Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Continuum damage mechanics-based analysis of creep–fatigue interaction behavior in a turbine rotor

The aim of this study is to analyze the creep–fatigue interaction behavior of a steam turbine rotor under idealized cyclic thermomechanical loading conditions. A Chaboche model-based material constitutive model is applied to simulate the multiaxial stress–strain behavior in the rotor. Influence of accumulated damage during the whole iterations on the creep–fatigue interaction behavior is described by continuum damage mechanics. Analysis of the temperature and stress variations during the startup phase reveals that the startup phase can be divided into a condensation phase, a high steam flux phase, and an elevated temperature phase and that thermal stress reaches its maximum value in the condensation phase. In addition, creep–fatigue interaction in the rotor leads to a gradual decrease in the maximum stress; furthermore, comparison of the von Mises stress displays that the impact of damage accumulation results in the shift of the location with the maximum stress. Investigation of creep–fatigue damage discloses that the total damage is concentrated on the steam inlet notch zone and the blade groove of the first and third stages.
A phase 2 study of pemetrexed plus gemcitabine every 2 weeks for patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer

Preclinical studies suggest that additive or synergistic effects are achieved with the combination of pemetrexed plus gemcitabine. A phase 1 study of pemetrexed plus gemcitabine given every 2 weeks demonstrated encouraging preliminary efficacy against head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC).
Additive engineering to improve the efficiency and stability of inverted planar perovskite solar cells

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) have received extensive attention due to their excellent photovoltaic performance. The quality of perovskite films is crucial to device performance, and introducing additives to the precursor solution is an effective way to control the film morphology and to reduce the defect density. In this paper, formamidine acetate salt (FAAc) is introduced into the precursor solution as an effective additive to greatly improve the quality of perovskite films. With the addition of 5 mol% FAAc, the PSCs with a bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)amine (PTAA) hole extraction layer demonstrate desirable performance in terms of the open-circuit voltage (1.04 V), the short-circuit current density (23.16 mA cm−2), the fill factor (close to 80%), the power conversion efficiency (18.90%), negligible hysteresis, and the device stability (up to 80 days). These results will provide a new avenue for fabricating commercial perovskite solar cells.
Auditory Training for Central Auditory Processing Disorder

Abstract Auditory training (AT) is an important component of rehabilitation for patients with central auditory processing disorder (CAPD). The present article identifies and describes aspects of AT as they relate to applications in this population. A description of the types of auditory processes along with information on relevant AT protocols that can be used to address these specific deficits is included. Characteristics and principles of effective AT procedures also are detailed in light of research that reflects on their value. Finally, research investigating AT in populations who show CAPD or present with auditory complaints is reported. Although efficacy data in this area are still emerging, current findings support the use of AT for treatment of auditory difficulties.
Recapitulating the Structural Evolution of Redox Regulation in Adenosine 5′-Phosphosulfate Kinase from Cyanobacteria to Plants*

Background: In the plant sulfur assimilation pathway, APS kinase is a redox-regulated branch point enzyme. Results: Structural and biochemical analysis of the cyanobacterial APSK reveals an unregulated precursor of the plant enzyme. Conclusion: Protein engineering of cyanobacterial APSK recapitulates the structural development of redox control in the plant enzyme. Significance: Understanding the evolution of biochemical regulation provides insight for engineering metabolic controls. In plants, adenosine 5′-phosphosulfate (APS) kinase (APSK) is required for reproductive viability and the production of 3′-phosphoadenosine 5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS) as a sulfur donor in specialized metabolism. Previous studies of the APSK from Arabidopsis thaliana (AtAPSK) identified a regulatory disulfide bond formed between the N-terminal domain (NTD) and a cysteine on the core scaffold. This thiol switch is unique to mosses, gymnosperms, and angiosperms. To understand the structural evolution of redox control of APSK, we investigated the redox-insensitive APSK from the cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 (SynAPSK). Crystallographic analysis of SynAPSK in complex with either APS and a non-hydrolyzable ATP analog or APS and sulfate revealed the overall structure of the enzyme, which lacks the NTD found in homologs from mosses and plants. A series of engineered SynAPSK variants reconstructed the structural evolution of the plant APSK. Biochemical analyses of SynAPSK, SynAPSK H23C mutant, SynAPSK fused to the AtAPSK NTD, and the fusion protein with the H23C mutation showed that the addition of the NTD and cysteines recapitulated thiol-based regulation. These results reveal the molecular basis for structural changes leading to the evolution of redox control of APSK in the green lineage from cyanobacteria to plants.
FDG-PET in Follicular Lymphoma Management

