Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Initial expression of interferon alpha receptor 2 (IFNAR2) on CD34‐positive cells and its down‐regulation correlate with clinical response to interferon therapy in chronic myelogenous leukemia

Abstract: In order to investigate the mechanism of interferon‐α (IFNα) action in the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), we examined surface expressions of both type I interferon receptor 1 (IFNAR1) and 2 (IFNAR2) subunits on CD34‐positive cells in bone marrow (BM) in a total of 57 CML patients. Initial cell‐surface IFNAR2 expression at diagnosis assessed by flow cytometry widely distributed but showed overall significantly higher expression in CML patients when compared with normal controls. In 15 fresh patients who subsequently received IFNα therapy, IFNAR2 expression at diagnosis was significantly higher in cytogenetic good responders than in poor responders. Down‐regulation of IFNAR2 expression during IFNα therapy was observed only in good responders but not in poor responders. In addition to protein level, both initial high IFNAR2c mRNA expression level and its down‐regulation during IFNα therapy, in purified CD34‐positive cells, were also observed only in good responders. In contrast to IFNAR2, cell‐surface IFNAR1 expression was generally lower than IFNAR2, and correlation between either the pretreatment level or down‐regulation of IFNAR1 and clinical response was not evident. With in vitro IFNα stimulation, CD34‐positive cells showed down‐regulations of cell‐surface IFNAR2, and IFNAR1 to a lesser extent, in one good‐responder patient, but not in one poor‐responder patient. Serum soluble interferon receptor (sIFNR) was higher in untreated CML patients than in normal controls, without any correlation with clinical response to IFNα. Thus, the pretreatment protein and mRNA expression levels of IFNAR2 and their down‐regulations during IFNα therapy correlate well with IFNα response in CML patients.
Potential of SemiNatural Habitats to support PEST CONTROL and POLLINATION - including a case study on pumpkin

Natural pest control and pollination are important ecosystem services for agriculture. They can be supported by organic farming and by seminatural habitats at the local and landscape scale. The potential of seminatural habitats to support predatory flies (chapters 2 and 3) and bees(chapter 7) at the local and landscape scale was investigated in seminatural habitats. Predatory flies were more abundant in woody habitats and positively related to landscape complexity. The diversity and the abundance of honey and wild bees were positively related to the supply of flowers offered in the seminatural habitats. The influence of organic farming, adjacent seminatural habitats and landscape complexity on pest control (chapter 4) and pollination (chapter 6) was investigated in 18 pumpkin fields. Organic farming lacked strong effects both on the pest control and on the pollination of pumpkin. Pest control is best supported at the local scale by the flower abundance in the adjacent habitat. The flower supply positively affected the density of natural enemies and tended to reduce aphid densities in pumpkin fields. Pumpkin provides a striking example for a dominant role of wild pollinators for pollination success, because bumble bees are the key pollinators of pumpkin in Germany, despite a higher visitation frequency of honey bees. Pollination is best supported by landscape complexity. Bumble bee visits and as a result pollen delivery in pumpkin were negatively related to the dominance of agricultural land in the surrounding landscape. The influence of aphid density (chapter 8) and pollination (chapter 5) on pumpkin yield was evaluated. Pumpkin yields were not affected by aphid densities observed in the pumpkin fields and not limited by pollination at the current levels of bee visitation. In conclusion, especially seminatural habitats, that provide diverse, continuous floral resources, are important for natural enemies and pollinators. A sufficient proportion of different seminatural habitat types in agricultural landscapes should be maintained and restored. Thereby natural enemies such as predatory flies, wild pollinators such as bumble bees, and the pest control and pollination provided by them can be supported.
Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) regulates glucose and energy metabolism in diabetic mice

Neurotrophins are important regulators in the embryogenesis, development and functioning of nervous systems. In addition to the efficacy of brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in neurological disorders, we have found that BDNF demonstrates endocrinological functions and reduces food intake and blood glucose concentration in rodent obese diabetic models, such as C57BL/KsJ‐db/db mice. The hypoglycemic effect of BDNF was found to be stronger in younger db/db mice with hyperinsulinemia than in older mice. While BDNF itself did not alter blood glucose in normal mice and streptozotocin (STZ)‐treated mice, BDNF enhanced the hypoglycemic effect of insulin in STZ‐treated mice. These data indicate that BDNF needs endogenous or exogenous insulin to show hypoglycemic action. In addition, BDNF treatment enhanced energy expenditure in db/db mice. The efficacy of BDNF in regulating glucose and energy metabolism was reproduced through intracerebroventricular administration, suggesting that BDNF acted directly on the hypothalamus, the autonomic center of the brain. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
MudPad: localized tactile feedback on touch surfaces

