Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Imaging sediment structure: the emerging use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) for 3D analysis of sediment structures and internal flow processes

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can be used for 3D analysis of small-scale porous media structure and internal flow-related processes. It offers notable advantages over traditional sediment sampling (e.g. cores or surface-based scanning) as it is capable of high spatio-temporal resolution of the full 3D volume, including the sub-surface. Similarly, compared to X-Ray tomography, the extensive catalogue of MR pulse sequences typically provides: faster capture for imaging dynamic fluid processes; greater flexibility in resolving chemical species or tracers; and a safer radiation-free methodology. To demonstrate the relevance of this technique in geomorphological research, three exemplar applications are described: porous media structure of gravel bed rivers; measurements of fluid processes within aquifer pores and fractures; and, concentration mapping of contaminants through sand/gravel frameworks. Whilst, this emerging technique offers significant potential for visualizing many other ‘black-box’ processes important to the wider discipline, attention is afforded to discussion of the present constraints of the technique in field-based analysis.
Providing Fertility Care to Those With HIV: Time to Re-examine Healthcare Policy

Approximately one million Americans are infected with human immunodeaciency virus type 1 (HIV1). Most of them are young heterosexual adults of reproductive age. Many desire to have children. Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has dramatically altered the clinical course of this disease. As a result of HAART the general health and life expectancy of HIV-1 seropositive men is much improved. Assisted reproductive techniques that separate motile sperm from seminal plasma and nonmotile cells known to harbor virus has been offered as a means of reducing viral transmission to the uninfected female desiring to become pregnant. Although this treatment has been available in Europe for more than a decade, very few centers in the United States provide HIV-1 serodiscordant couples options for reproductive care. In light of mounting evidence of the safety of treatment, and fueled by an increasing demand for reproductive services by HIV-1 serodiscordant couples, the Center for Women’s Reproductive Care at Columbia University established a program for addressing their needs. Major ethical principles related to autonomy, nonmaleacence, beneacence, and justice were individually considered in deciding to proceed with treatment.
Local action of progesterone leading to polyspermic fertilization in pigs.

Summary. Microdroplets of progesterone were injected unilaterally beneath the serosa of the tubal isthmus and uterotubal junction in thirty pigs, a total of 1 mg in 0\m=. \1 ml of oil being deposited 8 to 12 hr before ovulation. A similar volume of the vehicle was injected as a control into the contralateral tubal structures. All animals were inseminated intracervically approximately 2 hr before these surgical procedures and slaughtered between 6 hr 20 min and 14 hr 30 min after completion of ovulation.
Detection of Yersinia ruckeri by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in infected rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum 1792).

This study was conducted to induce experimental infection in rainbow trout with Y. ruckeri, the causative agent of ERM disease and progress of the disease was then monitored over the time period. Application of PCR for early and accurate diagnosis of infection was also investigated. Total 100 fish were allocated to four experimental and a control groupeach containing 20 fish. There were 20 aquaria and f ive fishwere housed in each aquaria. There were 4 replicates for each group.Fish,at anaverage weight of 75 g, were injected intramuscularly with 0.1 ml dilutions of Y. ruckeriat various doses (4x10 8 , 1x10 8 , 4x10 4 and 1x10 4 per ml) in the experimental groups. Blood samples were collected from fish that showed typical signs of the disease. DNAs extracted from blood samples were subjected to PCR amplification based upon a pair ofY. ruckerispecific primers. F ollowing agarose gel electrophoresis of the PCR prod ucts, positive bands with the molecular size of approximately 589 bp which were considered indicative for identification as Y. ruckeriwere observed. In addition, isolation and identification of Y. ruckerifrom various internal organs of infected fish were made by conventional culture method. The results suggested that early diagnosis of ERM disease can be made while fish are alive and diseased fish can be isolated and treated accordingly which will help decrease economic losses .
IT/IS Organisation Design in the Digital Age – A Literature Review

