Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
States of uncertainty: plural laws and affective governance in the context of assisted suicide in Germany

Abstract In December 2015, Germany implemented its first official law regulating organized assistance to suicide. Prior to the implementation of the §217 of the criminal code, assisted suicide was already regulated by 18 different sets of mutually contradictory medical norms, but despite their coexistence within the federal jurisdiction, these norms did not overlap at state level and were binding only to registered members of each medical association. After the implementation of the §217 StGB, however, the new legal pluralism on assisted suicide turned into one of overlaps, where medical norms and official law were oftentimes on opposing sides. This new plural legal landscape became a source of doubts and suspicions for those involved with assisted suicide on the ground level, shrouding assisted suicide with an affective perception of illegality and making the state be perceived through a general sense of mistrust and uncertainty. In this sense, this article first presents the production of a new legal pluralism on assisted suicide following the implementation of the §217 StGB to, subsequently, discuss how this legal landscape obscured the question of legality by enhancing uncertainties on the ground level and constituting an affective mode of governance.
The use of GIS in the Predictive Ecological Niche Modeling of Vector Species of the American Trypanosomiasis Disease (Chagas), in Ecuador

This current research performed a predictive ecological modeling niche with a statistical evaluation and their corresponding efficiency percentage about three vectors species of the American trypanosomiasis (Triatoma dimidiata, Triatoma infestans y Rhodnius ecuadorensis) in Ecuador, based on GIS technologies. We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of the algorithms used in different software and to develop predictive models of species ecological niche. The obtained results, have been a more efficient prediction being closer to reality, allowing to become a strategic tool in the planning of potential future projects. The chosen methodology for the models has been unlike prior used traditional methods, as it has been based on strategic information that covers records of vectors and infected persons, including the biophysical and biological variables as well as several chosen ecological criteria leading to a better understanding of the discrimination of the models.
Mass Flow Measurement of Pneumatically Conveyed Solids Through Multi-Modal Sensing and Machine Learning

Online and continuous measurement of the mass flow rate of pneumatically conveyed solid particles is desirable in many industrial processes such as food processing, fertilizer handling, and power generation. In this paper, a multi-modal sensing system along with machine learning models is proposed to measure the mass flow rate of solid particles in pneumatic conveying pipelines. The multi-modal sensing system is comprised of an array of electrostatic sensors and temperature, humidity and differential-pressure transducers. A variable selection algorithm based on PMI (Partial Mutual Information) is applied to select useful features from the output signals of the sensing system. Machine learning models, including Artificial Neural Network (ANN), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), are implemented to establish the relationship between the signal characteristics and the mass flow rate of particles based on the training data with selected features. Performance comparison between the three models is conducted with test data which is partially outside the range of the training data. Results suggest that the SVM model comparatively outperforms ANN and CNN in terms of generalization ability and offers the best trade-off between the input data length and measurement accuracy with relative error within ±10%.
Spatio-temporal Analysis: Using Instagram Posts to Characterize Urban Point-of-interest

The urban growth enlarge the geographical boundaries of a city and foster the creation of new local points of interest (POI). Social Media posts provide useful information about the temporal behavior of residents when visiting such POIs. Analyzing the temporal distribution of visits benefit stakeholders working in decision-making, business planning and promotion strategies. Geographical and temporal information extracted from social media is specially useful in developing countries where the lack of digital information is remarkable. In our study, we collect more than 38K Instagram posts from users who live in Guayaquil, Ecuador and propose a spatio-temporal analysis to identify daily visitor patterns for nine different POIs categories. The spatio-temporal analysis reveals that a urban neighborhood which offers more places with different categories will have a high number of visitors.
SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis patterns of the outer membrane proteins from E. coli strains of different pathogenic origin

