Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The three-dimensional numerical aerodynamics of a movable block burner

Computational fluid-dynamics techniques were employed to study the aerodynamics of a movable block swirl burner, developed by the International Flame Research Foundation, IFRF, which is characterized by the ability to adjust continuously and dynamically the intensity of the swirl by means of the simultaneous rotation of eight movable blocks, inserted between eight fixed blocks. Five three-dimensional grids were constructed for the burner, corresponding to five positions of the movable blocks. Both the k-e and RNG k-e isotropic turbulence models were applied. Only the latter described the existence of a central reverse flow along the annular duct. The employment of first-order and second-order interpolation schemes provided distinct results. The later provided results closer to the experimental tests. The swirl number decayed in the annular duct. The predicted swirl numbers for this movable block swirl burner were lower than the corresponding IFRF's experimental data, as was also observed by other researchers. This gave rise to the suspicion of some possible measurement error in the IFRF's experiments. On the other hand, the lack of agreement between the experimental data and the predictions regarding swirling flows could be attributed to the possible inadequate performance of the k-e model, as a consequence of its isotropic approximation. Still another possible explanation could be a phenomenon called bifurcation, in which one given swirl number can be associated with two distinct conditions of steady state flow. In addition, this complex flows requires a scrupulous development of the grids for the boundary condition and the employment of adequate interpolation schemes.
Design of functionalized folic acid–chitosan nanoparticles for delivery of tetracycline, doxorubicin, and tamoxifen

Design of functionalized folic acid–chitosan nanoparticles for delivery of tetracycline, doxorubicin, and tamoxifen P. Chanphai, T.J. Thomas and H.A. Tajmir-Riahi* Department of Chemistry-Biochemistry and Physics, University of Québec at Trois-Rivières, C. P. 500, Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada G9A 5H7; Department of Medicine, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA
Improvement of position tracking and magnetic-levitation control based on optimal-control for helical motor

For various assistive devices, safe and compact high output actuators are desired. The authors have proposed a helical motor that consists of a helical mover and stator. In the latest study, a motion controller of a helical motor is based on PD-control law and disturbance observer. However, the performance of the conventional controller is not enough to achieve more high preciesion motion and robustness. Therefore, this paper presents a comparison between new controllers based on optimal-control theorem and the conventional controller. Through simulations and experiments, an optimal servo with feedfoward for a helical motor has the best performance compared with the others.
Collaborative Business Process Management - A Literature-based Analysis of Methods for Supporting Model Understandability

Due to the growing amount of cooperative business scenarios, collaborative Business Process Management (cBPM) has emerged. The increased number of stakeholders with minor expertise in process modeling leads to a high relevance of model understandability in cBPM contexts. Despite extensive works in the research fields of cBPM and model understandability in BPM, there is no analysis and comprehensive overview of methods supporting process model understandability in cBPM scenarios. To address this research gap, this paper presents the results of a literature review. The paper identifies concepts for supporting model understandability in BPM, provides an overview of methods implementing these concepts, and discusses the methods’ applicability in cBPM. The four concepts process model transformation, process model visualization, process model description, and modeling support are introduced. Subsequently, 69 methods are classified and discussed in the context of cBPM. Results contribute to revealing existing academic voids and can guide practitioners in cBPM scenarios.
mGluR1 enhances efferent inhibition of inner hair cells in the developing rat cochlea

Spontaneous activity of the sensory inner hair cells shapes maturation of the developing ascending (afferent) auditory system before hearing begins. Just before the onset of hearing, descending (efferent) input from cholinergic neurons originating in the brainstem inhibit inner hair cell spontaneous activity and may further refine maturation. We show that agonist activation of the group I metabotropic glutamate receptor mGluR1 increases the strength of this efferent inhibition by enhancing the presynaptic release of acetylcholine. We further show that the endogenous release of glutamate from the inner hair cells may increase the strength of efferent inhibition via the activation of group I metabotropic glutamate receptors. Thus, before the onset of hearing, metabotropic glutamate signalling establishes a local negative feedback loop that is positioned to regulate inner hair cell excitability and refine maturation of the auditory system.
Analytical Study of Colour Spaces for Plant Pixel Detection

