Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sexual knowledge of Canadian adolescents after completion of high school sexual education requirements.

BACKGROUND Formal sexual education is a mandatory component of the high school curriculum in most Canadian provinces. The present study was a preliminary assessment of sexual knowledge among a sample of Ontario adolescents who had completed their high school sexual education requirements. METHODS A questionnaire, testing understanding of the learning objectives of Ontario's minimally required high school sexual education course, was distributed in a paediatric emergency department to 200 adolescent patients who had completed the course. RESULTS Respondents demonstrated good understanding of pregnancy physiology and sexually transmitted infections, but poor understanding of concepts related to reproductive physiology, contraception, HIV/AIDS and sexual assault. Most respondents could not identify Canada's age of sexual consent. CONCLUSIONS Respondents demonstrated concerning gaps in sexual knowledge despite completion of their sexual education requirements. Further studies must determine whether a representative, population-based student sample would exhibit similar findings. Sexual education currently offered in Ontario may require investigation.
Mode matching and point matching techniques for dispersion curves of microstrip line structures

In this paper the mode matching (MM) technique is utilized to find the dispersion curve of a regular microstrip line. To convert the algebraic equations to a matrix form, a method is invoked which is similar to the well-known point matching (PM) technique. The results of this hybrid technique (MM-PM) are in close agreement with those from published work.
Photochemical Nucleophile Mapping: Identification of Tyr311 Within the Catalytic Domain of Rabbit Muscle Glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate Dehydrogenase †

Photochemical mapping of nucleophiles in close proximity to the active site Cys149 of rabbit glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) was demonstrated based on the nucleophilic aromatic photosubstitution reaction using two regioisomers of alkoxy‐fluoro‐nitro‐substituted benzenes. Two photophores were covalently attached to the active site SH group of GAPDH and the protein was subjected to photolysis then to the cyanogen bromide cleavage reaction. The advantage of this method is the capability to chase labeled products by monitoring absorption at 380 nm because of the chromogenic property of photophore. HPLC separation identified a large labeled peptide fragment that was further digested by V8 protease for Edman sequence analysis. From the recent X‐ray crystallography of rabbit GAPDH, Tyr311, His176, Ser238 and Lys183 are closely located to catalytic Cys149. Among these nucleophiles, Tyr311 was preferentially labeled with 2‐fluoro‐4‐nitrophenoxy photophore and no label was identified with the isomeric 4‐fluoro‐2‐nitrophenoxy photophore. The result clearly reflects the distance between Cys149 and nucleophiles to distinguish the nearest Tyr311. As photophores show great reactivity even with water under neutral conditions, the distance between nucleophiles and photophores is important for photo‐induced nucleophilic aromatic substitution. The method will provide a useful technique to survey nucleophiles within the catalytic domain.
Image Encryption using Huffman Coding for Steganography, Elliptic Curve Cryptography and DWT for Compression

An abstract is a brief summary of a research article or in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper's purpose. Images can be encrypted in several ways, by using different techniques and different encryption methods. In this paper, I am using Huffman Coding method for image steganography, Elliptic Curve Cryptography for image encryption and Discrete Wavelet Transform for image compression. In my work I am using steganography, encryption and compression all together on the image data. After applying all these techniques on image data it results in an encryption method which is highly secure. For the implementation of the proposed work we are using Matlab software.
3D-printing soft sEMG sensing structures

This paper describes the development and characterization of soft and flexible 3D-printed sEMG electrodes. The electrodes are printed in one go on a low cost consumer multi-material FDM printer. The printed structures do not need any further production steps to give them conductive properties. Comparison between the gold standard Ag/AgCl gel electrodes and the printed EMG electrodes with a comparable contact area show that there is no significant difference in the EMG signal amplitude. The sensors are capable of distinguishing several levels of muscle activity of the biceps brachii. This all gives 3D-printed sEMG electrodes a high potential for creating personalized sensing structures, e.g. in prosthetic and orthotic contexts.
Fast Multifeature Joint Sparse Representation for Hyperspectral Image Classification

