Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-range Ising and Kitaev models: phases, correlations and edge modes

We analyze the quantum phases, correlation functions and edge modes for a class of spin-1/2 and fermionic models related to the one-dimensional Ising chain in the presence of a transverse field. These models are the Ising chain with anti-ferromagnetic long-range interactions that decay with distance r as 1 / r &agr; ? > , as well as a related class of fermionic Hamiltonians that generalize the Kitaev chain, where both the hopping and pairing terms are long-range and their relative strength can be varied. For these models, we provide the phase diagram for all exponents α, based on an analysis of the entanglement entropy, the decay of correlation functions, and the edge modes in the case of open chains. We demonstrate that violations of the area law can occur for &agr; ≲ 1 ? > , while connected correlation functions can decay with a hybrid exponential and power-law behavior, with a power that is α-dependent. Interestingly, for the fermionic models we provide an exact analytical derivation for the decay of the correlation functions at every α. Along the critical lines, for all models breaking of conformal symmetry is argued at low enough α. For the fermionic models we show that the edge modes, massless for &agr; ≳ 1 ? > , can acquire a mass for &agr; < 1 ? > . The mass of these modes can be tuned by varying the relative strength of the kinetic and pairing terms in the Hamiltonian. Interestingly, for the Ising chain a similar edge localization appears for the first and second excited states on the paramagnetic side of the phase diagram, where edge modes are not expected. We argue that, at least for the fermionic chains, these massive states correspond to the appearance of new phases, notably approached via quantum phase transitions without mass gap closure. Finally, we discuss the possibility to detect some of these effects in experiments with cold trapped ions.
Opsonic Activity, Phagocytosis, and Bactericidal Capacity of Polymorphs in Undernutrition

Fifteen undernourished infants and children were studied for opsonic activity of plasma, and for phagocytosis and intracellular bactericidal capacity of polymorphonuclear leucocytes. The opsonic activity was slightly increased and there was a significant decrease in bacterial killing by polymorphs of malnourished individuals compared with healthy controls. Phagocytosis was comparable in the 2 groups. In 3 patients, the impairment of bacterial killing was reversed to normal on recovery from nutritional deficit. It is suggested that this may be one possible mechanism of infection-nutrition interaction.
Convexity in Source Separation : Models, geometry, and algorithms

Source separation, or demixing, is the process of extracting multiple components entangled within a signal. Contemporary signal processing presents a host of difficult source separation problems, from interference cancellation to background subtraction, blind deconvolution, and even dictionary learning. Despite the recent progress in each of these applications, advances in high-throughput sensor technology place demixing algorithms under pressure to accommodate extremely high-dimensional signals, separate an ever larger number of sources, and cope with more sophisticated signal and mixing models. These difficulties are exacerbated by the need for real-time action in automated decision-making systems.
Trans-Fatty Acids Aggravate Obesity, Insulin Resistance and Hepatic Steatosis in C57BL/6 Mice, Possibly by Suppressing the IRS1 Dependent Pathway

Trans-fatty acid consumption has been reported as a risk factor for metabolic disorders and targeted organ damages. Nonetheless, little is known about the roles and mechanisms of trans-fatty acids in obesity, insulin resistance (IR) and hepatic steatosis. Adult C57BL/6 male mice were fed with four different diets for 20 weeks: normal diet (ND), high fat diet (HFD), low trans-fatty acids diet (LTD) and high trans-fatty acid diet (HTD). The diet-induced metabolic disorders were assessed by evaluating body weight, glucose tolerance test, hepatic steatosis and plasma lipid profiles post 20-week diet. Histological (H&E, Oil-Red-O) staining and western blot analysis were employed to assess liver steatosis and potential signaling pathways. After 20-weeks of diet, the body weights of the four groups were 29.61 ± 1.89 g (ND), 39.04 ± 4.27 g (HFD), 34.09 ± 2.62 g (LTD) and 43.78 ± 4.27 g (HTD) (p < 0.05), respectively. HFD intake significantly impaired glucose tolerance, which was impaired further in the mice consuming the HTD diet. The effect was further exacerbated by HTD diet. Moreover, the HTD group exhibited significantly more severe liver steatosis compared with HFD group possibly through regulating adipose triglyceride lipase. The group consuming the HTD also exhibited significantly reduced levels of IRS1, phosphor-PKC and phosphor-AKT. These results support our hypothesis that consumption of a diet high in trans-fatty acids induces higher rates of obesity, IR and hepatic steatosis in male C57BL/6 mice, possibly by suppressing the IRS1dependent pathway.
Synergistic Effects of Disintegrants on Release of poorly Water soluble drug

