Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chaotic satellite synchronization using neural controllers

Satellites constantly face the turbulences and external torques and so they may exhibit chaotic behavior and what is expected will not happen. On the other hand, it is so difficult or impossible to do some missions by only one satellite. These missions include the Earth observation for different purposes, observation of objects in space, etc. that can become more accurate by several synchronized satellites and also the costs of setting up and control with establishment of small satellites will be much cheaper. In this article, neural network controllers are used for synchronization of two chaotic satellites (which called master and slave satellites). Neural network controllers such as NARMA-L2 and Predictive controllers have been applied very successfully in the identification and control of dynamic systems. Both of the neural controllers have very good performance in the synchronization of two chaotic satellites, but each one has its advantages and disadvantages which in this article they will be described. Finally, results of the simulation have shown the very good performance of these neural controllers in the ideal synchronization of the salve chaotic satellite with the master chaotic satellite.
Baseline renal function as a prognostic indicator in patients with newly diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Background The association between baseline renal impairment (RI) and the prognosis of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) was previously not defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of RI in patients with DLBCL treated with three-weekly rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, Adriamycin, vincristine, and prednisolone immunochemotherapy (R-CHOP21). Methods Patients with newly diagnosed de novo DLBCLs treated with ≥1 cycle of R-CHOP21 were analyzed retrospectively. Pretreatment blood samples were collected and the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was calculated. RI was defined by a GFR of <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 according to the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration (CKD-EPI) formula. Results Of the 185 patients enrolled in the present study, 19 patients (10.3%) had RI. The reasons for baseline RI were pre-existing CKD (N=5), acute kidney injury due to either obstruction (N=2) or electrolyte imbalance (N=2) related to DLBCL, and undefined causes (N=10). Patients with baseline RI showed inferior overall survival (OS) compared to those without RI (P<0.001). In multivariate analysis, RI was identified as an International Prognostic Index (IPI)-independent prognostic indicator. A baseline hemoglobin level of <10 g/dL and the presence of RI effectively discriminated a portion of the patients with far inferior event-free survival and OS among the patients having high or high-intermediate risk cancers according to either the standard- or the National Comprehensive Cancer Network-IPI. Conclusion Pretreatment RI was an independent prognostic marker for inferior OS in patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP21 immunochemotherapy.
COMPUTING HOMOTOPY TYPES USING CROSSED N-CUBES OF GROUPS ∗

The aim of this paper is to explain how, through the work of a number of people, some algebraic structures related to groupoids have yielded algebraic descriptions of homotopy n-types. Further, these descriptions are explicit, and in some cases completely computable, in a way not possible with the traditional Postnikov systems, or with other models, such as simplicial groups.
Economic analysis of adjuvant interferon alfa-2b in high-risk melanoma based on projections from Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group 1684.

PURPOSE Interferon alfa-2b (IFN) in a randomized clinical trial (E1684) prolonged relapse-free and total survival in high-risk resected melanoma. However, the costs and toxicities of IFN are barriers to its widespread use. This study was undertaken to analyze the projected costs and long-term benefits of IFN by combining prospectively collected data on IFN actual dosage, time of recurrence, and survival with secondary data on long-term melanoma recurrence risks to project the cost-effectiveness of adjuvant IFN compared with observation. PATIENTS AND METHODS Two hypothetical cohorts of 50-year-old melanoma patients whose mean IFN dosage and clinical results were directly taken from E1684 were included in the study. Melanoma recurrence risks beyond 5 years were derived from international databases. Melanoma recurrence care costs and quality-of-life adjustments, when considered, were based on expert consensus. End points were incremental costs, life-years gained, and cost per life-year gained with and without quality-of-life adjustments. RESULTS The IFN cohort was projected to have an increased (undiscounted) survival of 0.52 years at 7 years and 1.90 years over a lifetime. The projected incremental cost (in 1996 United States dollars) per life-year gained in the IFN cohort ranged from $13,700 after 35 years to $32,600 at 7 years, the median follow-up of E1684. Using assigned quality-of-life values for IFN and recurrence, the lifetime cost per quality adjusted life-year increased to $15,200. Even if treatment costs for recurrence were excluded, the lifetime incremental cost per life-year gained was $21,600. CONCLUSION The cost and toxicity of IFN must be balanced against its projected benefits in high-risk melanoma. The derived cost-effectiveness and cost-utility ratios for IFN were comparable to other cancer interventions for which cost-effectiveness analysis has been performed.
Yttrium radiosynoviorthesis in the treatment of knee arthritis in rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE To consider the question: How strong is the evidence in favour of yttrium synovectomy in chronic knee arthritis in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in comparison with placebo and intra-articular steroid treatment? METHODS A systematic review of the literature was performed using Medline and the Embase database. RESULTS Initially, seven papers were identified, but only two met the inclusion criteria. Neither study showed evidence in favour of yttrium synovectomy. CONCLUSION From the point of view of evidence based medicine it should be seriously questioned whether yttrium synovectomy deserves a place in clinical practice.
Unwilling or Unable to Cheat? Evidence From a Tax Audit Experiment in Denmark

