Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MSVD-MOEB algorithm applied to cancer gene expression data

Cluster analysis of cancer gene expression data can provide bases for the early diagnosis of cancer and accurate classification of cancer subtypes. Aiming at the characteristics of cancer gene expression data, an algorithm which is called MSVDMOEB (Modular Singular Value Decomposition Multi-Objective Evolutionary Biclustering) is proposed. MSVD-MOEB algorithm applies the singular value matrix to the gene expression matrix after its decomposition and improvement to obtain a meaningful biclustering, then uses multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to perform the global optimization; and finally utilizes the cluster expansion and merging algorithms to find the maximized biclustering. Matlab experiment result shows that MSVD-MOEB algorithm improves the calculating speed of the algorithm and has high accuracy of clustering.
The National Center for Biomedical Ontology

The National Center for Biomedical Ontology is now in its seventh year. The goals of this National Center for Biomedical Computing are to: create and maintain a repository of biomedical ontologies and terminologies; build tools and web services to enable the use of ontologies and terminologies in clinical and translational research; educate their trainees and the scientific community broadly about biomedical ontology and ontology-based technology and best practices; and collaborate with a variety of groups who develop and use ontologies and terminologies in biomedicine. The centerpiece of the National Center for Biomedical Ontology is a web-based resource known as BioPortal. BioPortal makes available for research in computationally useful forms more than 270 of the world's biomedical ontologies and terminologies, and supports a wide range of web services that enable investigators to use the ontologies to annotate and retrieve data, to generate value sets and special-purpose lexicons, and to perform advanced analytics on a wide range of biomedical data.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Consumer Buying Behavior: A Research Proposal

This research paper aims to examine key antecedents in consumer responses to CSR to determine a link between CSR activity and consumers’ reactions to it. In this research proposal, key words are listed and briefly described as to their impact and benefits. A set of pre-tested structured questionnaires will be administered to 320 subjects. The responses to the items of these questionnaires are measures of the constructs under consideration, namely customer perception, customer satisfaction, corporate reputation, customer choice, corporate brand/influence, customer attitude and customer purchasing behavior. Measures for the constructs used in the study will be available in the literature, and will be adapted to suit the specific context. To validate the constructs, a confirmatory factor analysis and regression analysis will be conducted. It is expected that the research will support the hypothesis that consumer buying behavior is affected by a company’s CSR activities. Part of the discussion will address the results and implications on CSR activities as well on future research. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOUR 3
Epidemiology of colorectal cancer in Croatia and worldwide

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in men worldwide (746, 000 ; 10%) and second most common in women (614, 000 cases ; 9.2%). Incidence and mortality are on the rise in many developing countries, closing the gap to the western, industrialized populations. In Croatia it is the second malignant cause of death in both males and females, while it ranks second in female incidence and third in male incidence. Trends in CRC in Croatia still display an increase in the standardized rates of incidence and mortality, however, the data for five-year survival for Croatia from recently published international studies indicate an improvement. The epidemiological data clearly point to CRC as one of the most important health issues of Croatian society. Its increasing incidence and mortality trends need to be tackled with a multidisciplinary approach, ensuring the availability of new treatment options and drugs when necessary, but also insisting on the secondary prevention (population-based screening) and primary prevention (changes in nutritional habits and levels of physical activity with educational activities targeted towards wider audience).
Sound velocity and density of magnesiowüstites: Implications for ultralow‐velocity zone topography

We explore the effect of Mg/Fe substitution on the sound velocities of iron‐rich (Mg1 − xFex)O, where x = 0.84, 0.94, and 1.0. Sound velocities were determined using nuclear resonance inelastic X‐ray scattering as a function of pressure, approaching those of the lowermost mantle. The systematics of cation substitution in the Fe‐rich limit has the potential to play an important role in the interpretation of seismic observations of the core‐mantle boundary. By determining a relationship between sound velocity, density, and composition of (Mg,Fe)O, this study explores the potential constraints on ultralow‐velocity zones at the core‐mantle boundary.
Antibiotic prescription rates for acute respiratory tract infections in US ambulatory settings.

