Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation on cerebral hemodynamics in newborn lambs

Background and PurposeNeurologic injury caused by changes in cerebral blood flow is a concern in infants treated with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). To investigate the hypothesis that cerebral hemodynamics would be influenced by bypass flow rates, eight ketamine anesthetized lambs (age range 1 to 8 days) had measurements of cerebral hemodynamics before and after institution of venoarterial bypass. MethodsCerebral blood flow (whole brain and regional) were measured using the radiola-beled microsphere technique. A left carotid artery catheter (placed without sacrificing the vessel) reference sample was used for calculation of brain blood flows. Arterial and venous (sagittal sinus) oxygen contents and blood gases were measured across the cerebral circulation. Cerebral oxygen consumption, oxygen delivery, and fractional oxygen extraction were calculated. Measurements were made pre-ECMO and after placement on venoarterial ECMO at flow rates of 50 and 100 mL/kg/min. In addition, four other lambs were studied at a flow rate of 150 mU kg/min, and seven additional animals were used to address methodologic issues with the micro-sphere technique in this model. ResultsCerebral blood flow and oxygen delivery significantly decreased, compared with control at both flow rates of 100 and 50 mL/kg/min (87.8 ± 5.2 vs. 36.4 ± 6.2; and 35.1 ± 5.8 mL/100 g/min; 5.82 ± 0.37 vs. 2.14 ± 0.35; and 2.19 ± 0.39 μM/100 g/min, respectively). Cerebral fractional oxygen extraction increased significantly at a flow of 50 mL/kg, and cerebral oxygen consumption decreased significantly at a flow of 100 mL/kg. At a flow rate of 150 mL/kg/min, cerebral hemodynamic variables did not differ from control measurements. ConclusionsThese findings demonstrate that changes in cerebral blood flow and cerebral oxygen metabolism can occur in the newborn lamb with the initiation of ECMO, and that these changes are dependent on bypass flow rate.
Response to Comments by Butterworth and Punt in SC/46/AS2 on the Bayesian Synthesis Approach

In this paper we address some of the concerns raised by Butterworth and Punt (1994) in SC/46/AS2 regarding the Bayesian synthesis method. We argue that the sensitivity of the Bayesian synthesis approach is similar to that of alternative methods, and that the ease with which sensitivity can be detected is one of the advantages of the method. We also note that some of the examples in SC/46/AS2 use applications of the Bayesian synthesis framework which are potentially misleading. Speciically, SC/46/AS2 examines a simpliied version of the Bayesian synthesis method, and the sensitivity displayed in the results of SC/46/AS2 is partially an artifact of this sim-pliication. This simpliication removes the very features from the Bayesian synthesis method which help it avoid problems involving sensitivity, estimation bias and precision. We address further concerns raised in SC/46/AS2 regarding the use of information about various biological parameters.
The Role of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) in Disaster Response and Recovery Efforts: Historical, Current and Future

A wide range of legislation has been proposed or put into place that restricts the use of unmanned systems. These actions by legislators and regulators will stifle the growth of this technology and the associated surrounding industry. The largest obstacle to the proliferation of UAS in the U.S. is the FAA. The FAA has designated the location of six test sites that are anticipated to allow for less restrictive and formative research to assess the technologies that the FAA has claimed need to exist in order to integrate UAS into the NAS. Further complicating the adoption of UAS for beneficent causes is the plethora of local and state legislation and regulation. Whilst many state restrictions do have built-in caveats to potentially allow for disaster support utilizing UAS, not all are so explicit. All of these actions make the adoption ofUAS in disaster areas more complex and may sway associated agencies away from purchasing UAS for these uses in the future. This research outlines historical uses ofUAS to provide basis for the adoption in disaster relief. Examples of past use of unmanned systems in exigent event response are provided including posthurricane rescue, wild fire monitoring, and landslide disaster relief. An example of missed opportunities with UAS, the Boston Marathon bombing is also outlined. Current UAS usage in first response is explained including types of platforms and sensors that show promise in such operations. Future considerations for UAS adoption in disaster efforts are outlined.
Transmission of Bordetella pertussis to Young Infants

