Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A comparative investigation on urban radio noise at several specific measured areas and its applications for communications

High population density and the presence of many more motorcycles than cars make the noise environment in Taiwan different from that in other countries. There is growing concern about the electromagnetic effects within this environment. With the measured radio noise, the minimum suggested receive power in an urban environment ranges from 354 MHz to 426 MHz. We measured the properties of noise at an urban center, a nearby port, and a freeway exit, which are located in the same city, and on a hill lying adjacent to the city. We chose an urban center and a nearby hill as the noise environment for the following reasons: (a) the noise margin at urban areas is smaller than that at suburban and rural areas. (b) The coverage of the measurement on a hill is larger than that in a city. (c) The relation of the noise environment between a hill and an urban center can be obtained. The statistical distributions of the four particular noise environments are shown and design constraints for a broadcasting system are revealed.
Comparison of acoustic and impedance methods with mask capnometry to assess respiration rate in obese patients recovering from general anaesthesia

Respiratory depression, a potentially serious complication after general anaesthesia, can be detected promptly by close monitoring of both oxygen saturation and respiratory rate. Obese patients have morphological changes that may impair the reliability of monitoring devices. In this study, respiration rate was simultaneously recorded every second for up to 60 min using a computer in 30 adult obese patients (body mass index ≥ 35 kg.m−2), by three methods: acoustic; thoracic impedance; and capnometry via a facemask (Capnomask®, reference method). Of the 99 771 data triplets collected, only 85 520 (86%) were included; 12 021 (84%) were not studied due to failure of capnometry and 2240 (16%) due to failure of the acoustic method. Compared with capnometry, bias was similar using both the acoustic method and impedance (−0.3 bpm vs −0.6 bpm, respectively, p = 0.09), but limits of agreement were narrower for the acoustic method (±3.5 bpm vs ±5.3 bpm, respectively, p = 0.0008). The proportion of respiration rate values obtained with the acoustic method and impedance that differed by at least 10% or 20% for more than 15 s were 11% vs 23% and 2% vs 6%, respectively (p = 0.0009 for both comparisons). The acoustic sensor was well tolerated, while the facemask was pulled off on several occasions by four (13%) agitated patients. In obese patients requiring close monitoring of respiration rate, the acoustic method may be more precise than thoracic impedance and better tolerated than capnometry with a facemask.
Wind, Circulation, and Topographic Effects on Alongshore Phytoplankton Variability in the California Current

A physical‐biogeochemical model is used to produce a retrospective analysis at 3‐km resolution of alongshore phytoplankton variability in the California Current during 1988–2010. The simulation benefits from downscaling a regional circulation reanalysis, which provides improved physical ocean state estimates in the high‐resolution domain. The emerging pattern is one of local upwelling intensification in response to increased alongshore wind stress in the lee of capes, modulated by alongshore meanders in the geostrophic circulation. While stronger upwelling occurs near most major topographic features, substantial increases in phytoplankton biomass only ensue where local circulation patterns are conducive to on‐shelf retention of upwelled nutrients. Locations of peak nutrient delivery and chlorophyll accumulation also exhibit interannual variability and trends noticeably larger than the surrounding shelf regions, thereby suggesting that long‐term planktonic ecosystem response in the California Current exhibits a significant local scale (O(100 km)) alongshore component.
The Natural Antiangiogenic Compound AD0157 Induces Caspase-Dependent Apoptosis in Human Myeloid Leukemia Cells

