Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Endobronchial blockers for lung volume reduction

Educational aims To understand how endobronchial valves can improve symptoms in patients with emphysema and to convey current opinion regarding optimal patient selection. Summary Surgical lung volume reduction can, under certain circumstances, improve forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), indices of resting hyperinflation and quality of life [1] in patients with emphysema. However, a significant proportion of patients (between one-quarter and one-third) fail to derive significant benefit from the procedure. This in itself might not matter were it not that, in large series, the mortality rate has been at least 4–5% [1–3]. While this risk might be acceptable if success were guaranteed, it is less appealing otherwise. Another issue is that, in order to reduce mortality and morbidity, most groups impose safety criteria so that patients who are too disabled are not eligible for lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS). These factors suggest a need for a treatment which is more likely to be effective and is less dangerous and/or reversible. Two principal approaches have been described. In one, an extrapulmonary pathway is created, which allows increased expiratory flow from the lung. In the other, which will be discussed in this article, an endobronchial blocker or valve is positioned with the aim of achieving distal collapse; the tissue engineering approach, using instilled glues, is a variant of this technique.
Magnetic NDT for the characterization of industrial materials

Microstructure and residual stresses (RS) are important attributes of an industrial material which determines their various properties. In this paper, first an overview is given on the information available on the relationships of the microstructural parameters and RS on one hand and the parameters related to magnetic hysteresis loop and Barkhausen noise on the other The relevance of the relation¬ships for microstructurel characterisations and RS hr magnetic nondestructive evaluation techniques is discussed. Discussion is also made on the development and the use of sensors for the detec¬tion and assessment of magnetic flux to characterise microstruc¬tures. Two case studies on the use of the techniques in industrial materials and components are presented.
Leader Robot Controller Considering Follower with Input Constraint

This paper proposes controller of leader robot considering following robot with input constraints based on leader-following approach. In the previous formation control researches, it was assumed that leader and follower is same object. If leader robot drives as maximum speed that the initial position errors still remain even if following robot have same velocity as a leader. In the situation that velocity of following robot is lower than its leader robot, following robot cannot follow leader robot. Furthermore, the following robot will not be able to made formation with leader robot and keep proximity communication or sensing range. Therefore, multiple mobile robot system using leader-following method should be guaranteed range to get information each other. In this paper, Leader robot is driving to goal position using linear controller and following robot is following trajectory to be made from leader robot. We assume that following robot has input constraints to realize different performance between leader robot and following robot. We design controller of leader robot for desired goal position including the errors between formation and following robot. Thus, we propose leader robot controller considering input constraints of following robot. Finally, we were able to confirm the validity of the proposed method based on simulation results.
A Solution to Aversive Tasting Drugs for Pediatric and Geriatric Patients

Medications dissolve in saliva and bind to taste receptors on the tongue giving a bitter, sweet, salty, sour, or umami sensation. Sweet and sour taste receptors are concentrated on the tip and lateral borders of the tongue respectively. Bitter taste is sensed by the receptors on the posterior part of the tongue and umami taste receptors are located throughout the tongue. For a short period of time after birth, infants reject substances that have a bitter taste and prefer ones that have a sweet or umami taste [1]. Children have a larger number of taste buds than adults which are responsible for sensitivity toward taste. These taste buds regenerate every two weeks. Taste becomes altered as a function of the aging process which explains why most children find certain flavours to be too strong when adults do not. The American Academy of Paediatrics estimates that compliance for taking medication in children is as low as 53%. Noncompliance can lead to: (1) persistent symptoms, (2) need for additional doctor visits or even hospitalizations, (3) worsening of condition, (4) need for additional medication, (5) increased healthcare costs and (6) development of drug-resistant organisms in cases of infectious diseases [2].
THE HYBRID COMPILER TARGETING JAVASCRIPT LANGUAGE

Статья посвящена созданию прототипа новой виртуальной машины языка JavaScript. Работа основана на платформе Tizen, которая использует HTML5 и JavaScript для разработки приложений. Производительность и потребление памяти JavaScript-программ на существующих машинах хуже по сравнению с С++ или С# приложениями. В нашей работе мы попытались уменьшить разрыв по производительности между JavaScript и другими языками.
Nordic Society Oikos Bat Species Richness and Abundance in Tropical Rain Forest Fragments and in Agricultural Habitats at Los Tuxtlas , Mexico Author ( s ) :

Bat Species Richness and Abundance in Tropical Rain Forest Fragments and in Agricultural Habitats at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico Author(s): Alejandro Estrada, Rosamond Coates-Estrada, Dennis Meritt, Jr. Source: Ecography, Vol. 16, No. 4 (Oct. Dec., 1993), pp. 309-318 Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos Stable URL: http://www.jstor. org/stable/3683115 Accessed: 07/05/2010 09:21
Importance of exercise and motor fitness in 11–13 year old primary school children in liechtenstein

