Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Flexible Plasma Sheets

With respect to the electrode structure and the discharge characteristics, the atmospheric pressure plasma sheet of a thin polyimide film is introduced in this study; here, the flexible plasma device of a dielectric-barrier discharge with the ground electrode and the high-voltage electrode formulated on each surface of a polyimide film whose thickness is approximately 100 µm, that is operated with a sinusoidal voltage at a frequency of 25 kHz and a low voltage from 1 kV to 2 kV is used. The streamer discharge is appeared along the cross-sectional boundary line between two electrodes at the ignition stage, and the plasma is diffused on the dielectric-layer surface over the high-voltage electrode. In the development of a plasma sheet with thin dielectric films, the avoidance of the insulation breakdown and the reduction of the leakage current have a direct influence on the low-voltage operation.
Impaired physical health among methamphetamine users in comparison with the general population: the role of methamphetamine dependence and opioid use.

AIM To examine the extent of physical health impairment among a community sample of methamphetamine users in comparison with the general population, and factors associated with impairment among this group. METHOD A cross-sectional survey of 309 regular methamphetamine users from Sydney. The Physical Component Scale of the Short Form 12 (SF-12) was used to measure impairment in physical health (score < 40). Age-matched general population data for the SF-12 were derived from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Well-Being. RESULTS Participants had a higher prevalence of impaired physical health compared to the Australian general population (20% vs. 10%, p<0.05), but this effect occurred among only dependent methamphetamine users over 24 years of age (25 - 34 years, 23% vs. 10%; 35 - 44 years, 41% vs. 12%). Methamphetamine dependence remained significantly predictive of impaired physical health after adjusting for age and other confounding factors. Opioid pharmacotherapy was also related strongly to poor physical health, accounting for 63% of participants with physical impairment. Other factors associated with impaired physical health were being female, having less than 10 years of schooling, and having been diagnosed previously with an anxiety disorder (p<0.05). CONCLUSION Methamphetamine users are more likely to report impaired physical health than the general population, but this impairment is specific to older methamphetamine users who are dependent on the drug, particularly those who are enrolled in opioid pharmacotherapy.
An integrated multivariate approach for optimisation of IT/IS investment in conventional power plants

Several organisations are seeking to determine the impact of Information Technology (IT)/Information Systems (IS) investments on their performance measures. Industrial units such as power plants are not exempt from this issue. This paper presents an integrated multivariate approach for assessment and optimisation of IT/IS investment in conventional power plants. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach is used to assess the IT/IS investment impacts on the performance of power plants. Furthermore, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to verify and validate the findings of the DEA approach. IT/IS budget, number of IT/IS employees and number of PCs are used as input variables and total power generation and load factor are used as output variables. The proposed approach is applied to eight power plants and its advantages are discussed. This is the first study that presents a practical tool for policy making and optimisation with respect to IT/IS investment in conventional power plants.
Associations between adult and childhood secondhand smoke exposures and fecundity and fetal loss among women who visited a cancer hospital

Background: A large percentage of the population continues to be exposed to secondhand smoke (SHS). Although studies have consistently linked active smoking to various pregnancy outcomes, results from the few studies examining SHS exposure and pregnancy difficulties have been inconsistent. Methods: Approximately 4800 women who presented to Roswell Park Cancer Institute between 1982 and 1998 and reported being pregnant at least once were queried about their childhood and adult exposures to SHS using a standardised questionnaire. Women were asked to report on selected prenatal pregnancy outcomes (fetal loss and difficulty becoming pregnant). Results: Approximately 11.3% of women reported difficulty becoming pregnant, while 32% reported a fetal loss or 12.4% reported multiple fetal losses. 40% reported any prenatal pregnancy difficulty (fetal loss and/or difficulty becoming pregnant). SHS exposures from their parents were associated with difficulty becoming pregnant (OR = 1.27, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.56) and lasting >1 year (OR = 1.34, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.60). Exposure to SHS in both at home during childhood and at the time of survey completion was also associated with fetal loss (OR = 1.39, 95% CI 1.17 to 1.66) and multiple fetal losses (OR = 1.62, 95% CI 1.25 to 2.11). Increasing current daily hours of SHS exposure as an adult was related to the occurrence of both multiple fetal loss and reduced fecundity (ptrend<0.05). Conclusions: Reports of exposures to SHS during childhood and as an adult were associated with increased odds for prenatal pregnancy difficulties. These findings underscore the public health perspective that all people, especially women in their reproductive years, should be fully protected from tobacco smoke.
Single Amino Acid Changes in the Virus Capsid Permit Coxsackievirus B3 To Bind Decay-Accelerating Factor

