Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Form-finding of a grid shell in composite materials

The advantages of the use of glass fiber composites for grid shell are presented. The shape of grid shells results from a post-buckling state of tubes. To bypass the difficulty to predict the geometry of the final equilibrium state, the large rotations which occur during the erection process are modelled using the dynamic relaxation algorithm. This paper proposes an adaptation of this method for structures prestressed by bending through the development of a computer program. It includes the validation of this numerical tool through comparisons with a finite elements software. Then an application to the form-finding of a grid shell and the study of its stability under standard loading conditions will be presented. Finally the authors conclude on the technical and economic feasibility of this composite grid shell.
Multivariate methods in corpus-based lexicography: a study of synonymy in Finnish

The purpose of this paper is to present a case study of how multivariate statistical methods such as polytomous logistic regression can be adapted to discover and analyze the wide and complex range of linguistic factors which both influence and interact in the selection and usage of sets of more than two near-synonyms. The results reported in this paper are a follow-up of Arppe (2006), and a preliminary version of those to be presented in full in Arppe (forthcoming). In the modeling of lexical choice among semantically similar words, specifically nearsynonyms, it has been suggested in computational theory that (at least) three levels of representation would be necessary to account for fine-grained meaning differences and the associated usage preferences, namely a 1) conceptual-semantic level, a 2) subconceptual/stylisticsemantic level, and a 3) syntactic-semantic level (Edmonds and Hirst, 2002). With regards to the syntactic-semantic level, it has in the been shown in (mainly) lexicographically motivated corpusbased studies of actual lexical usage that semantically similar words differ significantly as to the 1) lexical context (e.g. English powerful vs. strong in Church et al., 1991), the 2) syntactic structures which they form part of (e.g. English begin vs. start in Biber et al., 1998), and the 3) semantic classification of some particular argument (e.g. English shake verbs in Atkins and Levin, 1996), as well as rather style-associated 4) text type, in which they are used (e.g. Biber et al., 1998). In addition to these studies that have focused on English, with its minimal morphology, it has also been shown for languages with an extensive morphological system, such as Finnish, that similar differentiation is evident as to the 5) inflectional forms and the associated morphosyntactic features in which synonyms are used (e.g., the Finnish adjectives tärkeä vs. keskeinen ’important, central’ in Jantunen, 2001, and Finnish verbs miettiä and pohtia ‘think, ponder, reflect, consider’ in Arppe, 2002, Arppe and Järvikivi, forthcoming). Recently, in their studies of Russian nearsynonymous verbs denoting ‘try’ and ‘intend’, Divjak (2006) and Divjak and Gries (2006) have shown that there is often more than one type of these factors in play at the same time, and that it is therefore worthwhile to observe all categories together and in unison rather than separately one by one. All of these studies of synonymy have focused on which contextual factors differentiate words denoting a similar semantic content. In other words, which directly observable factors determine which word in a group of synonyms is selected in a particular context. This general development represents a shift away from more traditional arm-chair introspections about the connotations and range-of-use of synonyms, and it has been made possible by the accelerating development in the last decade or so of corpus linguistic resources, i.e. corpora, and tools, e.g. parsers and statistical programs.
Determination of aflatoxins in nuts of Tabriz confectionaries by ELISA and HPLC methods.

PURPOSE Aflatoxins (AFs) are a group of mycotoxins and secondary metabolites of various species of Aspergillus. There are various forms of aflatoxins including B1, B2, G1, G2, M1 and M2 types. Aflatoxins cause important health problems and have high potential effect on liver cancer. Therefore, numerous investigations have been conducted during last three decades. The aim of this work is to determine the contamination levels of nuts used by the confectionaries in Tabriz. METHOD A total of 142 samples including 35 almond , 26 walnut, 4 seeds of apricot, 6 sunflower seeds kernel, 6 sesame seed, 6 peanuts , 32 pistachio,13 hazelnuts and 14 cashews samples were collected from Tabriz confectionaries. The ELISA method was employed for the screening of total aflatoxins. RESULT In 13 cases (28.1% of pistachios, 5.1% of walnuts and 7.1% of cashews) contamination rate of higher than 15 ppb were observed. The HPLC method was applied for the confirmation of ELISA results. Aflatoxin B1 was the highest detected AFs. CONCLUSION The overall results of the tested samples indicated that the rate of contamination of pistachios is higher than the other tested samples.
Plasmonic Organic Hybrid Modulators—Scaling Highest Speed Photonics to the Microscale

