Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of forest structure on operational efficiency of a bundle-harvester system in early thinnings

The objective of the study was to improve knowledge on effects of harvested tree size and density of undergrowth on the operational efficiency of a bundle-harvester that produces 2.6 m long bundles, with ca. 60–70 cm diameter, in early fuel wood thinnings. In total 26 time study plots were marked out in 30 to 35 year old Scots pine dominated stands with initial density of 2800–9300 trees/ha and stem size range of 15–43 dm3. Ten of the units, randomly chosen, were precleared of undergrowth trees (≤2.5 cm at breast height diameter) prior to harvesting. There were no significant differences between treatments (preclearing vs. no preclearing) in properties or operational efficiency of the harvested and remaining stands. The average height of cut trees and volume of cut stems were 7.4 m and 16.2 dm3, respectively, and on average, 3554 trees/ha were removed. The bundles had a mean fresh mass of 439 kg and the mass was correlated to the proportion of birch trees cut. The productivity was, on average, 3.1 OD t/PM0H (6.6 fresh t/PM0H; 15.1 bundles/PM0H, where PM0H is productive machine hours, without delays) and was modeled with the harvested stem volume (dm3) as a single independent variable. The study provides complementary knowledge to earlier studies of the system’s performance, especially for harvesting stems <30 dm3. Its productivity was limited by the cutting efficiency and could probably be significantly increased by using a felling and bunching head that could cut and accumulate trees during continuous boom movements. Thus, it would be informative to evaluate such a system in various early thinning stand conditions, including assessments of its manoeuvrability in more difficult terrain.
Comparison of symptomatic versus functional changes in children and adolescents with ADHD during randomized, double-blind treatment with psychostimulants, atomoxetine, or placebo.

BACKGROUND This meta-analysis was designed to determine the relationship between reduction of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and improvement in functioning by examining short-term changes in functional and symptomatic scores in children and adolescents with ADHD. METHODS Search of atomoxetine's clinical trial database identified four studies involving a symptomatic measure, the ADHD Rating Scale-IV-Parent Version:Investigator-administered and -scored (ADHDRS-IV-Parent:Inv), and a functional measure, the Life Participation Scale for ADHD (LPS). RESULTS Correlation analysis revealed a moderate-to-strong association between changes in the LPS total versus ADHDRS-IV-Parent:Inv total (r: -.68). The LPS Self-control subscale showed higher correlations than the Happy/Social subscale with the symptomatic measures. Regression analysis also showed high sensitivity for functional measures to changes in symptom severity. Stratified analysis of mean changes in ADHDRS-IV-Parent:Inv scores corresponding to standardized changes in LPS functional scores indicated that a threshold reduction of 16-18 points on the ADHDRS-IV-Parent:Inv total score was needed for functional improvements to become evident. CONCLUSIONS Subjects' symptomatic improvements appear to be reflected in improvements in their social and behavioral function as measured by the LPS. These initial findings warrant verification by replication with other outcome measures.
Effects of Pregabalin Drug on Level of Reproductive Hormones, Sexual Activity, Number and Weight of Offspring in Female Albino Rats

This study was aimed to investigate the effect of two doses of pregabalin (PGB) on hormonal level and sexual activity in female albino rats. Ninety female rats with age (9-10 weeks) and weight (200±20 g) were divided into three major groups of thirty rats. First group was considered as control G1, the second G2 and third G3 groups were exposed to PGB into two doses 150, and 300 mg/kg body weight per day respectively. Each major group was divided into three subgroups (subgroup A, B, and C of each has ten rats), the treatments last for one month for subgroup A, two months for subgroup B, and three months for subgroup C. Five rats from each subgroup were placed separately into two breeding cages with two isolated males and waiting the pregnancy and then delivery. Blood samples were collected from other five rats in each subgroup by heart puncture technique for hormonal assessment, The results showed a significant (P≤0.05) decrease in the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH), follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), and prolactin hormone (PRL) in treated groups (G2 and G3), when compared to the control group . A significant (P≤0.05) increase in the levels of testosterone, estradiol, and progesterone was observed in the serum of treated groups (G2 and G3), when compared to control rats (G1). The results showed a significant (P≤0.05) delay in the delivery of the offspring in (G2 and G3) groups as compared with control (G1). There was a significant (P≤0.05) decrease in the number and weights of offspring in the treated rats (G2 and G3), as compared to the number and weights of offspring of the control groups (G1).
TSV residual Cu step height analysis by white light interferometry for 3D integration

