Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Improved Shark-search Algorithm for Agriculture Web Search Engine

An improved algorithm for agriculture web search engine based on Shark-Search is proposed. Aiming at deficiency of the traditional algorithm including the context of the anchor text and the trapping in local optimum, the new algorithm clusters the links between the different block of the web pages by the k-average algorithm. It randomly selects k texts as the mass of the original class. According to the average value of the text in the class, each text is assigned to the nearest class. By using the tunnel technique, the crawler can complete the search process. The range of the optimality has been expanding. It can get a globally optimal solution from locally optimal solutions. This algorithm is easy to implement and the computing speed can meet the business needs. The experiment indicates that the new algorithm can improved the performance in fetching the pages evidently.
Tilted  $c$-Axis Thin-Film Bulk Wave Resonant Pressure Sensors With Improved Sensitivity

Aluminum nitride thin-film bulk wave resonant pressure sensors employing c- and tilted c-axis texture, have been fabricated and tested for their pressure sensitivities. The c-axis tilted film bulk acoustic resonators pressure sensors demonstrate substantially higher-pressure sensitivity compared to its c-axis oriented counterpart. More specifically, the thickness plate quasi-shear resonance has demonstrated the highest pressure sensitivity while further being able to preserve its performance in liquid environment.
Systemic inflammation and fracture healing

Apart from their pivotal role in the host defense against pathogens, leukocytes are also essential for bone repair, as fracture healing is initiated and directed by a physiological inflammatory response. Leukocytes infiltrate the fracture hematoma and produce several growth and differentiation factors that regulate essential downstream processes of fracture healing. Systemic inflammation alters the numbers and properties of circulating leukocytes, and we hypothesize that these changes are maintained in tissue leukocytes and will lead to impairment of fracture healing after major trauma. The underlying mechanisms will be discussed in this review.
Measuring anteversion in the femoral neck from routine radiographs

Purpose: To describe a new method for measuring femoral neck anteversion (FNA) that requires only one lateral radiograph of the knee in addition to routine radiographs of the hip for evaluation of total hip replacement; and to compare the proposed method with FNA measurement by means of 3D CT. Material and Methods: In 18 femoral specimens, radiographic examinations of the hip and knee, in three different rotational positions, and one CT examination were made, and the measurements of FNA were compared. Similarly, in 38 patients with 40 total hip replacements, measurements from routine radiographic examinations of the hip and knee and from CT examinations were compared. The accuracy and reproducibility of the FNA measurements produced by this proposed method were calculated. Results: Accuracy and reproducibility were 2° and 2° for the proposed method in the femoral specimen study, and accuracy was 4° in the hip patient study. The proposed method had a minor flaw that was caused almost solely by differences in knee size at inward rotation of the femur. Conclusion: FNA measurement can be made from a routine radiographic examination of the hip and a lateral view of the knee. This method achieves an acceptable level of accuracy and reproducibility.
Laparoscopic versus open resection for colorectal liver metastases: a single-center study with propensity score analysis.

OBJECTIVES The aim of the study was to compare the long-term oncologic results of laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) versus open liver resection (OLR) for colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM) using a propensity score analysis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS This propensity score matching (PSM) study was based on a prospective database of a single tertiary-care center. Patients with primarily resectable CRLM were selected for a 1:1 PSM between LLR and OLR. Covariates for PSM estimation were age, gender, body mass index, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, primary tumor location, CRLM presentation, location, size, and number. Moreover, the year of surgery was included in the PSM model. Operative, postoperative, and survival rates were compared between groups. RESULTS From 2000 to 2013, in total, 339 liver resections for CRLM met the selection criteria. Among these, 52 LLR patients were matched with 52 OLR patients. The two surgical approaches showed similar postoperative morbidity and mortality rates. LLR was associated with significantly less blood loss, less frequent need for and shorter duration of pedicle clamping, faster recovery, and shorter hospital stay. Moreover, the overall 3- and 5-year survival rates were, respectively, 83% and 76% for LLR and 87% and 62% for OLR (P=.51). The 3- and 5-year disease-free survival rates were, respectively, 28% and 21% for LLR and 31% and 21% for OLR (P=.71). CONCLUSIONS The LLR achieves similar oncological results to those of the standard open surgery for CRLM, with the additional benefit of significantly faster recovery.
Retrospective estimation and correction of physiological fluctuation in functional MRI

