Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Bridge-Enhanced Anterior Cruciate Ligament Repair (BEAR) Procedure

Background: This study assessed the safety of the newly developed bridge-enhanced anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) repair (BEAR), which involves suture repair of the ligament combined with a bioactive scaffold to bridge the gap between the torn ligament ends. As the intra-articular environment is complex in its response to implanted materials, this study was designed to determine whether there would be a significant rate of adverse reaction to the implanted scaffold. Hypothesis: The primary hypothesis was that the implanted scaffold would not result in a deep joint infection (arthrocentesis with positive culture) or significant inflammation (clinical symptoms justifying arthrocentesis but negative culture). The secondary hypotheses were that patients treated with BEAR would have early postoperative outcomes that were similar to patients treated with ACL reconstruction with an autologous hamstring graft. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 2. Methods: A total of 20 patients were enrolled in this nonrandomized, first-in-human study. Ten patients received BEAR treatment and 10 received a hamstring autograft ACL reconstruction. The BEAR procedure was performed by augmenting a suture repair with a proprietary scaffold, the BEAR scaffold, placed in between the torn ends of the ACL at the time of suture repair. The BEAR scaffold is to our knowledge the only device that fills the gap between the torn ligament ends to have current Investigational Device Exemption approval from the Food and Drug Administration. Ten milliliters of autologous whole blood were added to the scaffold prior to wound closure. Outcomes were assessed at 3 months postoperatively. The outcomes measures included postoperative pain, muscle atrophy, loss of joint range of motion, and implant failure (designated by an International Knee Documentation Committee grade C or D Lachman test and/or an absence of continuous ACL tissue on magnetic resonance images). Results: There were no joint infections or signs of significant inflammation in either group. There were no differences between groups in effusion or pain, and no failures by Lachman examination criteria (BEAR, 8 grade A and 2 grade B; ACL reconstruction, 10 grade A). Magnetic resonance images from all of the BEAR and ACL-reconstructed patients demonstrated a continuous ACL or intact graft. In addition, hamstring strength at 3 months was significantly better in the BEAR group than in the hamstring autograft group (mean ± SD: 77.9% ± 14.6% vs 55.9% ± 7.8% of the contralateral side; P < .001). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that the BEAR procedure may have a rate of adverse reactions low enough to warrant a study of efficacy in a larger group of patients.
Scalable noise estimation with random unitary operators

We describe a scalable stochastic method for the experimental measurement of generalized fidelities characterizing the accuracy of the implementation of a coherent quantum transformation. The method is based on the motion reversal of random unitary operators. In the simplest case our method enables direct estimation of the average gate fidelity. The more general fidelities are characterized by a universal exponential rate of fidelity loss. In all cases the measurable fidelity decrease is directly related to the strength of the noise affecting the implementation, quantified by the trace of the superoperator describing the non-unitary dynamics. While the scalability of our stochastic protocol makes it most relevant in large Hilbert spaces (when quantum process tomography is infeasible), our method should be immediately useful for evaluating the degree of control that is achievable in any prototype quantum processing device. By varying over different experimental arrangements and error-correction strategies, additional information about the noise can be determined.
A Survey: To Harness an Efficient Energy in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing affords huge potential for dynamism, flexibility and cost-effective IT operations. Cloud computing requires many tasks to be executed by the provided resources to achieve good performance, shortest response time and high utilization of resources. To achieve these challenges there is a need to develop a new energy aware scheduling algorithm that outperform appropriate allocation map of task to optimize energy consumption. This study accomplished with all the existing techniques mainly focus on reducing energy consumption.
Knowledge Transfer between Neural Networks

The goal of knowledge transfer is to take advantage of previous training experience to solve related but new tasks. This paper tackles the issue of transfer of knowledge between radial basis function neural networks. We present some preliminary work illustrating how a neural network trained on one task (the source) can be used to assist in the synthesis of a new but similar task (the target).
Smart drive of power transistors

A method using feedback techniques that is suitable to drive and protect high-power transistors in commutation is presented. This active protection allows the use of the maximum transistor safe operating area, since it prevents the drain-to-source voltage from rising above a prescribed value that is independent of the working voltage of the power device and of the power load parameters. One additional advantage of this drive technique consists in the reduction of the turn-on time of the MOS transistor due to an inherent increase of the driving current. Other features, such as overcurrent and overtemperature protection, are also included in the drive circuit. An experimental circuit using the method was tested in different conditions, and the results confirm the advantageous features of the feedback technique. <<ETX>>
Efficient channel estimation in massive MIMO systems - a distributed approach

We present two efficient algorithms for distributed estimation of channels in massive MIMO systems. The two cases of 1) generic, and 2) sparse channels is considered. The algorithms estimate the impulse response for each channel observed by the antennas at the receiver (base station) in a coordinated manner by sharing minimal information among neighboring antennas. Simulations demonstrate the superior performance of the proposed methods as compared to other methods.
Scalable video transmission over Rayleigh fading channels using LDPC codes

