Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of insulin degludec with insulin detemir in type 1 diabetes: a 1‐year treat‐to‐target trial

The long‐term safety and tolerability of insulin degludec (IDeg) was compared with that of insulin detemir (IDet), as basal treatment in participants with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM). In the present multinational, 26‐week core + 26‐week extension, controlled, open‐label, parallel‐group trial, adults with T1DM were randomized to IDeg or IDet as basal insulin treatment combined with meal‐time bolus insulin aspart. IDeg was administered once daily, whilst IDet was administered once or twice daily depending on patients' glycaemic control. After 1 year, IDeg provided a 33% lower rate of nocturnal hypoglycaemia compared with IDet: estimated rate ratio (IDeg : IDet) 0.67 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.51; 0.88]; p < 0.05. IDeg improved glycated haemoglobin after 1 year of treatment, similarly to IDet, but IDeg also provided a significantly greater reduction in fasting plasma glucose compared with IDet: estimated difference (IDeg − IDet) −1.11 (95% CI −1.83; −0.40) mmol/l; p < 0.05. The present study confirmed the long‐term safety and tolerability profile of IDeg in patients with T1DM. IDeg provided a lower risk of nocturnal confirmed hypoglycaemia than IDet.
A Study of Blind Message Authentication Codes

Blind signatures allow a signer to digitally sign a document without being able to glean any information about the document. In this paper, we investigate the symmetric analog of blind signatures, namely blind message authentication codes (blind MACs). One may hope to get the same efficiency gain from blind MAC constructions as is usually obtained when moving from asymmetric to symmetric cryptosystems. Our main result is a negative one however: we show that the natural symmetric analogs of the unforgeability and blindness requirements cannot be simultaneously satisfied. Faced with this impossibility, we show that blind MACs do exist (under the one-more RSA assumption in the random oracle model) in a more restrictive setting where users can share common state information. Our construction, however, is only meant to demonstrate the existence; it uses an underlying blind signature scheme, and hence does not achieve the desired performance benefits. The construction of an efficient blind MAC scheme in this restrictive setting is left as an open problem. *
The pediatric preclinical testing program: Description of models and early testing results

The Pediatric Preclinical Testing Program (PPTP) is an initiative supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to identify novel therapeutic agents that may have significant activity against childhood cancers. The PPTP has established panels of childhood cancer xenografts and cell lines to be used for in vivo and in vitro testing. These include panels for Wilms tumor, sarcomas (rhabdomyosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, and osteosarcoma), neuroblastoma, brain tumors (glioblastoma, ependymoma, and medulloblastoma), rhabdoid tumors (CNS and renal), and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Here, we describe the characteristics of the in vivo tumor panels and report results for the in vivo evaluation of two standard agents, vincristine and cyclophosphamide.
Symmetric Crossbar Arbiters for VLSI Communication Switches

The design and implementation of symmetric crossbar arbiters are addressed. Several arbiter designs are compared based on simulations of a multistage interconnection network. These simulations demonstrate the influence of the switch arbitration policy on network throughput, average latency, and worst-case latency. It is shown that some natural designs result in poor system performance and/or slow implementations. Two efficient arbiter implementations are proposed. Based on network simulations, VLSI implementation, and circuit simulation, it is shown that these arbiters achieve nearly optimal system performance without becoming the critical path that limits the system clock. >
Fuzzy logic based tools for classification and reasoning with uncertainty

Two methods for classification processes affected by uncertainty in the description phase and the class definition phase and for approximate reasoning in decision-making activities with a combination of certain and uncertain knowledge are described. Based on the two frameworks, an integrated set of automated fuzzy-logic-based tools for classification and decision-making activities has been developed and inserted in a classical logic programming environment. A homogeneous and flexible environment for the automatic handling of certain and uncertain knowledge in classification and decision problems is obtained. <<ETX>>
HfON/LaON as charge-trapping layer for nonvolatile memory applications