Background: Pertussis vaccination has reduced the number of notified cases in industrialized countries from peak years by more than 95%. The effect of recently recommended adult and adolescent vaccination strategies on infant pertussis depends, in part, on the proportion of infants infected by adults and adolescents. This proportion, however, remains unclear, because studies have not been able to determine the source case for 47%–60% of infant cases. Methods: A prospective international multicenter study was conducted of laboratory confirmed infant pertussis cases (aged ≤6 months) and their household and nonhousehold contacts. Comprehensive diagnostic evaluation (including PCR and serology) was performed on all participants independent of symptoms. Source cases were identified and described by relationship to the infant, age and household status. Results: The study population comprised 95 index cases and 404 contacts. The source of pertussis was identified for 48% of infants in the primary analysis and up to 78% in sensitivity analyses. In the primary analysis, parents accounted for 55% of source cases, followed by siblings (16%), aunts/uncles (10%), friends/cousins (10%), grandparents (6%) and part-time caretakers (2%). The distribution of source cases was robust to sensitivity analyses. Conclusions: This study provides solid evidence that among infants for whom a source case was identified, household members were responsible for 76%–83% of transmission of Bordetella pertussis to this high-risk group. Vaccination of adolescents and adults in close contact with young infants may thus eliminate a substantial proportion of infant pertussis if high coverage rates can be achieved.
Accounting for the Assimilative Capacity of Water Systems in Scotland

A key methodological challenge in understanding the relationship between the economy and the underlying ecosystem base resides in how to account for the ecosystem’s degradation and the decline of associated ecosystem services. In this study, we use information on nutrients and metals concentrations from the Environmental Change Network (ECN) database and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) for the period 2000–2010 in order to assess the assimilation capacity of water systems. The research covers five upstream sites and 17 downstream sites in northeast Scotland. Our results highlight the relevance of considering a number of pollutants, and suggest that elements such as arsenic, lead and mercury can pose a threat to ecosystems’ sustainability and health. However, little research has been done in terms of their assimilation capacity and their impact on grey water footprint assessments. In addition, the results indicate that background conditions might be relevant when performing sustainability analysis at different spatial scales. The study also poses relevant questions in relation to land management approaches versus traditional ‘end-of-pipe’ water treatment approaches, and the definition of maximum and background concentrations. In this regard, further studies will be required to understand the trade-offs between different ecosystem services depending on how these concentrations are defined.
Caracteriza\c{c}\~ao de tempos de ida-e-volta na Internet

Round-trip times (RTTs) are an important metric for the operation of many applications in the Internet. For instance, they are taken into account when choosing servers or peers in streaming systems, and they impact the operation of fault detectors and congestion control algorithms. Therefore, detailed knowledge about RTTs is important for application and protocol developers. In this work we present results on measuring RTTs between 81 PlanetLab nodes every ten seconds, for ten days. The resulting dataset has over 550 million measurements. Our analysis gives us a profile of delays in the network and identifies a Gamma distribution as the model that best fits our data. The average times observed are below 500 ms in more than 99% of the pairs, but there is significant variation, not only when we compare different pairs of hosts during the experiment, but also considering any given pair of hosts over time. By using a clustering technique, we observe that links can be divided in five distinct groups based on the distribution of RTTs over time and the losses observed, ranging from groups of near, wellconnected pairs, to groups of distant hosts, with lower quality links between them.
Review on Dog Rabies Vaccination Coverage in Africa: A Question of Dog Accessibility or Cost Recovery?

