Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Career Progression of the Pharmacy/MBA Professional: Characterization and Perceptions of the Combined Degree

Objectives. To characterize pharmacy/MBA professionals during their entry-level and current positions and to describe their attitudes and perceptions toward their combined degree. Methods. A cross-sectional survey of University at Buffalo (UB) alumni who obtained both pharmacy and MBA degrees was used. An electronic survey was developed through collaboration with the UB School of Management and administered in winter 2015. Results. A total of 68/115 (59% response rate) pharmacy/MBA professionals responded to the survey. Post-graduate training was completed by 24% of respondents, and most commonly it was a residency program. After adjusting for inflation to 2014 dollars, the median entry-level salary for pharmacy/MBA professionals was $140,123 (mean = $144,327) and this increased to $179,947 (mean = $205,623) for those in their current position. Practice settings for entry-level professionals included pharmaceutical industry (25%) and chain pharmacies (18%). Most respondents believed that a combined degree helped in career advancement (85%) and made them more competitive in the job market (90%). Conclusion. Pharmacy/MBA professionals are well-compensated, work in a wide-range of professional settings, and have a high-level of satisfaction with their combined degree.
Prevalence of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococci in Fecal Samples from Hospitalized Patients and Nonhospitalized Controls in a Cattle-Rearing Area of France

ABSTRACT Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) have emerged as nosocomial pathogens over the last decade, but little is known about their epidemiology. We report on the prevalence of VRE fecal colonization on the basis of a prospective study among patients hospitalized in a hematology intensive care unit and among nonhospitalized subjects living in the local community. A total of 243 rectal swabs from hematology patients and 169 stool samples from the control group were inoculated onto bile-esculin agar plates with and without 6 mg of vancomycin per liter and into an enrichment bile-esculin broth supplemented with 4 mg of vancomycin per liter. A total of 37% of the hospitalized patients and 11.8% of the subjects from the community were found to be VRE carriers. A total of 65 VRE strains were isolated: 12 (18.5%) E. faecium, 46 (70.7%) E. gallinarum, and 7 (10.8%) E. casseliflavus strains. No E. faecalis strains were detected. All the E. faecium strains were of the vanA genotype. Molecular typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis revealed a different pattern for each vanA VRE strain that originated from an individual subject. To our knowledge, this is the first study to be carried out in a cattle-rearing region of France. It reports a higher VRE prevalence than that reported in previous European or U.S. studies. A partial explanation is the use of an enrichment broth step which enabled detection of strains which would otherwise have been missed, but the fact that subjects and patients were recruited from a predominantly agricultural area where vancomycin-related antibiotics have recently been used in animal husbandry could also contribute to the high levels of VRE in patients and subjects alike.
Axial heterogeneity of potassium transport across hamster thick ascending limb of Henle's loop.

Functional significance of morphological heterogeneities along the thick ascending limb of Henle's loop of hamsters was explored by the in vitro microperfusion technique with special reference to K+ transport. The transmission electron microscopic study confirmed that there are two types of cells, with smooth surface (S-cell) and rough surface (R-cell), respectively, and that the former is abundant in the medullary thick ascending limb (MTAL), whereas the latter is in the cortical portion (CTAL). The electrophysiological study revealed that in both segments there are two cell populations, one having high basolateral and low apical membrane K+ conductances (HBC) and the other having low basolateral and high apical K+ conductances (LBC). Random cell puncture revealed that the ratios of HBC/LBC were 24/7 (77%/23%) in the MTAL and 7/22 (24%/76%) in the CTAL, suggesting that HBC corresponds to S-cell, whereas LBC corresponds to R-cell. Net K+ transport was determined in two segments by measuring K+ concentration in the collected and perfused fluid by ultramicroflame photometry. In all six tubules of MTAL, net K+ flux had a direction to reabsorption with a mean of 4.87 +/- 0.46 pmol.min-1.mm-1. In marked contrast, in all six tubules of CTAL, we observed K+ secretion with a mean of -3.81 +/- 0.49 pmol.min-1.mm-1. The transmural voltage was positive in both segments and was significantly higher in the CTAL (7.8 +/- 0.5 mV) than in the MTAL (2.5 +/- 0.2 mV). From these observations, we conclude that the S-cell corresponding to the HBC cell reabsorbs K+, whereas the R-cell corresponding to the LBC cell secrets K+. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The weight and degree of calcification of the pineal gland

