Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Importance of Bladder Radioactivity for Radiation Safety in Nuclear Medicine

Objective: Most of the radiopharmaceuticals used in nuclear medicine are excreted via the urinary system. This study evaluated the importance of a reduction in bladder radioactivity for radiation safety. Methods: The study group of 135 patients underwent several organ scintigraphies [40/135; thyroid scintigraphy (TS), 30/135; whole body bone scintigraphy (WBS), 35/135; myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) and 30/135; renal scintigraphy (RS)] by a technologist within 1 month. In full and empty conditions, static bladder images and external dose rate measurements at 0.25, 0.50, 1, 1.5 and 2 m distances were obtained and decline ratios were calculated from these two data sets. Results: External radiation dose rates were highest in patients undergoing MPS. External dose rates at 0.25 m distance for TS, TKS, MPS and BS were measured to be 56, 106, 191 and 72 μSv h-1 for full bladder and 29, 55, 103 and 37 μSv h-1 for empty bladder, respectively. For TS, WBS, MPS and RS, respectively, average decline ratios were calculated to be 52%, 55%, 53% and 54% in the scintigraphic assessment and 49%, 51%, 49%, 50% and 50% in the assessment with Geiger counter. Conclusion: Decline in bladder radioactivity is important in terms of radiation safety. Patients should be encouraged for micturition after each scintigraphic test. Spending time together with radioactive patients at distances less than 1 m should be kept to a minimum where possible. Conflict of interest:None declared.
A Network Model for the Correlation between Epistasis and Genomic Complexity

The study of genetic interactions (epistasis) is central to the understanding of genome organization and evolution. A general correlation between epistasis and genomic complexity has been recently shown, such that in simpler genomes epistasis is antagonistic on average (mutational effects tend to cancel each other out), whereas a transition towards synergistic epistasis occurs in more complex genomes (mutational effects strengthen each other). Here, we use a simple network model to identify basic features explaining this correlation. We show that, in small networks with multifunctional nodes, lack of redundancy, and absence of alternative pathways, epistasis is antagonistic on average. In contrast, lack of multi-functionality, high connectivity, and redundancy favor synergistic epistasis. Moreover, we confirm the previous finding that epistasis is a covariate of mutational robustness: in less robust networks it tends to be antagonistic whereas in more robust networks it tends to be synergistic. We argue that network features associated with antagonistic epistasis are typically found in simple genomes, such as those of viruses and bacteria, whereas the features associated with synergistic epistasis are more extensively exploited by higher eukaryotes.
Who Benefits from the CAP

[Introduction]. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) constitutes a major public intervention in the European Union (EU) which generates large redistributive effects. Significant resources are being transferred among producers and consumers of agricultural products and the taxpayers. The geographic distribution of these three groups (producers, consumers, taxpayers) in the different member states generates also transfers among the member states. The distribution of benefits and losses under the CAP has attracted the interest of researchers in the past. During the 1980s, Buckwell et al (1982) and Brown (1989) dealt with this issue, when the rules of the ‘traditional’ CAP were very much in place. In the 1990s, Ackrill, Hine, Rayner and Suardi (1997) obtained estimates of the impact of the 1992 CAP reform on the existing distribution of benefits and losses. However, their analysis is ex ante in nature and it concentrates on the most important products included in the 1992 reform of the CAP, excluding the mediterranean products. Tarditi and Zanias (1997 and 2000) do include the mediterranean products and obtain ex post results up to 1995 for the EU regions. Zanias (2002) includes the mediterranean products, produces results at national levels up to 1999 and simulates the potential impact of a partial re-nationalisation of the CAP. Renewed interest for the issue exists for three reasons: 1) Negotiations currently take place in the EU about the 2007-2013 financial framework and the initial positions of the large budget contributors call for a reduction in the EU own resources, which is opposed by some other member states. Since the financing of the CAP attracts nearly half of the EU budget, the distribution of the CAP benefits has important implications for these negotiations. 2) Three major reforms of the CAP have taken place (1992, 1999, 2003), which have changed the philosophy of the CAP, moving away from price intervention and towards direct subsidies to the farmers and rural development measures. Yet the distribution results so far stop in 1999 and a need for more recent results exists. 3) It is useful to have a benchmarking of the distribution of benefits before the implementation of the latest CAP reform (2003) and the gradual application of the CAP to the new member states. This study extends the results of Zanias (2002) regarding the distribution of benefits among member states covering the period 1988-2003, and focuses on the "anatomy" of the generated transfers and their determinants.
Design of PID controllers for 4-DOF planar and spatial manipulators

