Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High Sensitivity Photodetector for Photon-Counting Applications

In the last years, there has been a large development of low-light applications, and many of them are based on photon counting using single-photon detectors (SPDs). These are very sensitive detectors typically with an internal gain. The first candidate SPD was the photomultiplier tube (PMT), reaching a very high gain (~10), but there have been a large development of many other solutions, like solid-state solutions. Among them, single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) have been used in spectroscopy, florescence imaging, etc., particularly for their good detection efficiency and time resolution (tens of picoseconds). SPADs have been developed in silicon and III–V materials, for the NIR wavelength range. SPADs can be used as single high-performance pixels, or in arrays. SPAD arrays have imaging capabilities, with high sensitivity. Another kind of array is the silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), where all the pixels are connected to a common anode and a common cathode. SiPMs are used in nuclear medicine, physics experiments, quantum-physics experiments, light detection and ranging (LIDAR), etc., due to their high detection efficiency combined with large sensitive areas, and high dynamic range. SiPMs with many small cells present several advantages and nowadays the SPAD pitch can be reduced down to 5 μm.
Profile of Glucose, Lipid, Blood Pressure and Its Association With Cardiovascular Diseases at The Community Health Centers in Bima City, Indonesia

Cholesterol and high blood pressure are major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases/CVDs. Most CVDs can be prevented by early detection and correcting risk factors. This study aims to determine the profile of blood glucose, cholesterol, blood pressure and its association with CVDs risk. This study was a cross-sectional study with the porposive sampling method. Subjects were participants of the chronic disease management program (Prolanis) in the community health centers. The risk of CVDs was assessed by Framingham Risk Score tools. Data analysis with the anova test. The results showed a total of 81 participants with 24.69% are low-risk group and 75.31% are intermediate-high risk. Mean glucose was 160,20 mg/dL. Mean lipid profile: total-C was 207,59 mg/dL, HDL-C was 44.86 mg/dL, LDL-C was 147,70 mg/dL and median ratio total-C/HDL-C was 4,7. Median (min-max) blood pressure: systolic blood pressure was 148 mmHg (99-203) and diastolic blood pressure was 82 mmHg (61-119). CVDs risk was associated with (p-value); total-C (0,006), ratio total-C/HDL-C (0.008), systolic blood pressure (0,001), and diastolic blood pressure (0,014). This shows that CVDs risk its associated with total-C, ratio total-C/HDL-C, and blood pressure. Therefore, we propose that early detection and corrected behavioral risk factors as an effort to prevent CVDs.
On the effects of repeated tax amnesties

We examine empirically the effect of tax amnesties on long term tax collection when such amnesties are used by a government as a regular source of revenue. We use data from the Tucuman province (Argentina) to test the main hypothesis of the model, namely, that amnesties lower the government’s revenue, as they reduce the penalties and make evasion more profitable. We find, however, that amnesties do not affect the long-term revenue. The other main result is in line with the theoretical predictions: the increase in short-run revenue is temporary and only accelerates the collection of the taxes but does not increase the amount collected. Thus, we conclude that amnesties were used only to obtain a short-run surge in revenue and to avoid more fundamental tax reforms.
Sztuczne sieci neuronowe i teledetekcja w ocenie porażenia pszenicy jarej fuzariozą kłosów

