellini, Buscaglia, & Chiccoli, 2000) (Cleaver, Kralj, Sluckin, & Allen, 1996). Pioneering studies have been carried out in magnetic materials (Imry & Ma, 1975). In such system it has been shown that even relatively weak random perturbations could give rise to substantial degree of disorder. The main reason behind this extreme susceptibility is the existence of the Goldstone mode in the continuum field describing the orienational ordering of the system. This fluctuation mode appears unavoidably due to continuous symmetry breaking nature of the phase transition via which a lower symmetry magnetic phase was reached. For example, the Imry Ma theorem (Imry & Ma, 1975), one of the pillars of the statistical mechanics of disorder, claims, that even arbitrary weak random field type disorder could destroy long range ordering of the unperturbed phase and replace it with a short range order (SRO). Note that this theorem is still disputable because some studies claim that instead of SRO a quasi long order could be established (Cleaver, Kralj, Sluckin, & Allen, 1996). During last decades several studies on disorder have been carried out in different liquid crystal phases (LC) (Oxford University, 1996), which are typical soft matter representatives. These phases owe their softness to continuous symmetry breaking phase transitions via which these phases are reached on lowering the symmetry. In these systems disorder has been typically introduced either by confining soft materials to various porous matrices (e.g., aerogels (Bellini, Clark, & Muzny, 1992), Russian glasses (Aliev & Breganov, 1989), Vycor glass (Jin & Finotello, 2001), Control Pore Glasses (Kralj, et al., 2007) or by mixing them with different particles (Bellini, Radzihovsky, Toner, & Clark, 2001) (Hourri, Bose, & Thoen, 2001) of nm (nanoparticles) or micrometer (colloids) dimensions. It has been shown that the impact of disorder could be dominant in some measured quantities. In particular the validity of Imry-Ma theorem in LC-aerosil mixtures was proven (Bellini, Buscaglia, & Chiccoli, 2000). In our contribution we show that binary mixtures of LC and rod-like nanoparticles (NPs) could also exhibit random field-type behavior if concentration p of NPs is in adequate regime. Consequently, such systems could be potentially exploited as memory devices. The plan of the contribution is as follows. In Sec. II we present the semi-microscopic model used
Temporal restriction of MyoD induction and autocatalysis during Xenopus mesoderm formation.

In Xenopus, the activation of the myogenic determination factors MyoD and Myf-5 in the muscle-forming region of the embryo occurs in response to mesoderm-inducing factors (MIFs). Different members of the FGF, TGF-beta, and Wnt protein families have been implicated in this process, but how MIFs induce the myogenic regulators is not known. For MyoD, the induction process may serve to locally stabilize a transient burst of ubiquitous transcription at the midblastula transition, possibly by triggering MyoD's autocatalytic loop. Here we have sought to distinguish separate activating functions during MyoD induction by analyzing when MyoD responds to different MIF signaling or to MyoD autoactivation. We show that MyoD induction depends on the developmental age of the induced cells, rather than on the type or time point of inducer application. At the permissive time, de novo MyoD induction by Activin requires less than 90 min, arguing for an immediate response, rather than a series of inductive events. MyoD autoactivation is direct, but subject to the same temporal restriction as MyoD induction by MIF signaling. Further evidence implicating MyoD autocatalysis as an essential component of the induction process comes from the observation that both autocatalysis and induction of MyoD are selectively repressed by a dominant-negative MyoD mutant. In summary, our observations let us conclude that MyoD's expression domain in the embryo results from an interplay of timed changes in cellular competence, pleiotropic signaling pathways, and autocatalysis.
Nonlinear Vibration of Wrinkled Membranes

This paper investigates the vibration behaviour of large, ultra-lightweight membrane structures. A highfidelity finite element simulation of a square membrane is set up, which uses thin-shell elements and a very careful simulation of the static wrinkling process. It produces natural modes and frequencies that are in excellent agreement withexperimental measurements in air. This simulation is used as a benchmark for a lowerfidelity model, based on a linear-elastic material model of the membrane, and it is shown that the less accurate model is able to accurately predict the vibration of a moderately wrinkled membrane but not of a heavily wrinkled membrane. Nonlinear identification tests on a highly wrinkled membrane are also presented, showing that the existence of stiffness nonlinearities results in energy scattering and hence in an apparent increase of the damping of the structure when the amplitude of the excitation is increased.
Using the power of associations: BrainDump - a revised nature inspired visual interface for sensemaking

Creative work -- especially in business -- is often connected to highly complex data. While current software tools support manifold areas in working with complex data, they are very limited to support creative work. Little research has been done on what kinds of representations are supporting the externalization of mental efforts while making sense of new information. It is especially very challenging to provide appropriate representations for abstract associations. In this paper a new interactive visualization in form of a revised prototype based on a user test of a previous version [2], [3] is proposed. Knowledge workers are enabled to use a highly flexible visual map to represent and refine their current understanding of a task. Derived from experiments with natural physical substances a metaphor based on fluids, cell structure and soap bubbles is used. This kind of visualization allows the user to pin down associations and to clarify anticipations about relations visually.
Extracting turn-on time for analyzing transient scattered responses of wire structures

This paper presents a new method for extracting turn-on times from transient backscattered responses of wire structures. A turn-on time is the boundary of early times and late times. Due to the impulse-like pulses at early times, it is difficult to determine a turn-on time from the entire time domain responses. Incident waves with phi polarization and theta polarization yield significant difference in moving direction of induced charges. This result produces discriminable transient backscattered responses. Therefore, the impulse-like pulses can be chopped off and the turn-on time is extracted. In addition, the separated late-time damped exponentials are analyzed in terms of natural frequencies. Results show that the new method is applicable for objects with thin wire structures.
Aerospace actuator design: A comparative analysis of Permanent Magnet and Induction Motor configurations

