Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Enhancing stochastic unit commitment to include nodal wind power uncertainty

The Unit Commitment (UC) problem consists on the day-ahead scheduling of thermal generation units. The scheduling process is based on a forecast for the demand, which adds uncertainty to the decision of starting or shutting down units. With the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources, namely wind power, the level of uncertainty is such that deterministic UC approaches that rely uniquely on point forecasts are no longer appropriate. The UC approach reported in this paper considers a stochastic formulation and includes constraints for the technical limits of thermal generation units, like ramp-rates and minimum and maximum power output, and also for the power flow equations by integrating the DC model in the optimization process. The objective is to assess the ability of the stochastic UC approach to decrease the expected value of load shedding and wind power loss when compared to the deterministic UC approach. A case study based on IEEE-RTS 79 system, which has 24 buses and 32 thermal generation units, for two different penetrations of wind power and a 24-hour horizon is carried out. The computational performance of the methodology proposed is also discussed to show that considerable performance gains without compromising the robustness of the stochastic UC approach can be achieved.
Absolutist Words From Search Volume Data Predict State-Level Suicide Rates in the United States

Suicide continues to be a major public health issue, especially in the United States. It is a well-established fact that depression and suicidal ideation are risk factors for suicide. Drawing on recent research that shows that absolutist words (e.g., “completely,” “totally”) constitute linguistic markers of suicidal ideation, we created an online index of absolutist thinking (ATI) using search query data (i.e., Google Trends time series). Mixed-model analyses of age-adjusted suicide rates in the United States from 2004 to 2017 revealed that ATI is linked with suicides, β = 0.22, 95% CI = [0.12, 0.31], p < . 001, and predicts suicides within 1 year, β = 0.16, 95% CI = [0.05, 0.28], p = . 006, independently of state characteristics and historical trends. It is the first time that a collective measure of absolutist thinking is used to predict real-world suicide outcomes. Therefore, the present study paves the way for novel research avenues in clinical psychological research.
Inter-Sector Cooperative Relaying for Network Power Minimization

In this paper, we propose to minimize the downlink transmission power through inter-sector cooperative relaying. One common resource block (RB) is shared by two users near the boundary between two neighbouring sectors, and a half-duplex shared relay node (SRN) is introduced along the sector boundary to assist the transmission. The SRN and the two basestation (BS) sectors cooperate to transmit information to the two users. The time sharing factor and frequency sharing factor are jointly optimized to minimize the total network power while satisfying the transmission rate constraint. We also consider rate splitting technique to optimize the cooperation between SRN and BS in order to further reduce the power consumption. Joint optimization is then performed on the message splitting, time and frequency sharing factors. Numerical results show that our proposed scheme can save total network power as high as 10 dB over the system without SRN.
T‐type voltage‐gated Ca2+ channels do not contribute to the negative feedback regulation of myogenic tone in murine superior epigastric arteries

