Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
STRUCTURE OF VERMICULITE MODIFIED BY ORGANIC MOLECULES

Intercalation of vermiculites by organic molecules is connected with an expansion of the structure in the direction vertical to the layers. Rate of expansion depends on the length of intercalated molecules, on their arrangement in an interlayer space and also on their concentration and reaction time. Natural Mg-vermiculite from Letovice location in the Czech Republic (VER-L) with the mean particle diameters equal to 194 μm and coarse grained Mg-vermiculite from Santa Olalla location in Spain (VER-S) with size of flakes up to 5 mm were used as hostes for intercalation. Three organic molecules with different length of chains were used as intercalants: octadecylamine, dodecylamine, octylamine. Intercalation was carried out by low temperature heating procedure at the temperature of 80 C lasting 24 hours. Molar ratio of vermiculites to organic molecules was 1:6 in all samples. The XRD patterns of all intercalated samples exhibit significant changes in comparison with the patterns of non-treated vermiculites. The patterns of vermiculites intercalated by octadecylamine molecules (18 C atoms) contain the integral set of basal difractions with d-spacings 58.4 Å, 29.3 Å, 19.5 Å for VER-L or 51.9 Å, 25.6 Å, 17.2 Å for VER-S respectively. The differences in d-spacings depend on the size of flakes. Intercalation by dodecylamine (12 C atoms) was nearly the same with both vermiculites and XRD pattern contains the set of basal diffractions 38.7 Å, 19.7 Å, 13.6 Å. The result of intercalation by octylamine (8 C atoms) is not very significant. Just one basal diffraction value namely 19.7 Å for VER-L and 24.7 Å for VER-S was recorded. The surface of VER-S flakes after intercalation was observed using atomic force microscopy technique. Nano-layers of organic molecules chains grafted during the intercalation process were found on the surface. The graft does not cover the whole surface of flakes homogenously creating the irregular net of chains with different widths. Their shape and position is influenced either by distribution of electric charge on the surface or by surface folding caused by partial dehydration of Mg-vermiculite at the temperature of 80 C.
Effectiveness of an elastic knee sleeve for patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized single-blinded controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES To study the effectiveness of elastic sleeves in patients with knee osteoarthritis (knee OA). METHOD Patients with knee OA attending the outpatient clinic of Siriraj Hospital, who met the eligibility criteria, were randomly allocated to receive an 8-week treatment protocol. The control group received acetaminophen, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and education. The study group received the same treatment, in combination with a daytime elastic knee sleeve. Primary outcome variable included change in aggregated functional performance time (AFPT). RESULTS In the immediate period after treatment, the study group had a mean improvement in AFPT of 1.63 seconds more than the control group (95% CI: 0.21-3.05, p = 0.025). At the end of the 8th week, the changes of AFPT were not statistically different between the two groups. CONCLUSION This study shows small short-term beneficial effects of an elastic sleeve in patients with knee OA in cases with acute exacerbation.
2001 and all that: a tale of a third science

The paper describes the change from molecular genetics to postgenomic biology. It focuses on phenomena in the regulation of gene expression that provide a break with the central dogma, according to which sequence specificity for a gene product must be template derived. In its place we find what is called here ‘constitutive molecular epigenesis’. Its three classes of phenomena, which I call sequence ‘activation’, ‘selection’ and ‘creation’, are exemplified by processes such as transcriptional activation, alternative cis- and trans-splicing, and RNA editing. These phenomena support the following main theses of the paper: 1. Other molecular resources share the causal role of ‘genes’: the ‘causal specificity’ for the linear sequence of any gene product is distributed between the coding sequence, cis-acting sequences, trans-acting factors, environmental signals, and the contingent history of the cell (the cellular code) (thesis of distributed causal specificity). 2. These multiple and overlapping processing and targeting mechanisms amplify the repertoire of RNA and protein products specified through the eukaryotic genome, expanding the possibilities specified by the literal code of DNA (thesis of genetic underdeterminism). 3. These mechanisms of gene expression change the focus of postgenomic research from single molecules and their molecular, biochemical and intrinsic function to their cellular, constituent, component or contextual function due to their recruitment and organization in complex cellular networks. In other words, all agents involved in the regulation of gene expression, including DNA, must interact with other agents to achieve full specificity, which is imposed by regulated recruitment and combinatorial control (theses of regulated recruitment and of system analysis). I conclude from these three main theses that the complexity of higher organisms lies not in its number of genes but in the flexibility, versatility and reactivity of its whole genome.
Use of Prasugrel in a Patient with Clopidogrel Hypersensitivity

