Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Water-based exercise improves health-related aspects of fitness in older women.

PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the physiological responses of elderly women to a well-rounded exercise program performed in water (WEX). METHODS The participants (60-75 yr of age) were randomly divided into a training (TR) group (N = 15) and a control group (N = 15). The TR group participated in a 12-wk supervised WEX program, 70 min x day(-1), 3 d x wk(-1). The WEX consisted of 20 min of warm-up and stretching exercise, 10 min of resistance exercise, 30 min of endurance-type exercise (walking and dancing), and 10 min of cool-down exercise. RESULTS The WEX led to an increase (P < 0.05) in peak VO2 (12%) and VO2 at lactate threshold (20%). Muscular strength evaluated by a hydraulic resistance machine increased significantly at resistance dial setting 8 (slow) for knee extension (8%), knee flexion (13%), chest press (7%) and pull (11%), shoulder press (4%) and pull (6%), and back extension (6%). Vertical jump (9%), side-stepping agility (22%), trunk extension (11%), and FEV1.0 (7%) also increased significantly. There was a significant decrease in skin-fold thickness (-8%), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (-17%), and total cholesterol (-11%). There were no significant changes in these variables in the control group. CONCLUSION These results indicate that WEX elicits significant improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, muscular strength, body fat, and total cholesterol in older adult women. Water-based exercise appears to be a very safe and beneficial mode of exercise that can be performed as part of a well-rounded exercise program.
Why are Reported Relative Mortality Risks for Capd and Hd So Variable? (Inadequacies of the Cox Proportional Hazards Model)

The relative risks of death for CAPD and HD reported in the literature and at recent meetings most likely reflect case-mix differences and varying percentages of adequately dialyzed patients within the compared populations. A prospective randomized comparison of CAPD and HD patients will be unlikely because of the expense. Therefore, we should attempt to improve the way that both CAPD and HD are practiced. There is no conclusive evidence that the choice of CAPD or HD per se yields a specific modality advantage for survival.
PID Controller Tuning Rules for Varying Time-Delay Systems

This paper considers the design of PID controllers for systems with varying time-delays. Using the concept of jitter margin combined with the AMIGO tuning rule methodology, novel tuning rules that are robust to varying time-delays are derived. In addition, we give an expression for the expected lower bound of the jitter margin as these tuning rules are applied. Extensive numerical evaluations demonstrate that, for wide range of processes, the new tuning rules achieve significant improvements in jitter margin at the expense of only slight decreases in other performance criteria.
Comportamentos sedentários associados ao excesso de peso corporal

Este estudo objetivou identificar possiveis relacoes entre comportamentos sedentarios e o excesso de peso corporal. Participaram do estudo 1570 escolares da cidade de Joao Pessoa, PB, Brasil, com idades de sete a 12 anos. Os estudantes responderam a tres questoes objetivas sobre a atividade fisica mais praticada fora da escola (assistir TV, tarefas domesticas, brincar ou praticar esportes), o meio de transporte normalmente utilizado (carro/moto/onibus = passivo e a pe/bicicleta = ativo) e o tempo gasto de casa ate a escola. O excesso de peso foi classificado a partir de criterios propostos pela International Obesity Task Force. Para analise estatistica, utilizou-se o teste qui-quadrado e a regressao logistica multivariada. A chance de apresentar excesso de peso foi de 81% (IC 95% = 1,23-2,65) maior entre os meninos que assistiram TV, em comparacao aos que realizaram outras atividades; e tres vezes maior (IC 95% = 1,92-5,38) para os escolares que se deslocavam passivamente a escola, em relacao aos que seguiam a pe/bicicleta. Nas meninas, a chance de excesso de peso foi 2,27 vezes maior (IC 95% = 1,39-3,71) entre as que se deslocavam a escola de forma passiva, quando comparadas as que se deslocavam ativamente. Conclui-se que, assistir TV na maior parte do tempo livre para os meninos e utilizar deslocamentos passivos para ir a escola, para ambos os sexos, aumentou as chances dos estudantes terem excesso de peso corporal.
Treatment of Hypertrophic Distal Tibia Nonunion and Early Malunion With Callus Distraction

