Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preamble-based synchronisation scheme for electromagnetic wireless nanocommunications

Terahertz band (0.1-10 THz) nanocommunications are expected to have a plethora of biomedical, industrial, and military applications. A pulse-based modulation scheme could enable communications among nano-devices. Nevertheless, synchronisation could be a significant performance limiting factor and an arduous task to accomplish considering the huge bandwidth of the transmitted pulse, and the simple design and energy constraint requirements of the nano-transceivers. This study proposes a novel synchronisation scheme for pulse-based nanocommunication based on a continuous-time moving average (CTMA) algorithm. Since CTMA uses an energy collection approach, it does not increase the energy and complexity requirements of nano-transceivers. This approach is based on continuously moving sub-integration windows and searching for the maximum energy over the entire preamble duration. The simulation results showed that using the proposed scheme, for a distance of up to 5 mm, a synchronisation probability of >0.7 was obtained for a signal energy to noise ratio (SNR) of 20 dB. The results showed good performance in terms of the tradeoff among the synchronisation probability, SNR, and distance between nanonodes. Moreover, synchronisation error was also evaluated to check the overall performance of the scheme. Altogether, the proposed scheme makes an appropriate step forward to enable nanocommunication among resource-constrained nanonetworks.
Glycated Hemoglobin Standardization – National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP) Perspective

Abstract The Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) and the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) demonstrated conclusively that risks for complications in patients with diabetes are directly related to glycemic control, as measured by glycated hemoglobin (GHb). Many diabetes organizations worldwide now recommend GHb targets in terms of DCCT/UKPDS hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c). However, in 1993 there was a lack of comparability of GHb test results among methods and laboratories that represented a major obstacle to meaningful implementation of specific guidelines for diabetes care. The National Glycohemoglobin Standardization Program (NGSP) was implemented to enable laboratories to report DCCT/UKPDS-traceable GHb/HbA1c results. The number of methods and laboratories certified by the NGSP as traceable to the DCCT has steadily increased. Proficiency testing results show marked improvement in the comparability of GHb results. By the end of 2002, 98% of surveyed laboratories (n = approx. 2000) reported GHb results as HbA1c or equivalent compared to 50% in 1993. Ninety-seven percent of laboratories used an NGSP-certified method. For most certified methods in 2002, between-laboratory CVs were <5%. For all certified methods in 2002, the mean HbA1c value (%) was within 0.8% HbA1c from the NGSP target at all HbA1c concentrations. The vast majority of laboratories in the US are now reporting results that are traceable to DCCT/UKPDS outcomes.
Benchmarking for investment decisions: a case of food production

Purpose – The paper aims to focus on improving the methodology and developing the model of choice of optimal investment object using benchmarking tools that eliminate the drawbacks of existing approaches.Design/methodology/approach – The methodological basis of the proposed model is frontier analysis, namely the nonparametric data envelopment analysis. Using this and other benchmarking tools, the author introduces the concept and mathematical model for evaluation of super‐attractiveness for investors that allows a full ranking of potential objects for investment.Findings – The concept of variable investment decision that combines various periods, varying degrees of risk and other decision characteristics with a common purpose of maximizing the benefits from investments is defined. The model for the making of variable investment decisions is developed.Practical implications – The proposed model enables strategic and portfolio investors to implement the optimal choice of investment object. It is demonstrate.
Interband transitions in strain-symmetrized Ge4Si6 superlattices.

We present experimental as well as theoretical data for the linear optical response of symmetrically strained superlattices. Ab initio calculations show that they have a direct gap. The complex dielectric function has been measured ellipsometrically. Agreement of the experimental second-derivative spectrum d 2 e 2 /dω 2 with the theory is obtained, both for the shape and position of bulklike transitions and for new superlatticelike transitions, after including lifetime effects in the calculated curves through Lorentzian convolution
Do Acquirers Benefit from Retaining Target CEOs?

