Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Molecular Dynamics of Fibrinogen Adsorption onto Graphene, but Not onto Poly(ethylene glycol) Surface, Increases Exposure of Recognition Sites That Trigger Immune Response

Changes in the conformation of blood proteins due to their binding to nonbiological surfaces is the initial step in the chain of immunological reactions to foreign bodies. Despite the large number of experimental studies that have been performed on fibrinogen adsorption to nonbiological surfaces, a clear picture describing this complex process has eluded researchers to date. Developing a better understanding of the behavior of bioactive fibrinogen motifs upon their interaction with surfaces may facilitate the design of advanced materials with improved biocompatibility. This is especially important within the context of medical implants. Here we present results of explicit-solvent, all-atom MD simulations of the adsorption of the fibrinogen D-domain onto a graphene surface and a poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) surface. Our results are consistent with experimental observations that interactions with PEG do not induce significant conformational changes on immune-reactive sites present in the D-domain of fibrinogen. In contrast, our results indicate that significant conformational changes induced by adsorption to graphene surfaces may occur under conditions that promote a high density of blood proteins on the surface. The structural rearrangements observed on graphene directly affect the secondary structure content of the D-domain, with consequent exposure of the recognition sites P1 (γ190-202) and P2 (γ377-395) and the subsite P2-C (γ383-395) involved in immune response. Analysis of the structural parameters of the MD conformers was shown to accurately assess the biocompatibility of the modeled surfaces.
Development of module carriers by injection molding with long glass-fiber reinforced polypropylene

We have developed injection molding technologies consist of a new high-strength long-glass fiber reinforced polypropylene (PPLGF). They are key technologies of new modular design for substantial reductions of weight and cost, offering integrated functionality. The strength of injection molded parts are three times stronger than that of the conventional material. This technology makes it possible to replace parts from steel stamping and press molded glass-mat reinforced polypropylene. The front end and door modules of Mazda 6 employ the module carriers using this material, resulting in dramatic weight and cost savings.
The direct series connection of SiC MOSFETs

Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs offer high speed switching for power applications at high blocking voltage ratings, e.g. 1.2 kV, 3.3kV and more in the future. Connecting SiC MOSFETs in series is of interest to achieve AC distribution voltage levels. This paper presents experimental results of SiC MOSFETs from two different manufacturers switching independently in the series connection. The results indicate that the switching of SiC MOSFETs in the series connection is attractive, with no need for active control systems or passive snubbers to obtain an evenly distributed voltage sharing. The intrinsic characteristics of SiC MOSFETs, the nature of the ringing at turn-off and the voltage sharing at turn-on are discussed.
Linear MonoSLAM: A linear approach to large-scale monocular SLAM problems

This paper presents a linear approach for solving monocular simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) problems. The algorithm first builds a sequence of small initial submaps and then joins these submaps together in a divide-and-conquer (D&C) manner. Each of the initial submap is built using three monocular images by bundle adjustment (BA), which is a simple nonlinear optimization problem. Each step in the D&C submap joining is solved by a linear least squares together with a coordinate and scale transformation. Since the only nonlinear part is in the building of the initial submaps, the algorithm makes it possible to solve large-scale monocular SLAM while avoiding issues associated with initialization, iteration, and local minima that are present in most of the nonlinear optimization based algorithms currently used for large-scale monocular SLAM. Experimental results based on publically available datasets are used to demonstrate that the proposed algorithms yields solutions that are very close to those obtained using global BA starting from good initial guess.
Effects of resistance training with and without caloric restriction on physical function and mobility in overweight and obese older adults : a randomized controlled trial 1 – 4

