Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Two dimensional frequency-angle domain interpolation method for electromagnetic scattering analysis of precipitation particles

In recent years, in applications related to the remote sensing of the environment, the research on characterization of the electromagnetic wave interaction with complex rainfall particles is of great importance. Several analytical methods based on wave theory, such as quasi-crystalline approximation, are frequently used. However, these approaches are not able to capture the essential physics of many real world problems. The alternative method to deal with scattering of complex rainfall particles is resort to numerical technologies, for instance, the method of moment (MoM). The MoM can provide precise solution of complex media scattering, while the main disadvantages of MoM are significant calculation time and huge memory requirements for the storage of impedance matrix. In order to alleviate these bottlenecks, a fast numerical method, which is called Sparse-Matrix/Canonical Grid (SM/CG) method, is proposed as an efficient method for calculating the scattering from three-dimensional dense media. To obtain the scattering over a frequency- and angular-band using SM/CG, one has to repeat the calculations at each frequency and angle over the band of interest. This can be computationally prohibitive despite the increased power of the present generation of computers. In order to alleviate this difficulty, a hybrid 2-D interpolation method is proposed for the efficient electromagnetic scattering analysis of precipitation particles over a broad frequency and angular band. This method hybridizes the cubic spline interpolation method and the Steor-Bulirsch model. The cubic spline interpolation method is applied to model the induced current over wide angular band, while the Steor-Bulirsch model is applied to accelerate calculation over wide frequency band. Therefore, a great deal of time could be saved for the calculation of frequency- and angular-sweep. Numerical results demonstrate that this hybrid method is efficient for wide-band scattering calculation of precipitation particles with high accuracy.
A test for bacterial alkaline phosphatase: use in rapid identification of Serratia organisms.

This investigation concerns identification of alkaline phosphatase production by bacterial organisms, as detected by a blue color resulting from conversion of indolyl phosphate to indigo. Coagulase-positive Staphylococcus produced alkaline phosphatase; coagulase-negative Staphylococcus did not. Serratia did not produce alkaline phosphatase; those Enterobacteriaceae we tested did. Thus, this test rapidly differentiates these organisms, diminishing the time for identification of Serratia in the clinical laboratory by 48 h. Identification of Serratia should not be ignored, because it is a life-threatening complication for certain hospitalized patients.
Exploring the application of distributed group support systems to distance education

Distributed group support systems (DGSS) provide a means for several individuals to interact with one another from different geographic locations using telecommunications and group support systems (GSS) technologies. As this technology emerges, new applications will be sought to utilize the tremendous capabilities for long distance interaction and communication. One potential application of DGSS is its use in the delivery of distance education. Distance education (DE) involves the delivery of education (or training) from one site to one (or more) geographically dispersed sites. This paper explores ways in which DGSS could be utilized to improve the delivery of education and training to dispersed locations. Background information on GSS and DE are provided. Results of a case study where a fiber optic cable network was used for delivering a DE class on information systems are briefly highlighted. Suggestions for how DGSS could be utilized to improve the delivery of DE are also presented, along with directions for future research in this area. <<ETX>>
Growing a Proof Assistant

Theoreticians often use sophisticated notation to communicate and reason about key ideas in their theories and models. Notation is often domain-specific or even invented on-the-fly when creating a new theory or model. Proof assistants aid theoreticians by rigorously checking formal models, but have poor support for allowing users to conveniently define and use sophisticated notation. For example, in a proof assistant like Coq or Agda, users can easily define simple notation like Γ $ e : t, but to use BNF notation the user must use a preprocessing tool external to the proof assistant, which is cumbersome. To support convenient and sophisticated extension, we can use language extension as a fundamental part of the design of a proof assistant. By starting from language extension we can not only facilitate convenient and sophisticated user-defined extensions, but also get a single, compositional system for writing all extensions to the core proof language. We describe how to design a language-extension system that supports safe, convenient, and sophisticated user-defined extensions, and how to design a proof assistant based on language extension. We evaluate this design by building a proof assistant that features a small dependent type theory as the core language and implementing the following extensions in small user-defined libraries: pattern matching for inductive types, dependently typed staged meta-programming, a tactic language, and BNF and inference-rule notation for inductive type definitions.
Lipid Changes and Effect of Diet Therapy only in Gestational Diabetes Mellitus and Normal Pregnancy in Developing Area Southern China

