Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conditions for interpolation of stable polynomials

This contribution addresses the problem of the interpolation of a set of positive numbers by stable real polynomials. It is shown that the interpolant preserves local positivity, monotonicity, and convexity in order to satisfy stability requirement of the interpolating polynomial. Then this issue is formulated as a nonlinear system carrying on the existence of negative real roots and positive real parameters. By considering an extension of the Farkas's Lemma and the method of Fourier-Motzkin elimination, conditions are explicitly produced for the existence of an Hurwitz polynomial that passes through all the pairs of values to interpolate.
* NETWORK OPERATIONS STRATEGY: A STRATEGIC VIEW OF BUSINESS, VALUE AND SUPPLY NETWORKS

The formation and the development of enterprise networks and the Supply Chain Management (SCM) studies gained relevance. In this context, the operations strategy field evolved and enclosed the broader field of supply networks, as the works of Slack & Lewis (2002) and Rudberg & Olhager (2003) demonstrate. This paper proposes to categorize and present a methodological approach, and a qualitative and exploratory research of the business, value and supply networks in the operations strategy field. The value network considers the key elements (physically or not) in a supply system that determine the received value by final customers. The business network involves the actors that play a key role in provide the conditions and requirements needed by specific consumers to make viable the business in the attended market. This set of networks intends offer to academics and practitioners a management tool, under a holistic perspective.
Is Model for End-Stage Liver Disease Score Associated with Quality of Life after Liver Transplantation?

Context The Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) is used to predict short-term mortality of patients on the liver transplant waiting list and to allocate deceased donor livers for transplantation. Objective To examine the relationship between MELD score before transplant and quality of life and other functional status indicators after transplant. Design, Setting, and Patients Two-hundred sixty-five adults from 2 transplant programs completed quality-of-life measures 1 year after transplantation. A subcohort (n = 115) also completed quality-of-life assessments before transplant. Clinical parameters at the time of transplantation were collected from their medical records. Main Outcome Measures Short Form-36 Health Survey, version 2; Transplant Symptom Frequency Questionnaire. Results Patients with MELD scores greater than 25 at transplantation had significantly higher scores on the Short Form-36 general health (P = .004) and physical component summary (P = .02) than did patients with MELD scores of 25 or less. However, scores on the Transplant Symptom Frequency Questionnaire did not vary significantly by MELD score. Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) score, a measure of disease severity, was significantly associated with total symptom frequency after transplant (P = .03) but was not correlated with any domains on the Short Form-36. In the subcohort of 115 patients, a MELD score greater than 25 at the time of transplantation was associated with greater improvement in physical functioning (11.3 vs 4.8, P = .02), role functioning-physical (10.7 vs 4.7, P = .04), general health (11.9 vs 5.5, P = .03), vitality (10.4 vs 5.2, P = .02), and physical component summary (12.3 vs 5.4, P = .01) relative to patients with MELD scores of 15 to 25. Conclusions The relationship between disease severity before transplant and quality of life after transplant is different depending on the index of disease severity used (MELD vs CTP) and whether the assessment of quality of life is general or specific to transplant-related symptoms.
Surface freshwater storage and variability in the Amazon basin from multi‐satellite observations, 1993–2007

The amount of water stored and moving through the surface water bodies of large river basins (river, floodplains, wetlands) plays a major role in the global water and biochemical cycles and is a critical parameter for water resources management. However, the spatiotemporal variations of these freshwater reservoirs are still widely unknown at the global scale. Here, we propose a hypsographic curve approach to estimate surface freshwater storage variations over the Amazon basin combining surface water extent from a multi‐satellite‐technique with topographic data from the Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM) from Advance Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). Monthly surface water storage variations for 1993–2007 are presented, showing a strong seasonal and interannual variability, and are evaluated against in situ river discharge and precipitation. The basin‐scale mean annual amplitude of ~1200 km3 is in the range of previous estimates and contributes to about half of the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) total water storage variations. For the first time, we map the surface water volume anomaly during the extreme droughts of 1997 (October–November) and 2005 (September–October) and found that during these dry events the water stored in the river and floodplains of the Amazon basin was, respectively, ~230 (~40%) and 210 (~50%) km3 below the 1993–2007 average. This new 15 year data set of surface water volume represents an unprecedented source of information for future hydrological or climate modeling of the Amazon. It is also a first step toward the development of such database at the global scale.
Trust-A Catalyst to Knowledge Transfer: Contemporary Studies

