Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Simulation and practical studies of doubly-fed reluctance drives operation and control

The doubly-fed reluctance machine is a viable substitute for the widely used wound rotor doubly-fed induction machine (DFIM) in adjustable speed slip power recovery applications (e.g. pump-type drives, high-inertia loads, wind turbines etc.). It may offer competitive performance to DFIM at equally low capital expenditure by adopting a similar fractional converter, but contributing further with much reduced operation and maintenance costs of reliable brushless construction and a simpler, more compact, rugged 2-stage gearbox. The comparative simulation results for the two robust angular velocity and power factor control schemes executed in flux and/or voltage vector oriented reference frames have been experimentally validated on a custom-built prototype for variable loading characteristics.
Security Assurance Requirements for 3 Linux Application Container 4 Deployments 5 6

80 Application Containers are slowly finding adoption in enterprise IT infrastructures. Security 81 guidelines and countermeasures have been proposed to address security concerns associated with 82 the deployment of application container platforms. To assess the effectiveness of the security 83 solutions implemented based on these recommendations, it is necessary to analyze them and 84 outline the security assurance requirements they must satisfy to meet their intended objectives. 85 This is the contribution of this document. The focus is on application containers on a Linux 86 platform. 87
Cloning and regulation of the vertebrate homologue of lin‐41 that functions as a heterochronic gene in Caenorhabditis elegans

The Caenorhabditis elegans gene lin‐41 is the one of the heterochronic genes that regulate the timing of many developmental events. MicroRNA let‐7 negatively regulates the expression of lin‐41 through RNA‐RNA interaction on its 3′ untranslated region (UTR). Here, we report the isolation of chick and mouse homologues of lin‐41 that encode the RBCC‐NHL family protein and their expression patterns. C. elegans lin‐41 is one of the RBCC‐NHL families and the predicted amino acid sequences of isolated two genes encode the same family proteins. Chick and mouse lin‐41 expression was also observed in developing limb buds, branchial arches, and tail buds. The 3′UTRs of the mouse and chick lin‐41 genes contain multiple let‐7 complementary sites. Using luciferase assay, we showed that lin‐41 expression can be regulated through let‐7 complementary sites. Developmental Dynamics 235:1142–1149, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Developing Spatial Information Framework for Urban Computing Environment: A Socio-Spatial Computing Framework for Smart Urban Environment

Our research goal is to construct a novel spatial information framework for smart urban environment. The aim is to set up a system architecture which can demonstrate how urban dwellers make use of mobile platform and context-aware services in public settings by means of dynamic place information. The proposed urban computing framework with spatial information services is firstly introduced in this paper. To accomplish the goal, related works are studied and analyzed in the aspect of required components to construct urban computing environment. A new frame work composed of spatial data model, hardware and software is introduced. At the end, a prototype and a test-bed are constructed to demonstrate our idea.
Quantum key distribution based on a Sagnac loop interferometer and polarization-insensitive phase modulators

We present a design for a quantum key distribution (QKD) system in a Sagnac loop configuration, employing a novel phase modulation scheme based on frequency shift, and demonstrate stable BB84 QKD operation with high interference visibility and low quantum bit error rate (QBER). The phase modulation is achieved by sending two light pulses with a fixed time delay (or a fixed optical path delay) through a frequency shift element and by modulating the amount of frequency shift. The relative phase between two light pulses upon leaving the frequency-shift element is determined by both the time delay (or the optical path delay) and the frequency shift, and can therefore be controlled by varying the amount of frequency shift. To demonstrate its operation, we used an acousto-optic modulator (AOM) as the frequency-shift element, and vary the driving frequency of the AOM to encode phase information. The interference visibility for a 40 km and a 10 km fiber loop is 96% and 99%, respectively, at single photon level. We ran BB84 protocol in a 40-km Sagnac loop setup continuously for one hour and the measured QBER remained within the 2%-5% range. A further advantage of our scheme is that both phase and amplitude modulation can be achieved simultaneously by frequency and amplitude modulation of the AOM's driving signal, allowing our QKD system the capability of implementing other protocols, such as the decoy-state QKD and the continuous-variable QKD. We also briefly discuss a new type of Eavesdropping strategy ("phase-remapping" attack) in bidirectional QKD system
Representing personal web information using a topic-oriented interface

