Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CDF-KF algorithm for conditionally linear Gaussian state space models

We propose a new algorithm, called the central difference filter - Kalman filter (CDF-KF) for conditionally linear Gaussian state space models. The linear state equation is firstly inserted into the measurement equation, and the CDF is applied to the new measurement and the nonlinear state equations to estimate the nonlinear states, where after the estimated means of the nonlinear states are substituted into the linear state equation and the original measurement equation to estimate the linear states using the Kalman filter (KF). Moreover, in order to improve the accuracy of the estimation, the estimated covariances of the nonlinear states are fed back to modify the estimations of the linear states. The simulation results of the proposed CDF-KF applying to target tracking show that it only consumes about 5% the computing time required by the Rao-Blackwellized particle filter (RBPF), while the consistent filtering performance is kept.
The Role of Nutrition in Injured Military Personnel at Role 4: Current Practice

Corresponding Author: Susan Duff, Nutrition & Dietetics University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Woodlands Nurses Home, Selly Oak Hospital, Raddlebarn Road, Birmingham, B29 6JD Introduction Nutrition at Role 4 plays an important part in promoting the recovery and aiding the rehabilitation of military patients. Patients are transferred from field hospitals to University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHBFT) with multiple and severe injuries that may require multiple complex surgeries and procedures. It is important to optimise nutritional intervention early to aid a patient’s recovery. Currently military patients present with injuries such as a burns, head injury and major trauma. These injuries increase the body's metabolic demands, and increase a patient’s nutritional requirements. Ensuring an adequate provision of nutrients has been shown to lower the incidence of metabolic abnormalities, reduce septic morbidity, improve survival rates and can decrease length of hospital stay [1]. There is only a limited amount of research that has been carried out on the changes in nutritional status, nutritional care, nutritional requirements and body composition of injured military personnel or the impact this has on their rehabilitation. Often conclusions have to be drawn from research undertaken with civilian patients with similar injuries. Research has been proposed to investigate nutritional issues for military patients and this will contribute to improving the nutritional care of military patients. The information that follows in this paper provides a summary of the nutritional care that military personnel currently receive at the UHBFT.
Selenium supplementation and ischemia–reperfusion injury in rats

Abstract Cardiac ischemia–reperfusion injury results in oxidative stress and poor physiological recovery. This study examined the amount of lipid and protein oxidation during ischemia–reperfusion to assess the degree of oxidative stress. Selenium supplementation was used to alter the antioxidant status of rats and the recovery of myocardial function post ischemia–reperfusion was investigated. Male Wistar rats were fed diets containing 0, 50, and 1000 μg/kg sodium selenite for 5 weeks, whilst controls received normal rat food containing 240 μg/kg selenium. Langendorff-perfused hearts were subjected to 22.5 min global ischemia and 45 min reperfusion, with functional recovery assessed. Heart tissues were assayed for the presence of lipid peroxides and protein carbonyls and correlated to cardiac recovery. Following ischemia and reperfusion there was a significant increase in both protein oxidation and lipid peroxidation. Hearts from selenium-deficient animals demonstrated higher levels of both protein carbonyls and lipid peroxides and were more susceptible to ischemia–reperfusion injury when compared to controls (38% versus 47% recovery of rate pressure product (RPP)). Selenium supplementation lowered the levels of protein carbonyls and lipid peroxides and resulted in improved recovery of cardiac function post ischemia–reperfusion (57% recovery of RPP). These data suggest that selenium supplementation may provide an effective method for reducing oxidative damage post cardiac ischemia–reperfusion.
Framework for location-aware search engine

Abstract Nowadays, a large part of the multimedia data on the Internet is generated with devices that automatically annotate them with location information However, free-form content on websites does not implicitly contain any geographical information. This is the biggest challenge for building a location-aware search engine. In this paper, we study how to extract location-aware information from the web. The key challenges are to detect location from a web page and to extract relevant information related to that location. We detect locations by identifying postal addresses using freely available gazetteers. Additional information for summarising the search results are titles and representative images, which we mine from the content using simple rule-based approaches utilising the structure of web pages. This information can be used to personalise search results for mobile users so that the results are relevant to their location.
Clinical Rating of Cortical Atrophy and Cognitive Correlates Following Traumatic Brain Injury

