Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Kaisa Lamminpää FORMIC ACID CATALYSED XYLOSE DEHYDRATION INTO FURFURAL

Lignocellulosic biomass, such as wood or agricultural residues, is a resource widely available for use in chemical production. In a lignocellulosic feedstock biorefinery, the major parts of biomass, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, are converted to valuable chemicals, materials and energy. Furfural production is one option for the use of the pentose sugars available in hemicellulose, and the process could be integrated with the pulp or cellulosic ethanol industry. In the past, furfural production catalysed by organic acids has been in industrial use, but no detailed studies about the kinetics exist. However, the use of organic acid would prevent the waste problems linked to the mineral acids widely used in the furfural industry. In this thesis, furfural formation in formic acid media was studied. The major part of this work concerns the kinetics of xylose dehydration into furfural and further furfural degradation. Based on the results of this thesis and a literature review, adequate prediction of furfural yield in the conditions used can be achieved using a simple kinetic model, including three reactions: 1) Xylose dehydration into furfural, 2) Furfural degradation, and 3) Xylose degradation to products other than furfural. Moreover, it was shown that the overall order of the furfural degradation reaction, usually modelled as a first order reaction, changes with acidity (H+-concentration). Suggestions for a possible reaction mechanism have been made based on the results. In the last part of this thesis, furfural formation in the presence of kraft lignin (Indulin AT) was considered. Sulphuric acid was used as a baseline for formic acid. It was shown that the lignin has an acid-neutralising capacity, but the higher pH did not explain all the changes in the xylose conversion and the furfural yield. Thus, it is highly likely the lignin inhibits the formation of furfural. Altogether, the effects were smaller in formic acid than in sulphuric acid. This thesis confirms the fact that formic acid is an effective catalyst for furfural production. The focus of the thesis was on the reaction kinetics, and the results can be used in conceptual process design. Moreover, the results emphasise the importance of including acidity explicitly in the kinetic model and monitoring acidity changes when real process streams are used.
Datum: Managing Data Purchasing and Data Placement in a Geo-Distributed Data Market

This paper studies two design tasks faced by a geo-distributed cloud data market: which data to purchase (data purchasing) and where to place/replicate the data for delivery (data placement). We show that the joint problem of data purchasing and data placement within a cloud data market can be viewed as a facility location problem and is thus NP-hard. However, we give a provably optimal algorithm for the case of a data market made up of a single data center and then generalize the structure from the single data center setting in order to develop a near-optimal, polynomial-time algorithm for a geo-distributed data market. The resulting design, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathsf {Datum}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, decomposes the joint purchasing and placement problem into two subproblems, one for data purchasing and one for data placement, using a transformation of the underlying bandwidth costs. We show, via a case study, that <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathsf {Datum}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is near optimal (within 1.6%) in practical settings.
The Effects of Myofascial Release With Foam Rolling on Performance

Abstract Healey, KC, Hatfield, DL, Blanpied, P, Dorfman, LR, and Riebe, D. The effects of myofascial release with foam rolling on performance. J Strength Cond Res 28(1): 61–68, 2014—In the last decade, self-myofascial release has become an increasingly common modality to supplement traditional methods of massage, so a masseuse is not necessary. However, there are limited clinical data demonstrating the efficacy or mechanism of this treatment on athletic performance. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the use of myofascial rollers before athletic tests can enhance performance. Twenty-six (13 men and 13 women) healthy college-aged individuals (21.56 ± 2.04 years, 23.97 ± 3.98 body mass index, 20.57 ± 12.21 percent body fat) were recruited. The study design was a randomized crossover design in which subject performed a series of planking exercises or foam rolling exercises and then performed a series of athletic performance tests (vertical jump height and power, isometric force, and agility). Fatigue, soreness, and exertion were also measured. A 2 × 2 (trial × gender) analysis of variance with repeated measures and appropriate post hoc was used to analyze the data. There were no significant differences between foam rolling and planking for all 4 of the athletic tests. However, there was a significant difference between genders on all the athletic tests (p ⩽ 0.001). As expected, there were significant increases from pre to post exercise during both trials for fatigue, soreness, and exertion (p ⩽ 0.01). Postexercise fatigue after foam rolling was significantly less than after the subjects performed planking (p ⩽ 0.05). The reduced feeling of fatigue may allow participants to extend acute workout time and volume, which can lead to chronic performance enhancements. However, foam rolling had no effect on performance.
Cardiovascular and hormonal changes with different angles of head-up tilt in men.

