Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microstructural and Electrical Properties of ZnO Ceramics with ZnO-Na2O-P2O5 Glass Oxide Additions

The compositions, electrical properties and microstructures of zinc oxide ceramics with various 46.6ZnO-20Na2O-33.4P2O5 glass oxide additions prepared by solid-state method have been investigated. The structure of the materials is studied using X-Ray diffraction, and the microstructure is analyzed using scanning electron microscopy. The results indicated that the electrical properties were associated with the amount of 46.6ZnO-20Na2O-33.4P2O5 glass oxide additions and the sintering temperatures. The correlation between the microstructures, oxide additions and the sintering temperature was also discussed. From the results of electrical properties measurements, zinc oxide ceramics with various 46.6ZnO-20Na2O-33.4P2O5 glass oxide additions exhibits a good electrical behavior, which can be a suitable candidate material for electronic device applications.
The Swedish MS registry – clinical support tool and scientific resource

The Swedish MS registry (SMSreg) is designed to assure quality health care for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). It has been active since 2001 and web‐based since 2004. It runs on government funding only and is used in all Swedish neurology departments. The SMSreg currently includes data on 14,500 of Sweden's estimated 17,500 prevalent patients with MS. One important function of SMSreg, to which participation is voluntary, is to serve as a tool for decision support and to provide an easy overview of the patient information needed at clinical visits. This is its core feature and explains why the majority of Swedish MS specialists contribute data. Another success factor for SMSreg is that entered data can be readily accessed, either through a query function into Excel format or through a set of predesigned tables and diagrams in which parameters can be selected. Recent development includes a portal allowing patients to view a summary of their registered data and to report a set of patient‐reported outcomes. SMSreg data have been used in close to 100 published scientific reports. Current projects include an incidence cohort (EIMS), post‐marketing cohorts of patients on novel disease‐modifying drugs (IMSE), and a prevalence cohort (GEMS). As these studies combine physical sampling and questionnaire data with clinical documentation and possible linkage to other public registries, together they provide an excellent platform for integrated MS research.
Dichotic speech recognition using CVC word and nonsense CVC syllable stimuli.

BACKGROUND The effects of stimulus material, lexical content, and response condition on dichotic speech recognition performance characteristics were examined for normal-hearing young adult listeners. No previous investigation has systematically examined the effects of stimulus material with constant phonetic content but varied lexical content across three response conditions typically used to evaluate binaural auditory processing abilities. PURPOSE To examine how dichotic speech recognition performance varies for stimulus materials with constant phonetic content but varied lexical content across the free recall, directed recall right, and directed recall left response conditions. RESEARCH DESIGN Dichotic speech recognition was evaluated using consonant-vowel-consonant (CVC) word and nonsense CVC syllable stimuli administered in the free recall, directed right, and directed left response conditions, a repeated measures experimental design. STUDY SAMPLE Thirty normal-hearing young adults (15 male, 15 female) served as participants. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 31 yr and were all right-handed. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Participants engaged in monaural speech recognition and dichotic speech recognition tasks. Percent correct recognition per ear, as well as ear advantage for dichotic speech recognition, were calculated and evaluated using a repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) statistical procedure. RESULTS Dichotic speech recognition performance for nonsense CVC syllables was significantly poorer than performance for CVC words, suggesting that lexical content impacts performance on dichotic speech recognition tasks. Performance also varied across response condition, which is consistent with previous studies of dichotic speech recognition. CONCLUSIONS Lexical content of stimulus materials impacts performance characteristics for dichotic speech recognition tasks in the normal-hearing young adult population. The use of nonsense CVC syllable material may provide a way to assess dichotic speech recognition performance while potentially lessening the effects of lexical content on performance.
Femto-Caching with Soft Cache Hits: Improving Performance with Related Content Recommendation

