Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
WIND ENERGY MAPPING USING SYNTHETIC APERTURE RADAR

Wind energy off-shore is gaining much interest due to the high wind power potentials. The need is to map wind climatology and regional wind patterns in coastal regions. In the WEMSAR (Wind Energy Mapping using Synthetic Aperture Radar) project three European sites will be covered near Norway, Denmark and Italy. Data to be used are from the ERS-2 C-band scatterometer with a 50 km resolution, from ERS-2 Ku-band and Topex Poseidon Ku-Band altimeter with a 7 km resolution and from SAR. The SAR data will be block averaged into 400 m resolution from ERS-2 C_VV, Radarsat C_HH and Envisat ASAR C_VV and C_HH beginning year 2000. For SAR data, the algorithm CMOD IFRE2 (Institute Francaise de Recherche pour L’Exploitation de la Mer) is used based on 3433 collocated pairs of buoys of NOAA and ECMWF (European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts) with the accuracy of ∀2 m/s for a single retrieval. In the validation part of the WEMSAR project for wind energy retrieval, the ESA SAR (SAR.PRI (precision image format)) will be used because of the need for absolute calibration. Validation data are from long-term off-shore and coastal meteorological masts at the sites. Some masts are dedicated to wind power measurements including the roughness of sea and wave height. Optimal validation is crucial as wind energy varies with the third power of the wind speed. Also, the 10 or 19.5 m wind speeds will have to be calculated into 50-100 m height, i.e. the hub height of modern 600-1500 kW wind turbines. This calculation includes stability correction of the wind profiles. Wind analysis at mesoscale (1 km grid) with the non-hydrostatic KAMM (Karlsruhe Atmospheric Mesoscale Model) and WAsP (the Risoe Wind Atlas Analysis and Application Program) for micro-siting will be used. The aim is to link from meteorological mast data to spatial mapping of the wind energy potential based on satellite SAR data in coastal areas.
Directional Distance Transforms and Height Field Preprocessing for Efficient Ray Tracing

It is known that height field ray tracing efficiency can be improved if the empty space above the height field surface is first parameterized in terms of apex heights and opening angles of inverted cones of empty space whose vertical axes are regularly spaced. Once such a parameterization has been performed, rays can be traversed in steps across inverted cones of empty space rather than across successive height field grid cells. As the cone opening angles increase, ray tracing efficiency tends to improve because steps along rays across the inverted cones get longer. Circular horizontal cross-sections of an inverted cone can be divided into contiguous nonoverlapping sectors. Given that the inverted cones can contain nothing but empty space, the maximum possible opening angle within any such sector may significantly exceed the opening angle of the inverted cone. It is shown that ray tracing efficiency can be significantly improved by replacing the inverted cones of empty space with cones that have narrow sectors. It is also known that the parameters of the inverted cones can be derived from distance transforms (DTs) of successive horizontal cross-sections of the height field. Each cross-section can be represented as a 2D binary array, whose DT gives the distance from each element to the nearest element of value 1. DTs can be directionalized by requiring the element of value 1 closest to a given element to lie within a sector emanating from that given element. The parameters of inverted cones within specific sectors can be derived from such directional DTs. An efficient new algorithm for generating directional DTs is introduced.
Phenotypic and Genotypic Characteristics of Streptococcus porcinus Isolated from Human Sources

