Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Survival of ileal pouch anal anastomosis constructed after colectomy or secondary to a previous ileorectal anastomosis in ulcerative colitis patients: a population-based cohort study

Abstract Objectives: Ileorectal anastomosis (IRA) affects bowel function, sexual function and reproduction less negatively than ileal pouch anal anastomosis (IPAA), the standard reconstruction after colectomy for ulcerative colitis (UC). In younger UC patients, IRA may have a role postponing pelvic surgery and IPAA. The aim of the present study was to investigate the survival of IPAA secondary to IRA compared to IPAA as primary reconstruction, as this has not previously been studied in UC. Patients and methods: All patients with UC diagnosis between 1960 and 2010 in Sweden were identified from the National Patient Registry. From this cohort, colectomized patients reconstructed with primary IPAA and patients reconstructed with IPAA secondary to IRA were identified. The survival of the IPAA was followed up until pouch failure, defined as pouchectomy and ileostomy or a diverting ileostomy alone. Results: Out of 63,796 patients, 1796 were reconstructed with IPAA, either primarily (n = 1720) or secondary to a previous IRA (n = 76). There were no demographic differences between the groups, including length of follow-up (median 12.6 (IQR 6.7–16.6) years and 10.0 (IQR 3.5–15.9) years, respectively). Failure of the IPAA occurred in 103 (6.0%) patients with primary and in 6 (8%) patients after secondary IPAA (P = 0.38 log-rank). The 10-year pouch survival was 94% (95% CI 93–96) for primary IPAA and 92% (81–97) for secondary. Conclusions: Patients choosing IRA as primary reconstruction do not have an increased risk of failure of a later secondary IPAA in comparison with patients with primary IPAA.
Calculation of Separatrices in Multistable Chemical Reaction Systems

In multistable chemical reaction systems the space of variables is partitioned by separatrices into different cells which are the domains of attraction of the respective critical points. By numerically solving an initial value problem, which is based on the particular stability properties of separatrix manifolds, we achieve a direct approximation of the stability boundaries in the phase space. The method is principally applicable to nonlinear systems of any number of variables and, other than the direct method of Liapunov, also in regions of the phase space which are far from the critical points.
A dual-factor access control system based on device and user intrinsic identifiers

This paper proposes an access control system based on the simultaneous authentication of what the user has and who the user is. At enrollment phase, the wearable access device (a smart card, key fob, etc.) stores a template that results from the fusion of the intrinsic device identifier and the user biometric identifier. At verification phase, both the device and user identifiers are extracted and matched with the stored template. The device identifier is generated from the start-up values of the SRAM in the device hardware, which are exploited as a Physically Unclonable Function (PUF). Hence, if the device hardware is cloned, the authentic identifier is not generated. The user identifier is obtained from level-1 fingerprint features (directional image and singular points), which are extracted from the fingerprint images captured by the sensor in the access device. Hence, only genuine users with genuine devices are authorized to access and no sensitive information is stored or travels outside the access device. The proposal has been validated by using 560 fingerprints acquired in live by an optical sensor and 560 SRAM-based identifiers.
Wireless implantable passive strain sensor for strain monitoring of orthopedic implants

A detailed understanding of the mechanical loads and resulting strains inside the human body is necessary for the development and design of load bearing implants used for bone fixation. Methods for the in vivo measurement of strains inside load bearing implants and bones are required in order to optimize implant design and prevent implant failure of high risk osteosyntheses. Furthermore, load monitoring with instrumented orthopedic devices offers the possibility to assist surgical interventions, to monitor loading during post-surgical rehabilitation exercises individually adapted to the patient’s actual healing stage, i.e. prevent overloads and observe the healing process. In order to gain in-depth knowledge of the resultant in-vivo loads and strains, effort has to be invested into the research and evaluation of new sensor principles that are miniaturized and that can be implanted minimal-invasive and with minimal impact on the patient. The wireless sensor read-out is mandatory in order to prevent skin penetration by wires and therefore minimize the risk of infection and rejection of the body. These sensor systems have to be biocompatible and are preferably completely biodegradable to avoid a second operation for their removal with its consecutive tissue trauma. Hence, the elimination of any active electrical circuits, i.e. the design of a completely passive sensor unit is a key focus for this objective. This work presents a new passive sensor concept for monitoring the deformation of orthopedic implants. The novel sensing principle of the WIPSS (wireless implantable passive strain sensor) is based on a hydromechanical amplification effect. The WIPSS is entirely made from biocompatible PMMA and consists of a microchannel attached to a reservoir, which is filled with an incompressible fluid. As the reservoir is exposed to strain, its volume changes and consequently the fill level inside the microchannel varies. The wireless detection of the microchannel’s strain-dependent fill level is based on ultrasound. A strain range of ±10 with a resolution of 10 is aimed for. The WIPSS’ sensing principle is proofed by finite element simulations and the reservoir’s design is optimized towards maximum volume change, in order to achieve the target resolution of 10. A fabrication process for WIPSS sensor devices entirely made from PMMA is presented, whereby the focus is on the development and thorough characterization of a solvent assisted fusion bonding process. The developed bonding process enables the fabrication of PMMA microchannels with low aspect ratio and high channel integrity, requirements requested by the WIPSS’ measurement channel.
Fast Image Based Lighting for Mobile Realistic AR

