Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Harmonic Suppression and Stability Enhancement for Parallel Multiple Grid-Connected Inverters Based on Passive Inverter Output Impedance

In this paper, the inverter output impedance is passivized for solving the harmonic and the stability problems in the multiparallel inverters. The harmonics are easily aroused because of the disturbances, and the system stability is challenged by the grid impedance. Based on the simplified equivalent impedance model, the two problems are analyzed in the low-frequency (LF) band and the high-frequency (HF) band, respectively. Aiming at improving the LF performance, the weighted-proportional grid voltage feedforward and the harmonic quasi-resonant controller with phase compensation are proposed. The dynamic performance is enhanced with an additional current reference generation scheme. In order to improve the HF performance, a novel digital phase lead filter which brings the system back to a minimum-phase case is proposed. By the proposed control method, the high modulus of each inverter output impedance <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Z_{o}$</tex-math></inline-formula> is guaranteed, while the phase angles of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$Z_{o}$</tex-math></inline-formula> over the entire frequency band are avoided to be lower than −90°. The experiments based on four-parallel inverters have been conducted to validate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.
Association between Preoperative Statin Therapy and Postoperative Infectious Complications in Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Infectious complications of cardiac surgery are often severe and life threatening. Statins having both immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects were intuitively thought to influence the development of postsurgical infections. We sought to systematically examine whether any association exists between statin use and risk of infectious complications in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. We searched Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, Thomson Scientific Web of Science, and Elsevier Scopus from inception through February 2011 for comparative studies examining the association between statin use and risk of postoperative infections in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. We contacted a study's author for missing information. We conducted a random-effects meta-analysis of individual studies' odds ratios (adjusted for potential confounders). We identified 6 cohort studies for inclusion, 3 of which were conducted in Canada and 3 of which were conducted in the United States. Four were single-center studies, and 2 were population based. Exposure ascertainment was based on a review of admission medication list or prescription databases. Infectious outcomes were heterogeneous and included surgical site infections within 30 days, serious infections (sepsis), or any other postoperative infection. Statin use in the preoperative period was associated with a trend toward reduction in the incidence of postoperative infections in patients who underwent cardiac surgery (odds ratio, 0.81 [95% confidence interval, 0.64–1.01]; P = .06; I2 = 75%). Heterogeneity was explained by country effect. Studies performed in Canada showed weaker associations than studies performed in the United States. This difference could not be attributed to study quality alone. We did not find good evidence to support an association between statin use and postoperative infectious complications. However, the trend toward statistical significance for this association indicates that further investigation is warranted.
Adversarial Representation Learning for Domain Adaptation

Domain adaptation aims at generalizing a high performance learner to a target domain via utilizing the knowledge distilled from a source domain, which has a different but related data distribution. One type of domain adaptation solutions is to learn feature representations invariant to the change of domains but is discriminative for predicting the target. Recently, the generative adversarial nets (GANs) are widely studied to learn a generator to approximate the true data distribution by trying to fool the adversarial discriminator in a minimax game setting. Inspired by GANs, we propose a novel Adversarial Representation learning approach for Domain Adaptation (ARDA) to learn high-level feature representations that are both domain-invariant and target-discriminative to tackle the cross-domain classification problem. Specifically, this approach takes advantage of the differential property of Wasserstein distance to measure distribution divergence by incorporating Wasserstein GAN. Our architecture constitutes three parts: a feature generator to generate the desired features from inputs of two domains, a critic to evaluate the Wasserstein distance based on the generated features and an adaptive classifier to accomplish the final classification task. Empirical studies on 4 common domain adaptation datasets demonstrate that our proposed ARDA outperforms the state-of-the-art domain-invariant feature learning approaches.
Negative Regulation of Interferon-induced Transmembrane Protein 3 by SET7-mediated Lysine Monomethylation*

Background: IFITM3 is a general antiviral host restriction factor against RNA viruses. Results: SET7-mediated monomethylation of IFITM3 at Lys-88 negatively affected its antiviral activity toward vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) and influenza A virus (IAV) infection. Conclusion: The monomethylation of antiviral host restriction factors may perturb their function. Significance: Targeting the SET7 pathway could provide new antiviral therapeutic strategies. Although lysine methylation is classically known to regulate histone function, its role in modulating antiviral restriction factor activity remains uncharacterized. Interferon-induced transmembrane protein 3 (IFITM3) was found monomethylated on its lysine 88 residue (IFITM3-K88me1) to reduce its antiviral activity, mediated by the lysine methyltransferase SET7. Vesicular stomatitis virus and influenza A virus infection increased IFITM3-K88me1 levels by promoting the interaction between IFITM3 and SET7, suggesting that this pathway could be hijacked to support infection; conversely, IFN-α reduced IFITM3-K88me1 levels. These findings may have important implications in the design of therapeutics targeting protein methylation against infectious diseases.
Pedometer-Determined Physical Activity and Its Comparison With the International Physical Activity Questionnaire in a Sample of Belgian Adults

Pedometer-determined physical activity (PA) levels in Belgian adults were provided and compared to PA scores reported in the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). The representative sample (N = 1,239) of the Belgian population took on average 9,655 (4,526) steps/day. According to pedometer indices 58.4% were insufficiently active. Steps/day differed significantly between gender (F = 5.0, p = .026), age groups (F = 3.3, p = .01), employment status (F = 6.2, p = .013), and days of monitoring (F = 7.4, p = .007). Steps/day were negatively correlated to the time spent sitting and positively to PA at work, in transport, and in leisure time (p < .001). Steps data can discriminate between PA levels reported in the IPAQ. Belgian population pedometer-determined PA levels are higher than those reported in samples of the United States; however, there is a wide distribution of ambulatory behavior.
Three Different Binding Sites of Cks1 Are Required for p27-Ubiquitin Ligation*

Previous studies have shown that the cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) inhibitor p27Kip1 is targeted for degradation by an SCFSkp2 ubiquitin ligase complex and that this process requires Cks1, a member of the highly conserved Suc1/Cks family of cell cycle regulatory proteins. All proteins of this family have Cdk-binding and anion-binding sites, but only mammalian Cks1 binds to Skp2 and promotes the association of Skp2 with p27 phosphorylated on Thr-187. The molecular mechanisms by which Cks1 promotes the interaction of the Skp2 ubiquitin ligase subunit to p27 remained obscure. Here we show that the Skp2-binding site of Cks1 is located on a region including the α2- and α1-helices and their immediate vicinity, well separated from the other two binding sites. All three binding sites of Cks1 are required for p27-ubiquitin ligation and for the association of Skp2 with Cdk-bound, Thr-187-phosphorylated p27. Cks1 and Skp2 mutually promote the binding of each other to a peptide similar to the 19 C-terminal amino acids of p27 containing phosphorylated Thr-187. This latter process requires the Skp2- and anion-binding sites of Cks1, but not its Cdk-binding site. It is proposed that the Skp2-Cks1 complex binds initially to the C-terminal region of phosphorylated p27 in a process promoted by the anion-binding site of Cks1. The interaction of Skp2 with the substrate is further strengthened by the association of the Cdk-binding site of Cks1 with Cdk2/cyclin E, to which phosphorylated p27 is bound.
Sizing a trial to alter the trajectory of health behaviours: methods, parameter estimates, and their application

Group‐randomized trials often involve repeat observations on the same participants. When there are no more than two observations from each participant, standard mixed‐model regression methods for a pretest–posttest design can be used. When there are more than two observations from each participant, random coefficients models may be useful. This paper describes the random coefficients analysis appropriate to data from an extended nested cohort design and presents the methods for power analysis and sample size calculations based on that analysis. We provide estimates for the parameters required for those calculations for a number of adolescent health behaviours. We also show how the estimates can be used to plan a future trial. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Atherosclerosis in Carotid Artery of Young IDDM Patients Monitored by Ultrasound High-Resolution B-Mode Imaging

Ultrasound high-resolution B-mode imaging was used to assess the carotid arteries in 105 patients with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM), 4–25 years of age, with duration of diabetes ranging from 0.5–17 years, 529 patients with non-insulin-dependent diabetes (NIDDM), 31–86 years of age, with duration of diabetes ranging from 0.5–49 years, and 104 nondiabetic healthy subjects, 7–76 years of age, to determine the intimal plus medial thickness (IMT) of the arterial wall. The IMT values for IDDM patients 10–19 years of age (0.525 ± 0.123 mm, n = 68) or 20–25 years of age (0.696 ± 0.124 mm, n = 14) were significantly > those in age-matched nondiabetic subjects (0.444 ± 0.057 mm, n = 12, P = 0.01169; 0.538 ± 0.098 mm, n = 34, P < 0.00006). NIDDM patients showed IMT values equivalent to those in normal adults ≥ 20 years of age. Multiple regression analysis showed that IMT in IDDM patients was positively related to the duration of diabetes (P = 0.00061) as well as to age (P = 0.00046). No other possible risk factors, such as serum total cholesterol level, serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol level, serum low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol level, serum triglycerides, serum lipoprotein(a) level, or systolic or diastolic blood pressure, have shown significant correlations with IMT in IDDM patients. However, non-HDL-cholesterol, smoking, and systolic hypertension were independently responsible for increases in IMT values of NIDDM patients as well as age and duration of diabetes. The partial regression coefficient of IMT for duration of diabetes (0.00978 mm/year) consistent with that of IMT for age (0.00848–0.00909 mm/year) in nondiabetic and diabetic subjects indicated that diabetes led to carotid atherosclerosis that was twice as advanced in children and adolescents with IDDM. Ultrasound high-resolution B-mode imaging revealed atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries of young IDDM patients on in vivo examination. Diabetes as well as aging can advance atherosclerosis in the carotid arteries of young diabetic patients. The IMT of carotid arteries, which can be measured noninvasively and frequently, may be an important indicator of atherosclerosis, even in young IDDM patients.
DIFFERENCES IN FAT‐FREE MASS AND MUSCLE THICKNESSES AT VARIOUS SITES ACCORDING TO PERFORMANCE LEVEL AMONG JUDO ATHLETES

The purpose of this study was to investigate differences in fat-free mass and thicknesses of various muscles among judo athletes of different performance levels. The subjects were 69 male judo athletes of 3 different performance levels. Group A was composed of athletes who participated in the Olympic Games or Asian Games (n = 13). Groups B(n = 21) and C (n = 35) were composed of judo athletes at a university who did or did not participate in intercollegiate competitions (including qualifying matches), respectively. Muscle and fat thicknesses were measured by B-mode ultrasound at 9 sites. Fat percentage was calculated from fat thicknesses using a previously reported equation. Fat-free mass was calculated from fat percentage and body weight. Muscles thicknesses were normalized to the height of the individual. Group A had significantly larger fat-free mass than Group C (p < 0.05). The normalized thicknesses of the elbow extensor and flexor muscles were significantly larger in Group A than in Group C. The normalized thickness of the elbow flexor muscle was significantly larger in Group A than in Group B. The results of this study showed that judo athletes with low performance levels such as those in Group C had lower fat-free mass, and the degree of development of the brachialis muscles differed according to performance level.
Differential and Time-Dependent Changes in Gene Expression for Type II Calcium/Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinase, 67 kDa Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase, and Glutamate Receptor Subunits in Tetanus Toxin-Induced Focal Epilepsy

To study potential molecular mechanisms of epileptogenesis in the neocortex, the motor cortex of rats was injected with tetanus toxin (TT), and gene expression for 67 kDa glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD-67), type II calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase (CaMKII), NMDA receptor subunit 1 (NR1), and AMPA receptor subunit 2 (GluR2) was investigated by in situhybridization histochemistry. Injections of 20–35 ng TT induced recurrent seizures after a postoperative period ranging from 4 to 13 d. A majority of rats perfused 5–7 d after TT injection showed altered gene expression, but the changes varied in their areal extent, ranging from most neocortical areas on the injected side in some rats to mainly the frontoparietal cortex or the motor cortex in others. Epileptic rats perfused 14 d after TT injection showed a focus of increased GAD-67 and NR1, and of decreased α-CaMKII and GluR2 mRNA levels at the injection site. A zone of cortex surrounding the focus showed changes in α-CaMKII, GAD-67, and NR1 mRNA levels that were reciprocal to those in the focus. The results suggest that TT-induced seizure activity initially spread to a variable extent but was gradually restricted 2–3 d after seizure onset. The focus and the surround showing reciprocal changes in gene expression are thought to correspond to the electrophysiologically identified epileptic focus and inhibitory surround, respectively. The findings suggest that lateral inhibition between neighboring cortical regions will be affected and contribute to a neurochemical segregation of an epileptic focus from surrounding cortex.
The endocrine spectrum of intracranial cysts in childhood and review of the literature

Abstract Intracranial cysts (ICC) may cause a wide spectrum of endocrinological disorders. We evaluated 27 patients who were diagnosed with ICC during investigation for neuroendocrine dysfunctions and reviewed the relevant literature. The types of ICC in the patients were arachnoid cysts (n=13); Rathke cleft cysts (n=7); pineal cysts (n=5); an ependymal cyst (n=1) and a cavum septum pellucidum cyst (n=1). The neuroendocrine dysfunctions of the patients were obesity (n=7), isolated growth hormone deficiency (n=6), central precocious puberty (n=6), multiple pituitary hormone deficiency (n=3), central diabetes insipidus (n=1), growth hormone deficiency and central precocious puberty (n=1), obesity and galactorrhea (n=1), obesity and hypogonadotropic hypogonadism (n=1) and growth hormone neurosecretory dysfunction (n=1). Only three patients, who had arachnoid cysts, showed neurologic symptomatology. Although three patients underwent surgery, no improvements in endocrinological dysfunctions were observed. ICC should be considered when evaluating patients with endocrinological problems and patients with coincidental ICC should be recommended for follow-up.
Detection of Antiendothelial Cell Antibodies by an Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Using Antigens from Cell Lysate: Minimal Interference with Antinuclear Antibodies and Rheumatoid Factors

ABSTRACT The objective of the present work was to set up a routine test adapted to screening for antiendothelial cell antibodies (AECAs) in serum samples with minimal interference from antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) or rheumatoid factors (RFs). We compared the titers of AECAs titrated following two enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs): (i) an ELISA with ethanol-fixed EA.hy926 monolayers as the antigenic substrate and (ii) an ELISA with nucleus-depleted lysates prepared from EA.hy926 cells and normalized for protein (1.0 to 1.7 mg/ml) and DNA (≤0.1 μg/ml) contents as a surrogate substrate (postnuclear supernatant ELISA [PNS-ELISA]). The AECA titers in 51 serum samples, including 28 samples containing ANAs, were compared. A significantly positive correlation (r = 0.77; P < 0.001) between the two series was shown only for the ANA-negative serum samples. Conversely, ANAs or RFs in samples were shown not to interfere in tests for AECAs by the PNS-ELISA. AECAs recognize their antigenic targets in postnuclear supernatants, which is representative of the endothelial antigenic content, with improvement of the reliability of the assay, a prerequisite to application of the assay for their evaluation in clinical practice.
Business analytics-enabled decision-making effectiveness through knowledge absorptive capacity in health care

Purpose Drawing on the resource-based theory and dynamic capability view, this paper aims to examine the mechanisms by which business analytics (BA) capabilities (i.e. the effective use of data aggregation, analytics and data interpretation tools) in healthcare units indirectly influence decision-making effectiveness through the mediating role of knowledge absorptive capacity. Design/methodology/approach Using a survey method, this study collected data from the hospitals in Taiwan. Of the 155 responses received, three were incomplete, giving a 35.84 per cent response rate with 152 valid data points. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings This study conceptualizes, operationalizes and measures the BA capability as a multi-dimensional construct that is formed by capturing the functionalities of BA systems in health care, leading to the conclusion that healthcare units are likely to obtain valuable knowledge through using the data analysis and interpretation tools effectively. The effective use of data analysis and interpretation tools in healthcare units indirectly influence decision-making effectiveness, an impact that is mediated by absorptive capacity. Originality/value This study adds values to the literature by conceptualizing BA capabilities in healthcare and demonstrating how knowledge absorption matters when implementing BA to the decision-making process. The mediating role of absorptive capacity not only provides a mechanism by which BA can contribute to decision-making practices but also offers a new solution to the puzzle of the IT productivity paradox in healthcare settings.
A 100 $\mu$ W 128 $\times$  64 Pixels Contrast-Based Asynchronous Binary Vision Sensor for Sensor Networks Applications

An ultra-low power 128 times 64 pixels vision sensor is here presented, featuring pixel-level spatial contrast extraction and binarization. The asynchronous readout only dispatches the addresses of the asserted pixels in bursts of 80 MB/s, significantly reducing the amount of data at the output. The pixel-embedded binary frame buffer allows the sensor to directly process visual information, such as motion and background subtraction, which are the most useful filters in machine vision applications. The presented sensor consumes less than 100 muW at 50 fps with 25% of pixel activity. Power consumption can be further reduced down to about 30 muW by operating the sensor in Idle-Mode, thus minimizing the sensor activity at the ouput.
Real-Time Selection of Process Plan in Flexible Manufacturing Systems: Simulation Study

This paper presents the results of a simulation study of a typical flexible manufacturing system (FMS) that has routing flexibility. The objective in this study is to test the effectiveness of the modified dissimilarity maximization method (modified DMM) for real time FMS scheduling. modified DMM method is an improvement of the DMM method. Modified DMM method is an alternative process plan selection method developed for routing selection in real time FMS scheduling. A computer simulation model, which mimics a physical system, is used to evaluate the effect of DMM and Modified DMM rules on the system performance. The typical FMS employed in this study includes seven machining centres, a loading and unloading area, and six different part types. The part type has alternative routings because of the existence of identical machining centre in the system. The DMM and Modified DMM are used for selecting an incoming part and later routing it to a machining centre for its next operation. The result show that the Modified DMM outperforms DMM on system throughput in saturation case, increases utilization of the machines and increases utilization of the handling system.
Alice Doesn't: Feminism, Semiotics, Cinema

PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION 1. THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS 2. IMAGING 3. SNOW ON THE OEDIPAL STAGE 4. NOW AND NOWHERE 5. DESIRE IN NARRATIVE 6. SEMIOTICS AND EXPERIENCE NOTES INDEX
Parameter Identifiability and Parameter Estimation of a Diesel Engine Combustion Model

In this paper an original method based on the link between a piecewise identifiability analysis and a piecewise numerical estimation is presented for estimating parameters of a phenomenological diesel engine combustion model. This model is used for design, validation and pre-tuning of engine control laws. A cascade algebro-differential elimination method is used for studying identifiability. This investigation is done by using input-output-parameter relationship. Then these relations are transformed by using iterated integration. They are combined with an original numerical derivative estimation based on distribution theory which gives explicit point-wise derivative estimation formulas for each given order. Then new approximate relations, linking block of parameters and outputs (without derivative) are obtained. These relations are linear relatively to the blocks of parameters and yield a first estimation of parameters which is used as initial guess for a local optimization method (least square method and a local search genetic algorithm).