Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Offline Torque Sharing Function for Torque Ripple Reduction in Switched Reluctance Motor Drives

In this paper, an offline torque sharing function (TSF) for torque ripple reduction in switched reluctance motor (SRM) drives over a wide speed range is proposed. The objective function of an offline TSF is composed of two secondary objectives with a Tikhonov factor to minimize the square of the phase current (copper loss) and derivatives of current references (rate of change of flux linkage). The proposed TSFs with different Tikhonov factors are compared with the conventional TSFs including linear, cubic, and exponential TSFs in terms of efficiency and torque-speed performance while operating in both magnetic linear and saturation regions. Then, the Tikhonov factor is selected based on a tradeoff between the copper loss and torque-speed performance. The maximum torque-ripple-free speed of the selected offline TSF is validated to be seven times as high as the best case in these conventional TSFs. The performance of the offline TSF is verified by simulations and experiments with a 2.3-kW, three-phase 12/8 SRM. Results show that the proposed offline TSF can significantly reduce the torque ripple of SRM without increasing copper loss over a wide speed range.
Treatment-related empowerment: preliminary evaluation of a new measure in patients with advanced HIV disease

This paper presents a novel method for assessing patients' perceptions of empowerment in the context of drug therapy, the Treatment-related Empowerment Scale (TES). The 10-item TES was specifically constructed to address components of communication, treatment choice, decision-making and satisfaction. Evaluation of the scale in a cross-sectional anonymous survey of 43 patients with advanced HIV infection revealed acceptable internal reliability (Cronbach's alpha=0.85) and evidence of both criterion and discriminant validity. Patients who perceived a high degree of treatment-related empowerment were less likely to view doctors as overly reliant on prescribing medicines and reported lower rates of intentional non-compliance. The TES has scope as a concise measure of patients' degree of control over the selection and use of drug therapy, and may be of particular value for current combination therapy regimens.
Tell Me What I See

In this project we explore performance of different approaches to the image caption task and in particular application of GRU units instead of LSTM based architectures. We created a model with modular architecture that allows to easy replacement and testing of different visual, CNN’s and language, RNN’s networks and made a number of experiments. As a result we found a well performing model with a simple GRU based architecture and rather short training time.
Risky Sex, Drugs, Sensation Seeking, and Callous Unemotional Traits in Justice-Involved Male Adolescents

The current study examined whether callous-unemotional (CU) traits predicted risky sexual behavior (i.e., unprotected sex, casual sex) and whether substance use and sensation seeking mediated this relationship over 24 months in justice-involved young men. Participants (N = 1,216) were an ethnically and racially diverse sample (46.3% White Latino, 38% Black, 15.7% White non-Latino) of first-time offending male adolescents (ages 13–17 years) from 3 U.S. cities. Participants completed 5 self-reported interviews at 6-month intervals over 2 years. Bootstrapped mediation analyses were conducted to test direct effects of CU traits on risky sexual behaviors, as well as indirect effects through substance use and sensation seeking. CU traits at baseline were positively associated with risky sexual behavior 18–24 months later. CU traits were also associated with the hypothesized mediators, sensation seeking and substance use, measured 6–12 months after baseline. CU traits exerted direct effects on later unprotected sex and casual sex, as well as indirect effects through substance use but not sensation seeking. These effects were largely unchanged when accounting for the youth’s level of self-reported delinquency. These findings demonstrate that CU traits predict later risky sexual outcomes, and this is at least partly explained by substance use. Further, the findings highlight the importance of CU traits for several outcomes that are of significant public health concern among justice-involved adolescents, namely, risky sexual behavior and substance use.
The Effects of Methylphenidate on the Classroom Behavior of Elementary School—Age Children With Cerebral Palsy: A Preliminary Observational Analysis

