Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Long-term surveillance of liver histological changes in chronic hepatitis C patients completing pegylated interferon-α plus ribavirin therapy: an observational cohort study

Background: For chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients completing pegylated interferon (PegIFN)-α/ribavirin therapy, long-term liver histological changes remain largely unexplored. Methods: This observational cohort study included 85 CHC patients completing PegIFN-α/ribavirin therapy with liver biopsies performed at baseline and the end of surveillance (EOS). Median years between paired biopsies were 6.75 (interquartile range: 5.63–7.54). Results: In patients with baseline METAVIR fibrosis stages (F) <4 (able to undergo fibrosis progression; n = 77), cases achieving sustained virological response (SVR) (n = 52) had a significantly lower rate of fibrosis progression than non-SVR cases (n = 25) (3.8% versus 24.0%, p = 0.012). Among the entire cohort (n = 85), the rate of activity response [METAVIR activity grades (A) decreasing or maintaining at A0] in SVR cases (n = 59) was significantly higher than that in non-SVR cases (n = 26) (94.9% versus 65.4%, p = 0.001). For SVR cases among the entire cohort, independent predictors of fibrosis clearance included baseline F <2 [odds ratio (OR) = 7.877, p = 0.042] and aspartate transaminase (AST) levels declining by >70% at EOS compared with baseline (OR = 9.013, p = 0.038). For non-SVR cases among the entire cohort, baseline AST levels >80 U/l and glucose levels ⩽ 105 mg/dl independently predicted significant fibrosis (F2/F3/F4) at EOS (OR = 12.558, p = 0.049) and activity response (OR = 17.741, p = 0.047), respectively. Conclusions: Among CHC patients completing PegIFN-α/ribavirin therapy, SVR lowers the risk of liver histological progression but does not guarantee fibrosis clearance. For SVR cases, those with baseline F ⩾ 2 or without significantly declined follow-up AST levels should be specifically monitored. As for non-SVR cases, those with a higher baseline AST or glucose level should preferentially receive retreatment.
MTRFN: Multiscale Temporal Receptive Field Network for Compressed Video Action Recognition at Edge Servers

With the wide deployment of Internet of Things monitoring terminals, a tremendous number of videos are accumulated continuously. Big data processing and analysis-based action recognition has an increasingly important role in making cities simpler, better, and smarter. The traditional cloud server-centered analysis mode has to spend extra time transmitting vast video data terminals to remote cloud servers, which is always violated in real implementation. Edge servers with limited caching and computation capacities near the monitoring terminals enable implementation. However, due to the dependency on training data and the high complexity of extracting information and network architecture, existing image domain-based methods cannot be implemented at edge servers. Moreover, recognizing actions with different durations is still challenging. Due to these issues, we extend the traditional image domain to the compressed domain to efficiently extract the information of $I$ frames and physical knowledge motion vectors (MVs), which can reflect the multiscale temporal feature just by partial decoding. To recognize the actions with different durations, a multiscale temporal receptive field network (MTRFN), including short-term and long-term branches, is proposed to simultaneously capture the action’s instant change based on the extracted MVs, the long temporal feature between adjacent $I$ frames, and the interaction between them. The results show that our algorithm can achieve a better balance between accuracy and computational complexity.
Performing strategy: conceptualising the strategizing of information systems in organisations

This study conceptualises the “doing of strategy” in the context of the strategic management of information systems in organisations. We study the enactment of strategy by different stakeholders of a major project driving the implementation of 90 self-service kiosks at an airport in the UK. Adopting a single qualitative interpretive case study research approach, we observed and conceptualise three distinct processes of strategizing information systems: decoupling, reframing and repackaging. The study draws on recent work repositioning information systems strategy as a dynamic process of knowledge creation and exploration, by adding a conceptual foundation for further research on the strategic management of information systems in organisations.
ACL RECONSTRUCTION – CURRENT UK PRACTICE

