Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Functional Pearls Efficient sets—a balancing act

In late 1991 I organized an international programming competition for the Standard ML community. Each entrant implemented the 'set of integers' abstract data type, matching a signature that I provided. Prizes (donated by MIT Press) were awarded in two categories: fastest program (on a particular benchmark), and most elegant yet still efficient program. More than a dozen entries were received; the top four entries in the speed category are listed here:
Principles of motor recovery in post-stroke patients using hand exoskeleton controlled by the brain-computer interface based on motor imagery

Motor recovery in post{stroke and post{traumatic patients using exoskeleton controlled by the brain-computer interface (BCI) is a new and promising rehabilitation procedure. Its development is a multidisciplinary research, which requires the teamwork of experts in neurology, neurophys- iology, physics, mathematics, biomechanics and robotics. Some aspects of all these elds of study concerning the development of this rehabilita-tion procedure are described in the paper. The description includes the principles and physiological prerequisites of BCI based on motor imagery, biologically adequate principles of exoskeleton design and control and the results of clinical application.
Word identification in reading proceeds from spelling to sound to meaning.

Van Orden (1987) reported that false positive errors in a categorization task are elevated for homophonic foils (e.g., HARE for A PART OF THE HUMAN BODY). Two new experiments replicate this finding and extend it to nonword homophone foils (e.g., SUTE FOR AN ARTICLE OF CLOTHING). False positive errors to nonword homophone foils substantially exceed false positive errors to nonhomophonic nonword spelling controls, showing that the phonological characteristics of the nonword foils are critical. Because nonwords are not represented in the lexicon, this new result implicates computed phonological codes as a source of the categorization errors. Additionally, in each of two experiments, matched word and nonword homophones produced virtually identical error rates. If stimulus nonword homophones are viewed as extremely unfamiliar words, compared with the relatively familiar stimulus word homophones, then our failure to observe an effect of stimulus familiarity strengthens the case that phonological coding plays a role in the identification of all printed words. The fact that the results are obtained in a categorization task that requires reading for meaning (rather than a lexical decision task) makes it difficult to avoid the conclusion that phonological mediation plays a role in normal reading of text for meaning.
New control scheme for series DC active power filters coupled by transformers applied to high performance magnet power supplies

This paper proposes a transformer-coupled series DC active power filter (DCAPF) applied to high performance magnet power supplies with large current and low ripples. In the condition of heavy magnet loads, this type of DCAPF has much better filtering performance compared with the parallel DCAPF. Firstly, the configuration of the magnet power supplies with the series DCAPF is proposed. Then a novel control strategy for the DCAPF, i.e. detecting the ripple voltage across the R-C branch filter as the reference signal of the DCAPF, is presented and analyzed in detail. After that, the most important component in the whole power system, the coupling transformer, is described in particular. The difference between it and ordinary transformers is introduced. Furthermore, the main steps of designing the coupling transformer are sketched out. With the novel control approach and the coupling transformer, a set of laboratory prototype of 5 kVA high performance magnet power supply system was developed. Simulation and experimental studies have been carried out. For 600 Hz components, the ripple voltage decreases to 1.14 V, only 6.52% of the value without the DCAPF. It is nearly the same case with other ripple components. The results verify the high performance of the transformer-coupled series DCAPF.
Analiza variabilnosti gena za eritropoetinski receptor pri družinski eritrocitozi.

Eritrocitoza je opredeljena kot motnja s povisanim stevilom rdecih krvnih telesc in hkrati povisanimi vrednostmi hematokrita ter hemoglobina. Vzrok za primarno družinsko eritrocitozo (DE) tipa 1 (ECYT1) je mutacija v genu za eritropoetinski receptor (EPOR). V Sloveniji se ni uvedene diagnosticne preiskave, ki bi zajemala testiranje gena EPOR, v zvezi s pojavom te bolezni. S sistematicnim pregledom literature smo zbrali 24 razlicic gena EPOR povezanih z DE, vse so v eksonu 8. Z uporabo orodij SIFT in PolyPhen smo dolocili 33 razlicic z najvecjim napovedanim ucinkom na delovanje proteina, od katerih jih je bilo deset predhodno že povezanih z eritrocitozo. Optimizirali smo reakcijo PCR za pomnožitev eksona 8 gena EPOR. Primerjali smo nukleotidno zaporedje gena EPOR dveh bolnikov z eritrocitozo neznanega vzroka, dveh zdravih kontrol in referencnega genoma. Razlik v nukleotidnem zaporedju nismo ugotovili, ter tako pri bolnikih izkljucili sum na ECYT1. Omogocili smo prenos nove diagnosticne metode za odkrivanje DE v klinicno uporabo v Specializiran hematoloski laboratorij Klinicnega oddelka za hematologijo Univerzitetnega klinicnega centra Ljubljana.
The effect of speaking rate and vowel context on the perception of consonants in babble noise