Objective: To explore the changes in the feature of serum lipid in different trimester of normal pregnancy and GDM, analysis of the effect of diet therapy on blood lipid level on GDM and the relationship between serum and lipid. Methods: 92 normal pregnant women and 85 GDM women were inclusive in this study. The maternal serum lipid levels, diet intake and newborn weight of both groups were recorded. After diet therapy, GDM group was further divided into two subgroups, one with blood glucose under control and one with poor glycemic control according to the blood glucose monitoring. Results: LDL-C and apoB were significantly increased in GDM group compared to normal group in the first trimester(P < 0.05); GDM patients consume more energy having higher weight gain/ pregravid BMI compared to normal group till gestational diabetes was confirmed (P <0.05). Compared to early trimester, TC,TG, LDL-C, LDL-C,apoA1 and apoB were increased in the normal group in late trimester(P <0.05); Compared to the control group in late phase, there was higher apoB, but lower TG in glucose control group. There were higher TC, TG and neonatal weight in the poor glycemic group compared to the control group in late phase (P < 0.05); There was a positive correlation between TC, TG and newbornweight (P < 0.05). Conclusion: With increasing gestational age, there is increasing level of blood lipid profile during pregnancy. Excessive nutrient intake and incidence of GDM may be related. Diet therapy can improve blood lipid status which may help control neonatal weight.
Information quality and banking success: a theoretical model with empirical validation

Technology plays a key role in today’s business environment and is becoming increasingly necessary for all businesses to incorporate information technology solutions to operate successfully. The importance of information quality in the present business scenario has been drawing the attention of practitioners and academicians. This paper aims at broadening the understanding about information quality as a critical factor by which information technology spread its influences on banking success. In the context of Indian banking, this study examines how banking technology has benefited through information quality. A research framework and associated hypotheses are proposed based on process-based IS success model and instruments are developed to measure and validate information quality and banking success in IT investments. An empirical survey was conducted, and questionnaires were distributed to 600 bankers. A total of 499 valid observations was collected and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results suggest that information quality has a positive and significant effect on banking success from an internal user perspective.
Prevalence of Heptavalent Vaccine-related Pneumococcal Serotypes in Nasopharyngeal carrier in children under five years old in Shahrekord, Iran by Multiplex-PCR during 2010- 2011.

BACKGROUND Heptavalent pneumococcal vaccine which included pneumococcal serotypes 4, 6B, 9V,14, 18C, 19F and 23F has been regularly used and is effective on preventing invasive pneumococcal infection. This study aimed to determine vaccine-related serotype distribution in nasopharyngeal carrier and healthy children under five years old. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study from September 2010 to September 2011, 363 nasopharyngeal specimens were collected from healthy children in day care centers. In positive cultures of streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumonia) distribution, serotypes were detected by Multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Electrophoresis of PCR products was used for detection of serotypes of S. pneumoniae. RESULTS The carrier rate of S. pneumoniae was 29.5% with 95% confidence interval as 24.8- 34.5%. Electrophoresis of PCR products for detection of serotypes of S. pneumonia revealed 430, 220, 753, 189, 573, 304, and 384 bp (s) for 4, 6B, 9V, 14, 18C, 19F, and 23F serotypes of S. pneumoniae, respectively. The frequency of 23F, 6B, 19F, and 18C serotypes were 43%, 34%, 18%, and 5% respectively, but other serotypes (4, 9V and 14) were not detected. CONCLUSION Based on the 30% carrier rate and high prevalence of most of heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine serotypes in our study, this vaccine should be used for prevention of invasive infection in Iranian children.
Schwann cell‐autonomous role of neuropilin‐2

