Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Egyptian Pyramid Model Housing Enhancing the Compensatory Renal Growth in Nephrectomized Rats

The present study aims to evaluate the role of the Egyptian pyramids housing on the enhancement of reno-regenerative ability after unilateral nephrectomy in rats. Forty two male Wistar rats were assigned equally into three main groups (14 rats for each). The sham-operated control (sham group) and unilateral nephrectomized rats (Nx group). Both groups maintained in their home cages for 7 and 14 days. The third group(Pyramid housed group) in which Nx rats housed within the wooden pyramid (6 hr/day)for 7 and 14 days. The present study showed significant increase in size of the remaining kidney, rate of sodium excretion and marked increase in urea, uric acid and creatinine levels in the serum of Nx rats. In addition, significant decrease in renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system was also recorded following nephrectomy for 7 and 14 days. Pyramid environment reversed the actions of nephrectomy in rats and restored the kidney function near the sham levels. In conclusion: The present study recommends using pyramidal shapes for nephrectomized individual’s rooms immediately following the surgery and during the recovery periods to avoid kidney impairment as consequence of nephrectomy process.
Different Approaches to Supply Adequacy in Electricity Markets

This paper studies the electricity market design long run problem of ensuring enough generation capacity to meet future demand (resource adequacy). Reform processes worldwide have shown that it is difficult for the market alone to provide incentives to attract enough investment in capacity reserves due to technical and institutional features. We study several measures that have been proposed internationally to cope with this problem including strategic reserves, capacity payments, capacity requirements, and call options. The analytical and practical strengths and weaknesses of each approach are discussed .
Long-term lidar observations of wintertime gravity wave activity over northern Sweden

Abstract. This paper presents an analysis of gravity wave activity over northern Sweden as deduced from 18 years of wintertime lidar measurements at Esrange (68° N, 21° E). Gravity wave potential energy density (GWPED) was used to characterize the strength of gravity waves in the altitude regions 30–40 km and 40–50 km. The obtained values exceed previous observations reported in the literature. This is suggested to be due to Esrange's location downwind of the Scandinavian mountain range and due to differences in the various methods that are currently used to retrieve gravity wave parameters. The analysis method restricted the identification of the dominating vertical wavelengths to a range from 2 to 13 km. No preference was found for any wavelength in this window. Monthly mean values of GWPED show that most of the gravity waves' energy dissipates well below the stratopause and that higher altitude regions show only small dissipation rates of GWPED. Our analysis does not reproduce the previously reported negative trend in gravity wave activity over Esrange. The observed inter-annual variability of GWPED is connected to the occurrence of stratospheric warmings with generally lower wintertime mean GWPED during years with major stratospheric warmings. A bimodal GWPED occurrence frequency indicates that gravity wave activity at Esrange is affected by both ubiquitous wave sources and orographic forcing.
Alcatraz: Data Exfiltration-Resilient Corporate Network Architecture

In Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs), an adversary targets network components such as switches and middle boxes as well as end hosts to exfiltrate sensitive information out of the network. We propose Alcatraz, a new corporate network architecture to prevent data exfiltration. Alcatraz ensures path integrity, packet integrity, and packet confidentiality to prevent a malicious network component from extracting, altering, or maliciously forwarding any network packet. Alcatraz leverages Trusted Execution Environments (TEE) created by Intel SGX to protect modules providing these security properties. To achieve exfiltration resilience, our architecture ensures that sensitive information is only processed within a TEE, from the sender to the receiver and along all network nodes. Although our architecture requires many changes, it explores the design space of what level of security can be achieved today with commodity hardware. Through our software switch implementation, we demonstrate that the performance is already viable for a corporate environment with high security requirements. Our results suggest that an optimized hardware implementation could satisfy also higher performance requirements.
Effects of germination on total phenolic compounds and radical scavenging activity in hull-less spring cereals and triticale.

The aim of the current research was to evaluate changes in the content of total phenolic compounds and radical scavenging activity at different germination stages of triticale, hull-less barley, hull-less oats, wheat, and rye. Grain germination was performed for 12, 24, 36 and 48 h at controlled conditions. Ultrasound assisted extraction was used for isolation of total phenolic compounds. For all extracts the total phenolic compounds content, DPPH radical and ABTS radical scavenging activity were determined spectrophotometrically. The results of the experiments demonstrated that the highest content of total phenolic compounds and the highest antiradical activity was determined in hull-less barley samples. In all studied grains the content of phenolic compounds increased significantly during soaking and germination process. DPPH radical scavenging activity during germination increased. ABTS radical scavenging activity also increased after soaking process and dynamics were cereal type dependent. Pearson’s coefficients between the phenolic compound levels and antioxidant activity taking into account all obtained results were high. Very strong positive correlations between the content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity were determined for triticale during germination. Also antioxidant activity determined by both tests correlated with the highest results for barley and oats. The highest content of total phenolic compounds determines the optimum duration of germination to be 24 hours, except rye samples where the highest value was reached only after 48 hours of germination. Shorter time was required to reach the highest values of DPPH radical activity – for wheat rye, and triticale, namely 12 hours.
Citation: McKenzie, Karen (2013) A comparison of the effectiveness of a game informed online learning activity and face to face teaching in increasing knowledge about managing aggression

