Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive inverse control of piezoelectric actuators with hysteresis operators

The present paper will describe an approach for the compensation of the hysteretic transfer characteristics of a piezoelectric stack transducer by an adaptive inverse hysteretic control. The basis of the inverse control is formed by a weighted superposition of elementary stop-type hysteresis operators which, in terms of mathematics, can be easily described and which reflect the qualitative properties of the inverse transfer characteristic of the transducer. Starting with a linear characteristic the weigths of an inverse hysteretic observer are identified during operation by a stable adaption law and transformed to the controller parameter. As a result the maximum linearity error caused by hysteresis is lowered about one order of magnitude.
Trends and concentrations of selected polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in general US population: Data from NHANES 2003–2008

Abstract Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are potentially mutagenic and carcinogenic, and as such their exposure is of serious concern. I aimed to study the trends in the levels of selected PAHs in US for the period 2003–2008 and their distribution by gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic and smoking status, and by exposure to second-hand smoke (SHS) at home and work. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, regression models were fitted for 10 individual urinary PAH metabolites. Smoking was statistically significantly associated with higher levels of naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene metabolites when compared to non-smokers. SHS exposure at home was also statistically significantly associated with higher concentrations of naphthalene, fluorene, phenanthrene, and pyrene metabolites. There was a statistically significant increase in the concentrations of total naphthalene and fluorene, 2-hydroxynaphthalene, 2- and 9-hydroxyfluorene, 2- and 4-hydroxyphenanthrene, and 1-hydroxypyrene during the study period of 2003–2008. Females were found to have statistically significantly higher concentrations of total naphthalene and phenanthrene metabolites as well as 1- and 2-hydroxynaphthalene, 1-hydroxyphenanthrene, and 1-hydroxypyrene. For most of the PAH metabolites, non-Hispanic whites had the highest adjusted concentrations and Mexican Americans had the lowest adjusted concentrations. For the concentrations of 2-hydroxynaphthalene, however, the reverse was true.
Utility Maximization for OFDMA Systems Over Discrete Sets

The main task in OFDM downlink scheduling design is to maximize some kind of utility considering user specific as well as system induced constraints. A typical example is the weighted sum rate maximization under a sum power constraint and possibly additional rate requirements. A major challenge is to incorporate the fact that in real systems the number of modulation depths and coding schemes is limited due to technical conditions. Thus, the scheduling problem results in a discrete optimization problem with non-differentiable non-convex objective. In this paper a new approach is presented that can deal with this kind of constraints in a general way. By transforming the discrete problem in a suitable weight matching problem an efficient algorithm which is easy to implement is devised. The performance of this algorithm is evaluated by simulations with parameters obtained from the recently proposed OFDM-HSDPA concept [1].
Rumen degradability and whole tract digestibility of flavonolignans from milk thistle (Silybum marianum) fruit expeller in dairy cows

The objective of this study was to determine rumen degradability and total digestibility of flavonolignans from a milk thistle fruit expeller in dairy cows considering milk production and changes in plasma flavonolignans. The experiment was carried out on three lactating Holstein cows and was divided into three periods as follows: preliminary period (Pr, 3 days) was used for the diet stabilization followed by the adaptation period (A, 6 days) in which the treatment was applied and by the balance period (B, 4 days). Cows were fed individually twice a day (6:40 and 16:40 h) ad libitum the diet based on maize silage, lucerne hay and supplemental mixture. In the periods A and B the diet was supplemented with 150 g/day of milk thistle fruit expeller applied in two equal portions at each feeding. Average daily intake of dry matter and basic nutrients was similar in all periods ( P > 0.05). Milk yield and composition were not affected by the treatment (P > 0.05). The milk thistle fruit expeller used in this experiment contained 4.10 ± 0.10 mass percentage of the silymarin complex. Digestibility of silybin A and silybin B was 40.0 and 45.5%, respectively. Digestibility of other components of the silymarin complex was 100%. The highest value of the effective degradation was found for taxifolin (59.11%), while the effective degradation of the other flavonolignans ranged from 23.28 to 35.19%. Animals receiving the milk thistle fruit expeller had a higher content of plasma conjugated silybin (P < 0.001) than those without its supplementation.
RESIZING H.264/AVC FRAMES IN THE COMPRESSED DOMAIN

xiii Acknowledgements . xiv Glossary . xv Chapter
Transcatheter repair of persistent tricuspid regurgitation after MitraClip with the TriCinch system: interventional valve treatment toward the surgical standard.

