Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Glistenings in Intraocular lenses and their effect on forward light scatter; an in vitro study

Introduction. Glistenings are fluid-filled inclusions in the polymer matrix of an intraocular lens (IOL). Acting as refractile particles they may contribute to a reported high level of forward light scatter. However, several studies have reported that there is no significant correlation with a number of measures of visual function. The purpose of the work reported in this thesis was to test if there was an association between in vitro forward light scatter and grade of glistenings. The in vitro approach allows measurement of forward light scatter without the confounding effects of other structures in the eye and subjective responses. Methods. Intraocular lenses were placed at the centre of rotation of a detector stage. The detector measured the forward scattered light in star space at 37 angles covering ±18 degrees. Measurements were made for each of the test lenses at 3mm, 4mm and 5mm pupil sizes. Forward light scatter was quantified by calculating the straylight (volume under the scatter function) for the large angle domain (> 1 deg.). Images of the intraocular lenses were captured with a digital Nikon FS-2 photo slit-lamp. Having developed a Glistenings Detection Programme (GDP) in collaboration with external computer scientists, images were analysed. Results of glistening detection, which included their number, size, density and distribution, were correlated with in vitro forward light scatter measurements. Results. A statistically significant correlation was found between forward light scatter and the number, size and density of glistenings. Comparing our scatter results with the CIE standards, suggests that only high glistenings severity could have an impact on visual function. In addition, results were inversely proportional to pupil size due to the non-uniform distribution of glistenings. The shape of glistenings was shown to be predominantly ellipsoidal rather than spherical. Size and number of glistenings varies in the hydrophobic acrylic materials. Despite the production of new glistenings-free materials, development of glistenings may still exist with cases of high severity giving straylight parameter values greater than those for a cortical cataract subject. A statistically significant difference in MTF and Resolution limit was found in IOLs, pre and post thermal treatment. Finally, a correlation between IOL dioptric power and severity of glistenings was found. Conclusion. Subjective methods for grading intraocular lens glistenings poorly describe the significance of increased light scattering. Image processing software can provide objective data on glistenings density, size and morphology, factors which are important in light scatter modelling. The impact of glistenings on visual function needs further clinical investigation.
Guidelines for the Management of Spontaneous Intracerebral Hemorrhage: A Guideline for Healthcare Professionals From the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

Purpose— The aim of this guideline is to present current and comprehensive recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage. Methods— A formal literature search of MEDLINE was performed. Data were synthesized with the use of evidence tables. Writing committee members met by teleconference to discuss data-derived recommendations. The American Heart Association Stroke Council's Levels of Evidence grading algorithm was used to grade each recommendation. Prerelease review of the draft guideline was performed by 6 expert peer reviewers and by the members of the Stroke Council Scientific Statements Oversight Committee and Stroke Council Leadership Committee. It is intended that this guideline be fully updated in 3 years' time. Results— Evidence-based guidelines are presented for the care of patients presenting with intracerebral hemorrhage. The focus was subdivided into diagnosis, hemostasis, blood pressure management, inpatient and nursing management, preventing medical comorbidities, surgical treatment, outcome prediction, rehabilitation, prevention of recurrence, and future considerations. Conclusions— Intracerebral hemorrhage is a serious medical condition for which outcome can be impacted by early, aggressive care. The guidelines offer a framework for goal-directed treatment of the patient with intracerebral hemorrhage.
Highly sensitive protein detection via covalently linked aptamer to MoS2 and exonuclease-assisted amplification strategy

Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has shown highly attractive superiority as a platform for sensing. However, DNA physisorption on the surface of MoS2 was susceptible to nonspecific probe displacement and false-positive signals. To solve these problems, we have developed a novel MoS2–aptamer nanosheet biosensor for detecting thrombin using a covalently linked aptamer to the MoS2 nanosheet. Ten percent Tween 80 was used to prevent thrombin from nonspecific binding and to rapidly form thiol-DNA/gold nanoparticle (AuNP) conjugates. Furthermore, an MoS2 and exonuclease coassisted signal amplification strategy was developed to improve the detection limit for thrombin. We used the hybridization of the aptamer molecules and the matched strand with a 5′ terminal thiol to immobilize the aptamer molecules on the surface of AuNPs in AuNPs@MoS2 nanocomposites. Exonuclease digested the single-strand aptamer and released the thrombin, which was then detected in the next recycle. With the coassisted amplification strategy, a 6 fM detection limit was achieved, showing that this method has higher sensitivity than most reported methods for thrombin detection. The results presented in this work show that this method of covalently attaching the aptamer and using the coassisted amplification is a promising technique for the detection of protein in medical diagnostics.
old age homes in urban India

