Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sucralose Interaction with Protein Structures

Sucralose is a commonly employed artificial sweetener that appears to destabilize protein native structures. This is in direct contrast to the bio-preservative nature of its natural counterpart, sucrose, which enhances the stability of biomolecules against environmental stress. We have further explored the molecular interactions of sucralose as compared to sucrose to illuminate the origin of the differences in their bio-preservative efficacy. We show that the mode of interactions of sucralose and sucrose in bulk solution differ subtly using hydration dynamics measurement and computational simulation. Sucralose does not appear to disturb the native state of proteins for moderate concentrations (<0.2 M) at room temperature. However, as the concentration increases, or in the thermally stressed state, sucralose appears to differ in its interactions with protein leading to the reduction of native state stability. This difference in interaction appears weak. We explored the difference in the preferential exclusion model using time-resolved spectroscopic techniques and observed that both molecules appear to be effective reducers of bulk hydration dynamics. However, the chlorination of sucralose appears to slightly enhance the hydrophobicity of the molecule, which reduces the preferential exclusion of sucralose from the protein-water interface. The weak interaction of sucralose with hydrophobic pockets on the protein surface differs from the behavior of sucrose. We experimentally followed up upon the extent of this weak interaction using isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) measurements. We propose this as a possible origin for the difference in their bio-preservative properties.
Assessment of a novel computer aided mass diagnosis system in mammograms

Mammography is the most common modality for screening breast cancer. In this paper, a computer aided system is introduced to diagnose benignity and malignancy of masses. In the first step of the proposed method, masses are prepared for segmentation using a noise reduction and contrast enhancement technique. Afterward, a region of interest is segmented using a new adaptive region growing algorithm, and boundary and texture features are extracted to form its feature vector. Consequently, a new robust architecture is proposed to combine weak and strong classifiers to classify masses. Finally, the proposed mass diagnosis system was also tested on mini-MIAS and DDSM databases. The accuracy of the obtained results is 93% in the database of MIAS and 90% in the database of DDSM. The obtained results indicate that the proposed system can compete with the stateof- the-art methods in terms of accuracy.
A Control Strategy for Upper Limb Robotic Rehabilitation With a Dual Robot System

This paper describes the development and use of the cooperative control scheme used by the intelligent pneumatic arm movement (iPAM) system to deliver safe, therapeutic treatment of the upper limb during voluntary reaching exercises. A set of clinical and engineering requirements for the control scheme are identified and detailed, which entail controlled, coordinated movement of a dual robot system with respect to the human upper limb. This is achieved by using a 6-DOF model of the upper limb that forms the controller's coordinate system. An admittance control scheme is developed by using this coordinate system such that robotic assistance can be varied as appropriate. Key controller components are derived, including kinematic and force transformations between the upper limb model and the dual robot task space. The controller is tested using a computational simulation and with a stroke subject in the iPAM system. The results demonstrate that the control scheme can reliably coordinate the dual robots to assist upper limb movements. A discussion considers the ramifications of using the system in practice, including the effects of measurement errors and controller limitations. In conclusion, the iPAM system has been shown to be effective at delivering variable levels of assistance to the upper limb joints during therapeutic movements in a clinically appropriate manner.
Parallel Adaptive Finite Element Algorithms for Solving the Coupled Electro-diffusion Equations

Abstract rithms for solving the 3D electro-diffusion equations such as the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations and the size-modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations in simulations of biomolecular systems in ionic liquid. A set of transformation methods based on the generalized Slotboom variables is used to solve the coupled equations. Calculations of the diffusion-reaction rate coefficients, electrostatic potential and ion concentrations for various systems verify the method’s validity and stability. The iterations between the Poisson equation and the Nernst- Planck equations in the primitive method and in the transformation method are compared to illustrate how the new method accelerates the convergence of the solution. To speed up the convergence, we introduce the DIIS (direct inversion of the iterative subspace) method including Simple Mixing and Anderson Mixing as under-relaxation techniques, the effectiveness of which on acceleration is shown by numerical tests. It is worth noting that the primitive method fails to solve the size-modified Poisson-Nernst-Planck equations for real protein systems but the transformation method succeeds in the simulations of the ACh-AChE reaction system and the DNA fragment. To improve the accuracy of the solution, we introduce high order elements and mesh adaptation based on an a posteriori error estimator. Numerical results indicate that our mesh adaptation process leads to quasi-optimal convergence. We implement our algorithms using the parallel adaptive finite element package PHG [53] and high parallel efficiency is obtained.
Dynamic switching conversion for piezoelectric energy harvesting systems