Image‐to‐image fluctuation due to physiological motion is a major limitation to the accurate detection of neuronal activity with functional MRI. In this paper, a new and general technique for the estimation and compensation of the physiological effects is presented. By simultaneously monitoring the respiration and heart beat during the acquisition of imaging data, and retrospectively synchronizing the imaging data with physiological activity, physiological effects are estimated and removed. This technique does not rely on the periodicity of the respiration or the heart beat, does not affect the signal changes arising from neuronal activation, and is beneficial to images acquired with any speed. Experimental studies performed with FLASH and EPI sequences have demonstrated that the new technique is effective in reducing physiological fluctuation and improving the sensitivity of functional MRI and is generally applicable.
Optimal Algorithms for Self-Reducible Problems

We show that obtaining the lexicographically first four coloring of a planar graph is NP–hard. This shows that planar graph four-coloring is not self-reducible, assuming P 6= NP . One consequence of our result is that the schema of [JVV 86] cannot be used for approximately counting the number of four colorings of a planar graph. These results extend to planar graph k-coloring, for k ≥ 4. Research done while this author was supported by an IBM Graduate Fellowship at Cornell University. Work done while at Cornell University. Supported by NSF grant DCR 85-52938 and PYI matching funds from AT&T Bell Labs and Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Resection of Primary Pancreatic Cancer and Liver Metastasis: A Systematic Review

Resection of liver metastases for locally resectable pancreatic cancer has rarely been performed. Recently, promising results regarding morbidity and mortality as well as long-term survival have been shown. Thus, we conducted a systematic review of the literature on pancreatic cancer resection with associated liver metastasis resection. There are 3 case reports and 18 studies including less than 10 patients. Only three studies are larger series with 10 or more patients in whom pancreatic resections and hepatic metastasectomies were performed. Here, morbidity and mortality ranged from 24.1 to 26% and from 0 to 4.3%, respectively. Median survival was reported to be between 5.8 and 11.4 months. In total, all identified studies included 103 patients in whom a metastasis resection was performed. Liver metastasis resection for locally resectable pancreatic cancer can be performed in selected cases with low morbidity and mortality. Overall survival in cases with one or few liver metastases which are concomitantly resected seems to be comparable to cases without evidence of metastasis. Therefore, randomized controlled clinical trials will have to be initiated to determine the value of such resections and to identify factors which will allow for selection of patients in whom the extension of the resectability criteria might confer a survival benefit.
Association of interleukin-4 and interleukin-1B gene variants with Larsen score progression in rheumatoid arthritis.

OBJECTIVE To perform a genetic association study using markers in the interleukin-1 (IL-1) gene cluster and the IL-4/IL-4 receptor system genes, seeking evidence for involvement in the onset or the erosive outcome of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS We tested the allelic distribution of IL-1A (+4845), IL-1B (-511), IL-1B (+3954), IL-1RN (+2018), IL-4 variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR), and IL-4R (+1902) in 233 patients with RA, 99 with polymyalgia rheumatica, and 148 ethnically matched controls. We analyzed the frequency of these gene variants in respect to presence of disease, but also to the degree of radiologic erosions (Larsen score) as a function of disease duration in 157 patients who had available radiographs of both hands. RESULTS None of the 6 genetic polymorphisms was significantly different in frequency between RA patients and healthy controls or patients with polymyalgia rheumatica. Among RA patients, the rarer (#2) alleles of IL-4 VNTR and IL-1B (-511) were both associated with a milder Larsen score progression: The slope of Larsen progression in the rare allele groups diverged significantly from those of the frequent allele groups after approximately 20 years of disease duration (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION None of the markers tested were shown to be associated with increased or decreased risk of RA. The rarer alleles of IL-4 VNTR and IL-1B (-511) appear to be associated with a less severe course in RA of long duration.
Hybrid supervised clustering based ensemble scheme for text classification

