Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Novel Approach to Extending DF-4 AICD Leads using A DF-4 Y Splitter/Adaptor as Preparation for Stereotactic Radiosurgery to The Chest - A Case Report

This is an 80-year-old Hispanic male, former smoker with 30+ pack-years, COPD, ischemic cardiomyopathy with reduced Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) of 15-20% refractory to an appropriate trial of optimal medical therapy, requiring upgrade to Biventricular Implantable Cardioverter-Defibrillator (BIV-ICD) implantation. Five months after BIV-ICD implantation, the LVEF had improved to 55%. During routine lung cancer screening a left upper lobe mass measuring 1.5x1. 1 cm was found. A biopsy was done, and further histology showed a spiculated squamous cell carcinoma. Given his frail clinical condition it was decided that he was to receive radiotherapy only, for which the AICD generator had to be relocated away from the radiation target. To extend the DF-4 ICD lead, we used a specialized 27-cm-long DF-4 Y splitter/adaptor (Medtronic Model 5019 HV Splitter/Adaptor) which allowed enough length to extend the DF-4 ICD lead from upper chest to Left Upper Quadrant (LUQ) of the abdomen. The procedure was tolerated well by the patient, after which he made a satisfactory recovery with no postoperative complications. The patient then, in due course, underwent radiotherapy for his lung cancer. Our technique of using a DF-4 Y Splitter/Adaptor as a DF4 lead extender could be used in any patient needing an extender, such as those in which the leads had to be tunneled to the contralateral side, and not only for patients requiring radiotherapy.
Algorithms of association rules extraction: State of the art

More than a decade, the task of generating associative rules has received considerable attention by researchers because the great need of enterprise deciders to be assisted by systems taking into account unknown knowledge extracted from a huge volume of data. In this paper, we present a survey of the most known algorithms used for associative rules extraction. We give a comparative study between them and we show that they could be classified into some categories.
How Working Tasks Influence Biocontamination in an Animal Facility

The exposure to biocontaminants in animal facilities represents a risk for developing infectious, allergic and toxic diseases. The aim of this study was to determine what factors could be associated with a high level of exposure to biological agents through the measure and characterization of airborne fungi, bacteria, endotoxin, (1,3)-β-d-glucan and animal allergens. Airborne microorganisms were collected with an air sampler and identified by microscopic and biochemical methods. Endotoxin, (1,3)-β-d-glucan, Mus m 1, Rat n 1, Can f 1, Fel d 1, Equ c 4 allergens were detected on inhalable dust samples by Kinetic LAL, Glucatell, and ELISA assays, respectively. Our data evidenced that changing cages is a determinant factor in increasing the concentration of the airborne biocontaminants; the preparation of bedding and distribution of feed, performed in the storage area, is another critical working task in terms of exposure to endotoxins (210.7 EU/m3) and (1,3)-β-d-glucans (4.3 ng/m3). The highest concentration of Mus m 1 allergen (61.5 ng/m3) was observed in the dirty washing area. The detection of expositive peaks at risk of sensitization (>2 μg/g) by Fel d 1 in animal rooms shows passive transport by operators themselves, highlighting their role as vehicle between occupational and living environments.
Genetic Assessment of Reinforcement of the Japanese Brown Frog（Rana japonica）

To assess the genetic suitability of reinforcement of two populations of the Japanese brown frog (Rana japonica) in Yokohama City, we attempted to clarify their genetic relationship based on sequence variation of mitochondrial DNA control region and polymorphism of 10 microsatellite DNA loci. The results showed that these two populations are genetically related, though they are presently isolated. This appears to conform to the conditions for reinforcement of the two populations.
THE OPTIMAL STEIN ESTIMATION RELATIVE TO CONCENTRATION PROBABILITY – A LARGE SAMPLE APPROXIMATION

