Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High prevalence of apical periodontitis amongst smokers in a sample of Spanish adults.

AIM To study the prevalence of apical periodontitis in smoker and nonsmoker patients. METHODOLOGY In a cross-sectional study, the records of 180 subjects, 109 smokers and 71 nonsmokers, were examined. All participants underwent a full-mouth radiographic survey incorporating 14 periapical radiographs. The periapical region of all teeth, excluding third molars, was examined. Periapical status was assessed using the Periapical Index score. Statistical analyses were conducted using the Cohen's Kappa test, analysis of variance and logistic regression. RESULTS Apical periodontitis in at least one tooth was found in 74% of smokers and in 41% of nonsmokers (P < 0.01; odds ratio = 4.2; 95% C. I. = 2.2-7.9). Amongst smoker patients 5% of the teeth had apical periodontitis, whereas in nonsmoker subjects 3% of teeth were affected (P = 0.008; odds ratio = 1.5; 95% C. I. = 1.1-2.1). The percentage of root filled teeth in smoker and nonsmoker patients was 2.5% and 1.5%, respectively (P < 0.05; odds ratio = 1.7; C. I. 95% = 1.0-2.6). CONCLUSIONS In this study population, smoking was significantly associated with a greater frequency of root canal treatment and with an increased prevalence of apical periodontitis.
The frequency of déjà vu (déjà rêve) and the effects of age, dream recall frequency and personality factors

Summary. A question about deja reve (already dreamt, a form of deja experience) was included in a large “sleep, dreams, and personality” survey of 444 (mainly psychology) students at three German universities. The incidence of deja reve was high (95.2%) and, like most other deja experiences, was negatively correlated with age. In addition to dream recall frequency, the most influential personality dimensions were thin boundaries and absorption. Additional research should use diary measures and experimental approaches in addition to the trait and dream variables.
Heat transfer in small piston compressors.

This paper presents an investigation about heat transfer in small, fast running piston compressors. Focus of interest is the heat transfer from the compression chamber, into adjacent structures. In a second step the influence of geometrical issues in terms of size, spatial distribution and shape of inlet and outlet ports has been studied. An - idealized - compressor system has been modeled with a commercially available CFD program. The kinetics of the crank gear as well as the dynamics of inlet and outlet valve was implemented in the model. Constant temperature at boundaries has been described to keep calculation time low. The first section of the paper describes the basic modeling of piston and valve motion and the dynamic discretization of the fluid volume. In the second section 4 different valves are presented with differing geometrical shape, size and arrangement of ports. Time dependent heat fluxes and heat transfer coefficients are calculated for all involved physical interfaces. It is shown how the variation of pure geometrical terms influences the "thermal behavior" of the whole system. A short outlook of how these results could be used to optimize the valve system from the thermal point of view concludes the paper.
Changes in Lactate and Other Ions in Plaque and Saliva after a Fluoride Rinse and Subsequent Sucrose Administration

The purpose of this study was to examine plaque and saliva composition after a fluoride rinse and subsequent sucrose application. Fifteen subjects accumulated plaque for 48 h, and then rinsed with a fluoride rinse based on 228 Ìg/g (ppm) Na2SiF6 and some received no rinse. After 60 min, upper and lower buccal molar plaque samples and 1-min saliva samples were collected. The subjects then rinsed with 10% g/g sucrose solution, and 7 and 15 min later, a second and a third set of samples were collected. Plaque fluid and clarified saliva were then recovered from these samples by centrifugation, and the remaining plaque acid extracted. The plaque fluid, centrifuged saliva, and plaque extract samples were then analyzed using micro techniques for pH, free calcium, phosphate, organic acids (plaque fluid and saliva only) and fluoride. Considering both the fluoride rinse and no-rinse groups, the most notable compositional changes in saliva 7 min after the sucrose rinse were pH –0.40 unit, free calcium 0.42 mM, lactate 5.2 mM, phosphate –1.3 mM, and fluoride 2.8 ÌM; while in plaque fluid, the corresponding changes were pH –1.59 unit, free calcium 1.5 mM, lactate 35 mM, phosphate –1.6 mM and fluoride –26 ÌM. After sucrose rinsing, undersaturation was found with respect to dicalcium phosphate dihydrate in saliva and plaque fluid and with respect to tooth enamel in some plaque fluid samples. Plaque fluid composition appeared to be strongly influenced by salivary clearance, diffusive loss of ions into the water phase of the rinse, and lower jaw pooling of the sucrose and fluoride components of the rinses. After the experimental rinse, the fluoride concentration in plaque fluid [86 B 22 mM (upper molar site), 162 B 150 mM (lower molar site)], saliva (26 B 18 mM), and whole plaque [99 B 97 Ìg/g (upper molar site), 197 B 412 Ìg/g (lower molar site)] was comparable to the values in previous studies using this rinse. These very high plaque fluid fluoride concentrations, compared with the ‘no-rinse’ samples, induced an approximately 0.3-unit increase in the plaque fluid pH 7 min after the sucrose rinse, a small decrease (approximately 20%) in lactate production and a modest increase in enamel saturation. Although these changes were all statistically significant, no correlation was found between the decrease in lactate concentration and plaque fluid fluoride, pH or whole plaque fluoride. Copyright © 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel
Designing a 3-D Printing-Based Channel Emulator With Printable Electromagnetic Materials

