Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
2-Octyl Cyanoacrylate Tissue Adhesive and Muscle Attachment to Porous Anophthalmic Orbital Implants

Purpose To investigate the tolerance and efficacy of a topical bioadhesive for direct muscle attachment to porous orbital motility implants. Methods Ten New Zealand White rabbits underwent unilateral enucleation with unwrapped 12-mm spherical porous implants placed into the muscle cone. Four animals received porous polyethylene implants and 6 received bone-derived hydroxyapatite implants. Small amounts of a bioadhesive (2-octyl cyanoacrylate) were applied to the underside of the muscles. Muscles were placed onto the desired location of the implant with pressure for 15 seconds. The conjunctiva was closed with a 6-0 plain gut suture, and the animals were observed for 6 weeks. At 6 weeks, animals were killed and the surgical orbit was exenterated. Orbits and implants were processed for histologic analysis. In addition, tensile strength testing of muscle-implant attachments was performed and compared with various other types of muscle-implant or muscle-sclera attachments. Results All cases resulted in integration of the muscles without slippage. All unwrapped hydroxyapatite implants (n = 6/6) had small anterior implant exposures without infection, significant inflammation, or exposure. No exposures were noted in porous polyethylene implants (n = 0/4). All implants were filled with fibrovascular tissue by 6 weeks. 2-Octyl cyanoacrylate yielded tensile strengths similar to that of sutured muscle coupling. Conclusions 2-Octyl cyanoacrylate is well tolerated in the orbit, inducing minimal inflammation. It effectively attaches muscles to porous implants without hindering permanent integration or vascularization. The exposure rate for unwrapped hydroxyapatite spheres was not caused by the adhesive, as evidenced by the lack of exposures in the porous polyethylene implant group. 2-Octyl cyanoacrylate may be effective in reducing the cost and time for enucleation surgeries when porous motility implants are used.
Sequential optimization in the absence of global reset

We study the problem of optimizing synchronous sequential circuits. There have been previous efforts to optimize such circuits. However, all previous attempts make implicit or explicit assumptions about the design or the environment of the design. For example, it is widespread practice to assume the existence of a hardware reset line and consequently a fixed power-up state; in the absence of the same, a common premise is that the design's environment will apply an initializing sequence. We review the concept of safe replaceability which does away with these assumptions and the delay-safe replaceability notion, which is applicable when the design's output is not used for a certain number of cycles after power-up. We then develop procedures for optimizing the combinational next-state and output logic, as well as routines for reencoding the state space and removing state bits under these replaceability criteria. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithms.
Perseus: Randomized Point-based Value Iteration for POMDPs

Partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs) form an attractive and principled framework for agent planning under uncertainty. Point-based approximate techniques for POMDPs compute a policy based on a finite set of points collected in advance from the agent's belief space. We present a randomized point-based value iteration algorithm called PERSEUS. The algorithm performs approximate value backup stages, ensuring that in each backup stage the value of each point in the belief set is improved; the key observation is that a single backup may improve the value of many belief points. Contrary to other point-based methods, PERSEUS backs up only a (randomly selected) subset of points in the belief set, sufficient for improving the value of each belief point in the set. We show how the same idea can be extended to dealing with continuous action spaces. Experimental results show the potential of PERSEUS in large scale POMDP problems.
VOLATILITY STRUCTURES OF FORWARD RATES AND THE DYNAMICS OF THE TERM STRUCTURE1

For general volatility structures for forward rates, the evolution of interest rates may not be Markovian and the entire path may be necessary to capture the dynamics of the term structure. This article identifies conditions on the volatility structure of forward rates that permit the dynamics of the term structure to be represented by a "two-dimensional state variable" Markov process. the permissible set of volatility structures that accomplishes this goal is shown to be quite large and includes many stochastic structures. In general, analytical characterization of the terminal distributions of the two state variables is unlikely, and numerical procedures are required to value claims. Efficient simulation algorithms using control variates are developed to price claims against the term structure. Copyright 1995 Blackwell Publishers.
Time course of the incidence/multiplicity and histopathological features of murine colonic dysplasia, adenoma and adenocarcinoma induced by benzo[a]pyrene and dextran sulfate sodium

