Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficacy and Toxicity of Weekly Carboplatin and Paclitaxel as Induction or Palliative Treatment in Advanced Esophageal Cancer Patients

Many patients have advanced esophageal cancer at diagnosis. However, the most optimal treatment has not been identified. Therefore, we evaluated a weekly regimen of carboplatin (area under the curve (AUC)) of 4 and paclitaxel at 100 mg/m2 as an induction or palliative treatment. All patients with advanced (gastro)esophageal cancer treated with this regimen between 2002–2018 were included. Exclusion criteria were previous radiotherapy or treatment elsewhere. Data on toxicity, response, and survival were collected. Analyses were performed in two groups: induction (iCT) or palliative chemotherapy (pCT). Median progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were estimated with the Kaplan–Meier method. A total of 291 patients was included (iCT: 122; pCT: 169). Most patients had T3 carcinoma (iCT: 54%; pCT: 66%) and stage IV disease (iCT: 42%; pCT: 91%). A toxicity grade ≥3 occurred mainly as hematological toxicity (iCT: 71%; pCT: 73%) and gastrointestinal toxicity (iCT: 3%; pCT: 5%). Response rates were 48% (iCT) and 44% (pCT). Esophagectomy or definitive chemoradiotherapy followed in 42% of iCT, resulting in a PFS of 22.1 months (interquartile range (IQR): 12.4–114.2) and OS of 26.8 months (IQR: 15.4–91.7). For pCT, PFS was 8.2 months (IQR: 5.1–14.5) and OS 10.9 months (IQR: 6.5–18.3). This retrospective cohort study demonstrated that weekly carboplatin (AUC4) and paclitaxel (100 mg/m2) is a well-tolerated and effective induction or palliative treatment regimen for patients with locally advanced or metastatic disease. Future research should directly compare this treatment regimen with other first-line treatment options to determine its true value for clinical practice.
Distribution and Diversity of Cytochrome P450 Monooxygenases in the Fungal Class Tremellomycetes

Tremellomycetes, a fungal class in the subphylum Agaricomycotina, contain well-known opportunistic and emerging human pathogens. The azole drug fluconazole, used in the treatment of diseases caused by some species of Tremellomycetes, inhibits cytochrome P450 monooxygenase CYP51, an enzyme that converts lanosterol into an essential component of the fungal cell membrane ergosterol. Studies indicate that mutations and over-expression of CYP51 in species of Tremellomycetes are one of the reasons for fluconazole resistance. Moreover, the novel drug, VT-1129, that is in the pipeline is reported to exert its effect by binding and inhibiting CYP51. Despite the importance of CYPs, the CYP repertoire in species of Tremellomycetes has not been reported to date. This study intends to address this research gap. Comprehensive genome-wide CYP analysis revealed the presence of 203 CYPs (excluding 16 pseudo-CYPs) in 23 species of Tremellomycetes that can be grouped into 38 CYP families and 72 CYP subfamilies. Twenty-three CYP families are new and three CYP families (CYP5139, CYP51 and CYP61) were conserved across 23 species of Tremellomycetes. Pathogenic cryptococcal species have 50% fewer CYP genes than non-pathogenic species. The results of this study will serve as reference for future annotation and characterization of CYPs in species of Tremellomycetes.
Disseminated Oral Melanoma with Brain and Gastrointestinal Tract Involvements in A Cocker Spaniel: A Case Report

