Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A frequency-dependent hysteresis model for power ferrites up to curie temperatures

A methodology is presented for the modeling of hysteresis in bulk manganese-zinc (MnZn) power ferrites over the practical ranges of amplitude and frequency from room temperature up to their Curie temperatures. The model parameters of an existing frequency-dependent hysteresis model are related to the typical magnetic properties such as the saturation flux density, the coercive force, and initial permeability. Temperature variations of the magnetic properties/model parameters are characterized by 25 temperature coefficients and the Curie point. The modeling methodology is demonstrated for a commercial MnZn power ferrite, magnetized up to 0.4 Tesla at frequencies between 10 kHz and 1 MHz, in the operating temperature of 25 /spl deg/C to 225 /spl deg/C.
Automatic word naming recognition for treatment and assessment of aphasia

VITHEA is an on-line platform designed to act as a “virtual therapist” for the treatment of Portuguese speaking aphasic patients. Concretely, the system integrates automatic speech recognition technology to provide word naming exercises to individuals with lost or reduced word naming ability. In this paper, we present the solution adopted for the word naming task, which is based on a keyword spotting approach with hybrid HMM/MLP speech recognizer. Furthermore, we explore a simple cross-validation method that makes use of the patients measured word naming ability to automatically adapt to their speech particularities. A corpus with word naming therapy sessions of aphasic Portuguese native speakers has been collected to test the utility of the approach for both global evaluation and treatment. In spite of the different patient characteristics and speech quality conditions of the collected data, encouraging results have been obtained.
Managing Multiple Funding Streams and Agendas to Achieve Local and Global Health and Research Objectives: Lessons From the Field

Abstract:Multiple funding sources provide research and program implementation organizations a broader base of funding and facilitate synergy, but also entail challenges that include varying stakeholder expectations, unaligned grant cycles, and highly variable reporting requirements. Strong governance and strategic planning are essential to ensure alignment of goals and agendas. Systems to track budgets and outputs, as well as procurement and human resources are required. A major goal of funders is to transition leadership and operations to local ownership. This article details successful approaches used by the newly independent nongovernmental organization, the Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia.
Characterization of the protein conferring immunity to the antimicrobial peptide carnobacteriocin B2 and expression of carnobacteriocins B2 and BM1

Cloning of a 16-kb DNA fragment from the 61-kb plasmid of Carnobacterium piscicola LV17B into plasmidless C. piscicola LV17C restores the production of the plasmid-encoded carnobacteriocin B2 and the chromosomally-encoded carnobacteriocin BM1 and restores the immune phenotype. This fragment also has sufficient genetic information to allow the expression of carnobacteriocin B2 and its immunity in a heterologous host. The gene locus (cbiB2) responsible for immunity to carnobacteriocin B2 is located downstream of the structural gene for carnobacteriocin B2 and encodes a protein of 111 amino acids (CbiB2). CbiB2 was expressed in Escherichia coli as a fusion of the maltose-binding protein and CbiB2. The fusion protein was purified on an amylose column and cleaved with factor Xa, and pure CbiB2 was isolated by high-performance liquid chromatography. The N-terminal amino acid sequence and mass spectrometry (molecular weight [mean +/- standard error], 12,662.2 +/- 3.4) of the purified protein agree with the information deduced from the nucleotide sequence of cbiB2. Western blot (immunoblot) analysis indicates that the majority of the intracellular pool of this immunity protein is in the cytoplasm and that a smaller proportion is associated with the membrane. CbiB2 confers immunity to carnobacteriocin B2, but not to carnobacteriocin BM1, when it is expressed in homologous or heterologous hosts. No protective effect is observed for sensitive cells growing in the presence of the bacteriocin when the immunity protein is added to the medium. The purified immunity protein does not show significant binding to microtiter plates coated with carnobacteriocin B2 and is not able to inactivate the bacteriocin in solution.
Cardiopulmonary dysfunction in cirrhosis