Objective: To report a case of successful use of prasugrel following percutaneous coronary intervention with placement of a bare metal stent in a patient with a documented hypersensitivity reaction to clopidogrel. Case Summary: A 61-year-old male with a history of coronary artery disease with coronary stent placement presented with ST-elevation myocardial infarction. The patient had developed Stephens-Johnson syndrome 6 years earlier following Clopidogrel administration, characterized by erythematous plaques and subsequent desquamation of the hands and feet; Clopidogrel was discontinued and he was subsequently treated with ticlopidine in addition to aspirin. The third-generation thienopyridine prasugrel was initiated as a therapeutic alternative to Clopidogrel after placement of a bare metal stent; a 60-mg dose was administered after extubation, followed by 10 mg/day. No signs of allergic reaction were observed in the days, weeks, and months following administration. Discussion: Thienopyridines, specifically Clopidogrel, are the standard of care for prevention of coronary stent thrombosis; however, there are few data available on cross-hypersensitivity between these agents. One study demonstrated that 27% of patients who developed an allergic or hematologic reaction to Clopidogrel developed a similar reaction to ticlopidine. Other therapeutic options for patients with Clopidogrel hypersensitivity who are undergoing a percutaneous coronary intervention with stent placement include Clopidogrel desensitization, warfarin plus aspirin, cilostazol, ticagrelor, and ticlopidine. However, these options are limited by efficacy and/or toxicity. With its approval in 2009, prasugrel has become a potential treatment option. Conclusions: Prasugrel may be considered a therapeutic alternative in some patients allergic or intolerant to Clopidogrel, but additional data are warranted to make a strong conclusion.
Segmenting Wine Tourists on the Basis of Involvement with Wine

ABSTRACT As involvement with wine may vary significantly among wine consumers and wine tourists, segmentation based on product involvement seems to be a reasonable choice. A multinational sample of 517 winery visitors is divided into three groups of low, medium, and high involvement levels; similarities and differences are examined. Results confirm that it is meaningful to segment winery visitors on the basis of their involvement with wine, as important differences can be identified in terms of visitation motives and patterns, demographic characteristics, relationship with wine, pre-visit attitudes towards the winery, evaluation of the winery experience, post-visit attitudes, and future behavioral intentions. Management and marketing implications are discussed.
The effect of spasticity, sense and walking aids in falls of people after chronic stroke

Objective. To study the effects of spasticity, sensory impairment, and type of walking aid on falls in community dwellers with chronic stroke. Methods. Functional Independence Measure (FIM) Instrument, Joint Position Sense Evaluation (JPS), the Rivermead motor assessment scale (RMA), Ashworth Scale, Tinetti Assessment Tool were used to assess 100 cases. Results. Fifty-three of the cases were grouped as nonfallers, 36 as one-time fallers and 11 as repeat fallers. These 3 groups were found to be different from each other in respect to FIM, Tinetti test and RMA (p < 0.001). In respect to knee JPS, nonfallers and one-time faller groups were found to be different from repeat fallers (p = 0.001). There is a difference among the groups in respect to Ashworth assessment (p < 0.001), use of walking aid (p = 0.01) and type of walking aid (p = 0.01). Some 43% of the cases use a walking aid (58.1% cane, 41.9% high cane). According to Ordinal logistic regression analysis, it was found that the possibility of fall increased (p < 0.01), as the value of spasticity increased while the possibility of the fall of the individuals with stroke decreased (p < 0.00 – 0.01) as Tinetti, RMA and FIM variables increased. Conclusions. In respect to falls, spasticity is also an indicator for chronic stroke patients, as is motor impairment, functional situation, impairment of balance and walking. Sensory impairment, using a walking aid and the type were found to be ineffective.
Planar antennas

