Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nationwide continuous quality improvement using clinical indicators: the Danish National Indicator Project.

OBJECTIVE In most countries there is no mandatory national system to track the quality of care delivered to the citizens. This paper describes an example of a national indicator project that aims at documenting and improving the quality of care nationwide. ANALYSIS The Danish National Indicator Project was established in 2000 as a nationwide multidisciplinary quality improvement project. From 2000 to 2002, disease-specific clinical indicators and standards were developed for six diseases (stroke, hip fracture, schizophrenia, acute gastrointestinal surgery, heart failure, and lung cancer). Indicators and standards have been implemented in all clinical units and departments in Denmark treating patients with the six diseases, and participation is mandatory. All clinical units and departments receive their results every month. National and regional audit processes are organized to explain the results and to prepare implementation of improvements. All results are published in order to inform the public, and to give patients and relatives the opportunity to make informed choices. CONCLUSION The surveillance of health care quality is greatly aided by the use of relevant quantitative indicators. This paper describes how it is possible to organize nationwide monitoring using clinical indicators.
Cubic couplings in D Ä 6 , N Ä 4 b supergravity on AdS 3 Ã S

The AdS–conformal field theory correspondence provi information about the strong coupling behavior of some c formal field theories by studying their supergravity ~string! duals@1–4#. In particular, the AdS-CFT duality relates typ IIB string theory on AdS33S 3M, where M is eitherK3 or T, to a certain N5(4,4) supersymmetric two dimensional conformal field theory~CFT! living on the boundary of AdS3. A two-dimensional sigma model with th target space being a deformation of the orbifold symme productS(M)5(M)/SN , N→`, is believed to provide an effective description of this CFT @5#. An important class of operators in the supersymme CFT are the chiral primary operators ~CPOs! since they are annihilated by 1/2 of the supercharges and in two dimens their highest weight components of the R-symmetry group form a ring. On the gravity side the CPOs correspond Kaluza-Klein~KK ! modes of the type IIB supergravity com pactification. Recently, using the orbifold technique dev oped in @6# the three-point functions of scalar CPOs we computed@7# in the CFT on the symmetric product S(M) and, on the other hand, in AdS 33S 3 supergravity@8#, and were found to disagree. 1 On the other hand, computations quantities that are stable under deformations of the orbi CFT, like the spectrum of the CPOs and the elliptic gen were found to be in complete agreement @10#. Obviously this supports the expectation that the AdS 33S 3 background may correspond to some deformation of the target space S(M) of the boundary CFT. However, even though one prese does not have an explicit sigma model formulation of t boundary CFT~see also@11# for recent developments ! , one may proceed to study the CFT by using directly the grav dual description and the AdS-CFT correspondence @12#.
Investigating washing treatment to minimize leaching of chlorides and heavy metals from MSWI bottom ash

Bottom ash residues are one of the major products of Municipal Solid Waste Incineration (MSWI). The application of these residues in building materials is undermined by high content of heavy metals (Pb, Zn, Cu, Mn, Sb, Mo, Cr, Ni and Cd), chlorides and sulphates. Bottom Ash (BA) 0-4 mm was investigated for the distribution pattern of these constituents. Fractionation and washing treatment were applied to bring the emission of these contaminants under the limit established by Soil Quality Decree. Two steps washing treatment was investigated to remove soluble contaminants and to liberate fine particles (≤ 0.125 mm) rich in heavy metals and chlorides from BA fractions. Different washing parameters were investigated such as washing time, liquid to solid (L/S) ratio and mass of liberated fine particles for the optimization of the treatment. BA was washed twice with the L/S=3 for the duration of 60 min in order to remove soluble chlorides and concentrate heavy metals in the fine particles liberated during washing.
Conditional knockout of the mouse NADPH‐cytochrome p450 reductase gene

