Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Roadmap on silicon photonics

Silicon photonics research can be dated back to the 1980s. However, the previous decade has witnessed an explosive growth in the field. Silicon photonics is a disruptive technology that is poised to revolutionize a number of application areas, for example, data centers, high-performance computing and sensing. The key driving force behind silicon photonics is the ability to use CMOS-like fabrication resulting in high-volume production at low cost. This is a key enabling factor for bringing photonics to a range of technology areas where the costs of implementation using traditional photonic elements such as those used for the telecommunications industry would be prohibitive. Silicon does however have a number of shortcomings as a photonic material. In its basic form it is not an ideal material in which to produce light sources, optical modulators or photodetectors for example. A wealth of research effort from both academia and industry in recent years has fueled the demonstration of multiple solutions to these and other problems, and as time progresses new approaches are increasingly being conceived. It is clear that silicon photonics has a bright future. However, with a growing number of approaches available, what will the silicon photonic integrated circuit of the future look like? This roadmap on silicon photonics delves into the different technology and application areas of the field giving an insight into the state-of-the-art as well as current and future challenges faced by researchers worldwide. Contributions authored by experts from both industry and academia provide an overview and outlook for the silicon waveguide platform, optical sources, optical modulators, photodetectors, integration approaches, packaging, applications of silicon photonics and approaches required to satisfy applications at mid-infrared wavelengths. Advances in science and technology required to meet challenges faced by the field in each of these areas are also addressed together with predictions of where the field is destined to reach.
Is it too soon for Mesenchymal Stem Cell trials in people with ALS?

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting primarily the motor neurons. Stem cell therapy is under development as a possible treatment approach. A pilot study of intraspinal injections of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) was conducted in 9 participants. We review this paper, the rationale, preclinical data and study design.
Quality in Healthcare and the Quest for Improvement

Improvement in the quality of healthcare is desired by everyone. Delivering this however, is hindered by lack of clear, widely embraced perceptions of what is encompassed within quality and how improvement can best be brought about. This paper, written from the viewpoint of a clinician now with a responsibility for this field in Scotland, presents a multidimensional concept of quality, as encompassing effectiveness, safety, patient centeredness, timeliness, efficiency and equity. This approach allows views about the relative importance of the various components to differ but also to be reconciled and the different standpoints made coherent. The principal kinds of interventions, aimed to improve one or more aspects of quality, are presented and the need for much greater evidence about their value, alone or in combination is noted. Nevertheless, there is increasing recognition of the importance of emphasising the human factors of attitude, culture and behaviour that provide the best assurance of quality of care to individuals. NHS Quality Improvement Scotland has a key role in searching out knowledge about how improvement is achieved and in engaging with patients and NHS staff to ensure that the necessary advances are achieved in Scotland.
Connections of the amygdala of the rat. IV: Corticoamygdaloid and intraamygdaloid connections as studied with axonal transport of horseradish peroxidase

The corticoamygdaloid and intraamygdaloid projections of the rat were studied by the use of retrograde transport of horseradish peroxidase (HRP). Observations based on anterograde transport of the enzyme were exploited to determine the course of the intrinsic connections. The HRP was injected stereotactically by means of iontophoresis. Most of the amygdaloid nuclei were selectively injected, and all but a few were reached by more than one approach.
THE EFFECT OF A COMBINED HIGH‐INTENSITY STRENGTH AND SPEED TRAINING PROGRAM ON THE RUNNING AND JUMPING ABILITY OF SOCCER PLAYERS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a combined heavy-resistance and running-speed training program performed in the same training session on strength, running velocity (RV), and vertical-jump performance (VJ) of soccer players. Thirty-five individuals were divided into 3 groups. The first group (n = 12, COM group) performed a combined resistance and speed training program at the same training session, and the second one (n = 11, STR group) performed the same resistance training without speed training. The third group was the control group (n = 12, CON group). Three jump tests were used for the evaluation of vertical jump performance: squat jump, countermovement jump, and drop jump. The 30-m dash and 1 repetition maximum (1RM) tests were used for running speed and strength evaluation, respectively. After training, both experimental groups significantly improved their 1RM of all tested exercises. Furthermore, the COM group performed significantly better than the STR and the CON groups in the 30-m dash, squat jump, and countermovement jump. It is concluded that the combined resistance and running-speed program provides better results than the conventional resistance training, regarding the power performance of soccer players.
Searching for Association Rules to Forecast Earthquakes

