Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of agricultural practices on terrestrial isopods: a review

Abstract Terrestrial isopods (approximately 3700 known species in the world) are encountered in temperate and tropical regions, from the seashore to high altitudes and from floodplain forests to deserts. They are known to contribute to soil biodiversity. Environmental factors and anthropogenic actions, particularly land use changes such as primarily agricultural practices, and urbanization affect soil biodiversity and their functions. Human practices, such as soil tillage, pesticide application, chemical pollution, along with soil acidification adversely affect isopod abundance and diversity. It is thus important to recognise the vital contributions of soil biodiversity in support of environmental quality protection through maintaining soil functions and their significance to sustainable land use. This review will also deal with recent studies attempting to evaluate the impact of returning to an environmentally friendly agriculture by restoring refuge habitats such as grass strips, hedges, and woodlands for terrestrial isopods.
Advanced gastric cancer: the value of surgery

Gastric cancer is a common disease with high mortality. The definition of advanced gastric cancer is still debated. Radical surgery associated to appropriate systemic and intra-abdominal chemotherapy is the gold standard treatment. In presence of peritoneal carcinosis, reaching a complete cytoreduction is the key to achieve long-term survival. Adequate lymphadenectomy is also fundamental. Conversion therapy could be applied to selected IV stage patients. No definitive evidences exist regarding the oncological and surgical superiority of mini-invasive approaches over the classical open techniques. (www.actabiomedica.it)
Feature Analysis of Electroencephalography in Patients with Depression

Recently many people are suffering from mental illnesses like depression worldwide. Although they are ambiguous and have difficulties in grasping the states of patients, in fact they lower their quality of life. The total loss of economics, life and quality of life by depression is big enough that it cannot be ignored. It is important for the patients to recover from depression and also for the healthy controls not to become depression. So correct diagnosis and treatment are essential for the people. In actual clinical field, incorrectness of diagnosis is now regarded as issue. To construct an objective way of evaluation on depression, we set a goal of extraction of features in depressive electroencephalography (EEG). Unlike other studies in this field, this study has mainly two points of unique. Firstly, this feature analysis is using signal from just one channel located in frontal lobe (Fp1). Secondly, the acquisition of EEG was conducted during actual clinical inquiry or under similar situation. After the experiment, EEG of both depression patients and healthy controls were compared through two-sample t-test.
Adaptive Gain Control law for Visual Servoing of 6DOF Robot Manipulator

Visual servoing is the most advanced topic in the field of robotics since the visual feedback provides the real time recognition of the environment. The main advantage that a controller should possess is the speed of operation especially controllers used in industrial applications. In this paper, a variable gain control law which is adaptive in nature is proposed which will reduce the time of convergence of image based visual servoing(IBVS) operation. A comparative study on traditional and proposed control law shows the performance of adaptive gain visual servoing for 6 DOF robot manipulator.
Echogenic alteration in the raphe nuclei measured by transcranial sonography in patients with Parkinson disease and depression

Background: Recently, several studies using transcranial sonography (TCS) have demonstrated reduced echogenicity of the mesencephalic midline in unipolar depression and patients with comorbid depression and Parkinson disease (PD). However, there is no consensus on the conclusion that raphe nuclei (RN) hypoechogenicity is associated with depression in PD. The methods used in previous studies lack quantitative and objective indicators to some extent; therefore, the present study used the level of platelet 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) as an objective indicator of depression. Additionally, the reason for the reduced echogenicity of the brainstem raphe is still unclear. Objectives: The purpose of the present study was to assess the correlation between alterations in RN echogenicity and depressive symptoms in patients with PD using transcranial sonography (TCS). This information could provide a meaningful clinical reference for the antidiastole between depressive symptoms in PD and unipolar depression in patients with PD in whom depressive symptoms occur before motor symptoms. Methods: TCS was performed in patients with PD, patients with PD and depression, patients with depression and no PD, and healthy controls. Using the red nucleus as a reference, the RN was rated from grades 0 to 1 (grade 0: invisible, slightly echogenic, or interrupted RN; grade 1: hyperechogenicity in the RN observed as a continuous line). Results: The rate of abnormal RN (grade 0) was found to be 16.67% in patients with PD (5/30) and 14.29% in healthy controls (4/28). The presence of abnormal RN was significantly higher (&khgr;2 = 15.983, P < .05) in patients with depression and PD (40%, 12/30) and in patients with depression only (58.33%, 14/24) than in those without depression and healthy controls. No correlation was found between RN changes and depression severity (P > .05). There were no statistical differences in the concentration of platelet serotonin among the 4 groups (P > .05). Conclusions: TCS of the mesencephalic midline may be useful for detecting depression, which is an early symptom of PD. However, further neuropathological studies are needed to understand the principles underlying the use of platelet serotonin as a peripheral biomarker, as well as the connection between PD and depression.
An Analysis of the Reading Achievement of White and Negro Pupils in Certain Public Schools of Georgia

