Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improved Virtual Space Vector Modulation for Three-Level Neutral-Point-Clamped Converter With Feedback of Neutral-Point Voltage

Neutral-point (NP) voltage imbalance is an inherent problem of three-level neutral-point clamped (NPC) converter. To solve this problem, an improved virtual space vector pulse width modulation (VSVPWM) is proposed in this paper. A new repartitioning of the space vector sectors is proposed for three-level NPC converter by considering the amplitude variations of small vectors under NP voltage imbalance. The factor k of the NP voltage imbalance is introduced. The small vector favorable to the NP voltage balance is selected based on the factor k and phase current direction to achieve precise control and balancing of NP voltage. The proposed method can effectively maintain NP voltage balance and eliminate the low frequency oscillation of the NP voltage over the whole modulation index range. The improved VSVPWM also has advantages of good dynamic performance. The method has been tested and verified by simulations and experiments.
Ethical issues in palliative care for nursing homes: Development and testing of a survey instrument

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES To develop and psychometrically assess a survey instrument identifying ethical issues during palliative care provision in nursing homes. BACKGROUND Registered nurses and healthcare assistants have reported ethical issues in everyday palliative care provision. Identifying these issues provides evidence to inform practice development to support healthcare workers. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey of Registered nurses and healthcare assistants in nursing homes in one region of the UK. METHOD A survey instrument, "Ethical issues in Palliative Care for Nursing homes", was developed through the findings of qualitative interviews with Registered nurses and healthcare assistants in nursing homes and a literature review. It was reviewed by an expert panel and piloted prior to implementation in a survey in 2015 with a convenience sample of 596 Registered nurses and healthcare assistants. Descriptive and exploratory factor analyses were used to assess the underlying structure of the Frequency and Distress Scales within the instrument. RESULTS Analysis of 201 responses (response rate = 33.7%) revealed four factors for the Frequency Scale and five factors for the Distress Scale that comprise the Ethical issues in Palliative Care for Nursing homes. Factors common to both scales included "Processes of care," "Resident autonomy" and "Burdensome treatment. " Additionally, the Frequency Scale included "Competency," and the Distress Scale included "Quality of care" and "Communication. " CONCLUSION The Ethical issues in Palliative Care for Nursing homes instrument has added to the palliative care knowledge base by considering the ethical issues experienced specifically by Registered nurses and healthcare assistants within the nursing home. This research offers preliminary evidence of the psychometric properties of the Ethical issues in Palliative Care for Nursing homes survey instrument. RELEVANCE TO PRACTICE The two largest factors highlight the need to address the organisational aspects of caring and provide training in negotiating conflicting ethical principles.
Increased Endothelial Dysfunction and Insulin Resistance in Patients with Klinefelter Syndrome.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE Patients with Klinefelter Syndrome (KS) have increased cardiometabolic risk however the pathogenesis is not clear. We investigated the presence of endothelial dysfunction, insulin resistance and inflammation in an unconfounded population of KS. METHODS A total of 32 patients with KS (mean age 21.59 ± 1.66 years) and 33 healthy control subjects (mean age: 22.15 ± 1.03 years) were enrolled. The demographic parameters, Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index and highsensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels were measured. RESULTS The patients had higher Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH), Luteinizing Hormone (LH), insulin, HOMA-IR and ADMA levels (p < 0.001 for all) and lower High Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL-C) and total testosterone levels (p=0.002 and p<0.001, respectively), compared to the healthy controls. Total testosterone levels were significantly negatively correlated to ADMA (r = - 0.479, p < 0,001), hs-CRP (r = -0.291, p = 0.034) and positively correlated to HDL-C (r = 0.429, p = 0.001) levels. The multivariate analysis has shown that total testosterone (β = -0.412, p = 0.001) and TG (β = 0.332, p = 0.009) levels were the significant independent determinants of the plasma ADMA levels. CONCLUSION The results of the present study show that endothelial dysfunction and insulin resistance are prevalent even in the very young subjects with KS, who have no metabolic or cardiac problems at present. Also, hypogonadism seems to play an important role for increased cardiometabolic risk in patients with KS.
On Resource Pooling and Separation for LRU Caching

