Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A discrete-forcing immersed boundary method for a thin flexible body

In the present study, an immersed boundary (IB) method for the simulation of flow around a thin flexible body is presented. The present method is based on a discrete-forcing immersed boundary method proposed by Kim et al. (JCP, 2001). The dynamic equation for a thin flexible body is coupled with the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. With the proposed method, we simulate several flow problems including flows around a flexible filament and a hovering insect wing at CFL=0.6 – 1.0.
Adaptive behavior navigation of a mobile robot

Describes a neural network model for the reactive behavioral navigation of a mobile robot. From the information received through the sensors the robot can elicit one of several behaviors (e.g., stop, avoid, stroll, wall following), through a competitive neural network. The robot is able to develop a control strategy depending on sensor information and learning operation. Reinforcement learning improves the navigation of the robot by adapting the eligibility of the behaviors and determining the linear and angular robot velocities.
Micronutrients: oxidant/antioxidant status

Potentially damaging species (reactive oxygen, nitrogen and chlorine species) arise as by-products of metabolism and as physiological mediators and signalling molecules. Levels of these species are controlled by the antioxidant defence system. Several components of this system are micronutrients (e.g. vitamins C and E) or are dependent upon dietary micronutrients (e.g. CuZn and Mn superoxide dismutase). The antioxidant defences act as a coordinated system where deficiencies in one component may affect the efficiency of the others. Oxidative stress may be an important factor in infection if micronutrients are deficient.
KNOWLEDGE RETRIEVAL AND DATA MINING Mrs

The rapid growth and adoption of the World Wide Web has further exacerbated the user need for efficient mechanisms for information and knowledge location, selection and retrieval. Much work is required to address knowledge retrieval; for instance, users' information needs could be better interpreted, leading to accurate information retrieval. This paper is to suggest knowledge retrieval as a new research field and also proposes a knowledge retrieval model combining knowledge search with data mining technologies. In this model, data mining is integrated into the whole retrieval procedure of query optimizing, searching, results analyzing, and resources constructing. It realizes knowledge retrieval by various approaches, different levels, and multi-modes, and significantly improves knowledge retrieval level and efficiency. Furthermore, we explore related knowledge retrieval methods and algorithms including association analysis-based concept retrieval and inductive learning-based classification retrieval.
Smart vision system for soccer training

This paper proposes a new smart vision system for soccer training. The proposed system adopts multi-exposure cameras to capture high-speed motion images of soccer ball instead of using high-tech or high-cost equipment. Then, new ball detection and motion analysis processes are adopted to detect the regions of soccer ball and analyze all motion parameters of soccer ball from those multi-exposed images of soccer ball in real time. The effectiveness of the proposed system is experimentally verified by comparing with a commercial ball motion sensor in terms of ball speed and spin rate. The usefulness and robustness of the proposed system is demonstrated by applying to an indoor soccer training platform in practice.
Evaluation of serial and parallel multibiometric systems under spoofing attacks

Recent works have investigated the robustness to spoofing attacks of multi-modal biometric systems in parallel fusion mode. Contrary to a common belief, it has been shown that they can be cracked by spoofing only one biometric trait. Robustness evaluation of multi-modal systems in serial fusion mode has not yet been investigated, instead. Thus, the aim of this paper is to comparatively evaluate the robustness of multi-modal systems, in serial and parallel fusion modes, under spoofing attacks. In particular, we empirically investigate the vulnerability of serial and parallel fusion of face and fingerprint biometrics to real spoofing attacks. Our results show that multi-modal systems in both fusion modes are vulnerable to attacks against a single bio-metric trait. On the other hand, they show that the serial fusion mode can attain a favorable trade-off between performance, verification time, and robustness against spoofing attacks.
Technology Intensity and the World Distribution of Income

This paper presents a simple model of monopolistic competition in a North-South world. The North introduces new goods that the South takes over when the goods become old. The new goods are more technology-intensive than the old goods because innovation requires more efforts than imitation. In the literature, the world distribution of income favors the country that produces a greater range of variety. However, in this model, the South’s catching up in terms of the range of variety is not a threat to the North’s status quo. It is the difference in technology intensity that determines their relative wage.
Exploiting Full-Duplex Receivers for Achieving Secret Communications in Multiuser MISO Networks