Cu pumping, or the extrusion of Cu out of a TSV after being subjected to high temperature conditions, is one of the highest risk failure modes to be overcome in the development of TSV-middle integration for 3D packaging technologies. Typical Cu pumping analyses focus on a low number of data points through brute force measurement using cross sectional analysis. The low number of data points gathered for each condition does not provide results with a high statistical confidence level. In addition, it is most likely that the cross section does not provide measurement along the plane that contains the highest amount of Cu pumping, resulting in inaccurate maximum pumping height measurements. In this study, a Cu pumping measurement technique was developed using a production capable scanning white light interferometry (SWLI) system, which enables the collection of hundreds or thousands of individual TSV Cu pumping data points. This enables an accurate statistical comparison between Cu pumping mitigation schemes. Using this technique, multiple TSV plating process and thermal annealing conditions were compared by varying temperature and time to determine the conditions that resulted in the lowest amount of Cu pumping. In addition, an alternate integration scheme was investigated that includes multiple anneal and CMP planarization steps. The experimental results demonstrate that Cu pumping can be kept to a manageable level for high reliability performance.
Mutation analysis of the HFE gene in Brazilian populations.

We analyzed the frequency of the C282Y and H63D mutations in the HFE gene in 227 individuals from Brazil comprising 71 Caucasians, 91 racially mixed Caucasian African-derived Amerindians (both populations from Southeast Brazil), 85 African-derived subjects (from Northeast Brazil) and 75 Parakanã Indians. Allelic frequency of the mutation C. 845G(A (C282Y) was 1.4% in the Caucasian population, 1.1% in the African-derived population, 1.1% in the racially mixed normal controls and 0% in the Parakanã Indians. In the African-derived population, the C282Y mutation was present on chromosomes bearing the haplotype 6/1h according to Beutler and West (1997). Allelic frequency of the mutation C. 187C(G (H63D) was 16.3% in the Caucasian population, 7.5% in the African-derived population, 9.8% in the racially mixed controls and 0% in the Amerindians. The presence of these mutations in the African-derived population reflects the fact that these subjects may have undergone a non-identified racial admixture in their past history. The absence of both defects in the Amerindians suggests that these mutations have emerged after the migration of Polynesians to America, or that they may not have reached the Polynesian population until after the migration to America had occurred.
Modification of the Flow‐Generating Capability of the Canine Heart‐Lung Compartment by the Carotid Sinus Baroreceptor Reflex

To quantitatively understand how the carotid sinus baroreceptor reflex modifies the Starling curve (i.e., the aortic flow (AF)-mean right atrial pressure (MRAP) relationship), experiments were performed in closed-chest, naturally breathing, and anesthetized dogs before and after vagotomy. Mean aortic pressure (MAP) was fixed at approximately 100 mm Hg and the pressure in the isolated carotid sinus (ISP) was varied from 75 to 150 mm Hg in steps of 25 mm Hg. At each ISP, MRAP was slowly increased and decreased while measuring AF by a previously implanted electromagnetic flow probe. A family of AF-MRAP relation curves specified at the different ISP's were thus obtained. Third-order polynomials in MRAP and ISP adequately fit these curves. Whether the vagi were intact or cut, there was no significant difference between the AF-MRAP relation curves obtained at an ISP of 75 or 100 mm Hg. However, decreasing ISP from 125 to 100 mm Hg caused a 24% increase in AF, and increasing ISP to 150 mm Hg caused a 15% decrease in AF in the dogs with intact vagus nerves. For the vagoto-mized dogs, the same decrease or increase in ISP caused a 17% increase or a 21% decrease in AF, respectively. When MAP was allowed to change by the reflex, only insignificant changes in AF occurred. We conclude that the carotid sinus reflex significantly alters the flow-generating ability of the heart-lung compartment by as much as 40% but this becomes clearly observable only if the reflex change in aortic pressure is prevented.
Comparative carcinogenicity in A/J mice and metabolism by cultured mouse peripheral lung of N'-nitrosonornicotine, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone, and their analogues.

