Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Etiology of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: Another Look at the Relationship Between B1 cells and CLL

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a heterogeneous disease of unknown etiological origin. CLL is the only B cell malignancy where a characteristic chromosomal translocation is not involved in cancer initiation. Therefore, the cause of tumorigenesis in CLL patients and the type of cell that is transformed are two questions that have intrigued researchers for decades. However, evidence suggests the CLL cell may be derived from B-1 cells. These B-1 cells, thought to develop during neonatal maturation as a link between innate and adaptive immunity, share multiple phenotypic and genetic patterns with CLL cases. These include signaling molecules sensitivity and expression patterns, B-cell receptor (BCR) specificity, and a unique immune-modulatory phenotype. Through understanding the biological relevance of B-1 cells in immune development and regulation, we may further understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the complexity of CLL. With this understanding, we can provide more optimal care to patients based on their unique diagnosis and pathologic disease course. In this review, based on our current understanding of CLL cells and B1 cells we hypothesize that CLL cells are originated from B1 cells. Following are some of our rationale in deriving this hypothesis.
The adaptive multi-rate speech coder

In this paper, we describe the adaptive multi-rate (AMR) speech coder currently under standardization for GSM systems as part of the AMR speech service. The coder is a multi-rate ACELP coder with 8 modes operating at bit-rates from 12.2 kbit/s down to 4.75 kbit/s. The coder modes are integrated in a common structure where the bit-rate scalability is realized mainly by altering the quantization schemes for the different parameters. The coder provides seamless switching on 20 ms frame boundaries. The quality when used on GSM channels is significantly higher than for existing services.
Option Pricing with Radial Basis Functions: a Tutorial

*Alonso Peña has a PhD degree from the University of Cambridge on finite element analysis and the Certificate in Quantitative Finance (CQF) awarded by 7 city Financial Education plc, London. He is a quantitative analyst at UBM (London Branch). The views presented in this article do not reflect those of Unicredit Banca Mobiliare SpA (UBM). Email: Alonso.Pena@ubm.unicredit. it, alonso.pena@mac.com During the 1990’s, Kansa demonstrated how RBF can be combined with the classic method of collocation2 for the numerical solution of a variety of elliptic, parabolic and hyperbolic PDEs. Since then, there have been a myriad of applications on RBF in the scientific community (both for interpolation and numerical solution to PDEs) ranging from artificial neural networks to spacecraft design, from air pollution modeling to aerial photography, from medical imaging to hydrodynamics. Why are RBF so popular? They have a number of distinct advantages: (1) they are natively high-dimensional, making them easy to construct in any number of dimensions; (2) they are very accurate, with convergence rates increasing with the dimensionality of the problem; (3) they are mesh-free, requiring only a an arbitrary set of nodes rather than a full mesh, like in FDM or FEM, to compute an Abstract: In this tutorial we describe the method of radial basis functions (RBF) and how it can be used for the numerical solution of partial differential equations in finance. RBF are conceptually similar to finite difference and finite element methods. However, unlike these, they use globally-defined splines as basis for their approximation. RBF are increasingly popular in the scientific community due to their high accuracy, mesh-free characteristics and ease of implementation. Surprisingly, they are almost unknown in finance. In this contribution we present a hands-on introduction to RBF. Our objectives are: (1) to overview the RBF literature, (2) to present a step-by-step guide for solving the Black-Scholes equation using RBF, and (3) to illustrate the methodology by solving three simple option-pricing problems, including a European, an American and a Barrier option.
Jail incarceration, homelessness, and mental health: a national study.

OBJECTIVE This study sought to investigate the rates and correlates of homelessness, especially mental illness, among adult jail inmates. METHODS Data from a national survey of jail inmates (N=6,953) were used to compare the proportion of jail inmates who had been homeless in the previous year with the proportion of persons in the general population who had been homeless in the previous year, after standardization to the age, race and ethnicity, and gender distribution of the jail sample. Logistic regression was then used to examine the extent to which homelessness among jail inmates was associated with factors such as symptoms or treatment of mental illness, previous criminal justice involvement, specific recent crimes, and demographic characteristics. RESULTS Inmates who had been homeless (that is, those who reported an episode of homelessness anytime in the year before incarceration) made up 15.3% of the U.S. jail population, or 7.5 to 11.3 times the standardized estimate of 1.36% to 2.03% in the general U.S. adult population. In comparison with other inmates, those who had been homeless were more likely to be currently incarcerated for a property crime, but they were also more likely to have past criminal justice system involvement for both nonviolent and violent offenses, to have mental health and substance abuse problems, to be less educated, and to be unemployed. CONCLUSIONS Recent homelessness was 7.5 to 11.3 times more common among jail inmates than in the general population. Homelessness and incarceration appear to increase the risk of each other, and these factors seem to be mediated by mental illness and substance abuse, as well as by disadvantageous sociodemographic characteristics.
A Segment and Fusion-Based Stereo Approach