CONTEXT During the 1990s, antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory tract infection (ARTI) decreased in the United States. The sustainability of those changes is unknown. OBJECTIVE To assess trends in antibiotic prescriptions for ARTI. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data (1995-2006) were used to examine trends in antibiotic prescription rates by antibiotic indication and class. Annual survey data and census denominators were combined in 2-year intervals for rate calculations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES National annual visit rates and antibiotic prescription rates for ARTI, including otitis media (OM) and non-ARTI. RESULTS Among children younger than 5 years, annual ARTI visit rates decreased by 17% (95% confidence interval [CI], 9%-24%), from 1883 per 1000 population in 1995-1996 to 1560 per 1000 population in 2005-2006, primarily due to a 33% (95% CI, 22%-43%) decrease in OM visit rates (950 to 634 per 1000 population, respectively). This decrease was accompanied by a 36% (95% CI, 26%-45%) decrease in ARTI-associated antibiotic prescriptions (1216 to 779 per 1000 population). Among persons aged 5 years or older, ARTI visit rates remained stable but associated antibiotic prescription rates decreased by 18% (95% CI, 6%-29%), from 178 to 146 per 1000 population. Antibiotic prescription rates for non-OM ARTI for which antibiotics are rarely indicated decreased by 41% (95% CI, 22%-55%) and 24% (95% CI, 10%-37%) among persons younger than 5 years and 5 years or older, respectively. Overall, ARTI-associated prescription rates for penicillin, cephalosporin, and sulfonamide/tetracycline decreased. Prescription rates for azithromycin increased and it became the most commonly prescribed macrolide for ARTI and OM (10% of OM visits). Among adults, quinolone prescriptions increased. CONCLUSIONS Overall antibiotic prescription rates for ARTI decreased, associated with fewer OM visits in children younger than 5 years and with fewer prescriptions for ARTI for which antibiotics are rarely indicated. However, prescription rates for broad-spectrum antibiotics increased significantly.
Thermal Design Consideration of Medium Voltage High Frequency Transformers

This paper describes a thermal design using epoxy potting for high frequency transformer (HFT) for medium voltage high power electronic applications, namely emerging solid-state transformers. To address HFT’s thermal stress problem, thermal performance of the HFT with air and epoxy potting cooling method are both simulated by magnetothermal-fluid coupling method (MTFCM). The effectiveness of the simulation analysis is verified in a 100 kW DC-DC resonant converter. Influencing factors including distance between the high frequency transformer and the metal enclosure, epoxy thermal conductivity and heat sink placements are simulated and analyzed. Finally, an optimal cooling structure is proposed for future high power HFTs.
Thrombus imaging with technetium-99m synthetic peptides based upon the binding domain of a monoclonal antibody to activated platelets.

UNLABELLED Monoclonal antibodies which recognize fibrin or platelets have enabled imaging of vascular thrombi, however, early imaging has been difficult because of the slow blood disappearance of even small antibody fragments. It was theorized that it might be possible to synthesize peptides which possess the same thrombus affinity as monoclonal antibodies, but which would leave the blood pool much more rapidly. METHODS In this study, peptides were synthesized with amino acid sequences based on the primary binding region of the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa-directed monoclonal antibody PAC1. Both termini of the peptides were blocked to prevent rapid proteolysis and a metallothionein-derived sequence was incorporated as a chelating agent for reduced technetium. RESULTS Technetium-99m-labeled peptides produced images of fresh clots in the jugular veins of rabbits and day-old thrombi in the femoral veins of dogs within 2 hr after injection. In control experiments, a 99mTc-labeled nonspecific peptide failed to produce focal images of thrombus. Another control compound, 99mTc-glucoheptonate, did produce images of fresh clots in rabbits but failed to produce focal images of day-old thrombi. As was hoped, blood clearance of the 99mTc peptides was rapid, with excretion through the kidneys, however, none of the peptides studied had better thrombus-to-blood ratios than iodinated fibrinogen and all had significantly lower deposition in the thrombus. CONCLUSION Using labeled synthetic peptides appears to be technically feasible but the absolute binding to thrombus is not yet sufficient for reliable imaging of pre-existing thrombi.
Antigen-binding IgA myeloma proteins in mice: specificities to antigens containing -D 1 leads to 6 linked galactose side chains and a protein antigen in wheat.

