Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A new energetically optimized power supply system for a mobile robot platform, using ultracapacitors and batteries to ensure both ultra-fast charging and autonomy

The smallest charging times required by fully discharged conventional batteries are some tens of minutes. This is an important limitation for mobile robot platforms. A previous paper already validated the possibility of integrating ultracapacitors and batteries in the same system. However, it has some significant limitations: 1) It works with an ultracapacitors module or a battery, but it does not work with both devices at the same time; 2) It requires an external dedicated charging station; 3) It is not possible to take profit from a part - which is non-negligible - of the energy previously stored in the ultracapacitors. This paper presents a new power supply system for mobile robot platforms that has been developed in order to overcome these limitations. Its main goals are evaluating the feasibility of: 1) Fully integrating batteries and ultracapacitors, working simultaneously as energy-storing devices, with the aim of enabling a mobile robot platform to achieve a reasonable autonomy after a very reduced charging time and considerable autonomy when there are no charging time constraints; 2) Installing all the system in the mobile robot platform, avoiding the use of an external dedicated charging station; 3) Extracting almost all the energy previously stored in the ultracapacitors. Both simulation results and experimental results are presented.
Lifestyle exercises for bone health and health-related quality of life among premenopausal women: a randomised controlled trial

Purpose: Growing evidence supports engagement in physical exercise throughout life for optimal bone health. However, promotion of physical exercise among premenopausal women presents significant challenges, which are yet to be addressed in the design of many bone-health exercise regimes. As a deviation from traditional, facility-based, supervised, long-duration and intense exercise regimes, the efficacy of short-duration, practical, lifestyle physical exercises for improving bone health and quality of life was examined. Methods: Premenopausal women (N = 96, mean age 22.25 ± 3.5 years; mean BMI 23.43 ± 3.5 kg/m2) participated in a 6-month randomised trial of lifestyle physical exercises for the intervention group and sham exercises for the control group. The participants’ scores on the outcome measure SF-36 was accessed pre- and post-intervention and compared with general population norms according to the SF-36 scoring manual. Paired t-tests were used to examine changes within trial arms from baseline to post-intervention, while analysis of covariance was performed to examine the effect of the lifestyle exercise programme on quality of life of premenopausal women. Results: Compared to 51% at baseline, 63% of the participants were either at or above the general population norm for general health, and the percentage of participants who were below the population health norm for mental health was reduced from 46% at baseline to 38% post-exercise intervention. Comparable improvements in quality of life were found in both trial arms post-participation in the bone-health promotion programme. Conclusions: Bone-health exercises, when implemented as easily adoptable, lifestyle physical activity, may also enhance the quality of life of premenopausal women. Hence, a practical lifestyle approach to exercise may offer a much-needed public health strategy for bone-health promotion among women.
The additive effect of theophylline on a high-dose combination of inhaled salbutamol and ipratropium bromide in stable COPD.

STUDY OBJECTIVE To determine the additive effect of oral theophylline in patients with stable COPD who received both inhaled salbutamol, 400 micrograms, and ipratropium bromide, 80 micrograms, four times daily administered with a metered-dose inhaler. DESIGN Twenty-four male patients with stable COPD (FEV1, 0.96 +/- 0.43 L; 36.8 +/- 17.0 percent predicted [% pred]) completed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial with oral theophylline for 4 weeks. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS The average serum theophylline level was 15.0 +/- 5.5 micrograms/mL during treatment. On the whole, without inhalation of bronchodilators, FEV1 was 0.93 +/- 0.42 L during the placebo period and 1.00 +/- 0.43 L (significantly different from placebo; p < 0.01) during the theophylline period. At 15 and 60 min after inhalation of salbutamol, 400 micrograms, and ipratropium, 80 micrograms, the FEV1 with placebo was 1.12 +/- 0.43 L and 1.14 +/- 0.46 L, respectively, and the FEV1 with theophylline was 1.18 +/- 0.45 L (p < 0.01) and 1.20 +/- 0.47 L (p < 0.01), respectively. Daily peak expiratory flow rate also improved. Daily symptom scores were not significantly different between theophylline and placebo periods. Nevertheless, eight patients reported a subjective benefit during the theophylline administration period, and they were thus considered subjective responders. While FEV1 after inhalation was significantly improved during the theophylline periods in subjective responders (change in FEV1 between theophylline and placebo treatment 15 min after inhalation, 3.1 %pred; 60 min, 3.5 %pred), postbronchodilator FEV1 was not significantly different between the placebo and theophylline periods in subjective nonresponders (15 min, 1.7 %pred; 60 min, 1.6 %pred). CONCLUSIONS On the whole, theophylline has a small bronchodilating effect but does not improve the symptoms of patients with stable COPD. However, one third of patients with COPD may respond subjectively to theophylline. The additive bronchodilating effect of theophylline may be related to the symptomatic improvement in subjective responders.
A Survey of Digital Watermarking Techniques and its Applications

