Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A different inductor cell for AC multilevel current generation

DC/AC converters are widely used in several applications; traditionally they can be classified in two types: the voltage source inverters (VSI) and the current source inverters (CSI). Their use depends on the application; however some of them are common for both types of converters. Other possibility for the DC/AC conversion is the multilevel configuration, there have been proposed different topologies for multilevel current source inverter (MCSI); in this paper is proposed a different inductor cell to produce more levels with less components. The operation and simulation results are shown.
Tractable framework for modeling and analyzing Joint CoMP Transmission and eICIC technology in two-tier heterogeneous cellular networks

Motivated by the advantages offered by the Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) technique in wireless cellular network, we propose in this paper a cell association scheme based on Joint Transmission (JT) CoMP, where a set of randomly located base stations, possibly belonging to different network tiers, cooperate to jointly transmit data to CRE users so as to mitigate co-tier and cross-tier interference and to attain an improved network performance. Furthermore, enhanced Inter-cell Interference Coordination (eICIC) technology is also incorporated in the proposed policy in which the Macro tier is muted on a fraction of total subframes, which are allocated exclusively to Pico users. Using tools from stochastic geometry, an exact integral expression for the outage probability and ergodic rate are derived. Simulation results show the advantages carried by our proposed scheme in enhancing the network spectral efficiency.
Distribution level SiC FACTS devices with reduced DC bus capacitance for improved load capability and solar integration

FACTS devices, such as STATCOMs and UPFCs can be directly applied in the low voltage distribution system to regulate the sequence voltages within a network while simultaneously cancelling zero and negative sequence currents that are introduced by load unbalance or by high levels of distributed photovoltaic generation. Instantaneous reactive power theory shows that for FACTS devices the DC-bus capacitor power will fluctuate at twice mains frequency during unbalanced operation. High rating non-polarized bus capacitors can be applied if the double frequency fluctuations are restricted. In combination with silicon carbide devices it becomes possible to produce compact pole mounted systems. This paper proposes control methods that allow distribution level or dFACTS compensators with finite rating to best allocate its capacity to voltage, current balancing and reactive power compensation.
Adaptive changes in pancreas post Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass induced weight loss

Obesity has been shown to trigger adaptive increases in pancreas parenchymal and fat volume. Consecutively, pancreatic steatosis may lead to beta‐cell dysfunction. However, it is not known whether the pancreatic tissue components decrease with weight loss and pancreatic steatosis is reversible following Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass (RYGB). Therefore, the objective of the study was to investigate the effects of RYGB‐induced weight loss on pancreatic volume and glucose homeostasis.
Profiles of Nature Exposure and Outdoor Activities Associated With Occupational Well-Being Among Employees

This research addresses the profiles of nature exposure and outdoor activities in nature among Finnish employees (N = 783). The profiles were formed on the bases of nature exposure at work and the frequency and type of outdoor activities in nature engaged in during leisure time. The profiles were investigated in relation to work engagement and burnout. The latent profile analysis identified a five-class solution as the best model: High exposure (8%), Versatile exposure (22%), Unilateral exposure (38%), Average exposure (13%), and Low exposure (19%). An Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) was conducted for each well-being outcome in order to evaluate how the identified profiles related to occupational well-being. Participants with a High, Versatile, or Unilateral exposure profile reported significantly higher work engagement in the dimensions of vigor and dedication than did the participants with a Low exposure profile. The participants with the High exposure profile also reported lower burnout in the dimensions of cynicism and professional inadequacy than the participants with the Low exposure profile. Nature exposure during the workday and leisure time is an under researched but important aspect in promoting occupational well-being.
Automated Pulmonary Lung Nodule Detection Using an Optimal Manifold Statistical Based Feature Descriptor and SVM Classifier

The pulmonary lung nodule is the most common indicator of lung cancer. An efficient automated pulmonary nodule detection system aids the radiologists to detect the lung abnormalities at an early stage. In this paper, an automated lung nodule detection system using a feature descriptor based on optimal manifold statistical thresholding to segment lung nodules in Computed Tomography (CT) scans is presented. The system comprises three processing stages. In the first stage, the lung region is extracted from thoracic CT scans using gray level thresholding and 3D connected component labeling. After that novel lung contour correction method is proposed using modified convex hull algorithm to correct the border of a diseased lung. In the second stage, optimal manifold statistical image thresholding is described to minimize the discrepancy between nodules and other tissues of the segmented lung region. Finally, a set of 2D and 3D features are extracted from the nodule candidates, and then the system is trained by employing support vector machines (SVM) to classify the nodules and non-nodules. The performance of the proposed system is assessed using Lung TIME database. The system is tested on 148 cases containing 36408 slices with total sensitivity of 94.3%, is achieved with only 2.6 false positives per scan.
Creating dialect sub-corpora by clustering: a case in Japanese for an adaptive method

