Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance improvement of LDPC codes using soft input decryption

A novel method to improve the performance of Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Codes using Soft Input Decryption is presented in this paper. A channel coding technique that provides performance near to Shannon's limit is LDPC code. To achieve optimum decoding, Sum-product decoding is used for LDPC Codes. The Soft Input Decryption method is based on the combination of cryptography and channel coding. Cryptographic checksum called hash is used to improve the performance of Turbo coding. Hash value is appended to the transmitted information for data integrity verification. The least reliable soft output values of the channel decoder are modified until the data integrity verification is successful. Results show that a significant improvement in the performance of channel coding can be achieved using soft input decryption.
Modern lossless compression techniques: Review, comparison and analysis

With the world drifting more and more towards the social network, the size and amount of data shared over the internet is increasing day by day. Since the network bandwidth is always limited, we require efficient compression algorithms to facilitate fast and efficient sharing of data over the network. In this paper, we discuss algorithms of widely used traditional and modern compression techniques. In an effort to find the optimum compression algorithm, we compare commonly used modern compression algorithms: Deflate, Bzip2, LZMA, PPMd and PPMonstr by analyzing their performance on Silesia corpus. The corpus comprises of files of varied type and sizes, which accurately simulates the vast diversity of files shared over the internet. We compare these algorithms on the basis of their compression ratio, compression speed and decompression speed. After observing the simulated results, we found that PPMonstr provides the best compression ratio. Deflate is the fastest algorithm in terms of compression and decompression speed, but provides low compression ratio. Bzip2 and PPMd provide moderate compression speed and good compression ratio and hence are well suited for applications dependent on both compression ratio and speed. Further, experimental results indicate that LZMA is an ideal algorithm for applications requiring high compression ratio along with fast decompression speed as it provides moderate decompression speed coupled with high compression ratio.
Cover Crop Residue Amount and Quality Effects on Soil Organic Carbon Mineralization

Decline in soil organic carbon (SOC) and the associated impacts on crop production under conventional farming raises concerns on how alternative management practices increase SOC sequestration and improve agricultural sustainability. This study aimed to understand SOC mineralization kinetics with different cover crop (CC) residue amendments. Soil samples were collected from a fallow and three CC (pea, oat, and canola) plots. Soil samples from the CC plots were manipulated with zero, five, and 10 Mg ha −1 of the respective CC residues. All soil samples were incubated for eight weeks, SOC mineralization was monitored, and the first order kinetic and parabolic equation models were fitted to the observed data for estimating labile SOC ( C 0 ), and the decomposition rate constant ( k ). Subsequent comparisons of fitted model parameters were based on the first order kinetic model. The C 0 varied with the residue amount while k varied with CC type. C 0 was 591–858% greater with 10 Mg ha −1 and 289–456% greater with five Mg ha −1 residue additions while k was 122–297% greater with 10 Mg ha −1 and 94–240% greater with five Mg ha −1 residue additions when compared to the fallow treatment. The CC residue stimulated cumulative carbon mineralization ( C min ) irrespective of CC type, suggesting that cover cropping has potential to improve SOC cycling in agroecosystems.
Ineffective normobaric LHTL: room confinement or inappropriate training intensity?

to the editor: To explain an ineffective live high-train low (LHTL) in normobaric hypoxia (e.g., where the athletes slept in hypoxic chamber), Siebenman et al. ([4][1]) suggested that the recommended 16 h/day of room confinement may lead to a reduction in plasma volume: 13.8% and 20.1% in the
An exploratory investigation of Factors Influencing Data Quality in Data Warehouse

Data quality is of paramount importance in any Business Intelligence (BI) project. In fact, the Decision Support System can be the reference decision unless the data is consistent, updated, completed and fit for use for the decision makers and the decision tasks. Otherwise, the non-quality data may lead policy makers to make bad decisions, to miss opportunities or even commit very serious business mistakes. Considering this issue, we propose to study in this paper the factors that influence the quality of intelligence data, or rather the factors moderating the influence of the quality of source data since this last one is inevitable. We conduct an exploratory research in order to gather information from the literature review that helps us to suggest hypothesis of our research model "Factors Influencing Data Quality in a Data Warehouse". The objective of identifying the critical ones throw a confirmatory research (that we don't expose in this paper) will be to enable stakeholders to better use their scare resources while implementing a BI project by focusing on these key areas that are most likely to have a greater impact.
Inpatient hospital admission and death after outpatient surgery in elderly patients: importance of patient and system characteristics and location of care.

