Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eccentricity Index Identifies the Severity of Left to Right Shunt in Patients With Secundum Type Atrial Septal Defect

Background: One of the inclusion criteria for applying atrial septal defect (ASD) closing procedure is an increased pulmonary-tosystemic blood flow ratio (Qp/Qs). Eccentricity index (EI) is associated with ventricular dysfunction in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Objectives: As ASD patients have overload volume and pressure in their pulmonary arteries, we tried to test this hypothesis if EI and Qp/Qs ratio are possibly associated. Patients andMethods: This study is a correlation study. 64 patients with primary diagnosis of secundum type ASD enrolled in this study and echocardiography was performed for all of them. Data were analyzed by SPSS as well as descriptive and statistical tests. Results: Bivariate correlation test showed that there was a positive and significant association between Qp/Qs ratio and EI (r = 0.502, P = 0.001). Linear regression analysis showed that there was a linear association between Qp/Qs ratio and EI (Beta = 1.765, P = 0.001). Conclusions: We found that EI and Qp/Qs ratio are significantly and positively associated and Qp/Qs ratio can be easily estimated by measuring EI in secundum type ASD patients.
Card-Based Majority Voting Protocols with Three Inputs Using Three Cards

Private operations (private permutations) were independently introduced by Nakai et al. and Marcedone et al. for implementing card-based cryptographic protocols efficiently. Recently, Nakai et al. showed that, if the private operations are available, secure computations of AND and OR operations for two inputs can be realized simultaneously by using four cards, and the protocol is applied to four-card majority voting protocol with three inputs. In this paper, it is shown that only three cards are sufficient to construct the majority voting protocol with three inputs. Specifically, we propose two constructions of three-input majority voting protocols. First, assuming that players are allowed to announce their outputs, we show that one card can be reduced from Nakai et al.’s protocol without any additional private operations and communications. Our second construction requires two more private operations and communications, whereas it removes the assumption on announcement from the first construction.
Integrating Technology Acceptance Model With Innovation Diffusion Theory: An Empirical Investigation on Students’ Intention to Use E-Learning Systems

This paper aims to explore and investigate the potential factors influencing students’ behavioral intentions to use the e-learning system. This paper proposes an extended technology acceptance model (TAM) that has been tested and examined through the use of both innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and integrating TAM. This paper was conducted on 1286 students utilizing systems of e-learning in Malaysia. The findings were obtained via a quantitative research method. The findings illustrate that six perceptions of innovation characteristics, in particular, have impacts on students’ e-learning system behavioral intention. The influences of the relative advantages, observability, trialability, perceived compatibility, complexity, and perceived enjoyment on the perceived ease of use is noteworthy. Moreover, the effects of the relative advantages, complexity, trialability, observability, perceived compatibility, and perceived enjoyment on the perceived usefulness have a strong impact. Therefore, the empirical results provide strong backing to the integrative approach between TAM and IDT. The findings suggest an extended model of TAM with IDT for the acceptance of the e-learning system used to improve the students’ learning performance, which can help decision makers in higher education, universities, as well as colleges to evaluate, plan and execute the use of e-learning systems.
Capacity of Cellular Wireless Networks

In this paper, a tractable model of cellular wireless networks is considered, where both the basestation (BS) and mobile user (MU) locations are distributed as independent Poisson point processes, and each MU connects to its nearest BS. Each packet from the BS is transmitted using an automatic-repeat-request strategy until the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) is larger than a threshold, and the packet delay is equal to the expected number of retransmissions required for successful reception. We define the network capacity as the product of the BS density and the reciprocal of the packet delay, maximized over all BS strategies. This definition of capacity, while being natural, is non-trivial to analyses because of the temporal correlations of SINRs and arbitrary BS strategies. An exact characterization (non-asymptotic) of this natural capacity metric is derived, which shows that the capacity increases polynomially with the BS density in the low BS density regime and then scales inverse exponentially with the increasing BS density.
Clinical Translation of a Novel Photoacoustic Imaging System for Examining the Temporal Artery

The objective was to provide a clinical setup for photoacoustic imaging (PAI) of the temporal artery in humans and to describe the challenges encountered and methods of overcoming them. The temporal artery was examined in seven patients with suspect giant-cell arteritis (GCA), both in vivo and ex vivo, and the results were compared to that of histology. To adapt PAI to the human studies, the transducer was fixed to an adjustable arm to reduce motion artifacts, and a stepping motor was developed to enable 3-D scanning. Risks associated with the use of lasers, ultrasound, and electrical equipment were evaluated by measuring energy levels, and safety precautions were undertaken to prevent injury to the patients and staff. The PAI spectra obtained clearly delineated the artery wall, both in vivo and ex vivo, although the latter was of high quality due to the lack of artifacts. The results could be compared to that of histology. The involved energy levels were found to be below the limits given in regulatory standards. Eye protectors prevented irradiation of the patient’s eyes, and visual function after the procedure was found not to be affected. The patients reported no discomfort during the investigations. PAI provides images of the temporal artery wall that may be used for the future diagnosis of GCA in humans. The technique could be further refined by addressing the specific problems of motion artifacts and interference from blood and other chromophores. This study paves the way for other clinical applications of PAI.
Startup Strategy With Constant Peak Transformer Current for Solid-State Transformer in Distribution Network