18-Fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerised tomography (FDG PET/CT) is commonly used in the management of patients with lymphomas and is recommended for both initial staging and response assessment after treatment in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and Hodgkin lymphoma. Despite the FDG avidity of follicular lymphoma (FL), FDG PET/CT is not yet applied in standard clinical practice for patients with FL. However, FDG PET/CT is more accurate than conventional imaging for initial staging, often prompting significant management change, and allows noninvasive characterization to guide assessment of high-grade transformation. For restaging, FDG PET/CT assists in distinguishing between scar tissue and viable tumors in residual masses and a positive PET after induction treatment would seem to predict a shorter progression-free survival.
Fixify: A Toolset for Automated Floating-point to Fixed-point Conversion

Automation of the floating-point to fixed-point conversion of algorithmic descriptions is expected to produce significant improvements in the design process of embedded systems, in terms of its eciency and error resilience. Although several analytical and statistical approaches to help the designer make the conversion trade-o between design parameters and implementation costs do exist, none are able to replace the designer in making the tradeo itself. Fixify, a toolset for automated floating-point to fixed-point conversion is presented here. It uses existing optimisation heuristics to perform the conversion tradeo, disburdening the designer and significantly improving the design process.
Preflight calibration of the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment polarization modulation package based on liquid-crystal variable retarders.

We present the study, characterization, and calibration of the polarization modulation package (PMP) of the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment (IMaX) instrument, a successful Stokes spectropolarimeter on board the SUNRISE balloon project within the NASA Long Duration Balloon program. IMaX was designed to measure the Stokes parameters of incoming light with a signal-to-noise ratio of at least 10<sup>3</sup>, using as polarization modulators two nematic liquid-crystal variable retarders (LCVRs). An ad hoc calibration system that reproduced the optical and environmental characteristics of IMaX was designed, assembled, and aligned. The system recreates the optical beam that IMaX receives from SUNRISE with known polarization across the image plane, as well as an optical system with the same characteristics of IMaX. The system was used to calibrate the IMaX PMP in vacuum and at different temperatures, with a thermal control resembling the in-flight one. The efficiencies obtained were very high, near theoretical maximum values: the total efficiency in vacuum calibration at nominal temperature was 0.972 (1 being the theoretical maximum). The condition number of the demodulation matrix of the same calibration was 0.522 (0.577 theoretical maximum). Some inhomogeneities of the LCVRs were clear during the pixel-by-pixel calibration of the PMP, but it can be concluded that the mere information of a pixel-per-pixel calibration is sufficient to maintain high efficiencies in spite of inhomogeneities of the LCVRs.
Relevance feedback: perceptual learning and retrieval in bio-computing, photos, and video

One of the most important characteristics about relevance feedback is that it ideally finds a set of human perceptually correlated results because the user is directly involved in the search process. In principle, relevance feedback is an iterative learning process where positive and negative examples accumulate as the user gives feedback on each new iteration of results. If we view relevance feedback as a learning problem then we can immediately grasp that there will be the associated problem of learning from a small training set. Towards a solution, we present MediaNet, which is an approach toward integrating additional knowledge sources into the relevance feedback process. The additional knowledge sources are used to shape the learning space when insufficient training samples are available. We also integrate genetic or evolutionary algorithms directly into the search process. Experiments are given on test collections in bio-computing, general photos and video
What Happened? Alcohol, Memory Blackouts, and the Brain

Alcohol primarily interferes with the ability to form new long-term memories, leaving intact previously established long-term memories and the ability to keep new information active in memory for brief periods. As the amount of alcohol consumed increases, so does the magnitude of the memory impairments. Large amounts of alcohol, particularly if consumed rapidly, can produce partial (i.e., fragmentary) or complete (i.e., en bloc) blackouts, which are periods of memory loss for events that transpired while a person was drinking. Blackouts are much more common among social drinkers—including college drinkers—than was previously assumed, and have been found to encompass events ranging from conversations to intercourse. Mechanisms underlying alcohol-induced memory impairments include disruption of activity in the hippocampus, a brain region that plays a central role in the formation of new auotbiographical memories.
Multiple-rate maximum rank distance codes

This paper proposes a coding scheme that derives a multiple-rate code from existing channel codes defined over the composite field and the ground field, where code length is fixed. Formally, from codes C1(k, 1), C2 (k, 2),…, Ck(k, k) defined over GF(q) together with the code C(n,k) over GF(qn), the proposed scheme derives a multiple-rate code with fixed code length. The primary benefit of the proposed multiple-rate code is that it is equipped with a common encoding and decoding strategy. Identification of coded user messages of variable length are carried out through a simple procedure using orthogonal projectors.
Musculoskeletal-based finite element analysis of femur after total hip replacement