HYPOTHESIS Surgery at different outpatient care locations in the higher-risk elderly (age >65 years) population is associated with similar rates of inpatient hospital admission and death. DESIGN Claims analysis of patients undergoing 16 different surgical procedures in a nationally representative (5%) sample of Medicare beneficiaries for the years 1994 through 1999. SETTING Hospital-based outpatient centers, freestanding ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), and physicians' office facilities. PATIENTS Medicare beneficiaries older than 65 years. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Rate of death, emergency department risk, and admission to an inpatient hospital within 7 days of outpatient surgery. RESULTS We studied 564,267 outpatient surgical procedures: 360,780 at an outpatient hospital, 175,288 at an ASC, and 28,199 at a physician's office. There were no deaths the day of surgery at a physician's office, 4 deaths the day of surgery at an ASC (2.3 per 100,000 outpatient procedures), and 9 deaths the day of surgery at an outpatient hospital (2.5 per 100,000 outpatient procedures). The 7-day mortality rate was 35 per 100,000 outpatient procedures at a physician's office, 25 per 100,000 outpatient procedures at an ASC, and 50 per 100,000 outpatient procedures at an outpatient hospital. The rate of admission to an inpatient hospital within 7 days of outpatient surgery was 9.08 per 1000 outpatient procedures at a physician's office, 8.41 per 1000 outpatient procedures at an ASC, and 21 per 1000 outpatient procedures at an outpatient hospital. In multivariate models, more advanced age, prior inpatient hospital admission within 6 months, surgical performance at a physician's office or outpatient hospital, and invasiveness of surgery identified those patients who were at increased risk of inpatient hospital admission or death within 7 days of surgery at an outpatient facility. CONCLUSION This study represents an initial effort to demonstrate the risk associated with outpatient surgery in a large, diverse population of elderly individuals.
The effect of a natural, standardized bilberry extract (Mirtoselect®) in dry eye: a randomized, double blinded, placebo-controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE Dry eye, a chronic disease of lachrymal fluid and corneo-conjunctival epithelium, could significantly impact visual function, affects quality of life and work productivity. Beside several conventional treatments, nutritional supplements based on bilberry extract have been identified as effective contributors to eye health. Here, we aim at investigating the bioavailability of a standardized bilberry extract, its ability to alleviate dry eye symptoms and its antioxidant potential. MATERIALS AND METHODS Either bilberry dried standardized extract derived from Vaccinium myrtillus L. fresh frozen fruits (Mirtoselect®) or a highly purified anthocyanin-rich extract, devoid of the non anthocyanin component and supported on maltodextrins, were each orally administrated to 5 male rats. Blood samples were collected at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 minutes after treatment, processed and analyzed by UV spectrophotometric method. In a parallel analysis, 22 otherwise healthy subjects suffering from dry eye symptoms were enrolled randomly assigned to receive the more bioavailable bilberry extract or placebo. Ophthalmological and clinical examinations including Schirmer's test, pupil constriction, diacron-reactive oxygen metabolites (d-ROMs) test and biological antioxidant potential (BAP) test were performed at inclusion and after the 4-week study period. RESULTS The area under the curve of plasmatic levels of anthocyanosides in rats resulted 202.34±24.23 µg·min/ml for Mirtoselect® and 130.93±4.93 µg·min/ml for the highly purified anthocyanin-rich bilberry extract, notwithstanding the fact that the highly purified anthocyanin-rich extract group received an anthocyanins dosage much higher than the Mirtoselect® group (354 mg/Kg in anthocyanosides vs. 136 mg/Kg in anthocyanosides). 21 subjects, 11 subjects in the bilberry extract (Mirtoselect®) group and 10 subjects in the placebo group completed the clinical study. Schirmer's test values indicating the volume of tear secretion were significantly improved in the bilberry extract group (p=0.019), whereas no significant changes were observed in the placebo group. A subset analysis revealed that Mirtoselect® could be more effective in subjects with higher tendency of dry eye. In terms of antioxidant potential, the bilberry extract produced significant improvement of BAP (p=0.003) and an increase of modified BAP/d-ROMs ratio, an indicator of overall balance between antioxidant potential and oxidative stress. CONCLUSIONS Our results suggested that natural, standardized bilberry extract (Mirtoselect®) is a natural more bioavailable delivery form anthocyanins, suggesting a strong matrix effect exerted by the non-anthocyanin component. Furthermore, it can improve tear secretion and plasmatic antioxidant potential in subjects suffering from DED symptoms.
Percutaneous distal metatarsal osteotomy for correction of hallux valgus.

