Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New and old GFR equations: a European perspective

ABSTRACT Glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is estimated in clinical practice from equations based on the serum concentration of endogenous biomarkers and demographic data. The 2009 creatinine-based Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation (CKD-EPI2009) was recommended worldwide until 2021, when it was recalibrated to remove the African-American race factor. The CKD-EPI2009 and CKD-EPIcr2021 equations overestimate GFR of adults aged 18–30 years, with a strong overestimation in estimated GFR (eGFR) at age 18 years. CKD-EPICr2021 does not perform better than CKD-EPI2009 in US population, overestimating GFR in non-Black subjects, and underestimating it in Black subjects with the same magnitude. CKD-EPICr2021 performed worse than the CKD-EPI2009 in White Europeans, and provides no or limited performance gains in Black European and Black African populations. The European Kidney Function Consortium (EKFC) equation, which incorporates median normal value of serum creatinine in healthy population, overcomes the limitations of the CKD-EPI equations: it provides a continuity of eGFR at the transition between pediatric and adult care, and performs reasonably well in diverse populations, assuming dedicated scaling of serum creatinine (Q) values is used. The new EKFC equation based on cystatin C (EKFCCC) shares the same mathematical construction, namely, it incorporates the median cystatin C value in the general population, which is independent of sex and ethnicity. EKFCCC is therefore a sex-free and race-free equation, which performs better than the CKD-EPI equation based on cystatin C. Despite advances in the field of GFR estimation, no equation is perfectly accurate, and GFR measurement by exogenous tracer clearance is still required in specific populations and/or specific clinical situations.
Applying Graph Neural Networks to Support Decision Making on Collective Intelligent Transportation Systems

Recent advancements in autonomous vehicles and vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) have presented diverse solutions for vehicle safety and automation. The demand to establish a connection between the two worlds has increased significantly to augment road safety and provide benefits to end users. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs) vehicle station leaves a signed trace of its geographic location that is rated as personal data. An attacker can misuse existing V2V communication to track a vehicle’s CAM-trace and to avoid misusing CAMs to harm privacy, selectives communication approaches for CAMs should be chosen instead of continuous communication of current CAMs. In this article we propose a VANET topology learning methodology prioritizing anonymization that can use any existing Graph Learning framework. Further, this work enhances the quality of graph models applied to the context of VANETs and autonomous vehicles. With the real coordinates, establishment of a grid of cells and the generation and training of the graph, we can compare different frameworks generally used in these issues and one can chose the one that fits better to each scenario.
An adaptive approach to controlling parameters of evolutionary algorithms

The majority of stochastic optimisation methods such as Simulated Annealing (SA), Evolutionary Algorithms (EA), Ant Colony Optimisation (ACO) and Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDA) have a range of adjustable parameters like learning rates, crossover probabilities, pheromone evaporation rates and weighting factors. Poor algorithm parameterisation hinders the discovery of good solutions. The parameter values required for optimal algorithm performance are known to be problemspecific, often even specific to the problem instance at hand. Practitioners often apply stochastic methods with parameter values chosen on the basis of few tuning iterations, in which various parameter settings are explored in an attempt to fine-tune the algorithm to their particular problem. Depending on the number of parameters and their plausible value ranges, investigative trials for parameter optimisations can themselves be attempts to solve a combinatorially complex problem. Moreover, it has also been established that some of the parameter values ought to vary during the search process for best algorithm performance. Acknowledging these facts, many researchers have shifted their focus to parameter control methods, where parameter values are optimised based on algorithm performance. This thesis presents an adaptive parameter control method which redefines parameter values repeatedly based on a separate optimisation process that receives its feedback from the primary optimisation algorithm. The feedback is used for a projection of the value performing well in the future. The method uses an evaluation of the recent performance of previously applied parameter values and predicts how likely each of the parameter values is to produce optimal outcomes in the next
Downregulation of cyclic adenosine monophosphate levels in leukocytes of hibernating captive black bears is similar to reported cyclic adenosine monophosphate findings in major depressive disorder

