Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Is Technetium-99 m dead or still alive ? An outlook to recent developments with specialfocus on myocardial perfusion imaging

Despite the advances associated with the introduction of PET technology, reasons to consider that SPECT, particularly with 99mTc radiopharmaceuticals will continue playing an important role in Nuclear Medicine, are presented. The details examined are the following ones. An improvement of the technology SPECT is appreciated with the development of new detection systems and the advantages of the appearance of the hybrid systems SPECT / TAC. The biggest half-life of the main SPECT radionuclides like 123I and 99mTc in comparison with PET radionuclides, facilitates its transportation at larger distances, allow the realization of studies with radiopharmaceuticals with different radionuclides in the same patient, and the possibility of the detection of lesions of low tracer accumulation. Finally the main base core for 99mTc complex formation with different ligands are reviewed, as a background that assure the appearance of new radiopharmaceuticals of practical interest. The oncological and cardiological potential applications are examined with emphasis in these last ones. It is clear that 99mTc radiopharmacy will continue playing an important role in nuclear medicine.
Comparative Study of Campylobacter spp. Isolated from Children With Gastroenteritis in Bahonar Hospital, Karaj, Using PCR and RFLP

Background: Campylobacter species are responsible for the majority of cases of food-borne gastroenteritis. The sources of the disease outbreaks are often contaminated water or milk, and consumption of undercooked poultry product is the main cause of sporadic campylobacteriosis cases. Objectives: The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence of Campylobacter gastroenteritis in children and to differentiate the interfering species using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methods at the Bahonar hospital in Karaj, Iran. Patients and Methods: A total of 150 stool samples were collected from children under 10 years old during the summer of 2014. PCR was performed using genus- and species-specific primers and RFLP was done using AluI and TasI enzymes. Results: The results showed the amplification of 400 and 491 bp segments and Campylobacter contamination in 30 (20%) samples; 5 out of 30 Campylobacter positive samples (16.66%) were identified as C. jejuni, 20 (66.66%) as C. coli, 3 (10%) as C. jejuni and C. coli (mixed infection), and 2 (6.66%) were identified as non-jejuni, non-coli Campylobacter using the PCR method. Following the evaluation of RFLP results, 7 positive samples (23.33%) showed the electrophoretic pattern of C. jejuni, 21 (70%) showed the electrophoretic pattern of C. coli, and 2 (6.6%) showed both of the patterns and mixed contamination with jejuni and coli species. The results of digestion with TasI did not show any C. lari or C. upsaliensis patterns. Conclusions: The results of this study showed high percentage of Campylobacter contamination in the tested stool samples. The other surprising finding was the high rate of Campylobacter coli positive samples; the difference between the results of PCR using species-specific primers (hipo and asp) and the RFLP method (electrophoretic patterns) in some of the positive samples confirms the hypothesis of variations in nucleotide sequences of the hipo primer binding site in some Iranian isolates of Campylobacters.
CnMAPKPred : A machine learning approach for predicting mitogen-activated protein kinase in Cocos nucifera

Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs) are a highly conserved family of ubiquitous proline-directed, protein-serine/threonine kinases. They display a high level of conservation among eukaryotes by virtue of their homologous domains of length 250-300 amino acids but display distinct roles in different organisms (Taj et al., 2010). In plants, they control various functions from growth and development to hormonal and stress responses (Garcia et al., 2012). The presence of MAPKS in prokaryotes gives reason enough to believe that the MAPK progenitor gene could have been present even before the evolution of eukaryotes from prokaryotes (Hanks et al., 1995). MAPK cascades typically exist in three kinase architectures with the MAPK, MAPK activator, and mitogen activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK) which phosphorylates the MAPK in the cascade (Schaeffer et al., 1999). There may be common kinases among different cascades, but processes such as cross-inhibition, scaffolding, feedback control, and spatiotemporal constraints maintain the signaling specificity (Cristina et al., 2010). In plants, MAPK studies have demonstrated that the activation of the kinase usually takes place due to external impulses or factors such as temperature changes and wounding (Sinha et al., 2011). A study on the Arabidopsis thaliana genome has identified a total of 20 MAPKs, 10 MAPKKs, and in excess of 80 MAP3Ks (MAPK kinase) (Pitzschke et al., 2009) with a total of 24 MAPK pathways ( Wrzaczek et al., 2001). MAP3Ks is the most structurally diverse constituent of a cascade with different motifs such as zinc fingers and G-protein binding sites (Wrzaczek et al., 2001).
Understanding Mental Models of Dilution in Thai Students