In this paper, a comparative design of actuators for aerospace applications based on Induction Motor (IM) and Permanent Magnet Motor (PMM) technologies is undertaken, by means of a combined electromagnetic and thermal evaluation. Initially, 3D time-stepping finite element analysis is employed for the determination of the actuators basic dimensional and operating characteristics. As the actuator thermal constraints constitute a key-feature of the respective systems, the proposed configurations are compared on the basis of equal thermal evacuation. The two configurations considered are in a next step optimized through the application of specific minimization of their performance-technical related costs. Both resulting IM and PMM optimal configurations present complementary advantages for this class of applications.
DNA Hypermethylation of ESR1 and PGR in Breast Cancer: Pathologic and Epidemiologic Associations

Improved understanding of the etiology of estrogen receptor-α (ERα)–negative and progesterone receptor (PR)–negative breast cancers may permit improved risk prediction. In vitro studies implicate DNA hypermethylation of the ERα and PR promoters in the pathogenesis of ERα-negative and PR-negative tumors, but results are not definitive. We evaluated 200 invasive breast cancers selected from a population-based case-control study. DNA extracted from fixed tumor tissue cores was tested using MethyLight to assess DNA methylation at four CpG islands: ESR1 promoters A and B; PGR promoters A and B; and a CpG shore, ESR1 promoter C. DNA methylation results were compared with levels of ERα and PR, tumor characteristics, and breast cancer risk factors. We observed mild to moderate DNA methylation levels in most tumors for ESR1 promoters A and B and PGR promoter B, and a few tumors showed mild methylation in PGR promoter A. In contrast, ESR1 promoter C showed a wide range of methylation and was weakly correlated with lower expression levels of ERα (β = −0.26; P < 0.0001) and PR (β = −0.25; P < 0.0001). The percentage of tumors with methylated PGR promoters A and B was significantly higher for tumors with low ERα (A, Fisher's test P = 0.0001; B, P = 0.033) and PR levels (A, P = 0.0006; B, P = 0.001). Our data suggest that the relationships between DNA methylation of ESR1 and PGR promoters and protein expression are weak and unlikely to represent a predominant mechanism of receptor silencing. In contrast to CpG islands, ESR1 promoter C showed a wider range of methylation levels and inverse associations with ERα and PR expression. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2009;18(11):3036–43)
A CPG-based online trajectory planning method for industrial manipulators

Trajectory planning plays an important role in task operations of industrial robots. A novel online method for generating rhythmic Point-to-Point (PTP) trajectories is presented in this paper to meet the requirements of smoothness and online trajectory transition for repetitive PTP tasks of industrial manipulators. This method is inspired by the biological concept of Central Pattern Generator (CPG), which underlies most rhythmic activities in animal bodies. A modified CPG model with simple structure is designed based on traditional harmonic trajectory for producing the desired joint angles of robots. The pick-and-place task, as a representative example of PTP operations, is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the novel method. The simulation results show that the method is capable of generating smooth trajectory in Cartesian space without any other additional restrictive conditions while only requires solving the inverse kinematics of the initial and final points. Furthermore, it enables stable online trajectory transition with jerk constraints by simply modulating the CPG parameters, which reduces the operation time and is beneficial to increasing the productive efficiency.
Materials in particulate form for tissue engineering. 1. Basic concepts

For biomedical applications, materials small in size are growing in importance. In an era where ‘nano’ is the new trend, micro‐ and nano‐materials are in the forefront of developments. Materials in the particulate form aim to designate systems with a reduced size, such as micro‐ and nanoparticles. These systems can be produced starting from a diversity of materials, of which polymers are the most used. Similarly, a multitude of methods are used to produce particulate systems, and both materials and methods are critically reviewed here. Among the varied applications that materials in the particulate form can have, drug delivery systems are probably the most prominent, as these have been in the forefront of interest for biomedical applications. The basic concepts pertaining to drug delivery are summarized, and the role of polymers as drug delivery systems conclude this review. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Spike Timing Amplifies the Effect of Electric Fields on Neurons: Implications for Endogenous Field Effects

Despite compelling phenomenological evidence that small electric fields (<5 mV/mm) can affect brain function, a quantitative and experimentally verified theory is currently lacking. Here we demonstrate a novel mechanism by which the nonlinear properties of single neurons “amplify” the effect of small electric fields: when concurrent to suprathreshold synaptic input, small electric fields can have significant effects on spike timing. For low-frequency fields, our theory predicts a linear dependency of spike timing changes on field strength. For high-frequency fields (relative to the synaptic input), the theory predicts coherent firing, with mean firing phase and coherence each increasing monotonically with field strength. Importantly, in both cases, the effects of fields on spike timing are amplified with decreasing synaptic input slope and increased cell susceptibility (millivolt membrane polarization per field amplitude). We confirmed these predictions experimentally using CA1 hippocampal neurons in vitro exposed to static (direct current) and oscillating (alternating current) uniform electric fields. In addition, we develop a robust method to quantify cell susceptibility using spike timing. Our results provide a precise mechanism for a functional role of endogenous field oscillations (e.g., gamma) in brain function and introduce a framework for considering the effects of environmental fields and design of low-intensity therapeutic neurostimulation technologies.