Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ParaGraph: Subgraph-Level Network Function Composition With Delay Balanced Parallelism

Recent efforts in the network function virtualization (NFV) field have targeted ameliorating end-to-end latency of service function chains (SFCs) using network function (NF) composition. NF composition breaks the NF into building blocks and decides the appropriate combination for these blocks. However, two issues remain in current NF composition methods: (1) In the sequential scope, the fine-grained function’s block-level composition eliminates redundancy, but with the drawback of flexibility restriction. (2) In the vertical scope, complete NF parallelism adds overhead in packet copying and reordering. To reconcile this, here we present ParaGraph, a subgraph-level NF composition with delay-balanced parallelism. ParaGraph has three main components: an NF subgraph-extraction module that extrapolates right-grained core function subgraphs from NFs; an orchestrator that dynamically composes subgraphs with delay-balanced parallelism; and an infrastructure performing lightweight packet copying and merging. We implement a ParaGraph prototype based on Click and the Data Plane Development Kit (DPDK); extensive evaluations show that with minimum overhead, ParaGraph reaches line-speed packet processing and reduces latency by up to 55% compared to state-of-the-art methods.
High-Throughput Screening of an FDA-Approved Drug Library Identifies Inhibitors against Arenaviruses and SARS-CoV-2

Arenaviruses are a large family of enveloped negative-strand RNA viruses that include several causative agents of severe hemorrhagic fevers. Currently, there are no FDA-licensed drugs to treat arenavirus infection except for the off-labeled use of ribavirin. Here, we performed antiviral drug screening against the Old World arenavirus lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) using an FDA-approved drug library. Five drug candidates were identified, including mycophenolic acid, benidipine hydrochloride, clofazimine, dabrafenib, and apatinib, for having strong anti-LCMV effects. Further analysis indicated that benidipine hydrochloride inhibited LCMV membrane fusion, and an adaptive mutation on the LCMV glycoprotein D414 site was found to antagonize the anti-LCMV activity of benidipine hydrochloride. Mycophenolic acid inhibited LCMV replication by depleting GTP production. We also found mycophenolic acid, clofazimine, dabrafenib, and apatinib can inhibit the newly emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Owing to their FDA-approved status, these drug candidates can potentially be used rapidly in the clinical treatment of arenavirus and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Transparent Torque Sensor-less Impedance Rendering for Low-cost Direct Drive Motor

Low-cost outer runner Direct Drive (DD) motor has been spotlighted in recent robotic applications. However, torque ripple caused by the low production quality of the motor lowers not only the torque control performance but also impedance rendering performance. This paper proposes transparent sensor-less impedance control to improve impedance rendering performance for the low-cost DD motor. The novel criteria impedance rendering transparency is derived to define the problem of sensor-less impedance control by using low-cost DD motor. Torque ripple, the main problem, is measured and analyzed to develop the high-performance impedance controller. The phase synchronization method is also added to release the implementation issue. Experimental verification has conducted the performance of the proposed method.
Performance Analysis of A SLIPT-Based Hybrid VLC/RF System

To alleviate the energy constraint and coverage limitations in Internet of Things applications, in this paper we investigate a dual-hop hybrid visible light communication (VLC)/radio frequency (RF) cooperative communication system based on simultaneous lightwave information and power transfer. The proposed system consists of a light-emitting diode source (S), an off-the-grid relay (R) that moves randomly within the coverage of S, and a destination (D) that is located outside the coverage of S. To facilitate communications between S and D, the received optical signal at R in the first phase can be separated into alternating current and direct current components for information decoding and energy harvesting, respectively. Then the energy harvested by R is used to forward the decoded information to D using RF in the second phase. In view of the distinct channel conditions across the two hops, the decoding status and the energy available at R, the end-to-end system outage probability is analytically derived. Simulation results are used to evaluate the impact of different system parameters and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed system.
Analysis of the Minimum Duration of the Runaway Electron Flow in an Air Electrode Gap

Properties of the runaway electron flow (REF) generated in an air-filled high-voltage interelectrode gap with a drastically inhomogeneous electric field distribution are presented. We have shown that REF initiated near the tip of a conical cathode involves high-energy electron fraction with ultrashort length of about 10 ps. Analytical and numerical considerations show that the REF generation and cessation is determined by a combination of ionization processes in the gas in the vicinity of the cathode, resulting in multiplication of free electrons and expansion of the cathode plasma layer, and dynamic processes that switch on/off a threshold electric field at the anode side plasma border which is sufficiently high for electrons to become runaway. The characteristic time of REF generation and termination can be estimated from the rate of ionization at a near-threshold field as ~2 ps. This elementary time determines the pulse length for the runaway electron current that was calculated to be ~6 ps, which is close to its experimental value.
Energy Storage System as Auxiliaries of Internal Combustion Engines in Hybrid Electric Ships

