Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Reference intervals for biochemical analytes in serum and heparinized plasma and serum protein fractions in adult alpacas (Vicugna pacos).

BACKGROUND Species-specific reference intervals for laboratory tests are required for diagnosis and management of disease. Few reports of reference intervals for biochemical analytes and protein fractions are available for alpacas. OBJECTIVES The aims of this study were to establish reference intervals for biochemical analytes measured in both serum and plasma and in serum protein fractions, and to determine the influence of herd and sex on test results in a population of alpacas. METHODS Blood was collected from 74 healthy male and female adult alpacas (Vicugna pacos) from 5 herds into tubes with no anticoagulant or with sodium heparin and analyzed within 4 hours. Biochemical analytes and ionized calcium were measured using a Hitachi P modular automated chemistry analyzer and an ABL-800 Flex blood-gas analyzer, respectively, and protein fractions were measured by agarose gel electrophoresis of serum. Nonparametric statistical methods were used to determine reference intervals, results obtained from serum and plasma were compared, and effects of herd and sex were examined. RESULTS Serum and plasma samples from 71 and 74 alpacas, respectively, were used to establish reference intervals for serum and plasma biochemical analytes. Intervals were similar, although clinically relevant differences between creatine kinase activity and phosphate concentration were found in individual animals. Serum proteins from 60 alpacas were analyzed by electrophoresis. There were significant herd- and sex-associated differences in some biochemical analytes and protein fractions; however, most had minimal impact on reference interval determination, with the exception of herd-associated effects on concentrations of urea nitrogen, ionized calcium, and bile acids and transferrin saturation. CONCLUSIONS Serum and plasma reference intervals are interchangeable; however, consistency of sample type is imperative when performing serial testing. Use of laboratory- and instrument-specific reference intervals is optimal; however, intervals reported here may be used as a guide for interpreting laboratory results from alpacas, especially when test methods are the same.
Anti-inflammatory effects of inhaled corticosteroids in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: similarities and differences to asthma

Both chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and asthma are characterised by the presence of airway inflammation. In the stable disease state, the predominant regulatory and effector cells, and the anatomic focus of the changes associated with airway inflammation, differ between COPD and asthma. However, during exacerbations, these patterns of inflammation become more similar. The benefit of anti-inflammatory therapy with inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) is well established in asthma, whereas the extent of the anti-inflammatory effects of ICS in COPD is debated. Understanding the distinctive and, in exacerbations, the changing patterns of inflammation in COPD and asthma allows a better appreciation of the potential for ICS to target the unique pathophysiology of COPD.
Biotemplated hierarchical surfaces and the role of dual length scales on the repellency of impacting droplets

We fabricated biomimetic hierarchical superhydrophobic surfaces using the Tobacco mosaic virus and investigated the role of each length scale during droplet impact by decomposing the micro and nanoscale components. We found that 10 μl water droplets rebounded at impact velocities greater than 4.3 m/s on the hierarchical surfaces, outperforming the nanostructured surfaces, which underwent an observable wetting transition at an impact velocity of 2.7 m/s. This finding demonstrates that each length scale plays a distinct, but complementary, role in maximizing water repellency during droplet impact and, thus, provides insight into the evolutionary development of highly water-repellant hierarchical plant leaves.
PHARMACOGENETICS OF CYTOTOXIC THERAPY IN COlORECTAl CANCER

Colorectal cancer is a relatively common tumor with incidence that has been increasing during recent decades. Despite the rapid advances in treatment of colorectal cancer, the best way to combine and sequence all available drugs to optimize treatment is not yet established. The majority of cytotoxic drugs used in therapy of colorectal cancer have a dose related effect and narrow therapeutic index. Hence, dosing of cytotoxic drugs is considered very important. Current modalities for therapy and dose selection give restricted possibilities to equalise inter-individual variations which are dependent on physiological, genetic and environmental factors. In this article, an overview of current possibilities of personalized medicine in therapy of colorectal cancer is presented. This includes review of the most important gene polymorphisms important for safety and efficacy of cytotoxic therapy in colorectal cancer, and evaluation of their importance for the current clinical practice. Despite raising knowledge, providing individual treatment with low toxicity and significant benefits is still an unsolved problem. Reasons for this are the lack of knowledge on distribution of these polymorphisms in the population, importance of non-genetic factors, price of genetic testing and still limited data from controlled clinical trials confirming the clinical usefulness of pharmacogenetic testing. Although the initial costs of cancer management and personalized medicine may be high, in the future they may result in significant benefits from both a clinical and economical perspective.
The IMPATT story

