Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Laser-Induced-Plasma-Assisted Ablation and Metallization on C-Plane Single Crystal Sapphire (c-Al2O3)

Laser-induced-plasma-assisted ablation (LIPAA) is a promising micro-machining method that can fabricate microstructure on hard and transparent double-polished single crystal sapphire (SCS). While ablating, a nanosecond pulse 1064 nm wavelength laser beam travels through the SCS substrate and bombards the copper target lined up behind the substrate, which excites the ablating plasma. When laser fluence rises and is above the machining threshold of copper but below that of SCS, the kinetic energy of the copper plasma generated from the bombardment is mainly determined by the laser fluence, the repetition rate, and the substrate-to-target distance. With a lower repetition rate, SCS becomes metallized and gains conductivity. When micro-machining SCS with a pulsed laser are controlled by properly controlling laser machining parameters, such as laser fluence, repetition rate, and substrate-to-target distance, LIPAA can ablate certain line widths and depths of the microstructure as well as the resistance of SCS. On the contrary, conductivity resistance of metalized sapphire depends on laser parameters and distance in addition to lower repetition rate.
Diagnostic accuracy of clinical tests for ankle syndesmosis injury

Objective Our aim was to investigate the diagnostic accuracy of the clinical presentation of ankle syndesmosis injury and four common clinical diagnostic tests. Design Cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study. Setting 9 clinics in two Australian cities. Participants 87 participants (78% male) with an ankle sprain injury presenting to participating clinics within 2 weeks of injury were enrolled. Methods Clinical presentation, dorsiflexion-external rotation stress test, dorsiflexion lunge with compression test, squeeze test and ankle syndesmosis ligament palpation were compared with MRI results (read by a blinded radiologist) as a reference standard. Tests were evaluated using diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and likelihood ratios (LRs). A backwards stepwise Cox regression model determined the combined value of the clinical tests. Results The clinical presentation of an inability to perform a single leg hop had the highest sensitivity (89%) with a negative LR of 0.37 (95% CI 0.13 to 1.03). Specificity was highest for pain out of proportion to the apparent injury (79%) with a positive LR of 3.05(95% CI 1.68 to 5.55). Of the clinical tests, the squeeze test had the highest specificity (88%) with a positive LR of 2.15 (95% CI 0.86 to 5.39). Syndesmosis ligament tenderness (92%) and the dorsiflexion-external rotation stress test (71%) had the highest sensitivity values and negative LR of 0.28 (95% CI 0.09 to 0.89) and 0.46 (95% CI 0.27 to 0.79), respectively. Syndesmosis injury was four times more likely to be present with positive syndesmosis ligament tenderness (OR 4.04, p=0.048) or a positive dorsiflexion/external rotation stress test (OR 3.9, p=0.004). Conclusions Although no single test is sufficiently accurate for diagnosis, we recommend a combination of sensitive and specific signs, symptoms and tests to confirm ankle syndesmosis involvement. An inability to hop, syndesmosis ligament tenderness and the dorsiflexion-external rotation stress test (sensitive) may be combined with pain out of proportion to injury and the squeeze test (specific).
A distributed approach to continuous monitoring of constrained k-nearest neighbor queries in road networks

Given two positive parameters k and r, a constrained k-nearest neighbor CkNN query returns the k closest objects within a network distance r of the query location in road networks. In terms of the scalability of monitoring these CkNN queries, existing solutions based on central processing at a server suffer from a sudden and sharp rise in server load as well as messaging cost as the number of queries increases. In this paper, we propose a distributed and scalable scheme called DAEMON for the continuous monitoring of CkNN queries in road networks. Our query processing is distributed among clients query objects and server. Specifically, the server evaluates CkNN queries issued at intersections of road segments, retrieves the objects on the road segments between neighboring intersections, and sends responses to the query objects. Finally, each client makes its own query result using this server response. As a result, our distributed scheme achieves close-to-optimal communication costs and scales well to large numbers of monitoring queries. Exhaustive experimental results demonstrate that our scheme substantially outperforms its competitor in terms of query processing time and messaging cost.
A study on flow characteristics of a thermal expansion circuit breaker near the current zero period

