Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Direct current measurement based steer-by-wire systems for realistic driving feeling

In this paper, a method to reproduce realistic driving feeling and improve the returnability of steer-by-wire systems (SBW) is proposed by measuring the roadwheel motor's current directly. The key contribution presented here is a novel method to recreate the driving feeling in term of force feedback with simple and cheap current sensors. A current sensor is used to fully measure the steering torque on the rack of steering mechanism. This measured steering torque therefore, includes the overall effects of road conditions, aligning moments, tire properties and so on. Beside that, a free control scheme is proposed to improve returnability as well as the handwheel stability in a free motion. Moreover, during this research, the significant frequency effect of handwheel motions was found. This effect could be useful and valuable for improving steer-by-wire development based on torque-map based method. This method is investigated with simulation results using the control design and simulation module in LabVIEW programming language. The simulated results show that this method offers a cheaper and simpler solution for the development of steer-by-wire systems. In addition, stability and returnability of handwheel in steer-by-wire systems could be improved.
Changes in Antarctic temperature, wind and precipitation in response to the Antarctic Oscillation

Abstract Output of a 14 year integration with a high-resolution (55 km ×55 km) regional atmospheric climate model is used to study the response of Antarctic near-surface climate to the Antarctic Oscillation (AAO), the periodical strengthening and weakening of the circumpolar vortex in the Southern Hemisphere. In spite of the relatively short record, wind, temperature and precipitation show widespread and significant AAO-related signals. When the vortex is strong (high AAO index), northwesterly flow anomalies cause warming over the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) and adjacent regions in West Antarctica and the Weddell Sea. In contrast, cooling occurs in East Antarctica, the eastern Ross Ice Shelf and parts of Marie Byrd Land. Most of the annual temperature signal stems from the months March–August. The spatial distribution of the precipitation response to changes in the AAO does not mirror temperature changes but is in first order determined by the direction of flow anomalies with respect to the Antarctic topography. When the vortex is strong (high AAO index), the western AP becomes wetter, while the Ross Ice Shelf, parts of West Antarctica and the Lambert Glacier basin, East Antarctica, become drier.
Morphology and Dielectric Properties of Boron-doped BaTiO3

Abstract Boron-doped BaTiO3 precurors (BaTi1−xB2xO3+X) were prepared via the glycol-glycerol complexes of boron, titanium (IV), and barium. With optimum composition, ceramics with dielectric properties comparable to those of pristine BaTiO3 ceramic sintered at 1300°C can be obtained after sintered at temperature less than 900°C (room-temperature dielectric constant ∼4000, dielectric strength ∼7.0 kV/mm). The appreciable decrease in sintering temperature is attributable to (a) addition of boron dopant as substitute of titamium rather than to stochiometric BaTiO3, and (b) application of glycol-glycerol solvents/ligands in the synthesis of precursors, which guarantees the compositional homogenization of the final ceramics.
A Community Study of the Psychological Effects of the Omagh Car Bomb on Adults

Background The main aims of the study were to assess psychological morbidity among adults nine months after a car bomb explosion in the town of Omagh, Northern Ireland and to identify predictors of chronic posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms. Method A questionnaire was sent to all adults in households in The Omagh District Council area. The questionnaire comprised established predictors of PTSD (such as pre-trauma personal characteristics, type of exposure, initial emotional response and long-term adverse physical or financial problems), predictors derived from the Ehlers and Clark (2000) cognitive model, a measure of PTSD symptoms and the General Health Questionnaire. Results Among respondents (n = 3131) the highest rates of PTSD symptoms and probable casesness (58.5%) were observed among people who were present in the street when the bomb exploded but elevated rates were also observed in people who subsequently attended the scene (21.8% probable caseness) and among people for whom someone close died (11.9%). People with a near miss (left the scene before the explosion) did not show elevated rates. Exposure to the bombing increased PTSD symptoms to a greater extent than general psychiatric symptoms. Previously established predictors accounted for 42% of the variance in PTSD symptoms among people directly exposed to the bombing. Predictors derived from the cognitive model accounted for 63%. Conclusions High rates of chronic PTSD were observed in individuals exposed to the bombing. Psychological variables that are in principle amenable to treatment were the best predictors of PTSD symptoms. Teams planning treatment interventions for victims of future bombings and other traumas may wish to take these results into account.
Superparasitism Evolution: Adaptation or Manipulation?

