Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of renal function on the diagnostic performance of plasma biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease

Background Several blood-based biomarkers are promising to be used in the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) including Aβ42/40, p-tau181, and neurofilament light (NfL). The kidney is associated with the clearance of proteins. It is crucial to evaluate the effect of renal function on the diagnostic performance of these biomarkers before clinical implementation, which is important for the establishment of reference ranges and the interpretation of results. Methods This study is a cross-sectional analysis based on ADNI cohort. Renal function was determined by the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR). Plasma Aβ42/40 was measured by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Plasma p-tau181 and NfL were analyzed by Single Molecule array (Simoa) technique. [18F] florbetapir-PET (Aβ-PET) was used as a reference standard to estimate the brain amyloid load. The cutoff of Aβ-PET positivity was defined as ≥1.11. Linear regression models were used to investigate the associations of continuous eGFR with each plasma biomarker separately. The diagnostic accuracies of plasma biomarkers for positive brain amyloid across different renal function groups were analyzed by Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Youden-Index was used to determine the cutoff levels. Results A total of 645 participants were included in this study. The levels and diagnostic performance of Aβ42/40 were not affected by renal function. eGFR was only found negatively associated with p-tau181 levels in Aβ-PET negetive sample (β = −0.09, p = 0.039). eGFR was found negatively associated with NfL levels both in whole sample and Aβ-PET stratified groups (β = −0.27, p < 0.001 in whole sample; β = −0.28, p = 0.004 in A−; β = −0.27, p < 0.001 in A+). The diagnostic accuracies of p-tau181 and NfL were not affected by renal function. But the cutoff values of p-tau181 and NfL changed in participants with mild to moderate eGFR decline compared to participants with normal eGFR. Conclusion Plasma Aβ42/40 was a robust biomarker for AD which was not affected by renal function. Plasma p-tau181 and NfL levels were affected by renal function, specific reference values of them should be considered in populations with different renal function stages.
Radiation and scattering characteristics of microstrip antennas on normally biased ferrite substrates

Radiation and scattering characteristics of microstrip antennas and arrays printed on ferrite substrates with a normal magnetic bias field are described. The extra degree of freedom offered by the biased ferrite can be used to obtain a number of novel characteristics, including switchable and tunable circularly polarized radiation from a microstrip antenna having a single feed point, dynamic wide-angle impedance matching for phased arrays of microstrip antennas, and a switchable radar cross section reduction technique for microstrip antennas. Results are obtained from full-wave moment method solutions for single microstrip antennas and infinite arrays of microstrip antennas. A cavity model solution for a circular patch antenna on a biased ferrite substrate is also presented, to aid in understanding the operation of these antennas. >
Concentrations and residues of gentamicin in the milk of dairy cows after intramammary infusion

Between 50 and 500 mg gentamicin base was infused into certain quarters of 29 cows free from mastitis. Mastitis was induced in two quarters of each of six cows by infusion of Escherichia coli endotoxin, and gentamicin was infused 12 and 36 hours afterwards. Milk concentrations of the antibiotic of 2 mu g/ml or more were maintained for 3-4 milkings providing at least 100 mg was infused. After treatment of inflamed quarters, the antibiotic persisted in milk for 8 milkings after 250 mg and 9 milkings after 500 mg.
Coordination of supply chain with buyer's promotion

In this paper, we develop a model to analyze the coordination of a supply chain with the demand influenced by the buyer's promotion. The supply chain consists of a supplier and a group of homogeneous buyers. The buyers choose inventories ex ante and promotional levels ex post. The annual demand rate depends on the promotional level and the operating cost---including the ordering and inventory holding cost---depends on the promotional level and the order quantity. It is shown that quantity discount alone is not sufficient to guarantee joint profit maximization. Then we propose a contract, discount quantity with transfer profit contract, and show that this contract can coordinate the supply chain. Moreover, it is shown that this policy is robust because it can allocate the supply chain profit arbitrarily between the supplier and the buyer and lead the buyer to choose the joint optimal promotional level and the supplier need not to observe and verify the buyer's promotional level. For the special case that the operating cost is a fixed constant, we show that there is no contract which can coordinate the supply chain if the promotion is unobservable and unverifiable and the discount policy can guarantee the coordination of the supply chain if the promotion is observable and verifiable.
Synthesis and characterisation of modified magnetite super paramagnetic nano composite for removal of toxic metals from ground water

