Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Use of Liquid Biopsy in the Molecular Analysis of Plasma Compared to the Tumour Tissue from a Patient with Brain Metastasis: A Case Report

Different cancers have multiple genetic mutations, which vary depending on the affected tumour tissue. Small biopsies may not always represent all the genetic landscape of the tumour. To improve the chances of identifying mutations at different disease stages (early, during the disease course, and refractory stage), liquid biopsies offer an advantage to traditional tissue biopsy. In addition, it is possible to detect mutations related to metastatic events depending on the cancer types analysed as will be discussed in this case report, which describes a patient with brain metastasis and lung cancer that harboured K-RAS mutations both in the brain tumour and in the ctDNA present in the bloodstream.
Finite Element Analysis of the Mechanical Performance of Non-Restorable Crownless Primary Molars Restored with Intracoronal Core-Supported Crowns: A Proposed Treatment Alternative to Extraction for Severe Early Childhood Caries

Early childhood caries (ECC) involve extensive coronal tooth structure loss, and tooth reconstruction remains highly challenging. To fulfill preclinical assessment, the present study investigated the biomechanics of non-restorable crownless primary molars that were restored by stainless steel crowns (SSC) using different composite core build-up materials. Computer-aided design-integrated 3D finite element and modified Goodman fatigue analyses were performed to determine stress distribution, risk of failure, fatigue life and dentine–material interfacial strength for the restored crownless primary molars. A dual-cured resin composite (MultiCore Flow), a light-cured bulk-fill resin composite (Filtek Bulk Fill posterior), a resin-modified glass-ionomer cement (Fuji II LC) and a nano-filled resin-modified glass-ionomer cement (NRMGIC; Ketac N100) were used as core build-up composite materials in the simulated models. The finite element analysis showed that types of core build-up materials affected the maximum von Mises stress only in the core materials (p-value = 0.0339). NRMGIC demonstrated the lowest von Mises stresses and revealed the highest minimum safety factor. The weakest sites were along the central grooves regardless of type of material, and the ratio of shear bond strength to maximum shear stress at the core–dentine interface of the NRMGIC group was lowest among the tested composite cores. However, all groups provided lifetime longevity from the fatigue analysis. In conclusion, core build-up materials differentially influenced the von Mises stress (magnitude and distribution) and the safety factor in crownless primary molars restored with core-supported SSC. However, all materials and the remaining dentine of crownless primary molars provided lifetime longevity. The reconstruction by core-supported SSC, as an alternative to tooth extraction, may successfully restore non-restorable crownless primary molars without unfavorable failures throughout their lifespan. Further clinical studies are required to evaluate the clinical performance and suitability of this proposed method.
Comparative Analysis of Different Single Stage PFC Integrated Half Bridge LLC converter for LED Lighting

Comparative study of two different single stage LED drivers assimilated with power factor correction (PFC) circuit and half-bridge LLC(HB-LLC) converter are presented in this paper. Two different PFC circuits such as Twin Buck-Boost converter (TBBC) and SEPIC are integrated with half-bridge LLC converter for powering a 100 watts Light Emitting Diode (LED) street light. Front end DC-DC converter ensures the inherent PFC with the discontinuous operation and for the purpose of achieving the soft switching phenomenon, the half-bridge LLC resonant converter is employed and it is designed accordingly. A comparative analysis is done based on the simulation study for supplying a 100 watts street light fed from a utility supply voltage.
Ring-projection-wavelet-fractal signatures: a novel approach to feature extraction

In this brief, we present a novel approach to optical character recognition that utilizes ring-projection-wavelet-fractal signatures (RP-WFS). In particular, the proposed approach reduces the dimensionality of a 2-D pattern by way of a ring-projection method and, thereafter, performs Daubechies' wavelet transformation on the derived 1-D pattern to generate a set of wavelet transformation subpatterns, namely, curves that are nonself-intersecting. Further, from the resulting nonself-intersecting curves, the divider dimensions are readily computed. These divider dimensions constitute a new feature vector for the original 2-D pattern, defined over the curves' fractal dimensions. We have conducted several experiments in which a set of printed alphanumeric symbols of varying fonts and orientation were classified, based on the formulation of our new feature vector. The results obtained from these experiments have consistently shown the character recognition approach with the proposed feature vector can yield an excellent classification rate of 100%.
Fiber Residual Stress Effects on Modal Gain Equalization of Few-Mode Fiber Amplifier

