Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Properties of microcrystalline cellulose and powder cellulose after extrusion/spheronization as studied by fourier transform Raman spectroscopy and environmental scanning electron microscopy

In this study, the effect of powder cellulose (PC) and 2 types of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC 101 and MCC 301) on pellet properties produced by an extrusion/spheronization process was investigated. The different investigated types of cellulose displayed different behavior during the extrusion/spheronization process. Pure PC was unsuitable for extrusion, because too much water was required and the added water was partly squeezed during the extrusion process. In contrast, MCC 101 and MCC 301 were extrudable at a wide range of water content, but the quality of the resulting products varied. In the extrusion/spheronization process, MCC 101 was the best substance, with easy handling and acceptable product properties. The properties of the extrudates and pellets were determined by Fourier transform (FT) Raman spectroscopy and environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM). FT-Raman spectroscopy was able to distinguish between the original substances and also between the wet and dried extrudates. The particle sizes of the raw material and of the extrudates were determined by ESEM without additional preparation. For MCC, the size of the resulting particles within the extrudate or pellet was smaller. However, in the extrudates of PC, changes in particle size could not be observed.
Error probability of reduced-state sequence estimation for trellis-coded modulation on intersymbol interference channels

The error probability of reduced-state sequence estimation (RSSE) for trellis-coded modulation on intersymbol interference channels is evaluated. In the literature, the minimum distance of ideal RSSE (without error propagation) has been used for approximating the error probability of real RSSE, but this approximation can be very poor. A union bound on the error probability for ideal RSSE is shown to provide a much better approximation than the minimum distance. A method based on an error super-state diagram and a stack algorithm is proposed for calculating the union bound. <<ETX>>
Severe Dystrophic Calcinosis Cutis : The Need for Early Intervention and Optimal Treatment of Juvenile Dermatomyositis

Dystrophic calcinosis cutis (DCC) is a severe, debilitating sequelae of juvenile dermatomyositis (DM) that can have significant morbidity. Treatment of extensive DCC can be very challenging with inconsistent results and limited evidence to guide best therapy. We present a case of a particularly severe form of DCC presenting in an adult, which highlights the necessity of early optimisation of juvenile DM treatment to help prevent this occurring.
Real-Time Global Illumination Using Precomputed Illuminance Composition with Chrominance Compression

In this paper we present a new real-time approach for indirect global illumination under dynamic lighting conditions. We use surfels to gather a sampling of the local illumination and propagate the light through the scene using a hierarchy and a set of precomputed light transport paths. The light is then aggregated into caches for lighting static and dynamic geometry. By using a spherical harmonics representation, caches preserve incident light directions to allow both diffuse and slightly glossy BRDFs for indirect lighting. We provide experimental results for up to eight bands of spherical harmonics to stress the limits of specular reﬂections. In addition, we apply a chrominance downsampling to reduce the memory overhead of the caches. The sparse sampling of illumination in surfels also enables indirect lighting from many light sources and an efﬁcient progressive multi-bounce implementation. Furthermore, any existing pipeline can be used for surfel lighting, facilitating the use of all kinds of light sources, including sky lights, without a large implementation effort. In addition to the general initial
A feedback double filtering based model for evaluating reputation in Peer-to-Peer networks

The feedback filtering is a key issue to the reputation evaluating in Peer-to-Peer networks. The existing models usually focus on filtering out the fake feedback at the trustor's side. However, even the most honest recommender could submit feedbacks with low quality. In this paper, a new reputation evaluating model is proposed. The model filters the feedback not only at the recommender's side but also at the trustor's side. Two new measures, i.e. confidence degree of feedback and trustworthiness degree of recommending, are introduced to the model. The former represents the confidence of the recommender to its feedback. This measure can be used by the recommender to filter out the feedback with low confidence. The latter is used to weight the recommender's feedback at the trustor's side. Experimental results show that our model has better performance and is robust even with large amount of malicious peers.
Theoretical Analysis of Different Classifiers under Reduction Rough Data Set: A Brief Proposal

Rough set plays vital role to overcome the complexities, vagueness, uncertainty, imprecision, and incomplete data during features analysis. Classification is tested on certain dataset that maintain an exact class and review process where key attributes decide the class positions. To assess efficient and automated learning, algorithms are used over training datasets. Generally, classification is supervised learning whereas clustering is unsupervised. Classifications under mathematical models deal with mining rules and machine learning. The Objective of this work is to establish a strong theoretical and manual analysis among three popular classifier namely K-nearest neighbor K-NN, Naive Bayes and Apriori algorithm. Hybridization with rough sets among these three classifiers enables enable to address larger datasets. Performances of three classifiers have tested in absence and presence of rough sets. This work is in the phase of implementation for DNA Deoxyribonucleic Acid datasets and it will design automated system to assess classifier under machine learning environment.
Intracerebral Cell Implantation: Preparation and Characterization of Cell Suspensions

