Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polarization diversity in MIMO radio channels: experimental validation of a stochastic model and performance assessment

A stochastic MIMO radio channel considering (i) polarization diversity and (ii) unbalanced branch power ratio (BPR) is being validated by comparing Monte-Carlo simulations and experimental results using the eigenanalysis as benchmark. Based on results generated by the model, the influence of the BPR on the power gain of the parallel subchannels is presented.
Marine algal toxins: Biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology

Toxic compounds are frequently, but not universally, associated with algal blooms. Several dinoflagellate and diatom species are capable of toxin synthesis. Some bacteria are also capable of synthesizing at least one family of “algal” toxins. Previous work on algal toxins can be broadly grouped in four categories: observations on the variability in toxin production by single species or among strains of a species, frequently as a function of environmental growth conditions; isotope feeding studies to reveal the identity of the substrates that are precursors to the toxin compounds; the genetics of toxin production; and the pharmacological aspects of toxins. Information gleaned from these studies provides a firm foundation for launching more contemporaneous research efforts to understand the biochemistry and molecular biology of toxins. The goals are to develop an understanding of the machinery (i.e. the enzymes and the genes that encode them) required to synthesize toxins, to understand how this machinery is regulated by environmental conditions, and gain insights as to how the toxin biosynthetic genes evolved and(or) have been spread through the marine community.
Validation of a Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization Method Using Peptide Nucleic Acid Probes for Detection of Helicobacter pylori Clarithromycin Resistance in Gastric Biopsy Specimens

ABSTRACT Here, we evaluated a previously established peptide nucleic acid-fluorescence in situ hybridization (PNA-FISH) method as a new diagnostic test for Helicobacter pylori clarithromycin resistance detection in paraffin-embedded gastric biopsy specimens. Both a retrospective study and a prospective cohort study were conducted to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of a PNA-FISH method to determine H. pylori clarithromycin resistance. In the retrospective study (n = 30 patients), full agreement between PNA-FISH and PCR-sequencing was observed. Compared to the reference method (culture followed by Etest), the specificity and sensitivity of PNA-FISH were 90.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 57.1% to 99.5%) and 84.2% (95% CI, 59.5% to 95.8%), respectively. In the prospective cohort (n = 93 patients), 21 cases were positive by culture. For the patients harboring clarithromycin-resistant H. pylori, the method showed sensitivity of 80.0% (95% CI, 29.9% to 98.9%) and specificity of 93.8% (95% CI, 67.7% to 99.7%). These values likely represent underestimations, as some of the discrepant results corresponded to patients infected by more than one strain. PNA-FISH appears to be a simple, quick, and accurate method for detecting H. pylori clarithromycin resistance in paraffin-embedded biopsy specimens. It is also the only one of the methods assessed here that allows direct and specific visualization of this microorganism within the biopsy specimens, a characteristic that allowed the observation that cells of different H. pylori strains can subsist in very close proximity in the stomach.
INTERGENERATIONAL TRANSMISSION OF FAMILY FACTORS: PARENTING STYLES, ATTACHMENT STYLES & FAMILY CLIMATE

This research aimed to examine the relationship between parental styles (authoritative, permissive, authoritarian and neglectful), attachment styles (secure, avoidant and ambivalent) & family climate (hot and cold) of two generations. Subjects were 220 (110 boy students of third class of secondary schools of two districts of Qazvin, and 110 parents) who were selected via cluster sampling. Corresponding author: Western Azerbaijan, Khoy City, university Avenue, Payam Noor University of Khoy Tel: +9809365959419 Email: Azad.moosavi@yahoo.com
Dementia Literacy among Community-Dwelling Older Adults in Urban China: A Cross-sectional Study

Objective Delay in seeking diagnosis of dementia is common in China. Misinformation and poor knowledge about dementia may contribute to it. The study was designed to explore the nationwide dementia literacy among older adults in urban China and to investigate the factors associated with overall dementia literacy. Methods In a cross-sectional study, a convenience sample of 3,439 community-dwelling old adults aged 60 and over was recruited from 34 cities in 20 provinces between June 20 and August 20, 2014. All participants were administered the face-to-face mental health literacy questionnaire, which included the prevalence, symptoms, intention, and options for treatment of dementia. Stepwise multivariate regression analysis was used to explore factors associated with overall dementia literacy. Results The response rate was 87.4%. The overall dementia literacy was 55.5% (SD = 20.9%) among all respondents. The correct response rate was higher for questions on symptoms (58.7–89.6%), but lower for questions on the prevalence (22.2%) and choosing appropriate professional care personnel (22.2%). Being male [OR = 1.256, 95% CI (1.022–1.543)], having lower per capita annual income [OR = 1.314, 95% CI (1.064–1.623)], lower education [OR = 1.462, 95% CI (1.162–1.839)], and suspected depression [OR = 1.248, 95% CI (1.009–1.543)] were negatively associated with overall dementia literacy. Conclusion Dementia literacy among community-dwelling older adults in urban China remains very low, in particular about the impact of dementia and appropriate treatment personnel. Community educational programs aiming to close this knowledge gap are encouraged to focus on those in the population at highest risk of low dementia literacy.
A multi-focus image fusion method based on linear canonical transform

