Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Morphology and properties of recycled polypropylene/bamboo fibers composites

Polypropylene (PP) is among the most widely used thermoplastics in many industrial fields. However, like other recycled polymers, its properties usually decrease after recycling process and sometimes are degraded to poor properties level for direct re‐employment. The recycled products, in general, need to be reinforced to have competitive properties. Short bamboo fibers (BF) have been added in a recycled PP (RPP) with and without compatibilizer type maleic anhydride polypropylene (MAPP). Several properties of composite materials, such as helium gas permeability and mechanical properties before and after ageing in water, were examined. The effects of bamboo fiber content and fiber chemical treatment have been also investigated. We showed that the helium permeability increases if fiber content is higher than 30% because of a poor adhesion between untreated bamboo fiber and polymer matrix. The composites reinforced by acetylated bamboo fibers show better helium permeability due to grafting of acetyl groups o.
High HIV Prevalence and Risk of Infection Among Rural-to-Urban Migrants in Various Migration Stages in China: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background Rural-to-urban migrants represent 17% of the total Chinese population and are considered a potential high-risk bridging population of HIV infection between urban and rural China. Method Based on a systematic review and meta-analysis, this study determined HIV prevalence among rural-to-urban migrants in different stages of migration. This review was conducted and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Results We identified 54 studies reporting 59 HIV prevalence levels among rural-to-urban migrants in China. Overall, 53.4% (95% confidence interval, 33.5%–72.4%) of urban patients with HIV have migratory background. The floating-out population showed a higher HIV prevalence (0.15% [0.06%–0.34%]) than did the Chinese population (0.057%; odds ratio, 2.63 [1.35–5.14]). The floating-in population showed a higher HIV prevalence (0.38% [0.29%–0.50%]), corresponding to 6.70 (6.05–7.41) times greater odds of HIV infection. Higher prevalence levels were observed among female migrants (0.69% [0.51%–0.93%]), reflecting a much higher odds of HIV infection (12.18 [11.11–13.35]). Infection risk among returning migrants (0.18% [0.12%–0.29%]) was 3.16 (2.06–4.84) times higher than the overall Chinese population. Chinese internal migrants contribute to a substantial amount of the overall HIV epidemic in China. Conclusion Migrants are at greater risk for HIV infection than the general Chinese population and likely to facilitate the geographical spread of HIV in China. Targeted strategies for health promotion and HIV prevention for migrants in China should be developed.
Global Flow Analysis in Automatic Logic Design

This correspondence concerns applications of optimization techniques based on global flow analysis to the automated design of logic. Previous optimization work on logic design has relied primarily on either local transformations on the circuit graph or on the use of two-level Boolean minimization. Our methods involve linear time algorithms which extend the scope of local optimizations to the entire design. Their use, in some cases, has resulted in a reduction in gate count, in improved control over path length, and in better detection and elimination of redundancy.
2016 Ieee International Conference on Big Data (big Data) a Generator of Test Data Set for Tactical Moving Objects Based on Velocity

—It is required to simulate the tactical moving objects such as combat plane, naval vessels, and submarine for performing performance and functional testing of the target management system. It is not possible to collect tactical moving objects data of various circumstances due to military security. To solve this problem, in this paper, we have proposed a generator of test data set for tactical moving objects. The proposed method is to classify three types of target as combat plane, naval vessels, and submarine, to generate elevation, velocity, and movement of different pattern by target types.
Low‐Z Shell Pellet Experiments on DIII‐D

Small (o.d. = 1.8 mm, t = 0.37 mm) polystyrene shells filled with either pressurized argon gas or boron powder have been fired into DIII‐D plasmas for disruption mitigation experiments. The pellet shells were observed to burn up at ρ≈0.5, roughly consistent with ablation rate calculations. Pellet slowing from 350 m/s down to 100 m/s was observed, which is not well‐understood at present. Negligible plasma current contraction or MHD onset were seen as a result of the shell burn‐up in the plasma edge, consistent with calculations. The pellet payloads were observed to ionize rapidly in the pellet vicinity (<1 cm radius) and rapid (<15 ms) mixing through the plasma core was observed.
Relativistic Variable Eddington Factor