Robotic manipulators are the most important components in the present manufacturing industry for handling materials and manipulation. It is important to note that these manipulators are used in the complex planar and spatial work spaces to perform the task. Further, it is also very difficult to manipulate and dynamically control the manipulators when the degrees of freedom (DOF) of the manipulator are increased. In the present manuscript, the dynamic analysis and design of PID controller for two different manipulator configurations, namely planar and spatial manipulators have been attempted. Moreover, both the manipulators considered in this study are provided with 4-DOF and dynamic analysis has been carried out using Lagrange-Euler (L-E) formulation. The main difference between the planar and spatial manipulator is that the former works in the two dimensional space and later works in a three dimensional space. In addition to the dynamic analysis, PID controllers have also been designed for the said configurations to follow a path between the given boundary conditions. Further, the developed controllers are tested in simulations, and found working satisfactorily.
Inhibition of retinopathy and retinal metabolic abnormalities in diabetic rats with AREDS-based micronutrients.

OBJECTIVES To investigate whether the micronutrients that were shown to reduce the risk of development of age-related macular degeneration in the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) can have the same effect on the development of diabetic retinopathy in rats, and to understand the possible mechanisms. METHODS Streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats received a powdered diet with or without supplemental micronutrients (ascorbic acid, vitamin E, beta-carotene, zinc, and copper). The retina was used after the rats had diabetes for 12 months to detect vascular histopathology and to measure the biochemical parameters and messenger RNA levels of the genes involved in oxidative and nitrative stress. RESULTS The AREDS-based micronutrients prevented a diabetes-induced increase in the number of retinal acellular capillaries. In the same rats, micronutrients inhibited increases in retinal oxidatively modified DNA and nitrotyrosine and decreases in manganese superoxide dismutase. Diabetes-induced alterations in the messenger RNA expression of mitochondrial electron transport complex III (coenzyme Q cytochrome-c reductase) and inducible nitric oxide synthase were also prevented. CONCLUSION Age-Related Eye Disease Study-based micronutrients inhibit the development of diabetic retinopathy in rodents by inhibiting oxidative and nitrative stress. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Micronutrients that slow down the onset and progression of age-related macular degeneration have the potential to inhibit the development of diabetic retinopathy.
Spectral gaps in Wasserstein distances and the 2D stochastic Navier–Stokes equations

We develop a general method to prove the existence of spectral gaps for Markov semigroups on Banach spaces. Unlike most previous work, the type of norm we consider for this analysis is neither a weighted supremum norm nor an LP-type norm, but involves the derivative of the observable as well and hence can be seen as a type of 1-Wasserstein distance. This turns Out to be a suitable approach for infinite-dimensional spaces where the usual Harris or Doeblin conditions, which are geared toward total variation convergence, often fail to hold. In the first part of this paper, we consider semigroups that have uniform behavior which one can view its the analog of Doeblin's condition. We then proceed to Study Situations where the behavior is not SO Uniform, but the system has a suitable Lyapunov structure, leading to a type of Harris condition. We finally show that the latter condition is satisfied by the two-dimensional stochastic Navier-Stokes equations. even in situations where the forcing is extremely de generate. Using the convergence result, we show that the stochastic Navier-Stokes equations' invariant measures depend continuously on the viscosity and the structure of the forcing.
The Social Dynamics of Performance

