Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
D-A-D structured organic molecules with diketopyrrolopyrrole acceptor unit for solution-processed organic solar cells

Four solution-processable D-A-D structured organic molecules with diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) as acceptor unit and triphenylamine (TPA) or (4-hexyl)thieno [3,2-b]thiophene (HTT) as donor unit, DPP8-TPA, DPP8-TPA-OR, DPP6-HTT and DPP8-HTT, were designed and synthesized for the application as donor materials in solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs). The molecules show broad absorption and relatively lower highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels. Photovoltaic properties of the molecules were investigated by fabricating the bulk-heterojunction OSCs with the molecules as donor and PC71BM as acceptor. Power conversion efficiency of the OSC based on DPP8-HTT reached 1.5% under the illumination of AM1.5, 100 mW cm−2.
Iota-Carrageenan Is a Potent Inhibitor of Influenza A Virus Infection

The 2009 flu pandemic and the appearance of oseltamivir-resistant H1N1 influenza strains highlight the need for treatment alternatives. One such option is the creation of a protective physical barrier in the nasal cavity. In vitro tests demonstrated that iota-carrageenan is a potent inhibitor of influenza A virus infection, most importantly also of pandemic H1N1/2009 in vitro. Consequently, we tested a commercially available nasal spray containing iota-carrageenan in an influenza A mouse infection model. Treatment of mice infected with a lethal dose of influenza A PR8/34 H1N1 virus with iota-carrageenan starting up to 48 hours post infection resulted in a strong protection of mice similar to mice treated with oseltamivir. Since alternative treatment options for influenza are rare, we conclude that the nasal spray containing iota-carrageenan is an alternative to neuraminidase inhibitors and should be tested for prevention and treatment of influenza A in clinical trials in humans.
19‐VNTR loci used in genotyping Chinese clinical Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex strains and in association with spoligotyping

Recently, tandem repeat typing has emerged as a rapid and easy method for the molecular epidemiology of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) complex. In this study, a collection of 19 VNTRs incorporating 15 previously described loci and 4 newly evaluated markers were used to genotype 206 Chinese M. tuberculosis isolates and 9 BCG strains. The discriminatory power was evaluated and compared with that obtained by Spoligotyping. It turned out that 15‐locus VNTR could be very useful in M. tuberculosis complex strains genotyping in China. The 4 newly evaluated loci were proved informative and could be useful for future epidemiology studies, especially in Beijing family strains. In addition, a unique pattern of the latter 4 loci were found in Chinese BCG strains.
Flow, compaction and tabletting properties of co-processed excipients of pregelatinized Ofada rice starch and HPMC

The growing popularity of direct-compression process necessitates an ideal filler–binder that can substitute two or more excipients. Pregelatinization of starches significantly improve swelling and flow properties but produce tablets with low mechanical strength. When used as binder in many tablet formulations, hydroxyl propyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) imparts mechanical strength but because of its poor flow during high speed tablet manufacturing, granulation of HPMC-based formulations is required. Directly-compressible co-processed excipients were developed utilizing pregelatinized starch of the indigenous Ofada rice starch (Oryza glaberrima Steud Family Poaceae) and HPMC. Co-processed excipients of various combinations of pregelatinized Ofada rice starch and HPMC were prepared using co-fusion method (97.5:2.5; 95:5; 92.5:7.5; 90:10;85:15; 80:20). The flow and compaction properties of the co-processed excipients as well as individual excipients were evaluated using densities, Hausner’s ratio, Carr’s index, angle of repose, angle of internal friction, Kawakita model, consolidation index and rate. Aceclofenac tablets were formulated with starch, HPMC and selected co-processed excipients as filler-binders using direct compression. Pregelatinization produced starch with larger granules and improved flow. FTIR spectra of the co-processed excipients confirmed absence of chemical interaction. Angle of repose, Hausner’s ratio, Carr’s index, angle of internal friction indicated flow properties increased with starch content of the co-processed excipients. Kawakita plots, consolidation index and consolidation rate revealed cohesiveness while compressibility and rate of packing were enhanced. Aceclofenac tablets containing co-processed excipients had crushing strength ≥ 66.03 ± 1.58 MNm-2; friability ≤ 1 %; disintegration time ≤ 10.75 ±3.10 and dissolution time (t80) ≤ 30.00 ± 3.07. The optimized formulation contained Ofada starch: HPMC 95:5. The co-processed excipients of pregelatinized Ofada rice starch and HPMC could serve as suitable, cheaper alternatives to other synthetic excipients for direct compression of tablets.
Lower quality of life in young men after pediatric kidney transplantation when compared to healthy controls and survivors of childhood leukemia—a cross‐sectional study