Pushing popular content to cheap ``helper'' nodes (e.g., small cells with local storage) during off-peak hours has recently been proposed to cope with the increase in mobile data traffic. If the requested content is available locally at a helper node, both user and operator performance could benefit. Nevertheless, the collective storage of a few nearby helper nodes does not usually suffice to achieve a high hit rate in practice. In this paper, we investigate the concept of ``soft cache hits'' where, if the original content is not available, some locally cached related contents can be recommended. Given that Internet content consumption is entertainment-oriented, we argue that there exist scenarios where a user might accept an alternative content (e.g., better download rate for alternative content, low rate plans), thus avoiding to access expensive/congested links. We formulate the problem of optimal edge caching with soft cache hits in a sufficiently generic setup, propose an efficient algorithm, and analyze the expected gains. We then show using synthetic and real datasets of related video contents that promising caching gains could be achieved in practice.
Refinement of a Design-Oriented Stress–Strain Model for FRP-Confined Concrete

This paper presents the results of a recent study conducted to refine the design-oriented stress–strain model originally proposed by Lam and Teng for fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP)-confined concrete under axial compression. More accurate expressions for the ultimate axial strain and the compressive strength are proposed for use in this model. These new expressions are based on results from recent tests conducted by the writers’ group under well-defined conditions and on results from a parametric study using an accurate analysis-oriented stress–strain model for FRP-confined concrete. They allow the effects of confinement stiffness and the jacket strain capacity to be separately reflected and accounts for the effect of confinement stiffness explicitly instead of having it reflected only through the confinement ratio. The new expressions can be easily incorporated into Lam and Teng’s model for more accurate predictions. Based on these new expressions, two modified versions of Lam and Teng’s model are present.
Effect of Selenium and Vitamin E Dietary Deficiencies on Chick Lymphoid Organ Development 1

Abstract Diets specifically deficient in selenium (Se) and/or vitamin E or adequate in both nutrients were fed to chicks from the time of hatching. Lymphoid organs (bursa, thymus, and in some instances, spleen) were collected from chicks 7-35 days of age. Growth of the chicks fed these diets was monitored over the experimental period as was lymphoid organ growth. The development of the primary lymphoid organs was further assessed by histological techniques and the organ contents of vitamin E (α-tocopherol) and Se were determined. Specific deficiencies of either Se or vitamin E were found to significantly impair bursal growth as did a combined deficiency. Thymic growth was impaired only by the combined deficiency diet. Severe histopathological changes in the bursa resulted from the combined deficiency and these were detectable by 10-14 days after hatching. These changes were characterized by a gradual degeneration of the epithelium and an accompanying depletion of lymphocytes. Similar changes, although slower to develop and less severe, were observed in the thymus as a result of the combined deficiency. When both serum and tissue levels of vitamin E and Se were monitored, it was observed that these were rapidly and independently depleted by the specific deficiency diets. These data suggest that the primary lymphoid organs are major targets of Se and vitamin E dietary deficiencies and provide a possible mechanism by which immune function may be impaired.
Early Visual Evoked Potentials: An Indicator of Bioelectrical Activity of the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus?