A nine-year-old, male Cocker Spaniel with a history of surgical excision of oral melanoma located at the gingiva of the left maxilla was evaluated progressively over the course of 1 month post-surgery. The dog had shown signs of respiratory distress. Radiographic examination revealed diffusely pulmonary metastases. The respiratory distress progressively worsened and the dog died following excision of the oral mass. On necropsy, disseminated metastases to various organs including the lungs, heart, mediastinum, liver, kidneys, spleen, tonsil, lymph nodes, adrenal glands, thoracic wall, jejunum, pancreas, and brain were observed. Microscopically, the neoplastic cells were characterized by spindle to polyhedral phenotypes, having centrally located vesicular nuclei with prominent nucleoli, and melanin pigment accumulations in the cytoplasm. Neoplastic cells were seen within organ parenchyma as well as being found as emboli in blood and lymph vessels of those organs. The neoplastic cells demonstrated strongly cytoplasmic immunoreactivity to Melan A. Hematogenous dissemination is considered as an important route for distant metastases of oral melanoma. In this report, we describe the rare disseminated metastasis of an oral melanoma to the brain and gastrointestinal tracts, which are considered to be important sites of melanoma metastases in humans.
07. Trophic dynamics of three sympatric anuran species in a soybean agroecosystem from Santa Fe Province, Argentina

The conversion of forests to agroecosystems presents a challenge for biodiversity conservation. In this study, the feeding habits of three species of anurans (Rhinella fernandezae, Odontophrynus americanus and Physalaemus albonotatus) were compared between a soybean field and a native forest in Santa Fe Province, Argentina. Our dietary assessment is based on 124 individuals (47 R. fernandezae, 45 O. americanus and 32 P. albonotatus). Lepidopteran larvae were the predominant item in anuran diets from the soybean field, whereas collembola, isopods and snails prevailed in the diets from forests. Generally, the three anuran species shifted their diets as prey differs in the two environments, but R. fernandezae and P. albonotatus maintained a preference for a few prey types. Mean niche overlap in the soybean field was smaller than expected by chance, suggesting that the three anuran species are competing for limited resources. Trophic studies on other native anurans in agroecosystems should be a priority in conservation efforts due to their potential use as natural control agents, as well as for assessing the consequences of the broad conversion of natural forest to agricultural use in our region and throughout the world.
Planar magnetoinductive lens for three-dimensional subwavelength imaging

A planar near-field magnetoinductive lens operating in the microwave range is presented. The proposed device consists of two parallel planar arrays of metallic broadside coupled (BC) split-ring resonators (SRRs), or BC-SRRs. The power coming from a point-like source located in front of the lens is focused into a receiver located in free space beyond the lens. This focus is clearly separated from the back side of the lens, and has a size that is an order of magnitude smaller than the free space wavelength of the incoming field. The imaging properties of the device relies mainly on the excitation of magnetoinductive surface waves on the BC-SRR arrays. By simply scaling the BC-SRRs’ size, as well as the arrays periodicity, the operation frequency of the device can be tuned in a wide frequency range. Thus, the proposed design is potentially useful for many applications ranging from megahertz to terahertz.
Effect of partial and total replacement of fishmeal with sand smelt (Atherina boyeri) meal in practical diets for mono sex Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings.

The objective of the present study was carried out to evaluate partial and total replacing of the fishmeal protein supplied by sand smelt fishmeal (SSFM) (Atherina boyeri) in practical diets on fish health, growth performance and feed utilization of mono sex Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings. The experiment lasted 16 weeks and includes five treatments 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% sand smelt fish meal (SSFM), respectively. An experimental diet containing is onitrogenous diets (30% crude protein), Ten ponds includes five treatments (Two replicates-almost 4 m/pond) and Nile tilapia fingerlings stocked in 25 fish/m (7.65±0.3 g at initial body weight). The highest weight gain WG (75.94 g) was recorded for fish fed the 25% replacing diet (SSM25) followed by those fed the diet SSM50 (75.24 g), SSM75 (74.26 g), SSM0 (73.16 g) and SSM100 (72.14g), respectively and the differences in weight gain among the different fry groups were significant (P<0.05) and the same trend was observed for specific growth rate SGR. The average feed intake and feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency ratio of Nile tilapia were significantly (P<0.05) affected by the incorporation of sand smelt fish meal as a substitute of fish meal. Dry mater in whole fish body ranged between 28.83 and 29.59 with insignificant differences. Crude protein ranged between 55.69 and 58.06, ether extract ranged between 25.16 and 28.67, ash ranged between 14.83 and 15.58 with significant differences for ether extract and protein content of whole fish bodies. The present study indicated that replacing up to 75% of FM by SSM higher affected growth and feed utilization and reduced feeding costs by 13.99% for Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) fingerlings compared with control. Also, The results showed he can use sand smelt meal as an alternative to fish meal (Herring meal) at a rate of 100% in diets fed Nile tilapia without effect on the growth of total production compared to the control, which leads to higher economic returns.
Can the Use of Web 2.0 Tools Help Deliver 21st Century Learning

