Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Synthetic Aperture Radar for Process-Related Monitoring in Urban and Mining Areas

Die Uberwachung von Setzungen in stadtischen Gebieten wird immer wichtiger, da es sich um eine potenzielle Bedrohung fur die Umwelt und den Menschen handelt. Die Untersuchung von Landsenkungen in nicht-stadtischen Bereichen sind ebenfalls sehr wichtig. Mit interferometrischen Auswertungen von Synthetic Aperture Radar Messungen (InSAR) ist man in der Lage grose Bereiche hochauflosend zu beobachten. SAR Systeme konnen wahrend des Tages, der Nacht und unter allen Wetterbedingungen arbeiten. Heutzutage gibt es zunehmendes Interesse an der Anwendung von SAR fur das Monitoring von Veranderungen der Erdoberflache. Hierzu wurden speziell die Techniken des Interferometrischen SAR (InSAR), Differential InSAR (DInSAR) und Persistent Scatterers InSAR (PSI) entwickelt. Aufgrund der unterschiedlichen Merkmale von urbanen und nichturbanen Gebieten, kann die Anwendung von InSAR fur das Monitoring von Bewegungen unterschiedliche Herausforderungen stellen. Die Stadt Dusseldorf wurde als Testfeld fur die Verarbeitung von 20 TerraSAR-X Bilder mit PSI ausgewahlt. Die Ergebnisse aus dem Nivellement der Landeshauptstadt Dusseldorf wurden fur die Validierung der PSInSAR Ergebnisse genutzt. Zwei Zeitreihen zeigen einen ahnlichen Verlauf mit sehr geringen Abweichungen. Die Bergbauregion Xishan wurde als nichturbanes Testgebiete in diesem Projekt ausgewahlt, weil es die Moglichkeit bietet an Informationen uber den Bergbau, die Zeitplane und Literatur zu kommen und es dort schnelle Oberflachenbewegungen mit grosen Phasengradienten gibt. Die durchgefuhrten Experimente im Xishan Gebiet zeigen, dass man mit der InSAR Auswertung auch Bergbauparameter ableiten kann. Fur die Koordinatenbestimmung der Corner Reflektoren wurden GPS Messungen durchgefuhrt, die auch zur Verbesserung der Satellitenbasislinien dienen und die Genauigkeit der Geokodierung (kleiner 5 m) verbessern.
Self-Care Technologies in HCI: Trends, Tensions, and Opportunities

Many studies show that self-care technologies can support patients with chronic conditions and their carers in understanding the ill body and increasing control of their condition. However, many of these studies have largely privileged a medical perspective and thus overlooked how patients and carers integrate self-care into their daily lives and mediate their conditions through technology. In this review, we focus on how patients and carers use and experience self-care technology through a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) lens. We analyse studies of self-care published in key HCI journals and conferences using the Grounded Theory Literature Review (GTLR) method and identify research trends and design tensions. We then draw out opportunities for advancing HCI research in self-care, namely, focusing further on patients' everyday life experience, considering existing collaborations in self-care, and increasing the influence on medical research and practice around self-care technology.
Qualitative analysis of the impact of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders on daily life activities

Objective To evaluate the impact of Oral Potentially Malignant Disorders (OPMD) on daily life activities. Materials and methods Patients diagnosed with Oral Leukoplakia, Oral submucous fibrosis and Oral Lichen Planus attending the Oral Medicine clinic of Panineeya Institute of Dental Sciences & Research Centre, Hyderabad, India were invited to participate. Eighteen interviews and three focus groups were conducted in a non-clinical setting. Voice recordings were transcribed and translated from Telugu to English. Data coding was performed using the NVivo software. Results Sample size for this qualitative study comprised 32 patients. Four main themes emerged: (1) difficulties with diagnosis and knowledge about the condition, (2) physical impairment and functional limitations, (3) psychological and social wellbeing and (4) effects of treatment on daily life. In a majority of the patients, most of the interview time was spent discussing physical impairment and functional limitations. Patients also reported their mouth condition having a debilitating effect on their psychological well-being and social interactions. Conclusions ‘Physical impairment and functional limitations’ was the most important theme for many of the patients. However, the impacts of OPMD also extended beyond physical impairment and functional limitations to aspects of daily living, notably psychological and social wellbeing.
Experimental Determination of Beta Attenuation in Tooth Enamel Layers and its Implication in ESR Dating

