Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vacancies and impurities in aluminum and magnesium.

The vacancy formation energies and (Mg, Al, and Si) impurity heats of solution are calculated for Al and Mg using a first-principles pseudopotential approach and large supercells. While the interaction of the defects considered here are already negligible for reasonably small unit cells, adequate sampling of the Brillouin zone is found to be essential for these metallic systems, even for systems containing more than 100 atoms per unit cell; e.g., the vacancy formation energy of Al for 108 atoms per cell has the incorrect sign if only the \ensuremath{\Gamma} point is sampled. When the volume and structural relaxations are treated consistently, heats of formation and solution and relaxation volumes are obtained that are in good agreement with the available experimental data. Simple trends in the relaxations around the impurities in the various materials can be understood in terms of the size of the impurities compared with the host atoms. Contrary to some commonly used models, the energetics of the impurities are found to be dominated by electronic, rather than elastic, contributions. The defect-induced changes to the local electronic structure are also discussed.
Effects of electrodermal lability and stimulus significance on electrodermal response amplitude to stimulus change.

The effects of electrodermal lability and stimulus significance on the amplitude of the skin conductance response (SCR) component of the orienting response (OR) to stimulus change were examined. Subjects were pre-selected in terms of the frequency of nonspecific responses (NSRs) displayed during a period of no stimulation. In Experiment 1 (N = 56), high and low NSR male subjects received 12 presentations of a 5-sec, 1000 Hz tone followed by a test trial on which tone frequency was 500 Hz. Half of the subjects in each NSR group were required to perform a reaction time (RT) response to stimulus offset. Although high NSR groups and RT groups displayed larger test-trial responses than low NSR and no-RT groups respectively, stimulus change alone was sufficient to produce an increase in SCR amplitude. In Experiment 2 (N = 40), high and low NSR male subjects received 12 visually-presented female names, and on trial 13, half the subjects in each NSR group received their own name, while the other half received a neutral male name. High NSR groups and own-name groups displayed larger test-trial responses than low NSR groups and neutral-name groups respectively. However, stimulus change alone was sufficient to produce an increase in SCR amplitude in the high NSR group. The results are interpreted as indicating that stimulus change alone is sufficient to produce an increase in OR amplitude, and that the relationship between stimulus change and stimulus significance is additive rather than multiplicative.
Pretreatment with alfentanil reduces pain caused by propofol.

We have compared two groups (n = 22) of unpremedicated patients to determine if the pain caused by injection of propofol could be modified by alfentanil. In group I, alfentanil 1 mg was given as a bolus i.v. injection 15 s before administration of propofol i.v. , while group II received saline. Propofol was given in 20-mg increments every 4 s. All injections were given through the same i.v. cannula on the dorsum of one hand. We found that alfentanil pretreatment reduced pain on injection of propofol (P = 0.001).
Sexual behaviour of adolescent boys -- a cause for concern.

A study examines the sexual behavior and level of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) of unmarried adolescent boys from 8 randomly selected villages of the Anand taluka in Gujarat, India. A house to house survey was conducted on all unmarried and sexually active males who were interviewed with the help of structured and pretested questionnaires. These questionnaires consisted of questions on their sexual practices; awareness of STDs and AIDS; and knowledge of proper condom use. Results revealed that from a total sample of 178 adolescent boys the mean age at first coitus was 18.01 years, and in over 87% of the cases a prostitute was the first sexual contact. About 82 of the sample population (46%) had not heard of AIDS and 34% had no knowledge of other sexually transmitted diseases. About 67 boys (37.6%) had never seen a condom and only 9 (5.05%) had ever used one. The mean knowledge score about correct condom use was only 1.44 on a 10-point scale and was found to be associated with the economic status of the subject population, the type of sexual partner, and the educational status of the parents.
The health of female sex workers in Hong Kong: do we care?

