Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acute Myeloid Leukemia with the t(8;21) Translocation: Clinical Consequences and Biological Implications

The t(8;21) abnormality occurs in a minority of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. The translocation results in an in-frame fusion of two genes, resulting in a fusion protein of one N-terminal domain from the AML1 gene and four C-terminal domains from the ETO gene. This protein has multiple effects on the regulation of the proliferation, the differentiation, and the viability of leukemic cells. The translocation can be detected as the only genetic abnormality or as part of more complex abnormalities. If t(8;21) is detected in a patient with bone marrow pathology, the diagnosis AML can be made based on this abnormality alone. t(8;21) is usually associated with a good prognosis. Whether the detection of the fusion gene can be used for evaluation of minimal residual disease and risk of leukemia relapse remains to be clarified. To conclude, detection of t(8;21) is essential for optimal handling of these patients as it has both diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic implications.
Success of E-Travel Services among Saudi Arabian Travelers

In the past decade, information and communication technologies (ICT) have led to an increasing impact on tourism industry. This industry is ranked now as the prime sector in e-commerce, where the Internet has changed the traditional way of providing travel services by developing etravel services and enabling consumers to interact directly with tourism providers. Nowadays, more travelers prefer to make their travel plans and use travel services via the Internet due to its' convenience, low prices, simplicity of looking for information as well as its ability to save time. This research intends to investigate the level of success of online travel services among Saudi Arabian travelers.
Predictive Modeling for Diagnostic Tests with High Specificity, but Low Sensitivity: A Study of the Glycerol Test in Patients with Suspected Menière’s Disease

A high specificity does not ensure that the expected benefit of a diagnostic test outweighs its cost. Problems arise, in particular, when the investigation is expensive, the prevalence of a positive test result is relatively small for the candidate patients, and the sensitivity of the test is low so that the information provided by a negative result is virtually negligible. The consequence may be that a potentially useful test does not gain broader acceptance. Here we show how predictive modeling can help to identify patients for whom the ratio of expected benefit and cost reaches an acceptable level so that testing these patients is reasonable even though testing all patients might be considered wasteful. Our application example is based on a retrospective study of the glycerol test, which is used to corroborate a suspected diagnosis of Menière’s disease. Using the pretest hearing thresholds at up to 10 frequencies, predictions were made by K-nearest neighbor classification or logistic regression. Both methods estimate, based on results from previous patients, the posterior probability that performing the considered test in a new patient will have a positive outcome. The quality of the prediction was evaluated using leave-one-out cross-validation, making various assumptions about the costs and benefits of testing. With reference to all 356 cases, the probability of a positive test result was almost 0.4. For subpopulations selected by K-nearest neighbor classification, which was clearly superior to logistic regression, this probability could be increased up to about 0.6. Thus, the odds of a positive test result were more than doubled.
PREDICTING STOCK PRICE PERFORMANCE: A NEURAL NETWORK APPROACH

The prediction of stock price performance involves the interaction of many variables, making prediction very difficult and complex. Many analysts and investors use financial statement data to assist in projecting future stock price trends. The purpose of this paper is to apply the neural Network Approach to predict stock price performance by using Colombo Stock Exchange data in the period of 1993 January to 2005 June. This consists of 12 years data for the analysis. The sample is 2552 daily stock prices in seven companies which have been listed in Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE). The data used in this study were gathered from Daily Price list published by CSE. This source provides company related data and market performance indicators. The input for the network was a list of nine variables. Output variable is price performance of seven companies separately. The three layered network correctly classified 85 percent of the mean training data and appropriately predicted 90.0 percent of the mean testing data. Keywords: Artificial Neural Networks, Back-Propagation, Topology, Root Mean Square Errors For full paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac. lk
Ece 421/599 Group Presentation Solar Energy

With the growing concerns of carbon emissions and the Green House Effect, renewable energy is key to the survival of the world. Renewable energy takes many different forms. Nuclear energy has been a good gateway to limit carbon emissions, but with the nuclear waste that is produced by the reactor nuclear energy is not the answer to the world’s energy problems. Renewable energy includes solar energy, tidal power, and wind power just to name a few. This document will provide insight on Solar Energy.
Shaken, not stirred: Defining and connecting indicators for the measurement and valuation of intangibles

The necessity and importance of measuring intangibles has become increasingly accepted in the business, financial and academic communities as a means for a better understanding of the value creation processes in private, public and not‐for‐profit enterprises. Intangible indicators are seen as idiosyncratic, unique to each enterprise and not standardised. Interpretation, dissemination and further research suffer from the lack of definition and measurement standards. This paper examines guidelines and suggestions for measurement instruments and discusses their limits. A framework for classifying intangibles and indicators through the utilisation of evaluation experience is derived in order to support the movement towards global agreement on terms, definitions, standards and measures. Further research is discussed concerning quality standards for measurement systems.
National Distances, International Experience, and Venture Capital Investment Performance