Intracerebral cell transplantation is increasingly finding a clinical translation. However, the number of cells surviving after implantation is low (5–10%) compared to the number of cells injected. Although significant efforts have been made with regard to the investigation of apoptosis of cells after implantation, very little optimization of cell preparation and administration has been undertaken. Moreover, there is a general neglect of the biophysical aspects of cell injection. Cell transplantation can only be an efficient therapeutic approach if an optimal transfer of cells from the dish to the brain can be ensured. We therefore focused on the in vitro aspects of cell preparation of a clinical-grade human neural stem cell (NSC) line for intracerebral cell implantation. NSCs were suspended in five different vehicles: phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (DMEM), artificial cerebral spinal fluid (aCSF), HypoThermosol, and Pluronic. Suspension accuracy, consistency, and cell settling were determined for different cell volume fractions in addition to cell viability, cell membrane damage, and clumping. Maintenance of cells in suspension was evaluated while being stored for 8 h on ice, at room temperature, or physiological normothermia. Significant differences between suspension vehicles and cellular volume fractions were evident. HypoThermosol and Pluronic performed best, with PBS, aCSF, and DMEM exhibiting less consistency, especially in maintaining a suspension and preserving viability under different storage conditions. These results provide the basis to further investigate these preparation parameters during the intracerebral delivery of NSCs to provide an optimized delivery process that can ensure an efficient clinical translation.
Mutational Robustness and Automatic Program Repair

Mutational robustness describes how likely a variant’s phenotype is to remain constant in response to mutations applied within its genotype. This measure has not been evaluated generally across software, nor more specifically in the context of a genetic programming (GP) approach to automated program repair. We provide an analysis of this metric across eight benchmark programs, representing each program’s genotype as an AST, and each phenotype with a regression test suite. First, we quantify the robustness of these programs, with respect to the mutational operators used in existing GP program repair methods, and analyze the extent that these results can be applied to software more broadly. Next, we evaluate the relationship between program robustness and repair success in existing GP techniques. Finally, we identify a class of program faults which inhibit robustness under current repair methods, and propose changes in variant representation under GP that enable the repair of these more difficult bugs.
The obsessive compulsive drinking scale: A new method of assessing outcome in alcoholism treatment studies.

BACKGROUND the 14-item Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS) is a quick and reliable self-rating instrument that provides a total and two subscale scores that measure some cognitive aspects of alcohol "craving". This study validated further its utility as an alcoholism severity and treatment outcome instrument. METHODS Alcoholism severity and analogue craving scales were administered at baseline, and the OCDS was given at baseline and weekly to 41 alcohol-dependent individuals who participated in a 12-week pharmacologic and cognitive-behavioral treatment trial. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to examine group differences in the OCDS scores of those individuals who remained abstinent or drank during the trial. RESULTS At baseline, the OCDS was correlated with the alcohol composite score of the addiction severity index (r=.48), the alcohol dependence scale (r=.42), the analogue craving measures (range r=.40 to .57), and prestudy alcohol consumption (r=.60). Most importantly the OCDS total and subscale scores were significantly different between individuals who had relapse drinking, who had "slip" drinking, and who remained abstinent, with relapsers showing the highest scores. CONCLUSIONS The OCDS scores appear to be sensitive to alcoholism severity and change during abstinence and relapse drinking. Since the shared variance with analogue craving measures is only about 20% to 30%, it appears to be measuring a largely independent dimension of alcohol dependence. Its ease of use (5 minutes per self-rating), reliability, validity, and analytic capabilities support its utility as a tool to measure severity and improvement during alcoholism treatment trials.
Phylogeny of magpie‐robins and shamas (Aves: Turdidae: Copsychus and Trichixos): implications for island biogeography in Southeast Asia

Aim Magpie‐robins and shamas are forest and woodland birds of south Asia. There are two genera: Trichixos for the monotypic T. pyrrhopygus, and Copsychus for other species. Two species are widespread, whereas the others are restricted to specific islands. Endemicity is highest in the Philippines. Using phylogenetic methods, we examined how this group came to its unusual distribution.
Regional Expression of Transforming Growth Factor-α in Rat Ventral Prostate during Postnatal Development, after Androgen Ablation, and after Androgen Replacement.