The aim of this study was to determine current practice in anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction amongst BASK members. This was an internet-based survey where members were invited to complete a questionnaire on ACL reconstruction. Of the 365 BASK surgeons performing ACL reconstruction, 241 completed the questionnaire (response rate 66%). 147(61%) of surgeons used both hamstring and patellar tendon grafts, 71(29%) used only hamstrings and 21(9%) used patellar tendon only. All surgeons used ipsilateral autograft. 157 (65%) used the transtibial technique for femoral tunnel placement with 80(33%) using the anteromedial portal technique. Of those using the anteromedial portal, the most common femoral fixation devices were the Endobutton (34%) and RCI screw (34%). Interference screw fixation (81%) was the most common tibial fixation in the same group of surgeons with the RCI screw being the most common (63%). 19% (45/241) of surgeons were performing double bundle ACL reconstructions in select cases. Hamstring femoral fixation was with a suspension device in 79% and interference screw in 18%. Of those using a suspension device the Endobutton was most common (48%) followed by Transfix (26%) and Rigidfix (19%). Tibial fixation was most commonly achieved by interference screw (57%) followed by Intrafix (30%). With patellar tendon graft the most popular femoral fixation was with an interference screw (66%) followed by suspension (34%). All surgeons used interference screw for tibial fixation. 90% of surgeons (217) allow immediate full weight-bearing as tolerated irrespective of fixation type with 8% delaying full weight bearing between 1 and 3 weeks. The results show the wide spread of variation in practice of ACL reconstruction. With recent renewed interest in a more anatomic placement of tunnels, the use of the anteromedial portal may continue to increase. With such a wide variation in techniques, grafts and fixation implants used, a register may help assess outcomes.
OPTIMIZATION OF ELECTRICAL POWER TRANSMISSION SYSTEM USING PSO WITH SVC

This paper presents a Static VAR compensator (SVC) Model which is developed using SIMULINK. The block SVC consist of PI controller, the parameters (Kp,Ki ) of which are being selected from optimizations made by PSO. The best output from PSO is selected and then feeded into the SVC parameters to get the optimized output of the same. A 800KM transmission line and SVC is modeled in the MATLAB. An algorithm has been developed for the same based on PSO. The best and optimized output from the algorithm is seen. The outputs can be checked with optimized PSO and without PSO optimization. It is clearly seen that PSO optimized SVC gives better results as compared to non optimized SVC.
REVIEW ON LOW FREQUENCY PULSE WIDTH MODULATION FOR CASCADED H-BRIDGE MULTILEVEL INVERTER USING SINGLE DC- SOURCE AND ISOLATION TRANSFORMER

Cascaded H-Bridge multilevel inverter is a promising topology for generation of high power output. This can be done by cascading number of H-bridge modules. Though it has wide application area and merits, it has greater disadvantage that it use separate DC supply. CMI with single phase transformer and single DC source is proposed for ensure high quality output power waveform. Numerical methods like N-R method is presented where switching angles are computed such that a certain lower order harmonics are eliminated. The proposed topology provides minimisation in cost in terms of THD, losses and filter size. In this report, the modulation techniques SPWM, Fundamental frequency and SHE-PWM are proposed and comparison of them with each other for ensures
STATISTICAL INFERENCE FOR FUNCTIONAL TIME SERIES

We investigate statistical inference for the mean function of stationary functional time series data with an infinite moving average structure. We propose a B-spline estimation for the temporally ordered trajectories of the functional moving average, which are used to construct a two-step estimator of the mean function. Under mild conditions, the B-spline mean estimator enjoys oracle efficiency in the sense that it is asymptotically equivalent to the infeasible estimator, that is, the sample mean of all trajectories observed entirely without errors. This oracle efficiency allows us to construct a simultaneous confidence band (SCB) for the mean function, which is asymptotically correct. Simulation results strongly corroborate the asymptotic theory. Using the SCB to analyze an electroencephalogram time series reveals strong evidence of a trigonometric form of the mean function.
AGGRESSION AMONG JUVENILE AND NON-JUVENILE DELINQUENTS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY

Background: The intent of study was to compared aggression among male juvenile & nonjuvenile delinquents. Aggression in its broadest sense is behaviour or a disposition towards behaviour that is force full: hostile or attacking. It makes occur either in relation or wit out provocation. Adolescence is the most complex stage of development of the youngster on his way to adulthood. This period seems to raise the greatest difficulties in the educational process because of the frequent physiological and emotional disturbances, deviations of character and behavioral disorders accompanying them often towards maturation. The research aim is to described the differences between juvenile and nonjuvenile delinquent adolescents using psychological tools to highlight differences between them in terms of aggression. Methods: The study was conducted with fifty (50) males out of which 50 (25 juveniles from observation home Lucknow Uttar Pradesh) and (25 nonjuveniles K.D. Singh Babu Stadium Lucknow University, Uttar Pradesh) were normal population between the ages of 14 to 16 years was selected and using stratified systematic (random) sampling technique. aggression scale developed by by Km Roma Pal and Dr. (Smt.) Tasneem Naqvi (1986) were used to collect the data. To compare the juvenile delinquent & NonJuvenile delinquent, the independent t-test was given between the average scores of both study groups. Further the level of significance was set at level of 0.05. The statistical analysis was performed with the help of SPSS (V-17) software. Results: This result showed that delinquents were high mean score (16.70) and showed high aggression than the nondelinquents mean score (9.06). The results indicated that juvenile delinquent group differs significantly from nondelinquent on aggression variable. The higher the aggression severity, the greater the rate of delinquency. It is noticed from the present study that high level of aggression in delinquents and due to the lack of care, supervision and may be not proper treatment facility in the observation home. Conclusion: It is suggesting that if proper supervision, care, education and provide better & specific training in home as well as in school to the children then, it will help to overcome aggression.
Bumblebee Aerodynamics in a Virtual Wind Tunnel

Nature inspired innovation powered many engineering innovations. For example, Bird inspired flight helped us to develop intercontinental flying long range aircraft with efficiency as comparable to transcontinental migratory birds. But, short range air travel, efficiency is much lower than short range flying birds and insects. There is still a lot more we can learn from nature for cost effective and efficient short range personal transportation. One interesting short-range flight champion from the natural world is the humble bumble bee and dragonfly. Insect's flight is governed by both conventional aerodynamics and unsteady aerodynamics. Insects (Bumblebee, Dragonfly) wing structural shape, material constituent, spatial arrangement are also optimized for efficient flight. Hence, in this paper, we investigate the flight behaviour of shorts range insects. The Multiphysics CAE Model of a Bumblebee in a virtual wind tunnel is developed using COMSOL. The numerical problem is solved using Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) Module. We studied the aerodynamic behaviour of Bumblebee in our virtual wind tunnel. The flow and structural performance are evaluated. The unsteady aerodynamic forces acting on 3D computational Bumblebee/Dragonfly wings are studied by numerically solving the Navier-Stokes equations. The incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are discretized and solved on a specified tetrahedral grid. The objective of the present study is to investigate the influence of the different aerodynamic parameters on the flight performance. Reynolds number (Re), Drag Force, Lift Force, Drag Coefficient and Lift Coefficient. The derived parameters from a virtual wind tunnel experiment. Typical virtual wind tunnel experimental results are shown for Fluid Pressure Magnitude and Downside Fluid Velocity Magnitude as function of flapping, respectively. This model will also enable Fluid structure interaction study for aeroelastic performance. This study will benefit to develop novel lightweight personal air transporters and also drones for general purpose short haul air cargo transportation. Keywords​: Insect flight mechanics, virtual wind tunnel, CFD, aerodynamics, personal air transporter
Analysis of modulation characteristics on return signals from aircraft rotating blades in the conventional radar

Aiming at the problem that radar echoes from some airborne targets contain modulation sections and airframe sections,we derive the parameter models for the spectrum characteristics of the modulation section from the rotating parts and its echo amplitude on basis of analysis of the echo mathematical model of the rotating parts,indicate the application conditions of some previous models in the literature,and analyze the observation conditions of the modulation effect as well as the influence on the modulation characteristics induced by partial blades sheltering. Simulation is performed in different parameter conditions, and the results show that the above-mentioned theoretical analysis and the modulation characteristic parameter models are reliable and effective.
Multi-user Detection Technology for Space-Time Block Coding Systems

