Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative Study of Serum Lipid Profile in Normotensive Pregnant Women and in Patients with Pre-Eclampsia- A Case Control Study.

Background: The objective of the present study was to compare the changes in serum lipid profile in normal pregnant women with those in patients with pre-eclampsia. Methods: In this study total 140 study subjects were evaluated, 70 normotensive pregnant women as a control group and 70 pre-eclamptic patients as a study group. Study Subjects were between the age group of 20-35 years and in the second and third trimester of pregnancy. Fasting blood samples were collected and serum level of Triglycerides (TG), Total Cholesterol (TC), High Density Lipoprotein (HDL), Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL), and Very Low Density Lipoprotein (VLDL) were measured by enzymatic colorimetric method. Results: There was a significant rise in TC, TG, LDL and VLDL and significant decrease in HDL level in pre-eclamptic group as compared to normal pregnant women.Conclusion: The findings of the present study are consistent with previous studies suggesting an altered lipid profile has a potential role in the genesis of endothelial dysfunction and expression of pre-eclampsia.
Nitride-Based Asymmetric Two-Step Light-Emitting Diode With In$_{0.08}$ Ga$_{0.92}$ N Shallow Step

A nitride-based asymmetric two-step light-emitting diode (LED) with In<sub>0.08</sub> Ga<sub>0.92</sub>N shallow step was proposed and fabricated. It was found that the low indium content In<sub>0.08</sub> Ga<sub>0.92</sub>N layer can significantly enhance phase separation and/or inhomogeneous indium distribution in the active In<sub>0.27</sub>Ga<sub>0.73</sub>N layer. It was also found that we can enhance LED output power by a factor of 2.27 by simply inserting an In<sub>0.08</sub> Ga<sub>0.92</sub>N shallow step.
Compact 35–70 GHz SPDT Switch With High Isolation for High Power Application

This letter proposes a broadband high isolation and high power compact single pole double throw (SPDT) switch. In contrast to the traditional structure of grounded source pad, the source pad of the shunt-stacked FET is absorbed into the transmission line, and the drain of the shunt-stacked FET is grounded to a via-hole. This structure helps to extend the operation bandwidth and reduce the chip size. The proposed SPDT switch is composed of six shunt-stacked FET units on each branch with this novel structure. Stacked FETs technique increases the voltage handling by placing two FETs in series. It has been fabricated using a commercial <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$0.1~\boldsymbol {\mu }\text{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> GaAs pseudomorphic high-electron-mobility transistor (PHEMT) process. The chip size is <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.2\times 0.8$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm<sup>2</sup>. The switch operates at the frequency range of 35–70 GHz with less than 3 dB insertion loss and more than 40-dB isolation. The switch demonstrates a 1 dB insertion loss compression with a 20.2 dBm input power at 31 GHz. The isolation is larger than 30 dB from 10 to 95 GHz. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this broadband isolation performance is among the best of the reported SPDT switches.
A novel electromagnetic microactuator with lateral magnetio-static force for scanning micromirror device

A novel electromagnetic microactuator with lateral magneto-static force was developed in this study for scanning micromirror device. The actuation performances in different vacuum degrees were also examined for verification. The present device assembled a tiny permanent magnet on a supporting beam to couple with a fixed solenoid coil for driving a micromirror plate in vibration. In an ambient environment, the corresponding scanning angle to the fast axis is 11.2 degrees at the first resonate frequency 4434 Hz. The maximum scanning angle for the case of fast scanning at the vacuum degree of 76 mTorr is increased by 31% compared with that of 760 Torr. The thermal effect induced by the coil is minimized to scanning quality, even at high vacuum environments. Thus, based on the results of this study, high reliability with high vacuum packaging can be expected.
Phone-centric local variability vector for text-constrained speaker verification

