Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The investigation of the relation between expansion strategy and outcomes of two-stage expander-implant breast reconstruction.

Background Numerous risk factors for the complications of two-stage, immediate implant-based breast reconstruction have been identified, although few studies have directly examined the impact of breast size and expansion protocols on the surgical outcomes of breast reconstruction. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of breast size, expansion velocity, and volume-related variables on postoperative complications of breast reconstruction. Methods The cohort involved patients who underwent immediate breast expander reconstruction at a single center between 2017 and 2019. The breast size was classified into three categories according to the weight of the mastectomy specimen as small (<300 g), medium (≥300 g, ≤500 g), or large (>500 g). Multifactorial logistic regressions were used to assess the impact of variables, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the optimal cut-off value for predicting the complication event. Results Of the 174 breasts (168 patients), 51 (29.3%), 66 (37.9%), and 57 (32.6%) breasts were classified as small, medium, and large, respectively. The rate of infection (P=0.014) and expander/implant failure (P=0.007) significantly differed according to breast size, with the rate being the highest in large breasts. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that body mass index (BMI) [odds ratio (OR): 1.25; P=0.003], nipple-sparing mastectomy (OR: 2.82; P=0.036), sentinel biopsy (OR: 5.10; P=0.016), final expansion volume (OR: 0.99; P=0.022), and expansion velocity (OR: 0.703; P=0.024) were significant independent predictors of any complication. In the ROC analysis, breast weight >696 g could predict the possibility of revision surgery, with a sensitivity of 42.9% and specificity of 81.8%. Conclusions The final expansion volume and expansion velocity have a significant negative relationship with overall complications in breast reconstruction. A standard expansion protocol needs to be established to ensure the success of two-stage breast reconstruction.
Using UPnP services with an intelligent sensor network node

The goal of the equipment which is proposed for research and developed in an experimental version is to associate a typical WSN (wireless sensor networks) node architecture with the UPnP services architecture, in order use TCP/IP and WEB technologies to manage sensor networks without a specific configuration. The sensor management software architecture uses UPnP and WSN technologies and allows interactions between UPnP Control Points and wireless sensors networked in the ambient environment. Even if the sensor devices are embedded systems with limited resources, the proposed software package allows direct interactions with UPnP services.
InGaAs/InP-photodiodes with dark current limited by generation-recombination

From I(V) and C(V) measurements the conclusion is made that among the sources of dark current in InGaAs/lnP diodes, generation-recombination current dominates. Four different contributions to the dark from material layers have been identified. The highest generation rate was observed in the InP buffer layer. Various traps causing the dark current in these different layers have also been identified.
Covid-19 Detection using Deep Convolutional Neural Networks from X-Ray Images

Abstract— The Novel Coronavirus generally, knows as COVID-19 which first appeared in Wuhan city of China in December 2019, spread quickly around the world and became a pandemic. It has caused an overwhelming effect on daily lives, Public health, and the global economy. Many people have been affected and have died. It is critical to control and prevent the spread of COVID-19 disease by applying quick alternative diagnostic techniques. COVID-19 cases are rising day by day around the world, the on-time diagnosis of COVID-19 patients is an increasingly long and difficult process. COVID-19 patient test kits are costly and not available for every individual in poor countries. For this purpose, screening patients with the established techniques like Chest X-ray images seems to be an effective method. This study used a deep learning data augmentation on a publicly available data set and train advanced CNN models on it. The proposed model was tested using a state-of-the-art evaluation measures and obtained better results. Our model, the COVID-19 images is available at (https://github.com/ieee8023/covid-chestxray-dataset) and for Non-COVID-19 images is available at (https://www.kaggle.com/paultimothymooney/chest-xray-pneumonia). The maximum accuracy achieved in the validation was 96.67%. Our model of COVID-19 detection achieved an average F measure of 98%, and an Area Under Curve (AUC) of 99%. The results demonstrate that deep learning proved to be an effective and easily deployable approach for COVID-19 detection.
SUSCEPTIBILITY TO Bt TOXINS CRY1AC AND CRY2Ab2 OF SOUTHWESTERN PINK BOLLWORM IN 2004.

