Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A hybrid model for Buck converter operating in continuous and discontinuous conduction modes

A hybrid modeling technique in CCM (Continuous Conduction Mode) and equally valid in DCM (Discontinuous Conduction Mode) is proposed for the step-down Buck converter. An improved ν-resolution model is obtained which easily allows the deduction of the equivalent PWA (Piecewise Affine) model that is adequate for predictive control design. Simulation results of the open-loop model are presented, proving the prospects of this approach.
Risk of lymphoproliferative disorders after bone marrow transplantation: a multi-institutional study.

We evaluated 18,014 patients who underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) at 235 centers worldwide to examine the incidence of and risk factors for posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLD). PTLD developed in 78 recipients, with 64 cases occurring less than 1 year after transplantation. The cumulative incidence of PTLD was 1.0% +/- 0.3% at 10 years. Incidence was highest 1 to 5 months posttransplant (120 cases/10,000 patients/yr) followed by a steep decline to less than 5/10,000/yr among >/=1-year survivors. In multivariate analyses, risk of early-onset PTLD (<1 year) was strongly associated (P <.0001) with unrelated or human leukocyte antigen (HLA) mismatched related donor (relative risk [RR] = 4.1), T-cell depletion of donor marrow (RR = 12.7), and use of antithymocyte globulin (RR = 6.4) or anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody (RR = 43.2) for prophylaxis or treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). There was a weaker association with the occurrence of acute GVHD grades II to IV (RR = 1.9, P =.02) and with conditioning regimens that included radiation (RR = 2.9, P =.02). Methods of T-cell depletion that selectively targeted T cells or T plus natural killer (NK) cells were associated with markedly higher risks of PTLD than methods that removed both T and B cells, such as the CAMPATH-1 monoclonal antibody or elutriation (P =.009). The only risk factor identified for late-onset PTLD was extensive chronic GVHD (RR = 4.0, P =.01). Rates of PTLD among patients with 2 or >/=3 major risk factors were 8.0% +/- 2.9% and 22% +/- 17.9%, respectively. We conclude that factors associated with altered immunity and T-cell regulatory mechanisms are predictors of both early- and late-onset PTLD.
Orchestrating Multi-level Knowledge Integration in an Organization: A Social-Cognitive Perspective

This paper attempts to explore the relationship between organizational knowledge integration and knowledge governance from a view of social-cognitive model of behavior, a perspective of governing the multi-level knowledge integration. Conceptually, based on the assumption that an organization serves as a knowledge repository and knowledge creation is the key issue to enhance and enrich this knowledge base, we assert that the nature of an organizational knowledge creation lies in the organization’s ability of integrating knowledge resided in multi levels. From the view of social-cognitive model of behavior, we assert that arranging knowledge governance mechanisms during the process of knowledge integration will enhance the organization’s ability of integrating the multi-level knowledge. Theoretically, by integrating the essence of relational-embeddedness theory and cognition school, the dual roles of knowledge governance and the content of knowledge governance mechanisms turn illuminated. A conceptual model on the relationship between knowledge governance and organizational knowledge integration is proposed through arguments drawn from this social-cognitive perspective.
Addressing Privacy in Traditional and Cloud-Based Systems

A major challenge in the field of software engineering is to make users trust the software that they use in their everyday activities for professional or recreational reasons. Amid the main criteria that formulate users’ trust is the way that that their privacy is protected. Indeed, privacy violation is an issue of great importance for active online users that daily accomplish several transactions that may convey personal data, sensitive personal data, employee data, credit card data and so on. In addition, the appearance of cloud computing has elevated the number of personally identifiable information that users provide in order to gain access to various services, further raising user concerns as to how and to what extend information about them is communicated to others. The aim of this work is to elevate the modern practices for ensuring privacy during software systems design. To this end, the basic privacy requirements that should be considered during system analysis are introduced. Additionally, a number of well-known methods that have been introduced in the research area of requirements engineering which aim on eliciting and modeling privacy requirements during system design are introduced and critically analyzed. The work completes with a discussion of the additional security and privacy concepts that should be considered in the context of cloud-based information systems and how these affect current research.
Genomic imprinting: the influence of differential methylation in the two sexes