Several studies have shown that the behavioral pattern in exercise and motor fitness of children has changed dramatically in the last two generations. Because childhood is a very important period of life, the promotion of physical activity (PA) has been identified as a major public health priority. Therefore the aim of this study was to observe the fitness level and the importance of PA among 5th grade pupils in Liechtenstein. This cross-sectional study was carried out from March to June 2007. A total of 313 children (aged 11.8 ± 0.6 years) were randomly selected. PA and socio-demographic data were acquired with a short questionnaire, the motor fitness with a test battery, consisting of eight items. In summary, the physical performance of all the children is satisfactory, but with obvious deficits in coordination, flexibility and basic motor skills. Children’s general fitness was significantly higher among those, who were members of sports clubs than non members (p<.05). A high level of PA in free time was associated with better motor fitness (p < .001). According to other studies, this survey illustrates the controversial findings of a high participation in sports of school children in their free time activities but at the same time increasing motor disorders.
“Thinking Creatively with Sounds and Words: Sounds and Images IIA” validity study in the Turkish language

Creativity, although it had existed since the existence of humanity, nowadays it is gaining more and more importance. In this process, creativity have been addressed in a variety of ways such as the studies of development on creativity and determination of the level of creativity. For this reason some scales or tests have been developed. Developed tests in a certain culture or language have reflect this culture and language’s understanding and qualifications. It is important to be done in a systematic way to test or scale adaptation studies in order to be applicable and meaningful in different culture or language. The purpose of this research is to study the validity of the Turkish language of the Test of Thinking Creatively with Sounds and Words: Sounds and Images IIA developed by Torrance and Cunnington. Language validity study was conducted in the academic year 2014-2015 by Dokuz Eylul University Buca Education Faculty Department of Foreign Language Education and Literature Faculty Department of Translation and Interpreting 4. Grade students (n=55). For the reliability and validity study, the Sounds and Images IIA Turkish form was conducted in the academic year 2014-2015 by Dokuz Eylul University, Adnan Menderes University, Mugla Sitki Kocman University Education Faculty Department of music Education 1. - 4. Grade students (n=276). The reliability of the test was determined through the value of Cronbach’s Alpha. The Cronbach’s Alpha value of the Sounds and Images IIA English form was determined . 64, for the Sounds and Images IIA Turkish form was determined . 61 [. 60 ≤ α . 01]. The Sounds and Images IIA Turkish Form Cronbach’s Alpha reliability coefficient is . 61, Spearman-Brown split-half reliability coefficient is . 59 [. 60 ≤ α < . 90]. This result shows that the Sounds and Images IIA Turkish Form is a reliable measuring instrument for Turkish language.
Obesity & Control Therapies: Open Access

The increasing global prevalence of overweight all over the world is not an optimistic fact, for the first time in the history of mankind the overweight’s outnumber the underweight’s (1000 million vs800 million)according to the studies carried out by BM Popk in the last decade [1]. This difference is probably greater today due to the presence of the dual forms of malnutrition in the same household in countries with lower incomes [2]. Besides the predicted obesity prevalence is not encouraging because it will continue to rise up to the decade of 2020 and so will the important and common co morbidities [3].
Integrating Europe’s Back Office: 10 Years of Turning in Circles

The financial crisis has sharpened the debate on Europe’s back office architecture. This paper reviews the ECB’s decision to proceed with its Target 2 Securities (T2S) project, which aims to establish a common IT platform for securities settlement, reducing differences between current infrastructures. The apparently solid configuration of the project shakes, however, when we closely examine the impact of this common infrastructure on the competitive landscape. Notably, non-discriminatory access to the platform (low barriers to entry), clearer and independent governance, and full participation by Central Securities Depositories (CSDs and ICSDs) are essential conditions to ensure the initiative’s success. The paper also examines the possibility to build a level playing field for CSDs in Europe and evaluates the ESCB/CESR recommendations, discussing the progress achieved with the industry’s Code of Conduct and evaluating, as follow-up to the financial crisis, the relative merits of multiple vs single Central Counterparty Clearing (CCP) in OTC markets.
Online monitoring of electrical conductivity of wine induced by ultrasound

ABSTRACT We assessed the effects of ultrasonic frequency, power, temperature and exposure time on the electric conductivity (EC) of wine to evaluate the feasibility of the online EC monitoring as an indicator to reflect the changes of wine quality under the ultrasound irradiation. Results showed that the continuously monitored curve of EC was significantly different from the values recorded at the beginning and end of sonication. An abrupt rise and a rapid drop of wine EC were observed at the start and end points of sonication, respectively, in all working conditions. With regards to the assayed wine temperatures, the effect exerted by this parameter on EC before sonication was totally different from that observed when the samples were cooled down after ultrasound treatment. All in all, these results suggest that the online EC monitoring of wine may be used as an efficient indicator to control and reflect the real changes of wine under ultrasound treatment.
Role of the TLM in the localization of Hro-Twist mRNA