Background: Resistance training (RT) improves muscle strength and overall physical function in older adults. RT may be particularly important in the obese elderly who have compromised muscle function. Whether caloric restriction (CR) acts synergistically with RT to enhance function is unknown. Objective: As the primary goal of the Improving Muscle for Functional Independence Trial (I’M FIT), we determined the effects of adding CR for weight loss on muscle and physical function responses to RT in older overweight and obese adults. Design: I’M FITwas a 5-mo trial in 126 older (65–79 y) overweight and obese men and women who were randomly assigned to a progressive, 3-d/wk, moderate-intensity RT intervention with a weightloss intervention (RT+CR) or without a weight-loss intervention (RT). The primary outcome was maximal knee extensor strength; secondary outcomes were muscle power and quality, overall physical function, and total body and thigh compositions. Results: Body mass decreased in the RT+CR group but not in the RT group. Fat mass, percentage of fat, and all thigh fat volumes decreased in both groups, but only the RT+CR group lost lean mass. Adjusted postintervention bodyand thigh-composition measures were all lower with RT+CR except intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT). Knee strength, power, and quality and the 4-m gait speed increased similarly in both groups. Adjusted postintervention means for a 400-m walk time and self-reported disability were better with RT+CR with no group differences in other functional measures, including knee strength. Participants with a lower percentage of fat and IMAT at baseline exhibited a greater improvement in the 400-m walk and knee strength and power. Conclusions: RT improved body composition (including reducing IMAT) and muscle strength and physical function in obese elderly, but those with higher initial adiposity experienced less improvement. The addition of CR during RT improves mobility and does not compromise other functional adaptations to RT. These findings support the incorporation of RT into obesity treatments for this population regardless of whether CR is part of the treatment. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials. gov as NCT01049698. Am J Clin Nutr 2015;101:991–9.
Exploring Properties of Intralingual and Interlingual Association Measures Visually

We present an interactive interface to explore the properties of intralingual and interlingual association measures. In conjunction, they can be employed for phraseme identification in word-aligned parallel corpora. The customizable component we built to visualize individual results is capable of showing part-of-speech tags, syntactic dependency relations and word alignments next to the tokens of two corresponding sentences.
Causal-modelling of personality traits: extraversion and locus of control

This work contributes to the task of automatically analyzing people's personality during social interaction by using acoustic and visual features. We focus on two personality traits: Extraversion, one of the Big Five dimensions, and the Locus of Control and submit them to two causal Bayesian models that differ according to whether they incorporate the effect of the context (other people's behaviour) on the target's behaviour. The experiment performed shows that for the Extraversion trait the causal model whereby the target's behaviour is affected by both his/her personality and the parties behaviour performs much better than the simpler one that only considers the relationships between personality and the target's behaviour. Nothing similar is found for the Locus of Control, confirming psychology studies that maintain that the latter trait's behavioural manifestation is verbal rather than non-verbal.
Formation-containment control of second-order multi-agent systems with time delays

Formation-containment control problem is investigated for the second-order multi-agent systems with distinct time-varying delays. By using Lyapunov-Krasovskii functional and linear matrix inequality, delay-dependent sufficient conditions are obtained for the leaders reaching a prescribed formation and the followers converging into the convex hull formed by leaders, respectively. Moreover, the correctness of control strategies is illustrated by numerical simulations.
Rapid Detection and Identification of Uveitis Pathogens by Qualitative Multiplex Real-Time PCR

Purpose Infectious uveitis is a serious sight-threatening infection commonly caused by herpesviruses and Toxoplasma gondii. Etiologic diagnosis based on the clinical evaluation is often challenging. We developed and validated a multiplex real-time PCR assay coupled with high-resolution melting (HRM) for rapid detection and identification of herpes simplex viruses 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2), varicella-zoster virus (VZV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and T. gondii. Methods The assay was designed to target pathogen genome regions that yield products with distinct melting temperatures. Analytical specificity, sensitivity, and precision of HRM identification were determined. Clinical validation was performed by testing 108 intraocular fluids collected from eyes suffering with infectious uveitis (n = 30) and controls (n = 78). Results A nonoverlapping high-precision profile for each pathogen was generated following HRM (coefficient of variation 0%). The assay was highly sensitive, with a limit of detection of 20 genome copies for herpesviruses and 200 genome copies for T. gondii. The intra- and interassay variability of cycle threshold (Ct) measurement was ≤4% and ≤6%, respectively. Thirteen intraocular specimens collected from suspected cases of infectious uveitis were positive (mean Ct values varied from 19.4 to 27.7). Melting profiles of positive cases were consistent with HSV-2 (n = 5), VZV (n = 5), CMV (n = 2), and T. gondii (n = 1). Amplicon identities were confirmed by sequencing. Control intraocular samples from patients without a clinical diagnosis of infectious uveitis were all negative. Conclusions This assay allows rapid, sensitive, and reliable detection and identification of the most common known causes of infectious uveitis, making early pathogen information-based intervention possible.
Nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes under electron irradiation simulated with a tight-binding model

