Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of intrabony defects treated with platelet-rich fibrin or autogenous bone graft: A comparative analysis

Objective: The primary objective of this study was to compare clinically and radiographically the efficacy of autologous platelet rich fibrin (PRF) and autogenous bone graft (ABG) obtained using bone scrapper in the treatment of intrabony periodontal defects. Materials and Methods: Thirty-eight intrabony defects (IBDs) were treated with either open flap debridement (OFD) with PRF or OFD with ABG. Clinical parameters were recorded at baseline and 6 months postoperatively. The defect-fill and defect resolution at baseline and 6 months were calculated radiographically (intraoral periapical radiographs [IOPA] and orthopantomogram [OPG]). Results: Significant probing pocket depth (PPD) reduction, clinical attachment level (CAL) gain, defect fill and defect resolution at both PRF and ABG treated sites with OFD was observed. However, inter-group comparison was non-significant (P > 0.05). The bivariate correlation results revealed that any of the two radiographic techniques (IOPA and OPG) can be used for analysis of the regenerative therapy in IBDs. Conclusion: The use of either PRF or ABG were effective in the treatment of three wall IBDs with an uneventful healing of the sites.
The N-terminal domain of Tob55 has a receptor-like function in the biogenesis of mitochondrial β-barrel proteins

β‐barrel proteins constitute a distinct class of mitochondrial outer membrane proteins. For import into mitochondria their precursor forms engage the TOM complex. They are then relayed to the TOB complex that mediates their insertion into the outer membrane. Tob55 is an essential component of the TOB complex. It is anchored to the outer membrane by a C‐terminal β‐barrel domain, while the N‐terminal domain is exposed to the intermembrane space. Therefore, precursors of β‐barrel proteins which are on their way from the TOM to the TOB complex could interact with this domain. Deletions of N‐terminal domain of Tob55 precursor did not affect the targeting of the precursor to mitochondria and its insertion into the outer membrane. Replacement of wild type Tob55 by these deletion variants resulted in reduced growth of cells. Mitochondria isolated from such cells contain reduced levels of β‐barrel proteins and are impaired in their capacity to import newly synthesized β‐barrel precursors. The purified N‐terminal domain of Tob55 is able to bind β‐barrel precursors in a specific manner. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the N‐terminal domain of Tob55 has a function in recognizing precursors of β‐barrel proteins. We propose that the receptor‐like function of the N‐terminal domain of Tob55 has a role in coupling the translocation of β‐barrel precursors across the TOM complex to their interaction with the TOB complex.
Diagnosis of Asthma in Primary Health Care: A Pilot Study

Some patients with an asthma diagnosis have a poor controlled asthma. One explanation may be an incorrect diagnosis. Aim. The aim of the study was to diagnose and classify patients with non-infectious lower respiratory tract problems in primary health care using internationally applied diagnostic criteria and diagnostic tests. Patients and Methods. New adult patients visiting a primary health care centre due to lower airway problems were included. The diagnostic tests included FEV1, FVC, PEF, two questionnaires, methacholine test, and skin prick test. Results. The patients (n = 43) could be divided into four groups: asthma (28%), asthma-like disorder (44%), idiopathic cough (12%), and a nonreversible bronchial obstructive group (16%). The asthma and asthma-like groups showed similar patterns of airway symptoms and trigger factors, not significantly separated by a special questionnaire. Phlegm, heavy breathing, chest pressure/pain, cough, and wheezing were the most common symptoms. Physical exercise and scents were the dominating trigger factors. Conclusions. Nonobstructive asthma-like symptoms seem to be as common as bronchial asthma in primary health care. Due to the similarities in symptoms and trigger factors the study supports the hypothesis that asthma and nonobstructive asthma-like disorders are integrated in the same “asthma syndrome,” including different mechanisms, not only bronchial obstruction.
Universal Lattice Codes for MIMO Channels