Genomic imprinting is an epigenetic form of gene regulation that entails differential sex-specific methylation of the alleles of a gene. Such methylation distinguishes male and female genomes and is inherited in a parent-of-origin-specific manner. Sex-specific imprints are established in the germline during gametogenesis and remain intact throughout embryonic and postnatal development. Reprogramming of methylation patterns in gametes is essential to sex-specific inheritance of imprinted genes and assures exclusive harboring of female- and male-specific imprinted patterns in maternal and paternal gametes, respectively. The consequences of genomic imprinting are manifested by its loss, which can lead to a variety of disorders, the most prominent ones being Prader–Willi and Angelman syndromes. Although a great deal of research has been carried out to examine various imprinting mechanisms, little is known about the establishment and regulation of imprinted genes. In the present paper, we describe several epigenetic mechanisms that have relevance in imprinting and that may have impact on embryonic development, fetal growth and animal cloning.
QUALITY OF LIFE OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS WITH COLOSTOMY AND ILEOSTOMY, WITH REFERENCE TO PSYCHOSOCIAL PROBLEMS AND SURGICAL COMPLICATIONS

1RMO-cum-Clinical Tutor, Department of General Surgery, College of Medicine and Sagore Dutta Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. ABSTRACT BACKGROUND Stoma surgery is a lifesaving procedure performed for the management of several benign and malignant gastrointestinal problems. Restricted physical and social activities with disturbed sexual relationships are common causes of a poor quality of life (QOL) in this group of patients. This study aims to accurately assess the QOL of patients undergoing stoma surgery using a QOL assessment tool.
Cartogram representation of the batch-SOM magnification factor

Model interpretability is a problem of knowledge extraction from the patterns found in raw data. One key source of knowledge is information visualization, which can help us to gain insights into a problem through graphical representations and metaphors. Nonlinear dimensionality reduction techniques can provide flexible visual insight, but the locally varying representation distortion they produce makes interpretation far from intuitive. In this paper, we define a cartogram method, based on techniques of geographic representation, that allows reintroducing this distortion, measured as a magnification factor, in the visual maps of the batch-SOM model. It does so while preserving the topological continuity of the representation.
Toxicological properties of a major release of untreated wastewaters into the St. Lawrence River to quagga mussels Dreissena bugensis

Before maintenance work could be carried out on the sewage system in the city of Montreal (Quebec, Canada), 5 billion litres of untreated wastewater had to be released directly into the St. Lawrence River over a five-day period in November 2015. The purpose of this study was to examine the toxicity of untreated wastewaters on quagga mussels. Water samples were collected at various points from the most densely populated downtown area and downstream points: 0 km, 5 km, 12 km, 16 km and 19 km. A river water sample was collected at the opposite shore as a reference site, and aquarium (dechlorinated tap) water was used for controls. Mussels were exposed for four days at 15 oC to these wastewaters, then examined for biotransformation (CYP1A1 and glutathione S-transferase activities), energy expenses (mitochondria activity and triglycerides), estrogenicity (alkali-labile phosphates) and damage (lipid peroxidation and DNA strand breaks). The data revealed that exposure to the released wastewaters produced changes to all the above biomarkers. CYP1A1 activity, DNA damage and triglyceride levels were the most responsive biomarkers for optimal site classification as determined by discriminant function analysis. CYP1A1 activity, lipid peroxidation and alkali-labile phosphate levels were significantly correlated with distance from downtown, suggesting that population density influenced more directly those effects. In conclusion, exposure to untreated wastewaters could lead to adverse toxic effects in quagga mussels. Mussels could be at risk from the release of untreated wastewaters events given that high-intensity precipitation could also result in the release of untreated wastewaters in these times of climate change.
Deep sequencing identifies circulating mouse miRNAs that are functionally implicated in manifestations of aging and responsive to calorie restriction

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) function to modulate gene expression, and through this property they regulate a broad spectrum of cellular processes. They can circulate in blood and thereby mediate cell-to-cell communication. Aging involves changes in many cellular processes that are potentially regulated by miRNAs, and some evidence has implicated circulating miRNAs in the aging process. In order to initiate a comprehensive assessment of the role of circulating miRNAs in aging, we have used deep sequencing to characterize circulating miRNAs in the serum of young mice, old mice, and old mice maintained on calorie restriction (CR). Deep sequencing identifies a set of novel miRNAs, and also accurately measures all known miRNAs present in serum. This analysis demonstrates that the levels of many miRNAs circulating in the mouse are increased with age, and that the increases can be antagonized by CR. The genes targeted by this set of age-modulated miRNAs are predicted to regulate biological processes directly relevant to the manifestations of aging including metabolic changes, and the miRNAs themselves have been linked to diseases associated with old age. This finding implicates circulating miRNAs in the aging process, raising questions about their tissues of origin, their cellular targets, and their functional role in metabolic changes that occur with aging.
Cassandra: distributed access control policies with tunable expressiveness

We study the specification of access control policy in large-scale distributed systems. Our work on real-world policies has shown that standard policy idioms such as role hierarchy or role delegation occur in practice in many subtle variants. A policy specification language should therefore be able to express this variety of features smoothly, rather than add them as specific features in an ad hoc way, as is the case in many existing languages. We present Cassandra, a role-based trust management system with an elegant and readable policy specification language based on Datalog with constraints. The expressiveness (and computational complexity) of the language can be adjusted by choosing an appropriate constraint domain. With just five special predicates, we can easily express a wide range of policies including role hierarchy, role delegation, separation of duties, cascading revocation, automatic credential discovery and trust negotiation. Cassandra has a formal semantics for query evaluation and for the access control enforcement engine. We use a goal-oriented distributed policy evaluation algorithm that is efficient and guarantees termination. Initial performance results for our prototype implementation have been promising.
Fuzzy clustering of WTO members position in the Doha Agricultural Negotiation.

