Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Acceptance of American society for gastrointestinal endoscopy's guidelines for endoscopy reports

Background: Several studies indicate that endoscopy reports lack uniform content and terminology. Thus ASGE, ESGE, and WEO have prepared guidelines to improve the quality of endoscopy reports. However, the acceptance of such recommendations in the community of endoscopists has not been assessed. Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine Non-US endoscopists’ agreement to current ASGE guidelines for endoscopy reporting and ESGE recommendations for image documentation. Design: 137 endoscopists were invited to participate in this internet survey, covering 34 items regarding the content of the endoscopy reports. Non-responders received three e-mail reminders before the study was closed. Settings: A web-based survey tool developed at the University of Oslo was used to perform this study (https://wo.uio.no/as/WebObjects/nettskjema.woa). Results: Eighty (60%) of the 137 endoscopists responded, to the survey. Their agreement to the various items of the ASGE guidelines for text content ranged from 21% - 100%. Only 8.9% (95% CI, 4.4% - 17.2%) considered it necessary to perform routine image documentation according to the ESGE guidelines. Limitations: The response rate of 68%, is on the lower limit of acceptable. Conclusions: The cohort of endoscopists agrees partially to the ASGE guidelines. However, they do not consider systematic image documentation necessary
Voltage Dependence of Spin Transfer Torque In Magnetic Tunnel Junctions

Theoretical investigations of spin transfer torque in magnetic tunnel junctions using the tight-binding model in the framework of nonequilibrium Green functions formalism are presented. We show that the behavior of the spin transfer torque as a function of applied voltage can vary over a wide range depending on the band parameters of the ferromagnetic electrodes and the insulator that comprise the magnetic tunnel junction. The behavior of both the parallel and perpendicular components of the spin torque is addressed. This behavior is explained in terms of the spin and charge current dependence and on the interplay between evanescent states in the insulator and the Fermi surfaces of ferromagnetic electrodes comprising the junction. The origin of the perpendicular (field-like) component of spin transfer torque at zero bias, i.e., exchange coupling through the barrier between ferromagnetic electrodes is discussed.
A Mining Algorithm under Fuzzy Taxonomic Structures

Most conventional data-mining algorithms identify the relationships among transactions using binary values and find rules at a single concept level. Transactions with quantitative values and items with taxonomic relations are, however, commonly seen in real-world applications. Besides, the taxonomic structures may also be represented in a fuzzy way. This paper thus proposes a fuzzy multiple-level mining algorithm for extracting fuzzy association rules under given fuzzy taxonomic structures. The proposed algorithm adopts a top-down progressively deepening approach to finding large itemsets. It integrates fuzzy-set concepts, data-mining technologies and multiple-level fuzzy taxonomy to find fuzzy association rules from given transaction data sets. Each item uses only the linguistic term with the maximum cardinality in later mining processes, thus making the number of fuzzy regions to be processed the same as the number of the original items. The algorithm therefore focuses on the most important linguistic terms for reduced time complexity.
Communication Channels and Employee Characteristics: An Investigation

This study investigates the perceptions of 509 employees of nine Kuwaiti companies about the effectiveness of communication channels they have used while sharing information or knowledge with their coworkers. It was hypothesized that selected employee characteristics—nature of work, length of employment, age, educational qualifications, and gender—are significantly associated with their choice and use of ten communication channels. Data were collected using an instrument that listed communication channels, used in earlier studies. One-way ANOVA tests, together with LSD post-hoc, were administered to test five sub-hypotheses. The findings supported the hypotheses partially. Nature of work was significantly associated with six of the ten channels, gender with five, length of employment with three, and each of the age and educational qualifications with two of the media. It was further found that Kuwaiti employees perceived formal documents and formal one-to-one and group meetings to be most effective media of communication. Telephone communications were perceived to be less effective than face-to-face, text, and email communications.
Influence of cultural conditions on the production of bacteriocin by Lactobacillus brevis OG1

demonstrated that larger quantities of bacteriocin could be produced by addition of yeast extracts (3.0%), NaCl (1.0-2.0%), glucose (1.0 %) and Tween 80 (0.5%), while addition of tri-ammonium citrate, sodium acetate, magnesium sulphate, manganese sulphate and potassium phosphate had no effect on production. Maximal activity in composed medium was achieved at initial pH of 5.5, and incubation period of 48h at 30-37 0 C.
Analysis of the disruptive effect model for the prediction of the breakdown characteristics of distribution insulators under non-standard lightning impulses

