Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design of single-stage buck and boost converters for photovoltaic inverter applications

In conventional inverters, implementation of a transformer greatly enhances the Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) which is counted to have a negative impact on the inverter output. In order to overcome this limitation, transformer can be replaced by buck and boost converters thereby making a transformer-less inverter which will greatly reduce the THD and enhance the efficiency. In this paper, the design of a single stage buck and boost converters has been presented for photovoltaic inverter applications. The proposed design employs a single-stage switch mode buck converter and a single-stage switch mode boost converter. The converters are so designed that the boost converter provides an output voltage of 312V DC from 24V PV array while the buck converter provides an output voltage of 7.07V pulsated DC from 312V AC grid. The designed buck and boost converters are then employed to run a single-phase full-bridge inverter. The circuit is simulated using the PSIM software. The simulation results show that the designed buck and boost converters can be used to replace transformers from conventional inverter circuit to make low-THD, highly efficient and cost effective transformer-less inverter topology.
The protective action of betaine on the deleterious effects of NaCl on preimplantation mouse embryos in vitro

The development of outbred mouse (CF1) zygotes in vitro has been studied using medium SOM in which the concentrations of NaCl (85, 105, 125 mM), glutamine (0, 1, 2 mM), and betaine (0, 1, 2 mM) were varied. The effects of the compounds were studied using a 33 factorial experimental arrangement. The inhibitory effect of relatively high concentrations of NaCl and the protective effect of glutamine were confirmed. Betaine, an organic osmolyte, can also protect against the deleterious effects of relatively high concentrations of NaCl. The intracellular contents of potassium and sodium have also been measured in single zygotes using X‐ray electron probe spectrometry. When medium SOM contains 85 mM or 125 mM NaCl, the intracellular content of Na rises and the content of K decreases. These changes are partially reduced in the presence of 125 mM NaCl if betaine is also in the medium. Betaine has no effect on the intracellular content of K and Na if the concentration of NaCl is 85 mM. These results suggest that organic osmolytes may be required in embryo culture media to prevent excessive changes in the intracellular ionic concentration. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Augmented Beta rectangular regression models: A Bayesian perspective

Mixed effects Beta regression models based on Beta distributions have been widely used to analyze longitudinal percentage or proportional data ranging between zero and one. However, Beta distributions are not flexible to extreme outliers or excessive events around tail areas, and they do not account for the presence of the boundary values zeros and ones because these values are not in the support of the Beta distributions. To address these issues, we propose a mixed effects model using Beta rectangular distribution and augment it with the probabilities of zero and one. We conduct extensive simulation studies to assess the performance of mixed effects models based on both the Beta and Beta rectangular distributions under various scenarios. The simulation studies suggest that the regression models based on Beta rectangular distributions improve the accuracy of parameter estimates in the presence of outliers and heavy tails. The proposed models are applied to the motivating Neuroprotection Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease (PD) Long‐term Study‐1 (LS‐1 study, n = 1741), developed by The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Exploratory Trials in Parkinson's Disease (NINDS NET‐PD) network.
Public Participation and Trust in Government: The Case of the Korean Financial Regulatory Agency

ABSTRACT This study explores a theoretical model that focuses on the relationship between regulatee participation and trust in the financial regulatory agency through the mediation effects of transparency, fairness, competency, and independence. The research model uses the 2013 Financial Regulatory Agency Perception Survey, collected from employees of financial regulatees in South Korea (including banks, securities investment, insurance, and credit card companies). The results show that in financial regulatory governance, regulatee participation is positively associated with the regulator’s trustworthiness through the mediation of transparency, fairness, competency, and independence. This study contributes to the financial regulation area and democratic governance by connecting participatory decision-making with financial regulation and also suggests new managerial implications for financial regulators.
A multi-carrier PWM for parallel three-phase active front-end converters

The use of parallel three-phase active front-end converters has become more popular due to simplicity, low cost and expandability. However, the pulse width modulation (PWM) switching of parallel three-phase active front-end converters causes circulating current. The circulating current is mainly affected by the zero vectors of each PWM cycle. This study proposed a multi-carrier PWM for parallel three-phase active front-end converters. The multi-carrier PWM can synthesize the desired output voltage without using zero vectors. Therefore, the circulating current between parallel three-phase active front-end converters will be suppressed by the multi-carrier PWM scheme. Furthermore, the common mode voltage of three-phase active front-end converter is reduced by the multi-carrier PWM scheme. Simulation and test results are presented to validate the performances of the proposed multi-carrier PWM for parallel three-phase active front-end converters.
Components of hostility as predictors of sudden death and myocardial infarction in the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial.

