Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Magnetic attitude control system for spin stabilized satellite

An active magnetic attitude control system through spin stabilization has been simulated. The attitude control including control of the spin axis, damping of the nutation angle and control of the spin rate. These are implemented through three magnetic coils or torqrods as magnetic torquers. Commonly, two transverse axis actuators are used for controlling the spin rate and one longitudinal axis actuator is used for controlling the spin axis and the active damping of the nutation angle. In order to have a high degree of safety and reliability an algorithm has been provided, so that, if one of the transverse axis actuators or the longitudinal axis actuator encounters a problem for any reason, each of the mentioned operations could be fully controlled via two remaining actuators. According to the simulations and obtained results, if the longitudinal axis actuator fails, the total control of the satellite attitude will be achievable, adaptive, and effective, only when the two transverse axis actuators simultaneously control the satellite. Furthermore, for the control of the spin axis, in addition to using the longitudinal axis actuator, one of the transverse axis actuators can also be used, in which case, the control of the spin axis is accelerated and, in a way, the sluggish response of the satellite's magnetic attitude control system is somewhat recompensed. Also, the algorithm used for the control of the spin rate causes the spin rate of the transverse axes approach zero so that the nutation angle is damped through the active magnetic control.
Network dysfunction predicts speech production after left hemisphere stroke

Objective: To investigate the role of multiple distributed brain networks, including the default mode, fronto-temporo-parietal, and cingulo-opercular networks, which mediate domain-general and task-specific processes during speech production after aphasic stroke. Methods: We conducted an observational functional MRI study to investigate the effects of a previous left hemisphere stroke on functional connectivity within and between distributed networks as patients described pictures. Study design included various baseline tasks, and we compared results to those of age-matched healthy participants performing the same tasks. We used independent component and psychophysiological interaction analyses. Results: Although activity within individual networks was not predictive of speech production, relative activity between networks was a predictor of both within-scanner and out-of-scanner language performance, over and above that predicted from lesion volume, age, sex, and years of education. Specifically, robust functional imaging predictors were the differential activity between the default mode network and both the left and right fronto-temporo-parietal networks, respectively activated and deactivated during speech. We also observed altered between-network functional connectivity of these networks in patients during speech production. Conclusions: Speech production is dependent on complex interactions among widely distributed brain networks, indicating that residual speech production after stroke depends on more than the restoration of local domain-specific functions. Our understanding of the recovery of function following focal lesions is not adequately captured by consideration of ipsilesional or contralesional brain regions taking over lost domain-specific functions, but is perhaps best considered as the interaction between what remains of domain-specific networks and domain-general systems that regulate behavior.
Expression of arginine decarboxylase in brain regions and neuronal cells

After our initial report of a mammalian gene for arginine decarboxylase, an enzyme for the synthesis of agmatine from arginine, we have determined the regional expression of ADC in rat. We have analyzed the expression of ADC in rat brain regions by activity, protein and mRNA levels, and the regulation of expression in neuronal cells by RNA interference. In rat brain, ADC was widely expressed in major brain regions, with a substantial amount in hypothalamus, followed by cortex, and with least amounts in locus coeruleus and medulla. ADC mRNA was detected in primary astrocytes and C6 glioma cells. While no ADC message was detected in fresh neurons (3 days old), significant message appeared in differentiated neurons (3 weeks old). PC12 cells, treated with nerve growth factor, had higher ADC mRNA compared with naive cells. The siRNA mixture directed towards the N‐terminal regions of ADC cDNA down‐regulated the levels of mRNA and protein in cultured neurons/C6 glioma cells and these cells produced lower agmatine. Thus, this study demonstrates that ADC message is expressed in rat brain regions, that it is regulated in neuronal cells and that the down‐regulation of ADC activity by specific siRNA leads to lower agmatine production.
Prognostic role of pretreatment platelet to lymphocyte ratio in urologic cancer

The prognostic value of platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in urologic cancer does not reach a consensus. Herein, we performed the meta-analysis to determine the prognostic role of PLR in patients with urologic cancer. A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases. Hazard ratios (HRs) were extracted to estimate the association between PLR and prognosis. A total of 20 articles comprising 6079 patients were included in this study. The pooled results showed that a high PLR was significantly associated with worse prognosis of overall survival (OS) in urologic cancer [HR=1.65, 95% confidence interval (CI) =1.37-1.99, P<0.01]. The result also indicated that an elevated PLR was significantly associated with poor OS in renal cancer (HR=1.88, 95% CI=1.39-2.55, P<0.01). In addition, the significant association between poor OS and elevated PLR in renal cancer was consistent regardless of treatment, cut-off value, sample size and study quality. Our result also indicated that an elevated PLR predicted shorter OS (HR=1.78, 95% CI=1.38-2.30, P<0.01) and cancer-specific survival (HR=2.02, 95% CI=1.24-3.29, P<0.01) in prostate cancer. In conclusion, an elevated PLR was a predictive indicator of poor survival in renal cancer and prostate cancer.
Security-constrained Economic Dispatch with Linear/Nonlinear Energy Sources during Short-Term Emergency Period