We report on the utility of using a rapid, easy-to-use, visually based semi-quantitative neuroimaging atrophy rating scale in individuals with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and normal control subjects. Magnetic resonance (MR) scans were rated using a standardized semi-quantitative MR rating method. A four-point scale was used to rate each scan for atrophy in frontal, temporal, and parietal areas. Seventy-five TBI subjects (50 males, 25 females) and 75 age- and gender-matched control subjects were compared for atrophy ratings. Clinical atrophy ratings were also compared to a quantitative measure of atrophy, the ventricle-to-brain ratio, and with the TBI subjects' scores on standard neuropsychological tests. TBI patients had significantly higher clinical atrophy ratings in frontal and temporal lobe areas compared to controls. The clinical atrophy ratings significantly correlated with the ventricle-to-brain ratio, a quantitative measure of atrophy in the same TBI subjects. Higher clinical ratings of frontal and temporal atrophy correlated with deficits in memory and executive function. These findings indicate that clinical ratings of trauma-induced atrophy can be reliably performed and are associated with neuropsychological outcome and quantitative measures of cerebral atrophy.
Cloning and Expression of the Gene for a Novel Protein from Mycobacterium smegmatis with Functional Similarity to Eukaryotic Calmodulin

ABSTRACT A calmodulin-like protein (CAMLP) from Mycobacterium smegmatis was purified to homogeneity and partially sequenced; these data were used to produce a full-length clone, whose DNA sequence contained a 55-amino-acid open reading frame. M. smegmatis CAMLP, expressed in Escherichia coli, exhibited properties characteristic of eukaryotic calmodulin: calcium-dependent stimulation of eukaryotic phosphodiesterase, which was inhibited by the calmodulin antagonist trifluoperazine, and reaction with anti-bovine brain calmodulin antibodies. Consistent with the presence of nine acidic amino acids (16%) in M. smegmatis CAMLP, there is one putative calcium-binding domain in this CAMLP, compared to four such domains for eukaryotic calmodulin, reflecting the smaller molecular size (approximately 6 kDa) of M. smegmatis CAMLP. Ultracentrifugation and mass spectral studies excluded the possibility that calcium promotes oligomerization of purified M. smegmatis CAMLP.
A Nonclassical Arabinogalactan Protein Gene Highly Expressed in Vascular Tissues, AGP31, Is Transcriptionally Repressed by Methyl Jasmonic Acid in Arabidopsis1[OA]

In response to wounding and pathogens, jasmonate (JA) serves as a signal molecule for both induction and repression of gene expression. To examine defense-regulated gene repression in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), we have identified a nonclassical arabinogalactan protein (AGP) gene, AGP31, and show that its mRNA decreased to about 30% of its original level within 8 h in response to methyl JA (MeJA) treatment of whole 7-d-old seedlings. Wounding and abscisic acid treatment had similar effects. MeJA suppression primarily depends on the action of the JA-signaling protein, COI1, as shown by much lower MeJA suppression in coi1-1 mutant plants. The main mechanism of mRNA suppression by MeJA is repression of transcription, as shown by nuclear run-on experiments. The AGP31 protein shares features with several known and putative nonclassical AGPs from other species: a putative signal peptide, a histidine-rich region near the N terminus followed by a repetitive proline-rich domain, and a cysteine-rich C-terminal PAC (for proline-rich protein and AGP, containing cysteine) domain. Positive Yariv reagent interaction demonstrated that the protein is an AGP. Monosaccharide analysis of purified AGP31 indicated it is a galactose-rich AGP. Expression of an AGP31-enhanced green fluorescent protein fusion protein in transgenic cells revealed that the AGP31 protein was localized to the cell wall. AGP31 promoter-β-glucuronidase reporter gene analysis showed expression in the vascular bundle throughout the plant, except in the flower. In the flower, β-glucuronidase staining occurred throughout the pistil, except in the stigma. The strong preferential expression in vascular tissues suggests that AGP31 may be involved in vascular tissue function during both the defense response and development.
Electrical properties of polar membranes

Biological membranes are capacitors that can be charged by applying a field across the membrane. The charges on the capacitor exert a force on the membrane that leads to electrostriction, i.e. a thinning of the membrane. Since the force is quadratic in voltage, negative and positive voltage have an identical influence on the physics of symmetric membranes. However, this is not the case for a membrane with an asymmetry leading to a permanent electric polarization. Positive and negative voltages of identical magnitude lead to different properties. Such an asymmetry can originate from a lipid composition that is different on the two monolayers of the membrane, or from membrane curvature. The latter effect is called 'flexoelectricity'. As a consequence of permanent polarization, the membrane capacitor is discharged at a voltage different from zero. This leads to interesting electrical phenomena such as outward or inward rectification of membrane permeability. Here, we introduce a generalized theoretical framework, that treats capacitance, polarization, flexoelectricity and piezoelectricity in the same language.
Study of ultra wideband bandpass filter using electromagnetic simulator

An ultrawideband composite microstrip bandpass filter is designed using electromagnetic (EM) structure simulation. The design utilizes embedding individually designed highpass and lowpass filter (LPF) onto each other on a FR-4 board. The stepped-impedance LPF is employed to attenuate the upper stopband where as short-circuited stubs are used to realize the lower stopband. The results are analyzed in terms of the insertion loss, return loss, overall group delay and also the input and output signals. EM structure simulation is done using CST(Microwave Studio). Fabrication and measurements are done to conduct comparative studies between the simulated results and the measured results.
EXPLANATORY AND PRAGMATIC ATTITUDES IN THERAPEUTICAL TRIALS

IT IS the thesis of this paper that most therapeutic trials are inadequately formulated, and this from the earliest stages of their conception. Their inadequacy is basic, in that the trials may be aimed at the solution of one or other of two radically different kinds of problem; the resulting ambiguity affects the definition of the treatments, the assessment of the results, the choice of subjects and the way in which the treatments are compared. It often occurs that one type of approach is ethically less defensible than the other, or may even be ruled out altogether on ethical grounds. We postpone consideration of this aspect of the question until a later section.
An improved differential privacy algorithm to protect re-identification of data

In the present time, there has been a huge increase in large data repositories by corporations, governments, and healthcare organizations. These repositories provide opportunities to design/improve decision-making systems by mining trends and patterns from the data set (that can provide credible information) to improve customer service (e.g., in healthcare). As a result, while data sharing is essential, it is an obligation to maintaining the privacy of the data donors as data custodians have legal and ethical responsibilities to secure confidentiality. This research proposes a 2-layer privacy preserving (2-LPP) data sanitization algorithm that satisfies ε-differential privacy for publishing sanitized data. The proposed algorithm also reduces the re-identification risk of the sanitized data. The proposed algorithm has been implemented, and tested with two different data sets. Compared to other existing works, the results obtained from the proposed algorithm show promising performance.
IN VIVO EFFECTS OF BISPHENOL A ON THE POLECAT ( MUSTELA PUTORIUS )

Bisphenol A (BPA), an environmental estrogen derived from the plastic industry, was given orally via incorporation into the food of 30 male and female polecats at 3 different doses (10, 50, or 250 mg/kg body weight/day) for 2 wk with 10 animals acting as controls. Several hormone levels in the plasma were determined as well as the activities of the phase I and II biotransformation enzymes 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD), cytosolic glutathione S-transferase (GST), and UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UDPGT). BPA did not cause any macroscopic effects on body mass or the health of the animals. UDPGT and GST activities increased significantly in direct correlation with increasing BPA exposure in females and UDPGT increased in a dose-related manner in males. There was no change in the plasma T4 and testosterone concentrations of the males with increasing BPA exposure. Discriminant analysis indicated that the group receiving 10 mg BPA/kg body weight/d was not different from the control group but the groups receiving 50 and 250 mg/kg body weight/d were different from the control group. This suggests physiological changes in the groups receiving 50 or 250 mg BPA/kg body weight/d.
Direct synthesis of cascaded quadruplet (CQ) filters

Previous designs for CQ filters have required matrix rotation operations on the coupling matrix of the canonic form of the cross-coupled filters. This is a rather awkward and not entirely satisfactory process since the theory is not general, requiring the application of equations specific to each order of filter, and in fact has been developed only as far as even order 10. A new direct CQ synthesis has now been discovered having no such limitations. <<ETX>>
The bacterial pan-genome:a new paradigm in microbiology.

SUMMARY Bacterial strains belonging to the same species vary considerably in gene content. Thus, the genetic repertoire of a given species (its "pan-genome") is much larger than the gene content of individual strains. These variations in DNA material, together with differences in genomic structure and nucleotide polymorphisms among strains, confer upon prokaryotic species a phenomenal adaptability. Although the approach of sequencing multiple strains from a single species remains the main and often easiest way to study the pan-genome, feasible alternatives include those related to DNA hybridization. In other cases, the use of metagenomic sequences is already applicable by data mining from the growing metagenomic databases. Eventually, the single-cell genome approach might be the ideal solution. The pan-genome concept has important consequences for the way we understand bacterial evolution, adaptation, and population structure, as well as for more applied issues such as vaccine design or the identification of virulence genes.
Cochannel Interference Suppression for Ship-Based Passive Synthetic Impulse and Aperture Radar

Power distribution and correlation characteristic of cochannel interference are analyzed in ship-based passive synthetic impulse and aperture radar (SIAR) scenario. Characteristic of interference at interested range bin is estimated accurately using echoes from some positive and all negative frequency range bins after stretching with cosine weight. Thereafter, Karhunen-Loeve transformation is used to the echo from interested range bin and interference is suppressed provided that its power is stronger than radar echoes. Theoretical analysis and suppression procedure presented are confirmed by real data acquired in year 2005
La gestión de los grupos de interés (stakeholders) en la estrategia de las organizaciones

El concepto, historicamente, siempre ha aparecido intrinseco en las relaciones que la empresa establecia con algunos de los agentes economicos mas directos y mas cercanos, tales como empleados, inversores, clientes o proveedores. Esta aproximacion ha variado sustancialmente con el desarrollo de los modelos de produccion y las relaciones economico-productivas establecidas a lo largo de la era industrial y post-industrial. Podemos decir que la necesidad de establecer mecanismos de relacion con estos agentes clave para el desarrollo de la actividad se origina en la propia existencia de la organizacion como una necesidad para la consecucion de sus fines.
The use of gamma-ray imaging to improve portal monitor performance

We have constructed a prototype, rapid-deployment portal monitor that uses visible-light and gamma-ray imaging to allow simultaneous monitoring of multiple lanes of traffic from the side of a roadway. Our Roadside Tracker uses automated target acquisition and tracking (TAT) software to identify and track vehicles in visible light images. The field of view of the visible camera overlaps with and is calibrated to that of a one- dimensional gamma-ray imager. The TAT code passes information on when vehicles enter and exit the system field of view and when they cross gamma-ray pixel boundaries. Based on this information, the gamma-ray imager "harvests" the gamma-ray data specific to each vehicle, integrating its radiation signature for the entire time that it is in the field of view. In this fashion we are able to generate vehicle-specific radiation signatures and avoid source confusion problems that plague nonimaging approaches to the same problem.
A Survey of Functional Verification Techniques

In this paper, we present a survey of various techniques used in functional verification of industry hardware designs. Although the use of formal verification techniques has been increasing over time, there is still a need for an immediate practical solution resulting in an increased interest in hybrid verification techniques. Hybrid techniques combine formal and informal (traditional simulation based) techniques to take the advantage of both the worlds. A typical hybrid technique aims to address the verification bottleneck by enhancing the state space coverage.
Trace Elements in Children with Chronic Liver Disease

Background: Trace elements have a major role as oxidant and antioxidants, promoting and protecting from tissue damage respectively. As the liver has a pivotal role in trace elements metabolism and consequently their bioavailability. Child-Pugh score is used to assess liver disease severity as the patients classified into group A, B and C according to five parameters: total serum bilirubin, ascites, encephalopathy, pro-thrombin time and serum albumin. Objective: We aim to measure serum level of trace elements in patients with chronic liver disease (zinc, copper, iron, total iron binding capacity and ferritin) and highlight its association with gender, age and child Pughscore. Patient and methods: An analytical cross section study was done in Baghdad Medical City from the first of February 2014 to the thirtieth of September 2014. Two hundred cases, one hundred patients with chronic liver disease and one hundred control group with age ranging from 1 month to 13 years. Data including age and sex for all patients’groups were recorded. Blood samples were taken from all patients and the control group members who were enrolled in study to investigate the serum level of (zinc, copper, iron, total iron binding capacity and ferritin). All patients were assessed for severity of ascites, the presence of hepatic encephalopathy and sent for total serum bilirubin level, prothrombin time, international normalized ratio (INR) and serum albumin for assessing Child Pugh-score classification to divide patient in 3 classes (A, B and C). Results: Serum zinc and total iron binding capacity were lower in the patients than in the control group, while serum copper, iron and ferritin were higher in the patients than the control but with no statistical significance. Also, the serum zinc and total iron binding capacity decrease as Child Pugh-score increase in severity, on the other hand serum copper, iron and ferritin increase as the Child Pughscore increases in severity but with no statistical significance. Regarding age and gender, there were no statistical significance between their categories and the study parameters. Conclusion: These results encourage inclusion of serum zinc, copper, iron, total iron binding capacity and ferritin as biomarkers for monitoring the severity of the liver damage during assessment of children with chronic liver diseases. We also recommend avoiding excess iron and copper intake in those patients, whereas zinc supplementation should be encouraged.
Study of the Privacy Models in RFID Authentication Protocols

Privacy is a major concern in RFID systems, especially with widespread deployment of wireless enabled interconnected personal devices. In this paper, we consider privacy issues in RFID system where the authorized readers must be able to identify tags without an adversary being able to trace them, and provide a formal security model for privacy in RFID system. Under this model, we analyze the recently proposed RFID authentication protocol named anonymous RFID authentication protocol and show attacks on them that compromise the privacy.