Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Elastic Response of Porous Matrix Plain Weave Fabric Composites: Part II—Results

In this second of a two-part series of papers, the analytical and three-dimensional finite element models developed in Part I are implemented to predict the effective elastic response of both Stiff-porous ceramic and Soft-dense polymer matrix plain weave fabric composites. Analytical results obtained using a Modified Lamination Theory (MLT) model and which are based on four methods of unit-cell property averaging are presented. Effective elastic in-plane properties predicted via the finite element method for a single woven ply and for a laminate comprised of symmetrically arranged woven plies are also reported. Comparisons between the analytical estimates and the numerical predictions suggest that the Parallel (P-MLT) property averaging scheme yields, in an overall sense, good unit-cell effective property estimates. Thus, the P-MLT model was employed to conduct extensive parameter studies aiming at assessing the effects of the woven geometry and the overall microstructure on the effective elastic properties of Soft- and Stiff-matrix woven composites. Soft-matrix systems were shown to exhibit higher sensitivity to the unit-cell woven morphology and fiber/matrix elastic mismatch when compared to their Stiff-matrix counterparts. On the other hand, the effective elastic properties of Stiff-matrix systems were shown to be substantially reduced with increasing interbundle matrix porosity, and were also shown to be rather sensitive to the elastic properties of the thin fiber and bundle coatings. Surface contour data obtained from 3-D finite element analysis provide strong evidence of local micro-bending and stress concentrations within the unit cell. In both Soft- and Stiff-matrix systems, the out-of-plane normal and shear stresses along the bundle/matrix interface surfaces were shown to be at least an order of magnitude smaller than the predicted normal bundle stress along the fiber direction. This work presents detailed analytical and numerical parameter studies, and explores for the first time the relations between the microstructure and macromechanical woven composite response.
Fluorescence protection assay: a novel homogeneous assay platform toward development of aptamer sensors for protein detection

Development of novel aptamer sensor strategies for rapid and selective assays of protein biomarkers plays crucial roles in proteomics and clinical diagnostics. Herein, we have developed a novel aptamer sensor strategy for homogeneous detection of protein targets based on fluorescence protection assay. This strategy is based on our reasoning that interaction of aptamer with its protein target may dramatically increase steric hindrance, which protects the fluorophore, fluorescein isothiocyannate (FITC), labeled at the binding pocket from accessing and quenching by the FITC antibody. The aptamer sensor strategy is demonstrated using a model protein target of immunoglobulin E (IgE), a known biomarker associated with atopic allergic diseases. The results reveal that the aptamer sensor shows substantial (>6-fold) fluorescence enhancement in response to the protein target, thereby verifying the mechanism of fluorescence protection. Moreover, the aptamer sensor displays improved specificity to other co-existing proteins and a desirable dynamic range within the IgE concentration from 0.1 to 50 nM with a readily achieved detection limit of 0.1 nM. Because of great robustness, easy operation and scalability for parallel assays, the developed homogeneous fluorescence protection assay strategy might create a new methodology for developing aptamer sensors in sensitive, selective detection of proteins.
Novel Attenuated Chikungunya Vaccine Candidates Elicit Protective Immunity in C57BL/6 mice

ABSTRACT Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a reemerging mosquito-borne alphavirus that has caused severe epidemics in Africa and Asia and occasionally in Europe. As of today, there is no licensed vaccine available to prevent CHIKV infection. Here we describe the development and evaluation of novel CHIKV vaccine candidates that were attenuated by deleting a large part of the gene encoding nsP3 or the entire gene encoding 6K and were administered as viral particles or infectious genomes launched by DNA. The resulting attenuated mutants were genetically stable and elicited high magnitudes of binding and neutralizing antibodies as well as strong T cell responses after a single immunization in C57BL/6 mice. Subsequent challenge with a high dose of CHIKV demonstrated that the induced antibody responses protected the animals from viremia and joint swelling. The protective antibody response was long-lived, and a second homologous immunization further enhanced immune responses. In summary, this report demonstrates a straightforward means of constructing stable and efficient attenuated CHIKV vaccine candidates that can be administered either as viral particles or as infectious genomes launched by DNA. IMPORTANCE Similar to other infectious diseases, the best means of preventing CHIKV infection would be by vaccination using an attenuated vaccine platform which preferably raises protective immunity after a single immunization. However, the attenuated CHIKV vaccine candidates developed to date rely on a small number of attenuating point mutations and are at risk of being unstable or even sensitive to reversion. We report here the construction and preclinical evaluation of novel CHIKV vaccine candidates that have been attenuated by introducing large deletions. The resulting mutants proved to be genetically stable, attenuated, highly immunogenic, and able to confer durable immunity after a single immunization. Moreover, these mutants can be administered either as viral particles or as DNA-launched infectious genomes, enabling evaluation of the most feasible vaccine modality for a certain setting. These CHIKV mutants could represent stable and efficient vaccine candidates against CHIKV.
Impact of Interleaving on AC Passive Components of Paralleled Three-Phase Voltage-Source Converters