Acquirers do not benefit from hiring the CEOs of firms they buy, either in terms of merger announcement returns or long-run operating performance. This is especially true when the retained CEOs exhibit inferior quality (as proxied by target firm industrial efficiency or the target CEO’s educational aptitude, pay slice, or outside directorships). We find no evidence that our results are due to hard bargaining by target managers: premiums paid in M&A deals appear unrelated to the decision to hire the target CEO. These findings withstand several econometric methods we use to account for potential endogeneity, selection, and unobserved heterogeneity.
Fusion of face and gait for human recognition

A system that integrates the face, a physical biometric, with gait, a behavioral biometric, for automatically recognizing human beings effectively under a wider range of conditions than a classifier which exclusively employs only one of these biometrics, is proposed. A decision-level fusion approach is adopted where the top matches of the face classifier are passed on to the gait classifier which then determines the identity of the unknown person. For face recognition, a principle components analysis-based approach, as well as a Bayesian inference-based classifier is employed, while for gait recognition, a model-based strategy is implemented, which utilizes various gait features identified as being the most pertinent for recognition based on data collected using an optoelectronic motion capture system. The integrated system is found to outperform the individual face and gait classifiers that it is composed of, thus, demonstrating the potential of using the gait to supplement the face in scenarios where the face classifier alone does not perform well due to the non-availability of high resolution face data. During the course of this research, automated face recognition was also studied in detail, with a concentration on approaches that employ statistical dimensionality reduction techniques for this task. Experiments were conducted on some of the most widely-used methods in this category to test the recognition accuracy of these methods, and various combinations thereof, for different database sizes, images resolutions and number of bits per pixel. It was found that certain combinations of some of these techniques perform better than the individual methods that those combinations are comprised of when higher resolution face images are utilized. Furthermore, a system which utilizes different resolution versions of the whole face, as well as of various facial components, in a hierarchical manner was implemented and was found to achieve higher accuracy than its single-level counterpart which uses only the highest resolution images. INDEX WORDS: Face recognition, Gait recognition, Integrated face-gait recognition, Fusion of biometrics, Person identification FUSION OF FACE AND GAIT FOR HUMAN RECOGNITION
QPRIMER: a quick web-based application for designing conserved PCR primers from multigenome alignments

UNLABELLED We have developed a quick web-based application for designing conserved genomic PCR and RT-PCR primers from multigenome alignments targeting specific exons or introns. We used Pygr (The Python Graph Database Framework for Bioinformatics) to query intervals from multigenome alignments, which gives us less than a millisecond access to any intervals of any genome within multigenome alignments. PRIMER3 was used to extract optimal primers from a gene of interest. QPRIMER creates an electronic genomic PCR image from a set of conserved primers as well as summary pages for primer alignments and products. QPRIMER supports human, mouse, rat, chicken, dog, zebrafish and fruit fly. AVAILABILITY http://www.bioinformatics. ucla.edu/QPRIMER/.
ormulation issues associated with transdermal fentanyl delivery

Supersaturation has previously been studied as a mechanism to enhance membrane transport of fentanyl from propylene glycol:water formulations (PG:H2O) across silicone. In this study these supersaturated fentanyl formulations were evaluated in human skin. A number of polymers were also screened for their ability to stabilise the supersaturated formulations and permeation was evaluated for both infinite and finite doses. For infinite dose studies, permeation in skin increased linearly with increasing degree of drug saturation (DS) for formulations containing 0.5, 1, 2 DS of fentanyl and a 3 DS formulation stabilised with 1% (w/v) hydroxypropylcellulose (HPC). An excellent correlation was obtained for flux values in silicone compared with flux values in skin, for infinite dose studies for formulations containing 0.5, 1, 2 ropylene glycol kin rystallisation ermeation DS of fentanyl and the 3 DS formulation stabilised HPC. The concentration of the fentanyl in the stratum corneum also increased in proportion to the DS. However the same trend was not observed for finite dose studies. This is because the depletion of the solvent carrier promotes drug crystallisation with consequent implications for membrane transport. Tape-stripping experiments indicated that supersaturation of the drug is maintained in the outer layers of the stratum corneum. The ideal vehicle must, therefore, maintain the drug in solution on and in the skin in a sustained manner for effective transdermal delivery. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Benchmarking the Slovenian competitiveness by system of indicators