Nowadays, Web activities have become daily practice for people. It is therefore essential to organize and present this continuously increasing Web information in a more usable manner. In this paper, we developed a novel approach to reorganize personal Web information as a topic-oriented interface. In our approach, we proposed to utilize anchor, title and URL information to represent content information for the browsed Web pages rather than the content body. Furthermore, we explored three methods to organize personal Web information: 1) top-down statistical clustering; 2) salience phrase based clustering; and 3) support vector machine (SVM) based classification. Finally, we conducted a usability study to verify the effectiveness of our proposed solution. The experimental results demonstrated that users could visit the pages that have been browsed previously more easily with our approach than existing solutions.
Contact heat-evoked potential stimulation for the evaluation of small nerve fiber function.

BACKGROUND Small fiber peripheral neuropathy (SFN) is emerging as a common complication in diabetes. Currently there are few, not easily available methods of determining the integrity of small nerve fibers. This study was designed to determine the utility of a noninvasive technique, contact heat-evoked potential stimulation (CHEPS), on the identification of SFN and compare it with standardized measures of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN). SUBJECTS AND METHODS We evaluated 31 healthy controls and 30 participants with type 2 diabetes and DPN using neurologic examination, nerve conduction studies (NCS), autonomic function tests, quantitative sensory tests (QSTs), and CHEPS. Contact heat was administered to the thenar eminence, volar and dorsal forearms, lower back, and distal lower limb. Evoked potentials were recorded from the skull vertex. Latencies and amplitudes were determined. RESULTS Intrapeak amplitude (IA) values were significantly reduced in the DPN group at the lower back (44.93±6.5 vs. 23.87±3.36 μV; P<0.01), lower leg (15.87±1.99 vs. 11.68±1.21 μV; P<0.05), and dorsal forearm (29.89±8.86 vs. 14.96±1.61 μV; P<0.05). Pooled data from both groups showed that IA values at different sites significantly correlated with clinical neurologic scores, NCS, QSTs, and autonomic function. Receiver operator characteristic curve analysis, used to evaluate the performance of CHEPS in detecting nerve dysfunction, was most significant for IA at the lower back (area under the curve, 0.778;±SE, 0.06; 95% confidence interval, 0.654-0.875; P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS This study suggests that CHEPS is a novel, noninvasive technique able to detect impairment of small nerve fiber function from skin to cerebral cortex, providing an objective measure of C and Aδ nerve dysfunction.
Tumour necrosis factor and anti-tumour necrosis factor approach to inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system

Multiple sclerosis is a primary demyelinating disease in which an inflammatory cell infiltrate represents a characteristic pathological feature of active lesions within the central nervous system (CNS). As the search for anti-myelin antibodies in multiple sclerosis has thus far been unsuccessful, the possibility is raised that cell mediated immune mechanisms orchestrate the pathogenesis of this disease.1 In cellular immune mechanisms cytokines play a particularly important part. Tumour necrosis factors (TNFs) form a unique family of cytokines that are very pleiotropic in nature.2 TNFs demonstrate immunoregulatory activity but they are also involved in the effector arm of cellular immune responses. TNF increases antigen and mitogen induced T lymphocyte activation,3 as well as increasing the generation of cytotoxic T cells.4 Studies both in vitro and in vivo have suggested a role for TNFs in the pathology of multiple sclerosis. In this report, I will summarise data for and against involvement of TNFs in the mechanisms of multiple sclerosis and attempt to apply an anti-TNF approach for future therapeutic strategy for this disease. An initial interest of TNFα involvement in the pathomechanisms of multiple sclerosis was generated after demonstration that TNFα was capable of inducing delayed onset myelin dilatation and subsequent gradual myelin degradation in organotypic nerve tissue cultures.5 The organotypic nerve tissue cultures have been established from spinal cord tissue explanted from mice embryos. Several cytokines, TNFα, interferon γ, interleukin 1, interleukin 2, interleukin 6 were added to spinal cord cultures at a time when myelination was well advanced. The cultures were examined in living state and after fixation by light and electron microscopy. In the living state, cultures exposed to TNFα showed selective damage to myelin. By light microscopy, myelinated fibres exhibited dilatations of myelin sheath. These swellings were regularly spaced along affected fibres and appeared …
Cytoskeleton and surface structures of cells directly attached to the tooth in the rat junctional epithelium.