Summary: NADPH‐cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR or POR) is the obligatory electron donor for all microsomal cytochrome P450 (CYP or P450)‐catalyzed monooxygenase reactions. Disruption of the mouse Cpr gene has been reported to cause prenatal developmental defects and embryonic lethality. In this study, we generated a mouse model with a floxed Cpr allele (termed Cprlox). Homozygous Cprlox mice are fertile and without any histological abnormality or any change in CPR expression. The floxed Cpr allele was subsequently deleted efficiently by crossing Cprlox mice with transgenic mice having liver‐specific Cre expression (Alb‐Cre); the result was a decrease in the level of CPR protein in liver microsomes. The Cprlox strain will be valuable for conditional Cpr gene deletion and subsequent determination of the impact of CPR loss on the metabolism of endogenous and xenobiotic compounds, as well as on postnatal development and other biological functions. genesis 36:177–181, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Evidenciação Ambiental Voluntária e as Práticas de Governança Corporativa de Empresas Listadas na Bm&Fbovespa

O estudo objetiva analisar a relacao entre a evidenciacao ambiental voluntaria e a adocao de praticas de governanca corporativa nas cinco maiores empresas de cada setor economico da Bolsa de Valores Mercadorias e Futuros do Estado de Sao Paulo (BM&FBovespa). A pesquisa caracteriza-se como descritiva, com abordagem quantitativa, realizada por meio de analise documental. A amostra compreendeu as cinco maiores empresas de cada setor economico da BM&FBovespa, totalizando 50 empresas. Para a analise dos dados, foram usadas medidas de estatisticas descritivas (medias, minimos, maximos e desvio padrao) e analise de correlacao de Pearson. Em relacao as evidenciacoes ambientais voluntarias, captadas de acordo com o indice elaborado por Murcia et al. (2008), obteve-se um indice medio de 65%, muito distante de 100%, com destaque para as empresas dos setores de bens industriais, financeiro, e de telecomunicacoes. Em relacao as praticas de governanca corporativa, captadas de acordo com o indice elaborado por Silveira (2004), obteve-se um indice medio de 72%. Os dados tambem demonstraram uma forte correlacao positiva e significativa entre a evidenciacao ambiental voluntaria e as praticas de governanca corporativa. Diante de tal resultado, concluiu-se que a adocao de um conjunto maior de praticas de governanca corporativa contribuiu para o aumento da evidenciacao de informacoes relacionadas as praticas ambientais nas empresas analisadas.
Molecular Cloning and Characterization of a Novel Mouse Macrophage C-type Lectin, mMGL2, Which Has a Distinct Carbohydrate Specificity from mMGL1*

A novel mouse macrophage galactose-type C-type lectin 2 (mMGL2) was identified by BLAST analysis of expressed sequence tags. The sequence of mMGL2 is highly homologous to the mMGL, which should now be called mMGL1. The open reading frame of mMGL2 contains a sequence corresponding to a type II transmembrane protein with 332 amino acids having a single extracellular C-type lectin domain. The 3′-untranslated region included long terminal repeats of mouse early transposon. The Mgl2 gene was cloned from a 129/SvJ mouse genomic library and sequenced. The gene spans 7,136 base pairs and consists of 10 exons, which is similar to the genomic organization of mMGL1. The reverse transcriptase-PCR analysis indicates that mMGL2 is expressed in cell lines and normal mouse tissues in a macrophage-restricted manner, also very similar to that of mMGL1. The mMGL2 mRNA was also detected in mMGL1-positive cells, which were sorted from thioglycollate-induced peritoneal cells with a mMGL1-specific monoclonal antibody, LOM-8.7. The soluble recombinant proteins of mMGL2 exhibited carbohydrate specificity for α- and β-GalNAc-conjugated soluble polyacrylamides, whereas mMGL1 preferentially bound Lewis X-conjugated soluble polyacrylamides in solid phase assays. These two lectins may function cooperatively as recognition and endocytic molecules on macrophages and related cells.
A Self-Triplexing SIW Cavity-Backed Slot Antenna