This paper investigates the use of frame alignment given by a deep neural network (DNN) for text-constrained speaker verification task, where the lexical contents of the test utterances are limited to a finite set of vocabulary. The DNN makes use of information carried by the target and its contextual frames to assign it probabilistically to one of the phonetic states. The frame alignment is therefore more precise and less ambiguous than that generated by a Gaussian mixture model (GMM). Using the DNN alignment, we show that an i-vector can be decomposed into segments of local variability vectors, each corresponding to a monophone, where each local vector models session variability given the phonetic context. Based on the local vectors, the content matching between the utterances for comparison can be accomplished in the PLDA scoring. Experiments conducted on the RSR2015 database shows that the proposed phone-centric local variability vector achieves a better performance compared to the i-vector.
A IMPORTÂNCIA DO BRINQUEDO NO PROCESSO EDUCATIVO DA CRIANÇA

O brinquedo e essencial nao so no divertimento da crianca como tambem na educacao da mesma. O divertimento atraves do brinquedo traz para a crianca prazer e fuga da realidade. Na educacao o brinquedo gera aprendizagem, desenvolvimento da imaginacao, percepcao, desenvolvimento cognitivo, entre outros. Porem, para o brinquedo se tornar educativo e necessario a intervencao de um adulto no manuseio do mesmo, pois sem o auxilio de um adulto o brinquedo perde todo seu valor educativo, uma vez que, a crianca sozinha nao consegue entender e compreender o modo de utilizar e a real importância do brinquedo. Os adultos tem como obrigacao fazer do brinquedo um instrumento de aprendizagem, tornando-o educativo. No brincar, com o brinquedo ou nao, a assimilacao predomina e a crianca incorpora o mundo a sua maneira sem nenhum compromisso com a realidade, interacoes face a face com uma ou mais pessoas sao desenvolvidas, orientando os comportamentos cognitivos e simbolicos. Neste sentido, brincar e parte ativa, agradavel e interativa do desenvolvimento intelectual da crianca. O ideal e enfatizar o brinquedo como material motivador e fundamental para o treino de habilidades cognitivas, verbais e sociais. Com o brinquedo as criancas dao significado as suas vidas.
Monte Carlo Chord Length Sampling Through a Binary Stochastic Mixture American Nuclear Society Topical Me

Neutron transport through a special case stochastic mixture is examined, in which spheres of constant radius are uniformly mixed in a matrix material. A Monte Carlo algorithm previously proposed and examined in 2-D has been implemented in a test version of MCNP. The Limited Chord Length Sampling (LCLS) technique provides a means for modeling a binary stochastic mixture as a cell in MCNP. When inside a matrix cell, LCLS uses chord-length sampling to sample the distance to the next stochastic sphere. After a surface crossing into a stochastic sphere, transport is treated explicitly until the particle exits or is killed. Results were computed for a simple model with two different fixed neutron source distributions and three sets of material number densities. Stochastic spheres were modeled as black absorbers and varying degrees of scattering were introduced in the matrix material. Tallies were computed using the LCLS capability and by averaging results obtained from multiple realizations of the random geometry. Results were compared for accuracy and figures of merit were compared to indicate the efficiency gain of the LCLS method over the benchmark method. Results show that LCLS provides very good accuracy if the scattering optical thickness of the matrix is small (≤1). Comparisons of figures of merit show an advantage to LCLS varying between factors of 141 and 5. LCLS efficiency and accuracy relative to the benchmark both decrease as scattering is increased in the matrix.
Management Resources Allocation and Scheduling based on Particle Swarm Optimization ( PSO )

Resources allocation and scheduling can be accomplished in various ways, and there are different criteria for resources allocation and scheduling. In this regard it is generally subject to the values of a particular time and space, but also subject to accounting under certain conditions of time and space dominance interests and values-oriented social groups, but also subject to a specific time and space research under way to study the subject of economic interests orientation and values. Therefore, any kind of theory of optimal allocation of resources, in fact, are based on certain values and interests on the basis of the guide. This paper presents management resources allocation and scheduling (MRAAS) optimization based on Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), which has been modified and applied to solve it effectively. Case studies have been conducted to verify the performance and efficiency of the modified PSO algorithm, providing scientific reference channels.
Determinants of Franchise Value in the National Basketball Association