Since hyperspectral images (HSIs) usually have complex content and chaotic background, multiple kinds of features would be helpful for the classification task. Recently, representation-based methods with multifeature combination learning have been proposed. However, multifeature learning and the extended contextual information require much more computational burden, particularly for a large-scale dictionary case. In this letter, we propose a fast joint sparse representation classification method with multifeature combination learning for hyperspectral imagery. Once getting several complementary features (spectral, shape, and texture), the proposed model simultaneously acquires a representation vector for each kind of feature and imposes the joint sparsity ℓrow,0-norm regularization on the representation coefficients. The regularization can enforce the coefficients to share a common sparsity pattern, which preserves the crossfeature information. A new version of the simultaneous orthogonal matching pursuit is presented to solve the aforementioned problem because of its optimization with strong convergence guarantee and efficiency. Moreover, to further improve the classification performance, we incorporate contextual neighborhood information of the image into each kind of feature. Compared with state-of-the-art algorithms, it has been proved that the proposed algorithm with much less memory requirements performs tens to hundreds of times faster than those on real HSIs, while providing the same (or even better) accuracy.
CHARACTERIZATION OF TISSUE-MIMICKING MATERIALS USING MAGNETIC INDUCED SHEAR WAVE

Estimation of the tissues mechanical properties of is an important information to the pathologies diagnosis. A novel ultrasound-based methods use shear wave dispersion for this purpose. This paper describes the Magneto Motive Ultrasound (MMUs) implementation to evaluate mechanical parameters of paraffin phantoms. This technique can be applied in vivo as an alternative to biopsy. Ultrasound equipment was used with a magnetic system for generating seismic waves in paraffin phantom containing a magnetic inclusion. Consistent values of elastic and viscous modulus (μ1 = 8.4 ± 1.5 kPa; μ2 = 5.3 ± 2.2 Pa.s) were obtained. The evaluation of MMUs technique for estimating mechanical parameters of soft tissue was satisfactory, but for stiffer inclusions higher temporal resolution is needed.
Addressing the challenges of monitoring a rare and elusive seabird

The Kittlitz’s murrelet (Brachyramphus brevirostris) is a small alcid endemic to Alaska and eastern Russia. Due to its pelagic lifestyle, researchers lack information regarding environmental conditions experienced by Kittlitz’s murrelets throughout the year and how these conditions impact their physiology and vital rates. Further, unlike most seabirds, the Kittlitz’s murrelet is a dispersed nester; therefore, data are limited for this species even within the breeding season. The goal of this research was to evaluate and improve the monitoring methods for the Kittlitz’s murrelet throughout the year. I approached this goal from 2 different perspectives. First, I worked to clarify abundance and trend estimates that have been questioned due to uncertainty in species identification. Second, I used physiological measures to examine the relationships between stress, parental investment, breeding propensity, and environmental conditions experienced by Kittlitz’s murrelets throughout the year. To address uncertainties in species identification, I conducted a field experiment to quantify misidentification and non-identification rates of Brachyramphus murrelets during abundance surveys and evaluate the impacts of covariates on each. I found that misidentification of species was rare and did not bias abundance estimates. Additionally, non-identification was common beyond observation distances of 140 m, though this depended on observer experience, murrelet behavior, and sea conditions. To understand the environmental conditions experienced by Kittlitz’s murrelets throughout the year, I measured corticosterone (avian stress hormone) and prolactin (parental expression hormone) and evaluated their relationships with breeding propensity and ocean productivity metrics. Higher levels of stress during the pre-and post-breeding seasons reflected lower rates of breeding propensity in the following season. Additionally, higher stress was associated with lower sea surface temperatures during the pre-breeding season, and earlier capture dates, longer time-spans between capture and processing, and lower body mass during the late-breeding season. Prolactin positively reflected CORT during the early breeding season and sex during the late breeding season. These results emphasize the need for continued research to understand the mechanisms linking the stress physiology, foraging ecology, and breeding ecology of the Kittlitz’s murrelet and other species that depend on similar resources.
Rapid Screening of E. coli Extracts by Heteronuclear NMR

