Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
La diagnosi di allergia all’uovo in età pediatrica: test in vivo e in vitro

Il gold standard per la diagnosi di allergia alimentare e il test di provocazione orale (TPO). Si tratta di un test risolutivo, che, qualora negativo, consente di reintrodurre l’alimento nella dieta. Tuttavia, e rischioso per il bambino (vi e una certa probabilita di anafilassi), e costoso e talvolta e di difficile esecuzione e interpretazione. Per tali ragioni, gli studi si sono concentrati sulla ricerca di mezzi diagnostici alternativi. Grandi progressi sono stati compiuti nella component-resolved diagnosis, che mira a studiare la reattivita verso singole molecole costituenti l’alimento, attraverso test in vitro, rapidi e sicuri. I test diagnostici piu promettenti sono il basophil activation test e il dosaggio delle IgE specifiche per allergeni nativi purificati o ricombinanti. Lo scopo del nostro studio e stato quello di mettere a confronto i risultati dei test in vitro attualmente in uso nella diagnosi di allergia all’uovo rispetto all’esito del test in vivo, ossia il TPO. Sono stati eseguiti 50 TPO all’uovo (prima crudo, poi cotto) su 48 bambini (eta media di 5.2 anni al momento del TPO), sottoposti ai seguenti test diagnostici: prick by prick (PBP, con albume e tuorlo), dosaggio delle IgE sieriche specifiche (sIgE, utilizzando estratti allergenici a base di bianco d’uovo e tuorlo e allergeni nativi purificati, ossia ovomucoide, nGal d 1, ovoalbumina, nGal d 2, ovotransferrina, nGal d 3 e lisozima, nGal d 4) e basophil activation test (BAT, mettendo un campione di sangue a contatto con un allergene specifico, ossia albume e tuorlo e determinando la percentuale di basofili attivati in vitro, rilevando l’aumento di espressione del marker di attivazione CD63 sulla superficie cellulare, mediante citometria a flusso). Dei 50 TPO eseguiti, 10 (20%) sono stati considerati positivi. I PBP con albume si sono dimostrati estremamente sensibili (100%), ma poco specifici (42.5%); l’allergia alimentare avrebbe potuto essere esclusa nei bambini con PBP negativi (VPN 100%). Risultati analoghi sono stati ottenuti con le sIgE per bianco d’uovo (sensibilita 90%, specificita 52.5%). Considerando invece le sIgE specifiche per gli allergeni nativi purificati dell’uovo (compresi ovomucoide e ovoalbumina), la metodica si e dimostrata altrettanto sensibile (100%), ma piu specifica (60.9%) rispetto ai PBP e alle sIgE. Il BAT si e rivelato un ottimo test per la diagnosi in vitro di allergia, con discreta sensibilita (70%), ma ottima specificita (90%), maggiore rispetto alle metodiche convenzionali; un BAT negativo, quindi, indica un’elevata probabilita di tollerare l’uovo, mentre un test positivo potrebbe indurre il clinico a posticipare il TPO. Le dimensioni del pomfo dopo PBP, i livelli di sIgE per albume, tuorlo, ovomucoide e ovoalbumina e la percentuale di basofili attivati nel BAT sono risultati significativamente piu elevati nei pazienti con TPO positivo.
Long throw and rotary output electro-thermal actuators based on bent-beam suspensions

This paper reports on several aspects of the performance and application of bent-beam microactuators. Orthogonal pairs of p/sup +/ Si cascaded actuators with 500-1000 /spl mu/m long, 6.5 /spl mu/m thick beams designed for rotary drives are shown to produce 20-30 /spl mu/m non-resonant displacement with >150 /spl mu/N loading at less than 8 V, 300 mW. Inchworm type devices using 500-1500 /spl mu/m long, 8-14 /spl mu/m thick bent-beams are shown to produce up to 104 /spl mu/m displacement against 204 /spl mu/N loading farce with 250-750 mW DC and pulse actuation. Integrated passive locks reduce standby power to zero. Measured frequency response of bent-beam actuators and refinements in modeling that include non-linear thermal expansion coefficients and buckling are also reported.
The Financial times guide to using the financial pages

This critically acclaimed international bestseller has been brought fully up-to-date, providing the most comprehensive guide to the world of financial information. No need to be baffled any longer by intimidating columns of numbers, impenetrable waves of jargon and the complexities of financial markets. This revised and updated guide is an essential reference for anyone who reads, or needs to read the financial pages. It explains where and when to find the information, and how to make the best use of the financial and economic data available within the pink pages or at a click of a button
243 km, 10 Gbit/s transmission experiment through standard fibre and impact of self-phase modulation using partial response scheme