In this study a novel type of EDTA-Surface functionalized Si-coated magnetite nano particles were synthesized. Being hexadentate ligand EDTA (ethylene-di-ammine tetra acetic acid) has a higher rate of chelation or complication with toxic metals thus enhancing the removal efficiency of nanosorbents. Magnetite nanoparticles (Fe3O4) were synthesized by a simple chemical co-precipitation route and silica-coating on its surface was done by hydrolysis of tetraethoxy silane (TEOS). EDTA was functionalised on the surface of Si-coated magnetite nanoparticles in acidic medium (PH=4–4.6) through a complex reaction mechanism. The resultant nanosorbents were well dispersed in water. Their surface morphology was studied by SEM which also showed nanoparticles had the mean diameter 12-13nm. XRD result showed the prominent peak of Fe3O4 at 2Θ=35° and its cubic spinel structure.
Semi-Flexible Diversified Circularly Polarized Millimeter-Wave MIMO Antenna for Wearable Biotechnologies

This article presents a novel semi-flexible two-port multi-input–multioutput (MIMO) antenna with dual circular polarization (CP) in the millimeter-wave (mm-wave) frequency band (24–31 GHz) for wearable applications in biotechnologies. The radiating circular patch and ground plane are embedded with multiple sectoral slots and moon-shaped slots, respectively, for broad impedance bandwidth and CP property. The <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$E_{\theta }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$E_{\phi }$ </tex-math></inline-formula> fields are also classified as RHCP and LHCP at 27.10 and 29.53 GHz, respectively. The microstrip line feeds the MIMO antenna, which is printed on a semi-flexible substrate with an overall electrical length of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.9\lambda _{0} \times 1.8\lambda _{0} \times 0.04\lambda _{0}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> at 24 GHz. The antenna is designed for homogeneous space conditions (off-body) with a flat profile. Its on-body performance capability top-up with bending analysis is examined on the surface (chest, hand, and leg) of the anatomical Gustav human body model. Furthermore, the MIMO diversity parameters are also evaluated in the CST Microwave Studio Simulator. Later on, the simulated radiation characteristics are testified through in vitro measurement of the fabricated MIMO antenna in free-space and chest mimicking gel-based phantom. Finally, to ensure human shielding, the SAR analysis is mapped with the communication link margin to select the input power.
Fast lane detection based on sparse prediction

Lane detection plays an important role in driving safety, so it is necessary to explore more practical lane detection methods. Nowadays, with the development of deep learning, mainstream methods regard the lane detection task as a pixel-level image segmentation task. Although the powerful neural network can greatly improve the detection accuracy, it also brings a large computational cost and reduces the running speed. Therefore, achieving high-precision and high-speed lane detection is still challenging. In this paper, we design an efficient and fast sparse prediction method. Specifically, our method describes the lane line by predicting the location of discrete lane points, so the calculation magnitude is the number of discrete points. This method greatly reduces the calculation cost and is not limited by the number of lane lines. The network structure uses an Encoder–Decoder architecture, and the large receptive field obtained by the structure after downsampling can maintain the spatial continuity between lane points, thus ensuring high accuracy. In addition, self-attention distillation is used to improve the learning ability of the network. Compared with other state-of-the-art methods on the TuSimple and CULane datasets, sparse prediction method achieves high accuracy with obvious speed advantage.
Einstein A and B coefficients for a black hole

By quantum calculations in a classical background geometry, Hawking has shown that an isolated black hole emits thermal radiation spontaneously. Starting from Hawking's expectation value for the number of quanta emitted per mode, and using methods from statistical thermodynamics, one of us calculated earlier the probability distribution for the number of quanta per mode outgoing from a black hole placed in a thermal radiation bath. By the same methods we show here that this probability is not simply the combination of that for Hawking's spontaneous emission and that for pure scattering. From this we infer the existence of stimulated emission in all modes, even those which do not superradiate. We derive the probability that $m$ quanta go out in a given mode when precisely $n$ are incident. It satisfies a symmetry condition originally given by Hartle and Hawking for a special case. For all modes the average number of outgoing quanta contains a contribution from stimulated emission which shows up as a negative contribution to the effective absorptivity $\ensuremath{\Gamma}$. The situation is analogous to that for opacity in the theory of radiative transport. Superradiance occurs for modes in which the negative contribution dominates the pure absorptivity. We identify the Einstein $A$ and $B$ coefficients for a black hole. The $B$ coefficients satisfy the usual relation from atomic physics with the role of degeneracy factor played by the exponential of black-hole entropy. This agrees with the statistical interpretation of this quantity in terms of internal black-hole configurations. The relation between the $B$ coefficients suggests time reversibility of the radiative aspect of a black hole. This supports Hawking's view that a black hole and a white hole are essentially the same thing.
Stochastic Buckling Analysis of Laminated Plates Under Shear and Compression

