Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Broadband, electrically-small spherical-wire and generalized loop antennas exploiting inhomogeneous magnetic cores

It is known that a spherical wire antenna designed to excite solely the TE01 spherical mode exhibits higher radiation Q than does one designed to radiate solely the TM01 spherical mode, when energy internal to the spherical volume is taken into account. It has also been noted that the introduction of a magnetic core into a TE01 mode spherical wire antenna can reduce the radiation Q by reducing the magnetic energy stored in the interior of the sphere. Recently it has been shown that the internal stored magnetic energy cannot be reduced to zero using homogeneous core composed of a lossless magnetic material, and thus a different minimum radiation Q exists which is higher than the external radiation Q but lower than the radiation Q of an empty TE01 mode spherical wire antenna. This minimum Q value is achieved for a particular value of relative permeability that depends on the electrical size of the sphere. Here we analyze the more general case of a TE01 mode spherical wire antenna with a radially inhomogeneous core, specifically, a hollow magnetic core. We show that such an arrangement can reduce the stored energy below that which can be obtained with a homogenous (solid) core and that the interior of the hollow magnetic core may contain a solid or hollow perfect electric conductor which further reduces the internal stored energy. While the reduction in stored energy is not particularly significant, the possible reduction in weight and increase in mechanical robustness is very substantial.
An Analysis of New England Strategic Alliance Model

In 2004, the New England Strategic Alliance of Councils (NESAC) was formed in a successful effort by its member municipalities to avoid forced amalgamation by the NSW Government in its (then) program of compulsory council consolidation. The Armidale- Dumaresq, Guyra, Uralla and Walcha councils, as well as the New England Weeds County Council, formed a 'strategic alliance' under the auspices of NESAC. Over the past five years this alliance of councils has developed a model of shared service provision. However, in early 2009, the Walcha Shire Council dramatically announced that it would leave NESAC. This momentous decision raises several interesting questions and may have broader lessons for shared service provision in Australian local government. This paper thus seeks to augment the existing embryonic literature on shared services in Australian local government by analysing the withdrawal of the Walcha Shire Council from NESAC through interviews with the General Managers and Mayors of the participating organisations.
Dynamic interspinous process stabilization: review of complications associated with the X-Stop device.

OBJECT The X-Stop interspinous device is designed for the treatment of patients with neurogenic intermittent claudication due to lumbar spinal stenosis. It distracts the posterior elements of adjacent vertebral bodies, unloading the intervertebral disc, limiting spinal extension, and improving central canal and neuroforaminal stenosis. In this paper, the authors reviewed the complications and failure/reoperation rates in a small series of patients and compared their results with other reported complication and failure/reoperation rates. METHODS The medical records of all patients who underwent placement of the X-Stop device for the treatment of NIC at the authors' institution were retrospectively evaluated, and demographic information, diagnosis, and preoperative pain levels were recorded. Postoperatively, patients subjectively graded the percentage (0-100%) of improvement in pain as well as the amount of residual pain and underwent imaging at 1-, 3-, and 6-month intervals. Approximately 4 years after X-Stop placement, information on long-term outcomes was obtained from patient medical records or additional follow-up. RESULTS Thirteen patients (8 men and 5 women) underwent placement of the X-Stop device. Central canal stenosis with bilateral foraminal stenosis was diagnosed in all patients: 9 (69%) of 13 had severe stenosis and 4 (31%) of 13 had moderate stenosis. Five patients (38%) also had associated Grade I spondylolisthesis. Nine patients underwent placement of the X-Stop device at the L4-5 interspinous space and 4 at both the L3-4 and L4-5 levels. The average duration of follow-up was 42.9 months (range 3-48 months). Initially, pain improved an average of 72% (range 50-100%) in these patients; however, preoperative pain returned in 77% of the patients (10 of 13). The overall complication rate was 38%, including 3 spinous process fractures (23%) and 2 instances of new-onset radiculopathy (15%). The ultimate failure rate requiring additional spinal surgery was 85% (11 of 13 patients). These complication and failure rates are much higher than those previously reported. CONCLUSIONS Overdistraction, poor bone density, poor patient selection, and preexistent adjacent foraminal stenosis may all be factors in the development of the aforementioned complications. Thus, careful attention should be paid preoperatively to adjacent-level disease, bone density, appropriate implant size, and optimal patient selection.
High speed digital CMOS divide-by-N fequency divider