It has long been recognized that people need to be literate to function optimally within society. The 21st century has seen technology increase the complexity of environments, so that a literate person must now possess a wide range of abilities, competencies, and literacies. These have often been referred to as “21st-century skills” and while many of them are not new, the extent to which individual success depends on having such skills is new. The current study seeks to explore ways in which technology can be used to increase literacy and enhance 21st century skills in students. 1193 students attending Sahmyook University in Seoul, South Korea were placed in small groups and asked to make a movie in English. This constructivist, real-world, group-based project required students to collaboratively negotiated their way through a variety of language, technical and social challenges using a wiki. We can conclude from this study that collaborative projects, supported by web 2.0 tools, can deliver worthwhile learning. Students reported that the project; was interesting and rewarding, improved their relationships with classmates, encouraged teamwork, improved English skills, facilitated positive attitudes and the development of ICT skills. Students experienced improved technical, collaborative, leadership, critical thinking and problem solving skills that enhanced knowledge and contributed to their personal 21st century skill set.
Measurement of energy requirements for size reduction of palm kernel and groundnut shells for downstream bioenergy generation

The study estimated the amount of energy required for grinding palm kernel shell and groundnut shell using laboratory hammer mill and also characterize their ground physical properties. The material type and hammer mill screen aperture significantly influenced the energy requirement for grinding the two materials. For a given screen aperture size, groundnut shell consumed more energy than palm kernel shell. The energy relationship with hammer mill screen exhibited a second order polynomial form. Within the same hammer mill screen aperture range, the energy requirements for palm kernel and groundnut shell were considerably lower than most grass based biomass or straw. The bulk and particle density of groundnut shell decreased with increased geometric mean diameter while that of palm kernel shell increased with geometric mean. The two materials ground exhibited a lognormal particle size distribution at hammer mill screen of 5 and 3 mm, while 0.8 mm screen aperture exhibited a normal size distribution. The total particle and surface area estimate in a charge was sensitive to the screen sizes. Energy equations: Ratzinger’s, Kicks and Bond’s were used to investigate the results of the biomass comminution with Ratzinger’s equations showing a higher R2 value for palm kernel shell while Kick’s equation showed a higher R2 value for groundnut shell. Key words: Milling, energy consumption, groundnut shell, palm kernel shell, grinding.
The Trend of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever Cases in Central Jakarta 2008-2010

Dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) constitutes a significant public health problem in Jakarta, thus it is crucial to plan preventive measure before an outbreak occurs.The aim of the study was to find the trend of DHF cases in Central Jakarta. Subjects were diagnosed for DHF in Central Jakarta from 2008 to 2010, and were documented by Sudinkes (District Health Office) of Central Jakarta. Investigation was conducted on the trend of DHF cases using secondary data, while adjusting for several criteria such as age, gender and case fatality rate (CFR). The results showed that peak incidence of DHF infections was detected in May 2008, and in March 2009 and 2010. There was no difference observed between male and female (p<0.19), whereas adult personnels were more susceptible to suffer from DHF compared to children (p<0.001). CFR appeared to be under the standard (<1%). CFR of DHF in Jakarta has to be maintained as of <1%. This can be done by conducting several efforts on decreasing of DHF cases. To conclude, all societies living in the area of Central Jakarta should be aware of DHF and the awareness has to be raised particularly from
Perception of Surface Defects by Active Exploration with a Biomimetic Tactile Sensor