Franchise values in the National Basketball Association (NBA) have increased more than 200% in five years, with the average franchise in 2017 worth $1.36 billion. Using a hedonic model, a comparables analysis, and a discounted cash flow analysis to model panel data on NBA franchises between 2009 and 2016, this paper finds that market, performance, star players, and team brand are significant determinants of franchise value at the team level. Additionally, the NBA’s television contract is the primary driver of league-wide franchise value appreciation over time. As a result of the recent franchise value growth, the NBA is rumored to be looking to expand the number of teams in the league. The valuation methodologies in this paper suggest Seattle would be the best location for an expansion franchise and predict that a franchise there would be worth $1.4 billion in 2017. JEL Classification: Z2, Z23, G32
The bright and the dark side of human antibody responses to flaviviruses: lessons for vaccine design

Zika and dengue viruses belong to the Flavivirus genus, a close group of antigenically related viruses that cause significant arthropod‐transmitted diseases throughout the globe. Although infection by a given flavivirus is thought to confer lifelong protection, some of the patient's antibodies cross‐react with other flaviviruses without cross‐neutralizing. The original antigenic sin phenomenon may amplify such antibodies upon subsequent heterologous flavivirus infection, potentially aggravating disease by antibody‐dependent enhancement (ADE). The most striking example is provided by the four different dengue viruses, where infection by one serotype appears to predispose to more severe disease upon infection by a second one. A similar effect was postulated for sequential infections with Zika and dengue viruses. In this review, we analyze the molecular determinants of the dual antibody response to flavivirus infection or vaccination in humans. We highlight the role of conserved partially cryptic epitopes giving rise to cross‐reacting and poorly neutralizing, ADE‐prone antibodies. We end by proposing a strategy for developing an epitope‐focused vaccine approach to avoid eliciting undesirable antibodies while focusing the immune system on producing protective antibodies only.
Research on conceptual understanding in mechanics

Over the past decade, physicists, psychologists and science educators have been conducting research that has yielded detailed information about how students learn physics. Some investigators have used physics as a context for examining cognitive processes and approaches to problem‐solving. For others, the primary emphasis has been on conceptual understanding in a particular area of physics such as mechanics, electricity, heat or optics. Regardless of the motivation behind the research, the results indicate that similar difficulties occur among students of different ages and ability, often in spite of formal study in physics. The persistence of these difficulties suggests that they are not easily overcome, and need to be addressed explicitly during instruction.
Comparative assessment of safety indicators for vehicle trajectories on the highway

Safety measurement and analysis have been a challenging and well-researched topic in transportation. Conventionally, surrogate safety measures have been used as safety indicators in simulation models for safety assessment, in control formulations for driver assistance systems, and in data analysis of naturalistic driving studies. However, surrogate indicators only give partial insights into traffic safety i.e., they only indicate a predetermined set of possible pre-crash situations for an interacting vehicle pair. Recently, a safety indicator called the driving safety field based on field theory has been proposed for two-dimensional vehicle interactions. However, the objectivity of its functional form and validity are yet to be tested. This paper provides a qualitative and quantitative comparison of different safety indicators as a risk measure to demarcate their mathematical properties and evaluate their usefulness in quantifying trajectory risk. We compare five relevant safety indicators: inverse time to collision, post-encroachment time, potential indicator of collision with urgent decceleration, warning index and safety field strength. Their formulations are mathematically analyzed to yield qualitative insights and their values over simulated vehicle trajectories are evaluated to yield quantitative insights. Our results acknowledge the limitations and demarcate the functional utilities of the selected safety indicators.
Logística urbana en motocicleta

El presente trabajo indaga sobre el explosivo desarrollo de la distribucion de bienes y servicios en el ambito urbano utilizando como medio de locomocion la motocicleta. Se trata de un documento preliminar desarrollado en el marco de la Especializacion en Politica y Planificacion del Transporte de la Universidad Nacional de San Martin. Los autores invitan a realizar sugerencias y comentarios respecto al contenido y las consideraciones efectuadas.
DVB-T2: An outline of HDTV and UHDTV programmes broadcasting