ABSTRACT Many coxsackievirus B isolates bind to human decay-accelerating factor (DAF) as well as to the coxsackievirus and adenovirus receptor (CAR). The first-described DAF-binding isolate, coxsackievirus B3 (CB3)-RD, was obtained during passage of the prototype strain CB3-Nancy on RD cells, which express DAF but very little CAR. CB3-RD binds to human DAF, whereas CB3-Nancy does not. To determine the molecular basis for the specific interaction of CB3-RD with DAF, we produced cDNA clones encoding both CB3-RD and CB3-Nancy and mutated each of the sites at which the RD and Nancy sequences diverged. We found that a single amino acid change, the replacement of a glutamate within VP3 (VP3-234E) with a glutamine residue (Q), conferred upon CB3-Nancy the capacity to bind DAF and to infect RD cells. Readaptation of molecularly cloned CB3-Nancy to RD cells selected for a new virus with the same VP3-234Q residue. In experiments with CB3-H3, another virus isolate that does not bind measurably to DAF, adaptation to RD cells resulted in a DAF-binding isolate with a single amino acid change within VP2 (VP2-138 N to D). Both VP3-234Q and VP2-138D were required for binding of CB3-RD to DAF. In the structure of the CB3-RD-DAF complex determined by cryo-electron microscopy, both VP3-234Q and VP2-138D are located at the contact site between the virus and DAF.
Thermal Shock Resistance of Yb2SiO5/Si and Yb2Si2O7/Si Coatings Deposited on C/SiC Composites

Rare-earth silicates, especially ytterbium silicate (Yb2SiO5 and Yb2Si2O7), have been developed for promising environmental barrier coatings (EBCs) for SiC-matrix composites. In this study, double-layer Yb2SiO5/Si and Yb2Si2O7/Si EBC systems were deposited on C/SiC composites by air plasma spray (APS) technique, respectively. Both systems were subjected to thermal shock tests at 1400 °C. The evolution of phase composition and microstructure of those samples before and after thermal shock test were characterized. Results showed that there were penetrating microcracks in the top Yb2SiO5 layer and horizontal microcracks at the Yb2SiO5-Si interface after thermal shock test. While extremely few microcracks and no horizontal microcracks were presented in the Yb2Si2O7/Si sample. The EDS analysis also showed that the Si bond layer of the Yb2SiO5/Si sample was oxidized more serious than that of the Yb2Si2O7/Si sample. The different thermal shock behaviors of both systems were clarified based on the thermal expansion behavior, phase composition and microstructure analysis.
Association of msp-1, msp-2 and pfcrt genes with the severe complications of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in children

Abstract The pathogenesis of severe malaria is still not clearly understood and there are few substantial data describing the association of specific parasite genotypes with the severity of Plasmodium falciparum infection in humans. The merozoite surface proteins 1 and 2 (MSP-1 and MSP-2) of P. falciparum play a crucial role in the parasite's invasion of the human host and the subsequent manifestation of the complications of severe malaria. Attempts at associating msp-1 and msp-2 genotypes with the severity of P. falciparum malaria therefore appear worthwhile. In the present study, based in the malaria-endemic district of Sundergarh, in the Indian state of Orissa, the msp-1, msp-2 and pfcrt genotypes of P. falciparum infecting children were investigated and compared against the severity of malaria in each donor child. The two major complications seen in the subjects, cerebral malaria and severe anaemia, were each found to be significantly associated with the RO33 subtype of msp-1 and the 3D7 subtype of msp-2. Although the study isolates showed a high degree of multiclonicity (multiplicity of infection = 1.9) and of polymorphism in msp-1 and −2, almost all (95%) of the isolates had the K76T mutation in their pfcrt genes.
A Practical Seedless Infrared Safe Cone Algorithm a

