Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
AN ANALYSIS OF TRANSACTIONS IN SERVICE-CENTRIC SYSTEMS

Traditional transaction semantics (usually expressed in terms of ACID properties) and protocols (like two-phase commit) are inappropriate for most B2B (Busisness-to-Business) applications in SOAs (Service Oriented Architectures). This is because B2B applications may execute over long periods, involve loosely coupled partners, pose multiple points of failure and do not necessarily share business and technical characteristics. Also, B2B transactions span over different administrative domains (companies) with discrepancies in data definitions, service and transaction management. Such transactions require commitments and failure behavior to be “negotiated” rather than to rely on the traditional ACID properties. Since ACID properties cannot be achieved in B2B transactions in case of failures, compensating actions must be used to turn back the system to a state as close to (but not identical with) the initial state. This thesis categorizes the types of compensating actions for various application domains such as distributed production, distribution of goods, booking of services for a common purpose and web shops, to mention a few. To achieve this, use cases are developed for the application domains and from these use cases the typical failures points derived, leading to the detailing of the related compensating actions and then, finally, to the categorization. The same type of compensation may be applicable for, or extended to other different domains that have not been stated in this report. In addition, a demonstrator showing the different compensating actions (by showing transaction progress from the user point-of-view) for one scenario chosen from one application domain was built.
Gallic Acid Derivatives Propyl Gallate and Epigallocatechin Gallate Reduce rRNA Transcription via Induction of KDM2A Activation

We previously reported that lysine-demethylase 2A (KDM2A), a Jumonji-C histone demethylase, is activated by gallic acid to reduce H3K36me2 levels in the rRNA gene promoter and consequently inhibit rRNA transcription and cell proliferation in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7. Gallic acid activates AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) and increases reactive oxygen species (ROS) production to activate KDM2A. Esters of gallic acid, propyl gallate (PG) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and other chemicals, reduce cancer cell proliferation. However, whether these compounds activate KDM2A has yet to be tested. In this study, we found that PG and EGCG decreased rRNA transcription and cell proliferation through KDM2A in MCF-7 cells. The activation of both AMPK and ROS production by PG or EGCG was required to activate KDM2A. Of note, while the elevation of ROS production by PG or EGCG was limited in time, it was sufficient to activate KDM2A. Importantly, the inhibition of rRNA transcription and cell proliferation by gallic acid, PG, or EGCG was specifically observed in MCF-7 cells, whereas it was not observed in non-tumorigenic MCF10A cells. Altogether, these results suggest that the derivatization of gallic acid may be used to obtain new compounds with anti-cancer activity.
Study on the characteristics of a homemade differential-velocity–type compliant joint for robotic manipulators

Design of a new differential-velocity–type compliant joint with two motors is proposed for robotic manipulators. The speed/output torque of the differential-velocity–type joint is synthesized by controlling the differential speeds of a pair of actuators. Descriptions of the design concept, theoretical analysis, and the experiments are presented in this article. The experimental results showed that (1) the stiffness of the differential-velocity–type joint can be regulated by changing the speeds of both motors, (2) the differential-velocity–type joint actually reduced 7.9%−15.7% time compared with the single-drive joint when performing five cycles of reciprocation, and (3) a new design of delta-type robot with differential-velocity–type driving modules was developed for verification. The experimental results showed that the differential-velocity–type delta robot can perform flexible assembly operations within a 0.028-mm tolerance.
Designing input signals to disrupt commercial systems in band - a nonlinear dynamics approach

Describes a method for disrupting a standard, commercially available, nonlinear electronic system. In particular, we show how, with relatively little knowledge of the commercial system design, an in-band signal can be determined which will disrupt the operation of the circuit. Our approach is based on a nonlinear analysis of the most susceptible subsystem in the circuit. Analytical, numerical, and experimental results are reported to demonstrate the efficacy of our approach.
Do numbers speak for themselves? Exploring the use of quantitative data to measure policy ‘success’ in historical Indigenous higher education in the Northern Territory, Australia

ABSTRACT ‘The numbers speak for themselves’ is a phrase often linked to statistics supporting claims about the success (or otherwise) of policies. Quantitative data are usually viewed as objective and somehow exempt from the same critique that qualitative data faces. QuantCrit theory challenges these assumptions by considering how structural racism impacts on the use of statistics in research and evaluation. This paper applies QuantCrit to the Indigenous higher education policy context in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia. It aims to elicit hidden assumptions within the use of statistics to measure the success of Indigenous higher education policies in the NT. We explore the historical utility of Indigenous higher education student statistics for policy evaluation in the NT. We argue that quantitative success measures should always be considered within the context of the structural racism that shapes policy goals. We conclude by highlighting that quantitative data can be useful for Indigenous higher education policy evaluation and research, but that alternative views for measuring policy success must be considered.
Changes in The Use of Alcohol and Tobacco in Slovenia During the First Wave of The SARS-COV-2 Pandemic

