Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
High-energy transmission Laue micro-beam X-ray diffraction: a probe for intra-granular lattice orientation and elastic strain in thicker samples.

An understanding of the mechanical response of modern engineering alloys to complex loading conditions is essential for the design of load-bearing components in high-performance safety-critical aerospace applications. A detailed knowledge of how material behaviour is modified by fatigue and the ability to predict failure reliably are vital for enhanced component performance. Unlike macroscopic bulk properties (e.g. stiffness, yield stress, etc.) that depend on the average behaviour of many grains, material failure is governed by `weakest link'-type mechanisms. It is strongly dependent on the anisotropic single-crystal elastic-plastic behaviour, local morphology and microstructure, and grain-to-grain interactions. For the development and validation of models that capture these complex phenomena, the ability to probe deformation behaviour at the micro-scale is key. The diffraction of highly penetrating synchrotron X-rays is well suited to this purpose and micro-beam Laue diffraction is a particularly powerful tool that has emerged in recent years. Typically it uses photon energies of 5-25 keV, limiting penetration into the material, so that only thin samples or near-surface regions can be studied. In this paper the development of high-energy transmission Laue (HETL) micro-beam X-ray diffraction is described, extending the micro-beam Laue technique to significantly higher photon energies (50-150 keV). It allows the probing of thicker sample sections, with the potential for grain-level characterization of real engineering components. The new HETL technique is used to study the deformation behaviour of individual grains in a large-grained polycrystalline nickel sample during in situ tensile loading. Refinement of the Laue diffraction patterns yields lattice orientations and qualitative information about elastic strains. After deformation, bands of high lattice misorientation can be identified in the sample. Orientation spread within individual scattering volumes is studied using a pattern-matching approach. The results highlight the inability of a simple Schmid-factor model to capture the behaviour of individual grains and illustrate the need for complementary mechanical modelling.
THE MENTAL HEALTH OF ADULTS BORN OF UNWANTED PREGNANCIES, THEIR SIBLINGS, AND MATCHED CONTROLS: A 35-YEAR FOLLOW-UP STUDY FROM PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

This study tested the hypothesis that being born of an unwanted pregnancy is a risk factor for poor mental health in adulthood. Self-report and objective data were collected at ages 28 to 31 and 32 to 35 years in a cohort of nearly 200 “unwanted” subjects born after their mothers had been twice denied an abortion for the same pregnancy. The same data were collected in a sociodemographically matched control cohort of “accepted” subjects whose mothers had not requested an abortion, and from siblings of both the unwanted subjects and the accepted control subjects. Logistic regression analyses conducted with several indicators of poor mental health in adulthood as dependent variables brought partial support for the hypothesis. Specifically, unwanted subjects became psychiatric patients (especially psychiatric inpatients) more frequently than their siblings and the accepted controls. Criminality, alcohol-related disorders, and heavy smoking were not associated with unwanted pregnancy.
Behavioral synthesis for low power

We present a behavioral synthesis method targeting low power consumption for data-dominated CMOS circuits. A study of how the high-level synthesis process affects power consumption is presented, based on, which we have developed the first allocation method for low power. We also present a method of optimizing the controller to reduce data path power dissipation. We consider loops, conditional branches, and scheduling constructs such as multicycling, chaining and structural pipelining. The techniques were implemented within the framework of an existing behavioral synthesis system. Experiments performed on various examples and benchmarks show that low power circuits can be synthesized by our method with very low or zero overheads. <<ETX>>
Enamel Demineralization in situ with Various Frequencies of Carbohydrate Consumption with and without Fluoride Toothpaste