Summary Monitoring of Arizona pink bollworm (PBW), Pectinophora gossypiella, susceptibility to Bt toxin Cry1Ac has been conducted annually from 1997-2004. Parallel studies with Cry2Ab2 have been conducted since 2001. Larvae were collected from cotton fields located throughout the Southwest, cultured in the laboratory, and offspring tested using diet-incorporation bioassays. The total numbers of 2004 collections successfully reared and tested for susceptibility to Cry1Ac were: 13 from Arizona, two from California, one from New Mexico. A pink bollworm eradication program limited collections to one from New Mexico and none from Texas. Susceptibility to Cry2Ab2 was estimated for 15 strains from Arizona, two from California, and one from New Mexico. Selection of Arizona pink bollworm with Cry1Ac in the laboratory in 1997 produced a resistant strain capable of survival on Bollgard cotton. Subsequent studies showed that 10 µg Cry1Ac/ml of insect diet was a reliable diagnostic concentration for detection of pink bollworm homozygous for resistance to Cry1Ac. Survivors of 10 µg Cry1Ac/ml were detected from only one collection made in 2004, Casa Grande Site 1, and this represented only a single survivor. The grand mean frequencies of PBW survival of 10 µg Cry1Ac/ml in 2004 collections were: Arizona 0.0262% (range 0.000-0.300%), California 0.000% and New Mexico 0.000%. A susceptible culture, APHIS-S, used each year as an internal control, yielded 100% mortality in tests of 10ug/ml Cry1Ac and in tests of 10 ug/ml Cry2Ab2. Eighteen pink bollworm strains collected in 2004 were highly susceptible to Cry2Ab2, based on contrasts with baseline data collected from 2001-2003. Mean corrected mortality ranged from 95.2 to 100% in bioassays of 1.0 µg/ml Cry2Ab2 and was 100% in all bioassays of 10 µg/ml Cry2Ab2. Field evaluations of efficacy of Bt cotton were conducted by the Arizona Cotton Research and Protection Council in adjacent pairs of Bt and non-Bt fields at 40 Arizona locations. Statewide, large pink bollworm larvae were found in an average of 21.7% (range 0 to 100%) of non-Bt bolls sampled from borders of refuge fields. Bolls from adjacent Bt cotton (Bollgard™) fields yielded an average of 0.340% (range 0 to 4.69%) bolls infested with large larvae. Of 35 PBW-infested bolls collected from Bt cotton fields, all but two tested negative for Cry1Ac. We conclude from these findings that there was no indication of problems with pink bollworm resistance to Cry1Ac or Cry2Ab2 at the locations sampled in 2004. Moreover, Bt cotton continued to exhibit exceptional field performance in Arizona.
High step-up DC–DC converter based on the switched-coupled-inductor boost converter and diode-capacitor multiplier: steady state and dynamics

In this study a new scheme of a step-up converter with very high voltage gain is proposed. The scheme is based on a natural combination of the switched-coupled-inductor boost converter and the diode-capacitor multiplier. The study proposes a special scheme of their mutual use for attaining very high voltage gain. An important advantage of the proposed circuit is the avoidance of the current spikes through the transistor and diodes because of the leakage inductance of the coupled inductors. The scheme provides soft commutation of the switch and the diodes. The study analyses the modes of operation and obtains the basic fundamental relations in steady state; an expression for voltage stress across the switch is derived. A new method for dynamic analysis is proposed. The corresponding analytical expressions and curves of the transient behaviour are also obtained. Modelling of the proposed structure and the experimental results are in full agreement regarding the expected efficiency and correctness of the theoretical analysis. A 100 W laboratory prototype was built and verified.
Surveillance analysis and microbiological profiles of nosocomial infections in a palliative care center