A pervasive empirical finding is that mutual fund managers do not maintain their performance. In this paper, I show that social interactions can explain this fact. To do so, I allow a “crowd” of managers to meet at random times and exchange ideas within a rational-expectations equilibrium model. I show that social interactions simultaneously allow prices to become more efficient and better-informed managers to reap larger profits. Yet, social interactions cause managers’ alpha to become insignificant. The main implication is that increased efficiency causes managers to implement passive investment strategies for which they should not be rewarded. In addition, by increasing price informativeness, social interactions produce momentum in stock returns and induce most managers to become momentum traders, consistent with empirical findings.
Star-formation in NGC 4038/4039 from broad and narrow band photometry: Cluster destruction?

Accurately determining the star formation history in NGC 4038/4039 - "The Antennae" - is hampered by variable and sometimes substantial extinction. We therefore used near infrared broad- and narrow-band images obtained with ISAAC at the VLT and with SOFI at the NTT to determine the recent star formation history in this prototypical merger. In combination with archival HST data, we determined ages, extinction, and other parameters for single star clusters, and properties of the cluster population as a whole. About 70% of the Ks-band detected star clusters with masses ≥10 5 Mare younger than 10 Myr (this is approximately an e-folding time for cluster ages), which we interpret as evidence of rapid dissolution but not free expansion. The total mass of K-band selected clusters is about 5 to 10 × 10 8 Mand represents about 3−6% of the total molecular gas. However, this takes only the detected clusters into account, and in view of the rapid dissolution, means that this is only a lower limit to the total mass of stars produced in clusters during the burst. Studies of cluster formation in other galaxies recently suggested short cluster dissolution timescales, too, which means that star formation rates may have been severely underestimated in the past. Extinction is strongly variable and very high in some regions, but around AV = 1.3 mag on average. Even though most clusters are detected at least in I-band, only the information about individual cluster ages and extinction allows us to avoid uncertainties of orders of magnitude in star formation rate estimates determined from optical fluxes. From the distribution of individual cluster extinction vs. age, which is significantly higher for clusters below 8−9 Myr than for older clusters, we infer that this is the time by which a typical cluster blows free of its native dust cocoon.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) A review paper on biomimetic calcium phosphate coatings

Biomimetic calcium phosphate coatings have been developed for bone regeneration and repair because of their biocompatibility, osteoconductivity, and easy preparation. They can be rendered osteoinductive by incorporating an osteogenic agent, such as bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), into the crystalline lattice work in physiological situations. The biomimetic calcium phosphate coating enables a controlled, slow and local release of BMP-2 when it undergoes cell mediated coating degradation induced by multinuclear cells, such as osteoclasts and foreign body giant cells, which mimics a physiologically similar release mode, to achieve sustained ectopic or orthotopic bone formation. Therefore, biomimetic calcium phosphate coatings are considered to be a promising delivery vehicle for osteogenic agents. In this review, we present an overview of biomimetic calcium phosphate coatings including their preparation techniques, physico-chemical properties, potential as drug carrier, and their pre-clinical application both in ectopic and orthotopic animal models. We briefly review some features of hydroxyapatite coatings and their clinical applications to gain insight into the clinical applications of biomimetic calcium phosphate coatings in the near future.
BeppoSAX study of the X-ray binary XB 1832 330 located in the globular cluster NGC 6652

Results of a 2001 March 17{20 BeppoSAX observation of the X-ray binary XB 1832 330 located in the globular cluster NGC 6652 are presented. In contrast to the majority of luminous globular cluster X-ray sources, the (0.1{200 keV) BeppoSAX spectrum cannot be t with a disk-blackbody and comptt Comptonization model, unless partial covering is included. This conrms the ASCA detection of partial covering by Mukai & Smale (2000). The best-t spectral parameters are similar to those of the globular cluster sources with orbital periods of < 1h r, implying that XB 1832 330 is also an ultra-compact system. A plausible optical candidate to XB 1832 330 has recently been discovered by Heinke et al. (2001) which shows evidence for possible 0.92, 2.22, or 4.44 hr periodicities. We nd no evidence for any 2{10 keV periodic modulation at any of these periods with a 2 upper limit to the semi-amplitude of any sinusoid of<1.5%.
REECH-ME: Regional Energy Efficient Cluster Heads Based on Maximum Energy Routing Protocol for WSNs