DURING the course of recent work on patients dying of malignancy, it was found that their pineal glands weighed significantly less than those from patients dying from a variety of other diseases. Moreover, it appeared that the difference in the weights of the pineal glands from these two groups was due to a variation in the amount of calcium contained within the pineals (Tapp and Blumfield, 1970). Although there is some evidence that the amount of radiologically detectable calcification increases with age (Kitay and Alschule, 1954), little is known of other factors that determine the calcium content of the gland. In the present study the weight and degree of calcification of pineal glands from a group of patients dying from non-malignant disease have been analysed according to the age and sex of the patient, the presence of systemic hypertension and the chronicity of the terminal illness.
Total Hip Arthroplasty: Concerns With Extensively Porous Coated Femoral Components

A series of 507 consecutive, unselected cementless hip arthroplasties performed by one surgeon was reviewed to address specifically potential concerns with the use of extensively coated femoral components, including the frequency and nature of reoperation, thigh pain, component stability, osteolysis, and stress shielding. Excluding hips in patients who had died or were lost to followup, there were 426 hips with minimum 5-year followup. The overall femoral reoperation rate of 2.6% (13 cases) included seven for failure of fixation and six for osteolysis. Of the unrevised cases, 96% of the femoral components showed radiographic bone ingrowth, and 3.7% showed a stable fibrous pattern. Fixation did not deteriorate with time. A 2.9% incidence of activity limiting thigh pain did affect clinical outcome (limp, ambulation tolerance, support), but there were no clinical or radiographic predisposing variables. There was no detectable femoral osteolysis in 88.3% of cases. The remainder had lesions confined to Gruen Zones 1 and 7, suggesting that circumferential extensive coating was protective against distal osteolysis. Although osteolysis did not affect component stability, in six cases it did result in pathologic trochanteric fracture, contributing to the frequency of reoperation. Stress shielding was common (25%) and was related to older patients and the use of larger diameter stems (> 15 mm), but did not predispose to thigh pain, loosening, osteolysis, or an inferior clinical result. These results documented the clinical and radiographic success in the use of extensively coated cementless femoral components. Debris generation from wear and resulting osteolysis remain significant concerns in a hip arthroplasty with this design as with many others. However, concerns about the high incidence of reoperation, thigh pain, component instability, or stress shielding are not supported by this study.
Aneuploidy screening in the first trimester

This article reviews the performance of first trimester screening for chromosomal anomalies using various combinations of ultrasound and maternal serum biochemical modalities. Detection rates in excess of 90% can be routinely achieved for Trisomy 21, Trisomy 13, Trisomy 18 using a combination of fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness and maternal serum free ß‐hCG and PAPP‐A at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks of gestation. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Incremental Non-Gaussian Analysis on Multivariate EEG Signal Data

In this paper, we propose a novel incremental method for discovering latent variables from multivariate data with high efficiency. It integrates non-Gaussianity and an adaptive incremental model in an unsupervised way to extract informative features. Our proposed method discovers a small number of compact features from a very large number of features and can still achieve good predictive performance in EEG signals. The promising EEG signal classification results from our experiments prove that this approach can successfully extract important features. Our proposed method also has low memory requirements and computational costs. key words: EEG, independent component analysis, principle component analysis, incremental model
Methylenehydrofolate reductase (C677T) polymorphism and large artery ischemic stroke subtypes