Three IgA myeloma proteins of BALB/c origin among 140 tested, precipitate with antigenic materials in food and bedding. The S10 and T191B myeloma proteins precipitate with antigens (larchwood arabinogalactan, hardwood bedding extract and gum ghatti) that contain side chains of β1 → 6 linked d-galactopyranoses. Oligosaccharides of β1 → 6 d-galactopyranose were potent inhibitors of the precipitation of S10 and T191B with arabinogalactan; the tetraose was the most effective inhibitor. The T521 protein precipitates with another antigen in wheat and not with gum ghatti or arabinogalactan. The antigenicity of this wheat-derived antigen is destroyed by pronase digestion suggesting the antigen is a protein.
Passivity-based Robust Current Control of Grid-connected VSCs

This paper presents a new approach on robust current control of LCL-type grid-tied voltage source converters. This control method takes advantage of grid impedance nature to manage its unavoidable uncertainty at every point of common coupling. The Passivity-based Robust Control framework minimizes the converter impact over grid stability based on the passivity index of the impedance uncertainty, which leads to less conservative designs. System robustness is improved by means of a passivity constraint while keeping a performance goal. In order to overcome the non-convex behavior of the proposed multi-objective problem, we present a two-step approach design to find an acceptable solution. The methodology is initialized obtaining a controller via ${\mathcal{H}_\infty }$ synthesis procedure, which achieves the performance objective. Then, if the passivity constraint is not fulfilled, the non-smooth optimization technique will enforce it while taking care of the trade-off with the performance objective. Numerical and experimental results verify the achievement of the proposed objectives in time and frequency domain.
Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV: Postpartum adherence to Option B+ until 18 months in Western Uganda

Since 2012, the WHO recommends Option B+ for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV. This approach entails the initiation of lifelong antiretroviral therapy in all HIV-positive pregnant women, also implying protection during breastfeeding for 12 months or longer. Research on long-term adherence to Option B+ throughout breastfeeding is scarce to date. Therefore, we conducted a prospective observational cohort study in Fort Portal, Western Uganda, to assess adherence to Option B+ until 18 months postpartum. In 2013, we recruited 67 HIV-positive, Option B+ enrolled women six weeks after giving birth and scheduled them for follow-up study visits after six, twelve and 18 months. Two adherence measures, self-reported drug intake and amount of drug refill visits, were combined to define adherence, and were assessed together with feeding information at all study visits. At six months postpartum, 51% of the enrolled women were considered to be adherent. Until twelve and 18 months postpartum, adherence for the respective follow-up interval decreased to 19% and 20.5% respectively. No woman was completely adherent until 18 months. At the same time, 76.5% of the women breastfed for ≥12 months. Drug adherence was associated with younger age (p<0.01), lower travel costs (p = 0.02), and lower number of previous deliveries (p = 0.04). Long-term adherence to Option B+ seems to be challenging. Considering that in our cohort, prolonged breastfeeding until ≥12 months was widely applied while postpartum adherence until the end of breastfeeding was poor, a potential risk of postpartum vertical transmission needs to be taken seriously into account for Option B+ implementation.
Model Predictive Control of Seven-Level Single-Phase Boost Inverter without weighting factor for Grid-Tied Photovoltaic Applications

