Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Risk of infection by reprocessed and resterilized virus-contaminated catheters; an in-vitro study.

AIMS In spite of increasing reuse of disposable catheters, there are few scientific data on potential viral transmission and infection after reuse. To determine the theoretical risk of virus transmission during reuse of catheters an in vitro study was performed using an RNA virus (echovirus-11) and a DNA virus (adenovirus-2). METHODS AND RESULTS After deliberate contamination of the catheters, reprocessing and reuse of the cleaned and glutaraldehyde sterilized catheters was simulated. The presence of residual virus was determined by cell culture and by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). After the sterilization step, infectious enterovirus was detectable in one (10%) of the samples, whereas two (20%) contained detectable enterovirus RNA. After simulated reuse, enterovirus was cultured from one (10%) of the catheters, but no less than six (60%) of the samples were enterovirus PCR positive and one (10%) contained detectable adenovirus DNA. After sonification of the catheter tips no infectious virus could be detected, but enterovirus RNA was detected in two (20%) and adenovirus DNA in three (30%) of the samples. CONCLUSIONS It has been clearly demonstrated in this in vitro study that, even after rigorous cleaning and sterilization, virus was still present in the catheter. Reuse of catheters, labelled for single-use only, is dangerous and should be prevented.
Aurora-A Identifies Early Recurrence and Poor Prognosis and Promises a Potential Therapeutic Target in Triple Negative Breast Cancer

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) acquires an unfavorable prognosis, emerging as a major challenge for the treatment of breast cancer. In the present study, 122 TNBC patients were subjected to analysis of Aurora-A (Aur-A) expression and survival prognosis. We found that Aur-A high expression was positively associated with initial clinical stage (P = 0.025), the proliferation marker Ki-67 (P = 0.001), and the recurrence rate of TNBC patients (P<0.001). In TNBC patients with Aur-A high expression, the risk of distant recurrence peaked at the first 3 years and declined rapidly thereafter, whereas patients with Aur-A low expression showed a relatively constant risk of recurrence during the entire follow-up period. Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that overexpression of Aur-A predicted poor overall survival (P = 0.002) and progression-free survival (P = 0.012) in TNBC. Furthermore, overexpression of Aur-A, associated with high Ki-67, predicted an inferior prognosis compared with low expression of both Aur-A and Ki-67. Importantly, we further found that Aur-A was overexpressed in TNBC cells, and inhibition of this kinase inhibited cell proliferation and prevented cell migration in TNBC. Our findings demonstrated that Aur-A was a potential therapeutic target for TNBC and inhibition of Aur-A kinase was a promising regimen for TNBC cancer therapy.
Analysis of Block Access Address Correlation in Enterprise VDI Storage

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is widely used in enterprises and universities. Since the storage system is shared by many VDIs, it becomes a bottleneck. In order to solve this problem, we need to analyze and understand the I/O characteristics of real VDI storage workloads. However, there are no prior works analyzing I/O traces of large scale enterprise VDIs. In this work, we captured packets between servers and storage of an enterprise VDI service, and analyzed its storage trace. Based on accessed logical block address (LBA) and access time from daily traces, contiguous LBA were aggregated fixed-size blocks, and those blocks were then clustered according to their access frequency over time. The results showed that the same 50 GiB-sized clusters were found each day. And detailed analysis showed that only 26% of the LBAs were actually accessed for each of those clusters. Taking into account those block correlation results to improve storage tiering or caching seems a much promising direction to remove storage bottlenecks of current VDIs.
The Center for Outcome Measurement in Brain Injury (COMBI): An Internet Resource You Should Know About

Objective: This article describes the Center for Outcome Measurement in Brain Injury (COMBI), an Internet resource that provides information on brain injury outcome measures. Funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), the COMBI is a collaborative project of eight Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Model System centers. Information the COMBI provides includes rating scales and form(s) syllabus and administration guidelines, descriptions of properties, references in the literature, a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section, training and testing materials, and contact information. Conclusions: As a dissemination effort, the results of the COMBI project have been outstanding with over 1,500 users accessing information every month. The project has a truly international scope, with 20% of its users being outside the United States.
Affordable Quantum Cryptography System for Mobile Devices