The purpose of this study was to assess the endocrine status, thoracic impedance, blood concentration, and hemodynamic dose-responses using different angles of passive head-up tilt (HUT) ranging from 12 degrees to 70 degrees in the same subjects. Measurements were performed during 20 min supine position (pre-HUT), 30 min upright (HUT12, HUT30, HUT53, or HUT70), and 20 min supine (post-HUT); subjects 70 min in the supine position only (HUT0) served as resting controls. Norepinephrine increased above resting control values by 19, 44, 80, and 102%; epinephrine by 30, 41, 64, and 68%; aldosterone by 29, 62, 139, and 165%; plasma renin activity n. s. , 41, 91, and 89%; vasopressin n.s. , 27, 47, and 59%; thoracic bioimpedance n. s. , 8, 13, and 16%; heart rate n. s. , 5, 26, and 45%, and mean arterial pressure n. s. , 5, 7, and 10%; at min 27 of HUT12, HUT30, HUT53, and HUT70, respectively. Pulse pressure decreased with HUT53 and HUT70 by 4 and 10%. Hematocrit increased by 0.2, 1.7, 6.3, and 7.2%, respectively. Blood density increased by 2.3 and 3.0 g/l, plasma density by 1.7 and 1.8 g/l with HUT53 and HUT70. After finishing HUT, heart rate fell to values which stayed below pre-HUT, and also below resting control levels for > or = 5 min ("post-orthostatic bradycardia") even after the lowest orthostatic load (HUT12). Thoracic impedance and arterial pressure remained increased after terminating HUT30, HUT53, and HUT70. In conclusion, passive orthostatic loading of different extent produces specific dose-responses of different magnitude in the endocrine system, blood composition, thoracic impedance, and hemodynamic variables. The heart rate is depressed even after HUT12, while arterial blood pressure and thoracic impedance exceed pre-stimulus levels after greater head-up tilt, indicating altered cardiovascular response after passive orthostasis.
Thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke in the elderly: a ‘real world’ experience

Introduction Completed randomized trials on endovascular thrombectomy (ET) did not independently assess the efficacy of ET in the elderly (≥80 years old) who were often excluded or under-represented in trials. There were also inconsistent criteria for patient selection in this population across the different trials. This work evaluates outcomes after ET for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in the elderly at a high volume stroke center. Methods We reviewed all cases of AIS that underwent a direct aspiration first pass technique (ADAPT) thrombectomy for large vessel occlusions between March 2013 and October 2017 while comparing outcomes in the elderly with younger counterparts. We also reviewed AIS cases in elderly patients undergoing medical management who were matched to the ET counterparts by demographics, comorbidities, baseline deficits, and stroke severity. Results Of 560 patients undergoing ET for AIS, 108 patients were in the elderly group (≥80 years of age), and had a significantly lower likelihood of functional independence (defined as a modified Rankin Scale score of 0–2) at 90 days compared with younger patients (20.5% vs 44.4%, P<0.001), and higher mortality rates (34.3% vs 20%, P<0.001). When compared with patients undergoing medical management, elderly patients did not have a significant improvement in rates of good outcomes (20.5% vs 19.5%, P>0.05), and had significantly higher rates of hemorrhage (40.7% vs 9.3%, P<0.001). We also identified baseline stroke severity and the incidence of hemorrhage as two independent predictors of outcome in the elderly patients. Conclusions ET in the elderly did not show a similar benefit to younger patients when compared with medical management. These findings emphasize the need for more optimal selection criteria for the elderly population to improve the risk to benefit ratio of ET.
Buckling Analysis of Orthotropic Nanoscale Plates Resting on Elastic Foundations

