Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Wealthy Gay Couples Buying Babies Produced in India by Poor Womb-Women: Audience Interpretations of Transnational Surrogacy in TV News

ABSTRACT Surrogacy is beginning to generate public debate, and the way the media approach it may have negative effects on social attitudes toward gay parenting. The news media play a key role in informing society, especially about topics such as surrogacy, of which most audiences have no direct experience. The aim of our research is to explore opinion formation of surrogacy and gay parenting by analyzing the audience interpretation of a TV news story in Spain. To do this we conducted four focus groups that were analyzed using a qualitative content analysis based on the discourse produced by the participants. The results show that the framing strategies used in the news story contribute to advocating an attitude of repudiation toward surrogacy, with an adverse sentiment also extending to homosexual couples who wish to become parents. This leads us to discuss the role of media in shaping public opinion and the resulting potential consequences in the case of surrogacy and gay parenting.
Mind modeling using Transparent Intensional Logic

In this paper the possibility of human mind modeling is discussed. According the recent knowledge from cognitive and neurology sciences we inspect the human brain principles. Position of natural language (NL) is outlined alongside its connection with human senses. As a result the Theory of three layers (TTL) is introduced. Arguments from the Incompleteness theory are used to support its own truthfulness and legitimacy of TTL. Moreover the boundary between processes that can be modeled using AI and those that are purely characteristic for living beings is sketched. Finally we brieﬂy describe the GuessME! system that uses Transparent Intensional Logic (TIL) to extract the natural language meaning.
The Effective Stress and Mechanical Deformation and Damage Characteristics of Gas-filled Coal

Based on the analysis of deformation and damage of gas-filled coal, this paper proposes that the deformation and damage of gas-filled coal are affected by double effective stresses. Primary stress determines the primary deformation while structural effective stress determines the structural deformation. This paper also corrects the formula of Karl Terzaghi effective stress and reveales the changing law of effective porous pressure coefficient during the whole stress-strain course. Based on the deformation characteristics of gas-filled coal, the approches and methods for controlling coal and gas outburst are also provided.
DISPAQ: Distributed Profitable-Area Query from Big Taxi Trip Data †

One of the crucial problems for taxi drivers is to efficiently locate passengers in order to increase profits. The rapid advancement and ubiquitous penetration of Internet of Things (IoT) technology into transportation industries enables us to provide taxi drivers with locations that have more potential passengers (more profitable areas) by analyzing and querying taxi trip data. In this paper, we propose a query processing system, called Distributed Profitable-Area Query (DISPAQ) which efficiently identifies profitable areas by exploiting the Apache Software Foundation’s Spark framework and a MongoDB database. DISPAQ first maintains a profitable-area query index (PQ-index) by extracting area summaries and route summaries from raw taxi trip data. It then identifies candidate profitable areas by searching the PQ-index during query processing. Then, it exploits a Z-Skyline algorithm, which is an extension of skyline processing with a Z-order space filling curve, to quickly refine the candidate profitable areas. To improve the performance of distributed query processing, we also propose local Z-Skyline optimization, which reduces the number of dominant tests by distributing killer profitable areas to each cluster node. Through extensive evaluation with real datasets, we demonstrate that our DISPAQ system provides a scalable and efficient solution for processing profitable-area queries from huge amounts of big taxi trip data.
A submodular boost converter ASIC for output energy improvements in photovoltaic applications

Photovoltaic (PV) energy harvesting suffers from output energy reduction due to shading, dirt accumulation or manufacturing variability. Typical PV modules consist of 60 solar cells connected in series. Hence, shading a single cell can cause a whole substring of 20 cells to be bypassed. To overcome these drawbacks, this paper proposes the application of boost converters on submodular level, cutting the series connection to only a few cells. System level simulations prove that this architecture features increased output energy compared to state-of-the-art approaches like power optimizers. For reducing component costs and increasing system reliability, an ASIC for this application has been developed in a 150nm CMOS technology. This paper describes the design and the implementation of a highly efficient hysteretic controlled boost converter. Its high switching frequency of more than 500 kHz enables operation on a single phase while achieving an RMS input current ripple of less than 1.5 % required in photovoltaic applications. Measurements prove a RMS current ripple of less than 1 % and a maximum switching frequnecy of 650 kHz.
The HopF family of Pseudomonas syringae type III secreted effectors.

