Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Influence of Arctic sea ice extent on polar cloud fraction and vertical structure and implications for regional climate

[1] Recent satellite lidar measurements of cloud properties spanning a period of 5 years are used to examine a possible connection between Arctic sea ice amount and polar cloud fraction and vertical distribution. We find an anticorrelation between sea ice extent and cloud fraction with maximum cloudiness occurring over areas with little or no sea ice. We also find that over ice-free regions, there is greater low cloud frequency and average optical depth. Most of the optical depth increase is due to the presence of geometrically thicker clouds over water. In addition, our analysis indicates that over the last 5 years, October and March average polar cloud fraction has increased by about 7% and 10%, respectively, as year average sea ice extent has decreased by 5%–7%. The observed cloud changes are likely due to a number of effects including, but not limited to, the observed decrease in sea ice extent and thickness. Increasing cloud amount and changes in vertical distribution and optical properties have the potential to affect the radiative balance of the Arctic region by decreasing both the upwelling terrestrial longwave radiation and the downward shortwave solar radiation. Because longwave radiation dominates in the long polar winter, the overall effect of increasing low cloud cover is likely a warming of the Arctic and thus a positive climate feedback, possibly accelerating the melting of Arctic sea ice.
Effect of CYP Inducers/Inhibitors on Topiramate Concentration: Clinical Value of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

Background: This study investigated the pharmacokinetic interactions between topiramate (TPM) and concomitant antiepileptic drugs and evaluated the therapeutic concentration range of TPM and the effect of the achieved plasma concentration on the retention rate of TPM therapy. Methods: A total of 1217 plasma samples obtained from 610 patients were retrospectively investigated, and the concentration-to-dose ratio (CD ratio) of TPM was compared among patients on various antiepileptic drug regimens. In addition, the therapeutic concentration of TPM was reviewed in patients on long-term therapy, and factors influencing the retention rate of TPM were analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method. Results: Among patients using hepatic enzyme inducers (phenytoin, phenobarbital, and carbamazepine), the CD ratio was reduced by 45.4% in adults and 33.3% in children. Patients taking phenytoin concomitantly had a significantly lower CD ratio than patients taking phenobarbital or carbamazepine. Among noninducers, concomitant use of stiripentol increased the CD ratio. In 276 patients who remained on TPM therapy for more than 2 years, the mean therapeutic concentration was 5.1 mcg/mL (15.0 &mgr;mol/L). The estimated retention day was significantly higher for patients with a TPM concentration >5 mcg/mL than that for patients with a concentration <5 mcg/mL (945 versus 802 days; P = 0.007 by the log-rank test). Also, patients without hepatic enzyme inducers had a significantly higher retention rate than patients using such inducers (P = 0.002). Conclusions: Concomitant use of hepatic enzyme inducers markedly reduced the plasma TPM concentration and can decrease its antiepileptic effect. A therapeutic concentration of >5 mcg/mL TPM was significantly associated with continuation of therapy, and therapeutic drug monitoring can be helpful.
A REVIEW OF DUPUYTREN'S CONTRACTURE IN 43 HANDS: ASSESSMENT OF THE NATURE AND RESULT AFTER FASCIECTOMY

Background: Dupuytren's disease is a fibroproliferative disorder of the palmar fascia that can result in disabling contractures of the digits. When function is impeded or deformity is disabling, surgical intervention can be considered, wherein a major problem is recurrence (reported up to 74%). Although, the disease occurs predominantly in men of northern European, there are very few reports from African and Asian populations, especially from our country which may follow from the low prevalence in these areas. The purpose of this study was to examine the nature of the Dupuytren's disease and the recurrence rate after fasciectomy. Methods: A hospital-based and cohort study design was used to recruit patients. Data were gathered from the medical records and follow-up interviews with average 3 years (ranges from 1 to 8 years), from all patients who underwent fasciectomy in our hospital from 1370 to 1388. Results: 29 patients (with 43 involved hands) have been admitted for surgical correction of Dupuytren's disease. Disease is more common (90% of cases) and appears significantly earlier in men. Right hand involves in 28% of the patients, left hand in 24% and both hands in 48%. The ring and the little fingers are involved most frequently. Association of Dupuytren's disease with the following factors was found: Manual labor in 68.97%, smoke in 31.03%, diabetes in 24.14%, alcohol in 17.24%, and epilepsy in 13.79%. The most common grade was found to be the grade II by using Tubiana's grade. Two patients with ectopic sites of the disease were found. The recurrence rate after fasciectomy in our patients is 9.38% (3 of 32 operated hands). From the recurrence risk factors, only bilateral disease involvement revealed to be significant in our patients. Conclusion: Manifestations, pattern and severity of the disease were nearly comparable to those observed in the published studies, except for a lower prevalence rate and lower recurrence rate in our findings which are higher in the most studies. It seems that, the reason for this difference include genetics, pathogensis and other factors which may cause the disease and are still unclear.
Expression of TGFβ Family in the Developing Internal Ear of Rat Embryos

