Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Hyperpolarized 3He Ventilation Defects and Apparent Diffusion Coefficients in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Preliminary Results at 3.0 Tesla

Objective:Hyperpolarized 3He magnetic resonance imaging (3He MRI) at 3.0 Tesla of healthy volunteers and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients was performed for quantitative evaluation of ventilation defects and apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) and for comparison to published results acquired at 1.5 Tesla. The reproducibility of 3He ADC and ventilation defects was also assessed in subjects scanned 3 times, twice within 10 minutes, and again within 7 ± 2 days of the first MRI visit. Materials and Methods:Hyperpolarized 3He MRI was performed in 6 subjects. Two interleaved images with and without additional diffusion sensitization were acquired with the first image serving as a ventilation image from which defect score and volume were measured and the combination of the 2 images used to compute ADC maps and ADC histograms. Results:3He MRI at 3.0 Tesla showed increased mean ADC and ADC standard deviation for subjects with COPD compared with healthy volunteers (ADC healthy volunteer (0.24 ± 0.12 cm2/s), mild-moderate COPD (0.34 ± 0.14 cm2/s), and severe COPD (0.47 ± 0.21 cm2/s), and these values were similar to previously reported results acquired at 1.5 Tesla. Reproducibility of mean ADC was high (coefficient of variation 2% in severe COPD, 3% in mild-moderate COPD, 4% in healthy volunteers) across all 3 scans. Higher same-day scan reproducibility was observed for ventilation defect volume compared with 1-week scan reproducibility in this small group of subjects. Conclusions:ADC values for emphysematous lungs were significantly increased compared with healthy lungs in age-matched subjects, and all values were comparable to those reported previously at 1.5 Tesla. Ventilation defect score and ventilation defect volume results were also comparable to results previously reported in COPD subjects Reproducibility of ADC for same-day scan-rescan and 7-day rescan was high and similar to previously reported results.
Tip convolution on HOPG surfaces measured in AM-AFM and interpreted using a combined experimental and simulation approach

Amplitude modulated atomic force microscopy (AM-AFM) was used to examine the influence of the size of the AFM tip apex on the measured surface topography of single highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) atomic steps. Experimental measurements were complemented by molecular dynamics simulations of AM-AFM and the results from both were evaluated by comparison of the measured or simulated width of the topography at the step to that predicted using simple rigid-body geometry. The results showed that the step width, which is a reflection of the resolution of the measurement, increased with tip size, as expected, but also that the difference between the measured/simulated step width and the geometric calculation was tip size dependent. The simulations suggested that this may be due to the deformation of the bodies and the effect of that deformation on the interaction force and oscillation amplitude. Overall, this study showed that the resolution of AM-AFM measurements of atomic steps can be correlated to tip size and that this relationship is affected by the deformation of the system.
Do Femoral Neck and Stem Anteversion Affect Final Femur Rotation and Pelvic Positioning after Total Hip Arthroplasty

In this study, we have investigated the rotation of the pre-operative and post-operative femur, and stem anteversion to prevent impingement and dislocation. We studied 126 patients who had undergone primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) for the treatment of osteoarthritis. We compared preoperative tilt of anterior pelvic plane (APP), posterior condylar axis of the femur (PCA) relative to APP (APP-PCA) with those of postoperative ones in supine position. There was a moderate correlation between the preand post-operative APP-PCA values (r = 0.71). The postoperative APP-PCA decreased by approximately 6°. However, there was poor correlation between the stem anteversion and the postoperative APP-PCA (r = －0.27). A greater reduction in APP-PCA was observed among patients who exhibited greater external rotation of femur compared to those who showed less external rotation in supine position before THA. We also observed that the post-operative rotation of the femur was dependent on the pre-operative rotation of the femur while it was independent of the stem anteversion.
Modeling Travelers' Postwork Activity Involvement: Toward a New Methodology

The objective of this study is to develop a methodology capable of modeling travelers' postwork activity patterns and thus tracing the movements of travelers through space and time. After reviewing the state of the art in activity participation and scheduling, a modeling system consisting of a set of discrete/continuous models and duration-based models is specified and estimated. The discrete/continuous models are used to predict the travelers activity-type preference (discrete), the travel time to the activity and back home (continuous), and activity duration (continuous). Duration models are used to model the travelers home-stay duration capturing the factors that motivate travelers to terminate their home-stay and undertake additional out-of-home activities.
A Symmetric Load Balancing Algorithm with Performance Guarantees for Distributed Hash Tables