This paper presents a switched-capacitor integrated 7-level boost inverter for single-phase photovoltaic (PV) applications and its associated control scheme. It consists of three switched capacitors and eleven active switching elements. A boost converter at the front side helps to maintain the capacitor voltage balance during the operation modes. This topology does not require any control scheme to balance the switched capacitors at the DC-bus due to its inherent voltage balancing capability. Thus, it reduces the control complexity. The proposed structure has the capability to integrate low and varying voltage sources such as PV and consequently, reduces the number of components, required input voltage, and control complexity. Finite control set model predictive control (FCS-MPC) algorithm is used to control the proposed inverter. Thermal analysis of the proposed topology is presented for loss calculation of each power devices. Finally, detailed analysis followed by simulation and measurement results is presented at the end.
Survey on Access Control and Management Issues in Cloud and BYOD Environment

— Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is growing in popularity. In fact, this inevitable and unstoppable trend poses new security risks and challenges to control and manage corporate networks and data. BYOD may be infected by viruses, spyware or malware that gain access to sensitive data. This unwanted access led to the disclosure of information, modify access policy, disruption of service, loss of productivity, financial issues, and legal implications. This paper provides a review of existing literature concerning the access control and management issues, with a focus on recent trends in the use of BYOD. This article provides an overview of existing research articles which involve access control and management issues, which constitute of the recent rise of usage of BYOD devices. This review explores a broad area concerning information security research, ranging from management to technical solution of access control in BYOD. The main aim for this is to investigate the most recent trends touching on the access control issues in BYOD concerning information security and also to analyze the essential and comprehensive requirements needed to develop an access control framework in the future.
Inflammatory Mediators and Neonatal Brain Damage

Inflammatory mediators are multifunctional cytokines that play important roles both in normal central nervous system (CNS) development and in the response of the brain to diverse forms of injury. Interleukin (IL)-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α and IL-6 are among the best-characterized early-response cytokines. Recent data suggest that they may be synthesized and secreted by several CNS cell types, including microglia, astrocytes and neurons. Biological effects of these cytokines that could influence the progression of injury in the brain include stimulating the synthesis of other cytokines and neuronal injury mediators such as nitric oxide synthase, inducing leukocyte infiltration and the expression of adhesion molecules, influencing glial gene expression and damaging oligodendrocytes. In the immature brain, proinflammatory cytokines might lead to white matter damage during prenatal intrauterine infection and contribute to progressive neuronal damage in acute brain injury evoked by cerebral hypoxia-ischemia. Interrupting the proinflammatory cascade might limit the extent of irreversible injury.
Bacteriophages-Carbon Nanofibre Modified Electrodes for Biosensing Applications

Carbon nanomaterials have aroused substantial interest in various research fields. Their uniqueness derives from their remarkable surface properties, good electrical conductivity and well developed surface. These properties make them suitable for application as elements in electrochemical sensors [1]. The improvement of their properties might be achieved via the application of viral particles which could change the surface and electrical properties of carbon nanomaterials. Recently, bacteriophage particles due to their unique properties (high active surface area, the ability to form self-assembled, periodically ordered, three-dimensional structures) have appeared as an interesting addition to electrochemical devices [2]. We show that utilization of these particles for modifying an electrode with carbon nanofibres (CNF) leads to the generation of a material with a highly developed surface and thus an electrode with a large active area which is desirable when preparing sensing platforms. The obtained electrode was thoroughly characterized by SEM, AFM and cyclic voltammetry. Our results show that electroactive surface area is better developed when the bacteriophages are added to the CNF-based electrodes, than for bare
ROLUL INFLUENŢEI SOCIALE ÎN ACCEPTAREA FACEBOOK: TESTAREA UNUI MODEL TAM EXTINS

One of the greatest chalenges for the researchers in the information technology (IT) field, in particulary in the information systems (IS) and human-computer interaction (HCI) area, is understanding the predictors that determine users to adopt and accept new technologies. The popularity of social networks among students led to an increased interest in studying the use of these technologies from the educational point of view. The present study aims to analyze the effect of social influence on the intention to use Facebook and to test and validate the technology acceptance model. The model was tested on a sample of 758 students from the Romanian universities, using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results confirm the importance of social influence on the intention to use Facebok through the direct effect of normative social influence, and also through the indirect effect of informational social influence exercised through perceived utility, perceived ease of use and perceived enjoyment.
PENGARUH LEVERAGE, PERTUMBUHAN, DAN UKURAN PERUSAHAAN TERHADAP EARNING RESPONSE COEFFICIENT (Studi pada Perusahaan Sektor Industri Barang Konsumsi di BEI tahun 2014-2015)