The protein components of the outer membrane of Escherichia coli have been extensively studied [ 1 5 1 . Most analyses were performed on a few E. coli rough strains, predominantly E. coli K-12. The outer membrane proteins, which are present in more than about lo6 copies per cell of E. coli K-12, exhibit in SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis a pattern of several bands in the 30 000-40 000 region, which may be described according to different classifications [2-4,6]. The K-12 pattern is not representative for all E. coli strains. Thus in the outer membrane of E. coli B one of the major proteins found in E. coli K-12 is absent [7] and that of E. co2i 01 11 contains a protein which is similar but not identical to one of the proteins found in E. coli K-12. It is also present in E. coli K-12 after conversion with bacteriophage PA-2 [8,9]. The outer membrane of some smooth [ 101 and encapsulated E. coli strains (P.H. Makela, J.B. Robbins, M. Achtman, personal communications) were analysed recently and the patterns of the major proteins were found to differ somewhat. We have found that the pathogenicity of E. coli, i.e. their ability to cause certain diseases, is reflected in the chemical and physical nature of their surface polysaccharides 1111. It was interesting to see whether pathogenicity of E. coli correlates also with specific patterns of their outer membrane proteins in SDS polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. We have therefore analyzed a number of serologically distinct E. coli strains from different pathogenic origin. 2. Materials and Methods 19
THE GLOBAL FUEL SAVING POTENTIAL OF INTERMEDIATE STOP OPERATIONS CONSIDERING METEOROLOGICAL AND OPERATIONAL INFLUENCES

Based on the current world-wide wide-body aircraft fleet a system-wide analysis of the fuel savings achievable through Intermediate Stop Operations (ISO) is conducted taking into account operational influences, including meteorological effects and flight planning policies. An analysis workflow is applied comprising of databases for aircraft movements, meteorology, and navigational information as well as models for trajectory calculation and optimization based on advanced aircraft performance models. The effect of wind is accounted for by the application of a newly developed statistical wind distribution method. For the first time, it is demonstrated, to what extent wind influences the suitability of airports serving as potential refueling stations, and how much fuel could be globally saved by ISO with today’s wide-body aircraft conditions under more realistic assumptions.
Non-Linear Capacitance of Si SJ MOSFETs in Resonant Zero Voltage Switching Applications

The parasitic capacitances of modern Si SJ MOSFETs are characterized by their non-linearity. At high voltages the total stored energy Eoss(VDC) in the output capacitance Coss(v) differs substantially from the energy in an equivalent linear capacitor Coss(tr) storing the same amount of charge. That difference requires the definition of an additional equivalent linear capacitor Coss(er) storing the same amount of energy at a specific voltage. However, the parasitic capacitances of current SiC and GaN devices have a more linear distribution of charge along the voltage. Moreover, the equivalent Coss(tr) and Coss(er) of SiC and GaN devices are smaller than the ones of a Si device with a similar Rds,on. In this work, the impact of the non-linear distribution of charge in the performance and the design of resonant ZVS converters is analyzed. A Si SJ device is compared to a SiC device of equivalent Coss(tr), and to a GaN device of equivalent Coss(er), in single device topologies and half-bridge based topologies, in full ZVS and in partial or full hard-switching. A prototype of 3300 W resonant LLC DCDC converter, with nominal 400 V input to 52 V output, was designed and built to demonstrate the validity of the analysis.
Large-tilt Heavy Ions Induced SEU in Multiple Radiation Hardened 22 nm FDSOI SRAMs

Four kinds of radiation hardened SRAM were fabricated based on a 22 nm UTBB FDSOI process and irradiated by high-energy heavy ions. The high SEU tolerance and even SEU immunity for the three DICE SRAMs were investigated in vertical heavy-ion irradiation. However, the large-tilt-incidence (75°-85°) significantly increased the SEU cross sections for the 8-T SRAMs, and the errors in M-DICE and C-DICE hardened SRAMs in large tilt incidence were observed as well, indicating that the layout placement is essential. The UTBB FDSOI process contributes substantially to realize high SEU tolerance. While considering the existence of 4π-distributed relativistic heavy ions in space, the large-tilt irradiation is also indispensable in ground evaluation especially for the high reliable systems.
Design Of Ble 2-Step Separate Channel Fingerprinting

