Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cervical artificial disc replacement (C-ADR): global perspectives on use and trends

ABSTRACT Study design: Cross-sectional survey. Objectives: To obtain information from the global community regarding cervical artificial disc replacement (C-ADR) use and trends before and after US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of devices in 2007 and summarize available information on utilization and government approval for devices. Methods: Data on utilization and approval were sought from PubMed, Google, FDA, and manufacturers’ websites. The 6195 members of AOSpine International were invited to participate in a survey to assess global C-ADR use and trends. Results: Publically available data on utilization, trends, and approval outside of the US and Europe is limited. No studies of utilization were found. Of 1479 professionals responding to the survey, 50% had C-ADR specific training and reported ever performing C-ADR. Most respondents believed that C-ADR was safe and effective, but approximately one quarter responded that they did not know. Of those who had done C-ADR, 49% reported performing ≥ 1 before December compared with 92% after January 2008 and 51.3% indicated that all their C-ADRs were placed in a single level; 27% reported ≥ 1 failures that required revision. The majority foresee that C-ADR use will increase in the next 5 years. Most respondents believed that the best indication is radiculopathy from soft-disc pathology rather than myelopathy or disorders arising from spondylotic (hard-disc) pathology. Conclusion: More C-ADR has been performed after January 2008. Most respondents expect the number to increase. There may be differences in failure rates when performed inside or outside of a sponsored research trial.
Direct-seeding and reduced-tillage options in the rice-wheat system of the Western Indo-Gangetic Plains

With the introduction of new, improved shorter duration wheat and rice varieties in South Asia in the mid-1960s, double cropping of these two cereals became possible. Rice is grown in the wet, monsoon summer months and wheat follows in the dry, cool winter in one calendar year. More than 13 million ha are grown to rice and wheat in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. Another 10 million ha are grown in China. This rice-wheat system is one of the most important cropping systems for cereal production and food security in the region. Most of the rice in this system is managed by transplanting rice seedlings into puddled soils. This age-old method of planting is used to reduce water percolation. It also helps control weeds ,but puddling also degrades the soil physical condition with resulting difficulties in establishing and growing succeeding upland crops such as wheat. Much of the research in the region looks at the possibility of establishing rice without puddling. Major perceived hurdles include the inability to economically control weeds and increased water use. However, there are situations when water tables are high or soils are fine-textured where puddling is not needed to slow water infiltration and where dry-seeding technology may work. Less research has been done on evaluating this technology on a systems basis. Experiment looked at the effects of various tillage and crop establishment practices on the productivity of both rice and wheat. Rice yield was not adversely affected by direct seeding without puddling. Direct seeding led to greater weed pressure.Rice yield attributes were altered by direct seeding, indicating a need to optimize plant density and spacing parameters for this practice.Soil bulk density was lowered and infiltration rates increased without puddling. This led to a different water management regime for direct-seeded rice and provided a better soil physical condition for the succeeding wheat crop. Wheat yields were affected by various tillage options whether applied in the rice season or in the wheat season. Wheat yields were significantly higher when rice soils were not puddled and zero tillage performed better as compared to conventional tillage but this may have been because of sufficient moisture for good root development in zero-till plots. The best wheat yield was obtained when soil was deep-tilled and unpuddled for rice and not tilled for wheat i.e. wide raised beds. Although rice yields were lower than wheat yields, differences in the latter were most important for overall system productivity. This paper suggests that direct-seeded rice on unpuddled soils is feasible and that zero-till wheat following unpuddled rice soils is cost-effective, conserves resources, and does not reduce yield.
On the Balance Between Growth and Dissipation in an Extreme Depth-Limited Wind-Sea in the Southern North Sea

Abstract Bouwa has given a discussion of a severe storm in the southern North Sea, on 3 January 1976 near Texel, one of the Friesian islands. This storm was characterized by a remarkable steadiness of wind and wave parameters. The steadiness of the wave parameters was apparently the result of depth limitations, which prevented further wave evolution. Here the various terms in the energy balance equation for wave growth in shallow water are estimated. The relative importance of wind input, surface dissipation, bottom dissipation, advection and nonlinear transfer is discussed. For a certain choice of dissipation parameters, a good balance can be obtained. This is in agreement with the steadiness of the observed wave conditions.
ITF and Poleward Heat Transport of Indian Ocean