They‐They TP, Nadifi S, Rafai MA, Battas O, Slassi I. Methylenehydrofolate reductase (C677T) polymorphism and large artery ischemic stroke subtypes. Acta Neurol Scand: 2011: 123: 105–110. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons A/S.
Unusual thyroid tumors: a review of pathologic and molecular diagnosis

The most common thyroid neoplasms are either follicular derived (papillary, follicular and Hürthle cell lesions) or C-cell derived (medullary carcinoma). The diagnosis of these tumors can usually be made at the histologic level, with immunohistochemical stains necessary in some circumstances. Specific molecular mutations have been described that can be diagnostically useful or explain, in part, their pathogenesis, including the well-known Ret/PTC and PPARγ-PAX8 translocations, point mutations in the Ret, Ras and BRAF genes, and loss of heterozygosity of multiple different tumor suppressor genes. Some unusual tumors of the thyroid gland are more difficult to diagnose. In examining these lesions, the pathologist may use the hematoxylin and eosin-stained morphology, coupled with an analysis of the immunohistochemical staining profiles and possibly analysis of the underlying molecular mutational patterns. These less common thyroid tumors include tall cell and cribriform-morular variants of papillary carcinoma, hyalinizing trabecular tumor, mucoepidermoid and sclerosing mucoepidermoid carcinoma with eosinophilia, poorly differentiated (insular) carcinoma, and undifferentiated (anaplastic) carcinoma. The diagnostic features of these rare tumors, including the histology, immunohistochemical expression profiles and the known molecular mutational profiles of each, are reviewed.
Mediastinal Staging in Non-small-cell Lung Cancer

Decision analysis was used to study the approach to staging mediastinal involvement in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Various diagnostic strategies for medias tinal disease staging using computed tomography (CT), mediastinoscopy, and bronchoscopy with transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA), either individually or in series, were compared and found to result in similar patient life expectancies. Two strategies, one using bronchos copy and TBNA alone and the other using it in combination with CT, were consistently least expensive across a wide range of prior probabilities, test characteristics, and charges. The authors conclude that strategies for staging mediastinal involvement in NSCLC that rely on bronchoscopy and TBNA are preferable because they are least expensive. Key words: staging; lung cancer; decision analysis; computed tomography; mediastinoscopy; trans bronchial needle aspiration. (Med Decis Making 1989;9:231-242)
Evolutionary stasis of sporopollenin biochemistry revealed by unaltered Pennsylvanian spores.

The biopolymer sporopollenin present in the spore/pollen walls of all land plants is regarded as one of the most recalcitrant biomacromolecules (biopolymers), providing protection against a range of abiotic stresses. This long-term stability is demonstrated by the near-ubiquitous presence of pollen and spores in the fossil record with spores providing the first evidence for the colonization of the land. Here, we report for the first time chemical analyses of geologically unaltered sporopollenin from Pennsylvanian (c. 310 million yr before present (MyBP)) cave deposits. Our data show that Pennsylvanian Lycophyta megaspore sporopollenin has a strong chemical resemblance to extant relatives and indicates that a co-polymer model of sporopollenin formation is the most likely configuration. Broader comparison indicates that extant sporopollenin structure is similar across widely spaced phylogenetic groups and suggests land plant sporopollenin structure has remained stable since embryophytes invaded land.
Crystal structure of di-μ-iodido-bis[(dimethyl sulfoxide-κO)(triphenylphosphane-κP)copper(I)]

The basic building unit of the title complex, CuI(DMSO)(PPh3), reproduced by a symmetry centre, leads to the rhomboid dimers in which the CuI atoms are in a tetrahedral geometry. The dimers are discrete molecules, but through weak intermolecular C—H⋯O interactions involving two adjacent DMSO ligands, a one-dimensional chain assembly is formed.
Optimal FIR filters with almost linear phase

