Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal Power Flow Solution with Security Constraints by a Modified PSO

This paper presents a new approach to solve an optimal power flow with security constraints (OPF-SC) problem. The aim is to minimize the operating total cost taking into account: operating and security constraints, and system capacity requirements. The particle swarm optimization technique with reconstruction operators (PSO-RO) has been used as optimization tool. Such operators guarantee searching the optimal solution only in a feasible space, reducing the computation time and improving the quality solution. Results on systems of the open literature are presented.
In Vitro Evaluation of Teratogenic Effects by Time‐Varying MR Gradient Fields on Fetal Human Fibroblasts

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence on fetal cell growth in vitro of rapidly changing magnetic gradient fields such as those produced by the gradient coils of a typical magnetic resonance (MR) imager. The static magnetic field and the radiofrequency pulses were disabled during all measurements. Human fetal fibroblasts were placed within a specially designed MR‐compatible incubation system inside the magnet. Trapezoid‐shaped waveforms of 500 and 75 Hz base frequency and an amplitude of 2 mT were applied for 2–24 hours. Proliferation of the cells was monitored for 3 weeks after exposure. Cell cycle analysis was performed until 24 hours after exposure to detect alterations in cell division. Tests were performed under two different conditions of growth to detect increased as well as decreased proliferation effects. None of these tests showed differences in proliferation and cell cycle distribution between exposed and nonexposed cells. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2000;12:150–156. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Cation–aromatic database

Cation–aromatic database (CAD) is a publicly available web‐based database that aims to provide further understanding of interaction between a cation and the π interactions. A tool to identify the interactions in a user‐given protein is also added to the database. CAD is freely accessible via the Internet at http://203.199. 182.73/gnsmmg/databases/cad/ Proteins 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Pipelined memory controllers for DSP applications handling unpredictable data accesses

Multimedia applications are often characterized by a large number of data accesses with regular and periodic access patterns. In these cases, optimized pipelined memory access controllers can be generated improving the pipeline access mode to RAM. We focus on the design and the implementation of memory sequencers that can be automatically generated from a behavioral synthesis tool and which can efficiently handle predictable address patterns as well as unpredictable ones (dynamic address computations) in a pipeline way.
Design of Secure VoIP using ID-Based Cryptosystem

SIP message authentication and SRTP key agreement are the important issue in the SIP-based VoIP service. Several secure solutions such as HTTP Digest Authentication, SSL/TLS, and S/MIME, are used for the SIP message authentication and key agreement. When the VoIP is used in the wireless environments, the eciency of security service is one of the important matters in question. Therefore, we would like to propose ecient ID-based cryptosystem for the VoIP. In this paper, we present the application of ID-based cryptosystem for the SIP message authentication as well as the authenticated one-way key agreement for SRTP. Our novel design reduces delaying for the key generation and provides the explicit mutual authentication.
Coronal reformations of volumetric expiratory high-resolution CT of the lung.

OBJECTIVE The purposes of this study were to evaluate the quality of coronal reformatted images obtained from volumetric expiratory high-resolution CT imaging and to compare coronal and axial images with regard to their usefulness in detecting and characterizing air trapping. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. We studied 40 consecutive patients with known or suspected diffuse lung diseases with airway abnormalities who underwent volumetric expiratory high-resolution CT between May and July 2003. Respiratory motion artifacts were evaluated at upper, middle, and lower lung areas. Cardiac motion, beam-hardening, and other artifacts were evaluated throughout the lung fields. Detectability, clarity of borders, size, distribution, and extent of air trapping were compared on axial versus coronal end-expiratory high-resolution CT images. RESULTS Respiratory motion artifacts were either imperceptible or not diagnostically limiting in all patients except three (7%) with diagnostically limiting image degradation at lower lung areas. Other diagnostically limiting image degradation was caused by beam-hardening artifacts in two patients (5%) and by quantum noise in two other patients (5%). The borders of air trapping were more clearly identified on coronal images than on axial images (grade 1 [vague], nine vs three; grade 2 [partially clear], 23 vs 21; grade 3 [completely clear], eight vs 16; median, two vs two; p = 0.001). The coronal reformatted images were as informative as axial images for detecting and assessing the classification and extent of air trapping. CONCLUSION Coronal reformations of volumetric expiratory high-resolution CT scans were acceptable in image quality and provided additional value by affording clearer visualization of the borders of air trapping than was found in contiguous axial images.
Language in the Line vs. Language in the Mass: On the Efficiency of Sequential Modelling in the Analysis of Rhytm

