Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microstructure and Properties of Cu-Cr-Zr Alloy after Rapidly Solidified Aging and Solid Solution Aging

The structure and properties of Cu-Cr-Zr alloy were studied after rapidly solidified aging and solid solution aging. At the early stage of aging (500 ‐ C for 15 min), the hardness and the conductivity of the alloy rapidly solidified are 143 HV and 72% IACS, respectively. Under the same aging condition, the hardness and electrical conductivity of the alloy solid solution treated can reach 86 HV and 47% IACS, respectively. The microstructure was analyzed, and the grain size after rapid solidification is much smaller than that after solid solution treatment. By rapidly solidified aging the fine precipitates distribute inside the grains and along the grain boundary, while by solid solution aging there are large Cr particles along the grain boundary.
Message framing in the context of the national menu-labelling policy: a comparison of public health and private industry interests

Abstract Objective We conducted a content analysis of public comments to understand the key framing approaches used by private industry v. public health sector, with the goal of informing future public health messaging, framing and advocacy in the context of policy making. Design Comments to the proposed menu-labelling policy were extracted from Regulations.gov and analysed. A framing matrix was used to organize and code key devices and themes. Documents were analysed using content analysis with Dedoose software. Setting Recent national nutrition-labelling regulations in the USA provide a timely opportunity to understand message framing in relation to obesity prevention and policy. Subjects We examined a total of ninety-seven documents submitted on behalf of organizations (private industry, n 64; public health, n 33). Results Public health focused on positive health consequences of the policy, used a social justice frame and supported its arguments with academic data. Industry was more critical of the policy; it used a market justice frame that emphasized minimal regulation, depicted its members as small, family-run businesses, and illustrated points with humanizing examples. Conclusions Public health framing should counter and consider engaging directly with non-health-related arguments made by industry. Public health should include more powerful framing devices to convey their messages, including metaphors and humanizing examples.
Experimental Comparison of High Duty Cycle and Pulsed Active Sonars in a Littoral Environment

Abstract : To determine if near - continuous target detection obtained from using high duty cycle sonar provides improved performance over conventional pulsed active sonar, in a littoral environment. Military sonars must detect, localize, classify, and track submarine threats from distances safely outside their circle of attack. However, conventional pulsed active sonars (PAS) have duty cycles on the order of one percent which means that 99% of the time, the track is out of date. In contrast, high duty cycle sonars (HDC) have duty cycle s approaching 100% which enable near-continuous updates to the track. If one can overcome technical challenges such as the high dynamic range required by the receiver, then HDC should significantly improve tracking performance in the free - field environment that one encounters (approximately) in the deep ocean; however, improvements in tracking performance in shallow water are not assured since both targets and clutter will be tracked continuously and HDC may increase false tracks to an unacceptably high level essentially continuously trac king the clutter. Theoretical predictions of performance are challenging since the reverberation background for shallow water HDC has not been accurately modeled. To compare performance of HDC with conventional PAS in the littorals, a set of experiments were conducted as part of the Target and Reverberation Experiment (TREX) in spring 2013. This was the first scientifically controlled experiment conducted in the littorals to compare the environmental effects on these two approaches to active sonar. In t his project the data from TREX will be analyzed to provide a quantitative comparison of the impact of the environment on the two techniques.
Women's Access to Managerial Positions: An Experimental Study of Leadership Styles and Gender