This paper presents a design concept to overview the feasibility of utilizing modern energy storage systems as substitution of conventional machinery auxiliaries, which are necessarily installed to support internal combustion engines’ operation. For example, the common compressed air system required for engine starting and emergency stopping occupies substantial space in the machinery space of the ship. Owing to increased capacity and reduced price of batteries nowadays, electric motors and solenoid valves can supersede the compressed air system, and we can save space and reduce capital expenditures as well. The cranking torque for engine starting, motor driving current, the optimal control system is simulated to validate the performance of the engine starting system, in line with the simulation of charging and discharging of an energy storage system.
Silicon nitride 60 GHz antenna for IoT applications

In this work, the design and simulations of a single, 1×4 rectangular patch array antenna on a Silicon nitride (Si3N4) substrate operating at millimetre-wave (mm-wave) ISM (The Industrial, Scientific, and Medical) frequency band (57 - 64 (GHz)) are assessed through the simulations. The antenna is designed to be compatible with photonic integrated circuits (PIC) wireless Internet of Things (IoT) front-ends, for a bandwidth requirement of an approximate of 5 GHz, and gain range from 12 - 15 dBi enabling ranges of 5 - 10 meters. These small-sized, high gain antennas can easily be integrated into Si3N4 PIC devices. In this work, we started with a single patch and expanded to an array where the Wilkinson four-way power divider network is used. The designed antennas are optimized to achieve 5 GHz of bandwidth and mainly 12 - 15 dBi of gain, meeting the use case requirements. The resulting antenna is benchmarked against other of the same type, and purpose showing similar performance and reduced size.
Hierarchical Model Predictive Control for Energy Management of Power-to-X Systems

This paper presents the application of Hierarchical Model Predictive Control (HMPC) as an energy management framework for a multi-timescale mixed-energy system, i.e., Power-to-X (PtX). The goal of the energy managing controller is to minimize an economic objective by determining the energy flows within the system. HMPC enables a long-term scheduling solution to anticipate ahead of the seasonal energy mismatches occurring in PtX systems. This paper presents a novel approach to couple the separate control layers in the hierarchy by heuristic assignment to fully employ the PtX fundamentals in the controller design. Simulation results based on historical data of the Dutch energy sector show the suitability of HMPC and its superiority over a rule-based control approach. The proposed controller may, however, also be used for any configuration of multi-timescale mixed-energy systems dealing with temporal energy mismatches.
Nitrogen dioxide increases the risk of mortality in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

Ambient air pollution is associated with the prognosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients. We aimed to identify the impacts of individual exposure to particulate matter with a 50% cut-off aerodynamic diameter of 10 μm (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) on IPF patients' mortality. 1114 patients (mean age 65.7 years; male 80.5%) diagnosed with IPF between 1995 and 2016 were included in this study. Individual-level long-term concentrations of PM10 and NO2 at residential addresses of patients were estimated using a national-scale exposure prediction model. The effect of PM10 and NO2 on mortality was estimated using a Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for individual- and area-level covariates. The median follow-up period was 3.8 years and 69.5% of the patients died or underwent lung transplantation. When adjusted for individual- and area-level covariates, a 10 ppb increase in NO2 concentration was associated with a 17% increase in mortality (hazard ratio (HR) 1.172, 95% CI 1.030–1.344; p=0.016). When IPF patients were stratified by age (≥65 versus <65 years) or by sex, NO2 was a significant prognostic factor for mortality in the elderly (HR 1.331, 95% CI 1.010–1.598; p=0.010). When stratified by age and sex jointly, NO2 showed the stronger association with mortality in elderly males (HR 1.305, 95% CI 1.072–1.598; p=0.008) than in other groups. PM10 was not associated with IPF mortality in all patients and in subgroups stratified by age or sex. Our findings suggest that increased exposure to NO2 can increase the risk of mortality in patients with IPF, specifically in elderly males. Exposure to nitrogen dioxide is associated with increased risk of mortality in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, particularly in elderly males https://bit.ly/35dopLn
Compact Dual-Band Wearable Textile Antenna Based on Quarter-Mode Substrate Integrated Waveguide

A compact dual-band textile antenna operating in the 3.5-GHz WiMAX band and the 5.8-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical band, is proposed for wearable devices. The dual-band operation is activated by using different modes. The antenna has the advantages of good human shielding function and achieves a rather small dimension of 43.8 mm × 43.8 mm × 2 mm (0.51 λ0 × 0.51 λ0 × 0.02 λ0) by adopting a quarter-mode substrate integrated waveguide structure. Due to the fact that the proposed antenna is made of the flexible textile material, it can be conformal to the human body. Detailed analysis and simulation results show that the antenna has stable performance under bending and in proximity of human phantom.
Performance Comparison of Quantitative Methods for PMU Data Event Detection with Noisy Data