Introduction Cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels in the lymphoblasts and leukocytes of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) have been reported to be downregulated compared to in controls. cAMP is a derivative of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and low ATP turnover has been reported in the state of hypometabolism associated with human MDD and with mammalian hibernation due to suppression of mitochondrial metabolism. Similarities have been noted between many state-dependent neurobiological changes associated with MDD in humans and with mammalian hibernation. Methods To compare cAMP levels between human MDD and mammalian hibernation and to investigate whether cAMP downregulation is another state-dependent neurobiological finding, we measured cAMP concentrations in lysed leukocytes, plasma, and serum in serial blood specimens from nine female captive black bears (Ursus americanus; CBBs), and cortisol levels in serum from 10 CBBs. Results Cortisol levels were significantly higher during hibernation in CBBs, confirming previous findings in hibernating black bears and similar to findings in humans with MDD. cAMP levels were significantly lower during hibernation versus active states (pre-hibernation and exit from hibernation) and were similar to the cAMP downregulation reported in MDD patients versus euthymic patients or controls. cAMP level changes during the different states (hibernation, pre-hibernation, active) confirm their state-dependent status. Discussion These findings are similar to the neurobiological findings associated with the hypometabolism (metabolic depression) observed during mammalian hibernation and reported during MDD. A sudden increase in cAMP levels was observed before entrance into pre-hibernation and during exit from hibernation. Further investigation is suggested into the possible role of elevated cAMP levels in initiation of the chain reaction of changes in gene expression, proteins, and enzymes leading to the suppression of mitochondrial metabolism and to low ATP turnover. This process leads to hypometabolism, the old adaptive mechanism that is used by organisms for energy preservation and is associated with both mammalian hibernation and human MDD.
Total Duration of Negative Surplus for the Risk Process with Constant Interest Force

Abstract Assuming the compound Poisson risk process with constant interest force, we consider the process as continuing if ruin occurs. We introduce the renewal measure of the defective renewal sequence constituted by the zero points of the surplus process. The density functions of this renewal measure and the first-hitting time of the zero point are derived. By these density functions together with the strong Markov property of the surplus process, we obtain the explicit expression for the total duration of negative surplus.
Modified Bilateral Active Estimation Model: A Learning-Based Solution to the Time Delay Problem in Robotic Tele-Control

The ubiquitous presence of three types of delay in robotic teleoperation systems, i.e., computation delay, transmission delay, and mechanical delay, is the major factor of the system degradation. It is noticeable that the transmission latency over the communication network shows a periodic trend due to the network flux changing. Accordingly, in our previous work, a neural network-based open-loop approach named Bilateral Active Estimation Model (BAEM) was proposed to compensate for the upcoming transmission delay in a unilateral teleoperation system by sending predicted trajectories as commands. In this letter, a modified version of BAEM (m-BAEM) is proposed to compensate for all these three types of delay explicitly, and a real-time robotic teleoperation system based on Robot Operating System 2 (ROS 2) framework is built to evaluate the performance of the m-BAEM in constant and varying delay scenarios with both pre-defined and human-input trajectories. The results of pre-defined trajectories present the satisfactory performance of the m-BAEM even in the presence of transmission delay up to 1000 miliseconds with large variations. The main limitation of the m-BAEM is that it is yet unable to handle unknown trajectories.
A virtual reality program to assess cognitive function in multiple sclerosis: A pilot study

