Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A novel robust attitude control for quadrotor aircraft subject to actuator faults and wind gusts

A novel robust fault tolerant controller is developed for the problem of attitude control of a quadrotor aircraft in the presence of actuator faults and wind gusts in this paper. Firstly, a dynamical system of the quadrotor taking into account aerodynamical effects induced by lateral wind and actuator faults is considered using the Newton-Euler approach. Then, based on active disturbance rejection control U+0028 ADRC U+0029, the fault tolerant controller is proposed to recover faulty system and reject perturbations. The developed controller takes wind gusts, actuator faults and measurement noises as total perturbations which are estimated by improved extended state observer U+0028 ESO U+0029 and compensated by nonlinear feedback control law. So, the developed robust fault tolerant controller can successfully accomplish the tracking of the desired output values. Finally, some simulation studies are given to illustrate the effectiveness of fault recovery of the proposed scheme and also its ability to attenuate external disturbances that are introduced from environmental causes such as wind gusts and measurement noises.
Auditory Brainstem Implant: Part I. Auditory Performance and Its Evolution Over Time

Objective Evaluation of auditory performance and its evolution over time in patients with the auditory brainstem implant. Study Design Prospective study. Setting Tertiary referral center. Patients and Methods Between May 1996 and April 2000, 14 patients with neurofibromatosis type 2 underwent implantation with a multichannel auditory brainstem implant. Auditory performance data were obtained in 13 patients who had used their device on a regular daily basis for 1 to 41 months (average 19 months). Hearing evaluation was based on the results of four tests (vowel confusion, consonant confusion, Freiburger numbers, and speech-tracking test), which were performed with and without lip-reading at regular intervals after device activation. Results 12 patients received auditory sensation through the auditory brainstem implant immediately after device activation. In one patient, because of postoperative electrode migration, device activation was not successful. In this case, after the electrode array was repositioned, activation was successful. The results of the audiovisual mode 2 weeks after device activation revealed a lip-reading enhancement above the chance level in about 50% of the patients in the vowel confusion and speech-tracking tests and in 70% of the patients in the consonant confusion test. Lip-reading enhancement improved within the first 6 months and then entered a plateau phase, which was more prominent in the monosyllabic vowel and consonant tests. In the auditory alone mode, more than half of the patients showed their first positive result in the vowel test 3 months after device activation, but it took about 6 months until half of the patients revealed a result above the chance level in the consonant and Freiburger numbers tests. Open set speech recognition in the auditory alone mode (in the speech-tracking test) was not common and happened relatively late (within 1 year or later). Discussion and Conclusion Although auditory sensation appeared immediately after device activation, a period of 6 months was necessary for relearning and adaptation of the central auditory system to the altered form of auditory information presented by the auditory brainstem implant.
Hysteresis Effect on Unemployment: Evidence from the Visegrad Countries

Hysteresis effect on unemployment is a much discus sed topic in macroeconomics. However, empirical findings regarding the e xistence of hysteresis effect are contradictory. The present study investigates h ysteresis in the unemployment rates of the Visegrad Group countries, namely: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. For this purpose it employs th e following three econometric methods: (1) the linear unit root tests; (2) th e Seemingly Unrelated Regressions Augmented Dickey-Fuller (SURADF) test; and (3 ) the Fourier Dickey-Fuller (FADF) test. The findings revealed that amo ng the Visegrad Group countries hysteresis effect was found to exist in t he unemployment rates in Hungary and Poland.
Intelligent optimisation of batch fermentations' initial conditions

The paper considers the problems of initial conditions optimisation for a class of biotechnological processes called batch fermentations. The method called backpropagation through time of utility function is used as optimisation procedure and neural network model of the process under consideration is used for derivatives' calculation. The developed procedure was applied to pre-fermentation process for yogurt starter cultures cultivation. The simulation results confirm experimental experience and expert's opinion on the possible optimal decisions.
Astrovirus-Induced Synthesis of Nitric Oxide Contributes to Virus Control during Infection