This article compares distinct signal-based and knowledge-based approaches often applied to process and detect events in vast amounts of data collected by phasor measurement units (PMU). The computation times and the accuracy of correct event detections are tested and evaluated in a 1 − hour data file from the UT-Austin Independent Texas Synchrophasor Network with phasor quantities plus an additive noise gathered at different PMU substations. A sliding time window is considered to build a representative model of the system operating conditions on the fly and search for power system phenomena as soon as new data are available.
EMI Filter Performance of Transformerless Topology for Photovoltaic Applications

This paper presents the deterministic approach to clarify the inductance and capacitance of a low-pass filter. Suitable values depend on the power system quality and system stability. Besides, the effectiveness of a low-pass filter on suppressing the electromagnetic interference (EMI) noise by Pulse width modulation (PWM) is investigated. As a well-known, total harmonic distortion of output voltage strongly relies on the filter parameters. Similarly, a transformerless topology of Photovoltaic (PV) applications with unipolar PWM has a big problem with the leakage current. Its magnitude relies on resonance condition in common-mode current loop are not clearly explained. Moreover, the common-mode (CM) and differential-mode (DM) voltages are measured by a line impedance standard network (LISN). These values need to satisfy the Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) limits. In some cases, an additional EMI filter is needed to restrain the high CM and DM noises under the EMC limits. The real values at the install location of the PV inverters which are measured without a LISN are totally different. So, this paper investigates the performance of the EMI filter through comprehensive simulation results for a representative PV application.
Bio-Degradable Polyurethane Foams Produced by Liquefied Polyol from Wheat Straw Biomass

In the present work, an abundant and unused residue (wheat straw) has been employed to synthesize a polyol as a substituent of castor oil in polyurethane foams. The liquefied product showed excellent properties for the proposed application. Castor oil was substituted with up to 50% wheat straw polyol in the formulation of polyurethane foams, which were prepared using two different isocyanates (methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) and toluene-2,4-diisocyanate (TDI)). The evaluation of physical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the foams revealed that these materials can successfully be formed with up to 40% wheat straw polyols since all the results were improved. Moreover, at this polyol concentration, the morphology of the foams was presented as a compact and ordered structure. Following this trend, the foams showed excellent biodegradability at 30 days (5.60 and 7.31% for TDI and MDI foams, respectively) and 60 days (8.49 and 9.88% for TDI and MDI foams, respectively) in the soil media tests carried out. Thus, the materials prepared in this work can be proposed for agricultural applications such as use in plant nurseries.
Ranking of LMFR Coolants by Degree of Preference

A new approach to ranking the coolants of a liquid metal fast reactor (LMFR) by degree of preference is proposed and implemented. The approach involves comparing the optimal LMFR layouts with different coolants and compatible structural materials. The layouts were obtained in solving mathematical programming problems with restrictions in the same formulation. The problem is solved in three stages. At the first stage, on the basis of an elementary analysis of the physicochemical properties and cost, unacceptable metals with a high cost (rare metals), a small wide range of operating temperatures, a low boiling point, and high induced activity were excluded. The second stage involves obtaining the optimal layout of LMFR with different coolants. Then, using lexicographic methods for solving multicriteria problems, a coolant ranking procedure is carried out based on a comparison of the optimal LMFR layouts. The third stage involves the analysis of preferred options. Depending on the power and purpose of the reactor, the most preferred coolants are different. For medium and high power reactors, lead extracted from thorium ores is most preferred. For low power reactors, lead from polymetallic and lead ores is preferred. In such reactors, the use of lead of uranium ores is possible. For high- and very-high-temperature low power reactors, gallium and its alloys, including gallium-lead alloys, are preferred. For space reactors, a coolant based on the eutectic Na-K-Cs alloy is more preferred.
Physical Activity and Mental Health: A Cross-sectional Study of Canadian Youth.

