Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Anti-Trypanosoma cruzi Antibody Detection in Blood Donors in the Southern Brazil

Trypanosoma cruzi, the causal agent of Chagas’ Disease, is a widely spread protozoa in America. Blood transfusion is the secondly most important way of acquiring the infection. In blood banks, tests are performed to eliminate potentially infected blood. This study aimed to evaluate the positivity for T. cruzi in blood samples of donor’s candidates in Southern Brazil. The study was based on a sampling containing all blood donors of Hemopel – a Pelotas City Blood Center, Rio Grande do Sul State, Brazil, from 2004 to 2005. Serological study was performed using ELISA Chagatest. Sampling containing values ± 20% cut off were evaluated using ELISA Chagatek, ELISA Alka/Adaltis, IHA Chagatest and IIF Imunocruzi. TESA-Blot was used as a confirmatory procedure in situations where blood samples showed conflicting results. From 4,482 samples collected in 2004 and 2005, the reactivity for anti-T. cruzi was 0.96% (43). Among those, 21 cases (0.47%) were confirmed as positive – most of them were female, with low school level and averaging 47.2% years old. Interestingly, the blood donors are not aware of being contaminated and this fact makes it difficult for controlling the disease. Chagas’ Disease was one of the main reasons for discarding blood bags through serological control in Southern Brazil. Sampling reactivity showed variation among the different techniques used for anti-T. cruzi research. In order to obtaining more secure and conclusive results, more than one diagnostic technique must be used. Key-Words: Trypanosoma cruzi, blood donors, serological screening.
A Dynamic Cache Scheme for Multimedia Streams on Heterogeneous Networking Environments

The portability and popularity of mobile devices make the access of Internet content become a common phenomenon. To support different mobile devices in the heterogeneous networking environments, digital content providers have to provide different versions of the multimedia streaming video for clients to choose.Traditional caching technology is not applicable to multimedia streaming proxy. Therefore, we propose a new caching algorithm with static weight transcoding graph and dynamic caching relation tree. With a transcoding proxy, the transmission time can be reduced by transcoding the original content before delivering it. In this paper, the proposed algorithm is compared with LRU and LFU cache algorithms in three parts: Hit Ratio, Byte Hit Ratio, and Average Transcoding Delay. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms than traditional LRU and LFU cache algorithms.
Improved acoustic modeling of low-resource languages using shared SGMM parameters of high-resource languages

In this paper, we investigate methods to improve the recognition performance of low-resource languages with limited training data by borrowing subspace parameters from a high-resource language in subspace Gaussian mixture model (SGMM) framework. As a first step, only the state-specific vectors are updated using low-resource language, while retaining all the globally shared parameters from the high-resource language. This approach gave improvements only in some cases. However, when both state-specific and weight projection vectors are re-estimated with low-resource language, we get consistent improvement in performance over conventional monolingual SGMM of the low-resource language. Further, we conducted experiments to investigate the effect of different shared parameters on the acoustic model built using the proposed method. Experiments were done on the Tamil, Hindi and Bengali corpus of MANDI database. Relative improvement of 16.17% for Tamil, 13.74% for Hindi and 12.5% for Bengali, over respective monolingual SGMM were obtained.
Adaptation, Niche Conservatism, and Convergence: Comparative Studies of Leaf Evolution in the California Chaparral