ABSTRACT Astrovirus is one of the major causes of infant and childhood diarrhea worldwide. Our understanding of astrovirus pathogenesis trails behind our knowledge of its molecular and epidemiologic properties. Using a recently developed small-animal model, we investigated the mechanisms by which astrovirus induces diarrhea and the role of both the adaptive and innate immune responses to turkey astrovirus type-2 (TAstV-2) infection. Astrovirus-infected animals were analyzed for changes in total lymphocyte populations, alterations in CD4+/CD8+ ratios, production of virus-specific antibodies (Abs), and macrophage activation. There were no changes in the numbers of circulating or splenic lymphocytes or in CD4+/CD8+ ratios compared to controls. Additionally, there was only a modest production of virus-specific Abs. However, adherent spleen cells from infected animals produced more nitric oxide (NO) in response to ex vivo stimulation with lipopolysaccharide. In vitro analysis demonstrated that TAstV-2 induced macrophage production of inducible nitric oxide synthase. Studies using NO donors and inhibitors in vivo demonstrated, for the first time, that NO inhibited astrovirus replication. These studies suggest that NO is important in limiting astrovirus replication and are the first, to our knowledge, to describe the potential role of innate immunity in astrovirus infection.
Fractional robust control design for fuzzy dynamical systems: An optimal approach

We propose an optimal approach to a new control design for fuzzy dynamical systems in this paper. Consider the system containing uncertainty, which may includes the unknown system parameter and input disturbance. And the uncertainty can be prescribed with a fuzzy set. A new class of factional-type robust controls are proposed, whose structure is deterministic and is not if-then rule-based. Furthermore, the control gain design is formulated as a constrained optimization problem, which minimizes both the average fuzzy performance and control effort. We show that the solution of this optimization problem always exists and is unique. And the closed-form solution and closed-form minimum cost are derived. The resulting control can guarantee the uniform boundedness and uniform ultimate boundedness of the uncertain system, while minimizing both the average fuzzy performance and control effort.
Impact of Non-smoking Ordinances on Hospitality Revenues: The Case of Germany

Summary Non-smoking ordinances are among the most popular albeit controversial public health-care legislations worldwide. This article provides an empirical assessment of the impact of nonsmoking ordinances on bar and restaurant revenues in German Federal States. By application of a standard panel regression approach and a quasi-experimental research design, we find no compelling evidence for a significant impact of the introduction as well as the weakening of the legislation on revenues of bars and restaurants. Consumption pattern has either not changed at all or any reduction in spending by smokers is compensated for by a corresponding increase by non-smokers. These findings support the German - and similar - non-smoking legislations in the sense that positive externalities resulting from reduced health care cost are likely to outweigh the risk to businesses in the hospitality sector.
Energy-efficient transmission and bit allocation schemes in wireless sensor networks

Energy-efficient transmission and bit allocation schemes are investigated in multi-source single-sink Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). For transmission over Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channels with path loss, this work shows that the overall energy consumption can be minimised if each sensor transmits with the minimum power and cooperates with others in Time-Division Multiple Access (TDMA) mode. From the efficient correlated source coding perspective, the Slepian-Wolf coding theorem is applied. Jointly considering the two aspects, we propose a closed form bit allocation scheme to minimise the overall energy consumption. The underlying idea is to assign more bits to nodes with better channel conditions. Additionally, based on the definition of network lifetime as the time before the first sensor fails, we further maximise the network lifetime by developing a heuristic algorithm to balance energy consumption among sensors. The superiority of the proposed scheme is validated by both analytical and simulation results.
Poly( N -isopropylacrylamide-co- N - tert -butylacrylamide)- grafted hyaluronan as an injectable and self-assembling scaffold for cartilage tissue engineering