ROLE OF THE TLM IN THE LOCALIZATION OF HRO-TWIST mRNA by Mehrin Farooq The subcellular localization of mRNA transcripts is critical in sorting cell fate determinants in the developing embryo of the glossiphoniid leech, Helodella robusta. Secondary structural motifs are recognized by /raws-acting factors which aid in the localization of these transported transcripts. Here, the Teloplasm Localization Motif (TLM), a secondary structural motif located in the 3'UTR of Hro-Twist, has been defined and characterized. The TLM comprises of a 20 unpaired nucleotide bulge, with one major and one minor stem loop structure projecting from it, and one stem structure in continuum with the rest of the mRNA 3'UTR. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to alter the TLM in four different ways: 1) converting the major stem loop structure into two smaller loops; 2) increasing the size of the major stem loop; 3) inserting a bulge in between the major and minor stem loops, and 4) distorting the structure completely. Three out of the four alterations in the TLM disrupted the polar localization of the HroTwist transcript indicating the crucial role of the TLM in its localization. Furthermore, structural modeling of other known leech transcripts that localize in the one-cell stage showed that three other mRNAs contain a similar motif (Lzf2 and Le-msx) raising the possibility that this structural element is important in the localization of a class of leech transcripts that localize early in the leech embryo. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I thank Dr. Julio Soto for giving me the opportunity to work on this project and guiding me every step of the way. I thank Dr. Miri Van Hoven and Dr. Robert Fowler for their advice. I thank my lab mates for the fun lab environment they provided and for their help in collecting leeches, especially Jonathan Choi who helped me many times when I was stuck. I thank Stephanie Mandal for helping me out with the figures for this thesis. I thank my family for their constant undying encouragement, my parents for their prayers, and especially my wonderful sisters Shahnaz, Mumtaz, Fowzia, and Mariam who have been my personal cheerleaders for the past three years. I thank Zainab Ismail for helping me when I most needed her. I thank Fazila Luqman for helping me to get started and never saying no when I asked for her help. I thank my sweet son, Omar, who always put things in perspective for me and because of whom the toughest days turned into the brightest ones. Finally I thank my husband, Muhammad Farooq, who has been my guiding force throughout this process and without whom this thesis would not have been possible.
SPECKLE NOISE FILTERING FOR ULTRASOUND IMAGES OF COMMON CAROTID ARTERY: A REVIEW

Speckle is modeled as a signal dependent noise, which tends to reduce the image resolution and contrast, thereby reducing the diagnostic values of the ultrasound imaging modality. Reduction of speckle noise is one of the most important processes to increase the quality of biomedical images. Filters are used to improve the quality of ultrasound images by removing the noise. This paper compares the performance of the thresholding technique Bayes Shrink in despeckling the medical ultrasound images with other classical speckle reduction filters like Lee, Frost, Median, Kaun, Wavelet Bayes, Anisotropic diffusion and Wavelet. The performance of these filters is analyzed by the statistical measures such as Peak Signal-to Noise Ratio, Mean Square Error and Equivalent Number of Looks. To produce a better quality resolution picture, the filter should have high Peak Signal to Noise Ratio, low Mean Square Error, high Equivalent Number of Looks. The results obtained are presented in the form of filtered images, statistical tables and graphs. Finally, the best filter has been recommended based on the statistical and experimental results. From the results obtained Lee and Frost filter outperforms the other mentioned filters in terms of high PSNR and low MSE for high variance of noise where as anisotropic diffusion filter outperforms with high PSNR and low MSE with maximum ENL for low variance values of noise.
Electron Heating in Low Mach Number Perpendicular Shocks. II. Dependence on the Pre-shock Conditions