We propose a coding scheme that achieves the capacity of the compound MIMO channel with algebraic lattices. Our lattice construction exploits the multiplicative structure of number fields and their group of units to absorb ill-conditioned channel realizations. To shape the constellation, a discrete Gaussian distribution over the lattice points is applied. These techniques, along with algebraic properties of the proposed lattices, are then used to construct a sub-optimal de-coupled coding scheme that achieves a constant gap to compound capacity by decoding in a lattice that does not dependent on the channel realization. The gap is characterized in terms of algebraic invariants of the code and is shown to be significantly smaller than previous schemes in the literature. We also exhibit alternative algebraic constructions that achieve the capacity of ergodic (SISO) fading channels.
Age-related differences in features associated with polycystic ovary syndrome in normogonadotrophic oligo-amenorrhoeic infertile women of reproductive years.

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of age on clinical, endocrine and sonographic features associated with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) in normogonadotrophic anovulatory infertile women of reproductive years. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. METHODS Four hundred and seventy-two oligo-amenorrhoeic infertile patients, presenting with normal FSH and oestradiol concentrations, aged 17-42 years underwent a standardised initial evaluation including: cycle history, body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio and transvaginal ultrasound scanning of ovaries. Fasting blood samples were obtained for extensive endocrine evaluation. Cycle duration, serum levels of gonadotrophins, androgens, oestradiol, insulin, glucose, inhibin B as well as mean number of follicles, ovarian volume and ovarian stroma echogenicity were assessed. RESULTS Older women had significantly lower LH and androgen and inhibin B serum levels. Similarly, older women presented with a reduced number of ovarian follicles. Age was inversely correlated with cycle duration (r=-0.112, P=0.02), LH (r=-0.154, P=0.001), testosterone (r=-0.194, P=0.001), androstenedione (r=-0.170, P=0.001), dehydroepiandrosterone (r=-0.157, P=0.001), insulin (r=-0.126, P=0.02), inhibin B (r=-0.118, P=0.03) serum levels and mean follicle number (r=-0.100, P=0.03). A positive correlation was observed between age and glucose to insulin ratio (r=0.138, P=0.009). CONCLUSIONS Advanced age in normogonadotrophic anovulatory infertile women is associated with lower LH and androgen levels and with a decreased number of ovarian follicles. Although during reproductive years observed differences are relatively small, these age-related changes may affect the observed incidence of PCOS.
An integrated class D audio amplifier based on sliding mode control

Class D amplifiers are becoming the most feasible solution for embedded audio application. However, distortions due to the non-linear nature of switching stage are the main drawback for this amplifier topology. This paper discusses the design and implementation of high fidelity audio class D using sliding mode control scheme. This design method proves to be a cost effective solution for industrial circuit. Experimental IC results, using commercial 0.13 mum CMOS technology, verified the theoretical results: the efficiency is above 90%, THD is lower than 0.01% and PSRR is superior to 70 dB.
Binarized Neural Networks

We introduce a method to train Binarized Neural Networks (BNNs) - neural networks with binary weights and activations at run-time. At train-time the binary weights and activations are used for computing the parameter gradients. During the forward pass, BNNs drastically reduce memory size and accesses, and replace most arithmetic operations with bit-wise operations, which is expected to substantially improve power-efficiency. To validate the effectiveness of BNNs, we conducted two sets of experiments on the Torch7 and Theano frameworks. On both, BNNs achieved nearly state-of-the-art results over the MNIST, CIFAR-10 and SVHN datasets. We also report our preliminary results on the challenging ImageNet dataset. Last but not least, we wrote a binary matrix multiplication GPU kernel with which it is possible to run our MNIST BNN 7 times faster than with an unoptimized GPU kernel, without suffering any loss in classification accuracy. The code for training and running our BNNs is available on-line.
Signaling in Equity Crowdfunding