The subject of the present article is the application of the ARIMA method of time-series analysis and of conventional statistical tests to the study of rhythm in text. The results obtained on the same set of samples with both investigative approaches are then compared. Sequential modelling by means of the ARIMA method turns out to be much more efficient than “mass” statistics.
Electrophoresis application to rubber clone identification

Chez l'hevea, la multiplication a grande echelle de materiel vegetal non conforme peut gravement compromettre la rentabilite economique des plantations. Afin de realiser, a un stade precoce de leur croissance, la caracterisation genotypique des clones, l'electrophorese d'isoenzymes a ete developpee. Avec 98 % de pouvoir de separation pour les principaux clones cultives, cette technique s'est revelee particulierement performante. L'equipement necessaire simple et le cout de fonctionnement relativement faible de cette technique permettent une application en routine del'identification clonale de l'hevea. Une unite mobile d'electrophorese ou "laboratoire portable" a ete creee pour effectuer des controles de conformite en jardins a bois de greffe. Elle a ete utilisee avec succes en Cote d'Ivoire, en Indonesie, en Guyane et en Guadeloupe sur un grand nombre d'individus. Elle est proposee sous forme de missions d'expertise ou de transferts de technologie
Write-Induced Head Contamination in Heat-Assisted Magnetic Recording

One detrimental by-product of heat-assisted magnetic recording writing is the creation of head contamination. Here, we present the current understanding of the driving forces, growth mechanisms, and growth rates of write-induced head contamination. The combination of an evaporation and condensation model with shear forces suggests a flow of lubricant on the head may precipitate contamination. The contamination is observed to grow in the head–media gap until it contacts the media surface, at which point an additional material pickup mechanism can be activated. Evidence of contact-induced transfer and a chemical reaction of the contamination is presented, and the impacts of contamination on head temperatures and thermal gradient is presented. Depending on the contamination properties, head temperatures may be increased substantially, leading to increased reliability risk. Consistent with previous analyses, we find that contamination may increase media thermal gradient.
A comparison of cognitive functions in non-hypoxemic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and age-matched healthy volunteers using mini-mental state examination questionnaire and event-related potential, P300 analysis

Objective: To assess sub-clinical cognitive dysfunctions in stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients having no hypoxemia vs. age-matched healthy volunteers using (i) an electrophysiological test: Auditory event related potential, P300 test and (ii) a questionnaire tool: Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) questionnaire. Materials and Methods: Eighty male subjects were included: 40 stable COPD patients (smoking history >20 pack years) and 40 healthy volunteers (HVs). Age, duration of illness, smoking pack years, and spirometric indices were assessed. MMSE scores were evaluated in these groups. Latency of P300 wave and amplitude of P300 wave were studied in both groups to detect P300 abnormalities in COPD group. Correlations of P300 abnormalities with patient characteristic parameters and MMSE scores were assessed. In addition, individual COPD patients having significant cognitive dysfunctions beyond cut-off value of 99th percentile of HVs were analyzed. Results: We observed significantly prolonged P300 latency (P < 0.001) and decreased P300 amplitude (P < 0.001) in COPD group. MMSE scores were significantly reduced in COPD group (P < 0.001). 10/40 COPD patients had prolongation of P300 latency, and 27/40 COPD patients had reduced MMSE scores beyond 99th percentile of HV. However, we did not observe any statistically significant correlation between P300 abnormalities and patients’ characteristics or MMSE scores (P > 0.05 for all). Conclusions: Our study explores cognitive dysfunctions in stable COPD patients with no hypoxemia. This study highlights the relative importance of using MMSE and P300. Cognitive dysfunctions were detected both by MMSE and P300; however, MMSE abnormalities were more frequent compared to P300 abnormalities (27/40 vs. 10/40) in COPD patients.
INCOMPLETE TAXA, INCOMPLETE CHARACTERS, AND PHYLOGENETIC ACCURACY: IS THERE A MISSING DATA PROBLEM?

