Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Nonconventional Technologies Review – No . 1 / 2007 119 OPTIMIZATION OF OPERATING PARAMETERS FOR EDM PROCESS BASED ON THE TAGUCHI METHOD AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK A . THILLAIVANAN

Owing to the complexity of electrical discharge machining, it is very difficult to determine optimal cutting parameters for improving cutting performance. Hence, optimization of operating parameters is an important step in machining, particularly for operating unconventional machining procedure like EDM. A suitable selection of machining parameters for the electrical discharge machining process relies heavily on the operators’ technologies and experience because of their numerous and diverse range. Machining parameters tables provided by the machine tool builder can not meet the operators’ requirements, since for an arbitrary desired machining time for a particular job, they do not provide the optimal machining conditions. An approach to determine parameters setting is proposed. Based on the Taguchi parameter design method and the analysis of variance, the significant factors affecting the machining performance such as total machining time, oversize and taper for a hole machined by EDM process, are determined. Artificial neural networks are highly flexible modeling tools with an ability to learn the mapping between input variables and output feature spaces. The superiority of using artificial neural networks in modeling machining processes make easier to model the EDM process with dimensional input and output spaces. On the basis of the developed neural network model, for a required total machining time, oversize and taper the corresponding process parameters to be set in EDM by using the developed and trained ANN are determined.
A strategy and support at school level

The need for strategies and supports at school level to facilitate implementation of curriculum innovation and change has long been recognised. Teachers need the opportunity to develop a clear understanding of the innovation, to be given time to become convinced of its value and of its potential to make a difference in terms of pupil learning. This paper outlines how teacher-researchers working within the Irish context carried out research into their own practice. In aiming to understand and inform their practice as teachers, action research was the preferred approach to enquiry in both schools. Bernie Tobin is an Assistant Principal in a primary school. Her research focuses on the implementation of the approach to writing outlined in the English Language Curriculum. Mairead Ryan, at the time of the study was a classroom teacher but is now a school Principal. She investigates the use of games in a junior primary school. Margaret Farren is a teacher educator at Dublin City University. She explains the methods used to ensure the validity and rigour of the case studies. These include: Whitehead’s (1989, 2004) action research cycles; Habermas’ (1976) social validation and Winter’s (1989) criteria of rigour.
Prevalence of tetracycline resistance genes in the oral cavity of Greek subjects

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health issue, but limited data exist in the literature regarding its presence in the oral environment. The objective of the present cross-sectional study was to in vestigate the prevalence of the tetracy cline resistance genes tetM and tetQ in the oral cavity of sy s temically healthy Greek subjects. After screening 649 subjects, the sample included 44 periodon tally healthy , 36 gingivitis and 48 chronic periodontitis cases. Clinical parameters were assessed with an automated probe, samples were collected from tongue, first molars and pockets > 6 mm and analy zed with Poly merase Chain Reaction for tetM and tetQ . Findings have shown high pre va lence in plaque and tongue samples (69.8-94.3% for tetM and 25.5-60.9% for tetQ ). Deep pock ets harbored these genes less frequently (50.0% for tetM and 16.7% for tetQ ). Statistical analy sis revealed that tetM was more frequently found in plaque samples from gingivitis cases and tetQ less frequently found in plaque samples from chronic periodontitis cases. The presence of these genes could not be correlated with previous intake of tetracy clines, suggesting other routes of transmission. The oral cavity of Greek subjects often harbor tetM and tetQ , even though tetracy clines were not frequently prescribed in this population.
Nonlinear Behavior of Single Piles in Jacket Type Offshore Platforms Using Incremental Dynamic Analysis

Offshore platforms are some of those structures which are built to withstand environmental and accidental loads during oil exploitation operation. One of the most usual types of these platforms is the Jacket Type Offshore Platform (JTOP) which can be divided into three important parts, which are Deck, Jacket, and piles. In order to increase the safety, particular attention should be paid to earthquake excitations which are directly applied to the piles of these structures. Nonlinearity in piles and buckling of the struts are important issues which have to be considered by the designers of offshore platforms. Incremental Dynamic Analysis (IDA) is a powerful tool to assess the capacity of a structure upon seismic loads. In this paper incremental dynamic analysis has been implemented on single piles considering soil-pile interactions and free field site response. The use of nonlinear materials and lateral load resisting elements in the incremental dynamic analysis done in this paper has made it possible to get promising insights for incorporation of appropriate limit states and applications of performance based engineering. Special Engineering Demand Parameters (EDP) and Intensity Measures (IM) have been introduced for the single pile dynamic analysis in jacket type offshore platforms.Copyright © 2008 by ASME
Spatial Registration for a Three-Arm Robot Assisted Mandible Reconstruction Surgery

