Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Rigorous Pore-to-Field-Scale Simulation Method for Single-Phase Flow Based on Continuous-Time Random Walks

Summary We propose a pore-to-reservoir simulation approach for singlephase flow. Transport is modeled as a continuous-time random walk (CTRW). Particles make a series of transitions between nodes with a probability c(t)dt that a particle will first arrive at a node from a nearest neighbor in a time t to t+dt. A top-down multiscale approach is used to find the flow field. At the micron scale, c(t) for particle transitions from pore to pore are found from modeling advection and molecular diffusion in a geologically representative network model. This c(t) is used to compute transport on the millimeter-to-centimeter scale. At larger scales, we represent the reservoir as a network of nodes connected by links. For each nodeto-node transition, we compute an upscaled c(t) from a simulation of transport at the smaller scale. We account for small-scale uncertainty by interpreting c(t) probabilistically and running simulations for different possible realizations of the reservoir model. To make the number of computations manageable, c(t )i s parameterized in
Design and Implementation of an Ultrawideband Hybrid Skirt Monopole Dielectric Resonator Antenna

A new hybrid dielectric resonator antenna (DRA) excited by a monopole antenna is proposed and implemented. In this structure, three different methods of impedance matching, dielectric, and ground plane shaping are applied to enhance the antenna performance in terms of bandwidth and to create a dipole-shape radiation pattern. The effect of each method to increase the input impedance bandwidth is carefully investigated by an extensive parametric study. The resonant frequencies of the structure are also described and determined. The proposed structure provides more than 5-GHz bandwidth for 10dB return loss ranging from 1.8 to 6.9 GHz. Measurements as well as 3-D simulations were carried out for return loss and antenna radiation pattern, and they show a good agreement.
Attitudes Toward and Preferences for Male and Female Personal Trainers

Previous research has considered the perceptions of athletes towards gender of coach and strength and conditioning coach. However, to date there appears little research considering the perceptions of clients towards gender of personal trainer. The purpose of this study was to investigate male and females perceptions of same- or opposite-gender personal trainers. Four hundred and two (male = 201, female = 201) undergraduate University student participants completed an adapted version of the Attitudes of Athletes toward Male versus Female Coaches Questionnaire (AAMFCQ; 23). A 2 x 2 multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed that neither males nor females showed any preference for gender of hypothetical personal trainer (p > 0.05) although both males and females reported that a personal trainer of the opposite gender might make it harder to concentrate (p < 0.05). Previous research has reported a preference for male coaches/strength and conditioning coaches from both male and female athletes. However, this study suggests that there is no such gender bias towards personal trainers in this population.
Identification of a Major Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinase A Phosphorylation Site within the Cytoplasmic Tail of the Low-Density Lipoprotein Receptor-Related Protein: Implication for Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis

ABSTRACT The low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor-related protein (LRP) is a multiligand endocytic receptor that belongs to the LDL receptor family. Recently, studies have revealed new roles of LDL receptor family members as transducers of extracellular signals. Our previous studies have demonstrated LRP phosphorylation within its cytoplasmic tail, but the nature of LRP phosphorylation and its potential function was unknown. In the present study using both in vivo and in vitro analysis, we found that LRP phosphorylation is mediated by the cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA). Using site-directed mutagenesis and LRP minireceptor constructs, we further identified the predominant LRP phosphorylation site at serine 76 of its cytoplasmic tail. Finally, we demonstrated that mutations of serine 76, which abolish LRP phosphorylation by PKA, result in a decrease in the initial endocytosis rate of LRP and a lower efficiency in delivery of ligand for degradation. Thus, the role of PKA phosphorylation of LRP in receptor-mediated endocytosis may provide a mechanism by which the endocytic function of LRP can be regulated by external signals.
Impact of service attributes on customer satisfaction and loyalty in a healthcare context.

