Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Crude Glycerol as Cost-Effective Fuel for Combined Heat and Power to Replace Fossil Fuels, Final Technical Report

The primary objectives of this work can be summed into two major categories. Firstly, the fundamentals of the combustion of glycerol (in both a refined and unrefined form) were to be investigated, with emphasis of the development of a system capable of reliably and repeatedly combusting glycerol as well as an analysis of the emissions produced during glycerol combustion. Focus was placed on quantifying common emissions in comparison to more traditional fuels and this work showed that the burner developed was able to completely combust glycerol within a relatively wide range of operating conditions. Additionally, focus was placed on examining specific emissions in more detail, namely interesting NOx emissions observed in initial trials, acrolein and other volatile organic emissions, and particulate and ash emissions. This work showed that the combustion of crude glycerol could result in significantly reduced NOx emissions as a function of the high fuel bound oxygen content within the glycerol fuel. It also showed that when burned properly, the combustion of crude glycerol did not result in excessive emissions of acrolein or any other VOC compared to the combustion from more traditional fuels. Lastly however, this work has shown that in any practical application in which glycerolmore » is being burned, it will be necessary to explore ash mitigation techniques due to the very high particulate matter concentrations produced during glycerol combustion. These emissions are comparable to unfiltered coal combustion and are directly tied to the biodiesel production method. The second focus of this work was directed to developing a commercialization strategy for the use of glycerol as a fuel replacement. This strategy has identified a 30 month plan for the scaling up of the laboratory scale burner into a pre-pilot scale system. Additionally, financing options were explored and an assessment was made of the economics of replacing a traditional fuel (namely natural gas) with crude glycerol from biodiesel production. This analysis showed that the cost of replacing natural gas with crude glycerol requires a strong function of the market price per unit of energy for the traditional fuel. However, the economics can be improved through the inclusion of a federal tax credit for the use of a renewable fuel. The conclusion of this analysis also shows that the ideal customer for energy replacement via crude glycerol is biodiesel producers who are located in remote regions, where the cost of energy is higher and the cost of crude glycerol is lowest. Lastly, the commercialization strategy analyzed competing technologies, namely traditional natural gas and electric heaters, as well as competing glycerol burners, and concludes with a discussion of the requirements for a pilot demonstration. « less
Critical Evaluation of the Lund Concept for Treatment of Severe Traumatic Head Injury, 25 Years after Its Introduction

When introduced in 1992, the Lund concept (LC) was the first complete guideline for treatment of severe traumatic brain injury (s-TBI). It was a theoretical approach, based mainly on general physiological principles—i.e., of brain volume control and optimization of brain perfusion and oxygenation of the penumbra zone. The concept gave relatively strict outlines for cerebral perfusion pressure, fluid therapy, ventilation, sedation, nutrition, the use of vasopressors, and osmotherapy. The LC strives for treatment of the pathophysiological mechanisms behind symptoms rather than just treating the symptoms. The treatment is standardized, with less need for individualization. Alternative guidelines published a few years later (e.g., the Brain Trauma Foundation guidelines and European guidelines) were mainly based on meta-analytic approaches from clinical outcome studies and to some extent from systematic reviews. When introduced, they differed extensively from the LC. We still lack any large randomized outcome study comparing the whole concept of BTF guidelines with other guidelines including the LC. From that point of view, there is limited clinical evidence favoring any of the s-TBI guidelines used today. In principle, the LC has not been changed since its introduction. Some components of the alternative guidelines have approached those in the LC. In this review, I discuss some important principles of brain hemodynamics that have been lodestars during formulation of the LC. Aspects of ventilation, nutrition, and temperature control are also discussed. I critically evaluate the most important components of the LC 25 years after its introduction, based on hemodynamic principles and on the results of own an others experimental and human studies that have been published since then.
x-RDF-3X