Complementing plasmonic slot waveguides with highly nonlinear organic materials has rendered a new generation of ultracompact active nanophotonic components that are redefining the state of the art. In this paper, we review the fundamentals of this so-called plasmonic- organic-hybrid (POH) platform. Starting from simple phase shifters to the most compact IQ modulators, we introduce key devices of high-speed data communications. For instance, all-plasmonic Mach-Zehnder modulators (MZMs) are reviewed and long-term prospects are discussed. This kind of modulator already features unique properties such as a small footprint (<; 20 μm2), a large electro-optic bandwidth (> 110 GHz), a small energy consumption (~25 fJ/b), a large extinction ratio (> 25 dB) in combination with a record small voltage-length product of 40 Vμm. Finally, as an example for seamless integration we introduce novel plasmonic IQ modulators. With such modulators we show the generation of advanced modulation formats (QPSK, 16-QAM) on footprints as small as 10 μm × 75 μm. This demonstration ultimately shows how plasmonics can be used to control both phase and amplitude of an optical carrier on the microscale with reasonably low losses.
Minimally Supervised Classification to Semantic Categories using Automatically Acquired Symmetric Patterns

Classifying nouns into semantic categories (e.g., animals, food) is an important line of research in both cognitive science and natural language processing. We present a minimally supervised model for noun classification, which uses symmetric patterns (e.g., “X and Y”) and an iterative variant of the k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm. Unlike most previous works, we do not use a predefined set of symmetric patterns, but extract them automatically from plain text, in an unsupervised manner. We experiment with four semantic categories and show that symmetric patterns constitute much better classification features compared to leading word embedding methods. We further demonstrate that our simple k-Nearest Neighbors algorithm outperforms two state-ofthe-art label propagation alternatives for this task. In experiments, our model obtains 82%-94% accuracy using as few as four labeled examples per category, emphasizing the effectiveness of simple search and representation techniques for this task.
H-NS Plays a Role in Expression of Acinetobacter baumannii Virulence Features

ABSTRACT Acinetobacter baumannii has become a major problem in the clinical setting with the prevalence of infections caused by multidrug-resistant strains on the increase. Nevertheless, only a limited number of molecular mechanisms involved in the success of A. baumannii as a human pathogen have been described. In this study, we examined the virulence features of a hypermotile derivative of A. baumannii strain ATCC 17978, which was found to display enhanced adherence to human pneumocytes and elevated levels of lethality toward Caenorhabditis elegans nematodes. Analysis of cellular lipids revealed modifications to the fatty acid composition, providing a possible explanation for the observed changes in hydrophobicity and subsequent alteration in adherence and motility. Comparison of the genome sequences of the hypermotile variant and parental strain revealed that an insertion sequence had disrupted an hns-like gene in the variant. This gene encodes a homologue of the histone-like nucleoid structuring (H-NS) protein, a known global transcriptional repressor. Transcriptome analysis identified the global effects of this mutation on gene expression, with major changes seen in the autotransporter Ata, a type VI secretion system, and a type I pilus cluster. Interestingly, isolation and analysis of a second independent hypermotile ATCC 17978 variant revealed a mutation to a residue within the DNA binding region of H-NS. Taken together, these mutants indicate that the phenotypic and transcriptomic differences seen are due to loss of regulatory control effected by H-NS.
Long-term memory of subduction processes in the lithospheric mantle: evidence from the geochemistry of basic dykes in the Gardar Province of South Greenland