Introduction: Cognitive impairment is a debilitating symptom in people with multiple sclerosis (MS). Most of the neuropsychological tasks have little resemblance to everyday life. There is a need for ecologically valid tools for assessing cognition in real-life functional contexts in MS. One potential solution would involve the use of virtual reality (VR) to exert finer control over the task presentation environment; however, VR studies in the MS population are scarce. Objectives: To explore the utility and feasibility of a VR program for cognitive assessment in MS. Methods: A VR classroom embedded with a continuous performance task (CPT) was assessed in 10 non-MS adults and 10 people with MS with low cognitive functioning. Participants performed the CPT with distractors (i.e., WD) and without distractors (i.e., ND). The Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), California Verbal Learning Test—II (CVLT-II), and a feedback survey on the VR program was administered. Results: People with MS exhibited greater reaction time variability (RTV) compared to non-MS participants, and greater RTV in both WD and ND conditions was associated with lower SDMT. Conclusions: VR tools warrant further research to determine their value as an ecologically valid platform for assessing cognition and everyday functioning in people with MS.
Structure of Photosystem I Supercomplex Isolated from a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Cytochrome b6f Temperature-Sensitive Mutant

The unicellular green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, has been widely used as a model system to study photosynthesis. Its possibility to generate and analyze specific mutants has made it an excellent tool for mechanistic and biogenesis studies. Using negative selection of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation–mutated cells, we isolated a mutant (TSP9) with a single amino acid mutation in the Rieske protein of the cytochrome b6f complex. The W143R mutation in the petC gene resulted in total loss of cytochrome b6f complex function at the non-permissive temperature of 37 °C and recovery at the permissive temperature of 25 °C. We then isolated photosystem I (PSI) and photosystem II (PSII) supercomplexes from cells grown at the non-permissive temperature and determined the PSI structure with high-resolution cryogenic electron microscopy. There were several structural alterations compared with the structures obtained from wild-type cells. Our structural data suggest that the mutant responded by excluding the Lhca2, Lhca9, PsaL, and PsaH subunits. This structural alteration prevents state two transition, where LHCII migrates from PSII to bind to the PSI complex. We propose this as a possible response mechanism triggered by the TSP9 phenotype at the non-permissive temperature.
High performance tokamak experiments with a ferritic steel wall on JFT-2M

Compatibility between the plasma and low activation ferritic steel, which is a candidate material for fusion demonstration reactors, has been investigated step by step in the JFT-2M tokamak. We have entered the third stage of the Advanced Material Tokamak EXperiment (AMTEX), where the inside of the vacuum vessel wall is completely covered with ferritic steel plates ferritic inside wall (FIW). The effects of a FIW on the plasma production, impurity release, the operation region, and H-mode characteristics have been investigated. No negative effect has been observed up to now. A high normalized beta plasma of βN ~ 3, having both an internal transport barrier and a steady H-mode edge was obtained. A remarkable reduction in ripple trapped loss from 0.26 MW m−2 (without ferritic steel) to less than 0.01 MW m−2 was demonstrated by the optimization of the thickness profile of FIW. A code to calculate fast ion losses, taking into account the full three-dimensional magnetic structure was developed, and values obtained using the code showed good agreement with experimental results. Thus, encouraging results are obtained for the use of this material in the demo-reactor.
Suicidality Prevalence in a Pediatric Psychiatric Clinic: Relation to Social and Environmental Risk Factors

Suicidality is a growing public health problem in children and adolescents. The aim of this retrospective data analysis study was to estimate the prevalence of suicidality in pediatric patients admitted to an academic Pediatric Psychiatric Clinic (PPC) and to analyze social and environmental risk factors associated with suicide. Suicidal ideation was assessed by the Self-Injurious Thoughts and Behaviors Interview. Using established psychometric scales, social and stressful events were analyzed. During the four-year study, 249 episodes of care were experienced by 152 individuals (mean age 15.2 ± 2 years, girls/boys 107/45). Twenty-eight patients (11.2%) were admitted from the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and the Department of Pediatrics, 162 (65.1%) from the Pediatric Emergency Department, and 59 (23.7%) from other Hospitals (p = 0.003). A significant longitudinal increase in admissions to PPC, with increasing trends of suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and suicidality, was recorded. Suicidal behavior, bullying, internet addiction, friends quarreling, and family problems were risk factors for suicide attempts and suicidality. Our results have implications for prevention programs, highlighting an increasing need for care for suicide attempts and suicidal ideation, related to specific stressful events and contextual socio-environmental status.
Comparing Three-Dimensional Representations of Data to Scatterplots

