Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modeling and Characterization of Zero-Phase-Shift Lines and Optimization of Electrically Large ZPSL Loop Antennas for Near-Field Systems

A methodology for modeling and characterization of a zero-phase-shift line (ZPSL) structure is presented, and a ZPSL-based electrically large loop antenna is optimized for near-field wireless systems. The ZPSL loop is first analyzed with a full-wave driven-mode solver to obtain the dispersion curve. An equivalent circuit model is then presented for characterizing the ZPSL structure. Based on the dispersion analysis, a design guideline is proposed for the ZPSL loop antenna to enlarge its interrogation zone, where a uniform magnetic field distribution is desired. A design example at 915 MHz shows that the perimeter of the ZPSL loop antenna with a desired uniform magnetic field distribution can be optimized up to 2. 5λ0, which is much larger than those reported with 2λ0, achieving a 56% increase in the area of the interrogation zone. The proposed method can be applied in the antenna design for near-field wireless systems such as wireless charging, radio-frequency identification, nearfield communications, and magnetic resonance imaging.
Medication adherence, side effects and patient-physician interaction in hypertension

Hypertension is an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease, the incidence of which it is possible to reduce by prophylactic treatment with antihypertensive drugs. In clinical practice, however, only a minority of patients reach target blood pressure levels. The resulting gap between actual and potential health gains has been attributed to the fact that many patients do not take prescribed treatment as recommended, i.e. ”medication non-adherence”. This phenomenon is, however, insufficiently understood. We investigated the topic of adherence by way of a randomised questionnaire material comprising 1013 patients, and audio-recordings of 51 patient-physician consultations and 33 interviews with the patients made after the consultations. All patients came for regular follow-up appointments with their physicians and were under treatment with antihypertensives. In the questionnaire material, we found that patients who reported side effects of their drugs tended to rate their future risk of cardiovascular complications as being higher. Analysis of the interview data showed that patients had various reasons for sticking to the treatment recommendations: trust in physicians and wanting to avoid sequelae of hypertension were common arguments for doing so, while having side effects and disliking pharmaceuticals in general were reasons against. In the follow-up appointments, we found that the determinants of treatment decisions, i.e. the measured blood pressure values and (suspected) side effects, were defined through negotiation between patients and physicians. On the whole, patients and physicians were more in agreement about the interpretation of blood pressure values than of side effects, and physicians had the last say in the decision-making. We concluded that the antecedents of decisions about using medication are surrounded by uncertainty, and that it is the patient’s interpretation of the ”facts” that, ultimately, determines if and how antihypertensive medications will be taken.
Gossip: A social interest based routing algorithm for pocket switched network

Nodes of a sparsely distributed and an erratically connected network like Mobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) and Delay Tolerant Network (DTN) has no prior knowledge of node connectivity and suffers greatly from the lack of stable infrastructures. Thus selecting an effective message forwarding algorithm is of prime concern for efficient message propagation and resource sharing. To overcome the boundaries due to these limitations, user device's mobility pattern can be exploited to avail faster message transmission, while contributing to energy conservation and establishing effective communication. When implemented using the wireless technologies, such algorithms can provide a wide application domain in scenarios such as communication in disasters or war affected zones, where common communication methods are not approachable. In this paper, a novel approach named “Gossip” has been proposed. It works through forming social profiles for each individual hand-held device carriers while depending on their social interests; and afterwards chooses an aptest hop node relying on that social profile for successful message delivery.
A role for protein kinase intracellular messengers in substance P‐ and nociceptor afferent‐mediated excitation and expression of the transcription factor Fos in rat dorsal horn neurons in vitro