The charge-trapping characteristics of HfON/LaON composite film (denoted as HfLaON) were investigated based on an Al/Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub>/HfLaON/SiO<sub>2</sub>/Si (MONOS) capacitor. The physical properties of the high-k film were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction spectroscopy. Compared with another MONOS capacitor with nitrided La<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> as charge-trapping layer, the one with HfLaON showed better memory characteristics in terms of larger memory window, higher program speed (6.3 V at +14 V for 100 μs), and smaller charge loss (8.2% after 10<sup>4</sup> sec), due to the HfLaON composite film exhibiting an amorphous structure and the suppressed formation of an interlayer at the HfLaON/SiO<sub>2</sub> interface.
An application of dental X-ray image enhancement

In this paper, an effective approach for dental X-ray image enhancement for detection of caries on the base of location of the lesion is presented. It consists of contrast improvement by limited adaptive histogram equalization (CLAHE) and morphological processing. Then homomorphic wavelet filter is used to remove noise components and to eliminate non-uniformity luminance distribution. Comparative experimental results are given which show the visual quality and effectiveness of the proposed approach for application in clinical diagnostics.
Space-Vector Pulsewidth Modulation for Three-Level NPC Converter With the Neutral Point Voltage Control

This paper proposes a new space-vector pulsewidth modulation (SV-PWM) strategy for a three-level neutral point clamped inverter. The presented SV-PWM strategy makes it possible to control the neutral point voltage by optimum choice of switch sequence for any position and length of output voltage vector. The proposed solution takes into consideration the unbalance of the dc-link voltages. It also analyzes the influence of vector sequences on the predicted unbalance of the dc-link voltage. The solution allows selecting optimum vectors and their on-time durations in order to reduce quickly the dc-link voltage unbalance. The calculation of the space vector area proposed in this paper takes into consideration voltage unbalance and its influence on the length and position of vectors. The proposed approach assures properly generating the voltage output vectors, even in the case of the existing large voltage unbalance in the dc-link. The results of the experimental investigation of the proposed modulation strategy are presented in this paper.
A preliminary step towards the Switched Linear Internal Model control: The asymptotic observer problem

In recent papers, the authors proposed a novel control approach based on the use of a Switching Linear Internal Model (SLIM) to cope with asymptotic tracking of a significant class of periodic references for “real world” applications, while guaranteeing good robustness properties with respect to disturbances. In the path toward a final assessment of this methodology, the problem of observing the state of the particular class of exosystems considered appears to be crucial. In this paper previous results on this topic are revised and widely extended to establish a rigorous and effective design procedure.
Impact of cerebrovascular complications on mortality and neurologic outcome during infective endocarditis: a prospective multicentre study.

AIMS To analyse the risk of death according to the type of cerebrovascular complications (CVC) during infective endocarditis (IE) and to analyse the determinants of outcome in patients with IE and a CVC. METHODS AND RESULTS In two referral centres, 496 consecutive patients with definite IE were prospectively included. Cerebral CT scan was performed in 453 patients. During a mean 2.9 year follow-up, 139 (28%) patients died and CVC occurred in 109 (22%) patients. Stroke was an independent predictor of death, although no significant excess mortality was observed in patients with silent CVC or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Among CVC patients, mortality was predicted by the presence of a mechanical prosthetic valve IE and a low Glasgow Coma Scale. When valvular surgery was performed in patients after CVC, neurologic exacerbation was rare [4 (6.3%) patients] and was observed only in patients with symptomatic stroke. Among CVC patients, survival was better in operated patients when compared with patients treated conservatively despite theoretical indication for surgery (P < 0.0001). However, the latter group had more comorbidities (P = 0.007) and a lower Glasgow Coma Scale (14.6 +/- 1 vs. 12 +/- 4, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSION Patients with silent CVC or TIA have a relatively good prognosis, whereas those with stroke have significant excess mortality particularly in case of mechanical prosthetic valve IE or impaired consciousness. Valvular surgery can be safely performed after silent CVC or TIA and may improve survival in selected patients with stroke.
Effect of subclinical Helicobacter pylori infection on gastric wall thickness: multislice CT evaluation.