Neuropilins and group A plexins are components of receptor complexes for class 3 semaphorins, gradients of which help to guide migration of neural progenitor cells and axonal growth cones during development. We demonstrated previously that neuropilins and class 3 semaphorins are induced in sciatic nerve by crush or transection. We now report that in cultured rat Schwann cells, expression of mRNA encoding neuropilin‐2 (NRP2) and plexin‐A3 (PlexA3), proteins involved in semaphorin‐3F (Sema3F) signal transduction, is diminished markedly by forskolin, an adenylate cyclase activator that, like axonal contact, induces Schwann cell synthesis of myelin lipids and proteins. Interestingly, Schwann cell expression of mRNA encoding NRP1, which participates in Sema3A signaling, is not downregulated by forskolin. Antibodies that recognize ectodomains of NRP2 but not control antibodies prevented cultured Schwann cells from aligning in parallel and forming columns. These results are consistent with the view that in nerves undergoing Wallerian degeneration, Schwann cell NRP2 facilitates assembly of Schwann cells into the tubular aggregates (bands of Büngner) that guide regenerating axons. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Extracting within-experiment precision of horticultural experiments useful for meta-analysis.

Olkin and Shaw (1995) discussed statistical methods for meta-analysis and its applications in horticultural science. They presented methods for combining tests of significance as well as methods for comparing differences between treatments. For the latter, the standardized difference of two normal means is the effect size of interest and Olkin and Shaw (1995) presented the statistical meta-analysis in the fixed effects model, that is, they assumed homogeneous effect sizes in all the experiments eligible for meta-analysis. A major obstacle to conducting meta-analysis is the non-availability of appropriate experimental results in published journal articles. As Olkin and Shaw (1995) said ”The minimum information required for quantitative research synthesis includes means, sample sizes, and either standard errors or standard deviations. ” Shaw and Larson (1999) conducted a meta-analysis of strawberry yield response to preplant soil fumigation with combinations of methyl bromide-cloropicrin and several alternative systems. They followed the lines of Olkin and Shaw (1995) and an inclusion criterion was that means, sample sizes, and either standard errors or standard deviations of the treatments had to be reported in the published articles. Since the published results of four studies, basically eligible for that meta-analysis, lacked these necessary parameters for inclusion, these four studies were omitted. The quality of reporting results in the published articles determines the quality of the meta-analysis. Unfortunately, Olkin and Shaw’s summation about the minimum information required for meta-analysis is still often ignored by presenting results of horticultural experiments in publications nowadays. The lack of information about the precisions of the estimated means in most published articles was a major obstacle for the meta-analysis of Porter et al. (2006) on validating the yield performance of alternatives to methyl bromide for preplant fumigation. To circumvent the problem of missing within-experiment precision, Porter et al. (2006) simply assumed that the between-experiment variability is
A wearable context-awareness component. Finally a good reason to wear a tie

We describe the design of a wearable context-awareness component that derives general context information from low-level sensors. Derived context information is application-independent and can be used by wearables or other personal technologies in a body network via a simple protocol. We built the context-awareness component into a tie, stressing its design as an accessory.
Complete Genome Sequence of Mycobacterium bovis BCG Korea, the Korean Vaccine Strain for Substantial Production

ABSTRACT Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is the only vaccine available against tuberculosis, and the strains used worldwide represent a family of daughter strains with distinct genotypic characteristics. Here, we report the complete genome sequence of M. bovis BCG Korea, the strain that will be actually used in Korea for vaccine production.
Effector mechanisms responsible for gamma interferon-mediated host resistance to Legionella pneumophila lung infection: the role of endogenous nitric oxide differs in susceptible and resistant murine hosts