Digital media is the need of a people now a day as the alternate of paper media. As the technology grown up digital media required protection while transferring through internet or others mediums. Watermarking techniques have been developed to fulfill this requirement. This paper aims to provide a detailed survey of all watermarking techniques specially focuses on image watermarking types and its applications in today’s world.
HIV-1 Infection Leads to Increased HLA-E Expression Resulting in Impaired Function of Natural Killer Cells

HIV has evolved several strategies to evade recognition by the host immune system including down-regulation of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. However, reduced expression of MHC class I molecules may stimulate natural killer (NK) cell lysis in cells of haematopoietic lineage. Here, we describe how HIV counteracts stimulation of NK cells by stabilizing surface expression of the non-classical MHC class I molecule, HLA-E. We demonstrate enhanced expression of HLA-E on lymphocytes from HIV-infected patients and show that in vitro infection of lymphocytes with HIV results in up-regulation of HLA-E expression and reduced susceptibility to NK cell cytotoxicity. Using HLA-E transfected K-562 cells, we identified the well-known HIV T-cell epitope p24 aa14-22a as a ligand for HLA-E that stabilizes surface expression of HLA-E, favouring inhibition of NK cell cytotoxicity. These results propose HIV-mediated up-regulation of HLA-E expression as an additional evasion strategy targeting the antiviral activities of NK cells, which may contribute to the capability of the virus in establishing chronic infection.
Serological Survey for Avian Influenza in Turkeys in Three States of Southwest Nigeria

Since the first outbreak of avian influenza (AI) in Nigeria in 2006, there has been continuous monitoring of the disease in chickens with little attention given to turkeys. As part of on-going surveillance for AI in southwest Nigeria, we used a competitive ELISA to detect anti-AI virus antibodies in 520 turkey sera obtained from poultry farms in Oyo, Osun, and Ondo states while haemagglutination inhibiting antibodies against low pathogenic AI viruses (LPAIVs) were detected using H3N8 and H5N2 subtype-specific antigens. The overall seroprevalence obtained by ELISA was 4.4% (23/520). Of the 23 ELISA-positive samples, 18 were positive for anti-AIV H3N8 antibodies only and four were positive for both anti-AIV H3N8 and H5N2 antibodies indicating a mixed infection, while five were negative for antibodies to either of the two AIV subtypes. Considering that turkeys have been implicated as a mixing vessel for generating influenza virus reassortants of human and avian origin, the detection of antibodies to LPAIV H3N8 and H5N2 in these turkeys is of public health concern. We advocate further studies to determine the potential role of turkeys in the zoonotic transmission of AIVs in Nigeria. Additionally, the practice of rearing turkeys with chickens should be discouraged.
The Preschool/Primary Gifted Child

This manuscript provides an adaptation of the presentation given by Merle B. Karnes at the Richardson North Carolina Association for the Gifted and Talented Policy Conference. An overview of historical trends with regard to providing services to young gifted children with particular emphasis on inhibiting factors that have prevented greater services is provided. The work of Karnes and her associates at the University of Illinois with young gifted children from upper and middle class backgrounds is summarized. These two sections provide foundation for the concluding section in which we present our interpretation of “What we know for sure,” “What we think we know,” and “What we do not know” with regard to providing services to young gifted children.
Septin remodeling is essential for the formation of cell membrane protrusions (microtentacles) in detached tumor cells

Microtentacles are mostly microtubule-based cell protrusions that are formed by detached tumor cells. Here, we report that the formation of tumor cell microtentacles depends on the presence and dynamics of guanine nucleotide-binding proteins of the septin family, which are part of the cytoskeleton. In matrix-attached breast, lung, prostate and pancreas cancer cells, septins are associated with the cytosolic actin cytoskeleton. Detachment of cells causes redistribution of septins to the membrane, where microtentacle formation occurs. Forchlorfenuron, which inhibits septin functions, blocks microtentacle formation. The small GTPase Cdc42 and its effector proteins Borgs regulate septins and are essential for microtentacle formation. Dominant active and inactive Cdc42 inhibit microtentacle formation indicating that the free cycling of Cdc42 between its active and inactive state is essential for septin regulation and microtentacle formation. Cell attachment and aggregation models suggest that septins play an essential role in the metastatic behavior of tumor cells.
Kudo's pit pattern classification for colorectal neoplasms: a meta-analysis.