In order to restrain the interference of co-channel users using space-time block coding,the anti-interference technique is focused on and the multi-user detection(MUD) based on probabilistic data association(PDA) algorithm is applied in the system by using the relationship among user′s signals to remove the interference,which can enhance the system capacity by introducing co-channel users.The simulations show that the system performance can get more enhancement by using this strategy,which is very important for enlarging the system capacity.
Conserving kinetic energy while identifying nonlinear reduced-order models

Several methodologies have been developed to indirectly compute reduced-order models (ROMs) of geometrically nonlinear structures modelled using commercial finite element (FE) software. Currently, such methods are unable to capture the in-plane kinetic energy of the FE model, leading to poor results when applied to structures which can undergo large in-plane displacements. In this work, we show how kinetic energy can be accounted for in the reduced dynamics, and demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed method using a cantilever beam.
Physiology and pathophysiology of chronic pain (Part I)

Chronic pain imposes a significant health burden on society and has a debilitating impact on individuals and their productivity.1 Chronic pain has been reported to affect 20% of people worldwide.2 With the current world population at 7.8 billion, it is estimated that approximately 1.5 billion people suffer from chronic pain. The socioeconomic burden of chronic pain in the USA is between US$560 and US$635 billion annually.3 The impact of chronic pain in Africa is also worrisome: Nigeria has a prevalence 5.5%,4 while approximately 1 in 5 South Africans (18.3%) has been reported to suffer from chronic pain.5
WINTER HABITAT USE BY MOOSE IN SOUTHEASTERN ALASKA: IMPLICATIONS FOR FOREST MANAGEMENT

Habitat use by moose (Alces alces) was monitored via radio telemetry from November 1981 through April1983, a period that included a low-snow and a high-snow winter. In the low-snow winter, moose used coniferous, mixed hardwood/conifer, and cut areas in proportion to availability, preferred deciduous stands, and avoided open areas. In the high-snow winter, moose altered their habitat use by utilizing coniferous and mixed stands significantly more, and deciduous and cut areas significantly less, than in the low-snow winter. Moose avoided snow >80 em deep. Implications for forest management are discussed. The effect of timber management on moose populations has been debated for years, particularly in southeastern Alaska where logging of the coastal rain forest has the potential to influence small, isolated moose populations in the region's larger mainland river drainages. Oearcuttings have been reported as beneficial to moose populations (Bergerud and Manuel1968, Markgren 1974, Ahlen 1975, Peek et al. 1976, Doerr et al. 1980) because they provide browse during autumn and low-snow winters; therefore, logging might be viewed as an important habitat management tool. However, use of coniferous stands by moose during deep snow conditions was reported by Telfer (1970), Van Ballenberghe and Peek (1971), Peek et al. (1976), Doerr et al. (1980), and Brusnyk and Gilbert (1983). A better understanding of habitat utilization by moose in areas subjected to clearcut logging is needed to facilitate effective forest planning and moose man-
Dempster-Schafer Inspired Association Framework and Tracking Metric for Space Objects.

Space situational awareness and space domain awareness by necessity must be built on a solid framework of data association, data integrity, and timeliness to support orbit estimation and mission success. Data association is complicated by the often thousands of simultaneous observations and objects being processed at any given time. It is particularly challenging for tracking and custody of multiple objects with similar orbits. The data association problem can result in false and missed detections due to uncertain dynamics, maneuvering objects, closely-spaced objects, and association over long propagation intervals between observations. Orbit estimation is further complicated by the scale of intelligently operating a system with thousands of objects which challenges most processing platforms. This paper proposes a framework to address these issues based on Multi-Bernoulli ﬁlter, Dempster-Shafer theory and joint probabilistic data association to better express how well objects are being tracked. In particular, the belief of an object being actively tracked versus actively lost are presented in this paper and directly incorporated into the data association equations. These two measures are shown to provide contextual information on if an object is being actively tracked, while solving some problematic data association situations. The value of this approach is demonstrated by representative use cases based on the live data collection and processing done on the L3Harris SpaceSentry system.
MicroRNA Sequence Polymorphism and the Risk of Colorectal Cancer

