Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Urinary ADAM12 and MMP-9/NGAL Complex Detect the Presence of Gastric Cancer

Although the early diagnosis of gastric cancer provides the opportunity for curative endoscopic resection, comprehensive screening endoscopy would be invasive and expensive. To date, there is a complete absence of clinically useful gastric cancer biomarkers. With the goal of discovering noninvasive biomarkers for the early diagnosis of gastric cancer, we have conducted a case–control study using urine samples from individuals with gastric cancer versus healthy control samples. Of the enrolled 106 patients from September, 2012 to April, 2013, a cohort of 70 patients composed of 35 patients with gastric cancer and 35 age- and sex-matched healthy controls was analyzed. The gastric cancer group was composed of stage IA of 62.9% (22/35). The urinary levels of MMP-9/NGAL complex (uMMP-9/NGAL) and ADAM12 (uADAM12) were significantly higher in the gastric cancer group compared with the healthy control group as determined by monospecific ELISAs (uMMP-9/NGAL: median, 85 pg/mL vs. 0 pg/mL; P = 0.020; uADAM12: median, 3.35 ng/mL vs. 1.44 ng/mL; P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that both uMMP-9/NGAL and uADAM12 were significant, independent diagnostic biomarkers for gastric cancer. Moreover, MMP-9/NGAL activity was significantly elevated as determined by gelatin zymography. The combination of uMMP-9/NGAL with uADAM12 distinguished between control samples and gastric cancer samples with an AUC of 0.825 (P < 0.001) in an ROC analysis. Significantly, immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated a high coexpression of MMP-9 and NGAL (P < 0.001) and high expression of ADAM12 (P < 0.001) in gastric cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues (N = 35). In summary, uMMP-9/NGAL and uADAM12 are potential noninvasive biomarkers for gastric cancer, including early-stage disease. Cancer Prev Res; 8(3); 240–8. ©2015 AACR.
Temporal dynamics of blue and green virtual water trade networks

Global food security increasingly relies on the trade of food commodities. Freshwater resources are essential to agricultural production and are thus embodied in the trade of food commodities, referred to as “virtual water trade. ” Agricultural production predominantly relies on rainwater (i.e., “green water”), though irrigation (i.e., “blue water”) does play an important role. These different sources of water have distinctly different opportunity costs, which may be reflected in the way these resources are traded. Thus, the temporal dynamics of the virtual water trade networks from these distinct water sources require characterization. We find that 42 × 109 m3 blue and 310 × 109 m3 green water was traded in 1986, growing to 78 × 109 m3 blue and 594 × 109 m3 green water traded in 2008. Three nations dominate the export of green water resources: the USA, Argentina, and Brazil. As a country increases its export trade partners it tends to export relatively more blue water. However, as a country increases its import trade partners it does not preferentially import water from a specific source. The amount of virtual water that a country imports by increasing its import trade partners has been decreasing over time, with the exception of the soy trade. Both blue and green virtual water networks are efficient: 119 × 109 m3 blue and 105 × 109 m3 green water were saved in 2008. Importantly, trade has been increasingly saving water over time, due to the intensification of crop trade on more water‐efficient links.
The Earned Income Tax Credit We Thank Robert Moffitt for Guidance, Janet Holtzblatt for Comments and for Teaching Us a Lot about the Eitc over the Years, Dan Feenberg and the Nber for Putting Taxsim on the Web, And