This paper analyzes a tax enforcement field experiment in Denmark. In the base year, a stratified and representative sample of over 40,000 individual income tax filers was selected for the experiment. Half of the tax filers were randomly selected to be thoroughly audited, while the rest were deliberately not audited. The following year, threat-of-audit letters were randomly assigned and sent to tax filers in both groups. We present three main empirical findings. First, using baseline audit data, we find that the tax evasion rate is close to zero for income subject to third-party reporting, but substantial for self-reported income. Since most income is subject to third-party reporting, the overall evasion rate is modest. Second, using quasi-experimental variation created by large kinks in the income tax schedule, we find that marginal tax rates have a positive impact on tax evasion for self-reported income, but that this effect is small in comparison to legal avoidance and behavioral responses. Third, using the randomization of enforcement, we find that prior audits and threat-of-audit letters have significant effects on self-reported income, but no effect on third-party reported income. All these empirical results can be explained by extending the standard model of (rational) tax evasion to allow for the key distinction between self-reported and third-party reported income.
10 000-hop cascaded in-line all-optical 3R regeneration to achieve 1 250 000-km 10-Gb/s transmission

We demonstrate 1 250 000-km 10-Gb/s return-to-zero transmission over 10 000 stages of in-line all-optical reamplification, reshaping, and retiming (3R) regeneration spaced every 125 km. The all-optical 3R regenerator incorporates a 10-GHz all-optical clock recovery module including a Fabry-Pe/spl acute/rot filter and a semiconductor optical amplifier in a cascaded configuration for fast and stable response. Bit-error-rate (BER) performance measurements show less than 0.7-dB power penalty at the BER of 10/sup -9/ between 1 250 000- (Lap 10 000) and 125-km (Lap 1) transmission using pseudorandom bit sequence 2/sup 23/-1.
In Vivo Investigations of the Corneal Epithelium With the Confocal Rostock Laser Scanning Microscope (RLSM)

The confocal tandem scanning microscope was first used in 1985 by Lemp et al for in vitro and in 1990 by Cavanagh et al for in vivo investigation of human eyes. The aim of this study was to investigate the cells of the central and the peripheral portions of the corneal epithelium and to measure corneal epithelium thickness and the total thickness of the corneas of our volunteers with the new Rostock Laser Scanning Microscope. Material and Methods: A Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT II) was used in combination with a water contact microscope lens (Zeiss, ×63, 0.95), the Rostock cornea module (RCM) developed at our institute for the in vivo examination of the cornea. In this study, 92 eyes of 68 subjects between the ages of 15 and 88 years were examined. Results: At the superficial cell layer, the average cell density in the central cornea was 840 ± 295 cells/mm2, and in the periphery it was 833 ± 223 cells/mm2. At the wing cell layer, the average cell density rises to 5070 ± 1150 cells/mm2 in the central and to 5582 ± 829 cells/mm2 in the peripheral cornea. At the basal cell layer, the cell density rises further to 8996 ± 1532 cells/mm2 in the central and 10,139 ± 1,479 cells/mm2 in the peripheral corneal epithelium. The average corneal thickness in the central region was found to be 545 ± 25 μm, and 652 ± 75 μm in the periphery. The average epithelium thickness was determined centrally to be 54 ± 7 μm, and peripherally 61 ± 5 μm. Conclusions: The Rostock Scanning Laser Microscope offers a standardized, reproducible, safe, and fast diagnostic procedure for the evaluation of the corneal epithelium. This technology allows better image quality compared with confocal-slit scanning microscopes and produces a precise depth measurement.
Coronary Artery and Orifice Development Is Associated With Proper Timing of Epicardial Outgrowth and Correlated Fas Ligand Associated Apoptosis Patterns