The recent market trend of gas circuit breakers, which have the most important duty to interrupt fault currents in a circuit, is getting more and more small size and low mechanical energy to reduce the cost and increase the reliability. However, the real testing of breakers are rather cost intensive and only demonstrate whether or not a circuit breaker interrupts. Therefore many researches using computational methods have been done for switching arc phenomena and applied to extend the information such as thermal and dielectric recognition. We have simulated switching processes of a thermal expansion circuit breaker that uses the combination of two interruption techniques, the self-expansion by the arc itself and the arc rotation by coils. In order to calculate the governing equations described the dominant physical processes accurately, the commercial CFD code, which is customized to allow the inclusion of arc plasma modeling by Fortran subroutines externally, has been used. Through this work, we have found such information about the thermal performance that the energy produced by the arc causes the pressure-rise in the chamber during high current period. As the current falls near current zero, furthermore, the gas flows back from this region over the arc and should extinguish the arc just after current zero. The results have been compared with various dimensions and verified with the measured arc voltage.
Thin-Layer Solutions of the Helmholtz and Related Equations

This paper concerns a certain class of two-dimensional solutions to four generic partial differential equations—the Helmholtz, modified Helmholtz, and convection-diffusion equations, and the heat conduction equation in the frequency domain—and the connections between these equations for this particular class of solutions. Specifically, we consider “thin-layer” solutions, valid in narrow regions across which there is rapid variation, in the singularly perturbed limit as the coefficient of the Laplacian tends to zero. For the well-studied Helmholtz equation, this is the high-frequency limit and the solutions in question underpin the conventional ray theory/WKB approach in that they provide descriptions valid in some of the regions where these classical techniques fail. Examples are caustics, shadow boundaries, whispering gallery, and creeping waves and focusing and bouncing ball modes. It transpires that virtually all such thin-layer models reduce to a class of generalized parabolic wave equations, of which the heat conduction equation is a special case. Moreover, in most situations, we will find that the appropriate parabolic wave equation solutions can be derived as limits of exact solutions of the Helmholtz equation. We also show how reasonably well-understood thin-layer phenomena associated with any one of the four generic equations may translate into less well-known effects associated with the others. In addition, our considerations also shed some light on the relationship between the methods of matched asymptotic, WKB, and multiple-scales expansions.
Internet economics: the use of Shapley value for ISP settlement

Within the current Internet, autonomous ISPs implement bilateral agreements, with each ISP establishing agreements that suit its own local objective to maximize its profit. Peering agreements based on local views and bilateral settlements, while expedient, encourage selfish routing strategies and discriminatory interconnections. From a more global perspective, such settlements reduce aggregate profits, limit the stability of routes, and discourage potentially useful peering/connectivity arrangements, thereby unnecessarily balkanizing the Internet. We show that if the distribution of profits is enforced at a global level, then there exist profit-sharing mechanisms derived from the coalition games concept of Shapley value and its extensions that will encourage these selfish ISPs who seek to maximize their own profits to converge to a Nash equilibrium. We show that these profit-sharing schemes exhibit several fairness properties that support the argument that this distribution of profits is desirable. In addition, at the Nash equilibrium point, the routing and connecting/peering strategies maximize aggregate network profits and encourage ISP connectivity so as to limit balkanization.
Review of FINFET technology

Although at single transistor and small circuits level, FINFET technology has been demonstrated to be an attractive option for advanced technology nodes, there are still important challenges to face like reduction of access resistance and the implementation of strain boosters in both NMOS and PMOS FINFET devices. The high performance sensitivity to fin dimensions (width, height, LER) sets up very tight restrictions for the process control which may create a big challenge to demonstrate process manufacturability.
Novel Ribosomal Mutations in Staphylococcus aureus Strains Identified through Selection with the Oxazolidinones Linezolid and Torezolid (TR-700)

