Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A single-feed high-gain fabry-perot antenna with reconfigurable polarization capability

A novel polarization reconfigurable fabry-perot antenna with high gain and simple feed is proposed in this paper. The proposed structure consists of a ground plane and a partially reflective surface (PRS). A microstrip patch antenna with switchable slots is embedded into the cavity to act as the primary feed. The proposed antenna can radiate with either right hand circular polarization (RHCP) or left hand circular polarization (LHCP) by controlling the status of the switches. The full-wave simulated results exhibit 21 dBi peak gain corresponding to 70% aperture efficiency for both polarization status. Good axial-ratio and impedance matching is obtained at the center operating frequency.
Social Protection Expenditure From Governments And Consumption—Based on Empirical Analysis in Euro Area And China

Whether social protection expenditure from governments would facilitate the gross final consumption or not,and through which approaches,which have being debated so far.This article believes that,theoretically,social protection expenditure from governments could directly increase individual income and then the gross final consumption indirectly.Also,it could influence the Marginal Propensity to Consume through the change of their anticipation for the future,and finally,the gross final consumption increases.On the other hand,social protection expenditure from governments,as a means of income redistribution,can augment social average MPC.Empirically,this article simulates equations based on panel data for 10 countries in euro area and time series in china for 10 years,and finally concludes that social protection expenditure from governments influences the consumption insignificantly both in euro area and in china.However,some intermediate variables such as Average Propensity of consume and ratio of unemployment affect consumption differently because of the differences of the development stages in terms of economy and social security.
MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING SCIENCES? REACTION TO THE NETWORKED WORLD

The purpose of the exploratory study is to compare the perspectives of management and marketing sciences on networks and reveal out why and how firms become connected and interdependent, and how the relationships affect their ability to compete according to these perspectives. For this purpose, network theory has been taken as a common ground. The management theories which form the network theory and relationship marketing have been discussed. In this paper, the difference between the perception of management and marketing sciences on networks have been expressed in terms of the components of ARA Model. It is possible to notice that some issues have been reverted under different components. This paper aims to put emphasize on that the two arm in arm sciences are in the opposite edges and explain why by presenting the attitude of two different sciences to networks through a model which explains the network theory. It is hoped that this paper helps decision takers to be enlightened if they act as a manager or marketer.
The epistemological basis for quality management

Researchers have observed that Quality Management (QM) is often inconsistently implemented in practice because of a lack of understanding of the main QM concepts. This article uses a multi-paradigm analysis involving systemic, pragmatic, and constructivist perspectives to show that the QM theory can be grounded in an epistemological framework based on the integration of these three paradigms. We propose and provide a solid and unifying epistemological basis to help better understand QM on a theoretical level as well as to facilitate its implementation.
The incremental value of brachial flow-mediated dilation measurements in risk stratification for incident cardiovascular events: A systematic review

Abstract Adequate risk assessment for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is essential as a guide to initiate drug treatment. Current methods based on traditional risk factors could be improved considerably. Although brachial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) predicts subsequent cardiovascular events, its predictive value on top of traditional risk factors is unknown. We performed a systematic review to evaluate the incremental predictive value of FMD on top of traditional risk factors in asymptomatic individuals. Using PubMed and reference tracking, three studies were identified that reported on the incremental value of FMD using change in the area under the curve (AUC). Two large cohort studies found no improvement in AUC when FMD was added to traditional risk prediction models, whereas one small case-control study found an improvement. One study used the net reclassification improvement (NRI) to assess whether FMD measurement leads to correct risk stratification in risk categories. Although this study did not find an improvement in AUC, the NRI was statistically significant. Based on the reclassification results of this study, FMD measurement might be helpful in risk prediction. Evidence supporting the use of FMD measurement in clinical practice for risk stratification for CVD on top of traditional risk factors is limited, and future studies are needed.
Importance of the Critical‐Size Bone Defect in Testing Bone‐Regenerating Materials