&NA; We tested the hypothesis that hostility is associated with increased relative risk (RR) for coronary death and nonfatal myocardial infarction among participants in the prospective Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT). Cases (N = 192) were compared with matched controls (N = 384) on a variety of behavioral characteristics associated with the Type A behavior pattern (TABP), including three different but interrelated components of hostility. Logistic regression analyses revealed that only two of the eight TABP attributes analyzed on the overall sample were significant. Only total Potential for Hostility, when dichotomized into “low” and “high” categories, and the antagonistic interpersonal component of hostility (Stylistic Hostility) had positive unadjusted associations with coronary heart disease (CHD) incidence (RR = 1.7, p = 0.003; and RR = 1.5, p = 0.016, respectively). The global TABP and related paralinguistic attributes were not significantly related to CHD incidence. After adjustment for the traditional risk factors of age, serum cholesterol, blood pressure, and cigarette smoking, only dichotomous Potential for Hostility showed a significant relative risk (RR = 1.5, p = 0.032). Ordinal logistic regression revealed a nonsignificant effect. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A modular and open object-oriented database system

On 30 August 1990, Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX was awarded a three year contract (Contract No. DAAB07-90-C-B920) to develop a modular and open object-oriented database system. The contract is funded by DARPA/ISTO and is being managed by the U.S. Army, CECOM, Fort Monmouth, N.J. The contract is being executed at TI's Information Technologies Laboratory, Computer Science Center, Dallas, Texas. So far, we have received an outstanding response from interested parties (database research community, OODB application developers, OODB builders) to our contract award announcement. This communication is a collection of most commonly asked questions and answers to them.
Peptidomic study of Spanish blue cheese (Valdeón) and changes after simulated gastrointestinal digestion

It is increasingly evident that digestion can affect the biological activity of cheese by the release of new active peptides from their precursors or, on the contrary, giving rise to fragments without activity. The characterization of the peptidome of a Spanish blue cheese, Valdeón, has been conducted before and after gastrointestinal digestion, and the digests have been compared to those obtained from pasteurized skimmed milk powder (SMP) using a bioinformatics platform. Peptidomic profiling of digests revealed several regions that are especially resistant to digestion (among them β‐casein 60–93, 128–140, and 193–209). Some of them correspond to well‐conserved regions between species (human, cow, sheep, and goat) and include peptide sequences with reported bioactivity. The great peptide homology found between both digests, cheese and SMP, suggests that the gastrointestinal digestion could bring closer the profile of products with different proteolytic state. Although most of the biologically active peptides found in cheese after digestion were also present in SMP digest, there were some exceptions that can be attributed to the absence of the relevant precursor peptide before digestion.
Dysregulation of miRNAs in AL amyloidosis

Bone marrow plasma cells (BMPCs) were purified using anti-CD138 immunomagnetic beads, from aspirates obtained with permission of the Boston University Medical Campus Institutional Review Board, from patients with immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis and from controls. Expression levels of MicroRNAs (miRNAs) were compared by microarray; 10 were found to be increased more than 1.5-fold. These results were confirmed using stem-loop RT-qPCR for the most highly upregulated miRNAs, miR-148a, miR-26a, and miR-16. miR-16, a micro-RNA linked to other hematopoietic diseases, was significantly increased in the AL group at diagnosis, and also in treated patients with persistent monoclonal plasma cells in the bone marrow, but not in patients who achieved a hematologic remission after therapy. miR-16 can be derived from the miR-16-1/mirR-15, a cluster on chromosome 13 or the miR-16-2/miR-15b cluster on chromosome 3. The expression of miR-15b was much higher than miR-15a in both AL and control BMPC, suggesting that miR-16 in plasma cells is mainly derived from miR-16-2/miR-15b. The anti-apoptosis gene BCL-2, a putative target mRNA that can be downregulated by miR-16, was expressed in BMPCs from AL patients, despite elevated levels of miR-16. Our data suggests that miRNAs are dysregulated in clonal plasma cells in AL amyloidosis and may be potentially useful as biomarkers of disease.
Coming together or growing apart? Globalization, class and redistributive preferences

Globalization refers to a growth in international trade, the integration of financial markets and investment flows as well as greater labour mobility. It is also associated with greater market volatility and intensified competition. The general question we address is, does globalization strengthen or weaken public support for governmental redistribution? However, rather than assuming that globalization undermines or buffers welfare state support generally, we suppose that this effect might be class-specific. It might lead to a reduction in welfare state support for better-off classes while those at the lower end of the social strata may call for more governmental intervention. We test this hypothesis on the basis of cross-sectional data from the fourth round of the European Social Survey (ESS) (fielded 2008/2009). The results of multilevel analyses of 31 countries indicate that while welfare state support is generally lower in globalized countries, class cleavages in welfare attitudes are neither intensified nor diluted under conditions of globalization.
Evolutionary Motives and Consumer Food Choice in Romantic Relationships

