Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Historical Evolution of Surgery for Transposition of Great Arteries (TGA)

The history of surgery for transposition of great arteries (TGA) has paralleled the history of cardiac surgery. In fact, it began before the birth of open heart surgery when the palliative Blalock-Hanlon septectomy was first performed in 1948. The atrial switch, which was an attempt to correct the physiology of transposition, had significant shortcomings. The arterial switch sought to address them. This has emerged as an anatomically as well as physiologically appropriate solution. This review traces the various milestones in this perpetual journey.
An Interactive Best-Compromise Approach for Capacitor Placement and Sizing in Distribution Feeder by Using Particle Swarm Optimization

A new formulation of bi-objective optimization for the general capacitor placement and sizing problem is presented. The objectives include energy loss reduction, investment cost minimization, and maximum voltage deviation improvement. The operating and expansion constraints of the system are considered for practical needed. Also, both fixed and switched types of capacitors are included. A particle swarm optimization aided interactive best-compromise method for solving general bi-objective optimization problems is then proposed. It can provide a flexible solution as dictated by the decision makers of the utilities. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method, comparative study is conducted on an actual feeder with rather encouraging results.
Enhanced multistage vector quantization by joint codebook design

Multistage vector quantization (MSVQ) can achieve very low encoding and storage complexity in comparison to unstructured vector quantization. However, the conventional stage-by-stage design of the codebooks in MSVQ is suboptimal with respect to the overall performance measure. The authors introduce an algorithm for the joint design of the stage codebooks to optimize the overall performance. The performance improvement, although modest, is achieved with no effect on encoding or storage complexity and only a slight increase in design effort. >
Clonal structure and pathogenicity of Shiga-like toxin-producing, sorbitol-fermenting Escherichia coli O157:H-

We compared a collection of sorbitol-fermenting (SF) Escherichia coli O157:H- strains with SF E. coli O157:H45 and non-SF E. coli O157:H7 and E. coli O157:H- strains by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. The SF E. coli O157:H- strains had identical or closely related XbaI patterns that differed markedly from those for the other E. coli O157 strains. Plasmid content and the presence of Shiga-like toxin-converting phages were determined for the SF E. coli O157:H- strains, indicating that these strains harbor a single 90-kb plasmid. They are lysogenized by toxin-converting phages and harbor the eae gene. Nonmotile E. coli O157 strains were observed to adhere more efficiently to HEp-2 cells than the motile strains. From their phenotypic and genotypic features, the SF E. coli O157:H- strains may well represent a new clone with non-SF E. coli O157:H7 pathogenic characteristics.
Comparing techniques for vegetation classification using multi- and hyperspectral images and ancillary environmental data

This paper evaluates the predictive power of innovative and more conventional statistical classification techniques. We use Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and airborne imaging spectrometer (HyMap) images to classify Mediterranean vegetation types, with and without inclusion of ancillary data (geology, soil classes and digital elevation model derivatives). When the number of classes is low, both conventional and innovative techniques perform well. For larger numbers of classes the innovative techniques of random forests and support vector machines outperform the other techniques. Compared to conventional techniques, classification trees, random forests and support vector machines proved to be better suited for the incorporation of continuous and categorical ancillary data: overall accuracies and accuracies for individual classes improve significantly when many, difficult to separate, classes are taken into account. Therefore, these techniques are definitely worth including in common image analysis software packages.
Achieving Energy-Efficient Bipedal Walking Trajectory through GA-Based Optimization of Key Parameters

This paper proposes a method of energy-efficient trajectory planning for bipedal walking robots. In this study, we plan hip and foot trajectories in Cartesian space using polynomial interpolation. The seven key parameters which define the hip and foot trajectories are optimized by genetic algorithm (GA). Since the hip trajectory is crucial to the stability and walking performance of bipedal robot, we introduce a way to increase hip trajectory's variation by extending the order of the interpolated polynomial and using a set of key parameters. To ensure stable walking motion, we employ the zero-moment-point (ZMP) as the stability criterion. The effectiveness of our proposed method is verified by two simulation examples (flat terrain walking and slope walking) of a humanoid robot named NUSBIP-II.
WLC21-2: Joint Antenna Selection in Space-Time Coded MIMO Systems with Outdated CSIT

Previous works on joint, both transmit and receive, antenna selection in MIMO systems have placed the computation burden to the receiver side, where perfect channel state information (CSI) at the receiver is assumed and the selected transmit antenna indices are sent back to the transmitter. This solution might not be practical, since with bursty packet transmission, the selected antenna subset may no longer be a good choice at the instant of actual transmission. In light of this, we formulate the problem such that the transmitter is performing the selection based on the CSI estimated a while back, or outdated CSI. A space-time coded MIMO channel with correlated flat fading and joint antenna selection is considered. Our closed-form optimal selection criterion incorporating the outdatedness of the CSI outperforms the existing solutions which treat the outdated CSI as the actual CSI.
A Fast Transient-Current Control Strategy in Sensorless Vector-Controlled Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor

This letter presents a current control technique for fast transient-current response in a sensorless vector-controlled permanent magnet synchronous motor. Pontryagin's maximum principle is employed to derive the time-optimal voltage solution. Based on this principle, the technique can guarantee the current vector transition from one operating point to another with minimum time. Compared to a proportional-integral controller, the current response by using the time-optimal controller is much faster, even under a limited dc bus voltage. Experiments are carried out to substantiate the proposed technique
Measurement of the rotational Doppler frequency shift of a spinning object using a radio frequency orbital angular momentum beam.

An indirect approach based on phase measurement is proposed to measure the rotational Doppler frequency shift, which takes full advantage of the phase structure of orbital angular momentum (OAM) beams in radio domain, using a vector network analyzer (VNA) as a phase discriminator. A proof-of-concept experiment is established by an optical-controlled system with the OAM state of 1. By analyzing the experiment's results, the rotational Doppler frequency shift is measured as 24.83 Hz (max error rate 0.67%) at 50π rad/s rotational velocity, deducing the rotational velocity as 50. 18π (average error rate 0.36%).
Entanglement and decoherence of N atoms and a mesoscopic field in a cavity

We investigate the behavior of N atoms resonantly coupled to a single electromagnetic field mode sustained by a high quality cavity, containing a mesoscopic coherent field. We show with a simple effective Hamiltonian model that the strong coupling between the cavity and the atoms produces an atom-field entangled state, involving N+1 nearly coherent components slowly rotating at different paces in the phase plane. The periodic overlap of these components results in a complex collapse and revival pattern for the Rabi oscillation. We study the influence of decoherence due to the finite cavity quality factor. We propose a simple analytical model, based on the Monte Carlo approach to relaxation. We compare its predictions with exact calculations and show that these interesting effects could realistically be observed on a two or three atoms sample in a 15 photon field with circular Rydberg atoms and superconducting cavities.
Certificateless Public Key Cryptography: A Research Survey

Certificateless Public Key Cryptography is a scheme that provides security by avoiding the key escrow and eliminating the drawback of identity-based cryptography. Several certificateless models have been proposed to enhance the efficiency and overcome adversaries attacks. In this paper, we survey various public key encryption schemes on certificateless setting with the security model and discuss the performance. Also, we present the generic model of Certificateless Public Key Encryption (CL-PKE) scheme proposed by various authors.
6‐31G* basis set for third‐row atoms

Medium basis sets based upon contractions of Gaussian primitives are developed for the third‐row elements Ga through Kr. The basis functions generalize the 6‐31G and 6‐31G* sets commonly used for atoms up to Ar. A reexamination of the 6‐31G* basis set for K and Ca developed earlier leads to the inclusion of 3d orbitals into the valence space for these atoms. Now the 6‐31G basis for the whole third‐row K through Kr has six primitive Gaussians for 1s, 2s, 2p, 3s, and 3p orbitals, and a split‐valence pair of three and one primitives for valence orbitals, which are 4s, 4p, and 3d. The nature of the polarization functions for third‐row atoms is reexamined as well. The polarization functions for K, Ca, and Ga through Kr are single set of Cartesian d‐type primitives. The polarization functions for transition metals are defined to be a single 7f set of uncontracted primitives. Comparison with experimental data shows good agreement with bond lengths and angles for representative vapor‐phase metal complexes. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Comput Chem 22: 976–984, 2001
A three-level five-phase inverter with coupled inductors and DC flux cancellation

A three-level five phase inverter using coupled inductors is proposed in this paper. By inserting the coupled inductors into a half-bridge circuit, this topology is able to produce three output voltage levels. The usage of the inductors eliminates the need for dead-time zone which improves the total harmonic distortion of the output voltage. In case of the saturation in the magnet core caused by dc magnetic flux, two different cores are employed in the topology, that is, one toroidal core and one three-limb core. A proper connection of the windings is determined so as to balance the ac flux in the cores. A discontinuous switching strategy is designed for the proposed inverter. This strategy is based on the vector space decomposition so that the harmonics generated in the x-y sub-plane are restricted. To reset the ac flux in the coupled inductor, the sub-redundant switching states are utilized within the carriers. Simulations are executed in the MATLAB to validate the topology and the proposed switching strategy.
Robust Rendezvous Planning Under Maneuver Execution Errors

