Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Protective Coatings on Damage and Lifetime of Alloy 247 DS in Thermomechanical Fatigue and Bending Tests

The present work was focused on the damage mechanisms and lifetime of a directionally solidified, oxidation protection coated Ni-base superalloy under out-of-phase thermomechanical fatigue (OP TMF) loading. The main scope of the work was the analysis of crack formation and propagation in the coating depending on its fracture strain. Two coating systems applied by low pressure plasma spraying were investigated: (i) MCrAlY-coating and (ii) duplex-coating consisting of the same MCrAlY coating and a NiAl top coat. The fracture strains of the coatings were determined at T = 20°C up to 600°C by four-point bending with acoustic emission analysis. The MCrAlY-coating did not influence significantly the TMF lifetime of the superalloy, whereas duplex-coatings reduced it drastically. This correlates with the fracture strains of the coatings that are for the MCrAlY-coating distinctly higher and for the duplex coating lower than the mechanical strain range of the TMF tests. Thus, the damage process was controlled by propagation of cracks formed after few TMF cycles in the duplex coated material and by slower initiation and propagation of fatigue cracks in the MCrAlY coated alloy. Moreover, crack branching at the interface between coating and substrate alloy affects crack penetration into the substrate. In addition to measurement of TMF life, the early stages of crack initiation and propagation in the duplex coating were studied in more detail after TMF tests that were interrupted after defined cycle numbers as well as during in situ bending tests in the scanning electron microscope. Furthermore, the influence of pre-oxidation on crack propagation is discussed.
Exploring Genetic Numeracy Skills in a Sample of U.S. University Students

Misconceptions concerning numerical genetic risk exist even within educated populations. To more fully characterize and understand the extent of these risk misunderstandings, which have large potential impact on clinical care, we analyzed the responses from 2,576 students enrolled at 2 Southwestern universities using the PGRID tool, a 138-item web-based survey comprising measures of understanding of genetics, genetic disease, and genetic risk. The primary purpose of this study was to characterize the intersection of risk perception and knowledge, termed genetic numeracy (GN). Additionally, we identify sociodemographic factors that might shape varying levels of GN skills within the study sample and explore the impact of GN on genetic testing intentions using both the Marascuilo procedure and logistic regression analysis. Despite having some college coursework or at least one college degree, most respondents lacked high-level aptitude in understanding genetic inheritance risk, especially with respect to recessive disorders. Prior education about genetics and biology, as well as exposure to biomedical models of genetics, was associated with higher GN levels; exposure to popular media models of genetics was inversely associated with higher GN levels. Differing GN levels affects genetic testing intentions. GN will become more relevant as genetic testing is increasingly incorporated into general clinical care.
Glucosinolate and isothiocyanate intakes are inversely associated with breast cancer risk: a case–control study in China

Abstract Although previous studies have investigated the association of cruciferous vegetable consumption with breast cancer risk, few studies focused on the association between bioactive components in cruciferous vegetables, glucosinolates (GSL) and isothiocyanates (ITC), and breast cancer risk. This study aimed to examine the association between consumption of cruciferous vegetables and breast cancer risk according to GSL and ITC contents in a Chinese population. A total of 1485 cases and 1506 controls were recruited into this case–control study from June 2007 to March 2017. Consumption of cruciferous vegetables was assessed using a validated FFQ. Dietary GSL and ITC were computed by using two food composition databases linking GSL and ITC contents in cruciferous vegetables with responses to the FFQ. The OR and 95 % CI were assessed by unconditional logistic regression after adjusting for the potential confounders. Significant inverse associations were found between consumption of cruciferous vegetables, GSL and ITC and breast cancer risk. The adjusted OR comparing the highest with the lowest quartile were 0·51 (95 % CI 0·41, 0·63) for cruciferous vegetables, 0·54 (95 % CI 0·44, 0·67) for GSL and 0·62 (95 % CI 0·50, 0·76) for ITC, respectively. These inverse associations were also observed in both premenopausal and postmenopausal women. Subgroup analysis by hormone receptor status found inverse associations between cruciferous vegetables, GSL and ITC and both hormone-receptor-positive or hormone-receptor-negative breast cancer. This study indicated that consumption of cruciferous vegetables, GSL and ITC was inversely associated with breast cancer risk among Chinese women.
Medium-Long Term Prediction of Monthly Discharge at Yangtze Three Gorges Based on Neural Network

In this paper, a neural network medium-long term hydrological forecasting model coupling LM algorithm with self-adaptive algorithm is established in combining statistical analysis with fuzzy analysis, choosing predictors such as rainfall and atmospheric circulation in previous stage that affect the monthly discharge at the Yichang Station of the Yangtze River, comparing the advantage and disadvantage of several modified BP algorithms, discussing several problems in the modeling process. The results of calculation show that the model is highly effective.
Ship Detection in Optical Remote Sensing Images Based on Saliency and a Rotation-Invariant Descriptor