Segmentation of regions of interest is an important pre-processing step in many colour image analysis procedures. Similarly, segmentation of plant objects in digital images is an important preprocessing step for effective phenotyping by image analysis. In this paper, we present results of a statistical analysis to establish the respective abilities of different colour space representations to detect plant pixels and separate them from background pixels. Our hypothesis is that the colour space representation for which the separation of the distributions representing object and background pixels is maximized is the best for the detection of plant pixels. The two pixel classes are modelled by Gaussian Mixture Models (GMMs). In our statistical modelling we make no prior assumptions on the number of Gaussians employed. Instead, a constant bandwidth mean-shift filter is used to cluster the data with the number of clusters, and hence the number of Gaussians, being automatically determined. We have analysed the following representative colour spaces: R G B , r g b , H S V , Y c b c r and C I E - L a b . We have analysed the colour space features from a two-class variance ratio perspective and compared the results of our model with this metric. The dataset for our empirical study consisted of 378 digital images (and their manual segmentations) of a variety of plant species: Arabidopsis, tobacco, wheat, and rye grass, imaged under different lighting conditions, in either indoor or outdoor environments, and with either controlled or uncontrolled backgrounds. We have found that the best segmentation of plants is found using H S V colour space. This is supported by measures of Earth Mover Distance (EMD) of the GMM distributions of plant and background pixels.
Measuring values for cross-cultural research

This paper investigates the empirical relevance of the recent critique that values surveys, as they are, suffer from the problem of measuring marginal preferences rather than values. By surveying items from cross-cultural surveys by Hofstede, Inglehart and GLOBE, we show that the marginal preferences problem is pervasive, even in cases where improved survey items are used. As an alternative to survey items about the importance respondents attach to various objectives, we therefore propose the use of so-called happiness or experienced utility functions as method to assess more directly what people across cultures care about and how much. Several recent contributions show the feasibility of such methods. We conclude that value measures based on cultural variation in the structure of happiness appear viable and superior substitutes for survey-based value indicators.
Two-phase Simulation of Tubular Film Blowing of Crystalline Polymers

Abstract Traditionally, modeling of the film blowing process consisted mainly of balances of the forces on a single layer of thin film and a mathematically defined freeze-line. In this publication we develop an alternative approach for the theoretical analysis for film blowing of crystalline polymer melts by treating the film as two layers, crystallized and amorphous. Therefore, a two-phase constitutive model is presented for the process simulation of the tubular film blowing of crystalline polymer melts. An upper convected Maxwell equation of state with a single relaxation time and the Oldroyd derivative is applied to the amorphous or liquid-like phase while a perfect plastic-elastic model with yield is used to describe the deformations of the crystallized phase. The model interpretations and predictions are obtained and found to be in qualitative agreement with published results. For polyethylene the model appears to help explain the interactions of the processing conditions and fluid-mechanics in the film blowing process of crystalline polymers.
Angiotensin II receptor 1 gene variants are associated with high-altitude pulmonary edema risk

Previous studies demonstrated that Angiotensin II Receptor 1 (AGTR1) may play an important role in the development of high-altitude pulmonary edema. We envisaged a role for AGTR1 gene variants in the pathogenesis of HAPE and investigated their potential associations with HAPE in a Han Chinese population. We genotyped seven AGTR1 polymorphisms in 267 patients with diagnosed HAPE and 304 controls and evaluated their association with risk of HAPE. Statistically significant associations were found for the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) rs275651 (p = 0.017; odds ratio [OR] = 0.65) and rs275652 (p = 0.016; OR = 0.64). Another SNP rs10941679 showed a marginally significant association after adjusting for age and sex in the additive genetic model (adjusted OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.01-2.04, p = 0.040). Haplotype analysis confirmed that the haplotype “AG” was associated with a 35% reduction in the risk of developing HAPE, while the haplotype “AA” increased the risk of developing HAPE by 44%. These results provide the first evidence linking genetic variations in AGTR1 with HAPE risk in Han Chinese individuals.
Calibration of Binocular Vision Sensors Based on Unknown-Sized Elliptical Stripe Images

Most of the existing calibration methods for binocular stereo vision sensor (BSVS) depend on a high-accuracy target with feature points that are difficult and costly to manufacture. In complex light conditions, optical filters are used for BSVS, but they affect imaging quality. Hence, the use of a high-accuracy target with certain-sized feature points for calibration is not feasible under such complex conditions. To solve these problems, a calibration method based on unknown-sized elliptical stripe images is proposed. With known intrinsic parameters, the proposed method adopts the elliptical stripes located on the parallel planes as a medium to calibrate BSVS online. In comparison with the common calibration methods, the proposed method avoids utilizing high-accuracy target with certain-sized feature points. Therefore, the proposed method is not only easy to implement but is a realistic method for the calibration of BSVS with optical filter. Changing the size of elliptical curves projected on the target solves the difficulty of applying the proposed method in different fields of view and distances. Simulative and physical experiments are conducted to validate the efficiency of the proposed method. When the field of view is approximately 400 mm × 300 mm, the proposed method can reach a calibration accuracy of 0.03 mm, which is comparable with that of Zhang’s method.
American Journal of Epidemiology Original Contribution Aluminum and Silica in Drinking Water and the Risk of Alzheimer's Disease or Cognitive Decline: Findings from 15-year Follow-up of the Paquid Cohort