The problem of designing rendezvous guidance maneuver plan robust to thrusting errors is addressed in this paper. The aim of this paper is to develop tractable and robust guidance algorithms. Solving the rendezvous guidance problem via a direct approach leads to uncertain optimization problems while accounting for the Guidance, Navigation and Control (GNC) systems uncertainties and errors. A worst-case ap-proach is considered in order to obtain tractable robust counterparts. The robustness certificates derived from these guidance algorithm provide the means to analyze the effects of the considered errors on the rendezvous mission. Several types of missions tested in a linear environment are used to illustrate the methodology.
A Response Surface Methodology approach to operating system scheduler tuning

Tuning operating system components is a cyclical process involving setting parameters, evaluating the effect of the settings, making adjustments, and testing again. This is an expensive process, both taking a long time and requiring money to hire people to do it. In this paper we present a statistical approach to tuning of an operating system scheduler using Design of Experiments (DOE) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM). We make use of a benchmark and generate a response surface based on the runtime of the benchmark and three Linux scheduler parameters. We produce a model of the scheduler and optimize the parameter settings, minimizing the number of times the benchmark had to be run to find the optimal settings. In our experiment, we achieved an 11% performance improvement when the Linux scheduler runs the benchmark. We also compared the scalability of the optimized and unoptimized schedulers and discovered that the optimized scheduler does much better in this regard. This was done without prior knowledge of optimal settings for the workload we used.
The relationship between age, processing speed, working memory capacity, and language comprehension

A total of 50 elderly individuals and 48 college students were tested on several measures of processing speed and of working memory capacity. Language processing was tested with an on‐line measure of sentence processing efficiency, an end‐of‐sentence acceptability judgement task, and a paragraph comprehension test. Elderly individuals performed more poorly than college students on the speed of processing and working memory measures and had longer listening times overall on the sentence processing measures. Elderly individuals did not, however, have overall longer listening times at the most capacity‐demanding regions of the harder sentence types. Correlational analyses failed to establish a relationship between the increase in syntactic processing load at the capacity‐demanding region of the harder sentence type and the measures of working memory capacity, but did establish a relationship between paragraph comprehension and working memory capacity. The data are argued to provide evidence that the WM system used to structure sentences syntactically is separate from that used in other aspects of language comprehension.
Transcriptional regulation of the human factor IX promoter by the orphan receptor superfamily factors, HNF4, ARP1 and COUP/Ear3

A study of the human clotting factor IX promoter by DNase I footprinting and gel shifts in vitro, and by functional analysis of HepG2 cells in vivo, suggests that the liver‐enriched transcription factor, HNF4, is involved in transactivating two cis‐acting elements, i.e. X (nucleotides −15 to +3) and Y (nucleotides +15 to +36), in addition to the well‐known element centred around nucleotide −20. Other members of the orphan receptor superfamily, e.g. ARP1 and COUP/Ear3, repress the factor IX promoter possibly by competition with HNF4 binding sites in the X and Y elements, but probably not at the −20 element. Mutations at −6 in the promoter, similar to those found in patients with haemophilia B, hinder HNF4 binding and transactivation of the X element, suggesting that impaired HNF4 binding contributes to the down‐regulation of the factor IX expression in these patients, but is unlikely to be the only factor involved.
ADP‐ribosylation factor 6 acts as an allosteric activator for the folded but not disordered cholera toxin A1 polypeptide

The catalytic A1 subunit of cholera toxin (CTA1) has a disordered structure at 37°C. An interaction with host factors must therefore place CTA1 in a folded conformation for the modification of its Gsα target which resides in a lipid raft environment. Host ADP‐ribosylation factors (ARFs) act as in vitro allosteric activators of CTA1, but the molecular events of this process are not fully characterized. Isotope‐edited Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy monitored ARF6‐induced structural changes to CTA1, which were correlated to changes in CTA1 activity. We found ARF6 prevents the thermal disordering of structured CTA1 and stimulates the activity of stabilized CTA1 over a range of temperatures. Yet ARF6 alone did not promote the refolding of disordered CTA1 to an active state. Instead, lipid rafts shifted disordered CTA1 to a folded conformation with a basal level of activity that could be further stimulated by ARF6. Thus, ARF alone is unable to activate disordered CTA1 at physiological temperature: additional host factors such as lipid rafts place CTA1 in the folded conformation required for its ARF‐mediated activation. Interaction with ARF is required for in vivo toxin activity, as enzymatically active CTA1 mutants that cannot be further stimulated by ARF6 fail to intoxicate cultured cells.
The emerging role and clinical implication of human exonic circular RNA

ABSTRACT Circular RNA from backspliced exons (or exonic circular RNA, circRNA) is a type of covalently closed non-colinear RNA that was recently rediscovered in eukaryotes. Although circRNAs are often expressed at low levels, emerging evidence indicates that many circRNAs are linked to physiological development and various diseases. Notably, circRNAs have been shown to serve as oncogenic stimuli or tumor suppressors in cancer. circRNAs may regulate gene expression through different mechanisms. In addition, circRNAs have been shown to be useful as biomarkers of diseases due to their stability, specific expression and relation to diseases both in cells and in extracellular fluid. This review summarizes current knowledge of human circRNAs and discusses the emerging role and clinical implication of these multifarious transcripts.
Hospital admission among HIV-exposed uninfected children compared with HIV-unexposed children