ABSTRACT TR-700 (torezolid), the active moiety of the novel oxazolidinone phosphate prodrug TR-701, is highly potent against gram-positive pathogens, including strains resistant to linezolid (LZD). Here we investigated the potential of Staphylococcus aureus strains ATCC 29213 (methicillin-susceptible S. aureus [MSSA]) and ATCC 33591 (methicillin-resistant S. aureus [MRSA]) to develop resistance to TR-700. The spontaneous frequencies of mutation of MSSA 29213 and MRSA 33591 resulting in reduced susceptibility to TR-700 at 2× the MIC were 1.1 × 10−10 and 1.9 × 10−10, respectively. These values are ∼16-fold lower than the corresponding LZD spontaneous mutation frequencies of both strains. Following 30 serial passages in the presence of TR-700, the MIC for MSSA 29213 remained constant (0.5 μg/ml) while increasing eightfold (0.25 to 2.0 μg/ml) for MRSA 33591. Serial passage of MSSA 29213 and MRSA 33591 in LZD resulted in 64- and 32-fold increases in LZD resistance (2 to 128 μg/ml and 1 to 32 μg/ml, respectively). Domain V 23S rRNA gene mutations (Escherichia coli numbering) found in TR-700-selected mutants included T2500A and a novel coupled T2571C/G2576T mutation, while LZD-selected mutants included G2447T, T2500A, and G2576T. We also identified mutations correlating with decreased susceptibility to TR-700 and LZD in the rplC and rplD genes, encoding the 50S ribosomal proteins L3 and L4, respectively. L3 mutations included Gly152Asp, Gly155Arg, Gly155Arg/Met169Leu, and ΔPhe127-His146. The only L4 mutation detected was Lys68Gln. TR-700 maintained a fourfold or greater potency advantage over LZD against all strains with ribosomal mutations. These data bring to light a variety of novel and less-characterized mutations associated with S. aureus resistance to oxazolidinones and demonstrate the low resistance potential of torezolid.
Modelagem e previsão de volatilidade realizada: evidências para o Brasil

Usando dados intradiarios dos ativos mais negociados do BOVESPA, este trabalho considerou dois modelos recentemente desenvolvidos na literatura de estimacao e previsao de volatilidade realizada. Sao eles; Heterogeneous Autorregressive Model of Realized Volatility (HAR-RV), desenvolvido por Corsi (2009) e o Mixed Data Sampling (MIDAS-RV), desenvolvido por Ghysels et al. (2004). Atraves de medidas de comparacao de previsao dentro e fora da amostra, constatou-se resultados superiores do modelo MIDAS-RV apenas para previsoes dentro da amostra. Para previsoes fora da amostra, no entanto, nao houve diferenca estatisticamente significativa entre os modelos. Tambem encontram-se evidencias que a utilizacao da volatilidade realizada induz distribuicoes dos retornos padronizados mais proximas da normal
Prospective study of alcohol consumption and the risk of age-related macular degeneration.

OBJECTIVE To describe the relationship between alcohol consumption and the incidence of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS We conducted a prospective study among female nurses between 1980 and 1994 and among male health professionals between 1986 and 1994. We included 32764 women and 29488 men who were 50 years or older, without a diagnosis of AMD or cancer at baseline, and added additional subjects to the analysis as they reached 50 years of age. Their alcohol intake was assessed at baseline and updated during follow-up evaluations using a validated semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. After separate analyses for women and men, pooled estimates of the relationship of alcohol to the risk of AMD were calculated. RESULTS Age-related macular degeneration associated with a visual acuity loss of 20/30 or worse, including the early and dry and wet types, was diagnosed in 298 women (from 697498 person-years of follow-up) and 153 men (229 180 person-years) by 1994, the end of follow-up. After controlling for age, smoking, and other risk factors, the pooled relative risks (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for AMD compared with nondrinkers were 1.0 (0.7-1.2) for drinkers who consumed 0.1 to 4.9 g/d of alcohol; 0.9 (0.6-1.4) for 5 to 14.9 g/d; 1.1 (0.7-1.7) for 15 to 29.9 g/d; and 1.3 (0.9-1.8) for 30 g/d or more. Among women, there was a suggestion of a modest increased risk of the disease in drinkers who consumed 30 g/d or more (RR, 1.5; 95% CI, 1.0-2.4); this was limited to an increased risk of the early and dry form (RR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.2-3.4). No specific type of alcohol provided protection against AMD. CONCLUSION This prospective study does not support an inverse relationship between moderate alcohol consumption and risk of AMD.
The Later Bronze Age in Ireland in the light of recent research

