Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE PATIENTS AND ITS CLINICAL EFFECTS ON THE LEFT VENTRICULAR FUNCTION

Background: In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients, left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction is rare. However, abnormal LV diastolic dysfunction has been frequently reported in patients with COPD. Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of left ventricular systolic or diastolic dysfunction in patients with COPD. Materials and Methods: A total of 102 patients diagnosed with COPD as per GOLD guidelines were enrolled. These patients underwent physical examination and standard two-dimensional echocardiographic views, and peak flow velocity of early diastolic filling (Emax), peak flow velocity of late atrial filling (Amax) and early flow velocity peak/late flow velocity peak (E/A) ratio were measured according to the criteria’s of American Society of Echocardiographers. Results: Of the 102 COPD patients, the maximal atrial filling velocity (A-Max) was increased and early filling velocity (E-Max) was decreased in 76 patients (74.5%) (p < 0.001). The early flow velocity peak/late flow velocity peak (E/A) ratio was also markedly decreased in these 76 patients (p < 0.001) indicating left ventricular dysfunction. The atrial contribution to total left diastolic filling was increased in patients with COPD. This was also observed in COPD patients with normal PAP (p < 0.001). Grade IV
Distributed Species-Based Genetic Algorithm for Reinforcement Learning Problems

Reinforcement Learning (RL) oﬀers a promising solution when dealing with the general problem of optimal decision and control of agents that interact with uncertain environments. A major challenge of existing algorithms is the slow rate of convergence and long training times especially when dealing with high-dimensional state and action spaces. In our work, we leverage evolutionary computing as a competitive alternative to training deep neural networks for RL problems. We present a novel distributed algorithm based on eﬃcient model encoding which enables the intuitive application of genetic operators. Another contribution is the application of crossover operator in two neural networks in the encoded space. Preliminary results demonstrate a considerable reduction of train-able parameters and memory requirements while maintaining comparable performance with DQN and A3C when evaluated on Atari games, resulting in an overall signiﬁcant speedup.
Leishmania donovani -Induced Ceramide as the Key Mediator of Akt Dephosphorylation in Murine Macrophages: Role of Protein Kinase C (cid:2) and Phosphatase (cid:1)

Leishmania donovani is an intracellular protozoan parasite that impairs the host macrophage immune response to render it suitable for its survival and establishment. L. donovani -induced immunosuppression and alteration of host cell signaling is mediated by ceramide, a pleiotropic second messenger playing an important role in regulation of several kinases, including mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphatases. We observed that the endogenous ceramide generated during leishmanial infection led to the dephosphorylation of protein kinase B (PKB) (Akt) in infected cells. The study of ceramide-mediated Akt phosphorylation revealed that Akt was dephosphorylated at both Thr308 and Ser473 sites in infected cells. Further investigation demonstrated that ceramide was also responsible for the induction of PKC (cid:1) , an atypical Ca-independent stress kinase, as well as the ceramide-activated protein phosphatases (e.g., protein phosphatase 2A [PP2A]). We found that Akt dephosphorylation was mediated by ceramide-induced PKC (cid:1) -Akt association and PP2A activation. In addition, treatment of L. donovani -infected macrophages with PKC (cid:1) -speciﬁc inhibitor peptide could restore the translocation of phosphorylated Akt to the cell membrane. This study also revealed that ceramide is involved in the inhibition of proinﬂammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha release by infected macrophages. These observations strongly suggest the importance of ceramide in the alteration of normal cellular functions, impairment of the kinase/phosphatase balance, and thereby establishment of leishmaniasis in the hostile macrophage environment. is 15.0 pg/ml. Densitometric analysis. Autoradiographs of endogenous protein phosphorylation and immunoblots were analyzed using a model GS-700 imaging densitom- eter and Molecular Analyst Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA).
On Chip SC DC-DC Converter with Single Input Multiple Output

: In this paper, the On-chip DC-DC converter is implemented in order to improve the performance of the Multicore processor. A single input voltage is converted using on-chip SC DC-DC Converter into variable output voltage. Switched Capacitor plays a major role in DC-DC conversion. The significance of this conversion process is to improve the overall performance of the multi-core as well as to reduce the number of pins used for the power supply. This paper is designed in Verilog HDL code and is widely used in Multicore Systems.
A Preliminary Study on Gait and Motion Analysis for Rehabilitation Applications