Caching systems using the Least Recently Used (LRU) principle have now become ubiquitous. A fundamental question for these systems is whether the cache space should be pooled together or divided to serve multiple flows of data item requests in order to minimize the miss probabilities. In this paper, we show that there is no straight yes or no answer to this question, depending on complex combinations of critical factors, including, e.g., request rates, overlapped data items across different request flows, data item popularities and their sizes. To this end, we characterize the performance of multiple flows of data item requests under resource pooling and separation for LRU caching when the cache size is large. Analytically, we show that it is asymptotically optimal to jointly serve multiple flows if their data item sizes and popularity distributions are similar and their arrival rates do not differ significantly; the self-organizing property of LRU caching automatically optimizes the resource allocation among them asymptotically. Otherwise, separating these flows could be better, e.g., when data sizes vary significantly. We also quantify critical points beyond which resource pooling is better than separation for each of the flows when the overlapped data items exceed certain levels. Technically, for a broad class of heavy-tailed distributions we derive the asymptotic miss probabilities of multiple flows of requests with varying data item sizes in a shared LRU cache space. It also validates the characteristic time approximation under certain conditions. These results provide new insights on improving the performance of caching systems.
Non-invasive assessment of culture media from goat cloned embryos associated with subjective morphology by gas chromatography - mass spectroscopy-based metabolomic analysis.

Pre-implantation embryo metabolism demonstrates distinctive characteristics associated with the development potential of embryos. We aim to determine if metabolic differences correlate with embryo morphology. In this study, gas chromatography - mass spectroscopy (GC-MS)-based metabolomics was used to assess the culture media of goat cloned embryos collected from high-quality (HQ) and low-quality (LQ) groups based on morphology. Expression levels of amino acid transport genes were further examined by quantitative real-time PCR. Results showed that the HQ group presented higher percentages of blastocysts compared with the LQ counterparts (P < 0.05). Metabolic differences were also present between HQ and LQ groups. The culture media of the HQ group showed lower levels of valin, lysine, glutamine, mannose and acetol, and higher levels of glucose, phytosphingosine and phosphate than those of the LQ group. Additionally, expression levels of amino acid transport genes SLC1A5 and SLC3A2 were significantly lower in the HQ group than the LQ group (P < 0.05, respectively). To our knowledge, this is the first report which uses GC-MS to detect metabolic differences in goat cloned embryo culture media. The biochemical profiles may help to select the most in vitro viable embryos.
The IACOB project: III. New observational clues to understand macroturbulent broadening in massive O- and B-type stars ?