The purpose of this study was to investigate Thai students’ understanding of dilution and related concepts. The literature suggests that a complete understanding of chemistry concepts such as dilution entails understanding of and the ability to integrate mental models across three levels of representation: the macroscopic, sub-microscopic and symbolic. In this work students’ understanding was probed using the interview about events (IAE) approach employing open-ended questions, and also by analysis of student descriptions, and drawings. The research findings suggest that all students were able to answer openended questions related to dilution and related concepts. Less able students presented representations at the symbolic level and subsequently described events at the submicroscopic and macroscopic levels. However, these latter representations typically were unrelated to the representations presented at the symbolic level. In contrast, more able students were able to present consistent representations of dilution at each level of representation.
Destination-Based Cash Flow Taxation

This paper presents, analyses, and further develops the idea of a destination-based cash-flow tax (DBCFT). Its purpose is expositional: to describe the DBCFT, how it might work, what its effects would be and some of the challenges that its implementation would face. The paper starts by introducing the basic mechanics of the DBCFT before evaluating it against five criteria: economic efficiency, robustness to avoidance and evasion, ease of administration, fairness and stability. It does so both for the case of universal adoption by all countries and the more plausible case of unilateral adoption. The paper then looks closely at the application of DBCFT treatment to the financial sector, which is a familiar problem under the VAT but has been little considered under the DBCFT. Finally, the paper sets out some core implementation issues, and how they might be addressed. It also compares the implementation of a DBCFT with the economically equivalent reform option that introduces a broad-based, uniform rate VAT (or achieves the same effect through an existing VAT), and reduces taxes on payroll by the same proportion.
Initial Characterization of Massive Multi-User MIMO Channels at 2.6 GHz in Indoor and Outdoor Environments

The channel properties have a large influence on user separability in massive multi-user multiple-input multiple-output (massive MIMO) systems. In this paper we present spatio-temporal characteristics obtained from massive MIMO channel measurements at 2.6 GHz. The results are based on data acquired in both indoor and outdoor scenarios where a base station equipped with 64 dual-polarized antenna elements communicates simultaneously with nine single-antenna users. In the outdoor scenarios the base station is placed at two rooftops with different heights and the users are confined to a five-meter diameter circle and move rando mly at pedestrian speeds. In the indoor scenarios, the users are located close to each other in a lecture theater and the base station is placed at various locations in the room. We report on the observed distribution of the delay spreads and angular spreads. Furthermore, the multi-user performance in terms of singular value spread of the MU-MIMO channel is also reported. Finally, statistics of the coherence time and coherence bandwidth of the propagation channel in various scenarios are given. The results are important for the design and analysis of massive MU-MIMO systems, as well as in the development of realistic massive MU-MIMO channel models. (Less)
A SURVEY ON TOPOLOGY-BASED MESSAGE BROADCAST SCHEMES IN VEHICULAR NETWORKS

Vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) are subclass of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs). They have been the most promising research field and development for the last few years. VANETs use vehicles as mobile nodes to provide communication among nearby vehicles and between vehicles and nearby roadside equipment. VANETs come with several challenging characteristics, such as dynamic and potentially large scale network topology, high mobility and intermittent connectivity of vehicular nodes, and broadcasting as the predominant communication to disseminate the safety messages. When a traffic accident happens, the safety message should be broadcasted to all vehicles in the area exposed to potential hazard. Recently, there have been a significant number of broadcasting protocols for VANETs reported in the literature. In this survey paper we provide an overview of topology-based broadcasting protocols and associated requirements, along with challenges and their proposed current and past major solutions. In addition, classification and comparison of topology-based broadcasting protocols are described from their pros and cons. Featured solutions in this domain are categorized and discussed.
Dual-Band Ortho-Mode Transducer with Irregularly Shaped Diaphragm