The authors demonstrate optical transmissions at 10 Gbit/s on standard dispersive fibre using a partial response scheme. Investigations have been carried out concerning the optimum launched power into a 142 km long repeaterless link in order to quantify the effects of self-phase modulation. According to these results, 243 km of standard fibre, totalling a dispersion of 4500 ps/nm, has been bridged without any dispersion compensating device.
C‐band half mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) filter

In this letter, a novel inductive post half mode substrate integrated waveguide (HMSIW) bandpass filter is presented. The filter keeps the advantages of an SIW filter but with a reduction of nearly one‐half in size. A very good agreement is observed between the simulation and the measurements. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 275–277, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23064
Examining regime complexity in China's green housing transition: a housing developers’ perspective

ABSTRACT The housing sector has faced significant attention in global and national policy efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Existing studies reveal green housing development to be a complex, transitionary process, with many diverse factors – financial, market, policy and technological – shaping development outcomes. However, these dynamics remain empirically and conceptually understudied within the Chinese context. With only 28% of building projects being classified as green building in 2018 [MOHURD. (2019). Statistics of green building numbers in China. Retrieved May 16, 2021, from http://cngb.org. cn/index.action? sid=402888b74f68e52e014f696c7643000c], little is known about how Chinese housing developers are responding to China's green building policies or what issues may be affecting them. To address this gap, this research adopts multi-level perspective theory to examine regime complexity in China's green housing transition, utilizing a quantitative survey of Chinese developers to examine their attitudes and motivations. In doing so, the findings reveal a complex set of factors within four sub-regimes that affect Chinese developer's capacity to act and elucidate the complexity of China's ongoing green housing transition. Our findings indicate that any long-term shift towards normalizing green building practices will be driven more by changes in the policy and market regimes than in the financial or technological regimes, with implications for policy makers and market actors alike.
A high‐power MMIC VCO utilizing metamorphic HEMT technology

A high‐power monolithic microwave integrated circuit voltage controlled oscillator (MMIC VCO) that can drive optical devices such as an electro‐absorption and an electro‐optic modulators is presented. A common‐gate metamorphic HEMT (MHEMT) with 0.2 mm of gate width in conjunction with inductive feedback was used to generate negative resistance. The low‐loss coplanar waveguide transmission line on the 650 μm‐thick metamorphic GaAs substrate was utilized to minimize loss. The maximum generated output power of the MHEMT VCO was 40.1 mW at 24.1 GHz when biased at Vds = 3.8 V and Vgs = −0.44 V. Phase noise and frequency tuning range were estimated to be −93.4 dBc/Hz at 1 M Hz offset and 1 GHz, respectively. Experimental results show great promise for the MHEMT MMIC VCO to be used in future high‐power microwave source applications especially for driving optical devices. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 49: 2221–2224, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.22702
Factors Associated with Motorcylists' Safety at Access Points along Primary Roads in Malaysia

More than 50% of road accident fatality victims in Malaysia are motorcyclists, numbering more than 4,000 fatalities per year. The aim of this thesis is to investigate motorcyclists’ road safety problems in general in Malaysia, and narrow down the focus to the most salient road infrastructure related risk factors. After identifying access points on primary roads as hazardous sites, observations of road user behavior at these sites have been carried out in order to establish behavioral and design factors associated with a hazardous outcome of interaction between motorcyclists and other road users. The data collected for this thesis ranges from accident records to on-site observational data including speed and behavior. The method ranges from cross-sectional analysis of accident data to advanced statistical modeling. The thesis finds that Malaysian road accident statistics suffer from disproportional underreporting of severe injuries. A motorcycle Safety Performance Function estimates that an increase in motorcycle fatal accidents per kilometer is highly associated with an increase of access points per kilometer and the average traffic volume of motorcycles. The observational study has detected a hazardous right turning movement, i.e. the Opposite Indirect Right Turn, which is performed by 18% to 26% of right turning motorcyclists entering a primary road from an access point. Moreover, motorcyclists entering the primary road are involved in serious traffic conflicts to the same extent as other vehicles. The advanced statistical analysis shows that the outcome for motorcyclists involved in a serious traffic conflict is influenced by their manner of entry into the primary road from the access point, their stopping behavior and the lane width of the primary road. Overall, this thesis shows the importance of identifying motorcyclists’ behavior, as well as road environment attributes, in order to understand the road safety situation of motorcyclists.
Sustainable subdivisions : energy-efficient design report to industry

This report summarises the findings from the Sustainable Subdivisions: Energy-Efficient Design project. As new energy-efficiency regulations are developed, there will be a significant demand for information on available assessment tools for rating energy-efficient dwellings, and subdivisional issues such as orientation and solar access will become increasingly important. There will also be increased pressure for products that deliver energy efficiency, such as solar technology, glazing systems, insulation and low-energy building products and materials. The objectives of the Sustainable Subdivisions: Energy-Efficient Design project were to:
JUNGLE ACOUSTICS I: TRANSMISSION AND AUDIBILITY OF SOUNDS IN THE JUNGLE.