Objective: Despite the wide availability of palliative care units in several countries, they have been founded in our country recently. This study aimed to contribute to the development of appropriate treatment protocols by determining the causes of hospitalizations, comorbidities, infection rates, and causative microorganisms in a palliative care center. Methods: Blood cultures were taken from the patients suspected to have developed nosocomial infections. Samples for cultures were taken from the foci that were thought to be the origin of infection. Identification of isolates was performed using automated systems and conventional methods. The numbers of patients and patient days, and the numbers and rates of nosocomial infections were retrieved from the infection control unit data records and were analyzed. The rates and incidences of nosocomial infections in our hospital and the palliative care unit were calculated. Results: Of the patients, 51% were men and 49% were women. The mean age was 72±12.6 years. Nosocomial infection rates were 6.3% in 2019, 9.1% in 2020, and 3.3% in the first six months of 2021. Urinary system infections ranked first with a rate of 58.6%. The most common cause of hospital admissions was malignancy with a rate of 25.9%. The most commonly isolated microorganism was Klebsiella spp with a rate of 27.5%. Conclusions: Palliative care aims to improve symptoms and the quality of life of patients. Our study has contributed to developing practical solutions by documenting prognostic factors, infections, causative microorganisms, and issues experienced in palliative care patients.
A systematic review on education 4.0 using social media platform

Education plays a pivotal role in acquiring knowledge and developing skills. The knowledge acquired and skills developed helps in building better careers. This also supports our personal life by making us better informed about social, cultural and political contexts. With the popularity and ubiquitous nature of the internet, online education has become the preferred way of teaching- learning process. Technological advancements have made this possible. Learning management systems have been used for a long time, it provides better organization of content and smooth evaluations. The MOOC has taken this online pattern to a next level of quality education. However, this approach of blended learning involves less interaction as it mainly depends on asynchronous mode of learning. The use of social media tools supports in overcoming this problem and provides a platform to build highly interactive student centric online courses. Using such disruptive technology in education has been termed as Education 4.0. The level of learner engagement with the content and the tutor enhances through the use of social media learning tools. This creates a need to understand the various aspects of social media based education. The current study is an attempt to understand the trends in online education and tries to identify the factors related to usage of social media in education. further, based on factors related to social media usage, the study also identifies the themes.
Gastric Lesions in Culled Sows: An Underestimated Welfare Issue in Modern Swine Production

Specific anatomy of the porcine stomach results in a high risk of ulceration in the pars oesophagea. A fully developed ulcer leads to intermittent gastrointestinal bleeding followed by clinical symptoms of chronic pain; thus, gastric ulceration in pigs causes significant production losses and serious welfare problems. Nowadays, gastric ulceration is common in domestic pigs throughout the world, but a great deal of attention has been directed at finishers. This paper was intended to provide new data on the prevalence of the disease in commercially reared highly prolific sows. The study was carried out on 329 culled sows from four commercial farms located in Northern Poland. The severity of gross pathological lesions of pars oesophagea was assigned to grade 0 (no lesions), 1 (parakeratosis), 2 (erosion), or 3 (gastric ulceration with or without stenosis) by a veterinary practitioner. Abattoir analysis revealed 66.6% of sows’ stomachs with some degree of alterations. Gastric ulceration was detected in 45.5% of examined organs. Parakeratosis and erosion were found in 1.2 and 15.8% of stomachs, respectively. The investigation did not find any oesphageal strictures. Our investigation of the problem in high health status hyper-prolific sows showed the lowest prevalence of gastric lesions (i.e., ulcerative and preulcerative alterations collectively) compared to earlier studies but the highest percentage of gastric ulcers. The results indicate that gastric ulcers may be a highly prevalent and underestimated welfare issue in sows in modern pig production, worth further studies focusing on particular risk factors related to feeding, genetics, management issues, and sows longevity.
Initial results from DAMSON-a system to measure multipath, Doppler spread and Doppler shift on disturbed HF channels