T‐type voltage‐gated Ca2+ channels (CaV3.2 VGCC) have been hypothesized to control spontaneous transient outward currents (STOCs) through large‐conductance Ca2+‐activated K+ channels (BKCa), and contribute to the negative‐feedback regulation of myogenic tone. We tested this hypothesis in superior epigastric arteries (SEAs) isolated from male C57BL/6 mice. SEAs were isolated and enzymatically dissociated to obtain single smooth muscle cells (SMCs) for whole‐cell recording of paxilline‐sensitive (PAX, 1 μmol/L) STOCs at −30 mV, or cannulated and studied by pressure myography (80 cm H2O, 37°C). The CaV3.2 blocker Ni2+ (30 μmol/L) had no effect on STOC amplitude (20.1 ± 1.7 pA vs. 20.6 ± 1.7 pA; n = 12, P = 0.6), but increased STOC frequency (0.79 ± 0.15 Hz vs. 1.21 ± 0.22 Hz; n = 12, P = 0.02). Although Ni2+ produced concentration‐dependent constriction of isolated, pressurized SEAs (logEC50 = −5.8 ± 0.09; Emax = 72 ± 5% constriction), block of BKCa with PAX had no effect on vasoconstriction induced by 30 μmol/L Ni2+ (in the absence of PAX = 66 ± 4% constriction vs. in the presence of 1 μmol/L PAX = 65 ± 4% constriction; n = 7, P = 0.06). In contrast to Ni2+, the nonselective T‐type blocker, mibefradil, produced only vasodilation (logEC50 = −6.9 ± 0.2; Emax = 74 ± 8% dilation), whereas the putative T‐type blocker, ML218, had no significant effect on myogenic tone between 10 nmol/L and 10 μmol/L (n = 6–7, P = 0.59). Our data do not support a role for CaV3.2 VGCC in the negative‐feedback regulation of myogenic tone in murine SEAs and suggest that Ni2+ may constrict SEAs by means other than block of CaV3.2 VGCC.
Subcutaneous Tunneling of Caudal Catheters Reduces the Rate of Bacterial Colonization to That of Lumbar Epidural Catheters

Bacterial colonization is regarded as a causative factor for septic complications of caudal catheters in children. To determine whether tunneling caudal catheters reduces the bacterial colonization rate effectively, we evaluated 506 children being treated with tunneled or untunneled caudal or untunneled lumbar epidural catheters. Four-hundred-nine children completed the study. After aseptic removal, the catheters were cultured and sent for microbiological assessment. We found a bacterial colonization rate of 29% in untunneled caudal catheters, 11% in tunneled caudal catheters, and 9% in untunneled lumbar catheters. No severe infectious complications were reported. There was no correlation between catheter retention time and bacterial colonization except for the first 24 h, during which no bacterial colonization was detected. The overall colonization rate remained constant at approximately 13%. We found a positive correlation between bacterial colonization and redness at the catheter entry site. We conclude that tunneled caudal epidural catheters can be used in children for postoperative analgesia without an increased risk of epidural infection.
Human skin wounds: A major and snowballing threat to public health and the economy

In the United States, chronic wounds affect 6.5 million patients. An estimated excess of US$25 billion is spent annually on treatment of chronic wounds and the burden is rapidly growing due to increasing health care costs, an aging population and a sharp rise in the incidence of diabetes and obesity worldwide. The annual wound care products market is projected to reach $15.3 billion by 2010. Chronic wounds are rarely seen in individuals who are otherwise healthy. In fact, chronic wound patients frequently suffer from "highly branded" diseases such as diabetes and obesity. This seems to have overshadowed the significance of wounds per se as a major health problem. For example, NIH's Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT; http://report.nih.gov/), directed at providing access to estimates of funding for various disease conditions does list several rare diseases but does not list wounds. Forty million inpatient surgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2000, followed closely by 31.5 million outpatient surgeries. The need for post‐surgical wound care is sharply on the rise. Emergency wound care in an acute setting has major significance not only in a war setting but also in homeland preparedness against natural disasters as well as against terrorism attacks. An additional burden of wound healing is the problem of skin scarring, a $12 billion annual market. The immense economic and social impact of wounds in our society calls for allocation of a higher level of attention and resources to understand biological mechanisms underlying cutaneous wound complications.
Afferent and efferent axons in the medial and posterior articular nerves of the cat

The goal of this study is to determine the average numbers of afferent axons and postganglionic autonomic (sympathetic) efferent axons supplying the cat knee joint through the medial and posterior articular nerves. Interestingly, both nerves are composed primarily of unmyelinated axons. Only 20% of the axons in the medial articular nerve are myelinated, with the overwhelming majority, 80%, being unmyelinated. The posterior articular nerve has 78% unmyelinated and 22% myelinated axons. Neither nerve contains ventral root efferent axons. The sympathetic chain, in both nerves, contributes no myelinated and only 50% of the unmyelinated axons. The medial and posterior articular nerves are therefore predominantly afferent, since all myelinated and the remaining 50% of the unmyelinated axons arise from the dorsal root ganglion cell. The ratio of afferent unmyelinated to myelinated axons is 2:1. The roles of these afferent unmyelinated axons must now be considered in regard to joint kinesthetics and pain.
Critical Determinants of Technological Innovation: A Conceptual Framework and a Case Study from Iraq