Purpose The immense quantity of available unstructured text documents serve as one of the largest source of information. Text classification can be an essential task for many purposes in information retrieval, such as document organization, text filtering and sentiment analysis. Ensemble learning has been extensively studied to construct efficient text classification schemes with higher predictive performance and generalization ability. The purpose of this paper is to provide diversity among the classification algorithms of ensemble, which is a key issue in the ensemble design. Design/methodology/approach An ensemble scheme based on hybrid supervised clustering is presented for text classification. In the presented scheme, supervised hybrid clustering, which is based on cuckoo search algorithm and k-means, is introduced to partition the data samples of each class into clusters so that training subsets with higher diversities can be provided. Each classifier is trained on the diversified training subsets and the predictions of individual classifiers are combined by the majority voting rule. The predictive performance of the proposed classifier ensemble is compared to conventional classification algorithms (such as Naive Bayes, logistic regression, support vector machines and C4.5 algorithm) and ensemble learning methods (such as AdaBoost, bagging and random subspace) using 11 text benchmarks. Findings The experimental results indicate that the presented classifier ensemble outperforms the conventional classification algorithms and ensemble learning methods for text classification. Originality/value The presented ensemble scheme is the first to use supervised clustering to obtain diverse ensemble for text classification
A woman pregnant with twins and with polyuria and polydipsia.

A woman in her late twenties, gravida II, came for routine screening in week 19 of pregnancy. She was healthy and prior to pregnancy had a BMI of 18.5. The twins were found to be monochorionic/diamniotic (single placenta, individual amniotic sacs) and twin 2 was measured as being somewhat smaller than twin 1. The patient was known to have uterus didelphys (double set of uterus/portio/vagina) and she was now pregnant in the left uterus. In her first pregnancy, in the right uterus, her waters broke prematurely in week 35 and the birth was uncomplicated.
The Tim3–Galectin 9 Pathway Induces Antibacterial Activity in Human Macrophages Infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

T cell Ig and mucin domain 3 (Tim3) is an inhibitory molecule involved in immune tolerance, autoimmune responses, and antiviral immune evasion. However, we recently demonstrated that Tim3 and Galectin-9 (Gal9) interaction induces a program of macrophage activation that results in killing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the mouse model of infection. In this study, we sought to determine whether the Tim3–Gal9 pathway plays a similar role in human pulmonary TB. We identified that pulmonary TB patients have reduced expression of Tim3 on CD14+ monocytes in vivo. By blocking Tim3 and Gal9 interaction in vitro, we show that these molecules contribute to the control of intracellular bacterial replication in human macrophages. The antimicrobial effect was partially dependent on the production of IL-1β. Our results establish that Tim3–Gal9 interaction activates human M. tuberculosis –infected macrophages and leads to the control of bacterial growth through the production of the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β. Data presented in this study suggest that one of the potential pathways activated by Tim3/Gal9 is the secretion of IL-1β, which plays a crucial role in antimicrobial immunity by modulating innate inflammatory networks.
Delivery Systems for BMPs: Factors Contributing to Protein Retention at an Application Site