Background: Hypertrophic nonunions and early malunions of pilon and distal tibia fractures result in complex, challenging to treat deformities. Callus distraction histiogenesis is an option for their management, allowing for the simultaneous correction of multiplanar deformity and limb length discrepancy. Methods: A single-surgeon, retrospective case series was performed. Eight patients (6 males and 2 females) who were treated with callus distraction from 1991 to 2011 were reviewed. Six of 8 patients had varus deformities (range, 8-19 degrees) and 2 patients had valgus deformities (both 16 degrees) of the distal tibia metaphysis. Six of 8 had apex anterior deformities (range, 2-21 degrees) and 2 had apex posterior deformity (range, 9-20 degrees). An Ilizarov fixator or Taylor Spatial Frame (Smith & Nephew, Memphis, TN) was used to distract the nonunion or early malunion to correct alignment and shortening. Preoperative and postoperative radiographic outcomes, limb alignment, and ankle-hindfoot scores were reviewed. Results: Union was achieved in all patients at a mean of 5.8 months (range, 4.1-7.6 months). The 3 patients treated with an Ilizarov-type fixator had deformity correction to within 5 degrees of neutral in 1 plane and to within 10 degrees in the other plane. All 5 patients treated with a Taylor Spatial Frame had correction to within 5 degrees of neutral alignment in both coronal and sagittal planes. There were 2 complications requiring reoperation and 1 persistent limb length discrepancy (2 cm) after treatment. Median AOFAS ankle-hindfoot score was 82.5 (range, 53-90) at an average follow-up of 30.4 months (range, 8-92). Conclusions: Callus distraction histiogenesis was a minimally invasive technique that can successfully treat patients with hypertrophic nonunion and early malunion of the distal tibia. We believe the application of a computer-assisted 6-axis frame to correct the deformity improved the correction of these multiplanar deformities. Level of Evidence: Level IV, case series.
Comparative analysis of maximum power point (MPP) tracking techniques for solar PV application using MATLAB simulink

The renewable energy sources such as PV cells, fuel cells or energy storage devices are most popular. Among which photovoltaic energy is becoming one of the main power suppliers. This paper presents a comparative analysis between Perturb & Observe (P&O) and Incremental Conductance (Inc-Cond) algorithm for extracting the maximum power from photovoltaic Array. Because of the nonlinear characteristics of PV cell, the maximum power can be extracted under particular whether condition. Therefore, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques are used to maximize the output power of PV array, continuously to track the maximum power point (MPP), which depends on atmospheric temperature and solar insolation. This paper addresses the comparison between of the existing maximum power point tracking (MPPT) techniques used in photovoltaic systems as reported in literature by using MATLAB/Simulink and PSPICE.
Analysis of metronidazole in equine plasma using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry and high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry.

RATIONALE Treatment of racehorses with bicarbonate solutions to manage acidosis and muscle cramps prior to competition is banned in Pennsylvania (PA). Use of excess bicarbonate in horses causes diarrhea, requiring treatment with an antibiotic such as metronidazole (MTNZ). At present no method exists for detecting MTNZ in equine plasma. Thus, a liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) method for the detection, quantification and confirmation of MTNZ was developed. METHODS The analyte was recovered from plasma by liquid-liquid extraction using methyl tert-butyl ether and separated on an ACE® C18 column with its guard column. The mobile phase comprised a mixture of 5 mM ammonium formate (pH 3.5) and acetonitrile (60:40; v/v). Mass analysis was performed on an LTQ XL linear ion trap mass spectrometer in positive electrospray ionization mode while accurate mass determination was also performed in positive electrospray ionization mode using high-resolution accurate mass spectrometry (HRAMS). RESULTS The limit of detection (LOD), limit of confirmation (LOC) and lower limit of quantification (LLOD) were 1, 2 and 50 ng/mL, respectively. The analyte in plasma was stable at -20 and -70°C for 28 days, as well as for 24 h at 20°C in the autosampler. The percentage coefficients of variation (% CV) for the intra-day and inter-day precision for the LLOQ were 5.1:3.68 and 13.21:9.95, respectively, while the intra-day accuracy was from 98.71 to 101.57% and that of the inter-day was from 88.64 to 96.6%. The matrix effect was between 9 and 24%. The precursor → product ion transition m/z 172 → 128, a retention time of 2.92 min and the accurate mass of the [M+H](+) ion of the analyte (m/z 172.0173) were used as criteria for confirmation of the presence of MTNZ in equine plasma. CONCLUSIONS The method is highly sensitive and selective for the detection, identification and confirmation of MTNZ in equine plasma. Thus, illegal use of MTNZ in racehorses can be routinely monitored within the US State of Pennsylvania. The method is fast, sensitive, reproducible, and reliable.
Quality assessment of building footprint data using a deep autoencoder network