Objective: :The main objective of this study was, on a national level, to investigate the risk of in-hospital admissions and use of antibiotics during the first 4 years of life among HIV-exposed uninfected (HEU) children compared with a matched control group of HIV-unexposed children. Design:A nationwide register-based cohort study. Methods:All HEU children born in Denmark from 2000 to 2012 were individually matched to five HIV-unexposed controls. Outcomes were risk of hospital admission (any, because of an infectious disease, observation/nonspecific diagnosis) and use of antibiotics during the first 4 years of life. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) were estimated using Poisson regression analysis. Results:In total, 317 HEU children and 1581 matched controls were included. HEU children had a three-fold increased risk of overall admissions {incidence rate ratio (IRR) 3.49 [95% confidence interval (CI) 2.98–4.08]}. There was no difference in risk of admission because of infectious diseases [IRR 1.11 (95% CI 0.73–1.70)] and no difference in use of antibiotics [IRR 0.88 (95% CI 0.73–1.04)]. The excess risk per 100 person-years of admission was primarily caused by an increased risk of admission because of observation/nonspecific diagnosis [excess incidence rate 22.6 (95% CI 18.2–27.0), IRR 6.06 (95% CI 4.84–7.61)]. Conclusion:HEU children had an increased risk of overall hospital admission mainly due to an increased risk of admission because of observation/nonspecific diagnosis. There was no increased risk of admission due to infectious disease. The excess risk of admission among HEU may be related to prophylactic treatment and/or HIV testing rather than somatic disease related to HIV or exposure to antiretroviral therapy.
In vitro acute skin irritancy of chemicals using the validated EPISKIN model in a tiered strategy Results and performances with 184 cosmetic ingredients

Following considerable interest in the development of in vitro model substitutes, reconstructed human skin or epidermis available as standardized kits, allow the measurement of parameters linked to the safety of topically applied products. Able to mimic in vivo situation, the EPISKIN 3-D model (SkinEthic Laboratories) was involved in the formal ECVAM sponsored acute skin irritation validation. EPISKIN 0.38 cm2 was validated as a full replacement method by the ESAC (April 2007 statement). The protocol was based on a short treatment time (15 min) followed by an extended 42 hour posttreatment incubation period. The prediction model mainly based on the validated viability measurement (MTT) combined with the useful adjunct IL-1α and appropriate cut-off values allowed the drawing up of 2 chemical classes: Irritants (EU risk, R38) and non-irritants (EU risk, no classification). Applied to a set of 184 raw ingredients covering diverse physical-chemical categories, sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of the prediction model were 85%, 86% and 86% respectively. Results demonstrated the usefulness of the tiered strategy combining two complementary end points MTT + IL-1α as a decision-making tool for skin irritancy hazard identification. The present work is part of a strategy assessing performances on a large number of chemical realistically relevant to industrial needs in order to concretely determine applicability domains while understanding the remaining gaps.
EPDA: Enhancing Privacy-Preserving Data Authentication for Mobile Crowd Sensing

As a popular application, mobile crowd sensing systems aim at providing more convenient service via the swarm intelligence. With the popularity of sensor-embedded smart phones and intelligent wearable devices, mobile crowd sensing is becoming an efficient way to obtain various types of sensing data from individuals, which will make people's life more convenient. However, mobile crowd sensing systems today are facing a critical challenge, namely the privacy leakage of the sensitive information and valuable data, which can raise grave concerns among the participants. To address this issue, we propose an enhanced secure certificateless privacy-preserving verifiable data authentication scheme for mobile crowd sensing, named EPDA. The proposed scheme provides unconditional anonymous data authentication service for mobile crowd sensing, by deploying an improved certificateless ring signature as the cryptogram essential, in which the big sensing data should be signed by one of legitimate members in a specific group and could be verified without exposing the actual identity of the participant. The formal security proof demonstrates that EPDA is secure against existential forgery under adaptive chosen message and identity attacks in random oracle model. Finally, extensive simulations are conducted. The results show that the proposed EPDA efficiently decreases computational cost and time consumption in the sensing data authentication process.
Bi-Layer metasurfaces for dual and broadband terahertz antireflection

Here we demonstrate self-aligned bi-layer metallic metasurfaces that accomplish dual and broadband terahertz antireflection. Numerical simulations and experimental measurements show that excellent antireflection performance can be achieved by simply tailoring the geometry of the subwavelength structures. This flexible antireflection scheme can be applied to substrates with arbitrary refractive indices and scalable to operate over a wide spectral range.