The modal gain equalization (MGE) of few-mode fiber amplifiers (FMFAs) ensures the stability of signal transmission. MGE mainly relies on the multi-step refractive index (RI) and doping profile of few-mode erbium-doped fibers (FM-EDFs). However, complex RI and doping profiles lead to uncontrollable residual stress variations in fiber fabrication. Variable residual stress apparently affects MGE due to its impacts on the RI. So, this paper focuses on the residual stress effects on MGE. The residual stress distributions of passive and active FMFs were measured using a self-constructed residual stress test configuration. As the erbium doping concentration increased, the residual stress of the fiber core decreased, and the residual stress of the active fibers was two orders of magnitude lower than that of the passive fiber. Compared with the passive FMF and the FM-EDFs, the residual stress of the fiber core completely transformed from tensile stress to compressive stress. This transformation led to an obvious smooth RI curve variation. The measurement values were analyzed with FMFA theory, and the results show that the differential modal gain of the FMFA increased from 0.96 to 1.67 dB as the residual stress decreased from 4.86 to 0.01 MPa.
Prevalence of Ectoparasites on Small Mammals Inhabiting an Agroforestry System of Western Portugal

ABSTRACT: The goal of this study was to assess ectoparasite-small mammal host associations in central-west Portugal in native and exotic habitats, respectively, including a cork oak woodland and a Eucalyptus plantation. Mammals were sampled with Sherman and pitfall traps, and ectoparasites were collected and identified in all samples. We trapped 681 small mammals: 5 rodent species - wood mouse, Apodemus sylvaticus (N = 527); the Algerian mouse, Mus spretus (N = 67); Cabrera's vole, Microtus cabrerae (N = 8); the Lusitanian pine vole, Microtus lusitanicus (N = 2); and the black rat, Rattus rattus (N = 1) - and 1 insectivore species - the greater white-toothed shrew, Crocidura russula (N = 76). We identified 4 flea species (Nosopsyllus fasciatus, Ctenophthalmus sp., Typhloceras favosus, and Typhloceras poppei); 5 tick species (Haemaphysalis punctata, Ixodes ricinus, Ornithodoros sp., Rhipicephalus pusillus, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus); and 1 chigger species (Neotrombicula sp.) from hosts. The wood mouse was the small mammal species with the highest overall ectoparasite prevalence, although ticks were the least prevalent taxon. We found that ectoparasite guilds represented a somewhat generalist host pattern, and chiggers presented some host specificity. The data presented herein increase the knowledge regarding ectoparasite prevalence and distribution among small mammal hosts in the Mediterranean. Although surveys of ectoparasites of small mammals in central-west Portugal are not novel, this is the first time that a species belonging to the genus Ctenophthalmus is reported from M. cabrerae (Cabrera's vole) in Portugal.
Shrinkage and expansion mechanisms of SiO2 elliptical membrane nanopores

20 nm SiO2 elliptical membrane nanopores with various thicknesses were directly formed in situ by using a focused electron beam with transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The shrinkage and the expansion behaviors of the SiO2 ellipse nanopores with different thicknesses were attributed to variations in their geometries, in particular their curvatures. The geometric mechanisms of elliptical nanopores with various thicknesses fabricated utilizing a SiO2 membrane with a thickness gradient by using an electron beam irradiation are described on the basis of TEM images, which depend on the electron beam irradiation time.
Large-scale simulations of buoyancy-driven turbulent nuclear burning

An critical uncertainty in modeling thermonuclear supernovae is the degree of enhancement of the burning rate by turbulence during the subsonic burning (deflagration) phase. As turbulent combustion in the laboratory is still an active area of research, this remains a challenging problem. A unique feature of turbulent combustion in supernovae is that the driving of the turbulence arises from the strong buoyancy of the burned material. We discuss the large-scale fully three dimensional studies under way. These studies have the goals of characterizing the essential length scales of flame surface structure and thereby developing specific requirements that models of small-scale structure must meet. We discuss some preliminary results of our study concerning the scale-dependence of flame surface structure.
Intellectual disability as a comorbidity in Tourette syndrome: a case report

Purpose This case report of Tourette syndrome with intellectual disability as a comorbid condition may help us learn more about neuropsychiatric disorders as a comorbid condition. Increased knowledge and a better understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease may help with the management of it. Case description We report on a 12-year-old male patient with motor and vocal tics that have been present since the age of 1 and have worsened over time – this is typical for patients with comorbid intellectual disability and behavioral impairment. An MRI of the head showed decreased hippocampal volume. The patient was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome on the basis of his history and a physical exa mination. Comment As many as 86-90% of patients with Tourette syndrome have at least one comorbid condition or coexisting neuropsychological problems. Tourette syndrome is diagnosed on the basis of physical symptoms, especially the presence of multiple motor and vocal tics that began before the person was 21 years old. The diagnosis must also be supported by the presence of a comorbid behavioral disorder.
A multi-frequency study of symbiotic stars – III. Simultaneous ultraviolet and optical observations of AX Persei