There is little information in the literature on the relationship among the frequency of carbohydrate consumption, the use of fluoride toothpaste, and enamel demineralization. The aim of this investigation was to compare the extent of demineralization of enamel slabs in situ, with a sugar-based solution, consumed in constant amounts but with various frequencies in subjects both with and without the use of fluoride (F) toothpaste. Eight subjects wore removable mandibular appliances carrying an enamel slab cut from white-spot lesions. The subjects were required to drink 500 mL of a 120-gm/L sugar solution either once, 3, 5, 7, or 10 times/day for 30 sec on each occasion, for a period of 5 days while brushing their teeth twice daily with either a F (1450 ppm NaF) or a F-free toothpaste. Mineral analysis revealed that when the subjects used a F toothpaste, net demineralization was evident only with the seven- and 10-times/day regime (ns). When F-free toothpaste was used, statistically significant demineralization was observed when the frequency exceeded 3 times/day. This study demonstrates the importance of F-containing toothpaste in enamel re-/demineralization by varying the frequency of carbohydrate challenge in situ.
A unified control frame for stable bipedal walking

This paper is presenting a unified control frame to regulate possible undesired motions, which may occur throughout a bipedal walking motion. The proposed frame is based on the combination of orientation control, ZMP control and upper body motion regulation to be able to cope with distinct restriction factors and maintain dynamic balance in a feasible way. It can be plugged into one mass model based trajectory generation methods with inverse kinematics solutions. In order to validate our proposed control frame, we used ZMP based trajectory generation approach and performed several simulations and experiments. In conclusion, we obtained reasonable amounts of decreases in undesired yaw moment, orientation error and ZMP error.
Parallel Parity Checksum and Syndrome Generation for Digital Video and Audio Transmission over Cable Channel

The ITU-T J.83 Annex B is a widely adopted standard in North America for digital video and audio transmission over coaxial cable. This paper proposes a new parallel processing architecture of the parity checksum generator and syndrome generator specified in the standard for packet synchronization and error detection. The proposed parallel processing architecture removes the performance bottleneck occurring in the conventional serial processing architecture, leading to significant decrease in processing time for generating a parity checksum in transmitter and a syndrome in receiver. Implementation results show that the proposed parallel processing architecture reduces the processing time by 92% for parity checksum generation and by 81% for syndrome generation over the conventional serial processing architecture.
Taxonomic and Phylogenetic Relationships Between Neotropical Species of Ticks from Genus Amblyomma (Acari: Ixodidae) Inferred from Second Internal Transcribed Spacer Sequences of rDNA

Abstract The accurate specific identification of ticks is essential for the study, control and prevention of tick-borne diseases. Herein, we determined ribosomal nucleotide sequences of the second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) of 15 Neotropical hard tick species of the genus Amblyomma Koch found in Brazil. Most of the studied ticks accidentally parasite humans and potentially act as vectors of zoonoses. Lengths of the ITS2 sequences ranged from 956 to 1,207 bp, whereas GC content varied from 62.4 to 66.9%. A matrix of ITS2 divergence was calculated with the ITS2 sequence data obtained showing divergence levels varying from 1.5 to 28.8%. The analysis indicated that this molecular marker can be useful for Amblyomma-specific identification. Phylogenetic inferences based on the ITS2 sequences were used to assess some issues in subgenus taxonomy.
T‐Cell Specificity and Repertoire

