Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of Different Clinoptilolite Zeolites as Adsorbent for Ammonium Removal from Highly Concentrated Synthetic Wastewater

The supply of food to the growing world population requires an increasing amount of nitrogen fertilizers, which can be achieved both by the energy-intensive Haber–Bosch process and by recovering ammonium from wastewater. Within the scope of this work, it is investigated to what extent different clinoptilolites (CLIs) can be used as ion-exchangers for the removal of ammonium from highly concentrated solutions. To this end, finely ground CLIs with different grain sizes (EcoZeo 20 and CCP 20: 0–20 µm, Micro 200: 0–200 µm) were tested for their sorption properties by varying the parameters of the sorption solution (c0 = 1000 mg NH4-N/L) such as pH, temperature, or contact time. All three CLIs tested were effective at adsorbing ammonium. In a pH range from 2 to 8, all CLIs were able to eliminate ammonium equally well. Furthermore, a contact time of 60 min was sufficient to achieve 84–88% of the maximum load. At a temperature of 34 °C, the highest loading was achieved (investigated range: 10–34 °C), indicating that the adsorption process of all CLIs was exergonic and endothermic. Especially for wastewater streams with high ammonium concentrations such as sludge water from wastewater treatment plants, CLI proved to be suitable to adsorb ammonium.
Mathematical Morphology Applied to Computer Go

This paper shows how mathematical morphological operators can be applied to computer go. On the one hand, mathematical morphology is a very powerful tool within image processing community. On the other hand, the Zobrist's model is well known within the computer go community for its "influence" recognition. We present a model, derived from the closing operator of mathematical morphology and from the Zobrist's model, which yields very good results for "territory" recognition. Moreover, we give efficient implementations of the dilation operator and territory recognition for computer go. This model was found when developing Indigo, our go playing program, and is now used with success in GnuGo, the go playing program of the Free Software Foundation.
Feasibility and effectiveness of the NEST13+ as a screening tool for advanced illness care needs.

BACKGROUND A comprehensive whole-person approach might improve processes and outcomes of care for patients with cancer. OBJECTIVE To assess the ability of NEST13+ (Needs of a social nature; Existential concerns; Symptoms; and Therapeutic interaction), a screening and assessment tool, to identify social, emotional, physical, and care-system needs and to improve clinical outcomes for cancer patients in tertiary care. DESIGN, SETTING, PATIENTS A controlled trial involving 451 patients hospitalized for cancer care at a comprehensive cancer center. INTERVENTION Patients responded to 13 screening questions regarding possible care needs. When an individual response exceeded threshold levels, additional in-depth questions for the relevant need were asked. For patients in the intervention arm, clinical recommendations for each dimension of need were generated based on a previously developed NEST-response-driven menu, and were reported to the clinical team. MEASUREMENTS Documented needs, clinician response, patient perception of goals alignment, and overall quality of palliative care. RESULTS Using the NEST13+ tool in the clinical setting facilitated greater documentation of illness-related needs than routine clinical assessment. Improvement in secondary outcomes was attenuated: changes in the clinician response were modest; changes in outcomes were not significant. CONCLUSION The NEST13+ tool facilitated identification of a wider range of important needs than traditional evaluation, while care outcomes were not improved. Traditional evaluation may need improvement. Future trials of the NEST13+ should focus on more intensive clinician-directed interventions.
Learning with Hypergraphs: Clustering, Classification, and Embedding

We usually endow the investigated objects with pairwise relationships, which can be illustrated as graphs. In many real-world problems, however, relationships among the objects of our interest are more complex than pair-wise. Naively squeezing the complex relationships into pairwise ones will inevitably lead to loss of information which can be expected valuable for our learning tasks however. Therefore we consider using hypergraphs instead to completely represent complex relationships among the objects of our interest, and thus the problem of learning with hypergraphs arises. Our main contribution in this paper is to generalize the powerful methodology of spectral clustering which originally operates on undirected graphs to hypergraphs, and further develop algorithms for hypergraph embedding and transductive classification on the basis of the spectral hypergraph clustering approach. Our experiments on a number of benchmarks showed the advantages of hypergraphs over usual graphs.
Definition of Protein Kinase Sequence Motifs That Trigger High Affinity Binding of Hsp90 and Cdc37*