A substantial interest exists in developing substitute materials and human recombinant boneinducing factors to enhance bone regeneration both in the craniofacial complex and in other parts of the skeleton. A persistent problem has been to find an animal model that allows for the comparison of different osteopromotive materials. The purpose of this investigation was 1) to determine whether a 5-mm calvarial defect in adult rats fulfilled the requirements of a critical-size bone defect and 2) to discuss the use of this animal model in assessing bone repair in the craniofacial region. Bilateral full-thickness calvarial defects were trephined in the calvarial bone of 56 5− to 6-month-old Wistar rats. Except for minor amounts of bone formation limited to the margins of the defect, none of the defects revealed any signs of spontaneous bone regeneration 6 and 12 months after surgery. The full-thickness 5-mm calvarial defects thus fulfill the criteria for a critical-size bone defect. This animal model allows for an experiment with a paired design, it avoids inclusion of the sagittal suture in the osseous defect, and it thereby minimizes morbidity by reducing the risk of damaging the midsagittal sinus. An adequate experimental model has been developed to evaluate the efficiency of osteopromotive materials in the healing of bone defects in the craniomaxillofacial region.
Effects of early parent touch on preterm infants' heart rates and arterial oxygen saturation levels.

A descriptive exploratory design was used in this study to evaluate the effects of early parent touch on the heart rates and arterial oxygen (O2) saturation levels of 36 preterm infants. The infants were between 27-33 weeks gestational age at birth, and were free of congenital defects. Infants were videotaped during parent visits on up to three separate occasions during the first month of life. Parents were encouraged to interact with their infants as they usually would, and data on the infants' heart rates and O2 saturation levels were recorded every 6 seconds on a portable computer that was interfaced with the infants' monitors. Mean O2 saturation levels were significantly lower during parent touch than during baseline periods on 45% of the visits, and significantly higher during parent touch periods on 19% of the visits. O2 saturation variability was greater during periods of parent touch, and there were more abnormal O2 saturation values during parent touch than during baseline periods. Mean heart rates during parent touch were significantly lower compared to baseline on 17% of the visits, and were higher during parent touch on 43% of the visits. There were no overall differences in mean heart rates between baseline, parent touch and post-visit classifications, although heart rate variability was greater during periods of parent touch. The results indicate that preterm infants' responses to early parent touch are variable, and suggest that blanket policies that limit parent touch during the early weeks of life may not be appropriate. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
False beliefs on the socio-economic drivers of cassava cropping

General belief has it that cassava is (i) a subsistence crop, grown to avoid hunger (ii) by poor farmers, (iii) predominantly as an intercrop, (iv) requiring less labour than other crops and (v) no inputs. These beliefs influence policy, project development and implementation, and if wrong, may have far-reaching consequences for the success and sustainability of interventions. This study examines five beliefs about cassava and discusses consequences for interventions targeting cassava. From 2004 to 2006, 120 detailed farm surveys were carried out with smallholder farmers in 6 sites in central/eastern Uganda and western Kenya, whereby households were categorised in three wealth categories by local key informants. Through structured interviews and field visits, details on the importance of cassava, socio-economic indicators, food security, crop management and labour aspects were obtained. Our results show that cassava does ensure food security, but that the other beliefs are either myths or half truths. Besides supplying 27–41% of starchy staple food consumption, cassava also provided significant income (84 US$ yr−1), similar to that of maize (90 US$ yr−1). It is too simplistic to classify cassava as a ‘poor man’s crop’ as in Uganda wealthier households marketed more (+16%), but in Kenya consumed less (−11%) cassava than poorer farmers. Cassava is not predominantly intercropped (30% of acreage in Uganda and 51% in Kenya), farmers do use inputs on cassava (36% of the households hire labour) and total labour requirements (287 mandays ha−1) were higher than for most crops. Contrary to expectations, we conclude that increasing cassava production will not improve food security — unless a disease epidemic is present — but instead will improve the scope for commercialisation of cassava. To ensure that projects designed to enhance cassava production benefit poor and/or labour deficit households, specific provisions are needed, including development of labour saving technologies.
An improved aircraft landing distance prediction model based on particle swarm optimization — Extreme learning machine method