This is a literature based paper addressing the contemporary studies on the impacts of trust on knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer is one of the important elements of knowledge management process. Knowledge transfer helps organisations achieve competitive advantages and organisations may formulate new strategies to adjust themselves with the dynamic business environments. Trust works as a lubricant between the knowledge transfers and the knowledge recipients. It is unfortunate to note that many knowledge management gurus have ignored to study this catalyst’s influences on knowledge transfer. This paper has made an endeavour to assemble the vital studies on these issues. Future researchers may empirically study the impact of trust on knowledge transfer in numerous contexts with a view to redressing the huge gray areas on these issues.
Managing knowledge in web portals for improved customer loyalty and satisfaction

The Web has become a crucial part of our everyday lives, being a source for information and news, a platform to connect with other users through various social web applications, a medium for citizens to communicate with state via of e-government services, and doing business online, regardless whether it is online banking or shopping. It has also become an important instrument for online marketing. Today, the Web is everywhere, starting from computers and ending up with portable devices such as smart-phones and tablets. As more and more information is made available over the Internet, users are facing information overload making it harder for them to find information searched for at once. With every click users make on a website (portal), they leave behind pieces of information describing their preferences and intentions. Applying advanced methods, these events can be captured into web usage logs for further processing by means of web usage mining to tailor web information systems to its users' needs and guarantee their loyalty and satisfaction.
Identification and molecular characterization of Unc-33-like phosphoprotein (Ulip), a putative mammalian homolog of the axonal guidance-associated unc-33 gene product

The control of neuritic extension and guidance is critical for the development, maturation, and regeneration of functional neuronal circuits. We identified a neuronal 64-85 kDa phosphoprotein, the expression of which in mouse brain is regulated during development, reaching a peak at approximately 5 d postnatal, when maturation of neurons and synaptic connections is highly active. The amino acid sequence of the mouse protein deduced from its cloned cDNA reveals similarities with that of the neuritic outgrowth- and guidance-related product of the unc-33 gene in Caenorhabditis elegans. The regulation of its phosphorylation in response to nerve growth factor, as well as its localization in neurites and growth cones and at the neuromuscular junction, further indicates that Ulip (for Unc-33-like phosphoprotein) is not only a structural but likely is also a functional mammalian homolog of Unc-33, potentially involved in the control of neuritic outgrowth and axonal guidance.
Heparan sulfate proteoglycans in healthy and diseased systems

Heparin and heparan sulfate (HS) are glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) that are synthesized in the tissues and organs of mammals. They are synthesized and attached to a core protein as proteoglycans through serine–glycine concensus motifs along the core protein. These GAGs are linear polysaccharides composed of repeating disaccharide saccharide units that are variously modified along their length. As a consequence of these modifications naturally occurring heparin and HS are extremely heterogeneous in their structures. A diverse range of proteins bind heparin and HS. The types of proteins that bind are dictated by the structure of the HS or heparin chains with which they are interacting. Heparan sulfates play major roles in tissue development and in maintaining homeostasis within healthy individuals. Recent genetic studies illustrate that alterations in their structural organization can have important consequences often giving rise to, or directly causing, a disease situation. A greater understanding of the repertoire of proteins with which heparin and HS interact and the diseases that can be caused by perturbations in the structures of heparin and HS proteoglycan may provide insights into possible therapeutic interventions. These issues are discussed with a focus on musculoskeletal phenotypes and diseases. WIREs Syst Biol Med 2011 3 739–751 DOI: 10.1002/wsbm.149
Proceedings of the ESSLLI Workshop on Distributional Lexical Semantics Bridging the gap between semantic theory and computational simulations

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.
Quality Assurance: The Standards for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Institutions of Pakistan

This paper analyzes and evaluates the hypothetical imperatives, suggested by the educators, educationists and others about the quality of teaching and learning in higher education so that asset of standards to ascertain the quality may be developed. In this paper special attention has been given to the strategies for translating the imperatives into valid and reliable instruments and procedures for making judgments about the quality referred above. Besides, the paper reviews the efforts of higher education commission to change and stream line the method and materials of private and public institutions of higher education with special reference to teaching and learning. Since many of the recognized public and private universities of Pakistan give affiliation to the private colleges who offer undergraduate and graduate programs of studies, their affiliation policies and procedures have also been discussed and debated in the paper with a view to suggest ideas to check and streamline the classroom activities and procedures of such institutions. A very important feature of the paper is the role of the raters of teaching learning and the influence of their personal and professional characteristics on their judgments. In the end a set of standards and associated procedures to evaluate the teaching and learning situation of the universities and degree awarding institutions of Pakistan have been proposed.
An RF powering system with adaptive impedance matching for individual health monitoring applications

This paper presents a high-efficiency RF powering system, suitable for individual health monitoring applications. The system is composed of an antenna, an impedance matching network, and a two-stage full-wave RF-DC rectifier. A novel tuning mechanism is proposed to automatically adjust the impedance of the matching network. This mechanism can effectively improve the power efficiency of the system by 47% compared to the case without tuning. For the adaptive impedance, only a 5-bits binary weighted capacitor bank is required in the matching network. The complete system, designed in a standard 0. 13μm CMOS technology, converts a -6dBm 915MHz RF signal to a 1.7V DC voltage with an output current of 85μA. The simulated maximum power efficiency of the complete RF harvester is 66%.
Cryodamage to plasma membrane integrity in head and tail regions of human sperm.