Abstract Cirrhosis is associated with several circulatory abnormalities. These include hyperkinetic systemic and splanchnic circulation, hepatopulmonary syndromes including pulmonary hypertension, and cirrhotic cardiomyopathy. Hepatopulmonary syndrome generally refers to hypoxaemia seen in patients with chronic liver disease and appears to be relatively common, although often subclinical. However, significant pulmonary hypertension occurs in 0.2–0.7% of cirrhotic patients. Nitric oxide and/or other vasodilators appear to be involved in the pathogenesis of hepatopulmonary syndrome through induction of pulmonary capillary dilatation which increases the alveolar‐arterial oxygen gradient. Cirrhotic cardiomyopathy refers to abnormal left ventricular function which is manifested under conditions of physiological or pharmacological stress. The emergence of liver transplantation as an effective treatment for end‐stage liver disease has led to recognition of previously subclinical cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure accounts for significant morbidity and mortality after this procedure. Diminished myocardial β‐adrenergic receptor function has been shown to play an important role in the pathogenesis of this condition. The contributions of other factors including nitric oxide, catecholamines and membrane fluidity changes are under investigation. Cirrhotic patients also have an increased incidence of other cardiac abnormalities, such as endocarditis and pericardial effusions.
Cutaneous malignant melanoma in southern Sweden 1965, 1975, and 1985

There is a worldwide increase in the incidence of cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) among whites. In Sweden, a five‐fold increase has been recorded since 1960, although the increase in mortality rate is substantially lower. Tumor thickness is recognized as the most important histologic prognostic factor for primary melanoma. In a previous study, the authors did not find any significant decrease in mean tumor thickness over the period 1965‐1985 in their region. In the current study, prognostic factors for melanoma were evaluated for this time period.
Multimodale Therapie des nicht-kleinzelligen Bronchialkarzinoms

Die Behandlung des nicht-kleinzelligen Bronchialkarzinoms (NSCLC) wird vom Tumorstadium bestimmt. Bei Patienten mit einem Bronchialkarzinom ohne Fernmetastasen sollte eine Behandlung in enger Kooperation zwischen Onkologen, Radiotherapeuten und Thoraxchirurgen stattfinden. Die Resektabilität wird vom Thoraxchirurgen bestimmt. Die Anwendung der Therapiemodalitäten erfolgt in Abhängigkeit vom lokoregionären Lymphknotenbefall. Im Fall von Fernmetastasen (Stadium IV) ist lediglich eine palliative Behandlung mit einer Lebenserwartung von im Median 6–12 Monaten möglich.
Dual function of C/D box small nucleolar RNAs in rRNA modification and alternative pre-mRNA splicing

Significance C/D box small nucleolar RNAs (SNORDs) are abundant, short, nucleoli-residing, noncoding RNAs that guide the methyltransferase fibrillarin to perform 2′-O-methylation of target RNAs. We identified 29 SNORDs present in a fibrillarin-containing fraction as well as a fibrillarin-free fraction enriched in spliceosomes. One of these SNORDs, SNORD27, directs rRNA methylation and regulates alternative pre-mRNA splicing (AS) of E2F7 pre-mRNA, a transcriptional repressor of cell cycle-regulated genes. SNORD27 likely regulates E2F7 pre-mRNA AS by masking splice sites through base pairing. This previously unidentified function of SNORDs increases the number of factors regulating AS, a critical step in the expression of the vast majority of human genes, and highlights a potential coupling between AS, cell cycle, proliferation, and ribosome biogenesis. C/D box small nucleolar RNAs (SNORDs) are small noncoding RNAs, and their best-understood function is to target the methyltransferase fibrillarin to rRNA (for example, SNORD27 performs 2′-O-methylation of A27 in 18S rRNA). Unexpectedly, we found a subset of SNORDs, including SNORD27, in soluble nuclear extract made under native conditions, where fibrillarin was not detected, indicating that a fraction of the SNORD27 RNA likely forms a protein complex different from canonical snoRNAs found in the insoluble nuclear fraction. As part of this previously unidentified complex, SNORD27 regulates the alternative splicing of the transcription factor E2F7 pre-mRNA through direct RNA–RNA interaction without methylating the RNA, likely by competing with U1 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (snRNP). Furthermore, knockdown of SNORD27 activates previously “silent” exons in several other genes through base complementarity across the entire SNORD27 sequence, not just the antisense boxes. Thus, some SNORDs likely function in both rRNA and pre-mRNA processing, which increases the repertoire of splicing regulators and links both processes.
Non-Invasive Assessment of Inflammation and Treatment Response in Patients with Crohn's Disease and Ulcerative Colitis using Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasonography Quantification.

