Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessment of advice to reduce dietary fat and non-milk extrinsic sugar in a free-living male population

Abstract Objective To compare the effect of advice to reduce both dietary fat and sugar with advice to reduce fat alone on subsequent dietary intake in Scottish men. Design A parallel design intervention study was employed to measure compliance to the two types of dietary advice. Subjects were randomly assigned to Group 1 (advice to reduce fat and non-milk extrinsic (NME) sugar), Group 2 (advice to reduce fat only, ad libitum sugar) or a control Group 0 (no advice). Compliance was assessed by two 4-day food diaries over 6 months. Setting The study was conducted in the Strathclyde area of Scotland. Subjects Subjects were normal to moderately overweight Scottish men. The men recruited were non-dieting and volunteered for a ‘healthy eating’ study with the aim to improve the ‘healthiness’ of their diet. Results Groups 1 and 2 achieved the dietary target for fat, reducing their mean intake to below 35% energy. Group 1 achieved a statistically significant reduction in percentage energy from NME sugar in the short term (6 weeks), decreasing their mean intake from 9.9% to 7.2% energy. This initial decrease appeared to slip back towards baseline levels at 6 months (8.1% energy from NME sugar) and was no longer significantly different from baseline. At 6 months Group 1 reported a significantly lower mean energy intake than at baseline, whereas Group 2 adjusted for an initial decrease in energy intake and by 6 months energy intakes were not significantly different from baseline intakes. Group 2 appeared to compensate for the absolute reduction in dietary fat with a slight increase in total sugars and the maintenance of NME sugar intakes. Conclusions Subjects in Group 1 complied with advice to reduce both fat and sugar over 6 weeks but to a lesser extent over 6 months. The 1.8% reduction in percentage energy from NME sugars in Group 1 at 6 months may not have reached significance due to the small sample size. Alternatively it may be that free-living populations find it hard to maintain concurrent reductions in fat and sugar owing to the well-documented inverse relationship between intakes of these macronutrients when expressed as a proportion of energy.
A Novel Modulation-Sensing Method

This article introduces the application of automatic modulation classification (AMC) algorithm for the signal sensing and detection of the primary user (PU) in cognitive radio (CR) environments. The algorithm was developed using an artificial neural network (ANN). Computer simulations of 12 combined analog and digitally modulated signals corrupted by additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) have been carried out.
Management of Leaf Rust Disease of Medicinal Plant Justicia gendarussa Burm. F. With Antagonistic Fungi (Trichoderma harzianum)

In this study, antagonistic activity of Trichoderma harzianum against the causal agent of leaf rust of medicinal plant Justicia gendarussa Burm. f. were examined by dual culture technique. This is a common medicinal herb well known for its medicinal properties such as anti arthritic, anti inflammatory, anti oxidant and immunosuppressive activities. This was found to be severely infected by rust diseases caused by Puccinia thwaitesii. The disease was characterized by well defined concave or convex, discolored lesions surrounded by a wide yellow hallo on the adaxial surface and corresponding lesions on the opposite abaxial surface. We isolated and tested Trichoderma harzianum for antagonistic activity. In vitro analysis showed that Trichoderma harzianum inhibited Puccinia thwaitesii by 80% inhibition of radial growth (PIRG). The present study stresses on control of diseases affecting medicinal plants by using biocontrol agents as an attempt for developing environmentally sound method towards disease management.
Mechanisms of Sulfonylurea-lnduced Insulin Release

The mechanisms responsible for the stimulation of insulin release from the pancreatic β-cell by hypoglycemic sulfonylureas are reviewed herein. One hypothesis postulates that these agents act, at the level of the plasma membrane, by causing the closure of a class of K+ channels characterized by their sensitivity to ATP. This may lead to depolarization of the plasma membrane, gating of voltage-sensitive Ca2+ channels, increase in cytosolic Ca2+ activity, and activation of the effector system for insulin release. However, it is not evident that the closure of ATP-sensitive K+ channels accounts for effects of sulfonylureas such as inhibition of K+ inflow into the islet cells, increase in their Na+ content, or even stimulation of Ca2+ inflow and insulin release at physiological or higher concentrations of Dglucose.
A 650 V/150 A enhancement mode GaN-based half-bridge power module for high frequency power conversion systems

