Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphometric Examination of Straight, Tapered Titanium Stems: A Retrieval Study

Cementless straight, tapered rectangular cross section titanium stems have been used by the senior author since 1979. Thirty-four stems retrieved postmortem, after between 10 days and 15.2 years in situ, were studied morphometrically and histologically. Nineteen stems were first generation (1979–1986), with an incomplete sagittal taper and a mean surface roughness of 1 μm (Ra 1.23 ± 0.3 μm); 15 stems were second generation after 1986, with a full biplane taper and a mean surface roughness of 4 μm (Ra 4.14 ± 0.36 μm). Implant surface bony coverage was determined morphometrically in 10 segments of the stems, and expressed as a bone implant contact index. Histologically, there were no differences between implants with different levels of roughness. Morphometrically, the firstgeneration stems showed significant differences in coverage (distal > proximal); second-generation stems had a more uniform pattern. Stems retrieved early after arthroplasty had a mean bone implant contact index of 10%. The mean bone implant contact index showed attainment of maximum coverage by 5 years after arthroplasty, without additional apposition or loss thereafter. Patients younger than 65 years at arthroplasty had similar bone implant contact indices to patients 65 years or older; coverage in the six patients 80 years of age at retrieval did not differ from the rates in the other patients. Morphometry was able to provide objective evidence of design change effects. No differences in coverage were found in terms of times in situ, patient age at arthroplasty and at retrieval, and degree of stem surface roughness.
Association of Nerve Growth Factor and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A with Psychometric Measurements of Opiate Dependence: Results of a Pilot Study in Patients Participating in a Structured Diamorphine Maintenance Program

Preclinical study results suggest that neurotrophic peptides like nerve growth factor (NGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) may be associated with symptoms of addictive behavior like withdrawal symptoms and rewarding effects. We investigated alterations in NGF and VEGF-A serum levels in opiate-dependent patients (25 male patients), who received diamorphine (DAM, heroin) treatment within a structured opiate maintenance program, and compared the results with the NGF and VEGF-A serum levels of healthy controls (23 male controls). NGF and VEGF-A serum levels were assessed before and after DAM administration twice a day (in the morning (16 h after last application – t1) and in the afternoon (7 h after last application – t3)) in order to detect a possible immediate or summative (in the afternoon) heroin effect on these two neuropeptides. Moreover, we investigated possible associations between the serum levels of these neurotrophic growth factors and psychometric dimensions of addictive behavior, e.g. craving, withdrawal, depression. Whereas there was no direct effect of DAM application on the serum levels of both neurotrophic growth factors neither in the morning nor in the afternoon, the NGF serum levels of the patient group were found to be significantly increased at all four time points of investigation compared with the healthy controls. In contrast, VEGF-A serum levels did not differ significantly in the patient and control groups. We found a significant positive association between the NGF serum levels and several items of the short opiate withdrawal scale as well as a negative association between self-reported mood (measured by visual analogue scale) and mood before heroin application (in the morning as in the afternoon). Moreover, we found a significant positive association between the NGF serum levels (t1 and t3) and the self-reported craving for methadone. In contrast, we found a negative association between the VEGF-A serum levels and avoidance, anxiety, suicide intentions of the SCL-90 as well as a positive association between the VEGF-A serum levels and the subscales of the heroin craving questionnaire measuring the rewarding effects of heroin. In conclusion, the results of this pilot study show that there might be an association between symptoms of opiate dependence and withdrawal and serum levels of VEGF-A and NGF.
A new control strategy for single phase series connected PV module inverter for grid voltage compensation

