Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ageing study of interfacial intermetallic growth in a lead-free solder reinforced with Ni-coated carbon nanotubes

In this study, varying amounts of Ni-CNTs were incorporated into the Sn-Ag-Cu matrix to form the composite solders. The interfacial intermetallic thickness formed on the Ni/Au metallized Cu substrate was determined under the as-soldered and isothermally aged (at 150°C for up to 42 days) conditions. The results of the interfacial intermetallic thickness showed that for the case of the unreinforced solder joint, the intermetallics grew more significantly than that of the composite solder joints, under both as-soldered and isothermally aged conditions. Moreover, the shear test results revealed that the as-soldered and aged composite solder joints exhibited improved ultimate shear strength as compared to that of their unreinforced counterparts. The improvement was observed to be most significant with the addition of 0.05 wt. % of Ni-CNTs, whereby the ultimate shear strength increased by 29% under the as-soldered condition and by 28% after isothermally aged for 42 days. It was concluded that the presence of Ni-CNTs as reinforcements in the Sn-Ag-Cu solder served to inhibit the growth of interfacial intermetallics and also to enhance its mechanical performance.
The time factor in responses to pituitary gonadotrophins by mouse ovaries in vitro.

Summary. Ovaries from 15-day-old mice were cultured with or without fsh and lh for 3 or 6 days. Paired control ovaries were fixed at the time of dissection. The number of follicles in each ovary having at least three layers of granulosa cells was determined, and changes in the follicle population during culture were examined. The diameter of each follicle with at least four layers was measured. fsh stimulated follicle growth throughout the experiment but lh stimulated it only between Day 3 and Day 6. lh significantly increased the proportion of follicles with diameters exceeding 119 \g=m\on Day 6; fsh tended to increase this proportion but its effect was not significant. lh reduced the incidence of pycnotic nuclei in peripheral follicles but fsh had no such effect. It is suggested that lh stimulates follicle growth by stimulating production of an oestrogen which must accumulate to a critical level before be
Robustness of remote keyless entry systems to intentional electromagnetic interference

Cars equipped with remote keyless entry systems are very vulnerable to electromagnetic interference because of the wireless link. Carrying the encrypted signal between the key fob and the car, it can deliberately be jammed by a malicious person. Jamming on the physical layer leaves the encryption and code algorithms on the higher communication layers useless. Jamming for criminal purposes is considered to be intentional electromagnetic interference. In this paper, the robustness of the remote keyless entry system to intentional electromagnetic interference is investigated. Two commercially available remote keyless entry systems are analyzed. Measurements are performed in an anechoic chamber to estimate the robustness of the RF receivers. Both systems are equipped with super regenerative receivers. Results show that the selectivity of both systems are poor and they are easily jammed. Field strenghts as low as 0.1 V/m can already jam the wireless link over a wide frequency bandwidth of 4 MHz. A super heterodyne receiver would be robuster to electromagnetic interference than a super regenerative receiver, but this type of receiver has a relative high cost.
NUI framework based on real-time head pose estimation and hand gesture recognition

The natural user interface (NUI) is used for the natural motion interface without using device or tool such as mice, keyboards, pens and markers. In this paper, we develop natural user interface framework based on two recognition module. First module is real-time head pose estimation module using random forests and second module is hand gesture recognition module, named Hand gesture Key Emulation Toolkit (HandGKET). Using the head pose estimation module, we can know where the user is looking and what the user’s focus of attention is. Moreover, using the hand gesture recognition module, we can also control the computer using the user’s hand gesture without mouse and keyboard. In proposed framework, the user’s head direction and hand gesture are mapped into mouse and keyboard event, respectively.
Blind Image Deconvolution Technique for Image Restoration using Ant Colony Optimization

Image Restoration is a field of Image Processing which deals with recovering an original and sharp image from a degraded image. Blind Image Deconvolution (BID) is a restoration technique where degraded image is restored in the absence of knowledge about the source of degradation of the image. It is very crucial part of image restoration to recover image without the knowledge of the reason of its degradation. Here, an estimate is done about the unknown degradation function and using that, an estimate of the original image is produced. This paper proposes a method that deals with restoration of degraded images which have been blurred by an unknown degradation function using Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) technique for detecting the blurred edges and removing the ringing effect from the detected edges. Ant Colony Optimization is a nature inspired methodology which is based on the foraging behavior of the real ant colonies.
Does the clinical examination predict airflow limitation?

