Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low absorption losses of strongly coupled surface plasmons in nanoparticle assemblies

Coupled surface plasmons in one-dimensional assemblies of metal nanoparticles have attracted significant attention because strong interparticle interactions lead to large electromagnetic field enhancements that can be exploited for localizing and amplifying electromagnetic radiation in nanoscale structures. Ohmic loss (i.e., absorption by the metal), however, limits the performance of any application due to nonradiative surface plasmon relaxation. While absorption losses have been studied theoretically, they have not been quantified experimentally for strongly coupled surface plasmons. Here, we report on the ohmic loss in one-dimensional assemblies of gold nanoparticles with small interparticle separations of only a few nanometers and hence strong plasmon coupling. Both the absorption and scattering cross-sections of coupled surface plasmons were determined and compared to electrodynamic simulations. A lower absorption and higher scattering cross-section for coupled surface plasmons compared to surface plasmons of isolated nanoparticles suggest that coupled surface plasmons suffer smaller ohmic losses and therefore act as better antennas. These experimental results provide important insight for the design of plasmonic devices.
Constrained School Choice: An Experimental Study

The literature on school choice assumes that families can submit a preference list over all the schools they want to be assigned to. However, in many real-life instances families are only allowed to submit a list containing a limited number of schools. Subjects' incentives are drastically affected, as more individuals manipulate their preferentes. Including a safety school in the constrained list explains most manipulations. Competitiveness across schools plays an important role. Constraining choices increases segregation and affects the stability and efficiency of the final allocation. Remarkably, the constraint reduces significantly the proportion of subjects playing a dominated strategy.
Category Ratings and Assessments : Impact on Validity , Utility , Veterans ’ Preference , and Managerial Choice

Recent hiring reform initiatives within the U.S. Federal Government have proposed category rating as an alternative to traditional top-down selection. Using data from a large criterion-related validity study and applicant test score data, we examined the impact of category rating on key outcomes (e.g., validity) for mass hiring situations. In general, category ratings decreased validity and utility, providing empirical support for some of the hypotheses drawn from the banding literature. Category ratings also decreased merit within each category by reducing the number of top-performing applicants being selected. In addition, category ratings provides a different process for giving veterans’ preference and this process is not equivalent to veterans’ preference under top-down selection. Finally, category ratings were not as effective as intended in promoting managerial choice.
HIV Infection Is Associated With Poor Outcomes for Patients With Anal Cancer in the Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy Era

BACKGROUND: HIV status may affect outcomes after definitive chemoradiotherapy for anal cancer. OBJECTIVE: Here, we report a large series in the highly active antiretroviral therapy era comparing outcomes between HIV-positive and HIV-negative patients with anal cancer. DESIGN: This was a retrospective chart review. SETTINGS: The study was conducted at an outpatient oncology clinic at large academic center. PATIENTS: A total of 107 patients were reviewed, 39 HIV positive and 68 HIV negative. All of the patients underwent definitive chemoradiation for anal cancer. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data on patient characteristics, treatment, toxicity, and outcomes were collected. Overall survival, colostomy-free survival, local recurrence-free survival, and distant metastasis-free survival were analyzed. RESULTS: Median follow-up was 15 months. HIV-positive patients were younger (median, 52 vs 64 years; p < 0.001) and predominantly men (82% men vs 49% men; p = 0.001). There were no significant differences in T, N, or stage groups. HIV-positive patients had a significantly longer duration from biopsy to start of chemoradiation (mean number of days, 82 vs 54; p = 0.042). There were no differences in rates of acute toxicities including diarrhea, fatigue, or dermatitis. HIV-positive patients had significantly higher rates of hospitalization (33% vs 15%; p = 0.024). The 3-year overall survival rate was 42% in HIV-positive and 76% in HIV-negative patients (p = 0.037; HR, 2.335 (95% CI, 1.032–5.283)). Three-year colostomy-free survival was 67% in HIV-positive and 88% in HIV-negative patients (p = 0.036; HR, 3.231 (95% CI, 1.014–10.299)). Differences in overall survival rates were not significant on multivariate analysis. LIMITATIONS: This study was limited by its retrospective design and small patient numbers. CONCLUSIONS: In this cohort, HIV-positive patients had significantly worse overall and colostomy-free survival rates than HIV-negative patients. However, differences in survival were not significant on multivariate analysis. Additional studies are necessary to establish the etiology of this difference.
A study of the energy consumption characteristics of cryptographic algorithms and security protocols