Background: Recombinant human bone morphogenetic proteins (rhBMPs) are being tested in clinical studies for their capacity to elicit bone formation. Biomaterials used in delivery systems also play a critical role in supporting the osteoinductive activity of BMPs, attributable to the controlled presentation of the BMPs to target cells. Despite extensive preclinical studies, the factors contributing to local rhBMP pharmacokinetics remain to be elucidated. Methods: The rhBMP pharmacokinetics were studied in a rat subcutaneous implant and in an intramuscular injection model. In situ levels of rhBMPs were quantitated with use of 125I-labeled tracers. The effects of protein structural features and the nature of the biomaterial implant were explored. Osteoinduction by biomaterial+rhBMP combinations was assessed by a semiquantitative, histology-based bone score. Results: With the use of rhBMP-2, rhBMP-4, and an N-truncated rhBMP-2, the protein isoelectric point was found critical for the initial retention of rhBMPs in an implant. Osteoinduction studies carried out in parallel indicated that rhBMPs with a higher implant retention elicited more bone formation. In the clinically used collagen+rhBMP-2 device, collagen crosslinking and sterilization were most influential in rhBMP-2 retention. To increase retention at an application site, thermoreversible polymers were engineered and shown to enhance local rhBMP-2 retention, especially by injectable delivery. Conclusions: Two critical components of an osteoinductive device—namely, the biomaterial and the rhBMP—were shown to influence local protein pharmacokinetics and osteoinductive activity of the device. Designer biomaterials can provide an additional mechanism to modulate local protein pharmacokinetics. Clinical Relevance: These studies form the foundation of next-generation osteoinductive devices with improved potency at sites of desired bone regeneration and reduced side effects at other sites.
Policing politicians: Citizen empowerment and political accountability in Uganda -Preliminary analysis (IGC Working Paper)

We use a simple model of political accountability to derive a set of hypotheses linking access to information to political behavior and provide results from a multi-level eld experiment designed to test these hypotheses in the context of parliamentary behavior in Uganda. Between 2006 and 2011, working with a Ugandan partner, we developed a scorecard with detailed information on the performance of Ugandan Members of Parliament (MPs), informed a randomly selected sample of MPs that the information would be disseminated in their constituencies, and provided random samples of voters with information about their MP’s performance through a variety of channels. Evidence from survey experiments indicates that Ugandan voters are strongly receptive to new information about MP performance. Evidence from the dissemination campaigns, however, provides no evidence that MPs respond to a higher level of transparency with improved performance or that their prospects for reelection are threatened by it. A plausible explanation is that while the type of transparency we consider might matter under controlled conditions, in a eld settings the scope for political interference is large enough
Pupils' Initiative in Classroom

The paper explores pupils’ initiative as a segment of entrepreneurship that needs to be enhanced through classroom activities. The national curriculum has been promoting pupils’ entrepreneurial competence in education for years and the authors were intrigued to find out whether contemporary teaching supports its development. More precisely, it was investigated what aspects of pupils’ initiative pupils themselves perceive to be most frequently stimulated with the learning activities that take place in the classroom. In addition, individual differences based on pupils’ age and gender were looked into. The participants were primary school pupils in the fourth and eighth grades from four Croatian towns. The results suggest that pupils (regardless of their gender or age) perceive mutual assistance as the most frequent activity that enables them to express their initiative during regular classroom activities. The differences between boys and girls when it comes to the perception of classroom activities were not detected. This is not the case with age difference. Similar to previous research, it was found that younger pupils perceive themselves as taking initiative in the classroom more frequently than older pupils. The necessity of continuous professional development of teachers is implied, so that they could become more competent to support pupils’ initiative through their teaching.
Effect of Fatty Acid Conjugation on Antimicrobial Peptide Activity

Abstract : Two peptides, YGAAKKAAKAA2 (AKK), and YGAKAKAAKA2 (KAK) were conjugated to fatty acids and tested for the effect on their structure, antibacterial activity, and eukaryotic cell toxicity. In the presence of bacteria-mimicking phospholipid vesicles fatty acid conjugates of the amphipathic peptide, AKK, show a larger change in helical structure than either of the unmodified peptides or the conjugate of the nonamphipathic peptide, KAK. The induction of helicity corresponds to a significant improvement in antimicrobial activity as measured by a minimum bactericidal concentration test. Lengthening the fatty acid conjugate improves the antimicrobial activity of AKK as long as the peptide has less than 16 carbons. Peptide AKK conjugated to fatty acids with more than 16 carbons show no antimicrobial activity. Investigation of peptide and peptide amphiphile structure in the presence of red blood cell-mimicking phospholipid vesicles shows that neither the peptides, nor the fatty acid conjugated peptides have any significant helical structure. Neither the peptides nor their lauric acid conjugates showed significant hemolytic activity.
DataBase: Research and Evaluation Results