The current advances in ultra-low power design let foresee great opportunities in energy harvesting platforms for self-powered systems. This paper presents a switching conversion scheme based on active control for harvesting energy with a higher efficiency than traditional approaches. The approach has been validated for piezoelectric energy harvesters with mixed-signal circuital simulations of non-linear equivalent electromechanical systems and a prototype has been developed. The proposed switching converter may increase harvested power of about 30% with respect to solutions based on traditional rectifiers and is expected to achieve up to 755 muW in a train passenger car running at about 100 km/h with a 32 times 6 mm2 cantilever with a 35 g mass attached at the free end.
Control Strategy for Series and Parallel Output Dual-Buck Half Bridge Inverters Based on DSP Control

This paper presents a novel control strategy for series and parallel output dual-buck half-bridge inverters (DBHBIs). With the increasing concern of fossil fuel reserves and the environmental aspects, the 2005 International Future Energy Challenge, sponsored by U.S. the Department of Energy and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, required that the grid-connected inverter should provide a single-phase utility line with 110-240 V at either 50/60 Hz. The proposed series and parallel output DBHBI can produce those kinds of voltage by series or parallel connection of two inverters and with digital signal processor (DSP) control to meet the aforementioned specifications. The load current of the two inverters at parallel output association and the load voltage of both at series output association can be shared. The waveform quality of the whole output voltage is high at both associations. Stability and relative stability of the inverter are unaffected at the two output associations. Operating principle, control strategy, stability and relative stability, and design guidelines and examples are illustrated. Experimental results of a 1-kVA DSP-based series and parallel output DBHBI at stand-alone mode verify the theoretical analysis. The comparisons between single and double inverter structures show that the proposed inverter is very promising in applications.
Export Versus FDI : A Task-Based Framework for Comparing Manufacturing and Services ∗

This paper shows that standard predictors of the export versus FDI decision hold for manufacturing but not for service industries. I develop an alternative model which decomposes each industry into the tasks required for production and uses these tasks to predict the location of production for that industry. Industries requiring direct communication with consumers are more likely to be produced in the destination market. Production of more nonroutine activities is more likely to occur at the multinational’s headquarters for export, especially when the destination market has weak contract-enforcing institutions. These predictions are tested using firm-level data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis US Direct Investment Abroad Benchmark Survey of Multinationals combined with task-level data from the Department of Labor’s Occupational Information Network. The task-based approach developed in this paper performs well for both manufacturing and service industries, has greater explanatory power than alternative proximity concentration or comparative advantage explanations, and is robust to a variety of specifications. Differences in task intensities can explain 40 percent of the difference in export to FDI ratios between the manufacturing and service sectors. ∗The statistical analysis of firm-level data on U.S. multinational companies was conducted at the International Investment Division, Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. Department of Commerce under arrangements that maintain legal confidentiality requirements. The views expressed are those of the author and do not reflect official positions of the U.S. Department of Commerce. The author is grateful to Gordon Hanson, Jim Rauch, Arnaud Costinot, Andra Ghent, Ben Gilbert, Mark Muendler, Stephen Yeaple, seminar participants at the Federal Reserve Board, UCSD and Johns Hopkins SAIS for helpful suggestions and William Zeile and Raymond Mattaloni for assistance with the BEA data.
The Research of Influence Factors of Online Behavioral Advertising Avoidance

With the development of information technology, it’s possible to deliver advertising more accurately. Online behavioral advertising (OBA) is a kind of advertising which tracks individual online behavior in order to deliver advertising tailored to his or her interests. However, consumers still avoid advertising with more precise delivery. We can’t find out the measures which decrease OBA avoidance unless we know about the factors that influence the avoidance. This paper reviewed researches about advertising avoidance and built the model of OBA avoidance combining the characteristics of OBA. Goal Impediment, Perceived Personalization and Privacy Concern are the inde-pendent variables and Negative Experience is the intervening variable. The empirical study finds that Goal Impediment and Privacy Concern are related to OBA avoidance positively, and Perceived Personalization is related to OBA avoidance negatively.
Biotechnology in ornamental horticulture

SummaryGenetic engineering techniques have so far had limited impact in the field of ornamental horticulture. As outlined in this review, transformation systems and potential genes of interest are available. As the development of new, novel varieties is an important driving force in the industry, there are, therefore, good prospects for the development of genetically modified ornamental variaties. The few products in the market to date may simply be a reflection of the relatively small scale of the industry compared to the major food crops, and the wide diversity of species within it. Commercial issues attendant to the use of gene technology in ornamental plants need careful consideration. These include careful choice of crop and background variety, the international regulatory process and freedom to operate.
Glycerol-3-Phosphate Shuttle Is Involved in Development and Virulence in the Rice Blast Fungus Pyricularia oryzae