We propose a pipeline through which to derive clusters of dialects, given a mixed corpus composed of different dialects, when their standard counterpart is sufficiently resourced. The test case is Japanese, where the written standard language is sufficiently equipped with adequate resources. Our method starts by detecting non-standard contents first, and then clusters what is deemed dialectal. We report the results on the clustering of mixed Twitter corpus into four dialects (Kansai, Tohoku, Chugoku and Kyushu).
Cannabinoids in Glioblastoma Therapy: New Applications for Old Drugs

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most malignant brain tumor and one of the deadliest types of solid cancer overall. Despite aggressive therapeutic approaches consisting of maximum safe surgical resection and radio-chemotherapy, more than 95% of GBM patients die within 5 years after diagnosis. Thus, there is still an urgent need to develop novel therapeutic strategies against this disease. Accumulating evidence indicates that cannabinoids have potent anti-tumor functions and might be used successfully in the treatment of GBM. This review article summarizes the latest findings on the molecular effects of cannabinoids on GBM, both in vitro and in (pre-) clinical studies in animal models and patients. The therapeutic effect of cannabinoids is based on reduction of tumor growth via inhibition of tumor proliferation and angiogenesis but also via induction of tumor cell death. Additionally, cannabinoids were shown to inhibit the invasiveness and the stem cell-like properties of GBM tumors. Recent phase II clinical trials indicated positive results regarding the survival of GBM patients upon cannabinoid treatment. Taken together these findings underline the importance of elucidating the full pharmacological effectiveness and the molecular mechanisms of the cannabinoid system in GBM pathophysiology.
The tetrameric structure of sialic acid–synthesizing UDP-GlcNAc 2-epimerase from Acinetobacter baumannii: A comparative study with human GNE

Sialic acid presentation on the cell surface by some pathogenic strains of bacteria allows their escape from the host immune system. It is one of the major virulence factors. Bacterial biosynthesis of sialic acids starts with the conversion of UDP-GlcNAc to UDP and ManNAc by a hydrolyzing 2-epimerase. Here, we present the crystal structure of this enzyme, named NeuC, from Acinetobacter baumannii. The protein folds into two Rossmann-like domains and forms dimers and tetramers as does the epimerase part of the bifunctional UDP-GlcNAc 2-epimerase/ManNAc kinase (GNE). In contrast to human GNE, which showed only the closed conformation, the NeuC crystals contained both open and closed protomers in each dimer. Substrate soaking changed the space group from C2221 to P212121. In addition to UDP, an intermediate-like ligand was seen bound to the closed protomer. The UDP-binding mode in NeuC was similar to that in GNE, although a few side chains were rotated away. NeuC lacks the CMP-Neu5Ac–binding site for allosteric inhibition of GNE. However, the two enzymes as well as other NeuC homologues (but not SiaA from Neisseria meningitidis) appear to be common in tetrameric organization. The revised two-base catalytic mechanism may involve His-125 (Glu-134 in GNE), as suggested by mutant activity analysis.
A policy‐centric approach to protecting OS kernel from vulnerable LKMs

Loadable kernel modules (LKMs) that contain vulnerabilities are a big threat to modern operating systems (OSs). The primary reason is that there is no protection mechanism inside the kernel space when the LKM is executed. As a result, kernel module exploitation can seriously affect the OS kernel security. Although many protection systems have been developed to address this problem in the past few years, there still remain some challenges: (1) How to automatically generate a security policy before the kernel module is enforced? (2) How to properly mediate the interactions between the kernel module and the OS kernel without modifications on the existing OS, hardware, and kernel module structure? To address these challenges, we present LKM guard (LKMG), a policy‐centric system that can protect commodity OS kernel from vulnerable LKMs. Compared with previous systems, LKMG is able to generate a security policy from a kernel module and then enforce the policy during the run time. Generally, the working process of LKMG can be divided into 2 stages. First, we utilize static analysis to extract the kernel code and data access patterns from a kernel module's source code and then combine these patterns with the related memory address information to generate a security policy. Second, by leveraging the hardware‐assisted virtualization technology, LKMG isolates the kernel module from the rest of the kernel and then enforces the kernel module's execution to obey the derived policy. The experiments show that our system can defend against various attacks launched by the compromised kernel module effectively with moderate performance cost.
The Predictive Value of Tumor Depth for Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis in Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma; Prospective and Retrospective Study in Iraq