The authors examined associations between exposure to aluminum or silica from drinking water and risk of cognitive decline, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease among elderly subjects followed for 15 years (1988–2003). They actively searched for incident cases of dementia among persons aged 65 years or over living in 91 civil drinking-water areas in southern France. Two measures of exposure to aluminum were assessed: geographic exposure and individual exposure, taking into account daily consumption of tap water and bottled water. A total of 1,925 subjects who were free of dementia at baseline and had reliable water assessment data were analyzed. Using random-effects models, the authors found that cognitive decline with time was greater in subjects with a higher daily intake of aluminum from drinking water (! 0.1 mg/day, P ¼ 0.005) or higher geographic exposure to aluminum. Using a Cox model, a high daily intake of aluminum was significantly associated with increased risk of dementia. Conversely , an increase of 10 mg/day in silica intake was associated with a reduced risk of dementia (adjusted relative risk ¼ 0.89, P ¼ 0.036). However, geographic exposure to aluminum or silica from tap water was not associated with dementia. High consumption of aluminum from drinking water may be a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative cerebral disorder defined as a progressive deterioration of cognitive function and loss of autonomy. Although knowledge of the pathophysiology of Alzheimer's disease has greatly progressed over the past several decades, its causal mechanisms are far from clear. The hypothesis that aluminum exposure is etiologically related to Alzheimer's disease has led to much debate. The possibility of such a relation was suggested by the presence of aluminum in senile plaques and neurofibrillary degenera-tion, 2 histologic lesions that are characteristic of the disease (1). Several studies have found that intake of aluminum (2, 3) increases expression of amyloid protein in rodent tissues, a step that may be critical to the development of Alzheimer's disease. Ecologic studies have suggested that concentrations of aluminum in drinking water of 0.1–0.2 mg/L may increase the risk of Alzheimer's disease, with relative risks or odds ratios ranging from 1.35 to 2.67 (4–8). However, of the epi-demiologic studies conducted thus far, all but 1 (9) have ignored individual daily intake of drinking water. Some epidemiologic and experimental studies, but not all, suggest that silica can reduce oral absorption of aluminum and/or enhance aluminum excretion and …
Generation of composed musical structures through recurrent neural networks based on chaotic inspiration

In this work, an Elman recurrent neural network is used for automatic musical structure composition based on the style of a music previously learned during the training phase. Furthermore, a small fragment of a chaotic melody is added to the input layer of the neural network as an inspiration source to attain a greater variability of melodies. The neural network is trained by using the BPTT (back propagation through time) algorithm. Some melody measures are also presented for characterizing the melodies provided by the neural network and for analyzing the effect obtained by the insertion of chaotic inspiration in relation to the original melody characteristics. Specifically, a similarity melodic measure is considered for contrasting the variability obtained between the learned melody and each one of the composite melodies by using different quantities of inspiration musical notes.
Fabric tactile sensor composed of ball-shaped umbonal fibre for detecting normal and lateral force

The authors previously proposed an artificial hollow fibre for use as a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) material to produce a wearable sensing system and developed a fabric tactile sensor to apply to it. In this Letter, the authors developed a ball-shaped projection for producing the umbonal fibre to improve sensing performance for normal- and lateral-forces detection. An adhesive was manually dropped on the fibre to form the ball-shaped projection structure by surface tension. Its typical diameter was 1.0 mm. The entire surface of the umbonal fibre was then coated with metal and insulation layers. Finally, the umbonal hollow fibre, two weft hollow fibres, a brass wire and cotton yarn were woven together to produce the fabric tactile sensor. The sensor output linearly increased with the increase in applied normal force because of the ball-shaped projection. The sensor output obtained from the two weft fibres increased with the increase of the applied lateral force. It also demonstrated excellent repeatability.
Adaptive Wavelet Coding Applied in a Wireless Control System

Wireless control systems can sense, control and act on the information exchanged between the wireless sensor nodes in a control loop. However, the exchanged information becomes susceptible to the degenerative effects produced by the multipath propagation. In order to minimize the destructive effects characteristic of wireless channels, several techniques have been investigated recently. Among them, wavelet coding is a good alternative for wireless communications for its robustness to the effects of multipath and its low computational complexity. This work proposes an adaptive wavelet coding whose parameters of code rate and signal constellation can vary according to the fading level and evaluates the use of this transmission system in a control loop implemented by wireless sensor nodes. The performance of the adaptive system was evaluated in terms of bit error rate (BER) versus Eb/N0 and spectral efficiency, considering a time-varying channel with flat Rayleigh fading, and in terms of processing overhead on a control system with wireless communication. The results obtained through computational simulations and experimental tests show performance gains obtained by insertion of the adaptive wavelet coding in a control loop with nodes interconnected by wireless link. These results enable the use of this technique in a wireless link control loop.
Microtubule organization within mitotic spindles revealed by serial block face scanning electron microscopy and image analysis

