Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of sunflower and rapeseed oil on production of solid particles and performance of diesel engine

The development of biofuels for compression ignition engines is heading primarily to utilization of vegetable oils. Combusting of 100% vegetable oil in unmodified CI engine is usually not possible due to higher viscosity of the vegetable oil. In order to use 100% vegetable oil in CI engine the oil needs to be preheated, esterified or hydrotreated. Alternatively, in order to use raw vegetable oil in CI engine without preheating it is possible to use vegetable oil diesel fuel blends or vegetable oil butanol diesel fuel blends in order to lower the viscosity of the fuel. The contribution focuses on comparison of the effect of sunflower and rapeseed vegetable oils on operational parameters of the turbocharged compression ignition engine, especially on production of solid particles. The measurement was carried out according to standardized NRSC test cycle. 5% and 20% concentration of vegetable oils in diesel fuel were used as a test fuels for the measurement while the diesel fuel was used as a reference. The count and size of solid particles were measured by means of EEPS particle analyser. Based on the measured values it can be stated that the slight increase of performance parameters occurred with strong effect on emissions production, especially on production of solid particles.
Speech intelligibility in the presence of cross-channel spectral asynchrony

The spectrum of spoken sentences was partitioned into quarter-octave channels and the onset of each channel shifted in time relative to the others so as to desynchronize spectral information across the frequency axis. Human listeners are remarkably tolerant of cross-channel spectral asynchrony induced in this fashion. Speech intelligibility remains relatively unimpaired until the average asynchrony spans three or more phonetic segments. Such perceptual robustness is correlated with the magnitude of the low-frequency (3-6 Hz) modulation spectrum and thus highlights the importance of syllabic segmentation and analysis for robust processing of spoken language. High-frequency channels (>1.5 kHz) play a particularly important role when the spectral asynchrony is sufficiently large as to significantly reduce the power in the low-frequency modulation spectrum (analogous to acoustic reverberation) and may thereby account for the deterioration of speech intelligibility among the hearing impaired under conditions of acoustic interference (such as background noise and reverberation) characteristic of the real world.
Isolated Singularities, Smooth Orders, and Auslander Regularity

Abstract In this note we prove that a smooth order satisfying the reverse geometric engineering conditions in stringtheory of Berenstein (Berenstein, D. Reverse geometric engineering of singularities,arXiv:hep-th/0201093, Sec. 2) (in any compactifying dimension) is Auslander regular. Moreover, we classify the étale local structure of smooth orders over an isolated central singularity.
Revision Hip Arthroscopy

Background: As the number of hip arthroscopic surgeries being performed increases, so too does the prevalence of revision hip arthroscopic surgery. Hypothesis/Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes in patients requiring revision hip arthroscopic surgery to patients undergoing primary hip arthroscopic surgery. The hypothesis was that patients undergoing revisions would demonstrate similar outcomes to those undergoing primary hip arthroscopic surgery. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: Included in the study were patients undergoing revision hip arthroscopic surgery who did not have a history of prior open hip surgery. Each patient in the revision cohort was matched with 2 patients undergoing primary hip arthroscopic surgery. Preoperatively and at a minimum follow-up of 2 years, outcome scores were collected, including the Hip Outcome Score–Activities of Daily Living subscale (HOS-ADL), which was the primary outcome variable; modified Harris hip score (mHHS); Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC); Hip Outcome Score–Sports subscale (HOS-Sports); and the 12-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF12). At follow-up, scores from the Tegner activity scale and patient self-reported satisfaction with surgical outcome were also collected. Results: A total of 246 patients in the revision cohort were matched with 492 patients in the primary cohort. In the revision cohort, 183 patients had 1 prior surgery, 45 had 2 surgeries, and 18 had ≥3 prior surgeries. Subsequent hip arthroscopic surgery was reported in 39 of 492 (8%) patients in the primary cohort and 5 of 246 (2%) patients in the revision cohort (P = .001). Subsequent surgery was reported in 50 of 492 (10%) patients in the primary cohort and 15 of 246 (6%) patients in the revision cohort (P = .07). Both groups saw significant improvement in outcome scores from preoperation to follow-up. The HOS-ADL was lower in the revision cohort preoperatively (65 vs 70) and postoperatively (79 vs 87) (P = .001). This was also seen in the HOS-Sports, WOMAC, and SF12 physical component scores. Patients who had 1 prior hip arthroscopic procedure had higher postoperative mHHS (81 vs 75) compared with patients with >1 hip arthroscopic procedure; however, there was no difference in postoperative mHHS between the single-revision cohort and the primary cohort. In the revision group, patients whose HOS-ADL improved ≥10 points had greater joint space. Patients with greater improvement were more likely to have had a previous labral tear that was not repaired and to require capsular plication at revision. Conclusion: Patients who underwent revision hip arthroscopic surgery had significant improvement in outcome scores but did have lower scores compared with patients with primary hip arthroscopies. Patients with ≥2 revisions had lower outcomes. Improvement in the revision cohort was seen in patients with increased joint space, no prior labral repair, and capsular plication at revision.
A Continuously Growing Dataset of Sentential Paraphrases