The proepicardial organ provides differentiated cell types to the myocardial wall and facilitates coronary development. Ingrowth of the coronary arteries into the aorta has recently been linked to apoptosis. This study was set up to examine the effect of an inhibition of epicardial outgrowth on apoptotic patterning and coronary development. Epicardial outgrowth was blocked at HH15–17 in quail embryos, which survived until HH25–35 (n=33). Embryos with complete inhibition of outgrowth did not survive after HH29. These embryos presented with thin compact myocardium, devoid of vessels. In embryos with delayed epicardial outgrowth the phenotype was less severe, and surviving embryos were studied up to HH35. In these embryos, myocardial vascularization was poor and apoptosis in the peritruncal region at HH30 was diminished. Embryos at HH35 displayed an abnormal coronary network and absent coronary orifices. In a further set of experiments (n=10), outgrowth was inhibited in chicken embryos at HH15, followed by transplantation of a quail proepicardial organ into the pericardial cavity to rescue cardiac phenotype. These chimeras were studied at HH29 and HH35. Myocardial development was restored; however, in 3 of 4 embryos (HH35), the coronary orifices were absent. Examination of double stainings of quail-chicken chimeras revealed that EPDCs produce Fas ligand as an apoptotic inductor at sites of coronary ingrowth. In the absence of proper timing of epicardial outgrowth, myocardial development and vascularization are disturbed. Also apoptosis in the peritruncal region is diminished. During later development, this leads to defective or absent connections of the coronary system to the systemic circulation.
Testing in Mice the Hypothesis That Melanin Is Protective in Malaria Infections

Malaria has had the largest impact of any infectious disease on shaping the human genome, exerting enormous selective pressure on genes that improve survival in severe malaria infections. Modern humans originated in Africa and lost skin melanization as they migrated to temperate regions of the globe. Although it is well documented that loss of melanization improved cutaneous Vitamin D synthesis, melanin plays an evolutionary ancient role in insect immunity to malaria and in some instances melanin has been implicated to play an immunoregulatory role in vertebrates. Thus, we tested the hypothesis that melanization may be protective in malaria infections using mouse models. Congenic C57BL/6 mice that differed only in the gene encoding tyrosinase, a key enzyme in the synthesis of melanin, showed no difference in the clinical course of infection by Plasmodium yoelii 17XL, that causes severe anemia, Plasmodium berghei ANKA, that causes severe cerebral malaria or Plasmodium chabaudi AS that causes uncomplicated chronic disease. Moreover, neither genetic deficiencies in vitamin D synthesis nor vitamin D supplementation had an effect on survival in cerebral malaria. Taken together, these results indicate that neither melanin nor vitamin D production improve survival in severe malaria.
Adherence to Antimicrobial Inhalational Anthrax Prophylaxis among Postal Workers, Washington, D.C., 2001