This article reviews the state of the art in broadband antennas for emerging UWB applications and addresses the important issues of the broadband antenna design for UWB applications. First, a variety of planar monopoles with finite ground planes are reviewed. Next, the roll antennas with enhanced radiation performance are outlined. After that, the planar antennas printed on PCBs are described. A directional antipodal Vivaldi antenna is also presented for UWB applications. Last, a UWB antenna for wearable applications is exemplified
A deadlock avoidance approach for non-sequential resource allocation systems

The paper concentrates on the deadlock-avoidance problem for a class of resource allocation systems modeling manufacturing systems. In these systems, a set of production orders have to be executed in a concurrent way. To be executed, each step of each production order needs a set of reusable system resources. The competition for the use of these resources can lead to deadlock problems. Many solutions, from different perspectives, can be found in the literature for deadlock-related problems when the production orders have a sequential nature [sequential resource allocation systems (S-RAS)]. However, in the case in which the involved processes have a nonsequential nature [nonsequential resource allocation systems (NS-RAS)], the problem becomes more complex. In this paper, we propose a deadlock avoidance algorithm for this last class of systems. We also show the usefulness of the proposed solution by means of its application to a real system.
Neurospect in Neurotoxic Chemical Exposure Demonstration of Long-Term Functional Abnormalities

Patients who had experienced well-documented neurotoxic exposure months or years earlier were evaluated. Seventy-two right-handed adults who claimed continuing abnormalities of cognitive and memory function were examined after Xenon-133 inhalation and i.v. HMPAO. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) results were statistically compared with age-matched controls. Bilateral, often asymmetrical, impairment of perfusion was found, mostly in the frontal, temporal, and parietal lobes. This hypoperfusion was predominantly left-sided in young patients and predominantly right-sided in the elderly. Abnormalities were found months and years after neurotoxic exposure had ceased. Our findings suggest that NeuroSPECT can provide evidence of impaired cerebral function and may therefore help to further define neurotoxic exposure and its chronic effects.
Reinforcement of power distribution network against voltage sags using graph theory

This paper presents the application of graph theory to reinforce a power distribution network against voltage sags. Voltage sag is considered as one of the main power quality problems which may cause sensitive equipment to malfunction and process interruption. The objective of the proposed method is to reinforce system voltage profile during voltage sag by means of network reconfiguration. The concept behind the reinforcement is by placing the weak areas as far as possible from the main power source. In the network reconfiguration process, the graph theory is used for finding a suitable impedance path towards the fault current.
Test strategy sensitivity to defect parameters

This paper demonstrates that the detection of defect depends on two classes of parameters: the predictable and unpredictable parameters. The demonstration is made with two very different types of defects (the interconnect short and the interconnect open) considering the static voltage, dynamic voltage and static current strategies. The value of the short resistance is the unpredictable parameter of the interconnect short and the polysilicon-to-bulk capacitance of the interconnect open. It is shown that any test strategy is able to detect shorts and opens each one for a given range of the unpredictable parameter called the 'analog detectability interval'. It is then demonstrated that the fundamental criterion for test strategy efficiency evaluation is the consideration of the analog detectability Intervals together with the unpredictable parameter distributions. It is finally shown that for realistic situations the voltage strategies exhibit a very good efficiency for a very reasonable cost making the use of expensive current strategy difficult to justify.
MEDAL: A Cost-Effective High-Frequency Energy Data Acquisition System for Electrical Appliances

