Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differentials in Survival for Childhood Cancer in Australia by Remoteness of Residence and Area Disadvantage

Background: It is not known whether improvements in cancer survival over recent decades have benefited children from different geographic locations equally. This is the first study to produce national survival estimates for childhood cancer in Australia by remoteness of residence and area-based socioeconomic status. Methods: The study utilized population-based data from the Australian Paediatric Cancer Registry for children diagnosed with cancer from 1996 onward who were at risk of mortality between January 2001 and December 2006 (n = 6,289). Remoteness was specified according to the Australian Standard Geographical Classification Remoteness Areas, whereas an index of area disadvantage was obtained from census information. Five-year relative survival estimates were produced by the period method for all cancers and the most common diagnostic groups, with corresponding age–sex adjusted mortality hazard ratios calculated using Poisson regression. Results: Overall, children with cancer from remote/very remote areas had a significantly lower survival rate than their counterparts in major cities (HR = 1.55, 95% CI = 1.08–2.23). Survival was also lower for children with leukemia living in inner regional (HR = 1.52, 95% CI = 1.11–2.08) or outer regional areas (HR = 1.53, 95% CI = 1.03–2.28). There was weak evidence (Pgrad = 0.051) of a trend toward poorer survival by greater area disadvantage for all childhood cancers. Conclusions: Some variation in prognosis by place of residence was present for children with cancer in Australia, particularly among leukemia patients. Impact: Treatment, clinical or area-related factors that contribute to these survival differentials need to be identified. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(8); 1649–56. ©2011 AACR.
Researches Regarding the Influence of Calving Interval on the Number of Somatic Cells during Lactation in Romanian Black and White Cows

The aim of this paper was to study the influence of calving interval on the number of somatic cells from milk in Romanian Black and White cows. The study was conducted on a total of 125 lactations from 92 cows. Data were recorded and statistically analyzed by ANOVA/MANOVA method determining the means and dispersion indices. The results indicated that calving interval influenced significantly (p < 0.05) changes in the somatic index between calving interval below 350 days and calving interval between 351 and 450 days (0.33). Milk produced from cows with calving interval below 350 days had the smallest somatic index (5,33) which corresponds to a number of somatic cells around 214000 cells/ml. Cows with calving interval between 351 and 450 days had the highest value of the somatic index 5.67, which corresponds to a concentration of 468000 somatic cells/ml.
Learning Speech Variability in Discriminative Acoustic Model Adaptation

We present a new discriminative method of acoustic model adaptation that deals with a task-dependent speech variability. We have focused on differences of expressions or speaking styles between tasks and set the objective of this method as improving the recognition accuracy of indistinctly pronounced phrases dependent on a speaking style.The adaptation appends subword models for frequently observable variants of subwords in the task. To find the task-dependent variants, low-confidence words are statistically selected from words with higher frequency in the task's adaptation data by using their word lattices. HMM parameters of subword models dependent on the words are discriminatively trained by using linear transforms with a minimum phoneme error (MPE) criterion. For the MPE training, subword accuracy discriminating between the variants and the originals is also investigated. In speech recognition experiments, the proposed adaptation with the subword variants reduced the word error rate by 12.0% relative in a Japanese conversational broadcast task.
Density estimation with heteroscedastic error

veloped for homoscedastic errors become inconsistent. In this paper, we introduce a kernel estimator of a density in the case of heteroscedastic contamination. We establish consistency of the estimator and show that it achieves optimal rates of convergence under quite general conditions. We study the limits of appli cation of the procedure in some extreme situations, where we show that, in some cases, our estimator is consistent, even when the scaling parameter of the error is unbounded. We suggest a modified estimator for the problem where the distribution of the errors is unknown, but replicated observations are available. Finally, an adaptive procedure for selecting the smoothing parameter is proposed and its finite-sample prop erties are investigated on simulated examples.
Smooth Muscle Progenitor Cells in Human Blood