Since its inception in 1975, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) has grown into the largest federally funded means-tested cash assistance program in the United States. In this chapter, we review the political history of the EITC, its rules, and its goals, and we provide a broad set of program statistics on its growth and coverage. We summarize conceptual underpinnings of much of the recent economic research on the EITC and discuss participation in the credit and compliance with its provisions, as well as its effects on labor force participation and hours of work, marriage and fertility, skill formation, and consumption. We note that participation rates of the credit are high, as are rates of credit noncompliance, and that there are theoretical reasons to prefer the EITC to other antipoverty programs if the objective is to encourage work among the poor. We also note that the predicted effects of the EITC are not all pro-work, especially with respect to hours and its labor market incentives for two-earner couples. We summarize the existing empirical research on the behavioral effects of the EITC, with particular emphasis on the effects of the 1986, 1990, and 1993 expansions of the credit on labor force participation and hours of work. The literature provides consistent evidence, generated from a variety of empirical approaches, that the EITC positively affects labor force participation. The literature also finds small, negative effects on hours of work for secondary workers. We conclude the chapter with a discussion of ongoing EITC-related policy debates and highlight what, if any, critical economic issues underlie these debates.
The relationship between demodex and ocular discomfort.

PURPOSE To determine the correlative relationship between the prevalence of Demodex in eyelashes and the severity of ocular discomfort, by investigating the demographic epidemiology associated with Demodex. METHODS One hundred seventy patients underwent epilation of four eyelashes of each eye, and the number of Demodex was counted. The patients answered questionnaires about ocular surface discomfort and underwent ophthalmic examinations, including slit lamp, tear film breakup time (BUT), Schirmer test, and microbial culturing. The correlative relationship between the number of Demodex and these variable data was analyzed. RESULTS Demodex was found in 120 (70%) of the 170 tested patients. Of 1360 eyelashes, 740 (54%) had Demodex. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of Demodex between males and females (P = 0.35). The number of Demodex showed significant positive correlations with increased age, ocular discomfort, and 1/BUT (P < 0.001), but not with the Schirmer scores. The number of Demodex was significantly higher in patients with conjunctival papillary hypertrophy than in those without (P = 0.003). The presence or distribution of bacteria on eyelashes was similar between eyelids with and without Demodex. However, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) was detected more often on eyelids with Demodex, but this difference was not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS There is a strong correlation between the number of Demodex and the severity of ocular discomfort, suggesting that Demodex plays a pathogenic role in the ocular discomfort linked with aging.
Association between minor loading vein architecture and light- and CO2-saturated rates of photosynthetic oxygen evolution among Arabidopsis thaliana ecotypes from different latitudes

Through microscopic analysis of veins and assessment of light- and CO2-saturated rates of photosynthetic oxygen evolution, we investigated the relationship between minor loading vein anatomy and photosynthesis of mature leaves in three ecotypes of Arabidopsis thaliana grown under four different combinations of temperature and photon flux density (PFD). All three ecotypes exhibited greater numbers and cross-sectional area of phloem cells as well as higher photosynthesis rates in response to higher PFD and especially lower temperature. The Swedish ecotype exhibited the strongest response to these conditions, the Italian ecotype the weakest response, and the Col-0 ecotype exhibited an intermediate response. Among all three ecotypes, strong linear relationships were found between light- and CO2-saturated rates of photosynthetic oxygen evolution and the number and area of either sieve elements or of companion and phloem parenchyma cells in foliar minor loading veins, with the Swedish ecotype showing the highest number of cells in minor loading veins (and largest minor veins) coupled with unprecedented high rates of photosynthesis. Linear, albeit less significant, relationships were also observed between number and cross-sectional area of tracheids per minor loading vein versus light- and CO2-saturated rates of photosynthetic oxygen evolution. We suggest that sugar distribution infrastructure in the phloem is co-regulated with other features that set the upper limit for photosynthesis. The apparent genetic differences among Arabidopsis ecotypes should allow for future identification of the gene(s) involved in augmenting sugar-loading and -transporting phloem cells and maximal rates of photosynthesis.
Predicting Suspended Solids in a Wastewater Treatment Plant by means Neural Networks