This paper explored the possibility of building channel emulators by utilizing fused deposition modeling (FDM) three-dimensional (3-D) printing technology. The FDM 3-D printing provides a rapid and economic method to produce parts with different shapes. An optimizing algorithm was developed for obtaining the printing pattern and loss profile. Parts with different dielectric constants and loss tangents can be printed. Those parts will be placed or directly printed on a low-loss transmission line to modify its transmission or reflection. As a result, different channel emulators can be built to emulate the S-parameter and eye diagrams of a target channel with the advantage of avoiding complicated electronic components and only being limited in the frequency range by the transmission line and attached connectors.
Molecular Interactions between the Specialist Herbivore Manduca sexta ( Lepidoptera , Sphingidae ) and Its Natural Host Nicotiana attenuata . II . Accumulation of Plant mRNAs in Response to Insect-Derived Cues 1

The transcriptional changes in Nicotiana attenuata Torr. ex Wats. elicited by attack from Manduca sexta larvae were previously characterized by mRNA differential display (D. Hermsmeier, U. Schittko, I.T. Baldwin [2001] Plant Physiol 125: 683–700). Because herbivore attack causes wounding, we disentangled wound-induced changes from those elicited by M. sexta oral secretions and regurgitant (R) with a northern analysis of a subset of the differentially expressed transcripts encoding threonine deaminase, pathogen-induced oxygenase, a photosystem II light-harvesting protein, a retrotransposon homolog, and three unknown genes. R extensively modified wound-induced responses by suppressing wound-induced transcripts (type I) or amplifying the wound-induced response (type II) further down-regulating wound-suppressed transcripts (type IIa) or up-regulating wound-induced transcripts (type IIb). It is interesting that although all seven genes displayed their R-specific patterns in the treated tissues largely independently of the leaf or plant developmental stage, only the type I genes displayed strong systemic induction. Ethylene was not responsible for any of the specific patterns of expression. R collected from different tobacco feeding insects, M. sexta, Manduca quinquemaculata, and Heliothis virescens, as well as from different instars of M. sexta were equally active. The active components of M. sexta R were heat stable and active in minute amounts, comparable with real transfer rates during larval feeding. Specific expression patterns may indicate that the plant is adjusting its wound response to efficiently fend off M. sexta, but may also be advantageous to the larvae, especially when R suppress wound-induced plant responses.
A Secure Protocol for Exchanging Cards in P2P Trading Card Games Based on Transferable E-Cash

Trading card games (TCG) differ from traditional card games mainly because the cards employed are not shared among players in a match. Instead, users play with the cards they own (e.g., purchased or traded with other players), which corresponds to a subset of all cards produced by the game provider. Even though most computer-based TCGs rely on a trusted third-party (TTP) for preventing cheating during trades, allowing them to securely do so without such entity remains a challenging task. Potential solutions are related to e-cash protocols, but, unlike the latter, TCGs allow users to play with the cards under their possession, not only to pass those cards over. In this work, we present the security requirements of TCGs and how they relate to e-cash. We then propose a concrete, TTP-free protocol for anonymously trading cards, using as basis a secure transferable e-cash protocol.
Using autoencoders for feature enhancement in motor imagery Brain-Computer Interfaces

Motor imagery is currently one of the main applications of Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) which aims at providing the disabled with means to execute motor commands. One of the major stages of motor imagery systems is reducing the dimensions of the input data and enhancing the features prior to applying a classification stage to recognize the intended movement. In this paper, we utilize autoencoders as a powerful tool to enhance the input features of the band power filtered electroencephalography (EEG) data. We compare the performance of the autoencoder-based approach to using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Our results demonstrate that using autoencoders with non-linear activation function achieves better performance compared to using PCA. We demonstrate the effects of varying the number of hidden nodes of the autoencoder as well as the activation function on the performance. We finally examine the characteristics of the trained autoencoders to identify the features that are most relevant for the motor imagery classification task.
Mixed-Income Housing: Unanswered Questions

