Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Micromechanical analysis of porous SMA

The present paper deals with computational micromechanical analyses of porous shape memory alloy (SMA). Porous SMAs are considered composite materials made of a dense SMA matrix including voids. A three-dimensional constitutive law is presented for the dense SMA able to reproduce the pseudo-elastic as well as the shape memory effects and, moreover, to account for the different elastic properties of the austenite and martensite phases. Furthermore, a numerical procedure is developed and the overall behavior of the porous SMA is recovered studying a representative volume element. Comparisons between the numerical results, recovered using the proposed modeling, and experimental data available in the literature are presented. The case of closed and open porosity is investigated. Parametric studies have been conducted in order to investigate the influence of the porosity, the shape and orientation of the pores on the overall mechanical response and, mainly, on the energy absorption dissipation capability.
Handzlik, Michal and Constantin-Teodosiu, Dumitru and Greenhaff, Paul L. and Cole, Mark (2018) Increasing cardiac pyruvate dehydrogenase flux during chronic hypoxia

The pattern of metabolic reprogramming in chronic hypoxia shares similarities with that following myocardial infarction or hypertrophy; however, the response of the chronically hypoxic heart to subsequent acute injury, and the role of metabolism is not well understood. Here, we determined the myocardial tolerance of the chronically hypoxic heart to subsequent acute injury, and hypothesised that activation of a key regulator of myocardial metabolism, the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex (PDC), could improve hypoxic tolerance. Mouse hearts, perfused in Langendorff mode, were exposed to 30 min of hypoxia, and lost 80% of pre-hypoxic function (P = 0.001), with only 51% recovery of pre-hypoxic function with 30 min of reoxygenation (P = 0.046). Activation of the PDC with infusion of 1 mM dichloroacetate (DCA) during hypoxia and reoxygenation did not alter function. Acute hypoxic tolerance was assessed in hearts of mice housed in hypoxia for 3 weeks. Chronic hypoxia reduced cardiac tolerance to subsequent acute Michal K. Handzlik is currently a Senior Fellow at the Mitochondria and Metabolism Centre at the University of Washington in Seattle, WA, USA. His research interests are in the field of cardiac energy metabolism. Following earning a BSc in Physiotherapy from the University School of Physical Education (AWF) in Wroclaw, Poland, he received his MSc in Exercise Physiology at Loughborough University, UK, and a PhD in Biomedical Sciences from the University of Nottingham, UK in the laboratory of Dr Mark A. Cole. C © 2018 The Authors. The Journal of Physiology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Physiological Society DOI: 10.1113/JP275357 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. 2 M. K. Handzlik and others J Physiol 000.0 hypoxia, with recovery of function 22% of pre-acute hypoxic levels vs. 39% in normoxic control hearts (P = 0.012). DCA feeding in chronic hypoxia (per os, 70 mg kg−1 day−1) doubled cardiac acetylcarnitine content, and this fell following acute hypoxia. This acetylcarnitine use maintained cardiac ATP and glycogen content during acute hypoxia, with hypoxic tolerance normalised. In summary, chronic hypoxia renders the heart more susceptible to acute hypoxic injury, which can be improved by activation of the PDC and pooling of acetylcarnitine. This is the first study showing functional improvement of the chronically hypoxic heart with activation of the PDC, and offers therapeutic potential in cardiac disease with a hypoxic component. (Received 30 September 2017; accepted after revision 19 January 2018; first published online 31 January 2018) Corresponding author M. A. Cole: University of Nottingham Medical School, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK. Email: mark.cole@nottingham.ac. uk
What Is the Implicit Gender-Science Stereotype? Exploring Correlations Between the Gender-Science IAT and Self-Report Measures