In this paper, we study human perception of consonants in the presence of additive babble noise at two speaking rates. In a ddition, we work on a model that attempts to replicate these human result s through a phoneme recognition model. Consonant-Vowel-Co nsonant (CVC) stimuli comprising of a set of 13 consonants and 3 vowel s (/a/, /i/, /u/) were recorded in a sound proof booth by two ta lkers at two different speaking rates (fast and slow). Noisy stimu li were generated by adding babble noise at different levels to the quiet recordings. These stimuli were used to conduct perceptual e xperiments in which 52 listeners were asked to listen and rep eat back the CVC phrases presented in babble noise under 3 SNR conditions and both speaking rates. The data was transcribed by two trai ned linguists. The results were analyzed by SNR, vowel, and spea king rate. Rate did not have an effect on the perception of con sonants in quiet conditions. With the exception of /CuC/ stimuli, spea king rate had a pronounced effect, with slow speech being mor e intelligible than fast speech in the presence of noise. /CaC/ stimuli were , on average, more robust than other stimuli in all condition s. I addition, syllable initial consonants were better identified than fina l consonants, especially in noise. The effect of rate was mor e pronounced in voiced syllable final consonants. The stimuli collected was run through a phoneme recognition model based on GMMs. The ma chine effectively sees ”noisy” data even though we present it with clean stimuli due to mismatched train and test conditions (t rain on TIMIT, test on sound booth stimuli). The machine consonant recogni ti n accuracies and confusions are similar to that of humans for 0dB stimuli. The machine also mimicks the effect of rate on human s for the /i/ and /u/ context while it does not for the /a/ conte xt.
Ehrenfest time in the weak dynamical localization

The quantum kicked rotor (QKR) is known to exhibit dynamical localization in the space of its angular momentum. The present paper is devoted to the systematic first--principal (without a regularizer) diagrammatic calculations of the weak--localization corrections for QKR. Our particular emphasis is on the Ehrenfest time regime -- the phenomena characteristic for the classical--to--quantum crossover of classically chaotic systems.
A study of oxidative stress in cotton industry workers from Solapur city

The textile mill workers are continuously exposed to cotton dust which may lead to different respiratory disorders such as byssinosis, respiratory tract irritation, COPD etc. producing larger rate of decline in pulmonary functions and occupational hypertension. The present study was carried out to assess exposure effects of cotton dust on oxidant and antioxidant status which may induce related health hazards. 90 cotton industry workers and 30 healthy controls were screened for serum lipid peroxide (MDA) and serum nitric oxide as oxidants and superoxide dismutase, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase and catalase as antioxidants. Total antioxidant status was also measured. The cotton industry workers were divided in three groups. Group I included workers with 5 to 9 years exposure to cotton dust while group II and III workers were exposed to cotton dust for 10 to 14 years and 15 to 19 years respectively. Highly significant increase in serum MDA and NO? was observed in all groups of cotton industry workers as compared to controls. The activities of SOD, glutathione peroxidase, glutathione reductase were found to be significantly decreased in group II and III workers. Our study demonstrated significant decrease in catalase activity and total antioxidant status in all groups of cotton industry workers. From our study, it is evident that cotton dust exposure induces oxidative stress among textile industry workers. As duration of exposure is increased, the effect is enhanced. This resulting oxidative stress may contribute to respiratory disorders observed in these workers.
Empirical issues in value at risk estimation: Time varying volatility, fat tails and parameter uncertainty

This paper describes alternative approaches to estimate the Value at Risk (VaR) of a position. Four methods are compared: the unconditional case, the model with time varying drift (modeled as an AR(l) process), the model with time varying drift and time varying volatility (modeled as a GARCH(I,l) process) with error terms that are normally distributed, and the model with time varying drift and time varying volatility with error terms that are Student-t distributed. Two issues are important. First, different specifications for mean, variance and fat tailness lead to different point estimates for the associated distribution function and hence to other VaR measures. Second, uncertainty in parameter estimates implies that the VaR also is uncertain. The model with error terms that are t-distributed is the preferred model, since: (I) the time varying volatility incorporates that recent volatility is a better predictor for the future, (2) the time varying volatility makes it possible to use a longer time series which implies less uncertain VaR estimates and (3) the fat tail of the distribution is taken care of by the t-distributed error terms. An important contribution of the paper lies in the fact that we explicitly take account for parameter uncertainty and propose ways to deal with it.
Comparative Health Impact Assessment of Local and Regional Particulate Air Pollutants in Scandinavia