Spectra obtained simultaneously both at visual maximum and during eclipse with the International Ultraviolet Explorer satellite and the Isaac Newton Telescope between 1988 September and 1991 August are discussed and interpreted. Ultraviolet line ratios and phase plots are used to confirm that the C III]/Si III] emission-line ratio is subject to phase-related variations, and possible causes are discussed. Visual, photo-electric and ultraviolet light curves are used to determine the physical extent of the emission components. The resulting estimates suggest that AX Per is a detached binary system. The distance is determined bolometrically and by spectroscopic parallax
A state diagram analysis of the multi-queue M/M/1 model with finite lengths

The M/M/1 model is the most frequently used model in queueing problems. The research on the M/M/1 model with single queue and finite/infinite buffer length is already well developed. However, combinations of multiple queues with limited buffer capacity are rarely discussed. The reason for this deficiency is the lack of queue selection probability with the involved polling strategies. In this article, we propose to apply the multi-dimensional state diagram in analyzing the queueing behaviors of the q-M/M/1/Ki /FCFS/QSR model, where q is the number of queues, Ki the limited length of the ith queue, and QSR the dedicated queue selection rule. The considered QSRs can be either first-come-first-served polling or priority polling in this study. The state probabilities are solved by a set of linear equations, based on steady-state distributions. In order to verify the accuracy and performance of the proposed approach, we conducted several experiments to estimate the state probabilities, queue lengths, and waiting times. The simulation results from runtime are highly comparable with the theoretical results derived from the experiments. Meanwhile, the limiting behaviors of the finite-length model can approach an infinite model asymptotically, by increasing the queue lengths.
The association of different presentations of maternal depression with children’s socio-emotional development: A systematic review

Maternal depression from the perinatal period onwards is a global health priority associated with an increased likelihood of suboptimal socio-developmental outcomes in offspring. An important aspect of this association is the extent to which sustained maternal depression impacts on these outcomes. The current review synthesised the evidence on maternal depression from the perinatal period onwards and offspring internalising, externalising, and social competence outcomes. We also identified sources of methodological bias. A systematic review following PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Longitudinal studies targeting biological mothers with depressive symptomology, detailing onset, using repeated validated measures, and assessing children’s outcomes between three and 12 years were included. Twenty-four studies met inclusion criteria. Findings supported the validity of different presentations of maternal depression, including consistent identification of a group of chronically depressed mothers across countries. Mothers within this group reported poorer internalising, externalising, and social competence outcomes for their offspring, with the highest levels of child problems associated with greater maternal chronicity and symptom severity. Results differed by measurement type with mothers rating poorer outcomes in comparison to teachers reports. For timing of depression, evidence was inconsistent for independent effects of antenatal or postnatal depression on child outcomes. There was substantial variability in study quality assessment. Assessing different presentations of maternal depression is essential for capturing the longitudinal associations between maternal depression and offspring outcomes to inform targets of early intervention. Chronicity, severity, and concurrent maternal depression have important implications for children’s development and should be targeted in future programme planning. Further research in low- and middle-income countries is warranted.
Bacterial-Artificial-Chromosome-Based Genome Editing Methods and the Applications in Herpesvirus Research

Herpesviruses are major pathogens that infect humans and animals. Manipulating the large genome is critical for exploring the function of specific genes and studying the pathogenesis of herpesviruses and developing novel anti-viral vaccines and therapeutics. Bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) technology significantly advanced the capacity of herpesviruses researchers to manipulate the virus genomes. In the past years, advancements in BAC-based genome manipulating and screening strategies of recombinant BACs have been achieved, which has promoted the study of the herpes virus. This review summarizes the advances in BAC-based gene editing technology and selection strategies. The merits and drawbacks of BAC-based herpesvirus genome editing methods and the application of BAC-based genome manipulation in viral research are also discussed. This review provides references relevant for researchers in selecting gene editing methods in herpes virus research. Despite the achievements in the genome manipulation of the herpes viruses, the efficiency of BAC-based genome manipulation is still not satisfactory. This review also highlights the need for developing more efficient genome-manipulating methods for herpes viruses.
Forecasting Framework for Mobile Networks Based on Automatic Feature Selection

Traditionally, mobile network management has been based on reactive systems, where corrective actions are taken when a failure or a suboptimal network performance is detected. However, the requirements of low latency and high throughput associated with 5G new services, make these reactive systems insufficient to manage the new needs of users. Thus, the focus of mobile network management has changed to a proactive approach, where preventive actions are taken to avoid failures and suboptimal network performance. Moreover, in 5G, management algorithms are expected to make use of large amounts of information sources. The use of this large amount of information and the need to use historical data to generate forecasting models, may cause a loss of accuracy. To address these challenges, a forecasting framework is proposed in this work. The framework is based on the use of automatic feature selection techniques in both spatial and temporal dimensions as a pre-prediction stage. In this way, the proposed framework can improve the accuracy of other prediction schemes when using large amounts of data as input. The proposed scheme has been tested using different forecasting techniques. In addition, the impact of the proposed framework on predictions of different future lags has been analyzed.
Characteristics of Electron Precipitation Directly Driven by Poloidal ULF Waves