The tumorigenic activities in A/J mouse lung of the tobacco-specific nitrosamines N ′-nitrosonornicotine (NNN), 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK), and their metabolites retaining the nitroso group were studied, and the metabolism of NNN and NNK in cultured mouse peripheral lung was investigated. A total dose of 0.12 mmol of each NNN metabolite was given in 22 i.p. injections to each A/J mouse. Thirty weeks after the last injections, the number of lung tumors per animal induced was NNN, 1.2; 3′-hydroxy- N ′-nitrosonornicotine, 0.9; 4′-hydroxy- N ′-nitrosonornicotine, 1.6; and N ′-nitrosonornicotine-1- N -oxide, 0.8. [2′,5′,5′- trideutero ]- N ′-Nitrosonornicotine, an α-trideutero analogue of NNN, induced 1.5 lung tumors/animal. In cultured mouse peripheral lung, the major metabolic pathways of [2′-14C]NNN were 2′- and 5′-carbon hydroxylation. Pyridine N -oxidation and N -denitrosation were also observed to a minor extent. These results indicate that 3′-hydroxylation, 4′-hydroxylation, and N -oxidation are not involved in the metabolic activation of NNN in A/J mouse lung. A total dose of 0.10 mmol of NNK induced 37.6 lung tumors/animal. Two of its metabolites, 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)butan-1-ol (NNAI; 26.3 tumors/animal) and 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl- N -oxide)-1-butanone, 3.6 tumors/animal, were less potent than was NNK. A few nasal cavity and liver tumors were also observed in the NNK- and NNAI-treated groups. In cultured peripheral lung, [1-14C]NNK was rapidly converted to [1-14C]NNAI, and both of these nitrosamines were metabolized by α-carbon hydroxylation. Radioautography of explants treated with [2′-14C]NNN or [1-14C]NNK showed higher labeling of the bronchi than of the parenchyma. The results of this study indicate that NNN and NNK can be metabolized by α-carbon hydroxylation in A/J mouse lung where most tumors are observed.
Risk and Return of Information Technology Initiatives: Evidence from Electronic Commerce Announcements

This paper takes an event study approach to jointly examine the wealth and risk effects associated with electronic commerce announcements, contributing to the emerging research on the riskiness of IT investments and the trade-off between risk and return in the information systems literature. We estimate a generalized event study model that allows for both systematic and unsystematic risk changes on data collected for electronic commerce announcements in the 1996--2002 time frame. A striking result emerging from our analysis is that wealth effects are not significant after controlling for contemporaneous risk changes. Both total and unsystematic risk show a significant postevent increase in 1998 and 2000, whereas systematic risk adjusts downward in 1996 and 2002. Put together, our results contribute to our nascent understanding of how IT initiatives affect the risk-return profile of the firm.
Subcutaneous lispro and intravenous regular insulin treatments are equally effective and safe for the treatment of mild and moderate diabetic ketoacidosis in adult patients

In this prospective, randomised, open trial, we wanted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of hourly subcutaneous (SC) insulin lispro administration in the treatment of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) in comparison with intravenous (IV) regular insulin treatment. Twenty patients were enroled in the study. The patients were randomly assigned into two groups. Following a bolus injection of 0.15 U/kg IV regular insulin, group L received half of this dose as hourly SC insulin lispro while group R was treated conventionally with IV regular insulin infusion. At the end of treatment period, time that needed for normalisation of serum glucose, β‐hydroxybutyrate, blood pH and urine ketone levels were not different in groups L and R. There was no mortality or serious side effects in both groups. In this study, we revealed that treatment of mild and moderate DKA with SC insulin lispro is equally effective and safe in comparison with IV regular insulin.
Local big data: the role of libraries in building community data infrastructures