PURPOSE To evaluate the effect of subclinical Helicobacter pylori infection on the gastric wall thickness with multislice computed tomography (MSCT). MATERIALS AND METHODS In 99 subjects without gastric disease, CT scans of the abdomen were obtained after water ingestion and intravenous contrast administration. CT images were evaluated for degree of luminal distention and the thickness of the walls of the gastric antrum and body. We also looked for other radiological signs of gastritis such as the presence of fold thickening, mucosal enhancement, submucosal hypodensity, focal gastric mass-like lesion, and focal wall thickening. All subjects were tested with rapid urease test or stool antigen test and grouped as H. pylori positive or negative according to the results. RESULTS The average gastric body and antrum wall thicknesses did not show statistically significant difference between H. pylori positive and negative groups. The average antral wall thickness was greater than the gastric body wall thickness in 68.5% of cases, independent of H. pylori positivity; and antral wall thickness was more than 5 mm in more than 50% of cases. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of other signs of gastritis. CONCLUSION Wall thickening of gastric antrum relative to gastric body is a common finding even in the use of MSCT, and antral thickness commonly exceeds 5 mm. Subclinical H. pylori infection has no effect on gastric wall thickness.
Friction compensation control of a novel electro-pneumatic adaptable impedance actuator

We present a new decentralised control design involving an adaptive friction compensator for the electro-pneumatic adaptable impedance actuator (EPAIA). EPAIA consists of a brushless direct current (BLDC)-motor and a rotational pneumatic actuator, where the latter serves as an adaptable compliant element in series to the gear train. The decentralised control system consists of two loops and a decoupler. The torque control-loop uses a cascaded/post-compensator architecture to control the interaction torque over the rotational pneumatic spring. The stiffness controller involves a decoupler and continuously adjusts the chamber air pressures to achieve a certain interaction stiffness. Since adverse nonlinear friction effects worsened the performance of the interaction torque control-loop, an adaptive friction observer based on the two-state dynamic friction model with elasto-plasticity (2SEP) has been developed. The proposed approach showed superior performance when compared to the decentralised control strategy without friction compensation in a validated nonlinear model.
Metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with Peg-interferon alfa-2b

Introduction. Peginterferon has an increased plasma half-life and enables a constant exposure to interferon. This modification might increase the antiangiogenic effect of the treatment and influence the efficacy. We report the results of a phase II open-label study with Peginterferon alfa-2b (Pegintron® Schering-Plough) on efficacy and tolerability in patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma (MRCC). Materials and methods. Twenty eight patients with MRCC were treated with Peginterferon in escalating doses of 0.5 µg/kg once weekly until 2 µg/kg was reached or prohibited toxicity occurred. Lesions were evaluated according to Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). Results. Thirteen patients tolerated a dose of 2 µg/kg/week. At 6 months 16 patients (57%) had disease control of which four had partial response (PR) and 12 stable disease whereas 12 (43%) had progressed. PR was only seen in the lung parenchyma or mediastinum. Median time to progression (TTP) was 8 months in all patients and 13 months for PR and SD patients. Correspondingly, median survival was 19.5 months and 28 months, respectively (seven patients received second-line treatment with tyrosine kinase inhibitor). The mean dose during long-term treatment was 1.5 and at the end of treatment 1.2 µg/kg/week. Most side effects were grade 1-2 and only two patients stopped treatment for that reason. VEGF levels in serum before and during treatment did not correlate to the therapeutic response. Discussion. Peginterferon was well tolerated in MRCC albeit with dose modification during long-term treatment. Response pattern seems to be the same as with nonpegylated interferon. Peginterferon may be used as monotherapy in selected patients and in trials of combinations with targeted drugs.
3D Facial Expression Recognition for the Enhancement of Human-Computer Interaction