There are significant differences between B-cell and T-cell recognition of antigen. Whereas B cells bind free antigen, T cells bind antigen that has been internally processed and re-expressed on the cell surface in association with molecules encoded by the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). This requirement for MHC-restricted antigen recognition directs T cells to their appropriate targets virally infected cells and tumor cells for cytotoxic T cells, antigen bound by B cells for helper T cells and so on. In addition, T cells respond vigorously to foreign MHC (alloreactivity). These two characteristic properties of T-cell recognition, MHC restriction and alloreactivity, emphasize the bias of the T-cell repertoire toward MHC. It is now accepted that T-cell recognition of antigen in association with MHC (Ag/MHC) is mediated by a single T-cell receptor (Yagiie et al. 1985, Dembic et al. 1986), a membrane-bound, alpha/beta heterodimer (Allison et al. 1982, Haskins et al. 1983, Meuer et al. 1983). Despite the different ways in which B and T cells bind antigen, there are striking similarities between the B-cell immunoglobulin receptor and the T-cell receptor (TcR). The alpha and beta chains of the TcR show extensive structural homology with the heavy and light chains of immunoglobulin, and the gene organization and genetic mechanisms for generating receptor diversity are similar (Hedrick et al. 1984, Yanagi et al. 1984, Saito et al. 1984a, b, Chien et al. 1984, Fabbi et al. 1984, Hannum et al. 1984, Sim et al. 1984, Gascoigne et al. 1984, Malissen et al. 1984). Thus there is nothing apparent in the structure of the receptor chains that explains the distinct binding properties of T cells. During T-cell ontogeny in the thymus, T cells rearrange their receptor genes and begin to express a/fi antigen receptors at about d 17 of gestation (Raulet et al. 1985, Born et al. 1985, Snodgrass et al. 1985). However, the T-cell repertoire
Nerve-stimulator guided paravertebral blockade vs. general anaesthesia for breast surgery: a prospective randomized trial

Background and objective: Different anaesthetic techniques are used during breast surgery but are frequently associated with unsatisfactory postoperative analgesia. Paravertebral nerve blockade has recently been proposed as a favourable alternative for this type of surgical procedure, providing excellent pain relief and a reduced incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting. The aim of the present study was to compare the use of a nerve-stimulator guided paravertebral nerve blockade technique to regular general anaesthesia for breast surgery. Methods: Sixty patients were prospectively randomized to receive either paravertebral nerve blockade or general anaesthesia for breast surgery. The primary end-point of the study was to assess postoperative analgesia (visual analogue scale and supplemental opioid requirements); the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting and length of hospital stay were considered as secondary outcome measures. Results: Visual analogue scores both at rest and at movement, as well as the need for supplemental opioid administration during the first 3 days postoperatively, were significantly lower in patients handled with paravertebral nerve blockade compared to patients receiving general anaesthesia (P < 0.05). The number of patients free from nausea and vomiting after operation was significantly higher in the paravertebral nerve blockade group (93%) compared to the general anaesthesia group (67%) (P < 0.05). The use of paravertebral nerve blockade was also associated with a significantly shorter hospital stay (median 1 day) compared to general anaesthesia (2 days) (P < 0.01). Both the performance of the block and the intraoperative conditions was well accepted by the vast majority of patients treated by paravertebral nerve blockade (97%). Conclusion: The use of paravertebral nerve blockade was associated with improved postoperative pain relief, a reduced incidence of nausea and vomiting after operation and a shorter duration of hospital stay compared to general anaesthesia in patients undergoing breast surgery.
Echo State networks and Neural network Ensembles to predict Sunspots activity

Echo state networks (ESN) and ensembles of neural networks are developed for the prediction of the monthly sunspots series. Through numerical evaluation on this benchmark data set it has been shown that the feedback ESN models outperform feedforward MLP. Furthermore, it is shown that median fusion lead to robust predictors, and even can improve the prediction accuracy of the best individual predictors.
Genetic optimization of a short block length LDPC code accelerated by distributed algorithms

In this paper we propose an application of genetic optimization algorithms to the construction of LDPC codes with interesting correcting capabilities. A short block length (64,56) code is constructed by the accelerated genetic optimization. A highly significant acceleration of the convergence speed is achieved by the coarse grained parallelization algorithm. The best optimized (64,56) LDPC code and its comprehensive evaluation are given in the paper.
A utopic multi-objective extremum-seeking controller design technique

This paper considers the solution of a multi-objective optimization problem using adaptive extremum seeking control for a class of uncertain nonlinear systems. It is assumed that the equations describing the dynamics of the nonlinear system and the cost functions to be optimized are unknown and that the objective functions are measured. The proposed extremum-seeking control technique uses a time-varying estimation of the unknown gradients that minimizes the impact of the choice of dither signal on the performance of the extremum seeking control system. The technique guarantees convergence of the system to specific desirable Pareto solutions using a utopic formulation. A simulation example is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.
Increased energy expenditure by granulocytes during phagocytosis of Staphylococcus aureus compared with other staphylococci.