General family of Stein rule estimators is considered in linear regression model. The large sample approximation of its sampling distribution is derived. Approximations of concentration probability of the estimators around the true value are evaluated. Optimal selection of the biasing scalar is discussed. KEYWORDS : Linear regression model, Stein rule estimator, large sample approximation, Sampling distribution, concentration probability MSC: 62F10
Natural history of pain associated with melanoma surgery

Introduction: After excision of a primary malignant melanoma (MM), treatment of stage IB or higher MM consists of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). If malignant cells are identified, a complete lymph node dissection (CLND) can be performed. Objective: To determine the natural history of pain and sensory changes after MM surgery. Methods: We prospectively followed 39 patients (29 SLNB-only, 2 CLND-only, and 8 CLND preceded by SLNB) from before inguinal or axillary surgery through 6 months after surgery on measures of pain intensity, sensory symptoms, allodynia, and questionnaires of anxiety, depression, and catastrophizing. Results: No patient had pain preoperatively. Ten days after surgery, 35% had surgical site pain after SLNB-only compared with 90% after CLND (P < 0.003); clinically meaningful pain (Visual Analogue Scale ≥ 30 mm/100 mm) was reported by 3% of patients after SLNB-only compared with 40% after CLND (P < 0.001). At 6 months, all SLNB-only patients were pain-free. By contrast, 4 of 7 in the SLNB + CLND group still had pain (P < 0.002). At 6 months, symptoms of altered sensation or numbness were reported by 32% and 42% of SLNB-only patients, and by 67% and 67% of patients undergoing CLND surgery (both P > 0.05). Conclusion: Acute pain is more common after CLND surgery. Undergoing SLNB followed by more invasive CLND surgery may increase the likelihood of pain at 6 months. Persistent sensory symptoms typical of those associated with nerve injury are more common after CLND. Surgery for MM is a good model for studying the natural history of postsurgical pain and sensory changes.
Research on the Value at Risk of Basis for Stock Index Futures Hedging in China Based on Two-State Markov Process and Semiparametric RS-GARCH Model

This article aims to investigate the Value at Risk of basis for stock index futures hedging in China. Since the RS-GARCH model can effectively describe the state transition of variance in VaR and the two-state Markov process can significantly reduce the dimension, this paper constructs the parameter and semiparametric RS-GARCH models based on two-state Markov process. Furthermore, the logarithm likelihood function method and the kernel estimation with invariable bandwidth method are used for VaR estimation and empirical analysis. It is found that the three fitting errors (MSE, MAD, and QLIKE) of conditional variance calculated by semiparametric model are significantly smaller than that of the parametric model. The results of Kupiec backtesting on VaR obtained by the two models show that the failure days of the former are less than or equal to that of the latter, so it can be inferred that the semiparametric RS-GARCH model constructed in this paper is more effective in estimating the Value at Risk of the basis for Chinese stock index futures. In addition, the mean value and standard deviation of VaR obtained by the semiparametric RS-GARCH model are smaller than that of the parametric method, which can prove that the former model is more conservative in risk estimation.
Growth of MWCNTs on Plasma Ion-Bombarded Thin Gold Films and Their Enhancements of Ammonia-Sensing Properties Using Inkjet Printing

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) have been synthesized on thin gold (Au) films using thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The films were evolved to catalytic Au nanoparticles (Au NPs) by plasma argon (Ar) ion bombardment with a direct current (DC) power of 216 W. The characteristics of the MWCNTs grown on Au catalysts are strongly dependent on the growth temperature in thermal CVD process. The MWCNTs were then purified by oxidation (550°C) and acid treatments (3 : 1 H2SO4/HNO3). After purifying the MWCNTs, they were dispersed in deionized water (DI water) under continuous sonication. The MWCNT solution was then ultrasonically dissolved in a conducting polymer mixture of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) to prepare for an electronic ink. The ink was deposited onto the flexible and transparent plastic substrates such as polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with fabricated silver interdigitated electrode using two methods such as drop-casting and inkjet printing to compare in the detection of ammonia (NH3) and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at room temperature. Based on the results, the gas response, sensitivity, and selectivity properties of MWCNT-PEDOT:PSS gas sensor for NH3 detection are significantly enhanced by using inkjet printing technique. The sensing mechanism of fabricated gas sensor exposed to NH3 has been also proposed based on the swelling behaviour of polymer due to the diffusion of NH3 molecules into the polymer matrix. For the MWCNTs, they were mentioned as the conductive pathways for the enhancement of gas-sensing signals.
Lean Mainstream Schemes for Stata 8 Graphics