In this paper, the self-linear canonical functions (SLCFs) based on linear canonical transform (LCT) are discussed and proposed. We found that the SLCFs can be used to decompose an image into M complex images. Based on this property, a novel multi-focus image fusion method is proposed in this paper. The simulations are carried out to show the importance of parameters in application of the SLCFs decomposition. According to the simulation results, the proposed fusion method with appropriate parameters can improve the quality of fused images.
Prevalence of the Metabolic Syndrome in American Adolescents: Findings From the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey

Background—Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is defined by the Third Report of the Adult Treatment Panel (ATP III) using criteria easily applied by clinicians and researchers. There is no standard pediatric definition. Methods and Results—We defined pediatric MetS using criteria analogous to ATP III as ≥3 of the following: (1) fasting triglycerides ≥1.1 mmol/L (100 mg/dL); (2) HDL <1.3 mmol/L (50 mg/dL), except in boys aged 15 to 19 years, in whom the cutpoint was <1.2 mmol/L (45 mg/dL); (3) fasting glucose ≥6.1 mmol/L (110 mg/dL); (4) waist circumference >75th percentile for age and gender; and (5) systolic blood pressure >90th percentile for gender, age, and height. MetS prevalence in US adolescents was estimated with the Third National Health and Nutritional Survey 1988 to 1994. Among 1960 children aged ≥12 years who fasted ≥8 hours, two thirds had at least 1 metabolic abnormality, and nearly 1 in 10 had MetS. The racial/ethnic distribution was similar to adults: Mexican-Americans, followed by non-Hispanic whites, had a greater prevalence of MetS compared with non-Hispanic blacks (12.9%, [95% CI 10.4% to 15.4%]; 10.9%, [95% CI 8.4% to 13.4%]; and 2.5%, [95% CI 1.3% to 3.7%], respectively). Nearly one third (31.2% [95% CI 28.3% to 34.1%]) of overweight/obese adolescents had MetS. Conclusions—Our definition of pediatric MetS, designed to be closely analogous to ATP III, found MetS is common in adolescents and has a similar racial/ethnic distribution to adults in this representative national sample. Because childhood MetS likely tracks into adulthood, early identification may help target interventions to improve future cardiovascular health.
Internet use, political knowledge and youth electoral participation in Australia

ABSTRACT Almost since its inception, the internet has been seen as a means of reinvigorating political knowledge and engagement among the young. Early studies showed small but significant effects for internet use and increased political knowledge among the young. Using a large, national election survey conducted in Australia in 2013, this paper examines the role of the internet in shaping political knowledge among the young and, in turn, its effects on electoral participation. The results show that use of the internet during an election campaign significantly increases political knowledge among the young, and that such political knowledge enhances the likelihood of turning out to vote. Overall, the results extend the findings of other studies which have demonstrated the potential of the internet to re-engage young people into the political process.
Label Management: Investigating How Confidants Encourage the Use of Communication Strategies to Avoid Stigmatization

In modified labeling theory, Link and colleagues (1987, 1989) explicate how people use communication to cope with being labeled as members of a stigmatized group. In this paper, we change perspectives and investigate how a confidant's awareness of discrimination and devaluation associated with being labeled as a member of a stigmatized group (“mentally ill” or “smoker”) motivates him or her to encourage a labeled loved one to engage in secrecy, withdrawal, or education to avoid the adverse actions associated with stigmatization. Results showed that a model of relationships among perceived devaluation and discrimination, coping strategies, and future disclosures extended well to unexpected confidants of a labeled loved one. This advice included encouraging the labeled loved one not to tell different people about their condition, which included health care providers. These findings also showed that people with experience in the labeling condition may have particular concern about stigmatization or rejection from different types of listeners, including close friends and health care providers.
Constructive Misalignment? Learning outcomes and effectiveness in teamwork-based experiential entrepreneurship education assessment