The RDF data model is gaining importance for applications in computational biology, knowledge sharing, and social communities. Recent work on RDF engines has focused on scalable performance for querying, and has largely disregarded updates. In addition to incremental bulk loading, applications also require online updates with flexible control over multi-user isolation levels and data consistency. The challenge lies in meeting these requirements while retaining the capability for fast querying. This paper presents a comprehensive solution that is based on an extended deferred-indexing method with integrated versioning. The version store enables time-travel queries that are efficiently processed without adversely affecting queries on the current data. For flexible consistency, transactional concurrency control is provided with options for either snapshot isolation or full serializability. All methods are integrated in an extension of the RDF-3X system, and their very good performance for both queries and updates is demonstrated by measurements of multi-user workloads with real-life data as well as stress-test synthetic loads.
Identification of Neural Outgrowth Genes using Genome-Wide RNAi

While genetic screens have identified many genes essential for neurite outgrowth, they have been limited in their ability to identify neural genes that also have earlier critical roles in the gastrula, or neural genes for which maternally contributed RNA compensates for gene mutations in the zygote. To address this, we developed methods to screen the Drosophila genome using RNA-interference (RNAi) on primary neural cells and present the results of the first full-genome RNAi screen in neurons. We used live-cell imaging and quantitative image analysis to characterize the morphological phenotypes of fluorescently labelled primary neurons and glia in response to RNAi-mediated gene knockdown. From the full genome screen, we focused our analysis on 104 evolutionarily conserved genes that when downregulated by RNAi, have morphological defects such as reduced axon extension, excessive branching, loss of fasciculation, and blebbing. To assist in the phenotypic analysis of the large data sets, we generated image analysis algorithms that could assess the statistical significance of the mutant phenotypes. The algorithms were essential for the analysis of the thousands of images generated by the screening process and will become a valuable tool for future genome-wide screens in primary neurons. Our analysis revealed unexpected, essential roles in neurite outgrowth for genes representing a wide range of functional categories including signalling molecules, enzymes, channels, receptors, and cytoskeletal proteins. We also found that genes known to be involved in protein and vesicle trafficking showed similar RNAi phenotypes. We confirmed phenotypes of the protein trafficking genes Sec61alpha and Ran GTPase using Drosophila embryo and mouse embryonic cerebral cortical neurons, respectively. Collectively, our results showed that RNAi phenotypes in primary neural culture can parallel in vivo phenotypes, and the screening technique can be used to identify many new genes that have important functions in the nervous system.
A Perceptually Driven Dynamical Model of Rhythmic Limb Movement and Bimanual Coordination

We review the properties of coordinated rhythmic bimanual movements and previous models of those movements. Those models capture the phenomena but they fail to show how the behaviors arise from known components of the perception/ action system and in particular, they do not explicitly represent the known perceptual coupling of the limb movements. We review our own studies on the perception of relative phase and use the results to motivate a new perceptually driven model of bimanual coordination. The new model and its behaviors are described. The model captures both the phenomena of bimanual coordination found in motor studies and the pattern of judgments of mean relative phase and of phase variability found in perception
Is there a relationship between psoas impingement and increased trochanteric retroversion?

The concept of psoas impingement secondary to a tight or inflamed iliopsoas tendon causing impingement of the anterior labrum during hip extension has been suggested. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the lesser trochanteric version (LTV) in symptomatic patients with psoas impingement as compared with asymptomatic hips. The femoral neck version (FNV) and LTV were evaluated on axial magnetic resonance imaging, as well as the angle between LTV and FNV. Data from 12 symptomatic patients and 250 asymptomatic patients were analysed. The mean, range and standard deviations were calculated. Independent t-tests were used to determine differences between groups. The lesser trochanteric retroversion was significantly increased in patients with psoas impingement as compared with asymptomatic hips (−31.1° SD ± 6.5 versus −24.2° ± 11.5, P < 0.05). The FNV (9° ± 8.8 versus 14.1° ± 10.7, P > 0.05) and the angle between FNV and LTV (40.2° ± 9.7 versus 38.3° ± 9.6, P > 0.05) were not significantly different between groups. In conclusion, the lesser trochanteric retroversion is significantly increased in patients with psoas impingement as compared with asymptomatic hips.
Interferon regulatory factor-8 modulates the development of tumour-induced CD11b+Gr-1+ myeloid cells