BACKGROUND Distal osteotomy of the first metatarsal is indicated for the surgical treatment of mild-to-moderate hallux valgus deformity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of a subcapital distal osteotomy of the first metatarsal with use of a percutaneous technique. METHODS From 1996 to 2001, 118 consecutive percutaneous distal osteotomies of the first metatarsal were performed for the treatment of painful mild-to-moderate hallux valgus in eighty-two patients. The patients were assessed with a clinical and radiographic protocol at a mean of 35.9 months postoperatively. The American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) hallux-metatarsophalangeal-interphalangeal scale was used for the clinical assessment. RESULTS The patients were satisfied following 107 (91%) of the 118 procedures. The mean score on the AOFAS scale was 88.2 +/- 12.9 points. The postoperative radiographic assessments showed a significant change (p < 0.05), compared with the preoperative values, in the mean hallux valgus angle, first intermetatarsal angle, distal metatarsal articular angle, and sesamoid position. The valgus deformity recurred after three procedures (2.5%), the first metatarsophalangeal joint was stiff but not painful after eight (6.8%), and a deep infection developed after one (0.8%). The infection resolved with antibiotic therapy. CONCLUSIONS The percutaneous technique proved to be reliable for the correct execution of a distal linear osteotomy of the first metatarsal for the correction of a painful mild-to-moderate hallux valgus deformity. The clinical results appear to be comparable with those obtainable with traditional open techniques, with the additional advantages of a minimally invasive procedure, a substantially shorter operating time, and a reduced risk of complications related to surgical exposure.
Variations in tooth size and arch dimensions in Malay schoolchildren

Abstract Aims To compare the mesio-distal tooth sizes and dental arch dimensions in Malay boys and girls with Class I, Class II and Class III malocclusions. Methods The dental casts of 150 subjects (78 boys, 72 girls), between 12 and 16 years of age, with Class I, Class II and Class III malocclusions were used. Each group consisted of 50 subjects. An electronic digital caliper was used to measure the mesio-distal tooth sizes of the upper and lower permanent teeth (first molar to first molar), the intercanine and intermolar widths. The arch lengths and arch perimeters were measured with AutoCAD software (Autodesk Inc., San Rafael, CA, USA). Results The mesio-distal dimensions of the upper lateral incisors and canines in the Class I malocclusion group were significantly smaller than the corresponding teeth in the Class III and Class II groups, respectively. The lower canines and first molars were significantly smaller in the Class I group than the corresponding teeth in the Class II group. The lower intercanine width was significantly smaller in the Class II group as compared with the Class I group, and the upper intermolar width was significantly larger in Class III group as compared with the Class II group. There were no significant differences in the arch perimeters or arch lengths. The boys had significantly wider teeth than the girls, except for the left lower second premolar. The boys also had larger upper and lower intermolar widths and lower intercanine width than the girls. Conclusion Small, but statistically significant, differences in tooth sizes are not necessarily accompanied by significant arch width, arch length or arch perimeter differences. Generally, boys have wider teeth, larger lower intercanine width and upper and lower intermolar widths than girls.
Predicting Vulnerable Software Components through Deep Neural Network

