Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Slum regeneration and sustainability: applying the Extended Metabolism Model and the SDGs

This paper examines the extent to which slum redevelopments have been successful in improving the sustainability of human settlements. Sustainability is measured in two ways: through the Extended Metabolism Model that looks at resource consumption, wastes, and liveability outcomes; and, through the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study compares the sustainability of informal slum settlements in Addis Ababa with high-rise slum clearance apartments; such clearance is the model mostly used for the world’s informal settlements. The results show very little difference in resource consumption and waste produced but show liveability outcomes are mixed: Economic benefit is substantially improved in the high-rise areas due to becoming part of the formal economy, but community networks and trust are substantially lost when people transfer from the slums. This paper suggests that slum policy could be shifted from the Modernist high-rise slum clearance approach to a more organic, community-based renewal of the slums themselves in which infrastructure for energy, water, and waste can be brought in. New technology that fits into community-based governance structures allows such infrastructure to be a viable option, as well as enabling formal economic benefits. Some hybrid approaches may be needed in many slum improvement programs.
Temporal processing of news : annotation of temporal expressions, verbal events and temporal relations

The ability to capture the temporal dimension of a natural language text is essential to many natural language processing applications, such as Question Answering, Automatic Summarisation, and Information Retrieval. Temporal processing is a field of Computational Linguistics which aims to access this dimension and derive a precise temporal representation of a natural language text by extracting time expressions, events and temporal relations, and then representing them according to a chosen knowledge framework. This thesis focuses on the investigation and understanding of the different ways time is expressed in natural language, on the implementation of a temporal processing system in accordance with the results of this investigation, on the evaluation of the system, and on the extensive analysis of the errors and challenges that appear during system development. The ultimate goal of this research is to develop the ability to automatically annotate temporal expressions, verbal events and temporal relations in a natural language text. Temporal expression annotation involves two stages: temporal expression identification concerned with determining the textual extent of a temporal expression, and temporal expression normalisation which finds the value that the temporal expression designates and represents it using an annotation standard. The research presented in this thesis approaches these tasks with a knowledge-based methodology that tackles temporal expressions according to their semantic classification. Several knowledge sources and normalisation models are experimented with to allow an analysis of their impact on system performance. The annotation of events expressed using either finite or non-finite verbs is addressed with a method that overcomes the drawback of existing methods
Pseudo-differential signaling scheme based on 4b/6b multiwire code

The majority of todaypsilas memory interfaces use single-ended signaling instead of differential signaling. Extending the performance of single-ended systems beyond a few Gb/s is a very challenging task mainly due to crosstalk and SSO noise. This paper presents a pseudo-differential signaling scheme based on an encoding technique which maps 4 bits of data to six coded bits with balanced numbers of 0s and 1s. The proposed scheme successfully removes the impact of SSO and VREF noise. The simulation results based on graphics memory channels show significant improvements in performance over the non-coded case.
Estimating Market Power in the Internet Backbone Using Band-X Data

Recent industry studies found the Internet backbone industry competitive. In our paper we explore a novel route to monitor for market power using prices and quality data from Band-X. First we test the hypothesis that Europe is a connectivity market on its own, unchallenged by the US and then, by using a Panel data Regression, we find that these markets are not very competitive since brand effects play a major role because price variations are only marginally affected by qualitative dimensions. More worryingly we find that companies with high prices are often able to supply an inferior quality I.P. transit.
The new ILAE seizure classification: 63 seizure types?