The extreme urgency for effective reading instruction in the public schools is recognized by both school personnel and lay persons. Skill in reading is inextricably woven into all facets of the school program. It is obvious that a pupil's success in social studies, science, arithmetic, and other content areas depends to a considerable degree upon his efficiency in reading. This dependency upon reading as a tool of learning is sufficient reason for concern relative to the effectiveness with which this skill is taught. In addition to its use in school, reading plays a most important role in the life of adults, who use reading constantly in their vocations, for personal reasons, and, in a significant measure, as a tool of citizenship. The American way of life depends upon a populace which can and does read.
The Retrieval of Synchrophasors using Chirps

This paper describes a cost-effective and robust method of transporting synchrophasor information (voltage, current and phase angle) from many positions on a distribution network to a central point. The method stops short of digitising the scaled outputs of voltage and current transducers, instead using these outputs to drive directly a Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO). The VCO generates an output frequency proportional to the input voltage. The generated waveform is a series of repeating chirps with a maximum frequency related to the peak value of the voltage or current being monitored. This waveform is immediately coupled to the power line, propagates through the network, and received at a central point. The received signal is filtered into the various sub-channels and Hilbert transformed to transform back to the original power frequency waveform. Extending the method to include numerous local measurement points and a parallel stream of signal processing channels at the receiver enables an inexpensive synchrophasor solution for distribution networks.
A General Framework for Querying Possibilistic RDF Data

Data on the Web is often pervaded with uncertainty. This is due to the openness of the Web and variety of sources which makes reliability of collected data questionable. In this paper, we address the Resource Description Framework (RDF) data uncertainty problem. Uncertainty here is represented by the rich possibility theory. To this end, we describe a general framework for supporting SPARQL-like queries on possibilistic RDF data, that we denote Pi-SPARQL. To describe possibilistic requirements, Pi-SPARQL extends SPARQL in the following two ways. First, it allows expressing possibility degrees to RDF based applications in an easy manner by associating the solutions for graph patterns with possibility measures. Then, Pi-SPARQL proposes appropriate semantics of the solution mappings and evaluation, i.e., it enables users to deal with uncertain RDF data specifications and access the possibility measures associated to the solutions.
Ultra-Compact Tunable Filtering Rat-Race Coupler Based on Half-Mode SIW Evanescent-Mode Cavity Resonators

In this paper, for the first time, an ultra-compact frequency-tunable filtering rat-race coupler based on half-mode evanescent-mode (EVA) cavity resonators is presented. Employing EVA cavity resonators in the coupler design yields attractive characteristics, such as a wide tuning range and a wide spurious-free range, while also adding filtering functionality to the device. The presented coupler is synthesized as a two pole bandpass filter using the coupling matrix method. Then, the coupling coefficients are mapped to a coupler topology. Design, simulations, and experimental validation are presented. The implemented rat-race coupler has a very compact size [<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.14\lambda _{g}\times 0.14\lambda _{g} $ </tex-math></inline-formula> (<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\lambda _{g}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at 885 MHz)] achieving a 92% miniaturization in the structure footprint compared to the conventional planar one. The coupler has an 86% tuning range ranging between 0.885–1.65 GHz. Throughout the tuning range, the coupler shows an equal power splitting ratio and filtering profile with a measured insertion loss and 3-dB fractional bandwidth between 5 and 4.2 dB and 6.8% and 8%, respectively. The measured isolation is better than 30 dB. In addition, the coupler has a measured spurious-free range of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10. 2f_{o}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (at the lowest frequency) to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5. 45f_{o}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> (at the highest frequency).
Puumala Hantavirus Genotypes in Humans, France, 2012–2016

The analysis of the nucleoprotein gene of 77 Puumala hantavirus strains detected in human samples in France during 2012–2016 showed that all belonged to the Central European lineage. We observed 2 main clusters, geographically structured; one included strains with the Q64 signature and the other strains with the R64 signature.
Parasite Recognition and Signaling Mechanisms in Innate Immune Responses to Malaria