The earthquakes occur anywhere and anytime, are one of the most dangerous natural disasters. Magnitude higher or equal to 5 can cause human, material and economic losses. The objective of this paper is association rules search for predict the occurrence of earthquake. To meet the objective was used earthquake data occurred between the years 2000 to 2009, data from tectonic plate near to South America and the Apriori Algorithm. As a result of the study it has 4 association rules of interest were obtained with the probability that one of them occurs, the first pattern interest is “existe_p7_94horas then existe_p7_120horas”, “p7” is the South American Plate.
An FPGA-Based Hardware Accelerator for Real-Time Block-Matching and 3D Filtering

Block-matching and 3D filtering (BM3D) denoising algorithm has been employed in many application fields because of its superior image processing quality. Due to the huge computational workload, real-time implementation of this algorithm is very challenging. Recently, studies on accelerating the BM3D algorithm on GPU have presented impressive speed up over CPU-based implementations. However, GPU devices are generally inefficient in energy dissipation and, thus, are not suitable for embedded application scenarios. In this paper, we propose a dedicated hardware accelerator design to efficiently boost the BM3D algorithm with reduced power consumption on FPGA device. The proposed design is based on a deeply pipelined OpenCL kernel architecture that can efficiently speed up the compute-intensive procedures of the denoising algorithm by exploiting the intrinsic parallelism and maximizing data reuse. The final design was implemented on Intel’s Arria-10 GX1150 FPGA, and achieved an average <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.2\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> performance boost and an outstanding <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$8.3\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> reduction in energy dissipation when compared to a state-of-the-art GPU-based software design.
Therapeutic effects of marshmallow (Althaea officinalis L.) extract on plasma biochemical parameters of common carp infected with Aeromonas hydrophila

This study evaluated preclinical and clinical safety of marshmallow (Althaea officinalis L.) extract as a naturopathic medicine in common carp deliberately infected with Aeromonas hydrophila. The fish were fed 0 (control), 2.50, 5.00 and 10.00 g of marshmallow extract for 60 days in a preclinical experiment and then, challenged with A. hydrophila for a 10-day experiment. Significant increases were observed in aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), creatine phosphokinase (CPK) activities and plasma creatinine levels in fish fed 10 g marshmallow extract per kg feed. However, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) significantly decreased on day 60. The fish fed 2.50 g marshmallow extract per kg feed indicated increased levels of total protein and globulin. There were no significant changes in albumin levels (p > 0.05). 2.50 and 5.00 g marshmallow significantly decreased triglyceride and cholesterol levels and increased glucose levels (p < 0.05). A. hydrophila significantly increased AST, ALT, LDH, ALP and CPK activities and plasma glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides and creatinine levels after 10 days (p < 0.05). Total plasma protein, albumin and globulin levels in fish challenged with A. hydrophila were significantly lower than the control group (p < 0.05). Marshmallow extract at 5.00 and 10.00 g can adjust plasma biochemical parameters in fish challenged with A. hydrophila. The results of preclinical studies and pharmaceutical toxicity of marshmallow extract revealed that dietary levels lower than 5.00 g were safe and effective. The results of this clinical study demonstrated that marshmallow extract (5.00 g kg-1 feed) can protect fish against A. hydrophila.
Held-by-hand learners: a survey of technologies to support positive behaviours of Higher Education students today

Computing and information technology in general have been traditionally used in higher education in a somewhat limited way, using fairly static configurations (e.g. fixed equipment, fixed location, fixed access times). However, at present there is a widespread adoption of sensor-loaded, powerful, mobile devices, which have the potential to overcome technological limitations in traditional education. Furthermore, for the majority of current university students there is a high degree of digital literacy, therefore the adoption of mobile technology to facilitate their learning is an interesting proposition. Such a technology can enable greater access to learning resources as well as a greater understanding of student behaviour. Achieving such an understanding could be used to help students, by prompting them into adopting behaviours identified as likely to increase their chances of academic success. This paper explores the state of the art in context-aware technologies and their existing use in education, and discusses directions of study for behavioural interventions to higher education students using learning analytics on data gathered by these technologies.
Bad medicine: type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is yet another “ticking time bomb. ” With a tripling in the rate to 6% of UK men, and with general practitioners berated for the undiagnosed “missing million” cases, the number of people with diabetes is predicted to double in 20 years. The rationale for detection and treatment, supported by large observational studies, is to prevent cardiovascular and microvascular disease. This research also promotes aggressive control of glycated haemoglobin A1C, blood pressure, and cholesterol—a mantra of “the lower the better. ” So people with diabetes are potentially prescribed three drugs to control …
Chemokine Receptor CXCR6-Dependent Hepatic NK T Cell Accumulation Promotes Inflammation and Liver Fibrosis