In this paper, we investigate an important problem of efficiently utilizing the available resources for video transmission over wireless channels while maintaining a good decoded video quality and resilience to channel impairments. Our system consists of the video codec based on 3-D set partitioning in hierarchical trees (3-D SPIHT) algorithm and employs two different schemes using low-density parity check (LDPC) codes for channel error protection. The first method uses the serial concatenation of the constant-rate LDPC code and rate-compatible punctured convolutional (RCPC) codes. Cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is used to detect transmission errors. In the other scheme, we use the product code structure consisting of a constant rate LDPC/CRC code across the rows of the `blocks' of source data and an erasure-correction systematic Reed-Solomon (RS) code as the column code. In both the schemes introduced here, we use fixed-length source packets protected with unequal forward error correction coding ensuring a strictly decreasing protection across the bitstream. A Rayleigh flat-fading channel with additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) is modeled for the transmission. The rate-distortion optimization algorithm is developed and carried out for the selection of source coding and channel coding rates using Lagrangian optimization. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this system under different wireless channel conditions and both the proposed methods (LDPC+RCPC/CRC and RS+LDPC/CRC) outperform the more conventional schemes such as those employing RCPC/CRC.
An ontology driven credit risk scoring model

In this paper, the authors propose a model for credit risk management. Two main aspects of credit risk management are analyzed. The first aspect of this paper discusses techniques for reducing the risk of investments using standard commercial bank methods for client scoring. The second aspect deals with social, political and development components of investment. In this paper, ontology is used to enable the implementation of domain knowledge to support decision-making and client scoring in government development funds. Authors propose an integrated ontological model for evaluating client applications, which incorporates both: the default risk of investment and the development component of the investment.
Hypoxia-mediated CD24 expression is correlated with gastric cancer aggressiveness by promoting cell migration and invasion

CD24 is a heavily glycosylated cell surface protein that is expressed in putative stem cells and is overexpressed in various human malignancies, yet the significant roles of CD24 in gastric cancer development are still elusive. We investigated the involvement of CD24 in gastric cancer aggressiveness, which is attributed to its heterogeneity. Cultured gastric cancer cells showed diverse expression patterns in CD24, whereas other defined cell surface markers, such as CD44 and CD133, were homogenous. Purely sorted CD24‐negative gastric cancer cells showed strong alteration into the CD24‐positive cell type in an autochthonous manner, and reached to steady expression levels. Our clinicopathological study revealed that CD24 positivity was an independent prognostic factor in both intestinal and diffuse types of gastric cancer. CD24 expression was correlated with the advanced stages, invasiveness, and lymph node metastasis of gastric cancer. Silencing of CD24 in cultured cells significantly decreased cell migration and invasion. Hypoxic treatment upregulated CD24 expression, and simultaneously induced cell motility and invasion of gastric cancer cells. Hypoxic treatment‐induced CD24 expression was significantly attenuated by knockdown of hypoxia‐inducible transcription factors. These data suggest that CD24‐negative cells are capable of gaining cell motility and invasiveness through the induction of CD24, which is mediated by hypoxia. CD24 would be an attractive marker to define not only the heterogeneity but also the aggressiveness of gastric cancer cells. The mechanisms by which hypoxia induces CD24 expression would also be a potential therapeutic target for gastric cancer.
Adaptation in single units in visual cortex: The tuning of aftereffects in the spatial domain

Abstract Cat striate cortical neurons were investigated using a new method of studying adaptation aftereffects. Stimuli were sinusoidal gratings of variable contrast, spatial frequency, and drift direction and rate. A series of alternating adapting and test trials was presented while recording from single units. Control trials were completely integrated with the adapted trials in these experiments. Every cortical cell tested showed selective adaptation aftereffects. Adapting at suprathreshold contrasts invariably reduced contrast sensitivity. Significant aftereffects could be observed even when adapting at low contrasts. The spatial-frequency tuning of aftereffects varied from cell to cell. Adapting at a given spatial frequency generally resulted in a broad response reduction at test frequencies above and below the adapting frequency. Many cells lost responses predominantly at frequencies lower than the adapting frequency. The tuning of aftereffects varied with the adapting frequency. In particular, the strongest aftereffects occurred near the adapting frequency. Adapting at frequencies just above the optimum for a cell often altered the spatial-frequency tuning by shifting the peak toward lower frequencies. The fact that the tuning of aftereffects did not simply match the tuning of the cell, but depended on the adapting stimulus, implies that extrinsic mechanisms are involved in adaptation effects.
A search for southern ultracool dwarfs in young moving groups

