Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Boundary Condition for the Implementation of Arbitrary Acoustical Modes

With the increase of bypass ratios of current jet engines, the dominating sound emission sources of aircraft engine noise consist of the tonal components of the fan and the compressor. Hence, the rotor-stator interaction noise is a significant contributor to the overall sound radiation from aircraft engines. The sound field consists of a superposition of various acoustical modes, generated by two effects: Firstly, the interaction of rotor wakes with the stator in each compressor stage and secondly, the relative rotation of potential fields of the cascades. Based on the blade and vane count and on the blade-passing frequency (BPF), the compressor modes that propagate can be estimated. Since the excited modes determine the emitted sound field, the numerical analysis of these acoustic structures is of great importance in understanding jet engine noise emissions. For this purpose, the sponge-layer boundary condition of the CAA-solver PIANO (developed by the German Aerospace Centre, DLR) is extended to implement arbitrary superposed modes. The FORTRAN-based code computes the resulting sound field in a cylindrical geometry, for a given set of azimuthal and radial mode orders, wavenumber and amplitudes of the modes to be excited. The numerically generated sound pressure distribution is validated against an analytical solution.
Fair Bandwidth Allocation for Wireless Ad-hoc Networks

This paper examines the fair bandwidth allocation problem for wireless ad-hoc networks through an optimization scheme. The interaction between links in mobile wireless networks introduces the fundamental constraints on the flow rate. We propose a primal-dual algorithm which guarantees fair bandwidth allocation, and is proved to be stable. We can obtain various fairness indexes by choosing the specified form of the utility functions, and the numerical results indicate the effectiveness and fairness of the algorithm.
Health-related quality of life in long-term survivors of paediatric liver transplantation.

BACKGROUND Long-term survival after paediatric liver transplantation is now the rule rather than the exception. Improving long-term outcomes after transplantation must consider not only the quantity but also the quality of life years restored. OBJECTIVES To characterize health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of LT recipients ≥15 years after paediatric LT. METHODS Recipients of a paediatric LT performed before December 1996 in a single institution with continuous follow-up at either the paediatric or adult partner centre were identified. Patients with severe developmental or neurological impairment were excluded. HRQOL was assessed using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0, the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 version 2 and the Pediatric Liver Transplant Quality of Life Tool. RESULTS A total of 27 (67% male) subjects (mean age 24.3±6.7 years [median 23.2 years; range 16.6 to 40.3 years]) participated. The median age at transplant was 1.7 years (range 0.5 to 17.0 years). Seven (26%) participants underwent retransplantation. Seventeen (63%) participants were engaged in full-time work/study. Mean Short Form-36 version 2 scores included physical (49.6±11.1) and mental (45.3±12.5) subscale scores. The mean score for the disease-specific quality of life tool for paediatric liver transplant recipients (the Pediatric Liver Transplant Quality of Life Tool) was 64.70±15.2. The physical health of the young adults strongly correlated with level of involvement in work/study (r=0.803; P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The self-reported HRQOL of participants <18 years of age was comparable with a standardized healthy population. In contrast, participants between 18 and 25 years of age had HRQOL scores that were more similar to a group with chronic illness. Participants engaged in full-time work/study experienced enhanced physical health.
Europe and the Future of Economic Governance

The Journal of Common Market Studies, it seems to me, has always rather revelled, in a very British way, in having an out-of-date title. As they used to say, a well-dressed man is always at least ten years behind the latest fashion. Of course, JCMS does not need to worry about that – everyone knows who you are. But you are lucky that you are not called the ‘Journal of Coal and Steel Community Studies’, frankly speaking; or the ‘Journal of European Defence Community Studies’, although that wheel may yet come full circle. And at least you have resisted the blandishments of image-makers who might have reduced you to the poverty of ‘European Union Institutional Reflections Monthly’. In any event, I am pleased to have the opportunity to share some reflections on the future of economic governance, based on my own experience as EU Trade Commissioner and considering Europe as a possible model for emulation elsewhere, in the pages of JCMS. Some of my past writings on economic governance have provoked controversy, particularly in my own country (Lamy, 2002b; Lamy and Pisani-Ferry, 2002), but also in the English-speaking world (Lamy, 2002a). Yet, it seems uncontroversial to view economic governance as being fundamentally about
InfluenceRank: Trust-Based Influencers Identification Using Social Network Analysis in Q&A Sites