In this paper a fuzzy clustering approach is exploited in order to identifies potential alliances among the members of the World Trade Organization within the round of agricultural negotiations following the November 2001 Ministerial Conference in Doha. Each country is described by a vector of ratings that summarizes its position with respect to several issues ranging from Tariffs to Labour Standard and Environmental concerns. The data have been taken from a study conducted in the Danish Research Institute of Food Economics, where the same objective has been pursued by a two-stage clustering strategy consisting of a hierarchical classification followed by a k-means method. The main objective of this research is to highlight how a fuzzy approach could better grasp the blurry contours that inevitably characterize clusters deriving from such complex issues and, at the same time, could more naturally point out the specific roles played by the different members in each cluster. The whole analysis has been carried out by means of the R language and the R-code which has been written to implement the fuzzy clustering strategy is provided. Dario Bruzzese , University of Naples ‘Federico II’. E-mail: dbruzzes@unina.it. ∗Financial support received by the Italian Ministry for University and Scientific and Technological Research is gratefully acknowledged (Research Program of National Scientific Relevance "Doha Development Agenda Research Network"; Research Unit: Dipartimento di Istituzioni Economiche e Finanziarie, Universita’ di Macerata).
Rare variants in SOS2 and LZTR1 are associated with Noonan syndrome

Background Noonan syndrome is an autosomal dominant, multisystemic disorder caused by dysregulation of the RAS/mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway. Heterozygous, pathogenic variants in 11 known genes account for approximately 80% of cases. The identification of novel genes associated with Noonan syndrome has become increasingly challenging, since they might be responsible for very small fractions of the cases. Methods A cohort of 50 Brazilian probands negative for pathogenic variants in the known genes associated with Noonan syndrome was tested through whole-exome sequencing along with the relatives in the familial cases. Families from the USA and Poland with mutations in the newly identified genes were included subsequently. Results We identified rare, segregating or de novo missense variants in SOS2 and LZTR1 in 4% and 8%, respectively, of the 50 Brazilian probands. SOS2 and LZTR1 variants were also found to segregate in one American and one Polish family. Notably, SOS2 variants were identified in patients with marked ectodermal involvement, similar to patients with SOS1 mutations. Conclusions We identified two novel genes, SOS2 and LZTR1, associated with Noonan syndrome, thereby expanding the molecular spectrum of RASopathies. Mutations in these genes are responsible for approximately 3% of all patients with Noonan syndrome. While SOS2 is a natural candidate, because of its homology with SOS1, the functional role of LZTR1 in the RAS/MAPK pathway is not known, and it could not have been identified without the large pedigrees. Additional functional studies are needed to elucidate the role of LZTR1 in RAS/MAPK signalling and in the pathogenesis of Noonan syndrome.
Protein Structure Recognition by Means of Sequential Pattern Mining

In this work, an innovative classification algorithmic technique through sequential pattern mining was developed to predict the secondary structure of proteins. A basic algorithm was selected for the extraction of the sequential patterns and another algorithm was developed which employs these patterns for protein structure prediction. In the matter of predicting protein structures and scoring sequential patterns, several methodologies has been implemented that theoretically and experimentally overcome the disadvantages of existing algorithms.
Targeting Uncoupling Protein-2 Improves Islet Graft Function

Preserving and enhancing the primary function of transplanted islets is not only crucial for improving the outcome of the islet transplantation, but is also important for reducing the islet mass required to achieve insulin independence. Uncoupling protein 2 (UCP2) is a member of the uncoupling protein family, which is localized to the inner mitochondrial membrane and negatively regulates insulin secretion in the pancreatic β-cells. In this study, we assessed the importance of UCP2 in improving islet graft primary function by using UCP2 gene-knockout (UCP2-KO) mice in a syngeneic islet transplantation model. Islets were isolated from UCP2-KO or wild-type (WT) C57BL/6J mice. The effects of deficiency of UCP2 on islet transplantation and islet function were determined. Two hundred islets from UCP2-KO, but not from WT, donors were capable of completely restoring normoglycemia in 1 week in all syngeneic diabetic recipients. Islets harvested from UCP2-KO mice secreted onefold more insulin in GSIS assay than that from WT mice, and maintained normal GSIS after 72-h exposure to high glucose challenge. In addition, UCP2-KO islets expressed twohold higher Bcl-2 mRNA than that from WT islets, and were resistant to high glucose and proinflammatory cytokine induced death. Our study explored a potential mechanism that may explain the benefit of UCP2-KO islets in islet transplantation. Targeting UCP2 may provide a novel strategy to improve primary function of transplanted islets and reduce the number of islets required in transplantation.
Controller synthesis for positive 2D systems described by the Roesser model