32 children with encephalopathy with status epilepticus during sleep, or ESES syndrome. Epilepsia 2010;51:2023–2032. 7. Kramer U, Sagi L, Goldberg-Stern H, et al. Clinical spectrum and medical treatment of children with electrical status epilepticus in sleep (ESES). Epilepsia 2009;50:1517–1524. 8. Lawrence A, Nicholls SK, Stansfield SH, et al. Characterization of the tail-specific protease (Tsp) from Legionella. J Gen Appl Microbiol 2014;60:95–100.
Clinical decision analysis: Incorporating the evidence with patient preferences

Decision analysis has become an increasingly popular decision-making tool with a multitude of clinical applications. Incorporating patient and expert preferences with available literature, it allows users to apply evidence-based medicine to make informed decisions when confronted with difficult clinical scenarios. A decision tree depicts potential alternatives and outcomes involved with a given decision. Probabilities and utilities are used to quantify the various options and help determine the best course of action. Sensitivity analysis allows users to explore the uncertainty of data on expected clinical outcomes. The decision maker can thereafter establish a preferred method of treatment and explore variables which influence the final clinical outcome. The present paper reviews the technique of decision analysis with particular focus on its application to clinical decision making.
Die DDR-Computertechnik und das COCOM-Embargo 1958-1973. Technologietransfer und institutioneller Wandel im Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Sicherheit und Modernisierung

A fire extinguishing apparatus for oil wells has a plurality of containers for containing fire extinguishing material connected to a main fire extinguishing container. The main fire extinguishing container has a conduit leading from a valve in the neck thereof to the interior of a bell nipple positioned on an oil well blow out preventor. A bracket attached to the main container supports a manually operable spring loaded mechanism which is adapted, upon release of the spring loaded plunger contained therein, to open a valve in the neck of the main container and allow the content of the several containers to flow under pressure through conduits into the interior of the bell nipple thus extinguishing a fire therein. An additional valved line is attached to the bell nipple at one end thereof with the opposite end connected to a source of fire extinguishing materials located at a remote area onshore so that if the manually operable spring loaded mechanism cannot be operated on the oil well platform, then the source of fire extinguishing material at the remote location may be operated so as to cause fire extinguishing materials to flow through the additional valved conduit into the interior of the bell nipple extinguishing a fire therein.
CLINICAL PRESENTATION OF HEPATIC ARTERY THROMBOSIS AFTER LIVER TRANSPLANTATION IN THE CYCLOSPORINE ERA

Hepatic artery thrombosis is a dreadful complication of orthotopic liver transplantation. It should be suspected in cases of fulminant liver failure, delayed bile leak, or intermittent sepsis of unknown cause after liver transplantation. Accurate diagnosis is assisted by ultrasound and computerized tomography scans, but usually requires arteriography. Prompt retransplantation is required in most of the cases.
Effect of continuous high hydrostatic pressure on the morphology and cytoskeleton of normal and osteoarthritic human chondrocytes cultivated in alginate gels.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of continuous high hydrostatic pressure on the cell ultrastructure and cytoskeleton of cultivated normal and osteoarthritic (OA) human chondrocytes. METHODS The effects of continuous hydrostatic pressure (24 MPa) for 3 hrs on normal and OA chondrocytes were assessed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and immunofluorescence microscopy (IF). RESULTS Structural differences at the nuclear, cytoplasmic and cytoskeletal levels were observed between normal and OA chondrocytes. Continuous high hydrostatic pressure severely altered normal chondrocytes that became similar in structural organization to OA chondrocytes and further reduced the number of cell organelles involved in the synthesis of collagen and proteoglycans. IF showed major changes in the distribution of actin and tubulin after pressurization in normal and OA chondrocytes. CONCLUSIONS The results confirm the major role of pressure on chondrocyte ultrastructure. Continuous high hydrostatic pressure caused structural alterations in normal chondrocytes, which obtained similar, if not identical, characteristics to those typical of osteoarthritic chondrocytes.
Phase I Study of Apitolisib (GDC-0980), Dual Phosphatidylinositol-3-Kinase and Mammalian Target of Rapamycin Kinase Inhibitor, in Patients with Advanced Solid Tumors