A compact dual-band ortho-mode transducer is presented in this paper. Two orthogonally polarized signals received by a square waveguide are separated into two orthogonal channels at 10.7{ 12.75GHz and 10.3{11.9GHz, respectively, while a single-polarized signal is transmitted at 14{14.5GHz. To obtain good isolation between the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) channels of the same polarization with a compact size, an irregularly shaped diaphragm is proposed as a compact dual-function resonator, which has one transmission zero at the Tx band and one pole at the Rx band. The designed OMT is fabricated and measured in a back-to-back conflguration. Measured results agree very well with simulated ones and the isolation improvement by the diaphragm is about 15dB, which verifles our design.
The influence of flying altitude, beam divergence, and pulse repetition frequency on laser pulse return intensity and canopy frequency distribution

Eight airborne light detection and ranging (lidar) data collections were carried out over a forested and agricultural study site in Nova Scotia during 2005. The influences of flying altitude, beam divergence, and pulse repetition frequency on laser pulse return intensities and vertical frequency distributions within vegetated environments were investigated. Experimental control was maintained by varying each survey configuration setting independently while keeping all other settings constant. The land covers investigated were divided into highway, tall vegetation (mature and immature mixed wood regeneration stands), and short vegetation (hay field and potato crop). Laser pulse return data for 24 tall and 18 short vegetation plots were extracted, and the quartile heights of each vegetation profile were compared for each configuration. Observed laser pulse intensity values were found to be linearly related (coefficient of determination r2 = 0.98) to the peak pulse power concentration. A simple routine was developed to allow intensity data to be normalized and made comparable across datasets. By comparing the intensity and laser pulse return profiles it was found that reducing the peak pulse power concentration by widening the beam, increasing the flying altitude, or increasing the pulse repetition frequency tends to lead to (i) slightly reduced penetration into short canopy foliage by up to 4 cm, and (ii) increased penetration into tall canopy foliage (i.e., reduced maximum canopy return heights) by 15-61 cm. It is believed that a reduction in peak pulse power concentration delays pulse triggering within vegetation (i.e., increases penetration of the pulse into foliage) due to the need for increased surface area backscatter to raise the return pulse energy above some minimal threshold within the timing electronics of the sensor. Exceptions to these general observations were found in the high pulse repetition frequency data, where increased sample point density results in (i) increased noise and height range in the lidar distribution data, and (ii) increased likelihood of ground returns in the tall canopies sampled due to increased probability of pulses encountering canopy gaps. The implications of these results are that (i) laser pulse peak power concentration is the largest determinant of pulse return intensity and survey configuration based variations in canopy frequency distribution, and (ii) laser pulse height- and intensity-based models developed for vegetation structural or biomass assessment could be improved if they accounted for variations in peak power concentration.
A Survey of Alternative Authentication Methods

The traditional and most common authentication method employs usernames and passwords composed of alphanumeric text possibly combined with some symbols. This method has proven to be insecure in practice as passwords that can resist attack are difficult or impossible for users to remember. This paper includes a survey of alternative authentication methods and their possible application areas and describe an authentication system in common use in Korea that combines multiple authentication methods. Keywords—user authentication; biometrics; graphical passwords; client certificates
Reforms and Control of State Agencies in Tanzania

