Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adaptive Phasor and Frequency-Tracking Schemes for Wide-Area Protection and Control

The steady-state performance of phasor measurement units (PMUs) is well standardized in the recently issued revised IEEE Std. C37.118. The Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) has developed dynamic performance requirements for PMU filters as a means to guarantee better, uniform PMU response under dynamic conditions, such as power swings and changing harmonics. These have been endorsed by North American Synchrophasor Initiative (NASPI) for its wide-area monitoring infrastructure. The main purpose of this paper is to present a new framework for designing PMU filtering algorithms capable of meeting or exceeding the WECC/NASPI requirements, while achieving an optimum transient response time. To this end, an adaptive complex bandpass filter derived from the exponentially modulated filter bank theory has been devised. It is built from freely chosen low-pass filter prototypes that fulfill the WECC requirements. The static and dynamic performances of two specific schemes dedicated to control and monitoring with 4- and 7-cycle response-time, respectively, are ascertained under noisy waveforms and changing harmonics with system frequency varying from 40 to 80 Hz. The center-frequency adaptation approach is shown to be intrinsically superior to the frequency compensation scheme, especially under fast varying frequency and changing harmonics.
Calibration propagation for image augmentation

Calibration is the first step in image augmentation. Classical approaches compute the projection matrix given 3D points of the scene and their 2D image correspondences. Different auto-calibration algorithms have been recently developed by the computer vision community. They do not use 3D-2D correspondences, but need many 2D-2D correspondences over long sequence of images to provide stable results. We propose a calibration propagation procedure which is in-between the two previous approaches. Starting from one calibrated image, the unknown camera parameters and position are computed for a second image. In particular the paper presents a method for extracting the focal length and the 3D structure, while other camera intrinsic parameters remain invariant. In practice, for many professional cameras, the principal point is approximately at the center of the image and the aspect ratio is given by camera specification. Calibration propagation is relevant to augmented reality applications, e.g. video see through HMD with zooming capability since it enables image augmentation for a number of camera views with changing intrinsic parameters. We present results on synthetic images showing the theoretical validity and performance of the method. We then use real data to demonstrate the potential of this approach for image augmentation applications in industrial maintenance assistance and architectural design.
Nonreciprocal chromosomal translocations in renal cancer involve multiple DSBs and NHEJ associated with breakpoint inversion but not necessarily with transcription

Chromosomal translocations and other abnormalities are central to the initiation of cancer in all cell types. Understanding the mechanism is therefore important to evaluate the evolution of cancer from the cancer initiating events to overt disease. Recent work has concentrated on model systems to develop an understanding of the molecular mechanisms of translocations but naturally occurring events are more ideal case studies since biological selection is absent from model systems. In solid tumours, nonreciprocal translocations are most commonly found, and accordingly we have investigated the recurrent nonreciprocal t(3;5) chromosomal translocations in renal carcinoma to better understand the mechanism of these naturally occurring translocations in cancer. Unexpectedly, the junctions of these translocations can be associated with site‐specific, intrachromosomal inversion involving at least two double strand breaks (DSB) in cis and rejoining by nonhomologous end joining or micro‐homology end joining. However, these translocations are not necessarily associated with transcribed regions questioning accessibility per se in controlling these events. In addition, intrachromosomal deletions also occur. We conclude these naturally occurring, nonreciprocal t(3;5) chromosomal translocations occur after complex and multiple unresolved intrachromosomal DSBs leading to aberrant joining with concurrent interstitial inversion and that clonal selection of cells is the critical element in cancer development emerging from a plethora of DSBs that may not always be pathogenic. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Fully Integrated Point-of-Load Digital System Supply With PVT Compensation