Jensen (1985) described a method for presenting data in a three-dimensional format that would typically be presented in a scatterplot. The present paper compared these two methods of presenting data. Twenty-four subjects, all of whom had completed an undergraduate class in statistics, were presented with sets of graphs depicting bi-variaté data that varied in correlation from about 0.0 to about . 99. Three different data groups were depicted as both scatterplots and as three-dimensional graphs. Subjects rank ordered these sets of graphs on the basis of the degree of relationship present. For each set of graphs the order the subject chose was compared with the known order using Spearman's rho. In the early trials performance was better with the scatterplots, but by the last trial there was no difference between presentation methods for two out of the three data groups presented. The implications and limitations of these data are discussed.
Research on vibration modes of the Chinese chime stone

Nearfield acoustical holography is a powerful tool for imaging of acoustic sources. In this article, the basic theory treating steady-state acoustic radiation with generalized holography has been discussed. By holographic imaging, the vibration characteristics of irregular objects, the Chinese ancient musical instrument, the one-tone chime stone and the two-tone chime stone provided by the Institute of Archaeology, the Museum of Hubei Province, have been researched. The results show that the ancient chime stone has two main vibration modes, which make up the base of sound produced by the instrument. As for the two-tone chime stone, it is not so long and wide as the single-tone chime stone, but thicker and smoother than the single-tone chime stone. When it is excited at different positions, although it radiates sounds of different frequencies, its vibration modes are similar. This may be related to its dimensions and shape. The research is helpful for studying the sound producing system and the radiated field characteristics of the chime stone.
Clastic carbonates in the South Sistan Basin (SE Iran): implications for subduction vergence and timing of collision

ABSTRACT The N–S-trending Sistan Suture Zone in East Iran results from the collision of the Lut and Afghan continental blocks. The southern Sistan Basin hosts Eocene terrigenous deep-marine turbiditic sequences with carbonate olistoliths, debris-flow sheets and calcareous turbidites. These carbonates represent one or several early to middle Eocene carbonate platforms fragmented and redeposited in a deep-marine environment. Palaeocurrent measurements on the terrigenous and calcareous turbidites show that the source carbonate platform was located on the Afghan active margin. Volcanic debris in the limestone and surrounding turbidites corroborate an active magmatic margin on the Afghan side. The formation of limestone debris-flow sheets is attributed to increased erosion and retreat of the carbonate platform, potentially triggered by the closure of the Sistan Basin and continental collisions in the late middle Eocene, after subduction of the Sistan Ocean beneath the Afghan Block.
WO_3:AgInS_2 quantum dot electron transport layers in enhanced perovskite solar cells

The development of the electron transport layers (ETL) was crucially important for the improvement of charge extraction and transportation in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Here, dual electron transport layers of TiO_2 and WO_3 mixed with different sizes of AgInS_2 quantum dots (TiO_2/WO_3:AgInS_2 QDs) were fabricated for planar perovskite solar cells. The peak intensity of the photoluminescence (PL) of the synthesized AgInS_2 QDs were redshifted from 554 to 655 nm with an increased radius of AgInS_2 QDs from 3.82 ± 0.52 to 7.78 ± 1.37 nm. The PL intensity of the perovskite film on TiO_2/WO_3:AgInS_2 QDs was quenched by the addition of AgInS_2 QDs. The improved device stability was probably caused by the WO_3:AgInS_2 QDs layer protecting the interface of perovskite layers from direct contact with TiO_2 to prevent UV decomposing. Therefore, the TiO_2/WO_3:AgInS_2 QDs as electron transport layers promoted the perovskite solar cell performance and enhanced the long-term stability. Graphical abstract
Auxiliary Power Supply for Input-Series Output-Parallel Medium-Voltage Solid State Transformers

