Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Best compliance during a decremental, but not incremental, positive end-expiratory pressure trial is related to open-lung positive end-expiratory pressure: a mathematical model of acute respiratory distress syndrome lungs.

A mathematical model of the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) lung, incorporating simulated gravitational superimposed pressure and alveolar opening and closing pressures, was used to study the mean tidal pressure-volume (PV) slope ("effective compliance") during incremental and decremental positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) trials with constant tidal volume (VT) "ventilation. " During incremental PEEP, the PEEP giving maximum mean tidal PV slope did not coincide with "open lung PEEP" (minimum PEEP preventing end expiratory collapse of 97.5% of alveoli inflated at end-inspiration), and it varied greatly with varying VT and "lung mechanics. " Incremental PEEP with a low VT tests recruitment by the peak pressure, not prevention of collapse by PEEP. During decremental PEEP with a low VT, maximum mean tidal PV slope occurred with PEEP 2-3.5 cm H2O below open-lung PEEP, unless closing pressure was high. High VT, high "specific compliance," and high opening pressures caused slightly greater underestimation of open-lung PEEP. Maximum mean tidal PV slope was always higher (e.g., 93.7 versus 16.69 ml/cm H2O), and the variation in PV slope with PEEP was greater, during decremental PEEP. The maximum PV slope during a decremental PEEP trial with a low VT may be a useful method to determine open-lung PEEP in ARDS, and should be studied clinically.
Systemic Risk Channel and TARP: Banking Relationship Spillover in the Credit Default Swap Market

This paper provides empirical evidence that liquidity provisions during financial crisis depend on the levels of bank health as suggested by Diamond (2001). TARP creates uneven benefits through unhealthy banks as more liquidity is provided to their borrowers with high credit ratings, low leverage ratios, and high collaterals - a more pronounced flight-to-quality phenomenon. It suggests that borrowers' own attributes are the main determinants of liquidity provisions despite TARP infusions. Conversely, healthy banks inject liquidity into their smaller and low collateral borrowers and mitigate the liquidity shocks of high leverage borrowers even prior to the TARP announcement suggesting a more across-the-board liquidity provision policy.
GPS/INS integration on the Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM)

The Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) is a worldwide, all-weather, precision-strike weapon system deployed from carrier-based aircraft. In the primary mode of operation, target location and other mission data are generated from intelligence sources available on the aircraft carrier and loaded into the missile prior to aircraft takeoff. After missile launch, the SLAM inertial navigation system (INS) guides the missile along the planned trajectory. Updating the missile INS from the Global Positioning System (GPS) during flight provides precise midcourse navigation and enhances target acquisition by accurate, on-target pointing of the SLAM Maverick seeker. The GPS/INS avionics and software integration used for SLAM are described in detail, along with some of the design tradeoffs that led to the approach. The avionics configuration integrates the Harpoon midcourse guidance unit, which includes a strapdown inertial sensor package and digital processor, with a Rockwell-Collins single-channel, sequential GPS receiver processor unit (RPU), a derivative of the GPS phase-III user equipment. In addition to the GPS receiver elements the RPU contains the navigation processor, which executes the SLAM navigation, Kalman filter algorithms, and other guidance algorithms including seeker pointing. Flight-test results of the SLAM GPS-aided INS are also included. <<ETX>>
How Does Board Structure Affect Customer Concentration?

This paper studies the interactions between corporate boards and major customers. Using the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX) and consequent governance reforms as a quasi-natural experiment, we find that SOX-affected firms diversify their customer bases by removing directors with business links to them. A one standard deviation decrease in the proportion of linked directors is associated with an 11.80% proportional decrease in the percentage of sales to all the major customers. SOX-affected firms enjoy lower overall and idiosyncratic risk post-SOX, possibly due to reduced hold-up risk. Our work provides novel evidence on how corporate boards affect firms' risk-taking behavior.
Automatic Classification of Bright Retinal Lesions via Deep Network Features

The diabetic retinopathy is timely diagonalized through color eye fundus images by experienced ophthalmologists, in order to recognize potential retinal features and identify early-blindness cases. In this paper, it is proposed to extract deep features from the last fully-connected layer of, four different, pre-trained convolutional neural networks. These features are then feeded into a non-linear classifier to discriminate three-class diabetic cases, i.e., normal, exudates, and drusen. Averaged across 1113 color retinal images collected from six publicly available annotated datasets, the deep features approach perform better than the classical bag-of-words approach. The proposed approaches have an average accuracy between 91.23% and 92.00% with more than 13% improvement over the traditional state of art methods.
MRS and MRSI guidance in molecular medicine: targeting and monitoring of choline and glucose metabolism in cancer

