Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Model-based event-triggered robust MPC/ISM

A model-based event-triggered control scheme based on the combined use of Model Predictive Control (MPC) and Integral Sliding Mode (ISM) control is proposed in this paper. The aim is to reduce to a minimum the number of transmissions of the plant state over the network, in order to alleviate delays and packet loss induced by the network overload, while guaranteeing robust stability and constraints fulfillment. The presented control scheme includes a model-based controller and a smart sensor, both containing a copy of the nominal model of the plant. The sensor intelligence is provided by a triggering condition, which enables to determine when it is necessary to transmit the measured state and to update the nominal model. The controller includes an ISM component, which has the role of compensating the uncertainties, and a MPC term which optimizes the system evolution. The control system performance are assessed in simulation relying on an illustrative mechanical example.
Innate Immune Responses of Human Neonatal Cells to Bacteria from the Normal Gastrointestinal Flora

ABSTRACT The hygiene hypothesis postulates that the prevalence of allergy has increased due to decreased microbial stimulation early in life, leading to delayed maturation of the immune system. The aim of this study was to examine the cytokine pattern produced from cord blood mononuclear cells relative to adult cells after stimulation with bacterial strains from the normal flora. Mononuclear cells from cord and adult blood samples were stimulated with the following bacteria: Bifidobacterium adolescentis, Enterococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Streptococcus mitis, Corynebacterium minutissimum, Clostridium perfringens, Bacteroides vulgatus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Veillonella parvula, and Neisseria sicca. The levels of interleukin 12 (IL-12), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), IL-10, and IL-6 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The TNF-α production was also analyzed after blocking CD14, Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR-2), and TLR-4 prior to stimulation with bacteria. The levels of IL-12 and TNF-α were similar in cord and adult cells. Gram-positive bacteria induced considerably higher levels of IL-12 and TNF-α than gram-negative bacteria in both cord and adult cells. The levels of IL-6 were significantly higher in newborns than in adults, whereas the levels of IL-10 were similar in newborns and adults. Gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria induced similar levels of IL-6 and IL-10 in cord cells. L. plantarum bound or signaled through CD14, TLR-2, and TLR-4, whereas E. coli acted mainly through CD14 and TLR-4. These results indicate that the innate immune response in newborns to commensal bacteria is strong and also suggest that different bacterial strains may have differential effects on the maturation of the immune system of infants.
A large-scale analysis of tissue-specific pathology and gene expression of human disease genes and complexes

Heritable diseases are caused by germ-line mutations that, despite tissuewide presence, often lead to tissue-specific pathology. Here, we make a systematic analysis of the link between tissue-specific gene expression and pathological manifestations in many human diseases and cancers. Diseases were systematically mapped to tissues they affect from disease-relevant literature in PubMed to create a disease–tissue covariation matrix of high-confidence associations of >1,000 diseases to 73 tissues. By retrieving >2,000 known disease genes, and generating 1,500 disease-associated protein complexes, we analyzed the differential expression of a gene or complex involved in a particular disease in the tissues affected by the disease, compared with nonaffected tissues. When this analysis is scaled to all diseases in our dataset, there is a significant tendency for disease genes and complexes to be overexpressed in the normal tissues where defects cause pathology. In contrast, cancer genes and complexes were not overexpressed in the tissues from which the tumors emanate. We specifically identified a complex involved in XY sex reversal that is testis-specific and down-regulated in ovaries. We also identified complexes in Parkinson disease, cardiomyopathies, and muscular dystrophy syndromes that are similarly tissue specific. Our method represents a conceptual scaffold for organism-spanning analyses and reveals an extensive list of tissue-specific draft molecular pathways, both known and unexpected, that might be disrupted in disease.
The Influence of the Causes and Contexts of Medical Errors on Emergency Medicine Residents’ Responses to Their Errors: An Exploration