ABSTRACT The phenotypic and genotypic characteristics of 25 Streptococcus porcinus isolates recovered from human sources were investigated and compared to the characteristics of 17 reference strains obtained from nonhuman sources. All of the S. porcinus isolates were beta-hemolytic (wide zones), susceptible to vancomycin, gave positive results for the leucine aminopeptidase and l-pyrrolidonylarylamidase tests, and produced acids from mannitol and sorbitol. Most of them were positive for the CAMP test and resistant to bacitracin. The isolates were susceptible to most of the 14 antimicrobials tested, except for tetracycline, for which 80% of the human isolates and 35.2% of the nonhuman strains were resistant. The tet(M) and the tet(O) genes were detected in 23 (88.5%) and 8 (30.8%) of the 26 tetracycline-resistant isolates, respectively. Analysis of whole-cell protein profiles obtained after sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed a high similarity among the profiles. Chromosomal DNA was analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) after digestion with SmaI and by random(ly) amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR using primer 1254. Analysis of SmaI-restricted genomic DNA revealed the substantial genetic diversity among S. porcinus isolates from nonhuman sources, which were also serologically more diverse. Most of the human isolates belonged to serogroup NG1 and shared highly related PFGE profiles that were distinct from profiles of isolates from nonhuman sources. These results were in agreement with those obtained by analysis of amplicons after RAPD-PCR, indicating the potential ability of these techniques for typing S. porcinus and suggesting the occurrence of a few clonal groups of S. porcinus strains adapted to the human host.
Comparison of nephrotoxicities of different polyoxyethyleneglycol formulations of amphotericin B in rats

The aim of the present study was to assess whether amphotericin B (AmB)-Myrj 59, AmB-polyoxyethyleneglycol 24 cholesterol (PC), and AmB-Synperonic A50 (SA50) were less nephrotoxic than AmB-deoxycholate (DC). Rats were treated with the different AmB formulations (10 mg/kg of body weight) intraperitoneally or with the surfactants alone. A group of control rats receiving the vehicle was also examined. After 6 days of daily intraperitoneal injections of AmB-DC, decreased body weight and glomerular filtration rate as well as increased degree of diuresis, uremia, microalbuminuria, and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase excretion in urine were noted. Urinary excretion of potassium and sodium was also decreased in AmB-DC-treated rats. Most of these effects were more pronounced with AmB-PC and AmB-SA50. In contrast, AmB-Myrj 59 was less nephrotoxic than AmB-DC. Indeed, after 6 days of treatment with AmB-Myrj 59, the natriuria, kaliuria, albuminuria, and glomerular filtration rates were unchanged compared with those of controls. Moreover, the body weight loss and uremia increase of the rats treated by AmB-Myrj 59 were less than those of the rats treated with the commercial preparation. Among the surfactants, only PC was toxic for the rats. The intrinsic toxicity of PC and the higher systemic exposure to AmB could contribute to increased toxicities of AmB-PC and AmB-SA50, respectively. AmB-Myrj 59 was less nephrotoxic than AmB-DC at equivalent areas under the plasma concentration-time curves. These preliminary results suggest that this formulation could be a good alternative to the commercial product.
Exacerbation of radiocontrast nephrotoxicity by endothelin receptor antagonism.

BACKGROUND Endothelin is a potent vasoconstrictor that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of radiocontrast nephrotoxicity. Endothelin antagonists may reduce the renal hemodynamic abnormalities following radiocontrast administration. METHODS One hundred fifty-eight patients with chronic renal insufficiency [mean serum creatinine +/- SD = 2.7 +/- 1.0 mg/dL (242. 3 to +/- 92.8 micromol/L)] and undergoing cardiac angiography were randomized to receive either a mixed endothelin A and B receptor antagonist, SB 290670, or placebo. All patients received intravenous hydration with 0.45% saline before and after radiocontrast administration. Serum creatinine concentrations were measured at baseline, 24 hours, 48 hours, and 3 to 5 days after radiocontrast administration. The primary end point was the mean change in serum creatinine concentration from baseline at 48 hours; the secondary end point was the incidence of radiocontrast nephrotoxicity, defined as an increase in serum creatinine of > or =0.5 mg/dL (44 micromol/L) or > or = 25% from baseline within 48 hours of radiocontrast administration. RESULTS The mean increase in serum creatinine 48 hours after angiography was higher in the SB 209670 group [0.7 +/- 0. 7 mg/dL (63.5 +/- 58.6 micromol/L)] than in the placebo group [0.4 +/- 0.6 mg/dL (33.6 +/- 55.1 micromol/L), P = 0.002]. The incidence of radiocontrast nephrotoxicity was also higher in the SB 209670 group (56%) compared with placebo (29%, P = 0.002). This negative effect of SB 209670 was apparent in both diabetic and nondiabetic patients. Adverse effects, especially hypotension or decreased blood pressure, were more common in the SB 209670 group. CONCLUSIONS In patients with chronic renal insufficiency who were undergoing cardiac angiography, endothelin receptor antagonism with SB 209670 and intravenous hydration exacerbate radiocontrast nephrotoxicity compared with hydration alone.
A Caenorhabditis elegans homologue of hunchback is required for late stages of development but not early embryonic patterning.