This paper presents a mobile implementation of realistic augmented reality using a simple image based lighting method. The front camera of the mobile device is used to interactively capture and update an environment map. Then, by making some reasonable assumptions on local geometry and object reflectance function, incident lighting is integrated in real-time. The method handles dynamic environment and soft shadows, and runs at real-time framerates on high-end devices.
Minimal-Entropy Correlation Alignment for Unsupervised Deep Domain Adaptation

In this work, we face the problem of unsupervised domain adaptation with a novel deep learning approach which leverages on our finding that entropy minimization is induced by the optimal alignment of second order statistics between source and target domains. We formally demonstrate this hypothesis and, aiming at achieving an optimal alignment in practical cases, we adopt a more principled strategy which, differently from the current Euclidean approaches, deploys alignment along geodesics. Our pipeline can be implemented by adding to the standard classification loss (on the labeled source domain), a source-to-target regularizer that is weighted in an unsupervised and data-driven fashion. We provide extensive experiments to assess the superiority of our framework on standard domain and modality adaptation benchmarks.
A Multivariate Approach for Patient-Specific EEG Seizure Detection Using Empirical Wavelet Transform

Objective: This paper investigates the multivariate oscillatory nature of electroencephalogram (EEG) signals in adaptive frequency scales for epileptic seizure detection. Methods: The empirical wavelet transform (EWT) has been explored for the multivariate signals in order to determine the joint instantaneous amplitudes and frequencies in signal adaptive frequency scales. The proposed multivariate extension of EWT has been studied on multivariate multicomponent synthetic signal, as well as on multivariate EEG signals of Children's Hospital Boston-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (CHB-MIT) scalp EEG database. In a moving-window-based analysis, 2-s-duration multivariate EEG signal epochs containing five automatically selected channels have been decomposed and three features have been extracted from each 1-s part of the 2-s-duration joint instantaneous amplitudes of multivariate EEG signals. The extracted features from each oscillatory level have been processed using a proposed feature processing step and joint features have been computed in order to achieve better discrimination of seizure and seizure-free EEG signal epochs. Results: The proposed detection method has been evaluated over 177 h of EEG records using six classifiers. We have achieved average sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy values as 97.91%, 99.57%, and 99.41%, respectively, using tenfold cross-validation method, which are higher than the compared state of art methods studied on this database. Conclusion: Efficient detection of epileptic seizure is achieved when seizure events appear for long duration in hours long EEG recordings. Significance: The proposed method develops time–frequency plane for multivariate signals and builds patient-specific models for EEG seizure detection.
Prognostic Impact of In‐Hospital and Postdischarge Heart Failure in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Nationwide Analysis Using Data From the Cardiovascular Disease in Norway (CVDNOR) Project

Background Heart failure (HF) is a serious complication of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We explored the excess mortality associated with HF as an early or late complication of AMI and describe changes over time in such excess mortality. Methods and Results All patients hospitalized with an incident AMI and without history of prior HF hospitalization were followed up to 1 year after AMI discharge for episodes of HF. New HF episodes were classified as in‐hospital HF if diagnosed during the AMI hospitalization or postdischarge HF if diagnosed within 1 year after discharge from the incident AMI. Logistic and Cox regression models were used to explore the excess mortality associated with HF categories. Changes over time in the excess mortality were assessed by testing the interaction between HF status and study year. In‐hospital HF increased in‐hospital mortality 1.79 times (odds ratio [OR], 1.79; 95% CI: 1.68–1.91). The excess mortality associated with HF increased by 4.3 times from 2001 to 2009 (P interaction<0.001) as a consequence of a greater decline of in‐hospital mortality among AMI patients without (9% per year) compared to those with in‐hospital HF (3% per year). Postdischarge HF increased all‐cause and CVD mortality 5.98 times (hazard ratio, 5.98; 95% CI: 5.39–6.64) and 7.93 times (subhazard ratio, 7.93; 95% CI: 6.84 –9.19), respectively. The relative excess 1‐year mortality associated with HF did not change significantly over time. Conclusions Development of HF—either as an early or late complication of AMI—has a negative impact on patients' survival. Changes in the excess mortality associated with HF are driven by modest improvements in survival among AMI patients with HF as compared to those without HF.
Cytotoxicity on V79 and HL60 Cell Lines by Thiolated- β -Cyclodextrin-Au/Violacein Nanoparticles