Traditional energy measurement fails to provide support to consumers to make intelligent decisions to save energy. Non-intrusive load monitoring is one solution that provides disaggregated power consumption profiles. Machine learning approaches rely on public datasets to train parameters for their algorithms, most of which only provide low-frequency appliance-level measurements, thus limiting the available feature space for recognition. In this paper, we propose a low-cost measurement system for high-frequency energy data. Our work utilizes an off-the-shelf power strip with a voltage-sensing circuit, current sensors, and a single-board PC as data aggregator. We develop a new architecture and evaluate the system in real-world environments. The self-contained unit for six monitored outlets can achieve up to 50 kHz for all signals simultaneously. A simple design and off-the-shelf components allow us to keep costs low. Equipping a building with our measurement systems is more feasible compared to expensive existing solutions. We used the outlined system architecture to manufacture 20 measurement systems to collect energy data over several months of more than 50 appliances at different locations, with an aggregated size of 15 TB.
Electrothermal limitations on the current density of high-frequency bipolar transistors

In this paper, electrothermal consequences of downscaling bipolar transistors, reducing the emitter resistance and implementing substrate modifications are examined by means of electrical measurements, numerical simulations and analytical calculations. A formulation is given for the optimum current density that can be run through the device and still maintain both sufficient transconductance and thermal stability. This expression sets a theoretical limit on the current density and therefore also on the speed of the given technology node. Particularly the lowering of the emitter resistivity is a trade-off between transconductance and thermal stability, and the optimum choice can be estimated from these results along with the maximum emitter area that will allow unconditional thermal stability.
Application-dependent frame design for the Internet of Things

Data of the internet of things (IoT) typically consists of packets with small payloads since the protocol header is a significant and energy-expensive overhead. A variety of applications in IoT make it more complicated than that in wireless sensor networks in which one application generally exists. In this work, we present a scheme that replaces conventional frame design with a multiple-frame solution which aims at maximizing the network bandwidth utility for prolonging the network lifetime of energy-constrained IoT. Specifically, it is designed for inheriting all advantages of the fixed size packet MAC protocols for wireless sensor networks. Basically, the proposed scheme can be viewed as a proper extension of fixed-length frame scheme whether in wireline network or wireless network in IoT. The effectiveness of scheme is demonstrated by comparing the energy efficiency with the fixed-size frame for WSN and the variable-size frame for WLANs. This would be of great use in energy-constrained IoT applications.
Localization mechanisms of the axon guidance molecule UNC‐6/Netrin and its receptors, UNC‐5 and UNC‐40, in Caenorhabditis elegans

Netrin is an evolutionarily conserved, secretory axon guidance molecule. Netrin's receptors, UNC‐5 and UNC‐40/DCC, are single trans‐membrane proteins with immunoglobulin domains at their extra‐cellular regions. Netrin is thought to provide its positional information by establishing a concentration gradient. UNC‐5 and UNC‐40 act at growth cones, which are specialized axonal tip structures that are generally located at a long distance from the neural cell body. Thus, the proper localization of both Netrin and its receptors is critical for their function. This review addresses the localization mechanisms of UNC‐6/Netrin and its receptors in Caenorhabditis elegans, focusing on our recent reports. These findings include novel insights on cytoplasmic proteins that function upstream of the receptors.
Effects of atorvastatin on vascular remodeling in spontaneously hypertensive rats.

OBJECTIVE To investigate the structural changes of aorta, and evaluate the effects of atorvastatin on the remodeling of thoracic aorta in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). METHODS Twelve eight-week-old SHR were randomized into atorvastatin treated group (ATV group, n=6) and distilled water group (DW group, n=6); Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) were used as normal controls. Atorvastatin was administered to ATV group for 10 weeks by gavage in mixture with distilled water (1 ml); the latter two groups were given the same amount of distilled water by gavage for 10 weeks. Systolic blood pressure of caudal artery was examined before and after treatment, and serum concentrations of total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL-C were measured. Wall thickness, media thickness, medial cross-sectional area and lumen diameter of thoracic aorta were assessed with computed video processing. RESULTS Systolic blood pressure in ATV group was markedly lower than that in DW group (P<0.01). Compared with DW group and WKY group, serum concentrations of total cholesterol, triglycerides and HDL-C in ATV group were significantly lower (P<0.01,P<0.05). Wall thickness, media thickness, and medial cross-sectional area to lumen ratio in DW group were significantly higher than those in WKY group and ATV group (P<0.01,P<0.05), but no such difference was found between WKY group and ATV group (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Vascular structural changes of aorta are due to the alteration of the vessel wall in early stage of SHR. Atorvastatin can markedly improve vascular remodeling.
Risks for Signal Integrity in System in Package and Possible Remedies

