Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Vitamin D and Death by Sunshine

Exposure to sunlight is the major cause of skin cancer. Ultraviolet radiation (UV) from the sun causes damage to DNA by direct absorption and can cause skin cell death. UV also causes production of reactive oxygen species that may interact with DNA to indirectly cause oxidative DNA damage. UV increases accumulation of p53 in skin cells, which upregulates repair genes but promotes death of irreparably damaged cells. A benefit of sunlight is vitamin D, which is formed following exposure of 7-dehydrocholesterol in skin cells to UV. The relatively inert vitamin D is metabolized to various biologically active compounds, including 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. Therapeutic use of vitamin D compounds has proven beneficial in several cancer types, but more recently these compounds have been shown to prevent UV-induced cell death and DNA damage in human skin cells. Here, we discuss the effects of vitamin D compounds in skin cells that have been exposed to UV. Specifically, we examine the various signaling pathways involved in the vitamin D-induced protection of skin cells from UV.
Design and implementation of QoS-provisioning system for voice over IP

In this paper, we address issues in implementing voice over IP (VoIP) services in packet switching networks. VoIP has been identified as a critical real-time application in the network QoS research community and has been implemented in commercial products. To provide competent quality of service for VoIP systems comparable to traditional PSTN systems, a call admission control (CAC) mechanism has to be introduced to prevent packet loss and over-queuing. Several well-designed CAC mechanisms, such as the site-utilization-based CAC-and the link-utilization-based CAC mechanisms have been in place. However, the existing commercial VoIP systems have not been able to adequately apply and support these CAC mechanisms and, hence, have been unable to provide QoS guarantees to voice over IP networks. We have designed and implemented a QoS-provisioning system that can be seamlessly integrated with the existing VoIP systems to overcome their weakness in offering QoS guarantees. A practical implementation of our QoS-provisioning system has been realized.
Wall roughness influence on the NPSH characteristics of centrifugal pumps

Pumps are very important and very widespread energetic machines. They are used in all branches of industry. Pumps are also a major consumer of electricity and therefore their development is even more important. From theoretical through experimental development in the last decades, a quantity of research has focused on numerical analysis. These are used to optimize all kinds of characteristics, from energy and cavitation, to dynamic characteristics. At the beginning of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses were related to the physical model (potential flow, Euler equation, Navier-Stokes equations). Subsequently, a lot of research was carried out in the field of various turbulent models. With the launch of high performance multi-processor computers, more and more time-dependent problems have been analysed. All the above mentioned research was carried out with numerical calculations on smooth surfaces. The fact is that in reality there is always some roughness on wet surfaces, depending on the material, the technology of production of certain parts of machines and finishing surface treatment. In the article, we give preliminary results of numerical analyses of centrifugal pumps, where the roughness of the walls was taken into account. The analyses were completed for different types of pumps, with different roughnesses and for different characteristics. First he effect of the roughness on the efficiency is shown, further the cavitation characteristics were analysed. The basic idea for research comes from the fact that there are still many cases where the matching of the results of the measurements and the results of numerical analyses are not perfect. One of the possible reasons can be the roughness of the walls.
Stochastic Reactive Power Management in Microgrids With Renewables

Distribution microgrids are being challenged by reverse power flows and voltage fluctuations due to renewable generation, demand response, and electric vehicles. Advances in photovoltaic (PV) inverters offer new opportunities for reactive power management provided PV owners have the right investment incentives. In this context, reactive power compensation is considered here as an ancillary service. Accounting for the increasing time-variability of distributed generation and demand, a stochastic reactive power compensation scheme is developed. Given uncertain active power injections, an online reactive control scheme is devised. This scheme is distribution-free and relies solely on power injection data. Reactive injections are updated using the Lagrange multipliers of a second-order cone program. Numerical tests on an industrial 47-bus microgrid and the residential IEEE 123-bus feeder corroborate the reactive power management efficiency of the novel stochastic scheme over its deterministic alternative, as well as its capability to track variations in solar generation and household demand.
Laser‐irradiation‐induced relaxation of blood vessels in vivo