In this paper, a new control strategy for a low cost series connected single phase PV module inverter is introduced that delivers full PV power (at MPPT) to the load together with voltage compensation. The inverter operates during the day time as an active power compensator as well as load voltage regulator under grid voltage sag, swell or even under normal condition. The compensating voltage provided by the inverter is always added vectorially in series with the grid voltage in such a way that it maintains the load voltage magnitude constant. This eliminates the need for battery or any other energy storage device at the DC link. This reduces the investment cost of the system. Moreover, the proposed control strategy works in such a way that even in the presence of lagging power factor load, it is possible to supply reactive power back to grid that can be utilized in some other lagging power factor load connected directly to grid. An adaptive proportional resonant controller is used to track the required load voltage magnitude as well as phase angle. This control strategy is simple to implement and provides improved performance as compared to a conventional PI controller. Detailed simulation studies and experiments have been carried out and results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed control strategy.
Simultaneous Deletion of Pseudorabies Virus Tegument Protein UL11 and Glycoprotein M Severely Impairs Secondary Envelopment

ABSTRACT The pseudorabies virus (PrV) proteins UL11, glycoprotein E (gE), and gM are involved in secondary envelopment of tegumented nucleocapsids in the cytoplasm. To assess the relative contributions of these proteins to the envelopment process, virus mutants with deletions of either UL11, gM, or gE as well as two newly constructed mutant viruses with simultaneous deletions of UL11 and gE or of UL11 and gM were analyzed in cell culture for their growth phenotype. We show here that simultaneous deletion of UL11 and gE reduced plaque size in an additive manner over the reduction observed by deletion of only UL11 or gE. However, one-step growth was not further impaired beyond the level of the UL11 deletion mutant. Moreover, in electron microscopic analyses PrV-ΔUL11/gE exhibited a phenotype similar to that of the UL11 mutant virus. In contrast, plaque formation was virtually abolished by the simultaneous absence of UL11 and gM, and one-step growth was significantly reduced. Electron microscopy showed the presence of huge intracytoplasmic inclusions in PrV-ΔUL11/gM-infected cells, with a size reaching 3 μm and containing nucleocapsids embedded in tegument. We hypothesize that UL11 and gM are involved in different steps during secondary envelopment and that simultaneous deletion of both interrupts both processes, resulting in the observed drastic impairment of secondary envelopment.
An actin cytoskeleton with evolutionarily conserved functions in the absence of canonical actin-binding proteins

Giardia intestinalis, a human intestinal parasite and member of what is perhaps the earliest-diverging eukaryotic lineage, contains the most divergent eukaryotic actin identified to date and is the first eukaryote known to lack all canonical actin-binding proteins (ABPs). We sought to investigate the properties and functions of the actin cytoskeleton in Giardia to determine whether Giardia actin (giActin) has reduced or conserved roles in core cellular processes. In vitro polymerization of giActin produced filaments, indicating that this divergent actin is a true filament-forming actin. We generated an anti-giActin antibody to localize giActin throughout the cell cycle. GiActin localized to the cortex, nuclei, internal axonemes, and formed C-shaped filaments along the anterior of the cell and a flagella-bundling helix. These structures were regulated with the cell cycle and in encysting cells giActin was recruited to the Golgi-like cyst wall processing vesicles. Knockdown of giActin demonstrated that giActin functions in cell morphogenesis, membrane trafficking, and cytokinesis. Additionally, Giardia contains a single G protein, giRac, which affects the Giardia actin cytoskeleton independently of known target ABPs. These results imply that there exist ancestral and perhaps conserved roles for actin in core cellular processes that are independent of canonical ABPs. Of medical significance, the divergent giActin cytoskeleton is essential and commonly used actin-disrupting drugs do not depolymerize giActin structures. Therefore, the giActin cytoskeleton is a promising drug target for treating giardiasis, as we predict drugs that interfere with the Giardia actin cytoskeleton will not affect the mammalian host.
Tooth Whitening With Hydrogen Peroxide Assisted by a Direct-Current Cold Atmospheric-Pressure Air Plasma Microjet