Chronic liver injury characteristically results in hepatic inflammation, which represents a prerequisite for organ fibrosis. Although NKT cells are abundantly present in liver and involved in hepatic inflammation, molecular mechanisms of their recruitment in liver fibrosis remained elusive. We hypothesized that chemokine receptor CXCR6 and its ligand CXCL16 control NKT cell migration and functionality in liver fibrosis. In patients with chronic liver diseases (n = 58), CXCR6 and CXCL16 expression was intrahepatically upregulated compared with controls. In murine liver, Cxcl16 was strongly expressed by endothelium and macrophages, whereas lymphocyte populations (NKT, NK, CD4 T, CD8 T cells) expressed CXCR6. Intravital two-photon microscopy imaging of Cxcr6+/gfp and Cxcr6gfp/gfp mice and chemotaxis studies in vitro revealed that CXCR6 specifically controls hepatic NKT cell accumulation during the early response upon experimental liver damage. Hepatic invariant NKT cells expressed distinct proinflammatory cytokines including IFN-γ and IL-4 upon injury. CXCR6-deficient mice were protected from liver fibrosis progression in two independent experimental models. Macrophage infiltration and protein levels of inflammatory cytokines IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-4 were also reduced in fibrotic livers of Cxcr6−/− mice, corroborating that hepatic NKT cells provide essential cytokine signals perpetuating hepatic inflammation and fibrogenesis. Adoptive transfer of NKT cells, but not CD4 T cells, isolated from wild type livers restored hepatic fibrosis in Cxcr6−/− mice upon experimental steatohepatitis. Our results demonstrate that hepatic NKT cells accumulate CXCR6-dependent early upon injury, thereby accentuating the inflammatory response in the liver and promoting hepatic fibrogenesis. Interfering with CXCR6/CXCL16 might therefore bear therapeutic potential in liver fibrosis.
Metodos de lagrangiano aumentado com convergencia utilizando a condição de dependencia linear positiva constante

Condicoes de qualificacao sao ferramentas uteis na analise de convergencia de metodos de otimizacao. Neste trabalho provamos que a nova condicao de dependencia linear positiva constante (CPLD) e uma condicao de qualificacao e mostramos que ela e mais fraca que condicoes classicas, como regularidade, Mangasarian- Fromovitz e posto constante. Alem disso, apresentamos um algo ritmo de Lagrangiano aumentado para resolver problemas gerais de programacao matematica com convergencia utilizando a CPLD. O algo ritmo proposto e definido para resolver problemas com dois conjuntos de restricoes: um, mais complexo, formado pelas restricoes que sao penalizadas e, outro, mais simples, pelas restricoes que sao satisfeitas por todos os iterados gerados no processo. O resultado de convergencia global estabelece que se um ponto limite da sequencia gerada pelo algoritmo satisfaz a condicao CPLD entao esse ponto e um ponto estacionario do problema original. O resultado de convergencia global obtido e mais forte que resultados de convergencia para problemas mais especificos obtidos utilizando condicoes de qualificacao mais fortes, como a regularidade. Indicamos tambem as hipoteses adequadas sob as quais obtemos limitacao do parâmetro de penalidade. A confiabilidade do algo ritmo foi testada mediante uma exaustiva comparacao com o algoritmo LANCELOT, mostrando que nosso metodo e mais robusto e eficiente. Alem disso, e como aplicacao do nosso algoritmo no caso em que restricoes diferentes sao incorporadas no problema, apresentamos a resolucao de problemas de alocacao nos quais existem muitas restricoes nao-lineares no conjunto complexo. Utilizando o metodo de Gradiente Projetado Espectral mostramos que problemas desse tipo com muitas variaveis e restricoes sao resolvidos de maneira eficiente num tempo razoavel Abstract
Estimación de parámetros de un modelo de carga de recuperación exponencial empleando técnicas metaheurísticas Parameter estimation of an exponential recovery load model using metaheuristic techniques

In this paper, the application of a methodology for parameter estimation of a measurement-based exponential recovery load model is described. An optimization problem is proposed for parameter estimation of the load model, and particle swarm optimization is used for its solution. The proposed methodology was tested on a power system, where load was represented by a composite load, which is affected by bus voltage variations. Based on the results, a suitable load model for the analyzed disturbances is obtained using the proposed methodology.
On the late-time instability of perfectly matched layers in the meshless radial point interpolation method

