Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A High-Performance Procedure for Effective Number of Bits Estimation in Analog-to-Digital Converters

This paper deals with a procedure for high-accuracy fast estimation of the effective number of bits ( ENOB) of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). According to this procedure the ADC output sine-wave parameters are determined through the interpolated discrete Fourier transform (IpDFT) method. One criterion for the selection of the window that will be used in the IpDFT method is provided. In addition, mathematical expressions for the accuracy of both the sine-fitting procedure based on the IpDFT method and the proposed ENOB estimation method are derived, and a lower bound on the number of acquired samples that ensures accurate ENOB estimates with a high confidence level is proposed. In particular, it is proved that the uncertainty of the proposed ENOB estimation procedure is almost the same as the theoretical lower bound for the variance of any unbiased ENOB estimator. Finally, the accuracy of the proposed procedure and the algorithms suggested in the existing standards for ADCs testing are compared through both computer simulations and experimental results. In addition, the processing times required by each considered method are compared, therefore proving the advantage of the proposed procedure in terms of the required computational burden.
Analgesia of newborn lambs before castration and tail docking with rubber rings

This study assessed the effects of suckled sucrose and parenteral carprofen treatment on behavioural measurements of discomfort and serum haptoglobin concentration in lambs following rubber ring castration and/or tail docking. Twenty-eight male and 20 ewe lambs were allocated to either a male or ewe lamb control group (n=4) or to one of three male and two ewe lamb treatment groups (n=8). Male lambs in one treatment group received carprofen subcutaneously (0.5 mg/kg) 30 minutes before castration and docking. Lambs in all other treatment groups suckled sucrose or colostrum immediately before castration and/or tail docking. Behavioural measurements of discomfort were made following castration or tail docking in treatment groups and also in control animals which were not castrated or tail docked. Blood sampling of animals in treatment groups for analysis of serum haptoglobin, an acute phase protein used as an indicator of an acute inflammatory response, was performed before castration or docking and at 24 and 48 hours after castration or docking. Control lambs were blood sampled at 0, 24 and 48 hours following behavioural assessment. Neither suckled sucrose nor carprofen treatment altered discomfort behaviour associated with castration or tail docking. Haptoglobin levels following castration or tail docking remained close to the detection limits of the assay and were similar to those recorded in control animals.
Human rights in Iran

FREE EXPRESSION, RELIGION, AND ARBITRARY DETENTIONS National laws and practices continue to severely restrict fundamental freedoms, especially the right to freedoms of expression and religion. Journalists, social media activists, human rights defenders, and religious practitioners continue to be harassed, detained, and sentenced to harsh prison terms for criticizing the government or their expressing options and beliefs. HUMAN RIGHTS IN IRAN
Synthesises, characterization and comparative study of bone regeneration on nano hydroxyapatite and hydroxyapatite/chitosan nanocomposite in rat

The bone matrix has two major phases at the nanoscale level containing of organic (collagen) and inorganic (Hydroxyapatite (HAp)). Incorporation of Hydroxyapatite with organic polymer in favor of composites would be used in biomaterial engineering. In this research, nano-HAp and HAp/CTS nanocomposite were prepared via in situ Hybridization route and then studied for bone regeneration in 3 groups consist of pure HAp, HAp/CTS nanocomposite and control group in the rat calvaria after 7, 30 and 60 days. Crystal nanostructure and phase present of products were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR spectrum, respectively. Morphology of the samples were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results confirmed homogeneity interaction between HAp and CTS matrix. It can be seen by increasing chitosan, the expected compatibility among HAp and matrix improving. XRD results indicated that the approximate crystallite sizes of products is found to be about 16nm for pure HAp and 12nm for nanocomposite. in vivo investigation in rat calvaria showed that new bone regeneration area is 57.26% for HAp, 50.84% for HAp/CTS nanocomposite, and 5.64% for the control group after 60 days. Result obtained from in vivo tests confirmed feasibility of the synthesized products as a temporary of bone substitute.
Multicomponent fortification of human breast milk for preterm infants following hospital discharge.