The rift-related magmas of the Proterozoic Gardar Igneous Province were emplaced across the contact between the South Greenland Archaean craton and the Palaeoproterozoic Ketilidian mobile belt. It has been suggested that the geochemistry of Gardar intrusive rocks in the two areas varies across the craton margin and that this reflects a lithospheric control. However, comparison of the geochemical and isotopic signatures of basic and ultrabasic dykes from across the area shows that there is no systematic variation related to the age of the country rock. All the Gardar basic rocks are inferred to have been derived from the mantle, with relatively little crustal contamination. We suggest that the lithospheric mantle beneath the Gardar Province was enriched by slab-derived fluids during the Ketilidian orogeny (c. 1800 Ma). Subsequent melting of this mantle source was promoted during Gardar rifting when volatile-rich, small-degree melts from the asthenosphere were introduced into the lithospheric mantle, forming enriched metasomites. Ultrabasic lamprophyre dykes in the Gardar Province represent melts derived largely from these metasomites, whereas basaltic magmas were formed by larger-scale melting of the lithospheric mantle, inheriting a subduction-related signature. There is no evidence that the Gardar magmas were derived from a highly enriched lithospheric keel that had existed since craton formation.
On the implementation of the harmonic plus noise model for concatenative speech synthesis

In concatenative speech synthesis systems, speech models are usually used to represent the speech signal. Recently, the harmonic plus noise model (HNM) has been proposed for concatenative speech synthesis with promising results. One main drawback of HNM is its complexity. In this paper, we review four different methods of reducing the complexity of HNM. These include, straight-forward synthesis(SF), synthesis using inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT), synthesis using recurrence relations for trigonometric functions (RR), and synthesis based on delayed multi-resampled cosine functions (DMRC). DMRC was shown to outperform all the other techniques reducing the complexity of HNM synthesizer by 95% compared to the current version of the HNM which is based on the SF method. Informal listening tests showed that the version of HNM based on the DMRC method provides higher quality of speech synthesis than the version based on SF.
Heart Rate Contributes to the Vascular Effects of Chronic Mental Stress: Effects on Endothelial Function and Ischemic Brain Injury in Mice

Background and Purpose— Vascular effects of mental stress are only partially understood. Therefore, we studied effects of chronic stress and heart rate (HR) on endothelial function and cerebral ischemia. Methods— 129S6/SvEv mice were randomized to the I(f)-channel inhibitor ivabradine (10 mg/kg per day) or vehicle and underwent a chronic stress protocol for 28 days. Results— Stress increased HR from 514±10 bpm to 570±14 bpm, this was prevented by ivabradine (485±7 bpm). Endothelium-dependent relaxation of aortic rings was impaired in mice exposed to stress. HR reduction restored endothelial function to the level of naive controls. Vascular lipid hydroperoxides were increased to 333%±24% and vascular NADPH oxidase activity was upregulated to 223±38% in stressed mice, which was prevented by ivabradine. Stress reduced aortic endothelial nitric oxide synthase mRNA expression to 84%±3% and increased AT1 receptor mRNA to 168%±18%. Both effects were attenuated by HR reduction. In brain tissue, stress resulted in an upregulation of lipid hydroperoxides to 140%±11%, which was attenuated by HR reduction. Ivabradine increased brain capillary density in naive and in stressed mice. Mice exposed to chronic stress before induction of ischemic stroke by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion exhibited increased lesion size (33.7±2.3 mm3 versus 23.9±2.4 mm3). HR reduction led to a marked reduction of the infarct volume to 12.9±3.3 mm3. Conclusions— Chronic stress impairs endothelial function and aggravates ischemic brain injury. HR reduction protects from cerebral ischemia via improvement of endothelial function and reduction of oxidative stress. These results identify heart rate as a mediator of vascular effects induced by chronic stress.
Local solvability for semilinear partial differential equations of constant strength