In order to investigate the expression patterns of the transforming growth factor (TGF)β isoforms in the internal ear, an immunohistochemical study of rat embryos was performed. Rat embryos were taken on the 13th, 15th, 17th, and 19th day after conception and their internal ears were immunohistochemically stained against TGFβ1, β2, and β3. As a result, the 13-day-old embryo showed a very weak positivity to TGFβ1. After the 15th day of pregnancy, no reactivity to TGFβ1 was defected. Immunoreactivity to TGFβ2 was observed from the 15th day of pregnancy throughout the rest of the period. The ampulla of the semicircular canal and the cochlear duct showed a notably strong immunohistochemical reaction. A strong reaction to TGFβ3 was observed on the 15th day of pregnancy. However, no positive reactions were observed thereafter. A strong immunoreactivity was observed especially on the apical cytoplasms, the surfaces of the epithelial cells, and basement membranes of the cochlear duct, as well as the semicircular canals of the developing internal ear of rat embryo.
A survey and measurement-based comparison of bandwidth management techniques

This article gives a brief tutorial for bandwidth management systems; a survey of the techniques used by eight real-world systems, such as class-based queuing (CBQ), per-flow queuing (PFQ), random early detection (RED), and TCP rate control (TCR); a compact testbed with a set of methodologies to differentiate the employed techniques; and a detailed black-box evaluation. The tutorial describes the needs for the three types of policy rules: class-based bandwidth limitation, session-bandwidth guarantee, and inter/intra-class bandwidth borrowing. The survey portion investigates how the eight chosen commercial/open-source real systems enforce the three policy types. To evaluate the techniques, the designed testbed emulates real-life Internet conditions, such as many simultaneous sessions from different IPs/ports, controllable wide area network (WAN) delay and packet loss rate for each session, and different TCP source implementations. The performance metrics include accuracy of bandwidth management, fairness among sessions, robustness under Internet packet losses and different operating systems, inter/intra-class bandwidth borrowing, and voice over IP (VoIP) quality. The black-box test results demonstrate that (1) only the combination of CBQ+PFQ+TCR can solve the most difficult scenario (multiple sessions competing for the narrow 20kb/s class); (2) the TCR approach may degrade the goodput, fairness, and compatibility even under slight packet loss rates (0.5 percent); (3) without PFQ, TCR and RED have limited ability to isolate the sessions (especially for RED); (4) the G.729 VoIP quality over a 125kb/s access link becomes good only after exercising MSS-clamping to shrink the packet size of the background traffic down to 256 byte.
Aiming at innovation in the Swedish defense industry – the difficulties of responding to disruptive market change in a technology driven context

The Defence industry in Sweden has recently undergone a disruptive change in market context, changing from a stable develop-to-order logic to a market-driven industry. Previous research on disruptive change has mainly focused on radical technology shifts but offer little insights of how to deal with disruptive market change. This paper is based on an exploratory interview study of a Swedish defence supply organization. This paper argues that the rational responses are little adapted to this type of change in technology driven contexts and does not address the underlying organizational values and routines for knowledge generation that are crucial for developing innovative capabilities. 1 Sofia Borjesson, Division of Innovation Management, Technology Management and Economics, Chalmers University of Technology, Vera Sandbergs Alle 8, SE 412 96 Gothenburg. Phone: +46 31 772 5159. Fax: +46 31 167528. Email: sofia.borjesson@chalmers.se
Computed tomography and clinical outcome in patients with severe traumatic brain injury