Mixed-income housing represents the current direction of U.S. housing policy, but little is actually known about its social benefits, its costs, and the preconditions for its viability. Until these key questions are answered, advocacy of mixed-income housing will be based largely on faith and on dissatisfaction with the previous thrust of housing policy. This article examines various types of mixed-income housing and develops a simple analytic framework for exploring critical questions about it. The feasibility of mixed-income housing is shaped by local housing market conditions and by the physical and demographic characteristics of individual housing developments. The article also reviews the literature regarding the key questions and frames a research agenda.
Nematopsis sp. (Apicomplexa:Porosporidae) infection inCrassostrea madrasensis and itsassociated histopathology

The present study forms the first report of Nematopsis sp. infection in the edible oyster, Crassostrea madrasensis from India. The study was carried out as part of a detailed pathological investigation of C. madrasensis along the southwest coast of India. Sporozoites of Nematopsis sp. were found in samples collected from two locations. Light microscopic observation revealed ellipsoidal oocysts measuring 16.63±2.40 μm in length and 11.11± 2.49 μm in width (n=30) in the connective tissues of gills, mantle, visceral mass and gonads. Prevalence of infection ranged from 11 to 27%. Apparent pathological changes included compression of adjacent digestive diverticulae in visceral connective tissue infections and presence of phagocytosed oocysts in water channels in the case of gill infections. With relevance to the expanding culture of C. madrasensis, monitoring potential pathogens of this species in its natural habitat is important for developing suitable health management packages.
The Effect of Age on Attention Level

In the present study, a computerized test was used to compare the attention level of a group of healthy older participants aged 75 with that of a group of students aged 31. The second part of the study examined only the older participants and sought to discover how three measures of lifestyle were related to measures of attention. The results showed that the young group performed better on measures of attention. No differences between the two age groups were found on measures of impulsivity and on four measures of sustained attention. A discriminant function analysis found that reaction time and standard deviation of reaction time can explain 87.50% of the variance in both groups. The older participants’ answers to the lifestyle questions showed that variables of attention correlated significantly with time spent watching television and reading. The results indicate that attention level declines with age; however, no decline was observed on measures of impulsivity and sustained attention.
Purification and Characterization of a Bacteriocin Produced by Lactobacillus lactis Isolated from Marine Environment

Bacteriocin producing Lactobacillus lactis strain isolated from marine environment, showed broad range of antibacterial activity against some major food borne pathogens. Maximum bacteriocin production was observed at 30℃, pH 6.0 and 1.5% sodium chloride solution. In addition of enzymes, α-amylase, DNase, RNase and lipase were slightly positive effect bacteriocin production. Proteinase K and pepsin were strongly inhibited bacteriocin production. Among detergents, Sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS), Tween 80 and Tritone X-100 stimulated bacteriocin production and strongly inhibited by EDTA and urea. The bacteriocin has purified by ammonium sulphate precipitate and ion exchange (DEAE cellulose) chromatography. Biochemically it was pure protein moiety and the molecular weight was 94 kDa. The study revealed the possibility of using bacteriocin as a food preservative and the L. lactis strain as probiotic.
A global climatology of the mesospheric sodium layer from GOMOS data during the 2002-2008 period

This paper presents a climatology of the mesospheric sodium layer built from the processing of 7 years of GOMOS data. With respect to preliminary results already published for the year 2003, a more careful analysis was applied to the averaging of occultations inside the climatological bins (10 ◦ in latitude-1 month). Also, the slant path absorption lines of the Na doublet around 589 nm shows evi-dence of partial saturation that was responsible for an underestimation of the Na concentration in our previous results. The sodium climatology has been validated with respect to the Fort Collins lidar measurements and, to a lesser extent, to the OSIRIS 2003–2004 data. Despite the important natural sodium variability, we have shown that the Na vertical column has a marked semi-annual oscillation at low latitudes that merges into an annual oscillation in the polar regions,a spatial distribution pattern that was unreported so far. The sodium layer seems to be clearly inﬂuenced by the mesospheric global circulation and the altitude of the layer shows clear signs of subsidence during polar winter. The climatology has been parameterized by time-latitude robust ﬁts to al-Correspondence account transmittance due to partial saturation, an experimental approach is proposed to derive mesospheric temperatures from limb remote sounding measurements.
A Dynamic Model of Characteristic-Based Return Predictability

We present a model where investors have incomplete information about the “climate of disruptive innovation,” which influences the arrival rate of new projects and the exit rate of existing businesses. Information about the disruption climate is a source of systematic risk that generates abnormal returns to value, profitability, and asset growth strategies along some sample paths. While the null hypothesis of zero return predictability is rejected at the appropriate rate if investors are rational Bayesians, it is rejected too often when investors are subject to information processing biases such as overconfidence. In the calibrated model, the magnitudes of the historically observed Sharpe ratios of the above-mentioned investment strategies can be generated in more than 10% of the sample paths when investors exhibit strong overconfidence.
Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy for lung cancer is associated with a lower 30-day morbidity compared with lobectomy by thoracotomy.