AIM To investigate the effect of cryopreservation on the plasma membrane integrity in the head and tail regions of individual sperm, and the relationship between intact cryopreserved sperm and its motility and zona-free hamster oocyte penetration rate. METHODS The eosin Y exclusion and the hypoosmotic swelling tests were combined to form a single test (HOS-EY test) to identify the spermatozoa with four types of membrane integrity. RESULTS After cryopreservation, there was a marked decline in the percentage of spermatozoa with Type IV membrane integrity (head membrane intact/tail membrane intact), and a significant increase in those with Type I (head membrane damaged/tail membrane damaged) and Type III (head membrane damaged/tail membrane intact) membrane integrity (n = 50, P < 0.01). The value of Type II integrity had a wide range of variability, whereas Type II (head membrane intact/tail membrane damaged) was uncommon after thawing. A high correlation was observed between the percentage of Type IV integrity and sperm motility ( n = 50, r = 0.74, P < 0.01). However, the values of Type IV integrity were usually lower than those of post-thaw motility in most cryopreserved samples. The value of Type IV integrity did not correlate with the sperm penetration rate (n = 25, r = 0.22, P > 0.05). CONCLUSION (1) The HOS-EY test has the advantage of showing four patterns of membrane integrity in individual spermatozoon; (2) Cryopreservation causes a significant membrane rupture in the head and tail regions of spermatozoa; Type III is the main transitional state of membrane cryodamage; (3) Cryodamage to head and tail membrane may occur independently; the presence of an intact tail membrane does not necessarily indicate the intactness of head membrane. (4) Intact membranes are closely related to post-thaw motility, but do not reflect the fertilizing potential.
A super fast vector support classifier using novelty detection and no synaptic tuning

A novel classifier architecture is introduced and its performances are evaluated against state of the art shallow classifiers. Its main advantage consists in a very fast learning ensured by a novelty detection algorithm, selecting a list of prototypes among the training samples, used as centers in a radial basis functions neurons layer. Only the radius of the basis functions is optimized to improve generalization in conjunction with an overlapping parameter and there is no need for synaptic tuning. Compared to state of the art models such as SVM (Support Vector Machine) or ELM (Extreme Learning Machine) our SFSVC (Super Fast Vector Support Classifier) it offers equal performance while having a more compact and fast algorithm. Thus SFSVC is well suited for embedded processing of big collections of data such as data from satellite remote sensing units, automotive sensors etc. with a good potential of being directly integrated into sensing platforms.
Locally Advanced Pancreatic Cancer: Neoadjuvant Therapy With Folfirinox Results in Resectability in 60% of the Patients

Objective: For patients with locally advanced and unresectable pancreatic cancer (PDAC), neodadjuvant treatment and consecutive surgical exploration have been studied during the last decade with various neoadjuvant therapies including chemotherapy and combinations with radiation. Aim of the study was the evaluation of neoadjuvant therapy with a focus on Folfirinox. Methods: All consecutive patients undergoing surgery for PDAC after neoadjuvant treatment were analyzed (clinico-pathological characteristics, secondary resection rates, outcome). Patients receiving Folfirinox were compared with other treatment regimens. Results: Between December 2001 and June 2015, 575 patients received neoadjuvant treatment and were scheduled for resection after re-staging. A successful resection was achieved in 292 patients (50.8%). Resection rates following Folfirinox were 61% (76/125 patients) compared with 46% (150/322 patients) after gemcitabine and radiation, and 52% (66/128 patients) after other treatments (P = 0.026). Median overall survival was 15.3 months after resection vs 8.5 months after exploration alone (P < 0.0001). Subgroup median survival was 16.0 months (Folfirinox) vs 16.5 months (gemcitabine) and 14.5 months (others) with 3-year survival of 28.1%, 23.2%, and 19.7%, respectively (P = 0.8582). By multivariable analysis, Folfirinox was confirmed to be independently associated with a favorable prognosis. Conclusions: Folfirinox is a valuable treatment option in the neoadjuvant therapy of PDAC. From the present data, which represent the largest available study population to date, Folfirinox seems to be the most effective protocol resulting in a significantly better secondary resection rate and overall survival than other treatments. It should be considered in all patients fit for this regimen and consecutive surgical exploration.
Universal digital portable radio communications