We analytically derived a relativistic variable Eddington factor in relativistic radiative flow, and found that the Eddington factor depends on the velocity gradient as well as the flow velocity. When the gaseous flow is accelerated and there is a velocity gradient, there also exists a density gradient. As a result, an unobstructed viewing range by a comoving observer, where the optical depth measured from the comoving observer is unity, is not a sphere, but becomes an oval shape elongated in the direction of the flow; we call it a one-tau photo-oval . F or a comoving observer, an inner wall of the photo-oval generally emits at a non-uniform intensity, and has a relative velocity. Thus, the comoving radiation fields observed by the comoving observer becomes anisotropic ,a nd the Eddington factor must deviate from the value for the isotropic radiation fields. In the case of a plane-parallel vertical flow, we examine the photo-oval and obtain the Eddington factor. In a sufficiently optically thick linear regime, the Eddington = �
Entropy function for heterotic black holes

We use the entropy function formalism to study the effect of the Gauss-Bonnet term on the entropy of spherically symmetric extremal black holes in heterotic string theory in four dimensions. Surprisingly the resulting entropy and the near horizon metric, gauge field strengths and the axion-dilaton field are identical to those obtained by Cardoso et al. for a supersymmetric version of the theory that contains Weyl tensor squared term instead of the Gauss-Bonnet term. We also study the effect of holomorphic anomaly on the entropy using our formalism. Again the resulting attractor equations for the axion-dilaton field and the black hole entropy agree with the corresponding equations for the supersymmetric version of the theory. These results suggest that there might be a simpler description of supergravity with curvature squared terms in which we supersymmetrize the Gauss-Bonnet term instead of the Weyl tensor squared term.
A High-Quality Mixed-Size Analytical Placer Considering Preplaced Blocks and Density Constraints

In addition to wirelength, modern placers need to consider various constraints such as preplaced blocks and density. We propose a high-quality analytical placement algorithm considering wirelength, preplaced blocks, and density based on the log-sum-exp wirelength model proposed by Naylor et al. (2001) and the multilevel framework. To handle preplaced blocks, we use a two-stage smoothing technique, Gaussian smoothing followed by level smoothing, to facilitate block spreading during global placement. The density is controlled by white-space re-allocation using partitioning and cut-line shifting during global placement and cell sliding during detailed placement. We further use the conjugate gradient method with dynamic step-size control to speed up the global placement and macro shifting to find better macro positions. Experimental results show that our placer obtains the best published results
Gracewipe: Secure and Verifiable Deletion under Coercion

—For users in possession of password-protected encrypted data in persistent storage (i.e., “data at rest”), an obvious problem is that the password may be extracted by an adversary through dictionary attacks or by coercing the user. Techniques such as multi-level hidden volumes with plausible deniability, or software/hardware-based full disk encryption (FDE) cannot adequately address such an attacker. For these threats, making data veriﬁably inaccessible in a quick fashion may be the preferred choice, speciﬁcally for users such as government/corporate agents, journalists, and human rights activists with highly conﬁdential secrets, when caught and interrogated in a hostile territory. Using secure storage on a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) and modern CPU’s trusted execution mode (e.g., Intel TXT), we design Gracewipe to enable secure and veriﬁable deletion of encryption keys through a special deletion password. An attacker cannot distinguish between a deletion and real password. He can guess the real password to unlock the target encryption key only through the valid Gracewipe environment; guessing the deletion password will trigger deletion of the real key. When coerced, a user can fake compliance, and enter the deletion password; and then the user can prove to the attacker that Gracewipe has been executed and the real key is no longer available (through a TPM quote), hoping that a reasonable adversary then will ﬁnd no reason to keep holding the victim, and may even release her. We implement two prototypes of Gracewipe: software-based FDE system with plausible deniability (using TrueCrypt with hidden volume), and hardware-based FDE (using a Seagate self-encrypting drive (SED)). Our choice of booting Windows at the end of a Gracewipe session (for the possibility of immediate adoption), poses some unique challenges. Through the design and prototypes of Gracewipe, we hope to raise awareness of a special but critical use-case of FDE systems.
Edaravone inhibits pressure overload-induced cardiac fibrosis and dysfunction by reducing expression of angiotensin II AT1 receptor

