Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Space-Vector-Quantized Dithered Sigma–Delta Modulator for Reducing the Harmonic Noise in Multilevel Converters

Power converters using deterministic switching frequency schemes have switching noise concentrated at harmonic frequencies, resulting in enhanced electromagnetic emission. To suppress the harmonic spikes in three-phase multilevel voltage source converters, a digital control scheme based on dithered sigma-delta modulation (SDM) is proposed in this paper. Introducing a dithered sequence in an SDM varies the switching frequency randomly, resulting in the suppression of the spurious harmonic spikes in the output spectrum even with a regular control input. Although the switching frequency varies randomly, the minimum pulsewidth of the proposed scheme is the sampling time period, avoiding the minimum pulsewidth problem. Instead of a conventional scalar quantizer, the quantizer in the proposed dithered sigma-delta converter uses the principle of space vector quantization. The proposed scheme is experimentally verified on a constant v/f open-loop induction motor drive for a three-level inverter realized by cascading two two-level inverters. The performance of the proposed scheme is compared with different pulsewidth modulation schemes in the entire modulation index, including the overmodulation region.
Efficient OCR Training Data Generation with Aletheia *

We present how the ground-truthing tool Aletheia can be used to efficiently create training data for an open-source text recognition engine. The labelling process is sped up considerably through a top-down approach. Text content is thereby entered on region level. The characters are then propagated automatically to glyph objects. In addition, segmentation is simplified by several semi-automated tools. Keywords—Optical character reconition; training data generation; ground truthing
Chameleon Effect, the Range of Values Hypothesis and Reproducing the EPR‐Bohm Correlations

We present a detailed analysis of assumptions that J. Bell used to show that local realism contradicts QM. We find that Bell’s viewpoint on realism is nonphysical, because it implicitly assume that observed physical variables coincides with ontic variables (i.e., these variables before measurement). The real physical process of measurement is a process of dynamical interaction between a system and a measurement device. Therefore one should check the adequacy of QM not to “Bell’s realism,” but to adaptive realism (chameleon realism). Dropping Bell’s assumption we are able to construct a natural representation of the EPR-Bohm correlations in the local (adaptive) realistic approach.
Bioactive Endophytes Warrant Intensified Exploration and Conservation

Background A key argument in favor of conserving biodiversity is that as yet undiscovered biodiversity will yield products of great use to humans. However, the link between undiscovered biodiversity and useful products is largely conjectural. Here we provide direct evidence from bioassays of endophytes isolated from tropical plants and bioinformatic analyses that novel biology will indeed yield novel chemistry of potential value. Methodology/Principal Findings We isolated and cultured 135 endophytic fungi and bacteria from plants collected in Peru. nrDNAs were compared to samples deposited in GenBank to ascertain the genetic novelty of cultured specimens. Ten endophytes were found to be as much as 15–30% different than any sequence in GenBank. Phylogenetic trees, using the most similar sequences in GenBank, were constructed for each endophyte to measure phylogenetic distance. Assays were also conducted on each cultured endophyte to record bioactivity, of which 65 were found to be bioactive. Conclusions/Significance The novelty of our contribution is that we have combined bioinformatic analyses that document the diversity found in environmental samples with culturing and bioassays. These results highlight the hidden hyperdiversity of endophytic fungi and the urgent need to explore and conserve hidden microbial diversity. This study also showcases how undergraduate students can obtain data of great scientific significance.
Challenge: recombinant computing and the speakeasy approach

Interoperability among a group of devices, applications, and services is typically predicated on those entities having some degree of prior knowledge of each another. In general, they must be written to understand the type of thing with which they will interact, including the details of communication as well as semantic knowledge such as when and how to communicate. This paper presents a case for "recombinant computing" -- a set of common interaction patterns that leverage mobile code to allow rich interactions among computational entities with only limited a priori knowledge of one another. We have been experimenting with a particular embodiment of these ideas, which we call Speakeasy. It is designed to support ad hoc, end user configurations of hardware and software, and provides patterns for data exchange, user control, discovery of new services and devices, and contextual awareness.
Enhanced Vaccine-Induced CD8+ T Cell Responses to Malaria Antigen ME-TRAP by Fusion to MHC Class II Invariant Chain