This study examines how the performance of cross-border venture capital investments is affected by national institutional and cultural distances between the environments of venture capitalists (VCs) and investee ventures. We propose that institutional and cultural distances will decrease VCs’ effectiveness in conducting venture capital activities and negatively affect investment performance in terms of exit success, and obtain supportive evidence while controlling for geographic distance. We further analyze how VCs can use their international experience to mitigate the negative consequences of national distances. We find that while broad international experience in diverse countries attenuates the deleterious effects of institutional distance in a significant way, it does not have a similar impact in attenuating the negative effects of cultural distance.
Abnormal Localization of Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase 2 to the Endosomal-Lysosomal Compartment in Lewy Body Disease

Missense mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene are the most common causes of both familial and sporadic forms of Parkinson disease and are also associated with diverse pathological alterations. The mechanisms whereby LRRK2 mutations cause these pathological phenotypes are unknown. We used immunohistochemistry with 3 distinct anti-LRRK2 antibodies to characterize the expression of LRRK2 in the brains of 21 subjects with various neurodegenerative disorders and 7 controls. The immunoreactivity of LRRK2 was localized in a subset of brainstem-type Lewy bodies (LBs) but not in cortical-type LBs, tau-positive inclusions, or TAR-DNA-binding protein-43-positive inclusions. The immunoreactivity of LRRK2 frequently appeared as enlarged granules or vacuoles within neurons of affected brain regions, including the substantia nigra, amygdala, and entorhinal cortex in patients with Parkinson disease or dementia with LBs. The volumes of LRRK2-positive granular structures in neurons of the entorhinal cortex were significantly increased in dementia with LBs brains compared with age-matched control brains (p < 0.05). Double immunolabeling demonstrated that these LRRK2-positive granular structures frequently colocalized with the late-endosomal marker Rab7B and occasionally with the lysosomal marker, the lysosomal-associated membrane protein 2. These results suggest that LRRK2 normally localizes to the endosomal-lysosomal compartment within morphologically altered neurons in neurodegenerative diseases, particularly in the brains of patients with LB diseases.
Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste-Tree/Berry) in the treatment of menopause-related complaints.

BACKGROUND The origin of the current practice of administering Vitex agnus-castus in menopause-related complaints is uncertain, but appears to be relatively recent. Here we review the evidence for this application of Vitex based on evidence from pharmacological studies and clinical research. METHODS The mechanisms of potential relevance in the context of menopause are explored with reference to the current understanding of the endocrinology and neuroendocrinology of menopause and associated symptoms. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that, while evidence from rigorous randomized controlled trials is lacking for the individual herb in this context, emerging pharmacological evidence supports a role for V. agnus-castus in the alleviation of menopausal symptoms and suggests that further investigation may be appropriate.
Slovene-Croatian Treebank Transfer Using Bilingual Lexicon Improves Croatian Dependency Parsing

A method is presented for transferring dependency treebanks between similar languages by using a bilingual lexicon, aiming to improve dependency parsing accuracy on the target language. It is illustrated by transferring the Slovene Dependency Treebank to Croatian by using a GIZA++ bilingual lexicon constructed from the Croatian-Slovene 1984 parallel corpus from the Multext East project. The transferred treebank is merged with the Croatian Dependency Treebank and the merged treebank is used to train and test two graph-based dependency parsers. MSTParser and CroDep accuracy on parsing the 1984 fictional text shows a statistically significant increase and a similar decrease on parsing the Croatian Dependency Treebank newspaper text.
Linked Data tagging with LODr

LODr is a personal application providing semantic-enrichment features for existing tagged content from various popular Web 2.0 services, such as Flickr, del.icio. us or Twitter. By allowing people to re-tag their content with URIs, rather than simple keywords, it weaves their social data to the Semantic Web. In this paper, we detail the principes of this application, the underlying models, its distributed and collaborative architecture, as well as how it provides new and unforeseen functionnalities to Web users. We also compare our approach to existing augmented tagging applications and see how, in our opinion, LODr offers an efficient and coherent path between Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web.
New evidence of the real interest rate parity for OECD countries using panel unit root tests in a "SURE" framework. ∗

This paper tests for real interest parity (RIP) among the six major OECD countries over the period 1957-2003. The econometric methods applied consist of combining the use of univariate and multivariate unit root tests in an attempt to gain in power and size properties. In addition to univariate ADF tests where the lags are selected using a Modified AIC criterion, we apply a sequential procedure based in two multivariate ADF-type panel unit root tests in a SURE framework. This methodology offers substantial advantages over the univariate ADF tests and panel tests that assume independence between the cross-sections. Our results strongly support the fulfillment of RIP for the whole period considered.
Semantic Categorization Using Simple Word Co-occurrence Statistics