Evasion of apoptosis is a hallmark of cancer especially relevant in the development and the appearance of leukemia drug resistance mechanisms. The development of new drugs that could trigger apoptosis in aggressive hematological malignancies, such as AML and CML, may be considered a promising antileukemic strategy. AD0157, a natural marine pyrrolidinedione, has already been described as a compound that inhibits angiogenesis by induction of apoptosis in endothelial cells. The crucial role played by defects in the apoptosis pathways in the pathogenesis, progression and response to conventional therapies of several forms of leukemia, moved us to analyze the effect of this compound on the growth and death of leukemia cells. In this work, human myeloid leukemia cells (HL60, U937 and KU812F) were treated with AD0157 ranging from 1 to 10 μM and an experimental battery was applied to evaluate its apoptogenic potential. We report here that AD0157 was highly effective to inhibit cell growth by promotion of apoptosis in human myeloid leukemia cells, and provide evidence of its mechanisms of action. The apoptogenic activity of AD0157 on leukemia cells was verified by an increased chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation, and confirmed by an augmentation in the apoptotic subG1 population, translocation of the membrane phosphatidylserine from the inner face of the plasma membrane to the cell surface and by cleavage of the apoptosis substrates PARP and lamin-A. In addition, AD0157 in the low micromolar range significantly enhanced the activities of the initiator caspases-8 and -9, and the effector caspases-3/-7 in a dose-dependent manner. Results presented here throw light on the apoptogenic mechanism of action of AD0157, mediated through caspase-dependent cascades, with an especially relevant role played by mitochondria. Altogether, these results suggest the therapeutic potential of this compound for the treatment of human myeloid leukemia.
Carotenoids in Age-Related Maculopathy Italian Study (CARMIS): Two-Year Results of a Randomized Study

Purpose The high concentration of carotenoids in the macula, plus evidence linking oxidative stress to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and carotenoids to antioxidation, generated the hypothesis that higher antioxidant intakes can prevent AMD. The aim of this study was to determine whether nutritional supplementation with a targeted nutritional supplement improves visual acuity and visual function in AMD. Methods In this multicenter, prospective open-label randomized study, 145 patients were randomly assigned to 2 different treatment groups. Interventions were lutein (10 mg), zeaxanthin (1 mg), astaxanthin (4 mg; AZYR SIFI, Catania, Italy), and antioxidants/vitamins supplementation formula or no dietary supplementation for 2 years. Primary outcome was mean changes in visual acuity (VA) at 12 and 24 months. Other measures included contrast sensitivity (CS) and National Eye Institute visual function questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) scores at 12 and 24 months. Results Patients in the treated group showed stabilization of VA with significantly (p=0.003) better VA scores (81.4±7.2) compared to the nontreated group (76.8±8.9) at 24-month follow-up. An improvement in CS (p=0.001) and final mean NEI VFQ-25 composite scores at 12 and 24 months higher in treated group compared to nontreated group were also shown (p<0.001). Conclusions Patients treated with lutein/zeaxanthin and astaxanthin together with other nutrients were more likely to report clinically meaningful stabilization/improvements in VA, CS, and visual function through 24 months compared with nontreated subjects. Further studies are needed with more patients and for longer periods of time.
Dissociation between online and offline learning in developmental dyslexia

Most studies investigating procedural learning in developmental dyslexia (DD) have focused on the acquisition stage, ignoring later stages involved in the process of skill learning. The current study examined sequence learning among DD and control groups in two sessions. Both groups completed a sequence-learning task over a first session (online learning) and a second session 24 hours later (offline learning). While both groups showed improvements in performance during offline learning, only the control group showed improvements in performance during online learning. Moreover, the DD group differed from the control group in their ability to recover from the introduction of a different sequence.
Impact of Insulin Resistance on Pregnancy Complications and Outcome in Women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome

The aim of the study was to determine the risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH)/pre-eclampsia in a cohort of pregnant women with the polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and known insulin sensitivity status. Pregnancies and neonatal outcome were recorded in a prospective cohort study comprising 29 non-insulin-resistant PCOS women, 23 insulin-resistant PCOS women and a control group of 355 women who had conceived after assisted reproduction. Hypertension, pre-eclampsia and GDM were recorded as well as pregnancy duration, method of delivery and birth weight. The frequency of hypertension was significantly elevated in PCOS women (11.5%) compared to controls (0.3%), p < 0.01. However, the frequency of pre-eclampsia was significantly elevated only in the insulin resistant PCOS women (13.5%) compared to controls (7.0%), p < 0.02. GDM was significantly more frequent in PCOS women (7.7%) than controls (0.6%), p < 0.01. Insulin resistance prior to pregnancy, determined by continuous infusion of glucose with model assessment (CIGMA) test, did not further increase the frequency of GDM. Newborns from PCOS pregnancies were significantly more often delivered by Caesarean section than controls (40.3 vs. 27.3%, p < 0.05) and transferred to neonatal intensive care unit more often than controls (19.2 vs. 9.0%, p < 0.01). Thus we show that the frequencies of pre-eclampsia and GDM are increased in PCOS pregnancies.
Vision without knowledge.