We consider a broadcast channel in which a multi-antenna transmitter (Alice) sends <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> confidential information signals to <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$K$ </tex-math></inline-formula> legitimate users (Bobs) in the presence of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$L$ </tex-math></inline-formula> eavesdroppers (Eves). Alice uses multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) precoding to generate the information signals along with her own (Tx-based) friendly jamming (FJ). Interference at each Bob is removed by MIMO zero-forcing. This, however, leaves a “vulnerability region” around each Bob, which can be exploited by a nearby Eve. We address this problem by augmenting Tx-based FJ (TxFJ) with Rx-based FJ (RxFJ), generated by each Bob. Specifically, each Bob uses self-interference suppression to transmit a friendly jamming signal, while simultaneously receiving an information signal over the same channel. We minimize the powers allocated to the information, TxFJ, and RxFJ signals under given guarantees on the individual secrecy rate for each Bob. The problem is solved for the cases when the eavesdropper’s channel state information is known/unknown. Simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed solution. Furthermore, we discuss how to schedule transmissions when the rate requirements need to be satisfied on average rather than instantaneously. Under special cases, a scheduling algorithm that serves only the strongest receivers is shown to outperform the one that schedules all receivers.
The Regulatory Code for Transcriptional Response Diversity and Its Relation to Genome Structural Properties in A. thaliana

Regulation of gene expression via specific cis-regulatory promoter elements has evolved in cellular organisms as a major adaptive mechanism to respond to environmental change. Assuming a simple model of transcriptional regulation, genes that are differentially expressed in response to a large number of different external stimuli should harbor more distinct regulatory elements in their upstream regions than do genes that only respond to few environmental challenges. We tested this hypothesis in Arabidopsis thaliana using the compendium of gene expression profiling data available in AtGenExpress and known cis-element motifs mapped to upstream gene promoter regions and studied the relation of the observed breadth of differential gene expression response with several fundamental genome architectural properties. We observed highly significant positive correlations between the density of cis-elements in upstream regions and the number of conditions in which a gene was differentially regulated. The correlation was most pronounced in regions immediately upstream of the transcription start sites. Multistimuli response genes were observed to be associated with significantly longer upstream intergenic regions, retain more paralogs in the Arabidopsis genome, are shorter, have fewer introns, and are more likely to contain TATA-box motifs in their promoters. In abiotic stress time series data, multistimuli response genes were found to be overrepresented among early-responding genes. Genes involved in the regulation of transcription, stress response, and signaling processes were observed to possess the greatest regulatory capacity. Our results suggest that greater gene expression regulatory complexity appears to be encoded by an increased density of cis-regulatory elements and provide further evidence for an evolutionary adaptation of the regulatory code at the genomic layout level. Larger intergenic spaces preceding multistimuli response genes may have evolved to allow greater regulatory gene expression potential.
Running head : INFLUENCE OF PRESUMED MEDIA INFLUENCE 2 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

This study uses the influence of presumed media influence (IPMI) model as the theoretical framework to examine how perceived social norms (i.e., descriptive, subjective, and injunctive norms) will mediate the influence of proand anti-drinking media messages on adolescents’ intention to consume alcohol in rural Thailand. Data collected from 1,028 high school students indicate that different mechanisms underlie drinking intentions between non-drinkers and those who have consumed alcohol or currently drink. Among non-drinkers, perceived peer attention to pro-drinking messages indirectly influenced adolescents’ pro-drinking attitudes and intentions to consume alcohol through all three types of perceived social norms. Among drinkers, perceived peer attention to both proand anti-drinking messages indirectly influenced adolescents’ prodrinking attitudes and intentions to drink alcohol through perceived subjective norm. The findings provide support for the extended IPMI model and have practical implications for how anti-drinking campaigns targeted at teenagers in Thailand might be designed.
The Sac10b Homolog in Methanococcus maripaludis Binds DNA at Specific Sites

ABSTRACT The Sac10b protein family, also known as Alba, is widely distributed in Archaea. Sac10b homologs in thermophilic Sulfolobus species are very abundant. They bind both DNA and RNA with high affinity and without sequence specificity, and their physiological functions are still not fully understood. Mma10b from the euryarchaeote Methanococcus maripaludis is a mesophilic member of the Sac10b family. Mma10b is not abundant and constitutes only ∼0.01% of the total cellular protein. Disruption of mma10b resulted in poor growth of the mutant in minimal medium at near the optimal growth temperature but had no detectable effect on growth in rich medium. Quantitative proteomics, real time reverse transcription-PCR, and enzyme assays revealed that the expression levels of some genes involved in CO2 assimilation and other activities were changed in the Δmma10b mutant. Chromatin immunoprecipitation suggested a direct association of Mma10b with an 18-bp DNA binding motif in vivo. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays and DNase I footprinting confirmed that Mma10b preferentially binds specific sequences of DNA with an apparent K d in the 100 nM range. These results suggested that the physiological role of Mma10b in the mesophilic methanococci is greatly diverged from that of homologs in thermophiles.
User-Centered Design of Permissions , Typestate , and Ownership in the Obsidian Blockchain Language