Abstract Background: In non-human primate experiments Schroeder et al. (1992) demonstrated that visual evoked activity of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) can be recorded on the frontolateral epidural surface of macaque monkeys. So far it is not known whether analogous visual evoked potentials can be found on the scalp surface of humans. Methods: The search for early visual evoked responses was performed in healthy volunteers with the following technique: white Ganzfeld-flash stimulation (< 100 µsec, 0.81 cd/m2s, frequency 1.1 Hz), low frequency filter 1 Hz, high frequency filter 100 Hz (12 db/octave), averaging of 100 stimulations. A topographic map of responses was recorded at standard electroencephalography scalp positions. In addition to these methods the following parameters were modified: stimulation (flash versus checkerboard reversal, monocular versus binocular), recording of right and left hemisphere responses, frequency filtering and frequency analysis. Results: Scalp mapping of VEP responses indicated an early reproducible response with a wide frontolateral distribution consisting of a small positive and a larger negative potential (= GER − presumed geniculatum evoked response). A closer analysis of responses was performed at 6 different standard electroencephalography scalp positions electrode positions (F2, F4, FC2, FC4, FC6, C4) in 7 healthy volunteers. At FC4 the amplitude of the GER was maximal (4.8 ± 2.9 µV). The peak latencies were: positive wave 31.8 ± 2.8 msec, negative wave 43.6 ± 2.3 msec. Monocular stimulation resulted in nearly identical responses on both hemispheres. Amplitudes increase at binocular stimulation by + 44 % compared to monocular flashes. Frequency filtering and spectrum analysis clearly demonstrate that the GER mainly consists of < 30 Hz components. A comparable response with checkerboard reversal could not be detected after averaging of 100 stimulations and a rudimentary GER was found after 5000 sweeps. Conclusions: An early wide spread visually evoked potential could be identified in humans that seems to be identical to the surface recorded response of the LGN that was previously described in non-human primate experiments.
Byzantine Failures and Security: Arbitrary is not (always) Random

The Byzantine failure model allows arbitrary behavior of a certain fraction of network nodes in a distributed system. It was introduced to model and analyze the effects of very severe hardware faults in aircraft control systems. Lately, the Byzantine failure model has been used in the area of network security where Byzantine-tolerance is equated with resilience against malicious attackers. We discuss two reasons why one should be careful in doing so. Firstly, Byzantine-tolerance is not concerned with secrecy and so special means have to be employed if secrecy is a desired system property. Secondly, in contrast to the domain of hardware faults, in a security setting it is difficult to compute the assumption coverage of the Byzantine failure model, i.e., the probability that the failure assumption holds in practice. To address this latter point we develop a methodology which allows to estimate the reliability of a Byzantine-tolerant solution exposed to attackers of different strengths.
Development of a stroke-specific quality of life scale.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Clinical stroke trials are increasingly measuring patient-centered outcomes such as functional status and health-related quality of life (HRQOL). No stroke-specific HRQOL measure is currently available. This study presents the initial development of a valid, reliable, and responsive stroke-specific quality of life (SS-QOL) measure, for use in stroke trials. METHODS Domains and items for the SS-QOL were developed from patient interviews. The SS-QOL, Short Form 36, Beck Depression Inventory, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, and Barthel Index were administered to patients 1 and 3 months after ischemic stroke. Items were eliminated with the use of standard psychometric criteria. Construct validity was assessed by comparing domain scores with similar domains of established measures. Domain responsiveness was assessed with standardized effect sizes. RESULTS All 12 domains of the SS-QOL were unidimensional. In the final 49-item scale, all domains demonstrated excellent internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha values for each domain >/=0.73). Most domains were moderately correlated with similar domains of established outcome measures (r2 range, 0.3 to 0.5). Most domains were responsive to change (standardized effect sizes >0.4). One- and 3-month SS-QOL scores were associated with patients' self-report of HRQOL compared with before their stroke (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS The SS-QOL measures HRQOL, its primary underlying construct, in stroke patients. Preliminary results regarding the reliability, validity, and responsiveness of the SS-QOL are encouraging. Further studies in diverse stroke populations are needed.
Investigation of the Size Effect on the Giant Dielectric Constant of CaCu3Ti4O12 Ceramic

Cubic perovskite-related ceramic CaCu3Ti4O12 has a very high dielectric constant larger than 10000 in the kilohertz frequency region. It is almost constant in the 100-600 K region. The ceramic compounds were prepared by conventional solid-state reaction at different sintering temperatures 1040° C(C04), 1060° C(C06), 1080° C(C08), and 1100°C(C10). Impedance spectroscopy on CaCusTi4O12 ceramics demonstrates that they are electriclly heterogeneous and consist of semi-conducting grains with insulating grain boundaries. It is shown that C06 is the most suitable one for device applications. Surface observation and analysis of the grain-boundary-grained structure were carried out by using scanning electron microscopy, which confirms that the samples have clearly different crystal grain sizes and C06 has a larger grain size of about 20 μm. Compared to the dielectric relaxation spectroscopy, the mechanical relaxation spectroscopy on C06 was performed and a mechanical loss peak was found, which was attributed to the thermally activated behaviour being immanent in the grains.
Evaluation of the adeno-associated virus mediated long-term expression of channelrhodopsin-2 in the mouse retina