A tooth-whitening process using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) enhanced by a direct-current cold atmospheric-pressure plasma microjet (PMJ) is presented. Compared with the conventional clinical method of using H2O2 alone, a significant improvement of the tooth-whitening process was observed when the PMJ was used in the process. The tooth-surface temperature was monitored for safety considerations and did not exceed 37°C at a distance of 1 cm between the exit nozzle of the plasma source and the tooth for a treatment time of 20 min. No apparent differences in the tooth-surface morphology and microhardness were observed between teeth treated with and without the PMJ. The use of the PMJ with H2O2 resulted in an enhanced production of reactive hydroxyl (OH) radicals. This plasma-enhanced tooth-whitening method may be a promising new method for clinical applications.
Data Cache Prefetching with Perceptron Learning

Cache prefetcher greatly eliminates compulsory cache misses, by fetching data from slower memory to faster cache before it is actually required by processors. Sophisticated prefetchers predict next use cache line by repeating program's historical spatial and temporal memory access pattern. However, they are error prone and the mis-predictions lead to cache pollution and exert extra pressure on memory subsystem. In this paper, a novel scheme of data cache prefetching with perceptron learning is proposed. The key idea is a two-level prefetching mechanism. A primary decision is made by utilizing previous table-based prefetching mechanism, e.g. stride prefetching or Markov prefetching, and then, a neural network, perceptron is taken to detect and trace program memory access patterns, to help reject those unnecessary prefetching decisions. The perceptron can learn from both local and global history in time and space, and can be easily implemented by hardware. This mechanism boost execution performance by ideally mitigating cache pollution and eliminating redundant memory request issued by prefetcher. Detailed evaluation and analysis were conducted based on SPEC CPU 2006 benchmarks. The simulation results show that generally the proposed scheme yields a geometric mean of 60.64%-83.84% decrease in prefetching memory requests without loss in instruction per cycle(IPC)(floating between -2.22% and 2.55%) and cache hit rate(floating between -1.67% and 2.46%). Though it is possible that perceptron may refuse useful blocks and thus cause minor raise in cache miss rate, lower memory request count can decrease average memory access latency, which compensate for the loss, and in the meantime, enhance overall performance in multi-programmed workloads.
The ACR nomenclature for CNS lupus revisited

Neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) involves a wide range of peripheral and central nervous system manifestations. These manifestations are complex and their pathophysiology is poorly understood. NPSLE can precede the onset of lupus or occur at any time during its course. The American College of Rheumatology (ACR) developed a standardized nomenclature system providing case definitions for the neuropsychiatricsyndromes of systemic lupus erythematosus(SLE) to facilitate and enhance patient classification and reporting requirements in clinical research. Estimates of NPSLE prevalencehave ranged widely and most are based on research conducted before the introduction of ACR case definitions. This paper reviews the early experience with the ACR nomenclature use and possible future directions for its improvement. The identification and categorization of the major neuropsychiatricsyndromes in SLE using ACR case definitions seems to be adequate, however the mildest and most subjective of the syndromes are the most problematic. Even if the definitions in their present form might have drawbacks the only way forward is further use of ACR nomenclature, pooling data from different populations, and collection of experienceas a basis for improvement. The acquisitionof normative data for ethnic, age and sex stratification would extend their usefulness.
A 90nm 1.8V 512Mb Diode-Switch PRAM with 266MB/s Read Throughput

A 512Mb diode-switch PRAM is developed in a 90nm CMOS technology. A core configuration, read/write circuit techniques, and a charge-pump system for the diode-switch PRAM are described. Through these schemes, the PRAM achieves read throughput of 266MB/S and maximum write throughput of 4.64MB/S with a 1.8V supply.
An optimized hardware architecture of 4×4, 8×8, 16×16 and 32×32 inverse transform for HEVC