OBJECTIVE It is still an open question whether cells directly attached to the tooth (DAT) cells are migratory or non-migratory cells. The purpose of this study was to examine cytoskeletal and surface structures of DAT cells that might be involved in migration. METHODS We investigated the distribution of stress fibers composed of actin filaments in DAT cells using phallacidin fluorescent dye methods in a confocal laser scanning microscope. To observe the three-dimensional structure of the DAT cell surface, the osmium maceration scanning electron microscope (SEM) method, which removes various soluble materials between DAT cells and the enamel, was employed. RESULTS Stress fibers were found in the most apically located DAT cells, and were arranged in parallel to the presumable cervical-line, whereas some of the fibers ran parallel to the tooth axis in the more coronally located DAT cells. The parallel arrangement to the tooth axis of the fibers may be involved with migration for turnover, and the parallel accumulation to the presumable cervical-line may be concerned with the cervical contraction of DAT cells. Osmium maceration SEM images at high magnification revealed the existence of microvilli-like structures on the enamel surfaces (facing to the tooth surface) of DAT cells after removal of the soluble matrices. The thicknesses of the microvilli-like structures on the enamel surfaces and cell processes of intercellular bridges were significantly different. CONCLUSION DAT cells possess stress fibers arranged in parallel to the tooth axis and to the presumable cervical-line in the cytoplasm, and microvilli-like structures on their enamel surfaces. These results suggest that these structures contribute to DAT cell migration.
Development of Novel Reagent for Hantzsch Reaction for the Determination of Formaldehyde by Spectrophotometry and Fluorometry

A novel reagent, acetoacetanilide (AAA), was introduced to the determination of formaldehyde based on Hantzsch reaction. A simple and highly sensitive fluorometric method was achieved by using AAA. The main advantages in the use of this reagent are: the reaction is carried out at room temperature without any heating system, the cyclization product based on Hantzsch reaction is soluble in water, and the product can be detected by spectrophotometry and fluorometry. The maximum absorption wavelength of the product occurs at 368 nm, and the maximum excitation and emission wavelengths are found at 370 and 470 nm, respectively. Several important experimental variables of the procedures were examined; particularly, the reaction temperature, reaction time, concentrations of reagents, and pH of the reagent solution were optimized for improving the detecting sensitivity. The calibration graph was linear in the range of 1 × 10^-7 - 1 × 10^-6 M or much higher concentrations. The limit of detection (LOD), based on three times of the standard deviation of the reagent blank, was 2.0 × 10^-8 M. The proposed method was applied to the determination of formaldehyde in environmental water samples. Many foreign species commonly existing in water samples did not interfere with the determination of formaldehyde in the proposed method.
Uncertainty and variability in human exposure limits – a chemical-specific approach for ciprofloxacin and methotrexate