Never before have there been so many old people in India. According the 2001 Census of India data, the projected figure for 2031 is 179 million seniors. Dual-career families, changing values, and nuclear family dynamics have altered the social landscape of India. An emerging phenomenon in urban India is the emergence of “pay and stay” homes as a late life living arrangement for middle and higher-income groups. This study focused on selected ‘pay and stay’ homes in the four cities of Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, and Tiruvananthapuram. Personal interviews were conducted with 150 seniors to understand the relocation experience, the extent and nature of self-reported social networks, and evaluation by seniors of this late life arrangement. Majority of respondents were female (65%). More than half of the respondents (58%) reported being currently widowed. Results show that childlessness and strained intergenerational relationships were important considerations in the decision to relocate. Majority of the seniors had never conceived that they would be spending their autumn years away from family. Occupants frequently conceived of their living space as their “home. ” Living amidst non-family members, the reported network sizes were small. The absence of family members was frequently cited as a source of dissatisfaction when evaluating these homes.
Algorithm architecture trade offs in network processor design

The increasing use of computer networks for all kinds of information exchange between autonomous computing resources is associated with a number of sideeffects. In the Internet, where computers all over the globe are interconnected, the traffic volume grows faster than the infrastructure improves, leading to congestion of networking routes. In the application domain of embedded systems, networks can be used to couple complex sensor systems with a computing core. The provision of raw bandwidth may not be sufficient in such systems to allow control with real-time constraints. The underlying requirement in both cases is a network service with a defined quality, for instance, in terms of traffic loss ratio and worst-case communication delay. The provision of suitable communication services however requires a noticeable overhead in terms of computing load. Therefore, application-specific hardware accelerators – so-called network processors – have been introduced to speed up or even enable the maintenance of certain network services. The following issues have not yet been dealt with: • Although there are network processors for high-speed networks, no processor is available that considers the requirements of the interface between networks of a service provider and a customer. • While each individual task of a network processor is well understood, it is unclear how different tasks, that potentially show interfering properties, should cooperate to preserve the service quality. The above issues are addressed in this thesis and the major contributions in the research area of algorithms and architectures for network processors are: • A service scheme is defined which takes care of the requirements at the interface between networks of a service provider and a customer. • Various combinations of network processing tasks are explored for this service scheme by exhaustive simulation. The exploration focuses on the preservation of service quality parameters.
Translating the Diabetes Prevention Program lifestyle intervention for weight loss into primary care: a randomized trial.

BACKGROUND The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) lifestyle intervention reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM) among high-risk adults by 58%, with weight loss as the dominant predictor. However, it has not been adequately translated into primary care. METHODS We evaluated 2 adapted DPP lifestyle interventions among overweight or obese adults who were recruited from 1 primary care clinic and had pre-DM and/or metabolic syndrome. Participants were randomized to (1) a coach-led group intervention (n = 79), (2) a self-directed DVD intervention (n = 81), or (3) usual care (n = 81). During a 3-month intensive intervention phase, the DPP-based behavioral weight-loss curriculum was delivered by lifestyle coach-led small groups or home-based DVD. During the maintenance phase, participants in both interventions received lifestyle change coaching and support remotely-through secure email within an electronic health record system and the American Heart Association Heart360 website for weight and physical activity goal setting and self-monitoring. The primary outcome was change in body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) from baseline to 15 months. RESULTS At baseline, participants had a mean (SD) age of 52.9 (10.6) years and a mean BMI of 32.0 (5.4); 47% were female; 78%, non-Hispanic white; and 17%, Asian/Pacific Islander. At month 15, the mean ± SE change in BMI from baseline was -2.2 ± 0.3 in the coach-led group vs -0.9 ± 0.3 in the usual care group (P < .001) and -1.6 ± 0.3 in the self-directed group vs usual care (P = .02). The percentages of participants who achieved the 7% DPP-based weight-loss goal were 37.0% (P = .003) and 35.9% (P = .004) in the coach-led and self-directed groups, respectively, vs 14.4% in the usual care group. Both interventions also achieved greater net improvements in waist circumference and fasting plasma glucose level. CONCLUSION Proven effective in a primary care setting, the 2 DPP-based lifestyle interventions are readily scalable and exportable with potential for substantial clinical and public health impact. TRIAL REGISTRATION clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00842426.
The Use (and Abuse) of Meta-analysis in Environmental and Natural Resource Economics: an Assessment

