Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The performance and subjective responses of call-center operators with new and used supply air filters at two outdoor air supply rates.

UNLABELLED A 2 x 2 replicated field intervention experiment was conducted in a call-center providing a telephone directory service: outdoor air supply rate was adjusted to be 8% or 80% of the total airflow of 430 l/s (3.5 /h) and the supply air filters were either new or had been in place for 6 months. One of these independent variables was changed each week for 8 weeks. The interventions did not affect room temperature, relative humidity or noise level. The 26 operators were blind to conditions and each week returned questionnaires recording their environmental perceptions and Sick Building Syndrome (SBS) symptoms. Their performance was continuously monitored by recording the average talk-time every 30 min. Replacing a used filter with a clean filter reduced talk-time by about 10% at the high ventilation rate but had no significant effect at the low rate. Increasing the outdoor air supply rate reduced talk-time by 6% with a new filter in place but increased talk-time by 8% with a used filter in place. The interventions also had significant effects on some SBS symptoms and environmental perceptions. The present results indicate that increasing outdoor air supply rate and replacing filters can have positive effects on health, comfort and performance. PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS Supply air filters should be changed frequently not just because their airflow resistance increases progressively but because they degrade air quality with negative consequences for health, comfort and the performance of office work, all of which are factors that affect office productivity (profitability). Increasing outdoor air supply rates may only be beneficial when new filters are installed. Unwanted negative effects may be produced when used filters are in place. Filter condition (used or new) should always be recorded to make it possible to draw sound conclusions in studies of the effects of outdoor air supply rates on building occupants.
Performance, limitations, and control of a high-speed tooth belt drive in a motion control application

Motion control applications often demand fast operation times and high accuracy at the same time. Finding the optimal solution between these demands can be sometimes difficult. A linear tooth belt drive offers inexpensive, fast, and relatively accurate solution for motion control demands. However, if the best possible accuracy and highest speeds must be reached, the control designer should be well aware of the non-linearities and control limitations of the system.
Dependence of LC VCO oscillation frequency on bias current

LC-tuned voltage controlled oscillators (LC VCOs) are widely used in high performance phase locked loops (PLLs) and frequency synthesizers due to their high spectral purity. The oscillation frequency of an LC VCO is commonly assumed to be the resonant frequency of the LC tank. However, this is not accurate as shown in this paper. The oscillation frequency is also affected by the bias current. By applying our analysis to the Hegazi and Abidi's LC VCO, we propose a new digital trimming technique which can compensate for process variations and improve the phase noise performance
Effects of a Taped-Words Treatment on Reading Proficiency

In an effort to increase reading proficiency, five 9th- and 10th-grade students with behavior disorders were instructed to read along with an audio tape of vocabulary words recorded at 80 words per minute. Effects of the taped-words intervention on rate of reading vocabulary words as well as generalization effects of reading passages containing some of the same vocabulary words were assessed within a multiple baseline design. Results suggested significant effects due to practice. Minimal generalization from reading word lists to reading passages was demonstrated. The results of the present study are compared with similar investigations.
Assessment of residual myocardial viability in regions with chronic electrocardiographic Q-wave infarction.

BACKGROUND Q waves on the electrocardiogram are often considered to be reflective of irreversibly scarred myocardium due to antecedent transmural myocardial infarction. However, there are some indications that residual viable tissue may be present in Q-wave-infarcted regions. It is clinically relevant to know how many Q-wave regions contain viable tissue because these patients may benefit from revascularization in terms of improvement of function and long-term survival. METHODS Patients (n = 150) with chronic electrocardiographic Q-wave infarction, heart failure symptoms, and chronic coronary artery disease underwent dobutamine-atropine stress echocardiography to assess myocardial viability. Residual viability in regions with Q-wave infarction was considered present when the end-diastolic wall thickness (EDWT) was >6 mm and the response during dobutamine infusion indicated viable tissue. RESULTS Baseline echocardiography revealed 517 dysfunctional myocardial regions; 202 of the dysfunctional regions were related to Q waves on the electrocardiogram and the other 315 dysfunctional regions were not. EDWT was < or =6 mm in 13 regions with a Q wave on the electrocardiogram, with only 1 region exhibiting viable tissue during dobutamine stress echocardiography. EDWT was >6 mm in 189 regions with a Q wave, with 118 (62%) having viable tissue on dobutamine stress echocardiography. In 6 dysfunctional regions without a Q wave, EDWT was < or =6 mm, with all being nonviable on dobutamine stress echocardiography; of the 309 regions without a Q wave and EDWT >6 mm, 204 (66%) exhibited viability on dobutamine stress echocardiography. CONCLUSIONS Fifty-eight percent of dysfunctional regions related to chronic Q waves were viable according to the combined information of EDWT and dobutamine stress echocardiography. EDWT </=6 mm virtually excludes viability; regions with EDWT >6 mm need additional testing to detect or exclude viability.
Inferable object-oriented typed assembly language

