Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weather and sentiment analysis in the commodities market

Faculty of Engineering, Mathematics and Science School of Engineering Masters in Computer Engineering Weather and sentiment analysis in the commodities market by Gary White This project involves an investigation of the impact of the effect of exogenous and qualitative analysis on the spot price of commodities. The commodities market is a complex system and to estimate the effect of weather and sentiment articulated in news and comments requires a number of different analysis techniques. To calculate the impact of the weather analysis on the commodities market a large collection of historical data was aggregated. A weather model was then formed using cumulative heating degree days, mean temperature and a stochastic process, the accuracy of this model is then tested using vector autoregression. The investigation into the impact of sentiment analysis on the project was conducted by identifying formal and social news sources and then analysing the sentiment content of the news. The sentiment of the corpus of text is analysed using the Rocksteady program which has been developed in Trinity, using a general and domain specific dictionary. The time series sentiment analysis is then analysed through the use of vector autoregression. The key findings from the research into the analysis techniques in the commodities market has shown that weather analysis is more effective at predicting changes in the commodity markets due to the lower P-values and higher F-tests returned by the vector autoregression. It was also observed that the analysis results of various commodities varied to a large extent even for the same analysis techniques for example Natural Gas was heavily influenced by weather analysis while gasoline showed very little response to this analysis. The sentiment analysis produced statistically significant results for WTI Crude Oil but was not as effective for the other commodities. As a conclusion to the project I develop an algorithmic trading program which makes trades based on trends in the weather and sentiment analysis which shows how the research that was conducted has useful applications in industry. I also look at some visualization options which show how the research results can be best illustrated.
Utilizing persuasion approach to improve compliance behaviour with password guidelines

Password based authentication remains the most commonly used authentication mechanism, in spite of the rapid introduction of several other authentication mechanisms such as smart cards, graphical passwords and biometrics.Users mainly rely on password guidelines to construct their password; nevertheless existing password guidelines seem inadequate especially from the perspective of influencing the users’ security compliance behavior.Thus, this study intended to investigate ways to improve the content of password guidelines through persuasion approach to increase the likelihood of compliance behavior. A control laboratory experiment was carried out and the results were critically discussed.The outcomes indicate promising findings that users can be persuaded to improve their security compliance behavior by including more persuasive elements in the password guidelines.
Mobile Station Spatio-Temporal Multipath Clustering of an Estimated Wideband MIMO Double-Directional Channel of a Small Urban 4.5 GHz Macrocell

Multipath clusters in a wireless channel could act as additional channels for spatial multiplexing MIMO systems. However, identifying them in order to come up with better cluster channel models has been a hurdle due to how they are defined. This paper considers the identification of these clusters at the mobile station through a middle ground approach—combining a globally optimized automatic clustering approach and manual clustering of the physical scatterers. By including the scattering verification in the cluster identification, better insight into their behavior in wireless channels would be known, especially the physical realism and eventually a more satisfactorily accurate cluster channel model could be proposed. The results show that overlapping clusters make up the majority of the observed channel, which stems from automatic clustering, whereas only a few clusters have clear delineation of their dispersion. In addition, it is difficult to judge the physical realism of overlapping clusters. This further points to a need for the physical interpretation and verification of clustering results, which is an initial step taken in this paper. From the identification results, scattering mechanisms of the clusters are presented and also their selected first and second order statistics.
Clinical significance of endothelin in cardiovascular disease

&NA; Endothelins are ubiquitously produced 21 ‐amino‐acid peptides that were discovered as an endothelial product and may play important roles in cardiovascular physiology and pathophysiology. The main endothelin produced by the endothelium is endothelin‐1. The vasoconstrictor role of endothelins may participate in blood pressure elevation and vascular hypertrophy in salt‐dependent models of hypertension (deoxycorticosterone acetate‐salt hypertensive rats, spontaneously hypertensive rats treated with deoxycorticosterone acetate and salt, and Dahl salt‐sensitive rats), and in stroke‐prone spontaneously hypertensive rats. In humans, endothelins may play important roles in moderate to severe essential hypertension, and in the hypertension of African‐Americans. Endothelins may be involved in cardiac hypertrophy, and there is increasing evidence of their participation in heart failure, in which acute endothelin antagonism in humans exerts beneficial effects. Endothelin expression is enhanced in smooth muscle cells migrating into the intima of arteries in atherosclerosis, suggesting a role in atherogenesis. Endothelin may participate as a vasoconstrictor in coronary artery disease, and as a contributor to intimal proliferation in restenosis after coronary angioplasty. In patients with myocardial infarction, cardiac production of endothelin is increased, particularly in those with cardiogenic shock. There is a potential for participation of endothelins in vasospasm accompanying stroke or subarachnoid hemorrhage; in the latter, endothelin antagonism has shown beneficial effects in experimental models. In neonatal and in primary pulmonary hypertension, endothelin expression is enhanced, and in experimental models endothelin antagonism resulted in favorable responses. Systemic sclerosis is another, peripheral, form of vascular disease in which endothelin may play a role and in which endothelin antagonism may be an interesting therapeutic alternative. The pathophysiologic role of endothelins is becoming increasingly apparent in cardiovascular disease, generating interesting potential therapeutic targets for the use of endothelin antagonists or endothelin‐converting enzyme inhibitors.
The molecular mechanisms of calpains on muscle atrophy.