Experiments show that nitrogen-doped carbon nanotubes subjected to the electron beam in a transmission electron microscope can easily lose dopant atoms and that overall they are less stable under electron irradiation than the pristine tubes. To understand the lower stability of nitrogen-doped nanotubes we use a density-functional-theory-based tight-binding model and simulate impacts of energetic electrons onto the nanotubes. We show that the dopant atom displacement energy and thus the electron threshold energy is lower for nanotubes with smaller diameter and that, independent of the nanotube diameter, the dopant nitrogen atoms can be displaced more easily than the host carbon atoms. Our results set a limit on the threshold electron energy for damage production in N-doped tubes and indicate that spatially localized electron irradiation of doped nanotubes can be used for local atomic and band structure engineering.
Increasing Physical Activity

M etabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of risk factors associated with the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The US National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III defines metabolic syndrome as having at least 3 of the following risk factors: fasting glucose level >110 mg/dL (>6.1 mmol/L), abdominal obesity (>102 cm in men, >88 cm in women), elevated blood pressure (>130/85 mm Hg), serum trigylceride level >150 mg/dL, and decreased HDL (<40 mg/dL in men, <50 mg/dL in women). The prevalence of MetS is a significant public health problem in the United States, and strategies are needed to slow its trajectory toward increasing the prevalence of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is known that physical activity positively affects risk factors associated with MetS. Therefore, one strategy to slow the trajectory of MetS is to increase physical activity. It is often difficult to engage sedentary adults to exercise. Thus, the authors designed an exercise intervention with that in mind. The exercise intervention took place in a community-based fitness center. Participants received twenty 1-hour group personal training (GPT) sessions over a 10-week period followed by a 16-week period of individual exercise. GPT groups consisted of 3 to 4 women led by a personal fitness trainer. The focus of the GPT was weight resistance exercises. After the 10-week GPT ended, participants received biweekly e-mail, mail, and/or phone calls to encourage them to continue to exercise and to provide education about MetS for the duration of the 16-week individual exercise period. Seventeen sedentary postmenopausal women with MetS were recruited from the community, and their physician confirmed MetS (16 African Americans, 1 Latina). The intervention was successful in engaging sedentary women with MetS to exercise. Sixteen women completed the Tina L. Harralson, PhD
Implementing iptables using a programmable stateful data plane abstraction: Demo

Iptables is a well known Linux’s user interface to control the Netfiltermodule, which is responsible for processing packets traversing the Linux’s networking subsystem. In cooperation with the conntrackmodule, Netfilter supports a wide range of network functions such as: filtering, NAT, stateful firewall, load balancer, anomaly detection, etc. Given the central role of the iptables’ functions in the Linux networking subsystem, their implementation’s packet forwarding performance is critical. For reference, a today’s server is equipped with a couple of 10Gbps network interfaces, and 40Gbps interfaces are becoming common. Unfortunately, current general purpose systems’ speed is not growing as fast as the network interfaces speed [1], therefore, providing such a packet forwarding throughput is a challenge. In this work, we explore the feasibility of using programmable data plane abstractions to offload iptables operations from a server’s CPU to a smart NIC. Given the dynamic nature of the iptables configurations and the need to support multiple applications at the same time, the selected abstraction (i) should provide the ability to perform runtime updates as well as (ii) support multiple concurrent functions. Data plane abstractions. A Match-Action Table (MAT) abstraction, e.g., the one adopted by OpenFlow, would fulfill our requirements, since it provides runtime programmability of the forwarding tables while supporting forwarding entries belonging to different functions. Unfortunately, a typical MAT does not support the implementation of functions that require read/write operations of algorithmic state. In fact, MATs are already used by some smart NICs as a mean to sup-
On validation of XML streams using finite state machines

We study validation of streamed XML documents by means of finite state machines. Previous work has shown that validation is in principle possible by finite state automata, but the construction was prohibitively expensive, giving an exponential-size nondeterministic automaton. Instead, we want to find deterministic automata for validating streamed documents: for them, the complexity of validation is constant per tag. We show that for a reading window of size one and nonrecursive DTDs with one-unambiguous content (i.e. conforming to the current XML standard) there is an algorithm producing a deterministic automaton that validates documents with respect to that DTD. The size of the automaton is at most exponential and we give matching lower bounds. To capture the possible advantages offered by reading windows of size k, we introduce k-unambiguity as a generalization of one-unambiguity, and study the validation against DTDs with k-unambiguous content. We also consider recursive DTDs and give conditions under which they can be validated against by using one-counter automata.
3D Printed Surgical Simulation Models as educational tool by maxillofacial surgeons