Hsp90 cooperates with its co-chaperone Cdc37 to provide obligatory support to numerous protein kinases involved in the regulation of cellular signal transduction pathways. In this report, the crystal structure of the Src family tyrosine kinase Lck was used to guide the creation of kinase constructs to determine features recognized by Hsp90 and its “kinase-specific” co-chaperone Cdc37. Two parameters were assayed: the ability and extent to which the constructs bound to Hsp90 and Cdc37, and the ability of the constructs to trigger salt-resistant high affinity complexes with Hsp90 and Cdc37 independent of the presence of molybdate. Although Hsp90 interacted with both the N-terminal and C-terminal lobes (NL and CL, respectively) of the catalytic domains of the kinases, the lobes themselves were not sufficient to trigger the high affinity binding of Hsp90. Only constructs containing a complete N- or C-terminal lobe and part of the adjacent lobe bound to Hsp90 and Cdc37 in salt-stable complexes independent of molybdate. The two minimum constructs that bound Hsp90 and Cdc37 contained the α-C-helix and the β4- and β5-strands of the NL through to end of the CL and the NL through to the α-E-helix and the amino acids that cap the helix. Cdc37 interacted with only the NL and minimally required the α-C-helix and β4- and β5-strands of this lobe of Lck. The results indicate that the high affinity binding activity of Hsp90 is triggered through its interaction with adjacent subdomain structures of kinase catalytic domains. Furthermore, the α-C-helix and part of its adjoining loop connection to the β4-strand appear to be the primary determinants recognized by Cdc37.
Field and numerical investigations of wave transformation and inundation on atoll islands

Field data were collected on Fatato Island, Funafuti Atoll, Tuvalu, to understand contemporary wave transformation processes on a previously unstudied atoll. Subsequently, a fully nonlinear Boussinesq model was used to simulate wave processes on Fatato and other reefs with variable morphology to evaluate the impact of sea level rise (SLR) on shoreline wave energy, runup and inundation within atoll environments. Field data from Fatato Island indicate clear tidal controls on sea swell (SS) waves and setup at the reef flat and shoreline, but identify no tidal influence on infragravity (IG) waves that were consistently amplified towards the shoreline. The open source model Basilisk GN was capable of replicating two months of field data, achieving model skill > 0.96 for SS, IG and setup processes at the outer reef flat and shoreline. Numerical outputs were used to analyse runup elevation at the shoreline and highlighted the importance of setup at low tide, SS waves at high tide, and IG waves at all tidal stages. Simulations of wave transformation on Fatato indicate that 0.3 m of SLR will cause inundation at spring high tide under annual maximum swell and storm wave conditions. Additional simulations show that vertical reef growth with SLR can mitigate the associated increase in shoreline energy but also demonstrate that reef growth has limited potential to protect islands from inundation. Results from Fatato were extended by simulating wave transformation and inundation on 768 idealised reefs with variable morphology under mean, swell and storm conditions. Model outputs were used to develop the island inundation index, using reef width, reef depth and berm height to classify levels of vulnerability to inundation under moderate wave conditions. The index is a simple tool for assessing island vulnerability and was applied to track the trajectory of vulnerability to inundation on a range of studied reef islands in the Pacific Ocean, with SLR up to 1 m. Results from this thesis can be used to assist coastal management on atoll islands facing SLR.
Helicopter emergency medical services accident rates in different international air rescue systems