Major challenges for automatic ship detection in optical remote sensing (ORS) images include cloud, wave, island, wake clutters, and even the high variability of targets. This paper presents a practical ship detection scheme to resolve these existing issues. The scheme contains two main coarse-to-fine stages: prescreening and discrimination. In the prescreening stage, we construct a novel visual saliency detection method according to the difference of statistical characteristics between highly non-uniform regions which allude to regions of interest (ROIs) and homogeneous backgrounds. It can serve as a guide for locating candidate regions. In this way, not only can the targets be precisely detected, but false alarms are also significantly reduced. In the discrimination stage, to get a better representation of the target, both shape and texture features characterizing the ship target are extracted and concatenated as a feature vector for subsequent classification. Moreover, the combined feature is invariant to the rotation. Finally, a trainable Gaussian support vector machine (SVM) classifier is performed to validate real ships out of ship candidates. We demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed hierarchical detection method with detailed comparisons to existing efforts.
Effects of cognitive reserve depend on executive and semantic demands of the task

Background Cognitive reserve (CR) is one factor that helps to maintain cognitive function in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Whether the effects of CR depend on the semantic/executive components of the task remains unknown. Methods 470 patients (138 with AD, 332 with mild cognitive impairment (MCI)) were selected from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative database. Linear regression models were used to determine the effects of CR (years of education) on cognitive performance after controlling for demographic factors and regional cortical atrophy. First, we assessed memory tasks with low (Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT) discriminability), moderate (AVLT delayed recall) and high (Logical Memory Test (LMT) delayed recall) executive/semantic components. Next, we assessed tasks with lower (digit span forward, Trails A) or higher (digit span backwards, Trails B) executive demands, and lower (figure copying) or higher (naming, semantic fluency) semantic demands. Results High CR was significantly associated with performance on the LMT delayed recall, approached significance in the AVLT delayed recall and was not significantly associated with performance on AVLT discriminability. High CR was significantly associated with performance on the Trails B and digit span backwards, mildly associated with Trails A performance and was not associated with performance on digit span forwards. High CR was associated with performance on semantic but not visuospatial tasks. High CR was associated with semantic tasks in patients with both MCI and AD, but was only associated with executive functions in patients with MCI. Conclusion CR may relate to executive functioning and semantic knowledge, leading to preserved cognitive performance in patients with AD pathology.
Relationship Specificity, Incomplete Contracts and the Pattern of Trade

When relationship-specific investments are necessary for production, under-investment occurs if contracts cannot be enforced. The efficiency loss from under-investment will differ across industries depending on the importance of relationship-specific investments in the production process. As a consequence, a country's contracting environment may be an important determinant of comparative advantage. To test for this, I construct measures of the efficiency of contract enforcement across countries and the importance of relationship-specific investments across industries. I find that countries with better contract enforcement specialize in industries that rely heavily on relationshipspecific investments. This is true even after controlling for traditional determinants of comparative advantage such as endowments of capital and skilled labor.
Electroactive Nanofibers of Poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-graft-aniline) Copolymers and Their Blends with Polycaprolactone

Copolymers of poly (2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-graft-polyaniline (PHEMA-g-PANI) were synthesized by atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) of 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate using polyaniline macro-initiators. The macro-initiators were synthesized by the reaction of amine nitrogens of polyaniline with chloroacetyl choloride. The obtained polymers were characterized by FT-IR and 1H NMR spectroscopies. Uniform nanofibers consisting of blends of PHEMA-g-PANI copolymers and polycaprolactone (PCL) were prepared using an electrospinning technique. SEM was used to investigate the morphology of nanofibers produced from PHEMA-g-PANI copolymers and PCL blends. The cyclic voltammetry measurement of blends confirmed the preparation of electroactive nanofibers. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT
Effects of empagliflozin on cardiorespiratory fitness and significant interaction of loop diuretics

The effects of empagliflozin on cardiorespiratory fitness in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) are unknown. In this pilot study we determined the effects of empagliflozin 10 mg/d for 4 weeks on peak oxygen consumption (VO2) in 15 patients with T2DM and HFrEF. As an exploratory analysis, we assessed whether there was an interaction of the effects of empagliflozin on peak VO2 of loop diuretics. Empagliflozin reduced body weight (−1.7 kg; P = .031), but did not change peak VO2 (from 14.5 mL kg−1 min−1 [12.6‐17.8] to 15.8 [12.5‐17.4] mL kg−1 min−1; P = .95). However, patients using loop diuretics (N = 9) demonstrated an improvement, whereas those without loop diuretics (N = 6) experienced a decrease in peak VO2 (+0.9 [0.1‐1.4] vs −0.9 [−2.1 to −0.3] mL kg−1 min−1; P = .001), and peak VO2 changes correlated with the baseline daily dose of diuretics (R = +0.83; P < .001). Empagliflozin did not improve peak VO2 in patients with T2DM and HFrEF. However, as a result of exploratory analysis, patients concomitantly treated with loop diuretics experienced a significant improvement in peak VO2.
Information Reference Architecture for the Portuguese Health Sector