The term ‘Later Bronze Age’ is being used in this paper to cover that period of the Bronze Age in Ireland that started around 1200 B.C. and continued on until supplanted by iron-using cultures during the second half of the first millennium B.C. This term provides a means of escaping from the nomenclature that is applied to the period covering the last two centuries of the second millennium B.C. and the beginning of the first millennium B.C., a phase considered by some as a late Middle Bronze Age and by others as an early Late Bronze Age. Here both terms are being avoided and the period is called the ‘Bishopsland Phase’. This is followed by the ‘Roscommon Phase’ of roughly the 9th and a large part of the 8th centuries B.C. Finally comes the ‘Dowris Phase’. It is hoped that this new terminology will allow the Irish material to be more readily incorporated in any future overall scheme for the Bronze Age in Great Britain and Ireland. The Middle Bronze Age in Ireland is here restricted to cover approximately the 14th and 13th centuries B.C.
What Is the Role of Diet in the Pathogenesis of Chronic Diarrhea ? Recommendations 6

© 2016 by the AGA Institute 1542-3565/$36.00 http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.cgh. 2016.07. 028 Chronic diarrhea is a common problem affecting up to 5% of the population at a given time. Patients vary in their definition of diarrhea, citing loose stool consistency, increased frequency, urgency of bowel movements, or incontinence as key symptoms. Physicians have used increased frequency of defecation or increased stool weight as major criteria and distinguish acute diarrhea, often due to self-limited, acute infections, from chronic diarrhea, which has a broader differential diagnosis, by duration of symptoms; 4 weeks is a frequently used cutoff. Symptom clusters and settings can be used to assess the likelihood of particular causes of diarrhea. Irritable bowel syndrome can be distinguished from some other causes of chronic diarrhea by the presence of pain that peaks before defecation, is relieved by defecation, and is associated with changes in stool form or frequency (Rome criteria). Patients with chronic diarrhea usually need some evaluation, but history and physical examination may be sufficient to direct therapy in some. For example, diet, medications, and surgery or radiation therapy can be important causes of chronic diarrhea that can be suspected on the basis of history alone. Testing is indicated when alarm features are present, when there is no obvious cause evident, or the differential diagnosis needs further delineation. Testing of blood and stool, endoscopy, imaging studies, histology, and physiological testing all have roles to play but are not all needed in every patient. Categorizing patients after limited testing may allow more directed testing and more rapid diagnosis. Empiric antidiarrheal therapy can be used to mitigate symptoms in most patients for whom a specific treatment is not available.
NORMAS Y CUMPLIMIENTO EN ÁREAS DE MANEJO DE RECURSOS BENTÓNICOS

Este trabajo describe formas de organizacion y normas de funcionamiento en areas de manejo y explotacion de recursos bentonicos de la Region del Bio-Bio. Adicionalmente, en base a una encuesta especial aplicada a pescadores integrantes de las organizaciones, se reportan resultados de una evaluacion respecto de cumplimiento de normas de extraccion y cooperacion. Se concluye que aun cuando las areas consideradas presentan aspectos de organizacion y funcionamiento similares, existen diferencias en relacion a sistemas de vigilancia empleados y reglas de distribucion de beneficios economicos. Los resultados de la encuesta indican que mientras un 18% de los pescadores se declara infractor de la norma que restringe la extraccion de recursos, un 43% de ellos reconoce transgredir normas de cooperacion. El perfil socioeconomico de los pescadores artesanales infractores, su percepcion respecto de la legitimidad de la regulacion y dirigentes, y el sentido de pertenencia a sus organizaciones son tambien analizados.
Efficacy of gefitinib for non‐adenocarcinoma non‐small‐cell lung cancer patients harboring epidermal growth factor receptor mutations: A pooled analysis of published reports