Aim Each year approximately two to four helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) crashes occur in Germany. The aim of the present study was to compare crash rates and fatal crash rates in Germany to rates in other countries. Materials and methods A MEDLINE search from 1970 to 2009 was performed using combinations of the keywords “HEMS”, “rescue helicopter”, “accident”, “accident rate”, “crash”, and “crash rate”. The search was supplemented by additional published data. Data were compared on the basis of 10,000 missions and 100,000 helicopter flying hours. These data were allocated to specific time frames for analyis. Results Eleven relevant studies were identified. Five studies (three from Germany, one from the US, one from Australia) analyzing HEMS accidents on the basis of 10,000 missions were identified. Crash rates per 10,000 missions ranged between 0.4 and 3.05 and fatal crash rates between 0.04 and 2.12. In addition, nine studies (six from the US, two from Germany, one from Australia) used 100,000 flying hours as a denominator. Here, crash rates ranged between 1.7 and 13.4 and fatal crash rates between 0.91 and 4.7. Conclusions Data and accident rates were inhomogeneous and differed significantly. Data analysis was impeded by publication of mean data, use of different time frames, and differences in HEMS systems.
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia: age and biology

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most frequent neoplasm in children, while being relatively rare in adults. The outcome of children with ALL is far superior than that observed in adults, whose survival rates generally do not exceed 40%. A retrospective analysis recently carried out on a large series of cases enrolled in the AIEOP and GIMEMA protocols for the treatment of pediatric and adult ALL has documented specific differences among the various age cohorts examined, particularly in terms of incidence of molecular rearrangements, with the BCR/ABL rearrangement being detected in more than half of patients in the 6th decade of life. These findings highlight the importance of a precise diagnostic screening at all ages, since elderly patients might benefit more from targeted approaches, that are associated with less toxic effects. Furthermore, extended biologic approaches aimed at identifying novel therapeutic targets should be regarded as a main goal to refine our therapeutic armamentarium. Finally, the introduction of pediatric-like protocols is progressively changing the outcome of young adult patients, although an important caveat is represented by the comorbidities and toxic effects associated with more aggressive chemotherapy; therefore, patients' fitness should always be carefully considered.
Diffusion and Perfusion Imaging for Understanding Stroke Evolution ( DEFUSE ) Relationships Between Infarct Growth , Clinical Outcome , and Early Recanalization in

Lawrence Wechsler, Gottfried Schlaug, Roland Bammer, Michael P. Marks and Gregory W. Jean-Marc Olivot, Michael Mlynash, Vincent N. Thijs, Stephanie Kemp, Maarten G. Lansberg, Diffusion and Perfusion Imaging for Understanding Stroke Evolution (DEFUSE) Relationships Between Infarct Growth, Clinical Outcome, and Early Recanalization in Print ISSN: 0039-2499. Online ISSN: 1524-4628 Copyright © 2008 American Heart Association, Inc. All rights reserved. is published by the American Heart Association, 7272 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75231 Stroke doi: 10.1161/STROKEAHA.107. 511535 2008;39:2257-2263; originally published online June 19, 2008; Stroke. http://stroke.ahajournals. org/content/39/8/2257 World Wide Web at: The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on the
Noncontact method for sleep stage estimation

This paper describes a novel method to estimate sleep stage through noninvasive and unrestrained means. The Rechtschaffen and Kales (R-K) method is a standard to estimate sleep stage. However, it involves restraining the examinee and, thus, induces psychological stress. Furthermore, it requires specialists with a high degree of technical expertise and the use of an expensive polygraph. The sleep estimation method presented here is based on the noninvasive and unrestrained pneumatic biomeasurement method presented by the authors. Sleep stage transition in overnight sleep and the relationship between sleep stage and biosignals measured using the pneumatic method was analyzed and from the results, a mathematical model of sleep was created. Based on this model, a sleep stage estimator, including a sleep stage classifier and observer, was designed. The sleep state transition equation was the basis for the design of this observer, while the observed relationships were the basis for designing a classifier. Agreement of the estimated sleep stages with those obtained using the R-K method for the non-REM stage was 82.6%, for the REM stage was 38.3% and for Wake was 70.5%, including disagreement. However, the new method might ultimately result in better estimation of sleep stage due to the fact that it does not physically restrain the patient and does not induce psychological stress.
Significant reduction in risk of falls and back pain in osteoporotic-kyphotic women through a Spinal Proprioceptive Extension Exercise Dynamic (SPEED) program.