This paper examined the control and regulation of s tate agencies in Tanzania. Since the 1980s public s ector in Tanzania has experienced a number of administrat ive reforms and one key aspect of that reform was t he creation of semi-autonomous public organizations th at are placed at arm’s length from their parent min istries. These agencies were to be given more managerial autonomy in return for performance-based accountabilit y. Instead of inputs and rule-based governance, the po licy intention was to control agencies on the basis of performance results. The aim of this paper was to e xamine whether this reform policy is effectively implemented in Tanzania by focusing on how agencies are practically controlled by their parent ministr ies. Our main finding is that agencies in Tanzania are n ot mainly subjected to result-based control. In mos t cases the government has continued to use the traditional ways of controlling public organizations such as i nputbased approach and political appointment. This impl ies that the NPM ‐inspired reforms have been poorly adopted.
The condition conundrum: application of multiple condition indices to the dusky shark Carcharhinus obscurus

Measuring fish condition has become a standard practice in the management of fishes, both at the individual and population level. The comparative application of several condition indices to sharks, however, has not yet received a rigorous evaluation. Data for a total of 2120 dusky sharks Carcharhinus obscurus (Lesueur, 1818), ranging in size from newborns (≤79 cm precaudal length (PCL)) to mature adults (≥210 cm PCL), were used to calculate seasonal trends in condition and to facilitate index comparisons. Four commonly used condition measures were selected, including a somatic measure, hepatosomatic index (HSI), and 3 morphometric measures, condition factor (CF), relative condition (Kn) and residual condition (RrPCL). The effect of month was significant for most condition analyses by size class, sex and reproductive state. HSI was found to be the most sensitive index and rapid indicator of condition, but its appropriate use requires the disaggregation of data by clearly defined life stages and reproductive states. The relatively large liver size of neonates and the relatively small liver size of pregnant and postpartum females may otherwise bias interpretations of seasonal variations in condition. HSI was also affected by increasing size of the animal, which con- founds inter-size-class comparisons and may require the further division of life-stage data into addi- tional size classes. The results of the 3 morphometric measures were comparable but were not corre- lated with HSI. CF, Kn and RrPCL lagged behind HSI, were unable to differentiate between neonate and juvenile animals and were insensitive to short-term variations. The effect of increasing size did not affect calculated CF and RrPCL, but Kn demonstrated a negative correlation. The fact that large predators may consume large volumes of food in a single feeding event was identified as a possible complicating factor in interpreting condition indices.
Edimbrujo: hacia la definición de un modelo didáctico para la enseñanza de la inteligencia artificial en juegos

La amplitud de los campos disciplinares intervinientes en la enseñanza de las Ciencias de la Computación presenta serios desaf́ıos para quienes intenten construir modelos didácticos para su enseñanza. Una de las áreas de conocimiento que mayor complejidad reviste en la percepción general es la enseñanza de la Inteligencia Artificial, disciplina entendida como el diseño y análisis de agentes autónomos que perciben el entorno e interactúan de forma racional con él. Por tratarse de un área emergente en materia de avances y estratégica respecto a sus implicancias futuras, resulta cada vez más necesario considerar su incorporar en los planes de estudio. Las fronteras de su aplicación se encuentran en permanente expansión y resulta necesario sostener una correspondencia con dicha progresión desde la dimensión curricular. Este trabajo presenta una Ĺınea de Investigación tendiente a consolidar una estrategia de abordaje para la enseñanza del núcleo disciplinar de la Inteligencia Artificial desde un enfoque lúdico. A tal efecto se describe un ecosistema digital construido como plataforma de soporte al proceso de enseñanza y de aprendizaje de las técnicas que sustancian el razonamiento artificial, siempre en el contexto de su aplicación a los juegos. Palabras Clave: Enseñanza de las Ciencias de la Computación, Agentes, Inteligencia Artificial.
p-type Sodium-doped Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays Grown by High-pressure Pulsed Laser Deposition: p-type Sodium-doped Zinc Oxide Nanowire Arrays Grown by High-pressure Pulsed Laser Deposition