This work presents the buckling investigation of embedded orthotropic nanoplates by using a new hyperbolic plate theory and nonlocal small-scale effects. The main advantage of this theory is that, in addition to including the shear deformation effect, the displacement field is modeled with only three unknowns and three governing equation as the case of the classical plate theory (CPT) and which is even less than the first order shear deformation theory (FSDT) and higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT). A shear correction factor is, therefore, not required. Nonlocal differential constitutive relations of Eringen is employed to investigate effects of small scale on buckling of the rectangular nanoplate. The elastic foundation is modeled as two-parameter Pasternak foundation. The equations of motion of the nonlocal theories are derived and solved via Navier's procedure for all edges simply supported boundary conditions. The proposed theory is compared with other plate theories. Analytical solutions for buckling loads are obtained for single-layered graphene sheets with isotropic and orthotropic properties. The results presented in this study may provide useful guidance for design of orthotropic graphene based nanodevices that make use of the buckling properties of orthotropic nanoplates. Verification studies show that the proposed theory is not only accurate and simple in solving the buckling nanoplates, but also comparable with the other higher-order shear deformation theories which contain more number of unknowns. Keywords: Buckling; orthotropic nanoplates; a simple 3-unknown theory; nonlocal elasticity theory; Pasternak’s foundations. * Corresponding author; Email-tou_abdel@yahoo.com
Primary Colonic Follicular Lymphoma Presenting as Four Diminutive Sessile Polyps Found Incidentally During Colonoscopy

Follicular lymphomas, which typically arise in the lymph nodes with spleen, liver, and bone marrow involvement, have generally low occurrence rates in Asian countries as compared with Western countries. Follicular lymphomas of the gastrointestinal tract are rare, and primary colonic follicular lymphomas are particularly rare compared with others found in the small intestine and duodenum. Colonoscopic imaging of colonic lymphomas, including follicular lymphoma, may reveal mucosal ulcerations, erosions, indurations, polypoid mass-like lesions, and diffuse mucosal nodularity. Herein, we report a unique case of a follicular lymphoma of the transverse colon characterized by four sessile diminutive polyps located intermittently with multiple lymph node involvement in a 62-year-old man.
Selective peripheral nerve resection for treatment of persistent pain around the knee joint after total knee arthroplasty

Objective This study was performed to determine the efficacy of selective peripheral nerve resection for treatment of persistent neuropathic pain after total knee arthroplasty (TKA). Methods Patients who underwent TKA in our department from January 2013 to July 2016 and experienced persistent pain around the knee joint after TKA were retrospectively included in the current study. Sixty patients were divided into experimental and control groups according the treatment they received. The treatment effect was evaluated by the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee score and visual analog scale (VAS) pain score preoperatively and at 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. Results The HSS knee scores were higher in both groups after than before the treatment, and HSS knee scores were significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group. The VAS pain scores were lower in both groups after than before the treatment, and VAS pain scores were significantly lower in the experimental group than in the control group. Conclusions Selective peripheral nerve resection is an effective treatment method for persistent neuropathic pain after TKA.
A new video forgery detection approach based on forgery line

In recent years, we have continually encountered multimedia files in daily life, as evidence in courts, medical records in hospitals, etc. Many multimedia-editing software tools have been developed in parallel to the widespread usage of multimedia files. Thus, forgery operations can be committed by anyone with this software, even if s/he does not have any skill in this field. Authentication of the originality of multimedia files has recently become a popular topic. In this work, we propose a new video forgery detection approach to detect forged frames with better execution and detection capability. Features are extracted from the frames and their correlations are represented as a correlation image. This method investigates a line on the correlation image to determine the forgery operation. Then two new procedures (shrinking/expanding) are applied to the detected line to determine the exact location of the forgery. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method can detect forgery operations with better execution time and detection capability when compared to similar works in the literature.
Seriola lalandi Larviculture with Probiotic Supplements in Mesocosm Systems