One of the most commonly used methods for predicting the strength of insulation subjected to lightning impulses of non-standard waveshapes is the Disruptive Effect Model, for which there are different procedures for the estimation of the parameters required for its application. This paper aims at analyzing the main methods for the determination of such parameters. The investigation is based on the comparison of the measured and calculated volt-time characteristics of a 15 kV pin-type porcelain insulator considering two short tail impulse waveshapes (1.2 /4 μs and 1.2 /10 μs), as well as the standard 1.2 /50 μs impulse voltage waveshape. The results relative to the positive and negative polarities of the three voltage waveshapes are presented and discussed.
Self-cascade boost converter based on the phase-shift full-bridge circuit

Contraposing the problem of switching loss and dynamic response of boost converter, a self-cascaded boost (SCB) converter based on phase-shifted Full-Bridge (PSFB) is proposed. The topology is realized by connecting the PSFB converter output in series with its input. The zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) is used to reduce switching losses. By analyzing the small signal model, the perfect dynamic response of the SCB converter is illustrated. Matlab/Simulink software is used and a prototype circuit is built. According to simulation and experimental waveform data, the effectiveness of the proposed topology is verified.
A sub 1 dB NF high dynamic range low-input impedance CMOS amplifier

Receiver coil arrays are used in magnetic resonance imaging or spectroscopy systems to increase the system's signal-to-noise. However, the circulating currents in each coil, distorts the signal in the other coils of the array. To attenuate the circulating currents, each coil is terminated with a parallel resonance network and the signal is detected in the current-domain by a low input-impedance amplifier. This work presents the amplifier required to implement the mentioned coil decoupling method. A push-pull output stage with capacitive feedback topology is proposed to achieve low noise and high linearity. The simulated amplifier at 128 MHz using 0.18 μm ams CMOS technology shows noise figure of 0.3 dB while dissipating 90 mW.
Do art specialists form unbiased pre-sale estimates? An application for Picasso paintings

This work investigates whether art specialists provide good predictors of realized prices for Picasso paintings. A sample selection model is proposed to represent the decision of the seller and the price equation. The model is applied to data on 675 Picasso paintings for the period 1975–1994. It is found that the two auction houses, Sotheby's and Christie's, have given good predictions for the works that have been sold. However, for the unsold works, it would have been possible to give estimates better than those given by the salerooms. As a consequence they could perhaps have sold more paintings than they actually did.
Low-threshold supercontinuum generation in dispersion engineered highly nonlinear chalcogenide fiber nanowires

We report fabrication of chalcogenide nanowires with tailored dispersion enabling low-threshold soliton fission leading to supercontinuum generation. Tapered sub-micron chalcogenide fiber exhibit record ultrahigh nonlinearity (γ ~ 54.1/W/m), over 50,000 times standard silica fiber, and anomalous dispersion.
RUF-MAC: Related and Urgent First MAC for Wireless Sensor Networks