Small leaves and low specific leaf area (SLA) have long been viewed as adaptations to Mediterranean‐type climates in many species of evergreen woody plants. However, paleobotanical and floristic evidence suggests that in many cases these traits originated prior to the advent of the summer‐drought climate regime. In this study, molecular phylogenies and ancestral state reconstructions were used to test the hypothesis of adaptive leaf evolution in 12 lineages of evergreen shrubs in the California chaparral. Across all lineages there was a small but significant shift toward lower SLA, but there were no trends in leaf size evolution. For individual lineages, adaptive changes were detected in only three cases for SLA and in one case for leaf size. Three of these cases of evolutionary change were observed in taxa derived from cool temperate ancestors (e.g., Heteromeles). In contrast, most lineages originating from subtropical ancestors exhibited relative stasis in leaf trait evolution (e.g., Ceanothus). The absence of change suggests that ancestors of chaparral taxa had already acquired appropriate traits that contributed to their success under Mediterranean‐type climates. These results illustrate how biogeographic history may influence patterns of trait evolution and adaptation and highlight the contribution of ecological sorting processes to the assembly and functional ecology of regional biotas.
Antigen delivery via two molecules on the CD8– dendritic cell subset induces humoral immunity in the absence of conventional “danger”

Targeting antigen to dendritic cells (DC) in vivo might be an effective method of modulating immune responses. Given the functional specializations among DC subsets, we investigated how targeting different receptors on different DC subsets may influence antibody (Ab) production. We show here that targeting FIRE (F4/80‐like receptor) or CIRE (C‐type lectin receptor), two molecules expressed on the surface of immature CD8– DC in the mouse, increases Ab production 100–1000‐fold over a non‐targeted control. This response was equivalent to that achieved with CpG adjuvant. In contrast, targeting CD205, which is primarily expressed on CD8+ DC, did not elicit an Ab response unless an adjuvant was added. Strong Ab responses in FcRγ–/– mice, and with the use of F(ab')2 fragments, confirmed that FIRE and CIRE targeting was due to specific rather than FcR or complement binding. Our findings may reflect differences in the ability of CD8+ and CD8– DC subsets to stimulate immune responses in vivo. Although the consensus view is that Ag presentation on DC in their steady state leads to tolerance, the Ab enhancement from FIRE and CIRE targeting in the apparent absence of any “danger” or inflammatory signal would suggest that targeting certain DC molecules can supplant the need for external adjuvants for eliciting immune responses.
Optimizing DCNN FPGA accelerator design for handwritten hangul character recognition: work-in-progress

Deep1 Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN) is a break-through technology in image recognition. However, because of extreme computing resource requirements, DCNN need to be implemented by hardware accelerator. In this paper, we present an FPGA-based accelerator design techniques of DCNN for handwritten Hangul character recognition engine. We achieved about 11.9ms recognition time per character with Xilinx FPGA accelerator. Our design optimization was performed with Xilinx HLS and SDAccel environment targeting Kintex XCKU115 FPGA from Xilinx. Our design outperforms CPU in terms of execution time 6.25 times, and GPGPU in terms of energy efficiency 4.7 times and cooling cost for the computing servers by 17 times. We think the research results imply deep learning with FPGA accelerator will be alternative to GPGPU solutions for real-time applications, especially in data centers or sever farms.
[The effect of early goal lactate clearance rate on the outcome of septic shock patients with severe pneumonia].

OBJECTIVE To observe the clinical effects of 10%, 30% lactate clearance rate and early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) as 6-hour resuscitation goals directing treatment in septic shock patients with severe pneumonia. METHODS In this randomized, perspective study, septic shock patients with severe pneumonia were divided into control group and experimental group, which included 10% lactate clearance rate group and 30% lactate clearance rate group, adopting random number method. The control group was treated with 6-hour EGDT strategy, and the experimental groups were treated with 10% lactate clearance rate protocol and 30% lactate clearance rate protocol respectively, beside the EGDT. RESULTS There were 19 patients in control group, and 43 patients in experimental group, which included 22 patients in 10% lactate clearance rate group and 21 patients in 30% lactate clearance rate group. Patients were well matched by basic features. After 48 hours, the acute physiology and chronic health evaluation II (APACHE II ) score of both 10% lactate clearance rate group (13.76 ± 6.00, P < 0.05) and 30% lactate clearance rate group (13.60 ± 6.18, P < 0.05) were lower than that of control group (18.15 ± 6.62). There were no differences in time of mechanical ventilation (hours) between control group and experimental group (10% group 136.90 ± 100.02, 30% group 97.00 ± 75.20, control group 152.32 ± 96.51, P > 0.05). The length in intensive care unit (ICU, days) of 10% and 30% lactate clearance rate groups were significantly shorter than control group (10% group 7.94 ± 6.00, 30% group 7.51 ± 3.99, control group 11.31 ± 5.97, both P < 0.05). The three groups had no differences in 7-day mortality rate (10% group 18.18%, 30% group 14.29%, control group 21.05%, all P > 0.05), but the 28-day mortality of 10% and 30% lactate clearance rate groups were significantly lower than control group (10% group 36.36%, 30% group 28.57%, control group 63.16%), especially in 30% lactate clearance rate group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION For the septic shock patients with severe pneumonia, prompt archiving EGDT strategy and 6-hour lactate clearance more than 30% were associated with an optimal outcome.
The similarities and differences among patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms referred to a tertiary hospital and found at necropsy