Recent X-ray observations of merger shocks in galaxy clusters have shown that the post-shock plasma is two-temperature, with the protons being hotter than the electrons. In this work, the second of a series, we investigate the efficiency of irreversible electron heating in perpendicular low Mach number shocks, by means of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We consider values of plasma beta (the ratio of thermal and magnetic pressures) in the range 4 ≲ βp0 ≲ 32, and sonic Mach number (the ratio of shock speed to pre-shock sound speed) in the range 2 ≲ Ms ≲ 5, as appropriate for galaxy cluster shocks. As shown in Paper , magnetic field amplification—induced by shock compression of the pre-shock field, or by strong proton cyclotron and mirror modes accompanying the relaxation of proton temperature anisotropy—can drive the electron temperature anisotropy beyond the threshold of the electron whistler instability. The growth of whistler waves breaks the electron adiabatic invariance, and allows for efficient entropy production. We find that the post-shock electron temperature Te2 exceeds the adiabatic expectation by an amount (here, Te0 is the pre-shock temperature), which depends only weakly on the plasma beta over the range 4 ≲ βp0 ≲ 32 that we have explored, as well as on the proton-to-electron mass ratio (the coefficient of ≃0.044 is measured for our fiducial , and we estimate that it will decrease to ≃0.03 for the realistic mass ratio). Our results have important implications for current and future observations of galaxy cluster shocks in the radio band (synchrotron emission and Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect) and at X-ray frequencies.
PROBLEMS IN AIR TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT. IV. COMPARISON OF PRE-EMPLOYMENT, JOB-RELATED EXPERIENCE WITH APTITUDE TESTS AS PREDICTORS OF TRAINING AND JOB PERFORMANCE OF AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL SPECIALISTS.

Abstract : A study of over 700 Enroute and Terminal Air Traffic Control Specialist trainees revealed that different kinds of pre-employment, job-related experience had differential value for the prediction of training performance. In general, experience most directly related to air traffic control work was a positive predictor; experience related to communications and piloting was negative. It was also shown that for Enroute trainees only, a composite variable representing the sum of tower GCA, RAPCON/RATCC, and center experience had a statistically significant, but small, relationship with ratings of job performance. In contrast, aptitude tests were superior to the experience variables for the prediction of all training course performance measures of both types of trainees, with the exception of laboratory performance of terminal trainees. (Author)
A statistical framework for the analysis of microarray probe-level data

In microarray technology, a number of critical steps are required to convert the raw measurements into the data relied upon by biologists and clinicians. These data manipulations, referred to as preprocessing, influence the quality of the ultimate measurements and studies that rely upon them. Standard operating procedure for microarray researchers is to use preprocessed data as the starting point for the statistical analyses that produce reported results. This has prevented many researchers from carefully considering their choice of preprocessing methodology. Furthermore, the fact that the preprocessing step affects the stochastic properties of the final statistical summaries is often ignored. In this paper we propose a statistical framework that permits the integration of preprocessing into the standard statistical analysis flow of microarray data. This general framework is relevant in many microarray platforms and motivates targeted analysis methods for specific applications. We demonstrate its usefulness by applying the idea in three different applications of the technology.
Development of Creative Thinking in Connection with Compensation Trades

Current business environment in world perspective brings different impact on possible development. During economic crisis in last couple of years world economic growth has getting slower, market shares are rapidly falling down. That situation could create new dimension of competition because of large competitors’ intensity on the market due to developed logistics and information technologies. Based on the theoretical data there are applied statistical methods, which should be achieved of main aim of the paper. The main aim of the article is defining possible trend of using business tools as a way, how is practicable get out of economic crisis. For this reason there was used questionnaire survey, focused on small and medium companies during economic crisis (between 2009 and 2013). Observed business tools have quite excellent usage not only in the time of crisis, but also in prosperity times, when the companies provide unique competitive advantages. During tracked periods there were advance of gained knowledge about compensation tools by various learning methods.
Study of Extreme CO, NO2 and O3 Concentrations at a Traffic Site in Delhi: Statistical Persistence Analysis and Source Identification

Persistence in the air pollutant concentration events exceeding the standard threshold was studied by using detrended fluctuation analysis. Time series of gaseous pollutant concentrations of CO, NO2 and O3 observed during 2000–2009 at a traffic site in Delhi were considered in this study. Statistical persistence was observed in exceeding concentration events of CO and NO2, whereas O3 exceeding time series showed anti-persistent behavior due to its secondary nature. The formation of O3 formation was explored by examining its relations with precursor pollutants. A high proportion of the exceeded O3 concentration was observed to be CO limited. Back trajectory analysis was then carried out to trace the path of the air parcels with high ozone concentration events, suggesting two clusters of trajectories; one from south-east and the other from northwest of the study site.
Network dynamics and innovative performance: The moderating effects of network resources

This research is aimed to employ a dynamic network perspective in order to understand how firms, which are positioning in a dynamic network, enhance their innovative performance by taking structural movement. Unlike conventional social network articles focusing on the influence of structural effect, this research highlighted the importance of how alters’ attributes have a great effect on the relationship between firms’ network structure and innovative performance. Based on a sample of 117 global high-tech firms, this research first examined how firms’ structural movement in dynamic networks enhances their innovative performance. This paper then tested the moderating effect of network resources on the relationships between network dynamics and innovative performance. Our findings suggested that when firms move into more prominent and strategic position in dynamic networks, their innovative performance will be enhanced. Also, the results suggested that firms with abundant network resources will strengthen the effect of network dynamics on firms’ innovative performance. Key words: Network dynamics, innovative performance, network resources, social capital.