Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel monopulse antenna using an artificial magnetic conductor in metallic corner reflectors

A monopulse antenna composed of corner reflectors was designed, fabricated, and measured. The antenna consists of two corner reflector antennas: the first is used for the sum pattern and the second is used for the difference pattern. The corner reflectors for the sum pattern antenna are made of two sheets of metallic plates arranged orthogonally to each other. Replacing one sheet of the corner reflector of the sum antenna with an artificial magnetic conductor (AMC) sheet transforms it into an antenna for the difference pattern. This proposed antenna design realizes a monopulse antenna system that does not require a complex multiple mode excitation network and phasing circuitry. The experimental results reveal that the peak gain of the difference antenna was 10.6 dBi, the null depth of the difference antenna was lower than -25 dB, the field of view was approximately 22°, and the side lobe level was approximately -13 dB at 2.6 GHz. With the achieved specifications, this antenna system has considerable potential in target localization and angle tracking applications.
EFEITO DO MÉTODO PADOVAN EM AMBIENTES CLÍNICOS: UMA REVISÃO DA LITERATURA

Introducao: O metodo Padovan foi desenvolvido por Beatriz Padovan para fins terapeuticos a fim de recapitular as fases do neurodesenvolvimento, como estrategica para habilitar e/ou reabilitar o sistema nervoso. O metodo e composto por exercicios corporais que promovem a recapitulacao das fases de aquisicao da marcha humana e por exercicios orais que estimulam as funcoes reflexo-vegetativas como respiracao, succao, mastigacao e degluticao. Objetivo: Descrever os efeitos do metodo Padovan em ambientes clinicos. Materiais e Metodos: Estudo bibliografico baseado em livro e material teorico do metodo Padovan, anais de eventos e publicacoes do banco de dados da Lilacs e Scielo. Foram incluidos textos cientificos em qualquer modalidade de estudo, disponiveis gratuitamente, no idioma portugues ou ingles, publicados nos ultimos cinco anos sobre o tema. Resultados: De acordo com a literatura, o metodo Padovan vem sendo inserido como uma terapia complementar em ambientes clinicos e hospitalares, demonstrando melhora no quadro geral de pacientes graves acometidos por afeccoes como o acidente vascular encefalico, doencas cronicas, vitimas de traumatismo craniano, pacientes com disfagia devido suporte nutricional por sonda nasogastrica ou gastrostomia e em pacientes com dificuldades respiratorias por uso de traqueostomia ou tubo orotraqueal. Na literatura, a melhora clinica dos pacientes submetidos ao metodo Padovan e percebida pelos pacientes e seus familiares, principalmente quanto a diminuicao da dor, melhora nas atividades de vida diaria e na sensacao de bem estar apos os exercicios. Conclusao: Mesmo com a insercao do metodo Padovan em ambientes clinicos, ainda sao poucos os estudos disponiveis na literatura sobre os seus efeitos terapeuticos, sendo necessaria a realizacao de mais estudos a fim de melhor elucidar a aplicabilidade do metodo como estrategia terapeutica.
A Real-TimeWearable Projector-Wiimote-System for Augmented Reality Interaction Scenarios on Plane Objects

This paper presents a wearable setup and a real-time, intuitive Augmented Reality (AR) interaction technique, designed as interface for a computer or a robot. The system presented consists of a miniaturized projector and up to 2 Wii Remotes (Wiimotes) mounted on a helmet. After a four-point touch calibration with an infrared-pen the user can interact on a flat plane e.g. a wall, table or whiteboard. A maximum of 4 IR-pens can be used at the same time to navigate, select and manipulate objects in the projected virtual space in either 2D or 3D. Under certain light conditions it is also possible to augment virtual informations onto arbitrary flat objects. In case of tracking an IR-pen, keystone distortion can be realised by additional semi-automated user calibration. When using a whiteboard, the calibration is done automatically.
Co-scheduling model and algorithm of the three Gorges-Gezhou dam based on GA

