Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bariatric surgery for obese live kidney donors: an analysis of risks and benefits

Background: Obesity can be a barrier to live donor selection and there are reports of obese live kidney donors (OLKDs) undergoing bariatric surgery prior to donation. While this practice has potential promise, the risks associated with it are unclear. Thus, our aim was to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of this practice. Design: Risks and benefits were ascertained from the literature. Analysis of costs and benefits was performed to provide objective data for each scenario. Results: Live kidney donation is associated with superior outcomes compared to deceased donation. However, live donors are at risk of complications that could be exacerbated by obesity. Higher donor body mass index (BMI) has been associated with inferior recipient outcomes. Bariatric surgery (BS) results in decreased mortality and can induce sustained weight loss. Our cost-benefit analysis revealed a benefit-to-cost ratio of 3.64 for BS prior to live donation by OLKDs. We found ratios of 3.19 and 0.97 for live donation with an obese donor and a deceased donor, respectively. Conclusions: Our results suggest that BS for an OLKD has the potential to increase the number of live donors and improve outcomes. However, more data is required; thus we recommend a registry of patients who have undergone both procedures. or not the benefits outweigh the risks. National databases such as the United Network for Organ Sharing and the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program do not capture patients who have undergone BS with subsequent live donation. Given that the frequency of this scenario will likely rise with the increasing rate of obesity and a greater need for live donors, we sought to clarify the risk factors associated with it in order to maximize live donor safety and better inform the transplant community. Furthermore, we aimed to determine the costs and benefits such a strategy would have compared to donation from an obese live donor, and a deceased donor.
Toxicity of binary mixtures of nickel, copper, cadmium and zinc to Daphnia magna

iii LIST OF FIGURES . vi LIST OF TABLES . ix LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS . x ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Metals and metal mixtures in the environment . 1 1.2 Current regulatory regime 2 1.3 Biotic Ligand Model and ecotoxicity potential . 6 1.4 The need for more robust metal-mixture parameterization . 11 1.5 Thesis objectives . 12 CHAPTER 2: BINARY MIXTURES OF NICKEL, COPPER, CADMIUM AND ZINC 2.
Near Optimal Distributed Cooperative Spectrum Sensing and Access: A Benefit-and-Compensation Approach

The problem of distributed and dynamic sensing user selection in cognitive systems is studied in this paper, where channel sensing consumes resources and users behavior is distributed. Since users can obtain the channel state from the fusion center, if there are other users sensing the channel, users may enjoy the results sensed by others rather than sense the channel themselves. Such selfish behavior decreases both network utility and individual rewards. Inspired by the social expectation that no one should always enjoy the fruits of others' labor and that one should provide compensation after obtaining a benefit, we propose a distributed sensing compensation algorithm in this paper. The main concept of this algorithm is that after a channel is accessed successfully, users must sense the channel as a compensation for enjoying others' sensing results. The system state probabilities are obtained using Markov chain analysis. We show that there are always an optimal or near optimal number of users sensing the channel and hence, the near-optimal performance is achieved on average using the proposed algorithm. Additionally, the algorithm achieves good fairness performance with respect to the sensing cost. It is further shown that the proposed algorithm is not only suitable for static scenarios but also adaptable for dynamic scenarios with a changing active user set.
Simple position estimation for wireless sensor networks

Wireless sensor networks need to have positioning information in order to form a coherent picture of the environment they are sensing. Traditional methods of providing this information, such as GPS, fall outside the cost, power and processing constraints of these networks. This paper presents a solution to this problem based on an exploration of the possibilities that exist given the network constraints and using some of these hidden constraints to an advantage. The method is based on the assumption that inter-node ranging and communication is possible and that there exists devices within the network that know their absolute position via GPS or hard coding. The technique uses “iterative averaging” to enable the network converge to a stable solution. This approach gives fast, approximate localization information, given the constraints of sensor networks.
Treatment of brewery wastewater by pilot scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor in mesophilic temperature