Over the past decade, wide bandgap power devices have demonstrated superior electrical and thermal characteristics over Si-based devices at not only the die level but also when integrated into systems. In this paper, a high current 650 V GaN-based power module is presented for high frequency, high power conversion systems. The design and key features of the GaN-based power module are discussed. Both the thermal and electrical characteristics of the GaN-based power module were modeled to estimate the junction-to-case thermal resistance, power loop inductance, and power loop resistance. In addition, the on-state curves, on-resistance, and drain leakage were measured as a function of temperature. The dynamic characteristics were measured to evaluate the fidelity of the transient voltage and current waveforms, switching speeds, and estimate the switching energy losses.
Performance analysis for downlink massive MIMO system with ZF precoding

This paper investigates the performance for the downlink massive multiple‐input multiple‐output system when the base station serves multiple user terminals (UTs) using zero‐forcing precoding. The tight lower bound of average area spectrum efficiency ( A2SE) is derived as a function of the number of transmission antennas, the number of UTs and the equivalent transmission signal‐to‐noise ratio. Regarding the lower bound as the approximate A2SE, the optimal number of UTs maximising the A2SE is attained for given the number of transmission antennas and the equivalent transmission signal‐to‐noise ratio. After formulating the realistic power consumption model in consideration of both the transmission power and circuit power, the trade‐off between energy efficiency (EE) and A2SE is established, and the optimal EE with respect to A2SE is deduced. Moreover, both the outage probability and bit error ratio expressions are derived related to the degrees of freedom, defined as the difference between the number of transmission antennas and the number of UTs. Simulation results coincide to the analysis well, and they indicate that deploying more transmission antennas or multiplexing a rational number of UTs can improve the A2SE and EE, increasing the degrees of freedom will better both the outage probability and bit error ratio. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The genetic control of response to antigenic stimuli.

The level of secondary antibody response to Tobacco Mosaic Virus (T.M.V.) is shown to be a highly heritable characteristic (h2 = 0.876, σ = 0.09) in a cross-bred population of rabbits. The secondary response to Bovine Plasma Albumin (B.P.A.) does not show any such heritability; variation as measured under our experimental conditions could all be assigned to environmental differences. However, diffusion tests demonstrate that this antigen has at least 7 reactive components, 2 of which are due to a globulin contaminant. In these circumstances, it is suggested that the “experimental error” deriving from the complexity of the antigen make any estimation of heritability impossible. A proportion of the rabbit population showed no response to B.P.A. , even when given in massive doses. This failure to produce antibodies is probably due to a recessive gene (or genes) segregating in the population. Animals of this genotype retain the antigen in their circulation for an abnormally long time. Response in normal animals follows immediately on the disappearance of circulating antigen, but this reaction apparently does not occur in the abnormal group. Response to the other antigens tested, except possibly to globulins, was not affected by this “genetic block”. Correlations were found between response to T.M. V. and Diphtheria toxoid (D.t.) (r = 0.5, σ = 0.15) and to T.M. V. and Bovine Red Cells (r = 0.54, σ = 0.24). No correlations could be demonstrated for responses to Shigella Shiga, Bushy Stunt Virus, Human Red Cells, or Tetanus toxoid (T.t.) But the complex nature of these antigens makes this negative evidence inconclusive. Rabbits tested with all these antigens showed a significant tendency to produce related responses to different antigens, suggesting that they have a general predisposition to respond at some inherent level to all antigenic stimuli. Primary and secondary responses to D.t. are shown to be correlated, as are primary responses to D.t. and to T.t. Pregnant or lactating rabbits show a significantly lowered response to D.t. and to T.t. The importance of genetic constitution in determining ability to produce antibodies is discussed, and some of the necessary conditions for further work on this subject are defined.
Random delays to limit on/off covert channel