Many histopathologic parameters in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma have been identified as predictive factors for cervical metastasis. Several studies focused on tumor thickness, and the depth of invasion was suggested to have a relationship to the occurrence of cervical metastasis, therefore the aim of this study was to determine the relationship between tumor depth and clinically suspicious neck, as well as occult neck disease, and to determine the cutoff point for metastasis in Iraqi population, in addition, the study intended to identify further predictive factors for cervical metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity. Methods: The medical records of 80 patients operated on with oral squamous cell carcinoma between 1991 and 2000 were reviewed; each patient, age, sex, tumor location, tumor size, degree of differentiation, pattern of invasion; lymphoplasmocytic infiltration and tumor depth were evaluated. All slides were examined by the same pathologist, chi-square test was used to compare the impact of these parameters on nodal metastasis in the neck. Results: In multivariate analysis the most important factors was tumor depth followed by pattern of invasion, tumor site, degree of differentiation, tumor size, and lymphoplasmocytic infiltration. Univariate analysis indicates that tumor depth is important predictive factor in cervical metastasis for oral squamous cell carcinoma P<0.001. Conclusion: Tumor depth is a reliable factor to predict nodal metastasis and tumor depth of 4 mm can be considered as a suggested standard Iraqi cutoff number in staging and management of early oral squamous cell carcinoma.
The Road to Tenure: Obstacles for the Media Adviser

Tenure has been the topic of various journal articles, but few have examined the process within specific disciplines. This study surveyed 136 advisers of campus radio and television stations to ascertain what obstacles to tenure were associated with this position. Respondents reported that 1) advising a media outlet takes time from teaching and research; 2) advising the station and producing programming is not highly valued by tenure committees; 3) tenure is essential to job security because students tend to push the envelope in on-air activities, and; 4) tenure is an archaic concept and they have no interest in pursuing it. INTRODUCTION Tenure has been a mainstay in America’s academic institutions for nearly a hundred years. Much has been written about it, and it certainly has had its share of criticism, particularly through the 1990s (Finken, 1996). While arguments can be made for and against traditional tenure, it has afforded academic freedom to its recipients, at least to some degree, and most will agree that it offers some protection against arbitrary dismissal (Finken, pp. 4-7). According to Witherspoon and Knapp (1999, p. 341), “The award of tenure has become inextricably associated with the protection of academic freedom within institutions of higher education. ” Much less attention, however, has been devoted to particular academic positions and the ease or difficulty with which those teachers obtain tenure. This study will focus on the case of the student media advisers (specifically advisers of campus television and radio outlets) and the unique challenges they face because of their additional responsibilities. The idea for this study was spawned from anecdotal observations at the 2004 Broadcast Education Association national convention. During a session, several media advisers grumbled that they were unable to get college administrators or tenure committees to recognize professional projects they produced, some of which were judged by peers, as worthy of consideration toward tenure. The advisers also noted that producing such work, in addition to advising stations operating full-time, did not allow much time for Jeffrey M. Demas,
Reliable Virtual Machine Placement Based on Multi-Objective Optimization With Traffic-Aware Algorithm in Industrial Cloud

In a cloud data center, there is usually a large waste of physical resources and link resources, which leads to increased energy consumption. This paper discusses reducing the loss of link resources from the perspective of connectivity between virtual machines. When the virtual machines of a single user request are concentrated to reduce energy consumption, there will be decreased request reliability. This paper considers a single point of failure to ensure the reliability of the requests. Finally, this paper proposes a multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm. It takes the physical resource utilization rate and the link loss rate as the optimization targets and uses service reliability and quality of the tenant as constraint conditions. The simulation results show that the method proposed in this paper reliably satisfies the tenant request, effectively controls the link loss in the data center, and significantly reduces the energy consumption of the data center.
The acquisition of stimulus equivalence in individuals with fragile X syndrome.

BACKGROUND Few studies have employed stimulus equivalence procedures to teach individuals with intellectual disabilities (IDs) new skills. To date, no studies of stimulus equivalence have been conducted in individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS), the most common known cause of inherited ID. METHOD Five adolescents with FXS were taught basic math and geography skills by using a computerized stimulus equivalence training programme administered over 2 days in 2-h sessions. RESULTS Four of the five participants learned the math relations, with one participant demonstrating stimulus equivalence at post-test. Three of the five participants learned the geography relations, with all three of these participants demonstrating stimulus equivalence at post-test. CONCLUSIONS These data indicate that computerized stimulus equivalence procedures, conducted in time-limited sessions, may help individuals with FXS learn new skills. Hypotheses concerning the failure of some participants to learn the training relations and to demonstrate stimulus equivalence at post-test are discussed.
In vitro chemo-sensitivity assay guided chemotherapy is associated with prolonged overall survival in cancer patients.