The heat produced by human neutrophils during phagocytosis of different strains of Staphylococcus was analyzed by a flow calorimetric technique. At the same bacteria/leukocyte ratio Staphylococcus aureus yielded heat effects about twice that of other saprophytic staphylococci tested. In parallel experiments the degree of phagocytosis of radiolabeled bacteria was evaluated: S. aureus strains were the least phagocytosed. These data indicate that, for a single phagocytosed bacterium, S. aureus strains yield heat effects three to four times greater than do the saprophytic staphylococci tested (P less than .001). Previous studies have shown that the heat produced by activated neutrophils derives essentially from the aerobic catabolism of glucose involved in the production of bactericidal O2 metabolites and is directly proportional to O2 consumption. The results reported here indicate that less efficient internalization of a staphylococcal strain is correlated with a greater energy expenditure for O2 metabolite formation during the metabolic burst.
Parallel simulation of incompressible fluids

The simulation of incompressible fluids is one of the important problem classes in computational fluid dynamics. We consider a simulation algorithm for the convection in binary fluid mixtures, a problem where a quite simple model describes a very complex behavior. In a parallel implementation on an IBM SP2, we investigate several implementation strategies involving different data layouts and communication organizations.
Simplified model of doubly fed induction generator in normal operation

This paper presents comparative study of reduced order models (ROMs) of a doubly fed induction generators (DFIG) for normal operation. A DFIG with detailed mechanical, electrical and control components is the basis for model development. Two control strategies, the maximum power point tracking and set point tracking, are considered for normal operation. In these cases, the dynamic model of DFIG can be seen as a nonlinear input-output system. Dominant pole based modal analysis is applied to identify the importance of the states. Thus, a simplified nonlinear DFIG model is obtained by neglecting the less important states. Simulations and comparisons are carried out to validate the ability of ROM in matching the active power generated by the detailed DFIG model.
Somatic instability of the androgen receptor CAG repeat in a normal female

The polyglutamine repeat disorders represent a family of degenerative neurological diseases which are characterized by expansions of tandemly repeated CAG repeats. Investigations have demonstrated that in Huntington disease, dentatorubral pallidoluysian atrophy, and the spinocerebellar ataxias type 1, 2, and 3, the polyglutamine expansions show both meiotic and mitotic instability. However, previous studies have suggested that the polyglutamine motif within exon 1 of the androgen receptor gene (AR) which expands in cases of spinobulbar muscular atrophy differs in that it is apparently mitotically stable. During linkage analysis in a family with FG syndrome, a rare condition mapped to Xq12‐q22.1, we detected the presence of an unusually small AR allele segregating within the pedigree. Sequencing, cytogenetic analysis, and PCR of flanking markers indicate that this allele arose by a somatic contraction of seven CAG repeats in the proband's mother, representing the first report of mitotic instability of an AR CAG repeat of normal size. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Test scheduling for network-on-chip with BIST and precedence constraints

Network-on-a-chip (NoC) is becoming a promising paradigm of core-based system. We propose a new method for test scheduling in NoC. The method is based on the use of a dedicated routing path for the test of each core. We show that test scheduling under this approach is NP-complete and present an ILP model for solving small NoC instances. For NoCs with larger number of cores, we present an efficient heuristic. We then improve the heuristic by including BISTs and precedence constraints. Experimental results for the ITC'02 SoC benchmarks show that the new method leads to substantial reduction on test application time compared to previous work. The inclusion of BIST tests and precedence constraints provides a comprehensive solution for test scheduling in NoC.
Survival of frozen-thawed mouse and rat embryos in the presence of ethylene glycol.