The new Stata 8 graphics are powerful and flexible. Now, a few months after the first release, the graphics still have some shortcomings—both in design and in the manual documenting the program—but progress is being made. The graph layout used throughout the Graphics Reference Manual has led some users to underestimate the potential of the program. This paper presents two schemes for a lean layout, conforming to the mainstream in scientific publishing.
GIARDIA INTESTINALIS ASSEMBLAGES AMONG EGYPTIAN SYMPTOMATIC/ASYMPTOMATIC CASES IN CAIRO

Giardia intestinalis is frequent enteric protozoa, affecting humans worldwide. Human infections aremainly caused by two genetically different assemblages call A & B. This cross-sectional study characterizedthe Giardia genotypes isolated from the stool of symptomatic and asymptomatic Egyptians inCairo and correlated these genotypes with the demographic and clinical data of the cases. Stool sampleswere collected from 389 individuals (245 complaining of gastrointestinal (GIT) symptoms and144 apparently healthy asymptomatic individuals), and microscopically examined. Positive Samplesfor G. intestinalis were molecularly characterized by Copro-nPCR targeting beta-giardin gene, andthen analyzed by RFLP for assemblage identification. Giardia was detected in 62 samples (15.9%); 53samples in symptomatic cases (21.6%) and 9 samples in asymptomatic individuals (6.25%). DNA ofpositive samples was amplified by nPCR-RFLP assays. There was a significant predominance of assemblageB among symptomatic (82.7%) and asymptomatic (77.8%) groups, while the rest of sampleshad assemblage A. Among the clinical data, only flatulence was significantly associated with Giardiainfection with assemblage B. Assemblage B is the predominant genotype found in Egypt in symptomaticand asymptomatic patients suggesting an anthropologic transmission cycle.Key Words: Giardia; genotyping; Assemblage; nPCR-RFLP; beta-giardin.
Effect of timing and exposure of sunflower pollen on a common gut pathogen of bumble bees

1. Several bee species are declining due to multiple factors, including pathogens. Ingestion of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) pollen can dramatically reduce the bumble bee gut pathogen Crithidia bombi, but little is known about how timing and exposure to sunflower pollen consumption affects pathogen load.
Optimization of neural network topology and information content using Boltzmann methods

A method for optimizing networks that focuses on network topology and information content is presented. The authors have studied change in the network topology and its effects on information content dynamically during the optimization of the network. The changes in the network topology were achieved by altering the number of weights. The primary optimization was scaled by the conjugate gradient method and the secondary technique of optimization was a Boltzmann method. The findings demonstrate that for a difficult character recognition problem the number of weights in a fully connected network can be reduced by 90.3% with a temperature of 0.55 while achieving training and testing of identical accuracies. <<ETX>>
Nonlinear and time-dependent equivalent-barotropic flows