The performance of beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) high frequency (HF) communication systems is dependent on how well the system is matched to the propagation environment. In this respect issues such as antenna gain and transmitter power are very important. Deserving equal or greater attention, however, is the issue of the match between the signalling waveform and the time and frequency spread characteristics of the propagation path. This paper briefly describes a channel sounder known as DAMSON (Doppler and multipath sounding network) which has been developed to characterise the disturbed narrow band channel (3 kHz) by measuring its scattering function. The real time nature of the DAMSON processing makes it unique in the frequency range but, in its approach to measuring the channel its operation is similar to that of Wagner et al. (1988).
The noise performance of an active, linear antenna array for reception

The noise performance of an active receiving antenna array with endfire pattern was studied using "noise wave analysis". Gallium arsenide, field effect transistors (GaAs FET's) were used. The array signal combining was accomplished with a series feed identical to the output transmission line of a distributed amplifier. A single stub tuner was simulated between each antenna element and active device (FET's in this case). System noise performance was simulated as the transformation due to the tuners was varied. The configuration giving best noise performance was found. Finally, two, four, six, and eight element active arrays were built and tested at 2 GHz confirming the analysis. <<ETX>>
Evaluation of the UCL Compton Camera Imaging Performance

This thesis presents the imaging performance of the University College London (UCL) High Purity Germanium (HPGe) Compton camera. This work is a part of an ongoing project to develop a Compton camera for medical applications. The Compton camera offers many potential advantages over other imaging modalities used in nuclear medicine. These advantages include a wide field of view, the ability to reconstruct 3D images without tomography, and the fact that the camera can have a portable lightweight design due to absence of heavy collimation. The camera was constructed by ORTEC and the readout electronics used are based on GRT4 electronics boards (Daresbury, UK). The camera comprises two pixellated germanium detector planes housed 9.6 cm apart in the same vacuum housing. The camera has 177 pixels, 152 in the scatter detector and 25 in the absorption detector. The pixels are 4x4 mm2. The imaging performance with different gamma-ray source energies was evaluated experimentally and compared to the theoretical estimations. Images have been taken for a variety of test objects including point, ring source and Perspex cylindrical phantom. The measured angular resolution is 7.8° ± 0.4 for 662 keV gamma-ray source at 5 cm. Due to the limited number of readout modules a multiple-view technique was used to image the source distributions from different angles and simulate the pixel arrangement in the full camera. In principle, the Compton camera potentially has high sensitivity but this is not recognized in practice due to the limited maximum count rate. Although there are a number of limitations in the current prototype camera some potentially useful qualities have been demonstrated and distributed sources have been imaged. The key limitations in the current prototype are acquisition time, processing time and image viii reconstruction. However, techniques are available to significantly improve and overcome these limitations. This thesis presents the current state of the Compton camera performance along with a demonstration of its strengths and limitations as a potential candidate for nuclear medicine imaging.
Sizing of electric thermal storage under real time pricing

Under real-time pricing (RTP) rates, electrical thermal storage (ETS) can be used to shift electricity consumption away from higher-price periods to lower-price periods. The issue of storage sizing under RTP rates is addressed by presenting the results of a simulation study. Parameters of the simulation, as well as building loads and prices used as inputs, are based on the results of an actual experiment on the RTP-based control of ETS carried out in the winter season of 1989-90. Results indicate that under RTP-based control, increase in storage sizes lowers a utilities' cost of service, in contrast to time-of-use-based control for which the utility's cost of service remains relatively unchanged. >
Microprocessor based robust digital control for UPS with three-phase PWM inverter

This paper describes a novel method of robust (insensitive to system parameter variations and load current changes) and fast digital control for an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with a three-phase PWM inverter. The purpose of this paper is to propose a method by which characteristics better than those by conventional methods are obtained using an algorithm simpler than that of conventional methods. The experiments show that the purpose is achieved and the proposed method offers a total harmonic distortion of 0.6% of the output voltage waveform at a full nonlinear load. The analysis shows that the stability of the method is sufficient. Three features of the method are: (a) a capacitor current observer for stabilization and a disturbance observer for robustness are used to compensate the time lag by the computation and the disturbances, in a minor loop of the capacitor current through an inductor-capacitor filter of the inverter; (b) new models of the inverter and the disturbances are established to simplify these observers; and (c) the output voltage control loop can be designed easily and exactly because the minor loop realizes a rapid and robust control of the current. >
Efficiency of Combined Use of Fullerene C60 and Bovine Serum Albumin for Rehabilitation of Vitrified Fragments of Rat Immature Seminiferous Tubules