Benzo[a]pyrene (BP) is mutagenic but noncarcinogenic in the murine colon. Recently, we reported rapid induction of colonic tumors by treatment of CD2F1 mice with BP (125 mg/kg for 5 days) followed by a colitis inducer, dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) (4% in drinking water for 1 or 2 weeks). However, there are no reports on detailed time course and histopathological features of colonic proliferative lesions in this model. Here, we show the detailed time course of colonic dysplasia, adenoma and adenocarcinoma induced by treatment with BP, DSS, and a combination of the two (BP/DSS). In the colon of mice exposed to BP/DSS, 14.6 dysplastic foci per mouse were present one week after DSS treatment (week 4). The number of dysplastic foci decreased with time to 3.1 at week 9 and thereafter remained almost constant. At week 4, 1.5 adenocarcinomas were also observed, with a marked increase in numbers with time, reaching 29.3 at week 14. In contrast, the number of dysplastic foci induced by DSS alone showed a time course similar to that following BP/DSS treatment; however, only a few tumors appeared. Neither dysplastic foci nor neoplastic lesions were induced by BP only. In mice exposed to BP/DSS, β-catenin was demonstrated immunohistochemically in the nucleus and/or cytoplasm of the tumor cells, and this translocation from the cell membrane was evident in subsets of dysplastic foci. In dysplastic foci induced by DSS alone, β-catenin was absent in the nucleus/cytoplasm. These finding suggest that aberrant β-catenin accumulation in dysplastic foci is associated with tumor progression in this BP/DSS model.
Pre‐ and postassessment of nurse practitioners' knowledge of hereditary colorectal cancer

Purpose: This study was part of an educational program conducted to describe nurse practitioners’ (NPs') knowledge and perceived comfort level regarding the identification of hereditary colorectal cancer (CRC), specifically Lynch syndrome, also referred to as hereditary nonpolyposis CRC. Data sources: A 3‐h workshop was developed that included a pretest to evaluate NPs' knowledge of hereditary CRC syndromes, educational program focusing on Lynch syndrome, and a posttest knowledge evaluation. Knowledge of hereditary CRC syndromes was assessed via a nine‐item multiple choice self‐report survey. Forty‐two NPs participated in the study. Conclusion: Few NPs (39%) reported “comfortable” in identifying red flags “suspect” for Lynch syndrome. Percentage of NPs who responded correctly on each of the pretest items ranged from 17.0% to 57.1% (M= 26.2%; SD= 13.5%; 95% confidence intervals [CI] 14.9%, −37.5%). NPs who responded correctly to the same items after the educational program (posttest) ranged from 53.8% to 95% (M= 80.5%; SD= 15.3%; 95% CI 67.8%, −93.4%). Implications for practice: Genetic testing is widely available for Lynch syndrome. It is important that NPs are cognizant of the syndrome and identify patients at risk for hereditary cancer syndromes so appropriate referral and management can be instituted.
Fracture Model of ZrO2-Al2O3 Ceramic Composite

Mixtures of ZrO2-Al2O3 ceramic composite were prepared using zirconia powder, ZrO2-Al2O3 composite powder synthesized by sol-gel process as main starting materials and zirconia gel as a binder. Then the mixtures were pressed into the mold, and then sintered at 1650°C for 3h. Finally, the ZrO2-Al2O3 ceramic composite samples were prepared. Then the mineral phases of ZrO2-Al2O3 ceramic composite were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the fracture model of ZrO2-Al2O3 ceramic composite was analyzed by press, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray Spectroscope (EDS). The results show that, zirconia is the main phase and alumina is the secondary phase mainly present in the matrix. The fracture model of ZrO2-Al2O3 material was jointly composed by intergranular fracture and transgranular fracture, of which the coarse particle shows the intergranular fracture model and the fine particle shows the transgranular fracture model.
Developing a Robust Disaster Response Robot: CHIMP and the Robotics Challenge