Automatic facial expression recognition has gained much attention during the last decade because of its potential application in areas such as more engaging humancomputer interfaces. This paper explores the automatic recognition of facial expressions using 3D range images. The paper outlines the development of an algorithm designed to distinguish between neutral and smiling faces, and summarizes its experimental verification with a database containing 30 subjects who posed for both (neutral and smiling) expressions. The results of the experiments are very encouraging.
Macro level defect-oriented diagnosability of digital circuits

We propose a hierarchical approach for the macro level cause-effect physical defect diagnosis in digital circuits. As macros we may consider arbitrary subcircuits or library components (e.g. complex gates) of digital circuits. The faulty macro location procedure is considered as a two step task. First, to locate a subset of suspected faulty macros in a network by using stuck-at-fault (SAF) dictionaries for the outputs of macros. Second, to prune the set of suspected faulty macros by subsequent physical defect reasoning. In case of library components as macros, the library defect dictionaries may be used for defect location. The size of the SAF dictionary depends linearly on the number of macros to be determined as faulty or not faulty, and the size of the defect dictionaries depends on the number of simulated possible defects inside the macros. The proposed hierarchical approach to fault diagnosis helps to cope with the growing complexities of digital circuits. On the other hand, the experimental results have shown higher diagnosability of the proposed defect oriented approach compared to the SAF oriented macro level fault diagnosis.
Risks of general artificial intelligence

If the general intelligence of artificial systems were to surpass that of humans significantly, this would constitute a significant risk for humanity - so even if we estimate the probability of this event to be fairly low, it is necessary to think about it now. We need to estimate what progress we can expect, what the impact of superintelligent ma- chines might be, how we might design safe and controllable systems, and whether there are directions of research that should best be avoided or strengthened. 1. The conference The papers in this special volume of the Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence (JETAI) are the outcome of a conference on the "Impacts and Risks of Arti- ficial General Intelligence" (AGI-Impacts) that took place at the University of Oxford, St. Anne's College, on December 10th and 11th, 2012 - jointly with the fifth annual conference on "Artificial General Intelligence" (AGI-12). The conference was orga- nized by the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford: academically by Nick Bostrom and myself, with support from research fellows Stuart Armstrong, Toby Ord, Anders Sandberg and more members of the program committee; organisationally by Sean O'Heigertaigh, with support from Alexandre Erler, Daniel Dewey, Stuart Armstrong, and others. We are grateful to the Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) community for the openness to these issues of security, as shown by the fact that they initiated this con- nection and that the vast majority of the ca. 150 participants of the main AGI meeting also attended our AGI-Impacts event. Last but not least, we want to thank the 'Euro- pean Network for Cognitive Systems, Interaction and Robotics (EUCog)' and the organization 'Saving Homo Sapiens' for sponsoring the event.
Apolipoprotein E Genotypes in Hospitalized Elderly Patients with Vascular Dementia