The principal subject ofthis thesis is to experimentally detennine the beta attenuation patterns in tooth enamel layers, and to examine the predictions of two theoretical models which are involved in the beta dose calculations ofESR dating. One of the models is based on empirical equations (Yokoyama, 1982) and employed by R.Griin (1986) in the DATA software ofESR dating, the other is based on the "one group" transport theory which was incorporated in the ROSY dating programme (B.J. Brennan, et al., 1997). The theoretical bases ofGriin's approximation (i.e. the empirical approach) and the "one group" transport theory are discussed. Their predictions of beta attenuation under 2-1t geometry are compared with the results ofMonte Carlo simulations, and were then compared with the results ofour experimental work, which show clear inclination to the predictions of "one group" theory and Monte Carlo. The previous experiment ofAitken et al.(1985) is also described and its flawed geometric arrangement is discussed. In this study, two sets ofexperiments are performed. The first set used pitchblende as the irradiator and employed the configuration of irradiator-absorber-detector, which is aimed to reassess the experiment of Aitken et al. (1985). The second set ofour experiments
The Many Faces of G Protein Signaling*

A large number of hormones, neurotransmitters, chemokines, local mediators, and sensory stimuli exert their effects on cells and organisms by binding to G protein-coupled receptors. More than a thousand such receptors are known, and more are being discovered all the time. Heterotrimeric G proteins transduce ligand binding to these receptors into intracellular responses, which underlie physiological responses of tissues and organisms. G proteins play important roles in determining the specificity and temporal characteristics of the cellular responses to signals. They are made up of a, b, and g subunits, and although there are many gene products encoding each subunit (20 a, 6 b, and 12 g gene products are known), four main classes of G proteins can be distinguished: Gs, which activates adenylyl cyclase; Gi, which inhibits adenylyl cyclase; Gq, which activates phospholipase C; and G12 and G13, of unknown function. G proteins are inactive in the GDP-bound, heterotrimeric state and are activated by receptor-catalyzed guanine nucleotide exchange resulting in GTP binding to the a subunit. GTP binding leads to dissociation of GazGTP from Gbg subunits and activation of downstream effectors by both GazGTP and free Gbg subunits. G protein deactivation is rate-limiting for turnoff of the cellular response and occurs when the Ga subunit hydrolyzes GTP to GDP. The recent resolution of crystal structures of heterotrimeric G proteins in inactive and active conformations provides a structural framework for understanding their role as conformational switches in signaling pathways. As more and more novel pathways that use G proteins emerge, recognition of the diversity of regulatory mechanisms of G protein signaling is also increasing. The recent progress in the structure, mechanisms, and regulation of G protein signaling pathways is the subject of this review. Because of space considerations, I will concentrate mainly on recent studies; readers are directed to a number of excellent reviews that cover earlier studies.
Clinicopathologic Impacts of Poorly Differentiated Cluster-Based Grading System in Colorectal Carcinoma