MRS and MRSI are valuable tools for the detection of metabolic changes in tumors. The currently emerging era of molecular medicine, which is shaped by molecularly targeted anticancer therapies combined with molecular imaging of the effects of such therapies, requires powerful imaging technologies that are able to detect molecular information. MRS and MRSI are such technologies that are able to detect metabolites arising from glucose and choline metabolism in noninvasive in vivo settings and at higher resolution in tissue samples. The roles played by MRS and MRSI in the diagnosis of different types of cancer, as well as in the early monitoring of the tumor response to traditional chemotherapies, are reviewed. The emerging roles of MRS and MRSI in the development and detection of novel targeted anticancer therapies that target oncogenic signaling pathways or markers in choline or glucose metabolism are discussed. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Downlink adaptive antenna techniques for WCDMA

This paper analyses candidate adaptive algorithms for operating antenna arrays on the downlink of wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) systems, including diversity, beamforming and hybrid schemes. The algorithms are simulated and compared with each other under different channel environments and for various numbers of transmit antennas. Furthermore, a new blind downlink technique is proposed, which optimises performance in all channel environments according to a flexible criterion and yields the best performance among the presented blind techniques.
Interleukin 6 Blockade: Tocilizumab in Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic inflammatory arthropathy of unknown etiology that is associated with psoriasis. Joint destruction is often progressive: almost half of the patients attending an early arthritis clinic showed radiological damage 2 years after diagnosis. Proinflammatory cytokines are major mediators of systemic and local inflammation, and high levels of interleukin 1 (IL-1), IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor have been found in psoriatic skin lesions and the synovial tissue of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and PsA. IL-6 is a pleiotropic cytokine that mainly signals by membrane (neutrophil and lymphocyte) or soluble (endothelial cell) IL-6 receptors. IL-6 was originally identified as a factor in B cell differentiation, but is now known to influence T cell development: in the presence of IL-6 and transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß), naive T cells develop into Th17 cells, which are important mediators in PsA. IL-6 may also directly contribute to the epidermal hyperplasia seen in psoriatic epithelium and affect the function of dermal inflammatory cells. However, there are no data concerning the use of tocilizumab in patients with PsA, although a pilot study is currently being carried out because the role of IL-6 in the pathogenesis of PsA supports the idea that targeted treatments against IL-6 might be effective.
COLOUR LEARNING IN THE HAWKMOTH MACROGLOSSUM STELLATARUM ALMUT KELBER

Newly eclosed specimens of the day-active hawkmoth Macroglossum stellatarum were trained to artificial flowers in dual-colour choice situations. Learning curves were obtained from learning and reversed-learning experiments. Initially, learning behaviour was influenced by innate colour preferences. In comparison with other lepidopterans, Macroglossum stellatarum learns well. When trained in a dual-choice situation, the moths learned not only to visit the rewarded colour but also to avoid the unrewarded colour. These good learning abilities are discussed in the context of the biology of the species.
Developing Leadership to Improve Business Performance

It starts from the concept of leadership development combining the three kinds of leadership learning styles. The main part will show the analysis about various executive development programs which can offer optional approaches to different case of companies such as Zendal. In the last part, by analysis the special and practice situation in Zendal, we will stand on the status of Barton to measure the investment of executive development and to evaluate its benefits in terms of business performance in organization. In the end, we will stand on the status of Barton to measure the investment of executive development and to evaluate its benefits in terms of business performance in organization.
Correction: The Drosophila centriole – conversion of doublets into triplets within the stem cell niche (doi: 10.1242/jcs.172627)

There was an error published in J. Cell Sci. (2015) [128, 2437-2442][1] (doi: [10.1242/jcs.172627][2]). In [Fig. 1][3], the image in A was inadvertently duplicated in D. The corrected figure is shown below and the authors apologise to readers for any inconvenience caused. [Fig. 1. ][4]
Cutting Edge: Endogenous IFN-β Regulates Survival and Development of Transitional B Cells

The transitional stage of B cell development is a formative stage in the spleen where autoreactive specificities are censored as B cells gain immune competence, but the intrinsic and extrinsic factors regulating survival of transitional stage 1 (T1) B cells are unknown. We report that B cell expression of IFN-β is required for optimal survival and TLR7 responses of transitional B cells in the spleen and was overexpressed in T1 B cells from BXD2 lupus-prone mice. Single-cell gene expression analysis of B6 Ifnb+/+ versus B6 Ifnb–⁄– T1 B cells revealed heterogeneous expression of Ifnb in wild-type B cells and distinct gene expression patterns associated with endogenous IFN-β. Single-cell analysis of BXD2 T1 B cells revealed that Ifnb is expressed in early T1 B cell development with subsequent upregulation of Tlr7 and Ifna1. Together, these data suggest that T1 B cell expression of IFN-β plays a key role in regulating responsiveness to external factors.
Topology-based Clinical Data Mining for Discovery of Hidden Patterns in Multidimensional Data