Alcohol and Fatal Injuries Among U.S. Adults: Findings from the NHANES I Epidemiologic Follow-up Study. Robert F. Anda, David F. Williamson, Patrick L. Remington. Journal of the American Medical Association, 1988; 260(17):2529-2532. Use of alcohol is an important risk factor for fatal injuries. However, little information on the relationship between self-reported alcohol use and subsequent risk of fatal injury is available. Therefore, we examined the relationship between the usual number of drinks consumed per occasion and the incidence of fatal injuries in a cohort of U.S. adults. Using data on self-reported alcohol use obtained from 13,251 adults who were included in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey Epidemiologic Followup Study (mean length of follow-up, 9.3 years), we calculated the incidence of fatal injury according to the usual number of drinks consumed per occasion. After we adjusted for the effects of age, sex, race, and education, persons who consumed five or more drinks per occasion were nearly twice as likely to die from injuries (relative risk, 1.9:95% confidence interval, 1.0 to 3.5) than persons who drank fewer than five drinks per occasion. A dose-response relationship.was observed between the usual number of drinks consumed per occasion and risk of fatal injury, with persons who reported drinking nine or more drinks per occasion being 3.3 times more likely to die from injuries (95% confidence interval, 1.3 to 8.3). These data demonstrate the impact of alcohol use on mortality from injuries in the United States and suggest that self-reported alcohol consumption is an important indicator of risk for fatal injury.
Integrating Object Boundary in Super-Resolution Land-Cover Mapping

This paper proposes a novel class allocation strategy in units of object (UOO) for soft-then-hard super-resolution mapping (STHSRM). STHSRM involves two processes: 1) subpixel sharpening and 2) class allocation. The UOO is implemented in the second process by integrating the object boundaries as an additional structural constraint. First, UOO obtains the object boundaries from remote-sensing images by image segmentation. The number of subpixels within an object is then calculated for each class to meet the coherence constraint of fractional images imposed by soft classification. Finally, a linear optimization model is built for each object to obtain the optimal hard class labels of subpixels. A synthetic image and two real remote-sensing images are used to evaluate the effectiveness of UOO. The results are compared visually and quantitatively with two existing class allocation methods: 1) the highest attribute values first (HAVF) and 2) units of class (UOC). The experimental results show that UOO performs better than these two methods. UOO can better reduce the salt and pepper effect in resultant maps than both HAVF and UOC when dealing with real remote-sensing images. Moreover, UOO can better maintain the structure of land-cover patches, with smoother boundaries as compared with the two methods.
Local Liberation of Kinins by Working Skeletal Muscle Tissue in Man

Using the forearm technique in man, our group has shown that bradykinin mediates all the quoted effects which characterize the "muscle activity factor": exogenously infused kinins dose dependently increase muscle blood flow and glucose extraction (Wicklmayr, Dietze, Brunnbauer, Rett and Mehnert 1983). Even at extremely low kinin concentrations the amino acid release of skeletal muscle is reduced, suggesting increased proteosynthesis and/or reduced proteolysis (Schifman, Wicklmayr, Bottger and Dietze 1980). In addition, aprotinin, an inhibitor of proteolytic bradykinin generation, reduced the effects of work on muscle blood flow and glucose extraction (Dietze and Wicklmayr 1977). These findings led to the assumption that local liberation of bradykinin may be involved in the local action of the hypothetical "muscle activity factor" or even may be identical with it.