Superparasitism refers to the oviposition behavior of parasitoid females who lay their eggs in an already parasitized host. This often yields intense competition among larvae that are sharing the same host. Why would a female oviposit in such hostile habitat instead of looking for a better quality, unparasitized host? Here we present a continuous‐time model of host‐parasitoid interaction and discuss alternative scenarios. This model is first used to analyze the evolution of the superparasitism behavior of a solitary proovigenic parasitoid under both time and egg limitation. Then, following the recent discovery by Varaldi et al., we allow the parasitoid to be infected by a virus that alters the superparasitism behavior of its host to enhance its own horizontal transmission. The analysis of the coevolution of this manipulative behavior with the oviposition behavior of uninfected females clarifies and quantifies the conflict that emerges between the parasitoid and its virus. The model also yields new testable predictions. For example, we expect that uninfected parasitoids should superparasite less after coevolving with the manipulative virus. More generally, this model provides a theoretical framework for analyzing the evolution of the manipulation of parasitoid life‐history traits by microparasites.
An efficient phonotactic-acoustic system for language identification

This paper presents a combined two-component system for language identification based on phonotactic and acoustic features. The phonotactic part consisting of a multilingual phone-recognizer with a double bigram-decoding architecture and a phonetic-context mapping is supported by a second part with pronunciation modeling of the recognized phone-sequence using Gaussian density models. Both parts are post-processed by a neural-based final classifier. Measured on the NIST'95 evaluation set, the described system outperforms state-of-the-art components and, at the same time, requires considerably less computational expense, as compared to implicit phonotactic-acoustic modeling and parallel recognizer architectures.
Ignavigranum ruoffiae, a rare pathogen that caused a skin abscess

Introduction Ignavigranum ruoffiae is an extremely rare cause of human infections. Case presentation An 83-year-old male with a painless, ten-day-old, erythematous skin abscess on his left flank, which had showed a purulent discharge for 48 h, was admitted to the Emergency service. He was treated with cephalexin, disinfection with Codex water and spray of rifampicin. Five days later, surgical drainage of the abscess was proposed due to the torpid evolution of the patient. Samples were taken for culture, and antibiotic treatment with trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole was established. The patient returned after 10 days showing healing of the abscess. Microbiological studies showed a few Gram-positive cocci present as single cells and short chains that grew after 72 h of incubation at 35 °C with CO2 on 5 % sheep blood agar. Colonies presented a strong sauerkraut odour. Initial biochemical test results were negative for catalase, aesculin and bile-aesculin, and positive for pyrrolidonyl arylamidase, leucine aminopeptidase and growth in 6.5 % NaCl broth, which prompted the preliminary identification of Facklamia species or I. ruoffiae. The positive result for arginine deamination and negative result for hippurate hydrolysis, failure to produce acid from mannitol, sucrose, sorbitol or trehalose, plus the distinctive sauerkraut odour identified the organism as I. ruoffiae. The phenotypic identification was confirmed by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. The strain seemed to be susceptible to the antimicrobials tested but had decreased susceptibility to carbapenems. Conclusion This case provides more insights into the phenotypic characteristics and antimicrobial resistance profile of I. ruoffiae.
Constraints on parallel activation in bilingual spoken language processing: Examining proficiency and lexical status using eye-tracking