This paper provided a mathematic model for Three Gorges-Gezhou dam co-scheduling problems, based on full analysis of Three Gorges-Gezhou dampsilas actual needs, to maximize the total throughput of Three Gorges-Gezhou dam, to maximize the utilization ratio of shiplock area and minimize the total navigation shiplock waiting time under eight constraint conditions. Then a scheduling algorithm based on GA was pointed out. The Three Gorges south lock, Gezhou dam lock, the Three Gorges north lock were optimization searched separately in the GA algorithm. The scheduling results of the Three Gorges south lock were taken as the origin of the whole plan period, and also were taken as the basis of the Gezhou dam scheduling together with the ship applied information. The scheduling results of Gezhou dam were regarded as the basis of the Three Gorges north lock scheduling together with the ship applied information, so repeated, until the optimal scheduling results were given, or the most iterative step was reached. The applied result shows that making a period plan of two dam five lock only needs 2 minutes, and the plan is quite effective according to practical application.
Dopaminergic Neurotransmission in Patients with Schizophrenia in Relation to Positive and Negative Symptoms

Abstract Schizophrenia is a complex dynamic disorder comprising a wide range of neurobiological alterations including dopaminergic dysfunction. The aim of the study was to investigate dynamic changes of dopaminergic neurotransmission in patients with schizophrenia (n=8, mean age 25.4±5.8 years) in early stages of the disorder, compared to healthy control subjects (n=7, mean age 23.6±2.7 years). A dynamic IBZM SPECT protocol was used to assess the endogenous dopamine release following an amphetamine challenge. Subjects received a bolus activity of 175 MBq followed by a continuous infusion of 45 MBq/h [123I]IBZM. SPECT scans were performed 2 h after bolus injection, and 1 h following the amphetamine challenge (0.3 mg/kg). Striatal IBZM binding to dopamine D2 receptors was assessed with a volume-of-interest (VOI) technique. The change in IBZM binding between pre- and post-challenge scans was used as a measure of endogenous dopamine release triggered by amphetamine. At baseline, patients showed higher mean striatal IBZM binding compared to controls (0.77±0.09 vs. 0.68±0.07, p=0.07). There was a statistically significant difference in IBZM binding between patients, with a predominance of negative vs. positive symptoms (0.84±0.08 vs. 0.71±0.04, p<0.05). Upon amphetamine challenge, mean IBZM binding decreased by about 4.9±7.6% in controls (n=7) compared to a mean of 12.4±5.8% in subjects with schizophrenia (p<0.05). In patients, paranoid symptoms showed a significant negative correlation with IBZM baseline binding, whereas there was a trend towards positive correlation with the decrease of IBZM binding under challenge. Negative symptoms showed positive associations with baseline IBZM binding. The data are in line with previous reports and contribute to the notion of a dynamic instability of the dopaminergic system in patients with schizophrenia, taking into account the psychopathology with respect to positive or negative symptoms.
HOW LOW SHOULD WE GO: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW AND META-ANALYSIS OF THE EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF A RESTRICTIVE VERSUS LIBERAL TRANSFUSION STRATEGY IN ONCOLOGY

Introduction Anemia in cancer patients is common and its etiology multifactorial. [1] Animal and human studies have shown that anemia is a poor prognostic indicator of clinical outcomes including perioperative morbidity, mortality and cancer-specific outcomes such as progression-free and overall survival. [2] A combination of clinical studies revealing the adverse impact of anemia and animal models demonstrating optimal oxygen transport at hemoglobin levels greater than 10g/dl has resulted in the historical trend towards liberal use of blood products to correct anemia in oncology patients. [3-5] Despite the liberal use of transfusion in many oncology studies, there are minimal data to support the efficacy of correcting anemia with transfusion. In fact, there is evidence from other subspecialty fields that a liberal blood transfusion strategy does not improve clinical outcomes over a restrictive strategy. [6-8] As such, many subspecialty societies have developed specific clinical practice guidelines that recommend restrictive red cell transfusion. [9-11] Institutional quality improvement initiatives have demonstrated that restrictive strategies have similar clinical outcomes while utilizing less blood. [12-15] Although blood transfusions are both costly and clinically important, there is lack of consensus regarding the best transfusion strategy in oncology. This has significant implications for synthesis of evidence based medicine guidelines, hospital and public policy. There is a paucity of contemporary systematic review and meta-analysis of transfusion triggers in oncology. The purpose of this review is to compare clinical outcomes of liberal versus restrictive transfusion strategies in oncology patients. Specifically we will aim to find, evaluate and summarize the data from clinical trials that evaluated the impact of utilizing different transfusion thresholds in adult oncology patients with cancer.
HIV and hepatitis C coinfection.