Most algorithms in stereo vision work on rectified images and therefore find the point correspondences row by row. So especially for standard block-matching algorithms periodic patterns are a problem in determining corresponding features reliably.This contribution describes a segment-based approach that allows the detection and removal of single outliers in an arbitrary dense disparity map and so improves the data quality. The first step is a matching of vertical edge segments in the images in a coarse to fine strategy.Then the segment information is taken into account. Even more, when using segments there is only need to calculate feature correspondences for a fraction of the image rows, which considerably reduces computation time. By fusing this information with the disparity map of the standard block matching algorithm a significant improvement of the resulting disparity map in the presence of periodic patterns can be reached.
A design of 5.2 GHz CMOS up-conversion mixer with IF input active balun

This paper presents a high linearity and low power up-conversion mixer at 5.2 GHz for wireless applications. The design based on Gilbert-cell active double-balanced mixer with integrated on-chip input active balun. Core mixer employs additional parallel capacitors and the degeneration inductors to obtain high linearity. A designed active balun which converts single-ended input to differential signals for 100 MHz intermediate frequency (IF) is proposed. The up-conversion mixer converts an input of 100 MHz IF signal to an output of 5.2 GHz radio frequency (RF) signal with a local oscillator (LO) frequency of 5.1 GHz. The simulation results indicated that the proposed method shows the conversion gain of 6-dB, the input third order intercept point (IIP3) of 8-Bm, and 2.48-mW power consumption at 1.8-V power supply.
Compensatory Feto-Placental Upregulation of the Nitric Oxide System during Fetal Growth Restriction

Background Fetal Growth Restriction is often associated with a feto-placental vascular dysfunction conceivably involving endothelial cells. Our study aimed to verify this pathogenic role for feto-placental endothelial cells and, coincidentally, demonstrate any abnormality in the nitric oxide system. Methods Prenatal assessment of feto-placental vascular function was combined with measurement of nitric oxide (in the form of S-nitrosohemoglobin) and its nitrite byproduct, and of the endogenous nitric oxide synthase inhibitor asymmetric dimethylarginine. Umbilical vein endothelial cells were also harvested to determine their gene profile. The study comprised term pregnancies with normal (n = 40) or small-for-gestational-age (n = 20) newborns, small-for-gestational-age preterm pregnancies (n = 15), and bi-chorial, bi-amniotic twin pregnancies with discordant fetal growth (n = 12). Results Umbilical blood nitrite (p<0.001) and S-nitrosohemoglobin (p = 0.02) rose with fetal growth restriction while asymmetric dimethylarginine decreased (p = 0.003). Nitrite rise coincided with an abnormal Doppler profile from umbilical arteries. Fetal growth restriction umbilical vein endothelial cells produced more nitrite and also exhibited reciprocal changes in vasodilator (upwards) and vasoconstrictor (downwards) transcripts. Elevation in blood nitrite and S-nitrosohemoglobin persisted postnatally in the fetal growth restriction offspring. Conclusion Fetal growth restriction is typified by increased nitric oxide production during pregnancy and after birth. This response is viewed as an adaptative event to sustain placental blood flow. However, its occurrence may modify the endothelial phenotype and may ultimately represent an element of risk for cardiovascular disease in adult life.
Goniothalamus Species: A Source of Drugs for the Treatment of Cancers and Bacterial Infections?

Irrespective of the presence of cytotoxic acetogenins and styryl-lactones in the genus Goniothalamus, only 22 species in the genus Goniothalamus, out of 160 species (13.7%) have so far been investigated. In an effort to promote further research on the genus Goniothalamus which could represent a source of drugs for the treatment of cancers and bacterial infections, this work offers a broad analysis of current knowledge on Goniothalamus species. Therefore, it includes (i) taxonomy (ii) botanical description (iii) traditional medicinal uses and (iv) phytochemical and pharmacological studies. We discuss the molecular mechanisms of actions of acetogenins and styryl-lactones, with some emphasis on the possible involvement of protein kinase, Bax and TRAIL receptors in the cytotoxic effects of styryl-lactones. We also report (v) the growth inhibition of several nosocomial bacteria by Goniothalamus. scortechinii. The crude methanol extract of G. scortechinii showed a good and broad spectrum of antibacterial activity against both Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria.
Interconnect Cost Control during High-Level Synthesis

Architectural synthesis tools map algorithms to architectures under real time constraints and quickly provide estimations of area and performance. However, these tools do not take the VLSI circuit interconnection cost into account whereas this cost becomes predominant with the technology decrease and the application complexity increase. A new methodology that enables the interconnection cost to be controlled all along the architectural synthesis process is presented in this paper. First experimental results are presented.
Sustainable benchmarking of supply chains: the case of the food industry