CHIMP, the CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform, is a humanoid robot capable of executing complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human‐engineered environments, such as those found in disaster response scenarios. CHIMP is uniquely designed for mobile manipulation in challenging environments, as the robot performs manipulation tasks using an upright posture, yet it uses more stable prostrate postures for mobility through difficult terrain. In this paper, we report on the improvements made to CHIMP—both in its mechanical design and its software systems—in preparation for the DARPA Robotics Challenge Finals in June 2015. These include details on CHIMP's novel mechanical design, actuation systems, robust construction, all‐terrain mobility, supervised autonomy approach, and unique user interfaces utilized for the challenge. Additionally, we provide an overview of CHIMP's performance, and we detail the various lessons learned over the course of the challenge. CHIMP was one of the winners of the DARPA Robotics Challenge, completing all tasks and finishing in 3rd place out of 23 teams. Notably, CHIMP was the only robot to stand back up after accidentally falling over, a testament to the robustness engineered into the robot and a remote operator's ability to execute complex tasks using a highly capable robot. We present CHIMP as a concrete engineering example of a successful disaster response robot.
Measurement of the Thickness and Refractive Index of Very Thin Films and the Optical Properties of Surfaces by Ellipsometry1

The use of the ellipsometer for the measurement of the thickness and refractive index of very thin films is reviewed. The Poincaré sphere representation of the state of polarization of light is developed and used to describe the reflection process. Details of the operation of the ellipsometer are examined critically. A computational method is presented by which the thickness of a film of known refractive index on a reflecting substrate of known optical constants may be calculated directly from the ellipsometer readings. A method for computing both the refractive index and thickness of an unknown film is also developed. These methods have been applied to the determination of the thickness of an adsorbed water layer on chromium ferrotype plates and on gold surfaces. In the former case the thickness was 23 to 27 Å, and in the latter was 2 to 5 Å. The measurement of the thickness and refractive index of barium fluoride films evaporated on chromium ferrotype surfaces is used as an illustration of the simultaneous determination of these two quantities.
Rheology of Al-Cu-Mg pre-alloyed powder in supersolidus liquid phase sintering process

ABSTRACT Sintering process was performed on cylindrical consolidates in dry nitrogen atmosphere at various temperatures ranging from the solidus-to-liquidus temperatures for 30 min at a heating rate of 10°C min−1. Beam bending technique has been used to measure the macroscopic apparent viscosity of Al-Cu-Mg pre-alloyed powder (2024 Al alloy). Slumping test has been used to measure the yield strength at temperatures above solidus temperature. Wetting angle and capillary stress were calculated. Results showed that the rheological behaviour of this system follows as Bingham model. The yield stress varies from 0.37 kPa at 580°C to 0.3 kPa at 610°C on air atomised Al-Cu-Mg having 0.1% Sn. The correlation between variations of viscosity as function of temperature has been derived. The activation energy of viscous flow was estimated to 15.164 kJ mol−1. Capillary and yield stress decrease by increasing temperature. Maximum densification with minimum distortion is obtained at 600–610°C.
The impact of menopause and lifestyle factors on blood and bone lead levels among female former smelter workers: the Bunker Hill Study.

OBJECTIVE The Bunker Hill mine in Idaho operated from 1886 to 1981. In the 60's and 70's it provided approximately 25% of the primary lead in the United States. Women first began working on the production and maintenance lines in 1972. This study examines the impact of menopause and several occupational and lifestyle factors as determinants of blood and bone lead levels among 73 female former smelter workers. METHODS Blood lead levels were analyzed using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy. The (109)Cd K X-ray fluorescence system was used to measure calcaneus and tibia bone lead content. Information was obtained on reproductive history, alcohol and cigarette consumption, education, and hormone replacement therapy (HRT). RESULTS Postmenopausal women (n = 47) had significantly (P < 0.002) higher blood lead levels (3.48 microg/dl) than did premenopausal women (n = 26) (2.19 microg/dl). The best predictors of blood lead levels were smoking (>10 or < or =10 cigarettes/day), natural menopause, technical or community college education, manager or technical worker, and past or present use of HRT. The best predictors of calcaneus bone lead levels (P < 0.2) were technical workers, such as miner; natural menopause; and smoking >10 cigarettes/day; level of education; 1-2 pregnancies; and age (>60 years). CONCLUSIONS Lead exposure results in higher blood lead levels especially during menopause.
Null Detector Circuit Design Scheme for Detecting Defective AC-Coupled Capacitors in Differential Signaling