The commercial sex industry in Hong Kong is rife. In 2002 there were at least 200 000 female sex workers (FSWs) in Hong Kong. And in a 1997 telephone survey of a representative sample of the Hong Kong male population aged 18 to 60 years 14% of the respondents reported having visited a commercial sex worker in the previous 6 months. According to the population census of the same year 2330 694 males aged 16 to 59 years were resident in Hong Kong; 14% of this group equates to 326297 males- Hence the total population involved in the commercial sex industry either as a worker or a client exceeded half a million; the total financial transactions would be phenomenal. (excerpt)
Tight Bounds on Vertex Connectivity Under Sampling

A fundamental result by Karger [10] states that for any λ-edge-connected graph with n nodes, independently sampling each edge with probability p = Ω(log (n)/λ) results in a graph that has edge connectivity Ω(λp), with high probability. This article proves the analogous result for vertex connectivity, when either vertices or edges are sampled. We show that for any k-vertex-connected graph G with n nodes, if each node is independently sampled with probability p=Ω(√log(n)/k), then the subgraph induced by the sampled nodes has vertex connectivity Ω(kp2), with high probability. If edges are sampled with probability p = Ω(log (n)/k), then the sampled subgraph has vertex connectivity Ω(kp), with high probability. Both bounds are existentially optimal.
Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs)

Historically, the response of the legal, medical, and mental health/advocacy systems to sexual assault has been inadequate and uncoordinated. To address this problem, communities have developed coordinated sexual assault response teams (SARTs) to address these problems. SARTs are community-level interventions that seek to build positive relationships and increase collaboration among sexual assault responders. SARTs hope to improve both the community response to sexual assault victims and the processing of sexual assault cases through the criminal justice system. This article has three aims: to summarize the historical development of SARTs in the United States, to review the empirical literature on SARTs’ effectiveness at improving multidisciplinary relationships, legal outcomes, and victims’ help-seeking experiences; and to review the empirical literature on the challenges SARTs face, which may hamper their effectiveness. Findings suggest that SARTs are a promising practice, but face many challenges; further methodologically rigorous research is needed to more fully understand these interventions. Implications for policy, practice, and future research are discussed.
Live Longer with Vitamin D?

The global burden of vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency is of great concern for public health. According to recent studies, vitamin D deficiency is an important etiological factor in the pathogenesis of many chronic diseases. Whether or not there is a connection between 25-hydoxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) status and overall mortality is a matter of considerable debate. A new meta-analysis confirmed that low 25(OH)D levels were associated with a significant increased risk for all-cause mortality. Individuals with severe vitamin D deficiency have almost twice the mortality rate as those with 25(OH)D level ≥ 30 ng/mL, (≥75 nmol/L). Unlike previous meta-analyses which suggested that serum 25(OH)D > 50 ng/mL was associated with increased mortality, this new analysis found that there was no increased risk even when 25(OH)D levels were ≥70 ng/mL. In general, closer attention should be paid to vitamin D deficiency in medical and pharmaceutical practice than has been the case hitherto. The results of these studies are consistent with the recommendation to improve the general vitamin D status in children and adults by means of a healthy approach to sunlight exposure, consumption of foods containing vitamin D and supplementation with vitamin D preparations.
Influence of coronary artery disease assessment and treatment in the incidence of cardiac events in renal transplant recipients

De Lima JJG, Gowdak LHW, de Paula FJ, Arantes RL, Ianhez LE, Ramires JAF, Krieger EM. Influence of coronary artery disease assessment and treatment in the incidence of cardiac events in renal transplant recipients. Clin Transplant 2010: 24: 474–480. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
Hip fractures in the elderly: predictors of one year mortality.