The main goal of the present paper is to study the local solvability of semilnear partial differential operators of the form F(u) = P(D)u + f (x, Q1(D)u, . , QM (D)u), where P(D), Q1(D), . , QM (D) are linear partial differntial operators of constant coefficients and f (x, v) is a C∞ function with respect to x and an entire function with respect to v. Under suitable assumptions on the nonlinear function f and on P, Q1, . , QM , we will solve locally near every point x 0 ∈ Rn the next equation F(u) = g, g ∈ Bp,k, where Bp,k is a wieghted Sobolev space as in Hörmander [13].
Lower Bounds for Insertion Methods for TSP

We show that the random insertion method for the traveling salesman problem (TSP) may produce a tour Ω(log log n/log log log n) times longer than the optimal tour. The lower bound holds even in the Euclidean Plane. This is in contrast to the fact that the random insertion method performs extremely well in practice. In passing, we show that other insertion methods may produce tours Ω(log n/log log n) times longer than the optimal one. No non-constant lower bounds were previously known.
Local requirements for optimal distribution of heterogeneous agents

This paper introduces an analytical framework for the study of a generic distribution problem where a group of heterogeneous agents intend to divide themselves into various subgroups without any form of global information-sharing or centralized decision-making. Subgroups are associated to mathematical functions that capture the marginal utilities of performing tasks, each satisfying the law of diminishing returns. We prove that under generic local requirements a stable agent distribution representing a Nash equilibrium can be achieved, and show via Monte Carlo simulations how the proposed set of rules performs under varying constraints on information flow and degrees of cooperation.
Approximate Counting of Matchings in Sparse Uniform Hypergraphs

In this paper we give a fully polynomial randomized approximation scheme (FPRAS) for the number of matchings in k-uniform hypergraphs whose intersection graphs contain few claws. Our method gives a generalization of the canonical path method of Jerrum and Sinclair to hypergraphs satisfying a local restriction. The proof depends on an application of the Euler tour technique for the canonical paths of the underlying Markov chains. On the other hand, we prove that it is NP-hard to approximate the number of matchings even for the class of 2-regular, linear, k-uniform hypergraphs, for all k ≥ 6, without the above restriction.
Materials and Methods Som Text Figs. S1 and S2 Table S1 References Reports Persistence of Memory in Drop Breakup: the Breakdown of Universality

A low-viscosity drop breaking apart inside a viscous fluid is encountered when air bubbles, entrained in thick syrup or honey, rise and break apart. Experiments, simulations, and theory show that the breakup under conditions in which the interior viscosity can be neglected produces an exceptional form of singularity. In contrast to previous studies of drop breakup, universality is violated so that the final shape at breakup retains an imprint of the initial and boundary conditions. A finite interior viscosity, no matter how small, cuts off this form of singularity and produces an unexpectedly long and slender thread. If exterior viscosity is large enough, however, the cutoff does not occur because the minimum drop radius reaches subatomic dimensions first. Underlying one of the common occurrences of daily life, the breakup of a liquid drop, is a rich and beautiful phenomenon. As a drop divides, the neck connecting the different masses of fluid necessarily becomes arbitrarily thin with a curvature that grows without bound until molecular scales are reached. Because surface tension gives rise to a pressure proportional to the curvature, this pressure also diverges. Similar singularities, in which a physical quantity effectively diverges, occur in many different realms, ranging from the subatomic-nuclear fission (1) to the celestial-star formation (2). The ubiquity, simplicity, and accessibility of drop breakup makes it ideal for studying divergent dynamical behavior that occurs elsewhere in nature. Near such a singularity, the dynamics are normally governed by the proximity to the singularity, and the dynamics become universal so that all memory of initial and boundary conditions is lost. In such cases, the breakup becomes scale-invariant; after appropriate rescaling, drop shapes near the breakup can be superimposed at different times onto a single form, depending on only a few material parameters (3–6). Here, we report an important exception to this class of behavior: the breakup of a zero-viscosity drop inside an extremely viscous exterior fluid produces an unexpected, nonuniver-sal form of singularity, in which the memory of the initial conditions persists throughout the breakup process. Axial structure imposed at the outset on large length scales remains as the thin neck collapses. The unusual character of this breakup suggests a novel and controllable method for producing submicrometer structures. Because all classical fluids have a finite viscosity , it is important to understand the nature of the singularity when the interior viscosity is very small but nonzero. If the interior viscosity …
Reliability of labial closure force measurements in normal subjects and patients with CNS disorders.