Medium Access Control (MAC) protocols of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) are often required to have special characteristics in concrete applications. Related and Urgent message should be sent First (RUF) is a typical scenario in many applications of WSN. In this paper, we focus on presenting a MAC protocol for RUF applications in WSN. First of all, through analysis, some concrete cases of RUF scenario are listed, from which 4 common requirements of MAC protocols are summed up. Then a novel RUF-MAC is devised to meet these requirements. By modifying the frame structure of IEEE 802.15. 4 standards, new algorithms are presented for the assignment and adjustment of time slots, of which some measures are introduced into RUF-MAC, such as sub-frames competition, priority assignment and adaptive period adjustment. The simulation results of data from RUF scenario show that the performance of RUF-MAC is better than that of other MAC protocols for WSN in RUF scenario.
A Novel Dual-Wavelength Fiber Laser Based on Photosensitive and Polarization Maintaining Erbium-Doped Fiber

A novel dual-wavelength erbium-doped fiber laser is proposed and demonstrated. It uses a linear-cavity resonator scheme containing a 50cm long photosensitive and polarization maintaining erbium-doped fiber with a uniform fiber Bragg grating written at its end, an optical circulator which is used as the all reflecting mirror, an optical isolator and a wavelength division multiplexing coupler. The laser generates dual-wavelength oscillation stably at room temperature.
Heterogeneous integration of microdisk lasers on silicon strip waveguides for optical interconnects

A new approach is proposed to realize an optical link for intrachip optical interconnects. This link includes III-V compound-based laser sources and photodetectors, and silicon-on-insulator-based strip waveguides. The heterogeneous integration of an InP-based microdisk laser with a silicon waveguide using SiO/sub 2/-SiO/sub 2/ molecular bonding and nanofabrication procedures is emphasized. The technological procedure is described and first experimental results show that, with an adequate configuration, 35% of light could be coupled from the optically pumped microlaser to the waveguide, as a result of the vertical evanescent coupling.
ToF/RGB Sensor Fusion for 3-D Endoscopy

Acquisition of 3-D anatomical structure in minimally invasive surgery is an important step towards intra-operative guidance. In this context, the rst prototype of a Time-of-Flight/RGB endoscope was engineered for simultaneous range and color data acquisition. Intrinsic and stereo camera calibration are essential to achieve an intuitive visualization of colored surfaces. Due to the early prototype stage, inhomogeneous illumination and low resolution (64×50 px) complicate the calibration signi cantly. To overcome these challenges, we propose a fully automatic multiscale calibration framework using a self-encoded marker for checkerboard detection. A rst application demonstrates the feasibility of intra-operative measurement. Using our calibration scheme, we achieved a reprojection error of less than 0.7 px for the Time-of-Flight camera and 0.5 px of the RGB camera. Our framework eases calibration and enables future applications to use combined range and colored data.
EFFECT OF ECHINACEA EXTRACT SUPPLEMENTATION ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND HEMO-BIOCHEMICAL TRAITS OF GROWING RABBITS

The effect of Echinacea purpurea extract supplementation on growth performance and hemo-biochemical traits of growing rabbits has been studied on forty eight growing New Zealand White rabbit. The experimental rabbits divided into four equal groups. The first group was served as the control, while the second, third and fourth groups were treated orally with 2.5, 5.0 and 7.5 mg Echinacea purpurea extract/kg body weight daily. Results showed that final body weight, average daily body weight gain and average feed conversion were significantly enhanced in Echinacea extract treatment groups compared with control. Thus, the treatment with Echinacea caused a significant increase in hemoglobin (Hb), Packed cell volume (PCV), white blood cell count (WBC) and red blood cell count (RBC) and indices of erythopoietic status. Echinacea extract treatment showed significant higher in lymphocytes and eosinophils percentage compared with control, while neutrophils, monocytes and basophils showed significant decreases. Also, there was significant increase in plasma total protein (TP) and globulin (G) and significant decreases in urea concentration in Echinacea treated group compared to the control. Similar results were found in plasma AST and ALT especially in medium dose. These results indicate that treatment of growing rabbits with Echinacea extract in different doses improved growth performance, stimulates immune functions and protein metabolism without harmful effects on liver and kidney functions.
Factors Affecting Sustainability Of Wetland Agriculture Within Lake Victoria Basin In Uganda