Information technology and information systems are currently at a tipping point. The digital age fundamentally transforms a large number of industries in the ways they work. Lines between business and technology blur. Researchers have acknowledged that this is the time in which the IT/IS organisation needs to re-strategize itself. In this paper, the author provides a structured review of the IS and organisation design literature addressing the question of how the digital age changes the design categories of an IT/IS organisation design. The findings show that most papers just analyse single aspects of either IT/IS relevant information or generic organisation design elements but miss a holistic ‘big-picture’ onto an IT/IS organisation design. This paper creates a holistic IT/IS organisation design framework bringing together the IS research strand, the digital strand and the generic organisation design strand. The research identified four IT/IS organisation design categories (strategy, structure, processes and people) and discusses the importance of two additional categories (sourcing and governance). The authors findings point to a first anchor point from which further research needs to be conducted to develop a holistic IT/IS organisation design framework. Keywords—IT/IS strategy, IT/IS organisation design, digital age, organisational effectiveness, literature review.
Towards a Framework for the Generic Specification of Model-Driven Decision Support Systems: Classification Criteria of Model Relationships

This paper is part of a research project which aims at developing a generic model specification on a conceptual layer in order to reduce the empirically observed high error rate of model-driven Decision Support Systems (DSS), typically based on multi-dimensional, spreadsheet-oriented models. Following the framework of Wand and Weber for conceptual modeling, this paper firstly presents basic elements of an appropriate conceptual modeling grammar, consisting of three criteria to classify all essential problem-structures of typical DSS-domains into eight classes being illustrated by representative managerial examples. Based on this framework, future research aims at developing both a generic, conceptual modeling language, and support tools to design and evaluate model-driven DSS.
SAR calculation using FDTD simulations

The main intend of this work, is to determinate the Specific Absorption Rate (SAR) on human head tissues exposed to radiation caused by sources of 900 and 1800MHz, since those are the typical frequencies for mobile communications systems nowadays. In order to determinate the SAR, has been used the FDTD (Finite Difference Time Domain), which is a numeric method in time domain, obtained from the Maxwell equations in differential mode. In order to do this, a computational model from the human head in two dimensions made with cells of the smallest possible size was implemented, respecting the limits from computational processing. It was possible to verify the very good efficiency of the FDTD method in the resolution of those types of problems.
Does Waste Recycling Really Improve the Multi-Proposal Metropolis–Hastings algorithm? an Analysis Based on Control Variates

The waste-recycling Monte Carlo (WRMC) algorithm introduced by physicists is a modification of the (multi-proposal) Metropolis–Hastings algorithm, which makes use of all the proposals in the empirical mean, whereas the standard (multi-proposal) Metropolis–Hastings algorithm uses only the accepted proposals. In this paper we extend the WRMC algorithm to a general control variate technique and exhibit the optimal choice of the control variate in terms of the asymptotic variance. We also give an example which shows that, in contradiction to the intuition of physicists, the WRMC algorithm can have an asymptotic variance larger than that of the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm. However, in the particular case of the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm called the Boltzmann algorithm, we prove that the WRMC algorithm is asymptotically better than the Metropolis–Hastings algorithm. This last property is also true for the multi-proposal Metropolis–Hastings algorithm. In this last framework we consider a linear parametric generalization of WRMC, and we propose an estimator of the explicit optimal parameter using the proposals.
On Floquet-Fourier Realizations of Linear Time-Periodic Impulse Responses

We show that a linear time-periodic system with a smooth impulse response can be arbitrarily well approximated by a linear time-periodic state-space representation in so-called Floquet-Fourier form. The Floquet-Fourier form has a constant state matrix and the input and output matrices have only finitely many nonzero Fourier coefficients. Such representations are easier to use for analysis and control design than the impulse response or fully general state-space forms. The construction of the Floquet-Fourier form is done using methods for model approximation of infinite-dimensional linear time-invariant systems. We also propose a method for constructing minimal realizations from impulse responses of a special structure
Assessing the utility WorldView-2 imagery for tree species mapping in a South African subtropical forest patch and the conservation implications : Dukuduku forest patch as case study