In October 2001, two envelopes containing Bacillus anthracis spores were processed at the Washington, D.C., Processing and Distribution Center of the U.S. Postal Service; inhalational anthrax developed in four workers at this facility. More than 2,000 workers were advised to complete 60 days of postexposure prophylaxis to prevent inhalational anthrax. Interventions to promote adherence were carried out to support workers, and qualitative information was collected to evaluate our interventions. A quantitative survey was administered to a convenience sample of workers to assess factors influencing adherence. No anthrax infections developed in any workers involved in the interventions or interviews. Of 245 workers, 98 (40%) reported full adherence to prophylaxis, and 45 (18%) had completely discontinued it. Experiencing adverse effects to prophylaxis, anxiety, and being <45 years old were risk factors for discontinuing prophylaxis. Interventions, especially frequent visits by public health staff, proved effective in supporting adherence.
Mice Lacking NCF1 Exhibit Reduced Growth of Implanted Melanoma and Carcinoma Tumors

The NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX2) complex is a professional producer of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and is mainly expressed in phagocytes. While the activity of the NOX2 complex is essential for immunity against pathogens and protection against autoimmunity, its role in the development of malignant tumors remains unclear. We compared wild type and Ncf1 m1J mutated mice, which lack functional NOX2 complex, in four different tumor models. Ncf1 m1J mutated mice developed significantly smaller tumors in two melanoma models in which B16 melanoma cells expressing a hematopoietic growth factor FLT3L or luciferase reporter were used. Ncf1 m1J mutated mice developed significantly fewer Lewis Lung Carcinoma (LLC) tumors, but the tumors that did develop, grew at a pace that was similar to the wild type mice. In the spontaneously arising prostate carcinoma model (TRAMP), tumor growth was not affected. The lack of ROS-mediated protection against tumor growth was associated with increased production of immunity-associated cytokines. A significant increase in Th2 associated cytokines was observed in the LLC model. Our present data show that ROS regulate rejection of the antigenic B16-luc and LLC tumors, whereas the data do not support a role for ROS in growth of intrinsically generated tumors.
Turnaround Prediction with Stochastic Process Times and Airport Specific Delay Pattern An approach for a high reliable turnaround modelling and proof of concept with specific airport delays

The A-CDM’s (Airport Collaborative Decision Making) goal of accurate turnaround time prediction in not met by traditional deterministic models or best guessing. During this research, the influence of the stochastic arrival process on the turnaround process is captured by modeling stochastically all elements of the turnaround as part of a Ground Manager (GMAN). Since arrival delay is one major factor influencing turnaround time process duration and variance, and delay occurs in larger amplitudes at U.S. airports compared to European ones due the absence of slot control, the presented GMAN concept is tested with arrival delay data from the U.S. NAS (National Airspace System). The arrival delay is collected from ASPM (Aviation System Performance Metrics) and custom probability distributions were fitted on the data for different airport categories. The results obtained from this analysis by showing the proof of concept of the GMAN, are discussed in this paper Turnaround, prediction, processes, buffers, delay, A-CDM I. MOTIVATION The scheduled turnaround time (TTT) is defined as the time duration between in block (IBT) and off block times (OBT). The scheduled TTT duration may get affected if an aircraft does not arrive at the allocated position on time, or due to offnominal variations sub-processes that constitute a turnaround processes. The standard turnaround plan comprises of various sub-processes (see Figure 1). The aircraft operators and manufacturer derive TTT from deterministic sub-process (de-boarding, fueling, etc.) durations and their simple addition. This is not an accurate representation of reality because each of these sub-processes is stochastic and also, they are not always independent. During off-nominal turnaround situations, i.e. in the presence of arrival delays or extended sub-process duration, the adherence to the scheduled TTT is not guaranteed. Moreover, airport type (large, medium, small) specific disturbances and ground handling staff skills may contribute to the punctuality in scheduled TTT conformity. In today’s ground operations, there are no forecast or decision support systems available that can raise an alert about an impending or current process conflict (e.g.: fueling end time and boarding start time overlap). Currently, these conflicts are observed and dealt with in real time manually by operations and ramp agents. [11] Figure 1. Example turnaround time schedule (extract) Airbus A319 [1] Specifically airports with sophisticated data management inline as A-CDM have an exigency for accurate target times, i.e. target off block time (TOBT) prediction. It is foreseeable that the prescribed “best guess” system behavior by humans will no longer be accepted in a future 4D high precision flight trajectory environment. There are various process management tools which cover different phases of the flight, framing the proposed GMAN, see Figure 2. Figure 2. GMAN concept within adjacent ATM-tools inline with EUROCONTROL perspective AMAN
Evasion Resistant Intrusion Detection Framework at Hypervisor Layer in Cloud