This paper presents a conceptual framework to explore the mechanisms between knowledge sharing and market orientation with a case study from Iraqi industrial SME. This paper attempts to practically justify the presented framework by investigating the relation between knowledge sharing dimensions, in addition to analyzing the mutual relation between knowledge sharing and market orientation and their contribution in fostering technological innovation. This study asserts the effective role of customers in generating of knowledge for firms’ technological innovation. Further, this study provides a complementary perspective between knowledge sharing and market orientation by highlighting customers' role in generating the required knowledge for innovation and the role of knowledge sharing among employees in achieving responsiveness to customers' needs. For practitioners, this paper hopes to help enterprises to obtain deeper understanding of linking mechanisms and recognize the advantages of gathering and generating knowledge about customers and markets, and share this knowledge among all members of the firm to enhance technological innovation.
Understanding the mechanisms behind trastuzumab therapy for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-positive breast cancer.

PURPOSE Targeted therapy with the humanized monoclonal antibody trastuzumab has become a mainstay for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) -positive breast cancer (BC). The mechanisms of action of trastuzumab have not been fully elucidated, and data available to date are reviewed here. The impact of the mechanisms of action on clinical benefit also is discussed. METHODS An extensive literature review of trastuzumab and proposed mechanisms of action was performed. RESULTS At least five potential extracellular and intracellular antitumor mechanisms of trastuzumab have been identified in the preclinical setting. These include activation of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, inhibition of extracellular domain cleavage, abrogation of intracellular signaling, reduction of angiogenesis, and decreased DNA repair. These effects lead to tumor cell stasis and/or death. Clinical benefit from trastuzumab-based therapy in both early and advanced BC has been demonstrated. The benefit of trastuzumab use beyond progression has also been shown, which indicates the need for continuous suppression of the HER2 pathway. Targeting both HER2, with various approaches, and other pathways may enhance the clinical benefit observed with trastuzumab and overcome potential resistance. Novel combinations include pertuzumab (a HER2 dimerization inhibitor), lapatinib (a HER1/HER2 tyrosine kinase inhibitor), bevacizumab (an antiangiogenic agent), tanespimycin (a heat shock protein inhibitor), antiestrogen therapies, and an antibody-drug conjugate (trastuzumab-DM1). CONCLUSION Trastuzumab is the foundation of care for patients with HER2-positive BC. Emerging data from studies of other targeted agents may provide alternative treatment combinations to maximize the clinical benefit from trastuzumab and prevent or delay resistance. The continued development of trastuzumab highlights promising treatment approaches for the future.
High compression rate and efficient spikes detection system using compressed sensing technique for neural signal processing

We design a digital neural signal compression and spikes detection system using compressed sensing technique and root-mean-square method respectively. This system does not only detect spikes from a neural signal but also can compress this neural signal with a high compression rate. In the compression part, due to the fact that neural signals are not sparse in the time domain, we designed a sensing matrix, called Minimum Euclidean or Manhattan Distance Cluster-based (MDC) matrix, to compress neural signals. Using this MDC matrix and a novel reconstruction algorithm, we achieve a compression rate which can be up to 90% with the reconstruction error being around 0.2. Moreover, the proposed system has relatively low power consumption (0.59 mW) and a small chip area (7 μm2).
Retrieving Compositional Documents Using Position-Sensitive Word Mover's Distance