Background: Polymorphism in the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene is the major genetic risk factor associated with late-onset Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). However, it is still unclear if a relationship exists between the APOE Ε4 allele and vascular dementia (VaD) in elderly subjects. Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of APOE alleles in elderly patients with VaD compared to AD patients and to control subjects with no cognitive impairment (NoCI). Patients and Methods: We evaluated 396 consecutive patients aged ≧65 years with definite or suspected cognitive impairment with a clinical (Mini-Mental State Examination, Clinical Dementia Rating, Geriatric Depression Scale), functional (Activities of Daily Living, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living), comorbidity (Cumulative Illness Rating Scale) and instrumental (CT scan, NMR) assessment. Diagnosis of dementia was made according to NINCDS-ADRDA and NINDS-AIREN Work Group and the DSM-IV. APOE genotypes were analyzed by a recently described method resulting in positive/negative chain reaction products for each APOE genotype. Statistical analysis was carried out using the Pearson χ2, the Kruskal-Wallis test and the ANOVA post hoc comparisons. Results: A total of 287 elderly patients (males = 138, females = 149, mean age = 77.8 ± 6.9 years, range = 65–98) with diagnoses of VaD (n = 97), AD (n = 82) or NoCI (n = 108) were included in the study. A significantly higher APOE Ε4 allele frequency was observed in AD patients compared to VaD and/or NoCI subjects, while no differences were found between VaD patients and subjects with NoCI (AD = 24.3%, VaD = 10.3, NoCI = 8.7, p < 0.05). Furthermore, a significantly lower APOE Ε3 allele frequency was observed in AD patients compared to VaD and/or NoCI subjects but not between VaD and NoCI patients (AD = 71.3%, VaD = 80.9, NoCI = 83.4, p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in the APOE Ε2 allele (VaD = 8.8%, AD = 4.4, NoCI = 7.9, p = n.s.) among the 3 groups. Conclusions: In this population, the frequency of the APOE Ε4 allele is lower in VaD than in AD.
New sets of data for the thermal sensitivity of elastic coefficients of langasite and langatate

Thermal coefficients of elastic constants of LGS and LGT crystals have been determined from frequency-temperature curves of contoured resonators operating in thickness modes. Effect of the trapping of the vibration has been taking into account in order to improve the accuracy. In a first step, thermal sensitivity of stiffness coefficients in lagrangian description are obtained. Thermal sensitivity of usual elastic constants are further deduced.
BCG Vaccines: Their mechanisms of attenuation and impact on safety and protective efficacy

Mycobacterium bovis Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) was developed as an attenuated live vaccine for tuberculosis control nearly a century ago. Despite being the most widely used vaccine in human history, the mechanisms of attenuation of BCG remain poorly understood. BCG is not a single organism, but comprises a number of substrains that differ in genotypes and phenotypes. The impacts of these differences on BCG vaccine properties are largely unknown. Nevertheless, in the past decade, the development of sophisticated genome analysis techniques, coupled with advances in knowledge of the virulence mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, have provided greater insights into the attenuation and evolution of BCG. This review article discusses these new developments, focusing on molecular mechanisms that contribute to the attenuation of BCG substrains. It is evident that BCG strains comprise natural mutants of major virulence factors of M. tb, including ESX-1, PDIM/PGL, and PhoP, and that BCG substrains differ markedly in virulence level. The impacts of these findings on vaccine properties including adverse reaction effect, tuberculin reactivity, and protective efficacy are discussed. These new insights have extremely important implications for national immunization programmes and the development of future vaccines.
Heuristic RAT selection policy to minimize call blocking probability in next generation wireless networks

In next generation wireless network (NGWN) where multiple radio access technologies (RAT) co-exist, a joint call admission control (JCAC) algorithm is needed to make a RAT selection decision for each arriving call. RAT selection policy has a significant effect on the overall new call blocking probability in the network. We propose a heuristic RAT selection policy to minimize new call blocking probability in NGWN. The proposed JCAC scheme measures the arrival rate of each class of calls in the heterogeneous wireless network. Based of the measured values of the arrival rates and using linear programming technique, the JCAC scheme determines the RAT selection policy that minimizes overall call blocking probability in the heterogeneous wireless network. Using Markov decision process, we develop an analytical model for the JCAC scheme, and derive new call blocking probability, handoff call dropping probability (HCDP), and call incompletion probability (CIP). Performance of the proposed scheme is compared with the performance of other JCAC scheme. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme reduces new call blocking probability, HCDP, and CIP in the heterogeneous wireless network. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. In next generation wireless network (NGWN) where multiple radio access technologies (RAT) co-exist, a joint call admission control (JCAC) algorithm is needed to make a RAT-selection decision for each arriving call. We propose a heuristic RAT selection policy to reduce call blocking probability in NGWN, and develop an analytical model to evaluate its performance. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme reduces new call blocking probability, handoff call dropping probability, and call incompletion probability in NGWN.