A brain-damaged patient (D.F.) with visual form agnosia is described and discussed. D.F. has a profound inability to recognize objects, places and people, in large part because of her inability to make perceptual discriminations of size, shape or orientation, despite having good visual acuity. Yet she is able to perform skilled actions that depend on that very same size, shape and orientation information that is missing from her perceptual awareness. It is suggested that her intact vision can best be understood within the framework of a dual processing model, according to which there are two cortical processing streams operating on different coding principles, for perception and for action, respectively. These may be expected to have different degrees of dependence on top-down information. One possibility is that D.F. 's lack of explicit awareness of the visual cues that guide her behaviour may result from her having to rely on a processing system which is not knowledge-based in a broad sense. Conversely, it may be that the perceptual system can provide conscious awareness of its products in normal individuals by virtue of the fact that it does interact with a stored base of visual knowledge.
Taboo Trade-offs, Moral Outrage and the Moral Limits of Markets

Tetlock’s sacred value protection model (SVPM) proposed that taboo trade-offs evoke a strong moral reaction in people who resist secular encroachments on their sacred values. This strong moral reaction can be thought of as setting a moral limit on the extent of markets in society. In addition, Tetlock (2000) also suggested that a substantial minority of participants are susceptible to trading off their sacred values when exposed to reframing strategies which convert taboo trade-offs into routine or tragic trade-offs. Thus, suggesting that the sacred-secular barrier is quite permeable and the moral limit on the extent of markets is not rigid. However, Tetlock (2000) is not clear about the relative effectiveness of the different reframing strategies. The present study examined these key issues using a sample of one hundred university students. Participants evaluated both routine and taboo trade-offs and it was found that taboo trade-offs do elicit strong moral reactions in participants. In particular, participants expressed significantly greater moral outrage when contemplating taboo trade-offs compared to when thinking about routine trade-offs. The study also found that reframing taboo trade-offs as routine trade-offs was not effective in subverting sacred values. Specifically, taboo trade-offs were reframed using policy revision information that was designed to alleviate concerns about the possible extreme consequences that result from allowing taboo trade-offs to occur. Following exposure to the policy revision information, participants were asked to re-evaluate the permissibility of taboo trade-offs and no significant reduction in moral outrage was found. Furthermore, the study also considered the role of the need for cognitive closure in accounting for breaches of the sacred-secular barrier. However, because routine reframing was not found to be effective, the role of the need for cognitive closure could not be adequately examined. Finally, the limitations of the study and the implications of the study’s findings for the future direction of research on the SVPM are also examined. JEL Classification: A13, D03
Optimizing treatment of low risk breast cancer patients

Standard of care for most women with early stage breast cancer is nowadays breast conserving therapy, which consists of a wide local excision of the tumor followed by adjuvant radiotherapy to the breast. This standard approach for the treatment of all breast cancer patients is under debate especially in elderly low risk breast cancer patients. Several clinical and histopathological factors, such as for example young age and high proliferation rate, are known to be predictors for local recurrence after breast conserving therapy. Part of this thesis focuses on preoperative partial breast irradiation as a method to treat selected low risk breast cancer patients with less extensive treatment. The first results indicate that this is a promising technique. The last part of this thesis focuses on the outcome of patients treated in the Netherlands Cancer Institute with breast conserving therapy over a period of 28 years. The treatment outcome was excellent with a 5- and 10 years ipsilateral breast tumor recurrence incidence of 2 and 5%. A selection of patients with very low risk on local recurrence had a lower risk to develop distant metastases and had better overall survival. This low risk group probably was over treated with the standard local treatment. This supports the need for better identification tools for patients who can be safely treated by reducing or omitting radiotherapy.
Study of endothelin-1 and vascular endothelial growth factor in patients with cancer colon.