Motivated by the 2006 report of a Work Group appointed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), this paper examines the present state of meta-analysis in environmental economics and offers recommendations for its future use. To this end we summarize and assess 140 meta-analyses from 125 published and unpublished studies, covering 17 topical categories in environmental and resource economics. First, we provide several generic meta-analysis models as reference points and discuss major estimation issues. Five econo-metric issues are identified as part of a complete analysis: (1) sample selection criteria; (2) basic data summary; (3) primary data heterogeneity; (4) heteroskedasticity; and (5) non-independence of multiple observations from primary studies. Second, a tabular summary is presented for the 140 meta-analyses with respect to estimation methods. Third, a narrative summary is presented for 19 meta-analyses, including the three value-of-statistical-life studies examined by the EPA Work Group and one analysis from each of 16 other categories. Fourth, we offer a set of " best practice " guidelines for future meta-analyses in this and other areas of economics. Last, the paper comments on the use of meta-analytic methods for benefit transfers of environmental values.
Anomaly detection approach using hybrid algorithm of data mining technique

The excessive use of the communication networks, rising of Internet of Things leads to increases the vulnerability to the important and secret information. advance attacking techniques and number of attackers are increasing radically. Intrusion is one of the main threats to the internet. Hence security issues had been big problem, so that various techniques and approaches have been presented to address the limitations of intrusion detection system such as low accuracy, high false alarm rate, and time consuming. This paper proposes a hybrid machine learning technique for network intrusion detection based on combination of K-means clustering and Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) classification. It introduces hybrid approach that able to reduce the rate of false positive alarm, false negative alarm rate, to improve the detection rate and detect zero-day attackers. The NSL-KDD dataset has been used in the proposed technique. The classification has been performed by using Sequential Minimal Optimization. After training and testing the proposed hybrid machine learning technique, the results have shown that the proposed technique (K-mean + SMO) has achieved a positive detection rate of (94.48%) and reduce the false alarm rate to (1.2%) and achieved accuracy of (97.3695%).
Designability of protein structures: A lattice‐model study using the Miyazawa‐Jernigan matrix

We study the designability of all compact 3 × 3 × 3 and 6 × 6 lattice‐protein structures using the Miyazawa–Jernigan (MJ) matrix. The designability of a structure is the number of sequences that design the structure, i.e., sequences that have that structure as their unique lowest‐energy state. Previous studies of hydrophobic‐polar (HP) models showed a wide distribution of structure designabilities. Recently, questions were raised concerning the use of a two‐letter (HP) code in such studies. Here, we calculate designabilities using all 20 amino acids, with empirically determined interaction potentials (MJ matrix) and compare with HP model results. We find good qualitative agreement between the two models. In particular, highly designable structures in the HP model are also highly designable in the MJ model—and vice versa—with the associated sequences having enhanced thermodynamic stability. Proteins 2002;49:403–412. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Assessment of conjunctive use of small earth dams and boreholes for sustainable rural livelihoods in a semi-arid area: Case of Lilongwe West Rural Groundwater Project area, Malawi