Purpose: This first-in-human phase I trial assessed the safety, tolerability, and preliminary antitumor activity of apitolisib (GDC-0980), a dual inhibitor of class I PI3K, and mTOR kinases. Experimental Design: Once-daily oral apitolisib was administered to patients with solid tumors for days 1 to 21 or 1 to 28 of 28-day cycles. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters were assessed. Results: Overall, 120 patients were treated at doses between 2 and 70 mg. The commonest ≥G3 toxicities related to apitolisib at the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) at 40 mg once daily included hyperglycemia (18%), rash (14%), liver dysfunction (12%), diarrhea (10%), pneumonitis (8%), mucosal inflammation (6%), and fatigue (4%). Dose-limiting toxicities (1 patient each) were G4 fasting hyperglycemia at 40 mg (21/28 schedule) and G3 maculopapular rash and G3 fasting hyperglycemia at 70 mg (21/28 schedule). The pharmacokinetic profile was dose-proportional. Phosphorylated serine-473 AKT levels were suppressed by ≥90% in platelet-rich plasma within 4 hours at the MTD (50 mg). Pharmacodynamic decreases in fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography uptake of >25% occurred in 66% (21/32) of patients dosed at 40 mg once daily. Evidence of single-agent activity included 10 RECIST partial responses (PR; confirmed for peritoneal mesothelioma, PIK3CA mutant head-and-neck cancer, and three pleural mesotheliomas). Conclusions: Apitolisib exhibited dose-proportional pharmacokinetics with target modulation at doses ≥16 mg. The RP2D was 40 mg once-daily 28/28 schedule; severe on-target toxicities were apparent at ≥40 mg, particularly pneumonitis. Apitolisib was reasonably tolerated at 30 mg, the selected dose for pleural mesothelioma patients given limited respiratory reserve. Modest but durable antitumor activity was demonstrated. Clin Cancer Res; 22(12); 2874–84. ©2016 AACR.
Histomorphology of Thymus Gland in Guinea Fowl (Numida meleagris)

The thymus gland is a lymphoid tissue derived from III and IV pharyngeal pouches. It is the source of stem cells that migrate to other lymphoid organs and participate in immune reactions (Kent, 1978). The thymus gland is regarded immunologically as a primary or central lymphoid organ and its presence is essential for the development of peripheral lymphoid tissues and their associated adaptive immune functions (Clawson, 1967). The thymus produces precursors of cells (T-cells) involved in specific cell mediated immune responses and co-operate with B cells in the production of antibodies. It has a significant role in immune system of birds. Hence, the present study was undertaken due to its importance in immunological competence and to provide microscopic details of thymus in guinea fowl.
Dealing with Cultural Differences in International Business

Since the beginning of 1990s, the globe is experiencing, more than ever before, the proliferation of international trade through the activities of companies of all types including the multinational ones and trade specialization based on comparative advantage. Both trends have brought substantial convergence to the practices that have been adopted by companies, but divergence in behavior among the members of company has remained very strong because of differences in cultural background. In such scenario, business success is contingent upon, among others, the expertise of businesspeople in dealing with cultural differences.
Determining Effective Features for Face Detection Using a Hybrid Feature Approach

Detecting faces in cluttered backgrounds and real world has remained as an unsolved problem yet. In this paper, by using composition of some kind of independent features and one of the most common appearance based approaches, and multilayered perceptron (MLP) neural networks, not only some questions have been answered, but also the designed system achieved better performance rather than the previously presented works. The designed face detection algorithm is composed of two main stages; in the first stage of the algorithm, color based skin detection is performed using some selected color space components from the whole 15 color space components in order to reduce the search space and in the second one, verification of detected regions is done using some other kinds of different features including texture, gradient, image and geometric features. Unlike the other studied issues, in this paper, various types of features aren't evaluated in separated algorithms and systems; rather they compete all together in one competitive learning vector and after the training of the neural network the system participates in the process of feature selection. Using designed method and besides of dimensional reduction of input matrix extraordinarily, each chosen feature was ranked.
Community composition and diversity of ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae) in Yaoluoping National Nature Reserve

