Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Polarization dispersion compensated arrayed waveguide gratings design based on silicon nanowires

A simple method to design polarization dispersion compensated arrayed waveguide gratings based on silicon nanowires is proposed using angled star couplers with different diffraction orders for TE and TM polarizations. Polarization dispersion compensation for all channels is achieved by using a 380nm×220nm silicon waveguide with an upper-cladding of SU-8. The simulation results demonstrate the validity of the design.
Cardiovascular risk in patients with small and medium abdominal aortic aneurysms, and no history of cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of death in people with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). There is little evidence that screening for AAA reduces all‐cause or cardiovascular mortality. The aim of the study was to assess whether subjects with a small or medium AAA (3·0–5·4 cm), without previous history of clinical CVD, had raised levels of CVD biomarkers or increased total mortality.
Variable Spread Slotted Aloha Simulation Analysis over IEEE 802.15.6 Using IR-UWB for Wireless Body Area Networks

Recently, IEEE 802.15. 6 standard has been established to optimize low-power in-body/on-body nodes to serve a variety of medical and non-medical Wireless Body Area Networks (WBAN) applications. Coexistence of medical and entertainment sensors in the near vicinity is a challenge in terms of Quality of Services (QoS) guaranteeing and interference mitigation. In order to improve the channel utilization by increasing the number of allowable transmission, enhancing overall performance, and enabling integration of different services, we propose to combine Direct Sequence-Ultra Wide Band (DS-UWB) with slotted-Aloha random access. In this paper, we investigate the performance of the proposed spread slotted Aloha for IEEE 802.15. 6 Standard in different processing gain scenarios and different channel models. Results indicate that relation between medical and entertainment spreading code length combined with the sensor's contention probability has the strongest effect on the system performance over the different channel models.
Emotional journeys: young people and transitions to university

This paper offers an interpretation of the role of emotions in understanding the transitions that young people make to university. I draw on qualitative research with a group of non‐traditional students, entering elite universities, to argue that youth transitions are emotional as well instrumental affairs. I argue that choice‐making processes incorporate both trust in, and fear of, the transitions infrastructure, and that these emotions infuse more instrumental judgements about the economic benefits of higher education. I also demonstrate that emotional aspects of class – including feelings of entitlement to education and the rejection of normative student identities – constitute the experience of ‘being’ or ‘doing’ a student. A broader understanding of how young people become university students then depends not just on developing a new identity but on the complex interaction between emotion and infrastructure.
Modeling of software failure cost in ERP systems

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the most important software for many types of businesses. Software defects inserted on working ERP system can cause significant cost to their users. Existing software reliability models usually don't consider any financial impact at all. A model proposed in this paper links the ERP application layer with critical business operations and proposes cost calculation. The described modeling also encourages users to easily quantify the consequences of software failures that will always appear in ERP system. The proposed methods are illustrated by a case study.
[Hybrid ablation of the left atrium on beating-heart - initial experience].

