Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Evaluation of the Efficacy of Tattoo-Removal Treatments with Q-Switch Laser

Laser therapy is the gold standard for tattoo removal. With laser removal, tattoo pigment particles can be selectively destroyed without harming the surrounding tissue by means of selective photothermolysis. This requires the correct choice of laser parameters, including wavelength, radiant exposure, and pulse duration of the applied laser. Q-switch Nd:YAG lasers are very effective in the treatment of tattoos; for effective and safe clearance, the laser system must be able to deliver nanosecond pulses with very high pulse energy and a uniform beam profile. In our study 10 patients requesting tattoo removal were treated using Fotona’s QX MAX Q-switch Nd:YAG laser, which offers four different wavelengths in a single system; 1064 nm Nd:YAG was used to treat and remove dark pigments, 532 nm KTP for red, purple and orange tattoo inks, 650 nm dye for green tattoo inks and 585 nm dye for sky-blue colored inks. Being aware that multiple treatments are needed for successful tattoo removal, we predicted the number of required treatments using Kirby-Desai scores and evaluated the efficacy of the prediction of the required number of sessions by comparing the Kirby-Desai score assessment with the real number of required sessions. We also propose a version of assessment method of tattoo removal efficacy after treatment with a visual decrement scale. Satisfactory tattoo removal of all tattoos was achieved. We were able to provide a good assessment of the number of treatments required to achieve complete tattoo removal, thus matching patient expectations and establishing realistic goals.
Realización de un reconocedor de voz en tiempo real para habla continua y grandes vocabularios

En esta tesis se ha disenado y construido un reconocedor de voz para habla continua y grandes vocabularios, orientado a aplicaciones que requieran un funcionamiento en tiempo real, El sistema es de tipo multipase con una primera busqueda basada en un algoritmo Viterbi sincrono,y un segundo pase basado en tecnicas de tipo word-graph. Se utiliza un solo arbol de vocabulario con modelos inter-palabra incluidos, y un modelo de lenguaje separado. Para permitir la utilizacion de vocabularios extensos el lexicon de reconocimiento se ha organizado en forma de arbol, comprobandose diversos tipos de comprension. Tambien se han incluido metodo de prediccion del modelo del lenguaje que resultan necesarios si se utiliza una organizacion en arbol. El sistema construido ha sido probado sobre varios experimentos diferentes. En la fase de desarrollo se utilizaron dos bases de datos en gallego, con multiples locutores y calidad telefonica, que contienen realizaciones de frases cortas y largas. Finalmente se diseno una base de datos de habla continua para efectuar un conjunto de experimentos preliminares sobre un escenario de test mas cercano a las aplicaciones a que va dirigido el reconocedor. Esta base, tambien multilocutor y con calidad telefonica, contiene parrafos largos de texto periodistico. Aunque los resultados obtenidos en este ultimo experimento muestran que el sistema ofrece buenas prestaciones en tareas complejas, el sistema debera ser probado en el futuro sobre escenarios reales.
Test Determinants of SME Performance: Relationship Between Leadership Strategy, Knowledge Management, and Business Orientation

In theory, there are only two types of entrepreneurs typology items, namely craftsman entrepreneur and opportunistic entrepreneur. Both of them have unique and distinct characteristics in Reviews their business running wheel Including the techniques and strategic steps to Determine sustainability in their business. In this case, the pattern of leadership and knowledge of the business, as well as business orientation, certainly plays the role the which in turn will Ultimately give the final confirmation of what is actually a "pioneer" or a "follower" in business activity. The purpose of this study is to analyze the extent to the which the role of leadership, knowledge of management and business orientation to business performance. This study takes 60 samples of SME's there was operated in Makassar City. Research approach with choosing the Quantitative Analysis and Regression Analysis as a method of the analysis. The results of this study stated that the leadership strategy has a significant effect as well as a dominant factor in building a better SME performance. Knowledge management into random principal goals and objectives of a business.
Environnements d'exécution pour applications parallèles communiquant par passage de messages pour les systèmes à grande échelle et les grilles de calcul. (Run-time environments for message-passing parallel applications for large-scale systems and computation grids)