Clinical trial data is notoriously heterogeneous, incomplete, noisy, and multidimensional. These data may contain valuable information, and novel insights may be encapsulated in various patterns hidden deep within it. While the majority of approaches to mining clinical trial data focus on univariate relationships between a handful of variables, there is a lack of data integration and visualization tools that can improve our understanding of the entire data set. The aim of this paper is to describe the application of a holistic, topology-based clinical data mining (TCDM) methodology to discover multivariate patterns in clinical trial outcomes. This geometric, datadriven approach allows researchers to identify meaningful relationships in data that would otherwise be left unidentified by traditional biostatistical approaches. The TCDM methodology was adopted to develop a prototype of software platform, which facilitates the extraction and analysis of low-dimensional representations (data maps) of the full set of interdependent clinical outcomes. The prototype was developed using Python, R, and SAS, and combines state-of-theart machine learning algorithms, statistical tools, and data visualization libraries. Computational experiments were performed on sample studies and included the analyses of both publicly available and proprietary data sets. We discuss the key steps involved in the TCDM workflow: data integration, generation of topological data maps, visual inspection of interesting data maps, statistical analysis, and interpretation of discovered relationships. The paper concludes that TCDM can be used in all phases of clinical trials for the integrated assessment of drug safety and efficacy as well as for exploratory research.
Acting With Integrity Across The World’? What Do Multinationals Say About Labour Standards?

This paper is concerned with global labour governance and with the position taken by UK based multinational corporations with regard to labour standards in the management of their supply chains, both in the UK and internationally. Organisations may have multiple and varied reasons for their public statements on corporate behaviour, we ask what the largest and most reputable of UK organisations pledge in their public statements about the ways in which they manage across international and corporate boundaries. We address the following questions. What are the claimed objectives for MNC’s in considering management across international boundaries, including management of their supply chains? How do they frame those objectives in public documentation? This paper reports on the first phase of our work, based on documentary research. We have reviewed the annual reports of 20 UK plc’s – multinationals with extensive overseas supply chains and considerable purchasing power and influence. Power asymmetries are inherent in the relations between MNEs and suppliers or sub-contractors and we found that there is little evidence that corporate positions are implemented throughout the relevant supply chains. We found an absence of uniformity in approach (although a high proportion of our sample publically express nothing, or little, on the subject of labour standards). There is no strong evidence to show that fair trading standards in commercial relations with suppliers or contractors lead to clear labour standards for those employed in supply chain companies or with sub-contractors.
A comprehensive solution to road traffic accident detection and ambulance management

Delay in providing Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is the cause of the high mortality rate in road traffic accidents in countries like India. There is delay involved in each and every stage of the process, right from reporting an accident to dispatching an ambulance, till the patient is safely handed over to the casualty. Minimizing this delay can help save lives. We propose a comprehensive solution to both accident detection and ambulance management. When the in-vehicle accident detection module reports an accident, the main server automatically dispatches the nearest ambulance to the accident spot. The android application used by the ambulance driver assists the driver to reach the location quickly and safely. Automation of accident detection and ambulance dispatch, along with providing guidance to the ambulance driver, is achieved here. This can save precious time and help standardize the whole process.
Open and Closed Innovation and Enhanced Performance of SME Hospitals—A Conceptual Model

Abstract Small and medium hospitals account for 70 percent of private hospitals in India. They account for some 40 percent of the total number of beds and cater to both rural and urban populations. However, despite its prevalence, the performance of small private hospitals is sub-standard leading to many questions regarding the efficiency of its operations. Despite having operated for a long time, there is a dearth of literature regarding the performance of small and medium hospitals in India. Recent innovation practices like open innovation have been used successfully in small and medium enterprises in the manufacturing and service industries and are regarded as a useful tool for improving firm performance. However, after a thorough review of the literature, and upon considering the uniqueness of the medical care industry, the authors argue that closed innovation practices would also play an important role in improving the performance of small and medium hospitals. This research conceptualized a model based on principles of open and closed innovation that could be used to enhance the performance of small and medium hospitals.
Fractures and Fanconi Syndrome due to Prolonged Sodium Valproate Use