A high-speed scalable programmable divide-by-N frequency divider is presented. The divider includes a new proposed state look-ahead parallel counter with a basic conventional D-type Flip-Flop (DFF) circuit. The counter is structured from two modules of 2-bit counter stages separated by DFF buffers, where all are triggered at the edge of the input clock. The reload circuit is a single DFF buffer, while the detecting count circuit is constructed from a two level decoder. The M-bit divider critical path delay, which is independent of technology, is approximated to [3.5 + Log4 (M)] of a unit delay close to a 2-input NAND gate. This results in a measured frequency, which slightly drops to about 6% against the increase of the divider bit size. Furthermore, the divider circuit is attractive for continued technology scaling since the architecture is based on using identical modules of small count of CMOS transistors with only threshold voltage technology limitations. The measure rate of the number of transistors is approximated to a linear increase of about 17% per a two-bit increase of the divider size. The presented 8-bit programmable divide-by-N frequency divider is capable of operating up to 2 GHz for a 1.35 V power supply voltage with a maximum power consumption of 16.78 mW and a maximum frequency divider factor of N=256 using the TSMC 0.15 mum digital CMOS process, and gives a measured area of 95*143 mum2 with a total count of 508 transistors.
Fault tolerance in neural networks: Neural design and hardware implementation

This paper provides a review of fault tolerance in artificial neural networks from a neural design perspective towards hardware implementations. We claim that an integrative outlook of these fields can benefit research to obtain truly fault tolerant physical neural networks that implement parallel and distributed neural computing and the associated learning algorithms in hardware, and/or in the quest to find fault-tolerant computing solutions rooted in the neural paradigm. As the underlying semiconductor technologies are getting less and less reliable, the probability that some components of computing devices fail also increases, preventing designers from realizing the full potential benefits of on-chip exascale integration. Neural computing principles remain elusive, yet they stand as source of a promising fault-tolerant computing paradigm. We present main concepts, and a taxonomy of well established techniques to exploit and improve, by design, the intrinsic but limited fault tolerance of neural networks, and we discuss fault tolerance of neural network hardware implementations targeted to FPGA devices.
Stabilizing Log-Normal Diffusion in View of Compounding Swaps Funding Risk Credit Valuation Adjustment (FRCVA)

We discuss several methodologies for stabilizing the diffusion of compounding instruments modeled by means of lognormal instantaneous interest rate models. We first delve into alternative mathematical and numerical methodologies before showing that the latter suffer from a high seed sensitivity which makes them difficult to apply in practice. We consequently resort to a fine-tune capping of the maximal value of the interest rate which ensures stabilization without altering the main diffusion moments characteristics. We illustrate our approach by examining the funding loss, the Funding Risk Adjustment (FRA) and the Funding Risk Credit Valuation Adjustment (FRCVA) of a compounding swap along the lines of a preceding paper where we advocate the benefit, when funding cannot be hedged, of examining funding risk in an actuarial setting.
Is There a Relation Between Residual Audit Fees and Analysts’ Forecasts?