Background Rabies still poses a significant human health problem throughout most of Africa, where the majority of the human cases results from dog bites. Mass dog vaccination is considered to be the most effective method to prevent rabies in humans. Our objective was to systematically review research articles on dog rabies parenteral vaccination coverage in Africa in relation to dog accessibility and vaccination cost recovery arrangement (i.e.free of charge or owner charged). Methodology/Principal Findings A systematic literature search was made in the databases of CAB abstracts (EBSCOhost and OvidSP), Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed, Medline (EBSCOhost and OvidSP) and AJOL (African Journal Online) for peer reviewed articles on 1) rabies control, 2) dog rabies vaccination coverage and 3) dog demography in Africa. Identified articles were subsequently screened and selected using predefined selection criteria like year of publication (viz. ≥ 1990), type of study (cross sectional), objective(s) of the study (i.e. vaccination coverage rates, dog demographics and financial arrangements of vaccination costs), language of publication (English) and geographical focus (Africa). The selection process resulted in sixteen peer reviewed articles which were used to review dog demography and dog ownership status, and dog rabies vaccination coverage throughout Africa. The main review findings indicate that 1) the majority (up to 98.1%) of dogs in African countries are owned (and as such accessible), 2) puppies younger than 3 months of age constitute a considerable proportion (up to 30%) of the dog population and 3) male dogs are dominating in numbers (up to 3.6 times the female dog population). Dog rabies parenteral vaccination coverage was compared between “free of charge” and “owner charged” vaccination schemes by the technique of Meta-analysis. Results indicate that the rabies vaccination coverage following a free of charge vaccination scheme (68%) is closer to the World Health Organization recommended coverage rate (70%) than the achieved coverage rate in owner-charged dog rabies vaccination schemes (18%). Conclusions/Significance Most dogs in Africa are owned and accessible for parenteral vaccination against rabies if the campaign is performed “free of charge”.
Research Paper: The CMIO - A New Leader for Health Systems

Physician leadership is a critical success factor for health information technology initiatives, but best practices for structuring the role and skills required for such leadership remain undefined. The authors conducted structured interviews with five physician information technology leaders, or Chief Medical Information Officers (CMIOs), at health systems that broadly used health information technology. The study aimed to identify the individual skills and organizational structure necessary for a CMIO to be effective. The interviews found that the CMIOs had significant management experience prior to serving as a CMIO and were positioned and supported within each health system similar to other executive leaders; only one of the five CMIOs had formal informatics training. A review of the findings advocates for the CMIO to have a strong background and role as a physician executive supported by knowledge in informatics, as opposed to being a highly trained informaticist with secondary management expertise or support.
A Study on View-Dependent Representation of 3-D Mesh Models Using Hierarchical Partitioning

As the demands of high quality visual service have increased recently from consumers, many researchers and companies have focused on the development of multimedia applications based on 3-D models, avatars and animations. However, it will be a difficult work to develop some applications related to 3-D mesh model transmission since they should accept the tremendous amount of transmission data for 3-D mesh models basically. Therefore, the study of efficient 3-D mesh model transmission scheme will be needed to manipulate those models in limited bandwidth channels. In this thesis, we propose a new scheme for the transmission of 3-D mesh model information according to human viewing. The proposed scheme is able to say a version combining sequential and progressive mesh transmissions with view-dependent transmission. A view-dependent nonuniform mesh information can be transmitted through a network by setting higher priority to visible parts than invisible parts. The proposed system can be divided into three parts: hierarchical mesh partitioning to represent a mesh model, resolution decision of partitioned meshes and view-dependent 3-D mesh model transmission. The first part is to represent a 3-D mesh model with a hierarchical partitioning structure. Hierarchical partitioning structure is obtained by doing mesh partitioning with previous partitioned meshes iteratively according to the specified number of initial partitioned mesh and level. In mesh partitioning, we use K-means algorithm for selecting start vertices. We also constitute multi-layers for progressive transmission based on the hierarchical mesh partitioning structure. Base layer and enhancement
Language learning on a next-generation service platform for Africa