A sigma coordinate model is used to study the heat transport variability and the influence of Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) heat transport on the Indian Ocean. The vertical mixing coefficients were provided by the turbulence scheme. The horizontal mixing coefficients for momentum (viscosity) and tracers (diffusivity) were calculated by a Smagorinsky-type formulation. The model is initialized with the Levitus94 climatological data set for annual mean temperature and salinity fields and is forced by seasonal and yearly varying da Silva SMD 1994 and Hellerman and Rosenstein (1983) wind data set. The spin-up of the model has been carried out separately for open and closed. The ITF transport is found around 10 Sv (Svedrup) (1 Sv = 106 m3/s), and the heat transport across the equator is found at its maximum amplitude 1.3 PW (Peta Watt) (1 PW = 1015 Watts) in March and −1.6 PW in July. It is found that the overall effect of the ITF heat transport on the Indian Ocean is dominant on the south of 10°S, and this has a small effect between equator and 10°S.
Use of the English urgent referral pathway for suspected cancer and mortality in patients with cancer: cohort study

Objective To assess the overall effect of the English urgent referral pathway on cancer survival. Setting 8049 general practices in England. Design Cohort study. Linked information from the national Cancer Waiting Times database, NHS Exeter database, and National Cancer Register was used to estimate mortality in patients in relation to the propensity of their general practice to use the urgent referral pathway. Participants 215 284 patients with cancer, diagnosed or first treated in England in 2009 and followed up to 2013. Outcome measure Hazard ratios for death from any cause, as estimated from a Cox proportional hazards regression. Results During four years of follow-up, 91 620 deaths occurred, of which 51 606 (56%) occurred within the first year after diagnosis. Two measures of the propensity to use urgent referral, the standardised referral ratio and the detection rate, were associated with reduced mortality. The hazard ratio for the combination of high referral ratio and high detection rate was 0.96 (95% confidence interval 0.94 to 0.99), applying to 16% (n=34 758) of the study population. Patients with cancer who were registered with general practices with the lowest use of urgent referral had an excess mortality (hazard ratio 1.07 (95% confidence interval 1.05 to 1.08); 37% (n=79 416) of the study population). The comparator group for these two hazard ratios was the remaining 47% (n=101 110) of the study population. This result in mortality was consistent for different types of cancer (apart from breast cancer) and with other stratifications of the dataset, and was not sensitive to adjustment for potential confounders and other details of the statistical model. Conclusions Use of the urgent referral pathway could be efficacious. General practices that consistently have a low propensity to use urgent referrals could consider increasing the use of this pathway to improve the survival of their patients with cancer.
Impact Mapping: Making a Big Impact with Software Products and Projects

Software is everywhere today, but countless software products and projects die a slow death without ever making any impact. The result is a tremendous amount of time and money wasted due to wrong assumptions, lack of focus, poor communication of objectives, lack of understanding and misalignment with overall goals. There has to be a better way to deliver! This handbook is a practical guide to impact mapping, a simple yet incredibly effective method for collaborative strategic planning that helps organisations make an impact with software. Impact mapping helps to create better plans and roadmaps that ensure alignment of business and delivery, and are easily adaptable to change. Impact mapping fits nicely into several current trends in software product management and release planning, including goal-oriented requirements engineering, frequent iterative delivery, agile and lean software methods, lean startup product development cycles, and design thinking. About the Author Gojko Adzic is a strategic software delivery consultant who works with ambitious teams to improve the quality of their software products and processes. Gojko won the 2012 Jolt Award for the best book, was voted by peers as the most influential agile testing professional in 2011, and his blog won the UK Agile Award for the best online publication in 2010.
Saturation of porous rock and measurement of the B coefficient

Laboratory testing of fluid-saturated rock is often needed to properly duplicate field conditions, whe re pores in rock are filled with a liquid. It is desirable that labo ratory specimens be fully saturated, because it red uc s the number of unknown parameters and allows calculation of some of the ro ck’s poroelastic moduli. However, full saturation i s difficult to achieve in rock specimens because of the air bubbles trapped in por es. In order to dissolve air bubbles, back pressure can be applied to the specimens, decreasing the size of air bubbles and r educing the time needed to dissolve them in water. A process to saturate Berea sandstone is presented. Skempton’s B coefficient was measured at each increment of back pressure while keeping the effective mean stress approximately the same. A B-value that was constant and independent of the mag nitude of the back pressure indicated full saturation. The maximum B achieved for the sandstone at 5 MPa effective mean stress was 0.58. This value was confirmed by calculation of Skempton’s coefficient from other po roelastic parameters. Moreover, full saturation was assured by the measurement of a constant P-wave velocity with increasing back pressure. the confinement or the all-round pressure ∆σ3. For soils with porosity φ f K K p B φ σ + = ∆ ∆ = 1 1
Effectiveness of vaccine strain 1B against Tunisian field strains of Chlamydophila abortus using mouse model