The present study evaluated the survival of S. lalandi larvae cultivated in a mesocosm system (50 m3 pool) and inoculated in submerged PVC cages with mesh walls and bottom (450 μm Swiss Nylon). The larvae were fed rotifers and artemia supplemented with the probiotic bacterium Pseudoalteromonas sp. SLP1 and the microalga Nannochloropsis gaditana. Larval survival was evaluated at the stage prior to changing the diet from live feed to pellets. Three months after feeding of the larvae with pellet, the growth (length/weight) and the specific growth rate (SGR) of the larvae supplemented with probiotics were recorded in the initial phase of the culture versus those not treated with probiotics. Higher survival was observed in larvae fed the probiotic supplement than in the control larvae (t-test=4.896, p<0.05). Larval growth in control and treatment increased, with significant differences observed during the three months. The SGR index did not present significant differences between the contol and treatment. These data indicate that after 3 months there were no differences in the growth of fish supplemented with or without probiotics. The results indicate that the addition of the microalga N. gaditana and the probiotic bacterium Pseudoaltermonas sp. SLP1 in the live feed, such as rotifers and artemia, is a good dietary alternative and improves the survival of S. lalandi larvae. The use of probiotics to optimize cultivation systems serves as an example of an ecological remediation alternative that can be applied to other cultures of commercial interest.
Ascorbate in the guinea pig lens: dependence on drinking water supplementation.

PURPOSE To investigate whether lens ascorbate concentration can be elevated with drinking water supplementation. METHODS Pigmented guinea pigs received drinking water supplemented with L-ascorbate, concentration 0.00, 2.84, 5.68 or 8.52 mm for a duration of 4 weeks. In addition, the chow fed to all animals contained 125 mmol L-ascorbate per kg of chow. At the end of the supplementation period, the guinea pigs were killed. Each lens was extracted. The lens was processed and ascorbate concentration was measured using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with 254 nm ultraviolet radiation detection. The data were analysed with regression. RESULTS At the end of the test period, all lenses were devoid of cataract as observed by slit-lamp examination. All lenses contained a detectable concentration of ascorbate. Estimated 95% confidence intervals for mean animal-averaged lens ascorbate concentrations (micromol/g wet weight of whole lens) per group were 0.51 +/- 0.04 (0.00 mm; n = 6), 0.70 +/- 0.18 (2.84 mm; n = 6), 0.71 +/- 0.11 (5.68 mm; n = 5), and 0.71 +/- 0.06 (8.52 mm; n = 6). Animal-averaged lens ascorbate concentration [Asc(lens)] (micromol/g wet weight lens) increased with ascorbate supplementation in drinking water [Asc(water)] (M), in agreement with the model: [Asc(lens)] = A - Be(-kAsc(water)]. CONCLUSION Lens ascorbate concentration increases with drinking water supplementation in the guinea pig without cataract development. The currently presented method for measurement of whole lens ascorbate content is suitable.
Comparison of detection sensitivity for human papillomavirus between self-collected vaginal swabs and physician-collected cervical swabs by electrochemical DNA chip.