ABSTRACT Volunteered geographic information (VGI), OpenStreetMap (OSM), has been used in many applications, especially when official spatial data are unavailable or outdated. However, the quality of VGI remains a valid concern. In this paper, we use the matched results between OSM building footprints and official data as the samples for training an autoencoder network, which encodes and reconstructs the sample populations according to unknown complex multivariate probability distributions. Then, the OSM data are assessed based on the theory that small probability samples contribute little to the autoencoder network and that they can be recognized by the higher reconstructed errors during training. In the method described here, the selected measures, including data completeness, positional accuracy, shape accuracy, semantic accuracy and orientation consistency between OSM and official data, are used as the inputs for a deep autoencoder network. Finally, building footprint data from Toronto, Canada, are evaluated, and experiments show that the proposed method can assess the OSM data comprehensively, objectively and accurately.
Speaker Adaptive Training Localizing Speaker Modules in DNN for Hybrid DNN-HMM Speech Recognizers

SUMMARY Among various training concepts for speaker adaptation, Speaker Adaptive Training (SAT) has been successfully applied to a standard Hidden Markov Model (HMM) speech recognizer, whose state is associated with Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs). On the other hand, focusing on the high discriminative power of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs), a new type of speech recognizer structure, which combines DNNs and HMMs, has been vigorously investigated in the speaker adaptation research ﬁeld. Along these two lines, it is natural to conceive of further improvement to a DNN-HMM recognizer by employing the training concept of SAT. In this paper, we propose a novel speaker adaptation scheme that applies SAT to a DNN-HMM recognizer. Our SAT scheme allocates a Speaker Dependent (SD) module to one of the intermediate layers of DNN, treats its remaining layers as a Speaker Independent (SI) module, and jointly trains the SD and SI modules while switching the SD module in a speaker-by-speaker manner. We implement the scheme using a DNN-HMM recognizer, whose DNN has seven layers, and elaborate its utility over TED Talks corpus data. Our experimental results show that in the supervised adaptation scenario, our Speaker-Adapted (SA) SAT-based recognizer reduces the word error rate of the baseline SI recognizer and the lowest word error rate of the SA SI recognizer by 8.4% and 0.7%, respectively, and by 6.4% and 0.6% in the unsupervised adaptation scenario. The error reductions gained by our SA-SAT-based recognizers proved to be signiﬁcant by statistical testing. The results also show that our SAT-based adaptation outperforms, regardless of the SD module layer selection, its counterpart SI-based adaptation, and that the inner layers of DNN seem more suitable for SD module allocation than the outer layers.
A numerical approach to the optimal control and efficiency of the copepod swimmer

This article presents a geometric and numerical approach to compute the optimal swimming strokes of a larval copepod. A simplified model of locomotion at low Reynolds number is analyzed in the framework of Sub-Riemannian geometry. Both normal and abnormal geodesics are considered along which the mechanical power dissipated by the swimmer is conserved. Numerical simulations show that, among various periodic strokes, a normal stroke consisting of a simple loop shape is maximizing the efficiency.
Force Tracking Impedance Control for Robot Manipulators with an Unknown Environment: Theory, Simulation, and Experiment