The three-arm surgical robot system assisted mandible reconstruction surgery (TMR-MRS) is developed to repair the mandible defects caused by congenital defect, trauma, or acquired disease. The surgical robot system is divided into four parts, including 3D reconstructed image subsystem, robotic subsystem, optical measurement subsystem, and patient subsystem. The spatial registration based on quaternion is proposed to obtain the transformation relationship between four surgical subsystems. A method of hand-eye coordination is presented to control the end-effector of the robot arm to target position according to surgical planning. A least square error criterion is developed to optimize and compensate the hand-eye coordination method. In addition, the position of fibular implant in the robot space is calculated when it is grasped by end-effector of robot middle arm. Finally, the positioning accuracy tests and skull model experiments were conducted to evaluate the function of the surgical robot system. The results validate its feasibility and are consistent with the preoperative surgical planning.
Assessing the reliability of avian biodiversity measures of urban greenspaces using eBird citizen science data

Assessing the reliability of avian biodiversity measures of urban greenspaces using eBird citizen science data Corey T. Callaghan , Mitchell B. Lyons , John M. Martin , Richard E. Major 3,4 and Richard T. Kingsford 1 Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UNSW, Sydney, Australia, Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, Sydney, Australia, Australian Museum Research Institute, Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia, Centre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, Sydney, Australia
Neural networks learning methods for image processing applications

This paper deals of the problem of the image processing by using artificial neural networks. The MLP neural network was used. We compared results obtained by a using of different learning algorithms - the classical back-propagation algorithm (BP) and the genetic algorithm (GA). The real technological scene for image processing was simulated with digitization of two-dimensional pictures.
A Cognitive Walkthrough and Focus Group Study of Nursing Personnel to Improve EHRs Used in Nursing Homes

The use of electronic health records (EHRs) to support health care has dramatically increased in the past several years; however, the efficiency of these systems in supporting nursing personnel’s workflow remains unclear. The purpose of this paper is to examine nurses’ experiences using an EHR system and how nursing personnel evaluate the usability of the EHR system. Three focus group interviews and a cognitive walkthrough with four nurses were performed in the spring of 2010. A major finding was that the nursing personnel were satisfied overall with the implemented EHR system. The most commonly mentioned problems were lack of training and organizational challenges during implementation. Strategies to improve the efficiency of EHRs were reducing the amount of information displayed and the number of opportunities to perform a certain task in the system.
Antioxidative enzymes in the response of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) to complete submergence

Oxidative stress and antioxidative defense system activity were studied in buckwheat leaves after complete sub- mergence and re-aeration. The levels of H 2O2 and lipid peroxidation were found to be significantly higher in stressed than in untreated buckwheat leaves. Enzymes catalyzing the degradation of H2O2 and peroxides were shown to participate actively, whereas superoxide dismutase did not take part in the buckwheat leaf response to flooding stress. The most prominent increase in antioxidative enzyme activities was noticed upon return to air, when the strongest oxidative stress occurred and the need for antioxidative defense was the greatest.
Improving Subsalt Imaging by Image Conditioning and Enhancement with RTM Vector Image Partitions - A GoM Case Study

Subsalt imaging remains challenging despite a growing need for more accurate subsalt characterization. Long offsets, wide-azimuth (WAZ), and full-azimuth (FAZ) acquisition technologies have provided step-change improvements in illumination, multiple attenuation and signal-to-noise ratio. Recently developed more advanced anisotropic velocity model building techniques, have also greatly enhanced our ability to build accurate salt models and reduce velocity error. Reverse-time Migration (RTM) has become the preferred imaging algorithm due to its superior tolerance for complex salt geometry compared with traditional ray-based Kirchhoff migration. However, even with these developments, subsalt imaging still remains a significant challenge. Recently, Vector Image Partitions (VIPs) from RTM have proven valuable for enhancing the image of challenging subsalt structures. In this paper, we present a new method for optimizing the final migrated image through enhancement of the consistent signal and suppression of noise among VIPs. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this method with a case study from the Gulf of Mexico. The result shows great improvements in the subsalt image quality in terms of signal to noise ratio, reflector continuity, and wavelet consistency along reflectors.
Robust Simulation-Based Estimation of ARMA Models

This article proposes a new approach to the robust estimation of a mixed autoregressive and moving average (ARMA) model. It is based on the indirect inference method that originally was proposed for models with an intractable likelihood function. The estimation algorithm proposed is based on an auxiliary autoregressive representation whose parameters are first estimated on the observed time series and then on data simulated from the ARMA model. To simulate data the parameters of the ARMA model have to be set. By varying these we can minimize a distance between the simulation-based and the observation-based auxiliary estimate. The argument of the minimum yields then an estimator for the parameterization of the ARMA model. This simulation-based estimation procedure inherits the properties of the auxiliary model estimator. For instance, robustness is achieved with GM estimators. An essential feature of the introduced estimator, compared to existing robust estimators for ARMA models, is its theoretical tractability that allows us to show consistency and asymptotic normality. Moreover, it is possible to characterize the influence function and the breakdown point of the estimator. In a small sample Monte Carlo study it is found that the new estimator performs fairly well when compared with existing procedures. Furthermore, with two real examples, we also compare the proposed inferential method with two different approaches based on outliers detection.
Improved giant dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 via simultaneously tuning the electrical properties of grains and grain boundaries by F− substitution