Current cone jet algorithms, widely used at hadron colliders, take event particles as seeds in an iterative search for stable cones. A longstanding infrared (IR) unsafety issue in such algorithms is often assumed to be solvable by adding extra `midpoint' seeds, but actually is just postponed to one order higher in the coupling. A proper solution is to switch to an exact seedless cone algorithm, one that provably identifies all stable cones. The only existing approach takes N 2^N time to find jets among N particles, making it unusable at hadron level. This can be reduced to N^2 ln(N) time, leading to code (SISCone) whose speed is similar to that of public midpoint implementations. Monte Carlo tests provide a strong cross-check of an analytical proof of the IR safety of the new algorithm, and the absence of any 'R_{sep}' issue implies a good practical correspondence between parton and hadron levels. Relative to a midpoint cone, the use of an IR safe seedless algorithm leads to modest changes for inclusive jet spectra, mostly through reduced sensitivity to the underlying event, and significant changes for some multi-jet observables.
Antibody probes in the study of gap junctional communication.

Gap junctions are thought to contain intercellular channels, insulated from the extracellular space, that permit direct cell-cell communication via the passage of small molecules. Until recently, the study of gap junctional communication has been based on the detection of gap junctions by electron microscopic analysis of thin section and freeze-fracture samples and on the physiological measurement of radio labeled metabolite transfer (metabolic coupling), fluores­ cent dye transfer (dye coupling), and ion movement (electrical coupling) between adjacent cells. Although several effectors that regulate gap junctional conductance have been identified with this approach (3, 12, 47, 51, 55,57, 63), it is not known whether they influence the gap junction polypeptide(s). In the absence of specific probes for these polypeptides, it has proven difficult to examine these mechanisms, gap junction biogenesis, and the various roles that have been suggested for gap junctional communication in normal and patholog­ ical tissues (for reviews see 6, 31, 37, 38, 48). The focus of this review is to describe the recent progress made in using immunological probes to analyze gap junction-mediated cell-cell communica­ tion in vivo and in vitro.
Impact of Co-occurring Dysarthria and Aphasia on Functional Recovery in Post-stroke Patients

Objective To elucidate the impact of co-occurring dysarthria and aphasia on functional recovery in post-stroke patients. Methods The medical records, including results of primary screening tests and secondary definite examinations for language problems, of 130 patients admitted to our institute's Department of Rehabilitation Medicine were retrospectively reviewed. Functional outcomes were assessed longitudinally using the Functional Ambulation Category (FAC), Mini-Mental State Examination-Korean version (MMSE-K), European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions 3-Level version (EQ-5D-3L), the Korean version of the Modified Barthel index (K-MBI), and Motricity Index (MI) of the hemiplegic side. Results Patients were classified into four groups regarding language function: aphasia only (group A, n=9), dysarthria only (group D, n=12), aphasia and dysarthria (group AD, n=46), and none (group N, n=55). The initial functional outcome scores in the group AD were significantly poor compared to those of the groups N and A. Within groups, there were significant improvements in all outcome measurements in the groups AD and N. A between-group analysis revealed significant improvements in K-MBI for the group AD after adjusting for the initial severity and patient's age compared to other groups. Conclusion Post-stroke patients suffering from aphasia with dysarthria showed significantly lower initial functional level and relatively wide range of recovery potential in activities of daily living compared to patients without language problems.
A hybrid XML-relational grid metadata catalog

The ability to manage metadata is a critical requirement of the grid, but scientists have not been given the tools needed to catalog experimental data based on complex metadata attributes. Our research has shown that the specific characteristics of metadata catalogs require a different approach than that used for general queries over XML data. This paper presents a hybrid approach to storing XML in a relational database that exploits the specific characteristics of a metadata catalog
Numerical and experimental exploration of the contour method for residual stress evaluation