— Increasing of video resolution of the HD programmes requires a higher bit rate. On the other hand, a continuous enhancement of existing and introduction of new source coding techniques are evident. Technical evolution of the Digital Terrestrial Television platform improves channel coding and RF channel utilization. Some optional solutions have also been proposed. This paper discusses the possibilities of allocating HD programmes in formats expected in the near future. Performed calculations are guidance to accurate examination of the efficiency of allocating high definition programmes in the DVB-T2 multiplex, in line with existing and expected enhancements.
Second-order consensus of multi-agent systems via an artificial stabilizing delay: A Lyapunov-based approach

It is well-known that time-delay is regarded as a destructive character due to that it may cause periodic oscillations or chaos. However, for some systems, artificial delay can have a stabilizing effect. In this paper, we study delay-induced consensus of second-order multi-agent systems by using both current and delayed position information. Based on the neutral type system which is obtained by model transformation method, a sufficient condition is derived via a simple Lyapunov function to guarantee consensus of continuous-time second-order multi-agent systems. Besides, another method with no model transformation is proposed which represents the delayed term in the form of Taylor expansion with integral form of the remainder. The results can be easily extended to input-to-state stability of systems with disturbances. Finally, numerical simulations are given to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Introduction to Polar Codes Supplemental Material for Advanced Channel Coding

Figure 1: Factor Graph In particular, consider a setup where (U1, U2) are two equiprobable bits that are encoded into (X1, X2) = (U1 ⊕ U2, U2). Then, (X1, X2) are mapped to (Y1, Y2) by two independent BMS channels with transition probabilities P(Y1 = y |X1 = x) = P(Y2 = y |X2 = x) = W (y|x). The factor graph for this setup is shown in Figure 1. Since the mapping from (U1, U2) to (X1, X2) is invertible, one finds that
Body Fluid Solutes of Juveniles and Adults of the Euryhaline Bull Shark Carcharhinus leucas from Freshwater and Saline Environments

Since the discovery of the phenomenally high urea content of the body fluids of cartilaginous fishes by Staedeler and Frerichs (1858), the unique osmoregulatory system of this vertebrate class has been studied by many investigators. In broad outline, the mechanisms are essentially similar in all three of the major subtaxa: the selachians, the batoids, and the holocephalans. A single exception is the genus Potamotrygon (fresh-water stingrays of South America and Africa), which has apparently lost the ability to concentrate urea even when transferred to salt water (Thorson, Cowan, and Watson 1967; Thorson 1970; Goldstein and Forster 1971b). Since the Chondrichthyes are primarily marine animals, research on them has centered mainly upon marine species, either in their natural environment or following transfer to various dilutions of seawater. These studies have been reviewed by Smith (1931b, 1936),
Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Suffer from Worse Periodontal Health—Evidence from a Meta-Analysis

Background and Objective: It is widely accepted that there is an association between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and periodontitis. However, whether the periodontal status of the COPD patients is worse than that of the non-COPD subjects is seldom assessed. The findings currently available are inconsistent, some even contradictory. Therefore, we performed this meta-analysis to compare the periodontal health status of COPD patients and non-COPD subjects. Methods: PubMed and Embase were searched for all of the eligible studies which comparing the periodontal status between COPD patients and non-COPD subjects. The results of periodontal parameters in each study were extracted and the mean differences and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for each parameter were calculated to determine their overall effects. Results: In total, 14 studies involving 3348 COPD patients and 20612 non-COPD controls were included and 9 periodontal indexes were analyzed. The mean differences (95% CIs) between COPD and non-COPD subjects for probing depth, clinical attachment loss, level of alveolar bone loss, plaque index, oral hygiene index, bleeding index, bleeding on probing, gingival index, and remaining teeth were 0.261 (0.020–0.501), 0.480 (0.280–0.681), 0.127 (0.000–0.254), 0.226 (0.043–0.408), 0.802 (0.326–1.279), 0.241 (−0.106 to 0.588), 6.878 (5.489–8.266), 0.364 (0.036–0.692), and −3.726 (−5.120 to −2.331), respectively. Conclusion: In summary, this meta-analysis demonstrates that the COPD patients suffer from worse periodontal health status, indicated by deeper periodontal pockets, high level of clinical attachment loss, worse oral hygiene, more inflammation and bleeding in the gingival tissue, and lower number of remaining teeth. Nevertheless, considering the limitations in our meta-analysis, more high-quality, and well-designed studies focusing on the periodontal health of the COPD patients are required to validate our conclusion.
Towards Assessing the Theoretical Complexity of the Decision Model and Notation (DMN)