Covert channels are used for information transmission in a manner that is not intended for communication and is difficult to detect. The authors have proposed and explored the way to counter the leakage of information via covert channels by introducing additional random delays before packets' sending. The main topic of the research is the case when the capacity of the covert channel without error does not exceed the permissible value. In addition, practical recommendations to choose the counteraction parameter values are given.
Definition of restless legs syndrome, how to diagnose it, and how to differentiate it from RLS mimics

Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a clinical diagnosis based primarily on self‐reports of individuals. The International RLS Study Group has published diagnostic criteria that are essential for an operational diagnosis of RLS; further clinical features are considered by the group supportive for or associated with RLS. However, sensitivity and specificity are not perfect and “mimics” of RLS have been reported, i.e., other conditions like nocturnal cramps sometimes can appear to fulfill the essential diagnostic criteria indicating the need for more thorough understanding of the diagnostic criteria and better differential diagnoses. To contribute to the accuracy of diagnostic processes in RLS, we recapitulate the definition of RLS as an urge to move focused on the legs (and arms in some patients). This urge to move often but not always occurs together with dysesthesia, i.e. unpleasant abnormal sensations appearing without any apparent sensory stimulation. The urge to move and any accompanying dysesthesia must be engendered by rest, relieved by movement and worse in the evening or night. Succinctly, RLS can be summarized in medical terminology as a “movement‐responsive quiescegenic nocturnal focal akathisia usually with dysesthesias. ” Empirical approaches to investigate the independence of the essential criteria “worsening at night” and “worsening at rest” are reported. Possible differential diagnoses of RLS are discussed under the perspective of the NIH diagnostic criteria of RLS. Standardized methods to assess a RLS diagnosis are presented which might improve differential diagnosis and in general the reliability and validity of RLS diagnosis. © 2007 Movement Disorder Society
A Novel Design for Polarization-Independent Single-Pump Fiber-Optic Parametric Amplifiers

We propose a novel scheme for designing fiber-optic parametric amplifiers whose operation does not depend on the input signal polarization. In our scheme, four-wave mixing takes place inside a birefringent fiber pumped at 45deg from a principal axis. We show numerically that output power varies by <0.1 dB for arbitrary states of input polarization under practical conditions
An entropy-preserving histogram modification algorithm for image contrast enhancement

Contrast enhancement is one of the most crucial image processing steps for image quality control. Histogram equalization (HE) is a commonly used contrast-enhancement algorithm that stretches the image intensity histogram to enhance contrast indirectly. Because of its simplicity and efficiency, numerous contrast-enhancement methods based on HE have been proposed in recent years. However, although these methods usually focus on improving contrast, other features of the original image are not well-preserved. In this paper, we propose a new HE-based algorithm that enhances image contrast based on an assumption of maximum entropy to maintain other features of image quality. The experimental results verify that our proposed algorithm is optimal for generating enhanced images, according to both quantitative estimation and qualitative human visual inspection.
Analysis of engineered nanomaterials in complex matrices (environment and biota): General considerations and conceptual case studies

Advances in the study of the environmental fate, transport, and ecotoxicological effects of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) have been hampered by a lack of adequate techniques for the detection and quantification of ENMs at environmentally relevant concentrations in complex media. Analysis of ENMs differs from traditional chemical analysis because both chemical and physical forms must be considered. Because ENMs are present as colloidal systems, their physicochemical properties are dependent on their surroundings. Therefore, the simple act of trying to isolate, observe, and quantify ENMs may change their physicochemical properties, making analysis extremely susceptible to artifacts. Many analytical techniques applied in materials science and other chemical/biological/physical disciplines may be applied to ENM analysis as well; however, environmental and biological studies may require that methods be adapted to work at low concentrations in complex matrices. The most pressing research needs are the development of techniques for extraction, cleanup, separation, and sample storage that introduce minimal artifacts to increase the speed, sensitivity, and specificity of analytical techniques, as well as the development of techniques that can differentiate between abundant, naturally occurring particles, and manufactured nanoparticles. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 2012;31:32–49. © 2011 SETAC
Enhanced perisomatic inhibition and impaired long‐term potentiation in the CA1 region of juvenile CHL1‐deficient mice