WSTĘP Leczenie chirurgiczne migotania przedsionkow (AF) jest rzadko polecaną alternatywą dla leczenia zachowawczego, co jest uzasadnione [1]. Ablacja chirurgiczna, choc jest metodą bardzo skuteczną, ma jednak bardzo inwazyjny charakter i wiąze sie ze stosunkowo wysokim ryzykiem środoperacyjnym [2]. Wiekszośc stosowanych obecnie metod chirurgicznej ablacji lewego przedsionka (LA) wymaga otwarcia klatki piersiowej poprzez sternotomie pośrodkową lub niewielką torakotomie 1lub obustronną [3]. W zaleceniach Europejskiego Towarzystwa Kardiologicznego kardiochirurgiczne procedury ablacji LA mają klase zalecen 2B [4]. W ostatnich kliku latach rozwinely sie kardiochirurgiczne techniki maloinwazyjne, pozwalające na zmniejszenie ryzyka powiklan operacyjnych i oferujące akceptowalne wyniki, rowniez kosmetyczne [5]. Najbardziej zaawansowaną obecnie metodą chirurgicznej ablacji LA jest metoda torakoskopowa. Wykorzystuje ona dostep typu port access [6]. Jej odmianą jest ablacja zarowno lewego, jak i prawego przedsionka. Krakowska kardiochirurgia od 2006 r. stosuje z powodzeniem te wlaśnie metode w wybranych przypadkach, w ktorych zarowno leczenie zachowawcze, jak i ablacja endokardialna nie są wystarczająco skuteczne. Niedoskonalością stosowania metody epikardialnej jest brak mozliwości wykonania szczelnej linii aplikacyjnej wokol zyl plucnych, co wiąze sie z aspektami technicznymi i trudnym dostepem elektrody ablacyjnej do tkanki serca. Dojście epikardialne nie gwarantuje skutecznych aplikacji ponad zylą plucną prawą i lewą gorną oraz ponizej zyly plucnej dolnej prawej. Konsekwencją wykonania niepelnej linii okrązającej zyly plucne mogą byc nowe formy arytmii wymagające dalszych ablacji. Wiadomo rowniez, ze skutecznośc ablacji przezskornych u pacjentow z przetrwalym AF jest ograniczona [7]. W tej grupie chorych ze wzgledu na zaawansowany remodeling przedsionkow sama izolacja zyl plucnych [8] nie jest wystarczająca i wymaga uzupelnienia wykonaniem dodatkowych linii ablacyjnych w przedsionkach. Dlatego tez powstala koncepcja polączenia uzupelniających sie typow procedur, czyli ablacji endokardialnej i epikardialnej. Wychodząc z tego zalozenia, w ośrodku w ktorym pracują autorzy niniejszej pracy, podjeto inicjatywe ablacji hybrydowych przeprowadzanych sekwencyjnie obiema metodami. Okazalo sie, ze do tego typu procedur konieczne jest wykorzystanie sali hybrydowej, przeznaczonej do wykonywania procedur z pogranicza kardiologii i kardiochirurgii. Pierwsze wspolne procedury ablacji epikardialnej i endokardialnej przeprowadzono 15 stycznia 2009 r. Zespol kardiochirurgow wykonal epikardialną ablacje torakoskopową, natomiast zespol kardiologow ablacje endokardialną.
Exposure to Air pollution Increases the Risk of Osteoporosis

AbstractSeveral studies have indicated that air pollution induces systemic as well as tissue-specific inflammation. Chronic inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease reduce bone mineral density (BMD), leading to increased release of immune cells from the bone marrow. However, the association between air pollution and osteoporosis remains poorly defined. Therefore, we conducted this population-based retrospective cohort study to evaluate the risk of osteoporosis in Taiwanese residents exposed to air pollution.We combined 2 nationwide databases in this study. The National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan was available from 2000 to 2010. Detailed daily data on air pollution were collected by Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from 1998 to 2010. We calculated the yearly average concentrations of air pollutants from the study start to the date of osteoporosis occurrence, or withdrawal from the NHI program, or December 31, 2010. The yearly average concentrations of air pollutants were categorized into quartiles, and the risks of osteoporosis were evaluated among 4 stages of air pollutants.Among Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 of pollutants in all subjects, the adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of osteoporosis in Q2, Q3, and Q4 were compared with Q1. For carbon monoxide (CO), the adjusted HRs were 1.05 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.97–1.14), 1.78 (95% CI, 1.65–1.92), and 1.84 (95% CI, 1.71–1.98), respectively. For nitrogen dioxide (NO2), the adjusted HRs were 1.35 (95% CI, 1.25–1.45), 1.24 (95% CI, 1.15–1.35), and 1.60 (95% CI, 1.48–1.73), respectively, in all subjects.The findings of the present study show that CO and NO2 exposure is associated with an increased risk of osteoporosis in the Taiwanese population.
Types of dissociation and dissociative types: A taxometric analysis of dissociative experiences

This article examined evidence for dimensional and typological models of dissociation. The authors reviewed previous research with the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES; E. B. Bernstein-Carlson & F. W. Putnam, 1986) and note that this scale, like other dissociation questionnaires, was developed to
FOBTV: Worldwide Efforts in Developing Next-Generation Broadcasting System