The glycerol-3-phosphate (G-3-P) shuttle is an important pathway for delivery of cytosolic reducing equivalents into mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation, and plays essential physiological roles in yeast, plants, and animals. However, its role has been unclear in filamentous and pathogenic fungi. Here, we characterize the function of the G-3-P shuttle in Pyricularia oryzae by genetic and molecular analyses. In P. oryzae, a glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 1 (PoGpd1) is involved in NO production, conidiation, and utilization of several carbon sources (pyruvate, sodium acetate, glutamate, and glutamine). A glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase 2 (PoGpd2) is essential for glycerol utilization and fungal development. Deletion of PoGPD2 led to delayed aerial hyphal formation, accelerated aerial hyphal collapse, and reduced conidiation on complete medium (CM) under a light–dark cycle. Aerial mycelial surface hydrophobicity to water and Tween 20 was decreased in ΔPogpd2. Melanin synthesis genes required for cell wall construction and two transcription factor genes (COS1 and CONx2) required for conidiation and/or aerial hyphal differentiation were down-regulated in the aerial mycelia of ΔPogpd2 and ΔPogpd1. Culturing under continuous dark could complement the defects of aerial hyphal differentiation of ΔPogpd2 observed in a light–dark cycle. Two light-sensitive protein genes (PoSIR2 encoding an NAD+-dependent deacetylase and TRX2 encoding a thioredoxin 2) were up-regulated in ΔPogpd2 cultured on CM medium in a light–dark cycle. ΔPogpd2 showed an increased intracellular NAD+/NADH ratio and total NAD content, and alteration of intracellular ATP production. Culturing on minimal medium also could restore aerial hyphal differentiation of ΔPogpd2, which is deficient on CM medium in a light–dark cycle. Two glutamate synthesis genes, GDH1 and PoGLT1, which synthesize glutamate coupled with oxidation of NADH to NAD+, were significantly up-regulated in ΔPogpd2 in a light–dark cycle. Moreover, deletion of PoGpd1 or PoGpd2 led to reduced virulence of conidia or hyphae on rice. The glycerol-3-phosphate shuttle is involved in cellular redox, fungal development, and virulence in P. oryzae.
The Measurement of Capacity Utilization for a Container Shipping Line

In container shipping industry, to find the most efficient way on ships deployment and allocation is still an important task for a container carrier to avoid being driven from market. Other than the traditional approach, focusing on seeking the optimal ship size with a set of operational conditions, this study has presented a method to measure the capacity utilization, from the viewpoint of operating a fleet of containerships, to evaluate the operational efficiency for a container shipping line. Meanwhile, the outcomes from the empirical study show that the fleet developments among the four container lines in Taiwan have experienced a serious over-capacity situation during period studied. Also, it reveals that the employment of big containerships is not a panacea against market competition.
Improving audio data quality and compression

High data quality at low bit rate is an essential goal that people want to achieve. It is necessary to transfer data at low bit rate so that the bandwidth of the medium can be utilized efficiently. In most of the speech coding techniques the goal of low bit rate transfer is achieved but the data quality is affected badly. The proposed technique is an attempt to improve the data quality at low bit rate as well as fast transmission of data. The proposed technique protects the data quality by applying Linear Predictive Coding-10 and achieves the low bit rate by applying Quadrature Mirror Filter. A comprehensive analysis is on the basis of given parameters as size, compression time, Signal to Noise Ratio, power, energy, power in air, energy in air, mean, standard deviation and intensity.
Detection of Saharan dust and biomass burning events using near-real-timeintensive aerosol optical properties in the north-western Mediterranean