PURPOSE The purpose of this paper is to examine the role of perceived service attributes in the development of overall customer satisfaction (OCS) and customer loyalty (CL) in a health-care setting. This paper also sheds light on the role of hospitalist physicians (HPs) and offers suggestions to improve patient satisfaction and loyalty. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH A telephone survey was used to collect data from recently hospitalized patients with respect to their HP. Structural equations modeling (SEM) was used to confirm the overall relationships between perceived service quality (PSQ), OCS and CL. The sample was then divided into customer relationship groups (CRGs) based on satisfaction and loyalty measures. Discriminant analysis was used to determine which attributes differentiated most between high and low satisfaction and loyalty groups. FINDINGS Overall relationships among PSQ, OCS and CL were in conformity with the conceptual model. Findings also revealed that service attributes played an important role in distinguishing between high and low satisfaction and loyalty groups, although some attributes were more important than others and different attributes emerged as being key influencers for satisfaction and loyalty. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS/IMPLICATIONS The conceptual model used is a fairly straight forward model, and we have not considered the impact of individual factors such as expectations and value perceptions or involvement levels and demographic characteristics on service quality and overall satisfaction. The data for this study were provided by a major health maintenance organization (HMO), and there is room for improvement in the manner in which certain constructs were measured. For example, OCS, recommendation and retention all used single item measures, and it might have been preferable to use multiple item measures for these constructs. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS The study shows that organizations can benefit by identifying and focusing on critical attributes as part of their customer relationship management program. SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS The SEM results provide strong support for the overall model linking service quality, OCS and CL in a health-care setting. As one would expect, PSQ has a strong impact on OCS, which, in turn, has a fairly strong impact on CL. However, there is also a significant direct linkage between PSQ and CL. This linkage shows that at least a certain portion of CL could evolve independent of the satisfaction level with the HP. This shows that, in addition to trying to improve satisfaction, organizations should also explore influencing loyalty directly, perhaps by the strategic use of service attribute perceptions. ORIGINALITY/VALUE The study shows that customer perceptions at the service attribute level can often be the key to the generation and management of customer satisfaction and loyalty. It also has significance for how satisfaction and loyalty with HPs can be improved in a hospital setting.
Aemon: Information-agnostic Mix-flow Scheduling in Data Center Networks

Data center networks carry a mix of flows, some with deadlines and some without. Existing mix-flow transport designs assume prior knowledge of flow sizes, which may not hold in practice. Without such information, mix-flow scheduling becomes particularly challenging due to (1) the lack of precise rate control of deadline flows with minimal impact on non-deadline flows; (2) difficulty in assigning priority to both two types of flows. We present Aemon, an information-agnostic mix-flow transport. Aemon relies on a new congestion control mechanism based on urgency---the ratio between the elapsed transmission time and the remaining time to deadline---to strategically modulate the sending rate of deadline flows. In addition, Aemon uses a novel two-level priority scheduling policy to differentiate mix flows. As time goes, a deadline flow's priority level increases as its urgency rises, and a non-deadline flow's priority level decreases as it sends more bytes similar to PIAS to approximate Shortest-Job-First policy. While in the same priority level, non-deadline flows take precedence to avoid possible starvation caused by aggressive deadline flows. Extensive simulations on ns-2 show that Aemon outperforms existing information-agnostic schemes and is only slightly worse than state-of-the-art Karuna.
An anthropometric survey of growth and physique of the populations of Karkar Island and Lufa subdistrict, New Guinea.