Implicit measures of the gender-science stereotype are often better than explicit measures in predicting relevant outcomes. This finding could reflect a discrepancy between implicit and explicit stereotypes, but an alternative is that the implicit measure is sensitive to constructs other than the stereotype. Analyzing an archival data set (total N = 478,550), we found that self-reported liking of science versus liberal arts was the best predictor of the gender-science implicit association test (IAT). In a reanalysis of a previous study and a replication of another study, we found that evidence for the IAT’s advantage over explicit stereotypes in predicting relevant outcomes disappeared when controlling for self-reported liking. Therefore, perhaps the IAT has often outperformed the explicit stereotype because the gender-science IAT captures personal attraction, whereas the explicit stereotype does not. It is premature to conclude that implicit constructs are superior to explicit constructs in predicting science-related plans and behavior.
DevelopmentofanewPCRprimer systemfor selectiveampli¢cation ofActinobacteria

The occurrence of Actinobacteria in water-damaged building materials as well as the clinical relevance of some Actinobacteria (e.g. Saccharopolyspora spp., Mycobacterium spp., Nocardia spp., etc.), led us to develop a detection system to examine the actinobacterial community. A new primer system, Com2xf/Ac1186r (16S rRNA gene based) specific for Actinobacteria was designed. The adequacy for the intended use of the primer system was first investigated in silico using sequences of 164 different species belonging to 75 different genera of the class Actinobacteria. To test the primer specificity in complex environmental samples, four 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were generated (plaster material, compost material, compost plantand duck house bioaerosols). Overall, 87% of obtained sequences were assigned to actinobacterial genera. To verify the applicability of the new designed primer system in water-damaged building material, 16S rRNA gene clone libraries of 18 different water-damaged materials were screened for their affiliation to Actinobacteria. A total of 88% of all ‘Actinobacteria-positive’ detected plasmid inserts were affiliated correctly. Results of SSCP-fingerprinting clearly showed differences of the species detected by the Actinobacteria-specific primer system within the different samples. Overall results obtained in this study indicate the applicability of the developed primer system for its intended use.
DISCRETE IMPERIALIST COMPETITIVE ALGORITHM

In graph theory, Graph Colouring Problem (GCP) is an assignment of colours to vertices of any given graph such that the colours on adjacent vertices are different. The GCP is known to be an optimization and NP-hard problem. Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) is a meta-heuristic optimization and stochastic search strategy which is inspired from socio-political phenomenon of imperialistic competition. The ICA contains two main operators: the assimilation and the imperialistic competition. The ICA has excellent capabilities such as high convergence rate and better global optimum achievement. In this research, a discrete version of ICA is proposed to deal with the solution of GCP. We call this algorithm as the DICA. The performance of the proposed method is compared with Genetic Algorithm (GA) on seven well-known graph colouring benchmarks. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the DICA for the benchmarks. This means DICA can produce optimal and valid solutions for different GCP instances.
Structured Root-Check LDPC Codes and PEG-Based Techniques for Block-Fading Channels

In this work, we propose structured Root-Check Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes and design techniques for block-fading channels. In particular, Quasi-Cyclic Root-Check LDPC codes, Irregular repeat-accumulate Root-Check LDPC codes and Controlled Doping Root-Check LDPC codes based on Progressive Edge Growth (PEG) techniques for block-fading channels are proposed. The proposed Root-Check LDPC codes are both suitable for channels under F = 2, 3 and 4 independent fading per codeword. The performance of the proposed codes is investigated in terms of Frame Error Rate (FER). The proposed Root-Check LDPC codes are capable of achieving the channel diversity and outperform standard LDPC codes. For block-fading channel with F = 2 our proposed PEG-based Root-Check LDPC codes outperform PEG-based LDPC codes by 7.5dB.
Statistical considerations in meta-analysis of QTL reports : application to dairy cattle.