Auxiliary power supply (APS) is an essential component of medium voltage (MV) solid state transformers (SSTs) feeding the auxiliary units, such as gate drivers, controllers, and sensors. Usually APSs are obtained from the distributed bus, which may cause the input voltage imbalance before the main power transmission. This article proposed a new design for isolated APS of an input-series output-parallel (ISOP) SST. The designed distributed MV APSs are galvanically isolated by flybacks, and the centralized APS on the low voltage side is supplied from the MV APSs via a decoupling four-port medium frequency transformer with high isolation voltage. To solve the issue of input voltage imbalance posed by the ISOP system, a dual-loop control scheme based on APS-fluctuating is proposed, which can realize output voltage regulation and input voltage sharing simultaneously. The small-signal model, start-up strategy, and parameter design of the proposed system are investigated. Finally, a 500 V/2.2 kW lab prototype of SST with APS has been built and the overall system efficiency reaches 95.1%.
SMOOTHED FINITE ELEMENT METHODS FOR THERMO-MECHANICAL IMPACT PROBLEMS

We present a Smoothed Finite Element Methods (SFEM) for thermo-mechanical impact problems. The smoothing is applied to the strains and the standard finite element approach is used for the temperature field. The SFEM allows for highly accurate results and large deformations. No isoparametric mapping is needed; the shape functions are computed in the physical domain. Moreover, no derivatives of the shape functions must be computed. We implemented a visco-plastic constitutive model and validate the method by comparing numerical results to experimental data.
The Role of Artificial Observations in Testing for the Difference of Proportions in Misclassified Binary Data

An Agresti-Coull type test is considered for the difference of binomial proportions in two doubly sampled data subject to false-positive error. The performance of the test is compared with the likelihood-based tests. It is shown that the Agresti-Coull test has many desirable properties in that it can approximate the nominal significance level with compatible power performance.
Temporal electric field and electron density behavior of a He plasma jet with pulse width closing to pulse duration

Previously, it was observed that the plasma plume appears with three regimes (dark regime next to the nozzle, bright regime in the middle, and dim regime on the right) where the regime next to the nozzle is dark when the pulse width of the applied voltage is close to the pulse duration. In this paper, to understand such observation, the spatial and temporal resolved electron density and electric field in the three regimes are measured through the Thomson scattering and electric field-induced second harmonic method, respectively. It is found that, in the dark regime next to the nozzle, the electric field is relatively low, and it has a peak value of about 10 kV/cm, but the electron density is high, and it has a peak value of about 4.2 × 1020 m−3. So, the dark regime is like a conductive channel. On the other hand, for the bright regime, the electric field is much higher, and it has a peak value of about 17 kV/cm. However, the electron density is significantly lower than that in the dark regime, and its peak value is only about 1020 m−3. Even in the dim regime, the electric field is higher than that in the dark regime, and it has a peak value of about 13 kV/cm. Because electron temperature is related to the electric field, the results obtained in the paper indicate that the brightness of the plasma plume at different regimes is mainly decided by the electron temperature rather than the electron density. Finally, when a trace amount of O2 is mixed into working gas He, the dark regime disappears, and this is believed to be due to the fast attachment of electron to O2, which results in the decrease in the residual electron density in the regime next to the nozzle.
Holographic image storage in iron-doped lithium niobate fibers

Holographic recording on a real‐time basis of two‐dimensional images in an iron‐doped lithium niobate fiber with a 200 μm diameter and 3 mm length is demonstrated for the first time. The erasure time constant as a function of readout beam power, the diffraction efficiency as a function of incident reference angle, and the results of angular‐multiple recording of two images are shown. These results suggest that the LN fiber could replace bulk materials for holographic recordings in optical parallel processing.