Peers participating in a distributed hash table (DHT) may host different numbers of virtual servers and are enabled to balance their loads in the reallocation of virtual servers. Most decentralized load balance algorithms designed for DHTs based on virtual servers require the participating peers to be asymmetric, where some serve as the rendezvous nodes to pair virtual servers and participating peers, thereby introducing another load imbalance problem. While state-of-the-art studies intend to present symmetric load balancing algorithms, they introduce significant algorithmic overheads and guarantee no rigorous performance metrics. In this paper, a novel symmetric load balancing algorithm for DHTs is presented by having the participating peers approximate the system state with histograms and cooperatively implement a global index. Each peer independently reallocates in our proposal its locally hosted virtual servers by publishing and inquiring the global index based on their histograms. Unlike competitive algorithms, our proposal exhibits analytical performance guarantees in terms of the load balance factor and the algorithmic convergence rate, and introduces no load imbalance problem due to the algorithmic workload. Through computer simulations, we show that our proposal clearly outperforms existing distributed algorithms in terms of load balance factor with a comparable movement cost.
Self-organizing Contents

To delivery static contents, Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) are an effective solution, but that shows its limits in dynamic and large systems with centralized approach. Decentralized algorithms and protocols can be usefully employed to tackle this weakness. A biologically inspired algorithm to organize the contents in a Content Delivery Networks (CDN), is proposed in this paper. Mobile and bio-inspired agents move and logically reorganize the metadata that describe the contents to improve discovery operation. Experimental results confirm the efficacy of the self-organizing and decentralized algorithm.
Broadband Hybrid Holographic Multiplexing with Geometric Metasurfaces

An effective way for broadband holographic multiplexing based on geometric metasurfaces is demonstrated by the integration of several recording channels into a single device. Each image can be individually addressed with a unique set of parameters, such as circular polarization, position, and angle. Such a technique paves the way for a wide range of applications related to optical patterning, encryption, and information processing.
Reduction of radiated emission in sequential circuits

Electromagnetic Interference in any device, equipment or system will predominantly degrade the performance. This interference may be due to radiation or conduction. In clocked sequential circuits, clock is a specific type of signal that oscillates between a high and a low states. Such clock oscillations are determined by their operating frequency and data rate. A high-speed oscillation of such clock signals results in radiated electromagnetic interference. They appear as sharp spectral peaks with high intensities. With the intention of reducing the amount of radiation from synchronous digital circuits, spread spectrum clock generator method is proposed, where the system clock is modulated using delta-sigma modulation techniques. Hence, the major contributor of EMI, which is the clock is spreaded to reduce EMI.
Chapter 1 Complications Following Surgery of Impacted Teeth and Their Management

One of the most performed procedures in the specialty of oral and maxillofacial surgery is removal of impacted teeth, especially third molars. Impaction is defined as failure of teeth to erupt into the dental arch within the expected time [1,2]. The reasons for tooth impaction include several factors subdivided into a local and general factors such as position and size of adjacent teeth, dense overlying bone, excessive soft tissue or a genetic abnormality including abnormal eruption path, dental arch length and space in which to erupt [1-3]. Clinically and radiographically, there are two types of impactions namely complete and partial. Complete impaction means that the tooth is covered by bone and mucosa and is prevented from erupting into a normal functional position; partial impaction means that the tooth is partially visible or in communication with oral cavity, but it has failed to erupt fully into a normal position [1]. The most common impacted teeeth are mandibular and maxillary third molars, followed by the maxillary canines and mandibular premolars. New data suggests that 72,2% of the world population has at least one impacted tooth (usually lower third molar) [3,4]. From the last 40 years, the incidence of impacted teeth has grown through different populations, due to living habits such as soft food diet and lower intensity of the use of the masticatory apparatus [3]. Only a few decades earlier, Inuits and Latin American Indians were described as populations with no impacted teeth [1]. Some authors suggest that race and gender have an influence on occurrence of impactions; thus, the impactions are more common in Caucasians than in Negroes; and females are more predisposed to this phenomenon than males. The age of the patients also play an important role in impacted teeth occurrence. Patients between 20 and 30 years of age are the most frequently affected with symptomatic impactions [4-7]. As age
Improvement and automatic classification of IVUS-VH (intravascular ultrasound - virtual histology) images

Heart attack and stroke are the major causes of human death and atherosclerotic plaques are the most common effect of cardiovascular disease. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), a diagnostic imaging technique, offers a unique view of the morphology of the arterial plaque displays the morphological and histological properties of a cross-section of the vessel. Limitations of the grayscale IVUS manual plaque assessment have led to the development of quantitative techniques for analysis of characteristics of plaque components. In vivo plaque characterization with the so called Virtual Histology (VH)-IVUS is widely available for atherosclerosis plaque characterization in IVUS images. However, it suffers from a poor longitudinal resolution due to the ECG-gated acquisition. The focus of this PhD thesis is to provide effective methods for image-based vessel plaque characterization via IVUS image analysis to overcome the limitations of current techniques. The proposed algorithms are also applicable to the large amount of the IVUS image sequences obtained from patients in the past.
Is memantine a breakthrough in the treatment of moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease?