This study attempts to test one of the explanations of the scarce representation of women in managerial positions, specifically the one advanced by “role congruity theory of prejudice toward female leaders” (Eagly & Karau, 2002), which appeals to the fact that women get unfavorable evaluations if they adopt male-stereotypical leadership styles. One-hundred and thirty-six undergraduate students participated in an experiment with a 2 (Male-stereotypical vs. Female-stereotypical leadership style) × 2 (Male vs. Female leader) design. Dependent variables were leader's competence, efficacy, and evaluation in a series of traits. It was found that, regardless of sex, the leaders were considered more competent and efficient, and were evaluated more favorably, when they adopted stereotypically feminine leadership styles. Implications of these findings for women's underrepresentation as leaders in management top positions worldwide are discussed. El objetivo de este estudio es investigar si, como postula la teoría del prejuicio de rol hacia líderes femeninos (Eagly y Karau, 2002), una de las causas de la escasa presencia femenina en puestos directivos es la devaluación de las mujeres líderes cuando adoptan formas de liderazgo estereotípicamente masculinas. Para ello, diseñamos un experimento en el que participaron 136 estudiantes. Se elaboró una historia en la que se manipulaba el estilo de liderazgo (estereotípicamente masculino vs. estereotípicamente femenino) y el sexo del líder (hombre vs. mujer). Las variables dependientes fueron la capacidad de liderazgo, la eficacia en el desempeño del liderazgo y la evaluación positiva o negativa del líder (medida a través de una lista de adjetivos). Los resultados indican que, independientemente del sexo, los líderes son mejor evaluados en todas las variables cuando ejercen el liderazgo con estilos estereotípicamente femeninos. Se discuten estos resultados a partir de la literatura psicosocial relacionada con el acceso limitado de las mujeres a puestos directivos.
Assessment of Delirium in Intensive Care Unit Patients: Educational Strategies.

BACKGROUND Delirium is an acute brain dysfunction associated with poor outcomes in intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Critical care nurses play an important role in the prevention, detection, and management of delirium, but they must be able to accurately assess for it. The Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) instrument is a reliable and valid method to assess for delirium, but research reveals most nurses need practice to use it proficiently. METHOD A pretest-posttest design was used to evaluate the success of a multimodal educational strategy (i.e., online learning module coupled with standardized patient simulation experience) on critical care nurses' knowledge and confidence to assess and manage delirium using the CAM-ICU. RESULTS Participants (N = 34) showed a significant increase (p < .001) in confidence in their ability to assess and manage delirium following the multimodal education. No statistical change in knowledge of delirium existed following the education. CONCLUSION A multimodal educational strategy, which included simulation, significantly added confidence in critical care nurses' performance using the CAM-ICU. J Contin Nurs Educ. 2017;48(5):239-244.
Identification of microRNA biomarker candidates in urine and plasma from rats with kidney or liver damage

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are short single‐stranded RNA sequences that have a role in the post‐transcriptional regulation of genes. The identification of tissue specific or enriched miRNAs has great potential as novel safety biomarkers. One longstanding goal is to associate the increase of miRNA in biofluids (e.g., plasma and urine) with tissue‐specific damage. Next‐generation sequencing (miR‐seq) was used to analyze changes in miRNA profiles of tissue, plasma and urine samples of rats treated with either a nephrotoxicant (cisplatin) or one of two hepatotoxicants (acetaminophen [APAP] or carbon tetrachloride [CCL4]). Analyses with traditional serum chemistry and histopathology confirmed that toxicant‐induced organ damage was specific. In animals treated with cisplatin, levels of five miRNAs were significantly altered in the kidney, 14 in plasma and six in urine. In APAP‐treated animals, five miRNAs were altered in the liver, 74 in plasma and six in urine; for CCL4 the changes were five, 20 and 6, respectively. Cisplatin treatment caused an elevation of miR‐378a in the urine, confirming the findings of other similar studies. There were 17 in common miRNAs elevated in the plasma after treatment with either APAP or CCL4. Four of these (miR‐122, −802, −31a and −365) are known to be enriched in the livers of rats. Interestingly, the increase of serum miR‐802 in both hepatotoxicant treatments was comparable to that of the well‐known liver damage marker miR‐122. Taken together, comparative analysis of urine and plasma miRNAs demonstrated their utility as biomarkers of organ injury. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Journal of Applied Toxicology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Tethys: Collecting Sensor Data without Infrastracture or Trust