In impedance control for force tracking, it is well known that the reference trajectory of the robot is calculated from known environmental stiffness. The authors present a simple technique for determining the reference trajectory under the condition that the environment is unknown. The technique is developed based on the replacement of the unknown stiffness with a function of the measured force. Combining this technique with the impedance function yields the force tracking impedance function. Robot dynamic uncertainties are assumed to be compensated by a robust position control method based on time-delayed control. The local stability at equilibrium points is analyzed with respect to uncertainty in environmental position. Computer simulation studies demonstrate that force tracking using the proposed technique is excellent for unknown environment and dynamics uncertainty. The practicality of the technique is also verified experimentally using a PUMA 560 manipulator.
Load torque compensator for Model Predictive Direct Current Control in high power PMSM drive systems

In drive systems the most used control structure is the cascade control with an inner torque, i.e. current and an outer speed control loop. The fairly small converter switching frequency in high power applications, e.g. wind turbines lead to modest speed control performance. An improvement bring the use of a current controller which takes into account the discrete states of the inverter, e.g. DTC or a more modern approach: Model Predictive Direct Current Control (MPDCC). Moreover overshoots and oscillations in the speed are not desired in many applications, since they lead to mechanical stress, oscillations in the power etc. For this reason the integrating action of the speed controller must be limited leading to offsets in the speed control and a poor response to load torque variations. For this reason a load torque estimator is proposed in this paper in order to further improve MPDCC dynamic behaviour. It compensates the load torque influence on the speed control setting a feed forward torque value, i.e. current reference value. The benefits are twice. The speed controller reaches immediately the speed reference value avoiding offsets which must be compensated by the weak integrator. Moreover, a better response to load torque variations which are detected and compensated leading to small speed variations is obtained.
SORRISO : Quantum chemistry tool for visualization of electron transfer processes

User friendly program SORRISO was created for two-dimentional (2D) viewing of molecular system. Created „from zero“ using object-oriented programming (OOP) paradigm, SORRISO was is able to visualize the positions of nuclears of the molecular system, presented in different formats such as XYZ (cartesian), YES (hexadecimal record), ENT (Brookhaven pdb). Additional possibilities of SORRISO includes the visualization of the dynamic process – intermolecular electron transfer (IET) presented in the framework of molecular orbitals (MO) through atomic orbitals (AO). Rate of IET for each intermolecular transition between one-particle states is presented in typical spectral form, and increasing / decreasing of charge density in the surrounding of nuclear is presented dynamically by blicking of balls. Citations: Ildar Galikov, Alytis Gruodis. SORRISO: Quantum chemistry tool for visualization of electron transfer processes – Innovative Infotechnologies for Science, Business and Education, ISSN 2029-1035 – 2(9) 2010 – Pp. 11-16.
How to use: transcutaneous bilirubinometry

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence neonatal jaundice guidelines recommend checking the bilirubin level in all infants with visible jaundice. The gold standard for this measurement is total serum bilirubin (TSB). Transcutaneous bilirubinometry (TcB) is an alternative to TSB that has been validated for clinical use through extensive study. TcB provides many advantages over TSB including instantaneous measurements without requiring a painful lab draw. For infants >35 weeks gestation, TcB can reliably identify infants at risk for severe hyperbilirubinaemia and can decrease the number of TSB measurements obtained. However, paediatric providers should be aware of limitations in clinical use of TcB including decreasing accuracy at higher bilirubin levels, lack of independently validated nomograms for interpretation and limited research regarding its use during phototherapy.
Coupled translation and replication of poliovirus RNA in vitro: synthesis of functional 3D polymerase and infectious virus