Angiotensin II (Ang II) is known to be involved in the progression of ventricular dysfunction and heart failure by eliciting cardiac fibrosis. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate whether treatment with an antioxidant compound, edaravone, reduces cardiac fibrosis and improves ventricular function by inhibiting Ang II AT1 receptor. The study was conducted in a rat model of transverse aortic constriction (TAC). In control, rats were subjected to 8 weeks of TAC. In treated rats, edaravone (10 mg/kg/day) or Ang II AT1 receptor blocker, telmisartan (10 mg/kg/day) was administered by intraperitoneal injection or gastric gavage, respectively, during TAC. Relative to the animals with TAC, edaravone reduced myocardial malonaldehyde level and increased superoxide dismutase activity. Protein level of the AT1 receptor was reduced and the AT2 receptor was upregulated, as evidenced by the reduced ratio of AT1 over AT2 receptor (0.57±0.2 vs 3.16±0.39, p<0.05) and less locally expressed AT1 receptor in the myocardium. Furthermore, the protein level of angiotensin converting enzyme 2 was upregulated. In coincidence with these changes, edaravone significantly decreased the populations of macrophages and myofibroblasts in the myocardium, which were accompanied by reduced levels of transforming growth factor beta 1 and Smad2/3. Collagen I synthesis was inhibited and collagen-rich fibrosis was attenuated. Relative to the TAC group, cardiac systolic function was preserved, as shown by increased left ventricular systolic pressure (204±51 vs 110±19 mmHg, p<0.05) and ejection fraction (82%±3% vs 60%±5%, p<0.05). Treatment with telmisartan provided a comparable level of protection as compared with edaravone in all the parameters measured. Taken together, edaravone treatment ameliorates cardiac fibrosis and improves left ventricular function in the pressure overload rat model, potentially via suppressing the AT1 receptor-mediated signaling pathways. These data indicate that edaravone might be selected in combination with other existing drugs in preventing progression of cardiac dysfunction in heart failure.
Pupylated proteins in Corynebacterium glutamicum revealed by MudPIT analysis

In a manner similar to ubiquitin, the prokaryotic ubiquitin‐like protein (Pup) has been shown to target proteins for degradation via the proteasome in mycobacteria. However, not all actinobacteria possessing the Pup protein also contain a proteasome. In this study, we set out to study pupylation in the proteasome‐lacking non‐pathogenic model organism Corynebacterium glutamicum. A defined pup deletion mutant of C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 grew aerobically as the parent strain in standard glucose minimal medium, indicating that pupylation is dispensable under these conditions. After expression of a Pup derivative carrying an aminoterminal polyhistidine tag in the Δpup mutant and Ni2+‐chelate affinity chromatography, pupylated proteins were isolated. Multidimensional protein identification technology (MudPIT) and MALDI‐TOF‐MS/MS of the elution fraction unraveled 55 proteins being pupylated in C. glutamicum and 66 pupylation sites. Similar to mycobacteria, the majority of pupylated proteins are involved in metabolism or translation. Our results define the first pupylome of an actinobacterial species lacking a proteasome, confirming that other fates besides proteasomal degradation are possible for pupylated proteins.
The Hip Lag Sign - Prospective Blinded Trial of a New Clinical Sign to Predict Hip Abductor Damage