Abstract. The study of Saharan dust events (SDEs) and biomass burning (BB) emissions are both topics of great scientific interest since they are frequent and important polluting scenarios affecting air quality and climate. The main aim of this work is evaluating the feasibility of using near-real-time in situ aerosol optical measurements for the detection of these atmospheric events in the western Mediterranean Basin (WMB). With this aim, intensive aerosol optical properties (SAE: scattering Angstrom exponent, AAE: absorption Angstrom exponent, SSAAE: single scattering albedo Angstrom exponent and g: asymmetry parameter) were derived from multi-wavelength aerosol light scattering, hemispheric backscattering and absorption measurements performed at regional (Montseny; MSY, 720 m a.s.l.) and continental (Montsec; MSA, 1570 m a.s.l.) background sites in the WMB. A sensitivity study aiming at calibrating the measured intensive optical properties for SDEs and BB detection is presented and discussed. The detection of SDEs by means of the SSAAE parameter and Angstrom matrix (made up by SAE and AAE) depended on the altitude of the measurement station and on SDE intensity. At MSA (mountain-top site) SSAAE detected around 85 % of SDEs compared with 50 % at the MSY station, where pollution episodes dominated by fine anthropogenic particles frequently masked the effect of mineral dust on optical properties during less intense SDEs. Furthermore, an interesting feature of SSAAE was its capability to detect the presence of mineral dust after the end of SDEs. Thus, resuspension processes driven by summer regional atmospheric circulations and dry conditions after SDEs favoured the accumulation of mineral dust at regional level having important consequences for air quality. On average, SAE, AAE and g ranged between −0.7 and 1, 1.3 and 2.5 and 0.5 and 0.75 respectively during SDEs. Based on the aethalometer model, BB contribution to equivalent black carbon (BC) accounted for 36 and 40 % at MSY and MSA respectively. Linear relationships were found between AAE and %BCbb, with AAE values reaching around 1.5 when %BCbb was higher than 50 %. BB contribution to organic matter (OM) at MSY was around 30 %. Thus fossil fuel (FF) combustion sources showed important contributions to both BC and OM in the region under study. Results for OM source apportionment showed good agreement with simultaneous biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA) and hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA) obtained by applying a positive matrix factorization model (PMF) to simultaneous Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) measurements. A wildfire episode was identified at MSY, showing AAE values up to 2 when daily BB contributions to BC and OM were 73 and 78 % respectively.
EffEct of functional training for thE PElvic floor musclEs with or without ElEctrical stimulation in casEs of urinary incontinEncE following radical ProstatEctomy

introduction: literature on physical therapy for the pelvic floor muscles to treat urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy is scarce, with descriptions of differing techniques for physical therapy treatment. objective: to evaluate the effect of physical therapy treatment for recovering urinary continence among patients who had undergone radical prostatectomy, by using functional training of the pelvic floor muscles with or without electrical stimulation. method: twenty patients with urinary incontinence following radical prostatectomy were selected. the patients were randomly allocated to a control or to an experimental group. the experimental group was composed of ten patients who received physical therapy treatment consisting of functional training of the pelvic floor muscles and electrical stimulation. the control group was composed of ten patients who received physical therapy treatment consisting only of functional training of the pelvic floor. all of the patients were re-evaluated three, six and twelve months after beginning treatment, by using the pad test, visual analog scale (vas) for incontinence, vas for the problem and counting the number of diapers (nappies) used. results: there was a statistically significant decrease between the initial and 12th month evaluations of the pad test, vas for incontinence, vas for the problem and numbers of diapers of the control group and experimental group. however, no statistically significant difference was found when the same variable was compared between the two groups. conclusion: there was no additional improvement from treatment with functional training of the pelvic floor muscles associated with electrical stimulation, in relation to treatment only using functional pelvic floor training. however, there was a significant improvement in urinary incontinence in both groups.
Optimization of dual-threshold independent-gate FinFETs for compact low power logic circuits

This paper proposes the realization of dual-threshold independent-gate FinFETs by optimizing the FinFET process parameters including the electrode work function, silicon body thickness, and oxide thickness. The optimum values of the FinFET process parameters are derived using BSIM-IMG SPICE model for independent-gate FinFET devices. In optimum dual-threshold independent-gate (IG) FinFETs, a high-threshold IG FinFET is logically equivalent to two short-gate (SG) FinFETs in series, while a low-threshold one is logically equivalent to two SG FinFETs in parallel. The complementary static logic circuits and differential cascode voltage switch logic circuits based on the proposed IG FinFET devices have been verified. The results show that basic gates using the proposed dual-threshold independent-gate FinFETs obtain lower energy delay products than those implementations based on SG FinFETs.
Two-dimensional inverse scattering formula varying both frequency and incident angle using a circle as measurement surface

A reconstruction algorithm is described which combines the angular diversity and frequency diversity method. The two-dimensional scattering object is illuminated by a point source which is placed in the far field and successively occupies all positions on a circle surrounding the object. The input data is the scattered field measured at all positions on the circle and transformed into the far field. The reconstruction formula provides the object function within the Born approximation. Integration over receiver positions and all frequencies can be combined as one two-dimensional Fourier integral over the spatial frequency vector K. The result is integrated over all source positions. Because of varying the frequency and the observation point the K-space contains redundant information.
Two Complementary Approaches for Studying the Effects of SEUs on Digital Processors

This paper describes two different but complementary approaches that can be used to perform SEU-like fault injection sessions in order to predict error rates of digital processors. The code emulated upset (CEU) approach allows fault injection in processor memories (caches and register files), while the FPGA autonomous emulation approach allows fault injection in processor flip-flops. Results obtained for a case studied, the LEON processor, illustrate the complementary aspects of proposed strategies.