Expression of the inducible transcription factor Fos in the spinal dorsal horn in vivo is associated with nociceptive afferent activation, but the underlying stimulation‐transcription pathway is less clear. This in vitro spinal cord study concerns the role of protein kinase A and C second messengers in substance P receptor (NK1R)‐mediated or nociceptive afferent‐evoked neuronal excitation and Fos expression. Nociceptive afferent (dorsal root) stimulation of isolated spinal cords (10–14 day old rats) evoked a ‘prolonged’ excitatory polysynaptic potential (DR‐EPSP) that was attenuated (P < 0.05) by: the protein kinase A inhibitor, Rp‐cAMP; the protein kinase C inhibitor, bisindolymaleimide I; and the selective NK1R antagonist, GR82334. Neuronal excitations induced by the NK1R agonist [Sar9,Met(O2)11]‐SP were attenuated by Rp‐cAMP, bisindolymaleimide I and GR82334. Effects of the protein kinase A and C inhibitors on the DR‐EPSP or the [Sar9,Met(O2)11]‐SP‐induced depolarization were nonadditive, suggesting convergence of these intracellular signalling pathways onto a common final target. Nociceptor afferent‐induced Fos, detected by immunohistochemistry in superficial and deep dorsal horn laminae, was attenuated by Rp‐cAMP, bisindolymaleimide I and GR82334. In spinal cords pretreated with TTX to eliminate indirect neuronal activation, [Sar9,Met(O2)11]‐SP (1–20 µm) elicited a dose‐related expression of Fos that was reduced by Rp‐cAMP, bisindolymaleimide I and GR82334. The effects of these inhibitors were most pronounced in the deep laminae. These data support a causal relationship between protein kinase A‐ or C‐dependent signal transduction, nociceptive afferent‐ or NK1R‐induced neuronal excitation and Fos expression in dorsal horn. Implications for short‐ versus long‐term modulation of nociceptive circuitry are discussed.
Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Induces the Early Appearance of Pro-apoptotic and Anti-apoptotic Proteins in Neurons of Five Familial Alzheimer's Disease Mice

Background:Amyloid &bgr; (A&bgr;) deposits and the endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) are both well established in the development and progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, the mechanism and role of A&bgr;-induced ERS in AD-associated pathological progression remain to be elucidated. Methods:The five familial AD (5×FAD) mice and wild-type (WT) mice aged 2, 7, and 12 months were used in the present study. Morris water maze test was used to evaluate their cognitive performance. Immunofluorescence and Western blot analyses were used to examine the dynamic changes of pro-apoptotic (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein [CHOP] and cleaved caspase-12) and anti-apoptotic factors (chaperone glucose-regulated protein [GRP] 78 and endoplasmic reticulum-associated protein degradation-associated ubiquitin ligase synovial apoptosis inhibitor 1 [SYVN1]) in the ERS-associated unfolded protein response (UPR) pathway. Results:Compared with age-matched WT mice, 5×FAD mice showed higher cleaved caspase-3, lower neuron-positive staining at the age of 12 months, but earlier cognitive deficit at the age of 7 months (all P < 0.05). Interestingly, for 2-month-old 5×FAD mice, the related proteins involved in the ERS-associated UPR pathway, including CHOP, cleaved caspase-12, GRP 78, and SYVN1, were significantly increased when compared with those in age-matched WT mice (all P < 0.05). Moreover, ERS occurred mainly in neurons, not in astrocytes. Conclusions:These findings suggest that compared with those of age-matched WT mice, ERS-associated pro-apoptotic and anti-apoptotic proteins are upregulated in 2-month-old 5×FAD mice, consistent with intracellular A&bgr; aggregation in neurons.
Kernel automatic target generation process

Automatic target generation process (ATGP) has been widely used for unsupervised hyperspectral target detection. It implements a succession of orthogonal subspace projections (OSPs) to extract targets of interest without prior knowledge. This paper extends ATGP to a kernel version of ATGP, called kernel ATGP (KATGP) to further deal with linear non-separation problem. It introduces nonlinear kernels to map original data space into a higher dimensional feature space so that ATGP can effectively find.
Generations, Political Participation and Social Change in Western Europe