In recent years, the high rate of conversion of wetlands for agriculture has raised environmental concerns in Uganda. A study was therefore conducted to identify issues that need to be addressed if communities are to continue deriving livelihoods from wetland agriculture, without causing stress to the wetlands of Lake Victoria basin. This was done by conducting household surveys and focus group discussions in two of the districts that border Lake Victoria. Wetland agriculture was found to be a significant source of livelihoods for resource poor communities, contributing over 60% of the household income. Farming was mainly done at a subsistence level. The study found that socio economic factors, poor farming practices and weak policies were contributing to the rapid conversion of wetlands. Concerted efforts need to be made by government institutions to sensitize communities on conservation of wetlands. Some of the policies need to be harmonized to avoid contradictions. Alternative sources of livelihoods must be created to ensure socio economic benefits and environmental conservation. Keywords : Wetland agriculture; Sustainability; Livelihoods; Uganda. Journal of Agriculture and Social Research Vol. 8 (1) 2008: pp. 78-88
Plasmonic nanoantennas as building blocks for ultracompact photonic devices

The concept of ultrafast optical switches based on the nonlinear response of loaded plasmonic nanoantennas is proposed and explored. The plasmonic nanoswitch shows a transition from a capacitive to a conductive coupling regimes in the gap between two closely spaced metal nanorods. A photoconductive semiconductor in the gap is used to generate a free-carrier plasma which short circuits the antenna arms, resulting in a strong modification of the antenna resonance spectrum. A switching threshold several orders lower than state-of-the-art microphotonic switches is predicted by employing the strong confinement of light in the antenna gap at resonance. Antenna nanoswitches might be key devices with applications in integrated nanophotonic circuits or in quantum information devices.
Evaluating advanced VAR compensators for improving power system voltage stability

An evaluation of advanced VAR compensators for improving power system voltage stability is presented. The evaluation includes a comparison of the dynamic performance of three categories of advanced VAR compensators through dynamic simulation in a simple utility system, as well as design, application, operation, and other considerations. The three categories of devices discussed include power-electronically-switched capacitors, inverter-based systems without energy storage, and inverter-based systems with energy storage. Conclusions on relative advantages and disadvantages of the three categories of devices are presented.
Home automation systems control by head tracking in AAL applications

Ambient Assisted Living solutions aim at improving people's Quality of Life. They are typically targeted to specific categories of users, such as older people, or people with limited disabilities, to prolong their independent living at home, in a friendly, safe, and well known environment. This paper presents a software application based on computer vision techniques, to enable the control of an assistive home automation system, by tracking the movements of the subject's head. The application is designed to accomplish the computational constraints posed by the target devices on which it is expected to run. Experimental tests provide positive outcomes in terms of correct movements detection, and reliable activation of commands issued to the home automation system.
Novel 1.5-1.9 GHz Tunable Single-to-Balanced Bandpass Filter With Constant Bandwidth

A novel tunable single-to-balanced bandpass filter is proposed in this letter. It consists of pairs of stepped-impedance resonators (SIRs), which are connected by back-to-back varactors in between. Based on such a simple structure, the filter can cover from 1.5 GHz to 1.9 GHz with constant absolute bandwidth, and exhibit differential outputs in each tuning state. The amplitude and phase imbalances between each differential outputs are less than 0.7 dB and 3 degrees, respectively, in the passband of each tuning state.
Reversible blocking of amino groups with citraconic anhydride.