There is a clear need to make optimal use of the ever increasing number of QTL mapping studies, especially for traits of economic importance. Meta-analysis of published information provides an extremely useful and cost effective approach. Originally developed for applications in the medical and social sciences, some papers have recently been published specifically for QTL studies in livestock species. The current paper focuses on some statistical approaches to meta-analysis of (1) QTL location and (2) QTL effect. By way of illustration, published records of QTL for milk yield of dairy cattle on BTA6 have been reviewed, and the meta-analysis clearly supports the existence of two well defined chromosomal regions.
Analytical intercomparison between type I and type II long‐pathlength liquid core waveguides for the measurement of chromophoric dissolved organic matter

In the past decade, technological advances in optical sensors have facilitated an increased understanding of the relationship between optical characteristics and biogeochemistry of our oceans. In particular, long‐pathlength liquid core waveguide cells (LCWs) are being used to “map” chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM), as a biogeochemical tracer, in various coastal and open ocean regions. At present, two LCW cell types are used in the study of marine CDOM, and concerns about discrepancies in data collected with the different cell types and problems with baseline offsets have arisen. We conducted a direct comparison of absorption coefficient spectra of a dissolved spectrophotometric standard, molecular weight standard (MWS), and dilution series of natural seawater obtained in type I and type II LCWs to assess data agreement and potential colloid‐mediated biases. Although no statistical difference was observed for the dissolved standard, we found the type I to have a slight bias toward higher absorption coefficient values for MWS 14–150 kDa (within 95% confidence interval) and natural seawater. Seawater CDOM spectral slopes differed significantly between type I and type II LCWs, with a maximum difference in slope of 0.0006 nm−1. Fastidious elimination of microbubbles from the capillary cells greatly reduced baseline offsets and markedly improved CDOM spectral slope precision.
Adoption of Improved Potato Varieties in Nepal

Nepal is one of the top twenty countries where potato contributes substantially for the human diet. Enhancing adoption of improved potato varieties could impact on farmer’s income, household food and nutritional security. As such, using a multistage sampling procedure, a study was conducted to assess the determinants of improved potato varieties adoption in Nepal covering 180 samples in four districts, two in hills and two in Tarai region. The study revealed that; Kavre and Bardiya districts in the hills and Tarai, respectively, were dominated by improved potato varieties adoption. On the other hand, Dhankuta and Jhapa in the hills and Tarai, respectively, were dominated by local potato varieties adoption. The informal seed sources followed by agro-vet and market were the major sources for improved varietal adoption. Farmers’ accesses to training and formal seed sources were important factor determining improved potato varietal adoption. However, households with larger farm size were less likely to allocate more area for improved potato varieties as many of farmers were reluctant to take potato cultivation as agri-business and still follow subsistence farming. Potato R&D programs, therefore, need to strengthen formal seed system to enhance access to quality potato seeds and build producer’s capacity through regular training and exposer visits in order to improve adoption of improved potato varieties in Nepal. Journal of Nepal Agricultural Research Council Vol.3 2017: 38-44
PAMA: A Proactive Approach to Mitigate False Data Injection Attacks in Smart Grids

The pervasiveness of information and communications technologies as well as intelligent electronic devices leads to an expanded attack surface in smart grids, making it increasingly challenging to withstand the high-profile false data injection (FDI) attacks. In this paper, we propose a Proactive Approach to Mitigate FDI Attacks (PAMA) in smart grids. With PAMA scheme, the critical information - power grid connections and configurations as well as the original measurement data - used for constructing FDI attacks is well protected from leakage or theft, so that FDI attacks are effectively mitigated. Specifically, we transform the state estimation and FDI detection application into a distributed one equipped with converted information from the critical information provided by the control center. In addition, the original measurement data is also protected by using a secure hybrid Paillier cryptosystem. Our PAMA scheme is proved to be secure and effective in mitigating FDI attacks on smart grids. The computational complexity and the communication overhead are evaluated on the standard IEEE 14-bus test system. Keywords__Smart grids, false data injection (FDI) attack, Paillier cryptosystem, state estimation.
Locally Isolated Bacterial Strains with Multiple Degradation Potential Capabilities on Petroleum Hydrocarbon Pollutants