This paper presents a novel method for detecting defective ac-coupling capacitors in high-speed differential signaling connections by designing a circuit with null detectors at the differential receiver. The design parameters of selecting the null ranges in the receiver buffer are proposed to efficiently detect the voltage droop that creates erroneous jitter. The null detectors in the proposed method enable the use of a lower test signal speed than the mission data rate at differential connections to detect defective capacitors. The proposed design method of null detectors combines four design and test factors, namely, regular null, voltage doubling, fail-safe, and defect sensitization, to determine the stretched null used for test purposes. The null-detection scheme has been implemented and verified in the design using a regular current-mode logic (CML) differential buffer in the 0.18- mum complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process. The detection capability of the proposed method to check for traditional defects with the same null detector is also demonstrated through SPICE-based fault simulations. The proposed method is also verified with the board developed for parameter measurements. The parameters proposed in this paper showed excellent agreement among calculated, simulated, and measured values. In particular, measured parameters showed strong closeness up to 99% to its calculated values.
The Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Nurse-Family Partnership in the United States

We evaluated whether Nurse-Family Partnership might serve as a cost-effective social policy for improving health. Using data from studies of randomized controlled trials as well as real-world data, we conducted a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate cost-effectiveness of Nurse-Family Partnership in a hypothetical cohort of first-born children in the United States. Analyses were conducted in 2015. Were all new mothers eligible for Nurse-Family Partnership, the program would produce 0.11 QALYs (95% confidence interval [CI]=0.06, 0.17) at an additional cost of $1,021 (95% CI=-$2,831, $4,414) per nurse-visited child's lifetime relative to the comparison-group children or $14,642 (95% CI = Savings, $71,877) per QALY gained. However, if applied to high-risk mothers, it would generate 0.19 QALYs (95% CI = 0.09, 0.44) and a net benefit of $2,764 (95% CI =-$1,210, $7,092) per nurse-visited child. Nurse-Family Partnership should be considered as a policy investment, particularly in an era of investments in the social determinants of health.
Tour the world: a technical demonstration of a web-scale landmark recognition engine

We present a technical demonstration of a world-scale touristic landmark recognition engine. To build such an engine, we leverage ~21.4 million images, from photo sharing websites and Google Image Search, and around two thousand web articles to mine the landmark names and learn the visual models. The landmark recognition engine incorporates 5312 landmarks from 1259 cities in 144 countries. This demonstration gives three exhibits: (1) a live landmark recognition engine that can visually recognize landmarks in a given image; (2) an interactive navigation tool showing landmarks on Google Earth; and (3) sample visual clusters (landmark model images) and a list of 1000 randomly selected landmarks from our recognition engine with their iconic images.
Sub Cluster Aided Data Collection in Multihop Wireless Sensor Networks

Clustering is an effective approach to achieve prolonged network lifetime, high energy efficiency and scalability in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). In many real world scenarios, due to the limited communication range of sensor nodes, the cluster heads have to forward their collected data back to the sink via multihop routes. In such cases, data from some nodes are first collected by a cluster head farther away from the sink, and then relayed back towards the sink. Such back and forth data transmission wastes precious energy in WSNs. In this paper, we present the novel concept of sub cluster for energy efficient data collection and relay. The utilization of sub clusters is proved beneficial whenever a clustering scheme is implemented in the context of whatever multihop routing protocols. We propose a protocol, SAIC (sub cluster aided interest-driven clustering) to realize this concept. SAIC is then extended to support a sink moving in discrete pattern. We analyze the benefit of introducing sub clusters, and demonstrate its gain in terms of energy efficiency in simulation. Attractively, a mobile sink boosts the benefit of sub clusters.
Corrosion Behavior of Al-Zn-In Sacrificial Anode Alloys Produced by Conventional Casting and Semi-Solid Metal Casting Processes