The molecular mechanisms of calpains on muscle atrophy Jiaru Huang1, Xiaoping Zhu2 1Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, Ningxia , 750004, China 2YangPu Hospital of Tongji University, Department of Respiratory Diseases, Shanghai, 200090, China Corresponding author: Xiaoping Zhu Email:z_xping@hotmail. com Department of Respiratory Diseases, YangPu Hospital of Tongji University, Yangpu Tengyue Road No. 450, Shanghai, China Phone: 00862113311996819
Concurrent Validity of the Addiction Severity Index

The concurrent validity of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI), a new scale for assessing a range of clinical dimensions in drug and alcohol abusers, was evaluated in 204 opiate addicts applying for treatment. This study is the first independent validation study of this measure. The ASI subscales were found to have good concurrent validity with self-report measures in the areas of psychological problems, social adjustment problems, legal problems, and employment problems (r = .55 to .39). Drug abuse problems showed limited concurrent validity and medical problems were not concurrently assessed in our study. Addicts with psychiatric diagnoses beyond opiate abuse were effectively identified by the ASI, and depressed addicts were particularly well screened with a sensitivity of 89 per cent and a specificity of 67 per cent. A cluster analysis demonstrated that the six ASI scales could be used to discriminate depressed addicts, antisocial addicts, and addicts without psychiatric disorders. Thus, the ASI was demonstrated to be a potentially important evaluation instrument for opiate addicts.
Polymerization of the SAM domain of TEL in leukemogenesis and transcriptional repression

TEL is a transcriptional repressor that is a frequent target of chromosomal translocations in a large number of hematalogical malignancies. These rearrangements fuse a potent oligomerization module, the SAM domain of TEL, to a variety of tyrosine kinases or transcriptional regulatory proteins. The self‐associating property of TEL–SAM is essential for cell transformation in many, if not all of these diseases. Here we show that the TEL–SAM domain forms a helical, head‐to‐tail polymeric structure held together by strong intermolecular contacts, providing the first clear demonstration that SAM domains can polymerize. Our results also suggest a mechanism by which SAM domains could mediate the spreading of transcriptional repression complexes along the chromosome.
UV‐induced immune suppression and sunscreen

Sun protection factor (SPF) that measures sunscreen protection against erythema and edema may not be enough to measure a sunscreen's activity against many other biologic reactions induced by ultraviolet radiation (UV). It may be better to evaluate sunscreen efficacy using various tools including immune protection factor (IPF), mutation protection factor (MPF) and protection against photocarcinogenesis. In terms of immune protection, sunscreens protected against UV‐induced immune suppression significantly. But protection in some cases was partial and often the IPF of sunscreens were less than the SPF. IPF may differ with various immunological endpoints, and it may be better to use a couple of different assays to measure sunscreen protection more objectively. Sunscreen use protects against most UV‐induced non‐melanoma skin cancers and actinic keratoses but its activity against melanoma is not clear. More studies with broad‐spectrum stable sunscreens and better models for the investigation of malignant melanoma are required.
Phylogenetic analysis of 48 papillomavirus types and 28 subtypes and variants: a showcase for the molecular evolution of DNA viruses

Papillomaviruses are attractive models for studying the molecular evolution of DNA viruses because of the large number of isolates that exhibit genomic diversity and host species and tissue specificity. To examine their relationship, we selected two amino acid sequences, one of 52 residues within the early gene E1 and the other of 44 residues within the late gene L1, which allowed insertion- and deletion-free alignment of all accessible papillomavirus sequences. We constructed phylogenetic trees from the amino acid and corresponding nucleotide sequences from 28 published and 20 newly determined animal and human papillomavirus (HPV) genomic sequences by using distance matrix, maximum-likelihood, and parsimony methods. The trees agreed in all important topological aspects. One major branch with two clearly separated clusters contained 11 HPV types associated with epidermodysplasia verruciformis. A second major branch had all the papillomaviruses involved in genital neoplasia and, in distant relationship, the cutaneous papillomaviruses HPV type 2a (HPV-2a), HPV-3, and HPV-10 as well as the "butcher's" papillomavirus HPV-7 and two simian papillomaviruses. Four artiodactyl (even-toed hoofed mammal) papillomaviruses, the cottontail rabbit papillomavirus, and avian (chaffinch) papillomavirus type 1 formed a third major branch. Last, four papillomaviruses exhibited little affinity to any of these three branches; these were the cutaneous types HPV-1a, HPV-4, and HPV-41 and B-group bovine papillomavirus type 4. The phylogeny suggests that some branches of papillomavirus evolution are restricted to particular target tissues and that a general process of long-term papillomavirus-host coevolution has occurred. This latter hypothesis is still conjectural because of bias in the current data base for human types and the paucity of animal papillomavirus sequences. The comparison of evolutionary distances for the most closely related types with those of 28 subtypes and variants of HPV-2, HPV-5, HPV-6, HPV-16, and HPV-18 supports the type as a natural taxonomic unit, with subtypes and variants being expressions of minor intratype genomic diversity similar to that found in the natural populations of all biological species. An exception to this seems to be HPV-2c, which has an evolutionary distance from HPV-2a of the intertype magnitude and may eventually have to be regarded as a distinct type. We describe an experimental approach that estimates the taxonomic and phylogenetic positions of newly identified papillomaviruses without viral isolation and complete genomic sequencing. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
Quizartinib in acute myeloid leukemia.