Abstract This study used pitfall trapping to examine community composition and diversity of ground beetles in five different habitats (coniferous, deciduous, mixed coniferous, farmland, and settlements) within Anhui Yaoluoping National Nature Reserve from May to September 2014. In total, 1,352 ground beetles were collected, belonging to 16 genera and 44 species. Of these, four dominant species Dolichus halensis, Harpalus pastor, Carabus casaleianus, and Pheropsophus jessoensis were identified, respectively, comprising 370, 177, 131, and 123 individuals. The deciduous forest showed greater diversity (3.78 according to Shannon–Weiner index), equitability (0.80 according to Pielou’s index), and dominance (9.52 according to Simpson’s index) when compared with farmland, but species richness in the deciduous forest (27) was lower than that in farmland (35). One-way analysis of variance showed that ground beetle species composition and abundance among different habitats varied significantly. Cluster analysis and principal coordinate analysis showed that farmland shared low community similarity with other habitat types, and coniferous and mixed coniferous forests shared similar community types. Our results indicate that species composition, abundance, and diversity of ground beetles are affected by different habitat types, with deciduous forest types being critical in maintaining the diversity of rare species. We recommend reducing cultivated farmland area and increasing the area of carefully planned deciduous forest in order to better protect ground beetle diversity in the region.
Influence of the pulse energy on the morphology of waveguide written by use of femtosecond laser

Femtosecond laser light focusing inside transparent glass offers new possibilities for the fabrication of passive or active optical circuits in three dimensional geometries [1]. Examples of couplers, ring resonators or optical sensors fabricated by this way may be found in references [2–4]. Chalcogenide glasses such as As2S3 are very interesting hosts for photowritten structures owing to their high photosensitivity and their wide transparency range from visible to infrared.
pfmdr1 mutations contribute to quinine resistance and enhance mefloquine and artemisinin sensitivity in Plasmodium falciparum

The emergence and spread of multidrug resistant Plasmodium falciparum has severely limited the therapeutic options for the treatment of malaria. With ever‐increasing failure rates associated with chloroquine or sulphadoxine‐pyrimethamine treatment, attention has turned to the few alternatives, which include quinine and mefloquine. Here, we have investigated the role of pfmdr1 3′ coding region point mutations in antimalarial drug susceptibility by allelic exchange in the GC03 and 3BA6 parasite lines. Results with pfmdr1‐recombinant clones indicate a significant role for the N1042D mutation in contributing to resistance to quinine and its diastereomer quinidine. The triple mutations S1034C/N1042D/D1246Y, highly prevalent in South America, were also found to enhance parasite susceptibility to mefloquine, halofantrine and artemisinin. pfmdr1 3′ mutations showed minimal effect on P. falciparum resistance to chloroquine or its metabolite mono‐desethylchloroquine in these parasite lines, in contrast to previously published results obtained with 7G8 parasites. This study supports the hypothesis that pfmdr1 3′ point mutations can significantly affect parasite susceptibility to a wide range of antimalarials in a strain‐specific manner that depends on the parasite genetic background.
An energy efficiency scheduling scheme for cognitive radio networks

In this paper, we focus on operation-modes scheduling in cognitive radio networks (CRNs), in which a cognitive base-station assigns available frequencies to secondary users (SUs). This is formally stated as the problem of maximizing the energy efficiency (defined as the ratio of the total rate of SUs to total energy consumption), which is a nonlinear integer programming, and then present a polynomial time heuristic algorithm to address it. In contrast to existing schemes, in our proposed scheme, the SUs, who do not have any data to transmit or no frequency is assigned to them, transit into the sleep-mode. This would significantly reduce the energy consumption. Furthermore, since SUs consume significant energy during the channel switching, depending on the difference between frequencies of current and new assigned frequencies (i.e, channel switching bandwidth), in our proposed scheme, a new frequency is assigned to SUs if it is at the vicinity of the current frequency. This results in decreased channel switching bandwidth for SUs (which in turn results in decreased energy consumption) and lowered computational overhead. Our simulation results indicate that our algorithm outperforms existing scheduling algorithms for CRNs in terms of energy consumption and the channel switching bandwidth for SUs, without reducing the throughput.
A Reassessment of the FNR Regulon and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Effects of Nitrate, Nitrite, NarXL, and NarQP as Escherichia coli K12 Adapts from Aerobic to Anaerobic Growth*