The response of blood vessels to laser irradiation invivo was studied in the dorsal skin flan glass window chamber model of hamsters. The vasodialatory response of venules was critically dependent on the wavelength of irradiating lasser. Relaxation was not produced in arterioles, althought it was tried repeatedly. Vessels were irradiated with the 514.5 nm single line argon laser with irradiances from 1 to 10 W/cm2 on a 1.2 mm‐diameter spot. Irradiation of venules with 2.2 W/cm2 and 4.25 W/cm2 produced reversible relaxation. Venules relaxed initially and after the interruption of irradiation returned to their orginal diameter. At higher irradiances (8.5 W/cm2) an irreversible relaxation was observed. At irradiances of 10 W/cm2 and above initial relaxation was accompanied with constriction, focal coaguli, and hemostasis. irradiation with the argon‐pumed dye laser at 595 nm did not produce any significant relaxation.
Gestational Weight Gain and Adverse Neonatal Outcome Among Term Infants

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between gestational weight gain and adverse neonatal outcomes among infants born at term (37 weeks or more). METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study of 20,465 nondiabetic, term, singleton births. We performed univariable and multivariable analyses of the associations between gestational weight gain and neonatal outcomes. We categorized gestational weight gain by the Institute of Medicine guidelines as well as extremes of gestational weight gain (less than 7 kg and more than 18 kg). RESULTS: Gestational weight gain above the Institute of Medicine guidelines was more common than gestational weight gain below (43.3% compared with 20.1%). In multivariable analyses, gestational weight gain above guidelines was associated with a low 5-minute Apgar score (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 1.33, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–1.76), seizure (AOR 6.50, 95% CI 1.43–29.65), hypoglycemia (AOR 1.52, 95% CI 1.06–2.16), polycythemia (AOR 1.44, 95% CI 1.06–1.94), meconium aspiration syndrome (AOR 1.79, 95% CI 1.12–2.86), and large for gestational age (AOR 1.98, 95% CI 1.74–2.25) compared with women within weight gain guidelines. Gestational weight gain below guidelines was associated with decreased odds of neonatal intensive care unit admission (AOR 0.66, 95% CI 0.46–0.96) and increased odds of small for gestational age (SGA; AOR 1.66, 95% CI 1.44–1.92). Gestational weight gain less than 7 kg was associated with increased risk of seizure, hospital stay more than 5 days, and SGA. Gestational weight gain more than 18 kg was associated with assisted ventilation, seizure, hypoglycemia, polycythemia, meconium aspiration syndrome, and large for gestational age. CONCLUSION: Gestational weight gain above guidelines was common and associated with multiple adverse neonatal outcomes, whereas gestational weight gain below guidelines was only associated with SGA status. Public health efforts among similar populations should emphasize prevention of excessive gestational weight gain. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-2
Tissue-specific distribution of the Goodpasture antigen demonstrated by 2-D electrophoresis and western blotting.

The target of autoantibodies in Goodpasture's disease, the Goodpasture antigen has recently been characterized as the NC1 domain of the alpha 3 chain of type IV collagen. In order to study the Goodpasture antigen in different organs, NC1 domains were isolated from basement membranes (BM) of human glomeruli (GBM), tubules (TBM), alveoli (ABM), placenta (PBM) and aorta (VBM). NC1 preparations were separated by 2-D electrophoresis, and silver stained or immunoblotted to determine the subunit structure and antigenicity of different basement membranes. All basement membranes contained monomeric components of MW 26 kDa and 24 kDa, and associated dimers, corresponding to the 2-D location of alpha 1(IV) and alpha 2(IV) chains respectively. However, GBM, ABM, and to a lesser extent TBM possessed an extra set of monomeric components of MW 28 kDa and associated dimers corresponding to the proposed location of alpha 3 (IV) and alpha 4 (IV) chains. 2-D-separated polypeptides were Western blotted with autoantibodies from patients with Goodpasture's disease, a monoclonal antibody to the Goodpasture antigen (P1) and a monoclonal antibody to the bovine alpha 3 (IV) chain. The predominant binding of all these reagents was to cationic 28 kDa monomers of GBM, ABM and TBM, corresponding to the alpha 3 (IV) chain, although autoantibodies and Pl also bound to neutral 28 kDa monomers, corresponding to the alpha 4 (IV) chain. Autoantibodies bound weakly to more neutral components of PBM and VBM, but neither monoclonal antibody bound to these basement membranes. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Visually guided object grasping