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis studying the impact of interleaving on harmonic currents and voltages on the ac side of paralleled three-phase voltage-source converters. The analysis performed considers the effects of modulation index, pulsewidth-modulation (PWM) schemes, and interleaving angle. Based on the analysis, the impact of interleaving on the design of ac passive components, such as ac line inductor and electromagnetic interference (EMI) filter, is discussed. The results show that interleaving has the potential benefit to reduce ac passive components. To maximize such a benefit, the interleaving angle should be optimized according to the system requirements, including total harmonic distortion limit, ripple limit, or EMI standards, while considering operating conditions, such as modulation index and PWM schemes. Experimental results have verified the analysis results.
REVIEWS AND DESCRIPTIONS OF TABLES AND BOOKS

It is a very nice and useful book, written by a real expert in the field. A typical problem can be described as follows. Let G be a graph with the edge set E and the vertex set V , and let k be a given positive integer. The task is to choose a k-element set S ⊆ V that minimizes the number of edges which are defined by one vertex from S and by one vertex outside of S. The book has been based on many years of teaching this material to graduate students and this is certainly reflected in the style in which it is written. In a series of lemmas and theorems, the author leads the reader through rather simple cases to more complicated concepts. On the other hand, it offers a rich and varied selection of problems from this beautiful branch of combinatorial optimization to which a certain unifying “global” approach is developed. Informal comments at the end of each chapter provide a nice supplement to the main text and also help to gain some historical perspective on the subject. I believe that both specialists in the area and mathematicians with other backgrounds will find lots of new interesting material in this book.
The relationship between information technology adoption and job satisfaction in contracting companies in Jordan

Despite the popularity of Information Technology and job satisfaction research, little empirical evidence (to the researcher's knowledge) exists of the relationship between IT adoption and job satisfaction within the Jordanian construction industry. This research attempts to fill these knowledge gaps by exploring the relationship between IT adoption and job satisfaction from the perspective of Jordanian contracting firms. Measures were developed using MSQ and IT Barometer surveys. 50 questionnaires were distributed to investigate this relationship among different contracting companies in Jordan. Descriptive statistics were obtained and hypotheses were tested using multiple regression analysis. Results point out that more investment in technology would rather increase employee job satisfaction regarding intrinsic and general perspectives.
Improved energy harvesting capability of poly(vinylidene fluoride) films modified by reduced graphene oxide

Piezoelectric energy harvesters can be used to convert ambient energy into electrical energy and power small autonomous devices. In recent years, massive effort has been made to improve the energy harvesting ability in piezoelectric materials. In this study, reduced graphene oxide was added into poly(vinylidene fluoride) to fabricate the piezoelectric nanocomposite films. Open-circuit voltage and electrical power harvesting experiments showed remarkable enhancement in the piezoelectricity of the fabricated poly(vinylidene fluoride)/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite, especially at an optimal reduced graphene oxide content of 0.05 wt%. Compared to pristine poly(vinylidene fluoride) films, the open-circuit voltage, the density of harvested power of alternating current, and direct current of the poly(vinylidene fluoride)/reduced graphene oxide nanocomposite films increased by 105%, 153%, and 233%, respectively, indicating a great potential for a broad range of applications.
Subwavelength focusing of terahertz waves in silicon hyperbolic metamaterials.

We theoretically demonstrate the subwavelength focusing of terahertz (THz) waves in a hyperbolic metamaterial (HMM) based on a two-dimensional subwavelength silicon pillar array microstructure. The silicon microstructure with a doping concentration of at least 1017 cm-3 offers a hyperbolic dispersion at terahertz frequency range and promises the focusing of terahertz Gaussian beams. The results agree with the simulation based on effective medium theory. The focusing effect can be controlled by the doping concentration, which determines the real part of the out-of-plane permittivity and, therefore, the refraction angles in HMM. The focusing property in the HMM structure allows the propagation of terahertz wave through a subwavelength aperture. The silicon-based HMM structure can be realized using microfabrication technologies and has the potential to advance terahertz imaging with subwavelength resolution.
Impact of reactive oxygen species on spontaneous mutagenesis in Escherichia coli