BACKGROUND Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA testing is an effective method to screen for precancerous changes in the cervix. Samples from self-collection rather than Pap smear can potentially be used to test for HPV as they are more acceptable and preferred for use in certain settings. The objective of this study was to compare HPV DNA testing from self-collected vaginal swabs and physician-collected cervical swabs. MATERIALS AND METHODS A total of 101 self-collected vaginal and physician-collected cervical swabs of known cytology from Thai women were tested by electrochemical DNA chip assay. The specimens were divided into 4 groups: 29 with normal cytology, 14 with atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS), 48 with low- grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), and 10 with high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL). RESULTS Positive detection rates of HPV from self-collected swabs were similar to those from physician-collected swabs. Among specimens with abnormal cytology, HPV was found in 50% of self-collected swabs and 47.2% of physician-collected swabs. In specimens with normal cytology, 17.2% of self-collected swabs and 24.1% of physician-collected swabs were positive for HPV. Concordance was relatively high between results from self- collected and physician-collected samples. The most common HPV genotype detected was HPV 51. CONCLUSIONS HPV DNA testing using self-collected swabs is a feasible alternative to encourage and increase screening for cervical cancer in a population who might otherwise avoid this important preventive examination due to embarrassment, discomfort, and anxiety.
Complex effects of mammalian grazing on extramatrical mycelial biomass in the Scandes forest‐tundra ecotone

Abstract Mycorrhizal associations are widespread in high‐latitude ecosystems and are potentially of great importance for global carbon dynamics. Although large herbivores play a key part in shaping subarctic plant communities, their impact on mycorrhizal dynamics is largely unknown. We measured extramatrical mycelial (EMM) biomass during one growing season in 16‐year‐old herbivore exclosures and unenclosed control plots (ambient), at three mountain birch forests and two shrub heath sites, in the Scandes forest‐tundra ecotone. We also used high‐throughput amplicon sequencing for taxonomic identification to investigate differences in fungal species composition. At the birch forest sites, EMM biomass was significantly higher in exclosures (1.36 ± 0.43 g C/m2) than in ambient conditions (0.66 ± 0.17 g C/m2) and was positively influenced by soil thawing degree‐days. At the shrub heath sites, there was no significant effect on EMM biomass (exclosures: 0.72 ± 0.09 g C/m2; ambient plots: 1.43 ± 0.94). However, EMM biomass was negatively related to Betula nana abundance, which was greater in exclosures, suggesting that grazing affected EMM biomass positively. We found no significant treatment effects on fungal diversity but the most abundant ectomycorrhizal lineage/cortinarius, showed a near‐significant positive effect of herbivore exclusion (p = .08), indicating that herbivory also affects fungal community composition. These results suggest that herbivory can influence fungal biomass in highly context‐dependent ways in subarctic ecosystems. Considering the importance of root‐associated fungi for ecosystem carbon balance, these findings could have far‐reaching implications.
Dual-Connectivity Prevenient Handover Scheme in Control/User-Plane Split Networks

A control/user (C/U) plane-split network, where macro- and microevolved Node Bs (eNBs) are responsible for C/U-planes, respectively, is a potential 5G solution to address the problems experienced by high-speed railway communication systems such as frequent handovers (HOs), low system capacity, and low data rate. The C-plane transition occurs during an intermacro eNB HO to reduce the frequency of HOs. However, the intermacro-eNB HO in a C/U-plane-split network is prone to handover failures (HOFs) and long service interruption time similar to the traditional long-term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) HO without improvements because it is similar to an LTE-A HO between macro-eNBs from the perspective of C-plane transition. In this paper, we realize a C/U-plane-split network using the LTE-A dual-connectivity (DC) technique and propose a dc-based prevenient HO (PHO) scheme to improve the robustness of the intermacro-eNB HO. The proposed scheme specifically is an a priori method and uses the transmit diversity based on the dc technique to reduce the risk of HOFs and the long service interruption time. Further, we first develop the analytical expressions for HO performance for PHO and LTE-A HO, where HOFs are aligned with the LTE-A specifications such that they are defined as the association between the radio link monitor and HO processes. The analytical results are verified against simulation results. Through simulations, we compare PHO with LTE-A HO and the representative schemes of the previous literature in a variety of mobility performance metrics (such as the averages of the successful HO rate, the HOF rate, the radio link failure rate, the ping-pong rate, and the service interrupt time). The results confirm that the proposed scheme achieves superior performance in the key metrics of the successful HO rate and service interrupt time.