Careful resource monitoring is necessary to understand usage patterns and set conservation goals in an institutional setting. Sensor systems provide data to measure consumption and evaluate the effectiveness of active interventions. However, deploying sensing systems can be difficult when infrastructure support is limited. This paper describes the process of designing Tethys, a wireless water flow sensor that collects data at per-fixture granularity without dependence on existing infrastructure and trusted gateways. Rather than rely on electrical infrastructure, Tethys implements energy harvesting to allow for long term deployment. To avoid dependence on existing network infrastructure, Tethys crowdsources the data collection process to residents' smartphones acting as gateways. These gateways are untrusted and unreliable, so Tethys implements end-to-end reliability and security between the sensing device and a cloud backend. We present initial findings from a deployment in undergraduate residential halls. Our results demonstrate that Tethys can capture meaningful patterns in shower use. For instance, visible water conservation signs are statistically correlated with shorter mean shower length (p < 0:05) and are a potential area for future studies.
Power-analysis attack on an ASIC AES implementation

The AES (advanced encryption standard) is a new block cipher standard published by the US government in November 2001. As a consequence, there is a growing interest in efficient implementations of the AES. For many applications, these implementations need to be resistant against side channel attacks, that is, it should not be too easy to extract secret information from physical measurements on the device. We present the first results on the feasibility of power analysis attack against an AES hardware implementation. Our attack is targeted against an ASIC implementation of the AES developed by the ETH Zurich. We show how to build a reliable measurement setup and how to improve the correlation coefficients, i.e., the signal to noise ratio for our measurements. Our approach is also the first step to link a behavior HDL simulator generated simulated power measurements to real power measurements.
Pleural mesothelioma and occupational and non-occupational asbestos exposure: a case-control study with quantitative risk assessment

Objectives Casale Monferrato (north west Italy) is an area with an exceptionally high incidence of mesothelioma caused by asbestos contamination at work and in the general environment from the asbestos-cement Eternit plant that was operational until 1986. The purpose of this study was to quantify the association between pleural malignant mesothelioma (PMM) and asbestos cumulative exposure using individual assessment of environmental and domestic exposure, as well as of occupational exposure. Methods This population-based case-control study included cases of PMM diagnosed between January 2001 and June 2006 among residents in the Casale Monferrato Local Health Authority. Population controls were randomly sampled, matched by age and sex to cases. Cumulative exposure was estimated to account for the lifelong exposure history. Analyses were conducted using unconditional logistic regression models adjusting for gender, age at diagnosis and type of interview (direct or proxy respondents). Results 200 PMM cases of 223 eligible cases (89.7%) and 348 (63%) of 552 eligible controls accepted to be interviewed. ORs increased with cumulative exposure index (p<0.0001) from 4.4 (CI 95% 1.7 to 11.3) (<1 f/mL-years) to 62.1 (CI 95% 22.2 to 173.2) (≥10 f/mL-years). Among subjects never occupationally exposed, corresponding ORs were 3.8 (CI 95% 1.3 to 11.1) and 23.3 (CI 95% 2.9 to 186.9) (reference: background level of asbestos exposure). ORs of about 2, statistically significant, were observed for domestic exposure and for living in houses near buildings with large asbestos cement parts. Conclusions Risk of PMM increased with cumulative asbestos exposure and also in analyses limited to subjects non-occupationally exposed. Our results also provide indication of risk associated with common sources of environmental exposure and are highly relevant for the evaluation of residual risk after the cessation of asbestos industrial use.
Augmenting Affect from Speech with Generative Music

In this work we propose a prototype to improve interpersonal communication of emotions. Therefore music is generated with the same affect as when humans talk on the fly. Emotions in speech are detected and conveyed to music according to music psychological rules. Existing evaluated modules from affective generative music and speech emotion detection, use cases, emotional models and projected evaluations are discussed.
Prevalence of sleep apnea and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with hypertension in a day hospital model