A certifying compiler preserves type information through compilation to assembly language programs, producing typed assembly language (TAL) programs that can be verified for safety independently so that the compiler does not need to be trusted. There are two challenges for adopting certifying compilation in practice. First, requiring every compiler transformation and optimization to preserve types is a large burden on compilers, especially when adopting certifying compilation into existing optimizing non-certifying compilers. Second, type annotations significantly increase the size of assembly language programs. This paper proposes an alternative to traditional certifying compilers. It presents iTalX, the first inferable TAL type system that supports existential types, arrays, interfaces, and stacks. We have proved our inference algorithm is complete, meaning if an assembly language program is typeable with iTalX then our algorithm will infer an iTalX typing for that program. Furthermore, our algorithm is guaranteed to terminate even if the assembly language program is untypeable. We demonstrate that it is practical to infer such an expressive TAL by showing a prototype implementation of type inference for code compiled by Bartok, an optimizing C# compiler. Our prototype implementation infers complete type annotations for 98% of functions in a suite of realistic C# benchmarks. The type-inference time is about 8% of the compilation time. We needed to change only 2.5% of the compiler code, mostly adding new code for defining types and for writing types to object files. Most transformations are untouched. Type-annotation size is only 17% of the size of pure code and data, reducing type annotations in our previous certifying compiler [4] by 60%. The compiler needs to preserve only essential type information such as method signatures, object-layout information, and types for static data and external labels. Even non-certifying compilers have most of this information available.
Longitudinal and lateral control for automated lane change maneuvers

This paper considers the trajectory planning problem of a vehicle system for automated lane change maneuvers. By considering a lane change maneuver as primarily a longitudinal planning problem, the proposed trajectory planning algorithm determines whether there exists a longitudinal trajectory which allows the ego vehicle to safely position itself in a gap between surrounding vehicles in the target lane. If such a longitudinal trajectory exists, the algorithm plans the corresponding lateral trajectory. The lane change trajectory planning problem is thereby reduced to solving low-complexity model predictive control problems resulting in loosely coupled longitudinal and lateral motion trajectories. Simulation results demonstrate the ability of the proposed algorithm to generate smooth collision-free trajectories for lane change maneuvers.
Backlash compensation in discrete time nonlinear systems using dynamic inversion by neural networks

A dynamics inversion compensation scheme is designed for control of nonlinear discrete-time systems with input backlash. The compensator uses the backstepping technique with neural networks (NN) for inverting the backlash nonlinearity in the feedforward path. The technique provides a general procedure for using NN to determine the dynamics pre-inverse of an invertible discrete time dynamical system. A discrete-time tuning algorithm is given for the NN weights so that the backlash compensation scheme becomes adaptive, guaranteeing bounded tracking and backlash errors, and also bounded parameter estimates. A rigorous proof of stability and performance is given and a simulation example verifies the performance. Unlike standard discrete-time adaptive control techniques, no certainty equivalence assumption is needed.
Tuning different expression parameters to achieve soluble recombinant proteins in E. coli: Advantages of high‐throughput screening

Proteins are the main reagents for structural, biomedical, and biotechnological studies; however, some important challenges remain concerning protein solubility and stability. Numerous strategies have been developed, with some success, to mitigate these challenges, but a universal strategy is still elusive. Currently, researchers face a plethora of alternatives for the expression of the target protein, which generates a great diversity of conditions to be evaluated. Among these, different promoter strength, diverse expression host and constructs, or special culture conditions have an important role in protein solubility. With the arrival of automated high‐throughput screening (HTS) systems, the evaluation of hundreds of different conditions within reasonable cost and time limits is possible. This technology increases the chances to obtain the target protein in a pure, soluble, and stable state. This review focuses on some of the most commonly used strategies for the expression of recombinant proteins in the enterobacterium Escherichia coli, including the use of HTS for the production of soluble proteins.
A study of sewer network impact on urban groundwater by hydrological modelling