CLINICAL SCENARIOS—DO THESE PATIENTS HAVE AIRFLOW LIMITATION? In each of the following cases, the clinician needs to decide whether the patient has airflow limitation: In case 1, a 63-year-old man who has smoked two packs of cigarettes per day for the past 47 years presents with decreased exercise tolerance caused by shortness of breath. In case 2, a 35-year-old woman complains of coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath every autumn. In case 3, an 18-year-old man is brought to an emergency department with extreme difficulty breathing that began earlier that evening. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO DETECT AIRFLOW LIMITATION BY CLINICAL EXAMINATION? Airflow limitation is a disorder known by many names, including airway obstruction and obstructive airways disease. Recognizing airflow limitation can lead to appropriate treatment and can yield important prognostic information. Patients with symptomatic airflow limitation may benefit by treatment with oral or inhaled bronchodilators, oral or inhaled glucocorticoids,
Methodology for Rapid Prototyping and Testing of ASR Based User Interfaces

One of the greatest challenges in the design of speech recognition based interfaces is about the navigation through the service menu structure. On the one hand, the interactions based on human machine dialogues force a high level of hierarchical structuring of services, and on the other hand, it is necessary to wait for the last phases of the user interface development to obtain a global vision of the dialogue problems by means of user trials. To tackle these problems, when Telefonica Moviles Espana began developing its voice portal, great care was taken in stablishing a methodology based on rapid prototyping of the user interfaces, so that designers could integrate the process of design of voice interfaces with emulations of the navigation through the flow charts. This was also the starting point for a specific software product (SIS PRUEBA) which addresses the needs of rapid prototyping of these user interfaces from the earliest stages of the design and analysis phases. SIS PRUEBA has been applied to this and to other types of voice and data services. For example, in complex services like “CINES” (to request information about cinemas, films, etc.) and “FINANZAS” (to consult financial information), the use of this methodology helped to review and to apply recommendations of the speech interfaces usability guide on concrete points of the flow charts and, consequently, the time and resources needed to redesign the critical parts of the user interface were reduced dramatically. ). In addition, SIS PRUEBA has also been successfully applied to prototype simpler services, like “ALERTAS” (which allows to program alert messages about football).
Recent Developments in Relation to Professional Staff in UK Higher Education.

This paper reviews three developments relating to professional staff in UK higher education. The first of these is a major report undertaken for the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education (LFHE), which has re-conceptualised the activities of professional staff within a theoretical framework of identity (Whitchurch, 2008a). The other two projects seek practical ways forward for this group of staff, the first via a Continuing Professional Development Framework developed by the Association of University Administrators (AUA); and the second via the publication of case material on career pathways, prepared on behalf of the Association of Heads of University Administration (AHUA) and the LFHE.
Differences in physical activity among adults in households with and without children.

BACKGROUND The study aim was to assess the relation of parent status to physical activity (PA) and the impact of parental roles, age and number of children on PA. METHODS Data for 909 women and 965 men, aged 20-57, were analyzed. Mixed Models were used to assess differences in PA between parents and adults without children, with analyses stratified by sex. The primary outcome was accelerometer-measured total daily minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA). RESULTS Parenthood was not related to MVPA, but mothers reported more total PA than nonmothers. For mothers and fathers, self-reported household activity was higher and sitting time lower, compared with nonparents. Both men and women with children aged 0-5 reported the highest household activity and the lowest sitting time, with household PA higher and sitting time lower with more children. There was no evidence that leisure, transport, or occupational activity varied by parenthood. CONCLUSIONS Considering the potential impact of child-rearing on parent time demands, there was little difference in parents' objectively measured MVPA compared with nonparents. Educational interventions or extracurricular programs for students and parents could target families with school-aged children. Development of tools to obtain parent reports of child care-specific PA behaviors would be useful.
Truncated forms of IS911 transposase downregulate transposition