Context. The term macroturbulent broadening is commonly used to refer to a certain type of non-rotational broadening affecting the spectral line profiles of O- and B-type stars. It has been proposed to be a spectroscopic signature of the presence of stellar oscillations;however, we still lack a definitive confirmation of this hypothesis. Aims. We aim to provide new empirical clues about macroturbulent spectral line broadening in O- and B-type stars to evaluate its physical origin. Methods. We used high-resolution spectra of 430 stars with spectral types in the range O4 - B9 (all luminosity classes) compiled in the framework of the IACOB project. We characterized the line broadening of adequate diagnostic metal lines using a combined Fourier transform and goodness-of-fit technique. We performed a quantitative spectroscopic analysis of the whole sample using automatic tools coupled with a huge grid of fast wind models to determine their effective temperatures and gravities. We also incorporated quantitative information about line asymmetries into our observational description of the characteristics of the line profiles, and performed a comparison of the shape and type of line-profile variability found in a small sample of O stars and B supergiants with still undefined pulsational properties and B main-sequence stars with variable line profiles owing to a well-identified type of stellar oscillations or to the presence of spots in the stellar surface. Results. We present a homogeneous and statistically significant overview of the (single snapshot) line-broadening properties of stars in the whole O and B star domain. We find empirical evidence of the existence of various types of non-rotational broadening agents acting in the realm of massive stars. Even though all these additional sources of line-broadening could be quoted and quantified as a macroturbulent broadening from a practical point of view, their physical origin can be different. Contrarily to the early-to late-B dwarfs and giants, which present a mixture of cases in terms of line-profile shape and variability, the whole O- type and B supergiant domain (or, roughly speaking, stars with M-ZAMS greater than or similar to 15 M-circle dot) is fully dominated by stars with a remarkable non-rotational broadening component and very similar profiles (including type of variability). We provide some examples illustrating how this observational dataset can be used to evaluate scenarios aimed at explaining the existence of sources of non-rotational broadening in massive stars.
A three-gene signature for prognosis in patients with MGMT promoter-methylated glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is the most malignant tumor and has high mortality rate. The methylated prompter of MGMT results in chemotherapy sensitivity for these patients. However, there are still other factors that affected the prognosis for the glioblastoma patients with similar MGMT methylation status. We developed a signature with three genes screened from the whole genome mRNA expression profile from Chinese Glioma Genome Atlas (CGGA) and RNAseq data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Patients with MGMT methylation in low risk group had longer survival than those in high risk group (median overall survival 1074 vs. 372 days; P = 0.0033). Moreover, the prognostic value of the signature was significant difference in cohorts stratified by MGMT methylation and chemotherapy (P=0.0473), while there is no significant difference between low and high risk group or unmethylated MGMT patients without chemotherapy. Multivariate analysis indicated that the risk score was an independent prognosis factor (P = 0.004). In conclusion, our results showed that the signature has prognostic value for patients with MGMT promoter-methylated glioblastomas based on bioinformatics analysis.
Capillary optical fibre with Sm3+ doped ribbon core

The paper presents new construction of luminescent photonic sensor based on an optical fiber capillary with a side ribbon doped with Sm3+ ions. Samarium ions ensure efficient excitation at the wavelength of 405 nm and multi colour luminescence in visible spectrum (550-720 nm). This phenomenon was proposed to increase sensor accuracy by using measurements of certain wavelength. The luminescence and angular characteristics of developed optrode were characterized at the lateral and face excitation of special capillary fibre construction. Rhodamine B (RhB) was used as a test solution in designed optrode. The nearly linear characteristic of RhB concentration was obtained for up to 0.15 % (w/w). The results indicate that the designed optrode can be used for construction of compact luminescent sensor for measuring selected properties of the solutions.
Learning implicit models during target pursuit

Smooth control using an active vision head's verge-axis joint is performed through continuous state and action reinforcement learning. The system learns to perform visual servoing based on rewards given relative to tracking performance. The learned controller compensates for the velocity of the target and performs lag-free pursuit of a swinging target. By comparing controllers exposed to different environments we show that the controller is predicting the motion of the target by forming an implicit model of the target's motion. Experimental results are presented that demonstrate the advantages and disadvantages of implicit modelling.
Fairness of User Clustering in MIMO Non-Orthogonal Multiple Access Systems

In this letter, a downlink multiple-input-multiple-output non-orthogonal multiple access scenario is considered. We investigate a dynamic user clustering problem from a fairness perspective. In order to solve this optimization problem, three sub-optimal algorithms, namely, top-down A, top-down B, and bottom up, are proposed to realize the different tradeoffs of complexity and throughput of the worst user. In addition, for each given user clustering case, we optimize the power allocation coefficients for the users in each cluster by adopting a bisection search-based algorithm. Numerical results show that the proposed algorithms can lower the complexity with an acceptable degradation on the throughput compared with the exhaustive search method. It is worth noting that the top-down B algorithm can achieve a good tradeoff between the complexity and the throughput among the three proposed algorithms.
Photografting of argon plasma-treated graphite/PEEK laminate to enhance its adhesion