The transcription factor FNR, the regulator of fumarate and nitrate reduction, regulates major changes as Escherichia coli adapts from aerobic to anaerobic growth. In an anaerobic glycerol/trimethylamine N-oxide/fumarate medium, the fnr mutant grew as well as the parental strain, E. coli K12 MG1655, enabling us to reveal the response to oxygen, nitrate, and nitrite in the absence of glucose repression or artifacts because of variations in growth rate. Hence, many of the discrepancies between previous microarray studies of the E. coli FNR regulon were resolved. The current microarray data confirmed 31 of the previously characterized FNR-regulated operons. Forty four operons not previously known to be included in the FNR regulon were activated by FNR, and a further 28 operons appeared to be repressed. For each of these operons, a match to the consensus FNR-binding site sequence was identified. The FNR regulon therefore minimally includes at least 103, and possibly as many as 115, operons. Comparison of transcripts in the parental strain and a narXL deletion mutant revealed that transcription of 51 operons is activated, directly or indirectly, by NarL, and a further 41 operons are repressed. The narP gene was also deleted from the narXL mutant to reveal the extent of regulation by phosphorylated NarP. Fourteen promoters were more active in the narP+ strain than in the mutant, and a further 37 were strongly repressed. This is the first report that NarP might function as a global repressor as well as a transcription activator. The data also revealed possible new defense mechanisms against reactive nitrogen species.
Moving Out of Agriculture: Structural Change in Vietnam

We examine the role of structural change in the economic development of Vietnam from 1990 to 2008. Structural change accounted for a third of the growth in aggregate labor productivity during this period, which averaged 5.1 percent per annum. We discuss the role of reforms in agriculture, enterprises, and international integration in this process. In addition to the drastic move of employment away from agriculture toward services and manufacturing, we also document the movement of workers away from household businesses toward firms in the enterprise sector, and the reallocation of workers from state owned firms toward private domestic and foreign owned firms. Manufacturing experienced particularly rapid growth in labor productivity and a large expansion of employment, as it grew from 8 to 14 percent of the workforce. Changes in trade policy, expansion of employment in foreign owned firms, and the declining role of state owned enterprises robustly contributed toward the changing structure of employment within manufacturing.
A multiband fractional-N PLL for IEEE802.11 a/b/g and GPS applications

A wideband Σ-Δ fractional-N PLL with adaptive frequency calibration (AFC) circuit is presented in this paper. The proposed PLL is designed to cover the frequency bands of IEEE802.11 a/b/g and GPS. The oscillator core in the PLL can generate quadrature signals with frequencies from 4.8 to 5.8 GHz. Two prescaler dividers, divide-by-2 and divide-by-3, are introduced in parallel to divide the oscillation frequency down to IEEE802.11 b/g band at 2.4 GHz and GPS band at 1.5 GHz simultaneously. A 12-bit Σ-Δ modulator is used for generating fractional dividing ratio to achieve fine frequency step so as to be able to use a fixed reference frequency source. The measured phase noise at 1 MHz offset is lower than −122 dBc/Hz across the entire frequency band from 4.8 to 5.8 GHz. The measured reference and fractional spurs are less than −45 dBc and −50 dBc, respectively. The settling time of the proposed PLL is less than 338 us in a 160 MHz frequency jump. The entire PLL circuit consumes 91.5 mW under 1.8V power supply.
Evaluation of Brine Shrimp Lethality of Cinnamomum Species

Cinnamomum species have long been used as spices. The preliminary bioactive constituent’s identification and brine shrimp lethality activities of ethanolic extracts of seven Cinnamomum species viz., C. travancoricum, C. walaiwarense, C. wightii, C. verum, C. sulphuratum, C. riparium, and C. perrottetii were evaluated in this study. The results of cytotoxic activity of the bark extracts of seven Cinnamomum species were more active than leaf extracts against brine shrimp lethality of Artemia salina.