Purpose The conversion of inner retinal neurons to photosensitive cells via viral mediated expression of channelrhodopsin-2 (ChR2) offers a new potential approach for the restoration of vision after photoreceptor degeneration. This study was conducted to evaluate the recombinant adeno-associated virus serotype 2 (rAAV2)-mediated long-term expression and safety of ChR2 in the mouse retina. Methods rAAV2 vectors carrying a fusion construct of channelopsin-2 (Chop2) and green fluorescent protein (GFP; Chop2-GFP) under the control of a hybrid cytomegalovirus early enhancer and chicken β-actin (CAG) promoter were injected at different concentrations into the eyes of wild-type adult mice. The retinas were harvested up to 18 months after virus injection for immunostaining and electrophysiological studies. Injected mice were kept either under normal light conditions, or exposed to a strong blue light. The expression of GFP and the density of the cells in the ganglion cell layer (GCL) were examined. Results The expression of Chop2-GFP was stable for up to 18 months. Chop-GFP was observed predominantly in retinal ganglion as well as amacrine cells. At the highest virus concentration (6×1012 GC/ml), up to 20% of the cells in the GCL were infected by the virus. At the lowest virus concentration (1×1010 GC/ml), the expression was targeted to AII amacrine cells. The concentration of the virus, the light conditions, and the percentage of Chop2-GFP-positive cells had no effect on the density and, thus, on the survival of the cells in the GCL. Sufficient number of functional ChR2 channels were maintained in ganglion cells to drive robust membrane depolarization and spike firing in response to light. Conclusions Expression of Chop2-GFP could be achieved in retinal neurons in vivo for the duration of the lifespan of mice. The expression of Chop2-GFP did not cause any detectable toxicity and cell death to neurons of the ganglion cell layer.
Neurotrophic factors and their receptors

Development of the nervous system depends on signals that instruct neurons when to divide, differentiate, survive, or die. There are now two known distinct classes of factors noted for their neurotrophic activities—the family of factors collectively known as the neurotrophins, and ciliary neurotrophic factor. Neurotrophin‐mediated signaling pathways initiate by autophosphorylation of Trk receptors, which are receptor tyrosine kinases similar to the receptors for traditional growth factors such as fibroblast growth factor. In contrast, ciliary neurotrophic factor employs a receptor system that shares components with the receptor complexes for a subclass of distantly related hematopoietic cytokines. These two distinct classes of neurotrophic factors, utilizing distinct signaling pathways, can interact to effect the growth and differentiation of neuronal progenitors during neuropoiesis in a way analogous to that exhibited by the cytokines during hematopoiesis.
Unsynchronized markerless motion capture with sharp illumination changes

Human motion capture typically requires synchronization hardware and specialized cameras, which makes the system expensive and technically complex. Instead, in this paper, we propose a novel approach for markerless motion capture with multiple unsynchronized cameras. Cameras synchronization is achieved using sharp illumination changes produced while recording the videos. To estimate poses with the presence of sharp illumination changes, we also propose a pose estimation method based on a bilayer Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM) and graph-cut, which can handle sharp illumination changes. And we demonstrate our video synchronization and markerless motion capture methods by the experiments on real human motion videos.
An Ontology for Executable Business Processes