The orthodox role of the invariant chain (CD74; Ii) is in antigen presentation to CD4+ T cells, but enhanced CD8+ T cells responses have been reported after vaccination with vectored viral vaccines encoding a fusion of Ii to the antigen of interest. In this study we assessed whether fusion of the malarial antigen, ME-TRAP, to Ii could increase the vaccine-induced CD8+ T cell response. Following single or heterologous prime-boost vaccination of mice with a recombinant chimpanzee adenovirus vector, ChAd63, or recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), higher frequencies of antigen-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were observed, with the largest increases observed following a ChAd63-MVA heterologous prime-boost regimen. Studies in non-human primates confirmed the ability of Ii-fusion to augment the T cell response, where a 4-fold increase was maintained up to 11 weeks after the MVA boost. Of the numerous different approaches explored to increase vectored vaccine induced immunogenicity over the years, fusion to the invariant chain showed a consistent enhancement in CD8+ T cell responses across different animal species and may therefore find application in the development of vaccines against human malaria and other diseases where high levels of cell-mediated immunity are required.
Social Tag Relevance Estimation via Ranking-Oriented Neighbour Voting

User-generated tags associated with social images are frequently imprecise and incomplete. Therefore, a fundamental challenge in tag-based applications is the problem of tag relevance estimation, which concerns how to interpret and quantify the relevance of a tag with respect to the contents of an image. In this paper, we address the key problem from a new perspective of learning to rank, and develop a novel approach to facilitate tag relevance estimation to directly optimize the ranking performance of tag-based image search. A supervision step is introduced into the neighbour voting scheme, in which tag relevance is estimated by accumulating votes from visual neighbours. Through explicitly modelling the neighbour weights and tag correlations, the risk of making heuristic assumptions is effectively avoided for conventional methods. Extensive experiments on a benchmark dataset in comparison with the state-of-the-art methods demonstrate the promise of our approach.
THE IMPACT OF REGIONAL DIFFERENCES ON ENGLISH LANGAUGE LEARNING EXPERIENCES AMONGST STUDENTS FROM CHINA

Language learning anxiety has been of interest to language educators for more than two decades and research on this psychological construct has been increasing. This research indicates that learners experience a kind of psychological apprehension, which, at times can be damaging to the learning process. While this psychological apprehension has been investigated, how this apprehension is experienced by learners to whom English is both a foreign and second language has not been adequately documented in transnational locations. The paper examines the learning experiences of students from the People‟s Republic of China (PRC) at the transnational location of the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU). Using both qualitative and quantitative data collection amongst a sample of 109 PRC students, the research raises questions relating to their anxiety in learning in English and their provincial origins in China. The possible sources of anxiety in learning subjects through the English language are discussed for pedagogical implications
Optimal model-based reservoir management with model parameter uncertainty updates

The objective of this work is to manage water flooding of a reservoir to achieve optimal oil production by employing an optimal model-based control framework that uses uncertain parameter updating and a particular reduced-order model. A Markov chain Monte Carlo method is used to update the proposed distributions of the uncertain parameters. To avoid excessive simulations of the complex reservoir model, the techniques of partial least square regression and the Karhunen-Loève expansion are used to find the relationships between the uncertain parameters and the system state. To demonstrate this approach, the optimal control of an oil producing reservoir is compared against an uncontrolled reservoir.
EXPERIMENTAL ACTIVITIES OF NEW SULFONAMIDES

I n 1942, Bell and Koblin' stated that the more negative the -SO2 group of an Nl-substituted sulfonamide derivative, the greater its bacteriostatic power. According to Northey: this would indicate that, if the action of these compounds is dependent upon the inhibition of enzyme systems involving paraaminobenzoic acid (PABA), it is unlikely that new sulfonamide derivatives will be found that are appreciably more active iiz zitro than sulfathiazole and sulfadiazine. The therapeutic fitness of a chemotherapeutic remedy, however, by no means depends exclusively upon its intrinsic potency as expressed by ill ritro activity. Although high toxicity and the occurrence of untoward side effects may eliminate a compound highly active intrinsically, an excellent tolerance, a strong penetration into the organs in which high concentrations are therapeutically desirable, or a low incidence of over-all side effects may favor compounds of lower intrinsic activity. Indeed, since the introduction of sulfadiazine, a number of other sulfonamides that are much less active in zitro than sulfathiazole or sulfadiazine have appeared; nevertheless, they have proved to be excellent chemotherapeutic agents, with certain advantages over other sulfonamide derivatives. Therapeutic interest often shifts from established indications to other previously neglected considerations. In the early years sulfonamides were used mainly in the treatment of acute general infectious diseases. Subsequently, however, remedies were found, mainly antibiotics, that were superior to sulfonamides in this field. Interest in sulfonamides then changed to specific therapeutic indications in which the more powerful antibiotics did not give satisfactory results, or in which their application was connected with certain risks or unpleasant side effects. Chronic infectious diseases often turned out to be resistant to various forms of antibiotic treatment, whereas the sulfonamides maintained their place in this field of chemotherapy. Urinary infections, for instance, often resisted all antibiotics, whereas sulfonamides were discovered that were rapidly absorbed after peroral administration and were eliminated in high concentrations by the kidney, thus proving most valuable for treating this type of infection. On the other hand, other sulfonamides came into prominence because they were practically not absorbed a t all by the intestinal tract; and they were thus able to exert local activity in various intestinal infections. Lately interest has increased in derivatives that are well absorbed but rather slowly eliminated, so that they remain in the body tissues for a prolonged period, providing a sufficient therapeutic effect with only one or two doses within twenty-four hours. Indeed, even in a field so well explored as that of the sulfonamides, therapeutic surprises are still possible.
Hypergraph-Based Unsymmetric Nested Dissection Ordering for Sparse LU Factorization