Tumour‐induced myeloid‐derived suppressor cells (MDSC) promote immune suppression and mediate tumour progression. However, the molecular basis for the generation of MDSC, which in mice co‐express the CD11b+ and Gr‐1+ cell surface markers remains unclear. Because CD11b+Gr‐1+ cells expand during progressive tumour growth, this suggests that tumour‐induced events alter signalling pathways that affect normal myeloid cell development. Interferon regulatory factor‐8 (IRF‐8), a member of the IFN‐γ regulatory factor family, is essential for normal myelopoiesis. We therefore examined whether IRF‐8 modulated tumour‐induced CD11b+Gr‐1+ cell development or accumulation using both implantable (4T1) and transgenic (MMTV‐PyMT) mouse models of mammary tumour growth. In the 4T1 model, both splenic and bone marrow‐derived CD11b+Gr‐1+ cells of tumour‐bearing mice displayed a marked reduction in IRF‐8 expression compared to control populations. A causal link between IRF‐8 expression and the emergence of tumour‐induced CD11b+Gr‐1+ cells was explored in vivo using a double transgenic (dTg) mouse model designed to express transgenes for both IRF‐8 and mammary carcinoma development. Despite the fact that tumour growth was unaffected, splenomegaly, as well as the frequencies and absolute numbers of CD11b+Gr‐1+ cells were significantly lower in dTg mice when compared with single transgenic tumour‐bearing mice. Overall, these data reveal that IRF‐8 plays an important role in tumour‐induced development and/or accumulation of CD11b+Gr‐1+ cells, and establishes a molecular basis for the potential manipulation of these myeloid populations for cancer therapy.
Use of Razi Bovine Kidney Cell Line for Proliferation of Pneumocystis Carinii

Background and Objective: Pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) has been historically the most prevalent opportunistic infection in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus. Culture of the organism has not been faced with suitable success in artificial media, while various results have been reported for cell culture media. The aim of this study was proliferation of Pneumocystis carinii on the Razi Bovine Kidney (RBK) cell line and to compare growth rate with ‘Vero’ and ‘MRC-5’ cell lines. Materials and Methods: We used 6 rats (Sprague-Dawley) provided from Razi Institute to infect with Pneumocystis carinii after suppressing the immune system with methylprednisolone acetate (40 mg/kg). Methylprednisolone acetate was used subcutaneously once a week for 8 weeks. Samples were homogenized after separation of the lung tissue. Microscopic examination was applied for prepared smears to confirm the presence of Pneumocystis carinii. Purified trophozoites were then inoculated into the cell line flasks. Growth rate was estimated by counting the trophozoite in each day. Results: Number of cultivated organisms was increased after 5 days incubation in all applied cell lines. Growth rate of Vero, MRC-5 and RBK were 3, 3, and 3.75 times more respectively in comparison with number of the calculated cells in first day. Hence the difference between RBK and two other cell lines was significant (p = 0.023). Conclusion: RBK cell line is suitable to proliferate Pneumocystis carinii.
On Primary User Coverage Probabilities and Faulty Cognitive Radios

In a cognitive radio (CR) network, the CR devices opportunistically communicate in the frequency bands occupied by the primary users in order to improve the spectral efficiency in these bands. By sensing the primary users, e.g., the television transmitter-receiver pairs and the wireless microphone systems, each CR device determines whether or not to operate in the band. The CR devices, due to erroneous sensing, either fail to detect the primary user, causing excessive interference at the primary users, or have a false-alarm, causing it to remain silent in a white-space band leading to poor spectrum utility. The impact of these imperfections on the primary user operations in terms of the coverage probability is characterized where the primary users and the CR devices are distributed according to independent homogeneous Poisson point processes on the plane.
The Value of Contrast-Enhanced Transrectal Ultrasound in Predicting the Nature of Prostate Diseases and the Gleason Score of Prostate Cancer by a Subjective Blood Flow Grading Scale