Many buried systems modify the urban soil characteristics, and especially the subsoil water flow. Since the urban groundwater flow can be influenced by these modifications, there is a relation between the base flow observed in sewer systems due to drainage infiltration, and the piezometric levels fluctuations. The hydrological behaviour of urban catchments is affected by these phenomenon and one has to take it into account in urban hydrological models. This study presents the finding using a numerical groundwater model to represent groundwater drainage by trenches and buried pipes. This modelling is first implemented at a local scale first, and then at a catchment scale, which corresponds to a small urban area located at Nantes (Pin Sec, 31 ha). The sensitivity analysis, which is done at a local scale for a unit element of 100m x 100m reveals that the best representation consists in a consideration of a sewer pipe similar to a field drainage system. Furthermore, the model is highly sensitive to soil properties such as hydraulic conductivity. Both the local and catchment scales reveal the piezonetric head drawdown near the trench.
Use of heat and fire-risk indices to project local climate impacts on selected Army installations : climate models, scenarios, climate data, and indices

Climate change is expected to produce increasing impacts on training and infrastructure on Army installations in the coming decades. Planning to enable Army installations to adapt to the changing climate can be supported by suitable estimates of climate impacts over timeframes suitable for strategic plans. This work computed the impacts of future climate change on available training days for seven sample Army installations using projections of temperature and precipitation from global climate models. The number of days with heat-related training restrictions and fire risk from live-fire training were calculated using observed weather station data and climate model projections for several future climate scenarios. For these installations, increased temperatures in time periods centered on 2030, 2050, and 2090 result in a greater number of days with heat categories above 84 and 90 °F (28.9 and 32.2 °C) and with high fire risk. The climate impact on heat-affected training days is greater in the U.S. Southeast, where high humidity also contributes most to the heat index. The impact on the fire risk for training is greater in the U.S. Southwest, where the low precipitation and high temperatures contribute to the high drought index. Future work will include additional installations and climate variables. DISCLAIMER: The contents of this report are not to be used for advertising, publication, or promotional purposes. Citation of trade names does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of the use of such commercial products. All product names and trademarks cited are the property of their respective owners. The findings of this report are not to be construed as an official Department of the Army position unless so designated by other authorized documents. DESTROY THIS REPORT WHEN NO LONGER NEEDED. DO NOT RETURN IT TO THE ORIGINATOR. ERDC/CRREL TR-17-17 iii
A highly-parallel VLSI architecture for a list sphere detector

Finding the nearest point in a lattice is an NP-hard problem for which we desire a simplified architecture. Furthermore, output of confidence measures or soft information is desirable for decoding/detection problems, yet generating such information further complicates the task. This paper presents an efficient and highly parallelisable architecture for a list sphere detector that is particularly suited to ASIC implementation. Various degrees of parallelism are explored and compared. This architecture finds application in multiuser and MIMO detectors, providing soft estimates of the transmitted symbols.
Parallel implementation of option pricing methods on multiple GPUs

The Heston stochastic volatility model is one of the most popular models for the evolution of stocks and futures prices, which includes a stochastic process for the volatility. In practice it is usually enhanced by adding a Poisson jump process, which improves the overall correspondence with the observed behaviour of prices in the marketplace. The pricing of financial options by means of Monte Carlo or quasi-Monte Carlo methods can greatly benefit from the use of GPU computing due to the inherent parallelism of the computations. In this work we describe efficient parallel implementations of several popular option pricing schemes by using CUDA-enabled graphic cards. Our quasi-Monte Carlo algorithms make use of modifications of the Sobol and Halton sequences. The numerical and timing results demonstrate the excellent efficiency of our approach on the target computational platforms.
The G-Protein-Coupled Long-Chain Fatty Acid Receptor GPR40 and Glucose Metabolism

Free fatty acids (FFAs) play a pivotal role in metabolic control and cell signaling processes in various tissues. In particular, FFAs are known to augment glucose-stimulated insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells, where fatty acid-derived metabolites, such as long-chain fatty acyl-CoAs, are believed to act as crucial effectors. Recently, G-protein-coupled receptor 40 (GPR40), a receptor for long-chain fatty acids, was reported to be highly expressed in pancreatic beta cells and involved in the regulation of insulin secretion. Hence, GPR40 is considered to be a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of diabetes. In this review, we summarize the identification and gene expression patterns of GPR40 and its role in glucose metabolism. We also discuss the potential application of GPR40 as a therapeutic target.
Kissing numbers, sphere packings, and some unexpected proofs

The ikissing number problemi asks for the maximal number of white spheres that can touch a black sphere of the same size in n-dimensional space. The answers in dimensions one, two and three are classical, but the answers in dimensions eight and twenty-four were a big surprise in 1979, based on an extremely elegant method initiated by Philippe Delsarte in the early seventies, which concerns inequalities for the distance distributions of kissing congurations. Delsarte’s approach led to especially striking results in cases where there are exceptionally symmetric, dense and unique congurations of spheres: In dimensions eight and twenty-four these are given by the shortest vectors in two remarkable lattices, known as the E8 and the Leech lattice. However, despite the fact that in dimension four there is a special conguration which is conjectured to be optimal and uniqueothe shortest vectors in the D4 lattice, which are also the vertices of a regular 24-celloit was proved that the bounds given by Delsarte’s method aren’t good enough to solve the problem in dimension four. This may explain the astonishment even to experts when in the fall of 2003, Oleg Musin announced a solution of the problem, based on a clever modication of Delsarte’s method [21, 22].
Hardware-software partitioning in embedded system design