Differentiation-based histologic grading of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is widely used, but its clinical impact is limited by insufficient prognostic value, interobserver disagreement, and the difficulty of its application to CRC with specific histologic types such as mucinous and medullary carcinoma. A recently proposed novel grading system based on quantifying poorly differentiated clusters (PDCs) claims to have the advantages of reproducibility and improved prognostic value, and might apply to heterogeneous CRC. We aimed to validate the clinicopathologic significance of the PDCs-based grading system and to determine the relationship between this grading system and microsatellite instability (MSI). Two hundred and one patients who had undergone radical surgery were reviewed. Based on the number of PDCs, 85, 58, and 58 tumors were classified as grade (G) 1 (42.3%), G2 (28.9%), and G3 (28.9%), respectively. PDCs-based grade was significantly associated with T, N, and M stages; lymphovascular invasion; conventional histologic grade; and frequent tumor budding (all P <0.001). In multivariate analysis, PDCs-based grade was found to be an independent prognostic factor for disease-free survival (P = 0.022; hazard ratio, 3.709 [G2], 7.461 [G3]). G3 CRC significantly correlated with high MSI (MSI-H) compared to G1 and G2 (P = 0.002; odds ratio, 5.750). In conclusion, this novel grading would provide valuable prognostic information to a greater number of patients and would require continued verification. PDCs-based grading is feasible for CRCs with heterogeneous morphology, and we propose that the association between G3 and MSI-H be further evaluated in different histological subtypes of CRC. Graphical Abstract
Five-Year Survival is Not a Useful Measure for Cancer Control in the Population: an Analysis Based on UK Data

Background: Five-year survival is an important metric for progress in cancer control broadly used both in the cancer literature and by the public. In order to assess its validity and relation to other common metrics, we analyzed the relationship between 5-year survival, incidence and mortality using publicly available cancer registry data from England and Wales. Methods: Five-year survival, incidence and mortality data were obtained from the online database of a registered charity, Cancer Research UK. We extracted sex-specific age-standardized mortality, incidence, and 5-year survivalfor16 types of cancer over the period from 1976 to 1995. The relationships between 5-year survival, incidence and mortality were estimated using both Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients. Results: All 16cancer types showed an increase in 5-year survival for both genders from 1976 to 1995, ranging from 0.2% (pancreas and lung cancer) to 16.6% (prostate cancer) for males and 0.2% (pancreas cancer) to 16.6% (leukemia) for females. From 1976 to 1995, there was no significant correlation between changes in 5-year survival and cancer mortality for either sex (males, Pearson r=0.16, Spearman r=-0.06; females, Pearson r=-0.33, Spearman r=-0.43). A positive relationship between 5-year survival and incidence was noted among males, but not among females (males, Pearson r=0.61, Spearman r=0.53; females, Pearson r=0.03, Spearman r=0.11). However, after excluding breast and prostate cancer, the positive association became weaker and became statistically non-significant for males (Pearson r=0.47; Spearman r=0.41). Conclusions: Our findings suggest that there are no reliable relationships between changes in 5-year survival and cancer incidence or mortality. Increases in 5-year survival might therefore represent poor indicators of progress in cancer control at the population level. In the absence of over-diagnosis, 5-year survival might only indicate improved diagnosis and treatment in clinical practice.
A Review of the True Methodological Quality of Nutritional Support Trials Conducted in the Critically Ill: Time for Improvement

In this review we sought to appraise the true methodological quality of nutritional support studies conducted in critically ill patients and to compare these findings to the methodological quality of sepsis trials. An extensive literature search revealed 111 randomized controlled trials conducted in critically ill patients evaluating the impact of nutritional support interventions on clinically meaningful outcomes. Compared with sepsis trials, nutritional support studies were significantly less likely to use blinding (32 of 40 versus 35 of 111, P < 0.001) or present an intention-to-treat analysis (37 of 40 versus 64 of 111, P < 0.001). There was a trend toward the less frequent use of randomization methods that are known to maintain allocation concealment (12 of 40 versus 19 of 111, P = 0.10). Although nutritional support studies demonstrated a significant increase in the use of blinding after the publication of the CONSORT statement in 1996 (9 of 47 versus 26 of 64 post-CONSORT, P = 0.023), there were no improvements in other key areas. Previous publications have described the overall methodological quality of sepsis trials as “poor. ” Nutritional support studies were significantly worse than sepsis trials in all aspects of methodological quality, and there were few improvements noted over time. To detect important differences in clinically meaningful outcomes in critical care, the methodological quality of future studies must be improved.
Engineering of Promoter Replacement Cassettes for Fine-Tuning of Gene Expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