We examine the relationship between residual audit fees and the ability to predict future earnings. Recent research suggests that residual audit fees contain information about accounting quality. However, residual audit fees could either represent high accounting quality or a risk premium for low accounting quality. We extend this literature by providing evidence that residual audit fees are indicative of a lower quality information environment which has a negative impact on investors’ ability to anticipate future earnings. Specifically, we first show that residual audit fees are negatively associated with the ability of current earnings to predict future earnings. Furthermore, residual audit fees are negatively associated with analyst forecast accuracy and positively associated with the dispersion in analyst forecasts. Overall, our results are consistent with the notion that residual audit fees are indicative of poor earnings quality, and that this lower quality manifests itself in a lower quality information environment for investors and analysts.
Attribute reduction for Chinese question classification

With the rapid development of the question and answer services based on community, like Sina Ask, Baidu Zhidao and Yahoo! The Community-based Question Answering service has been became a new knowledge-sharing model with characteristics of interactivity and openness. The community sites provide high quality service to meet clients' need and attract them actively participation. In order to accurately understand the user query and provide useful information, it is necessary to deal with the questions in the community. Additionally, question classification in the CQA is the key component in this step. As everyone knows, the difficulty of the question classification is High-dimensional feature vector, usually uses feature selection as the primary method of dimensionality reduction, The author adopts the following way in this paper: Firstly, we usually use feature selection to screen out first feature subset, then use the dependence of the rough set as a heuristic information to deeply feature selection, last, screen out more useful features in the experiment. The experiment data suggests that the algorithm is effective, it can not only reduce the dimension of questions, but also improve the classification accuracy effectively.
The Impact of the Kansas Wheat Breeding Program on Wheat Yields, 1911-2006

This paper quantifies advances of the Kansas Agricultural Experiment Station (KAES) wheat breeding program for two time periods: (1) 1911 to 2006 and (2) 1977 to 2006. Using multiple regression, increases in yields of wheat varieties grown in Kansas are quantified, holding growing conditions and other improvements in productivity constant. Differences in KAES variety yields and those released by other public and private breeders are quantified. During the “new age” of wheat breeding (1977-2006), wheat breeding alone is found to have increased yields by 6.182 bushels per acre, or an average increase of 0.206 bushels per year.
Experimental investigation on the mechanical and tribological coupled behaviour of bimetal composite under different states

Wear resistance and excellent mechanical properties are the main requirements in industrial applications of bimetal composites. The interfacial evolution of duplex stainless steel/low carbon steel (2205/AH36) bimetal composite after annealing and its tribological behaviour in a 3.5 wt% NaCl solution were investigated in this study. The bonding interface evolution between two layers plays a critical role in mechanical properties of composite, and the surface microstructure of stainless steel layer determines the wear and corrosion resistance. The hot-rolled composite samples were heat treated at temperatures ranging from 850 to 1150 °C in steps of 100 °C for 1 h. Optical microscopy (OM) and electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) were employed to investigate the microstructural evolution of both component layers and bonding interface. The uniaxial tensile tests were used to investigate the tensile strength and elongation of composites after annealing at different temperatures. Ball-on-disc sliding tests were employed to study the tribological behaviour of bimetal composite, with sample discs being immersed in the solution. The variations of the coefficient of friction (COF) were recorded as a function of the sliding time, and the wear tracks of discs after tribological tests were observed by the laser scanning microscope and a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results show that the annealing temperature significantly affects the width of bonding interface, and the total wear volume loss of duplex stainless steel of composite is dominated by the mechanical wear in the chloride solution.
Children Receiving Chemotherapy at Home: Perceptions of Children and Parents

The aim of this descriptive exploratory study was to determine the perspectives of parents and children with cancer on a home chemotherapy program. Qualitative analyses were used to organize data from 24 parents and 14 children into emerging themes. Themes included (1) financial and time costs, (2) disruption to daily routines, (3) psychological and physical effects, (4) recommendations and caveats, and (5) preference for home chemotherapy. When home chemotherapy was compared with hospital clinic-based chemotherapy, parents reported fewer financial and time costs and less disruption to their work and family schedules, and children reported more time to play/study, improved school attendance, and engagement in normal activities. Although some parents felt more secure with hospital chemotherapy, most found it more exhausting and stressful. At home, children selected places for their treatment and some experienced fewer side effects. Although some coordination/communication problems existed, the majority of parents and children preferred home chemo-therapy. Home chemotherapy treatment is a viable, acceptable, and positive health care delivery alternative from the perspective of parents and children with cancer.
Twisted transformers for low coupling RF and mixed signal applications