FIR filters are known to be stable and have a linear phase when symmetry properties, e.g., h[n]=h[M-n], are kept. A common FIR filter design method is the Parks-McClellan algorithm. In this algorithm, linear phase FIR filters, which are optimal in the minimax sense, are designed. These filters have the form of H(/spl omega/)=A(/spl omega/)e/sup j(/spl beta/-/spl omega//spl alpha/)/, where A(/spl omega/) is real, /spl alpha/ is an integer or an integer plus 1/2 and /spl beta/ is 0 or /spl pi//2. These FIR filters are always symmetric or antisymmetric. We introduce a simple procedure for designing almost linear phase FIR filters, having a similar form to H(/spl omega/), but an arbitrary /spl alpha/, that are optimal in a similar sense.
Investigation of Multipaction Phenomena in Passive Waveguide Filters for Space Applications

This paper presents an investigation on multipaction risk in microwave bandpass filters. The study reveals higher multipaction risk for narrower bandpass filters. To alleviate the problem with multipaction generation, different filtering structures are proposed. Results demonstrate that using the new structures multipaction risk can be reduced as much as 30% with regard to the initial design
Blastocyst Transfer

Implantation rate is one of the determining factors, if not the determining factor, in human in vitro fertilization (IVF). Factors that can affect implantation rate include oocyte quality (which in turn depends on the patient’s etiology, dietary status, and stimulation regimen), laboratory conditions, stage of embryonic development at the time of transfer, embryo transfer medium, and the embryo transfer procedure itself. With increasing implantation rates, we have been able to reduce the number of embryos transferred to achieve an acceptable pregnancy rate. Unfortunately, the term “acceptable pregnancy rate” is not the same within the global IVF community. These perceived differences in acceptable rates are due to the socioeconomic nature of the country or state in which IVF is being performed. However, despite such differences, there is a growing global movement to reduce the number of embryos transferred to alleviate the problems encountered when a multiple gestation is conceived. The best-case scenario for patients and society alike is the transfer of a single embryo. Then, with the rare exception of twinning, the result will be a singleton birth, thereby reducing the risks to both child and mother. Furthermore, when a single embryo is transferred, pregnancy rates will directly reflect implantation rates. Implantation rate is among the most suitable ways to compare clinics. In other words, implantation rates for specific groups of patients can be used for benchmarking the success of IVF. With the move to single-embryo transfers, the question is therefore: at what stage of embryo development are implantation rates highest? Or, put simply, what stage of embryo development will give the highest pregnancy rates? This question has been the subject of recent discussion, and there remains a lack of consensus. Given that only one embryo is to be transferred in a given cycle, one must also factor in the success of cryopreservation to calculate the cumulative benefit of transferring at a specific stage of development.
On the Synthesis of Useful Social Laws for Artificial Agent Societies (Preliminary Report)

We present a general model of social law in a computational system, and investigate some of its properties. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we argue that the notion of social law is not epiphenomenal, but rather should be built into the action representation; we then offer such a representation. Second, we investigate the complexity of automatically deriving useful social laws in this model, given descriptions of the agents' capabilities, and the goals they might encounter. We show that in general the problem is NP-complete, and identify precise conditions under which it becomes polynomial.
Reliable Multi-user Uplinks in Fiber-Wireless Integrated Network using Quasi-orthogonal Chirp Spreading OFDM

We experimentally demonstrate a grant-free multiuser upstream with a quasi-orthogonal chirp spreading (QOCS) orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in an intensity-modulation and direct-detection based fiber-wireless convergence over 120-cm wireless and 25-km fiber transmission. By applying the frequency chirp spreading, user subcarriers in a widely-adapted OFDM are re-allocated into the coding channels and occupies the whole available bandwidth. Time and frequency resources can be shared and fully utilized for all active users. Without a time-consuming request-and-grant process, the proposed scheme is suitable for the low-latency and emergency communications. The experimental results reveal a high tolerance of multi-user interference and a less than 3% of error vector magnitude degradation is measured in the most critical scenario that randomly distributed users are totally active and temporally overlapped. Furthermore, a 21.9 dB system power budget is achieved after 25-km fiber transmission. Therefore, our proposed scheme exhibits a high-reliability for the next generation low-latency applications in a fiber-wireless convergence network.
Study of the Control of an AC Voltage Stabilizer Using LQR and Anti-windup