ABSTRACT The strong overexpression or complete deletion of a gene gives only limited information about its control over a certain phenotype or pathway. Gene function studies based on these methods are therefore incomplete. To effect facile manipulation of gene expression across a full continuum of possible expression levels, we recently created a library of mutant promoters. Here, we provide the detailed characterization of our yeast promoter collection comprising 11 mutants of the strong constitutive Saccharomyces cerevisiae TEF1 promoter. The activities of the mutant promoters range between about 8% and 120% of the activity of the unmutated TEF1 promoter. The differences in reporter gene expression in the 11 mutants were independent of the carbon source used, and real-time PCR confirmed that these differences were due to varying levels of transcription (i.e., caused by varying promoter strengths). In addition to a CEN/ARS plasmid-based promoter collection, we also created promoter replacement cassettes. They enable genomic integration of our mutant promoter collection upstream of any given yeast gene, allowing detailed genotype-phenotype characterizations. To illustrate the utility of the method, the GPD1 promoter of S. cerevisiae was replaced by five TEF1 promoter mutants of different strengths, which allowed analysis of the impact of glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase activity on the glycerol yield.
Electric and Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles

HIGHLIGHTS  PROCESS AND TECHNOLOGY STATUS – Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) share characteristics that provide a range of benefits such as lower CO2 emissions (potentially zero for pure EVs); no local pollution; competitive operating costs, quiet operation; high acceleration; regenerative braking and other systems that help improve energy efficiency. Both BEVs and PHEVs have batteries that can be charged from grid electricity to provide all the motive power of the vehicle. While BEVs rely only on the battery technology for both powering the vehicle and storing energy, PHEVs have smaller batteries (and therefore reduced range powered by grid electricity) that rely on the use of a conventional Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) for topping up the battery during use and/or as back up power when the battery charge has depleted, thus delivering drive range and refuelling time equivalent to those of conventional vehicles. Volume manufactured BEVs and PHEVs will be available in a few years.
Weighted proportional loss rate differentiation of TCP traffic

Relative service differentiation refers to service models that provide assurances for the relative quality ordering between classes, rather than for the absolute service level in each class. An example is the proportional differentiation model which provides a way to control the quality spacing between classes locally at each hop. In this model, certain forwarding metrics are ratioed proportional to the class differentiation parameters that the network operator chooses. In this paper, we propose a new proportional loss rate differentiation mechanism that integrates relative loss rate differentiation directly into active queue management using random early detection. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley &Sons, Ltd.
Product Unit Learning

Product units provide a method of automatically learning the higher-order input combinations required for the eecient synthesis of Boolean logic functions by neural networks. Product units also have a higher information capacity than sigmoidal networks. However, this activation function has not received much attention in the literature. A possible reason for this is that one encounters some problems when using standard backpropagation to train networks containing these units. This report examines these problems, and evaluates the performance of three training algorithms on networks of this type. Empirical results indicate that the error surface of networks containing product units have more local minima than corresponding networks with summation units. For this reason, a combination of local and global training algorithms were found to provide the most reliable convergence. We then investigate how`hints' can be added to the training algorithm. By extracting a common frequency from the input weights, and training this frequency separately, we show that convergence can be accelerated. A constructive algorithm is then introduced which adds product units to a network as required by the problem. Simulations show that for the same problems this method creates a network with signiicantly less neurons than those constructed by the tiling and upstart algorithms. In order to compare their performance with other transfer functions, product units were implemented as candidate units in the Cascade Correlation (CC) 13] system. Using these candidate units resulted in smaller networks which trained faster than when the any of the standard (three sigmoidal types and one Gaussian) transfer functions were used. This superiority was connrmed when a pool of candidate units of four diierent nonlinear activation functions were used, which have to compete for addition to the network. Extensive simulations showed that for the problem of implementing random Boolean logic functions, product units are always chosen above any of the other transfer functions.
Human Capital Externality, Knowledge Spillover, and Sustainable Economic Growth