SUMMARY The efficacy of vaccine strain 1B against two selected Tunisian Chlamydophila abortus strains, isolated from an aborted (ABt35) and from a lambing ewe (MBt34), was demonstrated in a mouse model. The number of live new-born mice in vaccinated groups, challenged subsequently with the reference French C. abortus (AB7) or either of the Tunisian isolates (ABt35 or MBt34), was not significantly different from the control pregnant group. Vaccine 1B thus provided effective protection against the selected Tunisian field C. abortus strains. Moreover, the strain isolated from the aborted ewe (ABt35) appeared significantly more virulent than that isolated from the lambing ewe (MBt34).
Rainfall Interception in a Robinia pseudoacacia Forest Stand: Estimates Using Gash’s Analytical Model

The authors have studied the principal components of rainfall interception loss in a planted forest stand of Robinia pseudoacacia on the Loess Plateau. The purpose was to provide new information about the applicability of the original Gash analytical model to a new geographic location and to one of the primary species being used in the region's reforestation program. The authors estimated forest structure parameters, including the mean evaporation rate, canopy storage capacity at saturation, free throughfall coefficient, rainfall fraction diverted to the trunks, and trunk storage capacity by using the intercepts and slopes obtained from regression analyses of the measured interception loss, throughfall, and stemflow versus gross rainfall. The interception and components of interception loss for trees in a Robinia pseudoacacia forest located on a south-facing slopewere calculated using Gash's analytical model. The total estimated interception loss during the period of observation was 10.8% greater than that calculated on the basis of measurements of the gross rainfall, throughfall, and stemflow. The good agreement between the estimated and measured values indicates that Gash's analytical model is suitable for estimating interception loss in forests on the Loess Plateau of China. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)HE.1943-5584.0000640. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Rainfall; Forests; China; Hydrologic models. Author keywords: Interception loss; Gross rainfall; Throughfall; Robinia pseudoacacia forest; Mean evaporation rate; Canopy storage capacity.
The Effects of Diagenesis on the Microstructure of Eocene Sediments Bordering the Baltimore Canyon Trough

Sediments at two sites bordering the Baltimore Canyon Trough of the eastern North American continental shelf were cored and logged during Leg 95 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP). Results of shipboard measurements of carbonate content, as well as examination of sediment samples using a scanning electron microscope, show that at both sites there is an isochemical change in sediment properties resulting from diagenesis of biogenic silica and calcium carbonate. The ooze to chalk transition appears to be a gradual change in the sediment resulting from ever increasing dissolution and reprecipitation of calcium carbonate. A major change in sediment properties that may be equated to the widespread seismic reflector A occurs at the depth where biogenic silica (opal-A) dissolves and reprecipitates as opaline lepispheres (opal-CT). Unlike the gradual nature of the change in the carbonate, the silica reaction begins and goes to completion in a matter of a few meters. The dissolution of opal-A, and its reprecipitation as opal-CT, reduces sediment porosity by about 20%, as well as continuing to increase compressional-wave velocity. This abrupt change in acoustic impedance of the sediments is responsible at this location for seismic reflector A. Cross-correlations of log measurements of velocity and formation factor (electrical resistivity) are used to separate different lithologic and diagenetic units and subunits at both sites. Large scale sediment units identified by examination of logging data correspond to lithologic units identified by shipboard stratigraphers. Well-log measurements, however, identify more detailed variations in sediment properties.
Effects of Aloe vera (Liliaceae) on Gonad development in Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus (L.) during intensive aquaculture