Assessing whether a protein or protein complex is amenable to structural analysis is an important component in the structural genomics effort. In particular, if complete sets of structures for entire genomes are to be obtained within a reasonable time frame, high throughput methodologies for all steps along the way have to be developed. These days, cloning and expression systems are highly optimized and a variety of commercially available vectors can be used. However, heterologous proteins or protein domains expressed in bacteria may not be soluble or correctly folded, necessitating intricate solubilization and refolding schemes prior to structural or functional studies. NMR spectroscopy is an important tool for assessing the solubility, stability, and structural integrity of a gene product. It allows efficient evaluation of many variations of polypeptide length and sequence (without time‐ and labor‐intensive purification/refolding procedures) using 1H‐15N‐HSQC spectroscopy of samples of 15N‐labeled proteins directly from crude E. coli extracts. In addition to screening for particular properties of the expressed protein alone, it is also possible to map intermolecular interactions such as ligand binding. In this unit, the basic methodology for bacterial growth, isotope labeling, and spectroscopic evaluation of the protein structure is provided.
Triglyceride/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (TG/HDL-C) index as a reference criterion of risk for metabolic syndrome (MetS) and low insulin sensitivity in apparently healthy subjects.

AIM To evaluate if the TG/HDL-C index can be considered as a reference criterion of MetS and low insulin sensitivity in apparently healthy subjects. METHODS The subjects were Mexican mestizos who resided in Puebla City, Mexico, who were anthropometrically, biochemically, and clinically characterized. The TG/HDL-C index was calculated by dividing triglyceride (TG) levels by HDL-C levels. MetS was diagnosed by the Third Report from the Adult Treatment Panel-National Cholesterol Education Program (ATP-III NCEP) criteria, while insulin sensitivity was evaluated by the Quantitative Insulin sensitivity Check Index (QUICKI). RESULTS The study included 813 subjects, with an average age of 38.6 ± 12.1 years, of which 564 were women and 249 men. An association was found between high TG/HDL-C index and low insulin sensitivity (Odds ratio [OR]: 4.09; p < 0.01) and with MetS (OR: 15.29; p < 0.01). A correlation was found between the TG/HDL-C index and QUICKI (rho: -0.4989; p < 0.01) and with MetS (rho: 0.6581; p < 0.01). CONCLUSION The results indicate that the TG/HDL-C index is associated with low insulin sensitivity and MetS in apparently healthy subjects, suggesting this index as a reference criterion of risk for low insulin sensitivity and MetS.
Autonomous mission management for UAVs using soar intelligent agents

State-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are typically able to autonomously execute a pre-planned mission. However, UAVs usually fly in a very dynamic environment which requires dynamic changes to the flight plan; this mission management activity is usually tasked to human supervision. Within this article, a software system that autonomously accomplishes the mission management task for a UAV will be proposed. The system is based on a set of theoretical concepts which allow the description of a flight plan and implemented using a combination of Soar intelligent agents and traditional control techniques. The system is capable of automatically generating and then executing an entire flight plan after being assigned a set of objectives. This article thoroughly describes all system components and then presents the results of tests that were executed using a realistic simulation environment.
Validation of the Greek Version of Perceived Stress Questionnaire: Psychometric Properties and Factor Structure in a Population-Based Survey

Perceived Stress Scale (PSQ) adaptation is a measuring tool of perceived stress and evaluation of its psychometric properties, on a population-based survey (Greece). Sample N = 1318 of people has anonymously completed the PSQ, comparing it to the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Depressive, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). The factor analysis, has shown that the PSQ includes five main factors (Overload, Worries, Joy, Tension/Fatigue, Harassment), which explain the 54.28% of the phenomenon variance. The Cronbach alpha index was 0.9 approaching the respective reliability factor at the original validation (alpha > 0.9). The test-retest reliability was highly statistically significant with an alpha = +0.86, close to the results of the original validation (r = 0.82). The criterion validity has shown high correlation with the PSS (r = 0.737), plus the fact that the results of the correlation with the DSS-21 (r = 0.597) were satisfactory. The satisfactory results, as it concerns the psychometric properties of the PSQ, make the questionnaire an appropriate measuring tool of the perceived stress of the Greek population.
Effects of montelukast on subjective and objective outcome measures in preschool asthmatic children