Abstract : The US Army Tropic Test Center compared the penetrability and audibility of five sound frequencies at several jungle sites in the Panama Canal Zone during the 1965 and 1966 rainy seasons. A transmission study determined excess acoustic loss at five horizontal distances from a fixed sound source; over 2,300 transmissions were made. A hearing study determined minimal audible sound intensities at the same distances from the sound source; 3,000 auditory thresholds were determined for 50 EM from a TO and E unit. Jungle vegetation, distance, and sound frequency had significant main and joint effects on excess signal loss. Time of transmission (day vs. night) had no effect. The jungle served as a low-pass filter for audible frequencies. Excess signal loss increased as sound frequency increased at distances greater than 800 feet. At shorter distances significant reversals occurred. The decay curves for different frequencies showed different slopes. The usefulness of 'db/ft' type ratios in extrapolating jungle acoustic loss is questioned. The 63 cps signal penetrated the jungle better than all others--better than the law of inverse squares predicts--and was most audible at longer distances. Ambient sound spectrum and transmission loss are moderately reliable predictors of human hearing in jungles. The ambient sound shifts the point of maximum human sensitivity down the frequency scale to 1,000 cps at distances less than 400 feet, and down to 63 cps at 400 feet and beyond. At 1,000 cps and below, signals were heard better at night. Above 1,000 cps, signals were heard better during the day. (Author)
Characterization and Scaling of MOS Flip Flop Performance in Synchronizer Applications

The measured and calculated values of t he Flip Flop parameters needed to specify synchronizer reliability are presented for 3 different depletion-load, silicon gate, NMOS, R-S Flip Flop circuits with gate lengths ranging from 6μm to 4. 2μm. Estimates of the probability of synchronizer failure to resolve within allowed or desired times can be determined from these parameters.
PERANCANGAN MODEL INTERAKSI TANGAN VIRTUAL DALAM DUNIA AUGMENTED REALITY

This research promoted the topic concerning the interaction technique using virtual hand in Augmented Reality environment (AR). AR uses tracker library that use marker to know the human gesture. With the kind of interaction i.e. manipulation of the model, manipulation of the street, button pressing, and duplicate the model, virtual hand could become an alternative in augmented reality’s environment. This study produces that to do all the kind of interaction stated above, we only need two finger to interact with. At the end, this virtual hand aimed to able to do such a basic interaction in the world of augmented reality. Keyword : augmented reality, virtual hand, natural movement.
Design of a Reduced Scale Model To Measure Lightning Electric Fields Over An Inclined Terrain

Lightning electromagnetic fields have been calculated traditionally considering that terrain is flat. It is important to consider the influence of the orography in the lightning electric fields, specially in countries that are surrounded by mountains. Although, a first approximation to the phenomenal can be obtained by means of the use of numerical methods, a reliable measurement of those fields can be obtained by means of experimentation. In this paper, we present the design of a reduced scale model to measure electric fields near inclined terrains. Also, simulations done by means of the FDTD method are presented with the aim to show the expected measurements of the reduced scale model.
CORONA DISCHARGE IGNITION FOR ADVANCED STATIONARY NATURAL GAS ENGINES

An ignition source was constructed that is capable of producing a pulsed corona discharge for the purpose of igniting mixtures in a test chamber. This corona generator is adaptable for use as the ignition source for one cylinder on a test engine. The first tests were performed in a cylindrical shaped chamber to study the characteristics of the corona and analyze various electrode geometries. Next a test chamber was constructed that closely represented the dimensions of the combustion chamber of the test engine at USC. Combustion tests were performed in this chamber and various electrode diameters and geometries were tested. The data acquisition and control system hardware for the USC engine lab was updated with new equipment. New software was also developed to perform the engine control and data acquisition functions. Work is underway to design a corona electrode that will fit in the new test engine and be capable igniting the mixture in one cylinder at first and eventually in all four cylinders. A test engine was purchased for the project that has two spark plug ports per cylinder. With this configuration it will be possible to switch between corona ignition and conventional spark plug ignition without making any mechanical modifications.
Consumer acceptance of product-service systems - Designing for relative advantages and uncertainty reductions