We investigate the transduction of tactile information during active exploration of finely textured surfaces using a novel tactile sensor mimicking the human fingertip. The sensor has been designed by integrating a linear array of 10 micro-force sensors in an elastomer layer. We measure the sensors' response to the passage of elementary topographical features in the form of a small hole on a flat substrate. The response is found to strongly depend on the relative location of the sensor with respect to the substrate/skin contact zone. This result can be quantitatively interpreted within the scope of a linear model of mechanical transduction, taking into account both the intrinsic response of individual sensors and the context-dependent interfacial stress field within the contact zone. Consequences on robotics of touch are briefly discussed.
Using Technologies for Knowledge Creation in Higher Education

Institutes of higher education are investing in information and communication technologies (ICT) with the hope of revolutionizing higher education. Current approaches of using technologies for teaching and learning, however, fall short in terms of preparing students for the 21st century. We present various factors that shape learning in the 21st century: demands of the knowledge-based economy; advances in technologies; and changes in perspectives of learning. Consequently, we argue that learning as knowledge creation is a promising approach to prepare students for the 21st century. It entails engaging students in creating knowledge artifacts and in collaborative discourse that aim at continual improvement of these artifacts. It helps to develop in students the innovative disposition and epistemic agency to explore new perspectives; propose new ideas; and experiment with new ideas. Two case examples are presented to illustrate the knowledge creation approach and to compare it with the current approaches.
TAG Based Skimming In ATLAS

The ATLAS detector at the LHC takes data at 200–500 Hz for several months per year accumulating billions of events for hundreds of physics analyses. TAGs are event-level metadata allowing a quick search for interesting events based on selection criteria defined by the user. They are stored in a file-based format as well as in relational databases. The overall TAG system architecture encompasses a range of interconnected services that provide functionality for the required use cases such as event selection, display, extraction and skimming. Skimming can be used to navigate to any of the pre-TAG data products. The services described in this paper address use cases that range in scale from selecting a handful of interesting events for an analysis specific study to creating physics working group samples on the ATLAS production system. This paper will focus on the workflow aspects involved in creating pre and post TAG data products from a TAG selection using the Grid in the context of the overall TAG system architecture. The emphasis will be on the range of demands that the implemented use cases place on these workflows and on the infrastructure. The tradeoffs of various workflow strategies will be discussed including scalability issues and other concerns that occur when integrating with data management and production systems.
Distributed Denial of Service Attacks: A Survey

DDoS attack is one of the most gruesome attacks in the world of cybercrimes and has been prevalent since quite a long time without any substantial remedy till now. Our survey of research papers gave an insight into DDoS attack through various angles including political benefits. From our study what we could decipher was that plethora of algorithms have been proposed by great researchers and scientist but very few have been tested or put into practice, rest are still a theoretical model which are yet to be put into practice. Very few methods in our survey could actually detect a DDoS attack beforehand and prevent it whereas there were quite a number of algorithms designed to prevent the server after the attack has been launched. We would try to propose solution to the best of our knowledge.
The Impact of Dynamic Profit Maximization on Biodiversity: A Network DEA Application to UK Cereal Farms.

Using a nonparametric framework, we analyse the impact of dynamic profit maximization on biodiversity for a sample of UK cereal farms for the year 2007. Recognizing the drawbacks of directly implementing biodiversity as an output or input in a distance function framework, we only consider inputs and outputs that are clear choice variables from the firm’s perspective. We use a dynamic, intertemporal profit function to take into account adjustment costs. We assess how dynamic profit maximization may shift land use allocation and, as a consequence, the Shannon index for crop diversification. Doing so allows us to calculate the shadow prices of crop diversification in a novel way that is consistent with the dynamic theory of the firm.
Navigating Through Virtual Worlds: From Single Characters to Large Crowds