Abstract Background: Sodium valproate (VPA) is commonly used to treat epilepsy in children. Renal dysfunction is a rare side effect but can present as tubulopathy such as Fanconi syndrome. Case Report: We report on an 8-year-old disabled girl with myoclonic epilepsy who was referred for investigation of recurrent low impact fractures of the distal femur which were initially thought to be caused by her severe immobility. However, she was subsequently found to have hypophosphataemia secondary to Fanconi syndrome due to prolonged VPA use. After VPA withdrawal renal function and serum phosphate levels normalised and X-rays improved dramatically. Conclusion: The possibility of drug-induced osteoporosis and fractures should always be considered in disabled children, even in the presence of severe immobility.
The Clinical and Epidemiological Aspects of Vascular Mortality in Chronic Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

This article reviews the clinical aspects of and epidemiological links between vascular mortality and the dialysis population, and emphasizes areas that warrant further clarification. In particular, we highlight potential pitfalls in interpretation of published observational and clinical studies, notably some of the issues related to reverse epidemiology of risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Recent published data from our own center in the Prince of Wales Hospital relating to the significance of residual renal function, inflammation, valvular calcification, as well as left ventricular hypertrophy were highlighted. Actions are needed to tackle both the traditional and the nontraditional factors for cardiovascular disease in order to treat this problem causing the highest mortality in peritoneal dialysis patients.
BRICS and Foreign Aid

This paper provides an overview of the small but growing literature on the bilateral foreign aid activities carried out by the five BRICS countries. While these so-called emerging donors are steadily gaining prominence in international development, they are certainly not new to the field, with foreign aid programs dating back as far as the 1950s. The recent increase in both the size and scope of their development activities around the globe is regarded by some as a threat to the international aid architecture dominated by the United States and its allies in Western Europe and Japan. What do we know about the size, scope and institutional design of the BRICS countries’ aid activities? What can we learn about these donors’ aid motives by analyzing the pattern of their aid recipients and focal sectors? Does the existing qualitative and quantitative literature allow us to draw conclusions about the effects of BRICS aid on economic growth, other development outcomes, governance and conflict in recipient countries? Moreover, how will BRICS aid affect the DAC-centered international aid architecture and the way the so-called traditional donors provide aid? While our examination of existing scholarly work allows us to draw some tentative conclusions, it also underscores the considerable variation BRICS donors show in their aid approaches; they rarely act as a group in international development cooperation. We also highlight the major avenues and challenges for future research.
Reversal of Graft-Versus-Host Disease with Infusion of Autologous Bone Marrow

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major complication of bone marrow transplantation. This report describes reversal of GVHD by infusion of stored recipient bone marrow following combined liver-bone marrow allotransplantation. Graft-versus-host disease developed at the end of the first postoperative week. The skin involvement progressively spread to approximately 80% of the body surface and was not affected by modification of the immunosuppressive treatment. On the 42nd and 43rd postoperative day 1.23 × 108 and 1.6 × 108 autologous bone marrow cells per kg of recipient body weight were infused. The skin rush began to dramatically improve and resolved within 2 wk from the autologous marrow infusion. Autologous bone marrow storage previous to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for tolerance induction could constitute a safety net in case of occurrence of GVHD.
Time Evolution of the Excimer State of a Conjugated Polymer Laser

An excited dimer is an important complex formed in nano- or pico-second time scales in many photophysics and photochemistry applications. The spectral and temporal profile of the excimer state of a laser from a new conjugated polymer, namely, poly (9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl) (PFO), under several concentrations in benzene were investigated. These solutions were optically pumped by intense pulsed third-harmonic Nd:YAG laser (355-nm) to obtain the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) spectra of a monomer and an excimer with bandwidths of 6 and 7 nm, respectively. The monomer and excimer ASEs were dependent on the PFO concentration, pump power, and temperature. Employing a sophisticated picosecond spectrometer, the time evolution of the excimer state of this polymer, which is over 400 ps, can be monitored.
A multi-modal interactive tablet with tactile feedback, rear and lateral operation for maximum front screen visibility

When we use a tablet style handheld device such as a smart phone as a part of a virtual really system, its most outstanding future: the touch screen dominating the most area of the front face should be incorporated into the system effectively and beneficially. For example, the visual information displayed on the screen can be merged with the surrounding or background scenes and the intuitive touch operation can be performed in a suitable scenario. However, if the means of the interaction is limited to the touch operation, finger operation on the front screen must be performed even for unsuitable scenarios, and the fingers or hands occluding the visual information disturb our immersive experience. To deal with this situation, we propose a multi-modal interactive tablet that uses its cameras, accelerometer, track ball and pressure sensors implemented on its rear and side for operations ensuring visibility. The pressing and ball-rotating operation on the rear and the side and the tactile feedback generated by voice-coil-based actuators assist and guide the multi-modal interaction. The effectiveness of the multi-modality with the rear and the side operation and the tactile feedback is evaluated by an experiment.