In this paper, we propose Regional Energy Efficient Cluster Heads based on Maximum Energy (REECH-ME) Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The main purpose of this protocol is to improve the network lifetime and particularly the stability period of the network. In REECH-ME, the node with the maximum energy in a region becomes Cluster Head (CH) of that region for that particular round and the number of the cluster heads in each round remains the same. Our technique outperforms LEACH which uses probabilistic approach for the selection of CHs. We also implement the Uniform Random Distribution Model to find the packet drop to make this protocol more practical. We also calculate the confidence interval of all our results which helps us to visualize the possible deviation of our graphs from the mean value.
Design of piecewise linear polyphase sequences with good correlation properties

In this paper, we devise a computational approach for designing polyphase sequences with two key properties; (i) a phase argument which is piecewise linear, and (ii) an impulse-like autocorrelation. The proposed approach relies on fast Fourier transform (FFT) operations and thus can be used efficiently to design sequences with a large length or alphabet size. Moreover, using the suggested method, one can construct many new such polyphase sequences which were not known and/or could not be constructed by the previous formulations in the literature. Several numerical examples are provided to show the performance of the proposed design framework in different scenarios.
Imaging Mass Spectrometry Reveals Acyl-Chain- and Region-Specific Sphingolipid Metabolism in the Kidneys of Sphingomyelin Synthase 2-Deficient Mice

Obesity was reported to cause kidney injury by excessive accumulation of sphingolipids such as sphingomyelin and ceramide. Sphingomyelin synthase 2 (SMS2) is an important enzyme for hepatic sphingolipid homeostasis and its dysfunction is considered to result in fatty liver disease. The expression of SMS2 is also high in the kidneys. However, the contribution of SMS2 on renal sphingolipid metabolism remains unclear. Imaging mass spectrometry is a powerful tool to visualize the distribution and provide quantitative data on lipids in tissue sections. Thus, in this study, we analyzed the effects of SMS2 deficiency on the distribution and concentration of sphingomyelins in the liver and kidneys of mice fed with a normal-diet or a high-fat-diet using imaging mass spectrometry and liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry. Our study revealed that high-fat-diet increased C18–C22 sphingomyelins, but decreased C24-sphingomyelins, in the liver and kidneys of wild-type mice. By contrast, SMS2 deficiency decreased C18–C24 sphingomyelins in the liver. Although a similar trend was observed in the whole-kidneys, the effects were minor. Interestingly, imaging mass spectrometry revealed that sphingomyelin localization was specific to each acyl-chain length in the kidneys. Further, SMS2 deficiency mainly decreased C22-sphingomyelin in the renal medulla and C24-sphingomyelins in the renal cortex. Thus, imaging mass spectrometry can provide visual assessment of the contribution of SMS2 on acyl-chain- and region-specific sphingomyelin metabolism in the kidneys.
Classification of Animal Movement Behavior through Residence in Space and Time