Purpose To determine emergency medicine residents' emotional and behavioral responses to their medical errors and examine associations between residents' responses to medical error and perceptions of their training. Method In 2003, 55 residents at two U.S. residency programs were asked to complete questionnaires about their errors and responses to their errors in three domains: emotional response, learning behavior, and disclosure. The questions were a mixture of free text, yes/no responses, and some were rated using a five-point Likert scale. Based on a conceptual framework, the authors constructed scales to describe the various domains and associations between the residents' responses to medical error and perceptions of their training were examined using Somers' D. Results A total of 43 residents returned questionnaires (80%); 40 of these residents described errors. Thirty-three (83%) residents discussed the error with someone; 27 (71%) with the attending and 10 (28%) with the patient/family. Negative emotions were common: 27 (68%) felt remorse, 21 (53%) guilt, 23 (58%) inadequacy, and 22 (55%) frustration. Residents' negative emotional responses were associated with their personal characteristics [26% (95% CI, 5–47%) association with lack of experience] and residents' perceptions of their training environment: 15% association with job overload (95% CI, −8–38%) and 23% association with lack of institutional support (95% CI, 5–41%). While 32 (81%) residents increased attention to detail, only 2 (5%) increased their use of evidence-based medicine. Conclusions Errors committed by emergency medicine residents often resulted in negative emotions, limited constructive system-based improvements, and inadequate disclosure. Negative perceptions of the training environment are associated with negative emotional responses.
Rapid Countermeasure Discovery against Francisella tularensis Based on a Metabolic Network Reconstruction

In the future, we may be faced with the need to provide treatment for an emergent biological threat against which existing vaccines and drugs have limited efficacy or availability. To prepare for this eventuality, our objective was to use a metabolic network-based approach to rapidly identify potential drug targets and prospectively screen and validate novel small-molecule antimicrobials. Our target organism was the fully virulent Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis Schu S4 strain, a highly infectious intracellular pathogen that is the causative agent of tularemia and is classified as a category A biological agent by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We proceeded with a staggered computational and experimental workflow that used a strain-specific metabolic network model, homology modeling and X-ray crystallography of protein targets, and ligand- and structure-based drug design. Selected compounds were subsequently filtered based on physiological-based pharmacokinetic modeling, and we selected a final set of 40 compounds for experimental validation of antimicrobial activity. We began screening these compounds in whole bacterial cell-based assays in biosafety level 3 facilities in the 20th week of the study and completed the screens within 12 weeks. Six compounds showed significant growth inhibition of F. tularensis, and we determined their respective minimum inhibitory concentrations and mammalian cell cytotoxicities. The most promising compound had a low molecular weight, was non-toxic, and abolished bacterial growth at 13 µM, with putative activity against pantetheine-phosphate adenylyltransferase, an enzyme involved in the biosynthesis of coenzyme A, encoded by gene coaD. The novel antimicrobial compounds identified in this study serve as starting points for lead optimization, animal testing, and drug development against tularemia. Our integrated in silico/in vitro approach had an overall 15% success rate in terms of active versus tested compounds over an elapsed time period of 32 weeks, from pathogen strain identification to selection and validation of novel antimicrobial compounds.
Effect of the push-up exercise at different palmar width on muscle activities

[Purpose] The purpose of the present study was to determine the effects of changes in palmar width on the muscle activities of the shoulder and truncus muscles during push-up exercise. [Subjects] Twelve healthy adult males participated in this study as subjects. [Methods] Push-up exercises were performed with three different palmar width in narrow (50%), neutral (100%), and wide positions (150%). We measured the muscle activities of the deltoideus p. acromialis, pectoralis minor, pectoralis major, serratus anterior, biceps brachii, triceps brachii, latissimus dorsi, and infraspinatus. [Results] Pectoralis minor, triceps brachii, and infraspinatus muscle activities were greater during push-ups performed with the 50% palmar width compared with the other palmar widths. Pectoralis major muscle activity was greater during push-ups performed with the 50% and 100% palmar widths compared with the 150% palmar width. Serratus anterior muscle activity was greater during push-ups performed with the 150% palmar width compared with the other palmar widths. [Conclusion] These results are expected to serve as reference materials for push-up exercise applications in training programs for truncus muscle strengthening or rehabilitation programs for scapula patients.
The use of social media: an exploratory study of usage among digital natives

Word-of-mouth has long been an important concept in marketing communications. In today's world of Web 2.0, electronic word-of-mouth has materialized as a phenomenon of critical interest to marketers. Within the context of electronic word-of-mouth has emerged consumer-generated content in which consumers can quickly and easily create and distribute messages via the worldwide web. Given that today's college students are considered digital natives and comprise the Generation C market segment, one might suspect that this group would be active in creating and disseminating product/service content within their social groups. This research reports on an exploratory study that examined college student behaviors in the vast world of social media. On the basis of a content analysis of self-report behaviors, these digital natives are content with current technology and capabilities for their general role as spectators. They appear content with what they know and what they are doing. The research raises identity questions as to who the active innovators in marketing's social media ecosystem might be. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Foraging and farming as niche construction: stable and unstable adaptations