The cell adhesion molecule, CHL1, like its close homologue L1, is important for normal brain development and function. In this study, we analysed the functional role of CHL1 in synaptic transmission in the CA1 region of the hippocampus using juvenile CHL1‐deficient (CHL1–/–) and wild‐type (CHL1+/+) mice. Inhibitory postsynaptic currents evoked in pyramidal cells by minimal stimulation of perisomatically projecting interneurons were increased in CHL1–/– mice compared with wild‐type littermates. Also, long‐term potentiation (LTP) at CA3–CA1 excitatory synapses was reduced under physiological conditions in CHL1‐/– mice. This abnormality was abolished by application of a GABAA receptor antagonist, suggesting that enhanced inhibition is the cause of LTP impairment. Quantitative ultrastructural and immunohistochemical analyses revealed aberrations possibly related to the abnormally high inhibition observed in CHL1–/– mice. The length and linear density of active zones in symmetric synapses on pyramidal cell bodies, as well as number of perisomatic puncta containing inhibitory axonal markers were increased. Density and total number of parvalbumin‐positive interneurons was also abnormally high. These observations and the finding that CA1 interneurons express CHL1 protein indicate that CHL1 is important for regulation of inhibitory synaptic transmission and interneuron populations in the postnatal brain. The observed enhancement of inhibitory transmission in CHL1–/– mice is in contrast to the previous finding of reduced inhibition in L1 deficient mice and indicates different functions of these two closely related molecules.
Optimisation of the protocol for detection of Aeromonas species in ready-to-eat salads, and its use to speciate isolates and establish their prevalence.

Aeromonas spp. are detected in more than 500 cases of gastrointestinal infection each year in England and Wales. This study aimed to identify their prevalence in ready-to-eat salads, which are a potential source of aeromonas infection. The protocol for isolation of mesophilic Aeromonas spp. from salads was optimised. Using the improved method, Aeromonas spp were isolated from 19 of 25 samples (25 g) of ready-to-eat salad products. Aeromonas organisms were counted, isolates were identified to species level, and the effect of pH on colonisation of salads was assessed. Aeromonas was present at high levels in six salads (> or = 100 cfu/g). The major species present in salads was Aeromonas caviae, but A.hydrophila and A.sobria, which have more pathogenic potential, were also isolated. It is hoped that this study will help to assess the risk to public health of aeromonas in salads.
The Detection of Breast Cancer Based on Dynamic Feature Selection with EM-Bayesian Ensemble Classifier

When solving the problem in Computer Assisted Detection by the approach of Pattern Recognition, the lesion data always exhibited high-dimensional and inhomogeneous, which makes most of the traditional classifiers can not performance very well. In this paper, a novel approach based on the Dynamic Feature Subset Selection and the EM algorithm with Naive Bayesian classifier integration algorithm (DSFS+EMNB) is proposed. The experimental results demonstrated that this method significantly outperforms the other methods like SVM and other traditional classification methods in terms of average accuracy, as well as generality.
Compact Structure With Three Attenuation Poles for Improving Stopband Characteristics

A novel compact structure with three controllable finite attenuation poles at stopband is presented. The new structure is composed of a pair of symmetrical parallel coupled-lines and a capacitive load. With this configuration, three finite attenuation poles are available, which can improve the stopband characteristics of low-pass filters (LPFs) or the upper stopband performances of band-pass filters. The research method is based on a transmission-line model for tuning the finite attenuation poles. In order to examine the feasibility of the proposed structure, a new type of LPF with broad stopband and sharp cutoff frequency response is designed, fabricated, and measured. The experimental results of the fabricated circuit agree well with the simulation and analytical ones
Boundary contraction training for acoustic models based on discrete deep neural networks