Over stimulation of the NMDA receptor by glutamate has long been considered to have a role in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Memantine, a non-competitive antagonist of NMDA receptors, has recently been tested in moderate-to-severe AD. At 28 weeks, there was a small significant mean difference of 0.3 in favour of memantine, showing benefit in the Clinician’s Interview-Based Impression of Change Plus Caregiver Input (CIBIC-Plus) global score. The other primary efficacy variable was the Alzheimer’s disease Cooperative Study Activities of Daily Living Inventory, modified for more severe dementia (ADCS-ADL-sev) and there was significantly less deterioration in the ADCSADL-sev score in the memantine group than in the placebo group (2.1 versus 3.4, respectively). As there are no drugs commonly used for their effectiveness in moderate-to-severe AD, any drug that causes a benefit, however small, as memantine has been shown to do in this trial, represents a breakthrough.
A Tradeoff Cut Approach to Multiple Objective Optimization

There is a need to develop user-oriented math programming techniques for resolution of decision problems in which several objectives must be considered. One approach, the Geoffrion-Dyer-Feinberg algorithm, allows interaction between the computer and the decision maker during the solution process. The interactive approach is adopted in this paper. However, our approach focuses on reducing the feasible region of the decision space rather than improving the stored image of the overall preference function. In so doing, the problem is reduced to a series of pairwise tradeoffs between the objectives. This obviates the need for any type of choice among vectors on the part of the decision maker and stays reasonably within his capability to supply necessary information for problem solution.
Una evaluación de las prestaciones sociales en la lucha contra la pobreza en Andalucía y España: un análisis comparativo

En este trabajo se intenta analizar el papel que representa el Sistema de Garantia de Ingresos espanol en la lucha contra la pobreza en Andalucia y en Espana, utilizandose para ello la Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares 1990/1991. En este sentido, se reflexiona sobre la conveniencia de dicha encuesta para llevar a cabo la evaluacion del Sistema de Garantia y se presenta un esquema metodologico a seguir para proceder a dicha evaluacion. El articulo finaliza con las conclusiones mas interesantes a la luz de los resultados
The Lrp family of transcriptional regulators

Genome analysis has revealed that members of the Lrp family of transcriptional regulators are widely distributed among prokaryotes, both bacteria and archaea. The archetype Leucine‐responsive Regulatory Protein from Escherichia coli is a global regulator involved in modulating a variety of metabolic functions, including the catabolism and anabolism of amino acids as well as pili synthesis. Most Lrp homologues, however, appear to act as specific regulators of amino acid metabolism‐related genes. Like most prokaryotic transcriptional regulators, Lrp‐like regulators consist of a DNA‐binding domain and a ligand‐binding domain. The crystal structure of the Pyrococcus furiosus LrpA revealed an N‐terminal domain with a common helix–turn–helix fold, and a C‐terminal domain with a typical αβ‐sandwich fold. The latter regulatory domain constitutes a novel ligand‐binding site and has been designated RAM. Database analysis reveals that the RAM domain is present in many prokaryotic genomes, potentially encoding (1) Lrp‐homologues, when fused to a DNA‐binding domain (2) enzymes, when fused as a potential regulatory domain to a catalytic domain, and (3) stand‐alone RAM modules with unknown function. The architecture of Lrp regulators with two distinct domains that harbour the regulatory (effector‐binding) site and the active (DNA‐binding) site, and their separation by a flexible hinge region, suggests a general allosteric switch of Lrp‐like regulators.
Energy Profile Aware Routing

Energy efficient communication devices are essential to minimize the operational cost of future networks and to reduce the negative effects of global warming. In this paper we propose a novel energy reduction approach on network level that takes load-dependent energy consumption information of communication equipment into account. Case study calculation results show that energy savings of more than 35% and with it operational cost can be saved by applying energy profile aware routing.
Dynamic Pricing and Inventory Control of Substitute Products