1. Introduction 2. Studying political participation 3. Generations and social change 4. The evolution of political participation in Western Europe 5. Generations and formal political participation in Western Europe 6. Generations and informal political participation in Western Europe 7. Explaining generational differences in political participation in Western Europe 8. The future of political participation in Western Europe
The Role of Model Risk in Extreme Value Theory for Capital Adequacy

In the recent literature, methods from extreme value theory (EVT) have frequently been applied to the estimation of tail risk measures. While previous analyses show that EVT methods often lead to accurate estimates for risk measures, a potential drawback lies in large standard errors of the point estimates in these methods, as only a fraction of the data set is used. Thus, we comprehensively study the impact of model risk on EVT methods when determining the value-at-risk and expected shortfall. We distinguish between first-order effects of model risk, which consist of misspecification and estimation risk, and second-order effects of model risk, which refer to the dispersion of risk measure estimates, and show that EVT methods are less prone to first-order effects. However, they show a greater sensitivity toward second order effects. We find that this can lead to severe value-at-risk and expected shortfall underestimations and should be reflected in regulatory capital models.
A least square procedure for the solution of Pocklington's equation

The analytical evaluation of the Pocklington's integro-differential equation for thin wires has been solved by the Method of Moments in many different versions. However, the least square procedure proposed here is a variant that uses only real algebra and is slightly more complex and computer intensive as opposed to using the Method of the Moments. Good convergence for the current is obtained and the results are similar to those using cosine functions with Galerkin method.
DEA for measuring technical efficiency associated with slacks

This paper presents the existing measures of technical efficiency. Taking the limitations of these approaches into its considerations, it defines a new index of technical efficiency considering slacks on both input and output. Following data envelopment analysis(DEA), it develops an extension to DEA that is capable to measure technical efficiency defined in this paper. It also discusses about how to identify efficient decision making unit (DMU) and to improve DMU being inefficient.
The Dynamics of Technical Progress in Some Developing and Developed Countries

We calibrate a semi-endogenous growth model to study the transitional dynamic and the properties of balanced growth paths of technological progress. In the model, long-run growth arises from global discoveries of new ideas, which depend on population growth. The transitional dynamic consists of the growth rates of capital intensity, labor, educational attainment (human capital), and research and ideas in excess of world population growth. Most of the growth in technical progress in a large number of developed and developing countries is accounted for by transitional dynamics.
Technical Briefs

Abstract Objectives: The aims were to compare health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and hearing handicap between two groups of employees with normal hearing and aided hearing impairment (HI). HRQOL was also compared to a normative population. The second aim was to compare perceived effort (PE) and disturbance after completing a task in office noise between the two study groups. Design: A Swedish version of the short form-36 (SF-36) and the hearing handicap inventory for adults (HHIA) was used to determine HRQOL and hearing handicap. The Borg-CR 10 scale was used to measure PE and disturbance. Study sample: Hearing impaired (n = 20) and normally hearing (n = 20) participants. The normative sample comprised of 597 matched respondents. Results: Hearing-impaired employees report relatively good HRQOL in relation to the normative population, but significantly lower physical functioning and higher PE than their normally-hearing peers in noise. Results from the HHIA showed mild self-perceived hearing handicap. Conclusions: The current results demonstrate that physical health status can be negatively affected even at a mild-moderate severity of HI, and that a higher PE is reported from this group when performing a task in noise, despite the regular use of hearing aids.
Tetrahedral Mesh Segmentation Based on Quality Criteria

Simulations based on the Finite Element Method are widely applied in different contexts. The convergence and reliability of results depends directly on the quality of the tetrahedrons that compose FEM meshes. In this context, this work aimed to obtain tetrahedral meshes of real structures from tomographic images using open source software and split those tetrahedrons that do not contribute for convergence of such simulations through the aspect ratio criteria. As a result, tetrahedral meshes from real structures were obtained together with indications of the regions that could impair FEM simulations. Moreover, this approach makes it possible to study specific methods for local refinements for improving numerical simulations. These findings are of great interest to users generally, and particularly to researchers working on geometric and topological methods for shape and solid modeling, with extensive applications in the fields of Computational Fluid Dynamics, Heat Transfer and others.
Microsatellite development suggests evidence of polyploidy in the social sponge‐dwelling snapping shrimp Zuzalpheus brooksi