The time-domain behavior of the Uniaxial Perfectly Matched Layer (UPML) in the 3D meshless Radial Point Interpolation Method (RPIM) is investigated in this paper. It is theoretically shown that the UPML will become unstable after a very long time when the energy in the computational domain almost completely vanishes. A timed introduction of loss terms in the equations inside the UPMLs, i.e. at a time after absorption of most of the energy, can significantly delay or even remove the occurrence of this instability without compromising the accuracy of the solution.
Genetic Predisposition to Hyperhomocysteinemia: Deficiency of Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR)

lntroduction (6). The major subunit of human MTHFR also appears to be 77 Y,Da in most tissues, but a smaller isoform, of approximately 70 kDa, has been observed in human fetal liver and possibly in other tissues (2). Human MTHFR was mapped to chromosomal region I p36.3 by in situ hybridization (5) and the mouse MTHFR gene was localized to distal chromosome 4, using DNA from The Jackson Laboratory Backcross Panel Service (7). This region in the mouse genome is homologous to the human I p36 region. Human and mouse genes are structurally quite similar thus far, although the missing sequences necessary to encode the larger protein isoform (estimated at 7 kDa) have not yet been isolated. Both genes have 11 exons, with similar exon sizes and exon-intron boundaries (8). Human and mouse coding sequences are approximately 85Vo identical at the amino acid level (Goyette et al., unpublished).
Acid lipase: a histochemical and biochemical study using triton X100-naphtyl palmitate micelles.

Hydrolsis of a-naphtyl palmitate dispersed with the detergent Triton X-100 at acid pH was studied by a histochemical diazocoupling technique in both fixed sections and cultures of primate tissues as well as by a biochemical assay employing the same chromogenic substrate. Evidence for the exclusive hydrolysis of this artificial fatty acid ester substrate by acid lipases was gathered from (1) comparison of isoelectric focusing zymograms developed with different substrates, (2) kinetic analysis of enzyme activity in the presence or absence of inhibitors, including a natural substrate of acid lipase, trioleylglycerol, (3) specific localization of marked enzyme activity in certain tissues, and (4) absence of detectable enzyme activity in a case of human acid lipase deficiency (Wolman's disease). Histochemically, acid lipase activity was most readily detected in cells active in the uptake and processing of neutral lipids, i.e., the phagocytes of the reticuloendothelial system, the adrenal cortex and the lipid-storing cells in the athero-sclerotic plaques of arteries.
The detection of deleterious selection using ancestors inferred from a phylogenetic history.

Summary The widespread use of restriction endonucleases and DNA sequencing provides a wealth of data on the genetic structure of natural populations. From such data, detailed phylogenies can be constructed and qualitatively different kinds of mutational and substitutional processes can be studied. A neutral model can be constructed to describe the frequencies of sequence haplotypes according to the haplotypes from which they arose and the types of substitution that distinguish them. One feature of such a model is that it examines the ancestors of various sequences. Deleterious selection against a character has a distinct effect on descendant sequences. Individuals containing many deleterious characters leave few or no descendants because these individuals are quickly eliminated by selection. Hence, such a model lends itself to the study of deleterious selection. It is possible to determine if selection is required by searching for any set of mutation rates that can explain an observed set of data. Simulations of artificial populations without selection suggest that this method seldom indicates selection when none is present. Furthermore, recent recombination events between the sequences do not induce false indications of deleterious selection. The method may, however, require relatively large simple sizes in order to accurately reflect the true nature of populations. The method is often very conservative and may not indicate selection when it is, in fact, present.
NAMB: A Quick and Flexible Stream Processing Application Prototype Generator

The importance of Big Data is nowadays established, both in industry and research fields, especially stream processing for its capability to analyze continuous data streams and provide statistics in real-time. Several data stream processing (DSP) platforms exist like the Storm, Flink, Spark Streaming and Heron Apache projects, or industrial products such as Google MillWheel. Usually, each platform is tested and analyzed using either specifically crafted benchmarks or realistic applications. Unfortunately, these applications are only briefly described and their source code is generally not available. Hence, making quick evaluations often involves rewriting complete applications on different platforms. The lack of a generic prototype application also makes it difficult for a developer to quickly evaluate the impact of some design choices.To address these issues, we present NAMB (Not only A Micro-Benchmark), a generic application prototype generator for DSP platforms. Given a high-level description of a stream processing application and its workload, NAMB automatically generates the code for different platforms. It features a flexible architecture which makes it easy to support new platforms. We demonstrate the benefits of our proposal to quickly generate application prototypes as well as benchmarks used in published papers. Overall, our approach provides easily replicable, comparable and customizable prototypes for data stream platforms. Moreover, NAMB provides similar performance in terms of latency and throughput to existing benchmarks, while only requiring a simple high-level description.