Human gait analysis is an extensively studied research area since it provides important information for various health related and rehabilitation applications. Application of gait analysis ranges from diagnosis, monitoring, sports activities and early detection of potential hazards such as human fall. There are various types of approaches used in gait analysis including wearable, ambient and vision based devices. Among them wearable based devices is an inexpensive approach, though it requires additional resources and time for setup each time a gait analysis is required. A non-invasive approach could save lot of nursing and additional resources and indeed give more accurate useful information for gait analysis such as using Microsoft Kinect sensor since it can give depth and normal color images as well. This paper presents a preliminary study on gait analysis which can be applied to various rehabilitation application. The measurements taken includes step width, step lengths, stride lengths, arm spread, trunk sway and angles of knee with respective to hip and ankle while walking. The preliminary results showed that the approach could compute the same parameters as that of the wearable based devices with low error rates.
Generation of Geodetic Lines and Duplication of Triangulated Convex Surfaces

—In the following paper, research about geodetic lines as well as about surface duplication is presented. The calculation of geodetic lines plays an important role in many applications, such as the minimisation of material in manufacturing processes. Many manufacturing steps, such as cutting or attaching layers on curved surfaces, suffer from loss of material. In order to minimise wastage of material, geodetic lines can be employed to find a cutting pattern for the given material with minimal distortion. This paper presents an automatable algorithm that numerically calculates geodetic lines on any given surface. The result is evaluated with a practical example by comparing the numerical result and the analytical solution. The creation of multiple layers serves the purpose to reinforce a given structure to increase its stability, which is commonly done in manufacturing processes. This paper presents an algorithm, which calculates the coordinates of multiple attached layers with any given thickness of layers. Furthermore, the point of maximum curvature is determined.
X-ray properties of high-richness CAMIRA clusters in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program ﬁeld

We present the ﬁrst results of a pilot X-ray study of 37 rich galaxy clusters at 0 . 1 < z < 1 . 1 in the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program (HSC-SSP) ﬁeld. Diffuse X-ray emissions from these clusters were serendipitously detected in the XMM-Newton ﬁelds of view. We systematically analyze X-ray images of 37 clusters and emission spectra of a subsample of 17 clusters with high photon statistics by using the XMM-Newton archive data. The frequency distribution of the offset between the X-ray centroid or peak and the position of the brightest cluster galaxy was derived for the optical cluster sample. The fraction of relaxed clusters estimated from the X-ray peak offsets in 17 clusters is 29 ± 11( ± 13) %, which is smaller than that of the X-ray cluster samples such as HIFLUGCS. Since the optical cluster search is immune to the physical state of X-ray-emitting gas, it is likely to cover a larger range of the cluster morphology. We also derived the luminosity-temperature relation and found that the slope is marginally shallower than those of X-ray-selected samples and consistent with the self-similar model prediction of 2. Accordingly, our results show that the X-ray properties of the optical clusters are marginally different from those observed in the X-ray samples. The implication of the results and future prospects are brieﬂy discussed.
ScholarWorks @ UVM ScholarWorks @ UVM MaxEnt versus MaxLike: Empirical comparisons with ant species MaxEnt versus MaxLike: Empirical comparisons with ant species distributions distributions

MaxEnt is one of the most widely used tools in ecology, biogeography, and evolution for modeling and mapping species distributions using presence-only occurrence records and associated environmental covariates. Despite its popularity, the exponential model implemented by MaxEnt does not directly estimate occurrence probability, the natural quantity of interest when modeling species distributions. Instead, MaxEnt generates an index of relative habitat suitability. MaxLike, a newly introduced maximum-likelihood technique, has been shown to overcome the problem of directly estimating the probability of occurrence using presence-only data. However, the performance and relative merits of MaxEnt and MaxLike remain largely untested, especially when modeling species with relatively few occurrence data that encompass only a portion of the geographic range of the species. Using geo-referenced occurrence records for six species of ants in New England, we provide comparisons of MaxEnt and MaxLike. We show that by most quantitative metrics, the performance of MaxLike exceeds that of MaxEnt, regardless of whether MaxEnt models account for sampling bias and include greater model complexity than implemented in MaxLike. More importantly, for most species, the relative suitability index estimated by MaxEnt often was poorly correlated with the probability of occurrence estimated by MaxLike, suggesting that the two methods are estimating different quantities. For species distribution modeling, MaxLike, and similar models that are based on an explicit sampling process and that directly estimate probability of occurrence, should be considered as important alternatives to the widely-used MaxEnt framework.
How Climate Variables Inﬂuence the Spread of SARS-CoV-19 in the United States