Abstract The problem of missing data is often considered to be the most significant obstacle in reconstructing the phylogeny of fossil taxa and their relationships to extant taxa. In this paper, I review the results of recent simulation studies and present new results that explore how missing data affect phylogenetic accuracy, which is defined here as the success of a method at reconstructing the true phylogeny. Missing data cells are typically added to a phylogenetic analysis in the form of incomplete taxa (e.g., highly fragmentary fossil taxa) or incomplete characters (e.g., a set of DNA sequence or soft anatomical characters in an analysis including living and fossil taxa). These two types of incomplete data affect phylogenetic analyses in two very different ways, suggesting that there is not a single “missing data problem. ” Recent simulation results show that including incomplete taxa is a problem of including too few characters rather than too many missing data cells—if enough characters are scored in these taxa, even the relationships of highly incomplete taxa (e.g., 95% missing data) can be accurately reconstructed. Including incomplete characters is largely a problem of taxon sampling. Adding incomplete characters can improve accuracy under many conditions, but inadequate taxon sampling in these characters can lead to problems of long branch attraction (which causes methods to reconstruct an incorrect tree). New simulation results show that highly incomplete taxa may have little impact on the relationships estimated for the complete taxa. Thus, adding highly incomplete taxa may not adversely affect relationships among the complete taxa. However, these added taxa may be unable to improve accuracy for the complete taxa if they are too incomplete. These results suggest that analyses which combine data from fossils and molecular data sets can be successful, despite large amounts of missing data. The accuracy of these analyses will depend on adequate sampling of characters for fossil taxa and adequate sampling of taxa for molecular data sets.
CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL EVIDENCE THAT THE PATTERN ELECTRORETINOGRAM (PERG) IS GENERATED IN MORE PROXIMAL RETINAL LAYERS THAN THE FOCAL ELECTRORETINOGRAM (FERG)

A TV monitor was used to evoke either a pattern ERG to a contrast-reversing checkerboard (PERG), or a focal ERG to alternate increases and decreases of luminance of the blank screen within a bright surround (FERG). Both responses are small (approx 2 microV) and fast (approx 50 msec to peak) and are similar in several other properties. However, they differ in timing and respond differently to changes in contrast. Each frame of a TV picture evokes a "raster ERG," even though the screen is blank. The response is focal and specific to a small central strip of the screen. It is simpler to record than the FERG, where the whole screen is flashing. Because the FERG summation area is about 4 deg, small squares (checks) reversing in contrast produce little luminance response. In 5 of 7 cases where the PERG is unilaterally reduced, the FERGs or raster responses were not affected. Thus clinical evidence also suggests that the PERG may be a separate phenomenon to the FERG and produced at a different site. Toxic, traumatic, congenital, and degenerative diseases of the optic nerve reduce the PERG. The comparison is most easily made in unilateral disease. Ten weeks after an optic nerve insult, the PERG becomes reduced in the affected eye as if retrograde degeneration was occurring. In 27 amblyopes of various types, the PERG was reduced in 23 where orthoptic treatment had failed. In 4 patients responding to treatment, PERGs of the amblyopic eye were as large as, or larger than, those of the fellow eye. The loss is greater with smaller checks. Retinal changes do occur after age 4 but so slowly that responses in heavily occluded eyes are not reduced. An additional level in the visual pathway is thus accessible to evoked potential investigation.
versus ClariVein ® for varicose veins trial radiofrequency ablation : The Multicentre Venefit Intra-procedural pain score in a randomised controlled trial comparing mechanochemical ablation