A challenge in producing a sacrificial anode through conventional casting method is that the alloying elements in casting segregate during solidification, which further causes non-uniform anode corrosion reducing anode performance. In this paper, we investigated the performance of Al-5Zn-0.02In anode produced by conventional casting compared with by semi-solid casting technique. The performance of produced anodes were measured in terms of anode potential, current capacity, consumption rate and anode efficiency in 3.5% NaCl solution for 14 days. We found that the microstructure of the conventional cast anode had dendrites and coarse grains and the corrosion caused pitting corrosion. In contrast, the semi-solid cast anode had fine grains without any dendrites. The corrosion attacked mainly the grain boundaries and less on the matrix. Surprisingly, the conventional cast anode has about 10% higher efficiency than that of semi-solid cast anode.
Renin‐Angiotensin II Response to the Hemodynamic Pathology of Ovines With Ventricular Septal Defect

We studied the response of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) to a surgically created ventricular septal defect (VSD) in immature ovines and also the role of angiotensin II in the pathophysiology of VSD in the chronically instrumented ovine. Plasma renin activity (PRA) was increased from 2.39±1.1 to 3.78±1.4 ng/ml/hr (p<0.05, n=17) after VSD but not after sham procedure. The change in PRA was positively correlated with the amount of left-to-right shunt through the VSD (r=0.74, p<0.05). Inhibition of angiotensin n effect with saralasin (10 μg/kg/ min) or angiotensin n production with captopril (2 mg/kg) lowered systemic resistance (RJ by 14percent; and 34percent;, respectively (p<0.05), and raised pulmonary resistance (Rp) by 35percent; and 77percent;, respectively (p<0.05). Thirty minutes following captopril, the ratio of pulmonary to systemic flow (Qp/Q±) decreased from 3.31±0.18 to 2.15±0.18 (p<0.05) while total pulmonary flow fell from 7.15±0.38 to 5.92±0.34 l/min/M2 (p<0.05, n=ll). Systemic flow increased from 2.17±0.14 to 2.86±0.33 l/min/M2 (p<0.05) despite a reduction in left atrial pressure (17.3±1.0 vs. 13.0±1.7, p<0.01). Reinfusion of angiotensin n (0.02 μg/kg/min) into the central aorta after captopril returned the hemodynamics to baseline including a rise in Rp and fall in Rp. Exogenous angiotensin II alone (0.08 μg/kg/min) or a threefold stimulation in PRA with furosemide (2 mg/kg) caused little hemodynamic effect. The flow disturbance with a large VSD causes near maximal stimulation/effect of the RAS as indicated by the rise in PRA, the lack of response to further increases in PRA, and the response to exogenous angiotensin II. The RAS appears to promote the pathophysiology of VSD, demonstrated with RAS antagonists, by increasing R±, lowering Rp, and causing a redistribution of left ventricular output to the pulmonary circulation.
Teletriage for Provision of Dermatologic Care

Background: The scarcity of dermatologists has prompted the creation of innovative methods for delivering dermatologic care. Methods: Teletriage is a method used in teledermatology to efficiently assess skin complaints in patients who do not have prompt access to conventional dermatologic care. Their primary care clinicians are provided with management recommendations, reassured that the lesion of concern is benign, or recommended to send their patient for a face-to-face dermatology visit. The Providence VA Medical Center conducted a pilot program testing the utility of teletriage for patients with skin complaints from June 2011 to August 2011. Results: The pilot program revealed that with the teletriage protocol, face-to-face visits were reduced by 38%. This program suggests that teletriage could be a useful tool for providing efficient dermatologic care, and has led to broader implementation. Conclusion: Teletriage is a potentially useful approach for efficiently addressing specific dermatologic complaints and improving access to care for those complaints.
Academic co-author networks based on the self-organizing feature map

This paper studies mathematician Paul Erdös, one of the most famous academic co-authors and his large co-author network. K-means and Self-Organizing feature Map (SOM) algorithms are applied to study the network. First, the SOM algorithm is introduced to recognize the pattern area number, which can identify the sub-segment automatically and export the central point of each cluster as well as the weights. Taking the results as the initial input of the K-means algorithm to make the further clustering, the accurate clustering results are gained. Then search the largest weight node of each cluster and set it as the most influential researcher. Finally we compared the h-index of the most influential researcher with the corresponding weight node of the cluster, the results confirm that the algorithm is better than SOM and K-means algorithms when they are separately used.