INTRODUCTION The aim of this study was to evaluate whether inexpensive 3D models can be suitable to train surgical skills to dental students or oral and maxillofacial surgery residents. Furthermore, we wanted to know which of the most common filament materials, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) or polylactic acid (PLA), can better simulate human bone according to surgeons' subjective perceptions. MATERIALS AND METHODS Upper and lower jaw models were produced with common 3D desktop printers, ABS and PLA filament and silicon rubber for soft tissue simulation. Those models were given to 10 blinded, experienced maxillofacial surgeons to perform sinus lift and wisdom teeth extraction. Evaluation was made using a questionnaire. RESULTS Because of slightly different density and filament prices, each silicon-covered model costs between 1.40-1.60 USD (ABS) and 1.80-2.00 USD (PLA) based on 2017 material costs. Ten experienced raters took part in the study. All raters deemed the models suitable for surgical education. No significant differences between ABS and PLA were found, with both having distinct advantages. CONCLUSION The study demonstrated that 3D printing with inexpensive printing filaments is a promising method for training oral and maxillofacial surgery residents or dental students in selected surgical procedures. With a simple and cost-efficient manufacturing process, models of actual patient cases can be produced on a small scale, simulating many kinds of surgical procedures.
Children’s Neglect of Probabilities in Decision Making with and without Feedback

We investigated whether children prefer feedback over stated probabilistic information in decision making. 6-year-olds’, 9-year-olds’, and adults’ making was examined in an environment where probabilistic information about choice outcome had to be actively searched (N = 166) or was available without search (N = 183). Probabilistic information was provided before choices as predictions of cues differing in validity. The presence of outcome feedback was varied. 6-year-olds, but not 9-year-olds were over-responsive to negative outcomes leading to choices biased by recent feedback. However, children did not systematically utilize feedback in choices. Irrespective of feedback, 6-year-olds fully and 9-year-olds partly neglected stated probabilistic information in their choices. When 6-year-olds chose systematically, they only relied on invalid information, which did not maximize outcomes. 9-year-olds still applied invalid choice rules, but also choice rules based on probability. Results suggest that neglect of probabilities in complex decisions is robust, independent of feedback, and only starts to subside at elementary school age.
Zero servers with zero broadcasts

To achieve the vision of networks that work without any supporting infrastructure, we need wireless ad hoc technology to replace the cabling infrastructure, but we also need self-configuring network and application services to replace the server infrastructure. Current solutions perform poorly because they either pick a single host to act as the server or they use network wide broadcasts to implement services. We need wireless ad hoc networks with zero servers and zero broadcasts! Can we use DHTs to build both network- and application-level services with zero servers and zero broadcasts? This paper starts to answer this question. It shows that it is important to remove broadcasts at all levels of the networking stack and describes how to use the Virtual Ring Routing protocol to achieve our vision.
Implementing advanced network functions for datacenters with stateful programmable data planes

Programmable dataplanes are emerging as a disruptive technology to implement network function virtualization in an SDN environment. This technology can be further enhanced by using data plane abstraction with stateful processing. In this paper we focus on real world use cases with stateful forwarding requirements to validate Open Packet Processor data plane abstraction. We first demonstrate the suitability of OPP for implementing complex stateful network functions by providing the detailed implementation of three use cases. Second, we assess the scalability of the use case implementations in the context of a datacenter deployment.
Monitoring the metal transfer process of GMAW by a simplified laser backlight method

Due to its great productivity, Gas metal arc welding (GMAW) has been become the most frequently used automated welding process. Unfortunately, the metal transfer changes from solid to liquid, which causes spatters and fumes. As a result, the process is complicated and needs to be controlled for good welding quality and good process stability. In return, the fumes, spatters and energy consumption will be reduced. This paper aims at establishing the ability of monitoring the metal transfer process in the real welding environments for the automated welding robot to control the welding process on line. In this paper, we designed a compact and practical monitoring system to measure the metal transfer of gas metal arc welding (GMAW) robustly. To this end, the captured images are modeled and effective image processing algorithms are proposed. Experimental results verified the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and the designed monitoring system.
Extending a verified file system with concurrency

Concurrency is a major source of bugs in file systems, and it remains one of the challenging open problems in applying formal verification in that domain. This research contributes CFSCQ, the first concurrent file system with a formal proof that its implementation meets its specification. CFSCQ uses a novel approach, called optimistic system calls, to reuse the implementation, specification, and proof of a verified sequential file system.
Investigation of peatland restoration ( grip blocking ) techniques to achieve best outcomes for methane and greenhouse gas emissions / balance . Controlled Environment ( Mesocosm ) Experiment Final Report Defra Project SP 1202 Contractors :

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