During spoken word-recognition, bilinguals have been shown to access their two languages simultaneously. The present study examined effects of language proficiency and lexical status on parallel language activation. Language proficiency was manipulated by testing German-native and English-native bilingual speakers of German and English. Lexical status was manipulated by presenting target words that either overlapped in form across translation equivalents (cognate words) or did not overlap in form across translation equivalents (English-specific words). Participants identified targets (such as hen) from picture-displays that also included similar-sounding German competitor words (such as Hemd, “shirt”). Eye-movements to German competitors were used to index co-activation of German. Results showed that both bilingual groups co-activated German while processing cognate targets; however, only German-native bilinguals co-activated German while processing English-specific targets. These findings indicate that high language proficiency and cognate status boost parallel language activation in bilinguals.
Triceps brachii tendon injury in four Pomeranians

The cases of 4 Pomeranians with injury of the triceps brachii tendon that underwent surgical treatment were retrospectively reviewed to evaluate some clinical findings including signalment, cause of injury, clinical signs, pattern of injury, surgical technique, external coaptation after operation, complications, and outcomes. While all of the dogs showed non-weight bearing posture of the affected limbs and severe pain shortly after injury onset, the pain level decreased over time. A characteristic finding of the 4 cases was an absence of tension in the triceps brachii tendon when the elbow joint was flexed. The pattern of triceps brachii tendon injury was either laceration of the central part of the tendon (n=1) or tendon rupture at its insertion to the olecranon (n=3). Although there were no major complications after surgery in 3 cases, the remaining case required a revision surgery. Long lateral splint was effective method for external coaptation after operation. Diagnosis of triceps brachii tendon injury was not difficult if we even recognize this trauma. This form of injury can have a good prognosis with adequate surgery and postoperative coaptation.
Neuronal fiber pathway abnormalities in autism: An initial MRI diffusion tensor tracking study of hippocampo-fusiform and amygdalo-fusiform pathways

Abstract MRI diffusion-tensor tracking (DTT) was performed in 17 high-functioning adolescents/adults with autism and 17 pairwise-matched controls. White matter pathways involved in face processing were examined due to the relevance of face perception to the social symptoms of autism, and due to known behavioral and functional imaging findings in autism. The hippocampo-fusiform (HF) and amygdalo-fusiform (AF) pathways had normal size and shape but abnormal microstructure in the autism group. The right HF had reduced across-fiber diffusivity (D-min) compared with controls, opposite to the whole-brain effect of increased D-min. In contrast, left HF, right AF, and left AF had increased D-min and increased along-fiber diffusivity (D-max), more consistent with the whole-brain effect. There was a general loss of lateralization compared with controls. The right HF D-min was markedly low in the autism subgroup with lower Benton face recognition scores, compared with the lower-Benton control subgroup, and compared with the higher-Benton autism subgroup. Similar behavioral relationships were found for performance IQ. Such results suggest an early functionally-significant pathological process in right HF consistent with small-diameter axons (with correspondingly slower neural transmission) and/or higher packing density. In left AF and HF, changes were interpreted as secondary, possibly reflecting axonal loss and/or decreased myelination. (JINS, 2008, 14, 933–946.)
Environmental Feedbacks and Engineered Nanoparticles: Mitigation of Silver Nanoparticle Toxicity to Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by Algal-Produced Organic Compounds

The vast majority of nanotoxicity studies measures the effect of exposure to a toxicant on an organism and ignores the potentially important effects of the organism on the toxicant. We investigated the effect of citrate-coated silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) on populations of the freshwater alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii at different phases of batch culture growth and show that the AgNPs are most toxic to cultures in the early phases of growth. We offer strong evidence that reduced toxicity occurs because extracellular dissolved organic carbon (DOC) compounds produced by the algal cells themselves mitigate the toxicity of AgNPs. We analyzed this feedback with a dynamic model incorporating algal growth, nanoparticle dissolution, bioaccumulation of silver, DOC production and DOC-mediated inactivation of nanoparticles and ionic silver. Our findings demonstrate how the feedback between aquatic organisms and their environment may impact the toxicity and ecological effects of engineered nanoparticles.
Risk factors and prognostic impact of venous thromboembolism in Asian patients with non-small cell lung cancer

