Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Tuff Masonry Walls Strengthened With A New Kind Of C-Frp Sheet: Experimental Tests And Analysis

A lot of tuff masonry buildings have been built in the past centuries in Italy and in southern Europe; such buildings are generally dimensioned and detailed for vertical loads; for this reason strengthening upgrade is generally required for horizontal actions. In the last years composite materials have been utilised for such a purpose instead of more traditional techniques consisting, for example, in casting two thin r.c. plates at both the faces of the masonry wall obtaining a sandwich structure. The present paper deals with experimental tests carried out on tuff masonry walls strengthened with an innovative composite material consisting in a low-density bidirectional carbon-fiber tissue that can be applied to the masonry wall by means of a special cement-based mortar. A series of masonry walls have been tested under diagonal compression at the Laboratory of Structures of the University of Salerno (Italy), according to the ASTM E519/02 standard. Both unreinforced and reinforced walls have been considered in order to quantify the influence of such a new strengthening technique with respect to the bare masonry behaviour in terms of strength and ductility. Two different arrangements of the strengthening material have been considered (single side versus double side strengthening) in order to point out the influence of the various parameters on the final behaviour.
Reliability and a correlational analysis of the 6MWT, ten-meter walk test, thirty second sit to stand, and the linear analog scale of function in patients with head and neck cancer

ABSTRACT Objective: The purpose of this study was to establish the test–retest reliability of and relationships between various measures of physical function in a cohort of individuals in the early treatment stages for head and neck cancer (HNC). Methods: The Six-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), 10-Meter Walk Test (10MWT), 30-Second Sit to Stand (30STS), and Linear Analog Scale of Function (LASF) were administered to 42 participants with a diagnosis of HNC. Test–retest reliability and correlations between the measures are reported. Results: The 6MWT, 10MWT, 30STS, and LASF demonstrate excellent test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.901–0.960). The 6MWT exhibits a moderate to good relationship with the 10MWT (r = 0.684, p < 0.001), whereas the relationship between the 30STS and the 6MWT (r = 0.407, p = 0.007) and 10MWT (r = 0.322, p = 0.038) is fair. The LASF does not correlate significantly with the 6MWT, 10MWT, or 30STS. Conclusions: The 6MWT, 10MWT, 30STS, and LASF are reliable measurement instruments for patients treated for HNC. The 6MWT, 10MWT, and 30STS are significantly correlated suggesting they may measure subconstructs of physical function. The LASF does not correlate significantly with the 6MWT, 10MWT and 30STS in this sample.
SMRT repression of nuclear receptors controls the adipogenic set point and metabolic homeostasis

The nuclear receptor corepressor, silencing mediator of retinoid and thyroid hormone receptors (SMRT), is recruited by a plethora of transcription factors to mediate lineage and signal-dependent transcriptional repression. We generated a knockin mutation in the receptor interaction domain (RID) of SMRT (SMRTmRID) that solely disrupts its interaction with nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs). SMRTmRID mice are viable and exhibit no gross developmental abnormalities, demonstrating that the reported lethality of SMRT knockouts is determined by non-NHR transcription factors. However, SMRTmRID mice exhibit widespread metabolic defects including reduced respiration, altered insulin sensitivity, and 70% increased adiposity. The latter phenotype is illustrated by the observation that SMRTmRID-derived MEFs display a dramatically increased adipogenic capacity and accelerated differentiation rate. Collectively, our results demonstrate that SMRT-RID-dependent repression is a key determinant of the adipogenic set point as well as an integrator of glucose metabolism and whole-body metabolic homeostasis.
Cardiac Tissue Slice Transplantation as a Model to Assess Tissue-Engineered Graft Thickness, Survival, and Function

Background— Cell therapies offer the potential to improve cardiac function after myocardial infarction. Although injection of single-cell suspensions has proven safe, cell retention and survival rates are low. Tissue-engineered grafts allow cell delivery with minimal initial cell loss and mechanical support to the heart. However, graft performance cannot be easily compared, and optimal construct thickness, vascularization, and survival kinetics are unknown. Methods and Results— Cardiac tissue slices (CTS) were generated by sectioning mouse hearts (n=40) expressing firefly luciferase and green fluorescent protein into slices of defined size and thickness using a vibrating blade microtome. Bioluminescence imaging of CTS transplanted onto hearts of immunodeficient mice demonstrated survival of ⩽30% of transplanted cells. Cardiac slice perfusion was re-established within 3 days, likely through anastomosis of pre-existing vessels with the host vasculature and invasion of vessels from the host. Immunofluorescence showed a peak in cell death 3 days after transplantation and a gradual decline thereafter. MRI revealed preservation of contractile function and an improved ejection fraction 1 month after transplantation of CTS (28±2% CTS versus 22±2% control; P=0.05). Importantly, this effect was specific to CTS because transplantation of skeletal muscle tissue slices led to faster dilative remodeling and higher animal mortality. Conclusions— In summary, this is the first study to use CTS as a benchmark to validate and model tissue-engineered graft studies. CTS transplantation improved cell survival, established reperfusion, and enhanced cardiac function after myocardial infarction. These findings also confirm that dilative remodeling can be attenuated by topical transplantation of CTS but not skeletal muscle tissue grafts.
A Non-Contact Electrode for Measurement of Electrocardiography