[I] D. Kahng and M. M. Atalla, “Silicon-silicon dioxide field induced surface devices,” in IRE-AIEE Solid-state Device Res. Conf. , (Carnegie Inst. of Technol., Pittsburgh, PA), 1960. [2] J. Bardeen and W. H. Brattain, Phys. Reu. , vol. 75, p. 1208,1949. [3] J. E. Lilienfeld, U.S. Patent 1,745,175 (filed in 1926, issued in 1930), U.S. Patent. 1,877,140 (filed in 1928 issued in 1932), and U.S. Patent 1,900,018 (filed in 1928, issued in 1933). [4] 0. Heil, British Patent439457 (filed In 1935, issued in 1935). [5] W. Shockley and G. L. Pearson, Phys. Reu. , vol. 74, p. 232,1948. [6] P. K. Weimer, “An evaporated thin film triode,” presented at the IRE-AIEE Devices Res. Conf. , Stanford University, Stanford, CA, 1961. [7] W. L. Brown, Phys. Rev., vol. 91, p. 518,1953. [8] I. M. Ross, U.S. Patent 2,791,760 (filed in 1955, issued in 1957). [9] R. H. Kingston and S. F. Neustadter, J. Appl. Phys., vol. 26, p. 718, 1955; C. G. B. Garrett and W. H. Brattain, Phys. Reu. ,vol. 99, p. 376, 195.5 [IO] M:M. Atalla, private communications and US. Patent 3,206,670
The fall after the rise: Tuberculosis in the United States, 1991 through 1994.

OBJECTIVES Factors associated with decreases in tuberculosis cases observed in the United States in 1993 and 1994 were analyzed. METHODS Changes in case counts reported to the national surveillance system were evaluated by dividing the number of incident cases of TB reported in 1993 and 1994 by the number of cases reported in 1991 and 1992 and stratifying these ratios by demographic factors, AIDS incidence, and changes in program performance. RESULTS Case counts decreased from 52,956 in 1991 and 1992 to 49,605 in 1993 and 1994 (case count ratio = 0.94, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.93, 0.95). The decrease, confined to US-born patients, was generally associated with AIDS incidence and improvements in completion of therapy, conversion of sputum, and increases in the number of contacts identified per case. CONCLUSIONS Recent TB epidemiology patterns suggest that improvements in treatment and control activities have contributed to the reversal in the resurgence of this disease in US-born persons. Continued success in preventing the occurrence of active TB will require sustained efforts to ensure appropriate treatment of cases.
A Wideband Analog Predistortion Power Amplifier With Multi-Branch Nonlinear Path for Memory-Effect Compensation

A wideband, multi-branch analog predistorter (MBAPD) is reported to compensate for memory effects as well as memoryless nonlinearity of the power amplifier (PA) for repeater systems with wideband modulated signals. For verification, the MBAPD with three-branch nonlinear path is implemented with a 30 W class-AB PA and tested using a two-carrier wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) signal with 15 MHz tone spacing at 2.14 GHz. From the measured results at an average output power of 33 dBm, the proposed MBAPD shows the adjacent channel leakage ratios (ACLRs) at plusmn15 MHz offset of -60.4 dBc and -60.2 dBc, which are an improvement of over 25 dB and 12 dB, compared to the PAs without APD and with conventional APD, respectively.
Reasoning and Facts Explanation in Valuation Based Systems