Novel poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-N-tert-butylacrylamide)-grafted hyaluronan [P(NIPAAm-co-NtBAAm)-g-HA] has been developed as a modified derivative to improve phase-transition characteristics of PNIPAAm-g-HA, which has a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of approximately 32°C. This promising self-assembling biomaterial has potential as an injectable scaffold for in situ cartilage tissue engineering. LCST of the P(NIPAAm-co-NtBAAm)-g-HA decreased to approximately 3.6°C compared to that of the original PNIPAAm-g-HA. This modification enabled self-assembly at body temperatures lower than the temperature of the parental PNIPAAm-g-HA molecule. Cytotoxicity and acute systemic toxicity assays revealed that P(NIPAAm-co-NtBAAm)-g-HA was not hazardous. The DNA content of chondrogenic differentiated mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) embedded in the gels was higher than that of biomaterial-free aggregates during the culture periods. Cartilage-related genes were also expressed in chondrogenic differentiated MSCs embedded in the P (NIPAAm-co-NtBAAm)-g-HA hydrogel. Specifically, an increased expression of SRY-related HMG box-containing gene 9 (Sox9) observed in the hydrogel group compared to controls. These data suggest that P(NIPAAm-co-NtBAAm)-g-HA is a promising injectable scaffold with thermoresponsive properties suitable for in situ cartilage tissue engineering.
Schlumberger's Software Improvement Program

A corporate-wide software process improvement effort has been ongoing at Schlumberger for several years. Through the motivation efforts of a small group, productive changes have occurred across the company. We see improvements in many development areas, including project planning and requirements management. The catalysts behind these advances include capability assessments, training, and collaboration. >
Anaphora without syntax-A Multi-lingual Approach for Geometry Constructions

In this work, we follow a text driven approach to anaphora, for interpreting text and drawing geometric diagrams. To make this approach suitable for resource poor languages, we propose creating a small training corpus by mapping raw text to a formal (postfix) bridge language. Now, an alignment approach can discover maps for nearly all the units and phrases. After each sentence, the bridge language mappings are used to draw the desired figure, given what has been drawn earlier. Anaphora are disambiguated in the task context. The system is language agnostic and we attempt it on textbooks in English and Hindi, and show that we obtain complete anaphora coverage, though several elliptic references are missed. Whole sentence interpretation is correct for 95.3% cases (English) or 92.7% (Hindi), on the NCERT class VI textbooks.
Magnetic MAX phases from theory and experiments; a review

This review presents MAX phases (M is a transition metal, A an A-group element, X is C or N), known for their unique combination of ceramic/metallic properties, as a recently uncovered family of novel magnetic nanolaminates. The first created magnetic MAX phases were predicted through evaluation of phase stability using density functional theory, and subsequently synthesized as heteroepitaxial thin films. All magnetic MAX phases reported to date, in bulk or thin film form, are based on Cr and/or Mn, and they include (Cr,Mn)2AlC, (Cr,Mn)2GeC, (Cr,Mn)2GaC, (Mo,Mn)2GaC, (V,Mn)3GaC2, Cr2AlC, Cr2GeC and Mn2GaC. A variety of magnetic properties have been found, such as ferromagnetic response well above room temperature and structural changes linked to magnetic anisotropy. In this paper, theoretical as well as experimental work performed on these materials to date is critically reviewed, in terms of methods used, results acquired, and conclusions drawn. Open questions concerning magnetic characteristics are discussed, and an outlook focused on new materials, superstructures, property tailoring and further synthesis and characterization is presented.
Vehicle Gearbox Fault Diagnosis Based on Cepstrum Analysis

— Research on damage of gears and gear pairs using vibration signals remains very attractive, because vibration signals from a gear pair are complex in nature and not easy to interpret. Predicting gear pair defects by analyzing changes in vibration signal of gears pairs in operation is a very reliable method. Therefore, a suitable vibration signal processing technique is necessary to extract defect information generally obscured by the noise from dynamic factors of other gear pairs.This article presents the value of cepstrum analysis in vehicle gearbox fault diagnosis. Cepstrum represents the overall power content of a whole family of harmonics and sidebands when more than one family of sidebands is present at the same time. The concept for the measurement and analysis involved in using the technique are briefly outlined. Cepstrum analysis is used for detection of an artificial pitting defect in a vehicle gearbox loaded with different speeds and torques. The test stand is equipped with three dynamometers; the input dynamometer serves asthe internal combustion engine, the output dynamometers introduce the load on the flanges of the output joint shafts. The pitting defect is manufactured on the tooth side of a gear of the fifth speed on the secondary shaft. Also, a method for fault diagnosis of gear faults is presented based on order Cepstrum. The procedure is illustrated with the experimental vibration data of the vehicle gearbox. The results show the effectiveness of Cepstrum analysis in detection and diagnosis of the gear condition.
[Prediction of drug bioavailability by genetic algorithm and artificial neural network].

AIM To set up an artificial neural network system and optimize by genetic algorithm (GA) to predict drug bioavailability. METHODS Genetic algorithm was used to optimize weights of the artificial neural network. The optimal solution of the artificial neural network model at a specific condition was obtained using the good search ability of genetic algorithm in order to predict drug bioavailability. Volume, refractivity, lgP(c), hydration, polarizability, E(HOMO) and E(LUMO) are inputs of the drug bioavailability prediction neural network, and its output is average drug bioavailability. RESULTS The prediction precision of average drug bioavailability of the GA- neural network model is 95.9%. CONCLUSION This model can be used in the forecasting of drug bioavailability.
Exogenous nitric oxide-induced postharvest disease resistance in citrus fruit to Colletotrichum gloeosporioides.

BACKGROUND Nitric oxide (NO) is an important signaling molecule involved in numerous plant responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. To investigate the effects of NO on the control of postharvest anthracnose caused by Colletotrichum gloeosporioides in citrus fruit and its possible mechanisms, citrus fruit were treated with an NO donor. RESULTS The results showed that exogenous NO released from 50 µmol L(-1) sodium nitroprusside aqueous solution could effectively reduce the disease incidence and lesion diameter of citrus fruit inoculated with C. gloeosporioides during storage at 20 °C. Exogenous NO could regulate hydrogen peroxide levels, stimulate the synthesis of phenolic compounds, and induce phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, peroxidase, polyphenol oxidase, catalase activities, and the ascorbate-glutathione cycle. Furthermore, exogenous NO could inhibit weight loss, improve the ascorbic acid and titratable acidity content, and delay the increase in total soluble solids content in citrus fruit during storage at 20 °C. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the use of exogenous NO is a potential method for inducing the disease resistance of fruit to fungal pathogens and for extending the postharvest life of citrus fruit.
Characterization of VAMP‐2 in the lung: implication in lung surfactant secretion

Lung surfactant is crucial for reducing the surface tension of alveolar space, thus preventing the alveoli from collapse. Lung surfactant is synthesized in alveolar epithelial type II cells and stored in lamellar bodies before being released via the fusion of lamellar bodies with the apical plasma membrane. SNAREs (soluble N‐ethylmaleimide‐sensitive fusion protein‐attachment protein receptors) play an essential role in membrane fusion. We have previously demonstrated the requirement of t‐SNARE (target SNARE) proteins, syntaxin 2 and SNAP‐23 (N‐ethylmaleimide‐sensitive factor‐attachment protein 23), in regulated surfactant secretion. Here, we characterized the distribution of VAMPs (vesicle‐associated membrane proteins) in rat lung and alveolar type II cells. VAMP‐2, −3 and −8 are shown in type II cells at both mRNA and protein levels. VAMP‐2 and −8 were enriched in LB (lamellar body) fraction. Immunochemistry studies indicated that VAMP‐2 was co‐localized with the LB marker protein, LB‐180. Functionally, the cytoplasmic domain of VAMP‐2, but not VAMP‐8 inhibited surfactant secretion in type II cells. We suggest that VAMP‐2 is the v‐SNARE (vesicle SNARE) involved in regulated surfactant secretion.
Patterns of care for European colorectal cancer patients diagnosed 1996–1998: A EUROCARE High Resolution Study