With the rise and success of digital games over the past few decades, path planning algorithms have become an important aspect in modern game development for all types of genres. Indirectly-controlled playable characters as well as non-player characters have to find their way through the game’s environment to reach their goal destinations. Modern gaming hardware and new algorithms enable the simulation of large crowds with thousands of individual characters. Still, the task of generating feasible and believable paths in a timeand storage-efficient way is a big challenge in this emerging and exciting research field. In this chapter, the authors describe classical algorithms and data structures, as well as recent approaches that enable the simulation of new and immersive features related to path planning and crowd simulation in modern games. The authors discuss the pros and cons of such algorithms, give an overview of current research questions and show why graph-based methods will soon be replaced by novel approaches that work on a surface-based representation of the environment.
Modelling Electricity Swaps with Stochastic Forward Premium Models

We present a new model for pricing electricity swaps. Two general factors affect contracts but unique risk elements affect each contract. General factors are average swap prices and deterministic trend-seasonal components, and unique elements are forward premiums. Innovations follow MNIG distributions. We estimate the model with data from the European Energy Exchange. The model outperforms four competitors, both in in-sample valuation and in out-of-sample forecasting, and in fitting the term structure of volatilities by market segments. Competitor models are (i) diffusion spot prices, (ii) jump-diffusion spot prices with time dependent volatility, (iii) HJM-based and (iv) Levy multifactor model with NIG distributions. Value-at-Risk measures based on normality strongly underestimate tail risk but our model gives estimates that are more exact.Keywords: Electricity swaps; Stochastic forward premium; Multivariate Normal Inverse Gaussian distribution; Levy processes
The many shapes of diversity: ecological and evolutionary determinants of biodiversity through time

Question: Is it either necessary or useful to separate ecological and evolutionary factors as determinants of biodiversity pathways? Organisms: The fossil record of 58 extinct marine invertebrate groups belonging to six different animal phyla, ranging from the early Palaeozoic to the early Cenozoic, and including a total of 21,554 species. Methods: We tested six different models of biodiversity evolution by means of maximum likelihood estimation. The models reproduce familiar, long-standing hypotheses on biodiversity controls (such as adaptive radiation, Van Valen’s Red Queen, and density-dependence). Results: For nearly 90% of the fossil clades analysed, the best model includes an early diversification phase, and increased extinction rate over time. These features are consistent regardless of whether the main determinants of species diversity in the models are ecological or evolutionary. Clades terminated by mass extinctions did not have shorter duration than other clades but were characterized by earlier divergence and greater species richness than other clades. Conclusion: An early rapid diversification, coupled with a late increase in extinction, is common to the majority of clades, and predicted by the most successful models of biodiversity evolution. This path is consistent with both evolutionary and ecological factors (or better, a combination of the two). The separation of ecological and evolutionary factors as determinants of biodiversity pathways seems neither justified nor necessary.
Seasonal Migration and Risk Aversion

Pre-harvest lean seasons are widespread in the agrarian areas of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Every year, these seasonal famines force millions of people to succumb to poverty and hunger. We randomly assign an $8.50 incentive to households in Bangladesh to out-migrate during the lean season, and document a set of striking facts. The incentive induces 22% of households to send a seasonal migrant, consumption at the origin increases by 30% (550-700 calories per person per day) for the family members of induced migrants, and follow-up data show that treated households continue to re-migrate at a higher rate after the incentive is removed. The migration rate is 10 percentage points higher in treatment areas a year later, and three years later it is still 8 percentage points higher. These facts can be explained by a model with three key elements: (a) experimenting with the new activity is risky, given uncertain prospects at the destination, (b) overcoming the risk requires individual-specific learning (e.g. resolving the uncertainty about matching to an employer), and (c) some migrants are close to subsistence and the risk of failure is very costly. We test a model with these features by examining heterogeneity in take-up and re-migration, and by conducting a new experiment with a migration insurance treatment. We document several pieces of evidence consistent with the model.