In the literature, the optimization problem to identify a set of composite hypotheses H, which will yield the k largest P(H|S e) where a composite hypothesis is an instantiation of all the nodes in the network except the evidence nodes [17] is of significant interest. This problem is called “finding the k Most Plausible Explanation (MPE) of a given evidence S e in a Bayesian belief network”. The problem of finding k most probable hypotheses is generally NP-hard [2]. Therefore in the past various simplifications of the task by restricting k (to 1 or 2), restricting the structure (e.g. to singly connected networks), or shifting the complexity to spatial domain have been investigated. A genetic algorithm is proposed in this paper to overcome some of these restrictions while stepping out from probabilistic domain onto the general Valuation based System (VBS) framework is also proposed by generalizing the genetic algorithm approach to the realm of Dempster-Shafer belief calculus.
BitPath – Label Order Constrained Reachability in Large Graphs Technical Report

With ever expanding size of the web, sizes of graphs with semantic relationships are growing very rapidly. The semantic relationships are typically presented as edge-labeled graphs where nodes are the entities and the edge label signifies the relationships between the two entities. RDF graphs are an example of such graphs. Pure reachability queries on these graphs do not give any information about the semantic association between two remote entities. On the other hand, the typical size of semantic graphs present on the web has made general regular path query processing infeasible. In this paper we focus on the following graph path query problem – given a source node s, a destination node d and a sequence of ordered edge labels “label seq”, does there exist any path between the two nodes which has the edges labels in “label seq” (in the given order) on the path? We solve this problem by a combination of graph indexing, and a query processing algorithm based on a divide-and-conquer procedure and greedy pruning of the search space. We have evaluated our technique on graphs with more than 22 million edges and 6 million nodes – much larger compared to the datasets used in published work on path queries. We compare our approach with optimized-DFS, optimized-focusedDFS, and bidirectional-BFS methods.
A novel enzyme, citryl‐CoA lyase, catalysing the second step of the citrate cleavage reaction in Hydrogenobacter thermophilus TK‐6

A novel enzyme catalysing citryl‐CoA cleavage to acetyl‐CoA and oxaloacetate was purified from Hydrogenobacter thermophilus TK‐6, and designated citryl‐CoA lyase (CCL). The citrate cleavage reaction in this organism proceeded by a unique set of two consecutive reactions: (i) citryl‐CoA formation by citryl‐CoA synthetase (CCS) and (ii) citryl‐CoA cleavage by CCL. Purified CCL gave a single 30 kDa band in SDS–PAGE and gel filtration chromatography indicated that the native state of the enzyme exists as a trimer (α3). Citryl‐CoA lyase showed low citrate synthase (CS) activity. Using an oligonucleotide probe, the corresponding gene was cloned and sequenced. The gene was expressed in Escherichia coli and recombinant CCL was also purified. The CCL protein sequence showed similarity to the C‐terminal regions of ATP citrate lyase (ACL) and CS sequences in the database. By further sequence comparisons, the phylogenetic relationship between CCS, CCL, ACL and CS was investigated.
Development of a Methodology for Customizing Insider Threat Auditing on a Linux Operating System

Abstract : Insider threats can pose a great risk to organizations and by their very nature are difficult to protect against. Auditing and system logging are capabilities present in most operating systems and can be used for detecting insider activity. However, current auditing methods are typically applied in a haphazard way, if at all, and are not conducive to contributing to an effective insider threat security policy. This research develops a methodology for designing a customized auditing and logging template for a Linux operating system. An intent-based insider threat risk assessment methodology is presented to create use case scenarios tailored to address an organization‟s specific security needs and priorities. These organization specific use cases are verified to be detectable via the Linux auditing and logging subsystems and the results are analyzed to create an effective auditing rule set and logging configuration for the detectable use cases. Results indicate that creating a customized auditing rule set and system logging configuration to detect insider threat activity is possible.
It felt fluent but I did not like it: fluency effects in faces versus patterns