Abstract Background In the first months of 2020, the SARS-CoV-2 virus spread all over the world and numerous measures were adopted that had a strong impact on both personal and public life. This contribution explores changes in alcohol and tobacco use during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia. Methods Self-reported changes in alcohol and tobacco use during the first few months of the Covid-19 pandemic were recorded in 495 Slovenian adults, as part of the European Alcohol Use and COVID-19 survey. Results About half of the Slovenian sample indicated that the frequency of drinking occasions did not change in the months after the pandemic’s outbreak, while the remainder stated either a decrease (26.0%) or an increase (24.2%). 23.1% reported a decrease and 17.3% an increase in the quantity of alcohol consumed per occasion. Respondents who reported that their overall alcohol consumption decreased were more likely to be male than female and more likely to be younger than middle-aged. Those who reported experiencing at least a substantial level of distress due to financial loss were at a four-times increased risk of reporting an increase in their alcohol consumption compared to individuals who reported no or only some financial distress. Of the 120 people reporting the use of tobacco, almost half indicated an increase in tobacco consumption within the previous month, and about 20% reported a decrease in use. The differences in the results between Slovenia and other European countries are small and the overall pattern suggests that the situation in Slovenia was comparable to other European countries. Conclusion As this pandemic continues to evolve, further monitoring is needed to identify the long-term effects of alcohol and tobacco use on public health in relation to the management of COVID-19.
Radar penetration imaging using ultra-wideband (UWB) random noise waveforms

Ultra-wideband (UWB) radar has been proven to be a very powerful tool for high-resolution penetration imaging of obscured objects. The authors discuss a radar penetration imaging technique using UWB random noise waveforms. The theoretical foundations for random noise radar, the random noise radar imaging model, and the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) image formation algorithm are presented. Typical field test results using an experimental random noise radar system are demonstrated.
Temperature‐mediated acquisition of rare heterologous symbionts promotes survival of coral larvae under ocean warming

Reef‐building corals form nutritional symbioses with endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodiniaceae), a relationship that facilitates the ecological success of coral reefs. These symbionts are mostly acquired anew each generation from the environment during early life stages (“horizontal transmission”). Symbiodiniaceae species exhibit trait variation that directly impacts the health and performance of the coral host under ocean warming. Here, we test the capacity for larvae of a horizontally transmitting coral, Acropora tenuis, to establish symbioses with Symbiodiniaceae species in four genera that have varying thermal thresholds (the common symbiont genera, Cladocopium and Durusdinium, and the less common Fugacium and Gerakladium). Over a 2‐week period in January 2018, a series of both no‐choice and four‐way choice experiments were conducted at three temperatures (27, 30, and 31°C). Symbiont acquisition success and cell proliferation were measured in individual larvae. Larvae successfully acquired and maintained symbionts of all four genera in no‐choice experiments, and >80% of larvae were infected with at least three genera when offered a four‐way choice. Unexpectedly, Gerakladium symbionts increased in dominance over time, and at high temperatures outcompeted Durusdinium, which is regarded as thermally tolerant. Although Fugacium displayed the highest thermal tolerance in culture and reached similar cell densities to the other three symbionts at 31°C, it remained a background symbiont in choice experiments, suggesting host preference for other symbiont species. Larval survivorship at 1 week was highest in larvae associated with Gerakladium and Fugacium symbionts at 27 and 30°C, however at 31°C, mortality was similar for all treatments. We hypothesize that symbionts that are currently rare in corals (e.g., Gerakladium) may become more common and widespread in early life stages under climate warming. Uptake of such symbionts may function as a survival strategy in the wild, and has implications for reef restoration practices that use sexually produced coral stock.
Non-parametric and non-rigid registration method applied to myocardial gated SPECT