The today’s technology allows us to design simple quantum cryptography circuits embeddable in mobile devices to ensure the maximum security in money transfer and controlled access. It is known that the quantum cryptography protocols allow a virtually perfectly secure key generation and exchange process. This technology uses the quantum property which states that orthogonally polarized states can be completely discriminated, thus can be used to codify information. The system presented in this paper adopts a properly costumized BB84 protocol. The hardware instrumentation includes two fast PCs with acquisition card, a 4-channels transmitter, 4 high-efficiency LED diodes, a receiver with 4 highsensitivity photodiodes, and suitable optic devices. Transmitter and receiver consist of two custom electronic cards with suitable software for random bit generation and decoding procedures The software also allows to reconstruct the shared secure key. The system has been realized with the purpose to be included in mobile devices and to allow each one to afford the quantum cryptography security level, both for ATM operations and e-commerce transactions. Keywords— Quantum cryptography, BB84, secure key
Cerebral blood flow and oxygenation in ovine fetus: responses to superimposed hypoxia at both low and high altitude

For the fetus, although the roles of arterial blood gases are recognized to be critical in the regulation of cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral oxygenation, the relation of CBF, cortical tissue PO2 (tPO2), sagittal sinus PO2, and related indices of cerebral oxygenation to arterial blood gases are not well defined. This is particularly true for that fetus subjected to long‐term hypoxia (LTH). In an effort to elucidate these interrelations, we tested the hypothesis that in the fetus acclimatized to high altitude, cerebral oxygenation is not compromised relative to that at low altitude. By use of a laser Doppler flowmeter with a fluorescent O2 probe, in near‐term fetal sheep at low altitude (n= 8) and those acclimatized to high altitude hypoxia (3801 m for 90 ± 5 days; n= 6), we measured laser Doppler CBF (LD‐CBF), tPO2, and related variables in response to 40 min superimposed hypoxia. At both altitudes, fetal LD‐CBF, cerebral O2 delivery, tPO2, and several other variables including sagittal sinus PO2, correlated highly with arterial PO2 (Pa,O2). In response to superimposed hypoxia (Pa,O2= 11 ± 1 Torr), LD‐CBF was significantly blunted at high altitude, as compared with that at low altitude. In the two altitude groups fetal cerebral oxygenation was similar under both control conditions and with superimposed hypoxia, cortical tPO2 decreasing from 8 ± 1 and 6 ± 1 Torr, respectively, to 2 ± 1 Torr. Also, for these conditions sagittal sinus PO2 and [HbO2] values were similar. In response to superimposed hypoxia, cerebral metabolic rate for O2 decreased ∼50% in each group (P < 0.05). For both the fetus at low altitude and that acclimatized to high altitude LTH, we present the first dose–response data on the relation of LD‐CBF, cortical tPO2, and sagittal sinus blood gas values to Pa,O2. In addition, despite differences in several variables, the fetus at high altitude showed evidence of successful acclimatization, supporting the hypothesis that such fetuses demonstrate no compromise in cerebral oxygenation.
Chapter 9 3 D Fabrication Options for High-Performance CMOS Technology

The last several decades have seen an incredible increase in the functionality of computational systems. At its core, this capability has been driven by the scaling of semiconductor devices, from fractions of millimeters in the 1960s to tens of nanometers in today’s technologies. The scaling has enabled the number of transistors on a single chip to correspondingly grow at a geometric rate, roughly doubling every 18 months; a trend is that now referred to as Moore’s law [1]. The impact of this trend cannot be underestimated and the resulting increase in computational capacity has had major impacts on almost every facet of society. For this reason, there is a tremendous push to continue along these same trends. However, several serious roadblocks exist. The first is the limits to lithographic scaling. The second is that power densities will not allow reliable systems to be fabricated even if lithographic scaling could continue. Therefore, it becomes a big challenge to increase system performance. Three dimensional (3D) integration technologies offer the promise of increasing system performance even in the absence of scaling. However, the main advantages of 3D integration can be summed up as follows: (1) 3D decreases the interconnect distance between regions of a chip, decreasing wiring parasitics and interconnect delay times, (2) 3D can dramatically increase the number of interconnects and therefore increase the aggregate communication bandwidth between chips, and (3) 3D can allow dissimilar functions, technologies, and materials to be integrated. In the next part of this chapter we will talk about the 3D technology landscape and focus on IBM’s wafer-level integration research and development (R&D) efforts. We will describe layer transfer processing and wafer-level thinning, discuss bonding and interconnection processes, and show successful implementation of the
A new protection scheme for three-level NPC converter based DFIG using zero state control

This paper describes a new protection scheme for secure ride-through of doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) based wind turbines (WTs) connected to a grid through a back-to-back three-level neutral point clamped (NPC) converter. The proposed scheme initiates the machine side converter (MSC) to be at zero state switching, where upper and lower switching devices are turned-off while inner switching devices are turned-on when overshoot occurs in rotor circuit during grid faults. This scheme is only applicable in multilevel converter and not in two-level converter. The scheme is compared to other recent protection scheme with dc-link chopper and the characteristic behavior of the DFIG is demonstrated using simulation results. The new scheme showed a very similar behavior with the conventional scheme and can be more preferable due to its simplicity and less component count. However, the need for the inner switching devices with about two times higher current rating will significantly increase the cost of the MSC and has to be considered.
Using Clustering to Improve Decision Trees Visualization