A mechanism recently proposed for magnetospheric electron loss into the atmosphere is the precipitation directly driven by ultralow‐frequency (ULF) waves. In this study, we quantitatively analyze the properties of ULF wave‐induced precipitation by simulating the electron bounce and drift motion in poloidal‐mode waves excited in a dipole magnetic field. Our results reveal that precipitation occurs only when electrons encounter a westward‐directed wave electric field in the magnetosphere, which leads to cross‐field energy enhancements and reduces their mirror heights. The simulations also demonstrate longer duration electron precipitation at the drift‐resonance energy. We calculate the temporal variations of the energy spectrum for precipitating electrons and the total precipitating energy fluxes. These results improve our understanding of ULF wave‐induced electron precipitation as well as provide a point of comparison for observations from balloons or ground‐based instruments.
New results on feed-link placement

Given a simple polygon P in the plane and a source point p in its interior, we aim to connect p to the boundary ∂P of the polygon using one or more edges called feed links, such that the detour from every point on ∂P to p is as small as possible. This detour is defined as the ratio between the shortest path in the resulting network, and the Euclidean distance. In doing so we look at a more general version of the problem of reducing the maximum detour presented in earlier papers, as well as a variation of this problem where we try to minimise the average detour. We first prove that a feed link that solves one of these problems optimally might have arbitrary bad results for the other problem, and hence we need to look at these problems independently. We then present an algorithm that places one feed-link optimally such that the average detour is minimised in linear time. Next a variation of this algorithm is presented that reduces finding the optimal placement for k feed links such that the average detour is minimised to solving O(n) systems of k equations in k unknowns. Finally we look at approximation algorithms for both minimising the average and minimising the maximum detour. This results in two algorithms. The first places k feed links such that the average detour is a (1 + )-approximation of the optimal solution in time O(k n ). The second places k feed links such that the maximum detour is a (1+ )-approximation of the optimal solution in time O( (k + n)). New results on feed-link placement iii
Time-Domain Acoustic Wave Solutions in Sheared Mean Flows

The instability waves triggered by an acoustic source of certain frequencies always co-exist with the acoustic waves in the solution of non-homogenous linearized Euler equations (LEE), termed as the total solution, for a given sheared mean flow. The total solution thus contains both the acoustic wave solution and the instability wave solution, the latter referred to as the contained instability wave solution. A time-domain method for obtaining only the acoustic wave solution in sheared mean flows is proposed and verified in this paper. Instead of suppressing or filtering-out the contained instability waves, in the proposed method the acoustic wave solution is achieved by means of subtracting the contained instability wave solution from the total solution of the non-homogenous LEE. The two important aspects of the proposed method are the identification of an appropriate reference point where the instability wave dominates the acoustic wave solution and the development of the approximately pure instability wave solution. The method is feasible to a multi-frequency or broadband sound source and is applicable to mean flows with more relaxed constraints than parallel or slowly varying mean flows. The implementation and effectiveness of the method are demonstrated by solving a test problem of a multi-frequency acoustic source embedded in a sheared mean flow. The acoustic wave solution obtained from the method is verified by the analytical solution.
Lumped Ultra-Broadband Linear Driver in 130 nm SiGe SG13G3 Technology

In this paper, a fully differential lumped linear driver for optical modulators using the novel high performance 130 nm IHP SG13G3 BiCMOS technology, featuring ft/fmax of 470 / 650 GHz, is presented. The amplifier is composed of two stages, an input variable gain stage and an output cascode stage. Peaking inductors in both stages have been used to flatten the frequency response and increase the bandwidth, while degeneration resistors have been employed for improving the circuit linearity. Measurement results show that the proposed design has a low frequency gain of 18 dB and a 3 dB bandwidth of more than 115 GHz, along with a total harmonic distortion at 1 dB compression of 6 %, an in band group delay variation of ± 0.7 ps and an overall power dissipation of 280 mW. Time domain measurements, limited in speed by the measurement setup, show operation up to 128 Gbps non-return-to-zero and 64 GBaud 4-levels pulse amplitude modulation, together with an output voltage swing at 1 dB compression of 2 Vppd, representing a significant breakthrough in terms of data rate and going beyond the performance of state-of-the-art lumped drivers to be found in literature, thanks to the high performance provided by the SG13G3 IHP technology.