We have constructed an 800-strong red object catalogue by cross-referencing optical and infrared catalogues with an extensive proper motion catalogue compiled for red objects in the southern sky to obtain proper motions. We have applied astrometric and photometric constraints to the catalogue in order to select ultracool dwarf moving group candidates. 132 objects were found to be candidates of a moving group. From this candidate list we present initial results. Using spectroscopy we have obtained reliable spectral types and space motions, and by association with moving groups we can infer an age and composition. the further study of the remainder of our candidates will provide a large sample of young brown dwarfs and confirmed members will provide benchmark ultracool dwarfs. These will make suitable targets of AO planet searches.
Advanced monitoring and smart auto-scaling of NoSQL systems

Recent years have shown that RDBMS systems do not always meet the performance and scalability requirements of today's applications. Horizontal scalability is hindered by the ACID properties and the normalized data model these systems use. For this reason, a whole new range of database systems (NoSQL systems) has emerged. This paper focusses on eventual consistent storage systems, which have a certain inconsistency window after an update. Within this window different replicas contain a different version of a certain data item. While RDBMS systems provide strong transactional semantics, this is not the case for eventual consistent storage systems. The level of consistency is often configurable, but figuring out the optimal configuration is not a trivial task. Next to that, recent research has shown that the size of the inconsistency window can change over time, considering a fixed configuration. In this Phd research we envision a solution where all consistency-related parameters are managed by an SLA-driven autonomous system. Continuously monitoring the size of the inconsistency window allows dynamic reconfiguration and re-provisioning of the database cluster to keep the inconsistency window under a certain limit. As such, more guarantees can be provided to the application programmer.
The distribution problem in management accounting with genetic algorithm and fuzzy sets

Enrique Lopez Gonzalez, Miguel A. Rodriguez Fernandez, Cristina Mendana Cuervo and Raquel Florez LopezDepartment of Economy and Business ManagementUniversity of Leon24071-Leon, Spaindde{elg/mrf/cmc/rfl}@unileon.es1. ABSTRACTMany different optimisation problems can be formulatedon networks: For instance, we might be interested infinding the shortest path from one node to another,finding the cheapest way to connect all the nodes, orfinding the best way to move objects through a network.The movement of objects through a network is called aflow.In this paper we pretend to show a new approach to aclassical network optimisation problem: the transportationproblem. Firstly, allowing the vehicles that can establishroutes, and, also, permitting to manage with imprecise orvague information. We propose to use the Fuzzy SetsTheory [9]; [4]; [10], with the aim of being able to handlethe uncertainty, which is characteristic of decision-making processes in distribution problems.Moreover, to optimise the distribution network wesuggest to use a Genetic Algorithm (GA) [3]; [1]; [7]. Themain reason for this is that GAs are heuristic optimisationmethods which don’t impose restrictions to the posing ofthe problem. In this study, the algorithm is characterisedby its use of a Fuzzy Fitness Function that allows theevaluation of imprecise information.Keywords: transportation and distribution problems,shortest route problem, fuzzy sets, genetic algorithms.2. FUZZY DISTRIBUTION MODELThe information necessary is related to:• Destination or client demands. We consider amore realist representation using fuzzy sets. So, for ndestinations we could have:~ ~ ~ ~. (1)• Sources number and its supply capacity. Wesuppose that each source has a supply capacity,normally known in a strict way. So for m sources wecould have:
In vivo application of poly-3-hydroxyoctanoate as peripheral nerve graft

This study aims to investigate the degree of biocompatibility and neuroregeneration of a polymer tube, poly-3-hydroxyoctanoate (PHO) in nerve gap repair. Forty Wistar Albino male rats were randomized into two groups: autologous nerve gap repair group and PHO tube repair group. In each group, a 10-mm right sciatic nerve defect was created and reconstructed accordingly. Neuroregeneration was studied by sciatic function index (SFI), electromyography, and immunohistochemical studies on Days 7, 21, 45 and 60 of implantation. Biocompatibility was analyzed by the capsule formation around the conduit. Biodegradation was analyzed by the molecular weight loss in vivo. Electrophysiological and histomorphometric assessments demonstrated neuroregeneration in both groups over time. In the experimental group, a straight alignment of the Schwann cells parallel to the axons was detected. However, autologous nerve graft seems to have a superior neuroregeneration compared to PHO grafts. Minor biodegradation was observed in PHO conduit at the end of 60 d. Although neuroregeneration is detected in PHO grafts with minor degradation in 60 d, autologous nerve graft is found to be superior in axonal regeneration compared to PHO nerve tube grafts. PHO conduits were found to create minor inflammatory reaction in vivo, resulting in good soft tissue response.
Benefits of Dedicating Resource Sharing Services in DataCenters for Emerging Multi-Core Systems