A novel concept to simultaneously modify the electric responses of the grain and grain boundaries of CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics was proposed, involving doping with F− anions to improve the giant dielectric properties. The grain growth rate of CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics was enhanced by doping with F− anions, which were found to be homogeneously dispersed in the microstructure. Substitution of F− anions can cause an increase in the resistance of the insulating grain boundary and a decrease in the grain resistance. The former originated from the ability of the F− dopant to enhance the Schottky barrier height at the grain boundaries, leading to a great decrease in the dielectric loss tangent by a factor of 5 (tanδ < 0.1). The latter was primarily attributed to the increase in Ti3+ and Cu+ concentrations due to charge compensation, resulting in a significantly enhanced intensity of space charge polarization at the grain boundaries. This is the primary cause of the increase in dielectric permittivity from ≈104 to ≈105. The giant dielectric and electrical properties were well described by the Maxwell–Wagner polarization relaxation based on the internal barrier layer capacitor model of Schottky barriers at the grain boundaries.
Finite Control Set Model Predictive Control for a Matrix Converter with Zero Common-mode Voltage

In this paper a finite control set model predictive control method is presented that eliminates the common-mode voltage at the output of a matrix converter. In the predictive control process only the rotating vectors are selected to generate the output voltage and the input current in order to remove the common mode voltage. In addition, a modified four-step commutation strategy is proposed to eliminate common-mode voltage spikes caused by the conventional four-step commutation strategy based on the current direction. The proposed method reduces the computational complexity greatly compared with the enhanced space vector modulation with rotating vectors. The feasibility and operation of the proposed method are verified using experimental results. The resulting common-mode voltage is near to zero with good quality input and output converter waveforms.
First report of the intracellular fish parasite Sphaerothecum destruens associated with the invasive topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva) in France

Sphaerothecum destruens has emerged as a serious parasite of fish. Its life cycle, as well as its association with Asian cyprinids, allows it to infect a wide range of hosts. The topmouth gudgeon (Pseudorasbora parva ), an invasive species that has rapidly colonized Europe, has been shown to be a healthy carrier of the parasite. However, in France, the presence of S. destruens and its possible association with P. parva have not yet been demonstrated. Here, we screened topmouth gudgeon DNA for S. destruens using PCR amplification of an 18S rRNA gene fragment of the parasite. Sequencing and phylogenetic analysis confirmed the presence of S. destruens in the invasive fish species. Our results suggest that P. parva can be a potent vector of the parasite, and has the potential to become a major ecological and economic threat to the French fish population.
VERBAL COMPREHENSION OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

This paper presents the preliminary results of a broader research on performance and selfperception in reading and writing of university students. In particular, it focuses on verbal comprehension given its connection with reading comprehension. Reading comprehension is crucial, especially while constructing a situational model—achieved by integrating the information provided in the text with relevant prior knowledge. A random pilot sample of 60 students from third year, male and female, of an average age of 23 was selected. The Vocabulary, Information and Analogies tests from WAIS III were administered. The Verbal Comprehension findings show central tendency scores similar to those of the standardization sample with minor dispersion, with specific cases of scores in the lower average limit. Several comments are given on the performance of university students and other observations regarding the type of mistakes made in the answers provided which deserve further considerations. Preliminary conclusions point to a lack of and/or insufficient information, conceptual confusion with some terms of relatively high frequency and difficulties in the conceptualization process. These preliminary findings deserve further attention due to their impact in successful learning from texts.
Antioxidant activity and Brine Shrimp Lethality Bioassay of the Ethanolic and water Extracts of Fruits and Leaves of Olea Europaea

Background: Cell oxidation can lead to the onset and development of a wide range of diseases like diabetes, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, neurodegenerative diseases and many more. Antioxidants are substances which can scavenge free radicals and help to decrease the incidence of oxidative stress induced damage. A vast of medicinal plants available in nature has the antioxidant and anticancer properties and recently a great deal of effort are being to find out effective natural antioxidant for the prevention and treatment of free radical mediated disorders. Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the antioxidant and cytotoxic potential of Olea europaea. Results: Crude ethanolic and water extracts of leaves and fruits of the plant were prepared and evaluated for antioxidant and cytotoxic potential. All the investigated extracts showed antioxidant and cytotoxic potential. Ethanolic extracts of the fruits was found to possess highest antioxidant activity on the basis of DPPH scavenging assay, total antioxidant capacity assay, total phenolic content assay, total flavonoid content assay. However, in nitric oxide scavenging capacity assay ethanolic extracts of the leaves was found to be most effective among the tested extracts. Total alkaloid contents and total tannin contents of the plant extracts were also determined. In brine shrimp lethality bioassay, ethanolic extracts of leaves showed the most potent cytotoxic action with LC50 value of 3.335 µg/ml followed by ethanolic extracts of fruits where standard cytotoxic agent vincristine used as positive control. Conclusion: In this study both fruits and leaves parts showed moderate antioxidant potential. All the extracts possess substantial quantity of phenol, flavonoid, tannins and alkaloid content and initial phytochemical screening also confirmed the presence of the compounds which might be responsible for their activity.
An Analysis and Application of Fast Nonnegative Orthogonal Matching Pursuit for Image Categorization in Deep Networks BoWang

Nonnegative orthogonal matching pursuit (NOMP) has been proven to be a more stable encoder for unsupervised sparse representation learning. However, previous research has shown that NOMP is suboptimal in terms of computational cost, as the coefficients selection and refinement using nonnegative least squares (NNLS) have been divided into two separate steps. It is found that this problem severely reduces the efficiency of encoding for large-scale image patches. In this work, we study fast nonnegative OMP (FNOMP) as an efficient encoder which can be accelerated by the implementation of QR factorization and iterations of coefficients in deep networks for full-size image categorization task. It is analyzed and demonstrated that using relatively simple gain-shape vector quantization for training dictionary, FNOMP not only performs more efficiently than NOMP for encoding but also significantly improves the classification accuracy compared to OMP based algorithm. In addition, FNOMP based algorithm is superior to other state-of-the-art methods on several publicly available benchmarks, that is, Oxford Flowers, UIUC-Sports, and Caltech101.
Transgenic Animal Production and Applications

A transgenic animal is an animal in which foreign DNA has been incorporated into its original DNA. The generation of transgenic animals is one of the most complex aspects of genetic engineering, both in terms of technical difﬁculty and in the ethical problems that arise. To establish a transgenic animal, foreign DNA constructs need to be introduced into the animal’s genome, using recombinant DNA technology, so that the construct is stably maintained, expressed and passed on to subsequent generations. The first successful transgenic animal was a super mouse since that time the development of transgenic animals and the exploration of their applications has been a steady process, although at a slower rate than what was initially expected. DNA microinjection, Somatic cell nuclear transfer, Embryonic stem (ES) cells mediated gene transfer and Retrovirus-mediated gene transfer are the commonly used methods to transfer foreign gene from one species to another. Use of transgenic animals will provide solutions for disease model, drug research, food production and improved disease resistance. This review summarizes recent research based on the transgenic animal production and their potential applications. Keywords: Application; Production; Transgenesis ; Transgenic animals
Evaluating mobile games for diabetes education

Mobile games can be effective, evidence-based, and motivating tools for the promotion of children's health. Traditional method for diabetic education relies heavily on written materials and there is only a limited amount of resources targeted at educating diabetic children. In our earlier work, we proposed a novel approach for designing computer games aimed for educating children with diabetes. In this paper, we apply our game design to a mobile Android game (Mario Brothers). We also introduce two heuristics that are specifically designed for evaluating the mobile game, by adapting traditional usability heuristics. The results of a preliminary evaluation study, conducted for a week, showed that the children found the game engaging and believed that it would have added educational value.
DISCOVERY OF SN 2009nz ASSOCIATED WITH GRB 091127

We report SMARTS, Gemini, and Swift-UVOT observations of the optical transient (OT) associated with gamma-ray burst (GRB) 091127, at redshift 0.49, taken between 0.9 hr and 102 days following the Swift trigger. In our early-time observations, the OT fades in a manner consistent with previously observed GRB afterglows. However, after nine days post-burst, the OT is observed to brighten for a period of ∼two weeks, after which the source resumes fading. A comparison of this late-time “bump” to SN 1998bw (the broad-lined Type Ic supernova associated with GRB 980425), and several other GRB supernovae (SNe), indicates that the most straightforward explanation is that GRB 091127 was accompanied by a contemporaneous SN (SN 2009nz) that peaked at a magnitude of MV = −19.0 ± 0.2. SN 2009nz is globally similar to other GRB SNe, but evolves slightly faster than SN 1998bw and reaches a slightly dimmer peak magnitude. We also analyze the early-time UV–optical–IR spectral energy distribution of the afterglow of GRB 091127 and find that there is little to no reddening in the host galaxy along the line of sight to this burst.