Objectives - Despite extensive research on experiential entrepreneurship education (EEE), we know little about how these approaches contribute towards effective achievement of learning outcomes (LOs), particularly in terms of opportunity discovery and exploitation. We critically appraised how experiential approaches enhance the achievement of learning outcomes (LOs) in teamwork-based entrepreneurship education assessment. Prior Work - Extant EEE research tends to focus upon “good practice”, rather than establishing its impact upon students. The argument for experiential approaches is two-fold but with a missing third fold (Scott et al, 2016): (1) ‘Traditional’ programmes, which rely upon lectures or other directed, non-experiential approaches to entrepreneurship education, are not effectively achieving their objectives, or these objectives are not ambitious enough to achieve effective outcomes; (2) Experiential approaches are an interactive, participative, realistic, viable and potentially more effective alternative to these ‘traditional’ approaches and include, for example, simulation etc; and (3) There is a lack of evidence on their effectiveness, though with some relatively recent exceptions, alongside a continuing debate about whether entrepreneurship can even be taught. Approach - We adopted an exploratory qualitative analysis of reflective diaries to achieve our objectives. Data were gathered from a purposive and convenience sample of reflective diaries, an individual assessment element of three Masters-level modules (modules 1, 2 and 3), in which there are also group business ideas generation presentations and a report. We subjected the text to rigorous content analysis (Silverman, 2004, 2010; Eriksson and Kovalainen, 2008; Curtis and Curtis, 2011), which often adds a positivistic epistemological flavour to qualitative research, and our text was partially quantified to enable in-depth qualitative analysis. Results - Our analysis of student reflective diaries revealed that, while a number of LOs were met in relation to teamwork and communication, those related to innovation (i.e. generating a business idea) were much more modest. Yet, students experienced negative aspects which have become learning opportunities, such as linguistic-cultural challenges and overcoming nonparticipation/freeriding. Although Biggs (2003) has argued the need for constructive alignment in course design, in fact some of these unexpected LOs suggest the possibility that constructive misalignment could, in certain circumstances (e.g. experiential entrepreneurship education), be a positive pedagogical outcome. Implications and Value - There is, however, still little evidence that EEE is more effective than other approaches that have traditionally been adopted.
A Pharmacokinetic-Pharmacodynamic Model for Duodenal Levodopa Infusion

Objective:The purpose of this work was to identify and estimate a population pharmacokinetic- pharmacodynamic model for duodenal infusion of a levodopa/carbidopa gel (Duodopa) to examine pharmacological properties of this treatment. Methods:The modeling involved pooling data from 3 studies (on advanced Parkinson disease) and fixing some parameters to values found in literature. The first study involved 12 patients studied on 3 occasions each and was previously published. The second study involved 3 patients on 2 occasions. A bolus dose was given after a washout during night. Plasma samples and motor ratings (clinical assessment of motor function on a 7-point treatment response scale ranging from "very off" to "very hyperkinetic") were collected until the clinical effect returned to baseline. The third study involved 5 patients on 3 occasions receiving 5 different dose levels. Different structural models were evaluated using the nonlinear mixed-effects modeling program NONMEM VI. Population mean parameter values, and interindividual, interoccasion, and residual variabilities were estimated. Results:Absorption of the levodopa/carbidopa gel can be adequately described with first-order absorption with bioavailability and lag time. Estimated population parameter values were a mean absorption time of 28.5 minutes, a lag time of 2.9 minutes, and a bioavailability of 88%. The pharmacodynamic model for motor ratings had the following population values: a half-life of effect delay of 21 minutes, a concentration at 50% effect of 1.55 mg/L, an Emax of 2.39 U on the treatment response scale, and a sigmoidicity of the Emax function of 11.6. Conclusions:For the typical unmedicated subject, it will take 51.4 minutes until the peak levodopa effect is reached after a bolus dose. This delay is, like the magnitude of the effect, highly variable in this patient group. The residual error magnitudes of 20% for levodopa concentrations and 0.92 U (SD) for motor ratings indicate that the models developed provide predictions of a relevant quality. The developed model may be a first step toward model-guided treatment individualization of duodenal infusion of levodopa.
RADARSAT-1 deformation time-series analysis based on the SBAS-DInSAR algorithm

We extend the Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) algorithm to generate deformation time-series from SAR data acquired by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) RADARSAT-1 sensor. The proposed approach is mostly oriented to the investigation of large scale deformation events with relatively low spatial resolutions (of about 100}100 m), and is based on the use of conventional multi-look interferograms with small temporal and spatial baseline separations. With respect to the original SBAS approach, several improvements are required to take into account the inaccuracies on the knowledge of the RADARSAT-1 orbital parameters, and of the significant fluctuations of the dop-pler centroid values over each single SAR scene. This work is aimed to present the first results achieved by applying the implemented RADARSAT-1 SBAS processing chain to an archive of SAR scenes, acquired in the time interval from 2000 to 2003 over, and relevant to the Hawaii Island area. The presented results markedly confirm the effectiveness of the implemented RADARSAT-1 SBAS processing chain.
ELISA for Quantitative Determination of Hepatitis B Virus Surface Antigen