This study introduces and validates the Hip Lag Sign, a new clinical parameter to determine hip abductor damage, which appears to be one major cause for greater trochanteric pain syndrome. 26 patients who underwent standardized MRI-examination were prospectively enrolledbetween October 2009 and March 2012. A standard physical examination of the hip was performed, including the Hip Lag Sign as it is defined for the first time in this work. Hip Lag Sign results were statistically compared toMR images, to pain levels measured with the visual analogue scale and to results of the modified Harris Hip Score as a universal and well established diagnostic tool for the hip. Chi2- and Mann-Whitney-U-analysis were applied. Diagnostic accuracy was tested with 2×2-table-calculations.Kappa statistics were used to analyze inter-observer variability. A positive Hip Lag Sign is significantly associated with MRI-proven hip abductor damage (p<0.001). The Hip Lag Sign has a sensitivity of 89.47% and a specificity of 96.55%. The positive and negative predictive values are 94.44%, resp. 93.33%. Its diagnostic Odds Ratio is 239.000 (p<0.001; 95%-CI: 20.031-2827.819). The number needed to diagnose was 1.16. Inter-observer consistency was 98.1% and kappa statistics for inter-observer variability were 0.911. The Hip Lag Sign is specific and sensitive, easy and fast to perform and allows a reliable assessment on the hip abductors' status, especially when there is no access to further diagnostic devices such as MRI for example due to restricted resources like in developing countries. Thus, we recommend the inclusion of the Hip Lag Sign into everyday hip examinations, especially dealing with patients suffering from greater trochanteric pain syndrome.
Combining Spectral Sequencing and Parallel Simulated Annealing for the MINLA Problem

In this paper we present and analyze new sequential and parallel heuristics to approximate the Minimum Linear Arrangement problem (MinLA). The heuristics consist in obtaining a first global solution using Spectral Sequencing and improving it locally through Simulated Annealing. In order to accelerate the annealing process, we present a special neighborhood distribution that tends to favor moves with high probability to be accepted. We show how to make use of this neighborhood to parallelize the Metropolis stage on distributed memory machines by mapping partitions of the input graph to processors and performing moves concurrently. The paper reports the results obtained with this new heuristic when applied to a set of large graphs, including graphs arising from finite elements methods and graphs arising from VLSI applications. Compared to other heuristics, the measurements obtained show that the new heuristic improves the solution quality, decreases the running time and offers an excellent speedup when ran on a commodity network made of nine personal computers.
Connectionist Transformation Network Features for Speaker Recognition

Alternative approaches to conventional short-term cepstral modelling of speaker characteristics have been proposed and successfully incorporated to current state-of-the art systems for speaker recognition. Particularly, the use of adaptation transforms employed in speech recognition systems as features for speaker recognition is one of the most appealing recent proposals. In this paper, we also explore the use of adaptation transform based features for speaker recognition. However, we consider transformation weights derived from adaptation techniques applied to the Multi Layer Perceptrons that form a connectionist speech recognizer, instead of using transforms of Gaussian models. Modelling of the high-dimensionality vectors extracted from the transforms is done with support vector machines (SVM). The proposed method –named Transformation Network features with SVM modelling (TN-SVM)– is assessed and compared to GMM-UBM and Gaussian Super vector systems on a sub-set of NIST SRE 2008. The proposed technique shows promising results and permits further improvements when it is combined with baseline systems.
Applying fully stable cascaded sliding mode and PI anti-windup controllers on electric vehicles

Electric vehicles (EVs) constitute a very attractive solution due to environmental and technical reasons. Their reliable performance and efficiency is mainly based on applying effective control and drive techniques. Since EVs are complex electromechanical systems and their nonlinear description make the control design and analysis a cumbersome task, in this paper, sliding mode controllers (SMC) in cascaded with proportional-integral (PI) anti-windup schemes are implemented and analysed. A complete analysis based on Lyapunov techniques is provided to prove the stable operation of the entire system with the proposed controller scheme involved. Particularly, it is proven that input-to-state stability (ISS) for the entire system is valid. The latter ensures robustness and seems to meet the operating requirements as it can further guarantee convergence to the desired nonzero equilibrium. Extensive simulations are conducted and the results are completely compatible with the theoretical ones verifying a satisfactory system performance, without adverse impacts between the different controller actions.
A novel method for determining calibration and behavior of PVDF ultrasonic hydrophone probes in the frequency range up to 100 MHz