Heart disease has become a widespread epidemic threatening the health of millions of Americans and costing billions of dollars in therapy. In heart disease treatment, an effective heart monitoring technique is desired. In this thesis, a novel non-contact electrode was designed and fabricated to measure electrocardiography (ECG) based on widely used spherical volume conductor model. This model has been demonstrated to have a closed-form solution, which enables measurement of electric potential with capacitive electrode. Finite element analysis performed in Ansoft Maxwell software showed the feasibility of using an X-antenna to represent the ideal current dipole. The capacitive electrode we designed consists of two small sensing electrodes and a large reference electrode. This electrode measured promising signals for both direct and non-contact tests on spherical volume conductor model. Experiments were performed to find the best orientation and location for the electrode to measure the most significant signals on the surface of the sphere. Our electrode can also showed positive results in realizing both direct and non-contact measurement of the real ECG signals.
Web Co-clustering of Usage Network Using Tensor Decomposition

Web clustering is an approach to aggregate web objects into various categories according to underlying relationships among them. Finding co-clusters of web objects is an emerging topic in the context of web usage mining. In this paper we will present an algorithm using tensor decomposition to co-cluster web objects based on analysis of user navigational tasks. The usage data of users visiting web sites is collected as experimental data to construct the usage network and validate the presented method. Experimental results have demonstrated the proposed method can clearly reveal the aggregations of web objects as a result of different navigational tasks.
Creating missing classes automatically to improve question classification in question answering systems

Internet is one of the main sources for information which attracts million of users to find the answers for their questions. Finding the accurate answer of the question from giant databases or web pages is a very challenging task. Question answering systems answer the question from structured or unstructured databases. Question answering is different from the traditional ad-hoc document retrieval tasks in a way that in simple document search engine, the set of relevant documents are returned in response of the query, whereas, in the question answering systems the response of the query is the correct answer to what is asked. Finding the exact answer is more interesting and useful than getting a list of documents to look through and find the answer manually. Generally, the question classification is first phase in question answering systems. This phase reduces the answer space by pruning out the extra information that is irrelevant by finding out the expected answer type. This paper mainly focuses on Numeric type questions and also discusses briefly about the questions of type Entity and Location. Almost all the previous question classification algorithms evaluated their work by using the classes defined by Li and Roth [1]. The coarse grained class Numeric has fine grained class Other. In this paper, we target and present the mechanism to create new classes to replace the Other class in Numeric class. We present an automatic hierarchy creation method to add new class nodes using the knowledge resources and shallow language processing.
Evaluation on mechanical enhancement and fire resistance of carbon nanotube (CNT) reinforced concrete

To cope with the demand on giant and durable buildings, reinforcement of concrete is a practical problem being extensively investigated in the civil engineering field. Among various reinforcing techniques, fiber-reinforced concrete (FRC) has been proven to be an effective approach. In practice, such fibers include steel fibers, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) fibers, polyacrylonitrile (PAN) carbon fibers and asbestos fibers, with the length scale ranging from centimeters to micrometers. When advancing such technique down to the nanoscale, it is noticed that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are stronger than other fibers and can provide a better reinforcement to concrete. In the last decade, CNT-reinforced concrete attracts a lot of attentions in research. Despite high cost of CNTs at present, the growing availability of carbon materials might push the usage of CNTs into practice in the near future, making the reinforcement technique of great potential. A review of existing research works may constitute a conclusive reference and facilitate further developments. In reference to the recent experimental works, this paper reports some key evaluations on CNT-reinforced cementitious materials, covering FRC mechanism, CNT dispersion, CNT-cement structures, mechanical properties and fire safety. Emphasis is placed on the interplay between CNTs and calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) at the nanoscale. The relationship between the CNTs-cement structures and the mechanical enhancement, especially at a high-temperature condition, is discussed based on molecular dynamics simulations. After concluding remarks, challenges to improve the CNTs reinforcement technique are proposed.
Femtosecond Z-scan measurements of the nonlinear refractive index of fused silica