To facilitate identification of the effector mechanism(s) responsible for gamma interferon (IFN-gamma)-mediated host resistance to Legionella pneumophila, a murine model of legionellosis in BALB/c mice with a targeted disruption in the IFN-gamma gene (gamma knockout [GKO] mice) was developed. Immunocompetent BALB/c mice and GKO mice were inoculated intratracheally with virulent L. pneumophila (10(6) bacteria per mouse), and bacterial clearance and the pulmonary inflammatory response were assessed. L. pneumophila did not replicate in, and was rapidly cleared from, the lungs of immunocompetent BALB/c mice, demonstrating that immunocompetent BALB/c mice are resistant to replicative L. pneumophila pulmonary infections. In contrast, similarly infected GKO mice developed persistent, replicative intrapulmonary L. pneumophila infections with extrapulmonary dissemination of the bacteria to the spleen. Histopathologic and flow cytometric analysis of L. pneumophila-infected lung tissue demonstrated that while immunocompetent BALB/c mice develop multifocal pneumonitis which resolves, similarly infected GKO mice develop diffuse pneumonitis with persistent neutrophil recruitment into the lung. Intratracheal administration of exogenous IFN-gamma to L. pneumophila-infected GKO mice facilitated intrapulmonary clearance of the bacteria, confirming the pivotal role of IFN-gamma in innate host defenses to L. pneumophila lung infection in this murine host. The potential role of endogenous reactive nitrogen intermediates, including nitric oxide (NO), in IFN-gamma-mediated resistance to L. pneumophila pulmonary infections in immunocompetent BALB/c mice was subsequently assessed. Macrophage inducible nitric oxide synthetase (an enzyme responsible for the production of NO) was induced in alveolar cells from L. pneumophila-infected immunocompetent BALB/c mice (with maximal expression at 48 h postinfection) but was not induced in similarly infected GKO mice. However, administration of the NO synthetase inhibitor N-monomethyl-L-arginine did not significantly inhibit clearance of L. pneumophila from the lung of immunocompetent BALB/c mice (compared with that in similarly infected mice not administered N-monomethyl-L-arginine). In contrast, we have previously demonstrated that IFN-gamma-induced host resistance to replicative L. pneumophila lung infections in a susceptible murine host (A/J mice) is mediated, in part, by endogenous NO. Taken together, these studies identify a differing role of endogenous NO in IFN-gamma-mediated resistance to L. pneumophila pulmonary infection in susceptible and resistant murine hosts.
Recent Advances in Consensus of Multi-Agent Systems: A Brief Survey

In this paper, we mainly review the topics in consensus and coordination of multi-agent systems, which have received a tremendous surge of interest and progressed rapidly in the past few years. Focusing on different kinds of constraints on the controller and the self-dynamics of each individual agent, as well as the coordination schemes, we categorize the recent results into the following directions: consensus with constraints, event-based consensus, consensus over signed networks, and consensus of heterogeneous agents. We also review some applications of the very well developed consensus algorithms to the topics such as economic dispatch problem in smart grid and k -means clustering algorithms.
Breakdown of transformer oil

Some of the factors affecting the dielectric strength of transformer oil are investigated. These factors include the stabilization phenomenon, oil and electrode pretreatment, the effect of oil velocity, the effect of a capacitance parallel to the test cell, and the effects of electrode area and gap spacing. The experimental apparatus and procedure are described, and the results are presented for each of the above factors. Suggestions for future research are offered. <<ETX>>
Review: Role of tubal environment in preimplantation embryogenesis: application to co-culture assays