: During the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic, several scientiﬁc types of research investigated the causes of high transmissibility and deaths caused by SARS-CoV-2. Among the spreading factors of the disease, it is known that there is an association between temperature and infected people. However, the studies that identiﬁed this phenomenon explored an association relationship, which is weaker and does not allow the identiﬁcation of which variable would be the cause. This study aimed to analyze the impact of temperature variations and other climatic variables on the infection rate of COVID-19. Data were extracted from weather stations in the United States, which were segregated by county and day. Daily COVID-19 infections and deaths per county were also collected. Two models were used: the ﬁrst model to analyze the temperature and the number of infected cases and the second model to evaluate the variables of temperature, precipitation, and snow in relation to COVID-19 infection. Model 1 shows that an increase in temperature at time zero caused a decrease in the number of infected cases. Meanwhile, a decrease in temperature after the temperature shock was associated with an increase in the number of cases, which tended to zero overall. A 1% increase in temperature caused a 0.002% decrease in the number of cases. The results suggested a causal relationship between the average temperature and number of CODIV-19 cases. Model 2, which includes temperature, precipitation, and snow shows that an increase in temperature resulted in a 0.00154% decrease response. There was no signiﬁcant e ﬀ ect of increased precipitation and snow on the infection rate with COVID-19.
MODERATING EFFECT OF MOTIVATION AMONG THE PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL, RISK TOLERANCE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL RELATIONSHIP OF VIETNAM BANKING SECTOR

The study configured to test motivation moderating effect among the relationship of psychological capital, risk tolerance and entrepreneurial success of Vietnam banking industry. The data was collected from 300 banking sector managers that yield 60 percent response rate. The study predicted results shown that psychological capital dimensions, hopeful self-efficacy (HSE), and optimistic reliance (OR) have directly positive and significant relationship with the entrepreneurial confidence (EC). In the same vein, risk tolerance (RT) also had a positive and significant relationship with the EC. In other words, indirect effect had shown that motivation did not significantly moderates among the psychological capital dimensions and EC relationship while had a significant relationship between the RT and EC. The current research could add a various contribution. Firstly, the study might be considered a first study in the Vietnam perspective therefore, this study could have added some empirical research findings that could be helped to the policy makers and other regulatory authorities to know about these factors importance to increase the confidence level of these entrepreneurial. Secondly, the research could also have helped for the future research collaboration among the researchers and entrepreneurial.
into optimality and resonance in fish swimming.

This paper provides analytical insight into the hypothesis that ﬁsh exploit resonance to reduce the mechanical cost of swimming. A simple body-ﬂuid ﬁsh model, representing carangiform locomotion, is developed. Steady swimming at various speeds is analyzed using optimal gait theory by minimizing bending moment over tail movements and stiffness, and the results are shown to match with data from observed swimming. Our analysis indicates the following: Thrust-drag balance leads to the Strouhal number being predetermined based on the drag coefﬁcient and the ratio of wetted body area to cross-sectional area of accelerated ﬂuid. Muscle tension is reduced when undulation frequency matches resonance frequency, which maximizes the ratio of tail-tip velocity to bending moment. Finally, hydrodynamic resonance determines tail-beat frequency, while muscle stiffness is actively adjusted so that overall body-ﬂuid resonance is exploited.
ESP, EMI and Interculturality: How Internationalised Are University Curricula in Catalonia?

This study analyses Internationalisation at Home (IaH) courses across a wide range of bachelor’s degrees, from humanities to hard sciences, in public universities in Catalonia, as an in-depth analysis of a South European context. IaH courses selected for analysis included courses (i) on international topics, (ii) taught in English and focusing on content (English-medium Instruction, EMI) and (iii) focusing on language, i.e. English for Specific Purposes (ESP). Results point to a high presence of international content courses, especially in humanities and social sciences, followed by EMI courses, although quantitatively scarce and mainly found in engineering. ESP courses are the least present despite their potential to prepare students for EMI. Reasons that may account for this IaH picture are presented. All in all, it seems that current policies leave language and intercultural competence in the hands of content lecturers, who may not have explicit language and intercultural learning outcomes in mind while it appears that the potential role of ESP as an internationalisation driver may be neglected. This paper thus argues for giving visibility to ESP courses and lecturers in their role for the promotion of curricular internationalisation.
Wireless body area network revisited

Rapid growth of wireless body area networks (WBANs) technology allowed the fast and secured acquisition as well as exchange of vast amount of data information in diversified fields. WBANs intend to simplify and improve the speed, accuracy, and reliability of com-munica-tions from sensors (interior motors) placed on and/or close to the human body, reducing the healthcare cost remarkably. However, the secu-rity of sensitive data transfer using WBANs and subsequent protection from adversaries attack is a major issue. Depending on the types of applications, small and high sensitive sensors having several nodes obtained from invasive/non-invasive micro-and nano-technology can be installed on the human body to capture useful information. Lately, the use of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and integrated circuits in wireless communications (WCs) became widespread because of their low-power operation, intelligence, accuracy, and miniaturi-zation. IEEE 802.15. 6 and 802.15. 4j standards have already been set to specifically regulate the medical networks and WBANs. In this view, present communication provides an all-inclusive overview of the past development, recent progress, challenges and future trends of security technology related to WBANs
Numerical Research on the Mixture Mechanism of Polluted and Fresh Air at the Staggered Tunnel Portals