We have cloned a Caenorhabditis elegans homologue of the Drosophila gap gene hunchback (hb) and have designated it hbl-1 (hunchback-like). hbl-1 encodes a predicted 982-amino-acid protein, containing two putative zinc-finger domains similar to those of Drosophila Hunchback. The gene is transcribed embryonically, but unlike the maternally expressed Drosophila hb, its mRNA is not detected in C. elegans oocytes. A hbl-1::gfp reporter is expressed primarily in ectodermal cells during embryonic and larval development. Double-stranded RNA-interference (RNAi) was used to indicate hbl-1 loss-of-function phenotypes. Progeny of hbl-1(RNAi) hermaphrodites exhibit a range of defects; the most severely affected progeny arrest as partially elongated embryos or as hatching, misshapen L1 larvae. Animals that survive to adulthood exhibit variably dumpy (Dpy), uncoordinated (Unc), and egg-laying defective (Egl) phenotypes, as well as defects in vulval morphology (Pvl). Abnormal organization of hypodermal cells and expression of a hypodermal marker in hbl-1(RNAi) animals suggests that most of the phenotypes observed could be due to improper specification of hypodermal cells. The pattern of hbl-1 expression is similar to that reported for the leech hunchback homologue Lzf-2, suggesting that these proteins may have similar biological functions in diverse species with cellular embryos.
Effectiveness RCT of a CBT intervention for youths who lost parents in the Sichuan, China, earthquake.

OBJECTIVE Many children who lost parents in the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan Province, China, experienced symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. This randomized controlled study compared the treatment effectiveness of short-term cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with a general supportive intervention and with a control group of nontreatment. METHODS; Thirty-two Chinese adolescents were randomly assigned to three treatment groups. Participants were compared for psychological resilience (Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale), symptoms of PTSD (Children's Revised Impact of Events Scale), and depression (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale) at baseline, after treatment, and three-month follow-up. RESULTS CBT was effective in reducing PTSD and depressive symptoms and improved psychological resilience. General support was more effective than no intervention in improving psychological resilience. CONCLUSIONS Short-term CBT group intervention seems to be a robust intervention for natural disaster victims. Short-term CBT group intervention was more effective than the general supportive intervention and the no-treatment group in enhancing psychological resilience and reducing PTSD and depression among adolescents who had lost parents in the earthquake. The general supportive intervention was effective only in improving psychological resilience.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Growth in Breast Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review

Breast cancer, potentially a traumatic stressor, may be accompanied by negative outcomes, such as posttraumatic stress disorder or positive changes, such as posttraumatic growth. The authors reviewed 24 studies published from 1990 to 2010 that measured posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth in women with breast cancer, in terms of frequency rates, factors associated with posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth, and their interrelationships. A relatively small percentage of women experienced posttraumatic stress disorder, while the majority of them reported posttraumatic growth. Age, education, economic status, subjective appraisal of the threat of the disease, treatment, support from significant others, and positive coping strategies were among the most frequently reported factors associated with these phenomena. Moreover, posttraumatic stress disorder and posttraumatic growth were not related. Future research should shed more light on posttraumatic growth and posttraumatic stress disorder among women with breast cancer, the parameters that influence them, and their possible relationship.
An industrial deployment of a real time power aware scheduler

Feature content of modern mobile devices is increasing rapidly, followed by a soaring power consumption. We are forced to optimize for power consumption, which impacts design at both hardware and software level. The complexity of the problem increases when considering event driven real time systems where the CPU speed can affect temporal validity. We present an industrial implementation of a real time power aware scheduling algorithm on the Enea OSE operating system. Even sporadic tasks and workloads up to 100% can be scheduled, with significant power saving results. An additional run time mode is also introduced with reduced quality of service towards soft real time tasks, but without jeopardizing hard real time deadlines and further suppressing power consumption in battery critical situations.
The predicting roles of reasons for living and social support on depression, anxiety and stress among young people in Malaysia.