Most video coding standards use transform algorithms to reduce the size of data characterizing a video signal. The traditional transform matrices as in H.264 are limited to 4×4 and 8×8 sizes. However, the flexibility of coding structure presented in the next generation of video coding standard High Efficiency Video Coding standard HEVC allows the definition of various sizes of transform matrices which can vary from 4×4 to 32×32. This paper describes a unified hardware architecture for 4×4, 8×8, 16×16 and 32×32 inverse 2D core transform IDCT in HEVC standard. It used only one block 1D transform and a transpose buffer based on FIFO memory blocs instead of the traditional register array in order to further reduce the memory resources. The synthesis results under TSMC 180 nm CMOS technology show that the total gate count of the design is more than 30% improved compared to previous works. However, the operating frequency of the hardware design is about 130 MHz. This last can perform the decoding of 25 frames per second of Quad HD (3840×2160) resolution.
UMLtoCSP (UOST): a tool for efficient verification of UML/OCL class diagrams through model slicing

Model errors are a major concern in the paradigm of Model-Driven Development (MDD) because of model transformations and code generation. It is important to detect model errors before transformation as in the later stages it is harder to trace and fix such errors. Formal verification tools and techniques can check the correctness of a model, but their high computational complexity can limit their scalability. In this research, we present a tool named UMLtoCSP (UOST) that uses a UML/OCL Slicing Technique (UOST) to verify complex UML/OCL class diagram. The tool accepts UML class diagrams annotated with OCL constraints as input, breaks the original model <i>m</i> into <i>m</i><sub>1</sub>, <i>m</i><sub>2</sub>, <i>m</i><sub>3</sub>,. ,<i>m</i><sub><i>n</i></sub> sub-models while abstracting unnecessary model elements.
Coping and Recovery in Whiplash-associated Disorders: Early use of Passive Coping Strategies is Associated With Slower Recovery of Neck Pain and Pain-related Disability

Objective:Coping is shown to affect outcomes in chronic pain patients; however, few studies have examined the role of coping in the course of recovery in whiplash-associated disorders (WAD). The purpose of this study was to determine the predictive value of coping style for 2 key aspects of WAD recovery, reductions in neck pain, and in disability. Methods:A population-based prospective cohort study design was used to study 2986 adults with traffic-related WAD. Participants were assessed at baseline, 6 weeks, and 4, 8, and 12 months postinjury. Coping was measured at 6 weeks using the Pain Management Inventory, and neck pain recovery was assessed at each subsequent follow-up, using a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS). Disability was assessed at each follow-up using the Pain Disability Index (PDI). Pain recovery was defined as a VAS score of 0 to 10; disability recovery was defined as a PDI score of 0 to 4. Data analysis used multivariable Cox proportional hazards models. Results:Those using high versus low levels of passive coping at 6 weeks postinjury experienced 28% slower pain recovery and 43% slower disability recovery. Adjusted hazard rate ratios for pain recovery and disability recovery were 0.72 (95% CI, 0.59-0.88) and 0.57 (95% CI, 0.41-0.78), respectively. Active coping was not associated with recovery of neck pain or disability. Conclusions:Passive coping style predicts neck pain and self-assessed disability recovery. It may be beneficial to assess and improve coping style early in WAD.
The impact of tourism mini-movies on destination image: The influence of travel motivation and advertising disclosure

ABSTRACT Despite the growing use of mini-movies by tourism marketers, the effectiveness of this approach on inducing positive destination image remains relatively unexplored. This study examines the effectiveness of mini-movies in facilitating positive destination image while considering the influence of travel motivation and advertising disclosure via a 2 (travel motivation prime: presence versus absence) × 2 (advertising: disclosure versus non-disclosure) between-subjects experimental design. The methodology details the process of eliciting an individual's memorable tourism experience to prime future travel motivations. The study discusses implications for destinations that are looking to leverage the impact of mini-movies in their branding strategies. Abbreviations: DMO: destination marketing organization; SD: standard deviation; ANOVA: analysis of variance
Development of a Haptic Device with Tactile and Proprioceptive Feedback for Spatial Design Tasks