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are potent oxidants that attack chromosomal DNA and free nucleotides, leading to oxidative DNA damage that causes genetic alterations. To avoid the ROS‐mediated mutagenesis, cells have elaborate mechanisms including powerful antioxidant components and repair pathways that eliminate oxidative DNA damage. Because of the effective anti‐mutagenic functions, it has been unclear to what extent the ROS contribute to spontaneous mutagenesis. Here we show that a significant portion of spontaneous mutations is actually caused by the ROS in aerobically growing Escherichia coli cells. Using the rpsL gene as a mutational target sequence, we established an experimental procedure to analyze spontaneous mutations occurring under a strictly anaerobic condition. Strong mutator phenotypes of cells defective in both mutM and mutY genes or ones lacking mutT gene were completely suppressed under the anaerobic condition, indicative of an absence of hydroxyl radicals in the cells. From a series of analyses with wild‐type E. coli cells grown under different redox conditions, it appeared that 89% of base substitutions were caused by the ROS, especially hydroxyl radicals, in cells growing in the atmosphere. The ROS‐mediated spontaneous mutations included highly site‐specific base substitutions, two types of randomly occurring transversions, G:C→C:G and A:T→T:A, and –1 frameshifts at non‐iterated base sequences.
Towards desktop-based CAT tool instrumentation

Though a number of web-based CAT tools have emerged over recent years, to date the most common form of CAT tool used by translators remains the desktop-based CAT tool. However, currently none of the most commonly used desktop-based CAT tools provide a means of measuring translation speed at a segment level. This metric is important, as previous work on MT productivity testing has shown that edit distance can be a misleading measure of MT post-editing effort. In this paper we present iOmegaT, an instrumented version of a popular desktop-based open-source CAT tool called OmegaT. We survey a number of similar applications and outline some of the weaknesses of web-based CAT tools for experi- enced professional translators. On the basis of a two productivity test carried out using iOmegaT we show why it is important to be able to identify fast good post-editors to maximize MT utility and how this is problematic using only edit-distance measures. Finally, we argue how and why instrumentation could be added to more commonly used desktop-based CAT tools that are paid for by freelance translators if their privacy is respected.
The lia-eurecom RT'09 speaker diarization system: Enhancements in speaker modelling and cluster purification

There are two approaches to speaker diarization. They are bottom-up and top-down. Our work on top-down systems show that they can deliver competitive results compared to bottom-up systems and that they are extremely computationally efficient, but also that they are particularly prone to poor model initialisation and cluster impurities. In this paper we present enhancements to our state-of-the-art, top-down approach to speaker diarization that deliver improved stability across three different datasets composed of conference meetings from five standard NIST RT evaluations. We report an improved approach to speaker modelling which, despite having greater chances for cluster impurities, delivers a 35% relative improvement in DER for the MDM condition. We also describe new work to incorporate cluster purification into a top-down system which delivers relative improvements of 44% over the baseline system without compromising computational efficiency.
Interference established in mice by infection with Friend murine leukemia virus

Retroviral interference is manifested in chronically infected cells as a decrease in susceptibility to superinfection by virions using the same cellular receptor. The pattern of interference reflects the cellular receptor specificity of the chronically infecting retrovirus and is mediated by the viral envelope glycoprotein, which is postulated to bind competitively all cellular receptors available for viral attachment. We established retroviral interference in mice by infecting them with Friend murine leukemia virus and them measured susceptibility to superinfection by challenging the mice with the erythroproliferative spleen focus-forming virus. Infection of approximately 10% of nucleated splenocytes rendered mice 1% as susceptible to superinfection as untreated controls. The magnitude of this effect was the same in mice incapable of producing neutralizing antibodies or genetically deficient for T cells. The results indicated that retroviral interference in vivo was established rapidly with infection of a fraction of the host cell population and that the decrease in susceptibility to superinfection occurred without a detectable contribution by immunologic factors.
Self-Other Positioning in Obesity: A Pilot Study Using Repertory Grid Technique

Self-other positioning was investigated in a group of obese youths in order to empirically test the clinical hy- pothesis - based on the constructionist theory of Family Semantic Polarities - that obese people are affected by a negative self-perception and low self-esteem. Repertory grid technique was used with 30 participants (15 obese-overweight and 15 control) to elicit and compare their personal constructs and assess, via ad hoc measurement indices, the positions they as- signed to the self and significant others in relation to these constructs. The results confirmed the research hypotheses, with obese subjects displaying a tendency to position both self and others at the negative pole of bipolar constructs and report- ing greater self-ideal discrepancy. These findings and their limitations are discussed in relation to their clinical applica- tions and in light of the methodological issues arising from the study.
Spectral Inverse Quantum (Spectral-IQ) Method for Modeling Mesoporous Systems: Application on Silica Films by FTIR