We have done research work in lab to find out proper formulation of immediate release tablet by using of various types of disintegrants (crospovidone, sodium starch glycolate and sodium carboxymethylcellulose), in order to examine the effect of mode of absorption of disintegrants on release mechanism from tablets. Acetaminophen, a poor soluble drug was used as a model drug to estimate its release pattern from different formulations. The USP paddle method was selected to perform the dissolution profiles carried out by USP apparatus 2 (paddle) at 50 rpm in 900 ml phosphate buffer pH 5.8. Successive dissolution time, time required for 25%, 50% and 80% of the drug release (T 25 %, T 50 %, T 80 %) was used to evaluate the dissolution results. A One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to recognize the result. Statistically significant differences were found among the drug release profile from all the formulations except mode of addition of crosspovidone. At a fixed amount of disintegrants, extragranular mode of addition seemed to be the best mode of incorporation. The best release was achieved with the sodium carboxymethylcellulose and sodium starch glycolate containing formulations. The T 50 and T 80 values were analytical of the fact that the drug release was faster from tablet formulations containing carboxymethylcellulose and sodium starch glycolate. The drug release was very much negligible difference by the mode of crospovidone addition. Two formulations found very small T 50 and T 80 values indicating very much faster release. From the all formulations corresponded extragranular mode of addition could be the best mode of incorporation. The drug release was unaffected by the mode of crospovidone addition. The mode of incorporation of disintegrants suggested enchancing the release of poor soluble drugs. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3329/ijpls.v1i3. 12979 International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Vol.1(3) 2012
Indonesian Journal of Islamic Economics Research

The growth of Islamic banking has begun to infiltrate many sectors of society, attracting the desire of non-Muslim communities to become customers of Islamic banks. The purpose of this study to determine what factors can influence the decisions and interests of non-Muslim communities to become customers in Islamic banks. The sample used in this study amounted to 75 non-Muslim respondents in the Ungaran area with a random sampling technique. The method used is Moderated Regression Analysis. The results show that products and promotions harm decisions, word of mouth and interest have a significant positive effect on non-Muslim community decisions, products and promotions have a positive effect on interest for non-Muslim communities, word of mouth negatively affects interest, interest can mediate products with decisions, interest cannot mediate promotion and word of mouth on decisions.
Association of Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness with Brain Microstructural Changes in Participants with White Matter Hyperintensities.

PURPOSE White matter hyperintensity (WMH) is suggested to cause stroke and dementia in older adults. Retinal structural thicknesses revealed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) are associated with structural changes in the brain. We aimed to explore the association between the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and cerebral microstructural changes in participants with white matter hyperintensities (WMH). METHODS Seventy-four participants (37 controls, healthy control (HC), and 37 older adults with WMH) underwent retinal and brain imaging using OCT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) respectively. Peripapillary RNFL thickness was assessed by the OCT. Gray matter volume (GMV) was assessed from a T1-weighted MRI. White matter integrity was assessed with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) while WMH severity was assessed with the Fazekas scale. All participants underwent a neuropsychological examination (Mini-Mental State Examination, MMSE). RESULTS Older adults with WMH showed thinner peripapillary RNFL (p = 0.004) thickness when compared with the control group after adjusting for age, hypertension and gender. In our older adults with WMH, RNFL thickness correlated with fractional anisotropy (FA) in the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) (Rho = -0.331, p < 0.001). In older adults with WMH, RNFL was significantly associated with MMSE scores (Rho = 0.422, p < 0.001) and Fazekas scores (Rho = -0.381, p = 0.022) respectively. CONCLUSIONS We suggest neurodegeneration of peripapillary RNFL in older adults with WMH was associated with cerebral microstructural volume, impaired cerebral axonal damage, and cognitive performances. OCT metrics may provide evidence of neurodegeneration that may underpin WMH and cerebral microstructural changes in the brain. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION This study was registered online at the China Clinical Trial Registration Center (registration number: ChiCTR-ROC-17011819).
Effects of antioxidant vitamins A, C, E and trace elements Cu, Se on CuZn SOD, GSH‐Px, CAT and LPO levels in chicken erythrocytes