Data about health‐related quality of life (HRQOL) in adult recipients after pediatric kidney transplantation (KTx) are scarce. In this nationwide questionnaire‐based study, HRQOL and social status in young adult men having undergone KTx during childhood (n = 29) were studied and compared to age‐ and gender‐matched healthy controls (n = 56) and survivors of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (n = 52) comprising controls with another chronic disease of childhood. Altogether 41% of the KTx recipients, 50% of the leukemia survivors and 80% of the healthy controls lived in a permanent relationship. When compared with leukemia survivors, the KTx recipients reported significantly more bodily pain and worse general health (RAND‐36). Older age at time of study, longer duration of dialysis, multiple transplantations and diminished graft function correlated with lower scores. The KTx recipients had a significantly higher mean Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) score than the leukemia survivors (P = 0.000) or the healthy controls (P = 0.006). BDI scores were highest in patients who lived without a partner or children had lower educational level or were unemployed. KTx recipients had significantly lower HRQOL scores than their healthy and controls with childhood chronic disease. Early detection of psychosocial problems and poor physical functioning among these patients is warranted.
Theoretical properties of the log-concave maximum likelihood estimator of a multidimensional density

We present theoretical properties of the log-concave maximum likelihood estimator of a density based on an independent and identically distributed sample in R d . Our study covers both the case where the true underlying density is log-concave, and where this model is misspecified. We begin by showing that for a sequence of log-concave densities, con- vergence in distribution implies much stronger types of convergence - in particular, it implies convergence in Hellinger distance and even in cer- tain exponentially weighted total variation norms. In our main result, we prove the existence and uniqueness of a log-concave density that minimises the Kullback-Leibler divergence from the true density over the class of all log-concave densities, and also show that the log-concave maximum like- lihood estimator converges almost surely in these exponentially weighted total variation norms to this minimiser. In the case of a correctly specified model, this demonstrates a strong type of consistency for the estimator; in a misspecified model, it shows that the estimator converges to the log- concave density that is closest in the Kullback-Leibler sense to the true density.
Modality fusion in a route navigation system

In this paper we present the MUMS Multimodal Route Navigation System which combines speech, pen, and graphics into a PDA-based multimodal system. We focus especially on the three-level modality fusion component which we believe provides an accurate and more flexible input fusion than the usual twolevel approaches. The modular architecture of the system supports flexible component management, and the interface is designed to enable natural interaction with the user, with an emphasis on adaptation and users with special needs.
Iris Recognition: An emerging biometric technology

: Iris recognition is a well-known biometric technique. The iris recognition is a kind of the biometrics technologies based on the physiological characteristics of human body, compared with the feature recognition based on the fingerprint, palm-print, face and sound etc, the iris has some advantages such as uniqueness, stability, high recognition rate, and non-infringing etc. Iris recognition, which is divided into four steps: segmentation, normalization, feature extraction and matching. We had taken iris images from database CASIA V4.We use Daugman’s method using integrodifferential operator for segmentation & the feature extraction algorithm based on principle component analysis(PCA) & independent component analysis(ICA) for a compact iris code. We use these methods to generate optimal basis elements which could represent iris signals efficiently. In practice the coefficient of these methods are used as feature vectors. Then iris feature vectors are encoded into the iris code for storing and comparing individual's iris patterns. The iris recognition is using principal component analysis & independent component analysis can produce spatially globalfeatures. Hamming distance method is used for matching purpose for principle component analysis & independent component analysis.
Molecular basis for the antiandrogen withdrawal syndrome

In patients with prostate cancer who manifest disease progression during combined androgen blockade therapy, discontinuation of antiandrogen treatment might result in prostate‐specific antigen decline, often associated with clinical improvement. The response called antiandrogen withdrawal syndrome is thus acknowledged as a general phenomenon. However, molecular mechanisms responsible for this syndrome are not completely understood. This article outlines the proposed mechanisms, including alterations of androgen receptor gene and its coregulatory proteins and activation of the signal transduction pathway, and the potential therapeutic approaches based on the specific mechanisms. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Semantically distinct verb classes involved in sentiment analysis

The paper describes a novel rule-based approach to classification of opinion statements on the level of individual sentences. In contrast to existing approaches, the proposed method relies on the rules elaborated for semantically distinct verb classes. To deeply analyse the type, strength, and confidence level of expressed opinion, the system relies on the compositionality principle and lexicon of sentiment-conveying terms, functional words, modifiers, and modal expressions. The method is capable of processing sentences of different complexity, including simple, compound, complex (with complement and relative clauses), and complex-compound sentences.
Is Cheeger-type Approximation Possible for Nonuniform Sparsest Cut?