We present a visual serving approach to the problem of object grasping and more generally, to the problem of aligning an end-effector with an object. First, we extend the method proposed by Espiau et al. (1992) to the case of a camera which is not mounted onto the robot being controlled, and we stress the importance of the real-time estimation of the image Jacobian. Next, we show how to represent a grasp or more generally, an alignment between two solids in 3D projective space using an uncalibrated stereo rig. Such a 3D projective representation is view-invariant in the sense that it can be easily mapped into an image set-point without any knowledge about the camera parameters. Finally, we perform an analysis of the performances of the visual servoing algorithm and of the grasping precision that can be expected from this type of approach.
No 705 October 2005 The De-Collectivisation of Pay Setting in Britain 1990-1998 : Incidence , Determinants and Impact

Overall, collective bargaining coverage has dropped by around fourteen percentage points. This paper investigates the causes and consequences of the decline in collective bargaining in Britain between 1990 and 1998. One in three workplaces that practiced collective bargaining in 1990 had abandoned it by 1998 and the incidence and coverage of collective bargaining in newer workplaces was lower than in the workplaces they replaced. The abandonment of collective bargaining was not associated with an increase in individualised payment mechanisms or with the use of ‘high involvement’ HRM practices. Workplaces that abandoned bargaining reported less impressive productivity gains than other workplaces. Male wage inequality rose as a result of the decline of bargaining coverage and of weaker unions where collective bargaining remained. Higher levels of job creation in workplaces that abandoned collective bargaining balance these negative outcomes. JEL Classification: J31, J5, M12
A statistical simulation model for correlated Nakagami fading channels

Efficient simulation models for correlated Nakagami-m fading channels are required for the development, performance evaluation and validation of diversity combining systems in general fading channels. We propose a theoretical explanation of the Nakagami-m distribution, as a natural extension of the Rayleigh fading model. In this model, a Nakagami random variable is viewed as the norm of an m-dimensional complex random vector. The elements of this m-dimensional random vector are orthogonal to each other, and have Rayleigh-distributed envelopes. Based on this decomposition approach, correlated Nakagami channel gains can be efficiently generated, given the specified correlation coefficients between the underlying Rayleigh processes.
Formation of Aldehyde and Ketone Compounds during Production and Storage of Milk Powder

Certain aldehyde and ketone compounds can be used as indicators, at a molecular level, of the oxidized flavor of milk powder instead of sensory evaluation. This study investigated the formation of aldehyde and ketone compounds as affected by the heat-related processing and storage of milk powder. The compounds were extracted by solid phase microextraction fiber and determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In the results, higher contents of hexanal, 2-heptanone, octanal and 3-octen-2-one were detected in concentrated milk and fresh milk powders than in raw milk and heated milk. The levels of these compounds increased with increasing time of storage of milk powder. Meanwhile, the DPPH radical scavenging activity decreased and peroxide value increased during the production and storage of milk powder. In addition, the pore volume distribution of milk powder particle was determined by nitrogen isotherm adsorption. The porosity of milk powder was significantly correlated to the changes of aldehyde and ketone compounds during storages periods of 3 months (r > 0.689, p < 0.05) and 6 months (r > 0.806, p < 0.01). Therefore attention should be paid to the detectable aldehyde and ketone molecules to control the oxidized flavor, which was influenced by pre-heating as well as concentration and drying during milk powder production.
Radiology Diagnosis of Malignant Biliary Disease—Radiologist to the Rescue!