Purpose – This paper aims to evaluate Slovenian competitiveness by quantitative and by qualitative methods, and tries to explain why some countries develop faster than others.Design/methodology/approach – By observing other economies, it is possible to learn how to improve the development base at home. Many indicators of national competitiveness have been suggested. Broadly speaking, competitiveness can be measured with some indicators: terms of trade, current account balance, per capital income, productivity growth, high‐tech export (percent), expenditure on R&D and openness of economy. In addition, the systematic competitiveness by International Institute of Management Development of World Economic Forum methodology can be measured. Questionnaire indicators give us a more qualitative view on competitiveness. The modern way of measuring national competitiveness is using questionnaires, which allows evaluation of the dynamic evolution of one economy, the qualitative competitiveness and the expectations of.
Susceptibility of Transcranial Electric Motor-evoked Potentials to Varying Targeted Blood Levels of Dexmedetomidine during Spine Surgery

Background:Dexmedetomidine has been increasingly used as an adjunct to opioid–propofol total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA). The authors tested the hypothesis and found that clinically relevant blood levels of dexmedetomidine do not produce significant attenuation of the amplitude of transcranial electric motor-evoked potentials either independently or by interaction with propofol in a dose-dependent manner. Methods:The authors planned to recruit 72 patients with idiopathic scoliosis who had posterior spine fusion surgery during propofol and remifentanil TIVA with dexmedetomidine as an adjunct. However, the authors terminated the study after enrolling 44 patients because of change in surgical technique. Before administering dexmedetomidine, baseline transcranial electric motor-evoked potentials were acquired during TIVA with remifentanil and propofol. Patients were randomized to varying targeted blood levels of dexmedetomidine (0.4, 0.6, and 0.8 ng/ml) and propofol (2.5, 3.75, and 5 &mgr;g/ml) using a factorial design. The primary outcome variable was amplitude of transcranial electric motor-evoked potential. The secondary outcome was amplitude of cortical somatosensory-evoked potentials. Results:Of the 44 recruited patients, 40 completed the study, and their data were analyzed. The administration of dexmedetomidine in increasing doses as an adjunct to propofol-based TIVA caused a clinically and statistically significant attenuation of amplitudes of transcranial electric motor-evoked potentials. Conclusion:The authors conclude that under the stimulation conditions used, dexmedetomidine as an anesthetic adjunct to propofol-based TIVA at clinically relevant target plasma concentrations (0.6–0.8 ng/ml) can significantly attenuate the amplitude of transcranial electric motor-evoked potentials.
Outcomes of deliveries by family physicians or obstetricians: a population-based cohort study using an instrumental variable

Background: Previous research has suggested that obstetric outcomes are similar for deliveries by family physicians and obstetricians, but many of these studies were small, and none of them adjusted for unmeasured selection bias. We compared obstetric outcomes between these provider types using an econometric method designed to adjust for unobserved confounding. Methods: We performed a retrospective population-based cohort study of all Canadian (except Quebec) hospital births with delivery by family physicians and obstetricians at more than 20 weeks gestational age, with birth weight greater than 500 g, between Apr. 1, 2006, and Mar. 31, 2009. The primary outcomes were the relative risks of in-hospital perinatal death and a composite of maternal mortality and major morbidity assessed with multivariable logistic regression and instrumental variable–adjusted multivariable regression. Results: After exclusions, there were 3600 perinatal deaths and 14 394 cases of maternal morbidity among 799 823 infants and 793 053 mothers at 390 hospitals. For deliveries by family physicians v. obstetricians, the relative risk of perinatal mortality was 0.98 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.85–1.14) and of maternal morbidity was 0.81 (95% CI 0.70–0.94) according to logistic regression. The respective relative risks were 0.97 (95% CI 0.58–1.64) and 1.13 (95% CI 0.65–1.95) according to instrumental variable methods. Interpretation: After adjusting for both observed and unobserved confounders, we found a similar risk of perinatal mortality and adverse maternal outcome for obstetric deliveries by family physicians and obstetricians. Whether there are differences between these groups for other outcomes remains to be seen.
Public Reporting and Pay-for-Performance: Safety-Net Hospital Executives' Concerns and Policy Suggestions