In the present study, 23 isolates, dominated by bacterial genera (74%) were isolated from petroleum sludge at refinery wastewater plant, Jeddah, KSA, by means of selective enrichment in nutritionally optimized refinery wastewater (NORWW) and over twelve successive transfers. Efficiency of biodegradation on complex mixture of hydrocarbons present in refinery wastewater was evidenced by changes in both total viable counts (TVC) and COD content of cultivation broth. Out of the 23 isolates three most potent isolates named BDCC-TUSA-8, BDCC-TUSA-12 and BDCC-TUSA-18 were selected for their efficient COD removal and active growth. The three isolates were tested separately in Bushnell-Haas (BH) media for their capabilities to degrade n-Hexadecane, phenol and phenanthrene, representing the major types of hydrocarbon pollutants. The results strongly indicated that all three isolates showed multiple degradation potentials with remarkably fast reaction rates. Before being recommended for future work, the three isolates were fully characterized and identified employing culture-dependent techniques such as API 20E, API 20NE and API 50CHB, and further confirmed by partial 16S rRNA gene sequencing and phylogenetic analysis as Pantoea agglomerans, Acinetobacter lwoffii and Bacillus thuringiensis respectively. The obtained potent strains provide valuable candidates if assemblages of mixed fewer strains with overall broad and complementary enzymatic capacities are to be considered in order to bring the rate and extent of petroleum biodegradation further as a cost-effective process.
Constant creation in grammatical evolution

We present an investigation into constant creation in Grammatical Evolution (GE), a form of grammar-based Genetic Programming (GP). The methods for constant creation evaluated include digit Concatenation (Cat) and a grammatical version of ephemeral random constants called persistent random constants. Experiments conducted on a diverse range of benchmark problems uncover clear advantages for a digit Cat approach.
Novel Mutation in the Apob Gene (Apo B-15.56): A Case Report

Novel Mutation in the Apob Gene (Apo B-15.56): A Case Report Familial hypobetalipoproteinemia (FHBL) is a rare co-dominant genetic disorder characterized by decrease of plasma low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-c) or apolipoprotein B (Apo-B) equal to or less than the 5th percentile for the population. We describe a 48-year-old male who presented with fatty liver disease (FLD), insulin resistance (IR), obesity and hypertension. Our patient thus met the latest diagnostic criteria of the metabolic syndrome (MS) proposed by the Adult Treatment Panel and the International Diabetes Federation. However, he had very low plasma concentration of LDL-c and Apo-B. DNA sequencing showed that he and two first-degree relatives affected by obesity and mild IR were heterozygous for a single nucleotide deletion on exon 15 of the APOB gene, which was predicted to form a truncated Apo-B designated Apo B-15.56.
. Utility of a novel biofeedback device for within-breath modulation of heart rate in rats: a quantitative comparison of vagus nerve versus right atrial pacing. Frontiers in Physiology

real time integration of physiological feedback. Motivated by the fact that respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), which is the cyclical changes in heart rate every breath, is an essential component of heart rate variability (HRV) (an indicator of cardiac health), we have explored the versatility and efﬁciency of the CPG for producing respiratory modulation of heart rate in anesthetized, spontaneously breathing rats. Diaphragmatic electromyographic activity was used as the input to the device and its output connected to either the right cervical vagus nerve or the right atrium for pacing heart rate. We found that the CPG could induce respiratory related heart rate modulation that closely mimicked RSA. Whether connected to the vagus nerve or right atrium, the versatility of the device was demonstrated by permitting: (i) heart rate modulation in any phase of the respiratory cycle, (ii) control of the magnitude of heart rate modulation, and (iii) instant adaptation to changes in respiratory frequency. Vagal nerve pacing was only possible following transection of the nerve limiting its effective use chronically. Pacing via the right atrium permitted better ﬂexibility and control of heart rate above its intrinsic level. This investigation now lays the foundation for future studies using this biofeedback technology permitting closer analysis of both the function and dysfunction of RSA.
WORKS BY EXPLOITING NUMERICAL PRECISION VARIABILITY