Sodium-doped ZnO (ZnO:Na) nanowire arrays were grown with high-pressure pulsed laser deposition (HP-PLD). The influence of growth pressure and thickness of gold catalyst layer on the growth of ZnO:Na nanowires were systemically studied. It is found that c-orientated ZnO nanowire arrays grow on single crystal silicon substrates under the optimized condition, e.g. gold catalyst layer’s thickness of 4.2 nm, growth pressure of 3.33×10 Pa and growth temperature of 875 °C. X-ray diffraction pattern and X-ray photoelectron spectroscope analyses indicate that Na is introduced into ZnO nanowires successfully. Optical fingerprints of sodium-related acceptors in the low-temperature (15 K) photoluminescence spectrum are observed, such as neutral acceptor-bound exciton emission (3.356 eV, AX), free-electron to neutral-acceptor emission (3.312 eV, (e, A)), and donor-to-acceptor pair emission (3.233 eV, DAP). ZnO:Na nanowire arrays grown on ZnO:Al/sapphire substrates form the pn junction. The corresponding I-V curve measurements exhibit a clear rectifying behavior of pn homojunction, which further indicates that such ZnO:Na nanowire is of p-type conductivity. 156 无 机 材 料 学 报 第 29卷
FRAUD DETECTION IN MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS USING USER PROFILING AND CLASSIFICATION TECHNIQUES

Fraud detection is an important application, since network operators lose a relevant portion of their revenue to fraud. The intentions of mobile phone users cannot be well observed except through the call data. The call data is used in describing behavioural patterns of users. Neural networks and probabilistic models are employed in learning these usage patterns from call data by detecting changes in established usage patterns or to recognize typical usage patterns of fraud. The methods are shown to be effective in detecting fraudulent behaviour by empirically testing the methods with data from real mobile communications networks. Keywords: Call data, fraud detection, neural networks, probabilistic models, user profiling
Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw in a 66-year-old female – Case report

Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws is an increasingly common side-effect of bisphosphonate treatment of malignant cancer of the osseous tissue. Necrotic foci of the bone with secondary inflammation are typical of the condition. The treatment is symptomatic and depends on the severity of the disease. The case is presented of BRONJ in a 66-year-old, occupationally-active female patient who had undergone implant-prosthetic treatment, and whose quality of life deteriorated significantly due to the symptoms of the disease. Bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw is treated conservatively at the initial stages of the disease, and surgical treatment should be avoided. Thorough oral hygiene and irrigations with chlorhexidine solution, supported by guided antibiotic therapy, are recommended. In severe cases, surgical sequestrotomy of the inflammatory foci, aimed at inhibiting or decelerating the course of the disease, is necessary.
Price-Neutral Tax Reform With an Informal Economy

A strand of recent literature shows that a reform of import tariff (export tax) and consumption tax (production tax) that keeps the consumer (producer) price unchanged enhances welfare and increases revenue under plausible conditions. It has been argued that the results provide an ex-post justification for the widely implemented reform policies in developing countries that reduce trade taxes and increase consumption tax like VAT for revenue. We demonstrate that the results derived so far critically depend on the assumption that there is no informal sector in the economy. Our results show that, when the feasibility restrictions on the tax instruments imposed by the presence of a large informal and shadow economy is taken into account, such consumer or producer price-neutral reform reduces both welfare and revenue under plausible conditions.
High‐pressure phase transitions and equations of state in NiSi. I. Ab initio simulations

First-principles calculations have been used to determine the equation of state and structural properties of NiSi up to pressures equivalent to that in the Earth’s inner core. At atmospheric pressure, the thermodynamically stable phase is that with the MnP structure (as found experimentally). At high pressures, NiSi shows phase transformations to a number of high-pressure polymorphs. For pressures greater than 250 GPa, the thermodynamically stable phase of NiSi is that with the CsCl structure, which persists to the highest pressures simulated ( 500 GPa). At the pressures of the Earth’s inner core, therefore, NiSi and FeSi will be isostructural and thus are likely to form a solid solution. The density contrast between NiSi and FeSi at inner-core pressures is 6%, with NiSi being the denser phase. Therefore, if a CsCl-structured (Fe,Ni)Si alloy were present in the inner core, its density (for the commonly assumed nickel content) might be expected to be 1% greater than that of pure FeSi.