In this study, treatment of brewery wastewater by pilot scale upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor in mesophilic phase was investigated. UASB reactor was achieved with brewery wastewater to an organic loading rate (OLR) of 7 kg COD/m 3 -d at 12 m/d upflow velocity with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 3.5 day, and chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 95% with a methane yield of 0.30 m 3 CH 4 /kg COD removed . At an OLR 0.20 kg COD/m 3 -d, sludge concentration was increased and reached even 70000 mg/l at the end of 6 th month. At the end of experiment, a granular sludge with good settling properties was produced.
Calibration of fisheye camera based on genetic algorithm

This paper focused on the method of calibration for fisheye camera, a new method of image correction was used as pretreatment. On this basis, it combined genetic algorithm to optimize the parameter of the fisheye camera. At the same time, it used polygon approach algorithm to improve the precision of calibration. Also, it discussed the improved method with the combination of the actual situation and finalized the rationality of using genetic algorithm for searching optimal parameter.
Carrier Recovery Algorithm for Bandwidth-Efficient Coded Modulations at Low Signal-to-Noise Ratios

A new carrier recovery algorithm for bandwidth efficient modulations at low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) is proposed using only 5 to 10 percent of overhead symbols. It obtains carrier offsets without using conventional phase differentiation, thus avoiding noise enhancement, which is a limiting factor at low SNR, and also does not utilize periodical preambles, which have undesired emissions and probability of false acquisition.
Elevations Detected by BK Channels during Ca 2 1 Influx and Muscarine-Mediated Release of Ca 2 1 from Intracellular Stores in Rat Chromaffin Cells

Submembrane [Ca]i changes were examined in rat chromaffin cells by monitoring the activity of an endogenous Cadependent protein: the large conductance Caand voltageactivated K channel (also known as the BK channel). The Ca and voltage dependence of BK current inactivation and conductance were calibrated first by using defined [Ca]i salines. This information was used to examine submembrane [Ca]i elevations arising out of Ca influx and muscarine-mediated release of Ca from intracellular stores. During Ca influx, some BK channels are exposed to [Ca]i of at least 60 mM. However, the distribution of this [Ca]i elevation is highly nonuniform so that the average [Ca]i detected when all BK channels are activated is only ;10 mM. Intracellular dialysis with 1 mM or higher EGTA spares only the BK channels activated by the highest [Ca]i during influx, whereas dialysis with 1 mM or higher BAPTA blocks activation of all BK channels. Submembrane [Ca]i elevations fall rapidly after termination of short (5 msec) Ca influx steps but persist above 1 mM for several hundred milliseconds after termination of long (200 msec) influx steps. In contrast to influx, the submembrane [Ca]i elevations produced by release of intracellular Ca by muscarinic actetylcholine receptor (mAChR) activation are much more uniform and reach peak levels of 3–5 mM. Our results suggest that during normal action potential activity only 10–20% of BK channels in each chromaffin cell see sufficient [Ca]i to be activated.
Long non-coding RNA MALAT-1 contributes to maintenance of stem cell-like phenotypes in breast cancer cells

Due to the accumulating evidence that has demonstrated the vital role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in tumor initiation, progression and metastasis, the mechanisms that maintain the stemness of CSCs have attracted increasing attention. Metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript-1 (MALAT-1), a long non-coding RNA, which has been revealed to be associated with the malignant behavior of tumors, performs a critical role in maintaining the stemness in several CSCs. In the present study, it was hypothesized that MALAT-1 promotes stem cell-like phenotypes in breast cancer cells. The present data demonstrated that the expression of MALAT-1 was higher in the CSC subpopulation compared with that in the overall MCF7 cell group and that the knockdown of MALAT-1 decreased the proportion of CSCs. The self-renewal assay also demonstrated that knockdown of MALAT-1 decreased the sphere formation rate in vitro. In addition, MALAT-1 is also able to regulate the proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion of CSCs in vitro. The underlying mechanisms may involve the regulation of self-renewal-associated factors, including sex-determining region Y-box 2 (Sox-2). Taken together, the present study demonstrated that MALAT-1 affects the stem cell-like phenotypes in breast cancer cells through regulation of Sox-2.
On Achieving Periodic Joint-Motion for Redundant Robots