The efficacy of gefitinib for patients with non‐adenocarcinoma non‐small‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations is unclear, because only a small percentage of patients enrolled in the clinical trials to evaluate the efficacy of gefitinib for tumors harboring EGFR mutation were non‐adenocarcinoma NSCLC. A pooled analysis was conducted to clarify the efficacy of gefitinib for non‐adenocarcinoma NSCLC patients harboring EGFR mutations. A systematic search of the PUBMED databases was conducted to identify all clinical reports that contained advanced non‐adenocarcinoma NSCLC patients harboring EGFR mutations and treated with gefitinib. The selected patients were advanced non‐adenocarcinoma NSCLC patients harboring EGFR mutations who were treated with gefitinib and described in reports containing the data of the histology, status of EGFR mutations and response to gefitinib. This study selected 33 patients from 15 reports. Twenty‐seven and three of the 33 patients were squamous cell carcinoma and adenosquamous cell carcinoma, respectively. One patient each had large‐cell carcinoma, pleomorphic carcinoma and spindle cell carcinoma. Twenty‐one patients (64%) had sensitive EGFR mutations. The response rate (RR), disease control rate (DCR) and median progression‐free survival (mPFS) was 27%, 67–70% and 3.0 months, respectively. These factors were statistically significantly inferior in the non‐adenocarcinoma NSCLC patients harboring EGFR mutations to adenocarcinoma patients harboring EGFR mutations selected from the same published reports (RR: 27%vs 66%, P = 0.000028; DCR: 67–70%vs 92–93%, P = 0.000014; mPFS: 3.0 vs 9.4 months, P = 0.0001, respectively). Gefitinib is less effective in non‐adenocarcinoma NSCLC harboring EGFR mutations than adenocarcinoma harboring EGFR mutations. (Cancer Sci 2011; 102: 1032–1037)
Planar Out-of-Phase Power Divider/Combiner for Wideband High Power Microwave Applications

The design of an out-of-phase planar power divider/combiner operating over an octave frequency band is presented. The proposed device uses a modified single-section Gysel structure. The main features of the proposed device are simple and easy to package structure that does not use any slots in the ground plane, and the use of one isolation resistor that can be external to the packaging structure for efficient heat dissipation. The proposed device is suitable for high-power microwave modules and perfectly compatible with microstrip circuits. A complete design method is derived and validated. To make the device compact without jeopardizing its power capacity, a moderate meandering for the utilized transmission lines using an elliptical function is adopted. To compensate for the parasitic elements introduced in one of the signal paths due to meandering, the transmission line at the other path is elliptically tapered. The simulated and measured results of the developed device show one octave bandwidth with 180° ± 9° differential phase between the output ports and of isolation. The final design has a compact area of of the squared guided wavelength.
A plasmid‐encoded nicotinamidase (PncA) is essential for infectivity of Borrelia burgdorferi in a mammalian host

Borrelia burgdorferi, a spirochaete that causes Lyme borreliosis, contains 21 linear and circular plasmids thought to be important for survival in mammals or ticks. Our results demonstrate that the gene BBE22 encoding a nicotinamidase is capable of replacing the requirement for the 25 kb linear plasmid lp25 during mammalian infection. Transformation of B. burgdorferi lacking lp25 with a shuttle vector containing the lp25 gene BBE22 (pBBE22) restored infectivity in mice to a level comparable to that of wild‐type Borrelia. This complementation also restored the growth and host adaptation of lp25–B. burgdorferi in dialysis membrane chambers (DMCs) implanted in rats. A single Cys to Ala conversion at the putative active site of BBE22 abrogated the ability of pBBE22 to re‐establish infectivity or growth in DMCs. Additional Salmonella typhimurium complementation studies and enzymatic analysis demonstrated that the BBE22 gene product has nicotinamidase activity and is most probably required for the biosynthesis of NAD. These results indicate that some plasmid‐encoded products fulfil physiological functions required in the enzootic cycle of pathogenic Borrelia.
Numerical treatment of a quasilinear initial value problem with boundary layer

The paper deals with the singularly perturbed quasilinear initial value problem exhibiting initial layer. First the nature of solution of differential problem before presenting method for its numerical solution is discussed. The numerical solution of the problem is performed with the use of a finite-fitted difference scheme on an appropriate piecewise uniform mesh (Shishkin-type mesh). An error analysis shows that the method is first-order convergent except for a logarithmic factor, in the discrete maximum norm, independently of the perturbation parameter. Finally, numerical results supporting the theory are presented.