Security is becoming an everyday concern for a wide range of electronic systems that manipulate, communicate, and store sensitive data. An important and emerging category of such electronic systems are battery-powered mobile appliances, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and cell phones, which are severely constrained in the resources they possess, namely, processor, battery, and memory. This work focuses on one important constraint of such devices-battery life-and examines how it is impacted by the use of various security mechanisms. In this paper, we first present a comprehensive analysis of the energy requirements of a wide range of cryptographic algorithms that form the building blocks of security mechanisms such as security protocols. We then study the energy consumption requirements of the most popular transport-layer security protocol: Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). We investigate the impact of various parameters at the protocol level (such as cipher suites, authentication mechanisms, and transaction sizes, etc.) and the cryptographic algorithm level (cipher modes, strength) on the overall energy consumption for secure data transactions. To our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive analysis of the energy requirements of SSL. For our studies, we have developed a measurement-based experimental testbed that consists of an iPAQ PDA connected to a wireless local area network (LAN) and running Linux, a PC-based data acquisition system for real-time current measurement, the OpenSSL implementation of the SSL protocol, and parameterizable SSL client and server test programs. Based on our results, we also discuss various opportunities for realizing energy-efficient implementations of security protocols. We believe such investigations to be an important first step toward addressing the challenges of energy-efficient security for battery-constrained systems.
Does variation in GP practice matter for the length of sick leave? A multilevel analysis based on Norwegian GP—patient data

In many countries, the social insurance system is under pressure from an ageing population. An increasing number of people are on sickness benefits and disability pensions in Norway. The general practitioner (GP) is responsible for assessing work capacity and issuing certificates for sick leave based on an evaluation of the patient. Although many studies have analysed certified sickness absence and predictive factors, very few studies focus on the length of sick leave and no studies assess its variation between patients, GPs or geographical areas within a multilevel framework. This study aims to analyse factors explaining the variation in the length of certified sick leave and to disentangle patients, GPs and municipality sources of variation in sickness durations for the whole population of Norwegian workers in 2003. This study uses a unique Norwegian administrative data set that merges data from different sources. The study uses amatched patient—GP data set, and employs amultilevel random intercept model to separate out patient, GP and municipality-level explained and unexplained parts of the variation in the certified sickness durations. We find that all observed patient and GP characteristics are significantly associated with the length of sick leaves (LSL). However, 98% of the variation in the LSL is attributed to patient factors rather than influenced by variations in GP practice or differences in municipality-level characteristics. Medical diagnosis is an important observed factor explaining certified sickness durations. Low variations across GPs may imply that the gatekeeping role of Norwegian GPs is weak compared with their advocate role.
Randomized study of repaglinide alone and in combination with metformin in Chinese subjects with type 2 diabetes naive to oral antidiabetes therapy