L'environnement d'execution est un composant cle de l'environnement de programmation et d'execution d'applications paralleles. Il fournit des services aux processus de l'application parallele. Parmi ces services, les plus fondamentaux sont la mise en relation des processus entre eux et la transmission des signaux et des entrees-sorties. Cette these porte sur l'etude des environnements d'execution a grande echelle et les services rendus a l'application sur des systemes de grande taille. La premiere partie etudie les performances de l'environnement d'execution a grande echelle et propose une approche centree sur les topologies pour supporter l'application de maniere efficace. La seconde partie etudie un role supplementaire rempli par l'environnement d'execution dans des systemes constitue d'un grand nombre de composants avec le support de la tolerance aux defaillances. La troisieme et la quatrieme partie concernent un type particulier de systemes a grande echelle avec les grilles de calcul. Ces systemes presentent des particularites specifiques a l'utilisation de ressources geographiquement distantes et a l'heterogeneite de ces ressources. Les problematiques de connectivite sur les grilles de calcul et une extension de l'environnement d'execution concue pour y faire face sont presentees dans la troisieme partie de cette these. La quatrieme partie presente une methode de conception d'applications destinees aux grilles de calcul et des exemples d'applications typiques presentant de bonnes performances.
The Effect of Business Cycles' Fluctuations on Bank Profitability: The Case Study on Iran Melli Bank (1992-2014)

Regarding the analysis and stability of both fiscal and banking sectors, the link between business cycles ’fluctuations and banks ’profitability has been highly underscored up to this point. Macroeconomics conditions can impact banks ’performance, thereby they are possible to affect other economic sectors too. The present paper, based on Arellano and Bond (1991) GMM model, examines the impact of macroeconomic variables on Iran Melli Bank’s profitability. Paper’s respective data were extracted from Iran Melli Bank’s balance sheets and Iranian Central Bank temporal series data for the period of 1992-2014. Research findings demonstrate that there is a significant relation between business cycles ’fluctuations and Iran Melli Bank’s profitability, accordingly, in addition to downsizing itself for gaining more profits, it should consider investment and and the quality of its production for recession era and also improve its state of liquidity for the boom period.
Pindolol, a putative 5-hydroxytryptamine(1A) antagonist, does not reverse the inhibition of serotonergic neuronal activity induced by fluoxetine in awake cats: comparison to WAY-100635.

The ability of pindolol to enhance the clinical antidepressant response to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is generally attributed to a blockade of the feedback inhibition of serotonergic neuronal activity mediated by somatodendritic 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)(1A) autoreceptors. The current study examined the ability of pindolol to restore the single-unit activity of serotonergic dorsal raphe nucleus neurons in awake cats after acute treatment with the SSRI fluoxetine. The effects of pindolol were compared with those of N-[2-[4-(2-methoxyphenyl)-1-piperazinyl]ethyl]-N-(2-pyridinyl)cyclohe xanecarboxamide (WAY-100635), a selective 5-HT(1A) receptor antagonist. Systemic administration of fluoxetine (0.5 and 5 mg/kg i. v.) decreased neuronal firing rates to approximately 50 and 1%, respectively, of baseline levels. The subsequent administration of cumulative doses of (+/-)-pindolol (0.1-5 mg/kg i.v.) failed to reverse the neuronal inhibition produced by either dose of fluoxetine. In addition to lacking efficacy as an antagonist in these experiments, (+/-)-pindolol produced an additional decrease in neuronal activity in animals pretreated with the low dose of fluoxetine. The active enantiomer, (-)-pindolol (1 mg/kg i.v.), also was ineffective in restoring neuronal activity after fluoxetine. In contrast, systemic administration of WAY-100635 completely reversed the effect of fluoxetine (5 mg/kg) at low doses (0.025 mg/kg i.v.), and further elevated the firing rate of these neurons above prefluoxetine baseline levels. Overall, these results indicate that pindolol, unlike WAY-100635, lacks appreciable antagonist activity at 5-HT(1A) autoreceptors. Thus, the clinical efficacy of pindolol in augmenting the antidepressant response to SSRIs, such as fluoxetine, may be unrelated to a restoration of serotonergic neuronal activity.
Optimal microgrid operation based on model predictive control framework