Purpose – Product‐service systems (PSS) could potentially benefit consumers, but empirical studies of business‐to‐consumer PSS solutions have been scarce. The purpose of this paper is to identify conditions for consumer acceptance, and propose a methodology for PSS development.Design/methodology/approach – Factors influencing consumer acceptance of PSS are investigated through focus groups and individual interviews, and elaborated in relation to theory from user acceptance and innovation adoption literature. Procedures for conceptual development of PSS are then proposed, based on methodology adapted from user‐centred design.Findings – The two factors “impact on everyday life”, and “uncertainties” in anticipating such consequences were repeatedly brought up by participants. PSS affect consumers through practical implications for the activities they engage in. This goes beyond the service encounter, is highly complex and case specific why development processes should include iterative studies with consumers.
Efficient strategies for navigation through very large JPEG2000 images

In this work we address optimal strategies for access, transmission and navigation through JPEG2000 Mega-images. To meet this challenge, we had explored the coding - decoding techniques, the communication protocol, the GUI and in general every part involved in a client-server or stand-alone session for navigation in Mega images. We explore methods which allow seamless navigation such as pre-fetching, cache strategies for navigation and modeling of user responses to optimize resources and to efficiently management of the information. Additionally, this work presents original contributions to the virtual microscopy domain and opens new perspectives to similar applications.
Distributed generation impact on reliability and power quality indices

Properly sited distributed generation (DG) can increase the feeder capacity limit, but this does not necessarily produce an improvement in system reliability or power quality, as quantified by standard indices. The DG may have a positive impact on reliability through faster system restoration following a fault. The DG can also improve reliability for the owner, and may reduce the severity of voltage sags near the DG. Indices normalized to the number of customers dilute these positive benefits. The DG often has a negative impact on reliability indices through sympathetic tripping, required changes to utility overcurrent device settings, and increased fuse blowing. The utility cannot assume DG automatically improves system reliability, and action may be required to ensure that reliability does not actually degrade for other customers.
Cognitive behavioral group therapy for panic disorder in a general clinical setting: a prospective cohort study with 24-year follow-up

Background: The long-term prognosis after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in outpatient groups for panic disorder and agoraphobia is not well known. The purpose of this study was to assess long-term outcomes in terms of psychological health, health-related quality of life (HRQoL), quality of life (QoL) and treatment satisfaction after CBT for panic disorder and agoraphobia.Methods: The sample consisted of 68 patients (61% response rate), who were assessed at pretreatment; at the start and end of treatment; and after 3 months, after one year, and over the long term (M= 24 years; SD = 5.3). The main outcome was the total score on the Phobic Avoidance Rating Scale (PARS-total). At long-term follow-up, HRQoL was measured with the RAND-12 questionnaire, and QoL was measured with two questions from the “Study on European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions”. Patient experiences and treatment satisfaction were assessed by the Generic Short Patient Experiences Questionnaire. A marginal longitudinal model was applied to study the main outcome.Results: The effect size of the change (mean change/SD of pretreatment) in the PARS-total score was (-1.19, p <0.001) at the end of treatment and remained stable thereafter. A PARS-total score reduction of 50% was found in 98% of patients at the long-term follow-up. The patients’ HRQoL and QoL were similar to the expected scores for the general Norwegian population. Of the patients, 95% reported high to very high satisfaction with the CBT, and 93% reported large treatment benefits.Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this study has the longest follow-up after group CBT for panic disorder and agoraphobia, showing a good prognosis in ≥ 93% of the participating patients.
Fitness for transfer: improving the international transfer of manufacturing capability

Knowing how well a manufacturing process will fit a new location prior to its transfer is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for predicting transfer problems. This paper argues that firms must also consider how easy a manufacturing process is to transfer. A pre-transfer tool, tested here in multiple case studies, uses the dimensions of location fit and ease of transfer to provide a means of measuring the fitness for transfer of a firm's manufacturing processes.
Image generation for single detector infrared seekers via compressive sensing

In this paper, we investigate the application of compressive sensing theory to single detector infrared seekers. Compressive sensing is a novel signal processing technique which enables a compressible signal to be constructed using fewer measurements obtained in a specific way below the Nyquist rate. Single detector image reconstruction applications using compressive sensing have been shown to be successful. Infrared seekers utilizing single detectors suffer from low performance compared to costly focal plane array detectors. The single detector, pseudo-imaging rosette scanning seekers scan the scene with a specific pattern and process the resultant signal with signal processing methods to estimate the target location without forming an image. In this context, this type of old generation seekers can be converted to imaging systems by utilizing the samples obtained by the scanning pattern in conjunction with the compressive sensing theory framework. In this study, infrared images have been reconstructed from samples obtained by the rosette scanning pattern for different sample numbers and it has been shown that the results obtained are comparable to the results obtained by other sampling methods proposed in the literature.