A major challenge in paraphrase research is the lack of parallel corpora. In this paper, we present a new method to collect large-scale sentential paraphrases from Twitter by linking tweets through shared URLs. The main advantage of our method is its simplicity, as it gets rid of the classifier or human in the loop needed to select data before annotation and subsequent application of paraphrase identification algorithms in the previous work. We present the largest human-labeled paraphrase corpus to date of 51,524 sentence pairs and the first cross-domain benchmarking for automatic paraphrase identification. In addition, we show that more than 30,000 new sentential paraphrases can be easily and continuously captured every month at ~70% precision, and demonstrate their utility for downstream NLP tasks through phrasal paraphrase extraction. We make our code and data freely available.
An Evaluation of the Impact of Visual Embellishments in Bar Charts

As data visualization becomes further intertwined with the field of graphic design and information graphics, small graphical alterations are made to many common chart formats. Despite the growing prevalence of these embellishments, their effects on communication of the charts’ data is unknown. From an overview of the design space, we have outlined some of the common embellishments that are made to bar charts. We have studied the effects of these chart embellishments on the communication of the charts’ data through a series of user studies on Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform. The results of these studies lead to a better understanding of how each chart type is perceived, and help provide guiding principles for the graphic design of charts.
Gasless laparoscopy-assisted versus open resection for gastrointestinal stromal tumors of the upper stomach: preliminary results.

INTRODUCTION Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare neoplasms with malignant potential. Surgery is the definitive management for resectable nonmetastatic lesions. Although minimally invasive resection has been established for GISTs, it is still considered unfeasible when tumors are near the esophagogastric junction. This study aimed to compare the relative efficacy of gasless laparoscopy-assisted (GLA) and open approaches for resection of GISTs. PATIENTS AND METHODS Between January 2006 and December 2008, 28 consecutive patients undergoing surgery for upper GIST were reviewed retrospectively. Among these patients, 15 underwent GLA procedures and 13 underwent open surgeries. RESULTS Patient demographics, comorbidities, and tumor characteristics (mean tumor size and prognosis) were similar for both groups. All patients underwent wedge resection. The mean operating time (129.6 versus 110.8 minutes), mean estimated blood loss (35.5 versus 40.3 mL), mean day of first flatus (2.7 versus 3.2 days), mean tumor size (2.5 versus 2.6 cm), and tumor prognosis or complication rate (13.3% versus 7.7%) between the GLA and open surgery groups were not significantly different. The length of maximal wound (P < 0.001), visual analog scale on postoperative days 1 (P = 0.001), 2 (P = 0.001), and 3 (P = 0.001), the mean time for resuming oral intake (P = 0.028), and the length of hospital stay (P = 0.005) in the GLA group were significantly lesser than the corresponding values in the open surgery group. None of the patients had dysphagia or died. CONCLUSIONS GLA method is a safe and feasible procedure for resecting GISTs of the upper stomach. In addition, it offers better cosmetic results, less pain, and faster recovery.
Full 2D displacement vector and strain tensor estimation for superficial tissue using beam-steered ultrasound imaging

Ultrasound strain imaging is used to measure local tissue deformations. Usually, only strains along the ultrasound beam are estimated, because those estimates are most precise, due to the availability of phase information. For estimating strain in other directions we propose to steer the ultrasound beam at an angle, which allows estimating different projections of the 2D strain tensor, while phase information remains available. This study investigates beam steering at maximally three different angles to determine the full 2D strain tensor. The method was tested on simulated and experimental data of an inclusion phantom and a vessel phantom. The combination of data from a non-steered acquisition and acquisitions at a large positive and an equally large but negative steering angle enabled the most precise estimation of the strain components. The method outperforms conventional methods that do not use beam steering.
A novel architecture for LTE-B :C-plane/U-plane split and Phantom Cell concept

This paper introduces a novel approach in increasing the capacity of LTE cellular networks. The solution is based on massive deployment of small cells by leveraging high frequency reuse at high frequency bands in conjunction with a Macrocell. The presence, discovery and usage of the small cells are controlled dynamically by a Macrocell in a master-slave configuration hence they are called Phantom Cells. To realize this concept, a new method of managing the connections between mobile terminals and small cell nodes is introduced. It is achieved by splitting the Control and User (C/U) planes of the radio link. The combination of C/U-plane split and Phantom Cells can achieve high capacity enhancement using small cells at the same time taking into consideration mobility, scalability and flexibility requirements for massive deployment. The advantages of this approach as well as the implementation aspects are described in the paper. Simulations were also conducted to verify the concept and the results show some promising capacity enhancements. The rest of the paper describes the Phantom Cell concept as well as the challenges of deploying small cells in LTE networks.
Evaluation of Serum Leptin and Adiponectin Levels in Iraqi Patients with Chronic Periodontitis