INTRODUCTION This research examined the predicting roles of reasons for living and social support on depression, anxiety and stress in Malaysia. METHOD This research was carried out on a sample of 263 participants (age range 12-24 years old), from Klang Valley, Selangor. The survey package comprises demographic information, a measure of reasons for living, social support, depression, anxiety and stress. To analyse the data, correlation analysis and a series of linear multiple regression analysis were carried out. RESULTS Findings showed that there were low negative relationships between all subdomains and the total score of reasons for living and depression. There were also low negative relationships between domain-specific of social support (family and friends) and total social support and depression. In terms of the family alliance, self-acceptance and total score of reasons for living, they were negatively associated with anxiety, whereas family social support was negatively associated with stress. The linear regression analysis showed that only future optimism and family social support found to be the significant predictors for depression. Family alliance and total reasons for living were significant in predicting anxiety, whereas family social support was significant in predicting stress. CONCLUSION These findings have the potential to promote awareness related to depression, anxiety, and stress among youth in Malaysia.
Consistency Control Algorithms for Web Caching

This survey focuses mainly on the problem of cache consistency on the World-Wide Web (WWW). So far there is no perfect algorithm that deals with cache consistency issues that result from using web caching to reduce client latency and traffic. The survey first studies several web caching consistency approaches such as adaptive TTL, update threshold, polling-every-time, and invalidation, then compares various cache consistency algorithms used in transactional client/server DBMS architecture, trying to get a conclusion on what might be a good cache consistency algorithm for web caching. Each individual algorithm has its advantage given certain criteria. A good cache consistency algorithm should be able to deal with different user demands and network situations.
Regulation of type 2 immunity to helminths by mast cells

Recently, we demonstrated a novel role for gastrointestinal mast cells (MCs) in the early events that lead to the generation of Th2 immunity to helminth infection.1 Mice lacking MCs (KitW/KitW-v and KitW-Sh) showed a significant inhibition of Th2 cell priming following infection with the parasitic helminth Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri (Hp). We showed that MCs degranulate during the early stages of infection when the helminth larvae invade the small intestinal tissue. Furthermore, MC degranulation was required for the enhanced expression and production of the tissue-derived cytokines IL-25, IL-33 and TSLP, which are required for the optimal orchestration and priming of type 2 immunity. In this addendum we aim to address several questions raised by our findings — in particular, the mechanisms through which MCs may recognize helminth exposure in the early stages of infection and by which they may enhance expression of critical tissue cytokines thus, enabling Th2 priming. Furthermore, we will discuss these findings in the context of recently described novel innate immune cells, such as type 2 hematopoietic progenitors and type 2 innate lymphoid cells.
Get Together - A Case of ERP Implementation and its Transfer to Class

Regardless of how well designed and functioning the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is, the dimensioning factor for ERP utilization will be the users themselves. In this paper, we report from a case study of a medium-sized manufacturing company that took an alternative approach to their ERP procurement and implementation. Through involving multiple process owners in a series of workshops with the scope of specifying the as-is and to-be process of the business, the company focused on getting the users involved from the start. A selection of the findings in this case has been used as inspiration for a coursemodule for teaching ERP, and this paper reports from the case and the transfer of experience into class.
Wave Propagation in Random Waveguides with Long-Range Correlations

The paper presents an analysis of acoustic wave propagation in a waveguide with random fluctuations of its sound speed profile. These random perturbations are assumed to have long-range correlation properties. In the waveguide, a monochromatic wave can be decomposed in propagating modes and evanescent modes, and the random perturbation couples all these modes. The paper presents an asymptotic analysis of the mode-coupling mechanism and uses this to characterize the transmitted wave. The paper presents the first fully rigorous characterization of wave propagation in long-range non-layered media.
Factors associated with time to diagnosis from symptom onset in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis

Background/Aims To identify the factors associated with time to diagnosis after symptom onset in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods Early RA patients with ≤ 1 year of disease duration in the KORean Observational study Network for Arthritis (KORONA) database were included in this analysis. Patients were further divided into two groups according to the time to diagnosis from symptom onset: the early diagnosis group (time to diagnosis ≤ 1 year) and the late diagnosis group (time to diagnosis > 1 year). Using the multivariable regression model, we identified factors associated with early diagnosis. Results Among 714 early RA patients, 401 patients (56.2%) and 313 patients (43.8%) were included in the early diagnosis and late diagnosis groups, respectively. The mean disease duration was 0.47 years in the early diagnosis group and 0.45 years in the late diagnosis group. In multivariable model analysis, greater age at onset (odds ratio [OR], 1.03; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02 to 1.05), high school education or higher (OR, 1.68; 95% CI, 1.14 to 2.47), higher income (OR, 1.48; 95% CI, 1.05 to 2.08), and initial small joint involvement (OR, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.98) were factors associated with early diagnosis. At diagnosis, disease activity scores using 28 joints on diagnosis (3.81 ± 1.44 vs. 3.82 ± 1.42, p = 0.92) and functional disability (0.65 ± 0.61 vs. 0.57 ± 0.62, p = 0.07) did not different between the two groups. However, hand joint erosion on X-ray (37.8% vs. 25.6%, p < 0.01) was more common in the late diagnosis group than the early diagnosis group. Conclusions Older onset age, higher educational level and income, and initial small joint involvement were positive factors for early diagnosis of RA.
Luta pela terra e desenvolvimento rural no Pontal do Paranapanema (SP)

Neste artigo pretende-se dar uma contribuicao ao debate a respeito do desenvolvimento rural, analisando a importância da luta pela terra como condicao para a intensificacao do numero de assentamentos rurais. Foram estudados os impactos socio-territoriais dos assentamentos rurais na territorializacao da agricultura camponesa e, dessas referencias, ponderou-se que a luta pela terra, por meio da ocupacao e um elemento importante para se compreender essas novas realidades que se manifestam no campo brasileiro.
MCTCP: Congestion-aware and robust multicast TCP in Software-Defined networks

Continuously enriched distributed systems in data centers generate much network traffic in push-style one-to-many group mode, raising new requirements for multicast transport in terms of efficiency and robustness. Existing reliable multicast solutions, which suffer from low robustness and inefficiency in either host-side protocols or multicast routing, are not suitable for data centers. In order to address the problems of inefficiency and low robustness, we present a sender-initiated, efficient, congestion-aware and robust reliable multicast solution mainly for small groups in SDN-based data centers, called MCTCP. The main idea behind MCTCP is to manage the multicast groups in a centralized manner, and reactively schedule multicast flows to active and low-utilized links, by extending TCP as the host-side protocol and managing multicast groups in the SDN-controller. The multicast spanning trees are calculated and adjusted according to the network status to perform a better allocation of resources. Our experiments show that, MCTCP can dynamically bypass the congested and failing links, achieving high efficiency and robustness. As a result, MCTCP outperforms the state-of-the-art reliable multicast schemes. Moreover, MCTCP improves the performance of data replication in HDFS compared with the original and TCP-SMO based ones, e.g., achieves 101% and 50% improvements in terms of bandwidth, respectively.
Falls risk reduction and treatment of overactive bladder symptoms with antimuscarinic agents: A scoping review

Overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms are associated with falls and fractures in older adults and treatment with antimuscarinic agents may decrease this falls risk. Bladder‐specific antimuscarinic agents may also adversely affect falls risk because of drug‐related cognitive impairment. Thus, a tension between effective treatment, falls risk reduction, and increased falls risk is created. We conducted a scoping review to determine whether sufficient studies exist to warrant a full systematic review of falls risk reduction through treatment of OAB and to identify gaps in current research.