Solid-state transformer (SST) is widely used in many fields and it plays a key role in the development of energy internet. The startup strategy of SST adopted in distribution network has to be designed elaborately because in this application the requirement of functionality, flexibility, and expandability is very high. A number of researches for the startup process of SST were made and several solutions were proposed. In these solutions, the transformer current in the charging process was unable to be observed or controlled, leading to the lack of analytical basis in a startup strategy design. In order to make the charging process observable and controllable, the authors developed a mathematical model of this process. Based on the model, a new startup strategy is proposed to make the peak transformer current in the charging process a constant value. Cases with different conditions are analyzed, indicating that the strategy is insensitive to initial values. Experimental results are provided to validate the accuracy of the mathematical model and the effectiveness of the presented solution.
Immune Cell Infiltration of the Primary Tumor, Not PD-L1 Status, Is Associated With Improved Response to Checkpoint Inhibition in Metastatic Melanoma

Immune checkpoint inhibition has resulted in dramatic improvements in overall and relapse-free survival in patients with metastatic melanoma. The most commonly used immune checkpoint inhibitors are monoclonal antibodies targeting programmed cell death protein 1 and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4. Unfortunately, a significant subset of patients fail to respond to these therapies, which has resulted in intense research efforts to identify the factors which are associated with treatment response. To this end, we investigated immune cell infiltration in primary melanomas and melanoma metastases, in addition to tumor cell PD-L1 expression, to determine whether these factors are associated with an improved outcome after immune checkpoint inhibition. Indeed, the extent of the immune cell infiltration in the primary melanoma, measured by the Immunoscore, was associated with a significantly improved response to immune checkpoint inhibition in terms of increased overall survival. However, the Immunoscore did not predict which patients would respond to treatment. The Immunoscore was significantly reduced in metastases when compared to primary melanomas. In contrast, PD-L1 expression, exhaustively tested using four commercially available anti-PD-L1 clones, did not differ significantly between primary tumors and melanoma metastases and was not associated treatment response. Whilst replication in larger, prospective studies is required, our data demonstrates the relevance of immune cell infiltration in the primary melanoma as a novel marker of improved overall survival in response to immune checkpoint inhibition.
A High-Performance Impedance-Source Converter With Switched Inductor

A high-performance impedance-source converter utilizing switched inductor is proposed in this paper, which can be adopted in the applications demanding high-voltage conversion. The proposed converter not only retains the advantage of quasi-Z-source of sharing common ground between the input and output but also possesses the superiorities of enhanced boost ability and lower stresses as well as higher efficiency. Mathematical analysis of the converter and its performance comparison with other converters are presented in detail. Finally, a 100 W prototype is built and the experimental results are provided to verify the feasibility of the proposed converter.
Yoga and diabetes.

It is proper that I should be delivering this presidential address at Hyderabad in this hall dedicated to the memory of Prof. S. Venkateshwara Rao himself, a Diabetologist, my old Teacher and Chief who initiated me into the field of diabetes about sixteen years back and encouraged me to pursue it. I remember having presented my l st paper "Microangiopathy in Diabetes", in the 1969 A.P.I. Conference at Hyderabad. Since then we have been doing lot of work in this field and have presented our data from time to time. I am also doubly pleased to have Prof. B. K. Naik in the audience, under whom 1 had my postgraduate training, who has been a constant source of encouragement and guidance to me.
Hot Topic Detection Based on a Refined TF-IDF Algorithm

In this paper, we propose a refined term frequency inversed document frequency (TF-IDF) algorithm called TA TF-IDF to find hot terms, based on time distribution information and user attention. We also put forward a method to generate new terms and combined terms, which are split by the Chinese word segmentation algorithm. Then, we extract hot news according to the hot terms, grouping them into K-means clusters so as to realize the detection of hot topics in news. The experimental results indicated that our method based on the refined TF-IDF algorithm can find hot topics effectively.
Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging Demonstrates Abnormal Regionally-Differential Cortical Thickness Variability in Autism: From Newborns to Adults