We isolated and characterized 33 novel, polymorphic microsatellite loci from the social sponge‐dwelling snapping shrimp Zuzalpheus brooksi. We screened all 33 loci in approximately 31 individuals from a population of Z. brooksi from the Florida Keys, USA and found an average of 16 alleles per locus. Approximately 25% of the loci showed more than two bands per individual, suggesting evidence of high gene duplication, or more likely, polyploidy, which is common in crustaceans. The 25 disomic loci had an observed heterozygosity of 0.57 (range = 0.03–1.00) and will be useful for studying the social organization in Zuzalpheus shrimp.
Extracting image features for classification by two-tier genetic programming

Image classification is a complex but important task especially in the areas of machine vision and image analysis such as remote sensing and face recognition. One of the challenges in image classification is finding an optimal set of features for a particular task because the choice of features has direct impact on the classification performance. However the goodness of a feature is highly problem dependent and often domain knowledge is required. To address these issues we introduce a Genetic Programming (GP) based image classification method, Two-Tier GP, which directly operates on raw pixels rather than features. The first tier in a classifier is for automatically defining features based on raw image input, while the second tier makes decision. Compared to conventional feature based image classification methods, Two-Tier GP achieved better accuracies on a range of different tasks. Furthermore by using the features defined by the first tier of these Two-Tier GP classifiers, conventional classification methods obtained higher accuracies than classifying on manually designed features. Analysis on evolved Two-Tier image classifiers shows that there are genuine features captured in the programs and the mechanism of achieving high accuracy can be revealed. The Two-Tier GP method has clear advantages in image classification, such as high accuracy, good interpretability and the removal of explicit feature extraction process.
Incidence Angle Dependence of First-Year Sea Ice Backscattering Coefficient in Sentinel-1 SAR Imagery Over the Kara Sea

We have studied the incidence angle (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\theta _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) dependence of the sea ice backscattering coefficient (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sigma$ </tex-math></inline-formula>°) for Sentinel-1 (S-1) extra wide (EW) mode dual-polarization (HH/HV) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery acquired over the Kara Sea under winter and summer melting conditions. The determination of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sigma$ </tex-math></inline-formula>° versus <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\theta _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> dependence was based on SAR image pairs acquired on ascending and descending orbits over the same sea ice area with a short time difference. The SAR noise floor was subtracted from the HV images. From the image pairs 1.1 by 1.1 km windows representing level first-year ice (LFYI) and deformed first-year ice (DFYI) were manually selected, and a linear regression was fit between the resulting <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sigma$ </tex-math></inline-formula>° and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\theta _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> differences of the windows to estimate the slope <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${b}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (dB/1°) between <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sigma$ </tex-math></inline-formula>° and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\theta _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. For example, under winter condition <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${b}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for DFYI at HH- and HV-polarizations was found to be −0.24 and −0.16 dB/1°, respectively, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${b}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for LFYI at HH-polarization was −0.25 dB/1°. It was not possible to determine a reliable <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${b}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for LFYI at HV due to a contamination effect of the S-1 noise floor. The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${b}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> values at HH compared well with previous studies. They can be used to compensate the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sigma$ </tex-math></inline-formula>° incidence angle variation in the S-1 EW SAR images with good accuracy. The HH <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${b}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> values are applicable to other S-1 imaging modes and other C-band SAR sensors like RADARSAT-2. Unfortunately, the HV <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${b}_{1}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> values are specific to the S-1 EW mode due to the noise floor problem.
Radiotherapy planning complexity and survival after treatment of advanced stage lung cancer in the elderly