Celem prac badawczych było wykorzystanie teledetekcji oraz sztucznych sieci neuronowych w ocenie pszenicy jarej pod względem reakcji na fuzariozę kłosów wywoływaną przez grzyby z rodzaju Fusarium spp. Prace badawcze wykonano na roślinach 4 odmian pszenicy jarej. Były to: KWS Torridon i Izera – o wyższej odporności, Radocha i Nawra – o odporności niższej na ww. patogena. Wykonano zdjęcia zdrowych oraz porażonych kłosów wszystkich odmian, które następnie przetworzono przy użyciu programu Crops Vegetation Control Lab (CVC Lab.). Na podstawie uzyskanych obrazów utworzono ich reprezentacje w postaci sieci neuronowych Growing Neural Gas (GNG). W wyniku analizy zdjęć uzyskano 240 wzorców, z których wybrano po 6 bazowych wzorców choroby dla każdej odmiany. Następnie dokonano porównania próbek porażonych kłosów danej odmiany z bazowymi wzorcami chorobowymi tej samej odmiany pszenicy. W wyniku porównania wzorców roślin zdrowych i porażonych ze zdjęciami poletek roślin zdrowych i porażonych uzyskano zróżnicowanie wartości liczbowych dającej podstawę do konstrukcji mapy zdrowotności plantacji pszenicy z wyszczególnieniem ognisk choroby.
Edinburgh Research Explorer Renewal Strings for Cleaning Astronomical Databases

Large astronomical databases obtained from sky surveys such as the SuperCOSMOS Sky Surveys (SSS) invariably suffer from spuri­ ous records coming from artefactual effects of the telescope, satellites and junk objects in orbit around earth and physical defects on the photographic plate or CCD. Though rela­ tively small in number these spurious records present a significant problem in many situ­ ations where they can become a large pro­ portion of the records potentially of inter­ est to a given astronomer. We have devel­ oped renewal strings, a probabilistic tech­ nique combining the Hough transform, re­ newal processes and hidden Markov models which has proven highly effective in this con­ text. The methods are applied to the SSS data to develop a dataset of spurious object detections, along with confidence measures, which can allow this unwanted data to be re­ moved from consideration. These methods are general and can be adapted to any other astronomical survey data.
Optical conductivity and resistivity of a hole-doped spin-fermion model for cuprates

The optical conductivity and Drude weight of a spin-fermion model for cuprates are studied as a function of electronic density and temperature using Monte Carlo techniques. This model develops stripes and robust D-wave pairing correlations upon hole doping, and it has the advantage that it can be numerically simulated without sign problems. Both static and dynamical information can be obtained. In this work, it was possible to analyze up to $12\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}12$ site clusters at low temperatures ranging between $0.01t$ and $0.1t$ (between 50 K and 500 K for a hopping amplitude $t\ensuremath{\sim}0.5\mathrm{eV}). $ As the temperature is reduced, spectral weight is transferred from high to low frequencies in agreement with the behavior observed experimentally. Varying the hole density, the Drude weight has a maximum at the optimal doping for the model, i.e., at the density where the pairing correlations are stronger. It was also observed that the inverse of the Drude weight, roughly proportional to the resistivity, decreases linearly with the temperature at optimal doping, and it is abruptly reduced when robust pairing correlations develop upon further reducing the temperature. The behavior and general form of the optical conductivity are found to be in good agreement with experimental results for the cuprates. Our results also establish the spin-fermion model for cuprates as a reasonable alternative to the $t\ensuremath{-}J$ model, which is much more difficult to study accurately.
Clinicopathological significance of stanniocalcin-2 expression in adenocarcinomas of biliary tract

Background: Despite all efforts, patients with biliary tract cancer (BTC) still share a dismal outcome. Based on its lack of specific symptoms, BTCs are often diagnosed in an advanced stage. Molecular biomarkers augur to overcome this misery, but none has entered clinical routine yet. We sought to investigate the prognostic relevance of Stanniocalcin-2 (STC2), which has shown encouraging results in other tumors, for its potential as biomarker in BTC. Material and methods: We first evaluated STC2 expression and its prognostic properties on mRNA level in silico using the TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) database. In a second step, we validated the results using STC2 immunohistochemistry in a tissue microarray consisting of an independent cohort of BTCs who underwent resection at our center from 2000-2012. Results: TCGA data of 36 cholangiocellular carcinomas (CCC) revealed a significantly higher expression level of STC2 compared to normal tissue (P < 0.001) and a significant correlation to lymphatic infiltration (P = 0.020), but no impact on overall survival. In our cohort consisting of 53 patients with CCC and 11 patients with gallbladder cancer (GBC), STC2 also showed an over expression in CCC and GBC tissue and a correlation to lymphatic metastasis (P = 0.038). Patients with STC2 positive tumors had a significant worse overall survival (P = 0.007) and STC2 was an independent prognostic marker (P = 0.022). Conclusion: Valid biomarkers for BTC are desperately needed. STC2 has proven its potential as a prognostic marker in other tumors and showed promising observation in our study. Nonetheless, these findings have to be validated in a prospective cohort.
COMPETITIVE STRATEGIES ON THE MEAT PRODUCTS MARKET LAKNER, ZOLTÁN – RÉTI, ATTILA