This paper presents a first–ever empirical examination of the effectiveness of signals that entrepreneurs use to induce (small) investors to commit financial resources in an equity crowdfunding context. We examine the impact of venture quality (human capital, social [alliance] capital, and intellectual capital) and uncertainty on fundraising success. Our data highlight that retaining equity and providing more detailed information about risks can be interpreted as effective signals and can therefore strongly impact the probability of funding success. Social capital and intellectual capital, by contrast, have little or no impact on funding success. We discuss the implications of our results for theory, future research, and practice.
Relapsing corticosteroid-dependent polyneuritis

Three patients are described with chronic polyneuritis of unknown cause in whom a state of corticosteroid dependence developed. A fatal relapse occurred in one patient. No clinical, electrophysiological, or pathological features were found from which it would have been possible to predict this form of response to treatment.
Taking out the garbage: Migrant women’s unseen environmental work

In recent years, feminist scholars have criticized various European governments for placing the burden of environmentalist practices on women’s unpaid work. While denouncing how environmentalist regimes reinforce gender inequalities, this literature has overlooked migrant domestic workers’ contributions to sustainable practices, such as managing household recyclables and waste. This article addresses the intersection of gender, race and immigration in urban recycling schemes in the city of Naples, Italy, a growing destination for labor migrants and an area with a long history of waste management crises. Through in-depth interviews, the author examines how migrant domestic workers sustain recycling efforts, in their homes and workplaces. These narratives show how precarious immigration and employment statuses push migrant workers to take on burdensome recycling work for their employers. Despite concerns of street harassment and xenophobia, findings further show how contributing to neighborhood recycling efforts are also important ways in which migrant women express their commitment to the local community. These findings broaden existing notions of gender inequalities in environmental governance through an intersectional framework focusing on precarious migrant labor.
PARIS: A Polynomial-Time, Risk-Sensitive Scheduling Algorithm for Probabilistic Simple Temporal Networks with Uncertainty

Inspired by risk-sensitive, robust scheduling for planetary rovers under temporal uncertainty, this work introduces the Probabilistic Simple Temporal Network with Uncertainty (PSTNU), a temporal planning formalism that unifies the set-bounded and probabilistic temporal uncertainty models from the STNU and PSTN literature. By allowing any combination of these two types of uncertainty models, PSTNU's can more appropriately reflect the varying levels of knowledge that a mission operator might have regarding the stochastic duration models of different activities. We also introduce PARIS, a novel sound and provably polynomial-time algorithm for risk-sensitive strong scheduling of PSTNU's. Due to its fully linear problem encoding for typical temporal uncertainty models, PARIS is shown to outperform the current fastest algorithm for risk-sensitive strong PSTN scheduling by nearly four orders of magnitude in some instances of a popular probabilistic scheduling dataset, while results on a new PSTNU scheduling dataset indicate that PARIS is, indeed, amenable for deployment on resource-constrained hardware.
Do Domestic Investors Have an Information Advantage? Evidence from Indonesia

Using transaction data from the Jakarta Stock Exchange, I find three pieces of evidence which indicate that domestic investors have an information advantage over foreign investors. First, foreign investors systematically buy at higher and sell at lower intra-day prices than domestic investors. Second, foreign investors tend to sell prior to large positive returns. Finally, the permanent impact of foreign purchases is smaller than that of domestic purchases. Over time, prices at which foreign investors trade have worsened, while foreign selling prior to positive returns has disappeared.
Impact of Oxygenated Gasoline Use on California Light-Duty Vehicle Emissions