Virtual Machine Introspection (VMI) describes the method for monitoring and analyzing the state of a virtual machine from the hypervisor layer. VMI can be used to detect/prevent the malicious use of cloud infrastructure. To implement any VMI based application, one has to bridge the semantic gap problem. The challenge is to make sure that system state monitoring component itself should not be prone to attack. In this paper, we propose, an evasion resistant VMI based intrusion detection framework utilizing virtual machine hardware knowledge (about virtual CPU, virtual RAM, virtual storage and virtual NIC) to detect in-VM malicious activities.
Detection and Predictive Value of Fractional Anisotropy Changes of the Corticospinal Tract in the Acute Phase of a Stroke

Background and Purpose— A decrease in fractional anisotropy (FA) of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract (CST) distal to stroke lesions in the subacute (eg, 30 days) and chronic phase has been correlated with poor motor outcomes, but it is unclear whether FA values obtained within the acute stroke phase (here defined as 80 hours after onset) can predict later outcome. Methods— Fifty-eight patients underwent an assessment of motor impairment in the acute phase and at 3 months using the upper extremity Fugl-Meyer assessment. FA values, obtained within 80 hours after stroke onset, were determined in 2 regions of interest: cerebral peduncle and a stretch of the CST caudal to each stroke lesion (nearest-5-slices). Results— The FA laterality index for the cerebral peduncle-regions of interest was a poor predictor of 3-month outcome (R2=0.044; P=0.137), whereas the slope over the FA laterality index of the nearest-5-slices showed a relatively weak but significant prediction (R2=0.11; P=0.022) with the affected side having lower FA values. Initial upper extremity Fugl-Meyer (R2=0.69; P<0.001) and the weighted CST lesion load (R2=0.71; P<0.001) were strong predictors of 3-month outcome. In multivariate analyses, controlling for initial upper extremity Fugl-Meyer, weighted CST lesion load, and days-of-therapy, neither the FA laterality index of the cerebral peduncle nor the slope over the FA laterality index of the nearest-5-slices significantly contributed to the prediction of 86% of the variance in the upper extremity Fugl-Meyer at 3 months. Conclusions— FA reductions of the CST can be detected near the ischemic lesion in the acute stroke phase, but offer minimal predictive value to motor outcomes at 3 months.
Radial EUS Examination Can be Helpful in Predicting the Severity of Acute Biliary Pancreatitis

Abstract We investigated the utility of noncontrast enhanced endosonography (EUS) in predicting the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP) during the first 72 to 96 h of admission. In total, 187 patients with acute biliary pancreatitis were included. The patients were classified into 2 groups as having severe and mild AP according to the Modified Glasgow scoring and computerized tomography severity index (SI). The 158 cases with mild and 29 cases with severe AP had a similar age and sex distribution. Although none of the cases with mild AP developed morbidity and death, of the cases with severe AP, 16 developed serious morbidities and 5 died. On EUS examination, we looked for parenchymal findings, peripancreatic inflammatory signs, free or loculated fluid collections, and abnormalities of the common bile duct and the pancreatic channel. Statistical analysis indicated a significant relationship between the severity of AP with diffuse parenchymal edema, periparenchymal plastering, and/or diffuse retroperitoneal free fluid accumulation, and peri-pancreatic edema. We also defined an EUSSI and found that the EUSSI had sensitivity of 89.7%, specificity of 84.2%, positive predictivity value (PPV) of 88.9%, negative predictivity value (NPV) of 91.2%, and an accuracy of 87.9% in the differentiation of mild and severe AP. We found that the EUSSI had an accuracy of 72.4%, sensitivity of 75.4%, specificity of 65.1%, PPV of 69.3%, and NPV of 73.1% for determining mortality. Our data suggest that EUS allowed us to accurately predict the severity and mortality in nearly 90% of cases with AP.