Tartan TRT a hardware accelerator for inference with Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) is presented and evaluated on Convolutional Neural Networks. TRT exploits the variable per layer precision requirements of DNNs to deliver execution time that is proportional to the precision p in bits used per layer for convolutional and fully-connected layers. Prior art has demonstrated an accelerator with the same execution performance only for convolutional layersJudd et al. (2016a;c). Experiments on image classification CNNs show that on average across all networks studied, TRT outperforms a state-of-the-art bit-parallel accelerator Chen et al. (2014b) by 1.90× without any loss in accuracy while it is 1.17× more energy efficient. TRT requires no network retraining while it enables trading off accuracy for additional improvements in execution performance and energy efficiency. For example, if a 1% relative loss in accuracy is acceptable, TRT is on average 2.04× faster and 1.25× more energy efficient than a conventional bitparallel accelerator. A Tartan configuration that processes 2-bits at time, requires less area than the 1-bit configuration, improves efficiency to 1.24× over the bitparallel baseline while being 73% faster for convolutional layers and 60% faster for fully-connected layers is also presented.
A suggested model of handstand teaching method

The aim of this paper was, based on the review of the previous available theoretical, scientific and expert knowledge about a handstand, to suggest a more efficient teaching model. A handstand is an exercise performed on all the apparatus in a gymnastics all-around competition, in its basic form of performance or as a transition exercise, when it is performed as a link to some more complex acrobatic exercises. In addition, this exercise is also performed in other sports as well as a part of the physical education curriculum, so that this paper will help not only the gymnastics experts and coaches, but also the coaches and teachers in other sports branches, to improve this exercise with their performers in a regular way and by the application of the most effective methods.
Component sizes for large quantum Erdős–Rényi graph near criticality

The $N$ vertices of a quantum random graph are each a circle independently punctured at Poisson points of arrivals, with parallel connections derived through for each pair of these punctured circles by yet another independent Poisson process. Considering these graphs at their critical parameters, we show that the joint law of the re-scaled by $N^{2/3}$ and ordered sizes of their connected components, converges to that of the ordered lengths of excursions above zero for a reflected Brownian motion with drift. Thereby, this work forms the first example of an inhomogeneous random graph, beyond the case of effectively rank-1 models, which is rigorously shown to be in the Erd\H{o}s-R\'{e}nyi graphs universality class in terms of Aldous's results.
Comparison of Immunohistochemistry Assay Results with Gene Expression Profiling Methods for Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Subtype Identification in Matched Patient Samples

Background: The cell of origin (COO) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has prognostic importance. While the COO was originally classified into germinal center B-cell (GCB) or activated B-cell (ABC) subtypes by microarray analysis, routine use was not practical. Immunohistochemistry (IHC)–based methods are widely used with varying results due to lack of standardization. Several classification methods have been developed recently; understanding the concordance between these and existing methods is essential to their practical application. Therefore, we evaluated concordance between 3 commercial assays: a standardized Hans-based IHC method and 2 gene expression profiling (GEP) methods and compared these to the accepted microarray classification.Methods: 137 DLBCL-confirmed tumor samples were evaluated using a standardized Hans-based IHC method for GCB or non-GCB subtype, by a published microarray-based assay, a digital gene expression-based Lymphoma Subtyping Test (LST) and a next-generation sequencing-based assay (EdgeSeq COO). Subtype calls from the 3 GEP methods were harmonized to “GCB” or “non-GCB” and assessed for concordance.Results: Concordance between the Hans-based IHC assay and the microarray-based assay, LST assay and EdgeSeq assay was 79.6% (N=137), 80.0% (N=125) and 78.2% (N=64), respectively; the positive percent agreement (PPA) in non-GCB was 88.9%, 87.0% and 78.1%, respectively. Concordance for the Hans-based IHC assay versus GEP methods was especially high for direct GCB calls (91.0%, 88.3% and 78.1% for microarray, LST and EdgeSeq COO methods, respectively). The newly developed GEP assays performed well against the microarray GEP method, against which they were calibrated (concordance 93.7% and 87.5% and PPA 94.3% and 92.9%, respectively, for LST and EdgeSeq COO). Conclusion: These results demonstrated good consistency between various platforms for stratification of DLBCL into COO subtype classifications. Application of a standardized Hans-based IHC assay offers a robust, rapid and easily accessible platform to classify DLBCL into prognostically important subtypes.