PURPOSE The levels of endothelin-1 and VEGF were evaluated in the sera of newly diagnosed patients with cancer colon and were compared with the routinely used tumor markers; CEA and CA19.9. Their relations with some prognostic factors of cancer colon were also investigated. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The study included 48 patients with cancer colon and 20 apparently healthy volunteers as a control group. Patients were 23 males and 25 females with age range from 18 to 71 years (mean = 47 +/- 1.8). Both serum and plasma samples were obtained from patients and controls. RESULTS Six percent of patients had grade 1 tumors, 77 % had grade 2 and 17 % had grade 3 disease. As regard to the stage, 52 % of patients were stage II, 35.5 % were stage III, while 12.5 % were stage IV. Liver metastasis was present in 12.5 %, while 35 % showed lymph node metastasis. The VEGF, endothelin-1, CA19.9 and CEA were significantly higher in the cancer colon patients than in control groups (p-value < 0.001,0.006, < 0.001 and <0.001; respectively). Plasma level of endothelin-1 and serum level of VEGF showed significantly higher levels in advanced stages of the disease (p value < 0.001) and in presence of liver metastasis (p value <0.00l and 0.002 respectively), while VEGF showed significant result when compared with the grade (p value = 0.032). In this study, when comparing the levels of plasma endothelin-1 and serum VEGF between the metastatic, non-metastatic liver patients of the cancer colon group and the control group, the comparison was statistically significant for both markers (p < 0.001). Endothelin-1 and VEGF showed significant positive correlation (r=0.77 and p-value < 0.0001). Serum VEGF and CA19.9 showed good sensitivities which were not different (97.9 % and 87.5 % ,respectively), while there was no significant difference between VEGF, CA19.9 and CEA with respect to specificities (100 %, 90 % and 100 % respectively). CONCLUSION Both endothelin-1 and VEGF may be used for early detection of liver metastasis in cancer colon and VEGF may be used as a potential new marker for the diagnosis of cancer colon. Further studies with larger number of patients are recommended to establish the value of VEGF and endothelin- 1 as potential diagnostic and prognostic markers for cancer colon. KEY WORDS Cancer colon - VEGF - Endothelin-1 - Angiogenesis.
Motivational and social cognitive predictors of doping intentions in elite sports: An integrated approach

Doping use is an important issue in both competitive and non‐competitive sports, and poses potentially irreversible health consequences to users. Scholars increasingly call for theory‐driven studies on the psychosocial processes underlying doping use that will inform subsequent policy‐making and prevention interventions. The aim of the study was to implement an integrative theoretical model to assess the direct and indirect effects of motivational variables, moral orientations, and social cognitions on doping intentions. A randomly selected and representative sample of 750 elite athletes anonymously completed a battery of questionnaires on motivational and moral constructs, and social cognitions related to doping. Hierarchical linear regression analysis and multiple mediation modeling were used. The effects of achievement goals and moral orientations were significantly mediated by attitudinal, normative, and self‐efficacy beliefs, in both lifetime ever and never doping users. Moral orientations indirectly predicted the doping intentions of never users, but did not predict ever users' doping intentions. Achievement goals and sportspersonship orientations influence doping intentions indirectly, through the effects of attitudes and self‐efficacy beliefs. Sportspersonship (moral) orientations were relevant to doping intentions among athletes with no prior experiences with doping, while achievement goals and situational temptation were relevant to both lifetime never and ever dopers.
Calcineurin-dependent growth control in Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutants lacking PMC1, a homolog of plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPases

Ca2+ ATPases deplete the cytosol of Ca2+ ions and are crucial to cellular Ca2+ homeostasis. The PMC1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes a vacuole membrane protein that is 40% identical to the plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPases (PMCAs) of mammalian cells. Mutants lacking PMC1 grow well in standard media, but sequester Ca2+ into the vacuole at 20% of the wild-type levels. pmc1 null mutants fail to grow in media containing high levels of Ca2+, suggesting a role of PMC1 in Ca2+ tolerance. The growth inhibitory effect of added Ca2+ requires activation of calcineurin, a Ca2+ and calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase. Mutations in calcineurin A or B subunits or the inhibitory compounds FK506 and cyclosporin A restore growth of pmc1 mutants in high Ca2+ media. Also, growth is restored by recessive mutations that inactivate the high-affinity Ca(2+)-binding sites in calmodulin. This mutant calmodulin has apparently lost the ability to activate calcineurin in vivo. These results suggest that activation of calcineurin by Ca2+ and calmodulin can negatively affect yeast growth. A second Ca2+ ATPase homolog encoded by the PMR1 gene acts together with PMC1 to prevent lethal activation of calcineurin even in standard (low Ca2+) conditions. We propose that these Ca2+ ATPase homologs are essential in yeast to deplete the cytosol of Ca2+ ions which, at elevated concentrations, inhibits yeast growth through inappropriate activation of calcineurin.
Spatial Planning Instruments in Bulgaria: Toward the Europeanization of the Spatial Model

Este estudio pretende contribuir al conocimiento del sistema de instrumentos de ordenacion del territorio (spatial planning) y del proceso de europeizacion, teniendo como objeto de estudio a un pais de Europa del Este: Bulgaria. La actualidad del tema se justifica por el hecho de que Bulgaria es uno de los nuevos Estados Miembros de la UE, y tambien por la necesidad de comprender como se transforma y europeiza el sistema nacional de ordenacion del territorio como resultado de esta adhesion. Las dos principales lineas que definen los objetivos del estudio son, en primer lugar, comprender e interpretar los cambios en el sistema de ordenacion del territorio tras la caida del regimen comunista en 1989 y la preparacion del pais para la adhesion a la UE. Y en segundo lugar, realizar un analisis del sistema de los instrumentos de ordenacion y su aplicacion en el proceso de europeizacion. El ambito temporal del estudio abarca el periodo comprendido entre 1989 y 2013, coincidiendo asi con el final del primer periodo de programacion para Bulgaria como miembro oficial de la UE. La investigacion sigue la dinamica de las diversas dimensiones del sistema de ordenacion del territorio, con especial atencion en aquellos periodos en los que el proceso de europeizacion ha tenido mayor impacto en la transformacion del sistema de instrumentos de planificacion y, posteriormente, su implementacion en el contexto del discurso espacial europeo o modelo de ordenacion de territorio. El analisis de la literatura y los documentos estudiados, asi como las entrevistas realizadas, demuestran y presentan que Bulgaria ha realizado esfuerzos significativos en la introduccion de nuevos instrumentos de planificacion, en su mayoria relacionados con la planificacion del desarrollo regional, sin reforma e integracion del sistema de ordenacion del territorio. La implementacion de los Planes Integrados a nivel local y del Concepto Nacional de Desarrollo Espacial constituye nuevas herramientas en el sistema de instrumentos de ordenacion y son una expresion de la voluntad de coordinacion de la planificacion fisica y del desarrollo del territorio, dentro del marco juridico del desarrollo regional. La implementacion de estos planes y la difusion del Concepto Nacional de Desarrollo Espacial representan los primeros intentos de integracion del sistema de planificacion, de integracion discursiva y transferencia de las ideas del Modelo Europeo de Ordenacion territorial (European Spatial Model).
Average case analysis of the Boyer‐Moore algorithm

Limit theorems (including a Berry‐Esseen bound) are derived for the number of comparisons taken by the Boyer‐Moore algorithm for finding the occurrences of a given pattern in a random text. Previously, only special variants of this algorithm have been analyzed. We also propose a means of computing the limiting constants for the mean and the variance. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg. , 2006.