This study determined the reliability of maximal upper and lower lip closing forces measured using a strain-gauged cantilever beam assembly. An intraclass correlation approach was used to explicitly partition the "error free" between-subject variance and measurement error variance across repeated days (2) and across repeated trials (5). Ten healthy adults served as controls and 30 patients with diagnoses of multiple sclerosis, cerebrovascular accident, or Parkinson's disease served as subjects. The intraclass correlation analyses revealed generally high reliability (R greater than .90) for upper and lower lip force measurements, for various combinations of control and/or patient groups, and within each individual patient group. There was moderate correspondence between the quantitative measures of lip force and the clinical assessment of combined upper (r = .67) and lower lip closure force (r = .62) but low correspondence between the quantitative measures of lip force and the presence of motor speech deficit. The lower lip force of patients with Parkinson's disease (M = 3.1 N) on Day 1 was markedly reduced from that of all other patient groups and controls (M = 10.1 N). These results yield helpful information for the design of investigations of oral-motor weakness and for the quantitative assessment of an individual's clinical status.
Incidence Patterns and Temporal Trends of Invasive Nonmelanotic Vulvar Tumors in Germany 1999-2011. A Population-Based Cancer Registry Analysis

Objectives Time trends on the incidence and characteristics of invasive vulvar cancer in Germany have so far been studied in few local population- and hospital based tumor registries. We aimed to provide an overview on recent developments of vulvar cancer in Germany, using population-based cancer registry data. Methods We analyzed the data on vulvar cancer of eight population-based German cancer registries for the period 1999-2011. ICD-10 codes and ICD-O-3 morphology codes were used to select site and histologic types. The annual percentage change was calculated on age-adjusted incidence rates with a joinpoint regression model. Results A total of 12,711 registered cases of invasive carcinoma of the vulva were included in the analyses, hereof were 12,205 of squamous cell origin. Age-standardized incidence rates of vulvar cancer annually increased by 6.7% (95% confidence limits: 5.6-7.9) from 1.7 per 100,000 women in 1999 to 3.6 per 100,000 women in 2011. An increase was observed among women of all ages, and especially between 30 and 69 years of age. Conclusion The annual incidence of invasive carcinoma of the vulva nearly doubled in the past decade in Germany, considerably exceeding the rates observed in other Western European countries. A combination of changes in risk factors, and documentation practice might have contributed to the observed substantial increase in vulvar cancer incidence.
Concurrent vowel identification II: Effects of phase, harmonicity and task

Subjects identified concurrent synthetic vowel pairs in four experiments. The first experiment found that improvements in vowel identification with a difference in fundamental frequency (ΔF0) do not depend on component phase. The second investigated more precisely whether phase patterns resulting from ongoing phase shifts in inharmonic stimuli can by themselves produce effects similar to those attributed to differences in harmonic state of component vowels. No such effects were found. The third experiment found that identification was better for harmonic than for inharmonic backgrounds, and that it did not depend on target harmonicity. The first three experiments employed a task in which subjects were free to report one or two vowels for each stimulus. The fourth experiment reproduced several conditions with a more classic task in which subjects had to report two vowels. Compared to the classic task, the new task gave larger effects and provided an additional measure of segregation: the number of vowels r.
PACKER: An Exemplar Model of Category Generation

Generating new concepts is an intriguing yet understudied topic in cognitive science. In this paper, we present a novel exemplar model of category generation: PACKER (Producing Alike and Contrasting Knowledge using Exemplar Representations). PACKER’s core design assumptions are (1) categories are represented as exemplars in a multidimensional psychological space, (2) generated items should be similar to exemplars of the same category, and (3) generated categories should be dissimilar to existing categories. A behavioral study reveals strong effects of contrastand target-class similarity. These effects are novel empirical phenomena, which are directly predicted by the PACKER model but are not explained by existing formal approaches.