There is need to control undesirable tilapia recruitment in ponds using natural reproductive inhibitory agents in plants because they are less expensive and constitutes appropriate technology in developing countries. Aloe vera latex (AL) was added to a basal diet (350 g crude protein and 18.5 MJ gross energy/kg diet) at 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 or 2.0 ml/kg diets and fed to mixed-sex Oreochromis niloticus for 60 days to evaluate the effects on growth and feed utilization, reproduction traits, and histology of gonads. There were no significant difference (P >0.05) in the growth parameters and food conversion ratio. Indices of reproduction traits decreased with increasing dietary A. vera latex (AL) levels. Fish fed with the control diet and 0.5 ml AL/kg diet had significantly higher and better indices of reproduction traits (P<0.05) than the other fish fed with 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 ml AL/kg diets respectively. Fish fed 0.0 ml AL/kg diet (control) showed normal testicular and ovarian tissues architecture, typical bilateral lobes of the ovaries were evident, normal olive green colour was maintained; and no pathological lesions occurred. Fish fed 0.5 ml AL/kg diet showed no visible alteration in the ovaries, testicular architecture and cystic seminiferous tubules. Fish fed 1.0 ml AL/kg diet showed testicular atrophy. Fish fed 1.5 ml AL/kg diet exhibited cystic seminiferous tubule and atrophy of tissues. Fish fed 2.0 ml AL/kg diet showed severe tissue atrophy, sperm cells disintegration and necrosis. Also, in fish fed 2.0 ml AL/kg diet, ovirectomy revealed a change in the colour of ovaries, histology showed ruptured follicle, granulomatous inflammation in the interstitium and necrosis of the ovaries. Reproduction traits and histological observations of gonads in Oreochromis niloticus fed high dietary levels of AL revealed that A. vera latex may be effective as reproduction inhibitory agent.
Porosity and permeability development in mechanically compacted silt‐kaolinite mixtures

Summary Prediction of porosity and permeability in mudstones are challenging because of the uncertainties associated with textural and mineralogical composition. This study investigates the development of porosity and permeability in thirteen mechanically compacted brine-saturated synthetic mudstones consisting of silt and kaolinite mixtures. The drained uniaxial mechanical compaction tests were performed under room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Total porosity and vertical permeability (parallel to the direction of applied stress) were measured continuously for each sample under increasing effective stress up to 50 MPa. Results show that mineralogy is a dominant factor controlling the development of porosity and permeability in silt-clay mixtures. Kaolinite-dominated samples have much lower porosity and permeability compared to silt-dominated samples. At 20 MPa effective stress that corresponds to about 2 km depth of burial of normally compacted basin, the pure kaolinite sample was compacted to about 20% porosity whereas the pure silt sample had retained 35% porosity. The permeability of pure kaolinite and silt samples were about 0.003 and 0.2 mD respectively at the same effective stress. The porosity and permeability reduction were not systematic with increasing kaolinite content in silt aggregates or vice versa. The porosity and permeability difference between pure silt and pure kaolinite aggregates were relatively less at low effective stresses but increased significantly with increasing effective stress. At high effective stresses the permeability was 2-3 orders of magnitude lower in pure kaolinite than in pure silt. Calculating permeability in mudstones from porosity without considering mineralogy will therefore introduce significant error in permeability estimation. Our experimental results provide valuable constraints on porosity-stress/depth, permeability-stress/depth and porosity-permeability relationships for shallow mudstones that will have practical use for basin modelling, pore pressure prediction and fluid flow modelling in shallower part of the basins (<80-100 0 C) where mechanical compaction is the dominant process.
Dilatation in direct shear tests of Hong Kong completely decomposed granite (CDG)

This paper discusses dilatation in direct shear tests. There are 2 types of vertical displacements in direct shear tests. They reflect same dilatation and shrinking behavior of soil as those in triaxial tests. The dilatation is related to the density of soil. The shear stress required for the dilatation increases with the normal stress. The shear displacement for the dilatation is always less than that at the peak shear stress.
Extending Appropriateness: Further Exploration of Teachers' Knowledge Resources for Proportional Reasoning.

In this study we extend our prior exploration focused on the extent to which middle school teachers appropriately identified proportional situations and whether there were relationships between attributes of the teachers and their ability to identify proportional situations. For this study, we analyzed both a larger dataset (n=32) and two dynamic scenarios in which participants were asked to consider aspects of the relationship shown in the diagrams. We found teachers who were correctly able to discern that a situation was not proportional were more likely to use important knowledge resources to evaluate the tasks.
Spectral criteria for solvability of boundary value problems and positivity of solutions of time-fractional differential equations

We investigate mild solutions of the fractional order nonhomogeneous Cauchy problem , where When is the generator of a -semigroup on a Banach space , we obtain an explicit representation of mild solutions of the above problem in terms of the semigroup. We then prove that this problem under the boundary condition admits a unique mild solution for each if and only if the operator is invertible. Here, we use the representation in which is a Wright type function. For the first order case, that is, , the corresponding result was proved by Pruss in 1984. In case is a Banach lattice and the semigroup is positive, we obtain existence of solutions of the semilinear problem