We present MudPad, a system that is capable of localized active haptic feedback on multitouch surfaces. An array of electromagnets locally actuates a tablet-sized overlay containing magnetorheological (MR) fluid. The reaction time of the fluid is fast enough for realtime feedback ranging from static levels of surface softness to a broad set of dynamically changeable textures. As each area can be addressed individually, the entire visual interface can be enriched with a multi-touch haptic layer that conveys semantic information as the appropriate counterpart to multi-touch input.
Transmit Beamforming and Power Control for Optimizing the Outage Probability Fairness in MISO Networks

This paper studies the joint beamforming and power control in a multiuser multi-input single-output network by utilizing the only statistical channel distribution information. Such information consists of slowly varying covariance matrices in the beamforming network that can be employed to reduce instantaneous feedback overhead in transmission. Utilizing solely the statistical channel information, we study how to minimize the maximum outage probability under a weighted sum power constraint that guarantees max–min fairness to all users. This problem is, however, generally hard to solve due to the nonconvexity and nonlinear coupling between beamformer and power variables. First, assuming a fixed beamformer set, we use the nonlinear Perron–Frobenius theory to design a decentralized algorithm with provable geometrically fast convergence rate to compute the optimal power. Then, for the general case, we examine a certainty-equivalent margin counterpart with outage-mapped thresholds that incorporate the statistical channel information. We show that a network duality for this certainty-equivalent problem can be useful to decouple the coupling between the beamformer and power variables. This nonlinear Perron–Frobenius theory motivated approach yields a feasible beamformer and power allocation that are near-optimal as compared to Monte Carlo averaging simulations.
Locally generated model output statistics at WFO Columbia, South Carolina

In an effort to supplement the centrally produced (FWC and FAN) Model Output Statistics (MOS), two sets of maximum and minimum temperature equations for Columbia, SC (CAE) were developed using multiple linear regression. While the local equations produced some improvement over the centrally produced MOS, a simple average of the results of the local equations and MOS resulted in the best forecasts.
Importance of Domain Knowledge in Web Recommender Systems

Web usage data is extensively used in every domain to analyze the browsing behavior of the users who visited the website or search engines. Web usage data is contained in server logs called as Web Logs. This data enables the website owners to infer the needs and interests of the users for using this information to increase the revenue from their web business. The website owners employ recommender systems for this purpose. The recommender systems exploit web usage data to predict what web pages the user will visit next and therefore offer the recommendations for those very pages to the user and offers them support while browsing. This in turn helps users to have a better browsing experience, personalized support and hence, probability of user buying out the products from that website increases. Web usage mining alone is used in traditional recommender systems. Modern recommender systems employ semantic knowledge base i.e. domain knowledge in addition to web usage mining for efficient prediction of pages as this helps in avoiding the new page problem. This paper presents a comparative and comprehensive study of modern and traditional recommender systems.
Shortest paths through 3-dimensional cluttered environments

This paper investigates the problem of finding shortest paths through 3-dimensional cluttered environments. In particular, an algorithm is presented that determines the shortest path between two points in an environment with obstacles which can be implemented on robots with capabilities of detecting obstacles in the environment. As knowledge of the environment is increasing while the vehicle moves around, the algorithm provides not only the global minimizer - or shortest path - with increasing probability as time goes by, but also provides a series of local minimizers. The feasibility of the algorithm is demonstrated on a quadrotor robot flying in an environment with obstacles.
Analisis dampak gaya kepemimpinan transaksional dan transformasional terhadap organizational performance yang dimediasi oleh intellectual capital dan inovation

This research aims to test and analyze the influence of leadership style on organizational performance which is mediated by intellectual capital and innovation at Bank Syariah Indonesia. This research is quantitative research.The sample used in this study are employees who work at Bank Syariah Indonesia, and are domiciled in Jakarta. Hypothesis testing was carried out using the structural equation model (SEM) method with the help of AMOS software. The results of the study also found that transformational leadership and transactional leadership did not have a direct significant effect on organizational performance, but would have a significant effect if mediated by innovation. The results of the study also found that transactional leadership and transformational leadership had a significant positive direct effect on intellectual capital and innovation. In addition, there was a significant positive direct effect of innovation on organizational performance. The implication for company management is to maintain innovation and implement radical innovation, namely introducing product generations and improving incremental innovation by increasing the innovation capability of obsolete products or services. Further research can also be carried out by examining companies and other business sectors, as well as combining the innovation and intellectual capital variables into one moderating variable.
Detection of blast-related traumatic brain injury in U.S. military personnel.