Summary Although the overall risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) is high in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), risk identification is limited. The goal of this study was to estimate the incidence, risk factors and prognostic implications of VTE, and to evaluate a genetic link between oncogenes and the risk of VTE in Asian patients with NSCLC. A total of 1,998 consecutive patients with NSCLC were enrolled and analysed retrospectively. Since the effects of therapeutics on VTE development were modified by stage, stratified analyses were performed. When comparing overall survival in terms of VTE development, a propensity score-matching method was adopted to minimise potential confounding. The six-month and two-year cumulative incidences of VTE were 4.2% and 6.4%, respectively. The risk of VTE increased 2.45-fold with each advancing stage in NSCLC (p<0.001). The independent predictors of VTE were advanced age, pneumonectomy and palliative radiotherapy in localised NSCLC and ineligibility for surgery and palliative radiotherapy in locally advanced NSCLC. Adenocarcinoma histology (vs squamous cell) and former/current smoking status were significant predictors of VTE in metastatic NSCLC. A significant association between VTE and decreased survival was observed only among patients with localised NSCLC. EGFR mutations (p=0.170) and ALK rearrangements (p=0.159) were not associated with VTE development in lung adenocarcinoma. In conclusion, the two-year cumulative incidence of VTE is 6.4% in Asian patient with NSCLC. The significant predictors of VTE are different across stages of NSCLC. The prognostic impact of VTE on poor survival was limited to localised NSCLC.
Modified Rankin scale as a determinant of direct medical costs after stroke

Background Resource use in the acute and subacute phases after stroke depends on the degree of disability. Aims To determine if direct costs after stroke also vary by level of disability as measured using the modified Rankin scale at the chronic stage after stroke. Methods In a multicentre study, we collected acute and chronic in- and outpatient resource use in survivors of ischemic stroke stratified by levels of disability according to the modified Rankin Scale. Statistical inference on costs at each level of the modified Rankin Scale was estimated using a general linear model for the first three months, the first year, and any subsequent year after ischemic stroke. Results A total of 569 survivors of ischemic stroke with a mean age of 71.7 years were enrolled (41% female) from 10 academic and nonacademic centers. Costs varied substantially over time and with each modified Rankin Scale level. The total average costs in the first year were estimated $33,147 per patient, ranging from $9,114 for modified Rankin Scale 0 to $83,236 for modified Rankin Scale 5. In the second year, medical costs were on average $14,039, varying from $2,921 to $39,723 for patients with modified Rankin Scale 0–5. The level of disability based on the modified Rankin Scale was a major determinant of resource use, irrespective of age, gender, atrial fibrillation, and vascular risk factors. Conclusion Long-term resource use after stroke is high and is mainly driven by degree of disability as measured by the modified Rankin scale.
Target space for structural genomics revisited

MOTIVATION Structural genomics eventually aims at determining structures for all proteins. However, in the beginning experimentalists are likely to focus on globular proteins to achieve a rapid basic coverage of protein sequence space. How many proteins will structural genomics have to target? How many proteins will be excluded since we already have structural information for these or since they are not globular? We have to answer these questions in the context of our target selection for the North-East Structural Genomics Consortium (NESG). RESULTS We estimated that structural information is available for about 6-38% of all proteins; 6% if we require high accuracy in comparative modelling, 38% if we are satisfied with having a rough idea about the fold. Excluding all regions that are not globular, we found that structural genomics may have to target about 48% of all proteins. This corresponded to a similar percentage of residues of the entire proteomes (52%). We explored a number of different strategies to cluster protein space in order to find the number of families representing these 48% of structurally unknown proteins. For the subset of all entirely sequenced eukaryotes, we found over 18 000 fragment clusters each of which may be a suitable target for structural genomics. AVAILABILITY All data are available from the authors, most results are summarized at: http://cubic.bioc. columbia.edu/genomes/RES/2002_bioinformatics/
Wildfire Selectivity for Land Cover Type: Does Size Matter?