OBJECTIVE To determine the one year mortality following hip fracture in an ambulatory, community dwelling, cognitively intact elderly population and to examine the role of specific type, number, and severity of associated medical comorbidities. DESIGN Prospective, consecutive. METHODS Six hundred twelve elderly who sustained a non-pathologic hip fracture were followed. RESULTS Twenty-four patients (4%) died during hospitalization; seventy-eight (12.7%) died within one year of fracture. The factors that were predictive of mortality, based on multivariate analysis, were patient age > 85 years, preinjury dependency in basic activities of daily living, a history of malignancy other than skin cancer, American Society of Anesthesiologists rating of operative risk 3 or 4, and the development of one or more in-hospital postoperative complications; all factors other than the development of an in-hospital complication were independent of treatment. CONCLUSION These results indicate that efforts at reducing one year mortality after hip fracture should be directed at the prevention of postoperative complications.
STRESS ANALYSIS IN ABDOMINAL AORTIC ANEURYSMS APPLYING FLOW INDUCED WALL PRESSURE

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a localized dilatation of the aortic wall. The lack of an accurate AAA rupture risk index remains an important problem in the clinical management of the disease. To accurately estimate AAA rupture risk, detailed information on patient specific wall stress distribution and aortic wall tissue yield stress is required. A complete fluid structure interaction (FSI) study of the wall forces is impractical and thus of limited clinical value. On the other hand, isolated static structural stress analysis based on a uniform wall loading is a widely used approach for AAA rupture risk estimation that however neglects flow induced wall stress variation. Aim of this study was to assess the merit of a decoupled fluid structure analysis of AAA wall stress. Anatomically correct patient specific AAA wall models were created by 3D reconstruction of computed tomography (CT) images. Flow simulations were carried out with inflow and outflow boundary conditions obtained from patient extracted data. Static structural stress analysis was performed applying a uniform pressure wall loading and a flow induced non-uniform pressure loading. In the structural analysis a hyperelastic arterial wall model and an elastic intraluminal thrombus (ILT) model were applied. Our results show that the decoupled fluid structural analysis approach yields a more realistic AAA wall stress distribution than the isolated structural stress analysis approach thus providing a practical alternative to the more complete but computationally intensive FSI study.
AN IMPROVED ROUND ROBIN CPU SCHEDULING ALGORITHM

One of the most important components of the computer resource is the CPU. CPU scheduling involves a careful examination of pending processes to determine the most efficient way to service the requests. CPU scheduling is the basis of multiprogrammed operating systems. Most CPU scheduling algorithms concentrate on maximizing CPU utilization and throughput and minimizing turnaround time, waiting time, response time and number of context switching for a set of requests. Some of the popular CPU scheduling algorithms are First-Come-First-Served (FCFS), Shortest Job First (SJF), Priority Scheduling and Round Robin (RR). FCFS is the simplest form of CPU scheduling algorithm. This algorithm is simple to implement, but it generally does not provide the fastest service. Round Robin being the most popular choice in time shared system, but it may not be suitable for real time systems because of larger waiting time, turnaround time and more number of context switches. This paper describes an improvement in RR. A simulator program has been designed and tested the Improved Round Robin (IRR). After improvement in RR it has been found that the waiting time and turnaround time have been reduced drastically.
Online System Identification of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Via In-Field Experiments

The dynamic characteristic of an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is affected when it is reconfigured with different payloads. It is desirable to have an updated model, such that the control and guidance law can be redesigned to obtain better performance. Hence, we develop a method to enable online identification of AUV dynamics via in-field experiments, where the AUV is commanded to execute a compact set of maneuvers under doublet excitation. The identification process has two stages. In the training stage, state variable filter and recursive least square (SVF-RLS) estimator is used to estimate the unknown parameters. In the validation stage, the prediction capability of the model is checked using a fresh data set. The parameters converged within 12 s in the experiments using five different thrusts. Validation results show that the identified models are able to explain 78% to 92% of the output variation. Next, we compare the SVF-RLS estimator with the conventional offline identification method. The comparison shows that the SVF-RLS estimator is better in terms of prediction accuracy, computational cost and training time. The usefulness of the identified models is highlighted in two applications. We use it to estimate the turning radius of the AUV at different speeds, and to design a gain-scheduled controller.
Direct decoding of uplink space-time block coded multicarrier code division multiple access systems