Pseudomonas syringae is a bacterial phytopathogen that utilizes the type III secretion system to inject effector proteins into plant host cells. Pseudomonas syringae can infect a wide range of plant hosts, including agronomically important crops such as tomatoes and beans. The ability of P. syringae to infect such numerous hosts is caused, in part, by the diversity of effectors employed by this phytopathogen. Over 60 different effector families exist in P. syringae; one such family is HopF, which contains over 100 distinct alleles. Despite this diversity, research has focused on only two members of this family: HopF1 from P. syringae pathovar phaseolicola 1449B and HopF2 from P. syringae pathovar tomato DC3000. In this study, we review the research on HopF family members, including their host targets and molecular mechanisms of immunity suppression, and their enzymatic function. We also provide a phylogenetic analysis of this expanding effector family which provides a basis for a proposed nomenclature to guide future research. The extensive genetic diversity that exists within the HopF family presents a great opportunity to study how functional diversification on an effector family contributes to host specialization.
A study of circulating current in MMC based HVDC system under an unbalanced grid condition

This paper shows a study about circulating current of modular multilevel converter (MMC) based a high voltage direct current (HVDC) system under some unbalanced grid conditions. A basic structure of the MMC HVDC system is introduced and its system dynamics is analyzed. Based on the analysis, the modeling of circulating current and its control method under balanced or unbalanced grid condition are described. From the point of view in circulating current control, two kinds of power control methods are analyzed and their performances compared. In addition, in order to apply the power control methods, some practical considerations are proposed and described. Several simulation results performed in the PSIM software verify the proposed analysis and consideration of the power control methods under various grid conditions.
Systematic Evaluation of Protein Sequence Filtering Algorithms for Proteoform Identification Using Top‐Down Mass Spectrometry

Complex proteoforms contain various primary structural alterations resulting from variations in genes, RNA, and proteins. Top‐down mass spectrometry is commonly used for analyzing complex proteoforms because it provides whole sequence information of the proteoforms. Proteoform identification by top‐down mass spectral database search is a challenging computational problem because the types and/or locations of some alterations in target proteoforms are in general unknown. Although spectral alignment and mass graph alignment algorithms have been proposed for identifying proteoforms with unknown alterations, they are extremely slow to align millions of spectra against tens of thousands of protein sequences in high throughput proteome level analyses. Many software tools in this area combine efficient protein sequence filtering algorithms and spectral alignment algorithms to speed up database search. As a result, the performance of these tools heavily relies on the sensitivity and efficiency of their filtering algorithms. Here, we propose two efficient approximate spectrum‐based filtering algorithms for proteoform identification. We evaluated the performances of the proposed algorithms and four existing ones on simulated and real top‐down mass spectrometry data sets. Experiments showed that the proposed algorithms outperformed the existing ones for complex proteoform identification. In addition, combining the proposed filtering algorithms and mass graph alignment algorithms identified many proteoforms missed by ProSightPC in proteome‐level proteoform analyses.
Achieving convergent causal consistency and high availability with asynchronous replication

Nowadays, distributed data stores have become a fundamental infrastructure for large-scale Internet services, and they usually replicate data partitions to achieve high scalability and availability. To achieve better performance and availability, many Internet services embrace eventual consistency. However, stronger consistency is always desirable for system correctness. Recent studies [1][2] pay more attention to the convergent causal consistency, which is proved to be one of the strongest consistency models that can be achieved together with high availability in the presence of network partitions [3]. Convergent causal consistency couples the virtues of causal consistency and eventual consistency. As a result, convergent causal consistency not only guarantees that clients observe causality throughout, but also ensures that all replicas converge to the same state, which are critical for implementing reasonable application behaviors.
First Clinical Experience with Retrospective Flash Glucose Monitoring (FGM) Analysis in South Africa

Background: In 2014, an innovative blinded continuous glucose monitoring system was introduced with automated ambulatory glucose profile (AGP) reporting. The clinical use and interpretation of this new technology has not previously been described. Therefore we wanted to understand its use in characterizing key factors related to glycemic control: glucose exposure, variability, and stability, and risk of hypoglycemia in clinical practice. Methods: Clinicians representing affiliated diabetes centers throughout South Africa were trained and subsequently were given flash glucose monitoring readers and 2-week glucose sensors to use at their discretion. After patient use, sensor data were collected and uploaded for AGP reporting. Results: Complete data (sensor AGP with corresponding clinical information) were obtained for 50 patients with type 1 (70%) and type 2 diabetes (30%), irrespective of therapy. Aggregated analysis of AGP data comparing patients with type 1 versus type 2 diabetes, revealed that despite similar HbA1c values between both groups (8.4 ± 2 vs 8.6 ± 1.7%, respectively), those with type 2 diabetes had lower mean glucose levels (9.2 ± 3 vs 10.3 mmol/l [166 ± 54 vs 185 mg/dl]) and lower indices of glucose variability (3.0 ± 1.5 vs 5.0 ± 1.9 mmol/l [54 ± 27 vs 90 ± 34.2 mg/dl]). This highlights key areas for future focus. Conclusions: Using AGP, the characteristics of glucose exposure, variability, stability, and hypoglycemia risk and occurrence were obtained within a short time and with minimal provider and patient input. In a survey at the time of the follow-up visit, clinicians indicated that aggregated AGP data analysis provided important new clinical information and insights.
Acquiring L2 sentence comprehension: A longitudinal study of word monitoring