Abstract Human exposure limits (HELs) for chemicals with a toxicological threshold are traditionally derived using default assessment factors that account for variations in exposure duration, species sensitivity and individual sensitivity. The present paper elaborates a probabilistic approach for human hazard characterization and the derivation of HELs. It extends the framework for evaluating and expressing uncertainty in hazard characterization recently proposed by WHO-IPCS, i.e. by the incorporation of chemical-specific data on human variability in toxicokinetics. The incorporation of human variability in toxicodynamics was based on the variation between adverse outcome pathways (AOPs). Furthermore, sources of interindividual variability and uncertainty are propagated separately throughout the derivation process. The outcome is a two-dimensional human dose distribution that quantifies the population fraction exceeding a pre-selected critical effect level with an estimate of the associated uncertainty. This enables policy makers to set separate standards for the fraction of the population to be protected and the confidence level of the assessment. The main sources of uncertainty in the human dose distribution can be identified in order to plan new research for reducing uncertainty. Additionally, the approach enables quantification of the relative risk for specific subpopulations. The approach is demonstrated for two pharmaceuticals, i.e. the antibiotic ciprofloxacin and the antineoplastic methotrexate. For both substances, the probabilistic HEL is mainly influenced by uncertainty originating from: (1) the point of departure (PoD), (2) extrapolation from sub-acute to chronic toxicity and (3) interspecies extrapolation. However, when assessing the tails of the two-dimensional human dose distributions, i.e. the section relevant for the derivation of human exposure limits, interindividual variability in toxicodynamics also becomes important.
Five Common Management Approaches

No matter what you call them, cumulative trauma disorders, repetitive motion injuries or musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), softtissue injuries continue to be a major cause of loss in today’s workplace. In 1713, Ramazzini (trans. 1964) made one of the first published mentions of these types of injuries as “diseases of those who do fine work. ” In 1917, Hamilton (1943) described a disorder called “dead fingers” affecting stone cutters using air hammers to cut and shape limestone, one of the first published recognitions of the effects of vibration on soft tissue. MSDs have continued to affect workers over time. In the mid-1980s, safety professionals and employers realized that MSDs (a common term used in the U.S. for such injuries) were an increasing issue and began implementing controls. It is interesting to note that the terminology for MSDs is not universal. Boocock, Collier, McNair, et al. (2009), reviewed literature from 15 countries and found that the terminology used to describe MSD conditions in upper extremities lacked international consensus, which can add challenges when managing these disorders across global organizations. Fortunately, the risk factors that cause MSDs, primarily awkward posture, high force, and long duration and/or high frequency (Figure 1, p. 36), are well known, and a substantial body of credible epidemiological research provides evidence of these associations (NIOSH, 1997a; b). Although the limits for each of these risk factors vary by joint structure (e.g., shoulder, wrist, back), increasing combinations of these factors are tied to the increased risk of developing an MSD (NIOSH, 1997a; b). This evidence-based cause-and-effect association provides a reliable basis for effective MSD management. In recent benchmarking studies, employers indicated that MSDs account for 24% to 75% of their recordable injuries (Humantech, 2011). Further investigation reveals that the strategies used to manage these injuries range widely from reactive to proactive, and are based on various approaches, including changing personal wellness, fitness and employee work behaviors, and changing the workplace to better fit employee capabilities. IN BRIEF •Strategies used to manage musculoskeletal injuries range widely from reactive to proactive, and are based on various approaches, including changing personal wellness, fitness and employee work behaviors, and changing the workplace to better fit employee capabilities. •This article summarizes five commonly used approaches by examining the pros and cons for each, and the investment needed and value returned of each. Their effectiveness and application in industry are reviewed as well.
Pattern-Based Opinion Mining for Stock Market Trend Prediction

Stock market reports in on-line news are widely used by amateurs to make quick investment decisions. Financial analysts often give opinions about trends of stock markets based on past and present economic event indicators. These opinions commonly appear in text form and are abundant over the Internet. It is tedious and time consuming for users to browse through such text manually let alone to understand the embedded opinions. To overcome this shortcoming, automatic trend predication methods have been proposed. Under conventional methods, reports are represented using bag of words and trend prediction is treated as a 3-way trend classification problem, i.e. trend as 'up', 'down' or 'stable'. In this paper, we propose a new pattern-based opinion mining method for market trend predication. Experiments show that (1) pattern-based classification is more effective than its word-based counterpart for feature representation; and (2) opinion mining outperforms event-based classification for trend predication. The task of opinion mining gets more difficult when the users are exposed to opinions from more than one analyst. The question becomes whose opinions should he/she trust? This lays down our second research objective, i.e. to study different opinion incorporation strategies. Intuitively, one would trust the opinion supported by the majority. However, we show that on the contrary, the user is better off trusting the most credible analyst.
Process design for multidisciplinary patient care meetings: Considering the human factor