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the 3 rd common malignant disease. Prediction of its risk depending on the individuals' genetic makeup is an essential step for screening and personalized medicine. Different studies implicated MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as potential predictors for CRC risk and prognosis with different findings in various demographic settings. To the present knowledge, no similar work was conducted, so far, to study these relations in our community. Aim: To determine the prevalence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes coding for the miRNAs: mir-146a, mir-423 and mir-196a2 in patients with sporadic CRC. The association of these SNPs with increased CRC risk or advanced tumor stage or grade at diagnosis was also explored. Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, we enrolled 150 patient subjects with sporadic CRC and 140 sex and age matched cancer free control subjects. Genomic DNA was extracted from venous blood samples and screened for the presence of SNPs in mir146, mir-423 and mir-1962a genes using High Resolution Melting Analysis (HRMA) method, and then results were confirmed by direct sequencing. The SPSS statistical software (version 17) was used to test for the association between the presence of the SNP and the risk of CRC, its stage and grade. Results: The frequency of the CG genotype of mir-1946a was significantly higher (P < 0.01) in the patient subjects (44%) compared to the control ones (30.7%). This genotype was associated with increased risk of CRC (OR= 1.741, 95 % CI= 1.050 -2.886, P=0.031), late stage cancer (III and V of TNM system, OR=3.562, 95%CI= 1.578-8.039, P=0.002) and poor tumour differentiation (OR=5.267, 95%CI= 1.10525.109, P=0.037). Individuals carrying CC genotype showed increased CRC risk compared to the common GG genotype (control: 10%, patients: 15.3%, OR= 2.235, 95 % CI= 1.0644.694, P=0.004). Additionally it was associated with late stage tumor (OR= 8.522, 95 % CI= 2.89925.049, P= 0.0001) but not tumor grade (OR= 2.950, 95 % CI= 0.389-22.339, P= 0.295). None of the genotypes of mir-423 and mir-196a2 showed any association with neither increased risk of CRC nor late stage or poor differentiation. Conclusion: Various SNPs of miRNAs showed different correlations with CRC and its pathological characteristics which reflect a complex interaction between the genes and the cellular milieuthat is influenced by the demographic qualities of the studied population. Mir-146 can represent a potential target for screening of CRC and a prognostic marker. Further evaluation in a large scale studies will give a better insight on the effects of SNPs on CRC risk and prognosis.
BDI: A tool for management and conservation of Iran's biodiversity

Biodiversity is one of the key components of environmental sustainability and its conservation is very important. To conserve biodiversity, both its management and measurement management are necessary. Biodiversity measurement means some quantitative value that can be ascribed to the various measurements so these values can be compared. With its geographic and climatic variety, Iran has a valuable biodiversity, which includes about 1130, 25000, and 8000 species of vertebrates, invertebrates and flora, respectively. Due to the large amount of data (occurrence points) and complexity of calculations, utilizing computer programs is essential. We here present BDI v. 1.0. 0 (BioDiversity of Iran), a user-friendly software utility which facilitates the biodiversity management and conservation by documenting the data and calculating the most commonly used biodiversity indices and then spatially visualizes the results on a map. While we acknowledge the other computer programs in this field, this software has a high spatial precision and resolution and is able to read and create both graphical and digital data formats. BDI is highly efficient in biodiversity evaluation and conservation priorities of protected areas.
A Charger for Aircraft Batteries

A new general charger with high capacity for aircraft batteries is introduced. The circuit scheme and control principle are also introduced in detail. A prototype with ADμC812 is developed. It can control the current of the charger in the state of constant and tiny currents. Its superiority performance of simple frame, high efficiency, small volume and light weight is verified by experimental result.