High- and low-dose methylphenidate administration was evaluated prospectively for 3 elementary school—age children with cerebral palsy, cognitive impairments, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms using single-case, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled designs. An observational time sampling protocol was used to directly measure and quantify classroom behavior. Summary level analysis showed that (1) low-dose (0.3 mg/kg/dose) administration was associated with clinically significant (>50%) reductions in stereotyped and disruptive behavior relative to baseline and placebo conditions, (2) high-dose (0.5 mg/kg/dose) administration was associated with exacerbated amounts of stereotyped and disruptive behavior, and (3) no changes were directly observed for task-related behavior at either dose. Results are discussed with respect to previous research with methylphenidate administration and cerebral palsy, and the suggestion is made that further work using larger, randomly selected study samples with complementary measures of behavior and performance appears warranted.
Genetic inactivation of the B2 receptor in mice worsens two-kidney, one-clip hypertension: role of NO and the AT2 receptor

Objective Previous studies have suggested that activation of angiotensin II (ANG II) type 2 (AT2) receptors results in nitric oxide (NO) release via activation of endothelial bradykinin B2 (B2R) receptors. The present study was performed to examine the interplay of AT2 and B2R in the development and maintenance of two-kidney, one-clip (2K1C) Goldblatt hypertension. Methods B2R knockout (B2R−/−) mice and their wild-type controls (B2R+/+) underwent clipping of the right renal artery and were infused with either saline (SAL) or PD 123319, an AT2 receptor antagonist (PD), via an osmotic pump implanted intraperitoneally. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) was measured in conscious mice. On day 27, mean arterial pressure (MAP) responses were measured in response to consecutive blockade of AT2 receptors and NO synthase (NOS). Results A significant and sustained rise in SBP was observed in both 2K1C B2R+/+ and B2R−/− versus sham-operated groups from day 10 to day 24 after clipping. After this time, SBP rose to significantly higher levels in 2K1C/B2R−/− than in 2K1C/B2R+/+ mice. MAP on day 27 was also higher in 2K1C/B2R−/− than 2K1C/B2R+/+ mice. Chronic PD infusion did not alter the course of hypertension in 2K1C/B2R+/+ or 2K1C/B2R−/− mice as compared with saline-infused mice. Likewise, acute PD infusion did not affect MAP in any of the groups. However, acute NOS inhibition caused significantly greater increases in MAP in 2K1C/B2R+/+ and PD/2K1C/B2R+/+ than 2K1C/B2R−/− and PD/2K1C/B2R−/− mice. Conclusions These results indicate that B2R inactivation selectively worsens the maintenance phase of 2K1C Goldblatt hypertension and support the notion that B2R-deficient mice exhibit an impaired ability to release NO in response to elevations of ANG II levels. Chronic administration of an AT2 receptor blocker did not modify the course of 2K1C Goldblatt hypertension in either B2R−/− or B2R+/+ mice. Therefore, the role of AT2 receptors in B2R-mediated protection against ANG II-dependent hypertension remains uncertain.
Identification of novel and rare mutations in California Hispanic and African American cystic fibrosis patients

In ethnic heterogeneous California, complete genetic information is currently lacking to build solid population‐based cystic fibrosis (CF) screening programs because a large proportion of mutations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator gene (CFTR/ABCC7) are still unknown, especially in non‐Caucasian patients. A total of 402 [46 African American+356 Hispanic] Hispanic and African American patients from California CF patient registry were included in this study. Patients with at least one unidentified mutant allele were asked to donate blood samples for further analysis, first by Genzyme Genetics for a panel of 87 known mutations, followed by temporal temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TTGE) scanning of the entire coding exons of CFTR gene. A total of eight novel mutations; one missense mutation, one splice‐site mutation and six frame‐shift mutations were identified. In addition to the eight novel mutations, 21 distinct rare mutations that are not in the current available commercial mutation panels were identified by TTGE. The overall detection rate was raised to 95.7% for African American and 94.5% for Hispanic. The discovery of recurrent rare and novel mutations improves the diagnosis and care of persons with CF and improves our ability to adequately and equitably provide screening and genetic counseling services to non‐Caucasians. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Proinflammatory Action of Microglial P2 Receptors Is Enhanced in SOD1 Models for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis1