One of the most crucial steps in the design of embedded systems is hardware-software partitioning, i.e. deciding which components of the system are implemented in hardware and which ones in software. Different versions of the partitioning problem are defined, corresponding to real-time systems, and cost-constrained systems, respectively. The authors provide a formal mathematic analysis of the complexity of the problems: it is proven that they are NP-hard in the general case, and some efficiently solvable special cases are also presented. An ILP (integer linear programming) based approach is presented that are solving the problem optimally even for quite big systems, and a genetic algorithm (GA) that finds near-optimal solutions for even larger systems. A specialty of the GA is that nonvalid individuals are also allowed, but punished by the fitness function.
A Biologically Verified Classification of Microarray Data

A micro array represents thousands of gene expression levels across a few samples. Determination of an optimal set of features from such a high dimensional dataset requires a good feature selection method. Based on statistical significance of the features, an elimination of insignificant genes can be performed. However such methods lack biological validation. In this paper we propose a method where statistically reduced gene set is biologically verified with the help of Gene ontology (GO). With this verified feature set classification is performed on three micro array datasets using Support vector machine (SVM) and Random forest (RF) classifiers. The classification accuracy determined using same test sets for both without and with ontological verification are found to be significantly improved.
Artesunate influences Th17/Treg lymphocyte balance by modulating Treg apoptosis and Th17 proliferation in a murine model of rheumatoid arthritis

CD4+ regulatory T (Treg) cells and T-helper 17 (Th17) cells have been shown to have important roles in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In our previous study, it was demonstrated that artesunate was able to alter the Treg/Th17 ratio in patients with RA; however, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The present study established a male Sprague Dawley (SD) rat model of type II collagen-induced arthritis (CIA). SD rats were divided into normal control, CIA model and artesunate-treated (5, 10 or 20 mg/kg/day) groups. Treg and Th17 cells were detected in the synovium by immunohistochemical analysis of forkhead/winged helix transcription factor (Foxp3) and interleukin (IL)-17 expression. Subsequently, lymphocytes were extracted from the rat spleens, and the proportions of Treg/Th17 cells were detected by flow cytometry. The results demonstrated that the expression levels of Foxp3 were significantly decreased, and those of IL-17 were significantly increased, in the CIA model group, as compared with the normal control group. The results demonstrated that artesunate decreased the frequency of Th17 cells and increased the frequency of Treg cells in CIA rats in a dose-dependent manner. In conclusion, the present study suggested that artesunate may regulate the Th17/Treg balance by inducing Th17-mediated apoptosis. Therefore, artesunate may be considered a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of patients with RA.
Experience with Rules-Based Programming for Distributed, Concurrent, Fault-Tolerant Code

This paper describes how a rules-based approach allowed us to solve a broad class of challenging distributed system problems in the RAMCloud storage system. In the rules-based approach, behavior is described with small sections of code that trigger independently based on system state; this provides a clean separation between the deterministic and nondeterministic parts of an algorithm. To simplify the implementation of rules-based modules, we developed a task abstraction for information hiding and complexity management, pools for grouping tasks and minimizing the cost of rule evaluation, and a polling-based asynchronous RPC system. The rules-based approach is a special case of an event-based state machine, but it encourages a cleaner factoring of code.
The Complexity of the Partial Order Dimension Problem: Closing the Gap

The dimension of a partial order $P$ is the minimum number of linear orders whose intersection is $P$. There are efficient algorithms to test if a partial order has dimension at most $2$. In 1982 Yannakakis showed that for $k\geq 3$ to test if a partial order has dimension $\leq k$ is NP-complete. The height of a partial order $P$ is the maximum size of a chain in $P$. Yannakakis also showed that for $k\geq 4$ to test if a partial order of height $2$ has dimension $\leq k$ is NP-complete. The complexity of deciding whether an order of height $2$ has dimension $3$ was left open. This question became one of the best known open problems in dimension theory for partial orders. We show that the problem is NP-complete. Technically we show that the decision problem (3DH2) for dimension is equivalent to deciding for the existence of bipartite triangle containment representations (BTCon). This problem then allows a reduction from a class of planar satisfiability problems (P-3-CON-3-SAT(4)) which is known to be NP-hard.