BACKGROUND Blast-related traumatic brain injuries have been common in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, but fundamental questions about the nature of these injuries remain unanswered. METHODS We tested the hypothesis that blast-related traumatic brain injury causes traumatic axonal injury, using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), an advanced form of magnetic resonance imaging that is sensitive to axonal injury. The subjects were 63 U.S. military personnel who had a clinical diagnosis of mild, uncomplicated traumatic brain injury. They were evacuated from the field to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, where they underwent DTI scanning within 90 days after the injury. All the subjects had primary blast exposure plus another, blast-related mechanism of injury (e.g., being struck by a blunt object or injured in a fall or motor vehicle crash). Controls consisted of 21 military personnel who had blast exposure and other injuries but no clinical diagnosis of traumatic brain injury. RESULTS Abnormalities revealed on DTI were consistent with traumatic axonal injury in many of the subjects with traumatic brain injury. None had detectable intracranial injury on computed tomography. As compared with DTI scans in controls, the scans in the subjects with traumatic brain injury showed marked abnormalities in the middle cerebellar peduncles (P<0.001), in cingulum bundles (P=0.002), and in the right orbitofrontal white matter (P=0.007). In 18 of the 63 subjects with traumatic brain injury, a significantly greater number of abnormalities were found on DTI than would be expected by chance (P<0.001). Follow-up DTI scans in 47 subjects with traumatic brain injury 6 to 12 months after enrollment showed persistent abnormalities that were consistent with evolving injuries. CONCLUSIONS DTI findings in U.S. military personnel support the hypothesis that blast-related mild traumatic brain injury can involve axonal injury. However, the contribution of primary blast exposure as compared with that of other types of injury could not be determined directly, since none of the subjects with traumatic brain injury had isolated primary blast injury. Furthermore, many of these subjects did not have abnormalities on DTI. Thus, traumatic brain injury remains a clinical diagnosis. (Funded by the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program and the National Institutes of Health; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00785304.).
Aspects of the physiology of terrestrial life in amphibious fishes. III. The Chinese mudskipper Periophthalmus cantonensis.

The first paper of this series (Gordon et al. 1969) defined our usage of the phrase 'amphibious fishes', surveyed the literature on the physiology of terrestrial adaptations in those amphibious fishes lacking speciali2ed accessory respiratory organs, and presented data on aspects of related adaptations in the amphibious mudskipper fish, Periophthalmus sobrinus. The point was made in that paper that each species of amphibious fish appears to have adapted to terrestrial life in a different way. The present paper describes the results of a study of physiological adaptive responses shown by another amphibious fish, one phylogenetically quite distinct from all others previously studied. The Chilean clingfish Sicyases sanguineus belongs to the teleostean superorder Paracanthopterygii (Greenwood et al. 1966), which diverged from the other superorders of teleost fishes in the Cretaceous or Paleocene periods some 60-120 million years ago (Rosen & Patterson, 1969). S. sanguineus is one of the largest and most terrestrial of the clingfishes (Briggs, 1955). It occurs in large numbers intertidally and subtidally along rocky coastlines of western South America from southern Peru to southern Chile (de Buen, i960). Only limited physiological studies have been carried out on it previously, specifically aspects of respiratory metabolism and heart rate while out of water (Vargas & Concha, 1957; Concha & Vargas, 1957). We have studied the population living on the shore of Montemar, just north of Virla del Mar, Chile. Measurements made included survivaltime out of water, rates of evaporative water loss, upper lethal temperatures, three aspects of the 'diving syndrome' (metabolic rates, heart rates and blood lactic acid levels), and changes in nitrogen excretion. Ebeling, Bernal & Zuleta (1970) made related observations on behaviour in the field, aspects of the species' ecology, and aspects of respiratory physiology. Gordon (1970) discusses some of the implications of our studies of nitrogen excretion.
Mapping the global distribution of trachoma.

OBJECTIVE We aimed to summarize and map the existing global population-based data on active trachoma and trichiasis. Detailed distribution maps of various infectious diseases have proved a valuable tool in their control. Such maps play an important role in assessing the magnitude of the problem, defining priority areas for control, monitoring changes, and advocacy. Until now, information on trachoma prevalence at within country levels has not been systematically collated, analysed and reported. METHODS We gathered the last 18 years' worth of reported data on active trachoma in children aged less than 10 years, and the last 25 years of reported trichiasis in adults aged 15 years and over from 139 population-based surveys in 33 countries. We collated these data into one database using the "district" (second administrative level) as the standard unit of reporting. We used Geographical Information Systems as a database and cartographic tool to generate a global map of the prevalence of trachoma and trichiasis. FINDINGS We obtained data on active trachoma and trichiasis from 18 countries in the WHO African Region, 6 in the Eastern Mediterranean Region, 3 in the South-East Asia Region, 3 in the Western Pacific Region and 2 in the Region of the Americas. In 23 countries suspected of having endemic trachoma no reliable district-level population-based data were available. In China and India, data were limited to a few districts. The data highlighted important regional differences and marked national variations in prevalence of active trachoma and trichiasis. CONCLUSION This is the first attempt to summarize and map the existing population-based data on active trachoma and trichiasis. The lack of data in many countries remains an important obstacle to trachoma control efforts.
VRMiner: A Tool for Multimedia Database Mining with Virtual Reality