Long-term organisational viability and competitiveness should not be evaluated solely in terms of financial measures. Investors, policy makers and other stakeholders increasingly seek to evaluate performance with respect to sustainability – the environmental, social and economic performance of an organisation. But measuring and improving the sustainability performance of supply chains is challenging. Using one of the world's most critical supply chains, the food supply chain, we introduce and apply a multi-stage procedure to help analytically evaluate supply chains’ sustainability performance. The method involves development of sustainability indicators, data collection, data transformation using rescaling and determining of importance ratings using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The proposed methodology demonstrates how quantitative statistical data can be combined with expert opinion to construct an overall index of sustainability. Stakeholders can use the index to evaluate and guide sustainability performance of supply chains. Strengths and opportunities, as well as limitations of the methodology are discussed, and sensitivity analysis is performed.
A Systemc Test Environment For Spin Network

Evaluate system on-chip architectures necessitates test boards and applications. For the comparison between the packet-switched micro-network SPIN and the traditional Pi-Bus we have elaborated SystemC components and multi-threads programs. Instead of using a traffic generator analyzer, component flooding the network with packets, we use a true application running on processor MIPS R3000. By that way we have a various traffic much more realistic. This article describes the way to manage the SystemC simulation and gives details about the structure of an application saturating the Pi-Bus. The results show the importance of an increasing bandwith when we use a parallel application, and also reveal the difficulty we can have to saturate the SPIN network with processors
PRESERVAÇÃO DE HABILIDADES MOTORAS ATRAVÉS DE ESTIMULAÇÃO FUNCIONAL EM IDOSOS INSTITUCIONALIZADOS COM ALZHEIMER Functional motor stimulation in institutionalized elderly with Alzheimer’s disease

O objetivo do presente estudo foi analisar o efeito de um programa de estimulacao motora funcional em idosos institucionalizados com provavel doenca de Alzheimer de leve a moderada, atraves do teste de batidas do dedo (FTT). 60 idosos compuseram tres grupos: Envelhecimento Normal (SA) (N = 13); Com Alzheimer Sem Intervencao (CASI) (n = 18); e, Com Alzheimer Com Intervencao (CACI) (n = 29). O FTT foi feito para dedo indicador da mao preferida, num unico ensaio de 10 segundos. O programa teve uma duracao de 12 sessoes, 2 por semana. Do pre para o pos-teste, o CASI baixou sua media, mas o CACI melhorou-a. O CACI preservou sua competencia motora nesta tarefa, distanciando-se da regressao do CASI. O numero de batimentos nos idosos com Alzheimer foi menor do que em outros estudos, o que torna os resultados da intervencao ainda mais relevantes. ABSTRACT The purpose of this study was to verify the effect of a program of functional motor stimulation in institutionalized elderly, with probable mild to moderate Alzheimer disease, through the Finger Tapping Test (FTT). Sixty elderly composed three groups: Normal Aging (NA) (N = 13); With Alzheimer but Without Intervention (WANI) (n = 18); and, With Alzheimer With Intervention (WAWI) (n = 29). FTT was made with index finger of the preferred hand, in a 10 seconds single trial. The program had a duration of 12 sessions, 2 per week. FTT revealed that WAWI preserved their motor competence in this task, distancing themselves from the regression observed in WANI. The number of beats in the elderly with Alzheimer was lower than in other studies, revealing that there are somehow in a more advanced stage of the disease, and by this way, reinforcing the effects of the intervention on WAWI subjects.
What Is News? Galtung and Ruge revisited

This study aims to shed light on the news selection process by examining the news values currently operational in British newspapers. The study takes as its starting point Galtung and Ruge's widely cited taxonomy of news values established in their 1965 study and puts these criteria to the test in an empirical analysis of news published in three national daily UK newspapers. A review of Galtung and Ruge's original study as well as a wider review of related literature is provided. The findings of the news content analysis are used to evaluate critically Galtung and Ruge's original criteria and to propose a contemporary set of news values.
ANTIBODY RESPONSE OF C3H ~ (CKB × CWB)F1 TETRAPARENTAL MICE TO POLY-L(TYR,GLU)-POLY-D, L-ALA--POLY-L-LYS IMMUNIZATION*