ML An FLT3-ITD mutation occurs in the FLT3 receptor protein found on the cell surface of hematopoietic cells. AML is a rapidly proliferating cancer. Internal tandem duplication of the FLT3 gene occurs in up to one-third of patients with AML and is associated with more aggressive disease and failure of standard treatment. The therapeutic approach for these patients has traditionally included intensive induction chemotherapy, followed by consolidative chemotherapy or hematopoietic cell transplantation. We specifically refer to such patients as FLT3-ITD patients because they have a unique clinical presentation. AML can present in a variety of ways, but one of the more dramatic ways is that patients will have a very high white blood cell count. Furthermore, although FLT3-ITD patients can achieve remission with conventional chemotherapy, a large fraction of these patients relapse, and they relapse more rapidly than other AML patients who lack such mutations. FLT3-ITD patients have a clinical course that is almost always fatal at relapse, as the disease becomes difficult to control. What emerges at relapse is typically an even more aggressive leukemia that becomes driven by the FLT3 mutation. The FLT3 receptor is supposed to function only in hematopoietic stem cells, turning on when it is time to replenish a subpopulation, and then turning off once that has been achieved. However, when there is a mutation in FLT3, it is permanently on. In the relapse setting in AML patients with FLT3-ITD mutations, that mutant receptor is driving the cell to divide, and it provides a resistance to chemotherapy as well. By the same token, the leukemia cell is rather addicted to that oncoprotein. Genome-wide sequencing studies of diagnostic and relapsed AML samples suggest that at presentation, an AML cell population consists of several clonal subtypes that share a common mutational ancestry but have unique complements of initiating mutations. At relapse, a dominant clone is more likely to emerge, resulting in an FLT3-addicted clone dominating the leukemia cell population. Therefore, the logical approach is to try to inhibit FLT3.
Impact of iron dextran on polymorphonuclear cell function among hemodialysis patients.

BACKGROUND Polymorphonuclear cell (PMN) dysfunction and the increased use of parenteral iron may be important contributory factors to bacterial infections among patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) on maintenance hemodialysis (HD). We compared the in vitro impact of a commonly used parenteral iron preparation, iron dextran, on PMN function and viability between a group of HD patients with normal iron indices and healthy subjects. METHODS Eleven patients with ESRD on HD and 10 healthy subjects were studied. PMN harvested from heparinized blood were incubated with iron dextran (0 - 20 mM) in culture medium (RPMI) for 24 hours at 37 degrees C with 5% CO2 following which function and viability were assessed by flow cytometry using appropriate fluorescent labels. RESULTS Unstimulated, S. aureus and N-formyl-methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine (fMLP)-stimulated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) production was significantly higher in PMN unexposed to iron dextran from HD patients compared to those from healthy subjects. Iron dextran had no impact on unstimulated PMN H2O2 production in either group. In the healthy group, the only significant change occurred with 4-beta-phorbol 12-beta-myristate 13-alpha-acetate (PMA) stimulation, where cells exposed to 0.2 and 2.0 mM iron dextran produced less H2O2 relative to PMN unexposed to iron dextran (p < 0.05). In the HD group, all concentrations of iron dextran significantly attenuated H2O2 production stimulated by S. aureus, fMLP and PMA compared to PMN unexposed to iron dextran. Although PMN phagocytosis decreased with exposure to increasing concentration of iron dextran in both healthy subjects and HD patients, these changes did not achieve statistical significance. No significant changes in PMN viability or apoptosis were seen in either group after exposure to iron dextran. CONCLUSIONS These results indicate that iron dextran, a standard parenteral iron preparation, attenuates PMN function in HD patients with normal iron indices at clinically relevant concentrations. Further studies are required to evaluate and compare the impact of newer preparations of parenteral iron, such as iron sucrose and ferric gluconate, on PMN function.
Development of facial sexual dimorphism in children aged between 12 and 15 years: a three-dimensional longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate sexual dimorphism of facial form and shape and to describe differences between the average female and male face from 12 to 15 years. SETTING AND SAMPLE POPULATION Overall 120 facial scans from healthy Caucasian children (17 boys, 13 girls) were longitudinally evaluated over a 4-year period between the ages of 12 and 15 years. MATERIALS AND METHODS Facial surface scans were obtained using a three-dimensional optical scanner Vectra-3D. Variation in facial shape and form was evaluated using geometric morphometric and statistical methods (DCA, PCA and permutation test). Average faces were superimposed, and the changes were evaluated using colour-coded maps. RESULTS There were no significant sex differences (p > 0.05) in shape in any age category and no differences in form in the 12- and 13-year-olds, as the female faces were within the area of male variability. From the age of 14, a slight separation occurred, which was statistically confirmed. The differences were mainly associated with size. Generally boys had more prominent eyebrow ridges, more deeply set eyes, a flatter cheek area, and a more prominent nose and chin area. CONCLUSION The development of facial sexual dimorphism during pubertal growth is connected with ontogenetic allometry.
Venous thrombosis after hallux valgus surgery.