This paper investigates the appliance of model predictive control framework for efficiently operating of a microgrid, which comprises distributed energy resources, energy storage systems, local smart loads such as HVAC and PHEVs, and some other uncontrollable loads. It can be operated in grid-connected mode and isolated mode autogenously. Model predictive control framework allows to take into consideration demand response, uncertainty power production of renewable energy resources, load demand and the varying of real-time electricity price, as well as to satisfy special constraints. The microgrid is considered as mixed logical dynamic system, the operation optimization of the microrgid is formulated with a mixed integer quadratic programming problem. Case studies are implemented and discussed to assess the performance of the proposed approach and the impacts of energy storage units, simulation results validate the efficiency of the proposed method.
Clonal expansion of adult rat hepatic stem cell lines by suppression of asymmetric cell kinetics (SACK)

Adult stem cells have potential use for several biomedical applications, including cell replacement therapy, gene therapy, and tissue engineering. However, such applications have been limited due to difficulties encountered in expanding functional adult stem cells. We have developed a new approach to the problem of adult stem cell expansion based on the suppression of asymmetric cell kinetics (SACK). We postulated that asymmetric cell kinetics, required for adult stem cell function, were a major barrier to their expansion in culture. As such, conversion of adult stem cells from asymmetric cell kinetics to symmetric cell kinetics would promote their exponential expansion and longterm propagation in culture. The purine nucleoside xanthosine (Xs), which promotes guanine ribonucleotide biosynthesis, can be used to reversibly convert cells from asymmetric cell kinetics to symmetric cell kinetics. We used Xs supplementation to derive clonal epithelial cell lines from adult rat liver that have properties of adult hepatic stem cells. The properties of two Xs‐derived cell lines, Lig‐8 and Lig‐13, are described in detail and compared to properties of adult rat hepatic cell lines derived without Xs supplementation. The Xs‐derived cell lines exhibit Xs‐dependent asymmetric cell kinetics and Xs‐dependent expression of mature hepatic differentiation markers. Interestingly, Lig‐8 cells produce progeny with properties consistent with hepatocyte differentiation, while Lig‐13 progeny cells have properties consistent with bile duct epithelium differentiation. A stable adult cholangiocyte stem cell line has not been previously described. Consistent with the principles of their derivation, the SACK‐derived hepatic cell lines exhibit neither senescence nor tumorigenic properties, and their differentiation properties are stable after longterm culture. These characteristics of SACK‐derived stem cell lines underscore asymmetric cell kinetics as an essential adult stem cell property with potential to be the basis for a general approach to expansion and propagation of diverse adult stem cells. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Biotechnol Bioeng 83: 760–771, 2003.
Effect of differentiation and focus strategies on the financial performance of Small and Medium Enterprises

Strategy is the key determinant of an organization sustainability in the current competitive business environment. Most strategies are replicated by competitors and thus a company must position itself in the minds of the consumer in order to remain competitive. Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) plays a significant role to the world economies and Kenya in particular. They make up the largest business sector in every economy. Despite the great role which the SMESs play, major benefits have remained a mirage due to lack of proper strategic managements practices by the owners and total failure by the regulatory authorities in properly playing their part. The study endeavored to determine how differentiation and focus strategies affected the performance of SMEs in Nairobi County Kenya. Explanatory research design was used in the study. The target population of the study was made up of 7384 SMEs and a sample of 95 SMEs was picked using systematic random sampling. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data, which was then analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistic. Findings indicated that differentiation strategy and market focus strategy were positively and significantly related to financial performance. The study concluded that that differentiation strategy and market focus strategy had positive and significant effect on the financial performance of SMEs. The study recommended that to accomplish the mission and objectives of SMEs with consideration on growth and profitability, management need to have a positive rethink towards the use of strategic management. Keywords: Differentiation Strategy, Focus strategy, financial performance and Small and Medium Enterprises
Assessing post-editing efficiency in a realistic translation environment