This thesis comprehensively investigates the contour method - a newly-invented destructive technique for residual stress evaluation - in terms of its principle and application. The principle of the contour method is based on a variation of Bueckner's elastic superposition theory. A two-dimensional map of residual stress profile normal to a plane of interest can be determined in a simple, cheap and time-efficient manner. In practice,residual stress evaluation using the contour method involves the experimental measurement of the displacement formed by the stress release following a cut on the surface at issue, and then numerical calculation of the residual stress based on the experimentally measured displacement. The whole process of the contour-method measurement was simulated using a finite element method and the simulated result confirms the correctness of the novel technique. A number of different applications have been explored using the contour method to measure a cross-sectional residual stress distribution: a hole cold expansion EN8 steelplate, a hole cold expansion 7475-T7351 aluminium alloy plate, a MIG 2024-T351 aluminium alloy welded plate and a VPPA 2024-T351 aluminium alloy welded plate. Favourably good outcomes were obtained from each case. The most impressive comparison of the contour-method result was made on the VPPA 2024-T351 weld with neutron and synchrotron X-ray diffraction measurements, showing an extremely good match with deviation approximately 9 % on average. This work has proved that the contour method is a powerful novel technique to determine across-sectional residual stress profile with accuracy in many engineering components, and has great prospects to find application elsewhere.
Adaptive Design and Analysis of Supercomputer Experiments

Computer experiments often are performed to allow modeling of a response surface of a physical experiment that can be too costly or difficult to run except by using a simulator. Running the experiment over a dense grid can be prohibitively expensive, yet running over a sparse design chosen in advance can result in insufficient information in parts of the space, particularly when the surface calls for a nonstationary model. We propose an approach that automatically explores the space while simultaneously fitting the response surface, using predictive uncertainty to guide subsequent experimental runs. We use the newly developed Bayesian treed Gaussian process as the surrogate model; a fully Bayesian approach allows explicit measures of uncertainty. We develop an adaptive sequential design framework to cope with an asynchronous, random, agent–based supercomputing environment by using a hybrid approach that melds optimal strategies from the statistics literature with flexible strategies from the active learning literature. The merits of this approach are borne out in several examples, including the motivating computational fluid dynamics simulation of a rocket booster.
Comparison of the body-worn CIS-PRO+ and the behind-the-ear-worn TEMPO+ cochlear implant systems in Finnish-speaking adult CI users: any differences in results with experienced listeners?

Conclusion. The results indicate that the need for upgrading the processor and/or speech coding strategy should be considered individually, if the processor and coding strategy are functioning properly and a good level of speech perception has been achieved. Objectives. Our aim was to study the intra-individual differences of the body-worn CIS-PRO+ and the behind-the-ear-worn TEMPO+ cochlear implant systems used in the MED-EL Combi40/Combi40+ implants. Subjects and methods. The hearing level, sentence, word and phoneme recognition of eight adult subjects were determined in an ABA study design. Additionally, a self-assessment questionnaire was used. Mean scores and 95% confidence intervals, and individual scores were analysed. Results. The subjects tended to score slightly better on word and phoneme recognition with CIS-PRO+ and CIS strategy than with TEMPO+ and CIS+, but there were no statistically significant differences. Subjectively the participants ranked speech perception and discussion in noise to be slightly easier with TEMPO+ and CIS+. Six of the eight subjects preferred TEMPO+ and CIS+ and two of eight preferred CIS-PRO+ with CIS or number-of-maxima.
False positive reduction in CT colonography using spectral compression and curvature tensor smoothing of surface geometry

Existing polyp detection methods rely heavily on curvature-based characteristics to differentiate between lesions. However, as curvature is a local feature and a second order differential quantity, noise caused by small bumpy structures and incoherent curvature fields of a discretized volume or surface can greatly increase the number of false positives (FPs) detected. This paper investigates a spectral compression and curvature tensor smoothing algorithm with the aim to reduce the number of FPs detected while preserving true positives. Simulation results give 96% sensitivity for polyps ≫10mm while reducing FPs by 92%.
Current Advances in Cerebral Malaria Associated Encephalopathy