All forager (or hunter–gatherer) societies construct niches, many of them actively by the concentration of wild plants into useful stands, small-scale cultivation, burning of natural vegetation to encourage useful species, and various forms of hunting, collectively termed ‘low-level food production’. Many such niches are stable and can continue indefinitely, because forager populations are usually stable. Some are unstable, but these usually transform into other foraging niches, not geographically expansive farming niches. The Epipalaeolithic (final hunter–gatherer) niche in the Near East was complex but stable, with a relatively high population density, until destabilized by an abrupt climatic change. The niche was unintentionally transformed into an agricultural one, due to chance genetic and behavioural attributes of some wild plant and animal species. The agricultural niche could be exported with modifications over much of the Old World. This was driven by massive population increase and had huge impacts on local people, animals and plants wherever the farming niche was carried. Farming niches in some areas may temporarily come close to stability, but the history of the last 11 000 years does not suggest that agriculture is an effective strategy for achieving demographic and political stability in the world's farming populations.
Plant-Derived Oils Reduce Pathogens and Gaseous Emissions from Stored Cattle Waste

ABSTRACT Carvacrol and thymol in combination at 6.7 mM each completely inhibited the production of short-chain volatile fatty acids and lactate from cattle waste in anoxic flasks over 23 days. Fecal coliforms were reduced from 4.6 × 106 to 2.0 × 103 cells per ml 2 days after treatment and were nondetectable within 4 days. Total anaerobic bacteria were reduced from 8.4 × 1010 to 1.5 × 107 cells per ml after 2 days and continued to be suppressed to that level after 14 days. If the concentration of carvacrol or thymol were doubled (13.3 mM), either could be used to obtain the same inhibitory fermentation effect. We conclude that carvacrol or thymol may be useful as an antimicrobial chemical to control pathogens and odor in stored livestock waste.
Sensitivity to Nonaccidental Configurations of Two-Line Stimuli

According to Recognition-By-Components theory, object recognition relies on a specific subset of three-dimensional shapes called geons. In particular, these configurations constitute a powerful cue to three-dimensional object reconstruction because their two-dimensional projection remains viewpoint-invariant. While a large body of literature has demonstrated sensitivity to changes in these so-called nonaccidental configurations, it remains unclear what information is used in establishing such sensitivity. In this study, we explored the possibility that nonaccidental configurations can already be inferred from the basic constituents of objects, namely, their edges. We constructed a set of stimuli composed of two lines corresponding to various nonaccidental properties and configurations underlying the distinction between geons, including collinearity, alignment, curvature of contours, curvature of configuration axis, expansion, cotermination, and junction type. Using a simple visual search paradigm, we demonstrated that participants were faster at detecting targets that differed from distractors in a nonaccidental property than in a metric property. We also found that only some but not all of the observed sensitivity could have resulted from simple low-level properties of our stimuli. Given that such sensitivity emerged from a configuration of only two lines, our results support the view that nonaccidental configurations could be encoded throughout the visual processing hierarchy even in the absence of object context.
Time trends in STEMI—improved treatment and outcome but still a gender gap: a prospective observational cohort study from the SWEDEHEART register

Objective In ST elevation myocardial infarction women received less evidence-based medicine and had worse outcome during the fibrinolytic era. With the shift to primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) as preferred reperfusion strategy, the authors aimed to investigate whether these gender differences has diminished. Design, setting and participants Cohort study including consecutive ST elevation myocardial infarction patients registered 1998–2000 (n=15 697) and 2004–2006 (n=14 380) in the Register of Information and Knowledge about Swedish Heart Intensive care Admissions. Outcome measures 1. Use of evidence-based medicine such as reperfusion therapy (pPCI or fibrinolysis) and evidence-based drugs at discharge. 2. Inhospital and 1-year mortality. Results Of those who got reperfusion therapy, pPCI was the choice in 9% in the early period compared with 68% in the late period. In the early period, reperfusion therapy was given to 63% of women versus 71% of men, p<0.001. Corresponding figures in the late period were 64% vs 75%, p<0.001. After multivariable adjustments, the ORs (women vs men) were 0.86 (95% CI 0.78 to 0.94) in the early and 0.80 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.89) in the late period. As regards evidence-based secondary preventive drugs at discharge in hospital survivors (platelet inhibitors, statins, ACE inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers and β-blockers), there were small gender differences in the early period. In the late period, women had 14%–25% less chance of receiving these drugs, OR 0.75 (95% CI 0.68 to 0.81) through 0.86 (95% CI 0.73 to 1.00). In both periods, multivariable-adjusted inhospital mortality was higher in women, OR 1.18 (95% CI 1.02 to 1.36) and 1.21 (1.00 to 1.46). One-year mortality was gender equal, HR 0.95 (95% CI 0.87 to 1.05) and 0.96 (0.86 to 1.08), after adding evidence-based medicine to the multivariable adjustments. Conclusion In spite of an intense gender debate, focus on guideline adherence and the change in reperfusion strategy, the last decade gender differences in use of reperfusion therapy and evidence-based therapy at discharge did not decline during the study period, rather the opposite. Moreover, higher mortality in women persisted.
A Comprehensive Trainable Error Model for Sung Music Queries