THE AIM OF THE STUDY The overall survival (OS) of patients suffering From various tumour entities was correlated with the results of in vitro-chemosensitivity assay (CSA) of the in vivo applied drugs. MATERIAL AND METHODS Tumour specimen (n=611) were dissected in 514 patients and incubated for primary tumour cell culture. The histocytological regression assay was performed 5 days after adding chemotherapeutic substances to the cell cultures. n=329 patients undergoing chemotherapy were included in the in vitro/in vivo associations. OS was assessed and in vitro response groups compared using survival analysis. Furthermore Cox-regression analysis was performed on OS including CSA, age, TNM classification and treatment course. RESULTS The growth rate of the primary was 73-96% depending on tumour entity. The in-vitro response rate varied with histology and drugs (e.g. 8-18% for methotrexate and 33-83% for epirubicine). OS was significantly prolonged for patients treated with in vitro effective drugs compared to empiric therapy (log-rank-test, p=0.0435). Cox-regression revealed that application of in vitro effective drugs, residual tumour and postoperative radiotherapy determined the death risk independently. CONCLUSIONS When patients were treated with drugs effective in our CSA, OS was significantly prolonged compared to empiric therapy. CSA guided chemotherapy should be compared to empiric treatment by a prospective randomized trial.
Digital automatic gain control design with large dynamic range in wireless communication receivers

Automatic gain control technology is usually adopted to solve the problem of large dynamic range of input signals. Aiming at the challenges existing in digital automatic gain control (DAGC) algorithm, this paper proposes an approximate method based on logarithmic space, and solves the problem of circuit complexity and low dynamic range in traditional DAGC algorithm with the employment of a lookup table. The novel algorithm can change gains of multiple modules on the receiving path at one time, and realize a large dynamic gain control range of 76dB without sacrificing the convergence speed and accuracy. The simulation results show that this new type of DAGC can adjust the overall gain of the receiver rapidly and efficiently according to different input signal amplitudes, and has good engineering practicability with the advantage of simplified circuit.
Neutral Networks-Based Adaptive Fixed-Time Consensus Tracking Control for Uncertain Multiple AUVs

This paper is concerned with the fixed-time consensus tracking problem for multi-AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle) systems with uncertain parameters and external disturbances. Firstly, a fixed-time terminal sliding mode is proposed, which can avoid the singularity problem. Then, a continuous distributed consensus tracking control law is designed based on Neutral Network approximation technique, which can guarantee the consensus tracking errors converge to the desired regions in fixed time. A simulation example is given to show the effectiveness of proposed methods.
The Influence of an Eight-Week Whirling-Kung Training Course on the Heart Rate Variability

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of an eight-week whirling-kung training course on the heart rate variability (HRV) in order to know whether or not practicing whirling-kung continuously for 5 to 15 minutes three times a week is helpful to physical and mental health, indicated by the HRV indicators of the subjects. Results from paired-samples t tests show that in the whirling-kung group and the walking group, the HRV components such as SDNN, TP and HF did not increase significantly as hypothesized, while LF did not decrease significantly as hypothesized. Perhaps the relatively small sample sizes and the insufficient training courses have led to these consequences. However, the SDNN and TP in the control group has a statistically significant drop (p<0.05), compared to their rise in both the treatment group 1 and 2, though not statistically significant, which might suggest, like the walking group (treatment group 2), whirling might have avoided the dropping of the SDNN and TP. [Chia-Shen Liao, Jian-Wei Rau. The Influence of an Eight-Week Whirling-Kung Training Course on the Heart Rate Variability. Life Sci J 2012;9(3):207-214] (ISSN:1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite. com. 31
A Power-Efficient Current Generator with Common Mode Signal Autozero Feedback for Bioimpedance Measurement Applications

This paper describes the design of fully differential sine pulse-width-modulation (SPWM) wave current generator for bioimpedance measurement applications. The current generator has been designed in a 0.18-μm CMOS technology. Its analog front-end operates from ±1.65 V and has a current consumption of Iout + 22 μΑ + (fclk × 1.7 pA) where Iout is the output current and fclk is the operating frequency. It can provide outputs from 50 μΑpp to 1 mApp of SPWM current up to 98 kHz with a maximum voltage compliance of ±1.25 V. Using linear current feedback, the current generator has a designed transconductance of 1 mA/V. Feedback also enables cancellation of common mode signals and a high output impedance.
Morphology Injection for English-Malayalam Statistical Machine Translation

Statistical Machine Translation (SMT) approaches fails to handle the rich morphology when translating into morphologically rich language. This is due to the data sparsity, which is the missing of the morphologically inflected forms of words from the parallel corpus. We investigated a method to generate these unseen morphological forms. In this paper, we analyze the morphological complexity of a morphologically rich Indian language Malayalam when translating from English. Being a highly agglutinative language, it is very difficult to generate the various morphological inflected forms for Malayalam. We study both the factor based models and the phrase based models and the problem of data sparseness. We propose a simple and effective solution based on enriching the parallel corpus with generated morphological forms. We verify this approach with various experiments on English-Malayalam SMT. We observes that the morphology injection method improves the quality of the translation. We have analyzed the experimental results both in terms of automatic and subjective evaluations.