We present a novel, low-cost haptic feedback device for spatial design tasks that provides proprioceptive and tactile feedback. It uses the Manus VR datagloves and a custom VR CAD environment. Here, tactile feedback is provided to the index finger through a vibrating motor, which helps users in identifying points on a grid. This grid allows for alignment during the creation and manipulation of geometric shapes. Models can be adjusted by pinching at a vertex of the shape with index finger and thumb, and moving this to a different point on the grid. Here, proprioceptive feedback is provided by a solenoid locking mechanism. The system was evaluated through preliminary user testing. Results indicate that the device leads to more natural and intuitive interactions for both the point grid and vertex adjustment, but that the ergonomics needs to be improved. Future challenges involve further integration of the physical device and datagloves and refined, multi-finger feedback.
Cultured ocular cells and extracellular matrices: role of growth factors, retinoic acid and cell polarity.

Culture of various types of cells on gelled, reconstituted extracellular matrices results in decreased cellular proliferation. In the present study, we evaluated several possible mechanisms for this inhibition, as applied to cultured bovine retinal microvascular endothelial cells (EC) or to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells: whether the inhibition might be related to (a) inactivation of fibroblast growth factor (FGF) by binding of the molecules present in the medium to a matrix component; (b) release of an inhibitor by the matrix in culture; or (c) inhibitory properties of the matrix macromolecules themselves. Our results suggest that mechanism (c) is most likely. The reasons are, first, that culture of EC or RPE cells on several different extracellular matrix substrates in the presence of logarithmically increasing concentrations of acidic or basic fibroblast growth factors (aFGF or bFGF) leads to a vertical shift of the plots of cell number after 4 days in culture vs. log growth factor concentration for both types of cells. The same result obtains when cells are cultured with logarithmically increasing concentrations of all-trans retinoic acid, which inhibits EC but not RPE cell proliferation in a dose-dependent fashion. This is consistent with mechanism (b) or (c), but not (a), for which one would expect a horizontal shift. Second, washing the matrices prior to the plating of cells with 1M NaCl, which elutes aFGF and partially elutes bFGF molecules from basement membranes, does not alter the growth of cells plated after the wash. This suggests also that growth factor binding to the matrix is not a likely mechanism for the observed inhibition. Incubation of matrices with culture medium prior to plating cells does not usually alter the ability of the medium thus "conditioned" to support cell growth, arguing against the possibility that the matrices release a soluble activator or inhibitor of such growth. However, in some experiments performed with lots of Matrigel (a commercially available basement membrane extract from a murine tumor) obtained prior to mid-1991, media "conditioned" by incubation with this matrix did show enhanced ability to facilitate EC and RPE cell proliferation. Finally, if RPE cells or EC are plated on various substrates, allowed to attach for 24 hr. , and then the same or other substrates are poured over the cells, the effect on proliferation of the matrices plated on the apical surfaces of the cells is often less than that of matrices plated adjacent to their basal surfaces. Although in most cases these differences are not statistically significant, there is an apparent trend. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
A Comparative Study of System-Level Energy Management Methods for Fault-Tolerant Hard Real-Time Systems

Low energy consumption and fault tolerance are often key objectives in the design of real-time embedded systems. However, these objectives are at odds, and there is a trade-off between them. Real-time systems usually use system level energy reduction methods, i.e., dynamic voltage scaling (DVS) and dynamic power management (DPM). Also hard real-time systems often use replication to achieve fault tolerance. In this paper, we investigate the impact of system level energy reduction methods on both the reliability and energy consumption of hard real-time systems which use replication for fault tolerance. In this analysis, we have considered four various existing energy management methods: 1) Classic DPM, 2) Classic DVS, 3) Postponement method: a variation of DPM which is only applicable to replicated systems, and 4) Hybrid method: a combination of Postponement and DVS. Based on the comparative study, we have provided guidelines so that a designer can decide which energy management method is more suitable for a given application. For example, we have shown that when reliability is the main concern, the postponement method is the most preferable. However, when the energy consumption is the primary concern, the hybrid method may be more appropriate.