Decision trees are simple and powerful decision support tools, and their graphical nature can be very useful for visual analysis tasks. However, decision trees tend to be large and hard to display when they are built from complex real world data. This paper proposes an original solution to optimize the visual representation of decision trees obtained from data. The solution combines clustering and feature construction, and introduces a new clustering algorithm that takes into account the visual properties and the accuracy of decision trees. A prototype has been implemented, and the benefits of the proposed method are shown using the results of several experiments performed on the UCI datasets.
Object tracking based on local learning

In this paper, a novel object tracking algorithm based on local learning is proposed. We train a feature-based distance function as a local model for each training sample by using local learning method, which has been shown to be effective to tackle large intra class variations. In the tracking process, distances between testing and training samples are obtained by the trained distance functions, and then object tracking is accomplished by searching for the candidate with smallest weighted sum of distances from all positive training samples. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed tracking algorithm based on local learning is robust in handling occlusion, motion blur, and rotation, which are prone to cause intra class variations.
Perception and attitude of religious leaders and outpatients in Dhaka, Bangladesh with regard to Ayurvedic medicine

Objectives: Because of limited medical and financial resources, the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) should be markedly expanded in Bangladesh. From the viewpoint of increasing the use of Ayurvedic medicine (AM) including herbal medicine (HM) more vigorously, new and important recommendations need to be obtained through data comparison among Muslim religious leaders (MRLs), AM outpatients (AMOPTs), and orthodox medicine outpatients (OMOPTs). Therefore, the aim of this study was to confirm the perception and attitude of MRLs, AMOPTs, and OMOPTs toward AM in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Method: This study was conducted from February to June 2015 by trained staff members using a structured questionnaire. The interview respondents were 150 MRLs, 202 AMOPTs, and 150 OMOPTs in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Results: More than 85% AMOPTs and MRLs had a person who helped him/her to use AM; however, only 10.3% OMOPTs had such a person. OMOPTs were skeptical but had no one to help them use AM and suggests that OMOPTs were not familiar with using AM. In terms of attitudes, OMOPTs harbored more skepticism than the other two groups. Conclusions: If OMOPTs had more chances of becoming familiar with AM through someone helping them with its use, then they would use AM more. In addition, to increase the use of AM, appropriate information on its efficacy and safety should be provided to the general public to avoid skepticism. Correspondence to: Yoshitoku Yoshida, Faculty of Nursing, Shubun University, 6 Nikko-cho, Ichinomiya City, Aichi Prefecture, 491-0938, Japan, Tel and Fax: +81-586-45-2101; E-mail: yoshida.yo@shubun.ac. jp
Visualization of Sensory Perception Descriptions

On the basis of a large corpus of wine reviews, this paper proposes a range of interactive visualization techniques that are useful for linguistic exploration and analysis of lexical, grammatical and discursive patterns in text. Our visualization tool allows linguists and others to make comparisons of visual, olfactory, gustatory and textual properties of different wines from different parts of the worlds, from different grape varieties, or from different vintages. It also supports the immediate creation of visual profiles for descriptions of sensory perceptions for exploratory purposes as well as for purposes of confirmatory investigations of linguistic patterns in text and discourse and their correlations to metadata variables.
Analysis of radiograph and detection of cardiomegaly

The paper presents the procedure which automatically and reliably determines the presence of heart enlargement, also known as cardiomegaly, from a chest radiograph. We took advantage of some well-established image processing methods and adapted a few of them to meet our needs. Methods which were used include image filtering with convolution masks, segmentation with thresholding and edge detection. The procedure to detect heart and chest cavity boundaries and the corresponding boundary points using modified and custom image processing methods is presented. The final result represents the confirmation or rejection of cardiomegaly.
Skeletal Changes in Cortisone-Treated Male Rats

Considerable growth depression was shown by histologic study and radiographic measurements of skulls and tibias of immature male rats fed cortisone, 0.05 mg/gm food, for 20 days. The depression was augmented by 0.2 mg desiccated thyroid/gm of cortisone diet. Intracranial height was greater in cortisone-treated rats, compared to that of pair-fed controls.
Quality assessment of polarization analysis images in foggy conditions