Objective To analyze the characteristics of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms referred to a tertiary center and to compare with individuals with abdominal aortic aneurysm found at necropsy. Methods We have retrospectively analyzed the medical records of 556 patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm and 102 cases abdominal aortic aneurysm found at necropsy. Results At univariated analysis, hypertension, tobacco use and maximum diameter were significant risk factors for symptomatic aneurysm, while diabetes tended to be a protective factor for rupture. By logistic regression analysis, the largest transverse diameter was the only one significantly associated with abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture (p < .0001, odds ratio 1.7, 95% confidence interval 1.481–1.951). Intact abdominal aortic aneurysm found at necropsy showed similarities with outpatients in relation to abdominal aortic aneurysm diameter and risk factors. Conclusion Intact abdominal aortic aneurysm at necropsy and at outpatients setting showed similarities that confirmed that abdominal aortic aneurysm repair is less offered to women, and they died more frequently with intact abdominal aortic aneurysm from other causes.
Magnetic silica nanocomposites for magnetic hyperthermia applications

Abstract This article summarises nearly all magnetic silica nanocomposites that have been synthesised for biomedical applications and evaluated under alternating magnetic field (AMF) from the point of view of heat generation. The use of these nanocomposites as a drug delivery system for remote control of drug release via applying AMF is described. Different parameters that affect the magnetic properties and, therefore, affect the amount of generated heat and the fact that sometimes these parameters are in conflict with each other are discussed. This review article presents insight into the synthesis of nanocomposites with optimal characteristics and use of them in optimal conditions to achieve the optimal magnetic properties for magnetic hyperthermia.
Analysis and interpretation of observations from the MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit about Mercury require knowledge of solar wind “ forcing ” parameters

[1] Analysis and interpretation of observations from the MESSENGER spacecraft in orbit about Mercury require knowledge of solar wind “forcing” parameters. We have utilized the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA)-ENLIL solar wind modeling tool in order to calculate the values of interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) strength (B), solar wind velocity (V) and density (n), ram pressure (~nV), cross-magnetosphere electric field (V B), Alfvén Mach number (MA), and other derived quantities of relevance for solar wind-magnetosphere interactions. We have compared upstream MESSENGER IMF and solar wind measurements to see how well the ENLIL model results compare. Such parameters as solar wind dynamic pressure are key for determining the Mercury magnetopause standoff distance, for example. We also use the relatively high-time-resolution B-field data from MESSENGER to estimate the strength of the product of the solar wind speed and southward IMF strength (Bs) at Mercury. This product VBs is the electric field that drives many magnetospheric dynamical processes and can be compared with the occurrence of energetic particle bursts within the Mercury magnetosphere. This quantity also serves as input to the global magnetohydrodynamic and kinetic magnetosphere models that are being used to explore magnetospheric and exospheric processes at Mercury. Moreover, this modeling can help assess near-real-time magnetospheric behavior for MESSENGER or other mission analysis and/or ground-based observational campaigns. We demonstrate that this solar wind forcing tool is a crucial step toward bringing heliospheric science expertise to bear on planetary exploration programs.
Efficient replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 requires a threshold level of Rev: potential implications for latency