Abstract The ongoing program Clean Air for Europe (CAFE) is an initiative from the EU Commission to establish a coordinated effort to reach better air quality in the EU. The focus is on particulate matter as it has been shown to have large impact on human health. CAFE requested that WHO make a review of the latest findings on air pollutants and health to facilitate assessments of the different air pollutants and their health effects. The WHO review project on health aspects of air pollution in Europe confirmed that exposure to particulate matter (PM), despite the lower levels we face today, still poses a significant risk to human health. Using the recommended uniform risk coefficients for health impact assessment of PM, regardless of sources, premature mortality related to long-range transported anthropogenic particles has been estimated to be about 3500 deaths per year for the Swedish population, corresponding to a reduction in life expectancy of up to about seven months. The influence of local sources is more difficult to estimate due to large uncertainties when linking available risk coefficients to exposure data, but the estimates indicate about 1800 deaths brought forward each year with a life expectancy reduction of about 2–3 months. However, some sectors of the population are exposed to quite high locally induced concentrations and are likely to suffer excessive reductions in life expectancy. Since the literature increasingly supports assumptions that combustion related particles are associated with higher relative risks, further studies may shift the focus for abatement strategies. CAFE sets out to establish a general cost effective abatement strategy for atmospheric particles. Our results, based on studies of background exposure, show that long-range transported sulfate rich particles dominate the health effects of PM in Sweden. The same results would be found for the whole of Scandinavia and many countries influenced by transboundary air pollution. However, several health studies, including epidemiological studies with a finer spatial resolution, indicate that engine exhaust particles are more damaging to health than other particles. These contradictory findings must be understood and source specific risk estimates have to be established by expert bodies, otherwise it will not be possible to find the most cost effective abatement strategy for Europe. We are not happy with today's situation where every strategy to reduce PM concentrations is estimated to have the same impact per unit change in the mass concentration. Obviously there is a striking need to introduce more specific exposure variables and a higher geographical resolution in epidemiology as well as in health impact assessments.
Polio eradication: the OPV paradox

Routine and mass administration of oral polio vaccine (OPV) since 1961 has prevented many millions of cases of paralytic poliomyelitis. The public health value of this inexpensive and easily administered product has been extraordinary. Progress of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative has further defined the value of OPV as well as its risk through vaccine‐associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) and vaccine‐derived polioviruses (VDPV). Although both are rare, once wild poliovirus transmission has been interrupted by OPV, the only poliomyelitis due to poliovirus will be caused by OPV. Poliovirus will be eradicated only when OPV use is discontinued. This paradox provides a major incentive for eventually stopping polio immunization or replacing OPV, but it also introduces complexity into the process of identifying safe and scientifically sound strategies for doing so. The core post eradication immunization issues include the risk/benefits of continued OPV use, the extent of OPV replacement with IPV, possible strategies for discontinuing OPV, and the potential for development and licensure of a safe and effective replacement for OPV. Formulation of an informed post eradication immunization policy requires careful evaluation of polio epidemiology, surveillance capability, vaccine availability, laboratory containment, and the risks posed by the very tool responsible for successful interruption of wild poliovirus transmission. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Structural and dynamic basis of human cytochrome P450 7B1: a survey of substrate selectivity and major active site access channels.

Cytochrome P450 (CYP) 7B1 is a steroid cytochrome P450 7α-hydroxylase that has been linked directly with bile salt synthesis and hereditary spastic paraplegia type 5 (SPG5). The enzyme provides the primary metabolic route for neurosteroids dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), cholesterol derivatives 25-hydroxycholesterol (25-HOChol), and other steroids such as 5α-androstane-3β,17β-diol (anediol), and 5α-androstene-3β,17β-diol (enediol). A series of investigations including homology modeling, molecular dynamics (MD), and automatic docking, combined with the results of previous experimental site-directed mutagenesis studies and access channels analysis, have identified the structural features relevant to the substrate selectivity of CYP7B1. The results clearly identify the dominant access channels and critical residues responsible for ligand binding. Both binding free energy analysis and total interaction energy analysis are consistent with the experimental conclusion that 25-HOChol is the best substrate. According to 20 ns MD simulations, the Phe cluster residues that lie above the active site, particularly Phe489, are proposed to merge the active site with the adjacent channel to the surface and accommodate substrate binding in a reasonable orientation. The investigation of CYP7B1-substrate binding modes provides detailed insights into the poorly understood structural features of human CYP7B1 at the atomic level, and will be valuable information for drug development and protein engineering.
Optimization of decommission strategy for offshore wind farms