Aiming at the problem that aircraft landing runway overrun, this paper proposed a landing distance prediction model based on improved extreme learning machine (ELM) with flight data. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) was used to optimize the input layer weights and the hidden element bias of a single hidden layer feedforward network. And then the optimal input weights and the implicit bias were applied to the ELM prediction model. Firstly, flight data is preprocessed with data slicing method based on flight height, and determine model input variables. Secondly, select the appropriate activation function. Subsequently, establish the PSO-ELM model of landing distance prediction. In the end, compare with traditional BP neural network and ELM under different evaluation indexes. The results show that the prediction of landing distance conforms to the actual measured data. The maximum absolute error is 45 meters, and the maximum relative error is 6%.
The Effect of Sector Decoupling between China's Industrial Economic Growth and Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Based on the energy consumption of China's all elements of the industry, the carbon emissions in these industries are obtained by using the IPCC method from 2000 to 2011. By using Tapio's decoupling indicators, this paper establishes the decoupling model of industrial sectors' economic growth and carbon dioxide, measures the decoupling effects and analysis the evolution trend of the decoupling development between China's industrial economic growth and carbon dioxide emissions in China's all elements of the industry as well as different elements of intensive industries. The result indicates that there are some decoupling effect in industrial sectors, and have big different decoupling index of different industrial sectors, and strong decoupling sectors have growing trend. Different intensive industries' decoupling index have the different development characteristics, Compared with the labor-intensive industries and capital and technology-intensive industries, resource-intensive industries decoupling indexes are at a high state as a whole.Government should take full advantage of the tax, credit and other economic levers to increase corporate support in energy technology, new energy product development, and promote the rapid development of China's new energy industry,thereby radically reducing carbon emissions and promote the decoupling of industrial economic growth and carbon emissions.
Vision-based horizon extraction for micro air vehicle flight control

Recently, more and more research has been done on micro air vehicles (MAVs). An autonomous flight control system is necessary for developing practical MAVs to be used for a wide array of missions. Due to the limitations of size, weight, and power, MAVs have the very low payload capacity and moments of inertia. The current technologies with rate and acceleration sensors applied on larger aircrafts are impractical to MAVs, and they are difficult to be scaled down to satisfy the demands of MAVs. Since surveillance has been considered as the primary mission of MAVs, it is essential for MAVs to be equipped with on-board imaging sensors such as cameras, which have rich information content. So vision-based techniques, without increasing the MAVs payload, may be a feasible idea for flight autonomy of MAVs. In this paper, a new robust horizon extraction algorithm based on the orientation projection method is proposed, which is the foundation of a vision-based flight control system. The horizon extraction algorithm is effective for both color images and gray images. The horizon can be extracted not only from fine images captured in fair conditions but also from blurred images captured in cloudy, even foggy days. In order to raise the computational speed to meet real-time requirements, the algorithmic optimization is also discussed in the paper, which is timesaving by narrowing the seeking scope of orientations and adopting the table look-up method. According to the orientation and position of the horizon in the image, two important angular attitude parameters for stability and control, the roll angle and the pitch angle, could be calculated. Several experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and robustness of the algorithm.
Peripheral Bile Duct Paucity and Cholestasis in the Liver of a Patient With Alagille Syndrome: Further Evidence Supporting a Lack of Postnatal Bile Duct Branching and Elongation