In many experimental studies on assessing post-editing efficiency, idiosyncratic user interfaces isolate translators from translation aids that are available to them in their daily work. In contrast, our experimental design allows translators to use a well-known translator workbench for both conventional translation and post-editing. We find that post-editing reduces translation time significantly, although considerably less than reported in isolated experiments, and argue that overall assessments of post-editing efficiency should be based on a realistic translation environment.
Moran’s I for impulse noise detection and removal in color images

Abstract. An approach for impulse noise detection and removal in color images based on Moran’s I (MI) statistic is proposed. The proposed method consists of detection and removal components and is called Moran’s I vector median filter (MIVMF). The detection module is able to determine if a pixel is noise or noise-free. If it is a noise pixel, the vector median filter (VMF) will be used to remove the noise. This detection capability meets the so-called “switching” mechanism, which only selects noisy pixels for denoising. Hence, this proposed filter will expedite the processing time with the reduced number of vector calculations in the VMF due to this detection function. This type of detection is achieved with MI index and the indication of one-dimensional Laplacian kernels. We compare the proposed MIVMF with other well-developed vector-type median filters in the literature. Our experimental results show that the proposed filter is not only faster in the filtering process but also efficient in removing random impulse noise with different noise levels in color images. The MIVMF demonstrates a promising denoising result based on the criteria of peak signal-to-noise ratio and structural similarity index metric. With the visualization of processed images, the MIVMF can avoid image blurring, preserve the edge details, and achieve superior noise reduction.
El grupo del nombre en la analogía de la GRAE: (1771-1917)

En esta Tesis Doctoral, tal como se indica en el titulo, se estudia, a la luz del contexto de la tradicion gramatical, el grupo del nombre en la Analogia de la GRAE, desde su primera edicion, de 1771, hasta la de 1917, en la que queda plasmada la redaccion definitiva del texto sobre el particular hasta la publicaicon del Esbozo, en 1973, cerrandose asi una etapa importante en su largo caminar. En el desarrollo del tema, una vez trazado, en la introduccion, el proceso de la preparacion de la Gramatica y su ulterior desarrollo, y abordadas por separado la Analogia y las partes de la oracion, en los tres capitulos siguientes su autor se centra, sucesivamente, en el estudio del articulo, el nombre (sustantivo y adjetivo) y el pronombre, consultando para ello, ademas de todas las ediciones de la GRAE, las Actas y Documentos gramaticales de la Corporacion, y la bibliografia especializada que se especifica al final de cada uno de estos bloques.
Cultural Relevance to Sustainability Reporting in Asian and European Banking

The purpose of this paper is to test whether significant differences in sustainability reporting exist between banking in Asian and European. The sample consists of 65 banks from 15 countries in Asian and 18 countries in European. The division of Asian and European is derived from the Hofstede cultural dimension. This study uses GRI financial services sector supplement to measure sustainability reporting. Non-parametric (Mann-Whitney) tests are computed to achieve the stated objective. Result reveals that sustainability reporting in European is higher than in Asian. This supports the first hypothesis. Differences test results also support hypothesis that there is a significant differences in sustainability reporting between the two regions. However, differences test result per category show that there is no significant differences for the economic category and there are significant differences for both other categories, namely social and environmental. The finding suggests that sustainability reporting is likely to be influenced by national cultures. With regard to data, Hofstede dimensions were identified and developed over 30 years ago and no development over time with dimensional scores. Rather than comparing two countries, this study tries to analyze on a broader scale, ie territory.
Exercise protects cardiac mitochondria against ischemia-reperfusion injury.