Poliovirus RNA polymerase and infectious virus particles were synthesized by translation of virion RNA in vitro in HeLa S10 extracts. The in vitro translation reactions were optimized for the synthesis of the viral proteins found in infected cells and in particular the synthesis of the viral polymerase 3Dpol. There was a linear increase in the amount of labeled protein synthesized during the first 6 h of the reaction. The appearance of 3Dpol in the translation products was delayed because of the additional time required for the proteolytic processing of precursor proteins. 3Dpol was first observed at 1 h in polyacrylamide gels, with significant amounts being detected at 6 h and later. Initial attempts to assay for polymerase activity directly in the translation reaction were not successful. Polymerase activity, however, was easily detected by adding a small amount (3 microliters) of translation products to a standard polymerase assay containing poliovirion RNA. Full-length minus-strand RNA was synthesized in the presence of an oligo(U) primer. In the absence of oligo(U), product RNA about twice the size of virion RNA was synthesized in these reactions. RNA stability studies and plaque assays indicated that a significant fraction of the input virion RNA in the translation reactions was very stable and remained intact for 20 h or more. Plaque assays indicated that infectious virus was synthesized in the in vitro translation reactions. Under optimal conditions, the titer of infectious virus produced in the in vitro translation reactions was greater than 100,000 PFU/ml. Virus was first detected at 6 h and increased to maximum levels by 12 h. Overall, the kinetics of poliovirus replication (protein synthesis, polymerase activity, and virus production) observed in the HeLa S10-initiation factor in vitro translation reactions were similar to those observed in infected cells.
Adaptive resource sharing strategy with dynamic channel assignment for data services

The performance of a flexible resource allocation strategy (FRA) combined with a dynamic channel allocation strategy (DCA) is assessed. Special attention is given to the upper capacity limits. Hence, the maximum packing (MP) is selected as the DCA strategy whereas the resource sharing for data services (RSDS) is selected as the FRA strategy. MP and RSDS represent, respectively, the upper limit in terms of capacity in DCA and FRA strategies. The assessment is performed in a Manhattan-like environment. Results show that the combination of DCA and FRA can produce an increase in terms of capacity of about 18% with respect to the use of FRA only.
The T788G Mutation in the cyp51C Gene Confers Voriconazole Resistance in Aspergillus flavus Causing Aspergillosis

ABSTRACT With voriconazole (VRC) being approved as the first choice in treating invasive aspergillosis (IA) and its increasing use in treatment, a VRC-resistant strain of Aspergillus flavus, the second leading cause of IA after Aspergillus fumigatus, has emerged. The VRC-resistant strain of A. flavus was isolated for the first time from the surgical lung specimen of an IA patient with no response to VRC therapy. In order to ascertain the mechanism of VRC resistance, the azole target enzyme genes in this strain of A. flavus were cloned and sequenced, and 4 mutations generating amino acid residue substitutions were found in the cyp51C gene. To further determine the role of this mutated gene for VRC resistance in A. flavus, an Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated gene replacement approach was applied. Consequently, the mutated cyp51C gene from this A. flavus strain was proven to confer the VRC resistance. Finally, to discern the one out of the four mutations in the cyp51C gene that is responsible for contributing to VRC resistance, a site-directed gene mutagenesis procedure combined with a gene replacement method was performed. As a result, the T788G missense mutation in the cyp51C gene was identified as responsible for VRC resistance in A. flavus. These findings indicated that the detection of this mutation in A. flavus could serve as an indicator for physicians to avoid the use of VRC during IA treatment. Further comprehensive surveillance for antifungal susceptibility, as well as intensive study on the mechanism of azole resistance in A. flavus causing IA, would be required to fully understand this mechanism.
Singular Value Decompositions for Single-Curl Operators in Three-Dimensional Maxwell's Equations for Complex Media

This article focuses on solving the generalized eigenvalue problems (GEP) arising in the source-free Maxwell equation with magnetoelectric coupling effects that models three-dimensional complex media. The goal is to compute the smallest positive eigenvalues, and the main challenge is that the coefficient matrix in the discrete Maxwell equation is indefinite and degenerate. To overcome this difficulty, we derive a singular value decomposition (SVD) of the discrete single-curl operator and then explicitly express the basis of the invariant subspace corresponding to the nonzero eigenvalues of the GEP. Consequently, we reduce the GEP to a null space free standard eigenvalue problem (NFSEP) that contains only the nonzero (complex) eigenvalues of the GEP and can be solved by the shift-and-invert Arnoldi method without being disturbed by the null space. Furthermore, the basis of the eigendecomposition is chosen carefully so that we can apply fast Fourier transformation (FFT-) based matrix vector multiplication t.