Survival of mammalian embryos after storage at very low temperatures was first achieved in the mouse with suitably slow rates of cooling and thawing and in the presence of the dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) or glycerol (Whittingham, Leibo & Mazur, 1972; Wilmut, 1972; Leibo, Mazur & Jackow-ski, 1974). Similar procedures have been applied for the embryos of cattle (Wilmut & Rowson, 1973), rabbit (Bank & Maurer, 1974; Maurer & Haseman, 1976), rat (Whittingham, 1975), and sheep (Willadsen, Polge, Rowson & Moor, 1976) in the presence of DMSO. A report (Whittingham, 1971a) of the survival of mouse embryos frozen and thawed in medium containing polyvinylpyrroli-done (PVP) has not been confirmed (Whittingham et al., 1972; Wilmut, 1972) and no survival has been achieved for rabbit embryos frozen in the presence of PVP or glycerol (Bank & Maurer, 1974). Greater survival was obtained for mouse embryos frozen in the presence of DMSO than in glycerol (Whittingham et al., 1972). It therefore seems that DMSO is more effective than glycerol for the protection of mammalian embryos from freezing damage. This communication reports the survival of mouse and rat embryos after freezing and thawing by using ethylene glycol as the cryoprotective agent. Female ICR mice, 6-12 weeks old, were induced to superovulate by intraperitoneal injections of 5 i.u. PMSG and 5 i.u. HCG given approximately 48 h apart, and were mated. Eight-cell embryos were recovered from the oviduct and anterior portion of the uterine horns at 68-72 h after the in¬ jection of HCG. Eight-cell embryos were also obtained by flushing from Wistar develop into expanded blastocysts during culture. Data were analysed for statistical significance using a 2 test. The effect of ethylene glycol concentration on survival of 8-cell mouse embryos after freezing to was examined. The percentage of survival offrozen and thawed embryos in 0-6,0-9,1-2, 1 -5, 1 -8 and 2-1 M-ethylene glycol was 4 (2/50), 80 (32/40), 78 (38/49), 71 (25/35), 44 (20/45) and 27 (10/37), respectively. A concentration of 0-9-1-5 M-ethylene glycol appeared to be the best (P < 0-02), and we used 1-2 M-ethylene glycol for subsequent studies of the freezing of mouse'embryos.
Molecular photoionization using the complex Kohn variational method.

We have applied the complex Kohn variational method to the study of molecular-photoionization processes. This requires electron-ion scattering calculations enforcing incoming boundary conditions. The sensitivity of these results to the choice of the cutoff function in the Kohn method has been studied and we have demonstrated that a simple matching of the irregular function to a linear combination of regular functions produces accurate scattering phase shifts.
Fluoxetine's Effects on Cognitive Performance in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury

Objective: There are preclinical data showing that fluoxetine stimulated expression of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and its specific tyrosine kinase receptor, and caused neuritic elongation and increased dendritic branching density of CA3 hippocampal pyramidal cell neurons in rodents. The latter effect of fluoxetine has been referred to as neuronal remodeling. In view of this preclinical data, we wondered if specific cognitive measures could serve as novel therapeutic targets for fluoxetine in head-injured patients. Theoretically, fluoxetine-induced “neuronal remodeling” might improve cognition, independently of a primary effect on mood. Method: In an open-label pilot investigation, fluoxetine hydrochloride (Prozac; 20–60 mg/day) was administered to a heterogeneous group of five head-injured patients with either no or moderate depression for a period of eight months. These patients had no histories of prior treatment with antidepressant medications. They were administered cognitive and memory tests at baseline and after eight months of treatment on fluoxetine. Results: The preliminary results showed that fluoxetine improved mood, in addition to improving performance on the Trail Making Test Part A, an attentional-motor speed task, and the letter-number sequencing subtest of the WAIS-III, a measure reflecting “working memory. ” Conclusions: Although fluoxetine had beneficial effects on some measures of cognition, more work is needed to connect these improvements with neuronal remodeling.