Polarization imaging has advantages to reveal objective characteristics in foggy conditions. Quality assessment of polarization analysis images in imaging is rarely reported. A quality assessment method suitable to polarization analysis images in foggy conditions is proposed. Firstly, polarization characteristics in foggy conditions are analyzed. Three types of quality factors are selected, which are contrast factor based on brightness, the moment of inertia factor based on structure, and MSCN (Mean Subtracted Contrast Normalized) factor based on Stokes parameters. Corresponding assessment model is constructed, and pooling strategies are designed to map quality score of intensity of polarization image I and degree of polarization image P. Experiments on images captured by polarization camera in simulation foggy environment and generated by fog simulation of Photoshop. Results show that the proposed method is well consistent with subjective observation and analysis.
Locking frequency band detection method for grid-tied PV inverter islanding protection

Islanding is an undesired event in which a portion of utility system containing both load and distributed resources remains energized while it is isolated from the remainder of the utility system. In case of islanding, successful detection is required to protect the equipment, and provide safety of the maintenance service workers. This paper shows an implementation of a novel algorithm named Locking Frequency Band Detection (LFBD) method on a distributed PV inverter architecture. Fast detection, easy implementation, no impact on the power quality and zero Non Detection Zone (NDZ) are among many benefits of the proposed algorithm.
PFG NMR measurements of tortuosity factors for diffusion in meso- and macropores of FCC catalysts

Pulsed field gradient (PFG) NMR is applied to measure self-diffusion coefficients of 1,3,5 triisopropyl-benzene in the particles of several industrial FCC catalysts having different systems of mesoand macropores. Relating these diffusivities to the self-diffusion coefficient of 1,3,5 tri-isopropyl-benzene in the liquid phase, the tortuosity factors for diffusion in the mesoand macropores of the particles were obtained. The values of the tortuosity factors were found to increase with a increasing volumetric fraction of the small (< 20 nm) mesoand macropores in the total intraparticle volume.
A Critical Discourse Analysis of Students' Anonymous Online Postings

It is difficult to understand students’ social practices from artifacts of anonymous online postings. The analysis of text genres and discursive types of online postings has potential for enhancing teaching and learning experiences of students. This article focuses on analysis of students’ anonymous online postings using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA). The article argues that social practices reproduce during online interaction and artifacts embody such reproduction. A study involving more than 300 commerce students at a higher education institution (HEI) using a special purpose anonymous online consultation tool, the Dynamic Frequently Asked Questions (DFAQ), and social practices embodied in the artifacts is analyzed using CDA. The analysis used the three dimensions of CDA—description (text genres), interpretation (discursive type), and explanation (social practice)—and insights into students’ social practices were inferred. The article concludes that CDA of anonymous postings provided insight into social practices of students and, in particular, highlighted the tension between perceptions of inflexibility of traditional teaching practices and student demands for flexible learning. Finally, CDA, as described in this article, could be useful in analyzing e-mail communications, short message service (SMS) interactions, Web blogs, and podcasts.
Judicial Review of Agency Decisions: The Labor Board and the Court

The scope of judicial review of the decisions of administrative agencies, a matter which in legal theory determines the outcome of countless lawsuits, is an issue of interest not only to lawyers. For the breadth of that review does not depend as a practical matter on a lawyer-like reading of congressional hearings, reports, and debates, but on a broader evaluation ofthe functions agencies perform in relation ot only to the judiciary, but also to Congress and the President. That evaluation can be made in large part only by examining each agency individually, for each has its unique characteristics and its unique functions, determined by the nature of the matters tobe regulated, the private interests involved, the character of the basic legislation and the structure ofthe agency itself. As important, and as often overlooked, is the role each agency has in fact played through its history. What claims of jurisdiction has it staked out? Does it often appeal to an expertise it purports to embody? To what extent does it look to the judicial branch for a model of behavior? How is its performance affected by the exercise of power by Congress or the Executive-as, for instance, the presidential appointment power? For what a particular gency has in fact become and what functions it in fact performs ay be far more relevant to a determination of the proper scope of judicial
Exploring Characteristics of Networks that Enable Knowledge Transfer and Exchange (KTE): A Mixed-methods Study

Background: Social interaction promotes research use through knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE). Networks are increasingly used in healthcare to create, share, and apply knowledge for policy and practice. No prior studies explored network characteristics that enable KTE. Methods: Phase one comprised a systematic review of healthcare, organization science, and sociological literature. Phase two entailed qualitative interviews with members of an international healthcare network to learn about characteristics that enable KTE. Results: The literature review yielded 59 eligible studies and led to the development of a descriptive conceptual framework of network KTE. This framework illustrates input and output characteristics important to network KTE and is organized into network backbone, functional units and commodities. Interview findings showed various characteristics allow network members to contribute, learn, and connect internationally.