Abstract This paper describes a study of content and communication processes in multidisciplinary meetings of healthcare professionals, using a Human Factors engineering approach. The goal of the study, which took place in a teaching hospital Toronto, Canada, was to understand the processes of collaboration and information exchange that take place in the meetings, and to identify potential supports for the meetings, including the use of information technology. The methodology included data collection through observation of the multidisciplinary patient care meetings, and quantitative analysis of verbal exchanges in those meetings. The results suggested the need for a standardized approach to information exchange using structured language.
How social networks shape collective behaviours

Collective motion or swarm behaviour is the synchronized motion of groups of animals such as fish shoals or bird flocks that appear to behave as one body, continually changing shape and direction (Sumpter 2006). The first simulation model of collective motion (Aoki 1982) showed that it could emerge from local interactions between individuals. Several seminal models have since followed this principle (e.g. Reynolds 1987; Couzin et al. 2002). Agent-based models have been important for discerning the simple local rules of individuals that produce emergent group patterns. Such models assume that agents have a sensory range that is limited to a fixed number of nearest individuals or to a perception region of fixed extent. Agents react to the movement of others that are within their sensory range. Interactions often depend on the distance between individuals and can include collision avoidance at short distances, alignment at intermediate distances, and attractive tendencies at long distances.
Efficacy of a New Warm Moist Air Device on Tear Functions of Patients With Simple Meibomian Gland Dysfunction

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of an original warm moist air device on tear functions and ocular surface of patients with simple meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). Methods: Fifteen patients with simple MGD and 20 healthy volunteers were recruited in an initial prospective interventional clinical trial to evaluate the safety and short-term effects of the warm moist air device. The device was applied to the eyes of the subjects for 10 minutes. Temperatures of the eye lids and corneas were measured with an infrared thermometer. Symptoms of ocular fatigue were scored using visual analog scales (VASs). Schirmer test, tear film break-up time (BUT), DR-1 tear film lipid layer interferometry, fluorescein staining, and rose bengal staining were also performed before and after the application of the eye steamer. After the initial study, another 2-week prospective clinical trial was carried out in 10 patients with MGD who received the warm moist air treatment. Ten other patients were also recruited and received warm compress treatment with hot towels for 2 weeks to evaluate the long-term effects of the warm moist air device and the warm compresses on tear film lipid layer thickness and ocular surface health. The warm moist air device and the warm compresses were applied for 10 minutes twice a day. The changes in VAS scores for symptoms, BUT values, fluorescein, and rose bengal staining scores were examined before and after each treatment during the second trial. Results: VAS scores of ocular fatigue improved significantly with short- and long-term applications of the warm moist air device in both studies. The mean corneal surface and eye lid temperatures showed significant elevation within safe limits 10 minutes after the moist air application. The mean BUT prolonged significantly in the patients receiving warm moist air applications but did not change significantly in those treated with warm compresses. DR-1 tear film lipid layer interference showed evidence of lipid expression in the patients and controls, with thickening of the tear film lipid layer after 10 minutes of warm moist air device use. In the 2-week trial, tear film lipid layer thickness increased in both warm moist air device and warm compress groups, with a greater extent of increase in the warm moist air device group. Conclusion: Warm moist air device use provided symptomatic relief of ocular fatigue and improvement of tear stability in patients with MGD. The new warm moist air device seems to be a safe and promising alternative in the treatment of MGD.