SUMMARY Question and Answering (Q&A) sites are recently gaining popularity on the Web. People using such sites are like a community-anyone can ask, anyone can answer, and everyone can share, since all of the questions and answers are public and searchable immediately. This mechanism can reduce the time and e ﬀ ort to ﬁnd the most relevant answer. Unfortunately, the users su ﬀ er from answer quality problem due to several reasons including limited knowledge about the question domain, bad intentions (e.g. spam, making fun of others), limited time to prepare good answers, etc. In order to identify the credible users to help people ﬁnd relevant answer, in this paper, we propose a ranking algorithm, InﬂuenceR-ank , which is basis of analyzing relationship in terms of users’ activities and their mutual trusts. Our experimental studies show that the proposed algorithm signiﬁcantly outperforms the baseline algorithms.
Variability in Densitometric Assessment of Pulmonary Emphysema With Computed Tomography

Objectives:The objectives of this study were to investigate whether computed tomography (CT) densitometry can be applied consistently in different centers; and to evaluate the reproducibility of densitometric quantification of emphysema by assessment of different sources of variation, ie, intersite, interscan and inter- and intraobserver variability, in comparison with intersubject variability. Materials and Methods:In 5 different hospitals, 119 patients with emphysema were scanned using standardized protocols. In each site, an observer performed a quantitative densitometric analysis (including blood recalibration) on the corresponding patient group (n = 23–25) and one observer analyzed the entire group of 119 patients. After several months, the latter observer analyzed all data for a second time. Subsequently, different sources of variation were assessed by variance component analysis with and without volume correction of the data. Results:Inter- and intraobserver variability marginally contributes to the total variability (<0.001%). The interscan variability was 0.02% of the total variation after application of volume correction. The intersite variability was 48% as a result of one deviating CT scanner. Air recalibration normalized deviating air densities in CT scanners. Within sites, the intersubject variability ranged between 93% and 99% based on the analysis of 2 subsequent CT scans of the patients. Conclusions:Almost all variability in the density measurement of emphysema originates from differences between scanners and from differences in severity of emphysema between patients. Lung densitometry with multislice CT scanners is a highly reproducible measurement, especially if corrected for lung volume, because this reduces interscan variability.
Extracellular Polymeric Substances from Cyanobacteria: Characteristics, Isolation and Biotechnological Applications-A

Cyanobacterial Extracellular Polymeric Substances(EPS) play an important physiological role in mat formation and stress tolerance during adverse conditions. They are highly heterogeneous polymers containing a number of distinct polysaccharides and non carbohydrate constituents including proteins, phospholipids and nucleic acids. EPSs are therefore regarded as abundant source of structurally diverse polysaccharides. Some of these possess unique properties for special applications in bioremediation, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Their physical and chemical characteristics show little variability and they are not vulnerable to variations in climatic, cultivation, production or pollution conditions and are secreted in harsh environment. For these reasons, they are good candidates for mass production on an industrial scale and therefore show immense biotechnological potential. Considerable progress has been made in isolation,and characterisation of new cyanobacterial EPSs that possess numerous benefits and are of industrial significance This paper attempts to highlight these developments with a view to increase the inventory of bioactive compounds whose exploitation will lead to development of clean technologies utilising cheap ,desirable and renewable resources such as carbondioxide and solar energy through photosynthesis that cyanobacteria are capable of.
Chromosomal locations and gonadal dependence of genes that mediate resistance to ectromelia (mousepox) virus-induced mortality