Objective: The aim of this research is to determine efficacy and safety of repaglinide alone and in combination with metformin in Chinese subjects with type 2 diabetes naive to oral antidiabetes therapy. Methods: A 16-week, open-label, randomized, active-controlled, parallel-group trial was carried out. Subjects were randomized (1:1) to repaglinide 1 mg t.i. d. (maximum dose, 4 mg t.i.d.) or repaglinide plus metformin 1 mg/500 mg t.i. d. (maximum dose, 4 mg/500 mg t.i.d.). Eligible subjects (18 – 75 years old) had type 2 diabetes, A1C > 8.5%, BMI ≤ 35 kg/m2, and were naive to oral antidiabetes agents. Results: The primary outcome was A1C reduction. Secondary end points included fasting plasma glucose (FPG), 2-h postprandial glucose (PPG), and 7-point plasma glucose. Baseline characteristics (repaglinide/metformin, n = 218; repaglinide-only, n = 214) were similar between groups. Mean A1C reduction (± SD) was 4.51 ± 1.64% (combination) and 4.05 ± 1.59% (monotherapy). Estimated mean treatment difference for repaglinide/metformin versus repaglinide-only was -0.30% (95% CI -0.49 to -0.11; p < 0.01). Combination treatment demonstrated significant improvements versus monotherapy in FPG, 7-point plasma glucose, and lunchtime and dinnertime 2-h PPG (all p < 0.05). Hypoglycemia rates were 2.04 (combination) versus 1.35 (monotherapy) events/subject-year (p = 0.058). Adverse events were comparable between groups. Conclusions: Repaglinide plus metformin and repaglinide alone provided significant improvements in glycemic control and were well tolerated in Chinese patients naive to treatment with oral antidiabetes agents. Combination therapy with repaglinide plus metformin showed superiority to repaglinide monotherapy in this population. Limitations of this study are that subjects were newly diagnosed and had high mean baseline A1C, which may affect generalizability of results.
Resilience against death anxiety in relationship to post-traumatic stress disorder and psychiatric co-morbidity

Research was conducted examining death anxiety from existential, psychodynamic, cognitive and sociological perspectives. The intent was to consider the role of death anxiety on well-being; four studies were conducted to examine how death anxiety influenced PTSD and mental health among people who have experienced a life-threatening event. These studies were conducted using undergraduate university students in Lithuania. The first study used a mixed-method design and in phase 1, participants (N=97) completed self-report questionnaires that gathered information on demographics, death anxiety, trauma and well-being. Results indicated a significant correlation between death anxiety and PTSD, but not psychiatric co-morbidity. Phase 2 attempted to further explore the phenomenological experience of participants with full PTSD, and 6 semi-structured interviews were conducted. IPA analysis found three major themes in response to the life-threatening event; self-efficacy, religious coping and existential attitude. Subsequent studies were then conducted to understand these themes as possible factors of death anxiety resilience in regards to life-threatening events. The second study (N=109) examined the role of self-efficacy and found that it was significantly related to death anxiety and psychiatric co-morbidity, but not PTSD. The third study (N=104) examined religious coping, but did not find evidence to support its significance; however again self-efficacy emerged as significantly related to psychiatric co-morbidity and death anxiety. The fourth study (N=110) looked at the role of existential attitude via posttraumatic growth and sense of coherence. Although posttraumatic growth did influence PTSD, existential attitude was not a significant factor for death anxiety or outcomes. However, self-efficacy again emerged as related to death anxiety and psychiatric co-morbidity. In studies two to four, self-efficacy did not act as a mediating factor and was independently related to death anxiety and psychiatric co-morbidity. Results were discussed in light of theories regarding death anxiety and their application to clinical treatment.
Usability assessment of assistive technology for blind and visually impaired

In this paper we describe the usability assessment of a system designed to help blind and visually impaired people to navigate and perceive the environment. The proposed system is based on sensory substitution, remapping the vision stimuli into audio and haptic ones. The goal of this study is to aid the development of the sensory substitution device (SSD) by understanding how the different choices in encoding and rendering the environmental information affects the user's perception and experience while using the system. The preliminary results are presented to show the usability and usefulness of the proposed system.
The lcrB (yscN/U) gene cluster of Yersinia pseudotuberculosis is involved in Yop secretion and shows high homology to the spa gene clusters of Shigella flexneri and Salmonella typhimurium