The consequence of the loss of involutivity of a specific set of vector fields on the periodicity of the joint motion is examined for redundant robots. An output task, defined as a one dimensional periodic closed curve embedded in a two dimensional working surface, is realized through the computation of joint velocities in the configuration space. Depending on the manner in which the joint velocity is computed from the end-effector velocity, the resulting joint motion can become unpredictable and of a chaotical nature, even though the end-effector movement is periodic and predictable. The paper proposes an improvement over classical pseudo-inverse computation of the joint motion by first suitably selecting two involutive vector fields (used as a basis for parameterization) in the tangent bundle of the output manifold. It also presents a sufficient condition for the periodicity of all the joint configuration based on the involutivity of two vector fields in the tangent bundle of the joint space. The results are illustrated on a five-link rotary redundant robot (5R robot).
Image Fusion Method Based on Directional Contrast-Inspired Unit-Linking Pulse Coupled Neural Networks in Contourlet Domain

To take full advantage of global features of source images, we propose an image fusion method based on adaptive unit-linking pulse coupled neural networks (ULPCNNs) in the contourlet domain. Considering that each high-frequency subband after the contourlet decomposition has rich directional information, we employ directional contrast of each coefficient as the external stimulus to inspire each neuron. Linking range is also related to the contrast in order to adaptively improve the global coupling characteristics of ULPCNNs. In this way, biological activity of human visual systems to detailed information of images can be simulated by the output pulses of the ULPCNNs. The first firing time of each neuron is utilized to determine the fusion rule for corresponding detailed coefficients. Experimental results indicate the superiority of our proposed algorithm, for multifocus images, remote sensing images, and infrared and visible images, in terms of visual effects and objective evaluations.
Development of a Soil Bioassay for Triclopyr Residues and Comparison with a Laboratory Extraction

Abstract The use of triclopyr for the removal of woody and broad-leaf vegetation in right-of-ways and agricultural settings has been proposed for Alaska. Triclopyr concentrations in soil after application are of concern because residual herbicide may affect growth of subsequent vegetation. In order to measure triclopyr residues in soil and determine the amount of herbicide taken up by the plant, soil bioassays were developed. Four agricultural species, turnip, lettuce, mustard, and radish, were tested to determine sensitivity to triclopyr in a 1-wk bioassay. The sensitivity (I50) of turnip, lettuce, mustard, and radish was 0.33 ± 0.05 kg ai ha−1, 0.78 ± 0.11 kg ai ha−1, 0.78 ± 0.07 kg ai ha−1, and 0.85 ± 0.10 kg ai ha−1 (mean ± SE), respectively. Mustard was the most consistent crop in the bioassay with a midrange response to triclopyr and lowest standard deviation for germination as compared to the other species. Thus, it was used in a bioassay to determine triclopyr concentrations in a field trial. The bioassay of mustard closely matched residual amounts of triclopyr in a field trial determined by chemical extraction. Estimates of residual triclopyr concentrations using the bioassay method were sometimes less than the triclopyr concentration determined using a chemical extraction. These differences in concentrations were most evident after spring thaw when the chemical extraction determined there was enough triclopyr in the soil to reduce mustard growth over 60%, yet the bioassay measured only a 10% reduction. The chemical extraction method may have identified nonphototoxic metabolites of triclopyr to be the herbicidal triclopyr acid. These methods, when analyzed together with a dose–response curve, offer a more complete picture of triclopyr residues and the potential for carryover injury to other plant species. Nomenclature: Triclopyr; lettuce, Lactuca sativa L. ; mustard, Brassica juncea (L.) Czern. ; radish, Raphanus sativus L. ; turnip, Brassica campestris L.
A SURVEY ON VARIOUS CLASSIFIERS DETECTING GRATUITOUS EMAIL SPAMMING