The challenges facing the terrestrial broadcast industry are to how more efficiently and effectively use the scarce spectrum to deliver the vast amount of media data to the general public. Future of Broadcast Television Initiative (FOBTV) was founded by the broadcasters, manufacturers, network operators, standardization organizations, research institutes, and universities around the world, aiming at better solving these problems through global collaboration. Since its establishment, use cases for the future broadcast applications have been extensively collected and classified. Potential technologies applied for the summarized new application scenarios have been carefully studied and the most effective ones are highlighted. Moreover, FOBTV is trying to develop a layered model for the next-generation broadcasting system and taking great efforts toward the ultimate goal of a global harmonized terrestrial broadcasting system.
Light-water interaction using backward beam tracing

A new two pass approach is presented based on a variation of backward ray tracing backward beam tracing. Advantages include its capability of rendering complex, hitherto unattainable, specular to diffuse phenomenon and its easy insertion into standard renderers. The algorithm is applied to aspects of the interaction of light with water. Within this context a variety of first generation effects, including shadowing and light scattering, are both rendered and animated. Results taken from the treatment of caustics within classical optics are included as they provide valuable insights into the precise nature of specular to diffuse transfer.
Study of Successful Latina/o Students

This study analyzed the stories of successful Latina/o students. The qualitative analysis confirmed the presence of three barriers affecting their access to higher education and eight supporting factors: family, education, responsibility toward others, sense of accomplishment, friendship, scholarships, community support, and school personnel. Suggestions for developing programs oriented to increase the number of these students enrolled in higher education are presented.
Sociability, Interpersonal Relations, and the Internet

During the course of the past year, at least four different academic surveys have been conducted, each focusing to some extent on the impact of Internet use on the quantity and quality of interpersonal communication and sociability. Remarkably, these studies arrive at starkly different conclusions regarding the social repercussions of Internet use. At the heart of this debate is whether Internet use can be a potentially isolating activity or one that leads to substantially greater communication among people and thus enhances human connectivity and sociability. Based on an analysis of these studies' key findings and methodological approaches, this article attempts to understand the role of the Internet in shaping our interpersonal relations. The key findings suggest that Internet users do not become more sociable; rather, they already display a higher degree of social connectivity and participation, due to the fact that they are better educated, better off financially, and less likely to be among the elderly. And simply because of the inelasticity of time, Internet use may actually reduce interpersonal interaction and communication.
Rembrandt: An Essay in the Philosophy of Art

Simmel’s book-length essay on Rembrandt first appeared in 1916, two years prior to his death. The work is difficult to read, and one must ponder through the language which Simmel and others utilized at the time. But it is readily clear that Simmel, as a cultural philosopher, was writing on the idea of how a philosophy of art might be developed and visualized. The idea of an essence of art as a philosophy is expressed through two modes of enquiry. On one side, the object, namely its meaning and its significance, is given priority over the historical context, psychological states or motivations, the creator’s intentions, the material conditions in the production of art, and the role of patronage and the question of reception. In contrast, the philosophy of art reconstructs the totality of art by intellectual means through which we can penetrate the work of art per se, and also its actual inner meanings. Thus, for Simmel, creativity must deal with two facets or concerns. One is the expression and understanding of art as philosophy that must deal with the communication of the inner life. The second is Lebensphilosophie, namely, the philosophy that not only underwrites art, but is art. To use our contemporary language based on Simmel’s construct, creativity is captured in and through art and possibly a few other forms of human action. This is evident in that we think of creativity as an individualized phenomenon, in terms of the use of genius, etcetera. On the other side, Simmel is developing an understanding of how creativity is expressed and manifest on the cultural level. Here it is the dominance of philosophy that underwrites cultural creativity. Simmel is very clear on where philosophy fits by stating, “What has always seemed to me to be the essential task of philosophy—to lower a plumb line through the immediate singular, the simply given, into the depths of ultimate intellectual meanings—will now be attempted on the phenomenon of Rembrandt” (p. 3). By developing the philosophical essence of Rembrandt’s work, Simmel is specifically arguing against mechanistic, rationalistic, instrumental, and essentialist conceptions and interpretations of life and art. This theme has always been central to Simmel’s writings on money, the metropolis, distanciation, and urban space. In this sense, we have a prime example of the dominant form of argumentation in Germanic philosophical Comparative Studies in Society and History 2007;49(2):486–490. 0010-4175/07 $15.00 # 2007 Society for Comparative Study of Society and History
Docetaxel versus paclitaxel for antiangiogenesis.