We present an analytical study about the prediction of Suspended Solids in the effluent of a Wastewater Treatment Plant by means Neural Networks. The inputs variables are constituted by ten state variables and three operational parameters. We have implemented two kind of architectures depending on if we consider only one output variable or five variables that describe the water quality at the effluent of a WWTP: suspended solids, biochemical organic matter, chemical organic matter, total Kjeldhal nitrogen and total nitrogen. The set of data used was obtained by simulation with the European Co-operation Scientific and Technical Research simulation benchmark. Two known learning techniques have been implemented: a classical adaptative gradient which uses back-propagated gradient information to guide an iterative line search algorithm and a Kalman filter which is used to obtain the best estimate of the weights based on the stream of training data. To try to improve performance and generalization we have implemented two methodologies of variable selection based on genetic algorithms and fuzzy systems. The results show that Neural Networks are a powerful tool for predicting suspended solids even with great turbulence caused for instance by a heavy period of rain because errors do not attaint a significant value. Key–Words: Wastewater Treatment Plant, Suspended Solids, Neural Networks, Adaptative Gradient, Kalman Filter, Genetic Algorithms, Fuzzy Systems
The role of FGF signaling in guiding coordinate movement of cell groups

Cell migration influences cell-cell interactions to drive cell differentiation and organogenesis. To support proper development, cell migration must be regulated both temporally and spatially. Mesoderm cell migration in the Drosophila embryo serves as an excellent model system to study how cell migration is controlled and influences organogenesis. First, mesoderm spreading transforms the embryo into a multilayered form during gastrulation and, subsequently, cells originating from the caudal visceral mesoderm (CVM) migrate along the entire length of the gut. Here we review our studies, which have focused on the role of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling, and compare and contrast these two different cell migration processes: mesoderm spreading and CVM migration. In both cases, FGF acts as a chemoattractant to guide cells’ directional movement but is likely not the only signal that serves this role. Furthermore, FGF likely modulates cell adhesion properties since FGF mutant phenotypes share similarities with those of cell adhesion molecules. Our working hypothesis is that levels of FGF signaling differentially influence cells’ response to result in either directional movement or changes in adhesive properties.
Privacy-preserving matchmaking For mobile social networking secure against malicious users

The success of online social networking and of mobile phone services has resulted in increased attention to mobile social networking. Matchmaking is a key component of mobile social networking. It notifies users of nearby people who fulfil some criteria, such as having shared interests, and who are therefore good candidates for being added to a user's social network. Unfortunately, the existing matchmaking approaches are troublesome from a privacy point of view. One approach has users' smartphones broadcast their owners' personal information to nearby devices. This approach reveals more personal information than necessary. The other approach requires a trusted server that participates in each matchmaking operation. Namely, the server knows the interests and current location of each user and performs matchmaking based on this information. This approach allows the server to track users. This paper proposes a privacy-preserving matchmaking protocol for mobile social networking that lets a potentially malicious user learn only the interests (or some other traits) that he has in common with a nearby user, but no other interests. In addition, the protocol is distributed and does not require a trusted server that can track users or that needs to be involved in each matchmaking operation. We present an implementation and evaluation of our protocol on Nexus One smartphones and demonstrate that the protocol is practical.
Evaluation of Derivative Free Kalman Filter and Fusion in Non-Linear Estimation

In recent literature a derivative free Kalman filter (DFKF) a method that propagates mean and covariance using nonlinear transformation is frequently used. In this paper i) factorized version of EKF (UD extended Kalman filter or UDEKF) and ii) DFKF are studied and evaluated using various sets of simulated data of the non-linear systems. Sensitivity study of DFKF with respect to tuning parameters used in creation of sigma points and the associated weights is carried out. DFKF is more accurate and easier to implement. A data fusion scheme is evolved and presented based on DFKF for similar sensors. Its performance is evaluated. It is observed that fusion enhances the estimation accuracy of the state of non-linear plant. Application of DFKF to non-linear parameter estimation problem is also demonstrated
Deflation and economic growth

fessor of finance (1998–2000) at Walsh College. The author wishes to thank Walsh Finance Chair Harry C. Veryser, John P. Cochran, Jack McHugh, and an anonymous referee for their comments. 1A pioneering work on deflation and economic growth in the late nineteenth century is Shields (1977). A recent example is Bordo, Lane, and Redish (2004) who conclude deflation in the period “was primarily good. ” DEFLATION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH
A Novel Method for Simultaneous Anterograde and Retrograde Labeling of Spinal Cord Motor Tracts in the Same Animal