Child growth, adult physique and somatic changes in old age are compared in the two populations by means of a cross-sectional survey. The results indicate that the physique of the Lufa Highlanders has features in common with high-altitude populations. Throughout the growth period the Lufa people are heavier, more muscular and skeletally more robust than the Karkar Islanders. Maturity is reached earlier in the coastal population and the close relation between adult height, child growth rate and maturity observed in some parts of New Guinea, including Lufa, does not apply to the island community. The two populations are similar in adult height but differ significantly in body proportions and in dimensions of the head and face. Ageing proceeds rapidly after the third decade and the effects appear with greater uniformity than in Western populations. Decrease in body mass is particularly striking. Physiological and pathological ageing together with secular trends contribute to the variation in anthropometric characteristics with age, although the relative contributions of these phenomena appear to differ in the two populations.
Liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma: The impact of human immunodeficiency virus infection—21 plus 13

We read with interest the article by Vibert et al. recently published in HEPATOLOGY. The authors described their single-center experience with liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–positive patients (21 cases) and compared those patients to HIV-negative patients (61 cases) who were also affected by HCC. Because of the higher dropout rate among the HIV-positive patients (23.8% versus 11.4%), HIV infection impaired the results of liver transplantation for HCC on an intent-to-treat basis but had no significant impact on overall survival and recurrence-free survival after liver transplantation. In our center from 2005 to 2010, we performed transplantation for 13 HIV-positive patients affected by HCC. The characteristics of this cohort are reported in Table 1. Unlike Vibert et al.’s patients, none of our patients were dropped from the waiting list. None experienced HCC recurrence, although three patients were outside the Milan criteria at listing (23%); only one of those patients (7.7%) had microvascular invasion. Seventy-seven percent had grade 2 and 23% had grade 3 HCC according to Edmondson-Steiner. The mean number and total diameter of the HCC nodules were 2 6 1 and 46 6 29 mm, respectively, upon pathological analysis. Before transplantation, all patients were treated with transarterial chemoembolization or combined transarterial chemoembolization and radio frequency ablation; the mean necrosis value was 67% 6 39% for the HCC nodules upon pathological analysis. Finally, the 1-, 3-, and 5-year patient and graft survival rates were 84.6%, 84.6%, and 70.5% and 84.6%, 84.6%, and 84.6%, respectively, with a median follow-up of 35 months (range 1⁄4 2-73 months). In conclusion, our experience seems to be comparable to the experience reported by Vibert et al. except for the absence of HCC recurrence, which was present in 23.8% of the patients investigated in the French cohort.
Evaluation of MALDI-TOF MS in the microbiology laboratory

A rapida identificacao de microrganismos no laboratorio de microbiologia clinica e de extrema importância para direcionar o manejo e o tratamento de pacientes. Geralmente, a identificacao bacteriana por metodos bioquimicos convencionais necessita de 18 a 24 horas para o crescimento e o isolamento da colonia bacteriana e, pelo menos, 24 horas adicionais para a identificacao da especie. Novas tecnologias em microbiologia tem focado no desenvolvimento de metodos relacionados com o diagnostico rapido das infeccoes da corrente sanguinea, uma vez que essas infeccoes sao associadas a alta morbimortalidade.
Gender role and the use of university library website resources: A social cognitive theory perspective

Existing studies have reported that significant gender differences exist in the use of technology. For example, males have higher levels of computer self-efficacy, which enable them to utilize technology more so than their counterparts. This difference could create a potential disparity in the benefits of the utilization of university library website resources (ULWR). The findings of this study show that male and female users’ computer self-efficacy is very different. Female users have lower levels of computer self-efficacy and subsequently, their intention to use ULWR is derived from a website’s ease-of-use. In contrast, male users’ intentions to use ULWR are derived from the subjective norm, a finding that challenges expectations based on social cognitive theory which posits that females are more likely than males to be influenced by others’ opinions. It is interpreted that males are much more goal- and performance-oriented than females. Detailed theoretical and managerial implications are offered.
Hepatic gene expression discriminates responders and nonresponders in treatment of chronic hepatitis C viral infection.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Pegylated interferon (IFN)-alpha plus ribavirin is the most effective treatment of chronic hepatitis C but has unpleasant side effects and high costs. A large proportion of patients do not respond to therapy for reasons that are unclear. We used gene expression profiling to investigate the molecular basis for treatment failure. METHODS Expression profiling was performed on percutaneous needle liver biopsy specimens taken before therapy. Gene expression levels were compared among 15 nonresponder, 16 responder, and 20 normal liver biopsy specimens. Differential gene expression was confirmed using real-time polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS We identified 18 genes whose expression differed significantly between all responders and all nonresponders (P < .005). Many of these 18 genes are IFN sensitive and 2 (ISG15/USP18) are linked in a novel IFN-regulatory pathway, suggesting a possible rationale for treatment resistance. Using a number of independent classifier analyses, an 8-gene subset accurately predicted treatment response for 30 of 31 patients. The classifier analyses were applicable to patients with genotype 1 infection and were not correlated with viral load, disease activity, or fibrosis. CONCLUSIONS Hepatic gene expression profiling identified consistent differences in patients who subsequently fail treatment with pegylated IFN-alpha plus ribavirin: up-regulation of a specific set of IFN-responsive genes predicts nonresponse to exogenous therapy. These data may be of use in predicting clinical responses to treatment.
Suicide Attempt and Sexual Risk Behavior: Relationship among Adolescents