BACKGROUND Preterm infants are usually growth restricted at hospital discharge. Feeding preterm infants after hospital discharge with nutrient-fortified breast milk (rather than unfortified breast milk) may facilitate more rapid catch-up growth and improve neurodevelopmental outcomes. OBJECTIVES To determine the effect of feeding with multicomponent fortified human breast milk versus unfortified breast milk on growth and development on preterm or low birth weight infants following hospital discharge. SEARCH STRATEGY The standard search strategy of the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group was used. This included searches of the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL, The Cochrane Library, Issue 2, 2007), MEDLINE (1966 - May 2007), EMBASE (1980 - May 2007), CINAHL (1982 - May 2007), conference proceedings, and previous reviews. SELECTION CRITERIA Randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials that compared feeding preterm infants following hospital discharge with multicomponent fortified breast milk compared with unfortified human breast milk. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS The standard methods of the Cochrane Neonatal Review Group were used, with separate evaluation of trial quality and data extraction by two review authors. MAIN RESULTS No eligible trials were identified. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS There are no data from randomised controlled trials to determine whether feeding preterm infants following hospital discharge with multicomponent-fortified breast milk compared with unfortified breast milk affects growth and development. Given the potential for nutrient fortification to affect growth and development, this intervention may merit further assessment. Since fortifying breast milk for infants fed directly from the breast is logistically difficult (and has the potential to interfere with breast-feeding), it would be important to determine if mothers would support a trial of this intervention. It may be that a trial should first focus on infants who are not able to consume ad libitum quantities of breast milk directly from the breast, who have poor growth or nutritional status, or who have on-going additional metabolic requirements.
Predictors of perceived health care quality for registered nurses during and after health care reform

Background: Limited research has focused on the predictive nature of organizational culture and trust on registered nurses' perceived health care quality in reformed health care systems. Purposes: The purpose of this article was to investigate nurses' perceptions of organizational culture factors, trust in employer, and perceived health care quality during and 5 years after major organizational reform in the acute care setting and to test a model linking culture to perceived health care quality. Methodology: Survey data collected from two samples of nurses (N = 222,343) during and 5 years after major organizational reform in the acute care setting of one Canadian province were analyzed, and an exploratory model linking aspects of culture, trust, and quality was tested. Findings: For both periods, most variable scores were in the low range and depicted moderately positive intercorrelations with each other. Support for the proposed model was mixed. Select culture variables predicted health care quality at both periods, but trust emerged as a significant predictor in 2000 only. The findings support the negative impact of system transformation on nurses and the link between culture and health care quality. Practice Implications: The study findings suggest that managers and policy makers must develop and implement supportive and nurturing strategies that will enhance the organizational culture (emotional climate, collaborative relations), which should result in more positive perceptions of health care quality. However, further research is required to gain a better understanding of the relationships among trust, organizational culture, and perceptions of health care quality and what implications this may or may not have for nursing practice.
Effects of androgens on coronary artery atherosclerosis and atherosclerosis-related impairment of vascular responsiveness.

The factors responsible for the marked gender differences in risk of coronary heart disease and atherosclerosis severity remain largely undetermined. While some clinical and experimental evidence supports a protective effect of endogenous estrogen on the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis and incidence of coronary heart disease, much of the epidemiological data do not support this conclusion. The possibility that endogenous androgens may have adverse effects on atherosclerosis progression and coronary risk has received little attention. We investigated the effects of experimentally induced hyperandrogenism in female cynomolgus monkeys with diet-induced atherosclerosis. Animals were assigned randomly to one of four treatment groups: (1) untreated controls, (2) ovariectomized (sex hormone-deficient) controls, (3) treated with androstenedione and estrone (mild hyperandrogenism), or (4) treated with testosterone (male plasma androgen pattern). At necropsy, coronary atherosclerosis was approximately twice as extensive (P < .05) in testosterone-treated animals relative to untreated controls, while treatment with androstenedione and estrone had no effect on atherosclerosis extent. Coronary plaque size was positively correlated with lumen size in intact and ovariectomized controls; however, there was no evidence of a similar relation between animals in either androgen treatment group. The atherogenic effects of testosterone were independent of variations in plasma lipoprotein and nonlipoprotein risk variables. Although chronic hyperandrogenism had adverse effects on atherosclerosis progression, it reversed (P < .03) atherosclerosis-related impairment of endothelium-dependent vasodilator responses. We conclude that an experimentally induced male plasma androgen pattern results in exacerbation of diet-induced atherosclerosis-related arterial remodeling in female monkeys. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
HIV-related wasting in HIV-infected drug users in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy.