This paper presents a series of new results on corpus derived semantic representations based on vectors of simple word co-occurrence statistics, with particular reference to word categorization performance as a function of window type and size, semantic vector dimension, and corpus size. A number of outstanding problems and difficulties with this approach are identified and discussed.
Fluid distribution kinetics during cardiopulmonary bypass

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine the isovolumetric distribution kinetics of crystalloid fluid during cardiopulmonary bypass. METHODS: Ten patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting participated in this prospective observational study. The blood hemoglobin and the serum albumin and sodium concentrations were measured repeatedly during the distribution of priming solution (Ringer's acetate 1470 ml and mannitol 15% 200 ml) and initial cardioplegia. The rate of crystalloid fluid distribution was calculated based on 3-min Hb changes. The preoperative blood volume was extrapolated from the marked hemodilution occurring during the onset of cardiopulmonary bypass. Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT01115166. RESULTS: The distribution half-time of Ringer's acetate averaged 8 minutes, corresponding to a transcapillary escape rate of 0.38 ml/kg/min. The intravascular albumin mass increased by 5.4% according to mass balance calculations. The preoperative blood volume, as extrapolated from the drop in hemoglobin concentration by 32% (mean) at the beginning of cardiopulmonary bypass, was 0.6-1.2 L less than that estimated by anthropometric methods (p<0.02). The mass balance of sodium indicated a translocation from the intracellular to the extracellular fluid space in 8 of the 10 patients, with a median volume of 236 ml. CONCLUSIONS: The distribution half-time of Ringer's solution during isovolumetric cardiopulmonary bypass was 8 minutes, which is the same as for crystalloid fluid infusions in healthy subjects. The intravascular albumin mass increased. Most patients were hypovolemic prior to the start of anesthesia. Intracellular edema did not occur.
Converging roles of ion channels, calcium, metabolic stress, and activity pattern of Substantia nigra dopaminergic neurons in health and Parkinson's disease

Dopamine‐releasing neurons within the Substantia nigra (SN DA) are particularly vulnerable to degeneration compared to other dopaminergic neurons. The age‐dependent, progressive loss of these neurons is a pathological hallmark of Parkinson's disease (PD), as the resulting loss of striatal dopamine causes its major movement‐related symptoms. SN DA neurons release dopamine from their axonal terminals within the dorsal striatum, and also from their cell bodies and dendrites within the midbrain in a calcium‐ and activity‐dependent manner. Their intrinsically generated and metabolically challenging activity is created and modulated by the orchestrated function of different ion channels and dopamine D2‐autoreceptors. Here, we review increasing evidence that the mechanisms that control activity patterns and calcium homeostasis of SN DA neurons are not only crucial for their dopamine release within a physiological range but also modulate their mitochondrial and lysosomal activity, their metabolic stress levels, and their vulnerability to degeneration in PD. Indeed, impaired calcium homeostasis, lysosomal and mitochondrial dysfunction, and metabolic stress in SN DA neurons represent central converging trigger factors for idiopathic and familial PD. We summarize double‐edged roles of ion channels, activity patterns, calcium homeostasis, and related feedback/feed‐forward signaling mechanisms in SN DA neurons for maintaining and modulating their physiological function, but also for contributing to their vulnerability in PD‐paradigms. We focus on the emerging roles of maintained neuronal activity and calcium homeostasis within a physiological bandwidth, and its modulation by PD‐triggers, as well as on bidirectional functions of voltage‐gated L‐type calcium channels and metabolically gated ATP‐sensitive potassium (K‐ATP) channels, and their probable interplay in health and PD.
Semantic Access Control in Web Based Communities

Web based social communities are one of the most widely used applications nowadays. Ubiquitous computing and access capabilities leverage the evolution of highly dynamic social communities. Recently, security and privacy concerns within these communities have increased significantly. This paper addresses these challenges by controlling access to community resources exploiting semantic Web technologies. In this regard, a conceptual community framework and its access control mechanisms are formalised using the Web ontology language. Access to the resources is controlled by defining differential access rights based on the relationships between the individuals and the communities. Instead of an explicit definition, some additional facts of the mechanisms are inferred by executing semantic Web rules using the Jess rule engine over the designed ontology. These information are then passed back into the ontology to enrich the existing ontology.
New Paradigms for Government: Issues for the Changing Public Service