Vulnerabilities need to be detected and removed from software. Although previous studies demonstrated the usefulness of employing prediction techniques in deciding about vulnerabilities of software components, the improvement of effectiveness of these prediction techniques is still a grand challenging research question. This paper employed a technique based on a deep neural network with rectifier linear units trained with stochastic gradient descent method and batch normalization, for predicting vulnerable software components. The features are defined as continuous sequences of tokens in source code files. Besides, a statistical feature selection algorithm is then employed to reduce the feature and search space. We evaluated the proposed technique based on some Java Android applications, and the results demonstrated that the proposed technique could predict vulnerable classes, i.e., software components, with high precision, accuracy and recall.
An ultrastructural study of preovulatory apical development in mouse ovanan follicles: Effects of indomethacin

The effects of the prostaglandin synthesis inhibitor, indomethacin, on the preovulatory morphology of apical follicle walls have been examind by transmission electron microscopy. Immature mice, superovulated with 5 IU pregnant mare serum (PMS) followed 40 hours later by 80 IU luteinizing hormone (LH) were treated with either 10 mg/kg indomethacin or an equivalent volume of the indomethacin vehicle 10 minutes prior to LH. Follicular apices from both groups were compared at 12 hours post‐LH. Indomethacin treatment suppressed many of the morphological changes normally occurring in the apex during preovulatory development. Whereas apices from vehicle treated animals demonstrated marked deterioration, dissociation, and thinning of tissue, the cell layers of apices from indomethacin‐treated animals remained thickened and tightly packed, with limited signs of disruption. The results presented herein are consistent with the idea that prostaglandins are essential mediators of ovulation and suggest that these lipids augment apical rupture by mobilizing granulosa cells and stimulating the loss of connective tissue elements.
Fluid outflows from Venus impact craters - Analysis from Magellan data

Many impact craters on Venus have unusual outflow features originating in or under the continuous ejecta blankets and continuing downhill into the surrounding terrain. These features clearly resulted from flow of low-viscosity fluids, but the identity of those fluids is not clear. In particular, it should not be assumed a priori that the fluid is an impact melt. A number of candidate processes by which impact events might generate the observed features are considered, and predictions are made concerning the rheological character of flows produced by each mechanism. A sample of outflows was analyzed using Magellan images and a model of unconstrained Bingham plastic flow on inclined planes, leading to estimates of viscosity and yield strength for the flow materials. It is argued that at least two different mechanisms have produced outflows on Venus: an erosive, channel-forming process and a depositional process. The erosive fluid is probably an impact melt, but the depositional fluid may consist of fluidized solid debris, vaporized material, and/or melt.
Discovery of a Gene Conferring Multiple-Aminoglycoside Resistance in Escherichia coli

ABSTRACT Bovine-origin Escherichia coli isolates were tested for resistance phenotypes using a disk diffusion assay and for resistance genotypes using a DNA microarray. An isolate with gentamicin and amikacin resistance but with no corresponding genes detected yielded a 1,056-bp DNA sequence with the closest homologues for its inferred protein sequence among a family of 16S rRNA methyltransferase enzymes. These enzymes confer high-level aminoglycoside resistance and have only recently been described in Gram-negative bacteria.
Characteristics of Patients with Upstaging by Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy of the N0 Neck in Head and Neck Cancer

Introduction: To investigate the possible role of sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) to upstage the N0 neck in patients with oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods: Patients with T1-T2 oral and oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma accessible to injection and staged N0 into the neck by palaption and CTscan were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent regular follow-up to identify possible recurrence. Results: A sentine lymph node biopsy was performed by 21 consecutive patients. 4 of the 21 patients were upstaged by SNLB. There was a mean follow-up of 31 months. Two patients developed subsequent disease after having been staging by SLNB, respectively negative in one case and positive in the other case. Tumor site, the staging of the primary tumor, presence of ulceration, tumor thickness were the same in the upstaged initially N0 patients. Conclusions: Sentinel lymph node biopsy can be used to upstage the N0 neck patients in perhaps well defined patients.
Hepatocyte Transplantation in Man