Background: Periodontal diseases are initiated by microbial plaque, which accumulates in the sulcular region and induces an inflammatory response. Recently there has been intense interest in the role of the adipose tissue derived substances that named adipokines in the inflammatory diseases of the human being including the inflammatory periodontitis. Aims Of Study:This study was performed to evaluate the serum level of leptin and adiponectin in Iraqi periodontitis patients, to determine the association between serum level of the biochemical markers (leptin and adiponectin) with clinical periodontal parameters, and to investigate the correlation between leptin and adiponectin. Material and Methods: Thirty patients with chronic periodontitis patients and 25 apparently healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Periodontal parameters used in this study were plaque index, gingival index, probing pocket depth, clinical attachment level and bleeding on probing. Serum levels of leptin and adiponectinwere estimatedby ELISA. Results:The present data revealed a significant elevation (p 0.05). Conclusion: this study demonstrates that serum levels ofleptin and adiponectin play a crucial role in pathogenesis of periodontitis and the relative leptin/adiponectin ratio appears to be indicative of disease occurrence.
No . 241 “ Capital-Market Effects of Securities Regulation : The Role of Implementation and Enforcement ”

This paper examines capital market effects of changes in securities regulation. We analyze two key capital market directives in the European Union (EU) that tightened market abuse and transparency regulation and, in particular, their enforcement. All EU member states were required to adopt these two directives but did so at different points in time. Our research design exploits this differential timing of the same regulatory change for identification and uses crosssectional variation in the capital-market effects to highlight the role of implementation and enforcement for regulatory outcomes. We find that, on average, market liquidity increases and firms’ cost of capital decreases as EU member states tighten market abuse and transparency regulation. The effects are larger in countries that implement and enforce the directives more strictly. They are also stronger in countries with traditionally stricter securities regulation and with a better track record of implementing regulation and government policies in general. Overall, these findings show that the effects of regulation depend crucially on implementation and enforcement. Moreover, the results indicate that the same forces that have limited the effectiveness of securities regulation in the past are still at play when new rules are introduced, which has important implications for the expected outcomes of regulatory reforms as well as efforts to harmonize regulation across countries. JEL classification: F30, G15, G18, G30, K22, M41
Information Extraction in Illicit Web Domains

Extracting useful entities and attribute values from illicit domains such as human trafficking is a challenging problem with the potential for widespread social impact. Such domains employ atypical language models, have 'long tails' and suffer from the problem of concept drift. In this paper, we propose a lightweight, feature-agnostic Information Extraction (IE) paradigm specifically designed for such domains. Our approach uses raw, unlabeled text from an initial corpus, and a few (12-120) seed annotations per domain-specific attribute, to learn robust IE models for unobserved pages and websites. Empirically, we demonstrate that our approach can outperform feature-centric Conditional Random Field baselines by over 18% F-Measure on five annotated sets of real-world human trafficking datasets in both low-supervision and high-supervision settings. We also show that our approach is demonstrably robust to concept drift, and can be efficiently bootstrapped even in a serial computing environment.
A Systematic Review of Associations between Amount of Meditation Practice and Outcomes in Interventions Using the Four Immeasurables Meditations

Interventions using the “Four Immeasurables Meditations” (FIM) are effective for various outcomes; however, whether increased meditation practice in these interventions leads to better results has not been well investigated. This systematic review included 22 FIM interventions that reported associations between the amount of meditation practice and its outcomes. Despite the heterogeneity in intervention components and outcome variables, there were generally few significant associations between amount of meditation practice and its outcomes. Specifically, only five studies reported that more than half of the calculated results were significant. In comparison with correlations between total amount of practice and overall outcomes, the short-term influence of meditation practice was evaluated in fewer studies; however, it had a better association with outcomes. More studies are required that address the underlying mechanisms that elucidate how meditation practice leads to outcome changes in daily life. In this study, two promising mechanisms with initial evidence were discussed. This review also summarized common methodological issues including a lack of experimental manipulation and inaccurate measuring of meditation practice.
A SNARE Complex Containing Syntaxin 3 Is Present in Ribbon Synapses of the Retina