Virulent bacteria of the genus Yersinia secrete a number of virulence determinants called Yops. These proteins lack typical signal sequences and are not posttranslationally processed. Two gene loci have been identified as being involved in the specific Yop secretion system (G. Cornelis, p. 231-265, In C. E. Hormache, C. W. Penn, and C. J. Smythe, ed., Molecular Biology of Bacterial Infection, 1992; S. C. Straley, G. V. Plano, E. Skrzypek, P. L. Haddix, and K. A. Fields, Mol. Microbiol. 8:1005-1010, 1993). Here, we have shown that the lcrB/virB locus (yscN to yscU) encodes gene products essential for Yop secretion. As in previously described secretion apparatus mutants, expression of the Yop proteins was decreased in the yscN/U mutants. An lcrH yscR double mutant expressed the Yops at an increased level but did not secrete Yops into the culture supernatant. The block in Yop expression of the ysc mutants was also circumvented by overexpression of the activator LcrF in trans. Although the Yops were expressed in elevated amounts, the Yops were still not exported. This analysis showed that the ysc mutants were unable to secrete Yops and that they were also affected in the negative Ca(2+)-regulated loop. The yscN/U genes showed remarkably high homology to the spa genes of Shigella flexneri and Salmonella typhimurium with respect to both individual genes and gene organization. These findings indicate that the genes originated from a common ancestor.
Intestinal spirochete infections of chickens: a review of disease associations, epidemiology and control

Abstract This paper presents an overview of intestinal spirochete infections of chickens. It focuses particularly on studies in Australia, where recent surveys of 136 layer and broiler breeder flocks have revealed a high rate of infection (>40%) with intestinal spirochetes. Infection was not detected in broiler flocks. Approximately 50% of isolates from infected flocks were Brachyspira (Serpulina) intermedia or B. pilosicoli, with the other isolates being B. innocens, B. murdochii or the proposed species ‘B. pulli’. No isolates of B. alvinipulli were found. Intestinal spirochetes were significantly associated with wet litter problems and/or reduced egg production. Experimental infection of point-of-lay birds with either B. intermedia or B. pilosicoli caused reduced egg production, and, with B. intermedia, a significant increase in fecal moisture content. Infection with B. innocens caused no significant changes. In-water treatment of a flock with a mixed spirochete infection using lincospectin resulted in a slimy diarrhea lasting for 2–3 weeks, followed by absence of spirochetes for 3 months. Birds treated with tiamulin remained healthy, and had a reduced level of infection with intestinal spirochetes (30%) for 3 months. Trials are under way to test the efficacy of antimicrobials in point-of-lay chickens experimentally infected with either B. intermedia or B. pilosicoli.
Exhaled breath condensate MMP‐9 levels in children with bronchiectasis

Bronchiectasis (BE) is still an important cause of chronic supurative respiratory diseases in developing countries. Neutrophil‐derived proteases such as neutrophil elastase and matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) are implicated in causing airway damage in chronic pulmonary disease. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the MMP‐9 and its natural tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (TIMP‐1) levels utilizing the exhaled breath condensate (EBC) method and their relationship with radiological findings and pulmonary functions in children with BE.
Genetics, diagnosis and management of colorectal cancer (Review)

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common type of cancer worldwide and a leading cause of cancer death. Surgery represents the mainstay of treatment in early cases but often patients are primarily diagnosed in an advanced stage of disease and sometimes also distant metastases are present. Neoadjuvant therapy is therefore needed but drug resistance may influence response and concur to recurrent disease. At molecular level, it is a very heterogeneous group of diseases with about 30% of hereditary or familial cases. During colorectal adenocarcinomas development, epithelial cells from gastrointestinal trait acquire sequential genetic and epigenetic mutations in specific oncogenes and/or tumour suppressor genes, causing CRC onset, progression and metastasis. Molecular characterization of cancer associated mutations gives valuable information about disease prognosis and response to the therapy. Very early diagnosis and personalized care, as well as a better knowledge of molecular basis of its onset and progression, are therefore crucial to obtain a cure of CRC. In this review, we describe updated genetics, current diagnosis and management of CRC pointing out the extreme need for a multidisciplinary approach to achieve the best results in patient outcomes.
Long-term changes and variability in a transient simulation with a chemistry-climate model employing realistic forcing