OBJECTIVE To determine the outcome of intervention with a spinal weighted kypho-orthosis (WKO) and a spinal proprioceptive extension exercise dynamic (SPEED) program on the risk of falls in ambulatory community-dwelling persons older than 60 years with osteoporosis-kyphosis at risk for falls. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The study had 3 stages. At stage 1 (baseline), the 12 women in the kyphotic group were compared with 13 healthy controls to assess the risk of falls and balance disorder in the kyphotic group. At stage 2, the 12 kyphotic women began the SPEED program with a WKO (2 supervised sessions in an outpatient clinic and a 4-week, daily home-based training program). At stage 3, baseline and follow-up data of the kyphotic group were compared to determine the effect of intervention. RESULTS At baseline, there were significant differences between the osteoporotic-kyphotic group and the control group in balance (P=.002), gait (P<.05), and strength (P<.05). After a 4-week intervention, comparison of the kyphotic group's baseline and follow-up results showed a significant change in balance (P=.003) and several gait parameters (P<.05). Mean back extensor strength improved significantly from baseline (144.0-46.5 N) to follow-up (198.6+/-55.2 N; P<.001). Lower extremity muscle strength was not changed significantly, except for improved left ankle plantar flexors (P=.02). Back pain decreased significantly (P=.001). CONCLUSION Balance, gait, and risk of falls improved significantly with the 4-week SPEED program.
Retrieval Deficiency in Brain Activity of Working Memory in Amnesic Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients: A Brain Event-Related Potentials Study

In the early stage of Alzheimer disease (AD) or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), working memory (WM) deficiency is prominent and could be attributed to failure in encoding, maintenance or retrieval of information. However, evidence for a retention or retrieval deficit remains equivocal. It is also unclear what cognitive mechanism in WM is impaired in MCI or early AD. We enrolled 46 subjects from our Memory Clinics and community, with 24 amnesic MCI patients and 22 normal subjects. After neurological and cognitive assessments, they performed a classic delayed match to sample (DMS) task with simultaneous event-related potential (ERP) recorded. The ERPs in encoding and retrieval epoch during WM were analyzed separately. The latency and amplitude of every ERP component were compared between two groups, and then analyzed to explore their relationship with neuropsychological performance. Finally, the locations of maximal difference in cortex were calculated by standard low-resolution tomographic analysis. A total of five components were found: P1, N1, P2, N2, and P300. The amplitude of P2 and P300 was larger in normal subjects than in MCI patients only during retrieval, not encoding epoch, while the latency did not show statistical difference. The latency and amplitude of P1 and N1 were similar in two groups. P2 amplitude in the retrieval epoch positively correlated with memory test (auditory verbal learning test) and visual spatial score of Chinese Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised (ACE-R), while P300 amplitude correlated with ACE-R. The activation difference in P2 time range was maximal at medial frontal gyrus. However, the difference in cortex activation during P300 time range did not show significance. The amplitude of P2 indicated deficiency in memory retrieval process, potentially due to dysfunction of central executive in WM model. Regarding the location of P2 during WM task, medial frontal plays important role in memory retrieval. The findings in the present study suggested that MCI patients have retrieval deficit, probably due to central executive based on medial frontal gyrus. Thus, it may provide new biomarker for early detection and intervention for aMCI.
No evidence for biased co-transmission of speciation islands in Anopheles gambiae