Complex radiotherapy (RT) planning is increasingly common in the treatment of lung cancer, although it remains unclear if these treatments are associated with better outcomes. The authors evaluated the association between the complexity of RT planning simulation and survival among elderly patients with stage IIIB non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC).
Ion mobility–mass spectrometry reveals conformational flexibility in the deubiquitinating enzyme USP5

Many proteins exhibit conformation flexibility as part of their biological function, whether through the presence of a series of well‐defined states or by the existence of intrinsic disorder. Ion mobility spectrometry, in combination with MS (IM–MS), offers a rapid and sensitive means of probing ensembles of protein structures through measurement of gas‐phase collisional cross sections. We have applied IM–MS analysis to the multidomain deubiquitinating enzyme ubiquitin specific protease 5 (USP5), which is believed to exhibit significant conformational flexibility. Native ESI–MS measurement of the 94‐kDa USP5 revealed two distinct charge‐state distributions: [M + 17H]+ to [M + 21H]+ and [M + 24H]+ to [M + 29H]+. The collisional cross sections of these ions revealed clear groupings of 52 ± 4 nm2 for the lower charges and 66 ± 6 nm2 for the higher charges. Molecular dynamics simulation of a compact form of USP5, based on a crystal structure, produced structures of 53–54 nm2 following 2 ns in the gas phase, while simulation of an extended form (based on small‐angle X‐ray scattering data) led to structures of 64 nm2. These data demonstrate that IM–MS is a valuable tool in studying proteins with different discrete conformational states.
Enabling Technologies for Cell-Based Clinical Translation Freshly Thawed and Continuously Cultured Human Bone Marrow-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Comparably Ameliorate Allergic Airways Inflammation in Immunocompetent Mice

Recent data suggest that freshly thawedpreviously frozenmesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs)maynot have the same effectiveness or breadth of anti-inflammatory activities as do continuously cultured MSCs. This has significant implications for clinical use, inwhichmany infusion schemesuse frozen cells thawed at the bedside for administration. The available data, however, predominantly evaluate in vitro MSC properties, and so far there has been limited in vivo analysis. To further assess this issue, we compared freshly thawed (thawed) versus continuously cultured (fresh) human bone marrowderived MSC (hMSC) administration in a mouse model of mixed Th2/Th17 allergic airway inflammation induced by Aspergillus hyphal extract (AHE) exposures in immunocompetent C57Bl/6 mice. Control cell populations included fresh versus thawed murine bone marrow-derived MSCs (mMSCs) and human lung fibroblasts (HLFs). Systemic administration of both thawed and fresh hMSCs and mMSCs, but notHLFs, at theonset of antigen challenge in previously sensitizedmice significantly ameliorated the AHE-provoked increases in airway hyper-reactivity, lung inflammation, and antigenspecific CD4 T-cell Th2 and Th17phenotype. Notably, therewas nodifference in effects of fresh versus thawed hMSCs or mMSCs on any outcomemeasured except for some variability in the effects on the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid composition. These results demonstrated potent xenogeneic effects of human MSCs in an immunocompetent mouse model of allergic airways inflammation and that thawed MSCs are as effective as fresh MSCs. The question of fresh versus thawedMSC effectiveness needs to be investigated carefully and may differ in different in vivo disease-specific models. STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE 2015;4:1–10
Credit supply, credit demand and unemployment in the mode of Augusto Graziani

Evidence shows that, in most European countries, both credit restriction on the part of banks and reduction of the demand for credit on the part of firms are in operation. This is particularly intense in Italy. The aim of this paper is to show that both phenomena ultimately depend on the decline of aggregate demand, insofar as it negatively affects firmsâ€™ current and expected profits. A macroeconomic schema is presented, based on Graziani's view that the operation of the credit market can trigger economic crises. Keynesian and Institutional arguments are also considered in order to analyse the links existing between the dynamics of the credit market and the path of wages and employment.