ABSTRACT Objective: To study: (i) acute computed tomography (CT) characteristics and clinical outcome; (ii) clinical course and (iii) Corticosteroid Randomisation after Significant Head Injury acute calculator protocol (CRASH) model and clinical outcome in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI). Methods: Initial CT (CTi) and CT 24 hours post-trauma (CT24) were evaluated according to Marshall and Rotterdam classifications. Rancho Los Amigos Cognitive Scale-Revised (RLAS-R) and Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) were assessed at three months and one year post-trauma. The prognostic value of the CRASH model was evaluated. Results: Thirty-seven patients were included. Marshall CTi and CT24 were significantly correlated with RLAS-R at three months. Rotterdam CT24 was significantly correlated with GOSE at three months. RLAS-R and the GOSE improved significantly from three months to one year. CRASH predicted unfavourable outcome at six months for 81% of patients with bad outcome and for 85% of patients with favourable outcome according to GOSE at one year. Conclusion: Neither CT nor CRASH yielded clinically useful predictions of outcome at one year post-injury. The study showed encouragingly many instances of significant recovery in this population of sTBI. The combination of lack of reliable prognostic indicators and favourable outcomes supports the case for intensive acute management and rehabilitation as the default protocol in the cases of sTBI.
Investigation of mode amplification in QD semiconductor optical amplifier

This paper presents a modelling work done primarily to investigate the carrier dynamics of the SOA when optically pumped at one or more wavelength. The model portrays the carrier dynamics for an inhomogeneous array of quantum dots (QDs) and its effect on mode propagation along the waveguide direction. A set of rate equations is used, that describes the QDs size inhomogeneity, size dependent filling factor as well as timescales and numerically solved them with the propagation equation to investigate the amplification of both the stimulated and spontaneous emission in the waveguide at the different operation regimes of the SOA. Light from external pumping changes the carrier population, gain and refractive index of the material which in turn, effects the amplification of the light along the waveguide. The rate equations used, treats an ensemble of QDs with two confined level (ground and excited state) coupled to a wetting layer (QW) level and explicitly considers only the electrons.
Hypo-osmotic Stress Activates Plc1p-dependent Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-Bisphosphate Hydrolysis and Inositol Hexakisphosphate Accumulation in Yeast*

Polyphosphoinositide-specific phospholipases (PICs) of the δ-subfamily are ubiquitous in eukaryotes, but an inability to control these enzymes physiologically has been a major obstacle to understanding their cellular function(s). Plc1p is similar to metazoan δ-PICs and is the only PIC in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetic studies have implicated Plc1p in several cell functions, both nuclear and cytoplasmic. Here we show that a brief hypo-osmotic episode provokes rapid Plc1p-catalyzed hydrolysis of PtdIns(4,5)P2 in intact yeast by a mechanism independent of extracellular Ca2+. Much of this PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis occurs at the plasma membrane. The hydrolyzed PtdIns(4,5)P2 is mainly derived from PtdIns4P made by the PtdIns 4-kinase Stt4p. PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis occurs normally in mutants lacking Arg82p or Ipk1p, but they accumulate no InsP6, showing that these enzymes normally convert the liberated Ins(1,4,5)P3 rapidly and quantitatively to InsP6. We conclude that hypo-osmotic stress activates Plc1p-catalyzed PtdIns(4,5)P2 at the yeast plasma membrane and the liberated Ins(1,4,5)P3 is speedily converted to InsP6. This ability routinely to activate Plc1p-catalyed PtdIns(4,5)P2 hydrolysis in vivo opens up new opportunities for molecular and genetic scrutiny of the regulation and functions of phosphoinositidases C of the δ-subfamily.
FAKTOR-FAKTOR RISIKO TERHADAP OBESITAS PADA REMAJA DI KOTA BITUNG