ABSTRACT Serial block face scanning electron microscopy (SBF-SEM) is a powerful method to analyze cells in 3D. Here, working at the resolution limit of the method, we describe a correlative light–SBF-SEM workflow to resolve microtubules of the mitotic spindle in human cells. We present four examples of uses for this workflow that are not practical by light microscopy and/or transmission electron microscopy. First, distinguishing closely associated microtubules within K-fibers; second, resolving bridging fibers in the mitotic spindle; third, visualizing membranes in mitotic cells, relative to the spindle apparatus; and fourth, volumetric analysis of kinetochores. Our workflow also includes new computational tools for exploring the spatial arrangement of microtubules within the mitotic spindle. We use these tools to show that microtubule order in mitotic spindles is sensitive to the level of TACC3 on the spindle. Summary: Spatial analysis of microtubule organisation in mitotic cells by using 3D imaging and mathematical modelling.
Barrier Coverage for 3D Camera Sensor Networks

Barrier coverage, an important research area with respect to camera sensor networks, consists of a number of camera sensors to detect intruders that pass through the barrier area. Existing works on barrier coverage such as local face-view barrier coverage and full-view barrier coverage typically assume that each intruder is considered as a point. However, the crucial feature (e.g., size) of the intruder should be taken into account in the real-world applications. In this paper, we propose a realistic resolution criterion based on a three-dimensional (3D) sensing model of a camera sensor for capturing the intruder’s face. Based on the new resolution criterion, we study the barrier coverage of a feasible deployment strategy in camera sensor networks. Performance results demonstrate that our barrier coverage with more practical considerations is capable of providing a desirable surveillance level. Moreover, compared with local face-view barrier coverage and full-view barrier coverage, our barrier coverage is more reasonable and closer to reality. To the best of our knowledge, our work is the first to propose barrier coverage for 3D camera sensor networks.
KGVDB: a population-based genomic map of CNVs tagged by SNPs in Koreans

SUMMARY Despite a growing interest in a correlation between copy number variations (CNVs) and flanking single nucleotide polymorphisms, few databases provide such information. In particular, most information on CNV available so far was obtained in Caucasian and Yoruba populations, and little is known about CNV in Asian populations. This article presents a database that provides CNV regions tagged by single nucleotide polymorphisms in about 4700 Koreans, which were detected under strict quality control, manually curated and experimentally validated. AVAILABILITY KGVDB is freely available for non-commercial use at http://biomi.cdc. go.kr/KGVDB. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.
On the fractional solubility of copper in marine aerosols: Toxicity of aeolian copper revisited

Paytan et al. (2009) argue that the atmospheric deposition of aerosols lead to copper concentrations that are potentially toxic to marine phytoplankton in a large area of tropical and subtropical North Atlantic Ocean. A key assumption in their model is that all marine aerosols (mineral dust and anthropogenic particles) have a high (40%) fractional solubility of copper. Our data show that the fractional solubility of copper for Saharan dust over the Sargasso Sea and Bermuda is significantly lower (1–7%). In contrast, anthropogenic aerosols with non‐Saharan sources have significantly higher values (10–100%). Hence, the potential Cu toxicity in the tropical and subtropical North Atlantic should be re‐estimated, given the low fractional solubility of Cu in the Saharan dust that dominates aerosol deposition to this region.
A simple method for determining the modulation transfer function in digital radiography

The authors developed a simple method for determining the presampling modulation transfer function (MTF). which includes the unsharpness of the detector and the effect of the sampling aperture, in digital radiographic (DR) systems. With this method, the presampling MTF is determined by the Fourier transform of a ;finely sampled' line spread function (LSF) obtained with a slightly angulated slit in a single exposure. Since the effective sampling distance becomes much smaller than the original sampling distance of the DR system, the effect of aliasing on the MTF calculations can be eliminated. The authors applied this method to the measurement of the presampling MTF of a compound radiographic system and examined the directional dependence, the effect of exponential extrapolation, and the effect of different sampling distances. It is shown that the technique of multiple slit exposure and exponential extrapolation of the LSF tail, which has been commonly used in analog seven-film systems, can be employed in DR systems. The authors determined the glare fraction in order to estimate the component of low-frequency drop mainly due to ;glare'