Light-duty vehicle emissions were measured at the Caldecott Tunnel in August and October 1994. In the interval between these two periods, the average oxygen content of gasoline sold in the San Francisco Bay area increased from 0.3 to 2.0% by weight. Compared to the August (low-oxygenate) sampling period, measured pollutant emission rates during the October (high-oxygenate) sampling period for CO and VOC decreased by 21 +/- 7 and 18 +/- 10%, respectively, while NOx emissions showed no significant change. Formaldehyde emissions increased by 13 +/- 6%, acetaldehyde emissions did not change significantly, and benzene emissions decreased by 25 +/- 17%. Speciated VOC emission profiles show that the use of oxygenated gasoline resulted in higher MTBE and lower aromatic hydrocarbon emissions, higher isobutene, and lower aromatic aldehydes. The normalized reactivity of NMOG emissions did not change significantly between the low-oxygenate and high-oxygenate sampling periods. VOC exhaust speciation profiles for vehicles operating in the hot-stabilized mode at the Caldecott Tunnel math the speciation profile for cold-start emissions from new vehicles as measured in the Auto/Oil program. California's motor vehicle emission factor model, EMFAC7F, accurately predicts the VOC/NOx ratio measured at the Caldecott Tunnel in August, but underpredicts the observed CO/NOx ratio by a factor of 1.5-2.2 over the range of vehicle speeds observed at the tunnel.
Intertwining operator algebras and vertex tensor categories for affine Lie algebras

We apply the general theory of tensor products of modules for a vertex operator algebra developed in our papers hep-th/9309076, hep-th/9309159, hep-th/9401119, q-alg/9505018, q-alg/9505019 and q-alg/9505020 to the case of the Wess-Zumino-Novikov-Witten models and related models in conformal field theory. We show that for the category of modules for a vertex operator algebra containing a subalgebra isomorphic to a tensor product of rational vertex operator algebras associated to affine Lie algebras, the intertwining operators among the modules have the associativity property, the category has a natural structure of vertex tensor category, and a number of related results hold. We obtain, as a corollary and special case, a construction of the previously-studied braided tensor category structure on the category of finite direct sums of standard (integrable highest weight) modules of a fixed positive integral level for an affine Lie algebra.
Joyous Reading: Aspects of Literature Enjoyment for Black/African American Fourth Grade Students.

This study primarily explores the types of books African American children in a local fourth grade classroom like and enjoy. Books students are interested in reading and other related aspects that contribute to their literary enjoyment are also explored. It is during the upper elementary years that many students who eventually express little or no preference for reading first “become ambivalent toward reading. because they [can] no longer find reading material that interest[s] them” (Davila and Patrick, 2010, p. 200). Even when children select a book on their own, they are almost always selecting from books preselected for them by adults (librarians, teachers, booksellers, publishers, parents, etc.). Encisco, Wolf, Coats, and Jenkins (2010) refer to the heavy adult influence in children’s literature as “a shadow” that never truly departs (p. 259). As a result, children’s voices tend to be ignored in a field that supposedly exists for them. Applying a student voice lens and critical ethnographic approach, this dissertation considers the research question from a variety of method sources. Participant observation, surveys, interviews, book club discussions, book logs, and circulation records are analyzed and compared to better understand the topic presented. Emphasis is placed on book genres, formats, and elements that potentially contribute to student enjoyment, as well as the impact of students’ reading environment. The results reveal participants’ enjoyment of realistic fiction, comedy, horror, biography, and science nonfiction books. While chapter books proved to be the most enjoyed format by frequency, longer visual texts (comics, graphic novels, and multimodal books) were considered to be the participants’ favorite format. Also, a book’s characters were found to be the most important book element contributing to liking/ enjoying a book. Findings regarding other aspects of literary enjoyment include a desire for comfortable seating, outdoor reading, and freedom to choose their own books. Topics of leveling policies, peer influence, and how adults contribute to and/or obstruct joyful reading experiences are also discussed. The overall goal of conducting this research was to explore and provide information regarding literature children in this demographic may be more inclined to enjoy. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Education First Advisor Ebony E. Thomas
The X-ray nature of the LINER nuclear sources