This study investigated the development of second language online auditory processing with ab initio German learners of Dutch. We assessed the influence of different levels of background noise and different levels of semantic and syntactic target word predictability on word-monitoring latencies. There was evidence of syntactic, but not lexical-semantic, transfer from the L1 to the L2 from the onset of L2 learning. An initial stronger adverse effect of noise on syntactic compared to phonological processing disappeared after two weeks of learning Dutch suggesting a change towards more robust syntactic processing. At the same time the L2 learners started to exploit semantic constraints predicting upcoming target words. The use of semantic predictability remained less efficient compared to native speakers until the end of the observation period. The improvement and the persistent problems in semantic processing we found were independent of noise and rather seem to reflect the need for more context information to build up online semantic representations in L2 listening.
Enhancing Anaphora Resolution for Czech

Resolution of anaphoric reference is one of the most important challenges in natural language processing (NLP). Functionality of most NLP systems crucially relies on an accurate mechanism for determining which expressions in the input refer to the same entity in the real world. The immense complexity of this issue has led the research community to adopt predominantly knowledge-poor methods, despite the fact that these are known to be incapable of solving this task reliably. This paper suggests several ways of extending such methods by further resources and mechanisms in order to arrive at a more adequate anaphora resolution procedure. First, the paper sketches how to exploit information about verb valencies or co-occurrence statistics to account for semantic plausibility of individual antecedent candidates. Further, several ways of adapting ML-based AR methods are suggested, so that they account for the structure of the AR task more closely.
Reliability of the virtual elevation method to evaluate rolling resistance of different mountain bike cross-country tyres

ABSTRACT Although a low rolling resistance is advantageous in mountain bike cross-country racing, no studies have used the virtual elevation method to compare tyres from different manufacturers as used in international competitions so far. The aims of this study were to assess the reliability of this method, to compare the off-road rolling resistance between tyres and to calculate the influence on off-road speed. Nine 29-in. mountain bike cross-country tyres were tested on a course representing typical ground surface conditions 5 or 6 times. The coefficient of rolling resistance was estimated with the virtual elevation method by 3 investigators and corresponding off-road speeds were calculated. The virtual elevation method was highly reliable (typical error = 0.0006, 2.8%; limits of agreement <0.0005, r ≥ 0.98). The mean coefficient of rolling resistance was 0.0219 and differed from 0.0205 to 0.0237 (P < 0.001) between tyres. The calculated differences in off-road speed amounted to 2.9–3.2% (0% slope) and 2.3–2.4% (10% slope) between the slowest and the fastest tyre. The reliability of the method and the differences in rolling resistance between the tyres illustrate the value of testing tyres for important competitions on a representative ground surface using the virtual elevation method.
Fe b 20 18 Preferential attachment mechanism of complex network growth : ” rich-gets-richer ” or ” fit-gets-richer ” ?

We analyze the growth models for complex networks including preferential attachment (A.-L. Barabasi and R. Albert, Science 286, 509 (1999)) and fitness model (Caldarelli et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 258702 (2002)) and demonstrate that, under very general conditions, these two models yield the same dynamic equation of network growth, dK dt = A(t)(K +K0), where A(t) is the aging constant, K is the node’s degree, and K0 is the initial attractivity. Basing on this result, we show that the fitness model provides an underlying microscopic basis for the preferential attachment mechanism. This approach yields long-sought explanation for the initial attractivity, an elusive parameter which was left unexplained within the framework of the preferential attachment model. We show that K0 is mainly determined by the width of the fitness distribution. The measurements of K0 in many complex networks usually yield the same K0 ∼ 1. This empirical universality can be traced to frequently occurring lognormal fitness distribution with the width σ ≈ 1.
Relationship between Serum and Brain Carotenoids, α-Tocopherol, and Retinol Concentrations and Cognitive Performance in the Oldest Old from the Georgia Centenarian Study