About the authors: Michael Coblenz is a fourth-year PhD student in the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. After working as a software engineer at Apple for eight years, he returned to academia to research new methods for creating and evaluating programming languages to make software engineers more effective. He is advised by Jonathan Aldrich, a Professor in the Institute for Software Research, and Brad Myers, a Professor at the Human-Computer Interaction Institute. Joshua Sunshine is a Systems Scientist at the Institute for Software Research.
Isolation Purification and Culturing of Cyanobacteria and Microalgae towards Biodiesel Production: Current Status

The experimental design and techniques for biofuel production from different feedstock varies depending on geographical region, water sources (fresh water, sea water, waste water or brackish water) and overall, available species variations. Also the sampling, culture conditions, isolation, purification of cultures, harvesting, fatty acid extraction followed by conversion of extracted lipids to biofuel followed different methods in different studies. Therefore, it is a demand to simplify the techniques, improve the methods, and develop the efficiencies with less laborious inputs but rapid and best outcomes. Biofuel production research should focus not only selecting suitable biomass or obtaining high yield of lipids but also look for economically feasible method along with sufficient and continuous supply of biomass. Considering these, cyanobacteria and microalgae creates a great potential for biofuel production. In this review, we focused on compiling different materials and methods used for different studies and their best outputs towards biofuel production from cyanobacteria and micro-algae.
Optimal load distribution for multiple classes of applications on heterogeneous servers with variable speeds

Performance and power are 2 significant issues in cloud computing. It is a critical issue on how to provide the best quality of service by consuming certain available power resource. For a given application environment and a given group of servers, optimal load distribution and optimal server speed setting can be an effective way to deal with the power‐performance tradeoff. The technique of variable and task‐type–dependent server speed management can be explored to optimize the server performance and to minimize the power consumption of a server with mixed applications. In this paper, we consider the problem of optimal load distribution for multiple classes of applications on heterogeneous servers with variable speeds. Given several classes of applications characterized by their arrival rates and expected execution requirements, several heterogeneous servers characterized by their power consumption parameters, and certain power supply, our problem is formulated as a multivariable optimization problem, ie, finding an optimal load distribution and an optimal server speed setting, such that the average task response time is minimized. To study the problem analytically, each server is treated as an M/G/1 queueing system with mixed classes of tasks such that both the average response time and the average power consumption can be calculated analytically. We define a power constrained performance optimization problem and develop a numerical algorithm to solve our optimization problem by solving a system of nonlinear equations. We also demonstrate numerical examples to show the effectiveness of our model and method. To the best of our knowledge, such analytical study of optimal load distribution and optimal server speed setting for multiple classes of applications on heterogeneous servers with variable speeds has not been available in the existing literature.
Generalized Dynamic VSC MTDC Model for Power System Stability Studies

In this paper, a new general voltage source converter high voltage direct current (VSC MTDC) model is derived mathematically. The full system model consists of the converter and its controllers, DC circuit equations, and coupling equations. The main contribution of the new model is its valid for every possible topology of the DC circuit. Practical implementation of the model in power system stability software is discussed in detail. The generalized DC equations can all be expressed in terms of matrices that are byproducts of the construction of the DC bus admittance matrix. Initialization, switching actions resulting in different topologies and simulation of the loss of DC lines amount to a simple calculation or recalculation of the DC bus admittance matrix. The model is implemented in Matlab. Examples on a two- and six-terminal system show that the new model is indeed capable of accurately simulating VSC MTDC systems with arbitrary topology.
Wistar rats immature testicular tissue vitrification and heterotopic grafting

Objective To evaluate the efficiency of two vitrification protocols for rat immature testicular tissue and heterotopic transplantation. Methods Twenty-four pre-pubertal Wistar rats were divided into three groups (n=8). After orchiectomy, testicular fragments (3mm) from Groups 1 and 2 were vitrified with different cryoprotectant concentration solutions, using sterile inoculation loops as support. After warming up, the fragments were submitted to cell viability assessment by Trypan blue and histological evaluation. Vitrified (Groups 1 and 2) and fresh (Group 3) fragments were grafted to the animals periauricular region. After 8 weeks of grafting, the implant site was histologically analyzed. Results The viability recovery rate from Group 1 (72.09%) was higher (p=0.02) than that from Group 2 (59.19%). Histological analysis showed similar tubular integrity between fresh fragments from Groups 1 and 3. Group 2 samples presented lower tubular integrity. We ran histological analyses in the grafts from the Groups. In all groups, it was possible to see the implant site, however, no fragment of testicular tissue or signs of inflammation were histologically found in most samples from Groups 1 and 3. In one sample from Group 2, we found degenerated seminiferous tubules with necrosis and signs of an inflammatory process. In another sample from Group 2, we found seminiferous tubules in the implant site. Conclusion The vitrification of pre-pubertal testicular tissue of rats showed little damage to cell viability through histological analysis when we used cryoprotectants in a lower concentration. Heterotopic transplantation could not preserve the structural organization of the testicular tissue.
An Introduction to Metaanalysis