The Web Service Business Process Execution Language (WSBPEL) is the de facto standard for describing workflow-like compositions of Web services, so-called Web service orchestrations. In this paper an ontology for executable BPEL processes is presented, which reflects both the natural language description and the syntax given in the specification. The ontology makes BPEL process models accessible at a semantic level and thus to intelligent queries and machine reasoning.
Screening the parameters affecting heuristic performance

This research screens the tuning parameters of a combinatorial optimization heuristic. Specifically, it presents a Design of Experiments (DOE) approach that uses a Fractional Factorial Design to screen the tuning parameters of Ant Colony System (ACS) for the Travelling Sales person problem. Screening is a preliminary step towards building a full Response Surface Model (RSM) [2]. It identifies parametersthat have little influence on performance and can be omittedfrom the RSM design. This reduces the complexity andexpense of the RSM design. 10 algorithm parameters and 2 problem characteristics are considered. Open questionson the effect of 3 parameters on performance are answered.A further parameter, sometimes assumed important, was shown to have no effect on performance. A new problem characteristic that effects performance was identified. A full version of this paper is available [3].
Molecular investigation of mechanical strain-induced phenotypic plasticity in the ecologically important pharyngeal jaws of cichlid fish

Summary Phenotypic plasticity in the form of alterations to teleost skeletons can result from a range of environmental factors, such as the hardness of the prey, particularly when exposure occurs early during development. Determining the molecular underpinnings of teleost skeletal plasticity is hampered by a limited understanding of the molecular basis of bone remodeling in derived teleost fish, whose bones are acellular, lacking the cell type known to orchestrate bone remodeling in mammals. We are using a fitting molecular model for phenotypic plasticity research: the East African cichlid Astatoreochromis alluaudi, with the aim to shed light on the molecular basis of phenotypic plasticity and on the remodeling of acellular bones. For this fish, sustained ingestion of a hard diet induces a ‘molariform’ lower pharyngeal jaw (LPJ), with molar-like teeth set in an enlarged, relatively dense jaw, while a softer diet results in a smaller, finer ‘papilliform’ LPJ morphology, representing the ‘ground state’ for this species. Through comparing genome-wide transcription in molariform and papilliform LPJs, our previous research has shed light on the molecular basis of phenotypic plasticity in the teleost skeleton and by extension, on acellular bone remodeling. In this manuscript we construct a model for the molecular basis of mechanically induced skeletal plasticity in teleosts, which involves iterative cycles of strain and compensatory cellular proliferation. Furthermore, we propose a framework for testing the potential influence of phenotypic plasticity and genetic assimilation on adaptive radiations.
EX VIVO-EXPANSION OF CORD BLOOD CELLS AND ITS CLINICAL APPLICATION

Received: 2/Jul/2006 Cord blood is a rich source of hematopoietic stem cells and could be potentially used for transplantation instead of conventional sources of stem cells (bone marrow or peripheral blood). Cord blood cells are successfully used in pediatric and adult patients, but their major limitation is the low number of hematopoietic stem cells for patients of large body size. There are several possible solutions for this problem, including use of third party donor, use of multi-unit cord blood, and finally ex-vivo expansion of cord blood hematopoietic stem cells to accelerate engraftment of transplanted cells. In this article we will discuss exvivo expansion from bench and clinical points of view.
Effective Interference Coordination for D2D Underlaying LTE Networks

In a Device-to-device (D2D) underlaying cellular system interference cancellation is a key problem. In this paper, based on the practical LTE system, we proposed an eNB-aided interference avoidance mechanism. Firstly, the interference range (IR) is identified and then bad physical resource blocks (BPRBs) which are defined as PRBs with low signal- to-interference-and-noise ratio (SINR) between terminals and the eNB are detected. Based on such knowledge, within the IR, BPRBs are allocated to the D2D transmission but suitable PRBs are used by the cellular users whereas PRBs are shared outside the IR. By doing so, the interference not only between the D2D users and cellular users but also between the eNB and D2D users is avoided effectively. Simulations prove the efficacy of the proposed scheme over the traditional algorithms.