Abstract : Obesity is defined as a condition of abnormal or excessive fat accumulation in adipose tissue which can be harmful for health. The risk factors that can affect obesity in adolescent are dietary habit, lifestyle, physical activity, environmental factor, genetics, health factor, psychological and hormonal drugs. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence and risk factors for obesity in adolescent. This study used cross sectional method with descriptive approach, the sampling technique used in this study is simple random sampling. Samples are 966 students which met the inclusion criteria were 15 to 18 years old, was willing to be sampled. Data retrieval is done by measuring waist circumference. Conclusion: Based on the waist circumference measurement of 966 populations, 220 peoples are found obese with presentation of 22,8% consisting of 59 boys with presentation 6,1% and 161 girls with presentation of 16,7%. Based on the research result, dietry habit is the most affecting factor in obesity, followed by genetic factor, lifestyle, physical activity and environmental factor and the last are health factor and psychological. Keywords : obesity, adolescents, risk factor. Abstrak : Obesitas didefinisikan sebagai suatu kondisi akumulasi lemak yang tidak normal atau berlebihan di jaringan adiposa sampai kadar tertentu sehingga dapat merusak kesehatan. Faktor-faktor risiko yang dapat menpengaruhi terjadinya obesitas pada remaja adalah pola makan, pola hidup, aktivitas fisik, faktor lingkungan, genetik, faktor kesehatan, psikis dan obat-obatan hormonal. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui prevalensi dan faktor-faktor risiko terhadap obesitas pada remaja. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode cross sectionaldengan pendekatan dekskriptif. Teknik pengambilan sampel yang digunakan adalah dengan menggunakan cara simple random sampling. Sampel penelitian sebanyak 966 siswa yang memenuhi kriteria inklusi yang berusia 15-18 tahun, bersedia menjadi sampel. Pengambilan data dilakukan dengan cara pengukuran lingkar pinggang. Simpulan: Berdasarkan hasil pengukuran lingkar pinggang pada 966 populasi didapatkan 220 orang mengalami obesitas dengan presentasi 22,8% yang terdiri dari 59 orang laki-laki dengan presentase 6,1% dan 161 orag perempuan dengan presentase 16,7%. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian juga didapatkan bahwa pola makan merupakan faktor risiko paling berpengaruh pada obesitas kemudian diikuti dengan faktor genetik, pola hidup, aktivitas fisik dan faktor lingkungan dan yang terakhir adalah faktor kesehatan dan psikis. Kata kunci : obesitas, remaja, faktor risiko.
Java project on periodontal diseases. The natural development of periodontitis: risk factors, risk predictors and risk determinants.

OBJECTIVE To identify risk factors, risk predictors and risk determinants for onset and progression of periodontitis. MATERIAL AND METHODS For this longitudinal, prospective study all subjects in the age range 15-25 years living in a village of approximately 2000 inhabitants at a tea estate on Western Java, Indonesia, were selected. Baseline examination was carried out in 1987 and follow-up examinations in 1994 and 2002. In 2002, 128 subjects could be retrieved from the original group of 255. Baseline examination included evaluation of plaque, bleeding on probing, calculus, pocket depth, attachment loss and presence of Actinobacillus actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella intermedia, spirochetes and motile microorganisms. RESULTS The mean attachment loss increased from 0.33 mm in 1987 to 0.72 mm in 1994 and 1.97 mm in 2002. Analysis identified the amount of subgingival calculus and subgingival presence of A. actinomycetemcomitans as risk factors, and age as a risk determinant, for the onset of disease. Regarding disease progression, the number of sites with a probing depth > or = 5 mm and the number of sites with recession were identified as risk predictors and male gender as a risk determinant. CONCLUSION Screening of these parameters early in life could be helpful in the prevention of onset and progression of periodontal diseases.
Clustering and latent semantic indexing aspects of the singular value decomposition