Objective Our objective was to examine the associations between recreational and non-recreational physical activity with mental health outcomes among Canadian youth aged 12-17. Methods Cross-sectional data from the 2015/2016 Canadian Community Health Survey was used for analysis. Physical activity was classified as either recreational or non-recreational. Both types of physical activity were categorized using the Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines. Mental health outcomes included the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scale dichotomized with 5+ and 10+ cut-offs, self-perceived mental health, and self-reported professionally diagnosed mood and anxiety disorders. Descriptive statistics (proportions with 95% confidence intervals), and multivariable logistic regression were used in the analysis. Results It was found 21.20% of youth were not participating in recreational physical activity and 40.97% were engaging in below guideline recreational physical activity. No activity, or below guideline recreational physical activity was associated with negative mental health. Non-recreational physical activity models were generally non-significant. Additionally, it was determined that associations between recreational physical activity and PHQ-9 score were only evident in males. For the no activity and below guideline activity levels the odds ratios (ORs)=2.57 and 3.19 for males and OR=0.95 and 0.96 for females, respectively. Conclusions Recreational physical activity is associated with youth mental health (particularly in males), but non-recreational physical activity is not consistently associated. While the data are cross-sectional and cannot support causal inference, these results highlight the potential importance of accessible recreational physical activity programs. Further, these results may inform guidelines about types of youth physical activity and their apparent mental health benefits.
Three-Phase State Estimation Based on Symmetrical Components

Voltage imbalance has been neglected so far in transmission system operations; hence state estimation has been performed using positive sequence single-phase equivalent model of the power systems. However, as the number of single-phase renewable energy sources and electric cars at the distribution system, and electric trains, which are supplied via single-phase transformers, connected to the transmission system increase, the imbalance problems at the transmission system will be observed more frequently. Therefore, incorporation of three-phase system model in power system state estimation necessitates. This paper proposes a computationally efficient three-phase state estimation method based on symmetrical components with a limited number of strategically placed PMUs.
A BPSO-based Controller Placement Algorithm for Hierarchical Service Function Chaining

With the emergence of hierarchical service function chaining (hSFC), Internet providers are able to offer more flexible and scalable network functions for various user requirements via collaborations of datacenters situated at different geographical locations. However, considering scalability, how to cope with the controller placement in multiple domains of hSFC is still challenging, as corresponding signaling interactions are complicated and heavy. Thus, in this paper, we propose a binary practical swarm optimization (BPSO)-based algorithm to minimize signaling costs among hierarchical controllers through a reasonable placement. Particularly, we first formulate the hSFC controller placement problem as an integer programming model. Then, we propose a heuristic placement algorithm (BPSO-HPA) to approximate the optimal solution, along with a greedy-based placement algorithm (G-HPA) as a benchmark. Finally, we evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms with extensive simulations, and the results prove that the proposed BPSO-based algorithm is able to approach the results derived from the optimization model with less running time, and outperform the G-HPA algorithm.
Predicting the Spread of Forest Diseases and Pests

Due to severe economic losses caused by forest diseases and pests in China, prediction for the spread of forest diseases and pests has become one of the most challenging and hottest issues. The most previous solutions have at least the following three disadvantages: (1) lacking effective utilization of image data; (2) only supporting one-dimensional prediction value, which provides limited information; (3) limiting to a small scale (e.g., sample-plot), rather than a large scale like a forest zone. Therefore, we propose an algorithm for the spread prediction based on linear regression applied to a large regional spread of forest diseases and pests. Compared to the most conventional numerical prediction, our prediction method works on two dimensions. Specifically, the diseases and pests areas are fitted by a group of cubic B-spline curves and a defined energy function is provided to describe the difference between the contours of the future time and the current time. Then, linear regression is applied to predict the spread parameters (the distance and angle), adhering to prior forestry research. After two-step corrections, the final predicted contour is obtained. Finally, we devise an appropriate 3D interactive visualization. Experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm can effectively predict the spread of forest diseases and pests, providing forestry workers with visual aids of the future situation.
Unifying the mechanism of mitotic exit control in a spatiotemporal logical model

The transition from mitosis into the first gap phase of the cell cycle in budding yeast is controlled by the Mitotic Exit Network (MEN). The network interprets spatiotemporal cues about the progression of mitosis and ensures that release of Cdc14 phosphatase occurs only after completion of key mitotic events. The MEN has been studied intensively; however, a unified understanding of how localisation and protein activity function together as a system is lacking. In this paper, we present a compartmental, logical model of the MEN that is capable of representing spatial aspects of regulation in parallel to control of enzymatic activity. We show that our model is capable of correctly predicting the phenotype of the majority of mutants we tested, including mutants that cause proteins to mislocalise. We use a continuous time implementation of the model to demonstrate that Cdc14 Early Anaphase Release (FEAR) ensures robust timing of anaphase, and we verify our findings in living cells. Furthermore, we show that our model can represent measured cell–cell variation in Spindle Position Checkpoint (SPoC) mutants. This work suggests a general approach to incorporate spatial effects into logical models. We anticipate that the model itself will be an important resource to experimental researchers, providing a rigorous platform to test hypotheses about regulation of mitotic exit.