Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Refocusing Neuroprotection in Cerebral Reperfusion Era: New Challenges and Strategies

Pathophysiological processes of stroke have revealed that the damaged brain should be considered as an integral structure to be protected. However, promising neuroprotective drugs have failed when translated to clinical trials. In this review, we evaluated previous studies of neuroprotection and found that unsound patient selection and evaluation methods, single-target treatments, etc., without cerebral revascularization may be major reasons of failed neuroprotective strategies. Fortunately, this may be reversed by recent advances that provide increased revascularization with increased availability of endovascular procedures. However, the current improved effects of endovascular therapy are not able to match to the higher rate of revascularization, which may be ascribed to cerebral ischemia/reperfusion injury and lacking of neuroprotection. Accordingly, we suggest various research strategies to improve the lower therapeutic efficacy for ischemic stroke treatment: (1) multitarget neuroprotectant combinative therapy (cocktail therapy) should be investigated and performed based on revascularization; (2) and more efforts should be dedicated to shifting research emphasis to establish recirculation, increasing functional collateral circulation and elucidating brain–blood barrier damage mechanisms to reduce hemorrhagic transformation. Therefore, we propose that a comprehensive neuroprotective strategy before and after the endovascular treatment may speed progress toward improving neuroprotection after stroke to protect against brain injury.
Using Qualitative Spatial Relations for indirect object search

Finding objects in human environments requires autonomous mobile robots to reason about potential object locations and to plan to perceive them accordingly. By using information about the 3D structure of the environment, knowledge about landmark objects and their spatial relationship to the sought object, search can be improved by directing the robot towards the most likely object locations. In this paper we have designed, implemented and evaluated an approach for searching for objects on the basis of Qualitative Spatial Relations (QSRs) such as left-of and in-front-of. On the basis of QSRs between landmarks and the sought object we generate metric poses of potential object locations using an extended version of the ternary point calculus and employ this information for view planning. Preliminary results show that search methods based on QSRs are faster and more reliable than methods not considering them.
Methanol in oil interpretation model based on transformer post-mortem paper analysis

In the last decade, much effort has been invested in using methanol as an oil-soluble chemical marker for assessing the condition of insulating paper. The use of this marker as paper life index presents many advantages particularly with new transformers insulated with thermally upgraded papers. However, until now, no interpretation model has been available for its extensive use by the transformer community. In this paper, a methanol-based interpretation model is presented for the first time using postmortem paper analysis on core-type transformers. This model allows the evaluation of the average degree of polymerization of a transformer's cellulose winding. Furthermore, threshold values based on the methanol concentration are given using this approach. Finally, model validation was performed on a limited number of papers taken from transformers being assessed in the repair shop.
A STT-RAM-based low-power hybrid register file for GPGPUs

Recently, general-purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) have been widely used to accelerate computing in various applications. To store the contexts of thousands of concurrent threads on a GPU, a large static random-access memory (SRAM)-based register file is employed. Due to high leakage power of SRAM, the register file consumes 20% to 40% of the total GPU power consumption. Thus, hybrid memory system, which combines SRAM and the emerging non-volatile memory (NVM), has been employed for register file design on GPUs. Although it has shown strong potential to alleviate the power issue of GPUs, existing hybrid memory solutions might not exploit the intrinsic feature of GPU register file. By leveraging the warp schedule on GPU, this paper proposes a hybrid register architecture which consists of a NVM-based register file and mixed SRAM-based write buffers with a warp-aware write back strategy. Simulation results show that our design can eliminate 64% of write accesses to NVM and reduce power of register file by 66% on average, with only 4.2% performance degradation. After we apply the power gating technique, the register power is further reduced to 25% of SRAM counterpart on average.
Alteration of transpiration rate, by changing air vapour pressure deficit, influences leaf extension rate transiently in Miscanthus