ABSTRACTClinical guidelines are increasingly being implemented in an attempt to control the rising costs of medical care. The objective of this study was to prospectively evaluate the safety and impact of a clinical practice guideline defining the medically appropriate length of stay for patients with upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. A previously validated scoring system comprising four independent variables [hemodynamics, time from bleeding, comorbidity, and endoscopic (EGD) findings] was used to identify a subset of patients thought to be at low risk for developing subsequent complications. According to the guideline, patients in the low-risk category were to be discharged within 24 h of achieving low-risk status. The guideline was applied to all adult patients admitted to a 1000-bed, university-affiliated hospital in an alternating month design. Concurrent feedback of a patient's risk score and guideline recommendations were provided to the managing physicians during the 7 intervention months. The guideline and risk stratification tools were not available during the 7 control months. Outcomes surveyors and patients were blinded to study group allocation.During the 14-month study period, 299 patients were admitted with a diagnosis of upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, of which 209 achieved low-risk status. Comparison of control and intervention months revealed an increase in guideline adherence from 30–70%, respectively. The improvement in guideline adherence was associated with a decrease in overall length of stay from an average of 4.6–2.9 days and a mean reduction of 1.7 hospital days per patient. No differences were identified between the groups when measured 1 month after discharge with respect to complications, patient health status, or patient satisfaction. Further analysis indicated that early endoscopy, defined as endoscopy on the same day as admission, was an independent predictor of decreased hospital length of stay for patients in the low risk group. (Am J Gastroenterol 1998;93:1384–1385. © 1998 by Am. Coll. of Gastroenterology)
Virtual paths routing: a highly dynamic routing protocol for ad hoc wireless networks

We introduce the virtual paths routing (VPR) protocol for ad hoc wireless networks. VPR provides highly dynamic, correct, and efficient paths creation and maintenance between nodes. Innovatively, the protocol utilizes a technique to monitor the mobility of the nodes, and factorizes it in its operations. VPR is a distributed, on-demand, and adaptive protocol that comprises two phases. The first phase is path discovery, in which VPR discovers and creates a virtual path between source and destination nodes. The second phase is path maintenance, in which the protocol monitors the usability of all active paths.
1 Virtualized Application Function Chaining : Maximizing the Wearable System

The number of smart devices wear and carry by users is growing rapidly which is driven by innovative new smart wearables and interesting service offerings. This has led to applications that utilize multiple devices around the body to provide immersive environments such as mixed reality. These applications rely on a number of different types of functions such as sensing, communication and various types of processing, that require considerable resources. Thus one of the major challenges in supporting of these applications is dependent on the battery lifetime of the devices that provide the necessary functionality. The battery lifetime can be extended by either incorporating a battery with larger capacity and/or by utilizing the available resources efficiently. However, the increases in battery capacity are not keeping up with the demand and larger batteries add to both the weight and size of the device. Thus, the focus of this paper is to improve the battery efficiency through intelligent resources utilization. We show that, when the same resource is available on multiple devices that form part of the wearable system, and or is in close proximity, it is possible consider them as a resource pool and further utilize them intelligently to improve the system lifetime. Specifically, we formulate the function allocation algorithm as a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) optimization problem and propose an efficient heuristic solution. The experimental data driven simulation results show that approximately 40-50% system battery life improvement can be achieved with proper function allocation and orchestration.
Volumetric Billboards