OF DISSERTATION EVOLUTIONARY MOTIVES AND CONSUMER FOOD CHOICE IN ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIPS This research examines the evolutionary eating patterns of consumers when eating with those they are in relationships with, moving beyond eating decisions made in isolation or in the presence of strangers. Across three studies, unique patterns of consumption emerge when males and females are in different stages of romantic relationships. I demonstrate that the evolutionary motives of mate acquisition and mate retention drive eating patterns for relationship partners relative to their gender. I show that females match the eating habits of males at early stages in the relationship but are more independent later in the relationship, while males match eating habits of females in later stages in the relationships but are more independent early in relationships. I discuss how evolutionary eating patterns contribute to high obesity rates, provide recommendations for avoiding unhealthy eating among couples, and shed light on common cultural beliefs about weight gain in social relationships.
How Public Policy Can Stimulate the Capabilities of Firms to Innovate in a Traditional Industry Through Academic Engagement: The Case of the Swedish Food Industry

This paper shows how public policy can stimulate innovation in low- and medium-technology industries, by connecting firms and universities through collaborative scientific research. A conceptual framework proposes that collaborative research between universities and firms may result in tangible innovative outcomes, such as new or improved products or processes, and intangible outcomes that strengthen firms’ internal capabilities and thereby indirectly increase their innovativeness. Findings are presented from a case study of a Swedish public policy stimulating the development of firm capabilities for innovation, through collaborative research projects connecting universities and firms in the food industry between 1998 and 2006. In line with the conceptual framework, the analysis distinguishes between (i) direct outcomes, such as new products; and (ii) indirect outcomes in the form of the development of firms’ capabilities to innovate. Based on this analysis, the initial conceptual framework is expanded to indicate how policy can stimulate the development of firms’ capabilities.
Robust Bayesian Methods for Stackelberg Security Games (Extended Abstract)

Recent work has applied game-theoretic models to real-world security problems at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS). The analysis of these domains is based on input from domain experts intended to capture the best available intelligence information about potential terrorist activities and possible security countermeasures. Nevertheless, these models are subject to significant uncertainty—especially in security domains where intelligence about adversary capabilities and preferences is very difficult to gather. This uncertainty presents significant challenges for applying game-theoretic analysis in these domains. Our experimental results show that standard solution methods based on perfect information assumptions are very sensitive to payoff uncertainty, resulting in low payoffs for the defender. We describe a model of Bayesian Stackelberg games that allows for general distributional uncertainty over the attacker’s payoffs. We conduct an experimental analysis of two algorithms for approximating equilibria of these games, and show that the resulting solutions give much better results than the standard approach when there is payoff uncertainty.
Pre-pregnancy body mass index, maternal weight gain during pregnancy and risk of small-for-gestational age birth: Results from a case–control study in Italy

Objective. To analyze the association between body mass index (BMI), gestational weight gain (GWG), and risk of small for gestational age (SGA) birth. Methods. Case–control study: cases included 555 women (mean age 31 years) who delivered SGA babies in two Italian clinics. Controls included women who gave birth at term to healthy infants of normal weight at the hospitals where cases had been identified. Results. Underweight women were at risk of delivering SGA babies (odds ratio, OR, 1.9, 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.6–2.4) and overweight women had a not significant lower risk (OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5–1.0). The risk of delivering an SGA baby was higher also for women with less than recommended GWG (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.1–1.9), whereas gaining more than recommended weight was not significantly protective (OR 0.7, 95% CI 0.5–1.0). The analysis in strata of BMI showed that GWG played a significant role, whereas in strata of GWG pre-pregnancy BMI seemed less important. Conclusion. These results suggest that achieving the adequate weight gain during pregnancy, as recommended by IOM, protects against the risk of delivering an SGA infant also in underweight women.
A Role for Fractalkine and Its Receptor (CX3CR1) in Cardiac Allograft Rejection1

The hallmark of acute allograft rejection is infiltration of the inflamed graft by circulating leukocytes. We studied the role of fractalkine (FKN) and its receptor, CX3CR1, in allograft rejection. FKN expression was negligible in nonrejecting cardiac isografts but was significantly enhanced in rejecting allografts. At early time points, FKN expression was particularly prominent on vascular tissues and endothelium. As rejection progressed, FKN expression was further increased, with prominent anti-FKN staining seen around vessels and on cardiac myocytes. To determine the capacity of FKN on endothelial cells to promote leukocyte adhesion, we performed adhesion assays with PBMC and monolayers of TNF-α-activated murine endothelial cells under low-shear conditions. Treatment with either anti-FKN or anti-CX3CR1-blocking Ab significantly inhibited PBMC binding, indicating that a large proportion of leukocyte binding to murine endothelium occurs via the FKN and CX3CR1 adhesion receptors. To determine the functional significance of FKN in rejection, we treated cardiac allograft recipients with daily injections of anti-CX3CR1 Ab. Treatment with the anti-CX3CR1 Ab significantly prolonged allograft survival from 7 ± 1 to 49 ± 30 days (p < 0.0008). These studies identify a critical role for FKN in the pathogenesis of acute rejection and suggest that FKN may be a useful therapeutic target in rejection.
An elasticity microscope. Part I: Methods