Communities face opportunities and challenges in many areas, including education, health and wellness, workforce and economic development, housing, and the environment [21]. At the same time, governments have significant fiscal constraints on their ability to address these challenges and opportunities. Through a combination of open government, open data, and civic engagement, however, governments, citizens, civil society groups, and others are reinventing the relationship between governments and the governed by developing crowdsourced and other innovative solutions for community advancement. Underlying this reinvention and innovation is data -- particularly local data about housing, air quality, graduation rates, literacy rates, poverty, disease, and more. And yet, not all communities have the capacity to create, work with, or leverage data at the local level. Using a case study approach in a medium-sized U.S. city, this paper focuses on the issues that smaller communities face when seeking to create local data infrastructures and the extent to which libraries can develop their capabilities, capacity, and abilities to work with community information and data to facilitate community engagement and high-impact, locally relevant analytics.
Effect of pH on in vitro antimicrobial susceptibility of the Bacteroides fragilis group

We studied the effect of pH (7.1, 6.3, and 5.8) on the in vitro susceptibilities of 59 isolates of Bacteroides fragilis and 60 isolates of other B. fragilis group species to trovafloxacin, ciprofloxacin, clindamycin, ampicillin-sulbactam, piperacillin-tazobactam, imipenem, and meropenem. For each agent tested the geometric mean MIC was highest at pH 5.8, intermediate at pH 6.3, and lowest at pH 7.1. The magnitude of the pH effect varied greatly among different antibiotics. These data show that an acidic pH decreases the in vitro susceptibilities of the B. fragilis group to several antibiotics.
Autocrine vascular endothelial growth factor signaling promotes cell proliferation and modulates sorafenib treatment efficacy in hepatocellular carcinoma

Tumor cells express vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) that can activate VEGF receptors (VEGFRs) on or within tumor cells to promote growth in an angiogenesis‐independent fashion; however, this autocrine VEGF pathway has not been reported in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Sorafenib, an angiogenic inhibitor, is the only drug approved for use in advanced HCC patients. Yet the treatment efficacy is diverse and the mechanism behind it remains undetermined. Our aims were to study the molecular mechanisms underlying autocrine VEGF signaling in HCC cells and evaluate the critical role of autocrine VEGF signaling on sorafenib treatment efficacy. By immunohistochemistry, we found robust nuclear and cytoplasmic staining for active, phosphorylated VEGF receptor 1 (pVEGFR1) and phosphorylated VEGF receptor 2 (pVEGFR2), and by western blotting we found that membrane VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 increased in HCC tissues. We showed that autocrine VEGF promoted phosphorylation of VEGFR1 and VEGFR2 and internalization of pVEGFR2 in HCC cells, which was both pro‐proliferative through a protein lipase C‐extracellular kinase pathway and self‐sustaining through increasing VEGF, VEGFR1, and VEGFR2 mRNA expressions. In high VEGFR1/2‐expressing HepG2 cells, sorafenib treatment inhibited cell proliferation, reduced VEGFR2 mRNA expression in vitro, and delayed xenograft tumor growth in vivo. These results were not found in low VEGFR1/2‐expressing Hep3B cells. In an advanced HCC population on sorafenib treatment for postoperative recurrence, we found that the absence of VEGFR1 or VEGFR2 expression in resected tumor tissues before sorafenib treatment was associated with poorer overall survival. Conclusion: Autocrine VEGF signaling directly promotes HCC cell proliferation and affects the sorafenib treatment outcome in vitro and in vivo, which may enable better stratification for clinical treatment decisions. (Hepatology 2014;60:1264–1277)
Bone morphogenetic protein down‐regulation of neuronal pituitary adenylate cyclase‐activating polypeptide and reciprocal effects on vasoactive intestinal peptide expression