A stochastic finite-element-based prediction of the buckling of composite laminated plates, with and without cutouts, under axial compression and shear is presented. The solution for the buckling response is achieved by first evaluating the prebuckled-stress distribution from linear elastostatic analysis. Using this, the critical buckling load and its mode are evaluated by solving an eigenvalue problem. A layerwise plate model is used for both prebuckling and buckling analysis. The effect of prebuckling stresses on the critical buckling load is discussed. The influence of both circular and elliptical cutouts on the buckling strength of composite laminates is presented. The stochastic buckling analysis is done based on the mean-centered first-order perturbation technique. The mean and variance of the buckling strength of composite plates are validated with results available in the literature. Subsequently, the effect of uncertainty in the material properties, obtained from micromechanics-based approach, on the buckling strength of the laminated plates is studied. Results are presented for two-layered plates with different layups and boundary conditions.
Growth patterns in childhood and adolescence and adult body composition: a pooled analysis of birth cohort studies from five low and middle-income countries (COHORTS collaboration)

Objective We examined associations among serial measures of linear growth and relative weight with adult body composition. Design Secondary data analysis of prospective birth cohort studies. Settings Six birth cohorts from Brazil, Guatemala, India, the Philippines and South Africa. Participants 4173 individuals followed from birth to ages 22–46 years with complete and valid weight and height at birth, infancy, childhood and adolescence, and body composition in adult life. Exposures Birth weight and conditional size (standardised residuals of height representing linear growth and of relative weight representing weight increments independent of linear size) in infancy, childhood and adolescence. Primary outcome measures Body mass index, fat mass index (FMI), fat-free mass index (FFMI), fat mass/fat-free mass ratio (FM/FFM), and waist circumference in young and mid-adulthood. Results In pooled analyses, a higher birth weight and relative weight gains in infancy, childhood and adolescence were positively associated with all adult outcomes. Relative weight gains in childhood and adolescence were the strongest predictors of adult body composition (β (95% CI) among men: FMI (childhood: 0.41 (0.26 to 0.55); adolescence: 0.39 (0.27 to 0.50)), FFMI (childhood: 0.50 (0.34 to 0.66); adolescence: 0.43 (0.32 to 0.55)), FM/FFM (childhood: 0.31 (0.16 to 0.47); adolescence: 0.31 (0.19 to 0.43))). Among women, similar patterns were observed, but, effect sizes in adolescence were slightly stronger than in childhood. Conditional height in infancy was positively associated with FMI (men: 0.08 (0.03 to 0.14); women: 0.11 (0.07 to 0.16)). Conditional height in childhood was positively but weakly associated with women’s adiposity. Site-specific and sex-stratified analyses showed consistency in the direction of estimates, although there were differences in their magnitude. Conclusions Prenatal and postnatal relative weight gains were positive predictors of larger body size and increased adiposity in adulthood. A faster linear growth in infancy was a significant but weak predictor of higher adult adiposity.
Emerging Trends in Lipid-Based Vaccine Delivery: A Special Focus on Developmental Strategies, Fabrication Methods, and Applications

Lipid-based vaccine delivery systems such as the conventional liposomes, virosomes, bilosomes, vesosomes, pH-fusogenic liposomes, transferosomes, immuno-liposomes, ethosomes, and lipid nanoparticles have gained a remarkable interest in vaccine delivery due to their ability to render antigens in vesicular structures, that in turn prevents its enzymatic degradation in vivo. The particulate form of lipid-based nanocarriers confers immunostimulatory potential, making them ideal antigen carriers. Facilitation in the uptake of antigen-loaded nanocarriers, by the antigen-presenting cells and its subsequent presentation through the major histocompatibility complex molecules, leads to the activation of a cascade of immune responses. Further, such nanocarriers can be tailored to achieve the desired characteristics such as charge, size, size distribution, entrapment, and site-specificity through modifications in the composition of lipids and the selection of the appropriate method of preparation. This ultimately adds to its versatility as an effective vaccine delivery carrier. The current review focuses on the various lipid-based carriers that have been investigated to date as potential vaccine delivery systems, the factors that affect their efficacy, and their various methods of preparation. The emerging trends in lipid-based mRNA vaccines and lipid-based DNA vaccines have also been summarized.
Influence of HA on Release Process of Anionic and Cationic API Incorporated into Hydrophilic Gel