This paper discusses clustering and latent semantic indexing (LSI) aspects of the singular value decomposition (SVD). The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first is to give an explanation on how and why the singular vectors can be used in clustering. And the second is to show that the two seemingly unrelated SVD aspects actually originate from the same source: related vertices tend to be more clustered in the graph representation of lower rank approximate matrix using the SVD than in the original semantic graph. Accordingly, the SVD can improve retrieval performance of an information retrieval system since queries made to the approximate matrix can retrieve more relevant documents and filter out more irrelevant documents than the same queries made to the original matrix. By utilizing this fact, we will devise an LSI algorithm that mimicks SVD capability in clustering related vertices. Convergence analysis shows that the algorithm is convergent and produces a unique solution for each input. Experimental results using some standard datasets in LSI research show that retrieval performances of the algorithm are comparable to the SVD's. In addition, the algorithm is more practical and easier to use because there is no need to determine decomposition rank which is crucial in driving retrieval performance of the SVD.
Perivascular Macrophages Are the Primary Cell Type Productively Infected by Simian Immunodeficiency Virus in the Brains of Macaques

The macrophage is well established as a target of HIV and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) infection and a major contributor to the neuropathogenesis of AIDS. However, the identification of distinct subpopulations of monocyte/macrophages that carry virus to the brain and that sustain infection within the central nervous system (CNS) has not been examined. We demonstrate that the perivascular macrophage and not the parenchymal microglia is the primary cell productively infected by SIV. We further demonstrate that although productive viral infection of the CNS occurs early, thereafter it is not easily detectable until terminal AIDS. The biology of perivascular macrophages, including their rate of turnover and replacement by peripheral blood monocytes, may explain the timing of neuroinvasion, disappearance, and reappearance of virus in the CNS, and questions the ability of the brain to function as a reservoir for productive infection by HIV/SIV.
Iterative scheduling for cell-edge in multi-cell MU-MIMO

The paper addresses the iterative joint scheduling algorithms for cooperative multi-cell multi-user (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission scheme with the sum rate maximization objective for the cell-edge users. We propose an iterative scheduling scheme which selects the users in each coordinating base station (BS) by considering the mutual interference among the chosen sets. At first, a static user selection (S-US) scheme is discussed, which performs the user selection in a centralized way from the users associated with each BS. Following that, we study the performance of the scheduling scheme, namely coordinated user selection (C-US) scheme, which performs scheduling of users and the associated BS so as to maximize the sum rate. In the C-US scheme, the users are linked dynamically to a BS by the C-US algorithm. The sum rate performance is discussed for the proposed algorithms with the precoders designed using either with zero-forcing (ZF) beamforming (BF) or weighted minimum mean squared error (W-MMSE) scheme.
Synergistic Fusion of Interferometric and Speckle-Tracking Methods for Deriving Surface Velocity From Interferometric SAR Data

This letter presents a technique to adjust and unify disconnected interferogram fringe regions for the derivation of accurate surface-velocity measurements. The interferogram from repeat-pass interferometric synthetic aperture radar data is often partitioned by shear margins of ice streams and other low-coherence zones into many small disconnected fringe regions. Although these isolated fringe regions can be unwrapped separately, the unwrapped phase for each region is referenced to a different seed point. Our technique exploits absolute range-offset measurements from the speckle-tracking method to bridge the isolated fringe regions in the interferogram. In this way, the unwrapped phases in these regions can be adjusted into consistent surface-displacement measurements with a common reference point. Using Radarsat interferometric data in Antarctica, we demonstrated that the synergetic fusion of the measurements from the interferometric and speckle-tracking methods can produce a highly accurate two-dimensional velocity field
Color stability of weathered heat-treated teak wood

This study investigated the color stability in a heat treatment of teak wood (Tectona grandis) exposed to ultraviolet radiation under accelerated aging conditions. Nine trees from three different spacing levels were used. Samples of 150 mm x 75 mm x 20 mm were prepared and divided into two groups: heartwood and sapwood. Two levels of heat treatment (180 and 200°C) were used. The color was measured every 42 hours with a portable spectrophotometer using the CIE-Lab system. Accelerated aging was performed in a QUV/Spray chamber. The total cycle of exposure to ultraviolet radiation was of 168 hours at 340 nm. Tree planting spacing had no effect on color change after ultraviolet radiation. Untreated sapwood had greater color change than untreated heartwood. However, after heat treatment, sapwood showed high color stability, especially at a temperature of 180°C.