European and American Guidelines for the management of valvular heart disease recommend concomitant treatment of severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) during left side heart valve surgery (Class of recommendation I, level of evidence C). In high-risk patients undergoing transcatheter mitral valve interventions with concomitant severe TR, the tricuspid valve is typically left untreated. We recently performed a transcatheter tricuspid valve repair using the TriCinch …
The Gender Gap in U.S. Presidential Elections: When? Why? Implications?1

Social scientists and political commentators have frequently pointed to differences between men and women in voting and policy attitudes as evidence of an emerging "gender gap" in U.S. politics. Using survey data for 11 elections since 1952, this study develops a systematic analysis of the gender gap in presidential elections. The authors find evidence that women's changing rates of labor force participation explain the origins of the gender gap. Additional analyses show that attitudes toward social service spending mediate the interrelationship of women's labor force participation and vote choice. In the 1992 election, feminist consciousness also emerged as a significant factor shaping women's voting behavior.
Analysis of Potential Risk Factors Associated With Nonresponse to Initial Intravenous Immunoglobulin Treatment Among Kawasaki Disease Patients in Japan

Background: Some Kawasaki disease (KD) patients do not respond to initial treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG). The purpose of this study was to determine potential risk factors associated with IVIG nonresponse among KD patients in Japan. Methods: Data were obtained from questionnaires used for the 18th nationwide KD survey of patients who visited hospitals in Japan from 2003 through 2004. Data for patients who met the case definition for KD and received 2 g/kg single infusion IVIG as the initial treatment within 10 days of illness were analyzed. IVIG nonresponders were defined as patients who needed secondary treatment after initial IVIG administration. Results: Among 15,940 KD patients in Japan during 2003–2004, 6330 patients received 2 g/kg single infusion IVIG within 10 days of illness onset. IVIG nonresponders accounted for 20.3% of them (n = 1286). Male sex [odds ratio (OR), 1.21, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.06–1.37], receipt of the initial IVIG before the fifth day of illness (OR: 1.89, 95% CI: 1.66–2.15), and having recurrent KD (OR: 1.38, 95% CI: 1.00–1.90) were significantly associated with IVIG nonresponse. In addition, IVIG nonresponders had significantly higher risks for coronary artery aneurysms (OR: 10.38, 95% CI: 6.98–15.45) or giant coronary artery aneurysms (OR: 54.06, 95% CI: 12.84–227.65). Conclusions: Physicians should consider potential IVIG nonresponse among recurrent KD patients or KD patients diagnosed and treated before the fifth day of illness, particularly if they are boys and have laboratory values associated with nonresponse such as low platelet count, and elevated alanine aminotransferase and C-reactive protein. Some of these patients may benefit from administration of the alternative secondary treatment early during the illness along with the initial IVIG treatment.
Geometry and freeform architecture

During the last decade, the geometric aspects of freeform architecture have deﬁned a ﬁeld of applications which is systematically explored and which conversely serves as inspiration for new mathematical research. This paper discusses topics relevant to the realization of freeform skins by various means (ﬂat and curved panels, straight and curved members, masonry, etc.) and illuminates the interrelations of those questions with theory, in particular discrete diﬀerential geometry and discrete conformal geometry.
Social recommendation based on interest propagation

In this paper, we propose an social recommendation method based on interest propagation, which focuses on the interest influence by other user interest in social networks. Our method combines the user-item click information, social relationship, as well as social action information between users in social networks for recommendations. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated on Sina Weibo, one of the most popular social network sites in China. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the traditional collaborative filtering based method.
Quantum Radar

This book offers a concise review of quantum radar theory. Our approach is pedagogical, making emphasis on the physics behind the operation of a hypothetical quantum radar. We concentrate our discussion on the two major models proposed to date: interferometric quantum radar and quantum illumination. In addition, this book offers some new results, including an analytical study of quantum interferometry in the X-band radar region with a variety of atmospheric conditions, a derivation of a quantum radar equation, and a discussion of quantum radar jamming. This book assumes the reader is familiar with the basic principles of non-relativistic quantum mechanics, special relativity, and classical electrodynamics. Our discussion of quantum electrodynamics and its application to quantum radar is brief, but all the relevant equations are presented in the text. In addition, the reader is not required to have any specialized knowledge on classical radar theory. Table of Contents: Introduction / The Photon / Photon Scattering / Classical Radar Theory / Quantum Radar Theory / Quantum Radar Cross Section / Conclusions
"Don't tell him you have HIV unless he's 'the one'": romantic relationships among adolescents and young adults with perinatal HIV infection.