The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between a history of suicide attempt and a range of current sexual risk behaviors in a large sample of sexually high-risk adolescents. Baseline data from 1,245 sexually active 15 to 21 year olds were collected as part of a multi-site, randomized trial of a brief HIV prevention program. Measures were collected using audio computer assisted self-interviews. Accounting for demographic, contextual, and substance use variables, a lifetime history of suicide attempt significantly added to multivariate regression models predicting sexual risk. Inconsistent condom users were almost twice as likely to have attempted suicide, and adolescents with an STI diagnosis were approximately twice as likely to have a history of suicide attempt. A history of suicidal behavior can be identified by clinicians and appears to be an important marker for sexual risk, which may represent an expression of emotional distress or a passive form of self-injury for suicidal adolescents.
Contamination Thresholds of Pt- and ${\rm RuO}_{2}$-Coated Ohmic Switches

Micro- and nano-mechanical switches are being considered as complements to solid state transistors. While several different device designs may satisfy performance requirements, contact reliability due to hydrocarbon contamination remains a critical concern in each. This issue can be addressed by identifying contact materials and environments that optimize immunity to contaminants. Here we demonstrate that RuO2, a conducting oxide, does not exhibit contaminant-induced degradation at up to 130 parts per million (PPM) benzene in a nitrogen/oxygen background, and experiences minimal electrical resistance rise at 1,300 PPM. In comparison, Pt-coated switches degrade significantly at only 0.02 PPM benzene contaminant level in nitrogen background. This paper establishes that a proper selection of materials and environment is a promising path toward achieving reliable micro- and nanoswitches.
Reduced Egg Investment Can Conceal Helper Effects in Cooperatively Breeding Birds

Cooperative breeding systems are characterized by nonbreeding helpers that assist breeders in offspring care. However, the benefits to offspring of being fed by parents and helpers in cooperatively breeding birds can be difficult to detect. We offer experimental evidence that helper effects can be obscured by an undocumented maternal tactic. In superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus), mothers breeding in the presence of helpers lay smaller eggs of lower nutritional content that produce lighter chicks, as compared with those laying eggs in the absence of helpers. Helpers compensate fully for such reductions in investment and allow mothers to benefit through increased survival to the next breeding season. We suggest that failure to consider maternal egg-investment strategies can lead to underestimation of the force of selection acting on helping in avian cooperative breeders.
Stable isotope analyses on archived fish scales reveal the long‐term effect of nitrogen loads on carbon cycling in rivers