ABSTRACT Introduction: To identify patients at risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome at a specialized hypertension center, we administered questionnaires and used respiratory polygraphy (RP). Results: We studied 168 patients (64.8% men and 35.2% women). Patients’ body mass index (BMI) was 34.7 ± 6.79 and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores were 8.01 for male and 8.92 for women (p = 0.69). RP recordings revealed AHI (Apnea-Hypopnea Index) of 18.03 ± 15.7, an ODI (Oxygen Desaturation Index) of 18.6 ± 15.2, and a time oxygen saturation <90% (%) of 20.8 ± 24.3. Around 44% of patients had an AHI of >15 events/h, and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) was recommended to 69 patients (41.07%). Pulse wave velocity (PWV) showed high values in AHI > 15/h (p = 0.050), and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) did not correlate with AHI > 15; right IMT: 0.83 ± 1.3 versus 0.78 ± 0.13 mm (p = 0.41) and 0.82 ± 0.16 versus 0.78 ± 0.19 mm (p = 0.40). However, we find correlation with carotid plaque (p = 0.046). The ACC/AHA calculator revealed a gradual increase in the risk of cardiovascular events: 8.7% with AHI < 5/h, and 30.3% in severe OSA. Conclusions: In hypertension (HT) patients, RP revealed a high prevalence of OSA associated with carotid artery disease, high PWV, and increased cardiovascular risk.
The effect of wall reflection on indoor wireless location based on RSSI

With the advantages of small size and low cost RSSI-based ranging and positioning technology is suitable for the large-scale applications or indoor environments. Whereas multipath structure of indoor radio channel caused by complex indoor environment, as well as the far field conditions of antennas are not feasible due to the short propagation distance, have a strong impact on indoor positioning accuracy. The reflection caused by wall is inevitable in indoor environment. Two-ray tracing model is proposed to analyze the effect of wall reflection on indoor radio propagation channel. It indicates that the closer from the wall, the greater the impact of the wall reflection is with respect to the LoS. Experimental results show that the influence of near-wall reflection on location accuracy should be taken into account when the RSSI-based technology is utilized for indoor location.
Pellino 1 inactivates mitotic spindle checkpoint by targeting BubR1 for ubiquitinational degradation

Aberrant constitutive activation of receptor-mediated downstream signalling plays an active role in the deregulation of cell cycle control. The mitotic spindle checkpoint is important in preventing abnormal mitotic cell cycle with chromosome missegregation from achieving neoplastic aneuploidy. However, mechanisms coupling receptor-mediated signalling to mitotic spindle checkpoint regulation remain unclear. Pellino 1 is a receptor signal-responsive E3 ubiquitin ligase, and the application of certain receptor-mediated signalling regulates the expression and activity of Pellino 1. In the present study, Pellino 1 expression induced extensive chromosome aneuploidy and allowed abnormal mitotic cells to adapt and become aneuploid in vitro and in vivo. Pellino 1 directly interacted with BubR1, a key component of mitotic spindle checkpoint, in a mitotic cell-cycle dependent manner, and down-regulated the stability of BubR1 by ubiquitination-mediated degradation and induced mitotic dysfunction. In summary, Pellino 1 expression acts as an inhibitory signal of the homeostatic regulation of mitotic cell cycle and checkpoint, and thus contributes to the initiation and progression of neoplastic chromosome aneuploidy.
Benthic macrofaunal structure and secondary production in tropical estuaries on the Eastern Marine Ecoregion of Brazil