A new calibration technique for PVDF ultrasonic hydrophone probes is described. Current implementation of the technique allows determination of hydrophone frequency response between 2 and 100 MHz and is based on the comparison of theoretically predicted and experimentally determined pressure-time waveforms produced by a focused, circular source. The simulation model was derived from the time domain algorithm that solves the non linear KZK (Khokhlov-Zabolotskaya-Kuznetsov) equation describing acoustic wave propagation. The calibration technique data were experimentally verified using independent calibration procedures in the frequency range from 2 to 40 MHz using a combined time delay spectrometry and reciprocity approach or calibration data provided by the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), UK. The results of verification indicated good agreement between the results obtained using KZK and the above-mentioned independent calibration techniques from 2 to 40 MHz, with the maximum discrepancy of 18% at 30 MHz. The frequency responses obtained using different hydrophone designs, including several membrane and needle probes, are presented, and it is shown that the technique developed provides a desirable tool for independent verification of primary calibration techniques such as those based on optical interferometry. Fundamental limitations of the presented calibration method are also examined.
ROBUST BUILDING DETECTION IN AERIAL IMAGES

The robust detection of buildings in aerial images is an important part of the automated interpretation of these data. Applications are e.g. quality control and automatic updating of GIS data, automatic land use analysis, measurement of sealed areas for public authority uses, etc. As additional data like laser scan data is expensive and often simply not available, the presented approach is based only on aerial images. It starts with a seeded region growing algorithm to segment the entire image. Then, photometric and geometric features are calculated for each region. Especially, robust form features increase the reliability of the approach. A numerical classification is performed to differentiate the classes building and non-building. The approach is applied to a test site and the classification results are compared with manually interpreted images.
Intracellular pH regulation in single cultured astrocytes from rat forebrain

We used the fluorescent pH‐sensitive dye 2′,7′‐bis(carboxyethyl)‐5,6‐carboxyfluorescein (BCECF) to monitor intracellular pH (pHi) in single astrocytes cultured from the forebrain of neonatal rats. When exposed to a nominally CO2/HCO3− ‐free medium buffered to pH 7.40 with HEPES at 37°C, the cells had a mean pHi of 6.89. Switching to a medium buffered to pH 7.40 with 5% CO2 and 25 mM HCO3− caused the steady‐state pHi to increase by an average of 0.35, suggesting the presence of a HCO3− ‐dependent acid‐extrusion mechanism. The sustained alkalinization was sometimes preceded by a small transient acidification. In experiments in which astrocytes were exposed to nominally HCO3−‐free (HEPES‐buffered) solutions, the application and withdrawal of 20 mM extracellular NH4+ caused pHi to fall to a value substantially below the initial one. pHi spontaneously recovered from this acid load, stabilizing at a value ∼ 0.1 higher than the one prevailing before the application of NH4+. In other experiments conducted on cells bathed in HEPES‐buffered solutions, removing extracellular Na+ caused pHi to decrease rapidly by 0.5. Returning the Na+ caused pHi to increase rapidly, indicating the presence of an Na+‐dependent/HCO3−‐independent acid‐extrusion mechanism; the final pHi after returning Na+ was ∼ 0.08 higher than the initial value. This pHi recovery elicited by returning Na+ was not substantially affected by 50 μM ethylisopropylamiloride (EIPA), but was speeded up by 50 μM 4,4′‐diisothiocyanostilbene‐2,2′‐disulfonate (DIDS). Increasing [K+]− from 5 to 25 mM caused pHi to increase reversibly by ∼ 0.2 in nominally CO2/HCO3−‐free solutions, and by ∼ 0.1 in CO2/HCO3−‐containing solutions, although the initial pHi was ∼ 0.17 higher in the presence of CO2/HCO3‐. These results suggest the presence of a depolarization‐induced alkalinization. Our results suggest the presence of both HCO3− dependent and ‐independent acid‐base transport systems in cultured mammalian astrocytes, and indicate that astrocyte pHi is sensitive to changes in either membrane voltage or [K+]0 per se. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Selecting Ontology Entailments for Presentation to Users

Presenting entailments of axioms in a formal ontology is a non-trivial task. This position paper argues that the problem of selecting entailments for presentation to users is not adequately acknowledged or addressed in the literature or in implemented systems. We analyse the problem and consider some di↵erent approaches that can help to address the problem.