To The Editor: Early in our academic career, we had the fortunate experience of being authors of one of the earliest prospective, randomized clinical studies in orthopaedic surgery. The study was designed to determine whether the use of a thigh tourniquet influences the incidence of deep venous thrombosis1. The results in a cohort of 117 patients who underwent elective forefoot surgery showed that no patient had a venous thrombosis. A recent study entitled “Venous Thrombosis After Hallux Valgus Surgery” (2003;85:1204-8), by Radl et al., also showed a very low rate of venous thrombosis; only four (4%) of 100 patients had calf-vein thrombosis. This recent paper did not reference our article. Although the study design, the method of detection of the thrombosis, and the purpose of the two studies were different, the inclusion and exclusion criteria, study population, number of patients, type … Corresponding author: Roman Radl, MD Department of Orthopaedic Surgery University of Graz Auenbruggerplatz 9 8036 Graz, Austria roman.radl{at}uni-graz.at
Generation Expansion Planning in the Age of Green Economy

Generation expansion planning (GEP) is the problem of finding the optimal strategy to plan the construction of new generation plants while satisfying technical and economical constraints. It is a challenging problem due to its nonlinearity, large-scale, and to the discrete nature of the variables describing unit size and allocation. Originally, GEP was faced by vertically integrated utilities with the aim of minimizing production and capital costs. After deregulation, generation companies were forced to consider GEP from the viewpoint of market shares and financial risk. In recent years, increasing concern for environmental protection has driven lots of countries all over the world to promote energy generation from renewable sources. Different incentive systems have been introduced to support the growth of the investments in generation plants exploiting renewable energy. In the present paper, the impact of some of the most popular incentive systems (namely feed-in tariffs, quota obligation, emission trade, and carbon tax) on generation planning is considered, thus obtaining a comprehensive GEP model with a suitably modified objective function and additional constraints. The resulting problem is solved by resorting to the generalized Benders decomposition (GBD) approach and implemented in the Matlab programming language. Tests are presented with reference to the Italian system.
Influence of single nucleotide polymorphisms in ABCB 1 , ABCG 2 and ABCC 2 on clinical outcomes to paclitaxel-platinum chemotherapy in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer

Platinum-based chemotherapy is the most common treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Expression level of drug metabolism and transport genes are correlated with platinum-based chemotherapy efficiency which indicated that variants of genes from drug metabolism and transport pathway may have an influence on chemosensitivity. In this study, we assessed whether the presence of polymorphisms in ABCB1, ABCC2 and ABCG2 genes can affect the efficacy of paclitaxel-platinum treatment in NSCLC patients. 64 NSCLC patients who received plataxel and cisplatin/carboplatin chemotherapy were involved. ABCB1 1236T > C, ABCB1 3435C > T, ABCC2 -24C > T, ABCC2 3972C > T, and ABCG2 421C > A were assessed for their association with the efficiency of paclitaxelplatinum chemotherapy. Among 5 polymorphisms assessed, ABCG2 421 A/A was associated with higher response rate (OR = 0.073; 95% CI: 0.009-0.602; P = 0.015) and ABCC2 -24C > T was found to associate with progressionfree survival (additive model: HR = 1.995; 95% CI: 1.171-3.398; P = 0.011). No association was observed between all these polymorphisms and overall survival. The results indicated that polymorphisms of the ABCG2 and ABCC2 genes might be predictive biomarkers of treatment efficiency for advanced NSCLC patients received paclitaxelplatinum treatment. This finding requires further validation.