The uplink of a space-time block coded multicarrier code division multiple access (MC-CDMA) system endowed with a uniform linear array (ULA) at the base station of macrocell is studied. Transmission takes place over frequency-selective fading channels and the transmitted symbol of a user is encoded by Tarokh's rate 1 space-time block encoder, (V. Tarokh and H. Jafarkhani, July 1999) from real orthogonal design, with three transmit antennas. An algorithm is proposed to blindly estimate the data symbol sequence and the direction of arrival (DOA) of each user without determining the space-time vector channels. The algorithm employs an ESPRIT- like method (Y. Zeng et al.) to separate multiple co-channel users with different impinging DOAs, then exploits the structure of space- time block coding (STBC) in combination with the subspace method to estimate the original symbol sequences for multiple users. In particular, the theoretical analysis shows that the signal subspace defined by the received data covariance matrix can be separated by users' DOA, so the joint diagonalization step of many matrices due to the method presented by A. Swindlehurst (April 2002) is avoided, which saves large computations. Computer simulations illustrate the overall performances of the proposed algorithm.
Confounding and effect modification: possible explanation for variation in the results on the association between oral and systemic diseases.

OBJECTIVES There is large variation in the results of studies on the association between periodontitis and systemic diseases. The variation might be explained by the fact that the association between periodontitis and systemic diseases is confounded, or the association might be modified by extraneous factors. In this article, we show, using simple examples, how confounding and effect modification may cause variation in results. In addition, these examples show that uncontrolled or partially controlled confounders can induce spurious associations. CONCLUSION Confounding and effect modification may explain the variation in the results of studies on the association between periodontitis and systemic diseases.
‘Let’s Get Them Involved’ . . . to Some Extent: Analyzing Online News Participation

The development of social media applications, such as blogs, Facebook, and Twitter, has offered new participatory opportunities for everyday media users. This article contributes to research by looking into one specific aspect of the increasingly more participatory media ecology—the news comment feature. Drawing on a quantitative content analysis of 1,100 news pieces, as well as spaces for user comments, the article reveals both how this emerging public space is shaped by the media company and, later, appropriated by their participating users. Our analysis reveals, for instance, that the online newspaper prefers to allow users to comment on lightweight news such as sports and entertainment. The users, however, prefer to post comments on news covering changes in proximity space, politics, and health care, while also clearly ignoring the most available news pieces (sport and entertainment). In the concluding section, the discrepancy in preferences is discussed.
Early management of shock and prophylaxis of acute renal failure in traumatic rhabdomyolysis.

SEISMIC catastrophes leave in their wake survivors trapped under the rubble who suffer from extensive muscle damage and its devastating sequelae of hemodynamic and metabolic disturbances and acute renal failure.1 We review here the pathogenesis of shock and acute renal failure associated with traumatic rhabdomyolysis and suggest guidelines for the early management of shock and the prophylaxis of acute renal failure due to the crush syndrome. Rhabdomyolysis, myoglobinuria, and renal failure have been known to follow massive crush injury.2 3 4 5 6 Indeed, it is now 50 years after the classic description of the crush syndrome in patients injured during the bombing of .
Fabrication of Polycaprolactone/Polyurethane Loading Conjugated Linoleic Acid and Its Antiplatelet Adhesion

Polycaprolactone/polyurethane (PCL/PU) fibrous scaffold was loaded with conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) by electrospinning method to improve the hemocompatibility of the polymeric surface. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observation were employed to characterize the chemical structure and the changing morphology of electrospun PCL/PU and PCL/PU loaded with CLA (PCL/PU-CLA) scaffolds. Platelet adhesion and whole blood clot formation tests were used to evaluate the effect of CLA on antithrombotic property of PCL/PU-CLA scaffold. Endothelial cells (EC) were also seeded on the scaffold to examine the difference in the morphology of EC layer and platelet attachment with and without the presence of CLA. SEM results showed that CLA supported the spreading and proliferation of EC and PCL/PU-CLA surface induced lower platelet adhesion as well as attachment of other blood cells compared to the PCL/PU one. These results suggest that electrospinning method can successfully combine the antiplatelet effects of CLA to improve hemocompatibility of PCL/PU scaffolds for applications in artificial blood vessels.
Modelling broilers' abdominal fat in response to dietary treatments.