Some oceanic and atmospheric flows may be modelled as equivalent-barotropic systems, in which the horizontal fluid velocity varies in magnitude at different vertical levels while keeping the same direction. The governing equations at a specific level are identical to those of a homogeneous flow over an equivalent depth, determined by a pre-defined vertical structure. The idea was proposed by Charney (J. Met., vol. 6 (6), 1949, pp. 371–385) for modelling a barotropic atmosphere. More recently, steady, linear formulations have been used to study oceanic flows. In this paper, the nonlinear, time-dependent model with variable topography is examined. To include nonlinear terms, we assume suitable approximations and evaluate the associated error in the dynamical vorticity equation. The model is solved numerically to investigate the equivalent-barotropic dynamics in comparison with a purely barotropic flow. We consider three problems in which the behaviour of homogeneous flows has been well established either experimentally, analytically or observationally in past studies. First, the nonlinear evolution of cyclonic vortices around a topographic seamount is examined. It is found that the vortex drift induced by the mountain is modified according to the vertical structure of the flow. When the vertical structure is abrupt, the model effectively isolates the surface flow from both inviscid and viscous topographic effects (due to the shape of the bottom and Ekman friction, respectively). Second, the wind-driven flow in a closed basin with variable topography is studied (for a flat bottom this is the well-known Stommel problem). For a zonally uniform, negative wind-stress curl in the homogeneous case, a large-scale, anticyclonic gyre is formed and displaced southward due to topographic effects at the western slope of the basin. The flow reaches a steady state due to the balance between topographic, $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FD}$ , wind-stress and bottom friction effects. However, in the equivalent-barotropic simulations with abrupt vertical structure, such an equilibrium cannot be reached because the forcing effects at the surface are enhanced, while bottom friction effects are reduced. As a result, the unsteady flow is decomposed as a set of planetary waves. A third problem consists of performing simulations of the wind-driven flow over realistic bottom topography in the Gulf of Mexico. The formation of the so-called Campeche gyre is explored. It is found that such circulation may be consistent with the equivalent-barotropic dynamics.
Inference based PICRUSt accuracy varies across sample types and functional categories

Background Despite recent decreases in the cost of sequencing, shotgun metagenome sequencing remains more expensive compared with 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Methods have been developed to predict the functional profiles of microbial communities based on their taxonomic composition, and PICRUSt is the most widely used of these techniques. In this study, we evaluated the performance of PICRUSt by comparing the significance of the differential abundance of functional gene profiles predicted with PICRUSt to those from shotgun metagenome sequencing across different environments. Results We selected 7 datasets of human, non-human animal and environmental (soil) samples that have publicly available 16S rRNA and shotgun metagenome sequences. As we would expect based on previous literature, strong Spearman correlations were observed between gene compositions predicted with PICRUSt and measured with shotgun metagenome sequencing. However, these strong correlations were preserved even when the sample labels were shuffled. This suggests that simple correlation coefficient is a highly unreliable measure for the performance of algorithms like PICRUSt. As an alternative, we compared the performance of PICRUSt predicted genes to metagenome genes in inference models associated with metadata within each dataset. With this method, we found reasonable performance for human datasets, with PICRUSt performing better for inference on genes related to “house-keeping” functions. However, the performance of PICRUSt degraded sharply outside of human datasets when used for inference. Conclusion We conclude that the utility of PICRUSt for inference with the default database is likely limited outside of human samples and that development of tools for gene prediction specific to different non-human and environmental samples is warranted.
Class AB amplifier with enhanced slew rate and GBW

The design of a micropower class AB operational transconductance amplifier with large dynamic current to quiescent current ratio is addressed. It is based on a compact and power‐efficient adaptive biasing circuit and a class AB current follower using the quasi‐floating gate (QFG) technique. The amplifier has been designed and fabricated in a 0.5‐μm CMOS process. Simulation and measurement results show a slew rate (SR) improvement factor versus the class A version larger than 4 for the same supply voltage and bias currents, as well as enhanced small‐signal performance.
Living Design. The future of sustainable maker enterprises: a case study in Cumbria

This paper presents initial findings from Living Design, a project supported by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. The research examines small and micro-enterprises in Cumbria, UK, and the potential for design to make a contribution to their sustainment and flourishing. The paper presents research carried out with enterprises in Cumbria, who use wool as their main material. We present three case studies of makers who create beautifully designed, wool-based goods and whose practice include the whole cycle from sourcing fleece locally and manufacturing of their products, to design, branding and retail. We explore how the enterprises exemplify sustainability principles and their contribution to a circular economy. We present our findings and the concept of Located Making - purposeful goods whose design, production or use is dependent on place - which is informing the development of guides for enterprises, researchers and organisations to embed sustainability principles into their practices.
Trend step changes of seasonal and annual precipitation over Kermanshah during a 60-year period using non-parametric methods