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by the selective loss of lower and upper motoneurons. The pathology is imputable in ∼2% of cases to mutations in the ubiquitous enzyme Cu, Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1). Common theories to explain the pathogenic mechanisms of ALS include activation of microglia, responsible for the release of proinflammatory factors. However, how mutant SOD1 affects microglial activation and subsequently injures neurons is still unclear. Considering that extracellular ATP, through purinergic P2 receptors, constitutes a well recognized neuron-to-microglia alarm signal, the aim of this study was to investigate how the expression of mutant SOD1 affects P2 receptor-mediated proinflammatory microglial properties. We used primary and immortalized microglial cells from mutant SOD1 mice to explore several aspects of activation by purinergic ligands and to analyze the overall effect of such stimulation on the viability of NSC-34 and SH-SY5Y neuronal cell lines. We observed up-regulation of P2X4, P2X7, and P2Y6 receptors and down-regulation of ATP-hydrolyzing activities in mutant SOD1 microglia. This potentiation of the purinergic machinery reflected into enhanced sensitivity mainly to 2′-3′-O-(benzoyl-benzoyl) ATP, a P2X7 receptor preferential agonist, and translated into deeper morphological changes, enhancement of TNF-α and cyclooxygenase-2 content, and finally into toxic effects exerted on neuronal cell lines by microglia expressing mutant SOD1. All these parameters were prevented by the antagonist Brilliant Blue G. The purinergic activation of microglia may thus constitute a new route involved in the progression of ALS to be exploited to potentially halt the disease.
An Intervention-AUV learns how to perform an underwater valve turning

Intervention autonomous underwater vehicles (I-AUVs) are a promising platform to perform intervention task in underwater environments, replacing current methods like remotely operate underwater vehicles (ROVs) and manned sub-mersibles that are more expensive. This article proposes a complete system including all the necessary elements to perform a valve turning task using an I-AUV. The knowledge of an operator to perform the task is transmitted to an I-AUV by a learning by demonstration (LbD) algorithm. The algorithm learns the trajectory of the vehicle and the end-effector to accomplish the valve turning. The method has shown its feasibility in a controlled environment repeating the learned task with different valves and configurations.
Etude multi-critères de la dégradation des matériaux cimentaires par l'attaque sulfatique externe

La durabilite est devenue un critere important a prendre en compte lors de la conception d’une structure en beton. Tout particulierement celles construites en milieux aqueux agressifs et soumises aux attaques chimiques tels que les sulfates qui sont connus pour leur pouvoir destructif sur les materiaux cimentaires. L’objectif de ce travail est d’etablir un essai representatif du cas reel et de proposer une etude pertinente afin d’evaluer les parametres influencant la performance des materiaux cimentaires soumis a une attaque sulfatique externe (ASE). Dans ce cadre, on s’est interesse aux conditions d’exposition comme la concentration en sulfates de la solution environnante, le temps d’exposition et le pre-conditionnement ainsi qu’aux parametres lies aux proprietes du materiau comme le type de ciment, les proprietes de la matrice cimentaire, les conditions de cure et les additions minerales. Les differentes mesures originales et analyses (MEB, ATG, Porosimetrie) ont montre que le gypse peut avoir un caractere destructif et expansif au meme titre que l’ettringite. Aussi, le degre de saturation a une influence significative sur la cinetique et sur le scenario de la degradation. Afin de comprendre le mecanisme de degradation et de suivre le comportement du materiau tout au long du processus de l’attaque, nous avons eu recours a la modelisation numerique du phenomene. On propose une amelioration du modele Tixier & Mobasher notamment au niveau de la prise en compte de l’endommagement. Ce modele a ete implemente par la suite dans le code de calcul par elements finis ‘Comsol Multiphysics afin de suivre la propagation du front de la concentration et de la degradation. Les resultats numeriques sur la diffusion des sulfates et la formation des produits expansifs sont prometteurs.
Implementation of pedestrian detection using a CENTRIST-ROI in embedded environment