BACKGROUND A decrease in the rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection-related wasting has been reported in the era of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). We investigated this concern in a hard-to-reach population of HIV-infected drug users in Miami, Florida. METHODS After informed consent was obtained, 119 HIV-infected drug users were administered questionnaires involving demographic, medical history, and food-security information. Blood samples were drawn for immunological and viral studies. HIV-related wasting over a period of > or =6 months was defined as a body mass index of <18.5 kg/m2, unintentional weight loss of > or =10% over 6 months, or a weight of <90% of the ideal body weight. RESULTS The prevalence of HIV-related wasting was 17.6%. A significantly higher proportion of those who experienced wasting (81%) reported that there were periods during the previous month when they went for > or =1 day without eating (i.e., food insecurity), compared with those who did not experience wasting (57%). Although a greater percentage of patients who experienced wasting were receiving HAART, their HIV RNA levels were more than twice as high (mean+/-standard deviation [SD], 166,689+/-238,002 copies/mL; median log HIV RNA level +/- SD, 10.2+/-2.7 log10 copies/mL) as those for the group that did not experience wasting (mean+/-SD, 72,156 +/- 149,080; median log HIV RNA level+/-SD, 9.2+/-2.3 log10 copies/mL). Participants who experienced wasting were more likely to be heavy alcohol drinkers and users of cocaine. In multivariate analysis that included age, sex, food security, alcohol use, cocaine use, viral load, and receipt of antiretroviral therapy, the only significant predictors of wasting were > or =1 day without eating during the previous month (odds ratio [OR], 1.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.18-3.26; P=.01) and viral load (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.00-2.69; P=.05). CONCLUSIONS HIV-related wasting continues to be common among HIV-infected drug users, even among HAART recipients. Food insecurity and viral load were the only independent predictors of wasting. The social and economic conditions affecting the lifestyle of HIV-infected drug users constitute a challenge for prevention and treatment of wasting.
Compact Wideband Sequential-Phase Feed for Sequentially Rotated Antenna Arrays

This letter presents a compact wideband sequential-phase (SP) feed for use in sequentially rotated antenna arrays. The SP network is designed to match a 50-Ω coaxial line. The phase difference (out-of-phase) between the outer and inner conductors of the coaxial line is utilized as a 180° phase shifter; consequently, the desired phases at the outputs and a wideband operation are achieved. For a compact size, the SP feed is designed on two-layer substrates and employs two vacant-quarter printed rings that act as 90° phase delay lines. The SP design yielded a reflection coefficient <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$(|{S}_{11}|) < - \text{15}\, \text{dB}$</tex-math> </inline-formula> and transmission coefficients (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$|{S}_{21}|, |{S}_{31}|, |{S}_{41}|,\, \text{and}\, |{S}_{51}|$</tex-math></inline-formula>) of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX"> $-\text{6.4} \pm \text{0.8}\; \text{dB}$</tex-math></inline-formula> from 1 to 2 GHz (66.67%), whereas its output phases exhibited a progression of approximately 90° in the frequency range 1.4–1.8 GHz (25.0%). As an application, a planar <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2 \times 2$</tex-math> </inline-formula> dipole array using the proposed SP feed has been designed, fabricated, and measured. The array with an overall size of 80 × 80 × 1 mm<sup>3</sup> resulted in a <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$|{S}_{11}| < - \text{10}\text{-} \text{dB}$</tex-math></inline-formula> bandwidth of 1.37–1.89 GHz (31.9%) and a 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth of 1.49–1.85 GHz (21.56%).
The Anti-CD19 Antibody–Drug Conjugate SAR3419 Prevents Hematolymphoid Relapse Postinduction Therapy in Preclinical Models of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Purpose: Relapsed or refractory pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) remains a major cause of death from cancer in children. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of SAR3419, an antibody–drug conjugate of the maytansinoid DM4 and a humanized anti-CD19 antibody, against B-cell precursor (BCP)-ALL and infant mixed lineage leukemia (MLL) xenografts. Experimental Design: ALL xenografts were established as systemic disease in immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice from direct patient explants. SAR3419 was administered as a single agent and in combination with an induction-type regimen of vincristine/dexamethasone/l-asparaginase (VXL). Leukemia progression and response to treatment were assessed in real-time, and responses were evaluated using strict criteria modeled after the clinical setting. Results: SAR3419 significantly delayed the progression of 4 of 4 CD19+ BCP-ALL and 3 of 3 MLL-ALL xenografts, induced objective responses in all but one xenograft but was ineffective against T-lineage ALL xenografts. Relative surface CD19 expression across the xenograft panel significantly correlated with leukemia progression delay and objective response measure scores. SAR3419 also exerted significant efficacy against chemoresistant BCP-ALL xenografts over a large (10-fold) dose range and significantly enhanced VXL-induced leukemia progression delay in two highly chemoresistant xenografts by up to 82 days. When administered as protracted therapy following remission induction with VXL, SAR3419 prevented disease recurrence into hematolymphoid and other major organs with the notable exception of central nervous system involvement. Conclusion: These results suggest that incorporation of SAR3419 into remission induction protocols may improve the outcome for high-risk pediatric and adult CD19+ ALL. Clin Cancer Res; 19(7); 1795–805. ©2013 AACR.
Improvement Pattern in the Clock Drawing Test in Early Alzheimer’s Disease