Cytoskeleton-toxic chemotherapeuticals, such as vinblastine and paclitaxel, display antiangiogenic activity. This study was designed to compare paclitaxel to its analog docetaxel and assess their doses still antiangiogenic in vitro and in vivo. Human endothelial cell functions involved in angiogenesis, namely proliferation, chemotaxis, morphogenesis, and secretion of matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), MMP-9, and urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) were studied in vitro upon exposure to docetaxel and paclitaxel, whereas their effect on angiogenesis was studied in vivo by using the chick embryo chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model. Proliferation of mouse embryo fibroblasts and human Kaposi's sarcoma, breast and endometrial carcinoma, and lymphoid tumor cells was also studied. In vitro, 0.5, 0.75, and 1 nM docetaxel and 2, 3, and 4 nM paclitaxel, i.e., non-cytotoxic doses, impacted all endothelial cell functions, but not protease secretion, in a dose-dependent fashion, whereas they did not affect the proliferation of other cells, except those of Kaposi's sarcoma. No apoptosis was induced by 0.5 nM docetaxel and 2 nM paclitaxel, and moderate apoptosis was induced by 1 nM docetaxel and 4 nM paclitaxel. The antiangiogenic effect rapidly disappeared on drug suspension and was accompanied ultrastructurally by thin lesions of cytoskeleton in the form of slight and equally reversible depolymerization and accumulation of microfilaments. Massive endothelial cell apoptosis with evident cytotoxicity and irreversibility were associated with 2 nM docetaxel and 5 nM paclitaxel, although these higher doses were ineffective on other cells except Kaposi's sarcoma cells. In vivo, 1, 2, and 3 nM docetaxel and 4, 8, and 12 nM paclitaxel displayed a dose-dependent antiangiogenic activity. We suggest that very low docetaxel and paclitaxel doses selectively cause organic and functional damage of endothelial cells and that docetaxel is four times stronger. Their antiangiogenic activity could be applied to treat Kaposi's sarcoma and cancers.
Multi-Objective Quality-Driven Service Selection—A Fully Polynomial Time Approximation Scheme

The goal of multi-objective quality-driven service selection (QDSS) is to find service selections for a workflow whose quality-of-service (QoS) values are Pareto-optimal. We consider multiple QoS attributes such as response time, cost, and reliability. A selection is Pareto-optimal if no other selection has better QoS values for some attributes and at least equivalent values for all others. Exact algorithms have been proposed that find all Pareto-optimal selections. They suffer however from exponential complexity. Randomized algorithms scale well but do not offer any formal guarantees on result precision. We present the first approximation scheme for QDSS. It aims at the sweet spot between exact and randomized algorithms: It combines polynomial complexity with formal result precision guarantees. A parameter allows to seamlessly trade result precision against efficiency. We formally analyze complexity and precision guarantees and experimentally compare our algorithm against exact and randomized approaches. Comparing with exact algorithms, our approximation scheme allows to reduce optimization time from hours to seconds. Its approximation error remains below 1.4 percent while randomized algorithms come close to the theoretical maximum.
Client-network collaborative load balancing mechanism for WLAN based on SDN and 802.11u