In this letter, a new design of self-triplexing slot antenna using substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) technique is demonstrated for multiband communication systems. The proposed antenna operates at triple frequency bands (around 6.53, 7.65, and 9.09 GHz) simultaneously utilizing a slot inserted on the top of the SIW cavity and is excited by three separate microstrip lines. By properly optimizing the antenna parameters, an isolation of better than 19 dB is realized between any two input ports, which helps to achieve self-triplexing property. The proposed triplexing antenna preserves simplicity, compactness, and a planar configuration that makes it suitable for highly integrated handheld devices. To demonstrate the significance of the proposed work, the antenna is prototyped, and experimental results show a close agreement with simulations. Moreover, the proposed antenna exhibits the measured gain of 3.1, 4.7, and 3.9 dBi at resonant frequencies with stable radiation patterns.
Simulating the hydrodynamic conditions in the united states pharmacopeia paddle dissolution apparatus

The objective of this work was to examine the feasibility of developing a high-performance computing software system to simulate the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) dissolution apparatus 2 (paddle apparatus) and thus aid in characterizing the fluid hydrodynamics in the method. The USP apparatus was modeled using the hydrodynamic package Fluent. The Gambit program was used to create a “wireframe” of the apparatus and generate the 3-dimensional grids for the computational fluid dynamics solver. The Fluent solver was run on an IBM RS/6000 SP distributed memory parallel processor system, using 8 processors. Configurations with and without a tablet present were developed and examined. Simulations for a liquid-filled vessel at a paddle speed of 50 rpm were generated. Large variations in fluid velocity magnitudes with position in the vessel were evident. Fluid velocity predictions were in good agreement with those previously published, using laser Doppler velocity measurements. A low-velocity domain was evident directly below the center of the rotating paddle. The model was extended to simulate the impact of the presence of a cylindrical tablet in the base of the dissolution vessel. The presence of the tablet complicated the local fluid flow, and large fluid shear rates were evident at the base of the compact. Fluid shear rates varied depending on the tablet surface and the location on the surface and were consistent with the reported asymmetrical dissolution of model tablets. The approach has the potential to explain the variable dissolution results reported and to aid in the design/prediction of optimal dissolution conditions for in vitro-in vivo correlations.
Farmer Education and Farm Efficiency

This book explores the relationship between the education farmers have received and their subsequent efficiency as farm operators. The concern is with the self-employed in agriculture, the small farmer. The study is concerned solely with ascertaining empirically the effect of schooling on agricultural efficiency and, when possible, the effect of access to information as measured by exposure to extension services. The study uses data from Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand; related findings from several other countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America are reviewed. Surveys of individual farms provide the data used in the empirical analyses. Analyses from Thailand indicate that farmers of all educational levels are maximizing profits. However, more educated farmers do have higher levels of profits, which reflect the higher levels of productivity found in the production function analyses. Education has little effect on market efficiency. Higher levels of education and exposure to extension services increase the probabilities of using chemical fertilizers. The effects of education were much more likely to be positive in modernizing agricultural environments rather than in traditional ones.
Interactions using passive optical proximity detector

In this paper we evaluated the possible application of a passive, optical sensor as an interface for human-smart glasses interactions. The designed proximity sensor is composed of set of photodiodes and the appropriate hardware and software components. First, experiments were performed for the estimations of such parameters as distance to an object, its width and velocity. Achieved results were satisfactory. Therefore, next, a set of static and dynamic hand gestures was proposed together with the related recognition method. The method was verified during experiments with volunteers. Experiments have shown that in appropriate lighting conditions it is possible to detect static and dynamic simple hand gestures using inexpensive and computationally efficient sensor. These features enable the use of such a sensor as one of the smart glasses interfaces.
Performance evaluation method of remaining useful life prediction based on pseudo life

Based on analyzing existing metrics for prediction performance evaluation, features and defects of these metrics are summarized. A new performance evaluation method of remaining useful life (RUL) prediction is proposed, which can be used before the end-of-life of a product. The evaluation principle of this method is described in detail. A new evaluation metric named fluctuation coefficient of pseudo life is also proposed on the basis of related definitions. This new metric can be used in integrated evaluation for a prediction system. The detailed evaluation flow of this method is given. Finally, a case of RUL prediction for aircraft battery is given, and quantitative performance evaluation of RUL prediction is made by calculating this evaluation metric. The evaluation results show this new method is feasible and effective.
Influence of dietary therapy appraisal on future perceived control of type 2 diabetes