Indigenous forest biome in South Africa is highly f ragmented into patches of various sizes (most patches < 1 km ). The utilization of timber and non-timber resourc es by poor rural communities living around protected forest patches produces subtle changes in the forest canopy which can be hardly detected on a timely man ner using traditional field surveys. The aims of this study were to assess: (i) the utility of very high resolution (VHR) remote sensing imagery (WorldView-2, 0.5 to 2 m spatial resolution ) for mapping tree species and canopy gaps in one of the protected subtropical coastal fo rests in South Africa (the Dukuduku forest patch (ca.3200 ha) located in the province of KwaZu lu-Natal) and (ii) the implications of the map products to forest conservation. Three dominant c opy tree species namely, Albizia adianthifolia, Strychnos spp. and Acacia spp. , and canopy gap types including bushes (grass/shrubby), bare soil and burnt patches were a ccur tely mapped (overall accuracy = 89.3 ±2.1%) using WorldView-2 image and support vector m achine classifier. The maps revealed subtle forest disturbances such as bush encroachmen t and edge effects resulting from forest fragmentation by roads and a power-line. In two sta keholders’ workshops organised to assess the implications of the map products to conservatio n, participants generally agreed amongst others implications that the VHR maps provide valua b e information that could be used for implementing and monitoring the effects of rehabili tation measures. The use of VHR imagery is recommended for timely inventorying and monitori ng of the small and fragile patches of subtropical forests in Southern Africa.
An efficient SAT-based path delay fault ATPG with an unified sensitization model

Automatic test pattern generation (ATPG) for path delay faults is an essential tool for structurally testing performance problems of circuits. The complexity issues of an ATPG are often due to the large number of selected target paths and assorted ways to sensitize these paths. In this paper, we tried to address the later problem by applying a SAT solver. First, we introduce a SAT model (CNF formats) for all sensitization criteria: robust, non-robust and function-sensitizable. Then, to ease the problem of re-constructing the circuit for every criteria in the SAT solver, we proposed to unify all sensitization under the same model. We also found that we could further save efforts of re-building the SAT model for every paths by sharing constraints. Applying the above techniques, we could achieve 10-1000 times of speedup for most benchmark circuits.
Immune recovery is associated with persistent rise in hepatitis C virus RNA, infrequent liver test flares, and is not impaired by hepatitis C virus in co-infected subjects

Objectives: The impact of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) on hepatitis C virus (HCV) is unknown. We analysed changes in HCV RNA and the frequency of hepatotoxicity in co-infected patient enrolling in AIDS Clinical Trials Group trials, and determined whether HCV impairs successful immune reconstitution in these populations. Design/methods: In a prospective analysis of co-infected patients completing at least 16 weeks of HAART in four trials, and co-infected patients with available stored plasma from two other completed HAART trials, HCV RNA was measured at baseline and to week 48. A retrospective analysis of immune recovery in 40 HCV-RNA-positive and 129 HCV-RNA-negative patients from a single trial was performed. Results: Prospective analysis: 60 patients completed at least 16 weeks of HAART. The mean HCV-RNA level increased 0.35 log10 IU/ml at week 16 and 0.43 log10 IU/ml at week 48. When stratified by baseline CD4 cell count, subjects’ HCV-RNA levels increased 0.43 and 0.59 log10 IU/ml at weeks 16 and 48 for entry CD4 cell counts < 350 cells/mm3, but only 0.26 and 0.1 log10 IU/ml at weeks 16 and 48 for entry CD4 cell counts > 350 cells/mm3. Severe alanine aminotransferase elevations occurred in only 3.3%. Retrospective analysis: HCV co-infection had no effect on the overall mean CD4 cell increase at weeks 16 or 48 compared with uninfected controls. Conclusion: In HCV-co-infected patients undergoing HAART, immune recovery is associated with a persistent increase in HCV RNA, especially with baseline CD4 cell counts < 350 cells/mm3. HCV co-infection did not antagonize the CD4 cell response to HAART.
Giant Hall Effect in Composites