Butler, Harris, Hartley & Leberman (1967) showed that maleic anhydride could be used for the reversible blocking of amino groups. The maleyl group could be removed because the protonated form of the free carboxyl group catalysed the hydrolysis of the amide bond, presumably by intramolecular general acid catalysis (cf. Bender, Chow & Chloupek, 1958). The present paper reports the effects of introducing methyl groups into the molecule of maleic anhydride. 2,3-Dimethylmaleic anhydride. We had wished to investigate whether the use of maleylation to introduce glyoxyloyl groups (Dixon, 1968) could be extended to the introduction of pyruvoyl groups. We therefore treated arginine with 2,3-dimethylmaleic anhydride (Fluka A.-G., Buchs, Switzerland) as follows. To a solution of arginine hydrochloride (5M) in water was added, with stirring, dimethylmaleic anhydride to a final concentration of 5-5m, and the pH was maintained at 8 by the addition of N-NaOH. Uptake ofbase ceased after about an hour and suitable samples were then applied to paper for high-voltage electrophoresis in the buffer systems used previously (Perham, 1967). Material was detected on the paper by means of the ninhydrincadmium reagent (Heilmann, Barrollier & Watzke, 1957) and also by the Sakaguchi reaction (Jepson & Smith, 1953). It was immediately apparent that arginine alone and no product could be detected after electrophoresis at pH 3 5, but that at pH 6 5
Us and Them: Understanding Upwards Bullying through the lens of Social Identity Theory.

As the nature of managerial work is changing and becoming ever more demanding it is argued that managers are increasingly vulnerable to becoming the recipients of workplace bullying from their staff. The possibility of a manager being bullied by their staff has been under explored within the bullying literature. This phenomenon is referred to as 'upwards bullying'. It is argued that due to the essential role managers play in organisations, and the significant costs workplace bullying has been found to have on individuals and organisations, it is essential that we begin to investigate the real possibility of staff bullying managers. This paper applies social identity theory to allow a further understanding of the phenomenon.
Runtime verification of LTL on lossy traces

Runtime verification techniques mostly assume the existence of complete execution traces. However, real-world systems often produce lossy traces due to network issues, partial instrumentation, sampling, and logging failures. A few verification techniques have recently emerged to handle systems with incomplete traces. Some of these techniques sacrifice soundness and may produce imprecise verdicts. The others depend on the recovery of lost events for a sound and meaningful verdict. In this paper, we present an offline algorithm that identifies whether an Ltl (Linear Temporal Logic) formula can be soundly monitored in the presence of a transient loss of events in a trace and constructs a monitor accordingly. More, we introduce the concept of monotonicity to express the persistence of the verdicts of a loss-tolerant monitor regardless of the recovery of the lost events. Our evaluation demonstrates the applicability, efficiency and practicality of the technique on common Ltl patterns, but also on traces from Google Clusters and MPlayer.
Towards Mid-Air Haptic Widgets

Introduction Mid-air haptic technology has created new possibilities for in-air interaction, allowing users to experience rich haptic sensations without touching or wearing a tactile display. This means we can enhance mid-air interfaces with haptic feedback, potentially improving their usability as users feel cues that help them provide input. As interaction designers, we are faced with an exciting but little-explored design space, which needs to be better understood so that we can create effective cues for mid-air interfaces and their widgets. In this paper, we summarise research at the University of Glasgow into ultrasound haptics, focusing on how our research informs the effective design of mid-air haptic widgets. We then identify future work which will advance our understanding of how we can use mid-air haptics to improve the design of such interfaces.
Experimental and finite element analysis of an electronic pole-change drive

The theory and modeling of an electronic pole-change drive for the purpose of extending the constant power speed range of a four-pole induction machine, has been previously reported. This paper presents verification of the power capability characteristics of the proposed drive through experimental implementation. An indirect field oriented controller is developed for the pole-change drive with the estimated rotor open circuit time constant and d-axis current commands dependent on the mode of operation. It is demonstrated that for a constant power load, the drive can operate at 6340 RPM in two-pole mode without exceeding either the voltage or current limits at 3600 RPM in four-pole mode. A finite element method is also utilized to examine the influence of magnetic saturation on the pole-change drive performance. The nature of the magnetic flux distribution and saturation progression is investigated in both four-pole and two-pole modes. The saturation induced inductance variation is also studied and its influence on the dq inductance matrix is quantified.