Retrieving similar compositional documents which consist of ranked sub-documents, such as threads of healthcare web fora containing community voted comments, has become increasingly important. However, approaches for this task have not exploited the semantic relationships between words so far and therefore do not use the effective generalization property present in semantic word embeddings. In this work, we propose an extension of the Word Mover's Distance for compositional documents consisting of ranked sub-documents. In particular, we derive a Position-sensitive Word Mover's Distance, which allows to retrieve compositional documents based on the semantic properties of their sub-documents. Additionally, we introduce a novel benchmark dataset for this task, to facilitate other researchers to work on this relevant problem. The results obtained on the novel dataset and on the well-known MovieLense dataset indicate that our approach is well suited for retrieving compositional documents. We conclude that incorporating semantic relations between words and sensitivity to the position and presentation bias is crucial for effective retrieval of such documents.
The international, prospective Glanzmann Thrombasthenia Registry: treatment modalities and outcomes of non-surgical bleeding episodes in patients with Glanzmann thrombasthenia

Standard treatment for Glanzmann thrombasthenia is platelet transfusion. Recombinant activated factor VII has been shown to be successful in patients with Glanzmann thrombasthenia with platelet antibodies or who are refractory to platelet transfusions. The Glanzmann Thrombasthenia Registry prospectively collected worldwide information on the effectiveness and safety of platelet transfusion, recombinant activated factor VII and/or antifibrinolytics for the treatment of bleeds in patients with Glanzmann thrombasthenia. Data relating to 829 non-surgical bleeding episodes were entered into the Glanzmann Thrombasthenia Registry (severe/moderate: 216/613; spontaneous/post-traumatic: 630/199). Recombinant activated factor VII alone was used in 124/829 bleeds, recombinant activated factor VII+antifibrinolytics in 107/829, platelets±antifibrinolytics in 312/829, antifibrinolytics alone in 219/829, and recombinant activated factor VII+platelets±antifibrinolytics in 67/829. The proportion of successful treatments to stop bleeding was 91.0% in cases treated with recombinant activated factor VII only, 82.7% for recombinant activated factor VII+antifibrinolytics, 72.7% for treatment with recombinant activated factor VII+platelets±antifibrinolytics, 78.8% for platelets±antifibrinolytics and 84.7% for antifibrinolytics alone. Treatment failure was documented in 18 bleeding events (2% of the total treatments), the majority of which were in patients receiving treatment with antifibrinolytics; bleeding re-started in 6% of bleeds after initial effective treatment. Thirty-five adverse events were reported, none of which was a thromboembolic event. Among treatments that included recombinant activated factor VII, only one patient reported three possibly drug-related non-serious adverse events (nausea, dyspnea and headache). To conclude, non-surgical bleeds were common and often severe in Glanzmann thrombasthenia; both platelets and recombinant activated factor VII appeared to be effective, and with good safety profiles, for the treatment of non-surgical bleeds. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01476423.
Platelet count in healthy full-term Nigerian neonates.

633 platelet counts are reported on 338 full-term healthy Nigerian babies aged 1 hour to 28 days. Platelet counts for the first week (207,000 +/- 72,000 cumm) are significantly lower (P less than .001) than in the subsequent 3 weeks (282,000 +/- 94,000 cumm). Platelet counts of 100,000-400,000/cumm during the first week and 100,000-450,000/cumm during the rest of the neonatal period include 95% of the respective age groups of Nigerian infants studied and these ranges can therefore be regarded as standard for healthy Nigerian neonates. Platelet counts in Nigerian neonates are essentially similar to those reported elsewhere but significantly higher than in Nigerian adults.
Robustness of transportation networks subject to degradable links

In this paper, we demonstrate how to capture the robustness of a transportation network in the case of degradable links represented by decreasing capacities. The analysis is conducted by utilizing Bureau of Public Road link travel cost functions and a recently proposed network efficiency measure for congested networks. For specific networks we are able to derive lower bounds for the robustness when percentage reductions in the link capacities take place.
Adaptive multi-airbag foot pressure redistribution insole design using image-based rapid pressure measuring system