We study dynamic pricing and inventory control of substitute products for a retailer who faces a long supply lead time and a short selling season. Within a multinomial logit model of consumer choice over substitutes, we develop a stochastic dynamic programming formulation and derive the optimal dynamic pricing policy. We prove that dynamic pricing converges to static pricing as inventory levels of all variates approach the number of remaining selling periods (assuming at most one customer arrival within each period). Our extensive numerical study of the effects of time and inventory depletion on the optimal pricing reveals two fundamental underlying driving forces of the complex price behavior: the level of inventory scarcity and the quality difference among products. We also compare the performance of three restricted pricing strategies: static, unified dynamic, and mixed dynamic pricing. We find that full-scale dynamic pricing is of great value in the presence of inventory scarcity, and initial inventory decisions are quite robust in the pricing scheme employed in the selling season. Based on the above insights, we propose a computationally efficient approach to the initial inventory decision, which delivers close-to-optimal inventory levels for all testing cases.
Subdigital Setae of Narrow‐Toed Geckos, Including a Eublepharid (Aeluroscalabotes felinus)

Subdigital adhesive setae have previously been documented in all legged gecko families except the Eublepharidae. I present evidence that members of Aeluroscalabotes felinus, the only arboreal eublepharids, possess subdigital setae up to 9 μm in length. This discovery suggests that the conditions leading to adhesive setae were probably present in the ancestors of all geckos, rather than arising multiple times within Gekkota. The digits and setae of Aeluroscalabotes resemble those of other climbing, bent‐toed geckos. I describe the setal morphology of the following bent‐toed species: Cyrtodactylus peguensis, Gonatodes albogularis, and Pristurus rupestris. The presence of subdigital setae is highly correlated with an arboreal lifestyle across geckos and other lizards such as anoles and skinks. Although relatively simple in form, these setae likely confer additional traction that significantly benefits climbing species. Further developmental and biomechanical studies comparing these species with more agile climbers like the Tokay will improve our understanding of the evolutionary processes leading to adhesive setae, and consequently inform engineers attempting to fabricate effective artificial gecko setae. Anat Rec, 291:869‐875, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Weak inhibitors protect cholinesterases from strong inhibitors (paraoxon): in vitro effect of ranitidine

Metoclopramide (MCP) is a dopamine receptor antagonist and serotonin receptor agonist widely used as an antiemetic and gastric prokinetic drug. In addition MCP is a weak and reversible inhibitor of cholinesterases. We have shown that MCP has a cholinesterase protective effect against inhibition by organophosphates. The putative mode of protective action of MCP is competition for the active site of the enzyme with the more potent organophosphate. In the present paper we present our results using another weak inhibitor of cholinesterases: ranitidine (RAN).
First records of the tomato leaf miner Tuta absoluta (Meyrick, 1917) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) in South Africa

Tuta absoluta (Meyrick) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) is an invasive and extremely damaging leaf-mining moth of South American origin. It is a serious pest of tomatoes. This species was first recorded outside of its native range in Spain (2006), and has subsequently spread into Asia and Africa. Here we report the first records of this species for the Republic of South Africa, where moths were first trapped in August and October 2016. The species was identified using both morphological and molecular approaches. Monitoring of the spread of tomato leaf miner in South Africa and the implementation of control measures are managed by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), South Africa.
Brain research and violent behavior. A summary and evaluation of the status of biomedical research on brain and aggressive violent behavior.

The development and use of biomedical methods for the treatment of behavioral disorders during the past decade has generated discussion in the scientific community about issues of efficacy and safety and about appropriate criteria for their use on humans. Psychosurgery (ie: the neurosurgical treatment of behavioral disorders) more recently has generated public concern about such matters as informed consent of human subjects in either experimental or clinical care situations, the criteria for differentiating experimental from clinical procedures, and the use of neurosurgical methods of treatment on institutionalized persons. The issues have become particularly sensitive with the use of psychosurgical methods for the treatment of uncontrollable violence and rage behavior. In order to provide a background for development of a public policy position on these matters, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW) asked the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) to prepare a report on the biomedical
Pulsed laser damage to optical fibers.

This paper describes some observations of pulsed laser damage to optical fibers with emphasis on a damage mode characterized as a linear fracture along the outer core of a fiber. Damage threshold data are presented which illustrate the effects of the focusing lens, end-surface preparation, and type of fiber. An explanation based on fiber-beam misalignment is given and is illustrated by a simple experiment and ray trace.
Spectral and symbolic analysis of heart rate data during the tilt test.

Spectral analysis of heart rate sequences is commonly used to investigate neuroauthonomic control of heart rate by means of two indexes, the low and the high frequency power. For tilt test data of normal subjects we compare the spectral indexes with new indexes defined within the framework of symbolic analysis. We define two classes of binary words of length 4: the first class is related to "acceleration" of heart rate and the second class to "stationary behavior. " The new indexes measure the change in frequency of the two classes before and after the tilt. Data analysis of 13 normal subjects shows that the behavior of the new indexes is in agreement with that of spectral ones.