As the rapid growth of Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the densities of both Access Points (APs) and clients have dramatically increased. In the dense and crowded WLANs, the challenges of load balance become non-negligible due to the problems raised by traditional AP selection mechanism based on signal strength. To address this issue, many existing works consider the load metrics and conduct dynamic topology adjustment for the AP selection. In these literatures, a specific server and trick communications between client and network are always introduced, but they are not general. In this paper, we propose a novel load balancing mechanism, which is implemented on a client-network collaborative architecture based on Software Defined Network (SDN) and 802.11u. In our architecture, we implement several SDN applications to collect and maintain the information of load and topology, and design Network Resource Query Protocol (NRQP) to exchange the metrics of AP selection between client and network based on 802.11u. With the help of this architecture, we propose a novel load aware algorithm which can take the comprehensive consideration of the link state, client traffic and AP load. It can not only work when first association or moving handoff, but also conduct topology adjustment at proper time. We evaluate our mechanism on a real SDN prototype testbed and the results show the competitive performance.
The safety and effectiveness of deferiprone in a large‐scale, 3‐year study in Italian patients

Summary. In 1997, the Italian Ministry of Health created a special programme for the controlled distribution of deferiprone to collect data and to evaluate its safety and effectiveness in long‐term use. Five hundred and thirty‐two thalassaemia patients from 86 treatment centres were enrolled in this programme. One hundred and eighty‐seven patients (32%) experienced a total of 269 events that led to a temporary interruption or, in some cases, to a discontinuation of treatment. The incidence of agranulocytosis and milder neutropenias were 0·4/100 and 2·1/100 patient‐years respectively. Neutropenia occurred predominantly in younger and non‐splenectomized patients. Transient alanine transaminase increase, gastrointestinal discomfort and arthralgia were the other most commonly reported events. Ferritin levels showed a significant decrease in time after 3 years of therapy. This is the largest number of deferiprone‐treated patients to have been reported to date. These data show that the drug was effective in reducing serum ferritin levels and the incidence of adverse events was not greater than the frequency reported in clinical trials.
Balls-into-leaves: sub-logarithmic renaming in synchronous message-passing systems

We consider the following natural problem: n failure-prone servers, communicating synchronously through message passing, must assign themselves one-to-one to n distinct items. Existing literature suggests two possible approaches to this problem. First, model it as an instance of tight renaming in synchronous message-passing systems; for deterministic solutions, a tight bound of Θ(log n) communication rounds is known. Second, model the scenario as an instance of randomized load-balancing, for which elegant sub-logarithmic solutions exist. However, careful examination reveals that known load-balancing schemes do not apply to our scenario, because they either do not tolerate faults or do not ensure one-to-one allocation. It is thus natural to ask if sub-logarithmic solutions exist for this apparently simple but intriguing problem. In this paper, we combine the two approaches to provide a new randomized solution for tight renaming, which terminates in O(log log n) communication rounds with high probability, against a strong adaptive adversary. Our solution, called Balls-into-Leaves, combines the deterministic approach with a new randomized scheme to obtain perfectly balanced allocations. The algorithm arranges the items as leaves of a tree, and participants repeatedly perform random choices among the leaves. The algorithm exchanges information in each round to split the participants into progressively smaller groups whose random choices do not conflict. We then extend the algorithm to terminate early in O(log log f) rounds w.h. p., where f is the actual number of failures. These results imply an exponential separation between deterministic and randomized algorithms for the tight renaming problem in message-passing systems.
Constructionism in Practice @bullet Necc '94 4. Analysis and Conclusions

In the MIT LEGO Robot Design Competition , students build robots that interact with their environment—the contest playing field, the game objects, and the opponent robot or robots—in particular ways. The robots thus become part of a complex system of interactions that define their existence. In this paper I explore the biases that students bring to the task of designing their robots. Of particular interest is students’ recurring inclination to build robots that will perform properly only under ideal conditions. Students repeatedly build robots that are not well-equipped to deal with the exigencies of the real world, but rather with the specifications of an idealized, abstracted world—a world that the robot designers would like to believe is a close representation of reality, but is not. This result points to limitations in the set of ideas about technological systems and methods that comprise the core of the engineering curriculum. What surprises many participants is that these ideas do not map well to the challenge of designing a robot to play in one of our contests. In Y. Kafai and M. Resnick (Eds.), Constructionism in Practice: Rethinking the Roles of Technology in Learning. Presented at the National Educational Computing