Genome-scale scans have revealed highly heterogeneous levels of divergence between closely related taxa in many systems. Generally, a small number of regions show high differentiation, with the rest of the genome showing no or only low levels of divergence. These patterns have been interpreted as evidence for ongoing speciation-with-gene-flow, with introgression homogenizing the whole genome except loci involved in reproductive isolation. However, as the number of selected loci increases, the probability of introgression at unselected loci decreases unless there is a transmission ratio distortion causing an over-representation of specific combinations of alleles. Here we examine the transmission of three ‘speciation islands’ that contain fixed differences between the M and S forms of the mosquito, Anopheles gambiae. We made reciprocal crosses between M and S parents and genotyped over 2000 F2 individuals, developing a hierarchical likelihood model to identify specific genotypes that are under- or over-represented among the recombinant offspring. Though our overall results did not match the expected number of F2 genotypes, we found no biased co-transmission among M or S alleles in the three islands. Our likelihood model did identify transmission ratio distortion at two of the three islands, but this distortion was small (approx. 3%) and in opposite directions for the two islands. We discuss how our results impinge on hypotheses of current gene flow between M and S and ongoing speciation-with-gene-flow in this system.
Category Deficits and Paradoxical Dissociations in Alzheimer's Disease and Herpes Simplex Encephalitis

Most studies examining category specificity are single-case studies of patients with living or nonliving deficits. Nevertheless, no explicit or agreed criteria exist for establishing category-specific deficits in single cases regarding the type of analyses, whether to compare with healthy controls, the number of tasks, or the type of tasks. We examined two groups of patients with neurological pathology frequently accompanied by impaired semantic memory (19 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 15 with Herpes Simplex Encephalitis). Category knowledge was examined using three tasks (picture naming, naming-to-description, and feature verification). Both patient groups were compared with age-and education-matched healthy controls. The profile in each patient was examined for consistency across tasks and across different analyses; however, both proved to be inconsistent. One striking finding was the presence of paradoxical dissociations (i.e., patients who were impaired for living things on one task and nonliving things on another task). The findings have significant implications for how we determine category effects and, more generally, for the methods used to document double dissociations across individual cases in this literature.
Low Dark-Current Lateral Amorphous-Selenium Metal–Semiconductor–Metal Photodetector

We report a lateral amorphous-selenium (a-Se) metal-semiconductor-metal detector with a blocking contact. The blocking contact, a polyimide layer, is shown to significantly reduce the dark current even at high applied biases that result in high photo-current-to-dark-current ratios, thus leading to wide dynamic range and high signal-to-noise ratio. The use of the polyimide blocking contact prevents the injection of both holes and electrons and improves considerably upon the high dark current of previously reported lateral a-Se detectors. The proposed detector demonstrates the feasibility of low-cost lateral a-Se devices for indirect conversion digital X-ray imaging applications such as chest radiography, fluoroscopy, and computed tomography.
Study of Autophagy and Microangiopathy in Sural Nerves of Patients with Chronic Idiopathic Axonal Polyneuropathy

Twenty-five percent of polyneuropathies are idiopathic. Microangiopathy has been suggested to be a possible pathogenic cause of chronic idiopathic axonal polyneuropathy (CIAP). Dysfunction of the autophagy pathway has been implicated as a marker of neurodegeneration in the central nervous system, but the autophagy process is not explored in the peripheral nervous system. In the current study, we examined the presence of microangiopathy and autophagy-related structures in sural nerve biopsies of 10 patients with CIAP, 11 controls with inflammatory neuropathy and 10 controls without sensory polyneuropathy. We did not find any significant difference in endoneurial microangiopathic markers in patients with CIAP compared to normal controls, though we did find a correlation between basal lamina area thickness and age. Unexpectedly, we found a significantly larger basal lamina area thickness in patients with vasculitic neuropathy. Furthermore, we found a significantly higher density of endoneurial autophagy-related structures, particularly in patients with CIAP but also in patients with inflammatory neuropathy, compared to normal controls. It is unclear if the alteration in the autophagy pathway is a consequence or a cause of the neuropathy. Our results do not support the hypothesis that CIAP is primarily caused by a microangiopathic process in endoneurial blood vessels in peripheral nerves. The significantly higher density of autophagy structures in sural nerves obtained from patients with CIAP and inflammatory neuropathy vs. controls indicates the involvement of this pathway in neuropathy, particularly in CIAP, since the increase in density of autophagy-related structures was more pronounced in patients with CIAP than those with inflammatory neuropathy. To our knowledge this is the first report investigating signs of autophagy process in peripheral nerves in patients with CIAP and inflammatory neuropathy.