Email becomes the major source of communication these days. Most humans on the earth use email for their personal or professional use. Email is an effective, faster and cheaper way of communication. The importance and usage for the email is growing day by day. It provides a way to easily transfer information globally with the help of internet. Due to it the email spamming is increasing day by day. According to the investigation, it is reported that a user receives more spam or irrelevant mails than ham or relevant mails. Spam is an unwanted, junk, unsolicited bulk message which is used to spreading virus, Trojans, malicious code, advertisement or to gain profit on negligible cost. Spam is a major problem that attacks the existence of electronic mails. So, it is very important to distinguish ham emails from spam emails, many methods have been proposed for classification of email as spam or ham emails. Spam filters are the programs which detect unwanted, unsolicited, junk emails such as spam emails, and prevent them to getting to the users inbox. The filter classification techniques are categorized into two either based on machine learning technique or based on non-machine learning techniques. Machine learning techniques, such as Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine, Adaboost, and decision tree etc. whereas nonmachine learning techniques, such as black/white list, signatures, mail header checking etc. in this paper we review these techniques for classifying emails into spam or ham Keywords— Ham, Spam, Email Spamming, Spam Filter, Email Spam
Traffic noise effects of property prices: hedonic estimates based on multiple noise indicators

Valuation of traffic noise abatement based on hedonic pricing models of the property market has traditionally measured the noise as the equivalent, or another average, level. What is not captured in such a noise indicator is the maximum noise level of a vehicle passage. In this study, we incorporate the maximum noise level in the hedonic model letting the property price depend on both the equivalent noise level and the maximum noise level. Hedonic models for both rail and road noise are estimated. Data consists of characteristics of sold properties, property-specific noise calculation, and geographical variables. We use the hedonic approach to estimate the marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for maximum noise abatement where we model the effect as the maximum noise level subtracted with the equivalent noise level. Furthermore, we control for the equivalent noise level in the estimations. The estimated results show that including the maximum noise level in the model has influence on the property prices, but only for rail and not for road. This means that for road we cannot reject the hypothesis that WTP for noise abatement is based on the equivalent noise level only. For rail, on the other hand, we estimate the marginal WTP for the maximum noise level and it turns out to be substantial. Also, the marginal WTP for the equivalent noise levels seems to be unaffected by the inclusion of the maximum noise level in the model. More research of this novel topic is requested though.
Gender Differences in Substance-Abuse Treatment Clients With Co-occurring Psychiatric and Substance-Use Disorders

The study examined gender differences in a sample of 213 substance-abuse treatment clients with co-occurring severe and nonsevere psychiatric disorders. Results indicated that women had higher rates of posttraumatic stress disorder. Males displayed greater severity on psychiatric measures and received a greater array of ancillary services during treatment yet reported less social and psychological problem days at admission. Conversely, females presented relatively greater substance-use severity but reported higher levels of psychosocial distress and less problem days related to substance use. These findings suggest gender differences in problem recognition may exist, with males more readily admitting to problems related to substance use and females more open to acknowledging the effects of social and psychiatric problems. The current results have clinical implications for both the assessment process and the treatment programming. [Brief Treatment and Crisis Intervention 6:255–267 (2006)]
Performance evaluation of corrupted signal caused by random way point and Gauss Markov mobility model on IEEE 1609.4 standards

Recently, to evalute the Quality of Service (QoS) due to the high mobility and corrupted signal impact by the Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) have become essential interest on the IEEE 1609.4 standard. In this work, we study the Two Ray Ground propagation channel caused by Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) on the IEEE 1609.4 standard. We use ns 3.18 and VanetMobiSim for the evaluation of the different scenario based on the Random Way Point and Gauss-Markov mobility model. We found that the Random Waypoint mobility model has better performance compared to Gauss-Markov mobility model in low density nodes.
A nondissipative snubber effective over a wide range of operating conditions