We propose a non-parametric and non-rigid registration method totally unrestricted regarding the allowed deformations. It requires a segmentation contour of the organ of interest in both the image to register and the image template. We assume that the contour template can be deduced from the contour in the image to register by a series of locally normal elementary deformations. This assumption allows us to compute unique deformation vectors. We extend these elementary deformation computations to the whole image domain using level sets (sets of embedded parallel contours with the organ contour as a reference). This series of elementary deformations provides a way to perform an iterative registration by indicating the successive motions from a point in the image to register to its final position in the registered image. Myocardial gated SPECT acquisitions are more susceptible to noise since the average count number per projection is N times lower than equivalent non-gated acquisitions (N is the number of sequence frames). We have applied our method to perform a motion compensation of the frames, i.e. to non-rigidly register N-1 frames with respect to the N/sup th/ one. The N registered frames were then added together resulting in an image with similar noise characteristics to an equivalent non-gated image but without motion-induced blurring. Since our method is based on contour deformation, it guarantees that the registered contour exactly matches the contour template. In this application of sum after motion compensation, we are sure that no point inside the organ in an image will be added to a point of the background of another one. Results on a 3D simulated sequence are presented.
Design of a Circular Polarized Horn Antenna with an Anisotropic Metamaterial Slab

Abstract In this paper, a novel design of a circular polarized horn antenna is presented. An anisotropic metamaterial slab with metal periodic structures printed on a substrate is designed and its constitutive parameters and S parameters are analyzed. It shows that the metamaterial is anisotropic and can turn a linearly polarized wave to a circular polarized one. Then a novel horn antenna composed of a conventional rectangular horn antenna and the metamaterial slab is fabricated and measured. The results show that the novel horn antenna radiates a left handed circular polarized wave with an axis ratio below 3 dB at 16 GHz, and its gain and radiation pattern are the same as those of the conventional rectangular horn antenna.
On the explicit dynamics implementation and validation of partitioned rate-type constitutive relation for dampers

Abstract We propose a simple 3D nonlinear rate-type constitutive relation with just three parameters for elastomeric dampers capable of emulating double-shear data in frequency and strain sweep mode. The nonlinear relation derived using two scalar functions, namely Helmholtz free energy and the rate of dissipation function [1], result in a partitioned constitutive relation: Cauchy stress tensor is described in terms of the left Cauchy-Green stretch tensor and a tensor describing instantaneous elastic response, and the evolution equation for the instantaneous elastic response is derived by maximizing the rate of dissipation function. A compressible version of this model is implemented in Abaqus® The constitutive relation and the implementation are validated by comparing with known semi-inverse solutions obtained by specializing rate-type relation to special deformations. Material parameters are obtained for dampers made of synthetic and natural rubber by fitting the predictions of the model with that of double shear data. By using the same parameters, three dimensional simulations of a cylindrical damper subjected to sinusoidal force akin to that of an unbalanced machinery predict different hysteresis curves in compression/tension and shear. To that end, we show that the non-linear 3 parameter model is one of the simple models that can be formulated within the thermodynamic framework which can predict the inherent non-linearity of the damper operating under combined harmonic loading situations. A robust implementation (VUMAT) of the developed model is included with the article. We believe that this can aid engineers in tailoring dampers for its controlled dissipation across multiple modes of deformation as well as academicians in adding more value by building and implementing sophisticated models within this framework.
Layered Oxygen-Deficient Double Perovskites as Promising Cathode Materials for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells

Development of new functional materials with improved characteristics for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and solid oxide electrolysis cells (SOECs) is one of the most important tasks of modern materials science. High electrocatalytic activity in oxygen reduction reactions (ORR), chemical and thermomechanical compatibility with solid electrolytes, as well as stability at elevated temperatures are the most important requirements for cathode materials utilized in SOFCs. Layered oxygen-deficient double perovskites possess the complex of the above-mentioned properties, being one of the most promising cathode materials operating at intermediate temperatures. The present review summarizes the data available in the literature concerning crystal structure, thermal, electrotransport-related, and other functional properties (including electrochemical performance in ORR) of these materials. The main emphasis is placed on the state-of-art approaches to improving the functional characteristics of these complex oxides.
Investigation on the dual functions of generator reactive power support

Open access permits all players to inject real power into a system with few restrictions. As generators also provide reactive power to the system, there is a general conception that their Q-outputs are supportive to system security and should be financially compensated. Our research results show, however, that a generator's Q-output has double-applications. One is to support the shipment of its own active power, and the other is to support system security. Therefore, compensation should be made to the second component only. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce the problem and demonstrate the phenomena of the dual functions of generators Q-output. Simple systems are used to illustrate the phenomena. Analytical separation of the components is presented for these simple systems. Case-specific separation methods are also developed to demonstrate the problem. The paper contributes to introducing the phenomenon, as well as demonstrating its importance for defining fair compensation schemes for reactive power support services. It also shows that methods need to be developed to solve the problem for large-scale real-life power systems, Preliminary, but potential, ideas are discussed.
Literature survey on Image Segmentation and Shape Analysis for Road-Sign Recognition