IS911 naturally produces transposase (OrfAB) derivatives truncated at the C‐terminal end (OrfAB‐CTF) and devoid of the catalytic domain. A majority species, OrfAB*, was produced at higher levels at 42°C than at 30°C suggesting that it is at least partly responsible for the innate reduction in IS911 transposition activity at higher temperatures. An engineered equivalent of similar length, OrfAB[1–149], inhibited transposition activity in vivo or in vitro when produced along with full‐length transposase. We isolated several point mutants showing higher activity than the wild‐type IS911 at 42°C. These fall into two regions of the transposase. One, located in the N‐terminal segment of OrfAB, lies between or within two regions involved in protein multimerization. The other is located within the C‐terminal catalytic domain. The N‐terminal mutations resulted in reduced levels of OrfAB* while the C‐terminal mutation alone appeared not to affect OrfAB* levels. Combination of N‐ and C‐terminal mutations greatly reduced OrfAB* levels and transposition was concomitantly high even at 42°C. The mechanism by which truncated transposase species are generated and how they intervene to reduce transposition activity is discussed. While transposition activity of these multiply mutated derivatives in vivo was resistant to temperature, the purified OrfAB derivatives retained an inherent temperature‐sensitive phenotype in vitro. This clearly demonstrates that temperature sensitivity of IS911 transposition is a complex phenomenon with several mechanistic components. These results have important implications for the several other transposons and insertion sequences whose transposition has also been shown to be temperature‐sensitive.
Simultaneous enhancement of magnetic and ferroelectric properties in Dy and Cr co-doped BiFeO3 nanoparticles.

Multiferroic BiFeO3 (BFO), Bi0.95Dy0. 05FeO3 and Bi0.95Dy0. 05Fe0.95Cr0. 05O3 samples were successfully synthesized by a carbon microsphere-assisted sol-gel (CSG) method. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed a lattice distortion from a rhombohedral structure to a tetragonal structure upon doping Dy and Cr in BFO. The morphology of BFO and doped BFO could be effectively controlled to form nanoparticles, due to the nucleation sites of the carbon microspheres. The co-doping of Dy and Cr in BFO had a significant improvement effect on the magnetic properties, with the remnant magnetization being 0.557 emu g(-1), due to the structural phase transition, size effects and the strong ferromagnetic interaction between Fe(3+)-O-Cr(3+) ions arising from Cr substitution. Meanwhile, the doping of Dy into BFO effectively reduced the leakage current and enhanced the ferroelectric properties. The simultaneous enhancement of magnetic and ferroelectric properties shows the great potential application of Dy- and Cr-co-doped BFO in future multifunctional devices.
Partial biochemical characterization of IgG1‐inducing factor

IgG1, induction factor elevates the IgGl and suppresses the IgG3 and IgG2b responses in lipopolysaccharide‐stimulated murine spleen cell cultures. By the use of a quantitative assay, it was found that the three activities, induction of IgG1 and reduction of IgG3 and IgG2b synthesis, were found in the same fractions after different chromato‐graphic procedures, suggesting that the same molecule was responsible for the effects. The factor was precipitated by 60‐90% saturation of ammonium sulfate and was sensitive to proteolytic cleavage and to treatment with a buffer of pH 10. It had an apparent molecular mass of 20 kDa as judged by gel filtration chromatography and was separated into two peaks after isoelectric focusing, PI 7.4‐7.2 and 6.4‐6.2, respectively. Finally it was weakly hydrophobic and negatively charged at pH 7.55. These characteristics indicate that the factor is different from many previously characterized lymphokines and similar or identical to the B cell stimulating factor‐1 (BSF‐pl). The relevance of these findings to the mechanism of the immunoglobulin class switch is discussed.
Helicobacter pylori Preferentially Induces Interleukin 12 (IL-12) Rather than IL-6 or IL-10 in Human Dendritic Cells