The boundary contraction training for acoustic models based on deep neural networks in a discrete system (discrete DNNs) is presented in this paper. Representing the parameters of DNNs with small bits (such as 4 bits) can reduce not only memory usage but also computational complexity by utilizing a CPU cache and look-up tables efﬁciently. However, simply quantizing parameters of the normal continuous DNNs degrades the recognition accuracy seriously. We tackle this problem by developing a specialized training algorithm for discrete DNNs. In our al-gorithm, continuous DNNs with boundary constraint are ﬁrst trained, and the trained parameters are then quantized to meet the representation of discrete DNNs. When training continuous DNNs, we introduce the boundary contraction mapping to shrink the distribution of parameters for reducing the quantization error. In our experiments with 4-bit discrete DNNs, while simply quantizing normally trained DNNs degrades the word accuracy by more than 50 points, our method can maintain the high word accuracy of DNNs with only two points degradation.
Whole-Genome Sequencing Suggests Schizophrenia Risk Mechanisms in Humans with 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

Chromosome 22q11.2 microdeletions impart a high but incomplete risk for schizophrenia. Possible mechanisms include genome-wide effects of DGCR8 haploinsufficiency. In a proof-of-principle study to assess the power of this model, we used high-quality, whole-genome sequencing of nine individuals with 22q11.2 deletions and extreme phenotypes (schizophrenia, or no psychotic disorder at age >50 years). The schizophrenia group had a greater burden of rare, damaging variants impacting protein-coding neurofunctional genes, including genes involved in neuron projection (nominal P = 0.02, joint burden of three variant types). Variants in the intact 22q11.2 region were not major contributors. Restricting to genes affected by a DGCR8 mechanism tended to amplify between-group differences. Damaging variants in highly conserved long intergenic noncoding RNA genes also were enriched in the schizophrenia group (nominal P = 0.04). The findings support the 22q11.2 deletion model as a threshold-lowering first hit for schizophrenia risk. If applied to a larger and thus better-powered cohort, this appears to be a promising approach to identify genome-wide rare variants in coding and noncoding sequence that perturb gene networks relevant to idiopathic schizophrenia. Similarly designed studies exploiting genetic models may prove useful to help delineate the genetic architecture of other complex phenotypes.
Dependent Interval 2-Tuple Linguistic Aggregation Operators and Their Application to Multiple Attribute Group Decision Making

Consider the various types of uncertain preference information provided by the decision makers and the importance of determining the associated weights for the aggregation operator, the multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) methods based on some dependent interval 2-tuple linguistic aggregation operators are proposed in this paper. Firstly some operational laws and possibility degree of interval 2-tuple linguistic variables are introduced. Then, we develop a dependent interval 2-tuple weighted averaging (DITWA) operator and a dependent interval 2-tuple weighted geometric (DITWG) operator, in which the associated weights only depend on the aggregated interval 2-tuple arguments and can relieve the influence of unfair arguments on the aggregated results by assigning low weights to them. Based on the DITWA and the DITWG operators, some approaches for multiple attribute group decision making with interval 2-tuple linguistic information are proposed. Finally, an illustrative example is given to demonstrate the practicality and effectiveness of the proposed approaches.
Dielectric Breakdown Process of Polymers

Much experimental work has been done on the dielectric breakdown of solid dielectrics, and a number of breakdown theories have been proposed. Many problems, however, still remain on the breakdown process of polymers. Here, the breakdown process of polymers are discussed from the standpoint of the inherent properties of polymers such as chemical structure, structural irregularities, the presence of additives, molecular motion, and so on. Further, as for the long-time breakdown processes of polymer insulation systems, electrical degradations caused by (PD) and treeing breakdown have been mentioned as important factors. Using experimental results obtained in our laboratory together with those presented by others, our considerations for fundamental processes of electrical degradation are reported. Also, the behavior of dc trees caused by space charge accumulation are discussed with the nature of carrier injection and trapping in polymers, which are estimated by TSC and TL measurements.