Road sign detection has been an important issue for research recently The goal of this work is to find and classify road signs. In developing a new algorithm for road-sign detection and recognition, we think that any road-sign recognition algorithm should be as general as possible to work with large groups of road signs. This paper proposes an automatic road-sign recognition method based on image segmentation and joint transform correlation (JTC) with the integration of shape analysis. The presented system is universal, which is able to detect traffic signs of any countries with any color and any of the existing shapes (e.g., circular, rectangular, triangular, pentagonal, and octagonal) and is invariant to transformation (e.g., translation, rotation, scale, and occlusion). The main contributions of this paper are: 1) the formulation of two new criteria for analyzing different shapes using two basic geometric properties, 2) the recategorization of the rectangular signs into diamond or nondiamond shapes based on the inclination of the four sides with the ground and 3) the employment of the distortion-invariant fringe-adjusted JTC (FJTC) technique for recognition.
Future Directions for Human-Centered Transparent Systems for Engine Room Monitoring in Shore Control Centers

Many autonomous ship projects have reflected the increasing interest in incorporating the concept of autonomy into the maritime transportation sector. However, autonomy is not a silver bullet, as exemplified by many incidents in the past involving human and machine interaction; rather it introduces new Human Factor (HF) challenges. These challenges are especially critical for Engine Room Monitoring (ERM) in Shore Control Centre (SCCs) due to the system’s complexity and the absence of human senses in the decision-making process. A transparent system is one of the potential solutions, providing a rationale behind its suggestion. However, diverse implementations of transparency schemes have resulted in prevalent inconsistencies in its effects. This literature review paper investigates 17 transparency studies published over the last eight years to identify (a) different approaches to developing transparent systems, (b) the effects of transparency on key HFs, and (c) the effects of information presentation methods and uncertainty information. The findings suggest that the explicit presentation of information could strengthen the benefits of the transparent system and could be promising for performance improvements in ERM tasks in the SCC.
Absorption Characteristics of Multi-Layered Sphere Models Exposed to UHF/Microwave Radiation

Plane wave absorption characteristics of spherical models composed of six layers of dissipative dielectric media, representing various biological tissues found in human and animal heads, are examined in the frequency range of 0.1 to 10 GHz. The internal distribution of energy deposition inside the sphere is discussed with emphasis on strong localized heating (hot spot) effects.
Trio exome sequencing is highly relevant in prenatal diagnostics

About 3% of newborns show malformations, with about 20% of the affected having genetic causes. Clarification of genetic diseases in postnatal diagnostics was significantly improved with high‐throughput sequencing, in particular through whole exome sequencing covering all protein‐coding regions. Here, we aim to extend the use of this technology to prenatal diagnostics.
PRELIMINARY NEUTRONIC ANALYSES OF THE TRIGA-ADS DEMONSTRATION FACILITY

TRADE (TRiga Accelerator Driven Experiment), to be performed in the TRIGA reactor of the ENEA-Casaccia Centre (Italy), consists in the coupling of an external proton accelerator to a target to be installed in the central channel of the reactor scrammed to sub-criticality. This pilot experiment, aimed at a global demonstration of the ADS concept, is based on an original idea of Carlo Rubbia. The present paper reports the results of some neutronic analyses focused on the feasibility of such experiment. Results show that all relevant experiments (at different power levels in a wide range of sub-criticalities) can be carried out, with relatively limited modifications to the present TRIGA reactor.
Study of the Fabrication Technology of Hybrid Microfluidic Biochips for Label-Free Detection of Proteins

A study of the peculiarities and a comparative analysis of the technologies used for the fabrication of elements of novel hybrid microfluidic biochips for express biomedical analysis have been carried out. The biochips were designed with an incorporated microfluidic system, which enabled an accumulation of the target compounds in a biological fluid to be achieved, thus increasing the biochip system’s sensitivity and even implementing a label-free design of the detection unit. The multilevel process of manufacturing a microfluidic system of a given topology for label-free fluorometric detection of protein structures is presented. The technological process included the chemical modification of the working surface of glass substrates by silanization using (3-aminopropyl) trimethoxysilane (APTMS), formation of the microchannels, for which SU-8 technologies and a last generation dry film photoresist were studied and compared. The solid-state phosphor layers were deposited using three methods: drop application; airbrushing; and mechanical spraying onto the adhesive surface. The processes of sealing the system, installing input ports, and packaging using micro-assembly technologies are described. The technological process has been optimized and the biochip was implemented and tested. The presented system can be used to design novel high-performance diagnostic tools that implement the function of express detection of protein markers of diseases and create low-power multimodal, highly intelligent portable analytical decision-making systems in medicine.