Identification and classification of behavior states in animal movement data can be complex, temporally biased, time-intensive, scale-dependent, and unstandardized across studies and taxa. Large movement datasets are increasingly common and there is a need for efficient methods of data exploration that adjust to the individual variability of each track. We present the Residence in Space and Time (RST) method to classify behavior patterns in movement data based on the concept that behavior states can be partitioned by the amount of space and time occupied in an area of constant scale. Using normalized values of Residence Time and Residence Distance within a constant search radius, RST is able to differentiate behavior patterns that are time-intensive (e.g., rest), time & distance-intensive (e.g., area restricted search), and transit (short time and distance). We use grey-headed albatross (Thalassarche chrysostoma) GPS tracks to demonstrate RST’s ability to classify behavior patterns and adjust to the inherent scale and individuality of each track. Next, we evaluate RST’s ability to discriminate between behavior states relative to other classical movement metrics. We then temporally sub-sample albatross track data to illustrate RST’s response to less resolved data. Finally, we evaluate RST’s performance using datasets from four taxa with diverse ecology, functional scales, ecosystems, and data-types. We conclude that RST is a robust, rapid, and flexible method for detailed exploratory analysis and meta-analyses of behavioral states in animal movement data based on its ability to integrate distance and time measurements into one descriptive metric of behavior groupings. Given the increasing amount of animal movement data collected, it is timely and useful to implement a consistent metric of behavior classification to enable efficient and comparative analyses. Overall, the application of RST to objectively explore and compare behavior patterns in movement data can enhance our fine- and broad- scale understanding of animal movement ecology.
Discrimination, psychosocial stress, and health among Latin American immigrants in Oregon

Chronic psychosocial stress related to discrimination has been shown to be associated with biological measures such as elevated systolic blood pressure (SBP), increased body fat, and higher fasting glucose levels. Few studies have examined these relationships in immigrant populations. The present study recruited a sample of 132 Oregon Latino immigrant adults to investigate the relationships between perceived discrimination and several health measures (blood pressure, body mass index [BMI], and fasting glucose). Results indicate that perceived discrimination stress predicted elevated SBP among men but not among women. Perceived discrimination was significantly higher among obese women than among women of normal BMI. The same pattern was not observed for men. Further, a strong trend relationship was detected: the higher women's reported discrimination stress, the higher their fasting glucose levels. Again, this pattern was not observed for men. These results suggest that chronic psychosocial stress plays an important role in disease risk among Latin American immigrants, and that male and female immigrants may have distinctive physiological responses. If confirmed, these findings may have important clinical and public health implications for chronic disease prevention among Latinos. Am. J. Hum. Biol., 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Chapter 1 A Review of Agent-Based CoEvolutionary Algorithms for Multi-Objective Optimization

Agent-based evolutionary algorithms are a result of mixing two paradigms: multi-agent systems and evolutionary algorithms. Agent-based co-evolutionary algorithms allow for existing many species and sexes of agents within the system as well as for defining co-evolutionary interactions between species and sexes. Algorithms based on the model of co-evolutionary multi-agent system have been already applied in many domains, like multimodal optimization, generation of investment strategies, portfolio optimization, and multi-objective optimization. In this chapter we present an overview of selected agent-based co-evolutionary algorithms, their formal models, and results of experiments with standard test problems and financial problem, aimed at making comparison of agent-based and “classical” state-of-the-art multi-objective algorithms. Presented results show that, depending on the problem being solved, agent-based algorithms obtain comparable, and sometimes even better, results than “classical” algorithms, however of course they are not the universal solver for all multi-objective optimization problems.
Efficiency of active Double-Clad fiber pumping in different types of fibers

In the paper the pumping efficiency of active, different types double-clad fiber has been analyzed. The ray tracing method has been applied for fibers analysis. The most often utilized fibers: circular non-concentric, D-shape, fin-shape, rectangular fibers have been analyzed. The results show that the geometry of the inner clad fibers is not very significant for pumping efficiency, except the case of circular one.
Preconditioned AOR Iterative Method for M-Matrix

In this paper, we propose a new selection mode of 'r, t' for the preconditioner I+C and analyze the convergence performance of the preconditioned AOR iterative method induced by this preconditioner. For a nonsingular M-matrix, we show that the preconditioned AOR iterative method with this choice and the preconditioned methods advised by Evans et al. are all convergent, and that the preconditioned method with the preconditioner I+C has faster convergence speed than the original AOR method. Finally, the limit numerical results are provided to support the obtained results.