temperatures. In the field, crops experience both diurnal and seasonal changes in temperature and humidity and A controlled environment chamber for whole plants is leaf growth has been demonstrated to be very sensitive described in which vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and to both these environmental variables (Gallagher and temperature can be controlled independently. Plant Biscoe, 1979; Parsons and Robson, 1980; Ben Haj Salah responses to changes in VPD at constant temperature and Tardieu, 1996). The rate of canopy development in were measured in terms of leaf extension and plant spring is important in determining the quantity of raditranspiration rates. Manipulation of VPD independently ation intercepted by a crop and, consequently, the final of temperature was shown to be capable of alter- yield (Monteith and Elston, 1972; Van der Werf et al., ing the leaf extension rates of the C 4 grass 1993). Simple models developed to predict canopy closure Miscanthus◊giganteus grown in hydroponics. The often use an empirical relation between accumulated effects of VPD on leaf extension are attributed to temperature above a threshold (e.g. degree days) and leaf changes in transpiration rate and hence leaf water expansion rate when a healthy crop is receiving adequate status. It was found that, at a temperature of 20°C, supplies of water ( Van der Werf et al., 1995). This the influence of a fixed change in VPD was proportion- approach assumes a linear relationship between temperally less than those observed at temperatures which ature and the rate of leaf expansion, and a lack of are close to the threshold for growth (between 6 and significant influence of other correlated variables such as 10°C). These responses are discussed in relation to humidity and light. our current understanding of the mechanisms of cell It has recently been shown that there was considerable growth. The fact that the VPD effects on leaf expansion variation in the leaf expansion rate of diVerent Miscanthus rates were largely transient suggest that simple genotypes over a range of temperatures between 5°C and models driven by temperature alone are adequate to 20°C and that this could influence final yield of the predict leaf expansion within the temperature range genotypes significantly (Clifton-Brown and Jones, 1997). 6‐20°C, for this genotype of Miscanthus, in the field. Miscanthus is a grass genus with C 4 photosynthesis with origins in eastern Asia. The genotype M. ◊giganteus
Impact of Government Sectoral Expenditure on Economic Growth in Malawi, 1980-2007

This paper examines the impact of government sectoral expenditure on economic growth in Malawi. Using time series data from 1980 to 2007, cointegration analysis in the context of an error correction model was employed to estimate the growth effects of government expenditures in agriculture, education, health, defence, social protection and transport and communication. The short run results showed no significant relationship between government sectoral expenditure and economic growth. The long run results showed a significant positive effect on economic growth of expenditure on agriculture and defence. The expenditures on education, health, social protection and transportation and communication were negatively related to economic growth. To boost economic growth efficient management of resources allocated to all sectors should be emphasized. Key Words: Government expenditure, economic growth, error correction model
A Resilient and Privacy-Preserving Energy Management Strategy for Networked Microgrids

This paper presents an energy management strategy for day-ahead scheduling of networked microgrids and is named as nested energy management system. In the proposed nested energy management strategy, the surplus power existing in the inner level microgrids is reflected as a resource and deficit as a load to the outer level microgrids. The operation cost of networked microgrids with nested energy management systems is lesser as compared to conventional decentralized or hybrid energy management strategies. Similarly, due to the inclusion of data (surplus/deficit) from inner level microgrids, customer privacy also increases. In islanded mode, the resilient performance of disconnected microgrids is enhanced due to their ability to form sub-groups. The probability of subgrouping for L-layers of microgrids is given by (L-2)/L. In grid-connected mode, various cases with diverse generation costs at each microgrid level along with the time-of-use market price signals have been evaluated. In islanded mode, the effect of battery energy storage system and disconnection of microgrids from the network have been evaluated. Hybrid ac/dc microgrids have also been considered to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. Simulation results have proved the viability of the proposed approach.
Multidimensional Digital Searching and Some New Parameters in Tries

Multidimensional digital searching (M-d tries) is analyzed from the view point of partial match retrieval. Our first result extends the analysis of Flajolet and Puech of the average cost of retrieval under the Bernoulli model to biased probabilities of symbols occurrences in a key. The second main finding concerns the variance of the cost of the retrieval in the unbiased case. This variance is of order O(N1−s/M) where N is the number of records stored in an M-d trie, and s is the number of specified components in a query of size M. For M=2 and s=1 we present a detailed analysis of the variance, which identifies the constant at . This analysis, which is the central part of our paper, requires certain series transformation identities which go back to Ramanujan. In the Appendix we provide a Mellin transform approach to these results.
DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF A CLASSROOM INTERACTION SYSTEM

In order to reduce the passivity of students and enhance their learning experience in large lectures, we developed a browser-based tool called Classroom Interacter to promote classroom interaction. It allows students to use their own mobile devices to participate in the learning process. The main features of Classroom Interacter include live voting, status setting and question sending. The evaluation results showed that, students were satisfied with the usability and felt it was helpful for their study. Although distraction was reported by some students, the system received very positive evaluations. Most students showed their willingness to use Classroom Interacter in the future.
Vitreous Levels of Luteinizing Hormone and VEGF are Strongly Correlated in Healthy Mammalian Eyes