"New Paradigms for Government" sets forth the notion that if reform is to have an impact, advocates must have a thorough knowledge and understanding of the academic research and policy agendas as they apply to the public sector. The chapters in this book were written by many of the most respected scholars in the field of public administration as a response to what was perceived as a lack of research and systemic analysis of the issues involved in reforming government. Divided into three distinct parts, the book explores what government organizations really do, how they can manage change effectively, and how they are to remain accountable under the new paradigm. It also examines the changing realities of government work and suggesst how government organizations can "work smarterr" in purchasing services, managing contracts, and other areas.
HLA-B7–Restricted Islet Epitopes Are Differentially Recognized in Type 1 Diabetic Children and Adults and Form Weak Peptide-HLA Complexes

The cartography of β-cell epitopes targeted by CD8+ T cells in type 1 diabetic (T1D) patients remains largely confined to the common HLA-A2 restriction. We aimed to identify β-cell epitopes restricted by the HLA-B7 (B*07:02) molecule, which is associated with mild T1D protection. Using DNA immunization on HLA-B7–transgenic mice and prediction algorithms, we identified GAD and preproinsulin candidate epitopes. Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) enzyme-linked immunospot assays on peripheral blood mononuclear cells showed that most candidates were recognized by new-onset T1D patients, but not by type 2 diabetic and healthy subjects. Some epitopes were highly immunodominant and specific to either T1D children (GAD530–538; 44% T cell–positive patients) or adults (GAD311–320; 38%). All epitopes displayed weak binding affinity and stability for HLA-B7 compared with HLA-A2–restricted ones, a general feature of HLA-B7. Single-cell PCR analysis on β-cell–specific (HLA-B7 tetramer–positive) T cells revealed uniform IFN-γ and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) mRNA expression, different from HLA-A2–restricted T cells. We conclude that HLA-B7–restricted islet epitopes display weak HLA-binding profiles, are different in T1D children and adults, and are recognized by IFN-γ+TGF-β+CD8+ T cells. These features may explain the T1D-protective effect of HLA-B7. The novel epitopes identified should find valuable applications for immune staging of HLA-B7+ individuals.
History matters for the export decision and the volume exported: firm-level evidence from French agri-food firms.

As a result of the rapid growth of microeconometric studies of exporting firms, we know quite a lot about the hysteresis occurring in the current decision of firms to export. Firms entering a foreign market the previous year are more likely to export the current year. This fact is traditionally interpreted as a consequence of sunk export costs at entry to the international market. These costs are for instance the knowledge of foreign markets, the search for new distribution networks, or the compliance with border crossing standards specific to a given market. The specificity of the destination market appears as being of huge importance for the firms. Papers in this field propose to test for the existence of sunk-cost hysteresis by analysing entry and exit patterns in plant-level panel data, whatever the destination market. Roberts and Tybout (1997) or Ozler et al. (2009) develop and estimate a dynamic discrete-choice model of the plant’s current exporting status in Colombia or Turkey respectively. Only a few studies have accounted either for the destination of the exports or for the volume exported. Blanes-Cristobal et al. (2008) show that previous experience on a market has a positive impact on the probability of current export on this market. Das et al. (2007) consider both the decision to export and the value exported in a dynamic model. They show that entry costs on international markets (whatever the destination market) are substantial. The questions addressed by this study are: Are sunk costs a feature of the firm's export behavior (decision and volume) and do they vary across export markets? A multivariate dynamic panel model of French agribusiness firms' exports to two aggregate markets (EU and Rest of the World) is specified. The model accounts for both zero level and positively skewed exports by adopting the Cragg (1971) logarithmic Tobit model. Unobserved firm-level heterogeneity is accounted for by introducing random effects which may be correlated across export markets. The initial conditions problem is treated by assuming that a component of the unobserved firm effect is conditional on initial values and exogenous variables (Wooldridge, 2005). As a consequence the degree of structural state dependence can be estimated for each export market. Previous export experience in both markets is hypothesized to impact both the decision to export and the level of exports in each market.
Iontophoretic delivery of cytotoxic agents for the treatment of solid tumors

James Byrne: Iontophoretic delivery of cytotoxic agents for the treatment of solid tumors (under the direction of Joseph M. DeSimone) Parenteral and oral routes have been the traditional methods of administering cytotoxic agents to cancer patients. Unfortunately, the maximum potential effect of these cytotoxic agents has been limited due to systemic toxicity and poor tumor perfusion. In an attempt to improve the efficacy of cytotoxic agents while mitigating their side effects, we have developed modalities for the localized iontophoretic delivery of cytotoxic agents. These pressurized, reservoir-based iontophoretic devices were designed to be implanted proximal to the tumor with external control of power and drug flow. Three distinct orthotopic mouse models of cancer and a canine model were evaluated for device efficacy and toxicity. In the mouse models, device delivery of cytotoxic agents resulted in enhanced drug accumulation in the tumor and tumor shrinkage. In dogs, device delivery resulted in large local drug concentrations and low systemic drug exposure. These devices have potential paradigm shifting implications for the treatment of pancreatic, breast, and other solid tumors. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS