Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On the size dependence of the critical point of nanoscale interstitial solid solutions

It is shown that a size dependence of the critical temperature Tc of the miscibility gap in nanocrystalline and nanoscale particle interstitial solid solutions results from stress owing to elastic interaction of the bulk with layers of material at the grain boundaries or surfaces which have a small solute susceptibility (i.e. a weak dependence of the concentration on the chemical potential) at the phase transition. When the volume fraction occupied by the interfacial layers is not too large, then the changes in Tc and in the critical concentration xc can be predicted on the basis of a series expansion of the solute chemical potential in the bulk about the critical point. The model can be extended to free-standing thin films and coherent multilayers. The dependence of the pressure on the hydrogen concentration in the crystal lattice of nanocrystalline palladium-hydrogen is measured on the basis of X-ray diffraction data. The result agrees with the predictions of the theory.
Immunomodulator Clarithromycin Enhances Mucosal and Systemic Immune Responses and Reduces Re-Infection Rate in Pediatric Patients with Influenza Treated with Antiviral Neuraminidase Inhibitors: A Retrospective Analysis

Background/Aims Treatment with antiviral neuraminidase inhibitors suppresses influenza viral replication and antigen production, resulting in marked attenuation of mucosal immunity and mild suppression of systemic immunity in mice. This study investigated the effects of immunomodulator clarithromycin (CAM) supplementation on mucosal and systemic immunity in pediatric patients with influenza treated with neuraminidase inhibitors. Methods A retrospective, non-randomized case series study was conducted among five treatment groups of 195 children aged 5.9±3.3 years infected with influenza A in 2008/2009 season. The five treatment groups were oseltamivir (OSV), zanamivir (ZNV), OSV+CAM, ZNV+CAM and untreated groups. Anti-viral secretory IgA (S-IgA) levels in nasal washes and IgG levels in sera were measured. The re-infection rate was analyzed among the same five treatment groups in the 2009/2010 season. Results Treatment of influenza with OSV and ZNV for 5 days attenuated the induction of anti-viral S-IgA in nasal washes and anti-viral IgG in serum, compared with the untreated group. The combination of CAM plus OSV or ZNV boosted and restored the production of mucosal S-IgA and systemic IgG. The re-infection rates in the subsequent season were significantly higher in the OSV and ZNV groups than the untreated, while CAM+OSV and CAM+ZNV tended to reduce such rate. Conclusions CAM restored the attenuated anti-viral mucosal and systemic immunity and reduced the re-infection rate in the subsequent year in pediatric patients with influenza treated with OSV and ZNV.
Financialization, rentier interests and central bank policy

â€œFinancializationâ€ refers to the increasing importance of financial markets, financial motives, financial institutions, and financial elites in the operations of the economy and its governing institutions, both at the national and international levels. Many questions arise when considering the increased role of finance in the world economy. What are its dimensions? What is causing it? What impact is it having on income distribution within and between countries? What is its impact on economic growth? What impact is financialization having on the nature and distribution of political power within and between countries? What policies can be implemented to reduce the negative effects of financialization while preserving its positive effects, if there are any?
Comparison of postoperative coagulation profiles and outcome for sugammadex versus pyridostigmine in 992 living donors after living-donor hepatectomy

Abstract Donor safety is the major concern in living donor liver transplantation, although hepatic resection may be associated with postoperative coagulopathy. Recently, the use of sugammadex has been gradually increased, but sugammadex is known to prolong prothrombin time (PT) and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). We compared the postoperative coagulation profiles and outcomes of sugammadex versus pyridostigmine group in donors receiving living donor hepatectomy. Consecutive donor hepatectomy performed between September 2013 and August 2016 was retrospectively analyzed. For reversal of rocuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade, donors received sugammadex 4 mg/kg or pyridostigmine 0.25 mg/kg. The primary end-points were laboratory findings (PT, aPTT, hemoglobin, platelet count) and clinically evaluated postoperative bleeding (relaparotomy for bleeding, cumulative volume collected in drains). Secondary outcomes were anesthesia time, postoperative hospital day. Of 992 donors, 383 treated with sugammadex and 609 treated with pyridostigmine for the reversal of neuromuscular blockade. There were no significant differences between both groups for drop in hemoglobin and platelet, prolongation in PT, aPTT, and the amount of 24-h drain volume. Bleeding events within 24 h were reported in 2 (0.3%) for pyridostigmine group and 0 (0%) for sugammadex group (P = .262). Anesthesia time was significantly longer in pyridostigmine group than that in sugammadex group (438.8 ± 71.4 vs. 421.3 ± 62.3, P < .001). Postoperative hospital stay was significantly longer in pyridostigmine group than that in sugammadex group (P = .002). Sugammadex 4 mg/kg was not associated with increased bleeding tendency, but associated with reduced anesthesia time and hospital stay. Therefore, sugammadex may be safely used and will decrease morbidity in donor undergoing living-donor hepatectomy.
A wearable computing platform for developing cloud-based machine learning models for health monitoring applications

Wearable sensors have the potential to enable clinical-grade ambulatory health monitoring outside the clinic. Technological advances have enabled development of devices that can measure vital signs with great precision and significant progress has been made towards extracting clinically meaningful information from these devices in research studies. However, translating measurement accuracies achieved in the controlled settings such as the lab and clinic to unconstrained environments such as the home remains a challenge. In this paper, we present a novel wearable computing platform for unobtrusive collection of labeled datasets and a new paradigm for continuous development, deployment and evaluation of machine learning models to ensure robust model performance as we transition from the lab to home. Using this system, we train activity classification models across two studies and track changes in model performance as we go from constrained to unconstrained settings.
A hybrid evolutionary algorithm for inter-cloud service composition

Service composition in Inter-Cloud needs to select and compose suitable services across geo-distributed Cloud providers while meeting the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of customers. A new hybrid multi-objective evolutionary algorithm called ADE-NSGA-II is proposed to solve the above problem. In the ADE-NSGA-II algorithm, the adaptive differential evolution (ADE) algorithm uses the adaptive mutation and crossover operator to replace those of the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm-II (NSGA-II) to search for the optimal solution more efficient in the solution space and the main strategies of the NSGA-II are maintained to ensure the diversity. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm performs well in optimality ability and scalability, and the diversity of the obtained solutions is also better than other algorithms.
Adjustment Strategies for Non-Compliant Process Instances

Enabling changes at both process type and process instance level is an essential requirement for any adaptive process-aware information system (PAIS). Particularly, it should be possible to migrate a (long-)running process instance to a new type schema version, even if this instance has been individually modified before. Further instance migration must not violate soundness; i.e., structural and behavorial consistency need to be preserved. Compliance has been introduced as basic notion to ensure that instances, whose state has progressed too far, are prohibited from being migrated. However, this also excludes them from further process optimizations, which is not tolerable in many practical settings. This paper introduces a number of strategies for coping with non-compliant instances in the context of process change such that they can benefit from future process type changes on the one hand, but do not run into soundness problems on the other hand. We show, for example, how to automatically adjust process type changes at instance level to enable the migration of a higher number of instances. The different strategies are compared and discussed along existing approaches. Altogether, adequate treatment of non-compliant process instances contributes to full process lifecycle support in adaptive PAIS.
Ethnopharmacological investigation of the aerial part of Phragmites karka (Poaceae)

Abstract Background: In this ethnopharmacological study, methanolic extract of the aerial plant parts of Phragmites karka (Family: Poaceae) and its petroleum ether and carbon tetrachloride fractions were investigated for bioactivities in Swiss-albino mice, namely, analgesic, central nervous system (CNS) depressant, hypoglycemic, and antidiarrheal activity. Methods: The cold methanolic extract of the aerial plant parts of Phragmites karka (MEPK) was first prepared, and it was then further fractionated as petroleum ether (PEFMEPK) and carbon tetrachloride (CTFMEPK) fractions. Analgesic activity was performed employing acidic acid-induced writhing test, central analgesic effect by radiant heat tail-flick method. CNS depressant activity was evaluated by phenobarbitone-induced sleeping time test. Hypoglycemic activity was tested by glucose tolerance test (GTT). Antidiarrheal activity was evaluated by castor oil-induced diarrhea method. For all in vivo tests, doses of 200 and 400 mg/kg body weight were used. Results: In the mice model, the MEPK, PEFMEPK, and CTFMEPK fractions showed significant peripheral analgesic activity at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight with percentage of inhibition of acetic acid-induced writhing 77.67 (p<0.001), 33.50 (p<0.001), and 40.29 (p<0.001), respectively, compared to the standard dichlofenac (60.68%, p<0.001) group. The hypoglycemic properties of MEPK, PEFMEPK, and CTFMEPK extracts were evaluated in normoglycemic mice where the reduction of blood glucose level after 30 min of glucose load were 69.85%, 78.91%, and 72.73%, respectively, and for standard glibenclamide, the reduction was 72.85%. All results were significant (p<0.05). In the case of the CNS depressant activity by phenobarbitone-induced sleeping time test, the crude ME significantly reduced sleep latency by 57.14% and increased the duration of sleep by 63.29% compared to the control, which were comparable to that of standard diazepam (65.71% and 77.62%, respectively). Among all the extract and fractions, methanolic extract showed the maximum antidiarrheal effect. The methanolic extract at 200 mg/kg dose induced a significant decrease in the total number of defecation in 4 h (69.05% of inhibition, p<0.001) and at 400 mg/kg dose showed 76.19% of inhibition (p<0.001). Conclusions: In light of the available literature, these findings represent the first experimental investigation of biological activities of P. karka in the perspective of their traditional use.
Giant Neglected Desmoplastic Ameloblastoma: Reconstruction With Free Fibula Flap

Abstract The desmoplastic ameloblastoma (DA) is a rare variant of the conventional ameloblastoma. It accounts for only 4% to 13% of all ameloblastomas. In this article, we describe the case of a young child affected by a giant neglected DA of the jaw. Preoperative biopsy demonstrated the extremely rare osteoplastic variant of DA. The patient was submitted to segmental mandibulectomy and immediate reconstruction with a free fibula osseous flap. The postoperative period was uneventful. The patient was very satisfied with the functional and aesthetic results of the procedure. In case of such rare variants of ameloblastoma, it is mandatory to preoperatively recognize them to allow the adequate treatment modality to be provided.
An in vitro evaluation of microhardness of different direct resin-based restorative materials on using 10% carbamide peroxide gel as a bleaching agent

Purpose: This in vitro study was done to evaluate the effect of a 10% carbamide peroxide bleaching agent on the micro hardness of three types of direct resin-based restorative materials. Materials and Methods: Fifteen disk-shaped specimens (5.0 mm diameter and 2.0 mm depth) of each material, including a micro hybrid resin composite (Z250), a nanofilled resin composite (Z350), a hybrid resin composite (Z100), were fabricated and then polished with medium, fine, and superfine polishing discs. After being polished, specimens were cleaned with distilled water for 2 min in an ultrasonic bath to remove any surface debris and then stored in distilled water at 37ΊC for 24 hours. Specimens from each material were divided into three groups (n=5). One group was selected as a control group (non treated with bleaching agent). The other two groups were treated with bleaching agent for 14 days (group A) and followed by immersion in artificial saliva for 14 days (group B). The top surfaces of the specimens in the different groups were also subjected to the Vickers hardness test with a load of 300 g and 15-second dwell time. Data were analyzed witha one-way analysis of variance and Turkey′s HSD test (α = 0.05). Results: There was a general reduction of Vickers hardness numbers (VHN) values of treated groups compared with the control group for each material used, but this reduction was minimal, with no significant difference between groups in Z250, whereas the other two materials (Z350, Z100) showed a significant reduction of VHN of treated groups compared with the control group. Conversely, the findings showed no significant difference between treated groups A and B in all materials used. Conclusion: A 10% carbamide peroxide bleaching agent had an adverse effect on the micro hardness of nanofilled and hybrid types of resin-based composite materials compared with the micro hybrid type.
Study on inspecting VR motion sickness inducing factors

There is a lot of research going on about VR technology in recent years, and there is also interest from global companies. However, most of users suffer from the difficulties in use of VR contents due to motion sickness. In this paper, definition, causes and solutions for the motion sickness will be investigated. To resolve the motion sickness problem, this paper will propose the test system which allows users to prevent motion sickness at the time when VR contents are produced and take a close look at the architecture of the system.
Identification of a simple screening tool for dysphagia in patients with stroke using factor analysis of multiple dysphagia variables.

OBJECTIVE To identify a most useful and simple clinical screening tool to predict videofluoroscopic aspiration in patients with stroke. DESIGN Factor analysis of multiple dysphagia variables and sensitivity and specificity testing with chi-square test. PATIENTS Sixty-one consecutive stroke patients with symptoms suggestive of dysphagia admitted to a university hospital and its 4 affiliated hospitals in Japan. METHODS Factors were extracted from 6 oromotor examinations (lip closure, tongue movement, palatal elevation, gag reflex, voice quality and motor speech function), 2 swallow screen tests (saliva swallowing test and our modified water swallowing test using 30 ml of water) and 4 parameters evaluated with a videofluoroscopic swallow study. Sensitivity and specificity of each dysphagia-related variable was determined against aspiration in a videofluoroscopic swallow study. RESULTS Factor analysis revealed that cough/voice change in the water swallowing test and aspiration on videofluoroscopic swallow study belonged to the same factor. Chi-square analysis showed that cough/voice change in the water swallowing test was the only variable that was significantly associated with aspiration on videofluoroscopic swallow study, with a sensitivity of 72% (95% CI: 61-83%) and a specificity of 67% (CI: 55-79%) as a predictor of aspiration (p<0.05). CONCLUSION We recommend our modified 30 ml water-swallowing test as a useful single task-screening tool to detect aspiration.
Effects of Pre-Encoding Stress on Brain Correlates Associated with the Long-Term Memory for Emotional Scenes

Recent animal and human research indicates that stress around the time of encoding enhances long-term memory for emotionally arousing events but neural evidence remains unclear. In the present study we used the ERP old/new effect to investigate brain dynamics underlying the long-term effects of acute pre-encoding stress on memory for emotional and neutral scenes. Participants were exposed either to the Socially Evaluated Cold Pressure Test (SECPT) or a warm water control procedure before viewing 30 unpleasant, 30 neutral and 30 pleasant pictures. Two weeks after encoding, recognition memory was tested using 90 old and 90 new pictures. Emotional pictures were better recognized than neutral pictures in both groups and related to an enhanced centro-parietal ERP old/new difference (400–800 ms) during recognition, which suggests better recollection. Most interestingly, pre-encoding stress exposure specifically increased the ERP old/new-effect for emotional (unpleasant) pictures, but not for neutral pictures. These enhanced ERP/old new differences for emotional (unpleasant) scenes were particularly pronounced for those participants who reported high levels of stress during the SECPT. The results suggest that acute pre-encoding stress specifically strengthens brain signals of emotional memories, substantiating a facilitating role of stress on memory for emotional scenes.
Tracer correlation factors in the random alloy

Abstract An extensive Monte Carlo study has been made of tracer correlation factors in simple cubic, bcc and fcc binary random alloys. Contrary to the findings of much of the earlier Monte Carlo work, where vacancy jump sequences were much too short, we found that generally Manning's diffusion kinetics formalism (Manning, J. R., 1968, Diffusion Kinetics for Atoms in Crystals; 1971, Phys. Rev. B, 4, 1111) provides only a fairly rough approximation for the tracer correlation factors except when the exchange frequency ratio is close to unity. It is found that the Holdsworth, P. C. and Elliott, R. J. (1986, Phil. Mag. A, 54, 601) kinetics formalism performs much better than Manning's over a wide range of exchange frequency ratios and, for the slow diffuser, is almost exact. The kinetics formalism of Moleko, L. K. , Allnatt, A. R. , and Allnatt, E. L. , (1989, Phil. Mag. A, 59, 141) performs even better, with essentially exact agreement for the slow diffuser, and excellent agreement for the faster diffuser except for extreme values of the exchange frequency ratio.
Women, ‘madness’ and exercise

The positive relationship between exercise and mental health is often taken for granted in today’s society, despite the lack of academic literature evidencing this symbiosis. Gender is considered a significant determinant in a number of mental health diagnoses. Indeed, women are considered twice as likely as men to experience the most pervasive mental health condition, depression. Exercise for women’s mental health is promoted through various macrolevel charity, as well as microlevel, campaigns that influence government healthcare policy and National Health Service guidelines. Indeed, ‘exercise prescriptions’ in the treatment of depression is not uncommon. Yet, this link between exercise as a treatment for women’s mental health has not always been so pervasive. In fact, an examination of asylum reports and medical journals from the late 19th century highlights a significant shift in attitude towards the role of exercise in the treatment of women’s emotional states and mental health. This paper specifically examines how this treatment of women’s mental health through exercise has moved from what might be regarded as a focus on exercise as a ‘cause’ of women’s mental ailments to exercise promoted as a ‘cure’. Unpacking the changing medical attitudes towards exercise for women in line with larger sociopolitical and historic contexts reveals that while this shift towards exercise promotion might prima facie appear as a less essentialist view of women and their mental and physical states, it inevitably remains tied to larger policy and governance agendas. New modes of exercise ‘treatment’ for women’s mental health are not politically neutral and, thus, what appear to emerge as forms of liberation are, in actuality, subtler forms of regulation.
Node location for netted radar target classification

In this paper, a survey of the benefits of radar target classification performance provided by multiple sensing perspectives is presented. Two and three-perspective classification performance as a function of the angular displacement between the perspectives are presented. Results indicate a considerable improvement in performance when compared with the more usual monostatic radar approach to target classification. Additionally, it is important to recognise that there is a dependence on the target's geometrical symmetries as well as the particular topology of the network.
Ultrasonic consolidation of thermoplastic composite prepreg for automated fiber placement

To address the industrial need for manufacturing advanced thermoplastic composite parts with less energy, waste, and time and at lower cost, the feasibility of automated fiber placement using ultrasonic consolidation (UC) is investigated as an alternative to hot gas torch, laser, and infrared (IR) heating. The flexural stiffness and strength of simple flat parts made using UC and also thermal pressing per manufacturer’s specifications are measured by three-point bending and compared. Whereas UC proved to be more effective in welding polyethylene terephthalate/carbon prepreg tape than thermal pressing for both unidirectional and quasi-isotropic layups, the opposite was true for high-density polyethylene/glass, although optimal welding process parameters may not have been used. Finally, a simple transient conduction model is used to predict temperature rise in the thickening laminate and is compared to experimental measurements.