Oxidative stress is involved in age-related cognitive decline. The dietary antioxidants, carotenoids, tocopherols, and vitamin A may play a role in the prevention or delay in cognitive decline. In this study, sera were obtained from 78 octogenarians and 220 centenarians from the Georgia Centenarian Study. Brain tissues were obtained from 47 centenarian decedents. Samples were analyzed for carotenoids, α-tocopherol, and retinol using HPLC. Analyte concentrations were compared with cognitive tests designed to evaluate global cognition, dementia, depression and cognitive domains (memory, processing speed, attention, and executive functioning). Serum lutein, zeaxanthin, and β-carotene concentrations were most consistently related to better cognition (P < 0.05) in the whole population and in the centenarians. Only serum lutein was significantly related to better cognition in the octogenarians. In brain, lutein and β-carotene were related to cognition with lutein being consistently associated with a range of measures. There were fewer significant relationships for α-tocopherol and a negative relationship between brain retinol concentrations and delayed recognition. These findings suggest that the status of certain carotenoids in the old may reflect their cognitive function. The protective effect may not be related to an antioxidant effect given that α-tocopherol was less related to cognition than these carotenoids.
Eva: an evaluation tool for comparing descriptors in content-based image retrieval tasks

This paper presents Eva, a tool for evaluating image descriptors for content-based image retrieval. Eva integrates the most common stages of an image retrieval process and provides functionalities to facilitate the comparison of image descriptors in the context of content-based image retrieval. Eva supports the management of image descriptors and image collections and creates a standardized environment to run comparative experiments using them.
Functional characterization of a second pedal peptide/orcokinin‐type neuropeptide signaling system in the starfish Asterias rubens

Molluscan pedal peptides (PPs) and arthropod orcokinins (OKs) are prototypes of a family of neuropeptides that have been identified in several phyla. Recently, starfish myorelaxant peptide (SMP) was identified as a PP/OK‐type neuropeptide in the starfish Patiria pectinifera (phylum Echinodermata). Furthermore, analysis of transcriptome sequence data from the starfish Asterias rubens revealed two PP/OK‐type precursors: an SMP‐type precursor (A. rubens PP‐like neuropeptide precursor 1; ArPPLNP1) and a second precursor (ArPPLNP2). We reported previously a detailed analysis of ArPPLNP1 expression in A. rubens and here we report the first functional characterization ArPPLNP2‐derived neuropeptides. Sequencing of a cDNA encoding ArPPLNP2 revealed that it comprises eleven related neuropeptides (ArPPLN2a‐k), the structures of several of which were confirmed using mass spectrometry. Analysis of the expression of ArPPLNP2 and neuropeptides derived from this precursor using mRNA in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry revealed a widespread distribution, including expression in radial nerve cords, circumoral nerve ring, digestive system, tube feet and innervation of interossicular muscles. In vitro pharmacology revealed that the ArPPLNP2‐derived neuropeptide ArPPLN2h has no effect on the contractility of tube feet or the body wall‐associated apical muscle, contrasting with the relaxing effect of ArPPLN1b (ArSMP) on these preparations. ArPPLN2h does, however, cause dose‐dependent relaxation of cardiac stomach preparations, with greater potency/efficacy than ArPPLN1b and with similar potency/efficacy to the SALMFamide neuropeptide S2. In conclusion, there are similarities in the expression patterns of ArPPLNP1 and ArPPLNP2 but our data also indicate specialization in the roles of neuropeptides derived from these two PP/OK‐type precursors in starfish.
Integrated MEMS actuators for sub-Micron patterning on thin polymer films

This paper reports on a new enabling technology for simultaneous generation of nanopatterns on thin polymer films using MEMS actuators. Monolithically integrated MEMS actuators with two-dimensional probe arrays are used as scanning probe nanolithography tools capable of generating multiple identical patterns on thin polymer films. The presented approach can circumvent the main deficiency of tip-based nanolithography techniques which is their low throughput. Two-degrees of freedom (DOF) electro-thermal MEMS positioning structures integrated with nanoscale probe-tips are successfully fabricated and utilized for generating nanopatterns scratched into 800 nm thick photoresist films. Scratch marks as narrow and long as ~100 nm and 18 μm, respectively, have been generated in x and y directions using a micro-actuator structures carrying 49 nanotips.
Wide-range ZVS phase-shifted full-bridge converter with low circulation loss

The conventional PSFB converter has received considerable attentions for medium- or high-power applications, which is because it features high conversion efficiency and high power density. However, the hold-up-time requirement limits its operating duty ratio in nominal state and it increases the conduction loss caused by circulating current. Therefore, by introducing an auxiliary coupled inductor and a storage capacitor at primary side as well as the auxiliary winding and the auxiliary switch at secondary side, the proposed converter in this paper can not only achieve the ZVS operation in the entire line and load range but also reduce the conduction loss. Finally, the operational principle and analysis of the proposed converter are presented and verified by a 1kW/48V, 100kHz prototype.