This paper explains the study of the control of an automatic voltage regulator (AVR) based on series voltage compensation using a transformer and an AC-AC converter. The paper explores the control of the output AVR using Linear-Quadratic Regulator (LQR) and anti-windup. Simulation results have verified the viability of using the proposed control technique for voltage regulation.
ParSets for parallelizing OODBMS traversals: implementation and performance

Describes the design and implementation of ParSets, a means of exploiting parallelism in the SHORE persistent object store. We used ParSets to create and parallelize the graph traversals of the OO7 OODBMS benchmark, and present speedup and scaleup results from parallel SHORE running these traversals on a cluster of commodity workstations connected by a standard Ethernet. For some OO7 traversals, SHORE achieved excellent speedup and scaleup; for other OO7 traversals, only marginal speedup and scaleup occurred. The characteristics of these traversals shed light on when the ParSet approach to parallelism can and cannot be applied to speed up an application. <<ETX>>
Investigating low-frequency dielectric properties of a composite using the distribution of relaxation times technique

The distribution of relaxation times approach, a less frequently employed dielectric data analysis technique, is utilized to better understand the relaxation characteristics of composites consisting of metal-coated, hollow glass spheres dispersed in a paraffin wax matrix. The dielectric properties of the composite samples are measured by means of impedance spectroscopy in the frequency range 0.1 mHz to 10 MHz. The application of a mixture law is not appropriate for the analysis of the frequency-dependent properties of the considered system on this broad frequency range. However, utilization of the distribution of relaxation times procedure to study the dielectric behaviour shows clear trends in the mixtures’ relaxation spectra. Relaxation processes of the paraffin wax and those specific to the composites are found from the extracted distribution of relaxation times spectra. The influence of the filler concentration, q, on the dielectric properties is examined; a relaxation with a narrow distribution at intermediate frequencies becomes broad with the addition of the filler. This relaxation, in the form of the low-frequency-dispersions (also known as constant phase angle) phenomenon, dominates the dielectric properties of the composites with high bead concentration, q>0.15. The variation in dielectric properties of individual samples whose bead concentrations q are nominally the same is discussed in terms of possible microstructural variations.
Improvement of 2-Partition Entropy Approach Using Type-2 Fuzzy Sets for Image Thresholding

Thresholding is a fundamental task and a challenge for many image analysis and pre-processing process. However, the automatic selection of an optimum threshold has remained a challenge in image segmentation. The fuzzy 2-partition entropy approach for threshold selection is one of the best image thresholding techniques. In this work, an improvement of the later method using type-2 fuzzy sets is proposed to represent the imprecision or lack of knowledge of the expert in the choice of the membership function associated with the image. Two databases are used to evaluate its effectiveness: dataset of standard grayscale test images and MR Brain images. Experiment results show that the type-2 Fuzzy 2-partition entropy algorithm performs equally well in terms of the quality of image segmentation and leads to a good visual result.
Diagnosis Technique Using a Detection Coil in BLDC Motors With Interturn Faults

Interturn faults (ITFs) cause significant changes in the electrical and magnetic characteristics of motors. In particular, ITFs can be the cause of serious distortions in the magnetic field of an air gap. Therefore, we develop a system matrix with an ITF for FEM simulation, which considers the nonlinearity of the ITF. Using the analysis of the magnetic characteristics of the detection coil from the FEM results, a circuit that employs the proposed diagnosis algorithm is shown to detect the phase and the location of a fault.