This paper proposes a pedestrian detection algorithm to which ROI was applied to implement pedestrian detection that is suitable for the embedded environment. Pedestrian detection has computations for unnecessary areas because the entire input images are computed to find pedestrians in the given images. In this paper, a pedestrian detection algorithm that is ideal for the embedded environment is proposed which reduced computations for unnecessary areas by applying ROI. The CENTIRST descriptor method was used for the pedestrian detection algorithm, which was implemented using 512×360 pixel images on an ALDEBARAN board. The proposed pedestrian detection with ROI showed a 16% improved performance of 3.6 frames per second compared to the conventional method.
Size and time dependence of the elastic constants of a two-dimensional solid near melting.

By using molecular dynamics simulations, the behavior of the Lam\'e elastic constants of a two-dimensional (repulsive Lennard-Jones potential) solid near melting has been studied over a wide range of systems and very long evolution times. The shear modulus \ensuremath{\mu} is found to vary logarithmically with system size until some critical value of the evolution time is reached for sufficiently large systems. The shear modulus then vanishes, leaving the thermodynamic properties, T and p, invariant. This result provides experimental evidence that the system melts as its size is increased.
Cogito and the unconscious

Introduction: Cogito as Shibboleth 1 Part I. Cogito as a Freudian Concept 1. Cogito as the Subject of the Unconscious / Mladen Dolar 11 2. The Subject of the Law / Alenka Zupancic 41 3. Four Discourses, Four Subjects / Slavoj Zizek 74 Part II. Cogito's Body 4. The Case of Polyphemus, or, a Monster and Its Mother / Alain Grosrichard 117 5. Malebranche's Occasionalism, or, Philosophy in the Garden of Eden / Miran Bozovic 149 6. The Silence of the Feminine Jouissance / Renata Salecl 175 Part III. 7. A Sovereign's Anatomy: The Antique in Bataille's Modernity and Its Impact on His Political Thought / Marc de Kessel 199 8. Negation and Its Reliabilities: An Empty Subject for Ideology? / Robert Pfaller 225 9. The Cartesian Subject versus the Cartesian Theater / Slavoj Zizek 247 Notes on Contributors 275 Index 277
A new under-actuated robot finger with passive adaptive grasping and its application to rehabilitation

This paper present a novel under-actuated robot finger mechanism, which has three phalanges and similar to a human finger with the capacity of easily arranging in multi series to realize a robot hand. The advantage of proposed finger is obtain more Degree-Of-Freedom (DOF) with less actuators and self-adaptive functionality under real life grasping without need for sensor feed back. The structure of proposed robot finger is briefly described and real world grasping experiment and its application to rehabilitation is also given.
Generalizing generalized tries

A trie is a search tree scheme that employs the structure of search keys to organize information. Tries were originally devised as a means to represent a collection of records indexed by strings over a fixed alphabet. Based on work by C. P. Wadsworth and others, R. H. Connelly and F. L. Morris generalized the concept to permit indexing by elements built according to an arbitrary signature. Here we go one step further, and define tries and operations on tries generically for arbitrary datatypes of first-order kind, including parameterized and nested datatypes. The derivation employs techniques recently developed in the context of polytypic programming and can be regarded as a comprehensive case study in this new programming paradigm. It is well known that for the implementation of generalized tries, nested datatypes and polymorphic recursion are needed. Implementing tries for first-order kinded datatypes places even greater demands on the type system: it requires rank-2 type signatures and second-order nested datatypes. Despite these requirements, the definition of tries is surprisingly simple, which is mostly due to the framework of polytypic programming.
UMA REVISÃO DE PESQUISAS NAS CONCEPÇÕES DE PROFESSORES SOBRE A NATUREZA DA CIÊNCIA E SUAS IMPLICAÇÕES PARA O ENSINO