Alagille syndrome (AGS) is a developmental, multiorgan disease caused by mutations of the Jagged1 gene. The liver is one of the major organs affected in AGS, and the hallmark of liver pathology in AGS is an age-related increase in the proportion of portal tracts that have no bile duct, but without evidence of prominent bile duct damage. The pathogenesis of this bile duct paucity is currently not well understood. (Immuno)histochemical and molecular analyses were performed on several liver biopsies that were taken during macroscopic examination of the explant liver of a 17-year-old AGS patient. The liver periphery was macroscopically pale and was microscopically characterized by complete absence of bile ducts and presence of severe cholestasis, but there was no ductular reaction. Conversely, the central, hilar portion contained normally developed bile ducts showing no or minimal damage and cholestasis. A missense mutation in the Jagged1 gene was present in both parts of the liver, indicating that mosaicism did not cause this peculiar picture. There was also a hypertrophy of the hepatic arterial branches in the liver periphery. Together with previous indirect findings, the current study of the explant liver of an AGS patient strongly suggests that a lack of branching and elongation of bile ducts during postnatal liver growth is the mechanism by which peripheral bile duct paucity and cholestasis develops in AGS. Our findings also suggest that anomalies of the intrahepatic arterial branches may be part of AGS in some patients.
High dose immunosuppression with hemopoietic stem cell support in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

High dose myeloablative chemotherapy with either allogeneic or autologous hemopoietic stem cell transplantation (support) is a standard step in the treatment of various hematological malignancies. It is also being explored in the management of certain solid tumors and autoimmune diseases [1]. This approach has two consequences. First, it produces severe suppression of hemopoiesis in bone marrow (myeloablation), which is subsequently restored by transplanted hemopoietic stem cells. Second, it leads to profound suppression of lymphopoiesis – immunoablation. It has been known for a long time that immunoablation is crucial for conditioning before bone marrow transplantation for severe aplastic anemia, where autoimmunity plays a substantial role in the pathogenesis [2]. The myeloablative effect of high dose conditioning prior to allogeneic or autologous transplantation is used in the management of malignancies. On the other hand, the immunoablative effect, which can result in long-lasting immunosuppression, is used in the treatment of certain autoimmune diseases [3]. In the last few years, also non-myeloablative, primarily immunosuppressive conditioning regimens were succesfuly introduced in allogeneic bone marrow transplantation [4].
Investigation of diurnal variation in sustained exercise performance.

Human performance generally varies in phase with the circadian curve in body temperature. This relationship between performance and core body temperature may be disrupted when exercise causes a pronounced rise in body temperature. In this study the authors compared responses to exercise in the morning and in the evening when pre-exercise body temperature differed significantly. Rectal temperature was measured pre-exercise and throughout a cycle ergometer test at 70% VO2 max in seven males (aged 19-24 years). The test was performed at 08:30 and 17:30 h, balanced for order with 3 days minimum between tests. Onset of sweating, weight loss and time to exhaustion were recorded. Metabolic measures (VO2, VE and RER) and heart rate were recorded pre-exercise and during exercise. Rectal temperature and skin temperature at three sites were also measured. Rectal temperature and heart rate were lower in the morning than in the evening by 0.6 degree C and 7 beats min-1 (p < 0.01), respectively. The lower body temperature in the morning persisted throughout exercise, the final rectal temperature being 38.6 (SD = 0.2) degrees C in the morning and 39.2 (SD = 0.5) degrees C in the evening. No effects of time of day were observed for VO2, VE, and RER but heart rate values during exercise were lower in the morning for 30 min (p < 0.05). Sweat onset occurred sooner at 08:30 h (7.57, SD = 0.90 min) compared to 17:30 h (8.71, SD = 2.20 min) (p < 0.05). Time to exhaustion ranged from 48 to 72 min, but did not vary with time of day (p > 0.05). It is concluded that continuous submaximal exercise is not necessarily disadvantaged by a morning timing.
Interaction with FcγRIIB Is Critical for the Agonistic Activity of Anti-CD40 Monoclonal Antibody