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Masonry Dams: Analysis of the Historical Profiles of Sazilly, Delocre, and Rankine

The significant advances in masonry dam design that took place in the second half of the 19th century are analyzed and discussed within the context of the historical development of dam construction. Particular reference is made to the gravity dam profiles proposed by Sazilly, Delocre, and Rankine, who pioneered the application of engineering concepts to dam design, basing the dam profile on the allowable stresses for the conditions of empty and full reservoir. These historical profiles are analyzed taking into consideration the present safety assessment procedures, by means of a numerical application developed for this purpose, based on limit analysis equilibrium methods, which considers the sliding failure mechanisms, the most critical for these structures. The study underlines the key role of uplift pressures, that was only addressed by Lévy after the accident of Bouzey Dam, and provides a critical understanding of the original design concepts, which is essential for the rehabilitation of these historical structures.
Experimental study of applying shear wave elastography for examining effects of high intensity focused ultrasound ablation against subcutaneously implanted VX2 tumors in rabbits

The aims of this study were to investigate the feasibility of applying Shear Wave Elastography (SWE) to evaluate the effects of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) ablation on Subcutaneously Implanted VX2 tumors in rabbits (R-SIVX2). The tumor hardness in a total of 20 R-SIVX2 models was measured at different time points using SWE following HIFU ablation treatment. In SWE images, the VX2 tumor appeared to be a homogeneous blue, and the average tumor hardness (Emean) was 10.48 ± 0.33 Kpa. Tumor hardness on D1 was the highest (Emean=97.45 ± 23.08 Kpa), and decreased gradually over a 30 d period, with tumor hardness on D30 being similar to that on D0. The hardness uniformity (ESD) in the Region of Interest (ROI) increased significantly as compared to before the ablation, indicating that HIFU ablation can cause acoustic environmental changes in the organizations of the ROI. There were significant differences among Emin, Emean, Emax and ESD at different time points (P=0.00). There was no significant difference in Emin (Emean) between D0 and D30 (P<0.05), but there was a significant difference between D0/D30 and D1/D7/D14 (P<0.05). The Emax values among different time points showed statistical significance (P<0.05), but the difference in ESD between D3/D7 and D0/D1/D14/D30 was statistically significant (P<0.05). In addition to 2D ultrasound and color flow signals, SWE can provide tissue hardness information when used for evaluating the efficacy of HIFU ablation, which can provide useful information for evaluating the effects of tumor ablation.
Non‐parametric Bayesian Estimation of a Spatial Poisson Intensity

A method introduced by Arjas & Gasbarra (1994) and later modified by Arjas & Heikkinen (1997) for the non‐parametric Bayesian estimation of an intensity on the real line is generalized to cover spatial processes. The method is based on a model approximation where the approximating intensities have the structure of a piecewise constant function. Random step functions on the plane are generated using Voronoi tessellations of random point patterns. Smoothing between nearby intensity values is applied by means of a Markov random field prior in the spirit of Bayesian image analysis. The performance of the method is illustrated in examples with both real and simulated data.
Actual and Reference Evaporative Losses and Surface Coefficients of a Maize Field during Nongrowing (Dormant) Periods