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)-based localization is a promising candidate of indoor localization for low power mobile and Internet of Things (IoT) systems. Localization accuracy of BLE-based localization systems is lower than other localization technologies relying on wideband wireless communication such as WiFi due to limited channel bandwidth. In our previous paper, we proposed an accuracy improvement method named separate channel fingerprinting (SCF), which, however, suffers from a high maximum localization error more than 6 meters. This paper therefore presents 2-step separate channel fingerprinting (2SSCF). 2S-SCF first coarsely estimates location by conventional BLE fingerprinting and utilizes SCF to estimate the fine-grained location. We experimentally demonstrate that 2S-SCF successfully reduced localization errors 95 % of time with a small maximum localization error.
Wirelessly Powered Data Aggregation via Intelligent Reflecting Surface Assisted Over-the-Air Computation

Fast wireless data aggregation and efficient battery recharging are two critical design challenges of Internet of Things (IoT) networks. Over-the-air computation (AirComp) and energy beamforming (EB) are two promising techniques that can tackle these two challenges. In this paper, we propose to leverage the intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) to drastically enhance the efficiency of both downlink EB and uplink AirComp in IoT networks by exploiting the passive beamforming gains at the IRS. Due to the coupled downlink EB and uplink AirComp, we propose the joint design of energy and aggregation beamformers at the access point, downlink/uplink phase-shift matrices at the IRS, and transmit power at the IoT devices to minimize the mean-squared-error (MSE), which quantifies the AirComp distortion. However, the formulated problem is a highly intractable nonconvex quadratic programming problem. To this end, we first obtain the closed-form expressions of the energy beamformer and the transmit power, and then propose an efficient algorithm that alternatively updates other variables using semidefinite relaxation (SDR) to solve the problem. Simulation results demonstrate the performance gains of the proposed algorithm over the baseline methods and show that deploying an IRS can significantly reduce the MSE of AirComp.
Curriculum Design Process for a Systems Engineering Program

This paper describes the activities developed in a curriculum reflection process and the preliminary results obtained so far. The process is based on the CDIO integrated curriculum design approach but involves other elements such us ABET accreditation guidelines, disciplinary referents and the Quality model for the program, already in place.The process to define the Program Educational Objectives and Student Outcomes, as described by ABET, is explained. Student outcomes encompasses both: disciplinary and personal and interpersonal skills, and product, process, and system building skills. Learning expected levels are established for each outcome.A proposal is presented on how to manage the relation between the new ABET student outcomes (labeled 1–7) and the new general student outcomes defined by the program.Preliminary decisions about the curricular structure are also discussed. The process of defining the sequence of content and learning outcomes using backward design, is presented.
A taxonomic revision of Helichrysum sect. Stoechadina (Asteraceae, Gnaphalieae)

A taxonomic revision of Helichrysum sect. Stoechadina, a section with a Mediterranean distribution, is presented. Taxonomic, nomenclatural, morphological, chromosomal, geographical, and ecological data are provided for each taxon. Eleven taxa are recognized, two lectotypifications are proposed, and a taxonomic key and a sectional description are included. The following new combinations are proposed: Helichrysum italicum subsp. siculum (Jord. & Fourr.) Galbany, L. Saez & Benedi comb. nov. and Helichrysum italicum subsp. picardii (Boiss. & Reut.) Galbany, L. Saez & Benedi comb. nov.
Identification and Distribution of ALS resistant Lolium rigidum populations in Saudi Arabia