A transient simulation with the interactively cou- pled chemistry-climate model (CCM) E39/C has been car- ried out which covers the 40-year period between 1960 and 1999. Forcing of natural and anthropogenic origin is pre- scribed where the characteristics are sufficiently well known and the typical timescales are slow compared to synoptic timescale so that the simulated atmospheric chemistry and climate evolve under a "slowly" varying external forcing. Based on observations, sea surface temperature (SST) and ice cover are prescribed. The increase of greenhouse gas and chlorofluorocarbon concentrations, as well as nitrogen oxide emissions are taken into account. The 11-year solar cycle is considered in the calculation of heating rates and photoly- sis of chemical species. The three major volcanic eruptions during that time (Agung, 1963; El Chichon, 1982; Pinatubo, 1991) are considered. The quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) is forced by linear relaxation, also known as nudging, of the equatorial zonal wind in the lower stratosphere towards ob- served zonal wind profiles. Beyond a reasonable reproduc- tion of mean parameters and long-term variability character- istics there are many apparent features of episodic similari- ties between simulation and observation: In the years 1986 and 1988 the Antarctic ozone holes are smaller than in the other years of that decade. In mid-latitudes of the South- ern Hemisphere ozone anomalies resemble the correspond- ing observations, especially in 1985, 1989, 1991/1992, and 1996. In the Northern Hemisphere, the episode between the late 1980s and the first half of the 1990s is dynami- cally quiet, in particular, no stratospheric warming is found between 1988 and 1993. As observed, volcanic eruptions strongly influence dynamics and chemistry, though only for few years. Obviously, planetary wave activity is strongly driven by the prescribed SST and modulated by the QBO. Preliminary evidence of realistic cause and effect relation- ships strongly suggests that detailed process-oriented studies will be a worthwhile endeavour.
Increasing the performance of HSDPA with high-speed single frequency network

High Speed Single Frequency Network (HS-SFN) is a multi-cell transmission scheme for High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) that can assist user equipment (UEs) in the softer handover area by combining signals from two neighbouring cells and at the same time by reducing the inter-cell interference. This article analyzes performance of HS-SFN for macro cell scenario under different channels with different type of schedulers by means of extensive system level simulations. The results indicate that HS-SFN can increase throughput for UEs in softer handover area from 40% to 80% without decreasing the overall performance.
Below-ground Carbon Input to Soil Is Controlled by Nutrient Availability and Fine Root Dynamics in Loblolly Pine Summary Introduction

Availability of growth limiting resources may alter root dynamics in forest ecosystems , possibly affecting the land-atmosphere exchange of carbon. This was evaluated for a commercially important southern timber species by installing a factorial experiment of fertilization and irrigation treatments in an 8-yr-old loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) plantation. After 3 yr of growth, production and turnover of fine, coarse and mycorrhizal root length was obsewed using minirhizotrons, and compared with stem growth and foliage development. Fertilization increased net production of fine roots and mycorrhizal roots, but did not affect coarse roots. Fine roots had average lifespans of 166 d, coarse roots 294 d and mycorrhizal roots 507 d. Foliage growth rate peaked in late spring and declined over the remainder of the growing season, whereas fine roots experienced multiple growth flushes in the spring, summer and fall. We conclude that increased nutrient availability might increase carbon input to soils through enhanced fine root turnover However, this will depend on the extent to which mycorrhizal root formation is affected, as these mycorrhizal roots have much longer average lifespans than fine and coarse roots.