Effective water resources planning, allocation, management, and use in agroecosystems require accurate quantification of actual evapotranspiration ETc during growing and nongrowing dormant periods. Prediction of ETc for a variety of vegetation surfaces during the growing season has been researched extensively, but relatively little information exists on evaporative losses during nongrow- ing periods for different surfaces. The objectives of this research were to evaluate ETc in relation to available energy, precipitation, and grass and alfalfa-reference ET ETo and ETr for a maize Zea mays. L field and to analyze the dynamics of surface coefficients Kc during the nongrowing period October 15-April 30. The evaporative losses were measured using a Bowen ratio energy balance system BREBS on an hourly basis and averaged over 24 h for three consecutive nongrowing periods: 2004-2005 Season I, 2005-2006 Season II, and 2006-2007 Season III. BREBS-measured ETc was approximately 50% of available energy RnG; Rn is net radiation and G is soil heat flux density during normal and wet seasons Seasons I and III and 41% of available energy during a dry season Season II. Cumulative ETc ranged from 133 mm in Season II to 167 mm in Season III and exceeded precipitation by 21% during the dry season. The ratio of ETc to precipitation was 0.85 in Season I, 1.21 in Season II, and 0.41 in Season III. ETc was approximately 50% of ETo and 36% of ETr in both Seasons I and III, whereas in Season II, ETc was 32% of ETo and 23% of ETr. Overall, measured ETc during the dormant season was generally most strongly correlated with radiation terms, particularly Rn, albedo, incoming shortwave radiation, and outgoing longwave radiation. Average surface coefficients over the three seasons were 0.44 and 0.33 for grass and alfalfa-reference surfaces, respectively. Using geometric mean Kc values to calculate ETc using a KcETref approach over the entire nongrowing season yielded adequate predictions with overall root mean square deviations of 0.64 and 0.67 mm day 1 for ETo and ETr, respectively. Estimates of ETc using a dual crop coefficient approach were good on a seasonal basis, but performed less well on a daily basis. Regression equations that were developed accounting for serial autocorrelation in the ETc and ETref time series yielded good estimates of ETc. Considering nongrowing period evaporative losses in water budget calculations would enable water regulatory agencies to better account for water use in hydrologic balance calculations over the entire year rather than only for the growing season and to better assess the progression and availability of water resources for the next growing season.
Digital Model of Reflected Signals for a Radar Scene Simulation

This paper is devoted to reveal the best way for the reflected signal model implementation for airborne radar systems. The main attention in the paper is paid to the method of the combination of various well-known and enhanced mathematical models of radar signals, terrains, different lengthened objects, etc. for the effective radar scene creation. Also, the key peculiarities of proposed models are discussed in brief. Moreover, questions of the radar echoes computation algorithm of the radar scene are explored. In conclusion, the requirements to the models and suggestions are presented.
A Technique for Speech Synthesis of Gurmukhi Embedded in LATEX Document

: Text to speech conversion is one of the important applications of the natural language processing. Text to Speech application acts as an interface between text and speech to perform communication. Its main motive is to provide the globalization between two different parties by providing the effective communication. The work presented here, maps the Gurmukhi Script embedded in a Latex document using Pandey package to the corresponding Punjabi audio files. It is beneficial for the persons who want to perform the voice communication by using the presented material. In this work, parsing has been used so as to parse each and every word of the input text and then the next task was to identify the phonetic equivalent of the individual words. Once the phonetic equivalent has been obtained, the next work was to throw it to the audio player. At the final stage, the phonetic equivalent in accordance to the given input has been played to produce the person specific voice which is in Punjabi language. The whole work is performed on the JAVA platform.
SMART POLYMERS: INNOVATIONS IN NOVEL DRUG DELIVERY

Smart polymers are attracting the researchers for development of novel drug delivery systems. Importance of smart polymers is rising day by day as these polymers undergo large reversible, physical or chemical changes in response to small changes in the environmental conditions such as pH, temperature, dual- stimuli, light and phase transition. Smart polymers are representing promising means for targeted drug delivery, enhanced drug delivery, gene therapy, actuator stimuli and protein folders. In the present paper, different types of smart polymers, along with their examples, mechanism of action and applications are reviewed.
Sequential Patterning of Facial Actions in the Production and Perception of Emotional Expressions

Despite the fact that the facial expressions of emotions are naturally dynamic social signals, their communicative value has typically been studied using static photographs. In this paper, we focus on the perception of emotions from naturally occurring, dynamic facial displays produced in social interactions. In describing their impressions of 200 video records of spontaneous emotional expressions produced during a face-to-face emotional sharing task, observers were found to agree on five emotional factors: enjoyment, hostility, embarrassment, surprise, and sadness. FACS coding and sequential analysis using a pattern detection algorithm showed that recordings rated high on one emotional factor were characterized by unique sequences of facial actions coordinated with eye and/or gaze actions. Our results suggest that the dynamic unfolding of facial displays and their combination with additional nonverbal signals may play an important and still under-investigated role in emotion perception in face-to-face interactions.
SNIP: SINGLE-SHOT NETWORK PRUNING