The biologically damaging effects of reactive oxygen species are controlled in vivo by a wide spectrum of antioxidant defence mechanisms. Dietary constituents of antioxidant vitamins and trace elements may play an important role in protecting against oxidant damage. The effects of supplementation of vitamins A, C, E and trace elements Cu and Se on the activities of antioxidant enzymes and lipid peroxide levels in chicken erythrocytes were investigated depend on the time. CuZnSOD activity and plasma Cu levels in the Cu group were increased by 39 and 37 per cent respectively. CuZnSOD activity in vitamin C groups was also increased by 20 per cent. The GSH‐Px activity in Se, Se+E and Se+Cu groups was raised by 35, 46 and 69 per cent respectively. Also, the GSH‐Px activity in the vitamin C group was increased by 33 per cent. Catalase activity in all of these groups was not significantly different when compared with controls (p<0·01). The maximum decrease in LPO levels of 42 per cent was obtained for the Se+E group. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Optimal performance trade-offs in MAC for wireless sensor networks powered by heterogeneous ambient energy harvesting

In wireless sensor networks powered by ambient energy harvesting (WSNs-HEAP), sensor nodes' energy harvesting rates are spatially heterogeneous and temporally variant, which impose difficulties for medium access control (MAC). In this paper, we first derive the necessary conditions under which channel utilization and fairness are optimal in a WSN-HEAP, respectively. Based on the analysis, we propose an earliest deadline first (EDF) polling MAC protocol, which regulates transmission sequence of the sensor nodes based on the spatially heterogeneous energy harvesting rates. It also mitigates temporal variations in energy harvesting rates by a prediction and update mechanism. Simulation results verify the performance tradeoff predicted by our analysis for the proposed HEAP-EDF protocol. In the presence of spatial heterogeneity and temporal variations in energy harvesting rates, our proposed protocol exhibits significant performance advantages compared to the existing MAC protocols for WSNs-HEAP in the literature.
Teaching Compositionality to CNNs

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have shown great success in computer vision, approaching human-level performance when trained for specific tasks via application-specific loss functions. In this paper, we propose a method for augmenting and training CNNs so that their learned features are compositional. It encourages networks to form representations that disentangle objects from their surroundings and from each other, thereby promoting better generalization. Our method is agnostic to the specific details of the underlying CNN to which it is applied and can in principle be used with any CNN. As we show in our experiments, the learned representations lead to feature activations that are more localized and improve performance over non-compositional baselines in object recognition tasks.
The Prevalence of Gastric Intestinal Metaplasia and Distribution of Helicobacter pylori Infection, Atrophy, Dysplasia, and Cancer in Its Subtypes

Objectives. Gastric intestinal metaplasia (IM) is frequently encountered and is considered a precursor of gastric adenocarcinoma. In the Van region of Turkey, gastric adenocarcinoma incidence is high but the prevalence of gastric IM is not known. Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection is a main factor leading to atrophy, IM, and cancer development in the stomach. The aim of the current study was to investigate the prevalence of IM and its subtypes and the prevalence of H. pylori infection, atrophy, dysplasia, and cancer in gastric IM subtypes. Materials and Methods. This retrospective study was conducted on 560 IM among the 4050 consecutive patients who were undergoing esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) with biopsy between June 2010 and October 2014. Clinical records and endoscopic and histopathologic reports of patients with IM were analyzed. Results. The prevalence of gastric IM was 13.8%. The prevalence of incomplete IM was statistically significantly higher than complete IM. Type III IM was the most frequent subtype. Conclusions. Gastric IM is a common finding in patients undergoing EGD with biopsy in this region. High prevalence of incomplete type IM, especially type III, can be associated with the high prevalence of gastric cancer in our region.
Modeling of regional dynamic CO2 reactivity in respiratory related brain areas using BOLD fMRI