Stable isotope analysis of organic matter in sediment records has long been used to track historical changes in productivity and carbon cycling in marine and lacustrine ecosystems. While flow dynamics preclude stratigraphic measurements of riverine sediments, such retrospective analysis is important for understanding biogeochemical cycling in running waters. Unique collections of riverine fish scales were used to analyse δ15N and δ13C variations in the food web of two European rivers that experience different degrees of anthropogenic pressure. Over the past four decades, dissolved inorganic N loading remained low and constant in the Teno River (70°N, Finland); in contrast, N loading increased fourfold in the Scorff River (47°N, France) over the same period. Archived scales of Atlantic salmon parr, a riverine life‐stage that feeds on aquatic invertebrates, revealed high δ15N values in the Scorff River reflecting anthropogenic N inputs to that riverine environment. A strong correlation between dissolved inorganic N loads and δ13C values in fish scales was observed in the Scorff River, whereas no trend was found in the Teno River. This result suggests that anthropogenic N‐nutrients enhanced atmospheric C uptake by primary producers and its transfer to fish. Our results illustrate for the first time that, as for lakes and marine ecosystems, historical changes in anthropogenic N loading can affect C cycling in riverine food webs, and confirm the long‐term interactions between N and C biogeochemical cycles in running waters.
In-vitro studies of diclofenac sodium controlled-release from biopolymeric hydrophilic matrices.

PURPOSE The objective of this study was to develop uncoated HPMC matrix tablets, evaluating the relationship and influence of different content levels of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), starch, and lactose, in order to achieve a zero-order release of Diclofenac Sodium. METHODS HPMC matrix tablets of Diclofenac Sodium using microcrystalline cellulose (MCC), starch, and lactose were prepared by wet granulation process. The USP paddle method was selected to perform the dissolution profiles carried out in 900 mL 0.1 N HCl, and phosphate buffer. RESULTS There was no significant difference in drug release between the hydrophilic matrices when the HPMC concentration was modified in low percentage. Release kinetics of Diclofenac Sodium from these swollen matrices was principally regulated by starch (17 percent) or lactose (17 percent), even on the presence of MCC. When starch (8.5 percent) and lactose (8.5 percent) were mixed at lower concentration in a ratio 1:1, MCC (5 percent or 7,5 percent) appeared to control the drug release. The release profile remained unchanged after three months storage of tablets. The best-fit release kinetics was achieved with the zero-order plot, followed by the Higuchi and first-order equations. The data obtained proved that the formulations are useful for a sustained release of Diclofenac, due to the percentage released after 8 hours is nearly to 70 percent. CONCLUSIONS The release of Diclofenac Sodium was influenced by the presence of MCC, and by the different concentrations of starch and lactose. Drug release kinetics from these formulations corresponded best to the zero-order kinetics. Compared to conventional tablets, release of the model drug from these HPMC matrix tablets was prolonged; as a result, an oral release dosage form to avoid the gastrointestinal adverse effects was achieved.
Coding and noncoding variants in HFM1, MLH3, MSH4, MSH5, RNF212, and RNF212B affect recombination rate in cattle

We herein study genetic recombination in three cattle populations from France, New Zealand, and the Netherlands. We identify 2,395,177 crossover (CO) events in 94,516 male gametes, and 579,996 CO events in 25,332 female gametes. The average number of COs was found to be larger in males (23.3) than in females (21.4). The heritability of global recombination rate (GRR) was estimated at 0.13 in males and 0.08 in females, with a genetic correlation of 0.66 indicating that shared variants are influencing GRR in both sexes. A genome-wide association study identified seven quantitative trait loci (QTL) for GRR. Fine-mapping following sequence-based imputation in 14,401 animals pinpointed likely causative coding (5) and noncoding (1) variants in genes known to be involved in meiotic recombination (HFM1, MSH4, RNF212, MLH3, MSH5) for 5/7 QTL, and noncoding variants (3) in RNF212B for 1/7 QTL. This suggests that this RNF212 paralog might also be involved in recombination. Most of the identified mutations had significant effects in both sexes, with three of them each accounting for ∼10% of the genetic variance in males.
Low‐noise, low‐sensitivity, active‐RC allpole filters using impedance tapering

In this paper it is shown that active‐RC filters whose sensitivity to component tolerances can be minimized by impedance tapering, will also have low output thermal noise. It is shown that impedance tapering will also reduce output thermal noise in OTA‐C filters. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.