We propose a model for errors in sung queries, a variant of the hidden Markov model (HMM). This is a solution to the problem of identifying the degree of similarity between a (typically error-laden) sung query and a potential target in a database of musical works, an important problem in the field of music information retrieval. Similarity metrics are a critical component of “query-by-humming” (QBH) applications which search audio and multimedia databases for strong matches to aural queries. Our model comprehensively expresses the types of error or variation between target and query: cumulative and non-cumulative local errors, transposition, tempo and tempo changes, insertions, deletions and modulation. The model is not only expressive, but automatically trainable, or able to learn and generalize from query examples. We present results of simulations, designed to assess the discriminatory potential of the model, and tests with real sung queries, to demonstrate relevance to real-world applications. 0.
Microbial growth and substrate utilization kinetics

Microbial growth on and utilization of environmental contaminants as substrates have been studied by many researchers. Most times, substrate utilization results in removal of chemical contaminant, increase in microbial biomass and subsequent biodegradation of the contaminant. These are all aimed at detoxification of the environmental pollutants. Several microbial growth and biodegradation kinetic models have been developed, proposed and used in bioremediation schemes. Some of these models include Monod’s, Andrews, Bungay’s weighted model, general substrate inhibition models (GSIM) and sum kinetic models. Most research on microbial potentials to degrade chemical pollutants has been performed on a laboratory scale. There is a need to extend such studies to pilot scale as well as to full-scale field applications. Key words: Microbial growth, substrate utilization, biodegradation, kinetics, detoxification, organic contaminants, models, environmental pollutants.
Body sensor network-based strapdown orientation estimation: Application to human locomotion

In this contribution, inertial and magnetic sensors are considered for real-time strapdown orientation tracking of human limb or robotic segment orientation. By using body sensor network integrated triaxial gyrometer, accelerometer, and magnetometer measurements, two orientation estimation filters are presented and subsequently designed for bias insensitive tracking of human gait. Both filters use quaternions for rotation representation, where preprocessing accelerometer and magnetometer data is conducted with the quaternion based estimation algorithm (QUEST) as a reference filter input. This results in a significant reduction of the complexity and calculation cost on the body sensor network. QUEST-based preprocessed attitude data is used for the designed extended Kalman filter (EKF) and a new complementary sliding mode observer. EKF-QUEST and complementary sliding mode observer are designed and tested in simulations and subsequently validated with a reference motion tracking system in treadmill tests.
Generalised supersymmetric fluxbranes

We classify generalised supersymmetric fluxbranes in type II string theory obtained as Kaluza-Klein reductions of the Minkowski space vacuum of eleven-dimensional supergravity. We obtain two families of smooth solutions which contains all the known solutions, new solutions called nullbranes, and solutions interpolating between them. We explicitly construct all the solutions and we study the U-duality orbits of some of these backgrounds.
Removal of Odors from Swine Wastewater by Using Microbial Fuel Cells

ABSTRACT A single-chamber microbial fuel cell (MFC) was used to reduce 10 chemicals associated with odors by 99.76% (from 422 ± 23 μg/ml) and three volatile organic acids (acetate, butyrate, and propionate) by >99%. The MFC produced a maximum of 228 mW/m2 and removed 84% of the organic matter in 260 h. MFCs were therefore effective at both treatment and electricity generation.
Model Predictive Control of Aggregated Heterogeneous Second-Order Thermostatically Controlled Loads for Ancillary Services

In order to provide the ancillary service for smart grid, this paper proposes a modelling and control protocol design approach for the aggregation of heterogeneous thermostatically controlled loads (TCLs). A 2-D state bin is proposed to model the second-order TCL dynamics in a population model. Detailed procedure of calculating the transition probability in the system matrix is provided. In the controller design, a model predictive control (MPC) scheme is proposed to obtain the optimal control actions along the prediction horizon. In addition, implementation of the control signal for adjusting TCLs' statuses are also investigated with practical situations considered. Simulation results reveal the feasibility and efficacy of the proposed modelling and control approach when applied on a large population of TCLs. Some factors that may affect the service performance are also discussed in this paper.