The cerebrovascular bed is very sensitive to CO2 changes, particularly the areas responsible for generation and control of respiratory rhythm. We have used BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and externally induced CO2 challenges that stimulate respiration, to identify respiratory areas in-vivo in humans and to quantify the dynamic effects of CO2 on the BOLD fMRI signal (dynamic CO2 reactivity). We sought to identify regional differences in dynamic reactivity within the brainstem and other respiratory related areas (thalamus) by using linear impulse response (IR) and nonlinear Volterra models, as well as experimental measurements obtained during spontaneous breathing and larger externally induced step CO2 changes (end-tidal forcing). The results revealed areas in the brainstem and thalamus that responded strongly to the external CO2 stimuli, which correspond to respiratory nuclei identified in recent rodent studies, as well as pronounced regional differences in CO2 reactivity.
Accuracy bounds for ensembles under 0 - 1 loss.

This paper is an attempt to increase the understanding in the behavior of ensembles for discrete variables in a quantitative way. A set of tight upper and lower bounds for the accuracy of an ensemble is presented for wide classes of ensemble algorithms, including bagging and boosting. The ensemble accuracy is expressed in terms of the accuracies of the members of the ensemble. Since those bounds represent best and worst case behavior only, we study typical behavior as well, and discuss its properties. A parameterized bound is presented which describes ensemble behavior as a mixture of depentent base classifier and independent base classifier areas. Some empirical results are presented to support our conclusions.
On Partial Wait-Freedom in Transactional Memory

Transactional memory (TM) is a convenient synchronization tool that allows concurrent threads to declare sequences of instructions on shared data as speculative transactions with "all-or-nothing" semantics. It is known that dynamic transactional memory cannot provide wait-free progress ensuring that every transaction commits in a finite number of its own steps. In this paper, we explore the costs of providing wait-freedom to only a subset of transactions. We require that read-only transactions commit in the wait-free manner, while updating transactions are guaranteed to commit only if they run in the absence of concurrency. We show that this kind of partial wait-freedom, combined with attractive requirements like read invisibility or disjoint-access parallelism, incurs considerable complexity costs.
Altered mitral flow pattern in patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy.

To the Editor: We read with interest the paper of Hamada et al.1 They used M-mode and Doppler echocardiography in patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) to show that the antiarrhythmic drug cibenzoline, in addition to reducing left ventricular (LV) systolic pressure gradient and LV contractility, also altered the LV diastolic filling profile. Two hours after oral administration of 150 mg of the drug, E-wave velocity increased insignificantly (from 79 to 83 cm/s) and A-wave velocity decreased significantly (from 82 to 55 cm/s), with a significant increase of the E/A ratio (from 1.2 to 2.0). 1 Furthermore, prolongation of isovolumic relaxation time (LV-IVRT) from 73 to 101 ms was noticed. The authors interpreted their findings as the result of a decrease in both left atrial (LA) and LV diastolic pressures.1 Data on deceleration time of early mitral inflow or on other Doppler indexes of LV filling, such as pulmonary venous flow velocities, were not given, and hemodynamic studies were not performed. Despite these shortcomings and considering the limitations of Doppler echocardiography in these patients,2 we would …
Effect of Charged and Non-ionic Membrane Additives on Physicochemical Properties and Stability of Niosomes