Malaria caused by the Plasmodium family of parasites, especially P.falciparum and P. vivax, is a major health problem in many countries in the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The disease presents a wide array of systemic clinical conditions and several life-threatening organ pathologies, including the dreaded cerebral malaria. Like many other infectious diseases, malaria is an inflammatory response-driven disease, and positive outcomes to infection depend on finely tuned regulation of immune responses that efficiently clear parasites and allow protective immunity to develop. Immune responses initiated by the innate immune system in response to parasites play key roles both in protective immunity development and pathogenesis. Initial pro-inflammatory responses are essential for clearing infection by promoting appropriate cell-mediated and humoral immunity. However, elevated and prolonged pro-inflammatory responses owing to inappropriate cellular programming contribute to disease conditions. A comprehensive knowledge of the molecular and cellular mechanisms that initiate immune responses and how these responses contribute to protective immunity development or pathogenesis is important for developing effective therapeutics and/or a vaccine. Historically, in efforts to develop a vaccine, immunity to malaria was extensively studied in the context of identifying protective humoral responses, targeting proteins involved in parasite invasion or clearance. The innate immune response was thought to be non-specific. However, during the past two decades, there has been a significant progress in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of host-parasite interactions and the associated signaling in immune responses to malaria. Malaria infection occurs at two stages, initially in the liver through the bite of a mosquito, carrying sporozoites, and subsequently, in the blood through the invasion of red blood cells by merozoites released from the infected hepatocytes. Soon after infection, both the liver and blood stage parasites are sensed by various receptors of the host innate immune system resulting in the activation of signaling pathways and production of cytokines and chemokines. These immune responses play crucial roles in clearing parasites and regulating adaptive immunity. Here, we summarize the knowledge on molecular mechanisms that underlie the innate immune responses to malaria infection.
AUTOSAR Runnable Scheduling for Optimal Tradeoff between Control Performance and CPU Utilization

Automobile control systems should be designed for optimal control performance through efficiently utilizing its underlying hardware resources like CPU. For this purpose, lots of real-time scheduling and system optimization methods have been developed. However, most of these researches assume that the unit of software is a real-time task and its period and deadline is freely adjustable. However, in practice, AUTOSAR, the de-facto standard automobile software architecture, organizes a control system as a collection of runnables, which is a much smaller unit of functions compared to task. Moreover, a sensing-to-actuation control loop is composed of a chain of runnables, which makes end-to-end delay analysis more complex. With this motivation, this paper formulates a runnable scheduling problem as an integer programming finding optimal runnable periods that maximizes the control performance with a given linear-approximate control cost function.
Bilingual phonological acquisition: the influence of language-internal, language-external, and lexical factors

Abstract This study examines the influence of language-internal (frequency and complexity of linguistic properties), language-external (percent French input, socioeconomic status (SES), and gender), and lexical factors (size of total and French vocabulary) on the phonological production abilities of monolingual and bilingual French-speaking children, aged 2;6. Children participated in an object and picture naming task in which they produced words selected to test different phonological properties. The bilinguals’ first languages were coded in terms of the frequency and complexity of these phonological properties. Results indicated that bilinguals who spoke languages characterized by high frequency/complexity of codas and clusters had superior results in their coda and cluster accuracy in comparison to monolinguals. Bilinguals also had better coda and cluster accuracy scores than monolinguals. These findings provide evidence for cross-linguistic interaction in combination with a ‘general bilingual effect’. In addition, percent French exposure, SES, total vocabulary, and gender influenced phonological production.
A Survey on computation of neighbouring nodes and malicious nodes in all direction with single directional antenna

This paper presents various issues caused by the attack of malicious node. In this paper we compare different techniques which is used for the computation of neighboring nodes and malicious nodes using directional antenna. Since directional antenna has so many advantages compared to other traditional antenna this topic has great relevant. The different techiques are obtained from the literature survey done on the earliest papers. The mainly two type of attacks are introduced in this survey paper are black hole attack and worm hole attack.
AFM Tip Position Control in situ for Effective Nanomanipulation

The spatial uncertainties of atomic force microscope (AFM) tip position hinder the development of the AFM-based nanomanipulation. These uncertainties cannot be corrected at nanoscale using the traditional position sensor, which is used in the macro robot localization. As for that problem, we propose that the AFM tip is used as the sensor to detect the landmark in the sample surface via a local-scan-based motion. The landmark positions are used to estimate the tip position in the task frame. The local-scan-based observation model is built on the foundation of the tip motion model. These model parameters are calibrated using statistical experiments. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed method can improve the accuracy of the tip position. Then, the influence of the tip position accuracy is analyzed by using nanomanipulation results of the experiments. Furthermore, three important factors in AFM tip based nanomanipulation are discussed. The landmark domain as the first factor is analyzed for assurance of the tip accuracy before nanomanipulation. The second one is studying the contact characteristics between the nanoparticle and the substrate by detecting nanomanipulation force. The last one is taking the tip shape into account for effective manipulation through fine-tuning the tip offset. Finally, the experimental results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method for fabricating the nanostructures and devices.
Seroepidemiology of Parechovirus A3 Neutralizing Antibodies, Australia, the Netherlands, and United States