This paper, as part of a more comprehensive investigation (Harres, 199a), shows the ‘state of art’ that has been developed out of the Brazilian context, in the conceptions of the nature of science – CNC. In addition to other studies we synthetize three important previous reviews (Ledermann, 1992; Koulaidis and Ogborn, 1989; Porlan and Rivero, 1998) comparing them to other more recent results and stressing out the implications of these results to science teaching.
A Biomedical Application by Using Optimal Fuzzy Sliding-Mode Control

The development of biochips is a major thrust of the rapidly growing biotechnology industry. Research on biomedical or biochemical analysis miniaturization and integration has made explosive progress by using biochips recently. For example, capillary electrophoresis (CE), sample preconcentration, genomic DNA extraction, and DNA hybridization have been successfully miniaturized and operated in a single-step chip. However, there is still a considerable technical challenge in integrating these procedures into a multiple-step system. In biometric and biomedical applications, the special transporting mechanism must be designed for the μTAS (micro total analysis system) to move samples and reagents through the microchannels that connect the unit procedure components in the system. Therefore, an important issue for this miniaturization and integration is microfluid management technique, i.e., microfluid transportation, metering, and mixing. This charter introduced a method to achieve the microfluidic manipulated implementation on biochip system with a pneumatic pumping actuator and a feedbacksignal flowmeter by using an optimal fuzzy sliding-mode control (OFSMC) design based on the 8051 microprocessor. However, the relationships of the pumping mechanisms, the operating conditions of the devices, and the transporting behavior of the multi-component fluids in these channels are quite complicated. Because the main disadvantages of the mechanical valves utilized moving parts are the complexity and expense of fabrication, and the fragility of the components. Therefore, a novel recursively-structured apparatus of valveless microfluid manipulating method based on a pneumatic pumping mechanism has been utilized in this study. The working principle of this pumping design on this device should not directly relate to the nature of the fluid components. The driving force acting on the microliquid drop in the microchannel of this device is based on the pneumatic pumping which is induced by a blowing airflow. Furthermore, the pneumatic pumping actuator should be independent of the actuation responsible for the biochemical analysis on the chip system, so the contamination of pneumatic pumping source can be avoided. The total biochip mechanism consists of an external pneumatic actuator and an on-chip planar structure for airflow reception. In order to achieve microfluidic manipulation in the microchannel of the biochip system, pneumatic pumping controller plays an important role. Therefore, a design of the controller
Affinity Purification and Characterization of Functional Tubulin from Cell Suspension Cultures of Arabidopsis and Tobacco1

New methods allow for efficient affinity purification of polymerization-competent tubulin from tobacco and Arabidopsis cell cultures. Microtubules assemble into several distinct arrays that play important roles in cell division and cell morphogenesis. To decipher the mechanisms that regulate the dynamics and organization of this versatile cytoskeletal component, it is essential to establish in vitro assays that use functional tubulin. Although plant tubulin has been purified previously from protoplasts by reversible taxol-induced polymerization, a simple and efficient purification method has yet to be developed. Here, we used a Tumor Overexpressed Gene (TOG) column, in which the tubulin-binding domains of a yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) TOG homolog are immobilized on resin, to isolate functional plant tubulin. We found that several hundred micrograms of pure tubulin can readily be purified from cell suspension cultures of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) and Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana). The tubulin purified by the TOG column showed high assembly competence, partly because of low levels of polymerization-inhibitory phosphorylation of α-tubulin. Compared with porcine brain tubulin, Arabidopsis tubulin is highly dynamic in vitro at both the plus and minus ends, exhibiting faster shrinkage rates and more frequent catastrophe events, and exhibits frequent spontaneous nucleation. Furthermore, our study shows that an internal histidine tag in α-tubulin can be used to prepare particular isotypes and specifically engineered versions of α-tubulin. In contrast to previous studies of plant tubulin, our mass spectrometry and immunoblot analyses failed to detect posttranslational modification of the isolated Arabidopsis tubulin or detected only low levels of posttranslational modification. This novel technology can be used to prepare assembly-competent, highly dynamic pure tubulin from plant cell cultures.