Developing countries are seeing rapid growth in the deployment of mobile phones. Billions of people (including those in the poorest parts of the world) now have devices capable of communication and computation. In Uganda it was reported that there were 25 mobile phones per 100 people in 2007 [11]. This makes mobile phones the most ubiquitous computing and communication platform in the country compared with computers (1.6 per 100 people), television (2.2 per 100 people) and even radio (15.6 per 100 people). Applications and services for these devices are emerging rapidly.
The checkpoint transcriptional response: Make sure to turn it off once you are satisfied

The replication checkpoint signaling network monitors the presence of replication-induced lesions to DNA and coordinates an elaborate cellular response that includes ample transcriptional reprogramming. Recent work has established two major groups of replication stress-induced genes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the DNA damage response (DDR) genes and G1/S cell cycle (CC) genes. In both cases, transcriptional activation is mediated via checkpoint-dependent inhibition of a transcriptional repressor (Crt1 for DDR and Nrm1 for CC) that participates in negative feedback regulation. This repressor-mediated regulation enables transcription to be rapidly repressed once cells have dealt with the replication stress. The recent finding of a new class of CC genes, named “switch genes,” further uncovers a mode of transcription regulation that prevents overexpression of replication stress induced genes during G1. Collectively, these findings highlight the need for mechanisms that tightly control replication stress-induced transcription, allowing rapid transcriptional activation during replication stress but also avoiding long-term hyperaccumulation of the induced protein product that may be detrimental to cell proliferation.
Étude en stratigraphie sismique de remplissage tertiaire de la région de Pechelbronn (Fossé Rhénan) : application au développement pétrolier en domaine de fossé d'effondrement

L'application de la methode de stratigraphie sismique a l'ensemble des profils de la campagne sismique 1981 de TOTAL-CFP, ainsi que differentes methodes de calage ont permis de definir les principaux stades d'evolution de la zone de Pechelbronn. Plus particulierement, grâce au premier, et tres detaille, decoupage en sequences sismiques du remplissage tertiaire, on a mis en evidence : l'existence de la compression submeridienne (N 20°) liee a la phase pyreneenne a l'interieur du Fosse rhenan. - une relation, sur l'echelle relative du temps, entre la compression Eocene et l'effondrement d'Oligocene du Fosse rhenan a la hauteur de Pechelbronn. - un nouveau decoupage lithologique de la zone dolomitique (pointe des discordances) et surtout les differentes etapes dans la premiere transgression marine du Tertiaire (Lattorfien). Une etude detaillee des facies sismiques en liaison avec les calages des puits a la sismique, a permis d'etablir un lien direct entre les marqueurs sismiques d'un cote et les marqueurs diagraphiques et la lithologie de l'autre. Les evenements sedimentaires et tectoniques ont recu leur juste dimension grâce a la transformation de sections sismiques en coupes-profondeur, et, de ce fait, peuvent etre directement appliques dans les raisonnements petroliers. Grâce a une analyse approfondie des failles, on a pu etablir une succession de phases de tectonisation qu'a subie la region de Pechelbronn. L’analyse du jeu multiple de failles synsedimentaires a permis de cerner les nouveaux aspects du piegeage dans le Secondaire. C’est ainsi que les resultats d’une etude ponctuelle ont pu etre compares a un large eventail de donnees provenant d’autres fosses d’effondrements, afin de mettre en evidence leurs traits communs favorables a la prospection petroliere.
A Peripherally Acting Nav1.7 Sodium Channel Blocker Reverses Hyperalgesia and Allodynia on Rat Models of Inflammatory and Neuropathic Pain