The creation of an information architecture is one of the identified ways that contribute to increase competitiveness, enabling cost reduction and increasing productivity in organizations. When it comes to broaden comprehensive sectors gathering several organizations (for example in the health sector), the creation of a reference architecture acquires a higher importance to guide and constrain the implementation of information architectures of the involved organizations, ensuring interoperability and alignment among them. When creating a reference architecture, following a bottom-up approach, it is essential to identify the informational entities amongst the different data models in order to be possible to integrate these informational entities in the reference architecture that is being developed. This paper describes a process which allows the verification of correspondence between informational entities amongst different data models. As far as the Portuguese case is concerned, there is just one reference architecture for the Public Administration. In this paper we describe its foundations in order to make a specialization in that architecture that can be used, further on, as a reference for the Portuguese health sector in order to increase interoperability. Nevertheless, the presented solution may also be applied to any data models integration following the bottom-up approach.
Retinal Microaneurysms Detection Using Local Convergence Index Features

Retinal microaneurysms (MAs) are the earliest clinical sign of diabetic retinopathy disease. Detection of MAs is crucial for the early diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy and prevention of blindness. In this paper, a novel and reliable method for automatic detection of MAs in retinal images is proposed. In the first stage of the proposed method, several preliminary microaneurysm candidates are extracted using a gradient weighting technique and an iterative thresholding approach. In the next stage, in addition to intensity and shape descriptors, a new set of features based on local convergence index filters is extracted for each candidate. Finally, the collective set of features is fed to a hybrid sampling/boosting classifier to discriminate the MAs from non-MAs candidates. The method is evaluated on images with different resolutions and modalities (color and scanning laser ophthalmoscope) using six publicly available data sets including the retinopathy online challenges (ROC) data set. The proposed method achieves an average sensitivity score of 0.471 on the ROC data set outperforming state-of-the-art approaches in an extensive comparison. The experimental results on the other five data sets demonstrate the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed MAs detection method regardless of different image resolutions and modalities.
Stochastic Proximal Gradient Algorithms for Multi-Source Quantitative Photoacoustic Tomography

The development of accurate and efficient image reconstruction algorithms is a central aspect of quantitative photoacoustic tomography (QPAT). In this paper, we address this issues for multi-source QPAT using the radiative transfer equation (RTE) as accurate model for light transport. The tissue parameters are jointly reconstructed from the acoustical data measured for each of the applied sources. We develop stochastic proximal gradient methods for multi-source QPAT, which are more efficient than standard proximal gradient methods in which a single iterative update has complexity proportional to the number applies sources. Additionally, we introduce a completely new formulation of QPAT as multilinear (MULL) inverse problem which avoids explicitly solving the RTE. The MULL formulation of QPAT is again addressed with stochastic proximal gradient methods. Numerical results for both approaches are presented. Besides the introduction of stochastic proximal gradient algorithms to QPAT, we consider the new MULL formulation of QPAT as main contribution of this paper.
Accelerated cryo-EM structure determination with parallelisation using GPUs in RELION-2

By reaching near-atomic resolution for a wide range of specimens, single-particle cryo-EM structure determination is transforming structural biology. However, the necessary calculations come at increased computational costs, introducing a bottleneck that is currently limiting throughput and the development of new methods. Here, we present an implementation of the RELION image processing software that uses graphics processors (GPUs) to address the most computationally intensive steps of its cryo-EM structure determination workflow. Both image classification and high-resolution refinement have been accelerated up to 40-fold, and template-based particle selection has been accelerated almost 1000-fold on desktop hardware. Memory requirements on GPUs have been reduced to fit widely available hard-ware, and we show that the use of single precision arithmetic does not adversely affect results. This enables high-resolution cryo-EM structure determination in a matter of days on a single workstation.
Multivariate Entropy Characterizes the Gene Expression and Protein-Protein Networks in Four Types of Cancer