In the last decade, renewable energy resources and energy storage systems (ESSs) played a pivotal role in the enhancement of the security of power systems. They exhibit great potential in power system operations: maintaining the load balance and improving power system security. This paper investigates the impact of linear and nonlinear energy resources on security-constrained economic dispatch (SCED) solution with different contingencies as a time-varying optimization problem. Linear ESSs are prominent in the literature on SCED. However, most of the previous studies do not take into account the impact of ESSs' nonlinear characteristic as highlighted in this paper. Therefore, the SCED problem should be discussed as a time-varying optimization problem. A new procedure is presented to handle time-varying optimization problems by finding the switching points and generator response equations. Not only this paper highlights the limitations of linear ESS characteristic and the effectiveness of using nonlinear characteristic of ESS in SCED solutions; illustrated on modified IEEE 6-bus and 14-bus systems, but also different optimization methods are used to validate the proposed procedure.
Is the NFL betting market still inefficient?

In this paper, I examine market efficiency in the National Football League betting market. In the point spread market, sportsbooks appear to underestimate the abilities of the home team as they are more likely to cover the spread when they are a substantial underdogs and when the home team has not covered the spread in its previous games. In the totals market, games are more likely to cover the over when the closing line is small or large showing a quadratic relationship to game outcomes and when the home team has covered the over in its previous games. Overall, the results show that both the point spread and totals market are statistically inefficient.
[Clinimetric evaluation of the Barthel Index, a measure of limitations in dailly activities].

OBJECTIVE Evaluation of the clinimetric properties of the Barthel Index. DESIGN To measure disabilities in activities of daily living (ADL) and mobility by independent observers. SETTING Clinical and outpatient departments of Neurology of the University Medical Centre, Amsterdam. PATIENTS AND METHOD In 35 patients of the clinical and 25 patients of the outpatient department the stroke disabilities were assessed independently by three observers. The Barthel Index was evaluated in terms of score agreements, homogeneity, and construct validity. RESULTS There was an excellent concordance of total scores (mean kappa = 0.88; range 0.85-0.90) and single item scores (range mean values of kappa = 0.82-1.00). Repeated analyses, after exclusion of patients with maximum total scores, did not result in a significant reduction of these kappa values. The Barthel Index was a highly homogeneous scale (Cronbach's alpha = 0.96). All items contributed to this reliability in a balanced way. Factor analysis showed that the items on the scale described one common underlying trait. This factor explained 81% of the score variance. CONCLUSION The Barthel Index is a sound instrument to measure disabilities in ADL and mobility. The scale is suitable for use in both patient care and research.
Identifying Links between Corporate Social Responsibility and Reputation: Some Considerations for Family Firms

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a key issue for both academics and business practitioners alike. There are numerous reasons why implementing CSR policies and practices are advantageous: enhanced brand knowledge, market share, productivity, efficiency, workforce motivation and competiveness, to name a few. There are also indications that CSR practices lead to a solid, positive corporate reputation. As a result, this research aims to contribute to current literature by establishing the current state of CSR research and identifying the theoretical framework of reference for understanding the link between CSR and reputation, providing a basis for future research. We also aim to delve deeper in the specific context of family firms. To this end—following consultations with a panel of internationally recognized scholars—a selection of leading management, marketing and ethics, corporate governance and family firm management journals were reviewed. The results—based on a content analysis of 55 articles considering the global link between RSC and reputation—allowed us to identify, among others, topics related to consumer attitude and market response to CSR activities (via brand value), along with the impact of CSR on financial value and risk management.
RBI for fixed, mobile, and floating offshore platforms