A high activatory/inhibitory FcγR binding ratio is critical for the activity of mAb such as rituximab and alemtuzumab that attack cancer cells directly and eliminate them by recruiting immune effectors. Optimal FcγR binding profiles of other anti-cancer mAb, such as immunostimulatory mAb that stimulate or block immune receptors, are less clear. In this study, we analyzed the importance of isotype and FcγR interactions in controlling the agonistic activity of the anti-mouse CD40 mAb 3/23. Mouse IgG1 (m1) and IgG2a (m2a) variants of the parental 3/23 (rat IgG2a) were engineered and used to promote humoral and cellular responses against OVA. The mouse IgG1 3/23 was highly agonistic and outperformed the parental Ab when promoting Ab (10–100-fold) and T cell (OTI and OTII) responses (2- to >10-fold). In contrast, m2a was almost completely inactive. Studies in FcγR knockout mice demonstrated a critical role for the inhibitory FcγRIIB in 3/23 activity, whereas activatory FcγR (FcγRI, -III, and -IV) was dispensable. In vitro experiments established that the stimulatory effect of FcγRIIB was mediated through Ab cross-linking delivered in trans between neighboring cells and did not require intracellular signaling. Intriguingly, activatory FcγR provided effective cross-linking of 3/23 m2a in vitro, suggesting the critical role of FcγRIIB in vivo reflects its cellular distribution and bioavailability as much as its affinity for a particular Ab isotype. In conclusion, we demonstrate an essential cross-linking role for the inhibitory FcγRIIB in anti-CD40 immunostimulatory activity and suggest that isotype will be an important issue when optimizing reagents for clinical use.
Inductive Power Transfer System With Self-Calibrated Primary Resonant Frequency

Inductive power transfer (IPT) is a commonly employed technique for wirelessly supplying power to implantable medical devices. A major limit of this approach is the sensitivity of the inductive link to coupling factor variations between transmitting and receiving coils. We propose in this paper a new method for compensating these variations and improving the inductive link efficiency. The proposed technique is based on a mechatronic module that dynamically tunes the primary resonant capacitor value in order to maintain the resonance state of the IPT system. The module is able to maintain resonance state for apparent primary inductance range at least from 0.5 to 5 μH using a high capacitance resolution of 0.032 pF. Experimentations conducted on a 13.56MHz IPT system showed a 65% higher power transfer compared to a traditional IPT system.
Phase III clinical trial of thalidomide plus dexamethasone compared with dexamethasone alone in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma: a clinical trial coordinated by the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group.

PURPOSE To determine if thalidomide plus dexamethasone yields superior response rates compared with dexamethasone alone as induction therapy for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were randomly assigned to receive thalidomide plus dexamethasone or dexamethasone alone. Patients in arm A received thalidomide 200 mg orally for 4 weeks; dexamethasone was administered at a dose of 40 mg orally on days 1 to 4, 9 to 12, and 17 to 20. Cycles were repeated every 4 weeks. Patients in arm B received dexamethasone alone at the same schedule as in arm A. RESULTS Two hundred seven patients were enrolled: 103 were randomly assigned to thalidomide plus dexamethasone and 104 were randomly assigned to dexamethasone alone; eight patients were ineligible. The response rate with thalidomide plus dexamethasone was significantly higher than with dexamethasone alone (63% v 41%, respectively; P = .0017). The response rate allowing for use of serum monoclonal protein levels when a measurable urine monoclonal protein was unavailable at follow-up was 72% v 50%, respectively. The incidence rates of grade 3 or higher deep vein thrombosis (DVT), rash, bradycardia, neuropathy, and any grade 4 to 5 toxicity in the first 4 months were significantly higher with thalidomide plus dexamethasone compared with dexamethasone alone (45% v 21%, respectively; P < .001). DVT was more frequent in arm A than in arm B (17% v 3%); grade 3 or higher peripheral neuropathy was also more frequent (7% v 4%, respectively). CONCLUSION Thalidomide plus dexamethasone demonstrates significantly superior response rates in newly diagnosed myeloma compared with dexamethasone alone. However, this must be balanced against the greater toxicity seen with the combination.