An elasticity microscope images tissue stiffness at fine resolution. Possible applications include dermatology, ophthalmology, pathology, and tissue engineering. In addition, if the resolution approaches cellular dimensions, then this system may be very useful in understanding tissue micromorphology. Elasticity images can be reconstructed from displacement and strain fields measured throughout the specimen during controlled external loading. High frequency ultrasound is used to obtain these images by tracking coherent speckle motion during deformation. In this paper, methods are presented to track speckle in two dimensions with near unity correlation coefficients using a high frequency, single element focused transducer. These techniques include improved means for speckle tracking. Procedures to control boundary conditions for consistent specimen deformation and scanning techniques required to obtain a plane-strain state in the imaging plane are also discussed. To test these methods, a 50 MHz elasticity microscope was constructed.
Area-efficient parallel decoder architecture for high rate QC-LDPC codes

In this paper, an area efficient partially parallel decoder architecture suited for (modified) min-sum decoding algorithm for general high rate quasi-cyclic low-density parity-check (QC-LDPC) codes is proposed. To reduce the hardware complexity for parallel processing, an efficient data scheduling unit is presented. The optimized partially parallel decoder architecture can linearly increase the decoding throughput with small hardware overhead. Typically, over 30% of memory can be saved with the architecture presented in this paper. Consequently, the proposed approach facilitates the applications of LDPC codes in area/power sensitive high speed communication systems
Enhancing Patient-Centered Care

Health care reform focuses on primary care and development of Health Care Homes to improve patient-centered chronic illness care. This pilot study evaluated a community care team intervention that linked chronically ill older patients, support persons, and nurse care coordinators from a Health Care Home with community resources using an adaptation of the Wraparound process. A pragmatic clinical trial design was used. Patient-centered chronic illness care; physical, mental, and social health; service use; and study feasibility were evaluated. Differences between groups were compared using two-sample t, Wilcoxon rank sum, chi-square, or Fisher’s exact tests. At 3 months, the intervention group reported higher patient-centered chronic illness care (mean total Patient Assessment of Chronic Illness Care change scores were 0.39 for the intervention group and −0.11 for the control group, p = .03). Results indicate that the integrated community care team intervention is a promising strategy to support patient-centered chronic illness care.
Expectant management in di-chorionic pregnancies complicated by discordant anomalous twin

Abstract Fetal malformations are more frequent in twins than in singletons. The aim of our study was to define the influence of a malformed twin on di-chorionic pregnancy outcomes. We performed a retrospective cohort study of di-chorionic pregnancies delivered between 2000 and 2015. Exclusion criteria were: both twins affected by fetal malformations, double intra-uterine fetal death in pregnancies without fetal malformation, selective feticide and therapeutic pregnancy termination. We compared maternal and fetal outcomes of di-chorionic pregnancies not complicated by fetal malformations with pregnancies affected by a single malformed fetus with conservative management. We included 642 di-chorionic pregnancies: 56 (case group, 8.7%) with one twin affected by a malformation (20 minor, 36 major ones), 586 (control group, 91.3%) without fetal malformation. No differences were found on maternal and not malformed co-twin outcomes when compared to pregnancies with no malformation; case vs control group presented similar rates of preeclampsia (8.9% vs. 10.8%, respectively), intrauterine growth restriction (7.1% vs. 9.4%) and composite adverse neonatal outcomes (19.6% vs. 15.1%). No case of fetal death in not malformed co-twin was reported. Expectant management could be a safe option for both mother and co-twin in case of di-chorionic twin pregnancy complicated by only one malformed fetus.
Microcystic adnexal carcinoma in African-Americans.

Microcystic adnexal carcinoma (MAC) is an uncommon adnexal neoplasm with nearly 300 reported cases since its original description. Typical of most cutaneous malignancies, MAC has been primarily described in Caucasians. Herein, we add to the growing literature of MAC in non-Caucasians. We present the first case series of MAC in African-Americans with three cases in two African-American patients, and we also review the four previously reported cases in this population. Additionally, this is the first report of an African-American presenting with two separate primary MACs. It is particularly important to be aware that MAC occurs in blacks and that it may have an unusual presentation.