Background—Recent animal data suggest that vascular smooth muscle cells within the neointima of the vessel wall may originate from bone marrow, providing indirect evidence for circulating smooth muscle progenitor cells (SPCs). Evidence for circulating SPCs in human subjects does not exist, and the mechanism whereby such putative SPCs may home to sites of plaque formation is presently not understood but is likely to involve expression of specific surface adhesion molecules, such as integrins. In this study, we aimed to culture smooth muscle outgrowth cells (SOCs) from SPCs in human peripheral blood and characterize surface integrin expression on these cells. Methods and Results—Human mononuclear cells isolated from buffy coat were seeded on collagen type 1 matrix and outgrowth cells selected in endothelial growth medium (EGM-2) or EGM-2 and platelet-derived growth factor BB. Selection in platelet-derived growth factor BB–enriched medium caused rapid outgrowth and expansion of SOC to >40 population doublings in a 4-month period. These SOCs were positive for smooth muscle cell–specific &agr; actin (&agr;SMA), myosin heavy chain, and calponin on immunofluorescence and Western blotting and were also positive for CD34, Flt1, and Flk1 receptor but negative for Tie-2 receptor expression, suggesting a potential bone marrow angioblastic origin. In contrast, endothelial outgrowth cells (EOCs) grown in EGM-2 alone and the initial MNC population were negative for these smooth muscle–specific markers. Integrin &agr;5&bgr;1 expression by FACS and Western blotting was significantly increased in SOCs compared with EOCs, and this was confirmed by 8-fold greater adhesion of SOC to fibronectin (P <0.001), an effect that could be decreased using an &agr;5&bgr;1 antibody. Finally, SOC showed a significantly greater in vitro proliferative potential compared with EOCs of similar passage (P <0.001). Conclusions—This study demonstrates for the first time outgrowth of smooth muscle cells with a specific growth, adhesion, and integrin profile from putative SPC in human blood. These data have implications for our understanding of adult vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation, proliferation, and homing. (Circulation. 2002;106:1199–1204.)
Radiation dose and risk in children undergoing cardiac interventions performed using flat detector angiography systems

The purpose of the study was to measure radiation doses and estimate risk from various beam projections in children undergoing cardiac interventions. The dose area product (DAP) was measured for eleven patent ductus arteriosus device closures (PDA), four atrial septal defect device closures (ASD), and three balloon pulmonary valvuloplasty (BPV) interventions performed using a flat detector system. The total mean DAPs for PDA, ASD and BPV were 1.9 Gycm2, 9.8 Gycm2 and 6.2 Gycm2 respectively. The fluoroscopic kerma dose rates increased by 10%, 33% and 92% when changing the projection from posterior–anterior to lateral projection for PDA interventions among infants, <5 yrs and >5 yrs respectively. The effective dose (ED) and organ doses were estimated from DAP using Monte Carlo software. Lungs received the highest organ dose of 7.4 mGy (PDA), 20.7 mGy (ASD) and 17.3 mGy (BPV) compared to other organs. The mean EDs from PDA, ASD and BPV were 2.5 mSv, 6.1 mSv and 4.9 mSv respectively. PDA intervention performed in infants had a radiation risk 66% higher than children aged between 3–10 years. Their lifetime attributable risk as per BEIR VII for cancer incidence was 1 in 907 males and 1 in 1047 females.
Difference frequency magneto-acousto-electrical tomography (DF-MAET): application of ultrasound-induced radiation force to imaging electrical current density

Magneto-acousto-electrical tomography (MAET) is a potential imaging modality which can provide high-spatial-resolution images of the impedance of conductive media. In MAET, the impedance is reconstructed from the mapped current density distribution Jab(r) that would exist in a sample if a current/voltage source were to be applied through measurement electrodes a and b. To map Jab(r) without applying a current/voltage source, the sample is placed in a static magnetic field and a focused ultrasonic pulse is directed to a point r to generate a point-like dipole source via the Lorentz force mechanism. The MAET voltage Uab, which is directly proportional to Jab(r), is measured through electrodes a and b for each scanning point. To reconstruct the electrical impedance, we need to map the current density distribution at every point inside the sample. However, with the MAET experimental setup reported in our previous paper on MAET, the MAET signal from a homogenous interior of the sample is undetectable because of the spatially-oscillating nature of the ultrasound field inside the sample. In this paper, we propose to use dual-frequency ultrasound to generate the MAET signal at the difference frequency through the ultrasound radiation force mechanism. The dynamic radiation force causes vibrations inside the sample (and consequently, generates the electric field) with a wavelength much larger than the dimension of the sample along the transducer's axis. Therefore, the MAET signal caused by the radiation force will not be canceled out. We create a dynamic radiation force by applying an amplitude-modulated signal with a modulation frequency fm of several kilohertz and a carrier frequency f0 of 2.25 MHz to drive the transducer. The dependence of the DF-MAET signal in experiments on the modulation frequency and on the density of the sample agrees with the prediction based on the radiation force mechanism. The spatial resolution of DF-MAET is also studied to verify the radiation force mechanism. Finally, we will prove that the parametric effect in the coupling oil is not a significant source of the DF-MAET signal by imaging a sample at different distances from the transducer. Potential improvements to the present DF-MAET experimental configuration are also discussed.
Rank-based quality assessment of nonlinear dimensionality reduction