One of the approaches usedtoinvestigate trend step changes in precipitation isstatistical techniques.The main objective ofthis paper is toidentify and analyze thetrend ofchanges in annual and seasonalprecipitation overthe studied area.The current study employs monthly precipitation data from 1951 to 2010 derived from a weather station in Kermanshah. Using non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and graphic based methods depicting total annual and seasonal (cold and warm seasons) precipitation, the research analyzes trend changes of Kermanshah over different time series. Primarily, data changes in studied seasons and years are analyzed. Then, type and time of these changes are identifi ed. Averages of monthly precipitation overKermanshah during warm and cold seasons are determined as 47.9±33.64 Mm and 169.68±54.56 Mm, respectively. There is no signifi cant trend in annual precipitation over Kermanshah. Analysis of averages precipitation of warm and cold seasons indicates no signifi cant trend; however, warm season seems to follow a decreasing trend in general. Yet, there are leaps in the average levels of both annual and seasonal precipitation. The obtained results show that general trend of change in average precipitation during warm seasons is downward with leaps of average during the studied period. But, in general, there is no signifi cant trend of change in the averages of annual and seasonal precipitation during the studied time.
Utilization of workface planning for the execution of maintenance activities, shutdowns and turnarounds in petrochemical facilities – a case study

Abstract Maintenance activities, shutdowns and turnarounds (MST) are essential for the process industry. In fact, MST projects play important roles in maintaining the consistency of plants’ productive capacity thus helping sustain corporate performance. Unfortunately, MST projects often incur significant budget and schedule overruns. This study documents the current state of practice of execution planning for MST projects. It identifies several factors that contribute to MST performance being poor. These factors include inefficiencies in execution planning, communication, scope management, measurement and control and execution safety. Utilizing input from subject matter experts (SMEs), the first part of this study focuses on developing a customized version of Workface Planning (WFP) that would be applicable to MSTs in the petrochemical industry. Once customized, the WFP tools were implemented by several petrochemical facilities. By observing this implementation, the research team was able to assess the existing levels of MST execution planning and management and to discover areas of inefficiency. This study offers ways to optimize the planning practices of executing MST. Petrochemical organizations could use these findings to assess their own current MST execution-planning procedures. This would involve implementing the customized WFP concepts and tools and thereby attain an optimal state of readiness before starting the MST execution phase.
The Effect of Citronella Oil Concentration (Cymbopogon nardus (L. ) Rendle) on the Quality of Shampoo and Antifungal Activity of Candida albicans

Citronella oil (Cymbopogon nardus (L.) Rendle) was formulated into shampoo preparations to overcome dandruff. Dandruff is a condition which exfoliation of the excess horny layer on the scalp and forms fine scales caused by fungal infections of Candida albicans. The purpose of this study was to determine the antifungal activity and quality of the citronella oil shampoo. Citronella oil was taken using a steam distillation method. The oil produced has good quality because it meet the range of organoleptic requirements, which were the refractive index 1.483, density 0.890g/mL and citronellal content 41.720%. MIC (Minimum Inhibition Concentration) to find out the lowest concentration of shampoo which can still inhibit the growth of Candida albicans was 2%. Citronella oil then formulated into shampoo with F1 (4%) F2 (6%) and F3 (8%) oil concentrations. The results of the quality of shampoo evaluation showed that all formulations met the requirements of pH, viscosity, and foam height. In testing the antifungal activity of shampoo was known that the greater the concentration of oil in the shampoo, the greater the antifungal activity in the shampoo.Keywords: Citronella oil, shampoo, antifungal activity