We attempt to introduce human capital externality and endogenous laborleisure decision into the analytical framework constructed by Uzawa (1965) and Lucas (1988) simultaneously, so as to explore the internal relationship among endogenous labor supply, human capital externality and sustainable economic growth as well as the choice problem of governmenti¯s education policy. The main conclusions of this thesis are as follows: 1. The sound degree of householdi¯s time endowment allocation and the magnitude of human capital externality will work on the height of the steady statei¯s growth rate on the balanced growth path. 2. The larger the subjective time preference and the stronger the leisure awareness is, the lower the steady statei¯s growth rate of the country will be; the larger the output elasticity and education investment expenditure elasticity of knowledge spillover becomes, the higher the steady statei¯s growth rate of the country will be; and vice versa. 3. The government can choose from carrying out lump-sum output taxation or education subsidy to stimulate the adjustment of private labor supply and human capital investment, such that the decentralized economy could be induced to the sustainable optimal growth state. We employ Chinai¯s province level panel data to analyze empirically, all the main conclusions are supported by the empirical research; meanwhile, we also observed some puzzles which are different from the existing conclusions.
Delineation of the dup5q phenotype by molecular cytogenetic analysis in a patient with dup5q/del 5p (cri du chat).

An infant girl presented with multiple congenital abnormalities and a distinctive mewing cry. Her karyotype was 46,XX,add5p. Chromosome analysis on the mother revealed an apparently balanced pericentric inversion of chromosome 5, with the precise position of the breakpoints not clearly discernable by GTG banding, 46,XX,inv(5)(p15.2/3? q35.1? ). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies using a commercial cri du chat probe (D5S721,D5S23) revealed signals on both the normal and derivative chromosomes. Telomeric probes specific for 5p and 5q were used to confirm the pericentric inversion in the mother and demonstrated the loss of the terminal 5p region and a duplication of the terminal 5q region in the proband. The imbalance on chromosome 5 in the patient was further defined using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH), which revealed a loss of material from 5p15.3 --> pter and a gain of 5q34 --> qter. The presence of the cat-like cry appears to be the only specific feature that can be linked to the loss of 5p material. The remaining dysmorphic features of this infant appear to be due specifically to the duplication of the 5q sequences. The combination of FISH, CGH, and cytogenetics has confirmed that the characteristic cry of the cri du chat syndrome is due to the deletion of the most distal part of the classic del 5p region. More importantly, our investigation has defined the duplication of 5q34 --> qter as a distinct clinical phenotype.
Evidence of Carotenoid in Surgically Removed Lamellar Hole-Associated Epiretinal Proliferation.

Purpose To determine the constituents and origin of the yellow pigment in surgically removed lamellar hole-associated epiretinal proliferation (LHEP) in patients with lamellar macular hole (LMH). Methods This prospective case series comprised nine eyes with LMH in patients aged 41 to 83 years. The presence of LHEP was confirmed by preoperative optical coherence tomography; the distribution of macular pigment was observed by two-wavelength fundus autofluorescence technique before and after surgery. The subjects underwent a 25-gauge vitrectomy, and the surgically removed epiretinal membranous tissue was fixed with formalin. The specimens were examined using resonance Raman microscopy, and paraffin sections were stained with antiglial fibrillary acidic protein. Results Seven cases presented with LHEP, and the presence of yellow pigment was confirmed using an operating microscope. Carotenoid-specific Raman signals with three major Raman peaks could be identified in the specimens with LHEP. These specimens were positive for glial fibrillary acidic protein staining. Using the fundus autofluorescence technique, a central defect in the distribution of the macular pigment was noted in the exact area of the lamellar hole. This type of defect was no longer visible after surgical repair of the lamellar hole. Conclusions The constituents of the yellow pigment in the removed LHEP were carotenoids that typically originate from the macular xanthophyll pigments at the fovea. Since LHEP is reported to be composed of Müller cells, we hypothesize that xanthophyll carotenoids at the fovea are contained in the Müller cells.
Effect of Methotrexate Use and Erythrocyte Methotrexate Polyglutamate on Glycosylated Hemoglobin in Rheumatoid Arthritis

To investigate whether methotrexate (MTX) use, as compared to other therapies, and erythrocyte methotrexate polyglutamate (MTXGlu) concentrations are associated with changes in glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients.