Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Modelling of flow and colloids in porous media

Porous media and transport within them play technically important roles in many of our industries. However, classical mean field engineering descriptions used to model the complex interactions between the porous medium and the fluids and colloids within it are not completely satisfactory. The design capability of the engineering community would be greatly enhanced if these models could be more clearly linked to the mesoscopic details of the fluid/suspension/porous solid systems. This would allow cheaper, yet quicker, and more innovative design and optimization of systems involving fluid/suspension flow in porous media. Modern techniques for the explicit mesoscopic modelling of porous media, and fluid and colloid transport within them, have developed to a point where their combination in a single simulation tool can be contemplated. However, at present, no such tool exists. The aim of this study was to design and test a comprehensive simulation tool that could accurately model the transport phenomena of any given fluid and colloidal system within any given porous medium at a mesoscopic level. Lattice gas automata (LGA) modelling techniques for fluid and colloid transport, and the Joshi/Quiblier/Adler (JQA) statistical method for reconstructing porous media, were uniquely combined to achieve this. The results of simulations were compared to measurements obtained using an experimental apparatus. The objectives of the study were to: 1) determine a priori the permeability of porous media, and; 2) simulate deposition phenomena observed experimentally. The study showed that permeabilities predicted using the simulation tool were lower than those determined experimentally. Several causes for this were identified, all of which can be addressed in the short-term. Simulated changes in fluid velocity and particle concentration were found to alter the rate and pattern of deposition in a manner consistent with experimental results. Furthermore, the tool provided a rich description of fundamental physical phenomena at the pore scale level. These preliminary findings indicate that the combination of these models provide the basis for further development leading to a mesoscopic modelling tool capable of predicting fluid and colloid transport in porous media.
A Secure Proxy-Based Cross-Domain Communication for Web Mashups

A web mashup is a web application that integrates content from heterogeneous sources to provide users with a more integrated and seamless browsing experience. Client-side mashups differ from server-side mashups in that the content is integrated in the browser using the client-side scripts. However, the legacy same origin policy (SOP) implemented by the browsers cannot provide a flexible client-side communication mechanism to exchange information between different sources. To address this problem, we propose a secure client-side cross-domain communication model facilitated by a trusted proxy and the HTML 5 post Message method. The proxy-based model supports fine-grained access control for elements that belong to different sources in web mashups, and the design guarantees the confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity during cross-domain communications. The proxy-based design also allows users to browse mashups without installing browser plug-ins. For mashups developers, the provided API minimizes the amount of code modification. The results of experiments demonstrate that the overhead in-curred by our proxy model is low and reasonable.
Fault Detection in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Machine Learning Approach

Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) deployment experiences show that collected data is prone to be faulty. Faults are due to internal and external influences, such as calibration, low battery, environmental interference and sensor aging. However, only few solutions exist to deal with faulty sensory data in WSN. We develop a statistical approach to detect and identify faults in a WSN. In particular, we focus on the identification and classification of data and system fault types as it is essential to perform accurate recovery actions. Our method uses Hidden Markov Models (HMMs) to capture the fault-free dynamics of an environment and dynamics of faulty data. It then performs a structural analysis of these HMMs to determine the type of data and system faults affecting sensor measurements. The approach is validated using real data obtained from over one month of samples from motes deployed in an actual living lab.
Exhaust Energy Recovery with Variable Geometry Turbine to Reduce Fuel Consumption for Microcars

T he objective proposed by EU to reduce by about 4%/ year CO 2 emission of internal combustion engines for the next years up to 2030, requires to increase the engine efficiency and accordingly improving the technology. In this framework, hybrid powertrains can have the possibility of a deep market penetration since they may recover energy during brake, allow the engine to operate in better efficiency conditions and with less transients, Moreover, they can recover a large amount of energy lost through the exhaust and use it to reduce fuel consumption. This paper concerns the modification of a conventional two in-line cylinders Diesel engine (440 cm 3 ) adding a variable geometry turbine (VGT) coupled with a generator. The turbine is used to recover exhaust gas energy that otherwise would be lost. The generator, connected to the turbo shaft, converts mechanical energy into electrical energy and is used to charge the vehicle battery or the auxiliaries. The aim of this work is reducing fuel consumption by replacing the alternator with a kind of electric turbo-compounding system to drive vehicle auxiliaries. If the selected turbine recovers enough energy to power auxiliaries, the alternator, which usually has low efficiency, can be removed. Along these lines, fuel consumption savings can be achieved. At a later stage, a microcar has been tested on WLTC (Class 1) driving cycle. The results show fuel consumption reduction of 6 to 9%, depending on VGT size. Indeed, four different VGT sizes have been analyzed to choose the optimal configuration that reflects a compromise between energy recovery and fuel consumption reductions.
Comparative Transcriptome Analysis of the CO2 Sensing Pathway Via Differential Expression of Carbonic Anhydrase in Cryptococcus neoformans

Carbon dioxide (CO2) sensing and metabolism via carbonic anhydrases (CAs) play pivotal roles in survival and proliferation of pathogenic fungi infecting human hosts from natural environments due to the drastic difference in CO2 levels. In Cryptococcus neoformans, which causes fatal fungal meningoencephalitis, the Can2 CA plays essential roles during both cellular growth in air and sexual differentiation of the pathogen. However the signaling networks downstream of Can2 are largely unknown. To address this question, the present study employed comparative transcriptome DNA microarray analysis of a C. neoformans strain in which CAN2 expression is artificially controlled by the CTR4 (copper transporter) promoter. The PCTR4∷CAN2 strain showed growth defects in a CO2-dependent manner when CAN2 was repressed but resumed normal growth when CAN2 was overexpressed. The Can2-dependent genes identified by the transcriptome analysis include FAS1 (fatty acid synthase 1) and GPB1 (G-protein β subunit), supporting the roles of Can2 in fatty acid biosynthesis and sexual differentiation. Cas3, a capsular structure designer protein, was also discovered to be Can2-dependent and yet was not involved in CO2-mediated capsule induction. Most notably, a majority of Can2-dependent genes were environmental stress-regulated (ESR) genes. Supporting this, the CAN2 overexpression strain was hypersensitive to oxidative and genotoxic stress as well as antifungal drugs, such as polyene and azole drugs, potentially due to defective membrane integrity. Finally, an oxidative stress-responsive Atf1 transcription factor was also found to be Can2-dependent. Atf1 not only plays an important role in diverse stress responses, including thermotolerance and antifungal drug resistance, but also represses melanin and capsule production in C. neoformans. In conclusion, this study provides insights into the comprehensive signaling networks orchestrated by CA/CO2-sensing pathways in pathogenic fungi.
Optimal selection of 2D reversed-phase–reversed-phase HPLC separation techniques in bottom-up proteomics

Evaluation of: Stephanowitz H, Lange S, Lang D et al. Improved two-dimensional reversed phase–reversed phase LC-MS/MS approach for identification of peptide–protein interactions. J. Proteome Res. 11(2), 1175–1183 (2011). Recent developments in bottom-up proteomics have supplanted the use of gel-based approaches in favor of multidimensional chromatographic separations of peptide mixtures followed by mass spectrometry analysis. This trend is driven by the desire to eliminate labor-intensive in-gel digestion procedures and increase proteome coverage through better recovery of proteolytic fragments. Introduction of reversed-phase–reversed-phase 2D separation techniques is one of the major improvements that have made this possible. In this article, we review recent developments in 2D HPLC and highlight variations in reversed-phase HPLC separation selectivity that allow for superior peak capacity in peptide fractionation.
Etv2 rescues Flk1 mutant embryoid bodies

Independent mouse knockouts of Etv2 and Flk1 are embryonic lethal and lack hematopoietic and endothelial lineages. We previously reported that Flk1 activates Etv2 in the initiation of hematopoiesis and vasculogenesis. However, Flk1 and its ligand VEGF are expressed throughout development, from E7.0 to adulthood, whereas Etv2 is expressed only transiently during embryogenesis. These observations suggest a complex regulatory interaction between Flk1 and Etv2. To further examine the Flk1 and Etv2 regulatory interaction, we transduced Etv2 and Flk1 mutant ES cells with viral integrants that inducibly overexpress Flk1 or Etv2. We demonstrated that forced expression of Etv2 rescued the hematopoietic and endothelial potential of differentiating Flk1 and Etv2 mutant cells. We further discovered that forced expression of Flk1 can rescue that of the Flk1, but not Etv2 mutant cells. Therefore, we conclude that the requirement for Flk1 can be bypassed by expressing Etv2, supporting the notion that disruption of Etv2 expression is responsible for the early phenotypes of the Etv2 and Flk1 mutant embryos. genesis 51:471–480. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Real-Time Dehazing for Image and Video

Outdoor photography and computer vision tasks often suffer from bad weather conditions, observed objects lose visibility and contrast due to the presence of atmospheric haze, fog, and smoke. In this paper, we propose a new method for real-time image and video dehazing. Based on a newly presented haze-free image prior - dark channel prior and a common haze imaging model, for a single input image, we can estimate the global atmospheric light and extract the scene objects transmission. To prevent artifacts, we refine the transmission using a cross-bilateral filter, and finally the haze-free frame can be restored by inversing the haze imaging model. The whole process is highly parallelized, and can be easily implemented on modern GPUs to achieve real-time performance. Comparing with existing methods, our approach provides similar or better results with much less processing time. The proposed method can be further used for many applications such as outdoor surveillance, remote sensing, and intelligent vehicles. In addition, rough depth information of the scene can be obtained as a by-product.
On nested palindromes in clickstream data

In this paper we discuss an interesting and useful property of clickstream data. Often a visit includes repeated views of the same page. We show that in three real datasets, sampled from the websites of technology and consulting groups and a news broadcaster, page repetitions occur for the majority as a very specific structure, namely in the form of nested palindromes. This can be explained by the widespread use of features which are available in any web browser: the "refresh" and "back" buttons. Among the types of patterns which can be mined from sequence data, many either stumble if symbol repetitions are involved, or else fail to capture interesting aspects related to symbol repetitions. In an attempt to remedy this, we characterize the palindromic structures, and discuss possible ways of making use of them. One way is to pre-process the sequence data by explicitly inserting these structures, in order to obtain a richer output from conventional mining algorithms. Another application we discuss is to use the information directly, in order to analyze certain aspects of the website under study. We also provide the simple linear-time algorithm which we developed to identify and extract the structures from our data.
Spatial Distribution of the Attentional Blink

In the present study subjects viewed streams of rapid serially presented characters and searched for a target digit. After presentation of the target digit, a second target consisting of an orientation singleton (Experiment 1) or a second digit (Experiment 2) was presented at one of several distances from the first target. The attentional blink (AB) impaired performance on the second target with the effect being strongest at distances somewhat removed from the first target location. These results are consistent with lateral inhibition theory and help to resolve some fundamental questions about the spatial distribution of the AB.
Molecular Dynamics Simulations for Human CAR Inverse Agonists

Constitutive androstane receptor (CAR), along with pregnane x receptor (PXR), is an important metabolic sensor in the hepatocytes. Like all other nuclear receptors (NRs), CAR works in concert with coregulator proteins, coactivators, and corepressors which bind to the NRs. The main basis for the receptor to distinguish between coactivators and corepressors is the position of the C-terminal helix 12 (H12), which is determined by the bound NR ligand. CAR, having constitutive activity, can be repressed or further activated by its ligands. Crystal structure of human CAR bound to an agonist and a coactivator peptide is available, but no structural information on an inverse agonist-bound human CAR and a corepressor exists. In our previous molecular dynamics (MD) studies, no corepressor peptide was included. Therefore, probably due to the strong interactions which keep the relatively short H12 of CAR in the active position, the structural changes elicited by inverse agonists were very subtle, and H12 of CAR seemed to more or less retain its active conformation. Here, we have run a series of MD simulations to study the movement of H12 in the presence of both activating and repressing ligands as well as a corepressor peptide. The presence of the corepressor on the coregulator surface of CAR induced a clear shift of H12 of the inverse agonists-bound CAR. In general, H12 moved toward H10 and not away from the ligand binding domain, as seen in some other NRs. However, H12 of CAR is short enough that this movement seems to be adequate to accommodate the binding of the corepressor.
Bidirectional Signaling of Neuregulin-2 Mediates Formation of GABAergic Synapses and Maturation of Glutamatergic Synapses in Newborn Granule Cells of Postnatal Hippocampus

Expression of neuregulin-2 (NRG2) is intense in a few regions of the adult brain where neurogenesis persists; however, little is understood about its role in developments of newborn neurons. To study the role of NRG2 in synaptogenesis at different developmental stages, newborn granule cells in rat hippocampal slice cultures were labeled with retrovirus encoding tetracycline-inducible microRNA targeting NRG2 and treated with doxycycline (Dox) at the fourth or seventh postinfection day (dpi). The developmental increase of GABAergic postsynaptic currents (GPSCs) was suppressed by the early Dox treatment (4 dpi), but not by late treatment (7 dpi). The late Dox treatment was used to study the effect of NRG2 depletion specific to excitatory synaptogenesis. The Dox effect on EPSCs emerged 4 d after the impairment in dendritic outgrowth became evident (10 dpi). Notably, Dox treatment abolished the developmental increases of AMPA-receptor mediated EPSCs and the AMPA/NMDA ratio, indicating impaired maturation of glutamatergic synapses. In contrast to GPSCs, Dox effects on EPSCs and dendritic growth were independent of ErbB4 and rescued by concurrent overexpression of NRG2 intracellular domain. These results suggest that forward signaling of NRG2 mediates GABAergic synaptogenesis and its reverse signaling contributes to dendritic outgrowth and maturation of glutamatergic synapses. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The hippocampal dentate gyrus is one of special brain regions where neurogenesis persists throughout adulthood. Synaptogenesis is a critical step for newborn neurons to be integrated into preexisting neural network. Because neuregulin-2 (NRG2), a growth factor, is intensely expressed in these regions, we investigated whether it plays a role in synaptogenesis and dendritic growth. We found that NRG2 has dual roles in the development of newborn neurons. For GABAergic synaptogenesis, the extracellular domain of NRG2 acts as a ligand for a receptor on GABAergic neurons. In contrast, its intracellular domain was essential for dendritic outgrowth and glutamatergic synapse maturation. These results imply that NRG2 may play a critical role in network integration of newborn neurons.
Justifying investment in advanced manufacturing technology: a portfolio analysis

Purpose – This paper seeks to present the results of an investigation on the justification of investments in advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) at manufacturing plants in the USA. Unlike previous research that explored the adoption and use of a specific AMT or groups of similar AMT, this study focuses on a plant's combination of technologies or its technology portfolio.Design/methodology/approach – Mail survey responses from a sample of 82 plants are used to examine the relationships between the type of technology portfolio being used and the justification approaches and evaluation techniques that were utilized to justify these investments. The study also investigates the level of functional integration and the level of effort applied to several activities during the justification stage of the AMT projects.Findings – The majority of plants that had adopted the more complex technology portfolios were using hybrid (economic and strategic) justification approaches supported by ratio and discounted cash .
Estimation of ambient GABA levels in layer I of the mouse neonatal cortex in brain slices