Among bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), the decapentaplegic (Dpp; BMP2, BMP4) and glass bottom boat (Gbb/60A; BMP5, BMP6, BMP7) subgroups have well‐described functions guiding autonomic and sensory neuronal development, fiber formation and neurophenotypic identities. Evaluation of rat superior cervical ganglia (SCG) post‐ganglionic sympathetic neuron developmental regulators identified that selected BMPs of the transforming growth factor beta superfamily have reciprocal effects on neuronal pituitary adenylate cyclase‐activating polypeptide (PACAP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) expression. Dpp and Gbb/60A BMPs rapidly down‐regulated PACAP expression, while up‐regulating other sympathetic neuropeptides, including PACAP‐related VIP. The suppressive effects of BMP on PACAP mRNA and peptide expression were potent, efficacious and phosphorylated mothers against decapentaplegic homolog (Smad) signaling‐dependent. Axotomy of SCG dramatically increases PACAP expression, and the possibility that abrogation of inhibitory retrograde target tissue BMP signaling may contribute to this up‐regulation of sympathetic neuron PACAP was investigated. Replacement of BMP6 to SCG explant preparations significantly blunted the injury‐induced elevated PACAP expression, with a concomitant decrease in sympathetic PACAP‐immunoreactive neuron numbers. These studies suggested that BMPs modulate neuropeptide identity and diversity by stimulating or restricting the expression of specific peptidergic systems. Furthermore, the liberation of SCG neurons from target‐derived BMP inhibition following axotomy may be one participating mechanism associated with injury‐induced neuropeptidergic plasticity.
Adversarial Generation of Training Examples: Applications to Moving Vehicle License Plate Recognition

Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have attracted much research attention recently, leading to impressive results for natural image generation. However, to date little success was observed in using GAN generated images for improving classification tasks. Here we attempt to explore, in the context of car license plate recognition, whether it is possible to generate synthetic training data using GAN to improve recognition accuracy. With a carefully-designed pipeline, we show that the answer is affirmative. First, a large-scale image set is generated using the generator of GAN, without manual annotation. Then, these images are fed to a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) followed by a bidirectional recurrent neural network (BRNN) with long short-term memory (LSTM), which performs the feature learning and sequence labelling. Finally, the pre-trained model is fine-tuned on real images. Our experimental results on a few data sets demonstrate the effectiveness of using GAN images: an improvement of 7.5% over a strong baseline with moderate-sized real data being available. We show that the proposed framework achieves competitive recognition accuracy on challenging test datasets. We also leverage the depthwise separate convolution to construct a lightweight convolutional RNN, which is about half size and 2x faster on CPU. Combining this framework and the proposed pipeline, we make progress in performing accurate recognition on mobile and embedded devices.
Exploration and evaluation of low-dropout linear voltage regulator with FinFET, TFET and hybrid TFET-FinFET implementations

This paper investigates and evaluates analog and digital low-dropout linear voltage regulators (LDO) with FinFET, TFET and hybrid TFET-FinFET implementations. We utilize Sentaurus physics-based atomistic 3D TCAD mixed-mode simulations for device characteristics and HSPICE with look-up tables based on Verilog-A models calibrated with TCAD simulation results. Frequency response, load regulation and power supply rejection ratio (PSRR) are evaluated for analog LDOs under low, medium and high bias-current conditions. The results indicate that for analog implementations, TFET-LDO and hybrid-LDO provide better loop-gain and PSRR than FinFET-LDO under low and medium operating currents, whereas at higher operating current, FinFET implementation would outperform. As operating voltage is reduced, the performances of analog implementations degrade, and digital implementations become favorable for VIN below around 0.55V. We further show that for digital LDO, all FinFET implementation provides superior performance over all TFET and hybrid TFET-FinFET implementations.
Continuous heparin infusion requirements. Diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

A prospective study was undertaken to investigate the relation between hourly heparin sodium requirements and the presence or absence of thromboembolic disease (TED). Twelve patients with verified TED required 1,696±394 units/hr (mean±SD), and nine patients without disease required 1,033±343 units/hr of continuous heparin sodium to attain a target-activated partial thromboplastin time. The requirements in relation to body weight were 25±4 units/kg/hr for the 12 with verified TED and 15±3 units/kg/hr for the nine without disease. These data support the conclusion that a patient's heparin requirements are related to the presence or absence of TED and suggest the diagnostic importance of heparin requirements; large requirements coincide with active TED, and lesser requirements suggest absence of a thromboembolic process. (JAMA241:2717-2720, 1979)