The Hungarian meat-market can be characterised by intensive transitions both in market actors and product-structure. There is a decrease in the consumption of pork and at the same time in this category an increase in the share of processed meat products. There are also increasing differences in the quality and price-level of processed meat products. This transition highlights the importance of relations between the meat production industry and the meat retail trade. In the framework of a field-study we have analysed the opinions of more than two hundred meat trade specialist on supplier-retailer relationships. The responses have been analysed by oneand multivariate statistics. The results of the research confirm that the overwhelming majority of retailers consider a wide choice of products and flexibility to be a necessary precondition of success. The cheap product-line is no longer in itself enough for the achievement of sustainable market development. Retail enterprises attach great importance to marketing activities undertaken in partnership with the meat industry. The competition between meat suppliers is an especially intensive one in larger towns and in the capital. The maintenance of their partnership with the meat industry is regarded as an important success factor among managers of dynamic, growth-oriented firms. As confirmed by our structural mathematical model, the conflict level between meat-processor and retailer is diminishing with increasing levels of competition. The level of co-operation is increasing with the flexibility of meat producers and the sharing of market intelligence.
The Pricing of FX Forward Contracts: Micro Evidence from Banks' Dollar Hedging

Using transaction-level data on foreign exchange (FX) forward contracts, we document large demand-driven heterogeneity in banks' dollar hedging costs. For identification, we exploit regulatory end-of-quarter reporting that penalizes banks' currency exposure with capital surcharges. Contracts that reduce quarter-end currency exposure trade at higher prices, specifically for banks with high dollar funding gaps and high leverage, while access to internal dollar capital markets and bargaining power reduces prices. Spreads between similar contracts with and without initial margin widen with leverage. Our results suggest that banks' shadow costs of capital are important for the international propagation of shocks through FX derivatives markets.
Synchronous oligometastases in cervical cancer : a case report

Division of Gynaecology Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)/University of Cape Town (UCT) Gynaecological Cancer Research Centre, Cape Town, South Africa Division of Anatomical Pathology, Groote Schuur Hospital, National Health Laboratory Service, Cape Town, South Africa Department of Radiation Oncology, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa Department of Radiology, Groote Schuur Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa *Corresponding author, email: bothwellguzha@gmail.com
Design and Implementation of a New Soft Switching Interleaved Boost Converter with Low Losses 1

This paper proposed a new soft switching interleave boost converter with high voltage gain. In this converter two switches operate under ZVS condition without adding any auxiliary switches. The flyback converters which connected to the output in series lead to high voltage gain and less voltage stress on the power devices. In this paper simulation and experimental results verify theoretical analysis.
Relative capacity and dimension of graphs

A slight modi(cation of our old de(nition of relative Shannon capacity of a graph with respect to another one is shown to be relevant to the Ne, set,ril–Pultr dimension of graphs. We give an upper bound for relative capacity in terms of graph entropy. c © 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Stock Trading Decisions Using Ensemble-based Forecasting Models

In this paper, we propose an ensemble-based forecasting framework for making stock trading decisions. Here, two ensemble models are proposed for predicting the stock index. In first stage, Empirical Mode Decomposition (EMD) and Complete Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition with Adaptive Noise (CEEMDAN) are used for decomposing the financial series into various sub-series. In second stage, each series is predicted using a machine learning algorithm, namely, Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Trading rules are defined. The models were tested on Nifty data. Return on investment based on the trading rules of proposed ensemble models was compared with Buy-and-Hold strategy.
Strange duality revisited