Four genetic loci were tested for linkage with loci that control genetic resistance to lethal ectromelia virus infection in mice. Three of the loci were selected because of concordance with genotypes assigned to recombinant inbred (RI) strains of mice derived from resistant C57BL/6 and susceptible DBA/2 (BXD) mice on the basis of their responses to challenge infection. Thirty-six of 167 male (C57BL/6 x DBA/2)F1 x DBA/2 backcross (BC) mice died (22%), of which 27 (75%) were homozygous for DBA/2 alleles at Hc and H-2D. Twenty-eight percent of sham-castrated and 6% of sham-ovariectomized BC mice were susceptible to lethal mousepox, whereas 50% of gonadectomized mice were susceptible. There was no linkage evident between Hc or H-2D and loci that controlled resistance to lethal ectromelia virus infection in 44 castrated BC mice. Mortality among female mice of BXD RI strains with susceptible or intermediate male phenotypes was strongly correlated (r = 0.834) with male mortality. Gonadectomized C57BL/6 mice were as resistant as intact mice to lethal ectromelia virus infection. These results indicate that two gonad-dependent genes on chromosomes 2 and 17 and one gonad-independent gene control resistance to mousepox virus infection, that males and females share gonad-dependent genes, and that the gonad-independent gene is fully protective.
Composition and lipid spatial distribution of HDL particles in subjects with low and high HDL-cholesterol[S]

A low level of high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) is a powerful risk factor for cardiovascular disease. However, despite the reported key role of apolipo-proteins, specifically, apoA-I, in HDL metabolism, lipid molecular composition of HDL particles in subjects with high and low HDL-C levels is currently unknown. Here lipidomics was used to study HDL derived from well-characterized high and low HDL-C subjects. Low HDL-C subjects had elevated triacylglycerols and diminished lysophosphatidylcholines and sphingomyelins. Using information about the lipid composition of HDL particles in these two groups, we reconstituted HDL particles in silico by performing large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. In addition to confirming the measured change in particle size, we found that the changes in lipid composition also induced specific spatial distributions of lipids within the HDL particles, including a higher amount of triacylglycerols at the surface of HDL particles in low HDL-C subjects. Our findings have important implications for understanding HDL metabolism and function. For the first time we demonstrate the power of combining molecular profiling of lipoproteins with dynamic modeling of lipoprotein structure.
Ta2O5 Thin Films for Capacitive RF MEMS Switches

Shunt capacitive RF MEMS switches have been developed using III-V technology and employing (tantalum pentoxide) Ta2O5 thin films as dielectric layers. In order to evaluate the potential of the Ta2O5 thin films for the considered application, the compositional, structural, and electrical characterization of the deposited films has been performed, demonstrating that they are good candidates to be used as dielectric layers for the fabrication of RF MEMS switches. Specifically, Ta2O5 films are found to show a leakage current density of few nA/cm2 for MV/cm and a high dielectric constant of 32. Moreover, the charging process has been investigated, finding that it follows a stretched exponential law. The fabricated switches show actuation voltages in the range 15–20 V, an insertion loss better than −0.8 dB up to 30 GHz, and an isolation of ~−40 dB at the resonant frequency which is around 25 GHz.
Validation of a commercial enzyme immunoassay for detection of Clostridium difficile toxins in feces of horses with acute diarrhea.

BACKGROUND Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is a recognized cause of colitis in the horse. Identification of its toxins is important for management of individual cases and for prevention of transmission and zoonosis. In humans, CDI diagnosis is performed with enzyme immunoassays, none of which have been validated for horses. HYPOTHESIS/OBJECTIVES (1) Establish which test for CDI diagnosis was more frequently used by diagnostic laboratories, (2) determine the identified test's performance, sensitivity, and specificity, and (3) validate its use in diarrheic horses. ANIMALS Samples were obtained from 72 horses presented with acute diarrhea and hospitalized at the Ontario Veterinary College, University of Guelph. METHODS A survey was conducted to establish which of the tests for CDI diagnosis in horses is most commonly used throughout North America. A questionnaire was sent to all laboratories registered in the Veterinary Infection Control Society and the American Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians. The performance of the test was evaluated by comparison to a cell cytotoxicity assay (CTA), the accepted Gold Standard for C. difficile toxin detection. RESULTS The Techlab C. difficile Tox A/B II ELISA was the most frequently used test. Compared with the CTA, no significant difference was observed, and a good level of agreement (93%) was obtained. The diagnostic performance of the ELISA test was adequate (84% sensitivity and 96% specificity). CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Results demonstrate that the Techlab C. difficile Tox A/B II ELISA is a reliable, adequate, and practical tool for identification of C. difficile toxins in horse feces.
Sequential structures provide insights into the fidelity of RNA replication

RNA virus replication is an error-prone event caused by the low fidelity of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases. Replication fidelity can be decreased further by the use of mutagenic ribonucleoside analogs to a point where viral genetic information can no longer be maintained. For foot-and-mouth disease virus, the antiviral analogs ribavirin and 5-fluorouracil have been shown to be mutagenic, contributing to virus extinction through lethal mutagenesis. Here, we report the x-ray structure of four elongation complexes of foot-and-mouth disease virus polymerase 3D obtained in presence of natural substrates, ATP and UTP, or mutagenic nucleotides, ribavirin triphosphate and 5-fluorouridine triphosphate with different RNAs as template–primer molecules. The ability of these complexes to synthesize RNA in crystals allowed us to capture different successive replication events and to define the critical amino acids involved in (i) the recognition and positioning of the incoming nucleotide or analog; (ii) the positioning of the acceptor base of the template strand; and (iii) the positioning of the 3′-OH group of the primer nucleotide during RNA replication. The structures identify key interactions involved in viral RNA replication and provide insights into the molecular basis of the low fidelity of viral RNA polymerases.
Complexity of finite-variable fragments of EXPTIME-complete logics ★

The main result of the present paper is that the variable-free fragment of logic K*, the logic with a single K-style modality and its “reflexive and transitive closure,” is EXPTIMEcomplete. It is then shown that this immediately gives EXPTIME-completeness of variable-free fragments of a number of known EXPTIME-complete logics. Our proof contains a general idea of how to construct a polynomial-time reduction of a propositional logic to its n-variable—and even, in the cases of K*, PDL, CTL, ATL, and some others, variable-free—fragments. Complexity of countermodels for such fragments is considered.
Mycoplasma growth factors in bovine serum fraction

Mycoplasma growth factors in bovine serum fraction were separated by Sephadex G150 column chromatography and density ultracentrifugation. The major growth factor of bovine serum fraction eluted from the Sephadex column in the void volume. Its growth-supporting activity was greatly enhanced by the presence of bovine serum albumin in the mycoplasma culture media. Other investigators had previously identified the major growth factor in serum as an alpha-lipoprotein. Although density ultracentrifugation revealed the presence of traces of a high-density lipoprotein in bovine serum fraction, another, less dense component, isolated by ultracentrifugation (component 3) and containing cholesterol, cholesteryl esters, free fatty acids, triglycerides, and protein, but no lipoprotein, exhibited considerably more growth-supporting activity than did the high-density lipoprotein, thus indicating that at least two mycoplasma species do not require intact serum lipoprotein for growth. Both the high-density lipoprotein and component 3 exhibited maximum activity only in the presence of bovine serum albumin. A chloroform extract containing component 3 lipids combined with bovine serum albumin to form an effective, partially defined, less complex substitute for serum in mycoplasma culture media.
Is the D14 bone marrow in acute myeloid leukemia still the gold standard?