Recent parechovirus A3 (PeV-A3) outbreaks in Australia suggest lower population immunity compared with regions that have endemic PeV-A3 circulation. A serosurvey among populations in the Netherlands, the United States, and Australia before and after the 2013 Australia outbreak showed high PeV-A3 neutralizing antibody prevalence across all regions and time periods, indicating widespread circulation.
Higher Viral Load of Emerging Norovirus GII.P16-GII.2 than Pandemic GII.4 and Epidemic GII.17, Hong Kong, China

We compared viral load of emerging recombinant norovirus GII.P16-GII.2 with those for pandemic GII.Pe-GII.4 and epidemic GII.P17-GII.17 genotypes among inpatients in Hong Kong. Viral load of GII.P16-GII.2 was higher than those for other genotypes in different age groups. GII.P16-GII.2 is as replication competent as the pandemic genotype, explaining its high transmissibility and widespread circulation.
EPPY based Building Co-Simulation for Model Predictive Control of HVAC Optimization

Model Predictive Control (MPC) has received significant attention recently with its promises of enhancing energy efficiency in buildings and the most common mean of testing MPC is to integrate the controller into a high fidelity building simulation software such as EnergyPlus. Therefore, various toolboxes have been introduced to facilitate the co-simulation between EnergyPlus and MATLAB such that minimal understanding of Energy Plus is required. However, these toolboxes can frequently be outdated and incompatible with newer releases of EnergyPlus or MATLAB, leading to unnecessary technical problems for its users. Hence, we propose a methodology for simulating controller design in EnergyPlus that can be lasting through the use of Python as a medium. Despite differences in syntax, Python and MATLAB share much similarities and shall pose little difficulty to engineers familiar with MATLAB. To verify the proposed methodology, a simulation is carried out an MPC controller designed to minimize energy consumption while guaranteeing comfort bound under an occupancy schedule. Compared to a fixed-scheduled controller, the MPC controller shows a better performance with respect to the energy consumption of the HVAC system designed in EnergyPlus.
Pulmonary Artery Systolic Pressure Measured Intraoperatively by Right Heart Catheterization Is a Predictor of Kidney Transplant Recipient Survival

Background The effect of pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) measured by Swan-Ganz right heart catheter (SG-RHC) on kidney transplant recipient survival has not been previously studied. The objective of this study was to assess the relationships between PASP measured via SG-RHC, done intraoperatively at the time of initiating anesthesia at the beginning of kidney transplant surgery, and patient survival. Multiple comorbidities, time on dialysis before the transplantation, and graft function were also analyzed in our study. Material/Methods This was a retrospective cohort study using data from all consecutive patients undergoing kidney transplant between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2009 at Tampa General Hospital. Kidney transplant recipients were divided into 2 groups: Group 1 with PASP <35 mmHg and group 2 with PASP ≥35 mmHg. Patients and graft survival data, time on dialysis before transplant, and comorbidities were compared between the 2 groups. Results Only 363 patients were found to have a documented PASP measurement at the time of anesthesia induction for the transplant surgery, and were included in the specific analysis of our study. Patients with PASP ≥35 mmHg showed a significant decrease in survival in comparison to patients having PASP values <35 mmHg (HR 1.88; 95% CI 1.012 to 3.47, P=0.04). There was a significant positive correlation between time on dialysis and PASP (rho 0.20; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.30, p<0.001), as well as a significant difference in median time on dialysis between PASP <35 vs. PASP ≥35 (22 vs. 29 months, p=0.004). There were no significant differences in graft failure between the 2 PASP groups (HR 0.34; 95% CI 0.12 to 1.01, P=0.05). Conclusions Patients with PASP ≥35 mmHg, measured intraoperatively by SG-RHC, showed significantly shorter survival in comparison to patients having PASP values <35 mmHg. This result suggests the need for a randomized controlled trial to address the importance of post-transplant pulmonary hypertension management in patient survival.
Design Methodology of a Tunable Waveguide Filter With a Constant Absolute Bandwidth Using a Single Tuning Element

This paper presents a novel configuration for a high-Q tunable waveguide (WG) filter with a constant absolute bandwidth (BW). The key feature of this filter is that it is tuned by a single tuning element. This paper investigates the theory of coupling behavior of single septum and double septa to achieve constant absolute BW. The theory is presented for both the coupling matrix-based and inverter-based filter topologies. The filter design methodology is lucidly presented covering the design strategy adopted for interresonator coupling, input–output coupling and tuning element. The tuning mechanism of the proposed filter is explained with measurement results presented for a $Ku$ -band tunable WG filter designed at 15 GHz with a 2% BW to achieve 15% tuning range. The filter promises to be useful in emerging 5G millimeter-wave applications, where the filter size is very small to accommodate many mechanical tuning elements. Furthermore, the proposed design methodology is scalable, i.e., the tuning mechanism is independent of the filter order.