Wild annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaud) is one of the most common weed species invading cereal crops in Saudi Arabia. During the last decade, several resistances to specific grass weed herbicides appeared within annual ryegrass populations growing in wheat fields. The present work aimed to identify and study the distribution of mutants conferring resistance to ALS herbicides in wild ryegrass populations invading wheat fields in Saudi Arabia using control tests and molecular markers. Seeds of L. rigidum from seven regions in Saudi Arabia and a susceptible accession were used in screening for ALS herbicide resistance. The populations were subjected to two doses (100 and 200 mg a.i/ha) of the ALS herbicide Atlantis™ during three leaf stage in a greenhouse test. The ryegrass populations were also subjected to molecular screening using specific primers published for mutation detection of resistant and tolerant to ALS herbicides. Results of the herbicide experiment showed significant differences among collected populations in response to the herbicide treatment.The most resistant populations were Tabouk and Qassim populations (33% and 30% of survival, respectively). On the other hand, the sensitive population and Harad were very susceptible to herbicide tratment (0% survival). Molecular screening revealed polymorphism among populations for ALS resistant mutants indicating the presence of resistant ryegrass populations in Saudi Arabia. Moreover, ALS mutants were identified in two populations (Tabouk and Qassim) which confirmed the result obtained in the herbicide resistance test. Three out of four mutants were revealed in Aljouf , Hail and Dwadmi. However, Harad and Wadi Aldawaser showed some resistance in two out of four mutations. Mutants conferring resistance to ALS herbicides in wild ryegrass populations invading wheat fields in Saudi Arabia were identified in two out of seven populations (Tabouk and Qassim) at molecular level. This result will help to implement new strategies to manage this weed problem.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH SEOUL VIRUS INFECTION AMONG URBAN POPULATIONS OF NORWAY RATS

Abstract This study examined environmental and physiological mediators of responses to hantavirus in wild-caught Norway rats. Rats were trapped in Baltimore, Maryland from 1996 to 2000, and prevalence of Seoul virus in target tissues, antibody responses against Seoul virus, concentrations of steroid hormones, and masses of reproductive organs were measured. Approximately 50% of live-trapped rats were infected with Seoul virus. No seasonal or photoperiodic changes in prevalence of Seoul virus infection or in antibody responses against Seoul virus were observed. Animals trapped during low temperatures had higher antibody responses than animals trapped during mild temperatures. Adults were more likely to have Seoul virus in kidneys and lungs and have higher antibody responses than juveniles. Older adult rats also were more likely to be infected and have higher antibody responses than younger adults. Rates of Seoul virus infection were similar between sexes; females, however, had higher anti–Seoul virus IgG responses than males. Although age- and season-related changes in concentrations of steroid hormones were observed, concentrations were not related to variation in infection by Seoul virus. Finally, the masses of reproductive organs increased with age, were responsive to environmental changes, and may be related to variation in Seoul virus infection. Thus, physiological and behavioral changes associated with sexual maturation may be the best predictors of Seoul virus infection in Norway rats, suggesting that metabolic trade-offs among growth, reproduction, and immune function occur at the onset of puberty.
Preparation and Characterization of Nanoliposomal Beta- Cryptoxanthin and its Effect on Proliferation and Apoptosis in Human Leukemia Cell Line K562

Purpose: To prepare beta-cryptoxanthin-loaded nanoliposomes and evaluate their anti-proliferative activity in leukemia K562 cell line, compared to free beta-cryptoxanthin. Methods: Beta-cryptoxanthin-loaded nanoliposomes were prepared by extrusion method. Morphological characterization of the nanoliposomes was performed by cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM). The anti-proliferation effect of beta-cryptoxanthin (BC) in free and liposomal forms on K562 cell line was studied using 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay. Apoptotic activity, following treatment with beta-cryptoxanthin in the free and liposomal forms, was detected using flow cytometry. Results: Entrapment efficiency of beta-cryptoxanthin was 86.3 % ± 1.0. Cryo-TEM analysis revealed that the nanoliposomes have spherical shapes. In all conditions, beta-cryptoxanthin-loaded nanoliposomes exhibited greater anti-proliferative activity than than the free beta-cryptoxanthin (p < 0.001). Furthermore, in the presence of beta-cryptoxanthin-loaded nanoliposomes, the proportion of apoptotic cells was higher for free beta-cryptoxanthin (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The data obtained indicate that beta-cryptoxanthin, especially in the liposomal form, inhibits the growth of K562 cells and may therefore provide a basis for the development of leukemia therapies.
Morphometric analysis on ecomorphologically equivalent cichlid species from Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika

Landmark-based geometric morphometric techniques were used to test the hypothesis that Petrochromis spp. from Lake Tanganyika are ecomorphologically equivalent to Petrotilapia spp. from Lake Malawi. Both genera are epilithic algal feeders and inhabit the rocky shores of their respective lakes. We investigated the morphological component of the ecomorphology hypothesis by investigating body shape, using landmark-based morphometric techniques. A MANOVA revealed significant differences among species and an ordination of all species along the first two CV axes showed clear separation of the two genera in the morphospace with Petrochromis fasciolatus as an intermediate. A thin-plate spline analysis revealed that Petrochromis spp. had a deeper, broader anterior body, larger gape, shorter anal fin base and narrower caudal peduncle than Petrotilapia spp. Basically, differences between lakes were found, but there were no similarities or clusters of presumptive ecomorphs. Based on such results, we reject the hypothesis of morphological equivalence between these two genera. However, considering the non-significant difference in body shape revealed between P. fasciolatus, Petrotilapia genalutea and Petrotilapia‘mumbo blue’, we conclude that these three species represent morphological equivalence and hence display a best example of convergent evolution.
First North American Occurrence of the Toothed Pteranodontoid Pterosaur Cimoliopterus

ABSTRACT A new pterosaur species, Cimoliopterus dunni, sp. nov., is described based on a partial rostrum from the upper Cenomanian Britton Formation in the Eagle Ford Group of north-central Texas. The holotype preserves alveoli for a minimum of 26 upper teeth and bears a thin premaxillary crest that begins above the fourth pair of alveoli. The rostrum, characterized by a slight lateral flare, lacks the pronounced lateral expansion found in ornithocheirids and anhanguerids. The tip of the snout is small and blunt, and the anterior face of the rostrum is oriented posteroventrally, forming an approximately 45° angle with the anterior portion of the palate. The anteroventrally oriented first pair of alveoli is directed more ventrally than anteriorly. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that Cimoliopterus dunni and Cimoliopterus cuvieri, from the Cenomanian Grey Chalk Subgroup in Kent, England, are basal pteranodontoids that are closely related to Aetodactylus halli from the middle Cenomanian Tarrant Formation of north Texas. Cimoliopterus dunni marks only the second known occurrence of Cimoliopterus, extending its geographic range from Europe to North America. In conjunction with Coloborhynchus wadleighi from the upper Albian Pawpaw Formation, Cimoliopterus dunni provides unambiguous evidence of biogeographic linkages between the pterosaur faunas of North America and Europe in the middle Cretaceous.
Chaos and relativistic effects in the rotational dynamics of minor planetary satellites

The chaotic regime of rotation of minor planetary satellites taking place during tidal evolution is considered. The possibility of the formation of strange attractors in the rotational dynamics of all known minor planetary satellites of the Solar system is estimated. A detailed analysis of the presence of anisotropy in the orientation of the satellite figure during its chaotic rotation was carried out. The relativistic effect (the geodetic precession, which is the part of the effect of the geodetic rotation) in the rotation of some minor satellites for the first time is investigated. As a result, in Euler angles, the most significant systematic terms of the geodetic rotation are calculated.
Microsatellite loci for euglossine bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae)

The Neotropical Euglossini (Hymenoptera: Apidae) are important pollinators of many flowering plants, particularly orchids. Lack of highly polymorphic genetic markers for euglossine species has limited the study of their social organization and inbreeding. We therefore developed microsatellite markers for two species, Eulaema nigrita (11 loci) and Euglossa cordata (nine loci), most of which were highly polymorphic in the source species and in a range of related euglossine bees.