Previous research has shown that fires burn certain land cover types disproportionally to their abundance. We used quantile regression to study land cover proneness to fire as a function of fire size, under the hypothesis that they are inversely related, for all land cover types. Using five years of fire perimeters, we estimated conditional quantile functions for lower (avoidance) and upper (preference) quantiles of fire selectivity for five land cover types - annual crops, evergreen oak woodlands, eucalypt forests, pine forests and shrublands. The slope of significant regression quantiles describes the rate of change in fire selectivity (avoidance or preference) as a function of fire size. We used Monte-Carlo methods to randomly permutate fires in order to obtain a distribution of fire selectivity due to chance. This distribution was used to test the null hypotheses that 1) mean fire selectivity does not differ from that obtained by randomly relocating observed fire perimeters; 2) that land cover proneness to fire does not vary with fire size. Our results show that land cover proneness to fire is higher for shrublands and pine forests than for annual crops and evergreen oak woodlands. As fire size increases, selectivity decreases for all land cover types tested. Moreover, the rate of change in selectivity with fire size is higher for preference than for avoidance. Comparison between observed and randomized data led us to reject both null hypotheses tested ( = 0.05) and to conclude it is very unlikely the observed values of fire selectivity and change in selectivity with fire size are due to chance.
A Theory of Relational Ageism: A Discourse Analysis of the 2015 White House Conference on Aging

Purpose The widespread use of ageist language is generally accepted as commonplace and routine in most cultures and settings. In order to disrupt ageism, we must examine the use of ageist language and sentiments among those on the front line of providing advocacy, services, and policy for older adults; the professional culture of the aging services network. The recorded video segments from the sixth White House Conference on Aging (WHCOA) provided a unique opportunity to examine discourse used by professionals and appointed representatives in the field of aging within a professional sociocultural context. Design and Methods A qualitative discourse analysis of video recordings was used to analyze the 15 video fragments that comprised the recorded sessions of the 2015 WHCOA. Results About 26 instances were identified that captured statements expressing personal age, aging or an age-related characteristic negatively in regard to self or other (microageism), and/or statements expressing global negative opinions or beliefs about aging and older adults based on group membership (macroageism). A theoretical pathway was established that represents the dynamic process by which ageist statements were expressed and reinforced (relational ageism). Implications Numerous instances of ageism were readily identified as part of a live streamed and publically accessible professional conference attended and presented by representatives of the aging services network. To make meaningful gains in the movement to disrupt ageism and promote optimal aging for all individuals, we must raise awareness of the relational nature, expression, and perpetuation of ageism.
Frequency Stability of Quartz Crystals at Very Low Temperatures: Preliminary Results

Summary Improvements of both short and long term stabllltles of quartz crystal resonators can be obtarned by coollng to very low temperatures. According to larger Q-factors and to the reductlon of the noise levels of the crystal and the electronlcs, the short term stability must be increased. The dlffuslon mechanisms of the impurities being frozen, lower ageing 1s expected. Measurements are performed wlth the only crystal resonator in llquld hellum ; the electronlcs composed of a frequency source and a phase lock loop 1s at room temperature. The static and dynamic temperature coefflclents are first evaluated. As expected from the theory the a coefficlent 1s found to be nuch smaller than at room temperature. A medium quality AT-cut, 5 MHz, 5th overtone crystal studied. Over 10 sec Its stability at 1.5 K 1s 2x10- , and the ageing over a day is of the order of These results correspond to an lmprovement by a factor 10 of the stabllltles of thls crystal from room temperature to low temperature. IfS