Safety-net hospitals (SNHs) may gain little financial benefit from the rapidly spreading adoption of public reporting and pay-for-performance, but may feel compelled to participate (and bear the costs of data collection) to meet public expectations of transparency and accountability. To better understand the concerns that SNH administrators have regarding public reporting and pay-for-performance, we interviewed 37 executives at randomly selected California SNHs. The main concerns noted by SNH executives were that human and financial resource constraints made it difficult for SNHs to accurately measure their performance. Additionally, some executives felt that market-driven public reporting and pay-for-performance may focus on clinical areas and incentive structures that may not be high-priority clinical areas for SNHs. Executives at SNHs suggested several policy responses to these concerns—such as offering training programs for SNH data collectors—that could be relatively inexpensive and might improve the cost-benefit ratio of public reporting and pay-for-performance programs.
Enzastaurin, an inhibitor of PKCbeta, Enhances Antiangiogenic Effects and Cytotoxicity of Radiation against Endothelial Cells.

PURPOSE Angiogenesis plays an important role in pancreas cancer pathobiology. Pancreatic tumor cells secrete vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), activating endothelial cell protein kinase C beta (PKCbeta) that phosphorylates GSK3beta to suppress apoptosis and promote endothelial cell proliferation and microvessel formation. We used Enzastaurin (Enz) to test the hypothesis that inhibition of PKCbeta results in radiosensitization of endothelial cells in culture and in vivo. MATERIALS/METHODS We measured PKCbeta phosphorylation, VEGF pathway signaling, colony formation, and capillary sprout formation in primary human dermal microvessel endothelial cells (HDMECs) after Enz or radiation (RT) treatment. Microvessel density and tumor volume of human pancreatic cancer xenografts in nude mice were measured after treatment with Enz, RT, or both. RESULTS Enz inhibited PKCbeta and radiosensitized HDMEC with an enhancement ratio of 1.31 +/- 0.05. Enz combined with RT reduced HDMEC capillary sprouting to a greater extent than either agent alone. Enz prevented radiation-induced GSK3beta phosphorylation of serine 9 while having no direct effect on VEGFR phosphorylation. Treatment of xenografts with Enz and radiation produced greater reductions in microvessel density than either treatment alone. The reduction in microvessel density corresponded with increased tumor growth delay. CONCLUSIONS Enz-induced PKCbeta inhibition radiosensitizes human endothelial cells and enhances the antiangiogenic effects of RT. The combination of Enz and RT reduced microvessel density and resulted in increased growth delay in pancreatic cancer xenografts, without increase in toxicity. These results provide the rationale for combining PKCbeta inhibition with radiation and further investigating such regimens in pancreatic cancer.
NO EVIDENCE FOR AVIAN MALARIA INFECTION DURING THE NESTLING PHASE IN A PASSERINE BIRD

One of many uncertainties concerning the epidemiology of avian malaria in wild bird populations is the age at first infection. While nestlings, being naked and presumably immunologically naïve would seem a likely stage of first infection, most age-stratified prevalence studies have not examined the nestling cohort, whereas those that have use relatively insensitive blood smear examination to diagnose infection. In the study presented here, we used sensitive nested polymerase chain reaction methods to screen blood samples from 195, 14-day-old blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) nestlings for avian malaria parasites (species of Plasmodium and Haemoproteus). Adults in this population are commonly infected with Plasmodium spp. (prevalence c. 30%). No avian malaria infections were found in nestlings, but a single positive identification of the related hematozoan parasite, Leucocytozoon sp. , was made. Our results suggest either that the nestlings were infected but the disease had not yet reached patency, or that young birds in the nest are not bitten by the insect vectors of the disease.
Effects of enamel matrix proteins on proliferation, differentiation and attachment of human alveolar osteoblasts

Objectives: Enamel matrix proteins (EMPs) have been demonstrated to promote periodontal regeneration. However, effects of EMPs on human alveolar osteoblasts (hAOBs), up to now, have still been unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate influence of EMPs on proliferation, differentiation and attachment of hAOBs in vitro.
Management of Hodgkin's disease in childhood.