We sought to elucidate the causal effect of patients’ self-appraisal of their dietary regimen on their control beliefs among adults with type 2 diabetes. Data from 176 outpatients were assessed using a two-wave cross-lagged panel model. We found that a cross-lagged path connecting dietary appraisal at baseline to perceived control at one year (β = .30, p = .003) was larger than a path connecting perceived control at baseline to dietary appraisal at one year (β = —.16, p = .07). We conclude that dietary appraisal has a feedback effect on the future perceived control of type 2 diabetes.
Bargaining vs. price competition in a market with quality uncertainty

This paper presents an endogenous determination of tóe equilibrium trading rule in a market where buyers areimperfectly informed about the quality ofgoods. Posted pricing may induce the sellers to select a suboptimal quality level. In contrast, negotiated pricing always leads to an eflicient selection of quality. The lack of price competition, however, may allow the seller to exploit óis customer. We show tóat this trade-off uniquely determines the pricing mechanism that the market participants will adopt. We specify tbe parameter constellations under which eitóer posted pricing or negotíated pricing is an equilibrium.
Nomenclature for factors of the HLA system, update February 2018

The following sequences have been submitted to the Nomenclature Committee since the January 2018 nomenclature update and, following agreed policy, have been assigned official allele designations (Marsh et al. (2010). Full details of all sequences will be published in a forthcoming report. Below are listed the newly assigned sequences (Table 1) and confirmations of previously reported sequences (Table 2). The accession number of each sequence is given, and these can be used to retrieve the sequence files from the EMBL, GenBank or DDBJ data libraries. Although accession numbers have been assigned by the data libraries and most sequences are already available, there is still the possibility that an author may not yet have allowed the sequence to be released; in such a case, you will have to contact the submitting author directly. Additional information pertaining to new sequences is often included in the publications describing these alleles; a listing of recent publications that describe new HLA sequences is given in Table 3. An additional 155 alleles were recently published but have not been included in Table 3 due to space considerations (Balz, Krause, Fischer, and Enczmann (2018). All new and confirmatory sequences should now be submitted directly to the WHO Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System via the IPDIMGT/HLA database using the sequence submission tool provided (Robinson et al. (2015). The IPDIMGT/HLA database may be accessed via the World Wide Web at: www.ebi. ac.uk/ ipd/imgt/hla
Antiphospholipid syndrome: clinical and immunologic manifestations and patterns of disease expression in a cohort of 1,000 patients.

OBJECTIVE To analyze the clinical and immunologic manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) in a large cohort of patients and to define patterns of disease expression. METHODS The clinical and serologic features of APS (Sapporo preliminary criteria) in 1,000 patients from 13 European countries were analyzed using a computerized database. RESULTS The cohort consisted of 820 female patients (82.0%) and 180 male patients (18.0%) with a mean +/- SD age of 42 +/- 14 years at study entry. "Primary" APS was present in 53.1% of the patients; APS was associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in 36.2%, with lupus-like syndrome in 5.0%, and with other diseases in 5.9%. A variety of thrombotic manifestations affecting the majority of organs were recorded. A catastrophic APS occurred in 0.8% of the patients. Patients with APS associated with SLE had more episodes of arthritis and livedo reticularis, and more frequently exhibited thrombocytopenia and leukopenia. Female patients had a higher frequency of arthritis, livedo reticularis, and migraine. Male patients had a higher frequency of myocardial infarction, epilepsy, and arterial thrombosis in the lower legs and feet. In 28 patients (2.8%), disease onset occurred before age 15; these patients had more episodes of chorea and jugular vein thrombosis than the remaining patients. In 127 patients (12.7%), disease onset occurred after age 50; most of these patients were men. These patients had a higher frequency of stroke and angina pectoris, but a lower frequency of livedo reticularis, than the remaining patients. CONCLUSION APS may affect any organ of the body and display a broad spectrum of manifestations. An association with SLE, the patient's sex, and the patient's age at disease onset can modify the disease expression and define specific subsets of APS.
Structure of a Complex Phosphoglycan Epitope from gp72 of Trypanosoma cruzi *