We introduce an image‐based representation, called volumetric billboards, allowing for the real‐time rendering of semi‐transparent and visually complex objects arbitrarily distributed in a 3D scene. Our representation offers full parallax effect from any viewing direction and improved anti‐aliasing of distant objects. It correctly handles transparency between multiple and possibly overlapping objects without requiring any primitive sorting. Furthermore, volumetric billboards can be easily integrated into common rasterization‐based renderers, which allows for their concurrent use with polygonal models and standard rendering techniques such as shadow‐mapping.
Atrial Fibrosis Helps Select the Appropriate Patient and Strategy in Catheter Ablation of Atrial Fibrillation: A DE‐MRI Guided Approach

MRI for AF Patient Selection and Ablation Approach. Introduction: Left atrial (LA) fibrosis and ablation related scarring are major predictors of success in rhythm control of atrial fibrillation (AF). We used delayed enhancement MRI (DE‐MRI) to stratify AF patients based on pre‐ablation fibrosis and also to evaluate ablation‐induced scarring in order to identify predictors of a successful ablation.
Toward understanding response to cardiac resynchronization therapy: left ventricular dyssynchrony is only one of multiple mechanisms.

AIM To date, most published echocardiographic methods have assessed left ventricular (LV) dyssynchrony (DYS) alone as a predictor for response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). We hypothesized that the response is instead dictated by multiple correctable factors. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 161 patients (66 +/- 10 years, EF 24 +/- 6%, QRS > 120 ms) were investigated pre- and post-CRT (median of 6 months). Reduction in NYHA Class >/=1 or LV reverse remodelling (end-systolic volume reduction >/= 10%) defined response. Four different pathological mechanisms were identified. Group1: LVDYS characterized by a pre-ejection septal flash (SF) (87 patients, 54%). Elimination of SF (77 of 87 patients) resulted in reverse remodelling in 100%. Group 2: short-AV delay (21 patients, 13%) resolution (19 of 21 patients) resulted in reverse remodelling in 16 of 19. Group 3: long-AV delay (16 patients, 10%) resolution (14 of 16 patients) resulted in NYHA Class reduction >/=1 in 11 with reverse remodelling in five patients. Group 4: exaggerated LV-RV interaction (15 patients, 9%) reduced post-CRT. All responded clinically with fall in pulmonary artery pressure (P = 0.003) but did not volume respond. Group 5: patients with none of the above correctable mechanisms (22 patients, 14%). None responded to CRT. CONCLUSION CRT response is dictated by correction of multiple independent mechanisms of which LVDYS is only one. Long-axis DYS measurements alone failed to detect 40% of responders.
Static scheduling of monoprocessor real-time systems composed of hard and soft tasks

In this paper we address the problem of static scheduling of real-time systems that include both hard and soft tasks. We consider that hard as well as soft tasks are periodic and that there exist data dependencies among tasks. In order to capture the relative importance of soft tasks and how the quality of results is affected when missing a soft deadline, we use utility functions associated to soft tasks. Thus our objective is to find an execution order for tasks that maximizes the total utility and at the same time guarantees hard deadlines. We use the expected duration of tasks for evaluating utility functions whereas we use the maximum duration of tasks for ensuring that hard deadlines are always met. We present an algorithm for finding the optimal schedule and also different heuristics that find near-optimal solutions at reasonable computational cost. The proposed algorithms are evaluated using a large number of synthetic examples.
Study on Traffic Information Fusion Algorithm Based on Support Vector Machines

Support vector machine (SVM) is a new sort of machine learning method based on structure risk minimization (SRM) principle, which has high generalization capability. Many problems with small samples, nonlinearity or high dimension in pattern recognition could be solved by the method. In this paper, the traffic data on freeway were taken as research objects and an information fusion algorithm based on SVM about freeway incident detection was proposed. A SVM was trained and tested using the data obtained from the simulation under the condition of incident and non-incident. Compared with the multi-layer feed forward neural network (MLF) algorithm trained with the same data, the simulation results showed that the SVM offers a lower misclassification rate, higher correct detection rate and lower false alarm, and it can improve the detection performance