Nonlinear dimensionality reduction aims at providing low dimensional representations of high-dimensional data sets. Many new methods have been proposed in the recent years, but the question of their assessment and comparison remains open. This paper reviews some of the existing quality measures that are based on distance ranking and K-ary neighborhoods. Many quality criteria actually rely on the analysis of one or several sub-blocks of a co-ranking matrix. The analogy between the co-ranking matrix and a Shepard diagram is highlighted. Finally, a unifying framework is sketched, new measures are proposed and illustrated in a short experiment.
Esthetics, "Aida" and "Re-entry shock:" Fountains in a blind woman's drawings

Blind people can invent drawings for material objects like cups, and matters esthetic, like "glory" at the climax of a story. In sketches of cups, their drawings are realistic, using lines for surface edges of profiles, and borders of cross-sections. They are metaphoric if they show purely mental events. These points are illustrated by two drawings by EW, a blind woman with two notable uses of a "fountain" device. One shows "glory" in the opera "Aida" and one is for memories overflowing.
Sensor-Based Abnormal Human-Activity Detection

With the availability of affordable sensors and sensor networks, sensor-based human activity recognition has attracted much attention in artificial intelligence and ubiquitous computing. In this paper, we present a novel two-phase approach for detecting abnormal activities based on wireless sensors attached to a human body. Detecting abnormal activities is a particular important task in security monitoring and healthcare applications of sensor networks, among many others. Traditional approaches to this problem suffer from a high false positive rate, particularly when the collected sensor data are biased towards normal data while the abnormal events are rare. Therefore, there is a lack of training data for many traditional data mining methods to be applied. To solve this problem, our approach first employs a one-class support vector machine (SVM) that is trained on commonly available normal activities, which filters out the activities that have a very high probability of being normal. We then derive abnormal activity models from a general normal model via a kernel nonlinear regression (KNLR) to reduce false positive rate in an unsupervised manner. We show that our approach provides a good tradeoff between abnormality detection rate and false alarm rate, and allows abnormal activity models to be automatically derived without the need to explicitly label the abnormal training data, which are scarce. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach using real data collected from a sensor network that is deployed in a realistic setting.
A 1-V 45-GHz Balanced Amplifier With 21.5-dB Gain Using 0.18-$\mu{\hbox {m}}$ CMOS Technology

A fully integrated balanced amplifier was realized in a standard 0.18-mum CMOS technology. From the measured-parameters, a gain up to 21.5 dB was achieved at 45.4 GHz under a supply voltage of only 1 V and a total power consumption of 89 mW. An effective technique, i.e., pi-type parallel resonance, was proposed to enhance the device and circuit frequency response. In addition, the semicoaxial line structure was used to reduce the signal loss and physical size of the Lange couplers in the amplifier. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the proposed balanced amplifier demonstrated the highest operation frequency and the lowest operation voltage among the published millimeter-wave amplifiers using a similar technology.
Identifying Learning Disabilities Through a Cognitive Deficit Framework

Traditionally, students with learning disabilities (LD) have been identified using an aptitude–achievement discrepancy or response to intervention approach. As profiles of the cognitive deficits of discrepancy-defined students with LD have already been developed using these approaches, these deficits can in turn be used to identify LD using the discrepancy approach as a benchmark for convergent validity. Australian Grade 3 (N = 172) students were administered cognitive processing tests to ascertain whether scores in these tests could accurately allocate students into discrepancy-defined groups using discriminant function analysis. Results showed that 77% to 82% of students could be correctly allocated into LD, low achievement, and regular achievement groups using only measures of phonological processing, rapid naming, and verbal memory. Furthermore, verbal memory deficits were found, along with phonological processing and rapid naming deficits, in students that would be designated as low achieving by the discrepancy method. Because a significant discrepancy or lack of response to intervention is a result of cognitive deficits rather than the other way around, it is argued that LD should be identified via cognitive deficits.
Equilibrium in Labor Markets with Few Firms

We study competition between firms in labor markets, following a combinatorial model suggested by Kelso and Crawford [1982]. In this model, each firm is trying to recruit workers by offering a higher salary than its competitors, and its production function defines the utility generated from any actual set of recruited workers. We define two natural classes of production functions for firms, where the first one is based on additive capacities (weights), and the second on the influence of workers in a social network. We then analyze the existence of pure subgame perfect equilibrium (PSPE) in the labor market and its properties. While neither class holds the gross substitutes condition, we show that in both classes the existence of PSPE is guaranteed under certain restrictions, and in particular when there are only two competing firms. As a corollary, there exists a Walrasian equilibrium in a corresponding combinatorial auction, where bidders' valuation functions belong to these classes. While a PSPE may not exist when there are more than two firms, we perform an empirical study of equilibrium outcomes for the case of weight-based games with three firms, which extend our analytical results. We then show that stability can in some cases be extended to coalitional stability, and study the distribution of profit between firms and their workers in weight-based games.
Adaptive Mutation Dynamic Search Fireworks Algorithm