Objectives: To investigate the value of contrast-enhanced transrectal ultrasound (CETRUS) in predicting the nature of prostate diseases and prostate cancer Gleason score. Methods: 106 patients suspected of prostate cancer were evaluated with CETRUS followed by systematic biopsy. Prostate blood flow of CETRUS was graded using a subjective 5-point scale. The relationships between ultrasound findings and biopsy outcomes, as well as prostate cancer Gleason score were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of CETRUS. Results: Biopsy revealed prostate cancer in 43 of 106 patients. The proportions of malignant histology in the groups with CETRUS scores of 1–5 were 0% (0/10), 8.3% (2/24), 31.7% (13/41), 88.9% (16/18) and 92.3% (12/13), respectively. The rate of prostate cancer with a Gleason score ≧7 in the groups with a CETRUS score of 2–5 were 0% (0/2), 15.4% (2/13), 37.5% (6/16) and 91.7% (11/12), respectively. The blood flow grading scale correlated with pathological outcomes and Gleason score significantly (r = 0.66, p < 0.001; and r = 0.61, p < 0.001, respectively). ROC analysis showed the area under the ROC curve to be 0.87. Conclusions: CETRUS-based blood flow grading scale is a reliable tool for predicting the pathological outcome of prostate diseases and prostate cancer Gleason score noninvasively.
UNDERSTANDING FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE TEACHERS' ACCEPTANCE OF TECHNOLOGY AND ACTUAL COMPUTER USE FOR TEACHING: THE CASE OF GREECE

During the past few decades, governments worldwide have been actively promoting the use of information and communication technologies in schools because of their potential to enhance teaching and learning. Despite several policies undertaken towards this end, the adoption of new technologies by teachers remains controversial. Teachers' attitudes influence technology acceptance and actual usage in education. This paper introduces a new instrument that measures teachers' attitudes towards computer use. The instrument, named the Attitude Scale towards Computer Use for Teaching (ASCUT), was developed following the Technology Acceptance Model and it contains four subscales: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, satisfaction expected and teacher's image. It was completed by 450 Greek primary and secondary school teachers. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to validate it. Internal consistency reliability was found to be high. The role of demographic, end-user background and environmental variables on teachers' attitudes were examined as well as the effect of attitudes on actual usage.
Alcohol-Mediated Organ Damages: Heart and Brain

Alcohol is one of the most commonly abused substances in the United States. Chronic consumption of ethanol has been responsible for numerous chronic diseases and conditions globally. The underlying mechanism of liver injury has been studied in depth, however, far fewer studies have examined other organs especially the heart and the central nervous system (CNS). The authors conducted a narrative review on the relationship of alcohol with heart disease and dementia. With that in mind, a complex relationship between inflammation and cardiovascular disease and dementia has been long proposed but inflammatory biomarkers have gained more attention lately. In this review we examine some of the consequences of the altered cytokine regulation that occurs in alcoholics in organs other than the liver. The article reviews the potential role of inflammatory markers such as TNF-α in predicting dementia and/or cardiovascular disease. It was found that TNF-α could promote and accelerate local inflammation and damage through autocrine/paracrine mechanisms. Unraveling the mechanisms linking chronic alcohol consumption with proinflammatory cytokine production and subsequent inflammatory signaling pathways activation in the heart and CNS, is essential to improve our understanding of the disease and hopefully facilitate the development of new remedies.
Fabrication of piezoelectric P(VDF-TrFE) microcantilevers by wafer-level surface micromachining