Risk-Based Inspection is an established tool for assessment and life extension for fixed platform jackets, mobile jack-up platforms, and floaters such as tension leg platforms, spars, semisubmersibles, and ship-shaped hulls. The key concept is the detection and elimination of flaws which could progress to structural failure before the next inspection maintenance cycle. This paper will review decades of practical experience and recent developments for these various types of structures — and for various methods of inspection, both topside/interior and underwater. Optimal expenditure of resources requires trade-offs such as cost-risk and cost effectiveness. Performance demonstration initiatives (PDIs) are indispensable in establishing probabilities of detection (POD) and the confidence limits thereon. A proposed new API standard for underwater magnetic particle inspection (MPI) will also be presented.
Splenic marginal zone atrophy and progressive CD8+ T‐cell lymphocytosis in HIV infection: a study of adult post‐mortem spleens from Côte d'Ivoire

Aims: Progressive changes have been reported in lymph nodes in HIV infection, but few accounts describe altered splenic histology at different stages of the disease. Investigation of splenic changes accompanying the progressive CD4+ T‐cell depletion that occurs in HIV infection could shed light on normal immunological interactions in this organ. Therefore, we assessed the amount and distribution of lymphoid tissue in spleens from adults with documented early or advanced HIV disease.
A capture-recapture model to estimate prevalence of children born in Scotland with developmental eye defects.

BACKGROUND Microphthalmia, anophthalmia and coloboma (MAC) are closely related structural developmental eye defects that have caused public concern in the UK following media reports of apparent clusters of cases. An extensive search was carried out to identify potential cases, and diagnoses were confirmed by ophthalmological review. Despite this effort, it was recognised that some cases would remain unidentified. Capture-recapture methods could improve the accuracy of the study's birth prevalence estimate. METHODS A register of all children born with the developmental eye defects of MAC in Scotland (1981-96) was compiled. This identified 188 cases from eight national ascertainment sources. The methods described by Hook and Regal were used to determine possible estimates for each source. A log-linear method of capture-recapture was used to fit a model to the number of children identified by the different combinations of the eight national sources, and the individual sources were included in the model as main effects. RESULTS Maximum-likelihood estimates were calculated for tables of captured/not captured by one source versus any other source. The estimated number of unobserved cases for the most complete source, the register of congenital anomalies for Scotland, and the seven others combined is 78 (95% CI 53-115). Estimates calculated from two different log-linear models of the numbers of cases unobserved by all sources were 61 (95% CI 43-86) and 175 (95% CI 106-287). An external check with an independent congenital-anomalies register in one region, which is known to have high completeness, gave an estimate of 120. The study found a birth prevalence of MAC in Scotland of 1.9/10000, based on total live births during the study period. The capture-recapture analysis suggests that the true birth prevalence lies between 2.4/10 000 and 3.5/10000. DISCUSSION Our experience shows that, even with multiple sources of ascertainment and considerable resources directed at case identification, a considerable level of under-ascertainment of congenital eye-anomalies still results, and suggests that the use of capture-recapture analysis would be a useful addition to congenital anomalies registers for needs assessment, disease-burden estimates and health-service planning.
Designing for fluid transitions to sustainable infrastructure : the case of the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway

The need for transitions to more sustainable socio-technical systems that underpin everyday life has never been more prescient. However, such transitions are daunting and difficult. Design initiates change in artefacts and therefore has an important role to play in transitions to more sustainable futures. Yet the power of design in assisting such transitions has not been fully realised. This thesis explores this issue. A longitudinal case study of the Bedford & Milton Keynes Waterway infrastructure project was completed. Ethnographic observation and interviews provided empirical data on the design activities present in this nascent project. The Fluid Transition (FT) approach was adopted as it identifies a role for design in transitions and provides guidance on how interpretative flexibility may be embraced through design to develop situationally specific solutions and realise a multiplicity of transition pathways. The FT approach was used as a theoretical lens to both analyse and practically guide design activity. Analysing the project in light of key aspects of the FT approach showed that design activities did not sufficiently take into account the projects situated nature and the need for actor participation beyond the traditional nexus. Interventions were completed with case study actors to influence project design activities and included workshops employing visioning, co-design, as well as visual communication practices new to the project. A framework for Fluid Design for Sustainable Transitions (FDfST) has been developed which identifies key design activities to assist socio-technical transitions. Visioning is the most powerful element of the framework, exerting influence over all others. The case study shows that the project has embarked upon a transition pathway toward a more sustainable infrastructure and design can play a key role in such transition pathways.
Local and international perspectives of the influence of creative experiences of Chinese traditional culture on revisit intentions