This paper deals with the homogenization of the Hall effect in three-dimensional composites. We prove that the homogenized Hall coefficients are bounded from above by means of prescribed bounds on the local conductivity and the local Hall coefficient. Then, three microstructures of different nature are presented in order to show that arbitrarily large effective Hall coefficients may be obtained in dimension three if the previous prescribed bounds do not hold.
Susceptibility genes and B‐chronic lymphocytic leukaemia

Common genetic variants are thought to increase the risk of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), and case–control studies provide an approach to detect these variants. There have been multiple candidate gene studies published to date, but relatively few disease pathway studies or large genomic association studies. We summarize the results of these previous studies, as well as present results from our recent large pathway study of 9412 single nucleotide polymorphisms from 1253 immunity and inflammation genes in a study of 126 CLL cases and 484 frequency‐matched controls. Several promising genes have been identified as susceptibility genes for risk of CLL across all of these association studies. However, a number of candidate gene studies have not been replicated in follow‐up studies, whereas the results from disease pathway and large genomic studies have yet to be replicated in an independent sample. The challenge of future studies of this type will be overcoming study design issues, including definition of CLL, sample size limitations and multiple testing issues.
Novel Blind Encoder Parameter Estimation for Turbo Codes

A novel blind parameter-estimation method, which identifies a turbo encoder, is proposed in this paper. The blind estimator is designed using an iterative expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. To facilitate this innovative blind estimation scheme, we transform the recursive systematic convolutional (RSC) encoder into a non-systematic convolutional encoder preceded by a feedback encoder. The effect of the separate feedback encoder on the state sequence of the forward convolutional encoder will be studied. Besides, the effectiveness of our proposed new scheme will be evaluated by Monte Carlo simulations.
Facilitating the Exploitation of Linked Open Statistical Data: JSON-QB API Requirements and Design Criteria

Recently, many organizations have opened up their data for others to reuse. A major part of these data concern statistics such as demographic and social indicators. Linked Data is a promising paradigm for opening data because it facilitates data integration on the Web. Recently, a growing number of organizations adopted linked data paradigm and provided Linked Open Statistical Data (LOSD). These data can be exploited to create added value services and applications that require integrated data from multiple sources. In this paper, we suggest that in order to unleash the full potential of LOSD we need to facilitate the interaction with LOSD and hide most of the complexity. Moreover, we describe the requirements and design criteria of a JSON-QB API that (i) facilitates the development of LOSD tools through a style of interaction familiar to web developers and (ii) offers a uniform way to access LOSD. A proof of concept implementation of the JSON-QB API demonstrates part of the proposed functionality.
Understanding Planning Tasks: Domain Complexity and Heuristic Decomposition

Planning Benchmarks. - The Role of Benchmarks. - Defining Planning Domains. - The Benchmark Suite. - Transportation and Route Planning. - IPC Domains: Transportation and Route Planning. - IPC Domains: Others. - Conclusions. - Fast Downward. - Solving Planning Tasks Hierarchically. - Translation. - Knowledge Compilation. - Search. - Experiments. - Discussion.
Cyclosporine versus tacrolimus in patients with HCV infection after liver transplantation: effects on virus replication and recurrent hepatitis.

AIM To determine the effects of the calcineurin inhibitors, cyclosporine and tacrolimus, on hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication and activity of recurrent hepatitis C in patients post liver transplantation. METHODS The data of a cohort of 107 patients who received liver transplantation for HCV-associated liver cirrhosis between 1999 and 2003 in our center were retrospectively analyzed. The level of serum HCV-RNA and the activity of recurrent hepatitis were compared between 47 patients who received either cyclosporine or tacrolimus as the primary immunosuppressive agent and an otherwise similar immunosuppressive regimen which did not lead to biliary complications within the first 12 mo after transplantation. RESULTS HCV-RNA increased within 3 mo after transplantation but the differences between the cyclosporine group and the tacrolimus group were insignificant (P=0.49 at 12 mo). In addition, recurrent hepatitis as determined by serum transaminases and histological grading of portal inflammation and fibrosis showed no significant difference after 12 mo (P=0.34). CONCLUSION Cyclosporine or tacrolimus as a primary immunosuppressive agent does not influence the induction or severity of recurrent hepatitis in HCV-infected patients after liver transplantation.
Flat Detector CT in the Evaluation of Brain Parenchyma, Intracranial Vasculature, and Cerebral Blood Volume: A Pilot Study in Patients with Acute Symptoms of Cerebral Ischemia