The Rev protein of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is essential for the expression of the structural genes of HIV-1. To determine whether a functional threshold level of Rev is required to allow efficient HIV-1 replication, CD4-positive HeLa cells, constitutively expressing a Rev-deficient provirus, were transfected with various quantities of a Rev-expressing plasmid. Compared with the quantity of the Rev-producing plasmid transfected, HIV-1 replication was distinctly nonlinear as measured by HIV-1 p24 antigen and HIV-1-specific RNA production. A quantitative RNA polymerase chain reaction (PCR) demonstrated that Rev mRNA expression was linearly correlated with the quantity of Rev-expressing plasmid which was transfected into these cells. These data suggest that a critical threshold of Rev is required for a highly productive HIV-1 infection. This threshold level of Rev may be involved in the generation and maintenance of HIV-1 proviral latency.
Blood brain barrier: An overview on strategies in drug delivery, realistic in vitro modeling and in vivo live tracking

Blood brain barrier (BBB) is a group of astrocytes, neurons and endothelial cells, which makes restricted passage of various biological or chemical entities to the brain tissue. It gives protection to brain at one hand, but at the other hand it has very selective permeability for bio-actives and other foreign materials and is one of the major challenges for the drug delivery. Nanocarriers are promising to cross BBB utilizing alternative route of administration such as intranasal and intra-carotid drug delivery which bypasses BBB. In future more optimized drug delivery system can be achieved by compiling the best routes with the best carriers. Single photon emission tomography (SPECT) and different brain-on-a-chip in vitro models are being very reliable to study live in vivo tracking of BBB and its pathophysiology, respectively. In the current review we have tried to exploit mechanistically all these to understand and manage the various BBB disruptions in diseased condition along with crossing the hurdles occurring in drug or gene delivery across BBB.
Low-Jitter GaN E-HEMT Gate Driver With High Common-Mode Voltage Transient Immunity

An improved gate driver is presented which significantly lowers the output noise of high-precision switch-mode (Class-D) power amplifiers by reducing signal jitter at the output of the power stage tenfold to values below 20 ps. Gate signal jitter in power electronic converters, which introduces wideband noise to the power output, originates mainly from the signal isolators that are required to provide the galvanically isolated gate driver control signals. A low-jitter gate control signal is produced by employing a digital flip-flop, which uses a low-jitter isolated clock, to resynchronize the jittery gate control signal. By utilizing the clock-enable input of the flip-flop, the gate driver can be rendered immune to high-speed common-mode transients, which is important as the Class-D power amplifier demonstrator system employs fast-switching GaN E-HEMT transistors, where the 400 V switching transients exceed 300 <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{k V}\, \mu \text{s}^{-1}$</tex-math></inline-formula>. The signal to noise ratio of a sinusoidal output signal is measured at 107 dB, which is an improvement of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\approx$</tex-math></inline-formula> 20 dB as compared to the performance of a conventional gate driver.
Node addressing schemes for scalable and fault tolerant routing in hierarchical WSNs

Most wireless sensor network deployments are 2-tiered where sensors form the leaves of the network and do not participate in the routing. A plot of the best path from each of the leaves to the sink reveals the network topology to be hierarchical in nature. The AODV routing algorithm was designed for a mesh network with highly mobile nodes and is not directly suitable for a hierarchical sensor network where the sensors and relays are predominantly static. The hierarchical routing as implemented by ZigBee's Cskip does not support fault tolerance and has a restriction on the network depth. In this paper, we develop a node addressing methodology that merges the structure of a hierarchical tree with the flexibility of AODV. We show its completeness and develop three algorithms - deterministic, probabilistic and heuristic, based on our methodology. The performance of the algorithms against AODV is compared. Our simulation is made for two probability distributions of network formation — uniform and geometric.
Breast Ultrasonographic Assessment of Premature Thelarche : Preliminary study of correlation with Bone Age and Precocious Puberty