In the {\em nonuniform sparsest cut} problem, given two undirected graphs $G$ and $H$ over the same set of vertices $V$, we want to find a cut $(S,V-S)$ that minimizes the ratio between the fraction of $G$-edges that are cut and the fraction of $H$-edges that are cut. The ratio (which is at most 1 in an optimal solution) is called the {\em sparsity} of the cut. In the {\em uniform sparsest cut} problem, $H$ is a clique over $V$. If $G$ is regular, it is possible to find a solution to the uniform sparsest cut of cost $O(\sqrt{opt})$ in nearly linear time. Is such an approximation, which we call "Cheege-type" approximation, achievable in the non-uniform case? We show that the answer is negative, assuming the Unique Games Conjecture, for general H. Furthermore, the Leighton-Rao linear programming relaxation and the spectral relaxation fail to find such an approximation even if $H$ is a clique over a subset of vertices. Using semidefinite programming, however, we can find Cheeger-type approximations in polynomial time whenever the adjacency matrix of $H$ has rank 1. (This includes the cases in which $H$ is a clique over a subset of vertices.)
A bottom-up approach to real-time search in large networks and clouds

Networked systems, such as telecom networks and cloud infrastructures, generate and hold vast amounts of configuration and operational data. The goal of this work is to make all this data available through a real-time search process named network search, which will enable new real-time management solutions. The thesis contains several contributions towards engineering a network search system. Key elements of our design are a weakly structured information model that includes spatial properties, a query language that supports location- and schema-oblivious search queries, a peer-to-peer architecture, an echo protocols for scalable query processing, and an indexing protocol for efficient routing for spatial queries. The data against which network search is performed is maintained in local real-time databases close to the data sources. The design follows a bottom-up approach in the sense that the topology for query routing is constructed from the underlying network topology. We have built a prototype of the system on a cloud testbed and developed applications that use network search functionality. Testbed measurements suggest that it is feasible to engineer a network search system that processes queries at low latency and low overhead and that can scale to 100'000 nodes. Simulation results for spatial queries show that query processing achieves response times and incurs overhead close to an optimal protocol, and that it remains accurate under significant churn.
Simulation of aortic peak enhancement on MDCT using a contrast material flow phantom: feasibility study.

OBJECTIVE The objective of our study was to develop a flow phantom simulating aortic peak enhancement after the injection of contrast material on CT and to investigate the validity of the flow phantom by comparing the time-enhancement curves obtained for the flow phantom and humans. MATERIALS AND METHODS We developed a flow phantom simulating the enhancement pattern of the aorta after the injection of contrast material. In protocols 1, 2, and 3 of the phantom study, 90, 102, and 150 mL of iohexol, respectively, was administered over 35 sec. In protocol 4, 102 mL of iohexol was administered over 25 sec. In phantom protocols 1', 2', and 3', the dose and contrast injection duration were the same as in protocols 1, 2, and 3; however, saline (10 mL) was injected during the 20 sec after contrast delivery. In the human study, 20 patients were randomized into four groups: Groups A, B, and C received 1.5, 1.7, and 2.5 mL of iohexol per kilogram of body weight, respectively, over 35 sec; and group D received 1.7 mL/kg over 25 sec. In patient groups A, B, C, and D, phantom protocols 1, 2, 3, and 4 were used, respectively. Single-level serial CT scans were obtained using a 16-MDCT scanner on the simulated and real aortas after the injection of contrast material. Time-enhancement curves of simulated and real aortas were generated, and aortic peak times and aortic peak enhancement values were calculated. RESULTS Aortic peak enhancement and aortic peak times in protocols 1-4 and 1'-3' of the phantom study were 2-8% larger and 6-18% longer, respectively, than in the corresponding patient study. The shape of the time-enhancement curves before aortic peak time in protocols 1-3 and 1'-3' of the phantom study closely resembled that of the corresponding patient study. After the aortic peak time, the shape of time-enhancement curves in protocols 1, 2, and 3 of the phantom study was different from the corresponding patient study; however, it was similar in phantom protocols 1'-3' and the corresponding patient study. In all four phantom protocols, the difference between maximal and minimal aortic peak enhancement was less than the SD of the corresponding patient study. CONCLUSION The level of peak aortic enhancement and the time to peak aortic enhancement were similar in the phantom and human studies when we used our different contrast injection protocols for MDCT.
Quantification of osteochondral tissue modifications during osteoarthritis using micro-computed tomography