ABSTRACT There are an increasing number of studies of Chinese traditional culture; however, until now, there has not been an empirical examination of the integrated perspectives on whether internationalized or localized viewpoints influence cultural tourism. To address this gap, this study develops an integrated and comparative model of tourist behaviours, where international or local tourists’ creative experiences may influence their revisit intentions. Study 1 examines this proposition through 631 local tourists’ perspectives and suggests that creative experiences may influence revisit intentions through authenticity. Further, the relationships between authenticity and revisit intentions may be strengthened by motivation. Study 2 investigates 381 foreign tourists’ creative experiences to demonstrate that experiences may influence their revisit intentions through the destination’s attractions. Further, the relationships between the destination attractions and revisit intentions may be strengthened by brand image. The mutual relations among the dimensions of creative experiences also have implications for tourists when making tourism decisions.
An Efficient Hybrid Hierarchical Document Clustering Method

Document clustering is a technique for grouping document objects together such that documents within a cluster have high similarity while documents in different clusters have low similarity. Hierarchical document clustering organizes the clusters into a hierarchy such that a parent cluster is a general topic of its child clusters. In this paper, we propose a novel hierarchical document clustering method that is a hybrid version of partitioning and agglomerative clustering approaches. The proposed method inherits the merit of efficiency from the partitioning approach and the hierarchical structure from agglomerative approach. Experiments on real-life datasets suggest that our method is effective and efficient.
Laparoscopic or open cholecystectomy in cirrhosis: a systematic review of outcomes and meta-analysis of randomized trials.

BACKGROUND Cholecystectomy is associated with increased risks in patients with cirrhosis. The well-established advantages of laparoscopic surgery may be offset by the increased risk for complications relating particularly to portal hypertension and coagulopathy. METHODS A systematic search was undertaken to identify studies comparing open cholecystectomy (OC) and laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) in patients with cirrhosis. A meta-analysis was performed of the available randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RESULTS Forty-four studies were analysed. These included a total of 2005 patients with cirrhosis who underwent laparoscopic (n= 1756) or open (n= 249) cholecystectomy, with mortality rates of 0.74% and 2.00%, respectively. A meta-analysis of three RCTs involving a total of 220 patients was conducted. There was a reduction in the overall incidences of postoperative complications and infectious complications and a shorter length of hospital stay in LC. However, frequencies of postoperative hepatic insufficiency did not differ significantly. CONCLUSIONS There are few RCTs comparing OC and LC in patients with cirrhosis. These studies are small, heterogeneous in design and include almost exclusively patients with Child-Pugh class A and B disease. However, LC appears to be associated with shorter operative time, reduced complication rates and reduced length of hospital stay.
Exploiting Big Biology: Integrating Large-scale Biological Data for Function Inference

The amount of data produced by molecular biologists is growing at an exponential rate. Some of the fastest growing sets of data are measurements of gene expression, comparable in quantity only to gene sequences and the vast biological literature. Both gene expression data and sequence data offer hints as to the functions of thousands of newly discovered genes, but neither give complete answers. Therefore, much effort is being focused on integrating these large data sets and combining them with all available functional data to draw inferences about the functions of uncharacterised genes. This review discusses the most pertinent functional data for genome-wide functional inference and describes several methods by which these disparate data types are being integrated.
Prey Size and Dietary Niche of Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii)

Abstract Bats in the genus Corynorhinus possess a suite of morphological characters that permit them to effectively use both gleaning and aerial-hawking foraging strategies to capture Lepidoptera. Consequently, they occupy a specialized feeding niche within North American bat assemblages and are of particular interest for dietary studies. We collected fecal pellets from a colony of C. rafinesquii (Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat) at Mammoth Cave National Park during August–October 2011 and amplified cytochrome-c oxidase subunit 1 fragments of prey from these pellets. We used the Barcode of Life Database to identify prey, and evaluated the size of prey species based on published values. The mean wingspan of prey we recorded from our samples was smaller than average values reported for Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat using traditional methods (P ≤ 0.01), suggesting that surveys of culled insect parts beneath roosting sites may lead to biased estimates of the size and breadth of prey species eaten by gleaning bats. Mean wingspan of lepidopteran prey consumed by Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat in our study was larger (P ≤ 0.01) than values reported for the Myotis septentrionalis (Northern Long-Eared Bat ), which is a smaller, sympatric gleaner in eastern North America. Further, comparisons of our diet data with abundance of prey suggest macrolepidopteran taxa are consistently consumed by Rafinesque's Big-Eared Bat to greater degree than microlepidotera. Our findings suggest that North American Corynorhinus consume a wider range of sizes and species of Lepidoptera than previously reported in studies based solely on identification of culled prey-wings beneath feeding roosts.