In vitro cytotoxicity of a supramolecular system composed by violacein complexed by -cyclodextrinthiol-protected gold nanoparticles (violacein@ -CD–S(CH2)6–S–Au) on V79 and HL60 cell lines is described. The gold nanoparticles were prepared and modified in a single step involving reduction of tetrachloroaurate ions with sodium borohydride in the presence of thiol derivatized -cyclodextrin. Inclusion complexation of violacein into cyclodextrin cavities occurred by mixing an aqueous solution of the gold nanoparticles with an acetone solution of violacein, being evidenced by UV/visible absorption spectroscopy. According to cell viability measurements based on the MTT assay (3-(4,5dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2,5-biphenyl tetrazolium bromide) the supramolecular system was found to maintain the cytotoxic effects compared to free violacein on HL60 cells and in addition is less cytotoxic to normal (V79) cells.
The Capitalist Peace: The Origins and Prospects of a Liberal Idea

Heralding the “end of history,” Fukuyama (1992) infamously forecast the total triumph of the twin sisters of liberalism — capitalism and democracy. Twenty years later, over one-third of the world’s population live in countries characterized as “not free” (Freedom House 2009) and the economic crisis that a frenzied financial sector has brought over the world has considerably tarnished the public perception of the capitalist organization of markets. History is thus far from over, and the “victory” of the liberal coalition led by the United States seems to have been squandered. Such developments, however, do not relieve social scientists from the necessity to uncover whether the main attributes of a liberal state — free elections and market economies — have the side effects often attributed to them. One of these hotly debated outcomes is the peace-building effect of democracy and capitalism that Schumpeter (1919) sketched after World War I and that Weede (2003) finally labelled Capitalist Peace. Proponents of this variant of the liberal thesis argue that capitalism renders states more statusquo-oriented and less concerned with traditional security issues. They expect that various facets of capitalism, ranging from increased development to
Dynamically altering agent behaviors using natural language instructions

Smart avatars are virtual human representations controlled by real people. Given instructions interactively, smart avatars can act as autonomous or reactive agents. During a real-time simulation, a user should be able to dynamically refine his or her avatar’s behavior in reaction to simulated stimuli without having to undertake a lengthy off-line programming session. In this paper, we introduce an architecture, which allows users to input immediate or persistent instructions using natural language and see the agents’ resulting behavioral changes in the graphical output of the simulation.
Throughput analysis of end-to-end measurement-based admission control in IP

This paper introduces approximate analytical models to evaluate the performance of end-to-end measurement based connection admission control (EMBAC) mechanisms, devised for the setup of real time flows over the Internet. These mechanisms rely on users probing the current congestion status of their required network path using a succession of probing packets. If the probing rate measured at the end receivers is greater than a certain threshold, users are allowed to switch to a phase of data exchange; otherwise they abort the call setup attempts. In conformance with the differentiated services framework, routers are oblivious to individual flows, and only need to give higher priority to data packets than to probing traffic. Despite the approximations introduced to make the analysis tractable, our model appears to be extremely accurate for a scenario of constant rate connections. Much less accurate, but useful as a possible starting point for future work, is the extension of the model to a scenario of variable rate connections. Simulation results are also presented in the paper to gain additional quantitative insights on the effectiveness of EMBAC to provide support for tight QoS requirements.
The influence of martensitic transformation on mechanical properties of cast high alloyed CrMnNi-steel under various strain rates and temperatures

Metastable austenitic steels show excellent mechanical properties, such as high strength combined with excellent ductility and toughness due to martensitic transformation under mechanical loading (transformation induced plasticity effect). A good energy consumption, and, in the case of high-alloyed metastable austenitic steels, a high corrosion resistance, increase the potential of these materials for diverse applications, also in regard of safety requirements. Up to now, numerous wrought alloys were investigated concerning mechanical behaviour, TRIP-effect, martensitic transformation behaviour and modelling of transformation kinetics or stress-strain behaviour. New high alloyed cast CrMnNi-steels, developed at Technical University Bergakademie Freiberg, provide the chance to reduce processing steps, production time and costs. In order to understand the influence of temperature on the martensitic phase transformation behaviour and therefore on mechanical properties and failure, the mechanical response under tensile loading in a temperature range between -70°C and 200°C was investigated. The mechanical behaviour under compressive loading was also examined in a wide range of strain rates between 10−4 s−1 and 103 s−1 to obtain information about the strain rate effect on stress-strain behaviour and microstructural changes.
Implementation of an Electronic Ionosonde to Monitor the Earth's Ionosphere via a Projected Column through USRP