This paper deals with the stability synthesis for a class of 2D linear systems described by the Roesser model. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for stability, as well as stabilization for linear positive Roesser systems. This kind of systems have the property that the states take nonnegative values whenever the initial boundaries are non-negative. The synthesis of state-feedback controllers, including the requirement of positivity of the controllers and the extension of the results to uncertain plant are solved in terms of linear programming. A numerical example is included to illustrate the proposed approach.
Interleukin 6 and interleukin 8 as potential biomarkers for oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

BACKGROUND Since morbidity and mortality rates due to oral cavity and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) have improved little in the past 30 years, early detection or prevention of this disease is likely to be most effective. Using laser-capture microdissection, we have identified the expression of 2 cellular genes that are uniquely associated with OSCC: interleukin (IL) 6 and IL-8. These cytokines may contribute to the pathogenesis of this disease, and have been linked with increased tumor growth and metastasis. OBJECTIVES To investigate whether IL-6 and/or IL-8 could serve as informative biomarkers for OSCC in saliva and/or serum and to determine if there is a role for saliva as a diagnostic medium for OSCC. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients with newly diagnosed T1 or T2 oral cavity or oropharyngeal histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma were recruited for the study. Age and sex-matched disease-free subjects were used as controls. Using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, we respectively assessed the expression of IL-6 and IL-8 in serum (controls, n = 32; patients with OSCC, n = 19) and saliva (controls, n = 32; patients with OSCC, n = 32) at the messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Specificity and sensitivity of these biomarkers for OSCC and their predictive value. RESULTS Interleukin 8 was detected at higher concentrations in saliva (P<.01) and IL-6 was detected at higher concentrations in serum of patients with OSCC (P<.01). We confirmed these results at both the mRNA and the protein levels, and the results were concordant. The concentration of IL-8 in saliva and IL-6 in serum did not appear to be associated with sex, age, or alcohol or tobacco use (P>.75). Using statistical analysis, we were able to determine the threshold value, sensitivity, and specificity of each biomarker, as well as a combination of biomarkers, for detecting OSCC. CONCLUSIONS Our findings indicate that IL-8 in saliva and IL-6 in serum hold promise as biomarkers for OSCC. A saliva-based test could be a cost-effective adjunctive tool in the diagnosis and follow-up of patients with OSCC.
Electrophysiological actions of felbamate on rat striatal neurones

1 We have investigated the effects of the anticonvulsant drug, felbamate (FBM), on striatal neurones, recorded in vitro by using both intracellular and extracellular conventional recordings in slices and whole‐cell recordings in acutely isolated neurones. 2 FBM, at therapeutically relevant concentrations (30–300 μM) showed multiple mechanisms of action. Like other antiepileptic drugs, FBM (30–300 μM) showed a direct inhibitory action on current‐evoked firing discharge of striatal neurones. A patch‐clamp analysis of this effect revealed a dose‐related reduction of voltage‐dependent sodium (Na+) currents (10–100 μM), with a half inhibition dose (IC50) value of 28 μM. 3 We also tested whether FBM affected corticostriatal glutamatergic transmission. In control medium (1.2 mM external magnesium), both extracellularly recorded field potentials and intracellularly recorded excitatory postsynaptic potentials (e.p.s.ps) evoked by cortical stimulation were not affected by bath application of 30–300 μM FBM. 4 When magnesium was removed from the perfusing solution, a procedure which reveals a N‐methyl‐D‐aspartate (NMDA)‐mediated component in the corticostriatal synaptic potential, FBM (30–300 μm) produced a dose‐dependent reduction of the amplitude of both the field potential and the e.p.s.p. 5 FBM reduced the inward currents produced either by bath or by focal applications of 30 μM NMDA, a finding consistent with the hypothesis that the observed reduction of the NMDA‐mediated component of the synaptic potentials may be caused at postsynaptic level. 6 The reduction of the NMDA‐mediated component of the synaptic transmission by FBM and its depressant effect on the voltage‐dependent Na+ channels, may account for the antiepileptic action of this drug. Moreover, the pharmacological properties of FBM might render this drug interesting as a neuroprotectant agent.