The properties of sodium hyaluronate (HA), such as hygroscopicity, flexibility, the ability to form hydrogels, as well as biocompatibility and biodegradability, are beneficial for the applications in pharmaceutical technology, cosmetics industry, and aesthetic medicine. The aim of this study was to prepare HA-based hydrogels doped with active pharmaceutical ingredient (API): a cationic drug—lidocaine hydrochloride or anionic drug—sodium. The interaction between the carrier and the implemented active pharmaceutical substances was evaluated in prepared systems by applying viscometric measurements, performing release tests of the drug from the obtained formulations, and carrying out FTIR and DSC. The data from release studies were analyzed using the zero-, first-, and second-order kinetics and Higuchi, Korsmeyer-Peppas, and Hixon-Crowell models. The respective kinetic parameters: the release rate constants, the half-release time and, in the case of the Korsmeyer-Peppas equation, the n parameter were calculated. The variability between the obtained release profiles was studied by calculating the difference (f1) and the similarity factor (f2) as well as employing statistical methods. It was revealed that the incorporation of the drugs resulted in an increase in the viscosity of the hydrogels in comparison to the respective drug-free preparations. The dissolution study showed that not entire amount of the added drug was released from the formulation, suggesting an interaction between the carrier and the drug. The FTIR and DSC studies confirmed the bond formation between HA and both medicinal substances.
Frequency Allocation: The First Forty Years

▪ Abstract In 1960 ICSU set up an Inter-Union Commission (IUCAF) on the Allocation of Frequencies for Space Research and Radio Astronomy, to keep key parts of the radio spectrum clear for passive, scientific use. IUCAF represents URSI, IAU and COSPAR at World Radio Conferences (WRCs) convened by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) in Geneva; the WRCs establish the international law which governs users of the radio spectrum. This review recounts many serious threats posed to passive scientific research by commercial and military operations, particularly those involving radio emissions from aircraft and spacecraft. The continual conflict between commercial greed and scientific curiosity has often put the future of radio astronomy, space research, and earth exploration in jeopardy. The conflict increases as we move into the Information Age.
STAR: An STGCN ARchitecture for Skeleton-Based Human Action Recognition

Skeleton-based human action cognition (HAR) has drawn increasing attention recently. As an emerging approach for skeleton-based HAR tasks, Spatial-Temporal Graph Convolution Network (STGCN) achieves remarkable performance by fully exploiting the skeleton topology information via graph convolution. Unfortunately, existing GCN accelerators lose efficiency when processing STGCN models due to two limitations. (1) At the dataflow level, the hardware parallelism of GCN accelerators cannot match the computation parallelism of STGCN models, leading to computing resource under-utilization. (2) At the computation level, GCN accelerators fail to exploit the inherent temporal redundancy in STGCN models. To overcome the limitations, this paper proposes STAR, an STGCN architecture for skeleton-based human action recognition. STAR is designed based on the characteristics of different computation phases in STGCN. For limitation (1), a spatial-temporal dimension consistent (STDC) dataflow is proposed to fully exploit the data reuse opportunities in all the different dimensions of STGCN. For limitation (2), we propose a node-wise exponent sharing scheme and a temporal-structured redundancy elimination mechanism, to exploit the inherent temporal redundancy specially introduced by STGCN. To further address the under-utilization induced by redundancy elimination, we design a dynamic data scheduler to manage the feature data storage and schedule the features and weights for valid computation in real time. STAR achieves <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$4.48\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$5.98\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$2.54\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$103.88\times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> energy savings on average over the HyGCN, AWB-GCN, TPU, and Jetson TX2 GPU.
High-resolution broadband beamforming using a doubly-steered coherent signal-subspace approach

H. Wang and M. Kaveh's (1985) wideband coherent signal-subspace technique is shown to have a straightforward correlation domain interpretation, with their simplified, so-called focused covariance matrix being a slice through the generalized correlation matrix. Such a matrix is known as a steered covariance matrix (STCM), and it is demonstrated that it is possible to form a high-resolution map using a limited number of STCMs, with attendant computational advantage. <<ETX>>
High-Gain Omnidirectional Horizontally Polarized Dipole Array for Sub-6 Base Station

A novel omnidirectional horizontally polarized dipole antenna array with wide bandwidth and high gain is reported, which operates at sub-6 band. A major improvement is the feeding method for omnidirectional radiation patterns which is inspired by classic turnstile antenna array. Six pairs of modified cross dipoles are positioned along a parallel feeding wire transmission line, and the dipole elements are placed in two orthogonal planes, with six dipole elements in each plane. The adjacent dipole elements on different planes are spaced by a quarter wavelength to produce an omnidirectional radiation pattern. The antenna array is simply machined with 1 mm diameter copper wire and fed by a coaxial structure at the center of the array. The max cross section area is 3.17 × 0. 5λ02 which can be limited in a cylinder. The measured and simulated results are in good agreement. The measured –10 dB impedance bandwidth covers 1.19 GHz from 3.83 to 5.02 GHz and the measured peak realized gain value is 7.44 dBi. The measured 1 dB gain bandwidth of the proposed antenna is 1 GHz (22%) from 4 to 5 GHz. The advantages of high gain, broadband, omnidirectional radiation, and low cost make this antenna favorable in base station situations.