The prostate is a highly heterogeneous organ, composed of different types of epithelial and stromal cells organized regionally along the ductal network. Although androgen-stimulated growth and maintenance of the prostate gland primarily involve epithelial cells, it is unclear whether all epithelial cells are androgen dependent. Moreover, the actions of androgens may not be direct; a number of polypeptide growth factors, including transforming growth factor-α (TGFα), are postulated to mediate androgen action in the rat prostate. In this investigation, using an immunohistochemical technique, we examined the cellular and regional expression of TGFα in the rat ventral prostate during postnatal development to adulthood. TGFα-immunopositive cells were located throughout the ductal epithelium from postnatal days 5–20. By day 45 and thereafter, regional variation in TGFα expression became apparent; epithelial cells in the proximal segment exhibited intense staining, whereas those in the distal segment exhibited n.
Transmit beamforming for optimal second-harmonic generation

A simulation study of transmit ultrasound beams from several transducer configurations is conducted to compare second-harmonic imaging at 3.5 MHz and 11 MHz. Second- harmonic generation and the ability to suppress near field echoes are compared. Each transducer configuration is defined by a chosen f-number and focal depth, and the transmit pressure is estimated to not exceed a mechanical index of 1.2. The medium resembles homogeneous muscle tissue with nonlinear elasticity and power-law attenuation. To improve computational efficiency, the KZK equation is utilized, and all transducers are circular-symmetric. Previous literature shows that secondharmonic generation is proportional to the square of the transmit pressure, and that transducer configurations with different transmit frequencies, but equal aperture and focal depth in terms of wavelengths, generate identical second-harmonic fields in terms of shape. Results verify this for a medium with attenuation f1. For attenuation f1.1, deviations are found, and the high frequency subsequently performs worse than the low frequency. The results suggest that high frequencies are less able to suppress near-field echoes in the presence of a heterogeneous body wall than low frequencies.
Adaptive MLSD receiver employing noise correlation

A per-survivor processing (PSP) maximum likelihood sequence detection (MLSD) receiver is developed for a fast time-varying frequency-selective Rayleigh fading channel with coloured additive noise, which follows an autoregressive (AR) model with unknown parameters. The correlation between noise samples is exploited to considerably enhance the performance of the communications. The maximum likelihood criterion is employed based on unknown noise parameters. This criterion has some desired properties, e.g. it has a unique joint minimum at the true values of the channel and the noise parameters. The new PSP–MLSD algorithm detects the input data and jointly estimates the noise and the channel parameters all together. The proposed structure can be viewed as a traditional PSP–MLSD receiver combined with an adaptive whitening filter. In a coloured noise environment, this scheme offers a faster tracking property, more accurate estimation of the channel and a substantially lower error probability compared with the traditional PSP–MLSD structure. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) improvement achieved by the proposed receiver, which can be called the noise whitening gain (NWG), is almost equal to the ratio of the energy of the additive noise to the energy of the unpredictable noise component. The square of the NWG gives also an accurate approximation for the bit error rate (BER) improvement ratio obtained by using the proposed algorithm compared with the traditional one.
A First Prehistoric Case of Tuberculosis from Britain.

A likely case of tuberculosis in an Iron Age human burial from Dorset, England is described. Osteological examination and biomolecular study support the diagnosis. A radiocarbon determination indicates a date range for the burial of BC 400–230. This case represents the earliest reported case of tuberculosis from Britain, and indicates that the disease was present here prior to the Roman invasion. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
La dynamique spatio-temporelle de la production des mots : études par magnétoencéphalographie

Cette these porte sur l'utilisation de la magnetoencephalographie (MEG) comme outil d'etude de la dynamique des reponses corticales durant la production de mots. Les donnees empiriques accumulees dans la litterature sont evaluees au regard des modeles psycho- et neuro-linguistiques de la production des mots et du langage. Nous realisons une exploration de l'evolution des modeles psycho-linguistiques et effectuons en ce sens une revue de la litterature MEG. Les forces et limites de la technique et des donnees empiriques existantes sont considerees et utilisees pour etablir un protocole de denomination d'images qui soit compatible avec la MEG. Nous developpons ensuite une etude empirique realisee en MEG, en utilisant une manipulation visuo-semantique pour explorer la dynamique des reponses corticales. Cette etude demontre une large reponse bi-hemispherique avec des differences inter-conditions precoces (~100ms) dans la BA8 et des differences dans le gyrus cingulaire anterieur, le cortex medial temporal anterieur droit a 207ms et dans la jonction temporo-parietale a 233ms apres apparition du stimulus. Des differences entre les conditions apparaissent tardivement dans le cuneus droit et suggerent egalement un traitement visuel en cours. Nos resultats questionnent le timing estime pour les traitements phonologiques et semantiques suggeres par les modeles seriels actuels de production du langage. A la lumiere de la revue de la litterature et de l'etude empirique conduite, nous evaluons les modeles existants et discutons des directions potentielles pour les recherches futures.
An Experimental Signalling Enhancement to Efficiently Encompass WCC and Backup Sharing in GMPLS-Enabled Wavelength-Routed Networks