Purpose of reviewEarly bone marrow evaluation on day 14 of induction is common practice assisting in decision making regarding reinduction need in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Studies exploring day 14 bone marrow false positive and negative rates yielded diverse data, and a highly specific method for early bone marrow evaluation is warranted. Given the improved induction-associated death rate, the risk of redundant reinduction administered to patients anticipating remission with one induction cycle may be outweighed by the benefit from the potential reduction in the falsely interpreted nadir bone marrow. The purpose of this review is to analyze current evidence on ways to optimize early bone marrow evaluation during induction in AML. Recent findingsDay 14 bone marrow blast count is affected by patient's age, leukemic risk, and induction regimen, and its remission prediction power is enhanced if more stringent cutoffs are used to define significant residual blast numbers or if morphologic bone marrow evaluation is performed on day 5 of induction. SummaryEarly bone marrow evaluation has a potential to personalize the induction regimen, but because of limitations of day 14 bone marrow results, earlier bone marrow evaluation or the use of flow cytometry to detect minor blast populations may improve remission prediction in AML.
Public Health and Epidemiology Informatics

Summary Objectives: The aim of this manuscript is to provide a brief overview of the scientific challenges that should be addressed in order to unlock the full potential of using data from a general point of view, as well as to present some ideas that could help answer specific needs for data understanding in the field of health sciences and epidemiology. Methods: A survey of uses and challenges of big data analyses for medicine and public health was conducted. The first part of the paper focuses on big data techniques, algorithms, and statistical approaches to identify patterns in data. The second part describes some cutting-edge applications of analyses and predictive modeling in public health. Results: In recent years, we witnessed a revolution regarding the nature, collection, and availability of data in general. This was especially striking in the health sector and particularly in the field of epidemiology. Data derives from a large variety of sources, e.g. clinical settings, billing claims, care scheduling, drug usage, web based search queries, and Tweets. Conclusion: The exploitation of the information (data mining, artificial intelligence) relevant to these data has become one of the most promising as well challenging tasks from societal and scientific viewpoints in order to leverage the information available and making public health more efficient.
Geometry controlled phase behavior in nanowetting and jamming

This thesis is devoted to several aspects of geometry and morphology in wetting problems and hard sphere packings. First, we propose a new method to simulate wetting and slip on nanostructured substrates: a phase field model associated with a dynamical density theory approach. We showed omniphobicity, meaning repellency, no matter the chemical properties of the liquid on monovalued surfaces, i.e. surfaces without overhangs, which is in contradiction with the macroscopic Cassie-Baxter-Wenzel theory, can produce so-called We checked systematically the impact of the surface parameters on omniphobic repellency, and we show that the key ingredient are line tensions, which emerge from needle shaped surface structures. Geometrical effects have also an important influence on glassy or jammed systems, for example amorphous hard sphere systems in infinite pressure limit. Such hard sphere packings got stuck in a so-called jammed phase, and we shall demonstrate that the local structure in such systems is universal, i.e. independent of the protocol of the generation. For this, robust order parameters - so-called Minkowski tensors - are developed, which overcome robustness deficiencies of widely used order parameters. This leads to a unifying picture of local order parameters, based on geometrical principles. Furthermore, we find with the Minkowski tensor analysis crystallization in jammed sphere packs at the random closed packing point
Gum acacia mitigates genetic damage in adenine‐induced chronic renal failure in rats

Subjects with chronic renal failure (CRF) exhibit oxidative genome damage, which may predispose to carcinogenesis, and Gum acacia (GumA) ameliorates this condition in humans and animals. We evaluated here renal DNA damage and urinary excretion of four nucleic acid oxidation adducts namely 8‐oxoguanine (8‐oxoGua), 8‐oxo‐7,8‐dihydro‐2′‐deoxyguanosine (8‐oxodG), 8‐oxoguanosine (8‐oxoGuo) and 8‐hydroxy‐2‐deoxyguanisone (8‐OHdg) in rats with adenine (ADE)‐induced CRF with and without GumA treatment.