PURPOSE Three to five consecutive days of endurance exercise can protect the heart against an ischemia-reperfusion (IR) insult. However, the mechanisms responsible for this exercise-mediated cardioprotection remain unknown. Given the important role that mitochondria play in IR-induced cardiac myocyte injury, we hypothesized that exercise training promotes cardioprotection, at least in part, by increasing mitochondrial antioxidants, preventing mitochondrial release of reactive oxygen species, and protecting cardiac mitochondria against IR-induced oxidative damage and functional impairment. METHODS To test our hypothesis, Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to either sedentary (n = 16) or exercise-trained (n = 16) groups. Exercise-trained animals performed 5 d of treadmill running for 60 min·d(-1) at 30 m·s(-1). Hearts were excised from sedentary and exercised-trained animals and were either perfused for 80 min or exposed to 40 min of global ischemia followed by 45 min of reperfusion by using an ex vivo isolated working heart model. After the protocol, cardiac subsarcolemmal and intermyofibrillar mitochondria were isolated and used to determine respiratory control ratio, reactive oxygen species emission, and indices of oxidative stress and apoptosis. RESULTS Our results support our hypothesis because exercise training protected both cardiac subsarcolemmal and intermyofibrillar mitochondria from IR-induced uncoupling and oxidative damage. Specifically, the levels of cardiac mitochondrial 4-hydroxynonenal-conjugated proteins were elevated in hearts from sedentary animals exposed to IR compared with cardiac mitochondria isolated from exercise-trained animals. Exercise also resulted in an increase in mitochondrial antioxidant enzymes (copper-zinc superoxide dismutase, manganese superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase) and prevented the IR-induced release of proapoptotic proteins from the mitochondria. CONCLUSIONS Collectively, these novel findings reveal that exercise-induced cardioprotection is mediated, at least in part, through mitochondrial adaptations resulting in a mitochondrial phenotype that resists IR-induced damage.
The actions of cyclosporin A and FK506 on T-lymphocyte activation.

Introduction Activation of T-lymphocytes is a complex process requiring recognition of antigen by the T-cell antigen receptor as well as concomitant signals from the antigen-presenting cells. These events lead to the activation of second-messenger pathways such as tyrosine kinases and protein kinase C and to an increase in intracellular Ca2+ concentration [ 1-31. This initiates a sequential activation of a group of genes that in turn give rise to proliferation and immunological function [4,5]. Cyclosporin A and FK506 are immunosuppressive drugs that have proved to be extremely powerful therapeutic agents both in the prevention of allograft rejection after solid organ engrafting and in the prophylactic treatment of graft/host disease after bone marrow transplantation [6-81. The immunosuppressive properties of cyclosporin A and FK506 can largely be ascribed to their potent inhibition of immunologically important cytokine genes during T-lymphocyte activation, including the interleukin (1L)-2, IL-3, IL-4, GMCSF and y-INF genes [9121. Although structurally unrelated, both cyclosporin A and FK.506 inhibit lymphokine gene expression in a similar fashion. Cyclosporin A binds and inhibits the activity of cyclophilin [ 131, a peptidyl-prolyl &-trans isomerase [14,15], an enzyme that plays a role in the folding of proteins in eiTto [16-181. Remarkably, FK506 also binds to a peptidyl-prolyl cistrans isomerase, FKBP (FK506 binding protein) [19,20], and inhibits its activity [21,22]. This observation led initially to the hypothesis that peptidyl-prolyl cis-trans isomerases play a direct role in the T-cell transduction cascade. However, this was made less likely by the observations that cyclophilin and FKBP are extremely abundant, each accounting for approx. 0.5% of total cellular protein, but the concentration of drug required to inhibit T-cell activation completely is nevertheless significantly less than that required to saturate binding of the relevant receptor and hence inhibit cellular isomerase activity completely [23,24].