Improved antiretroviral therapy (ART) has reduced HIV-related morbidity and improved survival. Such improvements have led to an increasing contribution of non-HIV related disease to overall morbidity among people with HIV. HIV/HCV co-infection and its associated liver disease is an emerging clinical management issue, particularly in settings of high co-infection prevalence. Treatment for HCV infection in HIV infected individuals is with pegylated interferon and ribavirin therapy. Sustained virological response to therapy is achieved in around 40%, which is 10-20% lower than in HCV monoinfection and therapy may be complicated by issues of drug interactions and significant toxicity. However, greater understanding of baseline factors can contribute to better prediction of treatment outcome, and monitoring of on-treatment virological responses increasingly allows individualisation of therapy. Where possible, treatment of HCV is often advisable before HAART is required to avoid the issues of drug interactions on HCV therapy and the risk of HAART related hepatotoxicity. Early diagnosis of both HIV and HCV-infection is essential to most effectively manage HIV-HCV co-infected individuals. New therapies, including HCV protease and polymerase inhibitors, are in development and may widen therapeutic options for HIV/HCV co-infected individuals in the future.
High performance multilevel converter topology for interfacing energy storage systems with medium voltage grids

This paper proposes a high performance hybrid cascaded H-Bridge (HB) Multilevel Converter (MLC) with integrated Series Active Power Filter SAPF for interfacing energy storage systems with medium voltage grids. Isolated DC sources comprised of modular dual DC/DC converters and Medium Frequency Transformers MFT are used to energise the MLC HBs. The primary sides of the DC/DC converters are connected to a common low voltage DC bus, which is supplied by supercapacitors energy stacks. Simple hybrid stair-case/SVM modulation strategy is used to synthesise the converter output voltage waveforms and to guarantee even sharing of power between the converter's HBs. The converter power losses and efficiency are evaluated and compared for two design cases of using small or large DC link capacitor banks. The converter is investigated under various operating conditions and the results show excellent dynamic and steady state performance.
Strategic Appraisal of Environmental Risks: A Contrast Between the UK's Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change and Its Committee on Radioactive Waste Management

In this paper we compare two high-profile strategic policy reviews undertaken for the UK government on environmental risks: radioactive waste management and climate change. These reviews took very different forms, both in terms of analytic approach and deliberation strategy. The Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change was largely an exercise in expert modelling, building, within a cost-benefit framework, an argument for immediate reductions in carbon emissions. The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, on the other hand, followed a much more explicitly deliberative and participative process, using Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis to bring together scientific evidence and stakeholder and public values. In this paper we ask why the two reviews were different, and whether the differences are justified. We conclude that the differences were mainly due to political context, rather than the underpinning science, and as a consequence that, while in our view “fit for purpose”, they would both have been stronger had they been less different. Stern’s grappling with ethical issues could have been strengthened by a greater degree of public and stakeholder engagement, and CoRWM’s handling of issues of uncertainty could have been strengthened by the explicitly probabilistic framework of Stern.
Orange juice as dietary source of antioxidants for patients with hepatitis C under antiviral therapy