Poster: "ECR 2014 / C-0719 / Breast Ultrasonographic Assessment of Premature Thelarche : Preliminary study of correlation with Bone Age and Precocious Puberty" by: "M. Shin, S. J. Kim, I. Youn, S. H. Park, S. J. Lee; Seoul/KR"
Analysis and Design of N-Phase Current-Sharing Autotuning Controller

Current sensing and sharing are important functionalities for parallel and multiphase power converters. Good current-sensing accuracy and high-performance current-sharing loop design are required for reliable and efficient operation. Therefore, sensing errors and mismatches in the current-sharing loop should be eliminated and calibrated. On the other hand, conventional current-sharing controllers are designed to force equal current sharing or current distribution between power converter phases, which may not result in the most power-efficient operation. An N-phase current-sharing algorithm and controller (NCSAT) with current-sensing autotuning capability is presented in this paper. The presented controller is able to adaptively autotune the current sensing and current sharing between N converter phases that results in achieving current sharing ratio between converter phases for maximum power efficiency. This is achieved without the need for a precise calibration reference or resistor and without the need for any converter's parameters estimation. The presented controller is also free of sensing inaccuracies and mismatches. The NCSAT controller is analyzed and verified by simulation and experimental results.
Enhancement of intra-coded pictures for greater coding efficiency

Allocating low bit-budgets to intra-coded pictures can often lead to high quantisation and loss of important high frequency information. Coding at lower resolutions can alleviate some of this distortion when utilising effective resampling techniques and filters that minimise the additional distortion introduced as a result of spatial resampling. However, it is not always possible to reconstruct each portion of a picture to the same or similar level of quality; within natural scenes frequency content tends to vary spatially and therefore a fixed scale factor may either cause loss of high frequencies or oversampling of low frequency content. SHVC provides many of the tools required for enhancing rate-distortion performance of intra-coded pictures but it is not used for this purpose. In this paper we analyse the performance of a mixed resolution coding approach by using inter-layer prediction within SHVC to construct intra-coded pictures as a combination of different spatial resolutions. We evaluate the performance of coding with and without an enhancement layer for varying bit-budgets and compare these results to standard HEVC to provide insight regarding the optimisation of intra-coded pictures.
MATCHING FOR A SILICON RETINA BASED STEREO VISION SYSTEM

In this paper we present a stereo vision system based on silicon retina sensors. Derived from the human vision system, these bio-inspired silicon retina sensors are a new type of imagers. Conventional optical sensors capture images at a fixed frame-rate and deliver pixel information of the sensor chip at a certain point in time. In contrast, a silicon retina optical sensor provides only intensity variations (events) in the visual field. The target application of the silicon retina sensor in this work is a stereo vision system for pre-crash/side impact detection. Regarding the asynchronous event-triggered output characteristic of the silicon retina new approaches for data acquisition and processing of the data are necessary. In a first step data from the silicon retina imagers are converted into frames and processed with frame-based stereo vision algorithms. These methods do not benefit from the advantages of the silicon retina technology, thus a new approach exploiting the novelty of the sensor was implemented. This stereo matching approach uses the time information of the delivered address events as a primary matching criterion to find corresponding pixels in the data stream of the left and right sensor. The event-based stereo matching approach is tested with synthetic data, where also an evaluation with ground truth is carried out.
Methoden und Werkzeuge für das Prototyping und ihre Integration

Prototyping has become a key word during the last years, just like s t r u c t u r e d programming in the seventies. It is often assumed that a prototyping-oriented software development strategy may substantially contribute to the solution of problems associated with conventional software development. Based on experience from a research project, concepts of prototypingoriented software development, necessary tools and their integration are described. A toolset for prototyping-oriented software development is presented in detail.