This document illustrates the processes carried out for the construction of an ionospheric sensor or ionosonde, from a universal software radio peripheral (USRP), and its programming using GNU-Radio and MATLAB. The development involved the in-depth study of the characteristics of the ionosphere, to apply the corresponding mathematical models used in the radar-like pulse compression technique and matched filters, among others. The sensor operates by firing electromagnetic waves in a frequency sweep, which are reflected against the ionosphere and are received on its return by the receiver of the instrument, which calculates the reflection height through the signal offset. From this information and a series of calculations, the electron density of the terrestrial ionosphere could be obtained. Improving the SNR of received echoes reduces the transmission power to a maximum of 400 W. The resolution associated with the bandwidth of the signal used is approximately 5 km, but this can be improved, taking advantage of the fact that the daughterboards used in the USRP allow a higher sampling frequency than the one used in the design of this experiment.
Differences in the relationship between BMI and percentage body fat between Japanese and Australian-Caucasian young men

This cross-sectional study aimed to determine ethnic and environmental influences on the relationship between BMI and percentage body fat, using a sample of 144 Japanese and 140 Australian-Caucasian men living in Australia, and eighty-eight Japanese men living in Japan. Body composition was assessed by anthropometry using standard international methods (International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry protocol). Body density was predicted using Durnin and Womersley's (1974) equation, and percentage body fat was calculated from Siri's (1961) equation.Significant (P<0·05) ethnic differences in stature, body mass and BMI were observed between Japanese and Australian men, but no ethnic differences were observed in their percentage body fat and height-corrected sum of skinfold thicknesses. No differences were found in the BMI–percentage body fat relationship between the Japanese subjects living in Australia and in Japan. Significant (P<0·05) ethnic differences in the BMI–percentage body fat relationship observed from a comparison between pooled Japanese men(aged 18–40 years, BMI range 16·6–32·8kg/m2) andAustralians (aged 18–39 years, BMI range 16·1–31·4kg/m2) suggest that Japanese men are likely to havea greater percentage body fat than Australian men at any given BMI value.From the analyses, the Japanese men were estimated to have an equivalent amount of body fat to the Australian men at BMI values that were about 1·5 units lower than those of the Australians (23·5kg/m2 and 28·2kg/m2, respectively). It was concluded that Japanese men have greater body fat deposition than Australian-Caucasians at the same BMI value. Japanese men may therefore require lower BMI cut-off points to identify obese individuals compared with Australian-Caucasian men.
Microstructure of nitrogen ion implantation into boron film using PBII technique

Boron films with different thickness were deposited on single crystal Si substrates via electron beam evaporation of pure metallic boron using plasma immersion ion implantation(PBII) technique. The nitrogen ion implanted boron films were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy(XPS). XPS depth concentration profiles show a gauss curve for N distribution and N/B ratio increases with implantation voltage. High implantation voltage results in an interfacial mixing between film and substrate. Boron exists in the form of both metallic boron and boron nitride as indicated by B1s band. FTIR spectra revealed that amorphous boron nitride(a-BN) or hexagonal boron nitride(h-BN) formed during nitrogen ion implantation into boron films. As implantation voltage and implantation time increase, first amorphous BN was formed, while h-BN occurs at greater implantation parameters. The thinner film led to the formation of h-BN at relatively low implantation voltages and implantation time. The structural transformation of nitrogen ion implantation into boron film as a function of the film thickness, implantation voltages and implantation time was systematically investigated.
Plasmon spectroscopy: Theoretical and numerical calculations, and optimization techniques

Abstract We present an overview of recent advances in plasmonics, mainly concerning theoretical and numerical tools required for the rigorous determination of the spectral properties of complex-shape nanoparticles exhibiting strong localized surface plasmon resonances (LSPRs). Both quasistatic approaches and full electrodynamic methods are described, providing a thorough comparison of their numerical implementations. Special attention is paid to surface integral equation formulations, giving examples of their performance in complicated nanoparticle shapes of interest for their LSPR spectra. In this regard, complex (single) nanoparticle configurations (nanocrosses and nanorods) yield a hierarchy of multiple-order LSPR s with evidence of a rich symmetric or asymmetric (Fano-like) LSPR line shapes. In addition, means to address the design of complex geometries to retrieve LSPR spectra are commented on, with special interest in biologically inspired algorithms. Thewealth of LSPRbased applications are discussed in two choice examples, single-nanoparticle surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) and optical heating, and multifrequency nanoantennas for fluorescence and nonlinear optics.