This article evaluates the effect of stress variation on adult femur following total hip replacement using musculoskeletal-based finite element analysis. The aim was to study the changes in stress distribution in the femur after total hip replacement by providing simulated in vivo loading and boundary conditions. The loading and boundary conditions were generated using a musculoskeletal modelling software ‘AnyBody’ and were applied on femur model, generated from the computed tomography (CT) scan data for standing posture of male patient. The results showed considerable variation in stress distribution pattern in the femur before and after total hip replacement, the metallic implant taking major loads of human body and transferring very less loads to the femur.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Gender differences in health and health care utilisation in various ethnic groups in the Netherlands : a cross-sectional study

Background: To determine gender differences in health and health care utilisation within and between various ethnic groups in the Netherlands. Methods: Data from the second Dutch National Survey of General Practice (2000–2002) were used. A total of 7,789 persons from the indigenous population and 1,512 persons from the four largest migrant groups in the Netherlands – Morocco, Netherlands Antilles, Turkey and Surinam – aged 18 years and older were interviewed. Self-reported health outcomes studied were general health status and the presence of acute (past 14 days) and chronic conditions (past 12 months). And self-reported utilisation of the following health care services was analysed: having contacted a general practitioner (past 2 months), a medical specialist, physiotherapist or ambulatory mental health service (past 12 months), hospitalisation (past 12 months) and use of medication (past 14 days). Gender differences in these outcomes were examined within and between the ethnic groups, using logistic regression analyses. Results: In general, women showed poorer health than men; the largest differences were found for the Turkish respondents, followed by Moroccans, and Surinamese. Furthermore, women from Morocco and the Netherlands Antilles more often contacted a general practitioner than men from these countries. Women from Turkey were more hospitalised than Turkish men. Women from Morocco more often contacted ambulatory mental health care than men from this country, and women with an indigenous background more often used over the counter medication than men with an indigenous background. Conclusion: In general the self-reported health of women is worse compared to that of men, although the size of the gender differences may vary according to the particular health outcome and among the ethnic groups. This information might be helpful to develop policy to improve the health status of specific groups according to gender and ethnicity. In addition, in some ethnic groups, and for some types of health care services, the use by women is higher compared to that by men. More research is needed to explain these differences. Published: 20 April 2009 BMC Public Health 2009, 9:109 doi:10.1186/1471-2458-9-109 Received: 13 September 2008 Accepted: 20 April 2009 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral. com/1471-2458/9/109 © 2009 Gerritsen and Devillé; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
LIPID PROFILE AND BODY COMPOSITION OF HIV-1 INFECTED PATIENTS TREATED WITH HIGHLY ACTIVE ANTIRETROVIRAL THERAPY

Highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) has been associated with the development of a clinical group and metabolic disorders such as peripheral lipodystrophy syndrome in AIDS. The aim of this study was to analyze the lipid profile, the clinical aspects, and the body composition of HIV-1 infected individuals treated with or without protease inhibitor (PI) during the highly active antiretroviral therapy. In total, 62 individuals were evaluated in this study; 15 healthy individuals (Control Group: CG), 11 HIV-1 infected individuals treated without antiretroviral therapy (Group 1: G1), 14 HIV-1 infected individuals treated with antiretroviral therapy plus protease inhibitor (Group 2: G2), and 22 HIV-1 infected individuals treated with antiretroviral therapy without protease inhibitor (Group 3: G3), mean age 35 years old. The time interval for G2 and G3 was greater than or equal to nine months. Patients receiving HAART with PI had significantly lower viral loads, hypertriglyceridemia, and low HDL levels (p<0.05). There were no differences between groups in relation to the lean body mass percentage obtained by mid-arm muscle circumference adequacy or by bioelectrical impedance. The lower percentage of body fat observed in all the HIV-1 infected patients by antropometric assessment and the decreased tricipital skinfold adequacy in the group treated with PI in relation to CG may suggest lipodystrophy in the upper limbs, especially on those treated with PI.
Very late stent thrombosis with second generation drug eluting stents compared to bare metal stents: Network meta‐analysis of randomized primary percutaneous coronary intervention trials