A number of antigen-specific genetic controls of the immune response, found in several species including mouse, rat, guinea pig, and man, are today under intensive study. Most of the genetic controls of the immune response which have been detected are linked to the major histocompatibility complex of the species. The effect of these immune response, Ir, genes has been detected after immunization with (a) synthetic polypeptide antigens (b) alloand isoantigens, and (c) very low doses of strongly immunogenic foreign proteins (1). This communication deals with one of the Ir genes in the mouse, the I r lA gene, which exerts an effect on the antibody response to the synthetic branched polypeptide polyL(Tyr,Glu)-poly-D,L-Ala--poly-L-Lys [(T,G)-A--L] (2, 3). 1 The I r lA gene maps between the K and Ss-Slp loci within the murine major histocompatibility complex, H-2 (4, 5). In the inbred strains of mice used in this study, the I r lA allele determining low response to (T,G)-A--L is associated with the H-2 haplotypes k and q, while high responsiveness to (T,G)-A--L is associated with the H-2 b haplotype. F1 (H-2 A'~b) mice also produce relatively high, although somewhat more variable, responses. Thus, high response is semidominant. The Ir-lA-controlled immune response phenotypes can be transferred by injection of spleen cells, fetal liver cells (4, 6, 7), or partially purified peripheral blood lymphocytes into lethally irradiated recipient mice, irrespective of the I r lA genotype of the recipient. The reconstituted animals respond to immunization with (T,G)-A--L as predicted by the genotype of the cells transferred. Thus, the I r lA genetic control is apparently expressed
Assistive Technologies and Children-Robot Interaction

Mobile robots are machines that can move and act in the real world, making it possible to generate a multitude of interplay situations, which can engage children and encourage interaction in a variety of different ways. Mobility, appearance, interaction modalities (e.g., sound, light, moving parts) and behaviour (predetermined and adaptive) can all have an influence in sustaining the interest (and therefore learning) of typically developing children or children with specific deficits such as autism. This paper summarizes findings from two of our on-going projects, one using a spherical mobile robot and the other using a humanoid-like robot toy.
Emotion-Recognition from Speech-based Interaction in AAL Environment

In Ambient Assisted Living environments assistance and care are delegated to the intelligence embedded in the environment that, in our opinion, should provide not only a task-oriented support but also an interface able to establish a social empathic relation with the user. To this aim social assistive robots are being employed as a mediator interface and, in order to achieve a relation with the user, they should be endowed with the capability of recognizing the user affective state. Since a natural way to interact with a robot is speech, spoken user’s input can be used to give to the robot the capability of recognizing the emotions and attitude of the user, thus providing more detail information about the user state. This paper focuses on this topic and proposes an approach based on the dimensional model of emotions in which the valence and arousal of user’s spoken input are recognized. The experimental analysis shows the performance in terms of accuracy of the proposed approach on an Italian dataset. In order to show its application in the context of Ambient Assisted Living, an example is provided.
Inter-observer variation between pathologists in diffuse parenchymal lung disease

Background: There have been few inter-observer studies of diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD), but the recent ATS/ERS consensus classification provides a basis for such a study. Methods: A method for categorising numerically the percentage likelihood of these differential diagnoses was developed, and the diagnostic confidence of pathologists using this classification and the reproducibility of their diagnoses were assessed. Results: The overall kappa coefficient of agreement for the first choice diagnosis was 0.38 (n = 133 biopsies), increasing to 0.43 for patients (n = 83) with multiple biopsies. Weighted kappa coefficients of agreement, quantifying the level of probability of individual diagnoses, were moderate to good (mean 0.58, range 0.40–0.75). However, in 18% of biopsy specimens the diagnosis was given with low confidence. Over 50% of inter-observer variation related to the diagnosis of non-specific interstitial pneumonia and, in particular, its distinction from usual interstitial pneumonia. Conclusion: These results show that the ATS/ERS classification can be applied reproducibly by pathologists who evaluate DPLD routinely, and support the practice of taking multiple biopsy specimens.
Gestures During Overlapping Speech in multimodal HumanMachine Dialogues

1 Abstract A dialogue system has to deal with the problem of interruptions by the user, e.g. changes of requests (called »barge−in«). This contribution is concerned with this problem in the special case of the multimodal dialogue system SmartKom. How are gestures used during such interruptions if they are utilized at all? To answer this question we analyzed a number of human−machine dialogues qualitatively. The analysis showed that most overlap situations were not accompanied by gestures at all. In the remaining instances the gestures were almost never "interactional" gestures, but mostly "unidentifiable" and "emotional" ones. We allocated the overlap situations accompanied by gestures to several subcategories of barge−in, pointed out the peculiarities of the gestures in the different cases and discussed their suitability as indicators for the dialogue system. Although from a small−scale in depth analysis no generalizations can be drawn, valuable insights for further investigation have been won. Most importantly it can be noted that the dynamic features of gestures seem far more promising as indicators of dialogue situations that need to be taken care of by the dialogue system than their static features.
Deformation of Brody curves and mean dimension

Abstract The main purpose of this paper is to show that ideas of deformation theory can be applied to ‘infinite-dimensional geometry’. We develop the deformation theory of Brody curves. A Brody curve is a kind of holomorphic map from the complex plane to the projective space. Since the complex plane is not compact, the parameter space of the deformation can be infinite-dimensional. As an application we prove a lower bound on the mean dimension of the space of Brody curves.