In contrast to conventional synapses, which release neurotransmitter transiently, ribbon synapses formed by photoreceptors and bipolar cells of the retina release neurotransmitter continuously and modulate the rate in response to light. Both modes of release are mediated by synaptic vesicles but probably differ in the regulation of docking and fusion of synaptic vesicles with the plasma membrane. We have found that syntaxin 1, an essential component of the core fusion complex in conventional synapses, is absent from ribbon synapses of the retina, raising the possibility that these synapses contain a different type of syntaxin or syntaxin-like protein. By immunoprecipitating syntaxin 1-depleted retina and brain extracts with a SNAP-25 antibody and microsequencing the precipitated proteins, syntaxin 3 was detected in retina complexed with SNAP-25, synaptobrevin, and complexin. Using an anti-syntaxin 3 antiserum, syntaxin 3 was demonstrated to be present at high levels in retina compared to brain. Immunofluorescent staining of rat retina sections confirmed that syntaxin 3 is expressed by photoreceptor and bipolar cells in the retina. Thus, in the retina, expression of syntaxin 3 is correlated with ribbon synapses and may play a role in the tonic release of neurotransmitter.
Cost-Effectiveness of Bariatric Surgery Prior to Total Knee Arthroplasty in the Morbidly Obese: A Computer Model-Based Evaluation.

BACKGROUND Obesity is associated with adverse outcomes and increased costs after total knee arthroplasty. Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for morbid obesity, but its cost-effectiveness for weight loss prior to total knee arthroplasty is unknown. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of bariatric surgery prior to total knee arthroplasty for patients in whom medical treatment of obesity and knee osteoarthritis had failed. METHODS A state-transition Markov model was constructed to compare the cost-utility of two treatment protocols for patients with morbid obesity and end-stage knee osteoarthritis: (1) immediate total knee arthroplasty and (2) bariatric surgery two years prior to the total knee arthroplasty. The probability of transition for each health state and its utility were derived from the literature. Costs, expressed in 2012 United States dollars, were estimated with use of administrative and claims data. Costs and utilities were discounted at 3% annually, and effectiveness was expressed in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). The principal outcome measure was the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). One-way, two-way, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed, using $100,000 per QALY as the threshold willingness to pay. RESULTS Morbidly obese patients undergoing total knee arthroplasty alone had lower QALYs gained than patients who underwent bariatric surgery two years prior to the total knee arthroplasty. The ICER between these two procedures was approximately $13,910 per QALY, well below the threshold willingness to pay. Results were stable across broad value ranges for independent variables. Probabilistic sensitivity analysis found that the median ICER was $14,023 per QALY (95% confidence interval, $4875 to $51,210 per QALY). CONCLUSIONS This model supports bariatric surgery prior to total knee arthroplasty as a cost-effective option for improving outcomes in morbidly obese patients with end-stage knee osteoarthritis who are indicated for total knee arthroplasty. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE Economic and Decision Analysis Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.
Managing the Number of Tag Bits Transmitted in a Bit-Tracking RFID Collision Resolution Protocol

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology faces the problem of message collisions. The coexistence of tags sharing the communication channel degrades bandwidth, and increases the number of bits transmitted. The window methodology, which controls the number of bits transmitted by the tags, is applied to the collision tree (CT) protocol to solve the tag collision problem. The combination of this methodology with the bit-tracking technology, used in CT, improves the performance of the window and produces a new protocol which decreases the number of bits transmitted. The aim of this paper is to show how the CT bit-tracking protocol is influenced by the proposed window, and how the performance of the novel protocol improves under different conditions of the scenario. Therefore, we have performed a fair comparison of the CT protocol, which uses bit-tracking to identify the first collided bit, and the new proposed protocol with the window methodology. Simulations results show that the proposed window positively decreases the total number of bits that are transmitted by the tags, and outperforms the CT protocol latency in slow tag data rate scenarios.
Few-layer 1T′ MoTe2 as gapless semimetal with thickness dependent carrier transport

Semimetal MoTe2 can be a type II Weyl semimetal in the bulk, but monolayer of this material is predicted to be quantum spin hall insulators. This dramatic change in electronic properties with number of layers is an excellent example of the dimensional effects of quantum transport. However, a detailed experimental study of the carrier transport and band structure of ultrathin semimetal MoTe2 is lacking so far. We performed magneto-transport measurements to study the conduction behavior and quantum phase coherence of 1T′ MoTe2 as a function of its thickness. We show that due to a unique two-band transport mechanism (synergetic contribution from electron conduction and hole conduction), the conduction behavior of 1T′ MoTe2 changes from metallic to p-type unipolar, and finally to ambipolar as the thickness decreases, suggesting that this effect can be used in devices by effectively controlling the thickness. Our transport studies, optical measurements and first-principles electronic structure calculations reveal that 1T′ MoTe2 remains gapless down to a few (~2–3) layers. Despite being gapless, 1T′ MoTe2 exhibits metal-insulator transition at 3-layer thickness, due to enhanced carrier localization effect.