Whether you like a person or not is often appraised in a glance. However, under such short presentation durations stimuli are harder to perceive and, according to hedonic fluency theory-which holds that higher fluency is linked to higher liking-thus, are liked less. Given that liking considerably influences person perception, we tested how shorter and longer presentation durations affect liking for faces and compared this with abstract patterns. To capture facets of fluency of processing we assessed felt fluency, liking, and certainty ratings. Following predictions of fluency theory, longer presentation durations led to higher felt fluency, certainty, and positively affected liking judgments in the abstract patterns. In faces, felt fluency and certainty also increased with longer durations. However, with longer durations, faces were liked less, and liking was not related to felt fluency. In other words, in contrast to hedonic fluency theory, faces are more attractive when only seen for a short amount of time. Thus, fluency does not inevitably lead to more positive evaluations—it rather depends on the stimulus category. We discuss these findings in terms of the special status that faces have with regard to human perception and evaluation.
Is There Evidence for Cognitive Intervention in Alzheimer Disease? A Systematic Review of Efficacy, Feasibility, and Cost-Effectiveness

Several studies have shown that cognitive intervention may be beneficial for people with Alzheimer disease (AD), but literature reviews conducted so far, have yielded mixed and inconclusive results. In this work, through an extensive bibliographic search, we aim: (1) to analyze the efficacy of cognitive intervention in patients diagnosed with AD; (2) to provide an estimate of the feasibility of cognitive intervention; and (3) to review available cost-effectiveness data of this approach. Four randomized controlled trials of cognitive intervention, for patients diagnosed with AD that incorporated cognitive intervention and mock intervention control conditions, were included in the analysis. Only the domain of global cognitive functioning, as measured by Mini-Mental State Examination, showed significant intervention effects. No effects were observed in the remaining domains. Concerning feasibility, high rates of completion and adherence were found. A single randomized controlled trial, with unspecified dementia, suggested cognitive intervention to be cost-effective. Given the currently available dearth of well-controlled and focused trials in AD, these results should be carefully interpreted and remain to be confirmed in the future. There is a clear need for more high-quality research.
Bank's Liquidity Demand in the Presence of a Lender of Last Resort

I use a natural experiment to estimate the effect that a Lender of Last Resort has on banks’ liquidity demand. In December 1996 Argentina’s Central Bank signed with a group of international banks a contingent credit line agreement that enhanced its ability to act as a LLR. I run difference-in-difference regressions of the effect of the announcement of the insurance contract on banks’ liquidity holdings, using ownership status and size to identify the groups of treatment and control banks. Finally I rule out general equilibrium feedback effects through the interbank market between control and treatment banks. Results indicate a reduction of approximately 6.7 percentage points in banks’ liquidity holdings in the presence of a LLR.
Microwave Assistant Synthesis, Antifungal Activity and DFT Theoretical Study of Some Novel 1,2,4-Triazole Derivatives Containing Pyridine Moiety

In order to investigate the biological activity of novel 1,2,4-triazole compounds, seventeen novel 1,2,4-triazole derivatives containing pyridine moiety were synthesized under microwave assistant condition by multi-step reactions. The structures were characterized by 1H NMR, MS and elemental analyses. The target compounds were evaluated for their fungicidal activities against Stemphylium lycopersici (Enjoji) Yamamoto, Fusarium oxysporum. sp. cucumebrium, and Botrytis cinerea in vivo, and the results indicated that some of the title compounds displayed excellent fungicidal activities. Theoretical calculation of the title compound was carried out with B3LYP/6-31G (d,p). The full geometry optimization was carried out using 6-31G (d,p) basis set, and the frontier orbital energy, atomic net charges were discussed, and the structure-activity relationship was also studied.
Logical aspects of logical frameworks