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk memberikan bukti empiris mengenai leverage , pertumbuhan, dan ukuran perusahaan terhadap earning response coefficient . Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan metode kuantitatif. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian uji hipotesis dengan menggunakan periode penelitian selama 2 tahun yaitu 2014-2015. Penelitian ini menggunakan data sekunder. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan metode purposive sampling dengan jumlah sampel 60 perusahaan sektor industri barang konsumsi. Pengujian hipotesis dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode regresi linier berganda. Hasil dan pernelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa leverage berpengaruh terhadap earning response coefficient dan ukuran perusahaan berpengaruh terhadap earning response coefficient . Sementara itu, pertumbuhan perusahaan tidak mempengaruhi earning response coefficient . K ata kunci : Earning Response Coefficient (ERC), Leverage , Pertumbuhan, Ukuran P e r u sahaan
National Lupus Hospitalization Trends Reveal Rising Rates of Herpes Zoster and Declines in Pneumocystis Pneumonia

Objective Infection is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Therapeutic practices have evolved over the past 15 years, but effects on infectious complications of SLE are unknown. We evaluated trends in hospitalizations for severe and opportunistic infections in a population-based SLE study. Methods Data derive from the 2000 to 2011 United States National Inpatient Sample, including individuals who met a validated administrative definition of SLE. Primary outcomes were diagnoses of bacteremia, pneumonia, opportunistic fungal infection, herpes zoster, cytomegalovirus, or pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP). We used Poisson regression to determine whether infection rates were changing in SLE hospitalizations and used predictive marginals to generate annual adjusted rates of specific infections. Results We identified 361,337 SLE hospitalizations from 2000 to 2011 meeting study inclusion criteria. Compared to non-SLE hospitalizations, SLE patients were younger (51 vs. 62 years), predominantly female (89% vs. 54%), and more likely to be racial/ethnic minorities. SLE diagnosis was significantly associated with all measured severe and opportunistic infections. From 2000 to 2011, adjusted SLE hospitalization rates for herpes zoster increased more than non-SLE rates: 54 to 79 per 10,000 SLE hospitalizations compared with 24 to 29 per 10,000 non-SLE hospitalizations. Conversely, SLE hospitalizations for PCP disproportionately decreased: 5.1 to 2.5 per 10,000 SLE hospitalizations compared with 0.9 to 1.3 per 10,000 non-SLE hospitalizations. Conclusions Among patients with SLE, herpes zoster hospitalizations are rising while PCP hospitalizations are declining. These trends likely reflect evolving SLE treatment strategies. Further research is needed to identify patients at greatest risk for infectious complications.
Comparison of nasal senses following open and closed rhinoplasty.

BACKGROUND/AIM The objective of this study was to compare the postoperative changes taking place in the nasal senses of patients who underwent a rhinoplasty through the open or closed incision method. MATERIALS AND METHODS In a prospective study, 15 patients had a closed rhinoplasty surgery and 15 others had an open one. By pinpointing 9 spots in the nose, a sensory assessment was made by means of Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments prior to the surgery and 1 week and 1, 3, and 6 months after the surgery. RESULTS In the open and closed groups, there was hypoesthesia 1 week after the surgery compared with the preoperative period (P = 0.01 and P = 0.016). In the first week a sense reduction in the upper columella was observed in the open group when compared with the closed one (P = 0.035). There were no other significant differences between the groups in the nasal regions at other times. CONCLUSION It was ascertained that there was reduced sensation in the upper columella in the open incision group in the first postoperative week. The sensation was reduced in both groups in the first postoperative week. The nasal sensation recovered after the first month.