BACKGROUND AND AIM Novel biological therapies in Crohn's disease (CD) or Ulcerative colitis (UC) require a proper follow-up for the assessment of bowel inflammation. While endoscopy is the standard method, the imaging techniques using contrast, particularly contrast enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS), are better tolerated by the patients and can be used more frequently. Our aim was to find the usefulness of dynamic CEUS quantification as compared to endoscopy in the assessment of disease activity and in the follow-up under therapy of the patients suffering from either CD or UC. METHOD We have prospectively evaluated 67 patients with UC and 46 with CD, diagnosed by ileo-colonoscopy and biopsy, comparing the endoscopic scores with clinical scores, C reactive protein (CRP), intestinal wall thickness, layer scores after CEUS and TIC parameters (using SonoLiver® software - Imax, RT, TTP, mTT and AUC). For 25 patients with UC and 13 with CD we performed comparisons of the parameters before and after 3 months of treatment and correlated them with the changes in the endoscopic scores. RESULTS For UC, time-intensity curves (TIC) volume parameters (AUC) correlated better with endoscopy (ρ=0.64) than the clinical score (ρ =0.62). Other parameters such as CRP and thickness showed significant but less strong correlation, while TIC flow parameters (RT, TTP and mTT) did not show a significant correlation. Results were similar for CD (ρ=0.64 for Imax vs ρ=0.58 for CDAI). The best predictor for endoscopic improvement in both UC and CD was ln(AUC), with a Wilcoxon Z score of 3.76 and 2.61, respectively. There was also a good correlation between the difference of its values and the difference in endoscopic scores before and after the treatment (rho is 0.68 in UC and 0.73 in CD).
Highly compact optical waveguides with a novel pedestal geometry

A structure with a large refractive index ratio between waveguide and cladding materials can be fabricated with low scattering losses by using Ge on GaAs waveguides at 10-/spl mu/m wavelengths. We demonstrate two types of ultra-high confinement (UHC) dielectric waveguides using separate geometries: A ridge and a novel pedestal. Computer simulations using a time-domain finite element method and microwave-scale experiments are performed on both waveguide types. We show a waveguide thickness of 0.18 of the free-space wavelength or greater guide well-confined single-mode light for both geometries. Numerical and experimental values of the effective index agree to better than 0.5%. <<ETX>>
Mutual auditing framework for service level security auditing in cloud

Cloud computing technology is gaining rapid growth in popularity. Mostly it is web based service and some private modules are built on intranet or virtual private network. Network security is a major concern for both cloud users and hosts of data centers. In addition to this, clients are also concerned about the infrastructure and service quality offered by cloud service providers. Cloud service providers equally need to monitor clients' activities and applications running in the client terminals. This paper presents a mutual auditing framework in client-server mode. This interactive framework will keep track of different service modules from both end and will establish a mutual agreement of trust. Proposed framework has been tested on CloudSim and Xen hypervisor under different scale, scope and complexity. Experimental results show effectiveness and efficacy of the framework.
Prevention of Postoperative Pneumonia