Graphite/PEEK laminates were treated by argon plasma followed by air aging and then photografting of α- glycidyl ω- acrylate bisphenol A(GABA) to improve their adhesion characteristics. The effects of plasma time and power and photografting time on the epoxy bonded single lap shear joints between graphite/PEEK laminates were investigated. An optimum photografting time was found at which the single lap shear strength was optimized to 37 MPa compared to 28 MPa and 7 MPa obtained with air-aged argon plasma activated and pristine samples, respectively. Argon plasma treatment followed by air aging of graphite/PEEK laminate introduces surface peroxides and hydroperoxides and these when cleaved with ultraviolet (UV) light in the presence of the GABA monomer results in covalent grafting of the latter to PEEK/graphite laminate surface. The epoxy functionality of the GABA monomer then reacts with the epoxy adhesive. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirms the appearance of surface peroxides and hydroperoxides on air-aged argon plasma treated samples and disappearance of the same with UV irradiation. With UV irradiation of the air-aged argon plasma treated samples, XPS indicates the appearance of ester groups. Without the grafting monomer, UV irradiation in air cleaves the peroxide and causes oxidation resulting in the formation of surface esters. In the presence of the grafting monomer, UV irradiation results in covalent bonding of the monomer to the peroxide/hydroperoxide through the acrylate functionality resulting in increased concentration of ether linkages as confirmed by our XPS data; the ester functionality present in the grafted monomer caused the appearance of the ester peak in the XPS spectrum.
Association of Higher Consumption of Foods Derived From Subsidized Commodities With Adverse Cardiometabolic Risk Among US Adults.

IMPORTANCE Food subsidies are designed to enhance food availability, but whether they promote cardiometabolic health is unclear. OBJECTIVE To investigate whether higher consumption of foods derived from subsidized food commodities is associated with adverse cardiometabolic risk among US adults. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS Cross-sectional analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data from 2001 to 2006. Our final analysis was performed in January 2016. Participants were 10 308 nonpregnant adults 18 to 64 years old in the general community. EXPOSURE From a single day of 24-hour dietary recall in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, we calculated an individual-level subsidy score that estimated an individual's consumption of subsidized food commodities as a percentage of total caloric intake. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The main outcomes were body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared), abdominal adiposity, C-reactive protein level, blood pressure, non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level, and glycemia. RESULTS Among 10 308 participants, the mean (SD) age was 40.2 (0.3) years, and a mean (SD) of 50.5% (0.5%) were male. Overall, 56.2% of calories consumed were from the major subsidized food commodities. United States adults in the highest quartile of the subsidy score (compared with the lowest) had increased probabilities of having a body mass index of at least 30 (prevalence ratio, 1.37; 95% CI, 1.23-1.52), a ratio of waist circumference to height of at least 0.60 (prevalence ratio, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.25-1.59), a C-reactive protein level of at least 0.32 mg/dL (prevalence ratio, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.19-1.51), an elevated non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level (prevalence ratio, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.05-1.25), and dysglycemia (prevalence ratio, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.04-1.40). There was no statistically significant association between the subsidy score and blood pressure. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among US adults, higher consumption of calories from subsidized food commodities was associated with a greater probability of some cardiometabolic risks. Better alignment of agricultural and nutritional policies may potentially improve population health.
Laparoscopic body-tail pancreatic resection for insulinoma.