The aim of this study was to investigate an influence of different types of membrane additives including negative charge (dicetylphosphate, DCP), positive charge (stearylamine, STR) and non-ionic molecule (cholesteryl poly-24-oxyethylene ether, SC24) on the physicochemical properties of drug-free and drug-loaded niosomes. Salicylic acid having different proportions of ionized and unionized species at different pH was selected as a model drug. The niosomes were composed of 1:1 mole ratio of Span 60: cholesterol as vesicle forming agents. The results show that incorporation of salicylic acid to the niosomes did not affect zeta potential values; however, addition of the membrane additives changed the zeta potential depending on the type of the additives. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that niosomes had unilamellar structure. The particle sizes of all developed niosomes were between 217 to 360 nm. The entrapment efficiency (%E.E.) of all salicylic acid niosomes at pH 3 was higher than that of niosomes at pH 5, indicating that salicylic acid in unionized form was preferably incorporated in niosomes. Furthermore, the positively charged niosomes showed the highest %E.E. of salicylic acid owing to electrostatic attraction between STR and salicylic acid. After 3 months of storage at 4°C, the particle size of the niosomes remained in the nanosize range except for DCP salicylic acid niosomes at pH 3 whose size increased due to an instability of DCP at low pH. In addition, all niosomes showed no leakage of the salicylic acid after 3 months of storage indicating the good stability.
Diversity and Management of Useful Homegardens Plant Species in Arba Minch Town, Southern Ethiopia: Implication for Plant Diversity Conservation and Food Security

Homegardens host a significant portion of plant biodiversity and played an important role towards the development of early agriculture and domestication of crops and fruit trees, a still ongoing process. The study was conducted on homegardens of Arba Minch town, Southern Ethiopia with the aim of documenting the indigenous knowledge on categorization, use and management of useful plants species in homegardens. A random sample of 100 homegardens from four sub-cities of Arba Minch town was used to collect useful plant species data. Techniques used were focus group discussion, semi-structured interviews, home garden tour and free listing. A total of 138 useful plant species were documented, of which 12.36% were edible plants, 11.90% income source plants, and 8.92% shade plants. Fabaceae was the dominant family represented by 17 species, followed by Euphorbiaceae with 10 species and Asteraceae and Poaceae with 6 species each. Homegarden size of the study area ranged from 220 to 1235 m2 with an average size of 727.5 m2. The age of homegarden is ranged from 10 years old to 50 years old with an average age of 30. The number of species in the homegarden ranges from 10 to 45 with the average of 27.5. The study indicates that homegardens are contributing to food security, income generation and livelihoods in Arba Minch town through production of ornamental, food plants, fodder, medicinal, timber and construction. The study recommended that the management of useful plant species in homegardens will be scaled up and further expanded and assisted by agricultural extensions in urban areas in Ethiopia.
Changes in cognitive function in women with HIV infection and early life stress

ABSTRACT Introduction: HIV is frequently associated with deficits in brain function, including memory, psychomotor speed, executive function and attention. Early life stress (ELS) has also been shown to have a direct influence on neurocognitive performance. However, little is known about the combined impact of ELS and HIV on neurocognitive function over time. The aim of the present study was to follow a cohort of affected women, allowing us to assess the effects of HIV and childhood trauma on cognition and the change in cognition over time. Method: A battery of neurocognitive tests was administered to 117 women at baseline and then a year later. The sample included a total of 67 HIV+ and 50 HIV− women, 71 with ELS and 46 without ELS. Controlling for age, education and antiretroviral therapy (ART) at baseline and 12-month follow-up, raw scores were compared across groups using a repeated-measures analysis of covariance. Results: More women were on ART at follow-up compared to baseline. Results revealed a significant combined HIV and childhood trauma effect over time on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (p = .003) and Category Fluency Test (p = .006). A significant individual HIV effect over time was evident on the WAIS-III Digit Symbol Test (p = .03) and the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (p = .003). Conclusion: Findings suggest better performance in abstract reasoning, speed of information processing and verbal fluency over time. While all groups showed improvements that may correspond to practice effects, effects of HIV and childhood trauma remained evident at 12-month follow-up despite greater ART uptake and improved HIV disease status. This is the first study to assess the combined impact of HIV and trauma on neurocognitive function over time in an all-female cohort with more advanced disease.