Objective: The aim of this paper was to compare the performance of a group of patients with early Alzheimer’s disease (EAD) against a control group of healthy control (HC) subjects in the Clock Drawing Test (CDT), i.e. verbal command versus copying of a clock model presented to the subject. Patients and Methods: The authors have studied 140 subjects; 70 patients with probable EAD, with a mean age of 76.4 ± 7.64 years and a clinical dementia rating stage 1 (mild dementia), and70 HC with a mean age of 75.16 ± 6.34 years. Results: Patients in the EAD group obtained significantly higher scores on the copy command mode than on the verbal command mode (Z = –7.129, p < 0.001) – improvement pattern of the CDT – whereas no statistically significant differences were found in the HC group (Z = –2.001, p < 0.080). Within the group of EAD patients, we have noticed that there is a correlation between the copy command mode and the visual-constructive functions of the Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG) (r = 0.607, p < 0.01), while the memory functions of the CAMCOG correlate with the verbal command mode (r = 0.704, p < 0.01). Conclusions: In our study, the EAD patients show an improvement pattern in the execution of the CDT copy command in comparison with the execution of the CDT verbal command, which we did not observe in the HC group. Such results might be associated with a greater deterioration of the memory functions when compared with the visual-constructive ones in the patients with EAD.
Apparent Diffusion and Fractional Anisotropy of Diffuse Intrinsic Brain Stem Gliomas

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: DIBSGs have the worst prognosis among pediatric brain tumors with no improvement of outcome for several decades. In this study, we determined whether diffusion imaging could improve patient stratification and our understanding of the impact of therapies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nine baseline and 24 follow-up DTI studies performed in 9 patients on a 1.5T clinical MR imaging scanner were reviewed. ADC and FA were measured for the whole lesion and at 5 anatomic levels: the rostral medulla, caudal pons, midpons, rostral pons, and caudal midbrain. Reference data were obtained from 8 controls with normal brain stem, 6 patients with medulloblastoma, and 7 patients with pilocytic astrocytoma. RESULTS: ADC was higher in untreated DIBSG than in normal brain stem and medulloblastoma (1.14 ± 0.18 [×10−3 mm2/s] versus 0.75 ± 0.06 and 0.56 ± 0.05, both P < .001). FA was lower in DIBSG than in normal brain stem (0.24 ± 0.04 versus 0.43 ± 0.02, P < .001) but was higher than that in pilocytic astrocytoma (0.17 ± 0.05, P < .05). Lower baseline ADC and higher FA correlated with a worse clinical course. Correlations were more significant at the caudal midbrain than in other regions. ADC decreased and FA increased after RT. Changes of FA after RT at the caudal midbrain correlated with event-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: Baseline ADC and FA of DIBSG revealed hypocellular tumors with extensive edema. Diffusion changes after therapy implied reduced edema but did not support a significant response to therapy. The significance of diffusion properties varied with anatomic locations, the caudal midbrain being particularly important.
IBC‐HWMP: a novel secure identity‐based cryptography‐based scheme for Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol for IEEE 802.11s

The IEEE P802.11s/D4.0 standard is not considered secure for the routing protocol. In this paper, we propose IBC‐HWMP, a secure Hybrid Wireless Mesh Protocol (HWMP) using identity‐based cryptography (IBC). The reason we use IBC is that it does not need to verify the authenticity of public keys. We have implemented the IBC mechanism to secure control messages in HWMP, namely path request and path reply. Our aim is to focus on secure data exchange in mutable fields. Through extensive ns‐3 simulations, results show that the overhead introduced by IBC‐HWMP is not significant compared with the classical HWMP and that, at the same time, we improve the security. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Development of Ultrawideband Antenna With Multiple Band-Notched Characteristics Using Half Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide Cavity Technology

Investigations on planar ultrawideband (UWB) antenna with multiple band-notched characteristics based on half mode substrate integrated waveguide technology are presented. The proposed antenna consists of a planar UWB monopole antenna and a half mode substrate integrated waveguide cavity which can generate multiple stopbands by proper arrangement. Planar antennas with dual, triple and quadruple notched bands are designed and implemented. The notched frequencies and their bandwidths can be adjusted according to specification by altering the cavity and feed line independently. These antennas are fabricated with two-layer printed circuit board (PCB) process. Sharp and high band rejection, narrow frequency notches are achieved, which are in good agreement with the simulated results. This technique is suitable for designing wideband antenna with multiple frequency notches or for creating multiband antennas.