Hodgkin's disease was once nearly always fatal; now with proper management most patients can look forward to long survival and probable cure. But the new techniques of management are not themselves without the risk of shortand long-term complications, and this is of particular importance in growing children. Today the challenge of treating the child with Hodgkin's disease is to design therapy which minimizes these potential hazards without in any way reducing the chance of cure.
Reproductive behavior and parental roles of the cichlid fish Laetacara araguaiae

We described the reproductive behavior of the small South American cichlid Laetacara araguaiae in streams from Brazil. We predicted that this species will show reproductive cooperation and division of labor between males and females in a similar way presented by other substrate-spawner cichlids. Thus, we studied 34 pairs in the pre-spawning (n = 11), egg/wriggler (n = 11) and fry (n = 12) phases. In the pre-spawning phase both sexes become involved in nest building and territorial defense, but females emphasizes building nest (p = 0.03), while males invest more time in territorial defense (p = 0.04). After spawning, male and female alternate between rearing eggs and defending nest in the territory. In the egg/wriggler phase females devotes more time rearing the brood while males remain defending territory (p = 0.02). These differences disappear when young are in the fry stage, and parents jointly stay closer to fry (p = 0.98). However, at this phase, there is a reduction in the frequency of threats shown by males (p<0.01) and an increase in the frequency of attacks shown by female (p<0.01) that could be a response to an increased demand for parental defense. Our results indicate that the reproductive cooperation between males and females of L. araguaiae is marked by division of labor in the early reproductive phases and by sharing of parental duties as brood develops.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease classification with Artificial Neural Networks

In recent years, various studies are conducted on the availability of some classifying, decisive softwares and tools that're new and assistant upon diagnosis of the diseases. Using Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) is one of these tools. It is obvious that, these kind of systems which could be helpful for the diagnosis, and which have benefits like shortening of the diagnosis period, time gain and increased efficiency, contributes a lot to medical R&D. In this study, diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) with Artificial Neural Networks is objected. Dataset used in the study comprises 15 Variables, 4 COPD Disease Levels (Mild, Moderate, Severe; Very Severe), and the data of 507 patients. Within the study, (Matlab Code with 2 hidden layers); 5 layered crossvalidation method is used. Mean Squared Error (MSE) and Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of the test samples are calculated and mean of 5 layer errors are given as the results. In conclusion MSE and MAE values are found to be 0,00996, and 0,02478 respectively. Accuracy rates are found to be 99 %. Ultimately founded results show that very high accuracy rates are achieved with 15 variables. Consequently, Artificial Neural Networks seem to have a successful usage in COPD classification. This allows a system that would help the physician to determine COPD level more rapidly with high performance.
The role of transvaginal sonography in chorionic villi sampling

Vaginosonography has the potential of improving not only accurate diagnosis preceeding chorionic villus sampling but also the sampling procedure itself. The vaginosonographic diagnostic landmarks of early pregnancies are the contact area between the amnion and the chorion, the insertion of the umbilical cord, the yolk sac and the decidua‐trophoblast complex. The occurrence of a “Swiss‐cheese‐pattern” in the latter structure is a strong hint for an unfavourable outcome of early pregnancy. Vaginosonographically guided puncture is a promising approach for chorionic villus biopsy. The punturing facilities are firmly attached to the high resolution vaginal ultrasound probe. Thus, precise ultrasound‐guided puncture penetrating the vaginal skin and the uterine wall in the shortest possible distance has become possible.