In the paper, a novel adaptive multi-airbag foot pressure redistribution insole design and manufacturing methodologies using image-based rapid pressure measuring system is proposed. The in-house made rapid foot pressure measurement system is constructed with a body weight spring scale and an image-based foot/ground contact pattern identification scanning mechanism. The basic principle of measuring system is that, when the body weight was supported by foot, the blood will be blocked into the blood capillary of sole and it will generate the different color foot/ground contact pattern owing to the difference of local contact pressure. By using scanning mechanism, the contact pattern is registered and foot pressure distribution profile can be easily calculated by using a mathematical transformation model. A two-layered insole with multiple channel air-inflated bags in the bottom layer for adjusting foot contact pressure is proposed. In this configuration, the correct contact foot pressure profile can be achieved by pumping air into each air-inflated bag when subject is standing on the insole. An adaptive multi-air-bag insole using proposed method was designed and constructed. The proposed method not only can be used for the design and manufacturing for medical therapeutic insole but also for athletic and personal insole.
THE FACTORY AND THE BEEHIVE. I. ROTATION PERIODS FOR LOW-MASS STARS IN PRAESEPE

Stellar rotation periods measured from single-age populations are critical for investigating how stellar angular momentum content evolves over time, how that evolution depends on mass, and how rotation influences the stellar dynamo and the magnetically heated chromosphere and corona. We report rotation periods for 40 late-K to mid-M star members of the nearby, rich, intermediate-age (∼600 Myr) open cluster Praesepe. These rotation periods were derived from ∼200 observations taken by the Palomar Transient Factory of four cluster fields from 2010 February to May. Our measurements indicate that Praesepe's mass–period relation transitions from a well-defined singular relation to a more scattered distribution of both fast and slow rotators at ∼0.6 M☉. The location of this transition is broadly consistent with expectations based on observations of younger clusters and the assumption that stellar spin-down is the dominant mechanism influencing angular momentum evolution at 600 Myr. However, a comparison to data recently published for the Hyades, assumed to be coeval to Praesepe, indicates that the divergence from a singular mass–period relation occurs at different characteristic masses, strengthening the finding that Praesepe is the younger of the two clusters. We also use previously published relations describing the evolution of rotation periods as a function of color and mass to evolve the sample of Praesepe periods in time. Comparing the resulting predictions to periods measured in M35 and NGC 2516 (∼150 Myr) and for kinematically selected young and old field star populations suggests that stellar spin-down may progress more slowly than described by these relations.
Spine segmentation from C-arm CT data sets: application to region-of-interest volumes for spinal interventions

Spinal fusion is a common procedure to stabilize the spinal column by fixating parts of the spine. In such procedures, metal screws are inserted through the patients back into a vertebra, and the screws of adjacent vertebrae are connected by metal rods to generate a fixed bridge. In these procedures, 3D image guidance for intervention planning and outcome control is required. Here, for anatomical guidance, an automated approach for vertebra segmentation from C-arm CT images of the spine is introduced and evaluated. As a prerequisite, 3D C-arm CT images are acquired covering the vertebrae of interest. An automatic model-based segmentation approach is applied to delineate the outline of the vertebrae of interest. The segmentation approach is based on 24 partial models of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertebrae which aggregate information about (i) the basic shape itself, (ii) trained features for image based adaptation, and (iii) potential shape variations. Since the volume data sets generated by the C-arm system are limited to a certain region of the spine the target vertebra and hence initial model position is assigned interactively. The approach was trained and tested on 21 human cadaver scans. A 3-fold cross validation to ground truth annotations yields overall mean segmentation errors of 0.5 mm for T1 to 1.1 mm for C6. The results are promising and show potential to support the clinician in pedicle screw path and rod planning to allow accurate and reproducible insertions.