ABSTRACT Dendritic cells are potent antigen-presenting cells that are present in the gastrointestinal tract and are required for the induction of a Th1 T-cell acquired immune response. Since infection with the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori elicits a Th1 cell response, the interaction of these organisms with dendritic cells should reflect the Th1 bias. We incubated H. pylori with cultured human dendritic cells and measured the cytokine induction profile, comparing the response to that induced by Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. We found that H. pylori induced little interleukin 6 (IL-6) and essentially no IL-10 in contrast to S. enterica. However, H. pylori induced levels of IL-12 that were 30% of those induced by S. enterica, indicating a Th1 response. An isogenic cagE mutant of H. pylori lost about 50% of its IL-12-inducing ability, suggesting a role for the cag type IV secretion system in the stimulation of dendritic cells.
Extending Query-Subquery Nets for Deductive Databases under the Well-Founded Semantics

ABSTRACT We propose a method, called QSQN-WF, for evaluating queries to Datalog¬ databases under the well-founded semantics. It is the first one that is set-at-a-time and strictly goal-directed w.r. t. SLS-resolution defined by Przymusinski. These properties are important for reducing accesses to the secondary storage and redundant computations. The first property distinguishes our method from the one based on SLG-resolution by Chen, Swift, and Warren (1995) (which is tuple-at-a-time). The second property distinguishes our method from the ones based on the magic-sets transformation by Kemp, Srivastava, and Stuckey (1995) and Morishita (1996), which use magic atoms not in the most appropriate way and are not strictly goal-directed w.r. t. SLS-resolution. Our method follows SLS-resolution, with Van Gelder’s alternating fixpoint semantics on the background, but uses a query-subquery net to implement tabulation and the set-at-a-time technique, reduce redundant computations, and allow any control strategy within each iteration of the main loop. It is sound and complete w.r. t. the well-founded semantics and has PTIME data complexity.
CORTISOL IN SEVERELY BURNED PATIENTS: INVESTIGATIONS ON DISTURBANCE OF THE HYPOTHALAMIC-PITUITARY-ADRENAL AXIS

Thermal injuries of more than 20% of body surface area lead to conditions resembling a severe systemic inflammatory response syndrome, such as in septic shock. It has been shown that septic shock may lead to disturbances in cortisol metabolism and balance of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. To investigate whether such a disturbance also occurs in the very early stages of systemic inflammatory response syndrome in burned patients, we performed 20 corticotropin-releasing hormone tests on day 1 after admission to our unit. In 7 of 20 patients, a disturbance of cortisol secretion could be demonstrated. Four patients developed adrenal insufficiency. The correlation between the abbreviated burn severity index and the risk of developing adrenal insufficiency was significant (P = 0.008). We observed a higher mortality rate in adrenally insufficient patients; however, because of the small patient number, we were not able to prove this observation with a statistical significant correlation (P = 0.11). Our findings indicate that temporary adrenal insufficiency occurs in the early stages of severe injury. Further investigations will have to be performed to clarify whether such patients benefit from cortisol replacement.
Cooperation of Some Wives in Their Husbands' Suicides

Basic patterns of spouse-assisted suicides are discussed in terms of euthanasia, wives' subconscious or ambivalent desires for their husbands' deaths, and the inability of some wives to initiate any life-saving action during their husbands' suicidal crises. Two case studies illustrate how wives may sometimes play passive or active roles in their husbands' suicides.
Cytogenetic analysis of 363 consecutively ascertained diffuse large B‐cell lymphomas