There is an important urgency to detect cancer at early stages to treat it, to improve the patients’ lifespans, and even to cure it. In this work, we determined the entropic contributions of genes in cancer networks. We detected sudden changes in entropy values in melanoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, pancreatic cancer, and squamous lung cell carcinoma associated to transitions from healthy controls to cancer. We also identified the most relevant genes involved in carcinogenic process of the four types of cancer with the help of entropic changes in local networks. Their corresponding proteins could be used as potential targets for treatments and as biomarkers of cancer.
Low-Tubal-Rank Tensor Completion Using Alternating Minimization

The low-tubal-rank tensor model has been recently proposed for real-world multidimensional data. In this paper, we study the low-tubal-rank tensor completion problem, i.e., to recover a third-order tensor by observing a subset of its elements selected uniformly at random. We propose a fast iterative algorithm, called <italic>Tubal-AltMin</italic>, that is inspired by a similar approach for low-rank matrix completion. The unknown low-tubal-rank tensor is represented as the product of two much smaller tensors with the low-tubal-rank property being automatically incorporated, and Tubal-AltMin alternates between estimating those two tensors using tensor least squares minimization. First, we note that tensor least squares minimization is different from its matrix counterpart and nontrivial as the circular convolution operator of the low-tubal-rank tensor model is intertwined with the sub-sampling operator. Secondly, the theoretical performance guarantee is challenging since Tubal-AltMin is iterative and nonconvex. We prove that 1) Tubal-AltMin generates a best rank-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r$ </tex-math></inline-formula> approximate up to any predefined accuracy <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\epsilon $ </tex-math></inline-formula> at an exponential rate, and 2) for an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$n \times n \times k$ </tex-math></inline-formula> tensor <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {M}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> with tubal-rank <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$r \ll n$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, the required sampling complexity is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O((nr^{2}k ||\mathcal {M}||_{F}^{2} \log ^{3}~n) / \overline {\sigma }_{rk}^{2})$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\overline {\sigma }_{rk}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> is the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$rk$ </tex-math></inline-formula>-th singular value of the block diagonal matrix representation of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mathcal {M}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> in the frequency domain, and the computational complexity is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$O(n^{2}r^{2}k^{3} \log n \log (n/\epsilon))$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Finally, on both synthetic data and real-world video data, evaluation results show that compared with tensor-nuclear norm minimization using alternating direction method of multipliers (TNN-ADMM), Tubal-AltMin-Simple (a simplified implementation of Tubal-AltMin) improves the recovery error by several orders of magnitude. In experiments, Tubal-AltMin-Simple is faster than TNN-ADMM by a factor of 5 for a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$200 \times 200 \times 20$ </tex-math></inline-formula> tensor.
Comparison of Matrix-Based and Filter Paper-Based Systems for Transport of Plasma for HIV-1 RNA Quantification and Amplicon Preparation for Genotyping

ABSTRACT Two ambient-temperature, dry plasma transport systems, ViveST tubes and RNASound RNA sampling cards, and two extraction methods were compared to frozen plasma for HIV-1 RNA recovery. Significant RNA loss occurred: ViveST+MiniMag > ViveST+QIAamp > RNASound+QIAamp. RNA loss and low specimen volumes may affect the sensitivity of genotyping specimens with HIV-1 RNA of <4.70 log10 copies/ml.
Homozygous TAF8 mutation in a patient with intellectual disability results in undetectable TAF8 protein, but preserved RNA polymerase II transcription

Abstract The human general transcription factor TFIID is composed of the TATA-binding protein (TBP) and 13 TBP-associated factors (TAFs). In eukaryotic cells, TFIID is thought to nucleate RNA polymerase II (Pol II) preinitiation complex formation on all protein coding gene promoters and thus, be crucial for Pol II transcription. In a child with intellectual disability, mild microcephaly, corpus callosum agenesis and poor growth, we identified a homozygous splice-site mutation in TAF8 (NM_138572.2: c.781–1G > A). Our data indicate that the patient’s mutation generates a frame shift and an unstable TAF8 mutant protein with an unrelated C-terminus. The mutant TAF8 protein could not be detected in extracts from the patient’s fibroblasts, indicating a loss of TAF8 function and that the mutation is most likely causative. Moreover, our immunoprecipitation and proteomic analyses show that in patient cells only partial TAF complexes exist and that the formation of the canonical TFIID is impaired. In contrast, loss of TAF8 in mouse embryonic stem cells and blastocysts leads to cell death and to a global decrease in Pol II transcription. Astonishingly however, in human TAF8 patient cells, we could not detect any cellular phenotype, significant changes in genome-wide Pol II occupancy and pre-mRNA transcription. Thus, the disorganization of the essential holo-TFIID complex did not affect global Pol II transcription in the patient’s fibroblasts. Our observations further suggest that partial TAF complexes, and/or an altered TFIID containing a mutated TAF8, could support human development and thus, the absence of holo-TFIID is less deleterious for transcription than originally predicted.