Recent advances in liver transplantation have caused a serious shortage of donor livers, and a consensus on determining brain death has not been reached by the medical community in several countries, including Japan. To overcome these circumstances, hepatocellular transplantation (HCTX) has been attempted because HCTX requires no vascular anastomosis and donor hepatocytes are easy to obtain from living donors, and easy to preserve for a long time. In many experimental studies on HCTX some promising findings have been obtained, but clinically there has been little progress. Our success with survival of autotransplanted monkey hepatocytes and the development of a preparation of human hepatocytes has renewed interest in clinical HCTX. A multipuncture perfusion method or collagenase perfusion via the umbilical vein enables us to obtain approximately 1 × 108 hepatocytes from partially resected liver (60 g). The clinical trial of HCTX into the spleen was performed in 10 patients in Japan. A CT image, taken 1 mo after HCTX, showed a low density area corresponding to the inoculated site, which suggested that the transplanted hepatocytes survived and possessed hepatocellular function. One patient who sustained hepatic encephalopathy and massive ascites has now returned to work 11 mo after HCTX and hepatic artery ligation. However, there were no definite findings for functional support of damaged livers by HCTX in the spleen. We will review our experiments on HCTX, and describe the current and future aspects of HCTX.
Impact of Voltage-Accelerated Stress on Hole Trapping at Operating Condition

This letter shows that voltage-accelerated stressing (VAS), a common methodology used in gate-oxide reliability testing, can change the capture activity of a time-zero oxide trap (i.e., already active under operating condition). It is found that after VAS, a time-zero oxide trap can be rendered either significantly more or less likely to capture a hole, implying that the applied electrical stress may have changed the atomic structure of the trap. The question on whether such change is relevant to reliability testing would have to be further considered carefully given the significant impact that charge trapping/detrapping at a single oxide trap may have on the behavior of a small-area MOSFET.
IgA nephropathy.

From the Division of Nephrology, Department of Medicine (J.V.D.), and the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (J.P.G.), Mayo Clinic and Mayo Foundation, Rochester, Minn. Address reprint requests to Dr. Donadio at the Mayo Clinic, 200 First St. SW, Stabile 7-22, Rochester, MN 55905, or at donadio.james@mayo.edu. gA nephropathy is a relatively newly recognized disease, first described by Berger and Hinglais in 1968. 1 It is now generally known to be the most common form of primary glomerulonephritis throughout the world. 2-4 Primary IgA nephropathy is an immune-complex– mediated glomerulonephritis defined immunohistologically by the presence of glomerular IgA deposits accompanied by a variety of histopathologic lesions. 5,6
Biosynthesis of raffinose.

: 1. Reaction of UTP and alpha-d-galactose 1-phosphate with [U-(14)C]sucrose in the presence of a Vicia faba dormant-seed preparation yielded the trisaccharide raffinose. 2. UTP-alpha-d-galactose 1-phosphate-uridylyltransferase activity has been demonstrated in the bean preparation and evidence for the participation of UDP-galactose in the trisaccharide synthesis is presented. 3. UDP-galactose 4-epimerase is present in the dormant seed. 4. The biosynthesis of raffinose in relation to the metabolism of other carbohydrates in plants is discussed.
High Throughput Memory-efficient VLSI Designs for Structured LDPC Decoding

Low-density Parity Check(LDPC) codes have been in focus of intense research in Error-correction Coding in recent years. High throughput decoder design for them has been a big challenge for these codes. In this paper, we report the first scalable VLSI decoder design based on projective geometry (PG) structure of LDPC codes. The design is based on memory-efficient communication primitives known as perfect access sequences. A high-throughput variation of above design achieves a throughput of 620 Mbps, much higher than what communication standards require. The corresponding fully-parallel VLSI architecture was implemented on Xilinx LX110T FPGA, as well as on 90-nm SAED EDK90 CORE Cell Library from Synposys. We find that PG-based graphs indeed offer an exciting way of parallelizing this computation, and many others in future.