Current data-centers lack in efficient support for intelligent services, such as data sharing, resource monitoring, controlling overload scenarios, etc., which has become a common requirement today. Researchers and several organizations have been working towards adding co-processing units (such as FPGAs) in the hardware to offload some of the features of such intelligent services. However, at this point of time, it is not clear on how much benefits such co-processing units can provide to the data-center applications. On the other hand, as multicore systems are emerging, it opens up new ways to design, implement and emulate such co-processing units with the help of multiple cores in the system. To study the performance benefits, in this paper, we onload some of the prime functionalities of data-center services to dedicated cores. Specifically, we onload the data sharing and resource monitoring services to a dedicated core in a multi-core system and analyze the performance benefits in terms of Inter Process Communication (IPC) costs, overhead in response time and execution time of several applications. Our micro-benchmark results show that the performance of the dedicated data sharing service can be improved by 25% as compared to existing implementation. Evaluations with dedicated resource monitoring service show that the dedicated core can avoid fluctuations in response time compared to existing implementation. Distributed STORM and application checkpointing over the data sharing service show up to 15% and 33% improvement, respectively, as compared to the existing implementation.
Revised Phylogeny and Novel Horizontally Acquired Virulence Determinants of the Model Soft Rot Phytopathogen Pectobacterium wasabiae SCC3193

Soft rot disease is economically one of the most devastating bacterial diseases affecting plants worldwide. In this study, we present novel insights into the phylogeny and virulence of the soft rot model Pectobacterium sp. SCC3193, which was isolated from a diseased potato stem in Finland in the early 1980s. Genomic approaches, including proteome and genome comparisons of all sequenced soft rot bacteria, revealed that SCC3193, previously included in the species Pectobacterium carotovorum, can now be more accurately classified as Pectobacterium wasabiae. Together with the recently revised phylogeny of a few P. carotovorum strains and an increasing number of studies on P. wasabiae, our work indicates that P. wasabiae has been unnoticed but present in potato fields worldwide. A combination of genomic approaches and in planta experiments identified features that separate SCC3193 and other P. wasabiae strains from the rest of soft rot bacteria, such as the absence of a type III secretion system that contributes to virulence of other soft rot species. Experimentally established virulence determinants include the putative transcriptional regulator SirB, two partially redundant type VI secretion systems and two horizontally acquired clusters (Vic1 and Vic2), which contain predicted virulence genes. Genome comparison also revealed other interesting traits that may be related to life in planta or other specific environmental conditions. These traits include a predicted benzoic acid/salicylic acid carboxyl methyltransferase of eukaryotic origin. The novelties found in this work indicate that soft rot bacteria have a reservoir of unknown traits that may be utilized in the poorly understood latent stage in planta. The genomic approaches and the comparison of the model strain SCC3193 to other sequenced Pectobacterium strains, including the type strain of P. wasabiae, provides a solid basis for further investigation of the virulence, distribution and phylogeny of soft rot bacteria and, potentially, other bacteria as well.
Compensation control of matrix converter fed induction motor drive under abnormal input voltage conditions

Matrix converter (MC) is a direct energy conversion device with high input power factor and regeneration capability. As a device without dc link elements, the ac line side disturbances can degrade its output characteristic and reliability, even deteriorate the drive performance of motor load. In this paper, the behaviors of the MC drive under abnormal input voltage conditions, in terms of unbalance, nonsinusoidal and short-time voltage sag, have been investigated. A feedback compensation method based on close loop control of output current is proposed to improve the output performance of MC. In addition, a feedforward compensation method by measuring instantaneous values of input voltage is developed to compensate the output voltages of MC and ensure the drive performance of induction motor under abnormal input voltage conditions. The effectiveness and feasibility of the two proposed compensation methods have been proven through numerical simulations and experimental tests.
Formation of a G-quadruplex at the BCL2 major breakpoint region of the t(14;18) translocation in follicular lymphoma

The t(14;18) translocation in follicular lymphoma is one of the most common chromosomal translocations. Most breaks on chromosome 18 are located at the 3′-UTR of the BCL2 gene and are mainly clustered in the major breakpoint region (MBR). Recently, we found that the BCL2 MBR has a non-B DNA character in genomic DNA. Here, we show that single-stranded DNA modeled from the template strand of the BCL2 MBR, forms secondary structures that migrate faster on native PAGE in the presence of potassium, due to the formation of intramolecular G-quadruplexes. Circular dichroism shows evidence for a parallel orientation for G-quadruplex structures in the template strand of the BCL2 MBR. Mutagenesis and the DMS modification assay confirm the presence of three guanine tetrads in the structure. 1H nuclear magnetic resonance studies further confirm the formation of an intramolecular G-quadruplex and a representative model has been built based on all of the experimental evidence. We also provide data consistent with the possible formation of a G-quadruplex structure at the BCL2 MBR within mammalian cells. In summary, these important features could contribute to the single-stranded character at the BCL2 MBR, thereby contributing to chromosomal fragility.