GABAergic synapses on Cajal–Retzius neurons in layer I of the murine neocortex experience GABAB receptor (GABABR)‐mediated tonic inhibition. Extracellular GABA concentration ([GABA]o) that determines the strength of GABABR‐mediated inhibition is controlled by GABA transporters (GATs). In this study, we hypothesized that the strength ofpresynaptic GABABR activation reflects [GABA]o in the vicinity of synaptic contacts. Slices obtained from two age groups were used, namely postnatal days (P)2–3 and P5–7. GABAergic postsynaptic currents (IPSCs) were recorded using the whole‐cell patch‐clamp technique. Minimal electrical stimulation in layer I was applied to elicit evoked IPSCs (eIPSCs) using a paired‐pulse protocol. Three parameters were selected for comparison: the mean eIPSC amplitude, paired‐pulse ratio, and failure rate. When GAT‐1 and GAT‐2/3 were blocked by NO‐711 (10 μm) and SNAP‐5114 (40 μm), respectively, no tonic GABABR‐mediated inhibition was observed. In order to restore the control levels of GABABR‐mediated inhibition, 250 and 125 nm exogenous GABA was required at P2–3 and P5–7, respectively. Addition of 3‐mercaptopropionic acid, a glutamate decarboxylase inhibitor, did not significantly change the obtained values arguing against the suggestion that a mechanism different from GATs contributes to [GABA]o control. We conclude that juxtasynaptic [GABA]o is higher (about 250 nm) at P2–3 than at P5–7 (about 125 nm). As both radial cell migration and corticogenesis in general are strongly dependent on [GABA]o and the formation of the last layer 2/3 is finished by P4 in rodents, the observed [GABA]o reduction in layer I might reflect this crucial event in the cortical development.
Reasoning about Termination of Pure Prolog Programs

Abstract We provide a theoretical basis for studying termination of (general) logic programs with the Prolog selection rule. To this end we study the class of left terminating programs. These are logic programs that terminate with the Prolog selection rule for all ground goals. We offer a characterization of left terminating positive programs by means of the notion of an acceptable program that provides us with a practical method of proving termination. The method is illustrated by giving a simple proof of termination of the quicksort program for the desired class of goals. Then we extend this approach to the class of general logic programs by modifying the concept of acceptability. We prove that acceptable general programs are left terminating. The converse implication does not hold but we show that under the assumption of non-floundering from ground goals every left terminating general program is acceptable. Finally, we prove that various ways of defining semantics coincide for acceptable general programs. We illustrate the use of this extension by giving simple proofs of termination of a "game" program and the transitive closure program for the desired class of goals.
Novel Bound Setting Algorithm for Occluded Region Reconstruction for Reducing the Inpainting Complexity under Extreme Conditions

Inpainting technique has been widely used for reconstructing damaged old photographs and removing unwanted objects from images. In this paper, we present a novel significant preprocessing step for periphery frontier setting technique which alleviates the process of image inpainting to a great extent. Our method improves the robustness and effectiveness by rational confidence computing method, matching strategy and filling scheme. Therefore, our method effectively prevents ―growing garbage‖, which is a common problem in other methods. With our method, we can obtain preferable results to those obtained by other similar methods.
High-Precision Ultrasonic Ranging System Platform Based on Peak-Detected Self-Interference Technique

A high-precision ultrasonic ranging system platform is presented and evaluated in this work. By queuing peaks of the self-destructive interference, the proposed hardware platform can enhance the accuracy without complex algorithms. At the emitter, the developed technique generates two amplitude-modulated pulses with 180° phase shift. At the receiver, on the other hand, the two pulses create a self-destructive interference. This interference waveform can be used to directly determine the time of flight. By implementing the developed technique on a low-cost microcontroller platform, the experimental result shows the accuracy with 0.06 mm over a range of 50-1000 mm. Moreover, the system accuracy remains 0.15 mm within the range of 2000 mm. The developed system establishes an effective method for low-cost and high-performance ranging systems.