As CMOS technologies and their respective supply voltages continue to scale downwards, new methods for designing RF analog and mixed-signal circuits must be found. A promising technique that has emerged is the use of monolithic transformers. Unfortunately, due to parasitic magnetic coupling, there can be a substantial amount of cross-talk between transformers and other, nonrelated, devices resulting in the requirement for large separation distances and hence, wasted silicon. This paper presents a new winding scheme that reduces the parasitic magnetic coupling by approximately 1000× (32dB) and allows the separation distance between transformers to be reduced by 10×.
An Attenuated Listeria monocytogenes Vector Primes More Potent Simian Immunodeficiency Virus-Specific Mucosal Immunity than DNA Vaccines in Mice

ABSTRACT A human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine that induces potent immune responses in the gastrointestinal mucosa would be highly desirable. Here we show that attenuated recombinant Listeria monocytogenes, administered orally utilizing its natural route of infection, induces potent mucosal as well as systemic immune responses in mice. Moreover, these responses can be boosted efficiently with replication-incompetent adenoviral vectors. L. monocytogenes elicited more potent simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Gag-specific CD8+ T lymphocyte responses in mucosal compartments than DNA vaccines.
Preço Internacional, Taxa De Câmbio E O Preço Pago Aos Produtores Brasileiros De Soja

O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar como o preco internacional da soja e a taxa de câmbio influenciaram a formacao dos precos domesticos da soja nos estados de Mato Grosso, Parana, Rio Grande do Sul e Goias, os maiores produtores dessa commodity no Brasil, de 1996 a 2011. Para isso, foram utilizados o modelo de correcao de erro vetorial (VEC) e o Teste de Causalidade de Granger. Os resultados indicaram que variacoes no preco internacional da soja e na taxa de câmbio afetaram os precos da soja nos quatro estados e que Mato Grosso foi o unico cujo preco nao sofreu influencia dos demais estados. Variacoes no mercado internacional de soja e no mercado de câmbio sao repassadas integralmente aos precos domesticos no longo prazo, sendo estes precos mais influenciados pelo preco internacional. No curto prazo, os mercados seguiram a relacao de preco de Mato Grosso com o preco internacional e a taxa de câmbio.
Specific binding of VirG to the vir box requires a C‐ terminal domain and exhibits a minimum concentration threshold

The positive regulatory protein VirG from the virulence region of the Ti plasmid of Agrobacterium tumefaciens was first demonstrated to possess DNA‐binding capabilities using chromatographically purified protein and in vitro assays (Powell et al., 1989). This paper is an extension of that research and presents evidence on the in vivo DNA‐binding properties of VirG using a transcription interference assay. VirG protein bound specifically to a vir box'response element and repressed transcription of a lacZ reporter gene, but increased transcription in the absence of a vir box. A biphasic response in specific DNA‐binding was observed upon Increasing virG expression, suggesting that specific binding was co‐operatively affected by protein concentration. Certain TrpE′ ‐ ′VirG hybrid proteins also bound the vir box, but required sequences distal to amino acid Arg‐118 of the VirG polypeptide. These data further localize a DNA‐binding domain within VirG, and support a modified model for the regulation of virulence genes in which trans‐ phosphorylation by the coregulator VirA functions to stabilize specific DNA‐binding by low concentrations of VirG, resulting in gene activation. Otherwise, at high concentrations, VirG promotes expression of the virulence regulon without assistance from VirA as was shown previously (Rogowsky et al., 1987).
Detection of Francisella tularensis in blood by polymerase chain reaction