In this paper we discuss a hypergraph-based unsymmetric nested dissection (HUND) ordering for reducing the fill-in incurred during Gaussian elimination. It has several important properties. It takes a global perspective of the entire matrix, as opposed to local heuristics. It takes into account the asymmetry of the input matrix by using a hypergraph to represent its structure. It is suitable for performing Gaussian elimination in parallel, with partial pivoting. This is possible because the row permutations performed due to partial pivoting do not destroy the column separators identified by the nested dissection approach. The hypergraph nested dissection approach is essentially equivalent to graph nested dissection on the matrix $A^{T}A$, but we need only the original matrix $A$ and never form the usually denser matrix $A^{T}A$. The usage of hypergraphs in our approach is fairly standard, and HUND can be implemented by calling an existing hypergraph partitioner that uses recursive bisection. Our implementation uses local reordering constrained column approximate minimum degree (CCOLAMD) to further improve the ordering. We also explain how weighted matching (HSL routine MC64) can be used in this context. Experimental results on 27 medium and large size matrices with highly unsymmetric structures compare our approach to four other well-known reordering algorithms. The results show that it provides a robust reordering algorithm, in the sense that it is the best or close to the best (often within 10%) of all the other methods, in particular on matrices with highly unsymmetric structures.
Student Perspectives on Digital Phenotyping: The Acceptability of Using Smartphone Data to Assess Mental Health

There is a mental health crisis facing universities internationally. A growing body of interdisciplinary research has successfully demonstrated that using sensor and interaction data from students' smartphones can give insight into stress, depression, mood, suicide risk and more. The approach, which is sometimes termed Digital Phenotyping, has potential to transform how mental health and wellbeing can be monitored and understood. The approach could also transform how interventions are designed, delivered and evaluated. To date, little work has addressed the human and ethical side of digital phenotyping, including how students feel about being monitored. In this paper we report findings from in-depth focus groups, prototyping and interviews with students. We find they are positive about mental health technology, but also that there are multi-layered issues to address if digital phenotyping is to become acceptable. Using an acceptability framework, we set out the key design challenges that need to be addressed.
The C-Terminal Sequence of RhoB Directs Protein Degradation through an Endo-Lysosomal Pathway

Background Protein degradation is essential for cell homeostasis. Targeting of proteins for degradation is often achieved by specific protein sequences or posttranslational modifications such as ubiquitination. Methodology/Principal Findings By using biochemical and genetic tools we have monitored the localization and degradation of endogenous and chimeric proteins in live primary cells by confocal microscopy and ultra-structural analysis. Here we identify an eight amino acid sequence from the C-terminus of the short-lived GTPase RhoB that directs the rapid degradation of both RhoB and chimeric proteins bearing this sequence through a lysosomal pathway. Elucidation of the RhoB degradation pathway unveils a mechanism dependent on protein isoprenylation and palmitoylation that involves sorting of the protein into multivesicular bodies, mediated by the ESCRT machinery. Moreover, RhoB sorting is regulated by late endosome specific lipid dynamics and is altered in human genetic lipid traffic disease. Conclusions/Significance Our findings characterize a short-lived cytosolic protein that is degraded through a lysosomal pathway. In addition, we define a novel motif for protein sorting and rapid degradation, which allows controlling protein levels by means of clinically used drugs.
Spontaneous secretion of interferon γ and interleukin 4 by human intraepithelial and lamina propria gut lymphocytes