ABSTRACT Background: HCV causes alterations in liver metabolism, resulting in biochemical and nutritional disorders. Supplementation with antioxidants has been suggested to minimize the diseases effects. Objective: This study assessed whether orange juice, a source of citrus flavonoids and vitamin C, may contribute to the treatment of patients with chronic hepatitis C. Design: Anthropometric, hemodynamic, dietary, and biochemical parameters, CRP and liver enzymes were measured in 43 adult patients of both genders who were diagnosed with chronic hepatitis C and were under antiviral therapy. Twenty-three patients were supplemented with orange juice for eight consecutive weeks, while 20 were enrolled as control group. Results: Following regular use of orange juice, no alterations were found in body mass, fat, and waist circumference. The serum levels of total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, CRP and parameters of oxidative stress decreased in the orange juice group. Furthermore, the levels of the liver enzyme AST decreased in those who had high levels before the intervention. Conclusion: The orange juice was a convenient food in the diet of patients due to the increase in antioxidant capacity and decreased inflammation and cholesterol in blood serum, in addition to maintaining body mass, which protect against the harmful effects caused by the chronic hepatitis C virus.
Discrete expression of Ca2+/calmodulin‐sensitive and Ca2+ ‐insensitive adenylyl cyclases in the rat brain

Physiological studies and inferences from invertebrate models implicate Ca2+/calmodulin‐sensitive adenylyl cyclase with memory processes. However, Ca2+/calmodulin‐insensitive adenylyl cyclase also occurs in brain, and its neuronal functions are less clear. Two oligonucleotide probes, based on rat cDNAs for Types I and II adenylyl cyclase, which appear to correspond to these functional forms, were used to conduct in situ hybridization analysis of the relative abundance and localization of these two species in the rat brain as a first step in evaluating their neuronal role. Quite discrete patterns of expression were encountered; in some areas, both species were co‐expressed, but in others, little overlap was observed. The differential expression of the two mRNAs suggests that discrete roles may be fulfilled by the two adenylyl cyclases in neural tissues. © Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Performance characterization of mobile GP-GPUs

As smartphones and tablets have become more sophisticated, they now include General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GP GPUs) that can be used for computation beyond driving the high-resolution screens. To use them effectively, the programmer needs to have a clear sense of their microarchitecture, which in some cases is hidden by the manufacturer. In this paper we unearth key microarchitectural parameters of the Qualcomm Adreno 320 and 420 GP GPUs, present in one of the key SoCs in the industry, the Snapdragon series of chips.
A Novel Approach to the Simulation of Power Quality Disturbances in Electric Power Systems

According to international standards, power quality disturbances (PQD) is classified in agreement with amplitude or proportion, bandwidth and duration. In this paper an additional PQD classification is proposed, consisting in classifying PQD according to their occurrence in random or permanent disturbances. Random disturbances are those whose times of occurrence cannot be determined in advance (surges, sags, swells, etc.) and permanent disturbances are those present in electric distribution systems continuously (harmonics, inter-harmonics, voltage fluctuations, flicker, etc). This paper shows a method for calculation of permanent disturbances indices based on measurements, distribution system modeling and Monte Carlo perfect simulation, a method to simulate PQD with random behavior is proposed
Characterization and Identification of Entomopathogenic and Mycoparasitic Fungi using RAPD-PCR Technique

BIELIKOVA L. , LANDA Z. , OSBORNE L.S. , CURN V. (2002): Characterization and identification of entomopathogenic and mycoparasitic fungi using RAPD-PCR technique. Plant Protect. Sci., 38: 1–12. Entomopathogenic and mycoparasitic fungi were characterised by RAPD technique, with special attention to evaluate the genetic stability of strains that are used as active ingredients in commercial biopesticides. Strain-specific fingerprints were constru cted for Paecilomyces fumosoroseus – strain PFR 97 Apopka, Gliocladium virens – strain GL 21 and Verticillium lecanii – strain MYCOTAL. Genetic stability and homogeneity was confirmed among re-isolates that were obtained from commercial batches of bio-insecticide PFR 97 TM 20%WDG and bio-fungicide SoilGard TM 12G that had been produced in 1995–1999. RAPD analysis indicated the genetic identity of V. lecanii strains re-isolated from the two different bio-insecticides M YCOTAL ® and VERTALEC ® . The usefulness of RAPD technique was demonstrated when P. fumosoroseus strain PFR 97 Apopka was reliably identified after having passed through adults of the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus, and by analysis of the relationship between fungi of the genus Gliocladium.
Retinoid X Receptor Acts as a Hormone Receptor in Vivo to Induce a Key Metabolic Enzyme for 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3(*)