Z-scan technology is a popular experimental technique for determining the nonlinear refractive index of the material. However, it encounters a great difficulty in measuring the weak nonlinear material like fused silica which is about two orders of magnitude below the nonlinear refractive index of most of the materials studied with the nanosecond and picosecond Z-scan methods. In this case, the change of refractive index introduced by accumulation of thermal effects cannot be neglected. In order to have a reliable measurement of the nonlinear refractive index, a metrology bench based on the femtosecond Z-scan technology is developed. The intensity modulation component and the differential measurement system are applied to guarantee the accuracy of the measuring system. Based on the femtosecond Z-scan theory, the femtosecond laser Z-scan technique is performed on fused silica, and the nonlinear refractive index of Fused silica is determined to be 9.2039×10-14esu for 800nm, 37fs pulse duration at I0=50GW/cm2 with a good repeatability of 6.7%.
A framework for linking Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) and Jackson System Development (JSD)

Abstract. This paper describes a proposed framework for linking soft systems methodology (SSM), a problem structuring technique for use in messy, ill‐defined problem situations, with Jackson System Development (JSD), an information system development methodology which has object‐oriented characteristics. The approach taken has been to embed the modelling phase of JSD within SSM after the conceptual modelling stage, but before the debate on desirable and feasible change. The JSD modelling phase is carried out at a conceptual rather than a real world level. The framework comprises of a series of steps which enable JSD entity structure diagrams to be derived to a large extent from the activities in an SSM conceptual model. A data model may then be built up by exploding the activities in the conceptual model or by using ‘conceptual hows’ to identify more entities and actions. One of the main benefits expected to arise from the use of such a framework is an improved user requirement definition, which is important to successful systems implementation. The difficulties in actually achieving a link relate to the methodological and philosophical differences between SSM and JSD.
PV fed MLI with ANN based MPPT

There is an urgent need to hasten the development of advanced energy technologies to address the global changes of sustainable development, climate change and clean energy. Renewable power generation can help the world nations meet these challenges and thus re-strategize the existing system. Solar photovoltaic power is a commercially viable and reliable technology with enormous potential in the distant future. The panel, a power source having non-linear internal resistance, behaves differently with varying irradiation conditions as the photovoltaic current and irradiation are directly proportional. The paper presents a PV fed five level Multi Level Inverter ( MLI) wherein the Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) is done using an Artificial Neural Network (ANN). PV panel modeling, ANN based MPPT algorithm, DC-DC Buck Boost Converter and the Five level MLI are simulated in MATLAB/SIMULINK.
Effects of Experimental Brood Size Manipulation and Gender on Carotenoid Levels of Eurasian Kestrels Falco tinnunculus

Background Animals use carotenoid-pigments for coloration, as antioxidants and as enhancers of the immune system. Carotenoid-dependent colours can thus signal individual quality and carotenoids have also been suggested to mediate life-history trade-offs. Methodology To examine trade-offs in carotenoid allocation between parents and the young, or between skin coloration and plasma of the parents at different levels of brood demand, we manipulated brood sizes of Eurasian kestrels (Falco tinnunculus). Principal Findings Brood size manipulation had no overall effect on plasma carotenoid levels or skin hue of parents, but female parents had twice the plasma carotenoid levels of males. Males work physically harder than females and they might thus also use more carotenoids against oxidative stress than females. Alternatively, females could be gaining back the carotenoid stores they depleted during egg-laying by eating primarily carotenoid-rich food items during the early nestling stage. Fledglings in enlarged broods had higher plasma carotenoid concentrations than those in reduced broods. This difference was not explained by diet. In light of recent evidence from other species, we suggest it might instead be due to fledglings in enlarged broods having higher testosterone levels, which in turn increased plasma carotenoid levels. The partial cross-foster design of our experiment revealed evidence for origin effects (genetic or maternal) on carotenoid levels of fledglings, but no origin-environment interaction. Significance These results from wild birds differ from studies in captivity, and thus offer new insights into carotenoid physiology in relation to division of parental care and demands of the brood.
Association analysis with one scan of databases

Mining frequent patterns with an FP-tree avoids costly candidate generation and repeatedly occurrence frequency checking against the support threshold. It therefore achieves better performance and efficiency than Apriori-like algorithms. However the database still needs to be scanned twice to get the FP-tree. This can be very time-consuming when new data are added to an existing database because two scans may be needed for not only the new data but also the existing data. This paper presents a new data structure P-tree, Pattern Tree, and a new technique, which can get the P-tree through only one scan of the database and can obtain the corresponding FP-tree with a specified support threshold. Updating a P-tree with new data needs one scan of the new data only, and the existing data do not need to be re-scanned.
Delivery of biomolecules by functionalized inorganic nanoparticles