Autism is a group of complex neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by impaired social interaction and restricted/repetitive behavior. We performed a large-scale retrospective analysis of 1,996 clinical neurological structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of 781 autistic and 988 control subjects (aged 0–32 years), and extracted regionally distributed cortical thickness measurements, including average measurements as well as standard deviations which supports the assessment of intra-regional cortical thickness variability. The youngest autistic participants (<2.5 years) were diagnosed after imaging and were identified retrospectively. The largest effect sizes and the most common findings not previously published in the scientific literature involve abnormal intra-regional variability in cortical thickness affecting many (but not all) regions of the autistic brain, suggesting irregular gray matter development in autism that can be detected with MRI. Atypical developmental patterns have been detected as early as 0 years old in individuals who would later be diagnosed with autism.
Multiphysics Characterization of a Novel SiC Power Module

This paper proposes a novel power module concept specially designed for highly reliable silicon carbide (SiC) power devices for medium- and high-power applications. The concept consists of two clamped structures: 1) a press-pack power stage accommodating SiC power switch dies and 2) perpendicularly clamped press-pack heatsinks, in which the heatsinks are in contact with electrically insulated case plates of the power stage. The concept enables bondless package with symmetric double-sided cooling of the dies and allows for an order of magnitude higher clamping force on the heatsinks than what can be applied on the dies. The concept has been evaluated in a first demonstrator (half-bridge configuration with 10 paralleled SiC dies in each position). The experimental methodologies, setups, and procedures have been presented. The commutation loop inductance is approximately 9 nH at 78 kHz. The junction-to-case thermal resistance is approximately 0.028 K/W. Furthermore, a simplified 3-D finite-element thermomechanical model representing the center unit of the demonstrator has been established for the purpose of future optimization. The accuracy of the simulated temperatures is within 4% compared to the measurements. Finally, a 3-D thermomechanical stress distribution map has been obtained for the simplified model of the demonstrator.
Molecular analysis of flavivirus genome sequences : implications for virus classification

This study of flavivirus genomes was facilitated by the amplification method developed in the thesis. The envelope (E) gene and non-structural protein five (NS5) were analysed for the existence of homologous nucleotide sequences in thirteen flaviviruses by reverse transcription/polymerase chain reaction from virus infected-cell RNA extracts. A homologous fragment of the NS5 gene was amplified from all the extracts. Subsequently homologous fragments from eighteen flavivirus infected-cell extracts, representative of every group of flaviviruses, were produced. The nucleotide sequences of the fragments were determined from a tick-borne virus, a mosquito-borne virus and a non-vector-borne virus. Two of these viruses (Banzi and Modoc) are classified into serocomplexes from which no viral genome sequence has previously been reported. The NS5 gene sequence of Banzi (BAN) virus and 90% of the gene sequence of Modoc (MOD) virus was subsequently determined. Comparison of the deduced amino-acid sequences with those of other reported flavivirus sequences confirmed the existence of functionally conserved motifs, which may be involved in RNA polymerase activities of the NS5 protein. A method of classification of flaviviruses on the basis of phylogenetic analysis of NS5 gene sequence was examined. The relationships between central european encephalitis (CEE), BAN, MOD and other flaviviruses were confirmed to be similar to those obtained from serological studies. Other nucleotide sequences determined, from regions flanking the NS5 gene showed the NS4B genes and 3' NC regions of BAN virus and yellow fever (YF) virus were highly similar. While the 3' NC region of MOD virus is not similar to that of any flavivirus previously sequenced.
Design and Performance Analysis of Differential Chaos Shift Keying System With Dual-Index Modulation

In order to sufficiently utilize the time slot resources of the recently proposed pulse-position-modulation differential chaos shift keying (PPM-DCSK), we apply dual-index modulation to differential chaos shift keying and then present two differential chaos shift keying systems with dual-index modulation (DCSK-DIM), where the transmitted bits are partitioned into two orthogonal branches correspond to the in-phase branch and quadrature branch, respectively. Then, by means of the dual-index modulation technique, the mapped bits of in-phase and quadrature branches are modulated into a pair of distinguishable index symbols and thus recycle the time slot resources. At the receiver, two different detection methods are employed to determine the index symbols and demodulate the modulated bits carried by the active time slots. In addition, we derive the theoretical bit error rate (BER) expressions for the proposed DCSK-DIM systems over additive white Gaussian noise and multipath Rayleigh fading channels, respectively. In addition, then the simulation results validate the corresponding theoretical derivations. Finally, compared with other non-coherent chaotic communication systems, the proposed DCSK-DIM systems can achieve an excellent BER performance or data rate. Explicitly, the DCSK-DIM-I system makes a great progress in pursuit of admirable BER performance, while the DCSK-DIM-II system elevates the data rate to great extent.
Two tales of the natural rate of interest