The life time of offshore wind farm is around 20 years. After that, the whole farm should be decommissioned which is also one of the main factors that contribute to the high investment. In order to make a cost-effective wind farm, a novel optimization method for decommission is addressed in this paper. Instead of abandoning the foundations after the wind farm is running out of its life cycle, the proposed method can make good use of the existing facilities so that the cost of energy (COE) can be reduced. The results show that 12.93% reduction of COE can be realized by using the proposed method.
Differences in vertebrate microRNA expression

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) attenuate gene expression by means of translational inhibition and mRNA degradation. They are abundant, highly conserved, and predicted to regulate a large number of transcripts. Several hundred miRNA classes are known, and many are associated with cell proliferation and differentiation. Many exhibit tissue-specific expression, which aids in evaluating their functions, and it has been assumed that their high level of sequence conservation implies a high level of expression conservation. A limited amount of data supports this, although discrepancies do exist. By comparing the expression of ≈100 miRNAs in medaka and chicken with existing data for zebrafish and mouse, we conclude that the timing and location of miRNA expression is not strictly conserved. In some instances, differences in expression are associated with changes in miRNA copy number, genomic context, or both between species. Variation in miRNA expression is more pronounced the greater the differences in physiology, and it is enticing to speculate that changes in miRNA expression may play a role in shaping the physiological differences produced during animal development.
Air pollutant emissions from the development, production, and processing of Marcellus Shale natural gas

The Marcellus Shale is one of the largest natural gas reserves in the United States; it has recently been the focus of intense drilling and leasing activity. This paper describes an air emissions inventory for the development, production, and processing of natural gas in the Marcellus Shale region for 2009 and 2020. It includes estimates of the emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and primary fine particulate matter (≤2.5 µm aerodynamic diameter; PM2.5) from major activities such as drilling, hydraulic fracturing, compressor stations, and completion venting. The inventory is constructed using a process-level approach; a Monte Carlo analysis is used to explicitly account for the uncertainty. Emissions were estimated for 2009 and projected to 2020, accounting for the effects of existing and potential additional regulations. In 2020, Marcellus activities are predicted to contribute 6–18% (95% confidence interval) of the NOx emissions in the Marcellus region, with an average contribution of 12% (129 tons/day). In 2020, the predicted contribution of Marcellus activities to the regional anthropogenic VOC emissions ranged between 7% and 28% (95% confidence interval), with an average contribution of 12% (100 tons/day). These estimates account for the implementation of recently promulgated regulations such as the Tier 4 off-road diesel engine regulation and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Oil and Gas Rule. These regulations significantly reduce the Marcellus VOC and NOx emissions, but there are significant opportunities for further reduction in these emissions using existing technologies. Implications: The Marcellus Shale is one of the largest natural gas reserves in United States. The development and production of this gas may emit substantial amounts of oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds. These emissions may have special significance because Marcellus development is occurring close to areas that have been designated nonattainment for the ozone standard. Control technologies exist to substantially reduce these impacts. PM2.5 emissions are predicted to be negligible in a regional context, but elemental carbon emissions from diesel powered equipment may be important.
Housing tenure and early retirement for health reasons in Sweden

Aims: To assess the association between housing tenure and early retirement for health reasons in Sweden with a view to psychosocial vs. material values of home ownership. Methods: The data come from linked registers that cover all people resident in Sweden during 1990—2000. The study population consists of 449,233 people aged 40—63 years in 1997. Of these, 19,350 retired early for health reasons in 1998—99. The remaining 429,883 continued their employment without extended sick leave or income decline. None moved during 1990—2000. We calculated the odds of early retirement for four forms of juridical relationship to one's housing (private owner; part owner in a cooperative; private rental; rental from a public housing company), for men and women separately, controlling for age, education, employment income, household disposable income, region, foreign birth, and housing type. Results: Men in cooperative ownership had lower odds of early retirement than those in the three other tenure forms, for which the odds were similar. Among women, public and private renters had similar odds of early retirement, which were higher than those of women in private or cooperative ownership. For both genders, inclusion of housing type in the model after housing tenure explained little additional variance. Conclusions: The odds of early retirement for health reasons varied across different housing tenure forms in Sweden in 1998— 99. The pattern of associations differed as a function of gender. Home ownership appears to involve health resources independent of basic sociophysical factors captured with differences in housing type.