We present in this chapter a new 3D interactive method for visualizing multimedia data with virtual reality, named VRMiner. We consider that an expert in a specific domain has collected a set of examples described with numeric and symbolic attributes but also with sounds, images, videos, web sites or 3D models, and that this expert wishes to explore these data to understand their structure. We use a 3D stereoscopic display in order to let the expert easily visualize and observe the data. We add to this display contextual information such as texts and small images, voice synthesis, sound. Larger images, videos and web sites are displayed on a second computer in order to ensure real time display. Navigating through the data is done in a very intuitive and precise way with a 3D sensor that simulates a virtual camera.
Edit Tree Distance Alignments for Semantic Role Labelling

"Tree SRL system" is a Semantic Role Labelling supervised system based on a tree-distance algorithm and a simple k-NN implementation. The novelty of the system lies in comparing the sentences as tree structures with multiple relations instead of extracting vectors of features for each relation and classifying them. The system was tested with the English CoNLL-2009 shared task data set where 79% accuracy was obtained.
Philosophical Issues in Counseling and Psychotherapy

To become a counselor or psychotherapist, one must learn a confusing and conceptually disconnected array of theories, techniques, and ideologies. For instance, CBT, humanistic, and psychodynamic interventions have virtually opposite conceptual foundations, but they are all used to help clients. What principles, however, connect the various movements, trends, and methods of helping? In this book, Hansen asks and proposes beginning resolutions to four fundamental philosophical questions about knowing, effectiveness, and truth that are designed to unite and give meaning to diverse and seemingly contradictory models of helping: What does it mean to know a client? What makes counseling effective? Are truths discovered or created in the counseling relationship? Should counselors abandon the idea of truth? Although these questions are complex, Hansen provides plain language answers that make the material accessible to readers who have no formal education in philosophy. Furthermore, he addresses these questions in the context of his personal struggles to find meaning—making the book an engaging and highly enjoyable reading experience.
DEFORMATION MEASUREMENT USING SENTINEL-1A/B IMAGERY

Abstract. Land deformation monitoring based on C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar Sentinel-1A/B imagery is the main focus of this paper. This type of data is exploited using a Persistent Scatterer Interferometry technique. The paper describes a deformation monitoring strategy, which is related to a specific monitoring scenario: a relatively small deformation area of interest surrounded by a stable area. In the case study considered in this work, the scenario corresponds to an area of potential subsidence induced by underground water pumping. In this specific case, the deformation area of interest has a radius of approximately 1 km. The proposed monitoring strategy takes advantage of the specific scenario at hand, and, in particular, of the availability of stable areas close to the area that potentially is affected by deformation. In this paper we briefly describe the proposed data analysis strategy. The key component of the strategy, i.e. the estimation of the atmospheric component, is illustrated in detail. Some examples of the two main products of the procedure, i.e. the deformation velocity map and the deformation time series, are discussed.
Byzantine Modification Detection in Multicast Networks With Random Network Coding

An information-theoretic approach for detecting Byzantine or adversarial modifications in networks employing random linear network coding is described. Each exogenous source packet is augmented with a flexible number of hash symbols that are obtained as a polynomial function of the data symbols. This approach depends only on the adversary not knowing the random coding coefficients of all other packets received by the sink nodes when designing its adversarial packets. We show how the detection probability varies with the overhead (ratio of hash to data symbols), coding field size, and the amount of information unknown to the adversary about the random code.
Mutation of the TERT promoter, switch to active chromatin, and monoallelic TERT expression in multiple cancers

Stern et al. found in multiple cancer cell lines that a TERT gene with a promoter mutation exhibits the H3K4me2/3 mark of active chromatin, while the wild-type allele retains the H3K27me3 mark of epigenetic silencing. Consistent with these differences, only the mutant promoters are transcriptionally active.
Can online auctions beat online catalogs?

In this paper, we report the results of an extensive study comparing the price paid in 473 online auctions with the prevailing prices of identical goods sold through online catalogs. Our results reveal a striking phenomenon: auction winners enjoy an average discount of 25% relative to the catalog prices for identical items sold at the same site. The average discount grows to 39% if identical items are on sale only on other sites. We also find that this discount is a function of the monetary value of the items being auctioned and more expensive items are typically associated with lower discount rates. We use these results to characterize the major costs that are imposed on online auction participants and we analyze the impact of these costs on the resulting auction closing price. Our information economics model provides an explanation for the deep discounts observed in our research and provides some conceptual guidelines for online auction design.