Examination of repaired spinal cord tracts has usually required separate groups of animals for anterograde and retrograde tracing owing to the incompatibility of techniques such as tissue fixation. However, anterograde and retrograde labeling of different animals subjected to the same repair may not allow accurate examination of that repair strategy because widely variable results can occur in animals subjected to the same strategy. We have developed a reliable method of labeling spinal cord motor tracts bidirectionally in the same animal using DiI, a lipophilic dye, to anterogradely label the corticospinal tract and Fluoro-Gold (FG) to retrogradely label cortical and brainstem neurons of several spinal cord motor tracts in normal and injured adult rats. Other tracer combinations (lipophilic dyes or fluorescent dextrans) were also investigated but were less effective. We also developed methods to minimize autofluorescence with the DiI/FG technique, and found that the DiI/FG technique is compatible with decalcification and immunohistochemistry for several markers relevant for studies of spinal cord regeneration. Thus, the use of anterograde DiI and retrograde FG is a novel technique for bidirectional labeling of the motor tracts of the adult spinal cord with fluorescent tracers and should be useful for demonstrating neurite regeneration in studies of spinal cord repair. (J Histochem Cytochem 49:1111–1122, 2001)
Ancient Vicariance or Recent Long‐Distance Dispersal? Inferences about Phylogeny and South American–African Disjunctions in Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae Based on ndhF Sequence Data

Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae each have a center of diversity in South America and a single species native to a sandstone area in west Africa that abutted the Guayana Shield in northern South America before the Atlantic rifted. They thus provide ideal material for examining the potential role of vicariance versus long‐distance dispersal in creating amphiatlantic disjunctions. Analyses based on ndhF sequence variation indicate that Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae are each monophyletic and underwent crown radiation around 41 and 23 Ma, respectively. Both exhibit clocklike sequence evolution, with bromeliads evolving roughly one‐third more slowly than rapateads. Among rapateads, the divergence of west African Maschalocephalus dinklagei from its closest South American relatives implies that Maschalocephalus resulted via long‐distance dispersal 7 Ma, not ancient continental drift; only its sandstone habitat is vicariant. Rapateads arose first at low elevations in the Guayana Shield; the earliest divergent genera are widespread along riverine corridors there and, to a lesser extent, in Amazonia and the Brazilian Shield. Speciation at small spatial scales accelerated 15 Ma with the invasion of high‐elevation, insular habitats atop tepuis. Among bromeliads, Pitcairnia feliciana diverges little from its congeners and appears to be the product of long‐distance dispersal ca. 12 Ma. Brocchinia/Ayensua and then Lindmania are sister to all other bromeliads, indicating that the Guayana Shield was also the cradle of the bromeliads. Three lineages form an unresolved trichotomy representing all other bromeliads: (1) Till andsioideae, (2) Hechtia, and (3) a large clade including remaining genera of Pitcairnioideae and all Bromelioideae. The last includes a clade of pitcairnioid genera endemic to the Guayana and Brazilian Shields; a xeric group (Abromeitiella/Deuterocohnia/Dyckia/Encholirium/Fosterella) from southern South America and the southern Andes, sister to Pitcairnia; and Andean Puya, sister to Bromelioideae, with many of the latter native to the Brazilian Shield. Both Rapateaceae and Bromeliaceae appear to have arisen at low elevations in the Guayana Shield, experienced accelerated speciation after invading dissected mountainous terrain, and undergone long‐distance dispersal to west Africa recently. Bromeliad acquisition of key adaptations to drought (e.g., CAM photosynthesis, tank habit, tillandsioid leaf trichomes) 17 Ma appears to have coincided with and help cause the centripetal invasion of drier, more seasonal regions beyond the Guayana Shield, resulting in a wider familial range and dominance of the epiphytic adaptive zone. Geology, past and present climate, and proximity to South America help account for both families occurring in nearly the same area of Africa. We present a new classification for Rapateaceae, including a new tribe Stegolepideae, a new subfamily Monotremoideae, and revisions to tribe Saxofridericieae and subfamily Rapateoideae.
Learning context-based feature descriptors for object tracking