ABSTRACT Purpose/Aim: Luteinizing hormone (LH) is known to function as a key regulator of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) expression in reproductive organs. In recent years, LH has also been detected in human vitreous and LH receptors have been identified in human retina. This study was aimed to investigate a potential correlation between LH and VEGF levels in healthy mammalian eyes to provide supporting evidence of LH’s potential involvement in intraocular VEGF regulation. Methods: 18 bovine and 30 porcine eyes were procured from an abattoir and VEGF and LH levels were measured in the vitreous extracted from these eyes by commercially available bovine & porcine ELISA assay kits. Total protein of the vitreous was measured by using Micro BSA protein assay kit. Results: After total protein normalization, the Pearson Correlation Coefficients (PCC) showed a strong and significant correlation between LH and VEGF levels. (Bovine LH/VEGF PCC: 0.89, p < 0.001; Porcine LH/VEGF PCC: 0.80, p < 0.001). Linear regression analyses, adjusted for gender, showed significant linear relationships between LH and VEGF levels in both bovine and porcine vitreous. (Bovine: t-value = 7.69, p < 0.0001, adjusted r2 = .79; Porcine: t-value = 6.71, p < 0.001, adjusted r2 = .62) Conclusions: We show that VEGF and LH are strongly correlated in healthy, adult mammalian eyes. The robustness of the correlation is shown both by its strength of association and reproducibility in two species. Given that LH is well known to regulate VEGF levels in several tissue types, the LH/VEGF linear relationship in vitreous potentially implicates LH in homeostatic VEGF regulation of the eye. Because we also found that the correlation between LH and VEGF only became manifest when our targeted analytes were normalized by total amount of protein, preclinical and clinical investigators should consider normalizing analytes in vitreous by total protein when assessing potential correlations among them.
Field-effect passivation by negative charge on boron emitter and boron-doped surfaces by a novel low-cost plasma charge injection

Field effect passivation by negative charge is important for back surface of p-type PERC and front surface of n-type PERT with boron emitter. Currently, Al 2 O 3 passivation is widely used for both surfaces due to its negative charge. However, Al 2 O 3 tool has high operation cost and safety related issues due to the use of TMA precursor. In this paper, a novel plasma charging tool is used to inject negative charge into the SiNx/SiO 2 passivation stack to passivate boron emitter and boron-doped silicon surface. Large area bifacial n-type PERT and p-type PERC cells were fabricated with controlled negative charge injection to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique. Field effect passivation by injecting 1E13cm−2 negative charge by this plasma charging method gave ∼1.35% and ∼0.36% increases in absolute cell efficiencies for n-type PERT and p-type PERC cells, respectively. Detailed characterization and analysis show that these improvements are due to enhanced surface passivation resulting from the formation of accumulation layer on p-type surfaces which reduces the SRH recombination and shunting associated with depletion and inversion layers.
Efficient Implementation of Thread Migration on Distributed-Memory Multi-processors

Executing multi-threaded programs on multiprocessors can exploit the inherent parallelism among threads. However I the load imbalance and frequent remote data access factors may degrade the performance in distributed-memory parallel systems. To cope with these problems, one of the solutions is to enhance threads with dynamic migration capability. This paper describes our experiences with the design and implementation issues of thread migration in the Xthreads library, which is currently running on the nCUBE2 and iPSC860 machines. Performance measurements of the current implementation are also included . • Research supported in part by PRF, ONR contract 93.1-0233, ARO contract 93-G-0045, and NATO award 900108.
Lipid Biosynthesis as an Antifungal Target

Lipids, commonly including phospholipids, sphingolipids, fatty acids, sterols, and triacylglycerols (TAGs), are important biomolecules for the viability of all cells. Phospholipids, sphingolipids, and sterols are important constituents of biological membranes. Many lipids play important roles in the regulation of cell metabolism by acting as signaling molecules. Neutral lipids, including TAGs and sterol esters (STEs), are important storage lipids in cells. In view of the importance of lipid molecules, this review briefly summarizes the metabolic pathways for sterols, phospholipids, sphingolipids, fatty acids, and neutral lipids in fungi and illustrates the differences between fungal and human (or other mammalian) cells, especially in relation to lipid biosynthetic pathways. These differences might provide valuable clues for us to find target proteins for novel antifungal drugs. In addition, the development of lipidomics technology in recent years has supplied us with a shortcut for finding new antifungal drug targets; this ability is important for guiding our research on pathogenic fungi.
Age and gender differences in single-step recovery from a forward fall.