Objective: Endovenous techniques are, at present, the recommended choice for truncal vein treatment. However, the thermal techniques require tumescent anaesthesia, which can be uncomfortable during administration. Non-tumescent, non-thermal techniques would, therefore, have potential benefits. This randomised controlled trial is being carried out to compare the degree of pain that patients experience while receiving mechanochemical ablation or radiofrequency ablation. The early results of this randomised controlled trial are reported here. Methods: Patients attending for the treatment of primary varicose veins were randomised to receive mechanochemical ablation (ClariVein ) or radiofrequency ablation (Covidien Venefit). The most symptomatic limb was randomised. The primary outcome measure was intra-procedural pain using a validated visual analogue scale. The secondary outcome measures were change in quality of life and clinical scores, time to return to normal activities and work as well as the occlusion rate. Results: One-hundred and nineteen patients have been randomised (60 in the mechanochemical ablation group). Baseline characteristics were similar. Maximum pain score was significantly lower in the mechanochemical ablation group (19.3 mm, standard deviation 19 mm) compared to the radiofrequency ablation group (34.5 mm 23 mm; p< 0.001). Average pain score was also significantly lower in the mechanochemical ablation group (13.4 mm 16 mm) compared to the radiofrequency ablation group (24.4 mm 18 mm; p1⁄4 0.001). Sixty-six percent attended follow-up at one month, and the complete or proximal occlusion rates were 92% for both groups. At one month, the clinical and quality of life scores for both groups had similar improvements. Conclusion: Early results show that the mechanochemical ablation is less painful than the radiofrequency ablation procedure. Clinical and quality of life scores were similarly improved at one month. The long-term data including occlusion rates at six months and quality of life scores are being collected.
Sémantique textuelle et TAL : un exemple d'application à l'analyse des sentiments

Notre objectif est de faire se rencontrer les pratiques courantes de Traitement Automatique des Langues (TAL) avec celles de la semantique textuelle outillee par la textometrie. Nous dressons un panorama de ces deux pratiques qui etablissent peu de liens alors qu'elles travaillent avec le meme materiau textuel. Afin de provoquer une rencontre, nous nous appuyons sur l'exemple d'une application d'analyse des sentiments. Comme c'est le cas pour beaucoup d'autres applications du domaine, nous utilisons les algorithmes d'apprentissage automatique mais les descripteurs choisis sont issus d'une analyse textometrique du corpus et structures suivant une grille de lecture inspiree de la semantique textuelle. Ainsi, nous mettons en evidence que les criteres axiologiques (thymiques) habituellement utilises dans l'analyse de sentiments ne contribuent que marginalement dans la classification. D'autres criteres (dialogiques et dialectiques), lies au deroulement temporo-aspectuel du recit, aux rapports entre les protagonistes, etc. apportent en revanche une amelioration significative par rapport a la ligne de comparaison.
Impact of nutrients on insulin-like growth factor-I, insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 and their ratio in African American and white males

Abstract Objective Higher levels of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) and lower levels of IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) have been associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer. Nutrition is known to partially regulate IGF levels and it is possible that nutritional factors mediate the impact of IGF levels on prostate cancer risk. Design A cross-sectional analysis of the impact of nutritional factors measured by a dietary questionnaire on plasma levels of IGF-I, IGFBP-3 and their molar ratio. Multiple linear regression analysis was used to test for effects of nutrients on IGF levels. Setting Prostate cancer screening at the Hollings Cancer Center in Charleston, South Carolina. Subjects Ninety-five African American and 138 white males aged 33–83 years attending the screening. Results In whites, intakes of total, saturated and monounsaturated fats were positively associated with an increase in the molar ratio, while there was no association in African Americans. In African Americans, we found that increasing intake of calcium and dairy servings was positively associated with IGF-I levels. Increased vegetable intake was positively associated with IGFBP-3 in African Americans, while there was no effect in whites. A higher percentage of alcohol in the total diet was significantly associated with a decrease in the molar ratio and an increase in IGFBP-3 in both groups. Conclusions Our results confirm previous findings of nutritional determinants of IGF levels. Additionally, we found the impact of several nutrients on IGF levels to be different in whites and African Americans, which warrants further investigation.
By our tongues united? Irish and Scots language contact in rural Ulster