Background. Today, cryopreserved reproductive tissues are used to treat some forms of male infertility. However, after long-term preservation of fragments of seminiferous tubules of testes (FSTT) in a low-temperature bank (-196 °С) their morphological and functional characteristics decrease reversibly. To solve this problem after freezing-thawing, the use of rehabilitation media with special additives is promising. Due to the fact that serum albumin and fullerene C60 have powerful protective and antioxidant properties, their use allows to stabilize the plasma membrane, osmotic pressure, and reduce free radicals that make them promising candidates to use in the development of rehabilitation media for biological objects after cryopreservation. Objective. The efficacy of fullerene C60, bovine serum albumin (BSA), and their combination as components of rehabilitation medium of vitrified FSTT of immature rats was studied. Methods. Vitrified-thawed samples of FSTT were incubated (22 °C) for 30 minutes in Leibovitz's medium with addition of 15 mg/mL C60, 5 g/L BSA or their combination. Control samples were incubated in the medium without C60 or BSA addition. Metabolic activity (MTT test), histomorphological data, total antioxidant status (TAS), reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, activity of g-glutamyltransferase (gGGT), and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were determined in the samples after rehabilitation in the investigated media. Results. The use of C60 led to the increase of metabolic (by 1.26 times) and TAS (by 1.74 times) activities, to the decrease in the number of ROS+ cells (by 1.35 times) and to the improvement of the spermatogenic epithelium binding to the basement membrane versus control sample. Application of BSA did not significantly affect the studied biochemical indices but decreased the number of tubules with desquamation of spermatogenic epithelium in histological sections. The combined use of BSA and C60 had the best effect among investigated rehabilitation media that led to the increase of metabolic activity (by 1.51 times), TAS activity (by 1.78 times), gGGT activity (by 1.59 times), histostructure restoration and the decrease in the number of ROS+ cells (by 1.45 times) compared to the control samples. Conclusions. The use of C60 and BSA combination increases the metabolic and antioxidant activity of vitrified FSTT and also has a positive effect on their histostructural characteristics compared to control samples. It should be noted that the effect of С60 and BSA addition to rehabilitation medium exceeds the results of using the investigated additives separately (by the metabolic and gGGT activity as well as architectonics of vitrified FSTT). These data relate to reproductive medicine and can be used to develop an effective rehabilitation protocol for vitrified FSTT.
Experimental Study of a Novel Centrifugal Compressor With Two Successive and Independent Rotors

This study deals with a low pressure-ratio centrifugal compressor consisting of two counter-rotating rotors called a counter-rotating centrifugal compressor (CRCC). The design method based on the loss model was presented to determine the geometric parameters of the two counter-rotating rotors. According to this method, the rotor of a selected single rotor centrifugal compressor (SRCC) has been redesigned into two counter-rotating rotors (upstream and downstream rotors) by choosing the value of meridional length ratio (LR). The meridional view, the volute shape, and the operating parameters of SRCC are preserved during the design process. In a first step, the counter-rotating mode at a constant rotor speed of 11k rpm has been carried out. The overall characteristics of CRCC are compared to those of SRCC. In a second step, the map characteristic of CRCC is established for seven speed ratios. The results show that CRCC increases up to 4.6% for the pressure ratio and 3.5% for the efficiency compared to SRCC at the same tip-speed. In addition, CRCC can operate at a lower tip-speed by about 2k rpm to produce the same characteristics as SRCC, with better efficiency over a wide range of flow rates. However, the surge margin of the CRCC is shifted to higher flow rates. This disadvantage of the CRCC was solved by choosing the adequate pair of the rotational speeds of the two rotors that will be presented in other publication.