We analyze the electrical phenomena that can affect the integrity of the communication among different chips within a system in package (SiP). We address these issues for a real case, for which electrical parameters are extracted from layout and used to build a netlist employed for electrical characterization. We show that crosstalk, and in particular inductive crosstalk, is the electrical phenomenon mainly affecting signal transmission within the SiP. Then, we evaluate the kinds of errors that can be originated. We show that errors caused by inductive coupling among SiP interconnects can be unidirectional only, thus allowing designers to implement error control coding techniques based on all unidirectional error detecting codes. This allows significant cost reduction over the alternate use of non-unidirectional error detecting codes.
The Endothelium-Derived Relaxing Factor

Over the past 25 years, it has become clear that the vascular endothelium plays an important role in the function of the cardiovascular system. Most recently, it has been established that endothelial cells can determine or modulate the response of vascular smooth muscle cells to vasoactive stimuli, by production of a labile factor (or factors) that has been named the "Endothelium-Derived Relaxing Factor" (EDRF). While much remains to be learned about the pathways responsible for the production and the effects of EDRF, and its role in cardiovascular physiology, it is apparent that the loss of this endothelium-derived vasodilator can have profound effects on vascular pharmacology and physiology that could be important to the pathologies associated with disease states.
Comparison of various serological methods and diagnostic kits for the detection of acute, recent, and previous rubella infection, vaccination, and congenital infections

The antibody development after natural rubella infection and rubella vaccination has been followed in 802 sera from 493 patients and 71 sera from 22 vaccinees. Also examined were 67 sera from 28 infants with rubella embryopathy and sera from 50 children with presumed prenatal infection. In addition, 777 sera from 641 patients tested for routine rubella diagnosis were studied. Anamnestic information was available from all these patients. These sera were assayed for IgM antibody detection by sucrose density gradient (SDG), the commercial ELISAs (Enzygnost IgG Rubazyme), and the noncommercial anti‐my‐hemadsorption immunosorbent technique (HIT). For the determination of IgG antibodies the hemagglutination inhibition test (HAI), the commercial ELISAs (Enzygnost IgG, Rubazyme), and a single radial hemolysis test (SRH) were used. The SDG and HIT were less sensitive for IgM antibody detection than the two ELISAs, particularly when IgM concentrations were low. In total 26.5% of the IgM results with the newer tests were discordant with SDG, but only 0.5–3% of these results were not explicable when the clinical data was considered. Problems were encountered with all IgM assay systems used. For the detection of rubella antibodies after acute infection and vaccination the ELISA Enzygnost IgG was as sensitive as the HAI whereas the ELISA Rubazyme and SRH detected antibodies with some delay. Corresponding results with all tests were found more than 25 days after acute infection and more than 50 days after vaccination. All methods can be used for detection of antibodies in infants with rubella embryopathy. The results of this study suggest that certain combinations of tests can be used for the reliable detection of rubella infection.
Effect Sizes and the Integrative Understanding of Urban Bird Song

Effect Sizes and the Integrative Understanding of Urban Bird Song (A Reply to Slabbekoornet al.)Author(s): Erwin Nemeth, Sue Anne Zollinger, and Henrik BrummReviewed work(s):Source: The American Naturalist, Vol. 180, No. 1 (July 2012), pp. 146-152Published by: The University of Chicago Press for The American Society of NaturalistsStable URL: http://www.jstor. org/stable/10.1086/665994 . Accessed: 08/06/2012 07:18