BACKGROUND:Voltage-gated sodium channels (Nav1) are expressed in primary sensory neurons where they influence excitability via their role in the generation and propagation of action potentials. Recently, human genetic data have shown that one sodium channel subtype, Nav1.7, plays a major role in pain. We performed these studies to characterize the antinociceptive effects of N-[(R)-1-((R)-7-chloro-1-isopropyl-2-oxo-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-benzo[b]azepin-3-ylcarbamoyl)-2-(2-fluorophenyl)-ethyl]-4-fluoro-2-trifluoromethyl-benzamide (BZP), a non-central nervous system (CNS) penetrant small molecule with high affinity and preferential selectivity for Nav1.7 over Nav1.8 and Nav1.5. METHODS:BZP was evaluated in rat preclinical models of inflammatory and neuropathic pain and compared with standard analgesics. Two models were used: the complete Freund’s adjuvant model of inflammatory pain and the spinal nerve ligation model of neuropathic pain. BZP was also evaluated in a motor coordination assay to assess its propensity for CNS side effects. RESULTS:In preclinical models of chronic pain, BZP displayed efficacy comparable with that of leading analgesics. In the complete Freund’s adjuvant model, BZP produced reversal of hyperalgesia comparable with nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, and in the spinal nerve ligation model, BZP produced reversal of allodynia comparable with gabapentin and mexiletine. Unlike the CNS penetrant compounds gabapentin and mexiletine, BZP did not induce any impairment of motor coordination. CONCLUSIONS:These data suggest that a peripherally acting sodium channel blocker, preferentially acting through Nav1.7, could provide clinical relief of chronic pain without the CNS side effects typical of many existing pain treatments.
Embedded Visible Light Communication: Link Measurements and Interpretation

Embedded visible light communication (VLC) systems built with low-cost commodity hardware are starting to attract the interest of the embedded systems community, but are yet unexplored in many aspects. The performance of VLC channels is not comprehensively studied under different communication settings and scenarios. In this paper we present an experimental characterization of the performance of low-end VLC channels and investigate the impact of various transmitter/receiver settings, protocol-level parameters and deployment aspects using both low-power and highpower LEDs. Our goal is to discover the strengths, weaknesses and limitations of embedded VLC systems.
Dynamics simulation for a biped robot: modeling and experimental verification

Dynamics simulation is a valuable tool for biped robot hardware and controller design. Due to the complexity of biped walking robots, simulation times can be quite high. It is therefore important to identify the key components in modeling the system so that the phenomena of interest can be correctly predicted at a reasonable numerical cost. In this paper a detailed and a reduced simulation of the biped robot JOHNNIE are presented and results are compared with experimental data. The comparison shows that results for both models correctly predict global dynamics of the system, while some phenomena are only captured by the more complex model
Radon Concentration Measurement in Ainkawa Region Using Solid State Nuclear Track Detector

Radon is the air contaminant radioactive gas which people exposed to, is a reason for lung damages and lung cancer. The areas that are subject to high radon levels are found by radon concentration measurement. The radon activity concentration, annual effective dose, and potential alpha energy concentration (PAEC), were measured in houses of Ainkawa region using CR-39 solid state nuclear track detectors SSNTDs with the sealed-can technique. In the present paper the estimated values for radon activity concentration are in the range 55.99-112.8 Bq/m 3 with 84.30 Bq/m 3 as a mean value, the range of annual effective dose are 1.411-2.872 mSv/y , with mean value 2.124 mSv/y , and the potential alpha energy concentration range are 6.0533-12.323 mWL with mean of 9.1133 mWL . The mean value of the radon concentration is below of 100 Bq/m 3 the reference level of (WHO) World Health Organization, and well below of UK National Radiation Protection Board (NRPB) and European Commission Recommendation Level of 200 Bq/m 3 .
Read-It: five-to-seven-year-old children learn to read in a tabletop environment

Augmented tabletops can be used to create multi-modal and collaborative environments in which natural interactions with tangible objects that represent virtual (digital) information can be performed. Such environments are considered potentially interesting for many different applications. In this paper, we address the question of whether or not it makes sense to use such environments to design learning experiences for young children. More specifically, we present the "Read-It" application that we have created to illustrate how augmented tabletops can support the development of reading skills. Children of five-to-seven-years old were actively involved in designing and testing this application. A pilot experiment was conducted with a prototype of the Read-It application, in order to confirm that it does indeed meet the a priori expectations. We hope that the Read-It application will inspire the development of more tabletop applications that are targeted at specific user groups and activities.