This thesis provides a model–theoretic semantic analysis of aspects of the LF logical framework. The LF logical framework is the λΠ-calculus together with the judgements-as-types representation mechanism. A denotational semantics is provided for the λΠ-calculus in terms of Kripke λΠ-models. These are a generalization of the Kripke lambda models of Mitchell and Moggi to dependent types and are based on the contextual categories of Cartmell and their reformulation by Ritter. We analyse these models in terms of (Kripke) logical relations. We also present Kripke models of the internal logic of the λΠ-calculus, the {∀,⊃}-fragment of many-sorted minimal first-order logic, and show that the propositions-as-types correspondence induces an isomorphism between the two classes of Kripke models. We provide a proofand model-theoretic account of judged object-logics (logics suitable for representation in LF). We show that the judgements-as-types correspondence induces an epimorphism between these Kripke models and Kripke λΠ-models; which we use to provide model-theoretic proofs of faithfulness. We consider a variant of the LF logical framework which uses the worldsas-parameters representation mechanism. The generality of our account of the judgements-as-types correspondence allows us to treat the worlds-as-parameters representation mechanism as a special case. We interpret the syntactic ‘worlds’ introduced by worlds-as-parameters as worlds in our Kripke models and show that there exists a worlds-as-parameters epimorphism. We provide a semantic account of proof-search in the λΠ-calculus by identifying a class of Herbrand models and providing a least fixed-point construction corresponding, as usual, to resolution. Finally, we provide a characterization of abstract logic programming languages, as defined by Miller et al., in the LF logical framework.
Internal Diversity in Buddhism: Comparing the Values of Buddhist Teens Raised by Heritage and Convert Parents

ABSTRACT Self-assigned religious affiliation has been linked to different extents with other aspects of religiosity in Christians, but this correlation has not previously been studied for Buddhists. In this study, relevant attitudes were examined through focus groups conducted with 75 heritage- and convert-raised Buddhist teenagers at seven British locations. Issues investigated included identity, spirituality, congregational participation, hopes, worries, fears, parents, friends, substance use, and right and wrong. Similarities between the two groups did not particularly show Buddhist content. Contrasts included values concerning life after death, Buddhist identifiers, place of congregation, hopes, parental formality, spiritual teachers, femininity, meditation and the Sangha, alcohol and marijuana. The recommendations arising from this study are that social policy-makers working with religious identifiers would benefit from having awareness of the complex dynamic of religious styles in respect of Buddhism, shown in this research, and that future research on Buddhist identity and values should be clearly qualified by considerations of religious style.
Dark current reduction by an adaptive CTIA photocircuit for room temperature SWIR sensing

We report an adaptive capacitive transimpedance amplifier circuit for room temperature sensing of short wave infrared (SWIR) radiation. The photocircuit reduces junction leakage current by measuring the current across a photodiode held at zero bias. This is critical to enable room temperature SWIR detection using materials with smaller bandgaps (and higher leakage current) such as InGaAs, which are typically operated at cooled temperatures. The transimpedance amplifier incorporates a floating gate current mirror in order to precisely cancel offset using nonvolatile analog storage. We experimentally verify that we are able to precisely tune the input offset and demonstrate a reduction in dark current of an InGaAs photodiode by two orders of magnitude, from 700pA to 2.25pA, when comparing similar adaptive and non-adaptive circuits. These circuits have been fabricated in a standard 0. 6μm CMOS process.
Generalized Impedance Converter as a New Sensor Signal Conditioning Circuit

Generalized impedance converters (GIC) are electronic circuits which have been widely used as controllable impedance in AC regime, especially in active filter synthesis. In the work presented, the GIC is used as a biasing circuit of a magnetoresistive current sensor (Wheatstone bridge) which is located inside the GIC itself. In this case, the GIC works under DC bias unlike its usual AC bias use
An optimal dissipative encoder for the toric code

We consider the problem of preparing specific encoded resource states for the toric code by local, time-independent interactions with a memoryless environment. We propose the construction of such a dissipative encoder which converts product states to topologically ordered ones while preserving logical information. The corresponding Liouvillian is made up of four local Lindblad operators. For a qubit lattice of size L × L, we show that this process prepares encoded states in time O(L), which is optimal. This scaling compares favorably with known local unitary encoders for the toric code which take time of order Ω(L2) and require active time-dependent control.