Abstract Objective. To identify disparities in the management of colon and rectal cancer across Europe by assessing population-based information from 12 European cancer registries (CR) participating in EUROCARE, together with additional information obtained from individual clinical records. Methods and patients. We considered five indicators: (a) resection with curative intent; (b) post-operative mortality; (c) proportion of stage II/III colon cancer cases given adjuvant chemotherapy; (d) proportion of rectal cancer cases receiving radiotherapy; and (e) proportion of curative intent resections with 12 or more lymph nodes examined. Results. A total of 6 871 colorectal cancer patients, diagnosed between 1996–1998, were examined. Overall 71% of patients received resection with curative intent, range 44–86% by CR; 46% of stage III colon cancer cases (range 24–73% by CR) and 22% of stage II cases (not then recommended) received adjuvant chemotherapy; 12% of rectal cancer cases received adjuvant radiotherapy, range ≤2% in five CRs to >51% in two CRs. For only 29% of curative intent resections were 12 or more lymph nodes examined. Conclusions. This study reveals that, although most patients received surgery with curative intent, disparities in treatment for colorectal cancer across Europe in the late 1990s were unexpectedly large, with many patients not receiving treatments indicated by published clinical trials. Consensus guidelines for CRC management are now becoming available and should be adopted across Europe. It is hoped that dissemination of guidelines will improve the use of scientifically proven treatments for the disease, but this should be monitored by further population-based studies.
Preparation of Sulfurized Powdered Activated Carbon from Waste Tires Using an Innovative Compositive Impregnation Process

Abstract The objective of this study is to develop an innovative compositive impregnation process for preparing sulfurized powdered activated carbon (PAC) from waste tires. An experimental apparatus, including a pyrolysis and activation system and a sulfur (S) impregnation system, was designed and applied to produce sulfurized PAC with a high specific surface area. Experimental tests involved the pyrolysis, activation, and sulfurization of waste tires. Waste-tire-derived PAC (WPAC) was initially produced in the pyrolysis and activation system. Experimental results indicated that the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of WPAC increased, and the average pore radius of WPAC decreased, as water feed rate and activation time increased. In this study, a conventional direct impregnation process was used to prepare the sulfurized PAC by impregnating WPAC with sodium sulfide (Na2S) solution. Furthermore, an innovative compositive impregnation process was developed and then compared with the conventional direct impregnation process. Experimental results showed that the compositive impregnation process produced the sulfurized WPAC with high BET surface area and a high S content. A maximum BET surface area of 886 m2/g and the S content of 2.61% by mass were obtained at 900°C and at the S feed ratio of 2160 mg Na2S/g C. However, the direct impregnation process led to a BET surface area of sulfurized WPAC that decreased significantly as the S content increased.
Poster: How Developers Debug Software The DBGBENCH Dataset

How do professional software engineers debug computer programs? In an experiment with 27 real bugs that existed in several widely used programs, we invited 12 professional software engineers, who together spent one month on localizing, explaining, and fixing these bugs. This did not only allow us to study the various tools and strategies used to debug the same set of errors. We could also determine exactly which statements a developer would localize as faults, how a developer would diagnose and explain an error, and how a developer would fix an error – all of which software engineering researchers seek to automate. Until now, it has been difficult to evaluate the effectiveness and utility of automated debugging techniques without a user study. We publish the collected data, called DBGBENCH, to facilitate the effective evaluation of automated fault localization, diagnosis, and repair techniques w.r. t. the judgement of human experts. Keywords-Debugging in Practice, Fault Localization, Bug Diagnosis, Software Repair, User as Tool Benchmark, Tool Evaluation
Testing of MEMS-based microsystems

The introduction of MEMS in microsystems is progressing rapidly. The high-volume testing of these multi-domain systems are often relatively cumbersome in comparison with pure electrical tests, because of non-electrical stimuli and/or response. It requires currently custom-made test set-up. Also the quality of tests is difficult to quantify. Hence, structural tests seem more appropriate, but this requires a lot of research and new approaches.