Design and testing drug delivery systems using biodegradable and biocompatible colloidal carriers made of functionalized gold nanoparticles are the vectors of this project. The systems will be tested in therapy strategies for cancer. The main objective is to develop nanoparticles that increase radiation absorption in diseased areas and minimize damage to normal surrounding tissues. Such enhancement of radiation will benefit cancer patients by decreasing radiation dose and reducing side effects. Secondary objectives include investigating radiosensitizing potential of gold nanoparticles and selecting most efficient system plus combining nanoparticle-enhanced radiotherapy with anti cancer drugs. The project will contribute to advancing promising delivery systems that can be activated remotely by sensitizing them for light/radiation.
Synthetic Lethality of Cohesins with PARPs and Replication Fork Mediators

Synthetic lethality has been proposed as a way to leverage the genetic differences found in tumor cells to affect their selective killing. Cohesins, which tether sister chromatids together until anaphase onset, are mutated in a variety of tumor types. The elucidation of synthetic lethal interactions with cohesin mutants therefore identifies potential therapeutic targets. We used a cross-species approach to identify robust negative genetic interactions with cohesin mutants. Utilizing essential and non-essential mutant synthetic genetic arrays in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, we screened genome-wide for genetic interactions with hypomorphic mutations in cohesin genes. A somatic cell proliferation assay in Caenorhabditis elegans demonstrated that the majority of interactions were conserved. Analysis of the interactions found that cohesin mutants require the function of genes that mediate replication fork progression. Conservation of these interactions between replication fork mediators and cohesin in both yeast and C. elegans prompted us to test whether other replication fork mediators not found in the yeast were required for viability in cohesin mutants. PARP1 has roles in the DNA damage response but also in the restart of stalled replication forks. We found that a hypomorphic allele of the C. elegans SMC1 orthologue, him-1(e879), genetically interacted with mutations in the orthologues of PAR metabolism genes resulting in a reduced brood size and somatic cell defects. We then demonstrated that this interaction is conserved in human cells by showing that PARP inhibitors reduce the viability of cultured human cells depleted for cohesin components. This work demonstrates that large-scale genetic interaction screening in yeast can identify clinically relevant genetic interactions and suggests that PARP inhibitors, which are currently undergoing clinical trials as a treatment of homologous recombination-deficient cancers, may be effective in treating cancers that harbor cohesin mutations.
The principles of designing of algorithm for speech synthesis from texts written in Albanian language

The speech synthesis is artificial generation of human speech from written texts. For this purpose, adequate algorithms are designed, which then through relevant programs make it possible to synthesize texts to speech. The process of converting text into speech is also known as Text-To-Speech (TTS) system [5]. In this paper are given basic principles to be used when designing a system to synthesize speech in Albanian language 1 from written texts. Currently there are solutions that enable natural speech generation for various world languages. However, unfortunately these are not universal solutions to be used for other languages too, because the volume generated for other languages is incomprehensible and unnatural. For this reason, for every language one should seek solutions that address the specifics of it, always with the aim of generating voice to suit the nature of language. Generating systems that are currently used mainly rely on the use of the concatenation method [6], during which acoustic segments of text files are joined, which are previously digitized and stored as such in a database. For Albanian language, we consider that on the textual part of the database, as basic segments to be used are: the most frequent words, two-letters and letters [4]. However, in a particular part of the database are included various abbreviations, i.e. textual equivalents and their acoustics files, to be used also during the generation of appropriate speech. Whereas, with the aim of synthesizing the various numerical values written in the decimal system, in database were added values, respectively their corresponding sound files, whereby speech is generated for different numbers. The first part of the paper is a brief presentation of the Albanian
Comparative study of DSP techniques for the effective modeling and design of highly complex RF-MEMS structures

Four DSP-based digital predictors (Prony's, covariance, forward-backward, matrix pencil), that are commonly used to enhance the time-domain modeling and design of highly complex RF MEMS structures, are evaluated in terms of computational efficiency and accuracy as a function of the model order, the decimating factor, and the size of sample train. For a benchmarking case of an RF MEMS tuner, it is found that while covariance method has the best performance in terms of accuracy matrix pencil method confers robustness to computational economies (less numerical effort) and saves more CPU time with a smaller model order that can be selected by easy and efficient criteria.