We estimate the long-term natural rate of interest for the euro area with two specifications of a simple semi-structural macroeconomic model. The estimates provide competing interpretations for the euro area’s current economic environment of weak growth, subdued inflation and exceptionally low nominal interest rates. In our first estimation, the current state of economy is attributed to persistent, recurring negative shocks to the output gap that restrain growth even when expansionary monetary policies are applied. The second estimation suggests that a large drop in the natural rate of interest is the problem, because, even with interest rates held close to zero, policy actions have not been able to revive the economy after major shocks in 2008, 2012 and 2016. As both views may explain some of the observed trends, the task of teasing out the drivers of current conditions and future trends is non-trivial. Nevertheless, policymakers should pay attention to both stories as they have quite different endings. JEL codes: C32, E43, E52, O40
A topology–based performance Evaluation for an adaptive tuning protocol for service and resource discovery in the Internet of Things

Service and resource discovery in the Internet of Things (IoT) is reflected by the way of IoT components is connected and distributed. In other words, the IoT protocols should consider the topology construction of the IoT components. This paper explores an extensive performance evaluation for a previously proposed Adaptive Fobonacci-basaed Tuning protocol (AFT) on different topologies. The performance is evaluated by using COOJA simulator for different types of topologies (Ellipse, Grid, Random and straight-line). The simulation results show that the AFT protocol is constantly accomplishes an ultimately increase in the energy saving of the resources, and outperforms the traditional counterpart by distinguished percentages for overall network lifetime under different topologies.
Asynchronous Localization for UASNs: An Unscented Transform-Based Method

This letter is concerned with an asynchronous localization issue for underwater acoustic sensor networks (UASNs), subject to asynchronous clocks and stratification effects in physical channels. A novel unscented transform-based localization algorithm is proposed to estimate the positions of sensor nodes. Instead of linearizing the measurement equations, the proposed algorithm employs the unscented transform to compute the Jacobian matrix to reduce the linearization errors. Particularly, the ray-tracing approach is adopted to model the stratification effect. Moreover, the convergence analysis and Cramér–Rao lower bound for the algorithm are also provided. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively improve the estimation accuracy as compared with the existing works.
Directional Coupling and Spin Routing in Catenary-Shaped SOI Waveguide

Directional in-coupling of light into a single-mode silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide is demonstrated by bending it into a catenary shape. When a circularly polarized incidence is normally projected on the bending SOI waveguide, it generates the spin–orbit interaction and gives rise to unidirectional propagation. The contrast ratio between the optical flows toward different sides of the waveguide reaches 17 dB. By switching the handedness of incidence, the optical flow is reversed. This unique property may provide a potential pathway for the implementation of integrated polarization router or detection. Compared with the previous spin-controlled directional in-coupling devices, symmetry-breaking and additional subwavelength structure is no need anymore.
Multi-Spectral Image Change Detection Based on Band Selection and Single-Band Iterative Weighting

Iteratively reweighted multivariate alteration detection algorithm has the phenomena of broken patches, much noise, and small change area that are difficult to detect, and the overall detection rate is low. In order to solve this problem, this paper proposes a multi-spectral image change detection algorithm based on band selection and single-band iterative weighting. Because the change information of the multi-spectral image is concentrated in some bands, the background and noise information of the rest bands are more, which may have a negative effect on the final result. Therefore, the band with more change information is selected first, and the iterative weighting of a single band can better suppress the noise and background information, so as to obtain a higher band correlation and facilitate the extraction of change information. This method is used to obtain the characteristic difference graph of the selected band with more change information. After Gaussian denoising of each characteristic difference graph, the Euclidean distance formula is used to fuse the difference graph of each band into a change intensity graph. Finally, the unsupervised $k$ -means clustering algorithm is used to perform binary-valued clustering on the fused difference graph to obtain the change detection results. As a practical application, the superior performance of our proposed method was demonstrated through a large number of comparative tests.
Cellular Computational Networks based Voltage Contingency Ranking Regarding Power System Security

Contingency ranking in simple terms is a process deployed to select the most serious contingencies that happen to the power system in the event of unplanned component outages or topological changes. In this study, Cellular Jordan Recurrent Networks (CJRNs) based non-linear voltage prediction is used for contingency ranking. The CJRNs based predicted voltages are used in computing performance indices that give proximity to voltage collapse severity of contingencies. The problem is solved combining with concentric relaxation method to reduce computation time. In order to show the advantages of the proposed CJRNs method, single line contingency ranking is tested by CJRNs voltage prediction model trained by different time steps. A novel voltage prediction correction mechanism which is applied after the prediction process shows to be effective for all time steps based contingency ranking.