Individuals with perinatally-acquired HIV (PHIV) are surviving into young adulthood. Previous literature has explored the sexual behavior of those with PHIV. However, their perspectives on navigating romantic relationships are not well understood. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 young adults living with PHIV recruited from two pediatric infectious disease clinics in the southeast United States. The majority of participants were African American (n=27, 77.2%), female (n=23, 65.7%), and the mean age was 20.7 (range 15-30) years. Questions focused on experiences with dating and romantic relationships as well as relationship advice for others living with HIV. Transcribed interviews were coded for emergent themes. Qualitative analyses revealed that the majority of participants have dated and struggled with their HIV status in their intimate relationships. The majority of those who disclosed their HIV status to past partners had experienced some form of rejection. However, several participants reported receiving support upon disclosure. Some individuals had never disclosed to a romantic partner, but carefully managed intimacy by delaying dating, terminating relationships, and "taking it slow. " Advice fell into two broad categories: "be safe" which referred to the physical protection of self and partners, as well as emotional protection from possible rejection. The second advice category was basic encouragement which stressed the importance for young adults living with HIV to have hope that they would find a supportive partner and to be patient. The focus of education must include not only transmission risk factors, but also developing and maintaining healthy relationships in the context of a highly stigmatized illness.
Influence of sucrose ingestion on brainstem and hypothalamic intrinsic oscillations in lean and obese women.

BACKGROUND & AIMS The study of intrinsic fluctuations in the blood oxygen level-dependent signal of functional magnetic resonance imaging can provide insight into the effect of physiologic states on brain processes. In an effort to better understand the brain-gut communication induced by the absorption and metabolism of nutrients in healthy lean and obese individuals, we investigated whether ingestion of nutritive and non-nutritive sweetened beverages differentially engages the hypothalamus and brainstem vagal pathways in lean and obese women. METHODS In a 2-day, double-blind crossover study, 11 lean and 11 obese healthy women underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging scans after ingestion of 2 beverages of different sucrose content, but identical sweetness. During scans, subjects rested with eyes closed. RESULTS Blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations demonstrated significantly greater power in the highest frequency band (slow-3: 0.073-0.198 Hz) after ingestion of high-sucrose compared with low-sucrose beverages in the nucleus tractus solitarius for both groups. Obese women had greater connectivity between the right lateral hypothalamus and a reward-related brain region and weaker connectivity with homeostasis and gustatory-related brain regions than lean women. CONCLUSIONS In a functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we observed sucrose-related changes in oscillatory dynamics of blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations in brainstem and hypothalamus in lean and obese women. The observed frequency changes are consistent with a rapid vagally mediated mechanism due to nutrient absorption, rather than sweet taste receptor activation. These findings provide support for altered interaction between homeostatic and reward networks in obese individuals.
Oxaliplatin plus raltitrexed in the treatment of patients with advanced colorectal cancer: a phase II study.

UNLABELLED The combination of Oxaliplatin (OXA) and Raltitrexed (RTX) may represent a more convenient regimen as compared with OXA + 5-FU with Folinic acid (FA) modulation regimens. The present trial has been designed to explore the activity and tolerability of this combination in untreated and pretreated patients with advanced colorectal cancer (ACC). OXA and RTX were administered at the dose of 130 mg/m2 as i.v. 3-hour infusion and 3 mg/m2 over a 15-minute i.v. infusion, respectively, repeated every 21 days. Fifty patients were enrolled between February 1999 and March 2001. A total of 293 cycles were administered, with a median number of 6 cycles (range 1-14) per patient. The median dose intensity for OXA and RTX was 100% (50-100) and 86% (21-100), respectively. Reasons for RTX dose reduction were increases in transaminase serum levels and a reduction in creatinine clearance. Myelotoxicity was limited. A transaminase increase was observed in 74% of patients (14% grade 3 and 10% grade 4). Peripheral sensorial neurotoxicity was the most frequent side-effect (88%), although its intensity was mild in most patients (grade I 48%, grade II 24%, grade III 16%). Of 46 evaluable patients, 3 CR, 5 PR, 22 S and 16 P were observed. The CR + PR remission rate, according to the intention to treat analysis, was 16% with a 95% confidence limit of 7.2%-29.1%; in patients not pretreated for advanced disease the CR + PR rate was 26%, while only 2 out of 27 pretreated patients responded to the treatment (7%). The median time to progression was 5 months (2-11). The median survival was not reached after a median follow-up of 14 months. One-year survival is 60%. CONCLUSION In this trial the OXA + RTX combination is confirmed to be active in ACC, although the level of activity seems to be lower than that of the other combination including OXA and 5-FU with or without FA modulation. The reasons for the low activity observed could at least in part be related to a reduction in the RTX dose intensity.
High Power Photodiode Wafer Bonded to Si Using Au With Improved Responsivity and Output Power