With an everincreasing acknowledgement of the significance testing and criticism,metaanalysis has been frequently discussed by a great number of scholars.This paper attempts to provide a brief introduction to metaanalysis from different aspects.Firstly,it describes the basic principles of metaanalysis by illustrating its conception and computational criteria.Secondly,it introduces in detail the process of metaanalysis research and emphasizes the research procedures in the process.Finally,it evaluates the advantages and disadvantages of metaanalysis.
Investigating Intercultural Elements in English Coursebooks

Intercultural communicative competence is defined to be at the heart of foreign language education more than communicative competence nowadays. Performing competently in intercultural communication requires certain dimensions in language education. One of them is integration of intercultural and target culture specific elements in coursebooks. In order to build up a picture of frequently used intercultural and target culture specific items in coursebooks, this study analyzes the contents of ‘My English 5, Unique 6, Spring 7 and Four Seasons English 8’ for English language instruction in Turkish primary schools. Key findings from the data highlight that the target culture specific items in conversations and visuals outweigh the intercultural ones. Besides, intercultural items are usually found in certain cultures like Japanese, French and German. It is concluded that although local coursebooks have improved in inclusion of cultural items it highly depends on teachers to adapt those items and use them communicatively and creatively.
Thrombolysis with intravenous rtPA in a series of 100 cases of acute carotid territory stroke: determination of etiological, topographic, and radiological outcome factors.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Although new, large, double-blind, randomized studies are needed to establish the efficiency of intravenous thrombolysis, open trials of sufficient size may also provide novel data concerning specific outcomes after thrombolysis. METHODS An open study of intravenous rtPA in 100 patients with internal carotid artery (ICA) territory strokes between 20 and 81 years of age, with a baseline Scandinavian Stroke Scale (SSS) score of <48 at entry was conducted. Inclusion time was within 7 hours after stroke onset. rtPA (0.8 mg/kg) was infused for 90 minutes, with an initial 10% bolus. Heparin was given according to 3 consecutive protocols. The SSS evaluation was done on days 0, 1, 7, 30, and 90. CT scan was performed before treatment, on days 1 and 7. Etiological investigations included echocardiography and carotid Doppler sonography and/or angiography. Outcome at 1 year was documented by SSS score, the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score, and a 10-point invalidity scale. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors of poor versus good outcome. RESULTS At day 90, 45 patients (45%) had a good result, defined as complete regression or slight neurological sequelae (mRS score of 0-1), 18 patients had a moderate outcome (mRS 2-3), and 31 patients had serious neurological sequelae (mRS 4-5). Six patients died, 2 with intracerebral hematoma after immediate heparin. Five of 11 patients (45.5%) treated between 6 and 7 hours had a good result. The overall intracerebral hematoma rate was 7%. Higher values of fibrin degradation products at 2 hours were observed in the subgroup with intracerebral hematomas. Significant predictors of poor outcome on multivariate logistic regression analysis were baseline SSS score of <15 (odds ratio [OR], 3.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07 to 10. 74; P=0.04), indistinction between white and gray matter on CT scan (OR, 6.59; 95% CI, 2.19 to 19.79; P=0.0008), and proximal internal carotid thrombosis (OR, 3.29; 95% CI, 0.99 to 10.95; P=0.05). CONCLUSIONS Our study confirms the safety of intravenous rtPA at a dose of 0.8 mg/kg and suggests efficacy for this drug even within 7 hours. Outcome and hematoma rates were at least as favorable as for trials of therapy with a 3-hour time window. Subgroups with a poor prognosis include low baseline neurological score, baseline CT changes, and proximal ICA thrombosis. However, approximately 30% of patients with each of these characteristics show a good outcome, so their inclusion in future routine rtPA protocols is still justified.
Entrepreneurial Activity, Entry and Persistence of Firms: Econometric Analysis Based on Count Data

This study aims to assess the impact of technological specification and innovation dynamics in Schumpeterian perspective on the technological performance (innovation) of firms. Using an original data construction, our empirical analysis is carried out with patent and survey databases on French firms. We classify the various possible determinants of innovation into two groups of variables; firm-specific variables and sectorial-specific variables. We utilise patent data from European Patent Office (EPO) database (classified in 30 technological classes), survey of the R&D resources and, firm’s surveys in French (EAE) for French firms for the period 1993-2001. The results of our count data models show that entrepreneurial activity increases the innovation output and the sectorial-specific variables have an impact on patent application.