A nondissipative snubber design effectively eliminates switching losses and transistor switching stresses over at least a 5 to 1 range in operating current. The lack of interaction among the nine passive components in the snubber makes its operation and design straight forward without need for empirical techniques. The snubber operation is demonstrated with data on a 1500 W half bridge converter. A reduction of 10 db in high frequency conducted EMI is also achieved.
The Impact of Host Country Effects on Transferring HRM Practices from Western Headquarters to Ukrainian Subsidiaries

The emerging markets of post-USSR countries have attracted Western multinational companies; however, weak institutions and unstable host country environments have hindered the implementation of successful management practices. The Ukrainian market, in light of recent events, is particularly interesting to study for its compatibility with Western businesses. This paper focuses on factors that can facilitate or inhibit the transfer of human resource management practices from Western headquarters to Ukrainian subsidiaries. To explain the national context’s effects better, a business systems approach has been applied to a qualitative study of 16 wholly owned Western subsidiaries, dissecting the reasons for a weak integration of Western practices in Ukraine. Results show that underdeveloped institutions have forced companies to develop additional practices that compensate for national weaknesses, as well as to adjust to a constantly changing environment. Flexibility and local responsiveness were observed as vital for success in Ukraine. Keywords—Business system, HR practices, human resource management, multinational companies, Ukraine.
Design of DC-side stray inductance for high speed switching inverter based on normalization procedure

This paper presents a design procedure for the DC-side stray inductance in a high-speed switching circuit based on a normalization procedure. It is shown that the normalization procedure can define the relationship between the inverter power rating and the upper and lower limitations of the stray inductance. It is clear that the upper limitation of the stray inductance depends on the voltage and current rating of the inverter circuit, and the acceptable over-voltage value is also determined by the voltage rating of the power device. In addition, the lower limitation of the stray inductance considering the short-circuit current is determined by the current rating of the power device. The stray inductance is shown not as the absolute value [H] but as the percent value [%], therefore, it can be designed depending on the inverter power rating. In order to verify the analysis results, experiments using a SiC-MOSFET and SiC-SBD are conducted.
A distributed joint sentiment and topic modeling using Spark for big opinion mining

Opinion data are produced rapidly by a large and uncontrolled number of opinion holders in different domains (public, business, politic and etc). The volume, variety and velocity of such data requires an opinion mining model to be also adopted with the ever growing and huge volume of opinions and obtaining the probabilistic generative model advantages. In this paper we propose a parallel implementation of joint sentiment and topic (JST) model for simultaneously discovering topics and sentiments from reviews on Spark. Spark is an open source and fast cluster computing framework for large-scale data processing. Here we discuss the implementation of JST on Spark and also discuss the benefit of using Spark while exploring the challenges encountered. We used different Amazon opinion datasets with different volume such as (reviews of electronic devices, book, restaurants, DVD and kitchen). The results present significant speedup and high efficiency on larger scale dataset in our experiments.
CMOS RF Power Amplifier for UHF Stationary RFID Reader

A CMOS power amplifier (PA) for a UHF (860-960 MHz) stationary RFID reader is presented. To design a high power and power efficient CMOS PA, quasi four pair structure and integrated passive device (IPD) transformers are used. An amplitude modulation is performed through the cascode gate with a pulse shaping filter. The chips are fabricated in a 0.18 ¿m CMOS process and IPD. Measurements show output power of 32.8-33.37 dBm and the power added efficiency (PAE) of 51.8-56.1% with the supply voltage 3.0 V.
Integrated control of a stand-alone photovoltaic system based on decentralized DC-DC converters

This paper presents a scheme for supervisory control of decentralized stand-alone PV systems. The control is designed to maintain the DC bus regulated independently of solar irradiation, battery charge and load demands. In order to achieve this objective we propose an overall power management strategy to control power flows among PV arrays, battery bank, and inverter. Experimental results for a 480VA converter are provided to validate the proposed supervisory system.