OBJECTIVES Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Survival is highly dependent on surgery. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is increasingly chosen over open thoracotomy (OT) because of the possible benefits of the minimally invasive approach. Consequently, our aim was to compare the 30-day morbidity and mortality for lung cancer patients operated by VATS lobectomy or lobectomy by OT. METHOD Data were obtained from prospective national and regional databases, including patients who underwent lobectomy for lung cancer in the eastern part of Denmark from 1 January 2005 to 31 December 2011. All patients operated before 2009 were re-staged according to the latest International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer lung cancer classification. Patient characteristics, comorbidities, pathology and operative data were assessed using an independent samples t-test, Pearson's χ(2), Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney test. Morbidity was assessed using multinomial logistic regression adjusted for gender, age, cancer stage, forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1), year of surgery and Charlson comorbidity score. RESULTS In total, 1379 patients underwent lobectomy, 785 patients via VATS and 594 patients via thoracotomy. The two groups were similar in gender and FEV1. The patients operated by VATS were older (P < 0.001), and had a lower Charlson comorbidity score (P = 0.034), higher frequency of adenocarcinomas (P < 0.001) and lower cancer stage (P < 0.001). Among the VATS patients, 285 (36.3%) and among the thoracotomy patients, 288 (48.5%) had minor complications (P < 0.001); and 157 (20.0%) VATS patients and 212 (35.7%) thoracotomy patients had major complications (P < 0.001). The 30-day mortality rate was 1% in the VATS group and 1.5% in the thoracotomy group (P = 0.47). Multinomial logistic regression analysis showed that the prevalence of both minor [odds ratio (OR) = 1.51; 95% confidence interval (Cl) = 1.18-1.96] and major complications (OR = 1.91, 95% Cl = 1.44-2.53) was significantly higher for patients who underwent lobectomy via thoracotomy compared with VATS. CONCLUSION Patients undergoing lobectomy via VATS were less likely to have at least one minor complication within the first 30 postoperative days and less likely to have at least one major complication, compared with patients operated by thoracotomy. These findings remained after adjusting for gender, age, FEV1, cancer stage, year of surgery and Charlson comorbidity score.
Annual Cycles of Frankliniella spp. (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) Thrips Abundance on North Florida Uncultivated Reproductive Hosts: Predicting Possible Sources of Pest Outbreaks

Abstract Frankliniella spp. (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) thrips damage a variety of crops, feed on a broad range of hosts, and often migrate into cropping systems from adjacent vegetation. To determine potential sources of Frankliniella spp. thrips on crops, annual cycles of abundance of Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), Frankliniella fusca (Hinds), Frankliniella bispinosa (Morgan), and Frankliniella tritici (Fitch) were evaluated on seven common, uncultivated reproductive hosts. These hosts included Raphanus raphanistrum L. , Rubus trivialis Michx. , Rubus cuneifolius Pursh. , Vicia sativa L. , Trifolium repens L. , Solidago canadensis L. and Chenopodium ambrosioides L. Thrips were collected from R. cuneifolius, and T. repens in the spring, R. raphanistrum in the summer, and C. ambrosioides and S. canadensis in the fall. The most common Frankliniella species on every plant species was F. tritici, and a fifth species, Pseudothrips inequalis (Beach), was collected in the fall on C. ambrosioides and S. canadensis. All thrips species were highly aggregated in the flowers or flower racemes, rather than leaves or fruit, and they were generally only collected from flowering plants. R. raphanistrum supported large populations, and they may be an important link for thrips between spring and fall. In addition, it may be an essentially enemy free host, as only one O. insidiosus, an important thrips predator, was collected from this host. S. canadensis also supported large thrips populations in the fall, and it may be a source of thrips migrating into crops the following spring. Controlling thrips on these hosts in their respective seasons may limit the number migrating into cropping systems.
SoK: Security and Privacy in Machine Learning

Advances in machine learning (ML) in recent years have enabled a dizzying array of applications such as data analytics, autonomous systems, and security diagnostics. ML is now pervasive—new systems and models are being deployed in every domain imaginable, leading to widespread deployment of software based inference and decision making. There is growing recognition that ML exposes new vulnerabilities in software systems, yet the technical community's understanding of the nature and extent of these vulnerabilities remains limited. We systematize findings on ML security and privacy, focusing on attacks identified on these systems and defenses crafted to date.We articulate a comprehensive threat model for ML, and categorize attacks and defenses within an adversarial framework. Key insights resulting from works both in the ML and security communities are identified and the effectiveness of approaches are related to structural elements of ML algorithms and the data used to train them. In particular, it is apparent that constructing a theoretical understanding of the sensitivity of modern ML algorithms to the data they analyze, à la PAC theory, will foster a science of security and privacy in ML.