It is well accepted that control of airway inflammation is crucial for overall asthma control. Hence, efficient anti‐inflammatory therapy is important for disease control. Therefore, we studied the effect of a treatment with montelukast on subjective and objective measures in preschool asthmatic children with insufficient control of airway inflammation, illustrated by increased fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO). Thirty‐one preschool children (2.5–5 years) were included in this study. Children with FeNO ≥ 10 ppb at the first visit received montelukast 4 mg as a first line therapy or an add‐on therapy to their baseline treatment (group 1). Therapy was not changed at first visit in children with FeNO < 10 ppb (group 2). Symptom scores, FeNO, lung function (forced oscillation, Rrs8Hz) and airway responsiveness to adenosine 5′‐monophosphate (AMP) were assessed at visits 1 and 2 eight weeks apart. There was a significant decrease in FeNO (median [interquartile range]; 12.9 [3.7] vs. 7.6 [6.85] ppb, P = 0.011), Rrs8Hz (mean ± SD; 10.03 ± 3.1 vs. 8.72 ± 2.43 hPa.s/L; P = 0.047) and symptom scores (2[2] vs. 1.5[2], P = 0.034) and a significant increase in the provocative AMP dose (2.65 ± 2.1 vs. 4.54 ± 1.05; P = 0.015) in group 1 but not in group 2. First line or add‐on treatment of oral montelukast in preschool children with mild to moderate asthma and elevated FeNO, decreased levels of FeNO, improved airway responsiveness to AMP, lung function and symptom scores. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2008; 43:179–186. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Natural selection drives clinal life history patterns in the perennial sunflower species, Helianthus maximiliani

In plants, ecologically important life history traits often display clinal patterns of population divergence. Such patterns can provide strong evidence for spatially varying selection across environmental gradients but also may result from nonselective processes, such as genetic drift, population bottlenecks and spatially restricted gene flow. Comparison of population differentiation in quantitative traits (measured as QST) with neutral molecular markers (measured as FST) provides a useful tool for understanding the relative importance of adaptive and nonadaptive processes in the formation and maintenance of clinal variation. Here, we demonstrate the existence of geographic variation in key life history traits in the diploid perennial sunflower species Helianthus maximiliani across a broad latitudinal transect in North America. Strong population differentiation was found for days to flowering, growth rate and multiple size‐related traits. Differentiation in these traits greatly exceeds neutral predictions, as determined both by partial Mantel tests and by comparisons of global QST values with theoretical FST distributions. These findings indicate that clinal variation in these life history traits likely results from local adaptation driven by spatially heterogeneous environments.
A REVIEW ON RETINAL BLOOD VESSEL SEGMENTATION USING SUPERVISED & UNSUPERVISED LEARNING METHOD

Image segmentation is the problem of partitioning an image in a semantically meaningful way. This vague definition implies the generality of the problem-segmentation can be found in any image-driven process, e.g. fingerprint/text/face recognition, detection of anomalies in industrial pipelines, tracking of moving people/cars/airplanes, etc. For many applications, segmentation reduces to finding an object in an image. Retinal image vessel segmentation and their branching pattern can provide us with the information about abnormality or disease by examining its pathological variance. Retinal vascular pattern are used for automated screening and diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy to assist the ophthalmologists. To enhance the blood vessels and suppress the background information, in this paper, we are proposing smoothing operation on the retinal image using mathematical morphology. Then the enhanced image will be used for segmented using K-means clustering algorithm. We will use the proposed approach on the DRIVE dataset and it will be compared with alternative approaches.
Design of advanced ultrasonic transducers for welding devices