Hospital Physician September 2007 47 H ospital-acquired pneumonia (HAP) is defined as pneumonia that develops 48 hours or more after hospital admission, which was not incubating at the time of admission (Table 1). Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) refers to pneumonia that develops more than 48 to 72 hours after endotracheal intubation. Postoperative pneumonia is HAP or VAP that occurs in a postoperative patient. HAP is the second most common nosocomial infection in the United States after urinary tract infection but is the leading cause of mortality attributed to nosocomial infection.1 Furthermore, HAP prolongs hospital stays for an average of 7 to 9 days and adds excess medical costs ranging from $12,000 to $40,000 per patient.2–4 “Attributable mortality” from HAP is estimated to be between 33% and 50%. 5–7 There is convincing evidence that specific interventions can be employed to prevent HAP/VAP and postoperative pneumonia. The higher morbidity, hospital mortality, and excess hospital costs attributable to these infections should make implementation of preventive strategies a priority among hospitals. Mandatory education programs for health care workers caring for postoperative patients, adherence to infectioncontrol practices, and surveillance of local nosocomial infection rates are all important strategies for effective prevention of postoperative pneumonia. This article, which is the second in a series addressing recent evidence-based recommendations for improving the quality and safety of surgical care, reviews the etiology, pathogenesis, and prevention of postoperative pneumonia. In addition, an illustrative case is provided to demonstrate the approach to evaluating and treating a patient with postoperative pneumonia.
Clinical pharmacology and therapeutic use of the new antiepileptic drugs

Although older generation antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) such as carbamazepine, phenytoin and valproic acid continue to be widely used in the treatment of epilepsy, these drugs have important shortcomings such as a highly variable and nonlinear pharmacokinetics, a narrow therapeutic index, suboptimal response rates, and a propensity to cause significant adverse effects and drug interactions. In an attempt to overcome these problems, a new generation of AEDs has been introduced in the last decade. Compared with older agents, some of these drugs offer appreciable advantages in terms of less variable kinetics and, particularly in the case of gabapentin, levetiracetam and vigabatrin, a lower interaction potential. Lamotrigine, topiramate, zonisamide and felbamate protect against partial seizures and a variety of generalized seizure types, vigabatrin is effective against partial seizures (with or without secondary generalization) and infantile spasms, while the use of oxcarbazepine, tiagabine and gabapentin is mainly resticted to patients with partial epilepsy (and, in the case of oxcarbazepine, also primarily generalized tonic‐clonic seizures). Levetiracetam, the latest AED to be introduced, has been found to be effective in partial seizures, but its potentially broader efficacy spectrum remains to be determined in clinical studies. Currently, the main use of new generation AEDs is in the adjunctive therapy of patients refractory to older agents. However, due to advantages in terms of tolerability and ease of use, some of these drugs are increasingly used for first‐line management in certain subgroups of patients. Due to serious toxicity risks, felbamate and vigabatrin should be prescribed only in patients refractory to other drugs. In the case of vigabatrin, however, first line use may be justified in infants with spasms.
Causality and the need of nose length to height curves

The Swiss cross-sectional study by Zankl et al. [2002] on nose length and age is a good example of inspiring pioneering work performed to answer questions that the literature does not resolve. The observed sexand age-specific distributions of nose length provide useful reference curves for clinical practice. The authors observed an increased nose length by age among adults. They conclude a growth of nose throughout adulthood although the study design has some methodologicalconstraints. Increasednose lengthmight reflect increased survival among people of same ethnic origin: men with smaller noses might die selectively at younger ages. Nose length may be a marker of a biological process related to health/survival. The association could also be due to a secular trend such as the observed increments in height in opposite direction [Cole, 2000; Dey et al., 2001]. Increments in height with the assumption of constant proportional growthamonggenerationswould implicate longer noses among younger generations. This seems to be unlikely because an opposite association among adults could be observed [Zankl et al., 2002]. An analysis of nose length by height among participants with constant stature would be interesting with respect to height-specific lengthcurves.Nodifferenceofproportionsofnose length to height among adults of different ages would support the hypothesis of lasting nose growth. Possible differences of proportions suggest other mechanisms. It is possible that nose length is getting shorter by each generation while stature increases, which could be a consequence of Allen’s and Bergmann’s rule [Griffing, 1974] describing shorter protruding body parts in taller animals adopted to cold. Apart from Allen’s rule, different nose length/height proportions among generations might be a result of a genetic drift. Prospective studies are indicated to confirm the tempting hypothesis suggesting a lasting growth of the nose after reaching maximum height.
Long‐term monitoring of brain tumors: When is it necessary?