AIM To analyze the current available evidence of Kudo's pit pattern classification for diagnosing colorectal neoplasms. METHODS A search was performed on Pubmed/Embase to identify studies reporting the outcomes of the pit pattern classification in colorectal polyps. Retrieved records were evaluated and selected by two independent investigators. The number of patients, polyps and diagnostic performance of Kudo's pit pattern classification were retrieved from suitable studies. Pooled sensitivities and specificities were calculated using fixed or random effect models according to their heterogeneity. Publication bias was evaluated using funnel plot, Egger's test, and Begg's test. Sensitivity analysis was performed by omitting one study at a time and selecting a subgroup consisting of 11 magnifying chromoendoscopy studies. RESULTS 20 eligible studies were included in which a total of 5111 colorectal lesions in 3418 patients were identified for the differentiation of neoplastic and non-neoplastic polyps. Pit pattern classification in all the studies of mucosal patterns with magnification resulted in a pooled sensitivity of 89.0% (95%CI: 85.2-91.9) and pooled specificity of 85.7% (95%CI: 81.3-89.2) and the area under the SROC curve was 0.9354. There was significant publication bias (P = 0.038 and 0.006 for sensitivity and specificity using Egger's test, P = 0.035 and 0.139 for sensitivity and specificity using Begg's test, respectively). No single study significantly affected the pooled result, and the magnifying chromoendoscopy subgroup yielded a sensitivity of 92.7% (95%CI: 89.2-95.2) and specificity of 87.3% (95%CI: 81.6-91.4). CONCLUSION Kudo's pit pattern classification is an accurate diagnostic method for the differentiation of neoplastic colorectal lesions. Publication bias is significant in the current available literature.
Lack of Concordance Between Local Investigators, Angiographic Core Laboratory, and Clinical Event Committee in the Assessment of Stent Thrombosis: Results From the TRACER Angiographic Substudy

Background—Stent thrombosis (ST) is an important end point in cardiovascular clinical trials. Adjudication is traditionally based on clinical event committee (CEC) review of case report forms and source documentation rather than angiograms. However, the degree to which this method of adjudication is concordant with the review of independent angiographic core laboratories (ACLs) has not been studied. This report represents the first assessment of variability between local investigators (LIs), a CEC, and an ACL. Methods and Results—Serial angiograms of 329 patients with acute coronary syndrome without ST-segment–elevation who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention at entry in the Trial to Assess the Effects of Vorapaxar in Preventing Heart Attack and Stroke in Particpants With Acute Coronary Syndrome (TRACER) and who met criteria for possible ST subsequent to the index event were reviewed by an ACL. The ACL was blinded to the assessment by both LIs and the CEC regarding the presence or absence of ST. CEC adjudication was based on Academic Research Consortium definitions of ST, using case report form data and source documents, including catheterization laboratory reports. The ACL, CEC, and LIs agreed on the presence or absence of ST in 52.9% events (&kgr;=0.32; 95% confidence interval, 0.26–0.39). The ACL and CEC agreed on 82.7% of events (&kgr;=0.57; 95% confidence interval, 0.47–0.67); the ACL and LIs agreed on 61.1% of events (&kgr;=0.25; 95% confidence interval, 0.16–0.34); and the CEC and LIs agreed on 62% of events (&kgr;=0.28; 95% confidence interval, 0.21–0.36). Conclusions—ST reporting by an ACL, a CEC, and LIs is discordant. The assessment of ST is more often detected by direct review of angiograms by an ACL. Clinical Trial Registration—URL: http://www.clinicaltrials. gov. Unique identifier: NCT00527943.
Negotiating the Boundary Between Paid and Unpaid Hospice Workers

Objective: To explore the nurse–volunteer relationship in a day hospice. Method: Underpinned by an interpretive approach, face-to-face semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 day hospice volunteers. Findings: The nature and dynamics of the relationship between nursing staff and volunteers within the day hospice were characterized by increasing formality and changes in the division of labor, which challenged smooth working relationships. Conclusions: Volunteers see their role as becoming increasingly formalized partly as a response to increasing administrative demands on hospice nurses. The willingness of volunteers to take on new roles is variable. For volunteers to feel secure and valued and working relationships to remain strong, the process of how boundaries between paid and unpaid workers are negotiated needs to be transparent.
Treatment Failure and Costs in Patients With Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) Skin and Soft Tissue Infections: A South Texas Ambulatory Research Network (STARNet) Study