Several studies have reported a good correlation between levels of serum hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) and covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) before and after antiviral therapy. As a result, the quantification of HBsAg levels has attracted much attention in recent years as an important approach to evaluate viral activity. In this study, mAbs against HBsAg were generated and 9 mAbs (H17, H30, H31, H67, H73, H97, H101, H118, and H128) were investigated for optimization of HBsAg quantitation ELISA. Determination of the best combinations of mAbs for sandwich ELISA identified H17 and H31 mAbs as the ideal capture and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugate mAbs, respectively. A standard curve for the current assay system exhibited linearity up to 40 ng/ml of HBsAg while a detection limit of approximately 1 ng/ml of HBsAg was also estimated, which was comparable to that of the other commercial ELISA kits. The ELISA system established in this study is particularly differentiated from other commercial kits in using mAbs for both capture and HRP conjugate, which provides a solution to inconsistency of quality and ethical issues in polyclonal antibodies production using laboratory animals.
Inextricability of Autonomy and Confluence in Econometrics by Duo QIN June

This paper examines how ‘confluence’ and ‘autonomy’, two key concepts introduced by Frisch around 1930, have disappeared in econometrics textbooks and why only some fragments of the two have survived mainstream econometrics. It relates the disappearance to the defect in the textbook position of equating a priori theoretical models as correct structural models unequivocally. It shows how the confluence-autonomy pair in unity reflects the complexity of econometricians’ goal to find and verify robust and economically meaningful models out of numerous interdependent variables observable from the real and open world. The complexity deems it essential for applied research to have a set of model design rules combining both a priori substantive reasoning and a posteriori statistical testing. Such a need also puts the task of ensuring an adequately minimum model closure to top priority for applied modellers, a task much more important than the textbook task of parameter estimation. JEL classification: B23, C13, C18, C50
Two copies of the SecY channel and acidic lipids are necessary to activate the SecA translocation ATPase

The SecA ATPase associates with the SecY complex to push preproteins across the bacterial membrane. Because a single SecY is sufficient to create the conducting channel, the function of SecY oligomerization remains unclear. Here, we have analyzed the translocation reaction using nanodiscs. We show that one SecY copy is sufficient to bind SecA and the preprotein, but only the SecY dimer together with acidic lipids supports the activation of the SecA translocation ATPase. In discs, the dimer is predominantly arranged in a back-to-back manner and remains active even if a constituent SecY copy is defective for SecA binding. In membrane vesicles and in intact cells, the coproduction of two inactive SecYs, one for channel gating and the other for SecA binding, recreates a functional translocation unit. These results indisputably argue that the SecY dimer is crucial for the activation of SecA, which is necessary for preprotein transport.
Effect of inclusion of different levels of Leucaena silage on rumen microbial population and microbial protein synthesis in dairy steers fed on rice straw

Objective Leucaena leucocephala (Leucaena) is a perennial tropical legume that can be directly grazed or harvested and offered to ruminants as hay, silage, or fresh. However, Leucaena contain phenolic compounds, which are considered anti-nutritional factors as these may reduce intake, digestibility and thus animal performance. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to determine effects of Leucaena silage (LS) feeding levels on rumen microbial populations, N-balance and microbial protein synthesis in dairy steers. Methods Four, rumen fistulated dairy steers with initial weight of 167±12 kg were randomly assigned to receive dietary treatments according to a 4×4 Latin square design. Treatments were as followings: T1 = untreated rice straw (RS; Control), T2 = 70% RS+30% LS, T3 = 40% RS+60% LS, and T4 = 100% LS. Dairy steers were fed rice straw and LS ad libitum and supplemented with concentrate at 0.2% of body weight/d. Results Results revealed that the rumen microbial population, especially cellulolytic, proteolytic bacteria and fungal zoospores were enhanced in steers that received 60% of LS (p<0.05), whereas the amylolytic bacteria population was not affected by treatments (p>0.05). Protozoal population was linearly decreased with increasing level of LS (p<0.05). Moreover, N-balance and microbial protein synthesis were enhanced by LS feeding (p<0.05) and were the highest in 60% LS group. Conclusion Based on this study, it could be concluded that replacement of RS with 60% LS significantly improved microbial population and microbial protein synthesis in diary steers.
Multiple Path Coordination for Mobile Robots: A Geometric Algorithm

This paper presents a geometric based approach for multiple mobile robot motion coordination. All the robot paths being computed independently, we address the problem of coordinating the motion of the robots along their own path in such a way they do not collide each other. The proposed algorithm is based on a bounding box representation of the obstacles in the so-called coordination diagram. The algorithm is resolution-complete. Its efficiency is illustrated by examples involving more than 100 robots.