The Dynamic Search Fireworks Algorithm (dynFWA) is an effective algorithm for solving optimization problems. However, dynFWA easily falls into local optimal solutions prematurely and it also has a slow convergence rate. In order to improve these problems, an adaptive mutation dynamic search fireworks algorithm (AMdynFWA) is introduced in this paper. The proposed algorithm applies the Gaussian mutation or the Levy mutation for the core firework (CF) with mutation probability. Our simulation compares the proposed algorithm with the FWA-Based algorithms and other swarm intelligence algorithms. The results show that the proposed algorithm achieves better overall performance on the standard test functions.
Social networks for police and residents in India: exploring online communication for crime prevention

Safety is a concern for most urban communities; residents interact in multiple ways with the police to address their safety concerns. Positive interactions with police help residents to feel safe. In developing countries, residents have started to use Online Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook to share concerns and seek solutions. In this study, we investigate whether residents' post on OSN contain actionable information that police can use to address safety concerns and how residents use OSN to communicate with police. For this, we analyze residents' posts and comments on the Facebook page of Bangalore City Police, India, over a period of one month. Our results show that residents post information (including location) about various crimes such as neighborhood issues (drunkards, illegal construction), financial frauds, property crime, and thefts. In addition to crime, Facebook page gives information on residents' satisfaction and police performance. Majority of residents use police Facebook page to appreciate the good work of police. Police response to residents' post vary from ignore, acknowledge, reply, and follow-up. We find that police respond to most residents' post and help residents to reach the authority who can help solve the issue. Police adopt a formal communication style to interact with residents. We find that in addition to actionable information, OSN can help understand fear of crime among residents and develop mutual accountability between police and residents.
B‐cell subsets and the mature ­preimmune repertoire. Marginal zone and B1 B cells as part of a “natural immune memory”

Summary: The rate of elimination of a pathogenic agent is of critical importance for the host and determines the extent and consequences of the infection. Antibody production, along with the activity of other cells of the immune system, plays an important role early and late in the response and contributes to all containment and elimination of the organism. B‐cell clones reaching the mature long‐lived pool are heterogeneous: some belong to the B1 B‐cell subset, some are enriched in the CD21high compartment (mostly marginal zone (MZ)), whereas others recirculate primarily among the B‐cell follicles (FO). This segregation is a T‐independent, CD40L‐independent but BCR/CD19‐dependent process. Antigen encounter will recruit antigen‐specific cells from the pool of mature B‐lymphocytes and activate them to perform effector functions. CD21highCD23low B cells enriched in the MZ of the spleen initiate the early plasmablast wave during the first 3 days of an antibody response against particulate T‐independent bacterial antigens. These findings indicate a functional heterogeneity within the mature B‐lymphocyte population. MZ B cells and B1 B, in contrast to FO B cells, have the unique capacity to generate effector cells in early stages of the immune response against (particulate) antigens that are scavenged efficiently in these specialized anatomical sites.
In an early branching metazoan, bacterial colonization of the embryo is controlled by maternal antimicrobial peptides

Early embryos of many organisms develop outside the mother and are immediately confronted with myriads of potential colonizers. How these naive developmental stages control and shape the bacterial colonization is largely unknown. Here we show that early embryonic stages of the basal metazoan Hydra are able to control bacterial colonization by using maternal antimicrobial peptides. Antimicrobial peptides of the periculin family selecting for a specific bacterial colonization during embryogenesis are produced in the oocyte and in early embryos. If overexpressed in hydra ectodermal epithelial cells, periculin1a drastically reduces the bacterial load, indicating potent antimicrobial activity. Unexpectedly, transgenic polyps also revealed that periculin, in addition to bactericidal activity, changes the structure of the bacterial community. These findings delineate a role for antimicrobial peptides both in selecting particular bacterial partners during development and as important components of a “be prepared” strategy providing transgenerational protection.
Psychiatric comorbidity among patients with gender identity disorder

Aims: Psychiatric comorbidity and mental instability seem to be important unfavorable prognostic factors for long‐term psychosocial adjustment in gender identity disorder (GID). However, psychiatric comorbidity in patients with GID has rarely been assessed. In this study, we investigated the psychiatric comorbidity and life events of patients with GID in Japan.