In longitudinal ventilation, circulating air is formed in portals for closely spaced twin tunnels, which causes mixing between the polluted air exhausted from one tunnel and the fresh air flow of another tunnel, thus leading to the rising costs of ventilation system construction and operation. In this study, for the closely spaced tunnel with staggered inlet and outlet, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical simulation method was adopted to reveal flow characteristics of the circulating air as well as variation rules of the circulating air mixing ratio φc with tunnel structure and operation parameters. Results show that both reducing inlet air velocity and increasing outlet air velocity and lateral distance can reduce the impact of the negative-pressure zone at the tunnel entrance on the jet flow structure at the tunnel exit, thus weakening the circulating air. When the inlet is placed behind or aligned with the outlet (staggered distance ∆l ≤ 0), φc will increase linearly along with the increase of staggered distance; when the inlet is placed before the outlet (∆l > 0), φc will first increase and then decrease with the increase of staggered distance. An expression to predict circulating air mixing ratio was created by sections. The predictions show a good correlation with the measurements and indicate that the front slope gradient of the tunnel portal is also one of the factors affecting the circulating air mixing ratio.
Text based maximally stable extremal regions to detect vehicle plate location

: The license plate recognition strongly support intelligent infrastructure systems, such as toll and parking payment application, toll monitoring application, traffic monitoring application, and so forth. Although it has shown promising performance, but some method may fail in a more complex situation, because of the complexity of such variation of the position and orientation of the plate, different illumination, different backgrounds, and objects of non-plate. For efficiency higher visual matching, some fast keypoint detectors and corresponding descriptions have been carried out in several research, such as FAST, SURF, BRISK, Harris Corner feature. In general, plate detection systems have two problems, namely where the plate is and how big is its size. In this paper, we present the number plate localization method based on text segmentation of unstructured standard plates. The algorithm is capable of detecting large number of candidate text regions and progressively removing those that tend not to contain text. The experimental results show that from 16 images with size 4208 x 3120 pixels with a complex background is 87.5% accuracy, and the average detection time is approximately 33.25 seconds. Based on the results, the MSER feature detector can find the text area well. It holds consistent color and high text contrast.
Crowding Activates Heat Shock Protein 90

Hsp90 is a dimeric ATP-dependent chaperone involved in the folding, maturation and activation of diverse target proteins. Extensive in-vitro structural analysis has led to a working model of Hsp90’s ATP-driven conformational cycle. An implicit assumption is that dilute experimental conditions do not significantly perturb Hsp90 structure and function. However, Hsp90 undergoes a dramatic open/closed conformational change, which raises the possibility that this assumption may not be valid for this chaperone. Indeed, here we show that the ATPase activity of Hsp90 is highly sensitive to molecular crowding, whereas the ATPase activities of Hsp60- and Hsp70-chaperones are insensitive to crowding conditions. Polymer crowders activate Hsp90 in a non-saturable manner, with increasing efficacy at increasing concentration. Crowders exhibit a non-linear relationship between their radius of gyration and the extent to which they activate Hsp90. This experimental relationship can be qualitatively recapitulated with simple structure-based volume calculations comparing open/closed configurations of Hsp90. Thermodynamic analysis indicates that crowding activation of Hsp90 is entropically driven, which is consistent with a model in which excluded volume provides a driving force that favors the closed active state of Hsp90. Multiple Hsp90 homologs are activated by crowders, with the endoplasmic reticulum specific Hsp90, Grp94, exhibiting the highest sensitivity. Finally, we find that crowding activation
A Cost-Effective Air Quality Supervision Solution for Enhanced Living Environments through the Internet of Things

We spend about 90% of our lives in indoor living environments. Thus, it is essential to provide indoor air quality monitoring for enhanced living environments. Advances in networking, sensors, and embedded devices have made monitoring and supply of assistance possible to people in their homes. Technological advancements have made possible the building of smart devices with significant capabilities for sensing and connecting, but also provide several improvements in ambient assisted living system architectures. Indoor air quality assumes an important role in building productive and healthy indoor environments. In this paper, the authors present an Internet of Things system for real-time indoor air quality monitoring named iAir. This system is composed by an ESP8266 as the communication and processing unit and a MICS-6814 sensor as the sensing unit. The MICS-6814 is a metal oxide semiconductor sensor capable of detecting several gases such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ethanol, methane, and propane. The iAir system also provides a smartphone application for data consulting and real-time notifications. Compared to other solutions, the iAir system is based on open-source technologies and operates as a totally Wi-Fi system, with several advantages such as its modularity, scalability, low cost, and easy installation. The results obtained are very promising, representing a meaningful contribution for enhanced living environments as iAir provides real-time monitoring for enhanced ambient assisted living and occupational health.