High power photodiodes wafer bonded to Si using a gold intermediate layer were demonstrated. A fabricated 20-mum-diameter photodiode exhibited a bandwidth of ~18 GHz, a large-signal saturation-current of ~50 mA, and a peak responsivity of ~1 A/W. Both the responsivity and the saturation current of the Au-bonded photodiode were improved compared to the photodiode with the same structure on InP substrate
Proposal for a Structured Reporting System for Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen–Targeted PET Imaging: PSMA-RADS Version 1.0

As medical imaging has grown progressively more complicated and subspecialized in recent decades, several standardized reporting systems have been proposed for a variety of imaging modalities and conditions. These include reporting and data systems for imaging of the breast (BI-RADS) (1), prostate (PI-RADS) (2), lung (LUNG-RADS) (3), liver (LI-RADS) (4), and thyroid (TI-RADS) (5). Although these systems differ extensively in their details, each provides a standardized framework for conveying findings and recommendations to clinicians. Within the field of molecular imaging, efforts at instituting standardized reporting systems have been largely focused on response to therapy, such as the Lugano criteria (6). Among the wide array of molecular agents that have been developed for imaging prostate cancer (PCa), perhaps the most exciting results have been generated with the urea-based small molecules targeting the active site of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) (7–9). Labeled with radionuclides that allow for PET, such agents have been investigated in the context of preoperative staging of patients at risk of occult pelvic lymph node involvement (10), patients found to have biochemical recurrence after definitive therapy (11,12), and patients with widely metastatic disease (13). Overall, PSMA-targeted PET radiotracers have been found in the aforementioned studies, as well as in many others, to have high sensitivity and specificity for the identification of sites of PCa. Despite the outstanding performance characteristics noted in the literature, radiotracers targeting PSMA have been reported to show uptake in a number of nonprostatic malignancies (14–24), as well as in many types of benign lesions (25–40). Moreover, even among sites of PCa, the degree of uptake can vary widely depending on the level of PSMA expression and the size and location of detected lesions. This implies a need for a standardized method by which imaging specialists interpreting PSMA PET scans can reflect their level of certainty on findings. Moreover, a standardized reporting system would facilitate the collection of data for large prospective trials and allow for an accurate and efficient means of relaying findings to referring providers. To address that outstanding need, we propose a structured reporting system, termed PSMA-RADS version 1.0, for reporting findings on PSMA-targeted PET studies.
Experimental and Statistical Considerations to Avoid False Conclusions in Proteomics Studies Using Differential In-gel Electrophoresis*S

In quantitative proteomics, the false discovery rate (FDR) can be defined as the number of false positives within statistically significant changes in expression. False positives accumulate during the simultaneous testing of expression changes across hundreds or thousands of protein or peptide species when univariate tests such as the Student's t test are used. Currently most researchers rely solely on the estimation of p values and a significance threshold, but this approach may result in false positives because it does not account for the multiple testing effect. For each species, a measure of significance in terms of the FDR can be calculated, producing individual q values. The q value maintains power by allowing the investigator to achieve an acceptable level of true or false positives within the calls of significance. The q value approach relies on the use of the correct statistical test for the experimental design. In this situation, a uniform p value frequency distribution when there are no differences in expression between two samples should be obtained. Here we report a bias in p value distribution in the case of a three-dye DIGE experiment where no changes in expression are occurring. The bias was shown to arise from correlation in the data from the use of a common internal standard. With a two-dye schema, where each sample has its own internal standard, such bias was removed, enabling the application of the q value to two different proteomics studies. In the case of the first study, we demonstrate that 80% of calls of significance by the more traditional method are false positives. In the second, we show that calculating the q value gives the user control over the FDR. These studies demonstrate the power and ease of use of the q value in correcting for multiple testing. This work also highlights the need for robust experimental design that includes the appropriate application of statistical procedures.