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a heterogenic joint disease significantly affecting the quality of life of a patient, causing pain and disability. OA causes degenerative changes to the structure and composition of articular cartilage and subchondral bone. Currently, effective treatments for OA are limited, partly due to limitations in defining the imaging biomarkers of early OA. Improvement of imaging modalities in OA research and clinical setup is a requirement for quantitating early OA-related tissue features. In the clinical and preclinical setup, computed tomography (CT) enables imaging of bone and, using specific contrast agents, articular cartilage. The aim of this study is to create and validate novel micro-computed tomography (μCT) methods to quantify OArelated features and modifications in articular cartilage and subchondral bone. Contrast-enhanced μCT methods for imaging the collagen (phosphotungstic acid (PTA) and phosphomolybdic acid (PMA)) and GAG (CA4+) content of the articular cartilage in vitro were validated against various reference methods measuring the biochemical composition of articular cartilage. To improve the μCT imaging of subchondral bone, grey-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) based analysis of sub-resolution features of subchondral bone was introduced. In addition, to test the translatability of the GLCM-based analysis to clinical resolution, subresolution features extracted from clinical cone-beam CT were validated against the subchondral bone morphometrics from the μCT. PTA showed stronger association with the collagen content of the articular cartilage compared to PMA. PTA was also associated with collagen content even in degraded articular cartilage. CA4+ distribution was found to accumulate in chondrons and surrounding areas, suggesting that it is a prominent contrast agent for high-resolution μCT studies of chondrocytes. The GLCMbased analysis of subchondral bone provided information on cellular structure from μCT images and trabecular bone micro-structures from clinical CT images. In conclusion, μCT imaging can provide quantitative information on the collagen content and chondrons of articular cartilage, as well as on osteocytes in subchondral bone. The methods presented here extend the tools for researchers to quantify osteochondral tissue modifications in OA. Furthermore, the developed image processing tools could be translatable to the clinical CT.
Low-Profile, Low-Cost, Broadband Millimeter-Wave Antenna Array for High-Data-Rate WPAN Systems

A circularly polarized (CP) broadband microstrip patch antenna array is proposed for high-data-rate wireless personal area network (WPAN) systems of around 60 GHz. The proposed antenna array consists of a 4 × 4 element array with an edge-coupled parasitic patch structure and a novel series sequential rotation feeding network. Instead of low-temperature co-fired ceramic technology, a single-layer structure of the proposed antenna is fabricated by a conventional printed circuit board process, to provide low manufacturing cost and low profile (0.05 λ0 at 60 GHz). A wide impedance bandwidth (VSWR < 2) of 22.03% (53.3–66.5 GHz) and broad CP bandwidth (axial ratio <3 dB) of 18.18% (55–66 GHz) are achieved. The CP gain is higher than 12 dBic in the entire operating frequency band (57–66 GHz) for WPAN systems.
Genetic Association Test for Multiple Traits at Gene Level

Genome‐wide association studies (GWASs) at the gene level are commonly used to understand biological mechanisms underlying complex diseases. In general, one response or outcome is used to present a disease of interest in such studies. In this study, we consider a multiple traits association test from the gene level. We propose and examine a class of test statistics that summarizes the association information between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and each of the traits. Our simulation studies demonstrate the advantage of gene‐based multiple traits association tests when multiple traits share common genes. Using our proposed tests, we reanalyze the dataset from the Study of Addiction: Genetics and Environment (SAGE). Our result validates previous findings while presenting stronger evidence for consideration of multiple traits.
A selective quantification of cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic control and its validation through pharmacological blockade

A quantitative evaluation of parasympathetic and sympathetic function is @en desirable in clinical practice. We previously proposed a noninvasive method to selectively quantify cardiac sympathetic and parasympathetic control. This method involves system identijkation analysis of the coupling mechanism between the instantaneous lung volume and heart raie signals. In the present study, we validated this method in conjunction with a newly developed Weighted Principal Component Regression-based system identification technique. We utilized data collected from 14 subjects in the control and autonomic blockade conditions in the standing posture. The results showed that a statistically signifcant reduction in parasympathetic function and sympafhetic function was identified when atropine or propranolol was adminisiered, respectively, and with autonomic double blockade, consistent with the wellaccepted physiologic knowledge.
Clinical supervision: what do you do after saying hello?

Many units are beginning to explore and introduce a formal system of clinical supervision. Potential supervisors may feel unprepared for the role that is expected of them. In this article the work of Brigid Proctor and her formative, normative and restorative perspectives of supervion are related to that of John Heron's six categories of intervention. Previous work of the author (Fowler, 1995) which identified three areas of focus for clinical supervision are then incorporated to give a model of supervisory intervention. The result is some practical guidelines for potential supervisors to help them know what to do after they have said ‘hello’.
A versatile 250/300-V IC process for analog and switching applications

A true analog high-voltage IC process and related devices are described. The process is based on bipolar low-voltage devices to which have been added 300-V lateral n-MOS and p-MOS transistors with source-follower capability. The present process version includes 250-V vertical DMOS transistors for compact switching of moderate power, whereas 5/20-V CMOS is available for control. Application examples are an 8-MHz video output amplifier and a 20-W full-bridge power switch.