Tropical estuaries are highly productive and support diverse benthic assemblages within mangroves and tidal flats habitats. Determining differences and similarities of benthic assemblages within estuarine habitats and between regional ecosystems may provide scientific support for management of those ecosystems. Here we studied three tropical estuaries in the Eastern Marine Ecoregion of Brazil to assess the spatial variability of benthic assemblages from vegetated (mangroves) and unvegetated (tidal flats) habitats. A nested sampling design was used to determine spatial scales of variability in benthic macrofaunal density, biomass and secondary production. Habitat differences in benthic assemblage composition were evident, with mangrove forests being dominated by annelids (Oligochaeta and Capitellidae) whereas peracarid crustaceans were also abundant on tidal flats. Macrofaunal biomass, density and secondary production also differed between habitats and among estuaries. Those differences were related both to the composition of benthic assemblages and to random spatial variability, underscoring the importance of hierarchical sampling in estuarine ecological studies. Given variable levels of human impacts and predicted climate change effects on tropical estuarine assemblages in Eastern Brazil, our data support the use of benthic secondary production to address long-term changes and improved management of estuaries in Eastern Brazil.
Investigation of influence of the outlet channel length of extruder die hydrodynamics of extrusion process

Influence of the outlet channel length of an extruder on a steady creeping outflow of viscoelastic fluid is investigated. Fluid motion is described by equations of conservation of mass and momentum supplemented by Giesekus's determinative rheological constitutive equation of the medium. On the basis of finite element method a numerical algorithm for solving the problem was developed. Distribution pattern of fluid velocity in an outflowing jet, pressure and stresses is analyzed; results of dependency of swelling degree of polymer fluid on die geometry and parameters of a rheological model are investigated.
Estimation of the volume resistivity of electrically conductive composites

The modeling of the electrical conductivity of polymer composites reinforced with conductive fibers is investigated. Existing models generally can be divided into percolation theories and non-percolation theories. The basis of the percolation theory is the fact that the conductivity of the composite increases dramatically at a certain fiber concentration called the percolation threshold. This theory can be used to model the behavior of the composite or to predict the percolation threshold itself. Non-percolation theories include terms, which account for microstructural data such as fiber orientation, length, and packing arrangement. A comparison of experimental data with predictions from the various models reveals that only the percolation theory is able to accurately model the conductive behavior of an actual composite. Two alternative new models, which predict the volume resistivity of a composite using microstructural data, are evaluated. The first model relates resistivity to the concentration and orientation of the fibers, while assuming perfect fiber-fiber contact. The relationship between resistivity and fiber concentration predicted by the model is in qualitative agreement with actual data, and predictions of the anisotropy in volume resistivity compare well with experimental results. The second model accounts for the effect of fiber-fiber contact and fiber length on composite resistivity. Predictions are in excellent agreement with experimental data for polypropylene composites reinforced with nickel-coated graphite fibers.
A Zebrafish Model for Chlamydia Infection with the Obligate Intracellular Pathogen Waddlia chondrophila

Obligate intracellular chlamydial bacteria of the Planctomycetes-Verrucomicrobia-Chlamydiae (PVC) superphylum are important pathogens of terrestrial and marine vertebrates, yet many features of their pathogenesis and host specificity are still unknown. This is particularly true for families such as the Waddliacea which, in addition to epithelia, cellular targets for nearly all Chlamydia, can infect and replicate in macrophages, an important arm of the innate immune system or in their free-living amoebal counterparts. An ideal pathogen model system should include both host and pathogen, which led us to develop the first larval zebrafish model for chlamydial infections with Waddlia chondrophila. By varying the means and sites of application, epithelial cells of the swim bladder, endothelial cells of the vasculature and phagocytosing cells of the innate immune system became preferred targets for infection in zebrafish larvae. Through the use of transgenic zebrafish, we could observe recruitment of neutrophils to the infection site and demonstrate for the first time that W. chondrophila is taken up and replicates in these phagocytic cells and not only in macrophages. Furthermore, we present evidence that myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) mediated signaling plays a role in the innate immune reaction to W. chondrophila, eventually by Toll-like receptor (TLRs) recognition. Infected larvae with depleted levels of MyD88 showed a higher infection load and a lower survival rate compared to control fish. This work presents a new and potentially powerful non-mammalian experimental model to study the pathology of chlamydial virulence in vivo and opens up new possibilities for investigation of other members of the PVC superphylum.