Semi-arid Africa is well known for its unpredictable rainfall patterns, increased cases of drought and dry spells, high evaporative demands and increasing population which put pressure on water resources. Local experiences in SADC show that conjunctive use of surface and groundwater would cushion these pressures. This study was aimed at assessing water demand and availability paradigms, and water allocation process as functions of conjunctive use of small earth dams and groundwater (shallow wells and boreholes) for small scale agriculture in the study area for a period beginning April, 2005. Assessment of conjunctive use of surface and groundwater for sustainable livelihood was carried out on 10 earth dams and 23 boreholes and 5 shallow wells of 22 villages in Traditional Authorities Kalolo and Khongoni in Lilongwe district in Malawi. Traditionally, shallow wells, ponds, running rivers, swamps or marshes have been supporting the rural masses and their livestock as sources of water for drinking, domestic use and small scale agriculture. It was revealed through focus group discussions and interviews that less than 28% of the households use water from dams and boreholes/shallow wells for small scale irrigation conjunctively while 30% of the total households use shallow wells as the main source of water for small scale irrigation. 11% of the total households use water from boreholes with 31% using water from small earth dams for small scale irrigation. Presently, villages surrounding Kamanzi dam experience water shortages 93% of the time in dry season, with supply meeting only 26% of demand. However, inclusion of water from boreholes to total supply helps the system meet 31% of demand. By 2039, the villages around Kamanzi dam will experience shortage about 100% of the time with supply meeting only 11% of demand. Village Development Committees (VDC) control water allocation process and customs and traditions form basis for this process. Water Poverty Index (WPI) showed that it is resource and use based and that conjunctive use of small earth dams has advantage on both environment and peopleâ€™s livelihoods in the area. It is thus recommended that conjunctive use of earth dams and boreholes/shallow wells be encouraged for small scale irrigation in order to curb resource depletion and maximize resource benefits for the betterment of local people. ,WATERnet
Development and application of a non-point sources pollution model for hydrological processes and nutrient loadings in the Xitiaoxi catchment in south China

This dissertation describes the hydrology and non-point source pollution of the humid, subtropical Xitiaoxi catchment in the south-eastern China and comprises a hydrologic and nutrient dynamics simulation there. The study presents at first an interpretation of hydrological processes influenced by anthropological activities. Beyond that, it deals with nutrient cycles in both arable land with an intensive farming system and a natural forest dominated catchment.
A modeling approach for ΣΔ fractional-N frequency synthesizers allowing straightforward noise analysis

A general model of phase-locked loops (PLLs) is derived which incorporates the influence of divide value variations. The proposed model allows straightforward noise and dynamic analyses of /spl Sigma/-/spl Delta/ fractional-N frequency synthesizers and other PLL applications in which the divide value is varied in time. Based on the derived model, a general parameterization is presented that further simplifies noise calculations. The framework is used to analyze the noise performance of a custom /spl Sigma/-/spl Delta/ synthesizer implemented in a 0.6 /spl mu/m CMOS process, and accurately predicts the measured phase noise to within 3 dB over the entire frequency offset range spanning 25 kHz to 10 MHz.
Delay Tolerant Networking – Bundle Protocol Simulation

In space exploration missions, the coordinated use of spacecraft as communication relays increases the efficiency of the endeavors. network architecture designed to provide communication in and/or through highly stressed networking environments. Stressed networking environments include those with intermittent connectivity, large and/or variable delays, and high bit error rates. The DTN research group (DTNRG) leads the field in DTN research. Members of the DTNRG created the Bundle Protocol (BP) to implement the DTN architecture. The key capabilities of the bundle protocols include custody-based reliability, ability to cope with intermittent connectivity, ability to take advantage of scheduled and opportunistic connectivity, and late binding of names to addresses. In this paper, we report on the addition of MACHETE Bundle Protocol model needed to support DTN research. To illustrate the use of MACHETE with the additional BP model, we provide an example simulation and benchmark its performance. We demonstrate the use of the Bundle Protocol and discuss statistics gathered concerning the total time needed to simulate numerous bundle transmissions.
Effects of different inorganic mulches on seed germination, weed biomass and plant growth.

This study investigated the effects of several types of inorganic mulch such as sand, gravel and quarry dust on seed germination of annual multi species and weed growth through direct sowing technique in the urban landscape. Results showed that sand, gravel and quarry dust gave significant effect on the percentage seed germination of annual multi species such as Catharanthus roseus (70%), Coreopsis tinctoria (20%), Cosmos sulphureus (95%), Gomphrena haageana (70%) and Impatiens balsamina (60%). The total weed biomass per quadrat was significantly less in the plots treated with gravel (15.12 g), quarry dust (21.56 g) and sand (30.45 g) mulches compared to the control, without mulch (64.41 g). The use of inorganic mulches inhibited germination of weed seeds in the soil which often competes with sown seeds in creating an annual multi species plant community through direct sowing. Multi species grown on various mulch types produce flowers at different time and period depending on the species which resulted in prolonging flowering (4 – 5 months) and attractive plant combination in the garden.