Malaria (Plasmodium falciparum) infects 200 to 300 million people globally and kills 900,000 (mostly children) every year. Severe malaria-related pathogeneses impacts a broad spectrum of host system and multiple organs (Zhu, Wu et al. 2009). Up to 20% of fatal cases are due to cerebral malaria (CM) and other severe forms of malaria such as severe malaria anemia (SMA). The precise mechanisms responsible for fatal CM-induced brain damage are unclear. To date, two main hypotheses have been proposed for human cerebral malaria. The first is the mechanical hypothesis, which proposes that infected or parasitized red blood cells (iRBC, or pRBC) bind to endothelial cells (EC), thus obstructing blood flow in micro capillaries leading to low tissue perfusion, compromised oxygenation and tissue damage. The second is the immunopathological hypothesis which proposes that hyper-inflammatory responses responsible for eliminating P. falciparum parasite cause edema, dysfunction in blood brain barrier (BBB), and organ failure and death.
Genetic analysis of post‐pandemic 2010–2011 influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 hemagglutinin virus variants that caused mild, severe, and fatal infections in Northern Greece

Since its appearance, influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 caused considerable morbidity and mortality in Northern Greece. Genetic analysis of post‐pandemic circulating strains scoped to investigate any correlation between genetic variations that emerged during viral evolution and severity of infection. Pharyngeal swabs/aspirates (n = 1,870) were examined with real‐time reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction. Hemagglutinin sequences were analyzed on 110 strains (37 fatal/73 non‐fatal cases), followed by statistical and phylogenetic analysis. Influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 was detected in 848 samples. Coexistence of clusters 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 indicated co‐circulation of lineages in Northern Greece. Genetic analysis showed that HA sequences had 96–99% sequence similarity with the vaccine strain and that there was no association between any co‐circulating lineage and severity. Several viruses accumulated variations in HA antigenic sites. D222G was significantly associated with fatal infections, supporting its association with increased viral pathogenesis. On the other hand, four variations were associated with milder disease outcomes. Certain signature amino acid changes persisted during and/or after the pandemic, indicating their offer of selective advantages to the virus. Negative selection was observed in 70% of pandemic variations as they probably did not contribute to the virus fitness. It is of interest that persistent variations were highly identified in the vicinity of antigenic or receptor‐binding sites. Of those, K171R was associated only with fatal infections. Also of interest, only strains that were isolated from fatal infections had variations that altered both their acid–base and polarity properties. Genetic changes that may alter the antigenicity, pathogenicity and transmissibility of circulating virus variants need to be determined and closely monitored. J. Med. Virol. 87: 57–67, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Understanding Address Usage in the Visible Internet

Although the Internet is widely used today, there are few sound estimates of network demographics. Decentralized network management means questions about Internet use cannot be answered by a central authority, and firewalls and sensitivity to probing means that active measurements must be done carefully and validated against known data. Building on frequent ICMP probing of 1% of the Internet address space, we develop a clustering algorithm to estimate how Internet addresses are used. We show that adjacent addresses often have similar characteristics and are used for similar purposes (61% of addresses we probe are consistent blocks of 64 neighbors or more). We then apply this block-level clustering to provide data to explore several open questions in how networks are managed. First, the nearing full allocation of IPv4 addresses makes it increasingly important to estimate the costs of better management of the IPv4 space as a component of an IPv6 transition. We provide about how effectively network addresses blocks appear to be used, finding that a significant number of blocks are only lightly used (about one-fifth of /24 blocks have most addresses in use less than 10% of the time). Second, we provide new measurements about dynamically managed address space, showing nearly 40% of /24 blocks appear to be dynamically allocated, and dynamic addressing is most widely used in countries more recently to the Internet (more than 80% in China, while less then 30% in the U.S.).