The present work advances the inverse quantum (IQ) structural criterion for ordering and characterizing the porosity of the mesosystems based on the recently advanced ratio of the particle-to-wave nature of quantum objects within the extended Heisenberg uncertainty relationship through employing the quantum fluctuation, both for free and observed quantum scattering information, as computed upon spectral identification of the wave-numbers specific to the maximum of absorption intensity record, and to left-, right- and full-width at the half maximum (FWHM) of the concerned bands of a given compound. It furnishes the hierarchy for classifying the mesoporous systems from more particle-related (porous, tight or ionic bindings) to more wave behavior (free or covalent bindings). This so-called spectral inverse quantum (Spectral-IQ) particle-to-wave assignment was illustrated on spectral measurement of FT-IR (bonding) bands’ assignment for samples synthesized within different basic environment and different thermal treatment on mesoporous materials obtained by sol-gel technique with n-dodecyl trimethyl ammonium bromide (DTAB) and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and of their combination as cosolvents. The results were analyzed in the light of the so-called residual inverse quantum information, accounting for the free binding potency of analyzed samples at drying temperature, and were checked by cross-validation with thermal decomposition techniques by endo-exo thermo correlations at a higher temperature.
Predicting Chemotherapy Response to Paclitaxel-Based Therapy in Advanced Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer with P-Glycoprotein Expression

Background: It was reported that multidrug resistance gene 1 (MDR1) encoding human P-glycoprotein (Pgp) may play an important role in multidrug resistance of lung cancer. Therefore, before initiating chemotherapy, it is important to accurately determine the presence of Pgp in lung cancer, to achieve a satisfactory chemotherapy response. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare immunohistochemical analyses of Pgp expression and response to paclitaxel in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods: Before chemotherapy with paclitaxel, 50 patients with stage IIIb or IV NSCLC were enrolled in this study. Immunohistochemical analyses were performed on multiple nonconsecutive sections of the biopsy specimens to determine Pgp expression. Chemotherapy response was evaluated in the 3rd month after completion of treatment by clinical and radiological methods. Results: All of the 28 (100%) cases with good response had negative Pgp expression and 15 of the 22 (68%) cases with poor response had positive Pgp expression (p < 0.05). No significant differences were found for other prognostic factors (age, sex, body weight loss, performance status, tumor cell type, and tumor stage) between good response and poor response groups. Conclusions: Although Pgp expression in NSCLC does not fully predict chemotherapy response to paclitaxel-based therapy, detection of Pgp expression will aid in planning paclitaxel-based therapy for patients with advanced NSCLC. Further studies with a larger number of patients and a longer time of follow-up are necessary to confirm our findings.
Managing risk in cancer presentation, detection and referral: a qualitative study of primary care staff views

Objectives In the UK, there have been a number of national initiatives to promote earlier detection and prompt referral of patients presenting to primary care with signs and symptoms of cancer. The aim of the study was to explore the experiences of a range of primary care staff in promoting earlier presentation, detection and referral of patients with symptoms suggestive of cancer. Setting Six primary care practices in northwest England. Participants: 39 primary care staff from a variety of disciplines took part in five group and four individual interviews. Results The global theme to emerge from the interviews was ‘managing risk’, which had three underpinning organising themes: ‘complexity’, relating to uncertainty of cancer diagnoses, service fragmentation and plethora of guidelines; ‘continuity’, relating to relationships between practice staff and their patients and between primary and secondary care; ‘conflict’ relating to policy drivers and staff role boundaries. A key concern of staff was that policymakers and those implementing cancer initiatives did not fully understand how risk was managed within primary care. Conclusions Primary care staff expressed a range of views and opinions on the benefits of cancer initiatives. National initiatives did not appear to wholly resolve issues in managing risk for all practitioners. Staff were concerned about the number of guidelines and priorities they were expected to implement. These issues need to be considered by policymakers when developing and implementing new initiatives.
New techniques for extracting features from protein sequences

In this paper we propose new techniques to extract features from protein sequences. We then use the features as inputs for a Bayesian neural network (BNN) and apply the BNN to classifying protein sequences obtained from the PIR (Protein Information Resource) database maintained at the National Biomedical Research Foundation. To evaluate the performance of the proposed approach, we compare it with other protein classifiers built based on sequence alignment and machine learning methods. Experimental results show the high precision of the proposed classifier and the complementarity of the bioinformatics tools studied in the paper.