Background—Cytokines secreted by intestinal T lymphocytes probably play a critical role in regulation of the gut associated immune responses. Aims—To quantify interferon γ (IFN-γ) and interleukin 4 (IL-4) secreting cells (SC) among human intraepithelial (IEL) and lamina propria (LPL) lymphocytes from the duodenum and right colon in non-pathological situations and in the absence of in vitro stimulation. Patients—Duodenal and right colonic biopsy specimens were obtained from patients with no inflammation of the intestinal mucosa. Methods—Intraepithelial and lamina propria cell suspensions were assayed for numbers of cells spontaneously secreting IFN-γ and IL-4 by a two site reverse enzyme linked immunospot technique (ELISPOT). Results—The relatively high proportion of duodenal lymphocytes spontaneously secreting IFN-γ (IEL 3.6%; LPL 1.9%) and IL-4 (IEL 1.3%; LPL 0.7%) contrasted with the very low numbers of spontaneously IFN-γ SC and the absence of spontaneously IL-4 SC among peripheral blood mononuclear cells. In the basal state, both IFN-γ and IL-4 were mainly produced by CD4+ cells. Within the colon, only 0.2% of IEL and LPL secreted IFN-γ in the basal state, and 0.1% secreted IL-4. Conclusions—Compared with peripheral lymphocytes substantial proportions of intestinal epithelial and lamina propria lymphocytes spontaneously secrete IFN-γ and/or IL-4. These cytokines are probably involved in the normal homoeostasis of the human intestinal mucosa. Disturbances in their secretion could play a role in the pathogenesis of gastrointestinal diseases.
Energy-Efficient Dissemination in Sensor Networks: Reactive Event Flow Shaping

Sensor networks provide sensing capability in a wide range of application domains such as healthcare, home, military, commercial and so on. Typically, energy is much more limited in sensor networks than in other wireless networks. This is due to the intrinsic nature of sensing devices and the difficulty in recharging their batteries. The nodes in the network usually dissipate energy by transmitting redundant packets. Additionally, in multi-event scenarios, the nodes fill up their caches with various events, instead of a specific set of the events, decreasing the in-network data aggregation efficiency. In this paper, we propose Reactive Event Flow Shaping (REFS), an energy-efficient data dissemination protocol for wireless sensor networks. REFS selectively prunes links and narrows the event flows according to the heuristics described. From our simulation, we have observed that 40% savings is achieved in terms of the number of transmissions and cache performance compared to flooding.
Experimental and Numerical Evaluation of the Mechanical Behavior of Strongly Anisotropic Light-Weight Metallic Fiber Structures under Static and Dynamic Compressive Loading

Rigid metallic fiber structures made from a variety of different metals and alloys have been investigated mainly with regard to their functional properties such as heat transfer, pressure drop, or filtration characteristics. With the recent advent of aluminum and magnesium-based fiber structures, the application of such structures in light-weight crash absorbers has become conceivable. The present paper therefore elucidates the mechanical behavior of rigid sintered fiber structures under quasi-static and dynamic loading. Special attention is paid to the strongly anisotropic properties observed for different directions of loading in relation to the main fiber orientation. Basically, the structures show an orthotropic behavior; however, a finite thickness of the fiber slabs results in moderate deviations from a purely orthotropic behavior. The morphology of the tested specimens is examined by computed tomography, and experimental results for different directions of loading as well as different relative densities are presented. Numerical calculations were carried out using real structural data derived from the computed tomography data. Depending on the direction of loading, the fiber structures show a distinctively different deformation behavior both experimentally and numerically. Based on these results, the prevalent modes of deformation are discussed and a first comparison with an established polymer foam and an assessment of the applicability of aluminum fiber structures in crash protection devices is attempted.
Characteristic Matrices for Linear Periodic Delay Differential Equations

Szalai, Stepan, and Hogan [SIAM J. Sci. Comput. , 28 (2006), pp. 1301–1317] gave a general construction for characteristic matrices for systems of linear delay differential equations with periodic coefficients. First, we show that matrices constructed in this way can have a discrete set of poles in the complex plane, which may possibly obstruct their use when determining the stability of the linear system. Then we modify and generalize the original construction such that the poles get pushed into a small neighborhood of the origin of the complex plane.
A Method for High Fidelity Optogenetic Control of Individual Pyramidal Neurons In vivo

Optogenetic methods have emerged as a powerful tool for elucidating neural circuit activity underlying a diverse set of behaviors across a broad range of species. Optogenetic tools of microbial origin consist of light-sensitive membrane proteins that are able to activate (e.g., channelrhodopsin-2, ChR2) or silence (e.g., halorhodopsin, NpHR) neural activity ingenetically-defined cell types over behaviorally-relevant timescales. We first demonstrate a simple approach for adeno-associated virus-mediated delivery of ChR2 and NpHR transgenes to the dorsal subiculum and prelimbic region of the prefrontal cortex in rat. Because ChR2 and NpHR are genetically targetable, we describe the use of this technology to control the electrical activity of specific populations of neurons (i.e., pyramidal neurons) embedded in heterogeneous tissue with high temporal precision. We describe herein the hardware, custom software user interface, and procedures that allow for simultaneous light delivery and electrical recording from transduced pyramidal neurons in an anesthetized in vivo preparation. These light-responsive tools provide the opportunity for identifying the causal contributions of different cell types to information processing and behavior.