Neural networks are capable of modelling any complex function and can be used in poultry production. Dietary crude fibre (CF) and exogenous enzymes (exEn) extensively affected abdominal fat (AF) of broilers. Current methods to study AF and its correlation with dietary CF levels and exEn supplements are costly, laborious and time-consuming. The purpose of this study was to develop an artificial neural network-genetic algorithm (ANN-GA) to model data on the response of broiler chickens (AF) to CF and exEn from 0 to 42 days of age. A data set containing eight treatments was divided to the train, validation, and test data set of the ANN models. The information about feeding eight diets at two periods [starter (0-21 days of age) and grower (22-42 days of age)] were used to estimate AF of broilers by ANN-GA. A multilayer feed-forward neural network with different structures was developed using matlab software, and optimal values for the ANN weights were obtained using the genetic algorithm (GA). Crude fibre, and exEn were used as input variables and AF of broilers was output variable. The best model of ANN-GA was determined based on the train root mean square error (RMSE). The best selected ANN-GA showed desirable results, RMSE, 0.1286% and R(2) coefficient, 0.876 for test data.
Anticancer drug development: moving away from the old habits.

DOI:10.1097/CCO.0000000000000076 In the 1902 masterpiece silent movie by Georges Méliès, Le Voyage dans la Lune (a trip to the moon), a group of bright scientists were launched to the moon (Fig. 1). While exploring, they met a moon inhabitant and, in fear, their first reaction was to destroy him with an umbrella attack. This innovative movie from the beginning of cinema is an amusing story made to entertain people. However, interesting is how it portrays the reaction of human beings to something they do not understand. When confronted with fear, the instinctive survival mechanism is to attack. This could well be a selected behavior according to Darwin’s theory of evolution. When it comes to research about cancer drugs, it is very likely that we act like George Méliès’ astronauts. Oncological drug research started in the 1940s during the Second World War (WWII). After a German air raid sunk a North American ship carrying chemical weapons in the Italian port of Bari, thousands of civilians and allied soldiers were exposed to deadly mustard gas [1]. It was noticed that among the many injuries caused by mustard gas, myeloid and lymphoid suppression were among them. Shortly thereafter, mustard agents started to be used to treat hematologic malignancies, and several other alkylating agents were developed to treat other cancers [2]. A later important political landmark was the signing of the National Cancer Act of 1971 by United States (US) President Richard Nixon, starting the so-called War on Cancer. The aim of this effort was to ‘strengthen the [US] National Cancer Institute in order to more effectively carry out the national effort against cancer’ [3]. Since then, oncological drug development has expanded quickly, and today we have an extensive portfolio of cytotoxic drugs able to kill cells, cancerous or not. Ironically, the modern era of drug development started during WWII and was boosted by the War on Cancer. So, despite being so aggressive in reacting to this unknown disease, why are we still so far from curing most cancers? And why are our treatments so toxic until today? The answer to these questions can be related to our perception of our ‘enemies’ and to our ways of developing strategies to ‘kill’ them.
Fluctuations of eigenvalues of random normal matrices

In this article, we consider a fairly general potential in the plane and the corresponding Boltzmann-Gibbs distribution of eigenvalues of random normal matrices. As the order of the matrices tends to infinity, the eigenvalues condensate on a certain compact subset of the plane—the “droplet. ” We prove that fluctuations of linear statistics of eigenvalues of random normal matrices converge on compact subsets of the interior of the droplet to a Gaussian field, and we discuss various ramifications of this result.