This article suggests that the impact of long-term language contact between the languages of Irish, Scots and English in the province of Ulster led to a hybridisation of accent which challenges traditional ethnolinguistic differentiations namely, the myth that Catholics and Protestants can be differentiated by their accent. The digitisation of archive recordings from the Tape Recorded Survey of Hiberno-English (TRSHE) permitted a detailed phonetic analysis of two speakers from Atticall, a rural townland in the Mourne Mountains with a unique geographical and linguistic setting, due to the close proximity of Ulster Scots and Irish speakers in the area. Phonological features associated with Irish, Northern English and Lowland Scots were garnered from previous dialectological research in Irish, English and Scots phonologies, which aided with the interpretation of the data. Other contemporaneous recordings from the TRSHE allowed further comparison of phonological features with areas of Ulster in which linguistic interaction between Scots and Irish was expected to be less prevalent, such as Arranmore, Donegal (primarily Irish) and Glarryford, Antrim (primarily Scots). Accommodation theory and substrate/superstrate interaction illuminate patterns of phonological transfer in Mourne, Arranmore and Glarryford English, supporting the conclusion that accent in contemporary Northern Ireland is built upon a linguistic heritage of contact and exchange, rather than political or ethnolinguistic division.
Topical photodynamic therapy with 5‐aminolaevulinic acid does not induce hair regrowth in patients with extensive alopecia areata

Background Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is a new modality involving the administration of a photosensitizer, or photosensitizer precursor, followed by its activation with light to generate a therapeutic effect. 5‐Aminolaevulinic acid (ALA) is a photosensitizer precursor that is transformed by cells into protoporphyrin IX (PpIX), which can in turn be activated by red light.
Evaluation of Supply Chain Management based on Block Chain Technology and Homomorphism Encryption

Information sharing, analysis of various company and customer demands, planning activities etc can be coordinated and monitored with the help of supply chain management system. The planning algorithms are disturbed with the asymmetric information between companies. One of the major problem in supply chain management is double marginalization. This paper proposes a block chain based solution and homomorphism encryption to address the problems of supply chain such as double marginalization and information asymmetry etc.
C 9-Mediated Killing of Bacterial Cells by Transferred C 5 b8 Complexes : Transferred C 5 b9 Complexes Are Nonbactericidal

The formation of the CSb-9 complex on the outer membrane of complement-sensitive cells ofEscherichia coli results in inhibition of inner membrane function and the death of the cell. Cells bearing a precursor of the C5b-9 site, the C5b-8 complex, suffer no loss in viability. Antibiotic-sensitive, complement-sensitive donor cells bearing precursor C5b-8 complexes were incubated with equal numbers of antibiotic-resistant, complementsensitive acceptor cells that had not been exposed to a complement source. This cell mixture was incubated with 5 mM EDTA for 5 min and then with calcium chloride (20 mM) for various times. The excess calcium ion concentration was effectively reduced with additional EDTA, and the cell mixture was washed and resuspended in buffer. The viability of the acceptor cells was assayed by plating on antibiotic-containing media. C9 was added to the mixture, and the mixture was incubated for 10 min at 3rC and then plated as described above. It was found that the acceptor cells were killed by the addition of purified C9 only after incubation with donor cells bearing C5b-8 sites during the transfer procedure. This indicates that precursor CSb-8 sites that support C9-mediated killing could be transferred between cells. No loss in viability was detected for acceptor cells subjected to the procedure described above in the presence of donor cells bearing complete C5b-9 complexes, formed prior to mixing with acceptor cells for the transfer procedure.