A major problem with previous object tracking approaches is adapting object representations depending on scene context to account for changes in illumination, viewpoint changes, etc. To adapt our previous approach to deal with background changes, here we first derive some clusters from a training sequence and the corresponding object representations for those clusters. Next, for each frame of a separate test sequence, its nearest background cluster is determined and then the corresponding descriptor of that cluster is used for object representation in this frame. Experiments show that the proposed approach tracks objects and persons in natural scenes more effectively.
Professional Development for Primary School Teachers in Madagascar : Around Teachers' Network (SPECIAL ISSUE : Study Results of the Africa-Asia University Dialogue for Educational Development Network Second Phase)

In Madagascar EFA Plan of 2007, primary school teacher pre-service training was abandoned; it was replaced by in-service training. In addition to the inservice training implemented twenty years ago called “Pedagogical days” (JP), the “Teachers’ Networks” were created to cater for the profession development of neophyte teachers who have been massively recruited by parents’ associations (FRAM), but not excluding experienced teachers. A study was conducted to analyze the teachers’ network program, and to shed light on the contributions of the teachers’ network as a collaborative learning device. Questionnaires, supplemented by interviews, were submitted to regional education officials and key actors involved directly in schools. Although “collaboration” is not really apparent in JP as there is neither voluntary work per se, nor symmetry criteria, “collaborative learning” can be observed in Teachers’ Networks and is appreciated by FRAM teachers. In fact, the findings reveal significant complementarities between JP and “Teachers’ Networks”.
CREATIVITY AND CAPACITY FOR REPRESENTATION: WHY ARE HUMANS SO CREATIVE?

Creativity depends on using our mental processes to create novelty. However fornovelty to be creative it must be effective. either in some practical sense. or in that it establishes a coherent set, where no relations. or a less coherent set of relations. existed before. Creativity may be defined. therefore. as the creation of effective novelty through the operation of our mental processes. It is a truism that human beings are the most creative systems we know. They are more creative than any machines invented so far. They are also more creative than other animals. and they become more creative as they develop. This is not to say that children are not creative. but the power of creative processes generally increases with development. Our problem then is to ask what it is about adult humans that confers on them such unique creative power.
A knowledge-poor approach to chemical-disease relation extraction

The article describes a knowledge-poor approach to the task of extracting Chemical-Disease Relations from PubMed abstracts. A first version of the approach was applied during the participation in the BioCreative V track 3, both in Disease Named Entity Recognition and Normalization (DNER) and in Chemical-induced diseases (CID) relation extraction. For both tasks, we have adopted a general-purpose approach based on machine learning techniques integrated with a limited number of domain-specific knowledge resources and using freely available tools for preprocessing data. Crucially, the system only uses the data sets provided by the organizers. The aim is to design an easily portable approach with a limited need of domain-specific knowledge resources. In the participation in the BioCreative V task, we ranked 5 out of 16 in DNER, and 7 out of 18 in CID. In this article, we present our follow-up study in particular on CID by performing further experiments, extending our approach and improving the performance.
Characteristic Point Match Algorithm Based on the SURF in Binocular Stereo Vision

One of the main components of the computer vision is 3D reconstruction. Extracts and the match based on two-dimensional picture characteristic point is the 3D reconstruction technology core. Taking binocular stereoscopic vision theory as a foundation, through extracts the characteristics of SURF based on the multi-scale analysis, this feature has specific scale reproducibility, put the epipolar constraints and disparity constraints as conditions judgement to specific screening, it is greatly reduced the search range. The experiment use the matching method for three different actual scenes, the results shows that the method can enhance the image matching speed and precision, and can get more precise dense parallax, used for reconstruction complete scene.