Motivated by the need for holistic decision modelling, the OMG consortium developed a new decision modelling standard, the Decision Model and Notation (DMN). DMN has two levels. Firstly, the decision requirement level depicts the requirements of decisions and the dependencies between elements involved in the decision. Secondly, the decision logic level presents ways to specify the underlying decision logic. DMN enables the separation of process and decision logic, thus enabling complexity reductions, ﬂexibility, and maintainability of process models. Extensive research exists on the complexity of conceptual modelling methods such as UML, CMMN, and BPMN. However, the complexity of DMN has not yet been addressed in scientiﬁc literature. In this paper, we will assess the complexity of DMN and compare the outcome with the results obtained in previous studies for other modelling notations, such as BPMN and CMMN, hence emphasizing the broader picture of consistent integration of processes, cases, and decisions. Using BPMN, CMMN, and DMN alongside each other provides a holistic approach in business process management, as it enables the representation of both procedural and declarative processes, as well as a separate yet integrated representation of the underlying business logic.
Prognostic and histogenetic roles of gene alteration and the expression of key potentially actionable targets in salivary duct carcinomas

The molecular characteristics of therapeutically-relevant targets and their clinicopathological implications in salivary duct carcinomas (SDCs) are poorly understood. We investigated the gene alterations and the immunoexpression of crucial oncogenic molecules in 151 SDCs. The mutation rates that were identified, in order of frequency, were as follows: TP53, 68%; PIK3CA, 18%; H-RAS, 16%; BRAF, 4%; and AKT1, 1.5%. PIK3CA/H-RAS/BRAF mutations were more common in de novo SDC than in SDC ex-pleomorphic adenoma. Furthermore, these mutations were mutually exclusive for HER2 overexpression/amplification. TP53 mutations were frequently detected in cases with the aberrant p53 expression, and TP53 missense and truncating mutations were associated with p53-extreme positivity and negativity, respectively. DISH analysis revealed no cases of EGFR amplification. The rates of PI3K, p-Akt, and p-mTOR positivity were 34%, 22%, and 66%, respectively; PTEN loss was observed in 47% of the cases. These expressions were correlated according to the signaling axis. Cases with PI3K negativity and PTEN loss appeared to show a lower expression of androgen receptor. In the multivariate analysis, patients with SDC harboring TP53 truncating mutations showed shorter progression-free survival. Conversely, p-Akt positivity was associated with a favorable outcome. This study might provide information that leads to advances in personized therapy for SDC.
Career Ambitions and Legislative Participation: The Moderating Effect of Electoral Institutions

What motivates politicians to engage in legislative activities? In multilevel systems politicians may be incentivized by ambitions to advance their careers either at the state or federal level. This article argues that the design of the electoral institutions influences how politicians respond to these incentives. Analyzing a unique dataset of both ‘stated’ and ‘realized’ career ambitions of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), it finds that those who seek to move from the European to the national (state) level participate less in legislative activities than those who plan to stay at the European (federal) level. For MEPs who aim to move to the state level, attendance and participation in legislative activities is substantively lower among legislators from candidate-centered systems. Importantly, the effect of career ambitions on legislative participation is stronger in candidate-centered systems than in party-centered systems. These findings suggest that the responsiveness associated with candidate-centered systems comes at the expense of legislative activity.