In this paper we propose novel wavelength assignment algorithms along with the required extensions to the current GMPLS RSVP-TE Label Set to efficiently encompass the Wavelength Continuity Constraint (WCC) and the Backup Sharing in GMPLS-enabled Wavelength-Routed Networks (WRN) with Shared Path Protection (SPP) recovery schemes. The focus of this paper is to experimentally validate in ADRENALINE testbed the proposed signalling-based solution for WCC in SPP recovery when GMPLS OSPF-TE routing protocol disseminates only aggregated link information at bandwidth level based on two approaches: Unreserved Bandwidth (UBw), as proposed in standard GMPLS, and Shamble Bandwidth (SRBw) through an extended GMPLS OSPF-TE protocol proposed by the authors. Experimental performance evaluation shows that without using full routing information (i.e., per-wavelength channel dissemination), the Resource Overbuild can be reduced up to 25% and the Blocking Probability up to 35%. Moreover, in function of the required performance, it is preferable to enhance the signalling with sharing information before adding it into the routing.
Model reference adaptive control of a series–parallel hybrid electric vehicle during mode shift

Mode shift, as an essential transient state of series–parallel hybrid electric vehicle, might generate torque variation and intensive vehicle jerk due to the discontinuity and nonlinearity of dynamics of the powertrain topology, which results in an unpleasant driving comfort. Therefore, it is necessary to propose a proper control strategy and ensure a smooth transition process for the series–parallel hybrid electric vehicle during mode shift. This article presents a model reference adaptive controller to manage clutch engagement so as to decrease vehicle jerk and clutch frictional loss in a series–parallel hybrid electric vehicle. To design a clutch-coupled transmission system in this article, dynamic equations of a series–parallel hybrid electric vehicle are derived. To avoid the friction-induced discontinuity of clutch frictional torque during mode shift, a model reference adaptive controller based on hyper-stability theory is proposed that coordinately manages the clutch frictional torque. The simulation and the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model reference adaptive controller in this article can effectively decrease the vehicle jerk and clutch frictional loss when compared with the conventional control method.
Effect of Tinnitus Retraining Therapy on the Loudness and Annoyance of Tinnitus: A Controlled Trial

Objectives: Subjective tinnitus is the sensation of hearing a sound in the absence of an external stimulus. Although an estimated 30 million Americans experience chronic tinnitus, only a small percentage are significantly bothered by the sensation. However, this population is currently in need of effective therapy that reduces the impact of tinnitus. Tinnitus retraining therapy has been promoted as an effective intervention for treating chronic bothersome tinnitus from any etiology. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of tinnitus retraining therapy on the loudness and annoyance of tinnitus with a control group. Design: Subjects with subjective, stable, bothersome, chronic tinnitus, and normal to near-normal hearing in the speech frequencies (average pure-tone thresholds for 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz ≤ 30 dB HL) were recruited to participate in a study for the effect of tinnitus retraining therapy (TRT) on the loudness and annoyance of their tinnitus. Participants were assigned to either the TRT arm or a control arm, with assignment balanced between groups by tinnitus severity. After baseline evaluation, participants received acoustic stimulation devices and 3 mos of individual counseling. An integrated computerized test battery of questionnaires and psychophysical procedures were used to evaluate participants at 6, 12, and 18 mos after enrollment. The primary outcome measure was the change in total score on the tinnitus handicap inventory. Secondary outcome measures were change in global tinnitus impact on a tinnitus experience questionnaire, subjective tinnitus loudness rating, and tinnitus loudness objectively measured using a psychophysical matching procedure. Results: Both TRT and general counseling without additional sound therapy are effective in reducing the annoyance and impact of tinnitus. The largest effect on overall tinnitus handicap was observed in the TRT participants, with an effect size of 1.13. However, a clinically significant effect was also observed in the control group, with an effect size of 0.78. Conclusions: Individuals with moderate to severe tinnitus, without hearing loss in the speech frequency range, benefit from treatment with either TRT or general counseling. The global improvement in tinnitus handicap with TRT accrues over an 18-mo period and seems to be a robust and clinically significant effect.