BACKGROUND Previous work has found that healthy older men were significantly less able than young male adults to recover balance by taking a single rapid step upon sudden release from forward leans. In light of the higher rates of falls and fall-related injuries among older women compared to older men, we hypothesized that healthy older women would perform more poorly than either female young adults or older men in this test of abilities to recover balance rapidly. METHODS Ten young (mean age 25.0 years) and 10 older (73.7 years) healthy women were released from forward leans and instructed to regain standing balance by taking a single step forward. The lean angle was incrementally increased from its smallest value, approximately 14 degrees, until the subject failed to regain balance as instructed. Lower extremity kinematics were measured, and findings were compared with those of the earlier study of healthy young and old men. RESULTS Five of the 10 older women could not recover balance with a single step after release from the smallest of the imposed forward leans. For the 5 older women who succeeded in recovering as instructed from at least one lean, the mean maximum lean angle was significantly smaller than that for young women (16.2 degrees vs 30.7 degrees, p < .001) or older men (16.2 degrees vs 23.9 degrees, p = .014). In contrast, there was no significant difference in mean maximum lean angle between female and male young adults. CONCLUSIONS Healthy older women, compared to either young women or older men, were significantly less able to recover balance by taking a single rapid step during a forward fall. The decreased abilities of older women appeared to result from limitations in the maximum speeds at which they moved their swing foot during recovery.
Half-bridge controller with optimized pre-biased start-up

Half-bridge is an ideal topology of choice for 100W to 500W isolated DC-DC power conversion in telecom, networking and industrial applications, among others. To limit the inrush current and achieve monotonic startup of the output voltage, soft start function is typically implemented. Synchronous rectifiers (SRs) are usually utilized on the secondary side of the isolation boundary to reduce the rectifier conduction loss. The monotonic startup becomes challenging if the output capacitor is pre-biased/pre-charged prior to startup. The reverse current could cause voltage dip at the output which may result in undesired restart of the load being powered or even damage the power converter. This paper presents a novel scheme to address the pre-biased startup challenge. The bench test results are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.
An impurity characterization based approach for the rapid development of integrated downstream purification processes

In this study, we describe a new approach for the characterization of process‐related impurities along with an in silico tool to generate orthogonal, integrated downstream purification processes for biological products. A one‐time characterization of process‐related impurities from product expression in Pichia pastoris was first carried out using linear salt and pH gradients on a library of multimodal, salt‐tolerant, and hydrophobic charge induction chromatographic resins. The Reversed‐phase ultra‐performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) analysis of the fractions from these gradients was then used to generate large data sets of impurity profiles. A retention database of the biological product was also generated using the same linear salt and pH gradients on these resins, without fraction collection. The resulting two data sets were then analyzed using an in silico tool, which incorporated integrated manufacturing constraints to generate and rank potential three‐step purification sequences based on their predicted purification performance as well as whole‐process “orthogonality” for impurity removal. Highly ranked sequences were further examined to identify templates for process development. The efficacy of this approach was successfully demonstrated for the rapid development of robust integrated processes for human growth hormone and granulocyte‐colony stimulating factor.
The Impact of Organisational Culture on the Implementation of TQM: Empirical Study in the Iranian Oil Company

Purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between four construct of organizational culture and two type of TQM as soft and hard in the Iranian oil industry. The method of confirmatory factor analysis was applied to refine culture and TQM scales for empirical analysis in Iranian Oil Industry. The structural equation modeling method was applied to test the theoretical models. This study confirms the results of previous studies that considered culture as a set of practices. It confirms that not all types of culture—considered as a set of practices—has a positive impact on the TQM implementation. Only two components of culture—hierarchal and developmental showed a negative impact on the soft and hard TQM. The findings are useful for business managers in developing countries such as Iran, who want to enhance business performance through implementing TQM practices in different culture. The study has contributed to develop a measurement system of TQM practices that facilitates more quality management research in developing countries. It has contributed to clarifying the disputed relationship between different culture and TQM practices, and shows empirical evidence in Iran industry to confirm that the culture set deployed by a firm has an impact on Soft and Hard TQM.
MicroRNAs as B-cell lymphoma biomarkers

License. The full terms of the License are available at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. Permissions beyond the scope of the License are administered by Dove Medical Press Limited. Information on how to request permission may be found at: http://www.dovepress. com/permissions.php Blood and Lymphatic Cancer: Targets and Therapy 2015:5 25–34 Blood and Lymphatic Cancer: Targets and Therapy Dovepress