Tumors, particularly low grade glioma and glioneuronal tumors, account for 25–35% of patients who are undergoing epilepsy surgery for intractable seizures. A comprehensive epilepsy evaluation including video–electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring is useful for most of these patients, to determine the optimal extent of resection for the achievement of seizure‐free outcome without causing postoperative deficits. Video‐EEG monitoring for patients with brain tumor should also be considered in specific situations, such as patients with new postoperative seizures or advanced tumors with unexplained mental status change.
Beyond problem identification : valuing methods in a 'system usability practice'

Historically, usability evaluation methods (UEMs) have been evaluated on their capability for problem identification. However, the relevance of this approach has been questioned for applied usability work. To investigate alternative explanations of what is important for method use a grounded theory of usability practitioners was developed (9 interviews from the website domain and 13 in the safety-critical domain). The analysis proceeded in bottom-up and top-down stages. The bottom-up stages produced insight from the data in an exploratory and inductive manner. This highlighted the importance of contextual factors and the need for system descriptions: UEM adoption and adaptation cannot be fully understood devoid of context. The top-down stages used Distributed Cognition and Resilience Engineering conceptual frameworks as leverage for exploring the data in a deductive manner. These were chosen for their functional descriptions of systems. To illustrate the importance of context we describe three models: 1) where previous research has highlighted the downstream utility of UEMs we expand the metaphor to consider the landscape through which the stream flows, where the landscape represents the project’s context; 2) where information propagation and transformation in a project is influenced by social, information flow, artefact, physical and evolutionary factors; and 3) where the functional couplings between parts of the system of usability practice can be monitored and managed to positively resonate with each other, thereby improving the performance of the system overall. The concept of ‘Positive Resonance’ is introduced to describe how practitioners adapt to the context to maximise their impact under constrained resources. The functional couplings are described in a functional resonance model of HCI practice. This model is validated by interviewees and other practitioners outside of the study. This research shows that problem identification is limited for valuing UEMs. Instead, functional couplings of UEMs should be considered to improve system performance, which influence UEM adoption and adaptation in practice.
Impact of the degree of urbanization on composition and structure of helminth communities in the Mongolian racerunner (Eremias argus) Peters, 1869

Abstract The effects of the degree of urbanization on the composition and mean abundance of helminth species and the structure of helminth communities in the Mongolian racerunner were investigated along a rural–urban gradient in the region of Ulan-Ude city (the Republic of Buryatia, Russia) and neighbouring rural districts. Racerunners were obtained from key areas and categorized into three grades based on the degree of urbanization. In this study, a total of 208 lizards were examined. The helminth communities in the Mongolian racerunner were studied at the infracommunity and component community levels. The nematode Spauligodon pseudoeremiasi was a sensitive bioindicator of the degree of urbanization in our study. All parameters of helminth infracommunities in the Mongolian racerunner were significantly reduced with increasing degree of urbanization of the key areas. Two parameters of helminth component communities (the proportion of hosts infected with parasites and the Shannon index) were significantly reduced with increasing degree of urbanization. The decline recorded in parameters of helminth infracommunities and component communities in the Mongolian racerunner were probably connected with the attenuation of the relationships between helminths, having a complex life cycle with intermediate hosts along the rural–urban gradient.