Pruning large neural networks while maintaining the performance is often highly desirable due to the reduced space and time complexity. In existing methods, pruning is incorporated within an iterative optimization procedure with either heuristically designed pruning schedules or additional hyperparameters, undermining their utility. In this work, we present a new approach that prunes a given network once at initialization. Specifically, we introduce a saliency criterion based on connection sensitivity that identifies structurally important connections in the network for the given task even before training. This eliminates the need for both pretraining as well as the complex pruning schedule while making it robust to architecture variations. After pruning, the sparse network is trained in the standard way. Our method obtains extremely sparse networks with virtually the same accuracy as the reference network on image classification tasks and is broadly applicable to various architectures including convolutional, residual and recurrent networks. Unlike existing methods, our approach enables us to demonstrate that the retained connections are indeed relevant to the given task.
Fluorescence velocimetry of the hypersonic, separated flow over a cone

Planar laser-induced fluorescence of nitric oxide is used to measure a component of the velocity field for the Mach 7 flow around a 30-deg half-angle, 50-mm-diam cone mounted to a long, 38-mm-diam shaft, or sting. Transverse velocities are measured in the freestream, the shock layer, and the separated region at the junction between the cone and the sting. For most of the flowfield, the uncertainty of the measurements is between ±50 and ±100 m/s for velocities ranging from -300 to 1300 m/s, corresponding to a minimum uncertainty of ±5%. The measurements are compared with the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code CFD-FASTRAN . The agreement between the theoretical model and the experiment is reasonably good. CFD accurately predicts the size and shape of the shock layer and separated region behind the cone as well as the magnitude of the gas velocity near the reattachment shock. However, the magnitude of the velocity in the shock layer and gas expansion differ somewhat from that predicted by CFD. The discrepancies are attributed to a small systematic error associated with laser-beam attenuation and also to inexact modeling of the flowfield by CFD
The Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care, Management and Treatment Plan in South Africa ~ An Analysis of its Development and Implementation

It has been said that the beginnings of a comprehensive response to HIV/AIDS in South Africa were outlined in the Health Policy of the African National Congress (ANC), prior to 1994 (DOH, 2004b 1 ). “However, the implementation of AIDS policy in the first few years after 1994 has been characterized by a lack of progress and a breakdown of trust and co-operation, both within government and between government and NGOs” argues Schneider & Stein, 2001:724). In 2000, the South African government launched its five-year Strategic Plan for HIV, AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Illnesses (STI), which addressed four areas including “treatment and care”, which did not include anti-retroviral therapy (ART). It was only in November 2003 that the South African National Department of Health (DOH) announced its intention to roll-out anti-retrovirals (ARVs) in its Comprehensive HIV and AIDS Care, Management and Treatment Plan (DOH, 2003). The decision by the Government of South Africa to provide free ARVs came after much pressure from civil society groups, specifically the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), and after the presentation of the findings of the “Joint Health and Treasury Task Team Charged With Examining Treatment Options to Supplement Comprehensive Care for HIV and AIDS 2 ” (JHTTT) in 2003.
A single bout of whole-leg , peristaltic pulse external pneumatic compression upregulates PGC-1 α mRNA and eNOS protein in human skeletal muscle tissue Running title : Compression increases PGC-1 α gene expression in human muscle biopsies

We investigated if a single 60 min bout of whole leg, lower pressure external pneumatic compression (EPC) altered select vascular, metabolic, anti-oxidant and inflammation-related mRNAs. Ten participants (8 male, 2 female; aged 22.0±0.4 years) reported to the laboratory 4 h post-prandial and vastus lateralis muscle biopsies were obtained prior to (PRE), 1 h and 4 h post-EPC treatment. mRNA expression was analyzed using real-time RT-PCR and significant mRNA findings were further investigated via Western blot analysis of respective protein concentrations. PGC-1α mRNA increased 77% 1 h following EPC compared to PRE levels (P=0.005), but no change in protein concentration 1 or 4 h post-EPC was observed. Increases in eNOS mRNA (+44%) and SOD2 mRNA (+57%) 1 h post-EPC as well as an increase in IL-10 mRNA (+132%) 4 h post-EPC compared to PRE levels were observed, but only approached significance (P=0.076, 0.077 and 0.074, respectively). Interestingly, eNOS protein (+40%, P=0.025) and nitrate/nitrate (NOx) concentrations (+69%, P=0.025) increased 1-to-4 h post-EPC. Moreover, SOD2 protein tended to increase PRE-to-4 h post-EPC (+43%, P=0.074) though no changes in tissue 4-hydroxnonenal levels was observed. An acute bout of EPC transiently up-regulates PGC-1α mRNA, while also up-regulating eNOS protein and NOx concentrations in vastsus lateralis biopsy samples. Future research should characterize the origin of these responses (e.g., vascular or muscle fiber cells) and how the