Summary The culture of early preimplantation stage embryo is still delicate and the metabolic pathways of embryos are not completely understood. Embryo needs are evolutionary during the preimplantation development, consequently it is difficult to meet embryo needs in vitro. Culture conditions have to respect several physical and chemical equilibria: such as redox potential, pH, osmotic pressure, metabolic flux of energetic compounds, endogenous pools of amino acids and transcripts, etc. Embryo culture media are generally supplemented with amino acids, glucose, other energetic metabolites and antioxidant compounds, vitamin, and growth factors etc. Furthermore autocrine and paracrine regulation of embryo development probably exist. In fact embryo culture conditions have to be as non-toxic as possible. Various types of co-culture systems have been devised to overcome these problems. Complex interrelations exist between embryos and co-cultured cells. The beneficial effects of co-cultured cells may be due to continuous modifications of the culture medium, i.e. the elimination of toxic compounds and/or the supply of embryotrophic factors.
Increased aldosterone secretion in dogs with right-sided congestive heart failure and in dogs with thoracic inferior vena cava constriction.

Studies (1-5) of patients with congestive heart failure, decompensated hepatic cirrhosis and nephrosis have provided evidence of increased amounts of aldosterone or aldosterone-like substances in urine during edema or ascites formation. More recently, it has been demonstrated (6) that increased urinary excretion of aldosterone occurs in association with sodium retention in dogs with right heart failure and in dogs with ascites secondary to constriction of the thoracic inferior vena cava. The data in both man and dog imply that the blood level of aldosterone is elevated. Numerous attempts have been made to elucidate the mechanism regulating aldosterone secretion in clinical states associated with the formation of edema, but no data have been reported to show that increased circulating aldosterone results from increased secretion rather than from a decreased rate of inactivation. The purpose of this study was to determine the relative rates of secretion of aldosterone in 1) dogs with cardiac failure produced by stenosis of the pulmonary artery, 2) dogs with thoracic inferior vena cava constriction and ascites, and 3) normal dogs.
Cylindrical Algebraic Decomposition II: An Adjacency Algorithm for the Plane

In Part I of the present paper we defined cylindrical algebraic decompositions (cad’s), and described an algorithm for cad construction. In Part II we give an algorithm that provides information about the topological structure of a cad of the plane. Informally, two disjoint cells in E r , r ≥ 1, are adjacent if they touch each other; formally, they are adjacent if their union is connected. In a picture of a cad, eg Fig. 2 of Part I, it is obvious to the eye which pairs of cells are adjacent. However, the cad algorithm of Part I does not actually produce this information, nor did the original version of that algorithm in (Collins 1975).
A computationally feasible optimization approach to inverse SAR translational motion compensation

The traditional approach to inverse synthetic aperture radar translational motion compensation is to solve the problem in the two distinct parts of range alignment and autofocus. In this paper, we follow this practice and propose an approach based on the global range alignment and contrast optimization autofocus methods. The proposed range alignment procedure parametrizes the track as a spline polynomial and minimizes the loss function determined by the sum of the squared envelope differences. The necessary numerical global optimization is performed with the differential evolution algorithm. The solution of the autofocus problem is produced with first order numerical optimization, as we solve it by using an expression derived for the gradient of the loss function. In this paper, we consider the back-projection case but the proposed approach is easily extended to other reconstruction techniques. We use simulated inverse synthetic aperture radar data to demonstrate the proposed approach and to illustrate its computational efficiency.
Mimicry and the market: Adoption of a new organizational form

A free piston Stirling cycle machine is illustrated by an engine that utilizes an axially movable displacer subjected to working gas pressures. A primary hydraulic circuit hydrostatically couples a displacer drive rod integral with the displacer to a counterbalance illustrated in the form of a scotch yoke. The counterbalance stabilizes and controls the Stirling cycle engine by constraining the displacer's reciprocating axial motion in a repetitive pattern. A throttling valve interposed in the primary hydraulic fluid circuit is used to adjustably resist displacer motion as required by engine operating conditions. A secondary hydraulic circuit is provided together with a bellows assembly between the working gas and power pistons to convert changes in working gas pressure to usable power output in the form of pumped hydraulic fluid.