We report the results from an homogeneous analysis of the X-ray (Chandra-ACIS) data available for a sample of 51 LINER galaxies selected from the catalogue by Carrillo et al. (1999) and representative of the population of bright LINER sources. The nuclear X-ray morphology has been classified attending to their nuclear compactness in the hard band (4.5-8.0 keV) into 2 categories: Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) candidates (with a clearly identified unresolved nuclear source) and Starburst (SB) candidates (without a clear nuclear source). 60% of the total sample are classified as AGNs, with a median luminosity of LX(2-10 keV)=2.5 x 10^(40)erg/s, which is an order of magnitude higher than that for SB-like nuclei. The spectral fitting allows to conclude that most of the objects need a non-negligible power-law contribution. When no spectral fitting can be performed (data with low signal-to-noise ratio), the Color-Color diagrams allow us to roughly estimate physical parameters such as column density, temperature of the thermal model or spectral index for a power-law and therefore to better constrain the origin of the X-ray emission. All together the X-ray morphology, the spectra and the Color-Color diagrams allow us to conclude that a high percentage of LINER galaxies, at least ~60%, could host AGN nuclei, although contributions from High Mass X-ray Binaries or Ultra-luminous X-ray sources cannot be ruled out for some galaxies.
Role of poultry meat in a balanced diet aimed at maintaining health and wellbeing: an Italian consensus document

The relationship between the consumption of meat and health is multifaceted, and it needs to be analyzed in detail, with specific attention to the relevant differences that characterize the effects of the different meat types, as yet considered by only a limited literature. A variable but moderate energy content, highly digestible proteins (with low levels of collagen) of good nutritional quality, unsaturated lipids (mainly found in the skin and easily removed), B-group vitamins (mainly thiamin, vitamin B6, and pantothenic acid), and minerals (like iron, zinc, and copper) make poultry meat a valuable food. Epidemiological studies performed across the world, in highly diverse populations with different food preferences and nutritional habits, provide solid information on the association between poultry consumption, within a balanced diet, and good health. Consumption of poultry meat, as part of a vegetable-rich diet, is associated with a risk reduction of developing overweight and obesity, cardiovascular diseases, and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Also, white meat (and poultry in particular) is considered moderately protective or neutral on cancer risk. The relevance of poultry meat for humans also has been recognized by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), who considers this widely available, relatively inexpensive food to be particularly useful in developing countries, where it can help to meet shortfalls in essential nutrients. Moreover, poultry meat consumption also contributes to the overall quality of the diet in specific ages and conditions (prior to conception, during pregnancy up to the end of breastfeeding, during growth, and in the geriatric age) and is suitable for those who have an increased need for calorie and protein compared to the general population.
The Problem with Square Pegs: Sexual Orientation Concordance as a Predictor of Depressive Symptoms

The author uses a nationally representative sample of cisgender young adults to examine the relationship between sexual orientation concordance and the prevalence of depressive symptoms. In these analyses, the author differentiates between those with an exclusive identity (100 percent gay or 100 percent straight) and those with a nonexclusive identity (“mostly gay,” “mostly straight,” or bisexual). Among those with an exclusive identity, the author differentiates between those with behavior and attraction that is in line with (concordant) or goes against (discordant) a claimed gay or straight identity. Those with a concordant sexual orientation report significantly lower depressive symptoms scores than do those with either a discordant sexual orientation or a nonexclusive identity. When accounting for orientation, concordance is significantly associated with depressive symptoms for straight- but not gay-identified young adults. These findings generally hold for women, but not for men when change in identity is controlled for.
Aspects of networking in multiplayer computer games

Distributed, real‐time multiplayer computer games (MCGs) are in the vanguard of utilizing the networking possibilities. Although related research has been done in military simulations, virtual reality systems, and computer supported cooperative working, the suggested solutions diverge from the problems posed by MCGs. With this in mind, this paper provides a concise overview of four aspects affecting networking in MCGs. First, networking resources (bandwidth, latency, and computational power) set the technical boundaries within which the MCG must operate. Second, distribution concepts encompass communication architectures (peer‐to‐peer, client/server, server‐network), and both data and control architectures (centralized, distributed, replicated). Third, scalability allows the MCG to adapt to the resource changes by parametrization. Finally, security aims at fighting back against cheating and vandalism, which are common in online gaming.