The relative safety of drug‐eluting stents (DES) and bare‐metal stents (BMS) in primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) in ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) continues to be debated. The long‐term clinical outcomes between second generation DES and BMS for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using network meta‐analysis were compared. Methods: Randomized controlled trials comparing stent types (first generation DES, second generation DES, or BMS) were considered for inclusion. A search strategy used Medline, Embase, Cochrane databases, and proceedings of international meetings. Information about study design, inclusion criteria, and sample characteristics were extracted. Network meta‐analysis was used to pool direct (comparison of second generation DES to BMS) and indirect evidence (first generation DES with BMS and second generation DES) from the randomized trials. Results: Twelve trials comparing all stents types including 9,673 patients randomly assigned to treatment groups were analyzed. Second generation DES was associated with significantly lower incidence of definite or probable ST (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.39–0.89), MI (OR 0.59, 95% CI 0.39–0.89), and TVR at 3 years (OR 0.50: 95% CI 0.31–0.81) compared with BMS. In addition, there was a significantly lower incidence of MACE with second generation DES versus BMS (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.34–0.74) at 3 years. These were driven by a higher rate of TVR, MI and stent thrombosis in the BMS group at 3 years. There was a non‐significant reduction in the overall and cardiac mortality [OR 0.83, 95% CI (0.60–1.14), OR 0.88, 95% CI (0.6–1.28)] with the use of second generation DES versus BMS at 3 years. Conclusions: Network meta‐analysis of randomized trials of primary PCI demonstrated lower incidence of MACE, MI, TVR, and stent thrombosis with second generation DES compared with BMS. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Automatically detecting neighbourhood constraint interactions using Comet

The major benet of using events as the basis for our detection system is the clean separation between the neighbourhoods and detector which we can achieve. The detector simply iterates over a set of Neighbourhood objects and checks each for interactions. The acceptance function for the neighbourhood is set to accept any tness. For purposes of detecting an interaction it does not matter whether a move reduces or increases the constraint violations; both indicate that a relationship exists. The simulation is performed in two stages. Starting from a randomly created initial solution a random move from the neighbourhood is chosen, often this will lead to a constraint change and prevent the need for further exploration. For some constraints the chance of randomly selecting a move which would violate it is fairly low and so a more rigourous search is required. If the initial move has not found any interaction then the detector explores every neighbouring state from the current position. If at any stage a change of the constraint violations is detected then the exploration is stopped.
Properties of a continuous-random-network model for amorphous systems

We use a Monte Carlo bond-switching method to study systematically the thermodynamic properties of a "continuous random network" model, the canonical model for such amorphous systems as a-Si and a-SiO$_2$. Simulations show first-order "melting" into an amorphous state, and clear evidence for a glass transition in the supercooled liquid. The random-network model is also extended to study heterogeneous structures, such as the interface between amorphous and crystalline Si.
Energy analysis of distributed neighbour discovery algorithms based on frame slotted-ALOHA for cooperative networks

The design of communications protocols that exploit the availability of both cellular and short-range radio access interfaces in a same terminal can be exploited to improve the energy efficiency of wireless communications networks. Devices equipped with a cellular radio interface can act as dynamic gateways to provide energy-constrained devices in its single-hop cluster with cellular connectivity. For this purpose, any device may discover its single-hop neighbourhood in order to select the appropriate gateway candidates. Conventional neighbour discovery algorithms have a great cost in terms of delay and energy consumption, and thus they are not the optimal approach for energy-constrained devices. This paper presents the energy consumption analysis of two distributed neighbour discovery algorithms based on frame slotted-ALOHA, and evaluates their performance in terms of energy consumption. In addition, it describes the conditions that minimize the energy consumption in the discovery process.
Robot Localization using efficient planar features matching

Real-time accurate localization is a key component of an autonomous mobile robot. Visual localization algorithms usually rely on feature matching between the current view and a map using point descriptors. Many descriptors such as SIFT or SURF are designed to recognize features seen from different viewpoint. But in a robotic context, the robot movement can be modeled and bring useful information for the matching problem. In this paper we detail a way of matching features with a local 3D model of the features taking advantage of the motion model of the robot. We describe then methods to describe the motion model. The experimental results show how useful the motion model of robot movement is, and prove that use of other sensors can greatly improve precision and robustness of the localization.
A model-driven framework for ETL process development

ETL processes are the backbone component of a data warehouse, since they supply the data warehouse with the necessary integrated and reconciled data from heterogeneous and distributed data sources. However, the ETL process development, and particularly its design phase, is still perceived as a time-consuming task. This is mainly due to the fact that ETL processes are typically designed by considering a specific technology from the very beginning of the development process. Thus, it is difficult to share and reuse methodologies and best practices among projects implemented with different technologies. To the best of our knowledge, no attempt has been yet dedicated to harmonize the ETL process development by proposing a common and integrated development strategy. To overcome this drawback, in this paper, a framework for model-driven development of ETL processes is introduced. The benefit of our framework is twofold: (i) using vendor-independent models for a unified design of ETL processes, based on the expressive and well-known standard for modeling business processes, the Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN), and (ii) automatically transforming these models into the required vendor-specific code to execute the ETL process into a concrete platform.
The Effect of Medical Marijuana on Sickness Absence

Utilizing the Current Population Survey, the study identifies that absences due to sickness decline following the legalization of medical marijuana. The effect is stronger in states with 'lax' medical marijuana regulations, for full-time workers, and for middle-aged males, which is the group most likely to hold medical marijuana cards. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.