A new high frequency ultrasonic transducer has been conceived, designed, prototyped, and tested. In the design phase, an advanced approach was used and established. The method is based on an initial design estimate obtained with finite element method (FEM) simulations. The simulated ultrasonic transducers and resonators are then built and characterized experimentally through laser interferometry and electrical resonance spectra. The comparison of simulation results with experimental data allows the parameters of the FEM models to be adjusted and optimized. The achieved FEM simulations exhibit a remarkably high predictive potential and allow full control of the vibration behavior of the transducer. The new transducer is mounted on a wire bonder with a flange whose special geometry was calculated by means of FEM simulations. This flange allows the transducer to be attached on the wire bonder, not only in longitudinal nodes, but also in radial nodes of the ultrasonic field excited in the horn. This leads to a total decoupling of the transducer to the wire bonder, which has not been achieved so far. The new approach to mount ultrasonic transducers on a welding device is of major importance, not only for wire bonding, but also for all high power ultrasound applications and has been patented.
QED: The Edinburgh TREC-2003 Question Answering System

This report describes a new open-domain answer retrieval system developed at the University of Edinburgh and gives results for the TREC-12 question answering track. Phrasal answers are identified by increasingly narrowing down the search space from a large text collection to a single phrase. The system uses document retrieval, query-based passage segmentation and ranking, semantic analysis from a wide-coverage parser, and a unification-like matching procedure to extract potential answers. A simple Web-based answer validation stage is also applied. The system is based on the Open Agent Architecture and has a parallel design so that multiple questions can be answered simultaneously on a Beowulf cluster.
The Uptake, Distribution, Metabolism, and Excretion of Methyl Tertiary-Butyl Ether Inhaled Alone and in Combination with Gasoline Vapor

The purpose of these studies was to evaluate the tissue uptake, distribution, metabolism, and excretion of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) in rats and to determine the effects of coinhalation of the volatile fraction of unleaded gasoline on these parameters. Male F344 rats were exposed nose-only once for 4 h to 4, 40, or 400 ppm 14C-MTBE and to 20 and 200 ppm of the light fraction of unleaded gasoline (LFG) containing 4 and 40 ppm 14C-MTBE, respectively. To evaluate the effects of repeated inhalation of LFG on the fate of inhaled MTBE, rats were exposed for 7 consecutive days to 20 and 200 ppm LFG followed on d 8 by exposure to LFG containing 14C-MTBE. Three subgroups of rats were included for evaluation of respiratory parameters, rates and routes of excretion, and tissue distribution and elimination. MTBE and its chief metabolite, tertiary-butyl alcohol, were quantitated in blood and kidney (immediately after exposure), and the major urinary metabolites, 2-hydroxyisobutyric acid and 2-methyl-1,2- propanediol, were identified and quantified in urine. Inhalation of MTBE alone or as a component of LFG had no concentration-dependent effect on respiratory minute volume. The initial body burdens (IBBs) of MTBE equivalents achieved after 4 h of exposure to MTBE did not increase linearly with exposure concentration. MTBE equivalents rapidly distributed to all tissues examined, with the largest percentages distributed to liver. Between 40 and 400 ppm, there was a significant reduction in percentage of the IBB present in the major organs examined, both immediately and 72 h after exposure. At 400 ppm, the elimination rates of MTBE equivalents from tissues changed significantly. Furthermore, at 400 ppm there was a significant decrease in the elimination half-time of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath and a significant increase in the percentage of the IBB of MTBE equivalents eliminated as VOCs in breath. LFG coexposure significantly decreased the percentage of the MTBE equivalent IBBs in tissues and increased rates of elimination of MTBE equivalents. The study results indicate that the uptake and fate of inhaled MTBE are altered upon increasing exposure levels from 4 to 400 ppm, suggesting that toxic effects observed previously upon repeated inhalation of concentrations of 400 ppm or greater may not necessarily be linearly extrapolated to effects that might occur at lower concentrations. Furthermore, coexposure to LFG, whether acute or repeated, decreases tissue burdens of MTBE equivalents and enhances the elimination rate of MTBE and its metabolites, thereby potentially reducing the toxic effects of the MTBE compared to when it is inhaled alone.