We demonstrate here that RNA levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3-24-hydroxylase (24-(OH)ase), a key catabolic enzyme for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3, are increased by a highly selective retinoid X receptor (RXR) ligand, LG100268, in mice within hours. Correspondingly, upon LG100268 treatment, kidney 24-(OH)ase enzymatic activity increases 5-10-fold. The endogenous retinoid hormones, all-trans-retinoic acid and 9-cis-retinoic acid, and the synthetic retinoic acid receptor-selective compound, TTNPB, also stimulate 24-(OH)ase. Additionally, we show that LG100268 stimulates transcription of a luciferase reporter plasmid driven by 24-(OH)ase promoter sequences in the presence of RXR in CV-1 cell cotransactivation assays. This first demonstration of a gene that is regulated in the intact animal through an RXR-mediated pathway confirms earlier hypotheses that RXR is a bona fide hormone receptor. Regulation of a key gene in the vitamin D signaling pathway by a retinoid transducer may provide a molecular basis for some of the documented biological effects of vitamin A on bone and vitamin D metabolism.
Sampling rate conversion and data synchronization in big merging unit

In order to achieve multirate sampling conversion and Data Synchronization (DS) for multi-channel data from Electronic Instrument Transformers (EITs) in power system when the sampled data are outputted to IEDs, Big MU scheme has been proposed. Big MU consists of modules of MUs, multirate conversion and DS. Sampling data of MUs from EITs get through multirate conversion module including interpolation, low-pass FIR filter and decimation to obtain the desired sequence values. However, the multi-channel data after conversion are asynchronous with a unified frequency; DS module is utilized for syncing the asynchronous data. The experimental result shows that the scheme can achieve sampling rate conversion and satisfy the requirement of each harmonic component's amplitude precision in the IEDs by using module of DS in Big MU.
Adaptive backstepping control of some uncertain nonlinear oscillators

A backstepping-based adaptive controller is designed for a class of uncertain second order nonlinear systems under the strict-feedback form. It is shown that the closed loop is globally uniformly ultimately bounded and we give explicit bounds on both the asymptotic and transient performance. The control strategy is applied to a system typically found in base isolation schemes for seismic active protection of building structures. This system exhibits a hysteretic nonlinear behavior which is described analytically by the so-called Bouc-Wen model. Unlike other control schemes, the developed backstepping control does not require an exact knowledge of the model parameters. They are only defined within known intervals. The practical effectiveness of the controller is illustrated by numerical simulations.
Discriminate the Brain Responses of Multiple Colors Based on Regular / Irregular SSVEP Paradigms

Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) system authorizes to controlling and communicates individual peoples with neuromuscular destruction; utilized the brain signals whenever intend to visual stimuli panel. A multi-color stimuli based on Steady-state evoked potential (SSVEP) exiting a pragmatic continuous brain responses. In this experimental study involve the ability of visual stimuli based SSVEP to extract features of human-brain. Distinguish between three-color and different patterns respects to Regular/Irregular paradigms. Utilize Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) to extract the features of each stimulus in agreement with phases and amplitude. The effort of ANOVA is classify the responses effect in each pattern and three color as primary procedure, which exhibit a capability of brain activity based SSVEP paradigms. Outcome results indicate dynamics brainwave (BW) activities, which demonstrate a distinction differences between colors which are effects of brain activity with a significant distinguishable between each others.
A probabilistic model for quantifying the resilience of networked systems

Resilience is an important aspect of computing systems. Previous work on resilience has often focused on the design and architectural aspects of such systems, and not on the quantification of resilience. In addition, quantification is often restricted to a limited portion of the system. In networked systems, where multiple heterogeneous components interact in a complex manner, resilience quantification becomes a nontrivial problem. This paper proposes a model for quantifying resilience on the basis of the interdependencies of services and their adaptation. It combines performance and adaptability metrics to compute resilience of individual services that are then applied to a Markov network that computes the overall system resilience. The adaptation metric, here called adaptivity, computes how often the service adapts and evaluates the efficiency of such adaptations in terms of performance improvement. This paper also presents an evaluation that considers critical infrastructure systems.