We developed a polymerase chain reaction-based assay for Francisella tularensis which we evaluated by using spiked blood samples and experimentally infected mice. The assay detected both type A and type B F. tularensis at levels equivalent to one CFU/microliter of spiked blood. Results from polymerase chain reaction-based assay of limiting dilutions of blood from mice infected with the live vaccine strain agreed closely with results from blood culture.
Targeting of the Osteoclastogenic RANKL–RANK Axis Prevents Osteoporotic Bone Loss and Soft Tissue Calcification in Coxsackievirus B3–Infected Mice

Bone mineralization is a normal physiological process, whereas ectopic calcification of soft tissues is a pathological process that leads to irreversible tissue damage. We have established a coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3)–infected mouse model that manifests both osteoporosis and ectopic calcification specifically in heart, pancreas, and lung. The CVB3-infected mice showed increased serum concentrations of both cytokines including IL-1β, TNF-α, and the receptor activator of NF-κB ligand (RANKL) that stimulate osteoclast formation and of the osteoclast-derived protein tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase 5b. They exhibited more osteoclasts in bone, with no change in the number of osteoblasts, and a decrease in bone formation and the serum concentration of osteoblast-produced osteocalcin. These results indicate that CVB3-induced osteoporosis is likely due to upregulation of osteoclast formation and function, in addition to decreased osteoblast activity. In addition, the serum in the CVB3-infected mice contained a high inorganic phosphate content, which causes ectopic calcification. RANKL treatment induced an increase in the in vitro cardiac fibroblast calcification by inorganic phosphate via the upregulation of osteogenic BMP2, SPARC, Runx2, Fra-1, and NF-κB signaling. We finally observed that i.p. administration of RANK-Fc, a recombinant antagonist of RANKL, prevented bone loss as well as ectopic calcification in CVB3-infected mice. Thus, our results indicate that RANKL may contribute to both abnormal calcium deposition in soft tissues and calcium depletion in bone. In addition, our animal model should provide a tool for the development of new therapeutic agents for calcium disturbance in soft and hard tissues.
CELL PROLIFERATION AND DNA‐SYNTHESIS IN THE EXTERNAL GRANULAR LAYER OF THE POSTNATAL RAT CEREBELLUM: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY

The external granular layer (EGL) of the rat cerebellum can be subdivided into two morphologically distinct zones, the outer of which consists of proliferating cells, while the inner has generally been considered to contain post‐mitotic cells exclusively. Two criteria, the detection of mitotic figures and the observation of nuclei labelled shortly after an injection of [3H]‐thymidine, were used to locate proliferating cells. Their distribution across the layer was quantified for several ages of animal. Though most frequent superficially, cell proliferation was found to occur at all levels of the EGL. Possible explanations for the existence of a gradient of proliferative activity across the EGL are discussed.
Quantification of CpG methylation at the 5′‐region of XIST by pyrosequencing from human serum

Aberrant methylation of X (inactive)‐specific transcript (XIST) is common in serum derived from human prostate and testicular germ cell tumors. The direct quantification of XIST methylation is urgently required for clinical application because human serum contains both normal and cancer‐originated XIST DNA. We directly quantitated the methylation percentage of three CpG sites (+947, +956, +971) from the 5′‐region of XIST by pyrosequencing. The average methylation percentages at three CpG sites were 88% (±5.8) at CpG1, 98% (±3.4) at CpG2, and 92% (±5.6) at CpG3 from normal male (N = 19). From prostate cancer‐derived sera, the average methylation percentage of XIST was 65% (±8.3) at CpG1, 82% (±10.9) at CpG2, and 74% (±4.4) at CpG3, which is lower than the normal XY serum DNA, but greater than normal XX serums. The methylation status of XIST also correlated with its gene expression in B‐lymphoblastoid and prostate cancer cell lines. This method is sensitive for quantifying the small percentage change in the methylation status of XIST, and may be used for early diagnosis and monitoring of cancer in men using serum.