INTRODUCTION Insulinomas are the most common endocrine tumours of the pancreas. They are more frequent in females, and they are commonly less than 2 cm in diameter. If conservative treatment of typical clinical symptoms fails, detailed diagnostic procedures are necessary and surgical treatment is indicated.The aim of this report was to emphasize the need of pancreatic resection when insulinoma is poorly visualized during surgery and when it is not possible to perform intraoperative ultrasonography. CASE OUTLINE A 27-year-old female patient suffered from hypoglycaemic episodes during physical efforts and fasting periods. After examination, diagnostic procedures and preoperative preparation, laparoscopic surgery was performed. The tumour was less than 10 mm in diameter, and it could not be visualized during laparoscopic exploration. The body and the tail of the pancreas were mobilized using ultrasound scissors and the resection was performed by two Endo GIA staplers. The surgical specimen was removed in an endo-bag. The postoperative course was without complications and the glycemic level was normalized. Macroscopic examination of the resected specimen showed a solitary, poorly demarcated, dark grey lesion, 0.8 cm in diameter, with a solid consistence in comparison with the surrounding gland tissue. Histological examination showed a poorly demarcated, subcapsular tissue in this area, consisting of uniform, irregular, cubic and short cylindrical cells, organized in clusters with pseudoglandular and "zellballen" formations. CONCLUSION In case when the insulinoma is so small in size that it cannot be visualized during operation, pancreas resection is a surgical procedure of choice. Laparoscopic surgery is preferred because of less postoperative complications and faster recovery.
The simulation of the flow of polymer melt in lomolding

The simulation of the flow of polymer melt in lomolding J.A.D. Dymond Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Stellenbosch Private Bag X1, 7602 Matieland, South Africa Thesis: MScEng (Mech) December 2004 Lomolding is a new process similar to injection moulding. In this thesis a numerical model of the polymer flow into the cavity is presented. The model is used to compare the two processes with each other. Lomolding and injection moulding were modelled numerically with the finite element method. The model was an axisymmetric model and takes phenomena such as generalised Newtonian flow, free surfaces, moving boundaries and solidification into account. The processes’ characteristics that were compared are the cavity pressure, shear rate and shear stress. Improvements in these characteristics will result in lomolding having smaller machines, less fibre breakage and a better potential for in-mould-decoration. The thesis shows that lomolding has substantially lower shear rates and shear stresses than injection moulding. The model was also used to investigate certain machine design aspects, and to gain a better understanding of the polymer flow in lomolding.
Effect of NADPH oxidase 1 and 4 blockade in activated human retinal endothelial cells

Over‐production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and resulting oxidative stress contribute to retinal damage in vascular diseases that include diabetic retinopathy, retinopathy of prematurity and major retinal vessel occlusions. NADPH oxidase (Nox) proteins are professional ROS‐generating enzymes, and therapeutic targeting in these diseases has strong appeal. Pharmacological inhibition of Nox4 reduces the severity of experimental retinal vasculopathy. We investigated the potential application of this drug approach in humans.
REPORT ASCO 2000 NEW ORLEANS : LUNG CANCER

Non-small cell lung cancer Locally advanced stages Interesting results of a prospective SWOG trial on the multimodality treatment of sulcus superior tumors were presented (1). In many centers, sulcus superior tumors (T3 N0-1) and Pancoast tumors (T4 N0-1) are treated by preoperative low-dose radiotherapy (e.g. 30 Gy) followed by either attempted surgical resection or more radiotherapy. When complete resection is possible, a 5-year survival of about 30% can be expected. This management is based on mere retrospective evidence, going back to the original data of Paulson et al. (2), which were of poor methodology, but nonetheless repeatedly cited in reviews on this topic. The question whether the merits of combined modality treatment, which are now clear in other types of stage III NSCLC, are also applicable in this setting was studied. Mediastinoscopy-negative Pancoast tumors were treated with chemoradiation induction based on cisplatin-etoposide chemotherapy and concurrent radiation up to 45 Gy. All non-progressive cases underwent thoracotomy, followed by 2 more cycles of cisplatinetoposide. The results were very appealing: 93% of the 101 eligible patients (out of 116 starters) could complete the induction. Eighty-one patients could be operated upon. Resection was complete in 68% of the patients, and a high pathologic complete response rate was noted (57% of the resection specimens). Threeyear survival was 50%, both for the T3 and T4 tumors. Although this is a non-controlled phase II study, with potentially important selection bias, it is the only prospective evidence in this setting, certainly worth considering. Furthermore, it is clear that randomized data will be very difficult to obtain in this setting.