This paper presents a fully integrated process, supply voltage, and temperature compensated supply (PVTCS) for a point-of-load digital system. Through adding the appropriate weighted threshold voltage variation from the pMOS (ΔVTHP) and the nMOS (ΔVTHN) diodes to the reference voltage of a high-speed low-dropout voltage regulator, the supply of the digital circuit becomes adaptive, and hence, it minimizes the speed deviation in the context of PVT variations. Validated in a UMC 65-nm CMOS process, the simulation and the measurement results of an inverter chain-based oscillator have validated the effectiveness of PVTCS. It can significantly reduce the delay variations with respect to the uncompensated supply counterpart. The same goes for a sample critical path-based oscillator with extensive simulation results. Therefore, the proposed circuit is useful for the digital point-of-load application, with the key technical merit of PVT compensation without encountering the potential latch-up problem from the reported methods.
Use of simulation-based mastery learning to improve the quality of central venous catheter placement in a medical intensive care unit.

BACKGROUND Central venous catheter (CVC) insertions are performed frequently by internal medicine residents. Complications, including arterial puncture and pneumothorax, decrease when operators use fewer needle passes to insert the CVC. In this study, we evaluated the effect of simulation-based mastery learning on CVC insertion skill. DESIGN This was a cohort study of internal jugular (IJ) and subclavian (SC) CVC insertions by 41 internal medicine residents rotating through the medical intensive care unit (MICU) over a five-month period. Thirteen traditionally-trained residents were surveyed about the number of needle passes, complications, and procedural self-confidence on CVCs inserted in the MICU. Concurrently, 28 residents completed simulation-based training in IJ and SC CVC insertions. Simulator-trained residents were expected to perform CVC insertions to mastery standards on a central line simulator. Simulator-trained residents then rotated through the MICU and were surveyed regarding CVC placement. The impact of simulation training was assessed by comparing group survey results. RESULTS No resident met the minimum passing score (MPS) (79.1%) for CVC insertion at baseline: mean (M) (IJ) = 48.4%, standard deviation (SD) = 23.1, M(SC) = 45.2%, SD = 26.3. All residents met or exceeded the MPS at testing after simulation training: M(IJ) = 94.8%, SD = 10.0, M(SC) = 91.1%, SD = 17.8 (p < 0.001). In the MICU, simulator-trained residents required fewer needle passes to insert a CVC than traditionally-trained residents: M = 1.79, SD = 1.0 versus M = 2.78, SD = 1.77 (p = 0.04). Simulator-trained residents displayed more self-confidence about their procedural skills: (M = 81, SD = 11 versus M = 68, SD = 20, p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS Simulation-based mastery learning increased residents' skills in simulated CVC insertion, decreased the number of needle passes when performing actual procedures, and increased resident self-confidence.
Enhanced real-time face models from stereo imaging for gaming applications

Techniques for improved 2D active appearance face models are presented. When these are applied to stereoscopic image pairs we show that sufficient information on image depth is obtained to generate an approximate 3D face model. Two techniques are investigated, the first based on 2D+3D AAMs and the second using methods based on thin plate splines. The resulting 3D models can offer a practical real-time face model which is suitable for a range of applications in computer gaming. Due to the compact nature of AAMs these are also very suitable for use in embedded devices such as gaming peripherals!
Host Attitudes towards Guests in the Homestay Sector

This paper reports on an investigation into host attitudes towards guests in one segment of the homestay accommodation sector: host families. In addition to discussion of the main characteristics of hostfamilies, host attitudes to guests are examined through an adapted framework of Argyll et al. (1981); the results of statistical testing to distinguish between hosts on the basis of their commercial orientation are presented. Comparison of similarities and differences across bed and breakfast, farmhouse stays and hostfamilies are made, and suggestions are offered with regard to training and support interventions in the homestay sector concerning host-guest interactions. The implications of the findings are discussed in relation to the quality treadmill approach to training, and the possible commercialised hospitality it may engender.
OSEK-V: application-specific RTOS instantiation in hardware

The employment of a real-time operating system (RTOS) in an embedded control systems is often an all-or-nothing decision: While the RTOS-abstractions provide for easier software composition and development, the price in terms of event latencies and memory costs are high. Especially in HW/SW codesign settings, system developers try to avoid the employment of a full-blown RTOS as far as possible. In OSEK-V, we mitigate this trade-off by a very aggressive tailoring of the concrete RTOS instance into the hardware. Instead of implementing generic OS components as custom hardware devices, we capture the actually possible application-kernel interactions as a finite-state machine and integrate the tailored RTOS semantics directly into the processor pipeline. In our experimental results with an OSEK-based implementation of a quadrotor flight controller into the Rocket/RISC-V softcore, we thereby can significantly reduce event latencies, interrupt lock times, and memory footprint at moderate costs in terms of FPGA resources.
Abasic Sites Induce Triplet-repeat Expansion during DNA Replication in Vitro *

The occurrence of triplet-repeat expansion (TRE) during transmission of genetic information is involved in many neurological and neuromuscular diseases including Fragile X syndrome and myotonic dystrophy. DNA slippage during replicative synthesis appears to cause TRE. The causes of DNA slippage, however, remain mostly unknown. We investigated the effects of abasic sites on the occurrence of TRE during DNA replication in vitro usingEscherichia coli Klenow polymerase I as the model polymerase. Here we show that a single abasic site analog, synthesized in the triplet-repeat tract at the 5′ end of the template strand, induced dramatic TRE during DNA synthesis. The amount of TRE induced decreased when the abasic site was moved to the middle of the repeat tract, consistent with effectively decreasing the length of the repeat tract. Placing the abasic site in the primer did not induce TRE. TRE was sequence-dependent. The damage-induced increase in growing strand TRE depended on the sequence of the growing strand repeat as AAT ∼ ATT > CAG > CTG. The expansions required replication from a primer complementary to the repeat tract. The expanded tracts were sequenced and contained multiple additions of the original repeat. The results imply that DNA damage can play a significant role in generating TRE in vivo.
Functional expressions of adenosine triphosphate‐binding cassette transporters during the development of zebrafish embryos and their effects on the detoxification of cadmium chloride and β‐naphthoflavone

Adenosine triphosphate‐binding cassette (ABC) transporters, including ABCB, ABCC and ABCG families represent general biological defenses against environmental toxicants in varieties of marine and freshwater organisms, but their physiological functions at differential developmental stages of zebrafish embryos remain undefined. In this work, functional expressions of typical ABC transporters including P‐glycoprotein (Pgp), multiresistance associated protein 1 (Mrp1) and Mrp2 were studied in zebrafish embryos at 4, 24, 48 and 72 h post‐fertilization (hpf). As a result, both the gene expressions and activities of Pgp and Mrps increased with the development of embryos. Correspondingly, 4–72 hpf embryos exhibited an increased tolerance to the toxicity caused by cadmium chloride (CdCl2) and β‐naphthoflavone (BNF) with time. Such a correlation was assumed caused by the involvement of ABC transporters in the detoxification of chemicals. In addition, the assumption was supported by the fact that model efflux inhibitors of Pgp and Mrps such as reversine 205 and MK571 significantly inhibited the efflux of toxicants and increased the toxicity of Cd and BNF in zebrafish embryos. Moreover, exposure to CdCl2 and BNF induced the gene expressions of Pgp and Mrp1 in 72 hpf embryos. Thus, functional expressions of Pgp and Mrps increased with the development of zebrafish embryos, which could cause an increasing tolerance of zebrafish embryos to CdCl2 and BNF. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Second order electoral rules and national party systems: The Duvergerian effects of European Parliament elections

The effects of electoral rules on party systems have been well known since Duverger first proposed his famous law. Often considered ‘second order’ in terms of issues and voting behaviour, many European Parliament elections are held under different electoral rules to national elections. This article examines the consequences of these differences and hypothesizes that where a more permissive electoral system is used for European Parliament elections, the size of the party system at European Parliament elections will grow towards what we would expect from the European Parliament electoral rules in isolation, and that this will lead to a subsequent growth in the size of the national party system. Using multi-level mixed-effect growth curve modelling support is found for both these hypotheses.
A Formiminotransferase Cyclodeaminase Isoform Is Localized to the Golgi Complex and Can Mediate Interaction of Trans-Golgi Network-derived Vesicles with Microtubules*

A protein of 60 kDa (p60) has been identified using a quantitative in vitro vesicle-microtubule binding assay. Purified p60 induces co-sedimentation with microtubules of trans-Golgi network-derived vesicles isolated from polarized, perforated Madin-Darby canine kidney cells. Sequencing of the cDNA coding for this protein revealed that it is the chicken homologue of formiminotransferase cyclodeaminase (FTCD), a liver-specific enzyme involved in the histidine degradation pathway. Purified p60 from chicken liver has formiminotransferase activity, confirming that it is FTCD or an isoform of this enzyme. Isoforms of FTCD were identified in chicken hepatoma and HeLa cells, and immunolocalize to the region of the Golgi complex and vesicular structures in its vicinity. Furthermore, 58K, a previously identified microtubule-binding Golgi protein from rat liver (Bloom, G. S., and Brashear, T. A. (1989) J. Biol. Chem. 264, 16083–16092), is identical to FTCD. Both proteins co-purify with microtubules and co-localize with membranes of the Golgi complex. The capacity of FTCD to bind both to microtubules and Golgi-derived membranes may suggest that this protein, or one of its isoforms, might have in addition to its enzymatic activity, a second physiological function in mediating interaction of Golgi-derived membranes with microtubules.
Inner and outer decoding performance of Convolutional codes

Convolutional codes are used extensively in numerous applications in order to achieve reliable data transfer. In this paper, the parameters of Convolutional codes are introduced and used to investigate its applications, characteristics and performance when employed as inner and outer code in decoding method. To evaluate the parameters, four schemes of Convolutional codes: non-systematic-recursive, systematic-recursive, non-systematic-non-recursive and systematic-non-recursive; are applied. In addition, the implementation of BCJR (Bahl, Cocke, Jelinek and Raviv) algorithm is discussed by applying APP-SISO (a posteriori probabilities — Soft Input Soft Output) decoding for Convolutional codes. The proposed scheme employing inner and outer decoding of Convolutional codes are analysed and compared by using EXIT characteristic of Convolutional decoders. The channel capacity measurements for different rates inner Convolutional codes are described by using BPSK modulation over AWGN channel. BER performances of outer decoding of Convolutional codes are observed for different schemes which are described the process of area beneath in the inverted EXIT function. This is essential to obtain better performance of BER plot indeed. The result shows that inner decoding of Convolutional codes is the best performance for the EXIT function, particularly for non-systematic-recursive. However, outer decoding of this code has not good performance due to having quite larger area beneath than inner code.
Differential Diagnosis in Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia with Lewy Bodies via VMAT2 and Amyloid Imaging

Background: The noninvasive evaluation of nigrostriatal dopaminergic integrity by PET can provide useful information for the differential diagnosis between dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic potential of imaging striatal monoaminergic terminal integrity with the novel vesicular monoamine transporter type 2 (VMAT2) radioligand [18F]AV-133 and PET to distinguish DLB from AD. Methods: Fifty participants [9 DLB, 11 AD, 20 Parkinson’s disease (PD) and 10 healthy age-matched control subjects (HC)] underwent [18F]AV-133 PET studies. Additionally, 20 participants underwent amyloid imaging PET scans with either [11C]PiB or 18F-florbetaben. VMAT2 density was calculated through normalized tissue uptake value ratios (RT) at 120–140 min after injection using the primary visual or the cerebellar cortex as reference region. Comparison of the RT for [18F]AV-133 was done between the different clinical diagnostic groups. Results: Significantly lower striatal VMAT2 densities were observed in DLB and PD when compared to AD and HC, especially in the posterior putamen. In contrast to PD and DLB, no reductions were observed in AD patients when compared to HC. Conclusions: [18F]AV-133 allows assessment of nigrostriatal degeneration in Lewy body diseases. In contrast to amyloid imaging, VMAT2 imaging with [18F]AV-133 can robustly detect reductions of dopaminergic nigrostriatal afferents in DLB patients, assisting in the differential diagnosis from AD.
Improved SOM-based distributed range-free localization for mobile sensor networks

Recent researches in mobile wireless ad-hoc and mobile sensor networks have shown the importance of location information from nodes participating in the networks. Although nodes with GPS-equipped device (anchor nodes) can be deployed in those networks to obtain the location information from nodes, researchers are interested in solving localization in networks that have a small fraction of anchor nodes deployed due to the high cost and energy expenditure of GPS devices and indoor environments. Most of existing researches focus on static networks, and only a few researches focus on mobility problem of practical scenarios. Localization schemes dealing with mobility problem usually apply the sequential Monte Carlo algorithm to solve the mobility problem and they put high computational load on network nodes. This paper proposes a solution to improve our existing method that is based on Self-Organizing Maps (SOM) to make it adaptive to high mobility of nodes. The proposed solution improves the location estimation of nodes by combining location estimation based on previous observations with new information observed in the current step during SOM learning. Simulation results from both purpose-built program and network simulator 2 (NS-2) confirm the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
Evolution of the wheat blast fungus through functional losses in a host specificity determinant

Genetic analysis of disease emergence In the 1980s, wheat crops began to fall to the fungal pathogen that causes blast disease. First seen in Brazil, wheat blast last year caused devastating crop losses in Bangladesh. Inoue et al. tracked down the shifting genetics that have allowed the emergence of this potentially global threat to wheat crops (see the Perspective by Maekawa and Schulze-Lefert). Wheat varieties with a disabled resistance gene were susceptible to pathogen strains that affected oat and ryegrass crops. Subsequent genetic changes in the pathogen amped up the virulence in wheat. Science, this issue p. 80; see also p. 31 Removal of a gene-based resistance system allowed blast fungus to jump to a new host—common wheat. Wheat blast first emerged in Brazil in the mid-1980s and has recently caused heavy crop losses in Asia. Here we show how this devastating pathogen evolved in Brazil. Genetic analysis of host species determinants in the blast fungus resulted in the cloning of avirulence genes PWT3 and PWT4, whose gene products elicit defense in wheat cultivars containing the corresponding resistance genes Rwt3 and Rwt4. Studies on avirulence and resistance gene distributions, together with historical data on wheat cultivation in Brazil, suggest that wheat blast emerged due to widespread deployment of rwt3 wheat (susceptible to Lolium isolates), followed by the loss of function of PWT3. This implies that the rwt3 wheat served as a springboard for the host jump to common wheat.
Sequence effects in the melting and renaturation of short DNA oligonucleotides: structure and mechanistic pathways

The renaturation/denaturation of DNA oligonucleotides is characterized in the context of expanded ensemble (EXE) and transition path sampling (TPS) simulations. Free energy profiles have been determined from EXE for DNA sequences of varying composition, chain length, and ionic strength. TPS simulations within a Langevin dynamics formalism have been carried out to obtain further information of the transition state for renaturation. Simulation results reveal that free energy profiles are strikingly similar for the various DNA sequences considered in this work. Taking intact double-stranded DNA to have an extent of reaction ξ = 1.0, the maximum of the free energy profile appears at ξ≈0.15, corresponding to ∼2 base pairs. In terms of chain length, the free energy barrier of longer oligonucleotides (30 versus 15 base pairs) is higher and slightly narrower, due to increased sharpness associated with the transition. Low ionic strength tends to decrease free energy barriers, whereby increasing strand rigidity facilitates reassociation. Two mechanisms for DNA reassociation emerge from our analysis of the transition state ensemble. Repetitive sequences tend to reassociate through a non-specific pathway involving molecular slithering. In contrast, random sequences associate through a more restrictive pathway involving the formation of specific contacts, which then leads to overall molecular zippering. In both random and repetitive sequences, the distribution of contacts suggests that nucleation is favored for sites located within the middle region of the chain. The prevalent extent of reaction for the transition state is ξ≈0.25, and the critical size of the nucleus as obtained from our analysis involves ∼4 base pairs.