Objective: To measure the incidence of treatment failure and associated costs in patients with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs). Methods: This was a prospective, observational study in 13 primary care clinics. Primary care providers collected clinical data, wound swabs, and 90-day follow-up information. Patients were considered to have “moderate or complicated” SSTIs if they had a lesion ≥5 cm in diameter or diabetes mellitus. Treatment failure was evaluated within 90 days of the initial visit. Cost estimates were obtained from federal sources. Results: Overall, treatment failure occurred in 21% of patients (21 of 98) at a mean additional cost of $1,933.71 per patient. In a subgroup analysis of patients who received incision and drainage, those with moderate or complicated SSTIs had higher rates of treatment failure than those with mild or uncomplicated SSTIs (36% vs. 10%; P=.04). Conclusions: One in 5 patients presenting to a primary care clinic for a methicillin-resistant S. aureus SSTI will likely require additional interventions at an associated cost of almost $2,000 per patient. Baseline risk stratification and new treatment approaches are needed to reduce treatment failures and costs in the primary care setting.
Influence of Gold Nanoparticles Deposition on Porous Silicon Properties

Gold nanoparticles (GNP) with different sizes from commercially available colloids were deposited based on destabilization using HF acid onto porous silicon (PS) substrate formed by an electrochemical process. We studied the controlling factors and conditions of the size, morphology and distribution, further, the influence of gold colloid on porous silicon characteristics have been investigated. The variation of the surfaces' roughness and morphology after noble metal modification was exhibited by atomic force microscopy (AFM), while, Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) characterization techniques proved the oxidation of porous silicon substrate, hence, the passivation of the surface states. It was also observed that the reflectivity decreased due to the deposition process according to the size and the quantity of gold colloid solution. Moreover, the photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy revealed that the intensity strongly depend on gold nanoparticles deposition. These are attributed to metal nanoparticles with narrow particle-size distribution uniformly coated on the surface, thus, the substrate efficiency is strictly related to their dispersion, which could yield to local surface plasmons (LSP). Copyright © 2014 IFSA Publishing, S. L.
Towards Intelligent Data Placement for Scientific Workflows in Collaborative Cloud Environment

Recently emerged cloud computing offers a promising platform for executing scientific workflow applications due to its similar performance compared to the grid, lower cost, elasticity and so on. Collaborative cloud environments, which share resources of multiple geographically distributed data centers owned by different organizations enable researchers from all over the world to conduct their large scale data intensive research together through Internet. However, since scientific workflows consume and generate huge amount of data, it is thus essential to manage the data effectively for the purpose of high performance and cost effectiveness. In this paper, we propose intelligent data placement strategy to improve performance of workflows while minimizing data transfer among data centers. Specifically, at the startup stage, the whole dataset is divided into small data items which are then distributed among multiple data centers by considering these data centers' computation capability, storage budget, data item correlation, etc. During the runtime stage, when intermediate data is generated, it is placed on the suitable data centers using linear discriminant analysis by taking into account the same metrics as at the startup stage, as well as data centers' past behaviors (i.e., trustworthiness in terms of task delay). Simulation results demonstrate the promise of our data placement strategy by showing that compared to existing data placement strategies, our proposal effectively places the data to improve computation progress on the whole while minimizing the communication overheads incurred by data movement.
Addiction aux benzodiazépines et symptomatologie anxieuse et dépressive chez les sujets âgés

The relative works to the psychopathological aspects of benzodiazepines (BZD) addiction in elderly persons make the object of a large debate because the question of addiction remains whole. They concern: 1) the influence of age on the level of consumption of the BZD. The research permits to clear 4 explanatory major factors of the relation observed between age and the consumption of BZD: a) the morbidity increased of the aged people, b) the impact of the painful life events, c) the social isolation, d) the weight of the medical prescription; 2) the concepts of dependence (evolution of the definitions, type of physical, psychic or psychopathological dependencies) and of addiction (definitions, place in the international classifications, psychopathological perspective); 3) the reports of the anxiety and the depression with BZD addiction in elderly persons. To the look of these works, the objectives of this present study were to examine the variability of BZD addiction on the one hand within a population weakened by the effects of age (apparition of a chronic illness, for example) and on the other hand the relations that the anxious and depressive symptoms maintain with BZD addiction in elderly persons. Two self-questionnaires were administered: 1) BZD addiction scale, 2) Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HAD) to 28 elderly (18 women and 10 men; mean age is 73.25 years). To the exit of this work, the results put in evidence go in the sense of our hypotheses but cannot be generalized to the set of the elderly consumers of BZD, they let appear that age, the depression and the association anxiety/depression predict meaningful manner BZD addiction. Indeed, with regard to age, the polypathology as well as the changes of life induced by the aging process involved BZD addiction in old people. The old age can engender a depression that results in addictive behavior. However, anxiety alone is not experienced before drug addiction in a significant way. This result can explain itself by the fact that the anxiety is a symptom of depression. The present research is unique in several important aspects. First, the study shows that drug addiction in old people cannot be reduced to physiological addiction on product but understood in terms of a complex process requiring an analysis of the psychological addiction on product. Second, BZD addiction in the elderly acts as a psychological/existential medical care. Future research is needed to examine the psychological and psychopathological links that old people maintain with their drug medication.