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The viability of both brain parenchyma and vascular anatomy is important in estimating the risk and potential benefit of revascularization in patients with acute cerebral ischemia. We tested the hypothesis that when used in conjunction with IV contrast, FD-CT imaging would provide both anatomic and physiologic information that would correlate well with that obtained by using standard multisection CT techniques. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Imaging of brain parenchyma (FD-CT), cerebral vasculature (FD-CTA), and cerebral blood volume (FD-CBV) was performed in 10 patients. All patients also underwent conventional multisection CT, CTA, CTP (including CBV, CTP-CBV), and conventional catheter angiography. Correlation of the corresponding images was performed by 2 experienced neuroradiologists. RESULTS: There was good correlation of the CBV color maps and absolute values between FD-CBV and CTP-CBV (correlation coefficient, 0.72; P < .001). The Bland-Altman test showed a mean difference of CBV values between FD-CT and CTP-CBV of 0.04 ± 0.55 mL/100 mL. All vascular lesions identified with standard CTA were also visualized with FD-CTA. Visualization of brain parenchyma by using FD-CT was poor compared with that obtained by using standard CT. CONCLUSIONS: Both imaging of the cerebral vasculature and measurements of CBV by using FD-CT are feasible. The resulting vascular images and CBV measurements compared well with ones made by using standard CT techniques. The ability to measure CBV and also visualize cerebral vasculature in the angiography suite may offer significant advantages in the management of patients. FD-CT is not yet equivalent to CT for imaging of brain parenchyma.
Development of Texture and Substructure Inhomogeneity by Recrystallization of Rolled Zr-Based Alloys

Recrystallization of ┙-Zr is of the great interest both as a rather complicated scientific phenomenon and as a process of the practical importance for applications in the nuclear industry. Meanwhile in the most known monographs on Zr and Zr-based commercial alloys (Douglass, 1971; Tenckhoff, 1988; Zaymovskiy et al., 1994) the recrystallization of ┙-Zr is considered on the basis of experimental data, obtained more, than 40 years ago. These data urgently require corrections with taking into account the up-to-day theoretical conceptions and the continuous progress in experimental technique. Zr-based alloys are characterized by ┙↔┚ phase transformations within the technologically important temperature interval 610°850°C and by operation of various mechanisms of ┙-Zr plastic deformation, including slip by basal, prismatic and pyramidal planes as well as twinning in several systems. These features are responsible for very complicated distribution of strain hardening and the corresponding tendency to recrystallization in products from Zr-based alloys. The given chapter makes up some gaps in our knowledge concerning different aspects of recrystallization as applied to ┙-Zr.
Target-aware language models for spoken language recognition

This paper studies a new way of constructing multiple phone tokenizers for language recognition. In this approach, each phone tokenizer for a target language will share a common set of acoustic models, while each tokenizer will have a unique phone-based language model (LM) trained for a specific target language. The target-aware language models (TALM) are constructed to capture the discriminative ability of individual phones for the desired target languages. The parallel phone tokenizers thus formed are shown to achieve better performance than the original phone recognizer. The proposed TALM is very different from the LM in the traditional PPRLM technique. First of all, the TALM applies the LM information in the front-end as opposed to PPRLM approach which uses a LM in the system back-end; Furthermore, the TALM exploits the discriminative phones occurrence statistics, which are different from the traditional n -gram statistics in PPRLM approach. A novel way of training TALM is also studied in this paper. Our experimental results show that the proposed method consistently improves the language recognition performance on NIST 1996, 2003 and 2007 LRE 30-second closed test sets.