A wafer-level microfabrication process using standard cleanroom facilities was established and implemented to batch produce free-standing poly(vinylidine fluoride-trifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) piezoelectric microelectromechanical systems cantilevers via surface micromachining. Furthermore, the fabrication of a prototype of double-level cantilevers was demonstrated. The fabrication of working piezoelectric polymer cantilever structures required the deposition and patterning of multiple polymer and metal layers including the pattering and removal of the sacrificial layer, which posed many challenging limitations on the chemicals and processing conditions. Dedicatedly selected chemicals and materials were used in our fabrication, including water soluble PVA with an appropriate molecular weight and degree of hydrolysis as the sacrificial layer for releasing the cantilever structure. The temperature in the whole process was kept low with controlled durations, due to the sensitivity of the polymers to thermal impacts. The P(VDF-TrFE) active layers, after going through the fabrication, exhibited ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties comparable to the intact films. Furthermore, the free-standing P(VDF-TrFE) cantilevers exhibited piezoelectric vibrations under electrical excitation. This low temperature fabrication method, which only involves mild chemicals, also has the potential to be integrated with CMOS processes.
A multi-scale approach to 3D scattered data interpolation with compactly supported basis functions

We propose a hierarchical approach to 3D scattered data interpolation with compactly supported basis functions. Our numerical experiments suggest that the approach integrates the best aspects of scattered data fitting with locally and globally supported basis functions. Employing locally supported functions leads to an efficient computational procedure, while a coarse-to-fine hierarchy makes our method insensitive to the density of scattered data and allows us to restore large parts of missed data. Given a point cloud distributed along a surface, we first use spatial down sampling to construct a coarse-to-fine hierarchy of point sets. Then we interpolate the sets starting from the coarsest level. We interpolate a point set of the hierarchy, as an offsetting of the interpolating function computed at the previous level. An original point set and its coarse-to-fine hierarchy of interpolated sets is presented. According to our numerical experiments, the method is essentially faster than the state-of-the-art scattered data approximation with globally supported RBFs (Carr et al., 2001) and much simpler to implement.
Altered plasma lipid pattern in falciparum malaria.

Plasma levels of HDL, LDL, total cholesterol and triglycerides were measured in 60 patients with falciparum malaria (37 severe cases and 23 mild) and in 83 healthy individuals, to study malaria-induced changes in plasma lipids. Triglyceride levels were lower in the patients than in the controls but the difference was significant only for those with severe malaria (P < 0.001). In contrast, the levels of all the other plasma lipids were significantly higher (P < 0.001) in those with severe malaria than in those with mild malaria, and in the mild malaria cases compared with the controls. Initially LDL cholesterol was estimated by the Friedwald formula, but this gave negative values in a few cases of severe malaria. Plasma lipoproteins were therefore also measured by nephelometry; the estimated levels of S particles, corresponding to LDL, were then found to be lower in all malaria cases than in the controls (P < 0.001) but never negative. Interestingly, levels of L particles in the patients with severe malaria were significantly elevated compared with the other patients and controls (P < 0.001), indicating impaired metabolism of chylomicrons. Plasma albumin, considered a negative acute phase protein (i.e. its level decreases as a consequence of the acute phase response), was reduced significantly and was directly correlated to HDL cholesterol levels (r = 0.715 and r = 0.895, respectively) in both mild and severe malaria. Follow-up of 22 of the severe malaria cases three weeks after treatment indicated that, while triglycerides had returned to similar levels to those in the controls, total cholesterol levels were still elevated and could give misleading results if lipid profiles were used, immediately after malaria infection, to assess an individual's risk of developing atherosclerosis.
Solution of Seventh Order Boundary Value Problems by Variational Iteration Technique

It has been shown that seventh-order boundary value problem can be transformed into a system of integral equations, which can be solved by variational iteration technique. It is to be mentioned that, presently, the literature on the numerical solutions of seventh order boundary value problems and associated eigen value problems is not available. The approximate results of the equations are obtained in terms of convergent series with computable components. Two numerical examples have been given to illustrate the e‐ciency and implementation of the method.