Cytogenetic analysis was performed on 363 biopsy specimens with histologically confirmed diffuse large B‐cell lymphoma (DLBCL), consecutively ascertained at the Memorial Sloan‐Kettering Cancer Center, New York, between 1984 and 1994. Among 248 samples successfully karyotyped, clonal chromosomal abnormalities were noted in 215 (87%). The salient cytogenetic features of DLBCL from this analysis comprised the following. Breakpoints clustered, in decreasing frequency, at 10 recurring sites: 14q32, 18q21, 1q21, 3q27, 1p36, 8q24, 3p21, 6q21, 1p22, and 22q11. Of these, deletion breaks affecting bands 3p21 and 1p22 and translocation breaks affecting bands 14q32, 3q27, and 1q21 were frequent and distinctive for this subset of lymphomas. Translocations affecting band 14q32 were noted in 110 cases (51%) of which 42 (20%) had t(14;18)(q32;q21), 21 (10%) had t(8;14)(q24;q32) or t(8;22)(q24;q11), 14 (6.5%) had t(3;14)(q27;q32) or t(3;22)(q27;q11), and 33 (15%) had other rearrangements of 14q32. Among 144 new translocations detected in the entire group, the breakpoints in 19 were recurrent and clustered at three sites: 1q21, 3q27, and 14q32. Regions of common cytogenetic deletions were identified at 11 sites, 1p36, 1p33–34, 1p31, 1q32, 3p25–26, 3p21, 3q21, 6q15, 6q21, 6q23–24, and 7q32, suggesting possible loss of candidate tumor suppressor genes associated with DLBCL development. Of these, only those at 6q21, 6q23, and 7q32 have previously been described in lymphoid neoplasms. The group of DLBCL with translocations affecting band 14q32 showed a significantly different pattern of additional cytogenetic changes compared to the group lacking such translocation. This new comprehensive cytogenetic characterization provides the basis for investigations aimed at identifying molecular mechanisms as well as the clinical impact of cytogenetic changes in DLBCL. Genes Chromosomes Cancer 25:123–133, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Melatonin Interaction Resulting in Severe Sedation.

PURPOSE Natural health products (NHPs), including melatonin, are widely used products. Despite the widespread assumption that all NHPs are safe, they contain pharmacologically active substances and can therefore have adverse effects and/or interact with pharmaceuticals. OBJECTIVE To investigate the mechanism underlying NHP interactions identified through the Pharmacy SONAR active surveillance study. METHODS Active surveillance was undertaken in community pharmacies to identify adverse events in patients who had recently taken NHPs together with conventional pharmaceuticals. For suspected NHP-pharmaceutical interactions, the possible mechanism of action was explored by in vitro analysis of samples of different products to identify cytochrome P450 enzyme (CYP) inhibition potential. RESULTS Active surveillance identified a 19-year-old male taking citalopram, nortriptyline and oxycodone concomitantly and who experienced severe sedation when melatonin was added to this regimen. In vitro analysis involving several melatonin products showed product-dependent inhibition of CYP1A2, CYP2C19 and CYP3A7. CONCLUSION The adverse event was likely due to a primary pharmacokinetic interaction between melatonin and citalopram; although mechanistically, interactions affecting cytochrome P450-mediated metabolism may have occurred with all of these health products. A pharmacodynamic interaction may also be possible, but beyond the capacity of this study to establish.
AMELIORATIVE EFFECTS OF VANILLIN AGAINST METRIBUZIN-INDUCED OXIDATIVE STRESS AND TOXICITY IN RATS

Objective: Vanillin (Va), a phenolic substance is a natural antioxidant with proven free radical scavenging activity and offers protection against oxidative damage. This study was designed to investigate the ameliorative effect of Va against metribuzin (Mtz) pesticide-induced toxicity and oxidative stress in rats. Methods: Thirty-two rats were equally divided into four groups: control, vanillin (Va), metribuzin (Mtz) and metribuzin plus vanillin (Mtz+Va). Metribuzin (133.33 mg/kg, 1/20 LD 50 ) was given to rats through their drinking water. Vanillin was supplemented (150 mg/kg) intraperitoneally for three weeks. At the end of experiments, various haematological and biochemical parameters were estimated. Antioxidant defence systems as GPx enzyme activities, GSH and MDA contents were determined in tissues as the indicators of oxidative stress. Results: Compared with the control, a significant decrease in the levels of red blood cells (p≤0.05), haemoglobin (p≤0.003) and hematocrit (p≤0.02) were noticed in the metribuzin-exposed group. The biochemical evaluation showed significantly higher values (p≤0.0001) for glucose, urea, creatinine and bilirubin. Also, Mtz treatment caused significant perturbations in lipids profile as plasma levels of total cholesterol (p≤0.0001) and triglycerides (p≤0.004). MDA levels increased in all the tissues of rats exposed to Mtz whereas the fluctuation in GPX enzyme activities and GSH levels were observed compared with controls. However, treatment with vanillin significantly normalised haematological profiles, serum biochemical profile and modulated all the oxidative stress parameters. Conclusion: The use of vanillin appeared to be beneficial to rats, to a great extent in attenuating and restoring the damage sustained by metribuzin exposure.