We give a proof of the strange duality or rank-level duality of the WZW models of conformal blocks by extending the genus-0 result, obtained by Nakanishi-Tsuchiya in 1992, to higher genus curves via the sewing procedure. The new ingredient of the proof is an explicit use of the branching rules of the conformal embedding of the affine Lie algebras sl(r) x sl(l) in sl(rl). We recover the strange duality of spaces of generalized theta functions obtained by Belkale, Marian-Oprea, as well as by Oudompheng in the parabolic case.
Control Mechanisms of Ovarian Follicle Development by Follicle Stimulating Hormone and Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-activating Polypeptide

Objective: Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide (PACAP), a novel hypothalamic neuropeptide, has been suggested to play a role in ovarian folliculogenesis. The present study evaluated the effect of PACAP on the growth of preantral follicles. Methods: Preantral follicles were mechanically isolated from ovaries of 21-day-old rats and cultured in groups for 3 days in serum-free medium in the absence or presence of PACAP-38 (10 -6 M). Results: Treatment with PACAP-38 resulted in an increase in follicle diameter by 75% whereas treatment with follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) increased follicle diameter by 65%. PACAP-38 treatment enhanced the granulosa cell proliferation as measured by thymidine incorporation analysis. Furthermore, the production of progesterone by cultured granulosa cells and GFSHR-17 cell line was stimulated by PACAP-38. Interestingly, PACAP enhanced FSH action on stimulation of SF-1 and aromatase gene expression. Conclusion: The present results demonstrate that PACAP stimulated preantral follicle growth by potentiating proliferation and by stimulating steroidogenesis.
Citizen Satisfaction with Local Governance: A Test of Individual, Jurisdictional, and City-Specific Explanations

What are the sources of citizen satisfaction with local government? Our answers to this question remain fragmentary due to limits in our tools of investigation which have not been well suited for disentangling individual- and jurisdictional-level determinants of citizens' evaluations and distinguishing these from city-specific effects. We employ a comparison group design to jointly assess three theoretical accounts of the source of satisfaction. The results point to a very understandable account of satisfaction with local government. On the individual's side of the relationship, we find an important role for local government efficacy and attachment to the local community. And on the government's, our model points to what officials actually do for citizens: provision of some level and quality of services.
Step 1 : Formulating Answerable Questions

Evidence-based medicine is a phenomenon of burgeoning popularity (Fig. 1), but what is it? To assess the value of evidence-based medicine1 and estimate its impact on practice, we must agree on a definition. My primary purpose, therefore, is to define evidence-based medicine and to review the methods of critical appraisal and clinical epidemiology on which it is founded. Asecond question, more subtle but perhaps more interesting, is why there has been this recent emphasis on evidence-based medicine. To portray evidence-based medicine as a new mode of practice is to imply that traditional methods are not evidence based. This criticism is offered obliquely; nobody in the mainstream has yet equated Western medicine with necromancy or astrology. Still, the insinuation endures that medical practice lacks a basis in science. The strongest allegation that medicine lacks a scientific basis comes from studies reporting practice variations that far exceed the variation in disease prevalence. For instance, the rate of back surgery among Medicare patients in Santa Barbara is five times the rate in the Bronx.2 Because it is highly unlikely that the prevalence of disease differs by a factor of five, there probably exists a type of patient for whom the doctors in California, ostensibly basing their opinions on science, would recommend surgery, and for whom doctors in the Bronx, claiming the same mantle of scientific validity, would not. It would seem that the California doctors could be scientifically correct or the Bronx doctors could be scientifically correct, but not both. The notion that wide variation in practice proves that medicine is not based on science demands rebuttal. That rebuttal takes the form of presenting how medical evidence is used in medical decision making and how even the best evidence can only minimize, but not eliminate, uncertainty and variation. Evidence-Based Medicine Defined The shibboleth “evidence-based medicine” refers to an explicit process of using and evaluating information to make medical decisions. The commonly quoted definition is attributed to Sackett et al:3 “Evidence-based medicine is the conscientious, explicit and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine means integrating individual clinical Dr. Bernstein is an Attending Surgeon, Veterans Hospital, Philadelphia, PA, and Senior Fellow, the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
Livelihood Transition and Adaptive Bamboo Forest Management: A Case Study in Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand

The connection between livelihood transition and adaptive bamboo forest management was investigated in a village adjoining Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, Kanchaburi Province, where three species of bamboo-Dendrocalamus membranaceus, Bambusa bambos, and Thyrsostachys siamensis-were collected by villagers. From January to December 2014, 141,539 full culms (180,873 logs) of bamboo were harvested, generating a total income of 1,856,616 baht. Of the respondents surveyed, 46.4% had already stopped bamboo cutting, and 39.6% were retiring between 31 and 45 years of age. The main reasons for their retirement were changing to a new occupation (52.7%) and old age (31.9%). Today, only 14.8% ofrespondents are still bamboo cutters, and their declining numbers mean that the bamboo forest in Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary continues to degrade due to the area of bamboo forest and access to it being limited. In 2005, the local community established activities for forest conservation after they built a weir in Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary. Specifically, new customary regulations and village-level bamboo forest demarcation was introduced to sustain production and services, particularly bamboo culms. The situation in Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary and Thungna Village indicated that partial forest transition is occurring in at least, a village in Thailand.
Equations for polar Grassmannians

Given a finite dimensional vector space V over a field and a non-trivial but possibly degenerate reflexive sesquilinear form , let P(f) be the polar space associated to f, namely the collection of all totally f-isotropic subspaces of V, and R(f) the collection of all subspaces of V that meet non-trivially. Let r be the Witt index of f. Given a positive integer , let be the k-Grassmannian of V, namely the collection of all k-subspaces of V, and put and . Let be the Plücker embedding, mapping a subspace onto the point . The image of via is a well-known projective variety, called a Grassmann variety. Put and . In this paper, we find a tensor equation that, jointly with the equations of , describe as a subset of . The last two sections of the paper are devoted to the following two special cases: (1) f is bilinear and ; (2) f is alternating.
Atomistic study of hydrogen embrittlement of grain boundaries in nickel: II. Decohesion

Atomistic simulations of bicrystal samples containing a grain boundary are used to examine the effect of hydrogen atoms on the nucleation of intergranular cracks in Ni. Specifically, the theoretical strength is obtained by rigid separation of the two crystals above and below the GB and the yield strength (point of dislocation emission) is obtained by standard tension testing normal to the GB. These strengths are computed in pure Ni and Ni with H segregated to the grain boundaries under conditions typical of H embrittlement in Ni, and in artificially highly-H-saturated states. In all GBs studied here, the theoretical strength σ ˆ is not significantly reduced by the presence of the hydrogen atoms. Similarly, with the exception of the Ni Σ 27 ( 115 ) 〈 110 〉 boundary, the yield strength σ y is not significantly altered by the presence of segregated H atoms. In all cases, the theoretical strengths are ∼25 GPa and the yield strengths are ∼10 GPa, so that (i) the theoretical strength is always well above the yield strength, with or without H, and (ii) both strengths are far above the bulk plastic flow stress, σ y B of Ni and Ni alloys. Significant reductions in fracture energy (25%–45%) are only achieved for some of the artificially high-H-segregation cases and then only when all the H around the GB is allow to diffuse locally to the fracture surface, which corresponds to unlikely out-of-equilibrium segregation plus local kinetics. Complementing recent work showing that H does not change the ability of GB cracks to emit dislocations and blunt, the present work indicates that equilibrium segregation of hydrogen atoms to GBs has little effect on lowering the GB strength and energy, and so does not significantly facilitate nucleation of intergranular cracks.