Background: Trypanosoma cruzi expresses a highly immunogenic carbohydrate epitope in glycoprotein gp72. Results: The epitope structure was solved using NMR and mass spectrometry and shown to be a phosphosaccharide, containing l-rhamnopyranose, l-fucopyranose, d-galactopyranose, d-galactofuranose, d-xylopyranose, and N-acetylglucosamine. Conclusion: This is one of the most complex eukaryotic protein-linked carbohydrate structures yet described. Significance: gp72 has been implicated in parasite differentiation, flagellar adhesion, and insect infectivity. The parasitic protozoan organism Trypanosoma cruzi is the causative agent of Chagas disease. The insect vector-dwelling epimastigote form of the organism expresses a low abundance glycoprotein associated with the flagellum adhesion zone, called gp72. The gp72 glycoprotein was first identified with an anti-carbohydrate IgG3 monoclonal antibody called WIC29.26 and has been shown to have an unusual sugar composition. Here, we describe a new way to isolate the WIC29.26 carbohydrate epitope of gp72. Using 1H NMR and mass spectrometry before and after derivatization, we provide an almost complete primary chemical structure for the epitope, which is that of a complex phosphosaccharide: Galfβ1–4Rhapα1–2Fucpα1-4(Galpβ1–3)(Galpα1–2)Xylpβ1–4Xylpβ1–3(Xylpβ1–2Galpα1-4(Galpβ1–3)(Rhapα1–2)Fucpα1–4)GlcNAcp, with phosphate attached to one or other of the two Galp terminal residues and in which all residues are of the d-absolute configuration, except for fucose and rhamnose which are l. Combined with previous data (Haynes, P. A., Ferguson, M. A., and Cross, G. A. (1996) Glycobiology 6, 869–878), we postulate that this complex structure and its variants lacking one or more residues are linked to Thr and Ser residues in gp72 via a phosphodiester linkage (GlcNAcpα1-P-Thr/Ser) and that these units may form phosphosaccharide repeats through GlcNAcpα1-P-Galp linkages. The gp72 glycoprotein is associated with the flagellum adhesion zone on the parasite surface, and its ligation has been implicated in inhibiting parasite differentiation from the epimastigote to the metacyclic trypomastigote stage. The detailed structure of the unique phosphosaccharide component of gp72 reported here provides a template for future biosynthetic and functional studies.
Self-Organized Patchiness and Catastrophic Shifts in Ecosystems

Unexpected sudden catastrophic shifts may occur in ecosystems, with concomitant losses or gains of ecological and economic resources. Such shifts have been theoretically attributed to positive feedback and bistability of ecosystem states. However, verifications and predictive power with respect to catastrophic responses to a changing environment are lacking for spatially extensive ecosystems. This situation impedes management and recovery strategies for such ecosystems. Here, we review recent studies on various ecosystems that link self-organized patchiness to catastrophic shifts between ecosystem states.
Design of a Soft-Switching Asymmetrical Half-Bridge Converter as Second Stage of an LED Driver for Street Lighting Application

High-brightness LEDs are considered remarkable lighting devices due to their high reliability, chromatic variety, and increasing efficiency. As a result, a high number of solutions for supplying LED strings are emerging. One-stage solutions are cost-effective, but their efficiency is low because they have to fulfill several purposes with only one converter: power factor correction (PFC), galvanic isolation (in some cases), and current regulation. Two-stage and three-stage solutions have higher efficiency because each stage is optimized for only one or two tasks and they are the preferred options when supplying several strings at the same time. In this paper, a two-stage solution is proposed. The first stage is the well-known PFC boost converter. The second stage, on which this paper is focused, is the asymmetrical half bridge (AHB). Its design has been optimized based on the needs and characteristics of LED-based street lighting applications. The proposed transformer design (with asymmetrical secondary windings) minimizes the conduction losses while the model of the converter during the dead times optimizes their duration, reducing switching losses in the MOSFETs and diodes. Experimental results obtained with a 40-W prototype show an efficiency as high as 94.5% for this second stage and validate the proposed design procedure and model.