Providing voice and data communications to people away from their wireline telephones has become a major communication frontier. This frontier is being penetrated by evolving approaches to portable communications, e.g., cordless telephones, mobile radiotelephone, and radio paging. However, these approaches have many limitations; none can provide universal portable communications services. This paper discusses limitations of the evolving approaches and considers objectives and approaches for providing more universal digital portable communications as an integrated part of telephone exchange networks. These more universal communications could be accomplished by using demand-assigned radio links for the last thousand feet or so of telephone loops and sharing the remainder of the fixed distribution facilities. Fixed radio ports as integrated parts of telephone distribution networks could be placed throughout service regions. Efficient use of the radio spectrum could be insured by the planned reuse of radio frequencies throughout the regions. The severe multipath radio propagation environment within and around buildings that strongly influences the design of portable communications systems is described in the paper. System configurations and radio link techniques, that can provide reliable communications in the multipath environment, are discussed. Radio system calculations are illustrated for radio ports with 30-ft-high antennas in residential areas. The calculations indicate that radio link availability would be greater than 99 percent for 2000-ft port separations and 5-mW portable transmitters. Reuse of frequencies would require dividing the allocated frequency band into segments for use at adjacent ports. Calculations suggest that link availability in the cochannel interference environment would be greater than 99 percent, if 25 to 35 segments were used in residential areas.
Safety, Tolerability, and Pharmacokinetics of PTC124, a Nonaminoglycoside Nonsense Mutation Suppressor, Following Single‐ and Multiple‐Dose Administration to Healthy Male and Female Adult Volunteers

Nonsense (premature stop codon) mutations are causative in 5% to 15% of patients with monogenetic inherited disorders. PTC124, a 284‐Dalton 1,2,4‐oxadiazole, promotes ribosomal readthrough of premature stop codons in mRNA and offers therapeutic potential for multiple genetic diseases. The authors conducted 2 phase I studies of PTC124 in 62 healthy adult volunteers. The initial, single‐dose study evaluated doses of 3 to 200 mg/kg and assessed fed‐fasting status on pharmacokinetics following a dose of 50 mg/kg. The subsequent multiple‐dose study evaluated doses from 10 to 50 mg/kg/dose twice per day (bid) for up to 14 days. PTC124 administered orally as a liquid suspension was palatable and well tolerated through single doses of 100 mg/kg. At 150 and 200 mg/kg, PTC124 induced mild headache, dizziness, and gastrointestinal events. With repeated doses through 50 mg/kg/dose bid, reversible transaminase elevations <2 times the upper limit of normal were sometimes observed. Immunoblot analyses of peripheral blood mononuclear cell extracts revealed no protein elongation due to nonspecific ribosomal readthrough of normal stop codons. PTC124 plasma concentrations exceeding the 2‐ to 10‐μg/mL values associated with activity in preclinical genetic disease models were safely achieved. No sex‐related differences in pharmacokinetics were seen. No drug accumulation with repeated dosing was apparent. Diurnal variation was observed, with greater PTC124 exposures after evening doses. PTC124 excretion in the urine was <2%. PTC124 pharmacokinetics were described by a 1‐compartment model. Collectively, the data support initiation of phase II studies of PTC124 in patients with nonsense mutation–mediated cystic fibrosis and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Evidence of complex citer motivations

There were 20 scholars interviewed about their citation motives in recently published articles. Their 437 citations were scaled along 1 or more of the following 7 citer motives: currency, negative credit, operational information, persuasiveness, positive credit, reader alert, and social consensus. The majority (70.7%) of the references were attributed to more than 1 motive. Analysis of the clustering of the citer motives showed 3 groupings: (1) persuasiveness, positive credit, currency, and social consensus, (2) negative credit, and (3) reader alert and operational information. Negative credit references were often found to be used with a countervailing positive credit, currency, or social consensus reference. This is considered to be empirical evidence of MacRoberts and MacRoberts' [8] hypothesis that scholars dissemble when giving negative references. © 1986 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Understanding Short Texts ∗

∗You can find more materials from our tutorial website: http://www.wangzhongyuan. com/tutorial/ ACL2016/Understanding-Short-Texts/ makes them extremely difficult to handle. On the other hand, search engines, seem to be able to handle short texts (queries) quite well. This however does not mean search engines have an organic understanding of short texts, rather, the semantic gap is filled in by human click-through signals. Human beings can understand short texts with ease, although many of them are ambiguous. How does the mind get so much out of so little, especially when the input data is sparse, noisy, and ambiguous? In 2011, a Science paper called “How to grow a mind: statistics, structure, and abstraction” (Tenenbaum et al., 2011) pointed out that “If the mind goes beyond the data given, another source of information must make up the difference. ” Lots of efforts have been put into filling this gap. A growing number of approaches leverage external knowledge to address the issue of inadequate contextual information that accompanies the short texts. These approaches can be classified into two categories: